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  After another suspicious look, Khaleda’s face relaxed and she nodded. “I’ll take you to him.”

  I put my hands in my pockets and followed Khaleda to the elementary school doors. There was a sign on the door announcing that all flammable items had to be left outside, and another listing rules and regulations for the parade itself. The door squeaked when she pulled it open and held it for me.

  All elementary schools smell the same, like someone dropped a crayon encrusted meatloaf under the bleachers in the gym forty years ago that no one’s ever found. This one was no different. Low ceilings with flickering lights, narrow, windowless hallways lined with locked metal doors, each labeled with numbers instead of a name... Wasn’t much difference between a school and a prison when you got down to it. Both served bad, taxpayer-funded food and had strict regimens. Both were places where creativity and originality were discouraged in favor of routine and predictability.

  Except public schools were worse. They boxed kids up and spent all day stripping them of what it meant to be a kid. Don’t run and play, sit. Don’t talk, be silent. Hold your ideas and do as the teacher says or you’ll be shamed in front of your peers with a letter grade like a piece of raw meat. My experience in the public school system hadn’t been the best. Maybe I could get Remy into a private school. She deserved it. Now if only I could figure out how to afford it.

  Khaleda led me down a hallway to the right and stopped to knock on a classroom door before pulling it open. Hades stood on the teacher’s desk, flexing his enormous biceps in a Herculean pose while a photographer snapped pictures. Persephone sat at one of the student desks toward the front, scrolling on her phone, looking bored.

  Hades’ face lit up when he saw me. “Lazarus!” He jumped off the desk, letting papers fly around behind him. “Good to see you! How’ve you been?”

  Persephone lifted her cheek away from her fist and blinked. “What are you doing here? I thought you were injured.”

  I dodged the question, addressing Hades directly. “I came to tell you you’re in danger, Hades. Loki is sending someone to kill you. We need to get you into protective custody.”

  “Now?” Hades gestured to the photographer. “But I have more photos to pose for!”

  Persephone rose and gripped her husband’s arm. “The photos can wait. If Lazarus says you need to go now, you need to listen to him.” She turned to collect her purse. “Let’s go, Dear. Where to, Laz?”

  “No,” I said too fast and waved my hands. “I mean, we should split you two up. It’ll be easier to throw off Loki’s assassin. Persephone, you can go with Khaleda. I’ll take Hades out the back.”

  Persephone frowned.

  Come on. Buy it. I wasn’t very good at this “lying so I could kill a friend” act. Just thinking that hurt. I pushed that feeling down. There was no room for feelings and friendships when it came to murder. I had to be cold, calculating. This wasn’t about me anymore. I had to do this for Remy.

  Khaleda swept around to stand in front of me. “Are you sure?”

  I forced myself to meet her eyes and hold her gaze. “He’s after Hades, not Persephone, but give Loki half a chance and he’ll hurt her too. This is the best way to ensure Persephone doesn’t get caught in the crossfire. They need to be separated.”

  “He’s right.” Hades pulled Persephone to him and squeezed her. “If he gets to me, I need to be sure she’s safe. No matter what.”

  Persephone stepped back and nodded. “I trust you, Lazarus. If this is what you say is best, that’s what we’ll do.”

  Her words stung more than the kick Khaleda had delivered earlier. Don’t listen to me, you idiots. I bit my tongue. If I didn’t get Hades by himself, and pull out his soul, I might not get to Remy in time.

  Persephone might’ve trusted me but Khaleda could tell something was off. Her rigid posture said it all. She squinted at me, giving me another once-over as if she wasn’t sure I was me, and then opened the door to the classroom. “We’ll meet up later. This way, Persephone.”

  Persephone nodded and went through the door. Khaleda paused to give me another heavy look before going out with her.

  Alone with the king of the Greek underworld. He could’ve snapped my spine over his knee in a straight fight. The only chance I had was lying and sneaking around. I felt dirty.

  I walked over the door and opened it, making a show of checking the hallway before stepping back in. “It’s clear. This way, Hades.”

