Page 11 of A Touch of Chaos

“Tell me of those who escaped,” she said, the dread in her chest thickening.

There was a moment of heavy silence.

“There were few, my lady,” said Thanatos. “But among them, Cronos.”

Cronos was the God of Time, but specifically he had influence over its destructive nature. She did not know what that meant for the world above, but she would worry about that later. Right now, they had to make plans for present threats.

“And the others?” she asked.

She noted how Thanatos seemed to hesitate as he answered. “The others are my brother and Prometheus.”

Persephone’s brows rose at the news, though she could not say she was surprised that Hypnos had taken the opportunity to flee the Underworld. She had only recently met the God of Sleep, and he’d made it clear that he did not live in the Underworld by choice. He’d been relegated to its darkness by Hera, who blamed him for her failed attempts to overthrow Zeus.

“Everyone else who escaped Tartarus was captured,” said Charon. “Many of them made it no farther than the Styx.”

Persephone was not surprised. The river was not crossable except by boat. She had found out the hard way when she’d attempted to swim it upon her first venture into the Underworld. The dead who lived there had dragged her into its dark depths. If it hadn’t been for Hermes, she would have drowned.

Persephone looked at Hecate, who knew the Titans best.

“What does it mean that Cronos and Prometheus have escaped?”

“Cronos is a vengeful god, but he will not act quickly,” said Hecate. “He needs worshippers to be effective, and he knows this. Prometheus is harmless, mostly. The real concern is how the Olympians will react when they learn of their escape.”

Persephone did not imagine they would react well. While quite a few had fought alongside her and Hades, half had stood against them, though she did not think they were all motived by the same thing. Some, like Ares, merely sought battle to satisfy their bloodlust.

Zeus, on the other hand, had wanted to put a stop to his oracle’s prophecy. Pyrrha had said that Persephone’sunion with Hades would produce a god more powerful than Zeus himself. Though the God of the Sky had managed to foil similar prophecies, she wondered now if he had failed to understand this one. Was it Cronos who was destined to become more powerful than Zeus upon his reentry into the world, his wrath a product of his imprisonment in Tartarus?

“How much time do we have?” Persephone asked.

“If I were to guess, I think it is likely Theseus will try to use Hades to lure Cronos out of hiding,” said Hecate. “The sooner we find him, the better.”

Dread filled Persephone’s heart. She did not want to imagine what that meant for Hades.

“Theseus has my ring,” Persephone said. “Can you track it?”

“I will try,” Hecate said.

Do more than try, Persephone wanted to say, but she knew Hecate was just being cautious. The goddess did not want to overpromise given that she already could not sense Hades’s magic.

Persephone looked at the others.

“In the meantime, I want Theseus’s men,” she said. “I’ll torture my way through them until one of them tells us where Hades is.”

“We’re on it, Seph,” said Apollo.

“We will bring him home, my lady,” said Ilias.

She swallowed hard, her eyes watering.

“Promise me,” she said, her voice trembling.

“Hades is my king and you are my queen,” said Ilias. “I will go to the ends of the earth to bring him home for you…for all of us.”

“Just one question,” Hermes said as he drew hisblade, a menacing expression on his face. “Do you want them dead or alive?”

“Let them choose their fate,” she said. “Either way, they come to me.”

Those words trickled down her spine. They were similar to ones Hades had spoken to her the night they’d met.

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