Page 50 of Eris

"And the day's not even over yet," Enzo said.

They pulled into an empty parking lot minutes later. There was a boom gate across the road leading further in. The small building that was a gift shop and meeting point was locked up for the night. A huge wooden horse statue stood watchfully at the entrance into the park. Stray dogs came to sniff at them and the car, but the whole place seemed empty except for them and the ghosts.

Enzo was light-headed, but he still picked up the palladium to carry in. Eris was looking about them, alert and wary, her eyes shining with magic.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked her in a whisper. He didn't know why he was being so quiet when it was only them, butthe moment and the moonlight glowing on the pale stones made everything sacred.

"Only a lot of regret," Eris replied. "Follow me. They found the remnants of the temple of Athena this way." She summoned her eerie silver flames once more and sent them ahead of them to light their path.

The palladium started to hum in his hands, and Enzo held it closer like he would a distressed child. "It's going to be okay, Atana. We are almost there now," he murmured.

Fresh blood was running from his nose and splattering onto the wood. He didn't tell Eris, just kept following her tall shadowy figure in the pale light. Flashes of memory bombarded him—images of the city when it was thriving, full of people laughing and music being played. The memories shifted to the city burning, the smell of the slaughterhouse in the air.

The temple to Athena rose up fully restored in one of Enzo's eyes, and in the other, there was nothing but foundation stones. He moved past Eris, following his visions of the past to where the palladium had once sat on an altar. It was wrapped in beaten gold with sacrifices, offerings, and incense at its feet.

"Lady Athena, Great Atana, we honor you," Enzo said, his mouth moving of its own accord. He swiped the blood from his nose and touched it to the wood. "With the ancient blood of the ones you once loved, we free you."

Enzo staggered back from the palladium, and Eris's strong arms caught him. "Easy, I have you," she said, and they lowered to the cold stone.

Enzo's heart was beating out of his chest. Ancient power thrummed from the palladium, and the wood splintered with a horrible cracking sound. A ghostly figure of the goddess rose from the broken wood.

"Are you seeing this too?" he whispered.

"Yes. It's her. Atana Potinija," Eris replied.

The ghostly goddess stretched out an arm that was twined with a golden snake and touched Enzo on the head. He tried to touch her back, but with a small smile, she disappeared. The pressure that had been in his head for days vanished, and Enzo collapsed in Eris's arms, his world spinning before all went dark.

Eris clutchedEnzo tighter to her. There was so much blood on his face and chest. "Enzo? Please wake up," she begged, giving him a small shake.

"He will not," a voice said, crackling with age. The Fates were standing in the broken pieces of the palladium. "Some things should not be seen with mortal eyes, and he has already witnessed too much."

Eris wiped at the tears on her cheeks. "Please, he was helping with the task you set for him! Give him back. I'll do anything, Antropos."

The eldest of the Fates looked at her with endless eyes. "Would you keep your curse in exchange for this mortal's life?"

Eris looked down at the man in her arms. Enzo had made her feel more accepted and more loved in a few weeks than she had ever felt before. She thought of his cheeky little smile and the look on his face when he had told her that he loved her.

"Yes. I will keep my curse if you fix whatever this magic is over him. Give him back," Eris said, looking back at the Fates.

"Finally, she gets it!" Clotho chimed, her childlike voice high and excited.

Eris held Enzo closer to her. "What do you mean? I get what?"

Atropos gripped Eris's chin in her old, bony hand. "That it's not always about you."

"You are a goddess, and thousands died because of your hurt feelings," Lachesis said from beside Atropos. "As a goddess, every action you take has consequences. You were not invited to a wedding, so you caused a war that broke the balance in the ancient world. The universe must have balance, so you were cursed to right the scales of all those souls whose blood soaked this earth."

Eris shut her eyes against the tears and emotions flooding her. "I know, and I amsorry. I deserved the curse. I resented it, but I understood. I'll keep it."

"Child, you don't need to anymore. We release you," Atropos said, and Eris looked up.

Clotho grabbed something invisible by Eris's head, and the golden threads of the curse lit up around her like she was in a cocoon. Clotho laughed merrily and started to dance around her, and the golden threads unraveled. Eris heaved in her first easy breath in thousands of years. Her power filled her, and it felt untainted and fresh in her fingertips.

"What about Enzo?" she asked, but when she looked up, the Fates were gone.

Panic and agony laced through her, her power lashing out in fury. The shadows wrapped around them, and she teleported them to her house in Elysium.

The underworld shuddered at her arrival. The wards around Elysium hummed in warning that they were unsure whether she was a threat or not. She was an ancient force birthed in Tartarus, and she was heartbroken.

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