Page 75 of As Darkness Fall
“I don’t know,” Aaron said stiffly. “I don’t know.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Well, we can’t just stand around here and do nothing,” I pointed out.
Aaron nodded. “You’re right. That won’t get us anywhere.”
I waited for him to continue, to outline what we would do differently as we proceeded farther into Hades’s domain. Hell being dead wasn’t our problem, as far as I was concerned. Certainly not mine, at least. I wasn’t about to let it stop us from getting the Idol back. There was too much on the line for us to turn back now.
One by one, the heads of the group turned to look at me. First, it was Aaron. Then Fred. Finally, even Vir was looking at me, all of them waiting.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“What’s the plan?” Fred asked when neither of the other two spoke up.
I stared. Were they truly turning tomefor orders? I wasn’t in charge of this group. Not when two immortals were with us. They had more experience than I would ever have when it came to this. Why weren’ttheymaking the decisions?
But neither Vir nor Aaron volunteered any ideas. They stayed silent, letting me call the shots. It was almosttoocoordinated to be natural. What the hell were they up to? I made a mental note to revisit this subject when I had time. I was missing something here.
“We push on,” I growled, putting action to word and stepping past them, going farther down the trail and leading the way deeper into the depths of the Underworld.
I’d gotten about five steps when I clued in that it was only my footsteps I heard. Coming to a halt, I looked back to see that I was the only one who had moved.
“We came here for the Idol, people,” I said. “We’re not leaving without it. Empty Underworld or not. I’m not going to let my parents suffer any longer.”
Silence greeted me as I walked back to them.
“What would you do, then?” I asked the group, slowly swinging my eyes over them. “Would you turn around and go back, is that it?”
There was still no answer to my questions.
“We need to learn more, right? About what’s going on?”
Aaron nodded unhappily. Fred just looked on. I got the feeling he didn’t care what we did. He would just go along with whatever was said. Vir was still silent, but there was something in the way he gazed at me. Something different. I couldn’t place it, and frankly, we didn’t have time for me to puzzle out a god.
“Then, we push on,” I said. “Going back won’t teach us anything new, will it? All it will mean is this mystery will linger. Who knows, maybe we can even do some good by being here.”
“She’s right,” Vir said.
I smiled tightly at him, grateful for his support.
“Aaron,” I said as something came to me, “where did you and Hades exchange the Idol? Was it here? Was it like this when you last came here? If this is a recent change, that might help us figure it out.”
Like, a cynical side of me thought,whether or not this is a trap. Perhaps Hades knew we were coming and had just been preparing this for us all along…
“No,” Aaron said. “He came to my realm. It was easier that way.”
He declined to elaborate, and I didn’t press him on it. Right now, it didn’t matter.
“Okay. Whenwasthe last time either of you was here?” I asked.
Vir snorted. “You know that I’ve been trapped in the Direen for a thousand years. Sightseeing wasn’t really a priority when I had to defend my realm.”
I tried not to think of the fact that I’d accidentally pulled Vir back to Earth with me, leaving his realm undefended and vulnerable to the mysterious invaders who had been trying for centuries to conquer it. Now really wasn’t the time to consider all the bad things that might come about from that.
“It’s been a long time for me as well,” Aaron said quietly. “And it wasn’t like this.”
“Fine,” I told them. “Then we move forward. Fred, any objections?”
