Page 3 of Chaos Unleashed

“Er, Hades,” Loki starts, “maybe you want to fix that? He’s pissed as fuck.”

Before Hades can say anything, at this point, I think it would be difficult to reason with him anyway; Poca reappears. He takes one look at Khaos, and I expect him to disappear again because to be honest, if I could, I would in this situation. Instead, I swear he sighs.

“Did Poca just roll his eyes?” Mayhem mutters incredulously.

“Pretty sure he did,” Reaper replies, the growl of Ryu slightly evident in his tone.

We all watch in shock as Poca grows in size and stalks toward Khaos. He jumps in front of him with a bone-shaking growl, and I step forward, wanting to rescue him from Khaos's wrath. Farren would be heartbroken when we got her back if Khaos had killed him, and murderous. We will be getting her back.

It turns out that my interference isn’t needed though as Khaos is once again pulled up short.

His head tilts to the side as he studies Poca, and then he grins, kneeling down and giving Poca some love. Even Hades looks confused.

“Cerb, my old friend, I almost didn’t recognise you. What are you doing up here?” Khaos asks, only adding to our confusion.

“Wait, Cerberus?” Hades questions.

My eyebrows hit my hairline as Poca sighs. Magic covers him and obscures him from view, and when we can finally see him again, I am shocked at his appearance. Standing in front of us is the three-headed dog from all of the legends, and he looks formidable. His swirling patterns that were built into his fur and that glowed when he was in his hellhound form are now swirling with the different colours of hellfire. It looks impressive, and he is kicking off a hell of a lot of power.

“You know what, I don’t even want to go there right now,” I say and then add more urgently, “Can we please go back to the castle and discuss how we’re going to rescue Farren?”

“The princes took one of yours?” Khaos asks, violence flashing in his eyes.

“Storm is right. Come on, let's head back.” Hades says and then clicks his fingers; just like that, we’re back at his home, in one of the massive drawing rooms.

“Dude, please tell me you couldn’t have done that the entire time?” Loki asks.

Hades shakes his head, “No, I could only move me. I wouldn’t have been able to move all of you.”

“Is the silencing spell completely lifted?” Rival asks curiously.

Hades thinks about it for a second, no doubt checking in with his magic to see, “I think so, but I’m not going to know for certain until someone asks me something, and I can’t reply.”

“Can we please get to Farren now?” Zev practically begs.

That swirling pit of unease hasn’t left my stomach, and the more I think about her being in the Underworld, the more worried that her being alive isn’t going to be the case for much longer.

“You said that if she ran into someone from the Underworld, then it would be very bad for her?” Kill questions.

“Yes, and that’s why we need to get going as quickly as we can,” Hades replies, “They will have taken her back to the castle, and there are most likely still Helliers there that tortured us last time. They will remember her; she put up one hell of a fight, and the princes were particularly interested in her. When we escaped, we didn’t exactly do it quietly, and Helliers don’t forget.”

“Wait, are these my Helliers?” Khaos asks, anger in his tone.

“Not yours any longer, friend. They don’t hold your values now,” Hades explains.

“Whose Farren? What were you doing in your own prison?” Khaos asks.

“Here,” Hades says simply and touches Khaos’s forehead for a brief moment.

Khaos’s eyes widen as he studies Hades, “Well, that was certainly unexpected. I couldn’t see Farren in your memories, but I understand what she means to you and what she’s been through. I also understand that I owe her a debt for saving your life.”

Hades looks confused, “What do you mean you couldn’t see her? I showed you with no barriers.”

“You did? Well, I couldn’t see her,” Khaos replies, not seeming to be too bothered by it. “So, that’s how you broke the silencing spell on you?”

Hades shrugs, “Yeah, apparently nothing I nor any of the other very powerful supes I know . . .”

Mayhem interrupts him, his eyes widening, “Shit, you mean Gods, don’t you? You know, Gods and Goddesses.”

---