Page 86 of Dead End

“You really haven’t recovered all your memories, have you?”

I looked at her blankly. “What do you mean?”

She waved a hand. “We need none of those things. Carry on.”

As fatigued as I was, I retraced my original steps. My thighs were on fire by the time we reached the back gate. I noticed Hestia hesitate.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Remember nothing inside can hurt you.”

“That isn’t my concern.”

It was then that I realized—she didn’t fear what might happen to her in Tartarus. She feared bearing witness to what was happening to those already inside. Then she would no longer be able to plead ignorance.

I urged her forward. “Let’s go.”

The screams of despair pierced the air as we entered. Hestia kept her gaze focused exclusively on the path ahead.

“This way,” I said, guiding her away from the more active area to the black hill from my dream. I pointed to the jagged crack that separated me from my parents. “They’re inside this cave.”

Hestia examined the crack in the hill. “You’re certain?”

“Yes, I can squeeze in, but I can’t get two bodies out. I’m not sure how they got through.”

My aunt straightened. “I control this realm, which means everyone and everything in it. Tartarus answers to me.” Without touching the hill, she made a pulling gesture with her hands. The crack widened, leaving a hole large enough to drive my pickup truck through, which was a good thing because my father was very tall.

I rushed through the gap and dropped to my knees beside my parents. “Mom. Dad. I’m here. I brought help.”

Hestia clapped a hand over her mouth. “Merciful Zeus.”

I craned my neck to look at her. “It’s them, isn’t it? I’m not wrong.”

“I can’t tell by the state they’re in, but I do sense their presence.”

“I don’t know how we’ll carry them all the way to the palace,” I said.

“My dear, what did I tell you? I control everyone and everything in this realm. Move aside.”

I rose to my feet. She clasped my parents’ hands together and held my father’s other hand. “Take your mother’s hand, then take mine.”

Together, we formed a disfigured circle. I felt a whoosh; my eyes closed, my body lightened, and I found myself in a room I hadn’t seen before. It was the underworld equivalent of a spa treatment center, complete with the calming sound of a waterfall in the background.

My parents were now on separate beds, side by side.

“Do you have a healer on staff?” I asked.

“This is the underworld, my darling. Why would we need a healer?”

“There must be someone here who can help.”

“I have an idea. Wait here.”

I stood and concentrated on the soothing sound of the waterfall. To come this far and not be able to save them…

I banished the thought. Now was the time for hope, not despair. I pulled a chair between their beds and sat. I held my mother’s hand first. Questions burned my tongue.

Had The Corporation trapped them there? It seemed unlikely. No one in Paradise had the authority to control Tartarus, and most of the deities there would have qualms about entering in the first place, concerned they’d be unable to leave.

Now that I thought about it, it was strange that The Corporation had yet to contact me here, especially given their stated desire to put me on the throne as their puppet. There was a chance the message I sent had gone astray. If that was the case, then Fairhaven was still in danger if they sent gods to hunt me down.

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