Page 54 of Until the End of Ever (To the Cruel Gods #2)

KLEOS

I had no clue why Cassius made me take gold when everything around me, from the floor to the narrow walls and archways, was made of pure, solid gold. People here only had to reach out to grab some.

"Which way?" Silver whispered.

I could understand why. We'd arrived in a tunnel of sorts, both sides dark, the only source of light coming from the ball of flame Gideon conjured in his hand. It felt like the sort of place filled with rats, monsters, and possibly ghosts. I had no desire to start shouting either."No clue."

"There's running water that way," Lucky said, pointing to her left.

I could feel she was right, but what did it mean for our path?

"I'd say we should go away from the river. Water is a source of life. We're heading towards the gateway to death."

"Right, because that's a logical thing to do," Gideon tittered, taking the lead nonetheless.

We'd only talked in silence for a few moments when a shade flew past us at high speed, translucent and so swift it was already disappearing in the distance.

"After it!" I said, trying to run.

Everyone else overtook me with ease, but the fastest of us, Silver, stopped ahead. "Lost it," she grunted.

"There might be more to follow later. And in any case, this proves we're heading towards the right side."

I had no clue how long we walked, but my legs started to tire, and I could have used a drink.

"Where's Lucian when we need a hamper with snacks and water?" Ronan muttered.

I left in too much of a rush to think of sustenance.

The time worried me for another reason: Cassius made it clear that we only had a day here. Three or four hours must have already gone by. Lucky only tripped eight times.

I made myself walk as fast as I could. I attempted to cast a time spell, but the answer it gave me only served to confuse me. They must not have used the same measures to count the time here.

More shades raced past us, but we stopped trying to keep up, as there didn't seem to be any turns, just this long endless corridor.

"There's a light in the distance," Ronan said, tossing his fancy jacket to the floor.

It was rather warm here, but I didn't want to let go of my shawl. The first gift Lucian ever gave me. Instead, I resized it to the size of a handkerchief and pocketed it. "Let's get going!"

It took at least another hour by my estimation to finally reach the end of the tunnel, but the ever-brightening light made it less depressing.

At the end, Gideon stopped short. " Fuck ."

Around his wide shoulders, I could see what had interrupted him: a wide, deep chasm, dark waters at the very bottom of the mile-wide, impossibly deep abyss.

"What now?" Silver said, turning to me for answers.

I was too busy cursing Cassius for his sucky sense of intergalactic direction.

"I believe that's my job," Ronan said, stepping around me, then Silver and Gideon.

To my confusion, he wrapped his arms around Gideon's waist. "Hold on. Damn, you're heavy."

"Hey—" Gideon started, but seconds later, he was screaming at the top of his lungs as the insane man just stepped off the edge.

Before I could yell, I watched the man defy gravity, racing forward to the platform we could see in the distance. And in a blink, Ronan was back again, wincing. "My lower back is going to need some love after that."

"Wait until you try me," Silver said.

Ronan stared doubtfully. Then he tried to lift her up. Twice. She didn't so much as budge.

"Let's try it another way. I think I can jump about a third of the way. With momentum, if you push me two or three times in the air, I should make it."

"You can what ?"

Silver shrugged. "I don't judge your weird, so don't judge mine."

The man who could literally fly seem to understand the wisdom in that. "Fair, fair. Let's try you last, then."

Ronan took Lucky and I together, one in each arm. "I feel like the lucky one, flanked by such beautiful women."

We'd joined Gideon in no time, and in the distance, I could see two golden statues, which seemed immense here. They must be taller than skyscrapers from up close.

"All right, your turn," Ronan called to Silver.

My friend retreated in the tunnel and started to run to build up some momentum.

I'd never seen Silver push herself, frankly. As a general rule, she avoided it, happy to pretend to be just a normal-ish girl. A little too heavy, a little too strong, but not particularly special.

We were all disabused of that impression as her leap carried her past Ronan and she crash-landed next to us so hard the ground shook, sparks under the sole of her sneakers.

I stared in disbelief.

The worst part was that she didn't seem in any way affected, as if mile-wide jumps were part of her usual workout regimen.

I knew that on her day off, she went out to the mountain alone for what she called some real exercise. Was that the sort of thing she did?

"Damn, Silver."

"All right. Maybe we can judge my weird a little," she admitted.

"How come I'm the one with angry divinities after me? Zeus should be frightened of you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the Thunder Guy is terrified of people who can beat him at arm wrestling and outrace him."

"It's not normal, though. I don't think you understand how impossible it is for someone to do that kind of jump without magic," Ronan told her.

"I stopped worrying myself over whys and hows a long time ago. I am what I am. We're in a hurry, right?"

She obviously wanted us to drop the subject, and she had a point about our schedule, so we all kept walking. And walking, and walking.

"I miss my coat," Ronan muttered.

It got colder and colder as we approached the twin statues, though I started to suspect the source of the cold wasn't the time or location so much as the fact that I could see shades queuing in the distance.

"Here," Gideon said, tossing him his own leather jacket.

Ronan looked weird with such modern attire, given how he seemed to favor clothing two centuries out of date, but he muttered his thanks and put it on.

"How are we going past them?" I whispered when we reached the back of a long, long, long line.

There was no way we had the time to politely wait our turn. This might take an entire year.

"We could, err, you know. Go through them?" Gideon winced as he suggested it, disgusted by his own idea.

"Nope, nope, pass," Lucky said, shuddering."I do not need that type of curse on me on top of everything else."

"How about asking them to move? Hello, dear sir, would you mind stepping aside?" Ronan immediately tried, only to be thoroughly ignored by the shade.

Silver snorted. "Right. That was totally gonna work. Let's talk to the shades. Could you please let us go through?" The moment words crossed her lips, full of sarcasm as they were, every single shade moved—some to the right, others to the left, leaving a broad path forward in the middle.

We all stared at Silver.

She gulped. "I'm going to need everyone to shut up about this while I process."

"But how—" Gideon started.

Ronan kicked his shin. "Shh! We're not pissing off the scariest thing here."