Timeless by Josephine Angelini

Author:Josephine Angelini [angelini, Josephine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798985581058
Publisher: Sungrazer Publishing

Chapter 10

They were standing in a field at night. The dark grass was speckled with little white flowers. Helen knew where they were—the Fields of Asphodel in Hades. For the first time she realized that she had recreated this very field in her Everyland, except in daylight; and that the star-like flowers that speckled her sun-drenched land were asphodels.

She looked around, dread suddenly dragging down on her. There were only three ways into Hades, and Lucas had used none of them. He didn’t have to, Helen realized, because Hades was his.

Faced with the unavoidable, Helen had no choice but to start putting the pieces of the Lucas Puzzle together.

“Only a Worldbuilder can make portals,” she said, looking right into his eyes.

“Or someone who had sworn on the River Styx to replace one of the Worldbuilders,” Lucas replied in a dull voice. “I wouldn’t make a very useful Hand of Darkness if I wasn’t given all of Hades’ powers.”

Helen nodded. This explained how he navigated the Underworld so well. How he knew where Cronus and Hecate were, and even Ladon. Anything that brushed against the Underworld was a part of Lucas’ world now.

“Your vow to replace Hades, when you traded yourself for Hector,” she whispered. Her breath seemed to shrink in her lungs. “When did this start?”

“My eighteenth birthday. When I reached the age of manhood—for Scions, anyway—the dead judged me again and decided that my compassion for others had grown. And I was found worthy.” Lucas breathed a laugh. “Hades tried to help. He argued on my behalf, so that I could get to ease into it slowly, and so the dead are letting me live the daylight hours with you. For now.”

Helen’s eyes were hot and the image of him blurred with fast-rising tears. “For now? How long do we have?”

“Until you go off to college,” he said, keeping her gaze as Helen’s tears spilled over and she sobbed aloud. He didn’t look away.

“And then?”

“And then that’s it.” He swallowed hard. “I won’t be able to leave again.”

“Why?” Helen bargained. “Time doesn’t matter here. We could go back and forth.”

Lucas shook his head. “Hades isn’t like Olympus or Everyland. The place is him. That’s why they have the same name. When I replace him, I become this.” He gestured to the Fields of Asphodel. “There’s no leaving myself. Have you ever seen Hades anywhere but Hades?”

Helen shook her head. “There has to be a way out if it.”

“I swore on the River Styx to replace Hades,” Lucas said, his voice shaking. But he still didn’t look away. “There is nothing anyone can do to get me out of it. It’s done, Helen.”

She dropped her head. “I thought we’d have years—centuries—to figure it out,” she sobbed.

“I did too,” he said, his eyes remote, though they never left Helen. “I didn’t want to tell you because I kept hoping I would find another way. But there’s nothing…”

He trailed off, still holding Helen’s hands in his as he watched her weep. Helen realized he was punishing himself this way.

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