  We crept down the hallway, the lights flickering above us. Someone really needed to replace that light. Our footsteps echoed through the hall, too loud. If someone had truly been hunting us, they wouldn’t have had much trouble tracking us down. Or maybe that was just my heart pounding in my ears.

  Hades hugged the wall, glancing around nervously. “Has he sent one of the Horsemen?”

  I slid around the corner and waved for him to follow me. “He has several working for him and a list of names divided up between them. You won’t be safe until he’s dealt with.”

  “I was afraid of this.” He sighed and crept closer. “When I found the breach in Tartarus, I feared the worst, that he’d recruited the missing Titans to serve him.”

  Titans. Plural. That meant more were out there. “Which Titans are missing? How many?”

  Hades shook his head. “It’s hard to say for certain. I haven’t been able to go in and do a head count. I designed it to be a prison without a warden. They roam free inside the prison, Lazarus. Just four walls and magic to keep them at bay. There are three, four, maybe more who’ve broken out, but I don’t know which ones. Thankfully, the worst ones are still locked away. My people are repairing the prison as we speak, but it will take time. If Loki strikes again while it’s still under repair...”

  Not good. It’d taken almost everything I had just to deal with one Titan. If they all got loose, it’d be Hell on Earth for sure. I’d need help to put them back, and here I was burning that help to save my daughter. It was a catch-22. No matter what I did, I was screwed.

  Double doors with frosted glass windows stood at the end of the hallway. A red exit sign glowed above them. Once we went out those doors, chances were good someone else would spot us. No more putting it off. This was the hallway where I’d have to kill him.

  I took three steps down the hallway and stopped with my back to him.

  “Lazarus? Something wrong?” There was tension in Hades’ voice that hadn’t been there before.

  “There’s something I need to tell you, Hades.” My shoes squeaked on the floor as I turned to face him.

  Hades’ face was hard as stone. “There’s no assassin, is there?”

  “There is.” I made a fist and tensed. Last chance to back down.

  What if there was a way out of this that I wasn’t seeing? Maybe I could discover the information Loki was offering on my own, except I didn’t know how long that would take or where to begin. I’d already lost a week recovering from what Bizarro Laz had done to me. A week in Faerie was a long time.

  I’ve got no choice, I told myself again. Probably what most murderers told themselves before they struck. There was no way out.

  Hades was just inside my reach. If I moved fast, I could get him. I’d only have one shot, so I’d have to make it count.

  Here goes nothing. I sucked in a breath through my teeth, activated my Sight, and lashed out with my right hand, aiming straight for the soft spot at the bottom of the ribs where Hades’ golden soul glowed. My fingers sank into his flesh as if it wasn’t even there.

  Hades grabbed my arm and twisted it away before delivering a strike to my ribs that sent me flying. I hit the floor and slid several feet, scrambling to process what’d just happened. Before I could pull my thoughts together, Hades was gripping me by the shirt, pulling me up from the floor and into his fist. His punch left me half blind with pain. The taste of blood coated my tongue. He hit me again and again until my face felt like nothing more than a slab of wet meat slamming into a bulldozer.

&
nbsp; Eventually, he dropped me and stood. “Thank you for sending my wife away. It would’ve broken her heart to watch me kill you.” Hades gripped a long, metal pipe on the side of the wall and pulled. Steam rushed to fill the hallway as he yanked it free and spun it once before swinging it at my head.

  I flipped over onto my stomach, moving out of the way just before it landed. Hades lifted the pipe, revealing the huge dent he’d left in the floor. Yikes, that could’ve been my head. Note to self: don’t mess with the super buff Greek god of the dead. I should’ve just gone for the sneak attack. Me and my stupid attempt at giving him a semi-honorable death. I was so screwed. But I wouldn’t go down easy.

  I raised my hand and slammed my palm into the floor, infusing the ground with my will. Magic rolled under the floor tiles in waves, tossing Hades from his feet. He hit the floor with a curse, and I jumped up to run for it. I’d missed my chance, but if I could get him to chase after me, maybe I could still hit him by surprise. Rather than run through the double doors and out into the waiting crowds, I pushed through another door that led to a short set of stairs. Pipes and huge, vat-like appliances lined the small room at the bottom of the stairs. It had a low ceiling, so I couldn’t stand up straight, but then Hades wouldn’t be able to either.

