“Neither do I,” he whispered back. “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave them like this.”
“I can take you to someone who can explain this better,” she said, raising her voice to include the girls. “Everyone join hands. I am going to take you to the queen.”
The three girls blushed shyly at the thought of going before a queen, but they obeyed Helen and the entire party linked hands in a circle. Helen had never tried to move so many people at once, but she knew she could do it.
Persephone seemed to be waiting for them. Or maybe she was just sitting in her garden, staring off into space—Helen couldn’t be certain. Whatever Persephone was doing, she was unsurprised by the arrival of Helen and Orion and the three newly made Eumenides.
She welcomed them all with her characteristic gentility. Without missing a beat or needing much of an explanation from Helen and Orion, Persephone took charge of the three sisters and promised to prepare them for their new life as something like supernatural defense attorneys. The first thing she offered the Eumenides was refuge in her palace, and the second was a bath. The three sisters nearly sighed with happiness at the idea of ridding themselves of the dust of the dry land.
Persephone led the party back to the edge of the garden where it ended at a grand staircase that led into the black Palace of Hades. At the bottom of the adamantine steps, Persephone stopped and politely informed Helen and Orion that they could go no farther. Halfway up the stairs she turned to address them in a formal manner. Helen had the feeling that this was some form of ritual, like a blessing, or maybe even a curse.
“Over the millennia, many have found that it was their fate to attempt to do what you have done. They all failed. Most Descenders and their Shields only wanted to kill the Furies, or to break the curse by using magic tricks and even blackmail. You were the only two who were humble enough to listen to my suggestion, and then brave enough to use compassion as a cure, rather than force. Hopefully, you’ll remember these lessons in the days to come.”
She suddenly raised her voice, like she was making an announcement to a large audience.
“I have witnessed this incarnation of the Two Heirs, and I say that they have been successful. As queen of the Underworld, I find them both worthy.”
Persephone’s words fell like stones.
Helen had the uncanny feeling that millions of ghostly eyes were watching and witnessing this oath. Taking her cue from Orion, Helen crossed her arms in an X over her chest and bowed to the queen. A rush of flowing minds surged past them like a whispering wind, leaving fragments of the deads’ fears, doubts, and hopes hanging in the air like half-finished questions. The ritual was complete.
“Worthy of what?” Helen whispered to Orion, but he shrugged distractedly, his attention captured by the dark door that led into the palace. A cloaked figured appeared from behind the locked door at the top of the stairs. Although he had been forbidden entry into the palace, Orion began to climb the stairs as if he was drawn to the apparition.
“No, Orion!” Helen scolded fearfully as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “It’s Hades. Don’t go anywhere near him.”
She clung to Orion, certain that something terrible would happen if the man and the god came face-to-face. Hearing the desperate note in Helen’s voice, Orion relented and came back down the stairs to join Helen at the bottom.
“Descender,” Hades said in a kindly voice, unruffled by Orion’s aggressive behavior. He spoke softly, yet the sound carried everywhere and his tone was disapproving. “You have not done as I suggested.”
“I apologize, sir.” Helen racked her brain for what it was that he had suggested. There were a lot of confusing images swimming around in there. A ride on the ferry from Nantucket to the mainland was blending with the wooden deck of a giant battleship and the sound of creaking oars. A walk on a white-sand beach turned into a beach stained red with blood under her feet. She blinked and tried to get rid of the mental pictures. She knew that she had seen them before, but didn’t know how or where.
“Be sure to remedy that, niece. The Scions are running out of time,” Hades warned her sadly as he and his queen disappeared into the shadows of their palace.
“What does that mean?” Orion asked, turning to Helen urgently. “What about the ‘Scions running out of time’?”
“I—I don’t know!” she stammered.
“Well, what did Hades suggest to you?” Orion was trying to stay calm, but she could see that he was really frustrated with her. “Helen, think!”
“I was supposed to ask the Oracle something!” she blurted out in a high-pitched voice. “Something about the quest.”
“What was it?”
“Something about asking Cassandra what she thought about freeing the Furies. I’m supposed to ask if she thought it was a good idea. But that’s silly because she’s been helping me do this, so of course she’s all for it!”
Orion frowned darkly, and Helen knew she had really messed up. Now that she thought about it, not taking a god’s advice seemed like an unbelievably dumb thing to do.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, feeling like an ass.
“Well, it’s too late, anyway. Besides, I don’t put that much faith in Oracles. Don’t worry about it,” he said dismissively. But he still wouldn’t look at her. Helen apologized again and promised to ask Cassandra as soon as she could, but Orion continued scowling at the ground, deep in thought. She reached out to touch his arm and get his attention.
But before she could do so, Helen felt herself getting picked up by a mile-wide hand. She lurched against Orion, grabbing on to him.
Matt lifted the unconscious woman off the street, opened an abandoned car door, and left her on the seat. Hopefully, she’d be safer in there than lying on the ground. There were a lot of people who had come to their senses after being trampled by the stampeding hordes, and they called out to him for help. Matt did what he could, but as soon as the most vulnerable were taken care of he ran off, feeling like he was betraying everyone he left behind.
He wanted to help them all, but he knew that first he had to find Zach, and he had to do that while he still had some strength. Every muscle in his chest and arms was aching, and some of them were beginning to twitch, just to let him know how unhappy they were with the boss’s new hobby of lugging unconscious people around.
Matt rubbed one of his many sore spots and spun in a circle. He had no idea which way to go. He remembered that Helen said she had last seen Zach heading down Surfside. Grasping at straws, Matt took off in that general direction, and ended up following a hunch that led him straight to the school grounds.