Page 58 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

T he same fog that blanketed the ground during every Unseen Hour rolled over the grass.

“You might as well face me, little Shades. I know what you’ve done.” Charon’s cold voice cut like a steel blade. “I doubt, however, that you know what you’ve done. You have ruined my plans and didn’t even realize what they were for.”

I leaned into Orion but refused to cower.

Grabbing his hand, I stepped forward to meet my fate. My heart lifted when he walked with me, instead of pulling me back.

Bellamy whimpered behind us, hiding near his carriage.

“We know what you were doing. You were trying to overthrow Death and take her place. You were angry about your role as a god; that it was less than hers. And you were going to destroy Rayus in retribution; create your own realm full of death. This is a petty squabble that the entire world has been paying for, and now you’ve lost your army.

If we’d left it to you, then all of Emrys would have succumbed. ”

Charon grinned, a mirthless, dangerous expression .

“Is that what you think? Then you know nothing. Someone just as powerful as me has been whispering in your ear, feeding you lies.” He raised his voice. “You might as well make your presence known. I’m sure you have something to say!” he yelled at the sky.

Lightning slammed into the ground, burning away some of the fog and replacing it with clean, white smoke.

Death landed between Charon and us. She stood facing the god of the Ether, with her back to Orion and me. When she pulled back her hood, her hair spilled out. Lightning danced over her hair and across her hands.

“You truly thought to deceive me, Charon? Did you really believe I would not find out about your theft of souls? And yet you stand here accusing me. You are nothing if not confident.”

I leaned to peer around Death’s cloak, watching the god of the Ether.

Charon, for his part, looked unrepentant. He stood tall in the face of his accuser.

“I’ve been claiming souls for a hundred years now, and you’ve taken no notice. You never really saw me. You’re only here now because my traitorous Shade tipped you off.”

She laughed.

“Is that what you think? Is that really what things have become between us? You’re wrong. I recruited your Shade years ago. You’ve grown too arrogant. You’ve tried to upend the order of things. You went against your fellow gods, and you know the consequences.”

Charon raised a finger and jabbed it toward Death.

“ You are at fault for this. I trusted you. I cared for you, and you betrayed the rest of us. You’re the reason we lost Epi–”

I was thrown into Death’s cloak, thankfully missing her lightning-laced skin, by a gust of wind. Odos slammed onto the church grounds to our left, his hammer shattering a gravestone. Bellamy came sprinting from behind the carriage, only to cower behind the newest arrival.

I’d balked when he called me mad, but now I had to question if this had all fractured his mind. Did he have no idea the danger he was in?

“I gave you one task, and you couldn’t even do that!” Odos yelled at the cowering noble. “A worthless descendant, that’s what you are. And now Charon’s stands free.”

My head spun. None of this was making sense.

“Day! Grim! You’re part of this! No sense staying out of things now!”

There was a beam of warm, amber light, and then a deity stepped out from its depths. Where Death’s skin was so pale it resembled a bone, this deity’s skin was a warm, light brown. He had brown eyes, full cheeks, and a thick beard.

“Day, you finally grace us with your presence.” Death greeted him while Charon scowled at the three deities.

Orion’s grip on me tightened, and I glanced to our right to see something oily bubbling up from one of the graves.

I screeched, jumping back as another deity stepped from the ooze, his clothes somehow entirely clean.

When he first emerged, his face looked gaunt and sunken, his skin covered in sores and blemishes.

By the time he stood on the grass, he’d changed.

He had striking pale blue eyes, black hair, and a smile that would have weakened the knees of most women in Emrys.

“Grim,” Death acknowledged.

The god of illness and decay. I recoiled from the handsome hand of disease.

Charon kept his glare in place as he looked around at his fellow deities.

“She’s fooled you all, then? You’re not even going to try to stop her?”

“Don’t make a scene, Charon,” Death chided, almost reminding me of Bellamy when he’d latched onto me earlier.

Except this time, a villain was on the receiving end of the tirade.

“They’ve seen the evidence. You could have killed everyone.

You’re a threat to the rest of us. You know what happens next. ”

Charon raised his arms, fog lifting and obscuring my view. I heard his wings beating, and the temperature dropped sharply. For a moment, I thought he would fight.