  The pipes and appliances formed a sort of crossroads in the center of the room. I went to the right and pressed my back to the pipes, instantly regretting it. They were boiling hot.

  The door squealed when Hades jerked it open. Heavy footsteps made the stairs creak. He was coming after me. Good. “You can’t run, Lazarus. If that’s really you. Your friend, Josiah, told me to be on the lookout for someone who looked like Lazarus, but didn’t behave like him. I thought he’d lost his mind.”

  Hades came to the crossroads and stopped, peering down the left path. I tried to shrink further into the darkness, whispering a spell I hoped would keep me hidden. It might not work. Hades was a god after all. He turned right and stared straight at me for a moment. I held my breath until his eyes turned forward again.

  “The Lazarus I met wouldn’t betray someone who helped him.” He walked past the crossroads.

  I exhaled. He hadn’t seen me. Now for the hard part. As quietly as I could, I stepped out of the shadows behind Hades, blocking him in. “That’s where you’re wrong, Hades.”

  Hades spun around, wielding the pipe as if to strike me with it. Unfortunately for him, the passage was too low and he got it caught on one of the pipes crossing overhead. I thrust my hand into his chest and closed my fingers around his soul.

  “I’ll do anything to save the people I care about,” I said, and pulled out his soul.

  Hades eyes widened and his mouth formed a silent O. The pipe clattered to the floor and rolled off to the side. Hands shot out, gripping the black vest I’d borrowed, and Hades sank to his knees. His skin turned an ashen shade of gray and began to crumble. Like dry ash in a strong wind, Hades blew away, nothing left but the squirming golden soul in my hand.

  “Sorry, Hades.” I knelt and picked up the length of pipe he’d dropped before turning around just in time to see Josiah step off the bottom stair. My blood froze in my veins. If he attacked me, there was no way I could win. I’d gotten lucky with Hades. Taking on a half-angel with a blood magic specialty just wasn’t in me.

  He eyed the soul in my hand, pursed his lips and nodded. “Maybe you do want it bad enough. Let’s talk.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was dark when I pushed through the exit doors and stepped onto the blacktop of an empty playground. The red rays of dusk cut through billowing gray clouds while an icy wind blew through the playground, rattling chains and whispering over metal bars. I watched a crow fly overhead and land on the metal arm of the swing set. The long pipe I still held in my hand was so cold, it made my palm ache.

  Everything felt numb. Not just physically. I had killed a friend. It felt like I had turned on a tap and drained every ounce of who I was into the dirt.

  A dark shadow separated itself from the playground wall and a bony figure strode out onto the blacktop in front of me. Sunken, honey almond eyes stared at me. Short, dark hair shifted in the wind like sickly feathers. She wore a fringed shirt that left her midriff bare and black leggings that clung to her bony knees. A gnarled, black staff extended from her fist to the ground.

  I almost didn’t believe my eyes. Beth? In a few short months the bookish beauty I’d once loved had been transformed into a bulimic monster.

  “Is it done?” Beth rasped, her voice rough.

  My chest ached looking at her. “Christ, Beth. What’s he done to you?”

  She gritted her teeth. “This was your doing, Lazarus. I took up the mantle because you dragged me into your mess. You’ve ruined my life, just like you do to everyone who gets close to you. Now, is it done?”

  I hung my head and nodded limply. “It’s done.”

  “Prove it? Show me the soul.”

  I didn’t move.

  Beth gripped my shirt and yanked me close enough I felt her breath on my face. “Where is it, Lazarus?”

  I lifted my head and met her cold gaze with an icy one of my own. “Information first.”

  Beth’s eyes narrowed. She let me go and took a step back. “The deal was two names for your daughter’s location, and another for a means to save her.”

