Chapter Thirty-One

Was she trying to out-shock me? It was working. I pushed myself off the floor. Lindsay hadn't moved, hadn't relaxed in the slightest.

She didn't elaborate on her profound statement. I know she was waiting for me to ask. I gave in.

"Don't leave me hanging!"

Lindsay's face split into a wicked grin. "How badly to you want to know?"

I was fairly certain that it was poison in my system and it might very well kill me by slowly choking off my brain until it couldn't tell my body how to function at all. I think badly pretty much covers it. "Tell me."

"It's the reason that you've been able to bring out the Fury on occasion, to bring out the aspect of the Fury in transformation. What he's been putting in those bars is the thing that's wiped your memories, the most human part of you." She started to laugh as she spoke. "It's the thing that gave you the power to kill a god, albeit a weakened one, if that's what indeed happened—which I still don't believe, by the way.

"It's me. My blood, my Fury essence is suffocating your humanity."

There was no coming back from this point. How do you even respond to that? It made me feel like a vampire. A dirty, clueless, stupid vampire.

The worst part was that I had eaten them continually for days. Days. I wanted to puke.

"Why?" I squeaked out. "Why would he do that? Why would you?"

"Because believe it or not, I want you to succeed. I don't want to die in this war," she said seriously, "and I don't think we can win. I will be there to pull Hades from the field to safety when the time comes."

So all this time she had been pushing me, aggravating me to make me a better Fury? It sounded like the purest blend of bullshit.

The room stayed silent for a while. I had nothing to say to Lindsay, who fed me her blood in hopes of turning me into a monster. Gregory was far from my favorite person—though I admit that I trusted him more than I trusted Lindsay, in that moment and in every moment. I knew that if push came to shove, Gregory would barbeque Lindsay before he would hurt me.

They kept me in the dark as much as they possibly could but I like to think that, given the choice, all of my Underworld companions would choose me over Lindsay.

"Hades and all of the gods, past and present, are weakened by the disappearance of the Nectar." Gregory finally filled the silence, perhaps spurred by Lindsay's prediction of our chances. "They are all increasingly worried with each passing day that the ambrosia is not returned. The Nectar of the Gods is what gives them life. Without it, they will die true deaths. They are old and have lived far too long to be granted painless, easy passage into the next life."

According to Hector, Hades had slipped away peacefully, so for once Gregory was wrong. I didn't care enough to gloat.

"And so because you don't think we, the army of Hades, can win this war, you are willing to let me take the Fury's position at the head of the troops. How noble of you," I mused out loud, not really addressing anyone specifically. Noble, like the gods were acting noble in trying to restore the Nectar to its rightful place in the clouds. To their credit, I would do the same; I would rather be remembered for my valiant attempt to find the Nectar than my complacency in waiting to die for lack of it. "Hector knows who stole it. He says he doesn't know where it is, but he knows who stole the Nectar from Olympus."

The door opened at that moment. I looked up to see Alex push her way into the room, carrying a bundle under her arm, dark and leathery, and four pairs of boots tied together over her shoulder. "Of course he knows; we all know who stole it."

Excuse me while I go bash my head into these mirrors. "Once again everyone knows everything before I do. Who is it?"

Lindsay stood and walked to Alex, yanking the bundle from under the other girl's arm. It came apart in the air on its way to the ground: the wad had been clothing to accompany the boots slung over her shoulder. More specifically, it was a bunch of uniforms with cuffs and leather plates and all.

None of them seemed surprised by this oddly-timed gift.

"Can't tell you that," Alex said. I had to remind myself that no one in the room was required to tell me anything no matter how much I wanted them to get over themselves and give up their secrets. "We're under orders not to speak of it or face the threat of creative punishment."

Gregory picked up one of the discarded uniforms, black leather with a gold-tinged symbol on the chest plate. It looked like a simply drawn goblet, a line crossing it at the base and a circle in the cup. It meant nothing to me. "Hector made it clear that whatever they to do the thief will be tame compared to what he'd do to us if anyone learns what we know," he said.

"The gods enjoy long-lasting punishments. They may banish the thief to a decedent feast he is never allowed to eat. They might string him to a mountain and have birds poke out his eyes every day or force him to spend eternity pushing a rock up a mountain, only to have it roll back down when he reaches the top. I don't want to be on the receiving end of their 'creativity'." Alex spoke as she tugged on black pants and leather pieces over her calves that didn't look very protective to me before lacing up a pair of the boots. She continued to dress, donning another leather piece that covered her chest, back and shoulders.

Her unfolded wings received no leather covers.

It was completely foreign to me, each piece looked less protective than the last. I gaped at their nonchalant way of donning the leather pieces of armor; just another day in the Underworld.

Did they expect me to wear one of those?

"I thought maybe they would just kill him."

"Or her." Lindsay lazily picked through the pile of armor on the floor. Once satisfied, she removed her top in favor of one that covered her torso from neck to belly button and a stiff leather breastplace. "You can't rule out that it might be a woman, Autumn. Or several people. It could even be one of the monsters that precede gender. It might have been a god."

Great, so that means everyone is a suspect and you've been very helpful in narrowing down the list—not.

"That's the problem with going to war over the missing ambrosia: it could have been anyone, gods included." Gregory finished tying a cuff on his forearm and admired his reflection. The thought crossed my mind that if he were to change shapes and be a dragon again, he would not need the leather armor: he would be armor. "Nobody has any clue—except, as the rest of the gods suspect, Hades. It means everyone suspects everyone, but they are all pointing fingers at the Underworld. The result leaving us outnumbered against Olympus today."

"Today?" I couldn't have heard correctly. War certainly couldn't be starting today. We hadn't discussed any concrete deadlines. Nobody should be gearing up to march to war and yet here we were, doing just that.

I should have had days to finish preparing; hours at least. There was always more time, why did the gods have to rush everything?

Oh, right; Ares was killed by someone in the Underworld. That would have been the tipping point, the final straw that broke the tenuous peace and brought about the impending war.

Oops.

Alex looked at her partner and then to me. "I just left Hades. Zeus is tired of waiting. Something about Jasper and a message from Olympus and we're screwed. We have until dawn to give up the thief and the Nectar or they attack." She spoke as if I should have known this already. Like always, I was the last to be informed of anything even remotely important.

"I was getting to that part." Lindsay adjusted her sleeveless top in the mirror, ran her fingers through her hair, examining the reflection of a woman unconcerned about the battle before her. "Hades has ordered the army to mobilize. We are officially at war. Oh," she smiled evilly at me in the mirror, "and he doesn't want you there."

All around me the people I had grown fond of were readying themselves for a battle in a flurry of focused movements and I stood immobile, dumbstruck. We had been training for what felt like weeks and without batting an eye they were prepared to leave me behind.

Add that to the list of all the things wrong with me: murderous, poisoned, and now, unwanted.

"Autumn, did you hear me? Hades no longer wants you." Lindsay's voice displayed no passion or enjoyment. Though she had admitted that she no longer wanted the job, she no longer had a choice.

If he didn't want me, he should have told me himself. Hector may not want me there but he was going to have to get over it. Fury or no Fury, this is where I needed to be.

"Yeah, I heard you. Alex," I approached her, determined not to be left behind again, "You brought enough for me, right?"

"That's my girl; I knew you wouldn't stay behind." She smiled at me. "Get dressed."