Then, the fog disappeared. His wings stilled, and Charon held his arms out.

“I’ll go peacefully, but this isn’t the end of it, Death. Mark my words, you will get your due someday.”

“I highly doubt that,” she responded, voice light. She snapped her graceful fingers, and Day and Grim each grabbed one of Charon’s arms.

Charon ignored the other gods, turning toward us instead.

“She wants to be the last one standing. Goddess of everything. And trust me, if you think I’m bad, it’s nothing compared to what she has planned. She’s as dangerous to you as the rest of us.”

Death snapped her fingers again, and Day and Grim disappeared, Charon in tow.

“I had your word, Death, don’t forget,” Odos growled. Bellamy continued to clutch at the large, muscular god, looking even smaller by his side. But I saw that Bellamy had always been a small man.

Orion spun to face me as Death spoke to the remaining god.

“Starlight, I think, with him gone … Yes. I can. I can say it. You need to know something. What I couldn’t tell you before, in the Ether.

Another reason I thought I couldn’t stay here.

Charon isn’t just the god of the Ether. I mean, he is, but he’s also my ancestor.

He said I was tied to the place. To the Ether, because of him.

That I couldn’t leave, and even if Death bested him, I’d have to stay.

The Ether needs a god. All the deities have someone, Celia.

A descendant, one per generation. It’s another fail-safe.

Another way to spread out their power. Just like the churches, and the items like the scythes and the music. ”

“You. Charon. You’re his … then there’s five more descendants? Who?”

“Oh, little Shade, now you’ve gone and spoiled the secret,” Death trilled.

She turned to face us, and I gasped, taking several large steps back from her.

“It’s not possible.” A trick. Dark magic, just like the Unseen Hour. That was the only explanation. Death was mocking me.

In front of me was the same deity I’d seen before, but without the mask hiding her eyes and half of her face.

Death had paler skin and hair, but those were the only things separating her features from my own.

Without the mask covering her, I saw that our cheekbones were the same.

As was our eye shape. But that wasn’t the convincing piece.

Death’s eyes were not black pools of despair, as I might have assumed.

They were vibrant, shimmering, and undeniably pink.

Death looked like an avenging angel, a harsh woman bent on war, and capable of winning it. She looked like she had real power.

“You … “

Death nodded.

“Yes, you’re beginning to understand now.

I told you we didn’t always have the power we now possess.

There was a time, after acquiring our abilities, that we tried to live among other people.

A disastrous experiment. People do not like being reminded of power they don’t have, and circumstances like Death which they cannot hope to change.

But we also learned through their attacks that we might be vulnerable.

One day, surely, they would find a way to get rid of us.

And with that, bring destruction to themselves. ”

“What did you do?”

“We left descendants. Each of us, a line, to keep our ties to this world before creating and retreating to our own realms. Individuals we could call on, or utilize if the situation arose. I had always thought it would be us, the gods and our descendants, against an uprising of citizens who wanted the power we possess. Instead, we’ve ended up fighting one another. ”

My mind was spinning like the gears in a clock, ticking away and driving me mad as the pieces clicked into place.

“That’s why you wanted to help Orion. You realized Charon hadn’t told him initially, and you thought you could gain another victory by having him on your side. Then, when I showed up, you were happy because … “

“Because I had Charon’s descendant and my own, stuck in the Ether and only too eager to help me, yes.

I needed you. You see, we have certain rules with each other, certain boundaries we don’t cross, as Charon was trying to do.

And we have certain protections afforded to our descendants.

You’re vulnerable, but not nearly as much as a typical human.

And you have enough of our power that you can do things, like handle our artifacts. ”

“The baton? The music?”

Death nodded, looking pleased.

“Precisely. Orion can hold the baton, and conduct the Shades. Not because he was in the Ether, but because he has Charon’s blood.

And you, Celia, are capable of even greater things, because you are my descendant.

Orion was right: one descendant per generation.

I know you’ve worried about your lack of power compared to your brothers.

They have more social influence than you.

Well, how does it feel to know that you could have the power of a goddess? ”