  “Those other two names can wait until after. I’ve made a pretty significant down payment.” I tightened my fist on the pipe. “Or, you can choose not to tell me and I can kill you where you stand. Save myself the trouble of taking you out later.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “The old Lazarus might not have, but I will. You pushed me too far.” I stepped forward, forcing her back a step. “I just killed a friend, someone who trusted me. Now you’re going to give me that information so I can save Remy, or I swear to you that I will kill you, Beth. What’s left of you, anyway. The Beth I knew died the day she accepted Loki’s offer.”

  Beth glanced up and down my body, calculating, deciding if I would do it. I didn’t know if I could. There was a part of me that still cared about Beth. I felt responsible for what happened to her and would’ve made it right if I could. But she’d made the decision. There was nothing I could do but end it when the time came. I knew I would have to be the one to kill her. Beth wouldn’t want it any other way.

  She raised her chin. “She’s in Faerie.”

  “Nice try. I figured that out already. What I want to know is where. Who has her? How do I get to her?” I circled Beth, forcing her to turn to keep up with me.

  “You know who had her taken.”

  I nodded. “Titania is my guess, but she didn’t do it herself, and she wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep Remy in the palace with her. Too many other fae objected to Remy’s existence. There’d be assassins trying to get to her. Plus, keeping Remy nearby would make her mortal. Titania isn’t stupid enough to make herself mortal out of sentimentality.”

  “The fetch she created. The thing that’s walking around pretending to be you? It took your daughter.” Beth turned so she could follow me with more than just her eyes. “Titania has spent the last few months building a castle at the edge of her territory for her granddaughter. A gilded prison, some might call it. That’s where she would’ve taken her.”

  So, Emma was right. It was a fetch.

  A prison. That meant guards, probably hundreds of them. To get to Remy, I’d have to cut through the full force of Summer. It wouldn’t be easy, but I’d do it to get my little girl back. I’d take care of Titania while I was there too if the opportunity presented itself. She would not stop coming for Remy, no matter how many of her people I killed.

  I stopped circling and planted the pipe. The sound made Beth flinch. “Tell me how to get to her.”

  Beth smirked. It was an effort to hide how terrified she was of me, one I saw right through. “I don’t have to give you that information until you kill another god. I’ve given you more than enough already.”


  “No, but you’re going to anyway.”

  Beth crossed her arms and canted her hip, raising an eyebrow. “You think you can take me?”

  I took two giant steps toward her. This time, Beth didn’t retreat but held her ground, letting me tower over her. “You and I both know I can.”

  She licked her lips. “The faeries hold a masquerade Tuesday night. Invite only. Very exclusive. Titania is planning on revealing Remy then, parading her in front of everyone as a show of power.”

  “See now? That wasn’t so hard.” I walked past Beth, headed for the exit from the playground.

  “You’ll want to get to her before then, Lazarus,” Beth called after me.

  I stopped mid-stride and turned back around to find her grinning at me.

  “They serve Faerie wine at the ball. One sip and she will belong to Faerie forever.”

  I shivered. That was the time limit Loki meant. I had to get to Remy before Titania made her eat or drink anything at that party. That meant getting to her while she was still in that tower in Faerie, and I still didn’t know how to get there.

  “Thanks.” I nodded and turned my back on her again.

  “Hey, what about that soul?”

  The metal gate to the playground screeched and groaned as I pushed it open. “I’d love to show it to you, but I don’t have it anymore. I gave it to a friend for safekeeping. You want to see it that bad, you’ll have to have your boss clear it with Manus Dei, since that’s who my friend works for now.”

  I could practically feel Beth fuming behind me. No way was Manus Dei going to let Loki have that soul. I doubted he’d even ask after it. Loki wouldn’t want to risk any ill will with one of his more tenuous allies. By giving the soul to Josiah, I’d moved it beyond his reach, and beyond mine too. I just hoped I’d made the right decision.

  I DIDN’T GO BACK TO Darius’ place. Going back there would mean facing Emma and I didn’t want to see her after what I’d done. It would get back to her somehow and I couldn’t bear looking her in the eye just yet.