When we land in Norway, we already have cars waiting for us. We are meeting the fae and other shifters about an hour from here. Then we’ll go together to the gates of Valhalla. “How has Hermes left the door open for us?” Kai asks. “He put a wedge in that will respond to his magic. Magic that he embedded in my soul. It will show the entrance and open the gates,” I tell him, remembering the searing pain of having the trickster god impose his soul into me. I could see everything. Everything that he has experienced in his long, long life. All his hopes and fears, his triumphs and failures. Everything that he wants. Everything that he loves. And everything that he fears. But it wasn’t just him putting a piece of his soul in my body. No, this was an exchange of pieces. He has a part of me inside of him as well. And those pieces long to be back together. It’s part of what I have to talk to Jacob and Alexander about. Hermes didn’t just make me his messenger. He made m
Hermes will take us to see Hades and Persephone, but we’ve decided that we need a good rest first. Food, Maybe some fucking. I look over at Xander and Arya, seeing the glint of the after battle lust. Yup, fucking is definitely going to be happening tonight. But first, food. Healing takes a lot out of Arya and me and we need to replenish our energy with food. Luckily, Arya’s family knows how to whip up quick and delicious food. At least, enough of it to carry us over while the rest of the food is cooked. “We should all get a few hours’ sleep. Who knows how long this journey is going to be,” Xander says. “Agreed,” Hermes nods. “Though I would say that you need more than a few hours. Time flows differently in this Realm and since I’m the only god here, I can speed it up. You should be able to get a full night’s sleep and only have an hour pass in the outside world. Another meal in the morning and you’ll be ready to handle Tartarus, no problem.” His grin would be comical
I really think that I’ve gotten hold of some kind of trippy herbs or something. I’m in the Underworld, with Hades and Persephone, and we went to the Greek paradise to find Odysseus. The hero of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Supposedly one of the smartest men of his time. I mean, wouldn’t you think that you were on some kind of acid trip? “Why do we need Odysseus?” I ask. “He and Dante are the only two mortals who have ever gone to Tartarus and made it out. And Dante isn’t much of a fighter. Odysseus will help keep you safe while guiding you to where you need to go,” the Lord of the Dead says. “Come! We must hurry!” Persephone says again. Odysseus nods, grabbing a walking stick from just inside his door. “I am ready.” “I can transport you to the edge of the Asphodel Fields. That is where you’ll find the entrance to Tartarus,” Lord Hades tells us. “Good luck, heroes. For all of our sakes, I hope that you make it.” And then, with a flick of his wrist, we are whiske
I wake up slowly. The bed beneath me feels different. It’s softer, the sheets silkier. There’s a weird scent in the air, as well. It’s salty. Like being around the sea, which it should be in Ios, but it smells…like frost? You know how cold can have a smell? But I’m not cold. On the contrary, the breeze that must be coming from a window is refreshing because of the heat that can only be coming from a fire on my side and the heat and weight of thick blankets over me. I pull on my arms, which are raised above my head as I lay on my back, but they won’t move. That’s what finally pulls me out of my half awake, half asleep state. My eyes fly open and, in the brief glance that I spare around the room, I realize that I have no idea where I am. But that’s not what I’m worried about at the moment. Right now, I’m worried about why my arms won’t move. I pull at my arms harder and hear a jingling as I look up to see what’s going on. I’m fucking shackled to the headboard. There
We came here with 50 supernaturals between the wolves, witches, fae, goblins, dwarves, and shifters. But there is no way that we’re going to be able to handle all of the deities and their minions that are in front of us. “Retreat!” I scream. “Not so fast,” Lucifer says from in front of us. He waves his hand and suddenly the gates are closed and the portal gone so that we can’t even see where they went. “The party has barely begun.” And then the smug bastard sits down on this fucking throne on a dias and props his feet up on table in front of him. “Begin,” he says in a light tone. Demons leap out of the shadows, falling on us from the ceiling, appearing from behind us, and coming from the walls around us. A large gargoyle-esk creature steps in our path, but instead of stone skin, his entire hide is made of bone. It is joined by a female with a lioness’s head, dressed in Egyptian clothing on one side and a woman with large antlers coming out of her head, half of her body nothi
As soon as Micah has flattened the two death gods that were threatening us, I turn us around to see what happened to Tomas, Puck, and Jai. Both of the Elite wolves are surrounding Puck, who is seated on the ground. I can see the edges of magic that surround him, so different from that of the witches, since they pull directly from a god for him. It’s what draws the two of us to each other. Puck is trying to open a portal and Jai and Tomas are protecting him. When Micah and I run up to them to help protect Puck, Tomas shouts. “Fire! We need to set up a fire so that it goes along the perimeters. Light this this fucker up!” What the hell is he talking about? “Why? We’ll suffocate,” I cry out. “Not if Puck gets that damn portal open! How’s that coming by the way?” Tomas asks Puck. I don’t have to look or listen to Puck’s response. I can see that he’s not close. He’s tapping into his powers, but with his god imprisoned in Tartarus, it takes a lot more of himself in order
Nathan is freaking the fuck out. I mean, I don’t blame him. He and Nyx just decided to make a go of it and now she’s been taken. He keeps trying to find a way to get into the portal that we’ve found remnants of, but there’s something blocking him. One of Nathan’s abilities as a witch is that he’s able to mimic others’ powers. It doesn’t last long, but it can be really helpful in situations like this, where he can turn the power back on whatever the previous person used. He should be able to take the remnants of Loviatar’s power and use it to reopen the portal that she used. To follow it to wherever Loviatar went with Nyx. Only, it’s not working. There’s something on the other side of the portal that is blocking him. Something much more powerful than Loviatar. I can’t figure out who is stopping him, nor can I figure out how to get around it. Nathan has sweat pouring down his face, soaking into the shirt that he’s wearing. I can see the strain of what he’s doing on his fa
Jacob “I’m glad that you’re here, Jacob. I have the feeling that we’re going to need a lot of help with stitching, setting bones, and the like. Hopefully we won’t have too much need for a surgical suite today,” Bhakti says to me as we unpack the medical supplies from the plane. “Well, I’m just glad that Ma and Pop insisted that I either learn to fight or heal. I’m just glad that I can be of assistance,” I say. Really, I’m just happy that I’ll be here when JoJo gets out of Valhalla. Obviously, I’ve been a part of training since I was old enough to hold a fighting stance. But I’m not a warrior. I have no love for the fight, no understanding of tactics. I get agitated and nervous, unsure exactly what to do. But put me in an emergency medical procedure? I’m calm, cool, and collected. I know exactly what needs to happen. So this is how I can help. It’s how I will help. Suddenly, a bright light flares across my vision. It blots out everything that’s happening around m