Hades (18 page)

pale and bloated became visible. Pale moonlike disks

surrounded us, floating like buoys on the surface of the

river. I leaned out of the dinghy, squinting to make out what

the queer shapes were and clapped a hand over my mouth

to stifle a scream when I saw they weren’t buoys but

disembodied heads. Al around us cold, dead faces

bobbed in the water, their hair fanning like seaweed, their

vacant eyes staring straight at us. The one closest to me

had once been a woman, but now her skin was puckered

and gray like she’d spent too much time in the bath. The

severed head knocked ghoulishly against the side of the

boat. I swal owed back the questions on the tip of my

tongue when Tucker threw me a warning look.

When he moored the boat near a flat outcrop of rock, I

leapt out grateful y. We were standing in an alcove that was

about the size of a smal inlet. In the center was a body of

water shimmering like diamonds. It flowed into several

tributaries to an unknown destination. It was so clear I could

see straight through to the pebbled floor. The rocks where

we stood had been worn smooth as silk. I gave Tucker a

questioning glance, unsure whether it was safe to speak yet

or not.

“This is the place I was tel ing you about,” he said. “This

here is the Lake of Dreams.”

“The one that wil take me back home?” I asked,

remembering our last conversation that had been cut short

by Jake’s arrival.

“Yes,” Tuck said. “Not physical y, of course. But you’l be

able to go there in your mind.”

“So what now?”

“If you drink a mouthful, you’l be able to see what your

heart most desires. The water acts like a drug, only it stays

in your bloodstream for ages. You’l be able to project

anytime, anywhere.”

I didn’t need further encouragement. I moved quickly to

kneel at the lake’s edge and scooped the crystal-clear

water into the palm of my hand. Without hesitating I raised

my cupped hand to my mouth and drank eagerly.

A gentle hypnotic hum began in the air like the whirring of

cicadas. I leaned in closer scanning the surface of the

water for a sign. Looking into the lake made me feel

disconnected from my body, as if I were fal ing under a

spel . Suddenly I had a sensation very much like being hit in

the chest with a punching bag. When I exhaled, I saw my

own breath like a glowing orb. It hovered in front of me just

inches from the water. Inside it, thousands of tiny bal s of

white light skittered furiously. I watched the orb descend

slowly and disappear.

“Don’t worry,” I heard Tucker whisper. “The lake is

reading your memories so it knows where to take you.”

For a while nothing happened and there was only the

sound of our combined breathing. Tucker was talking to

me, but his voice was muffled. Then I couldn’t hear him at al

and realized why. I was looking down at him from above.

The lake and its surroundings began to dissolve although I

knew I was stil physical y there.

A panic began to rise as a new location formed around

me. At first it appeared pixelated, like a photograph

someone had tried unsuccessful y to enlarge. But when it

came slowly into focus, I was no longer afraid.

Instead I felt a rush of emotion so powerful it felt like

tumbling headlong into a whirlpool. I was going home.

11

Reunion

THE kitchen at Byron Street was exactly as I remembered

it; large and airy with views of the frothy ocean on every

side. I was standing in the middle of it with al my senses

functioning and yet I knew I was only a spectator watching

from the sidelines. I could move freely in the space and yet I

wasn’t part of it. It was like watching the opening of a movie

from inside the screen. It was early morning. I could hear

birdsong as wel as the whistling of the kettle on the bench

top. The French doors were open and someone was

mowing the grass at Dol y Henderson’s place next door.

There was a tiered cake plate with iced cupcakes that I

remembered Ivy baking some days before I’d disappeared.

They hadn’t been touched and looked stale now. A vase of

wilting cornflowers also sat on the bench, a reminder of the

cheerful place the kitchen had been just a few days earlier.

In the next second the scene burst into life. Xavier was

sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, just a

few meters from me. His posture drew my attention

because I’d never seen him slumped over like this before.

He was wearing a familiar fitted gray T-shirt and

sweatpants, but the stubble on his face suggested he

hadn’t made it to bed that night.

I wil ed myself to move closer to him and was excited to

find I could do it without too much effort. The proximity was

dizzying. I wanted so badly to reach out and touch him, but I

couldn’t. My ghostly self had no substance and my hand

passed straight through him. Xavier looked different. I

couldn’t see his face properly, but his shoulders and the

muscles in his forearms were tense. I could feel the sense

of grief hanging in the room.

The scent of freesia wafted past me, a fragrance I knew

only too wel . My sister appeared in the doorway and

looked at Xavier with concern. Ivy appeared as angelic and

composed as ever, but the uncharacteristic crease in her

brow betrayed her. I could see she was overcome with

worry.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked Xavier gently.

“No, thanks,” he replied. He sounded distracted, as if his

mind were far away, and he barely raised his head.

“Gabriel’s gone back to visit the Knox place,” Ivy

continued. “He thinks he might pick up some clues.”

Xavier was too lost in his own brooding thoughts to reply.

Ivy came to stand beside him. Reading his mood, she

placed a tentative hand on his arm. He jerked at her touch,

not al owing himself to be comforted.

“We mustn’t lose heart. We’l find her.”

Xavier raised his head to look at her. His face was paler

than I’d ever seen it and there were circles under his bright

blue eyes. His lips were pressed into a hard line. He looked

forlorn, consumed by his grief. I wanted to reach out and

take his face in my hands, to tel him that I was okay—

trapped, lonely and miserable but otherwise unharmed. I

might not be in his arms where we both wanted me to be,

but I was coping. I was surviving.

“How?” he said after a long interval. He struggled to keep

his voice even. “We have no idea where he’s taken her …

or what he’s doing to her.” That last thought proved too

much and his voice cracked.

I felt a cold lump of dread rise in my throat. If they had no

idea where I was, what hope did they have of ever finding

me? Neither Gabriel nor Ivy had actual y witnessed my

disappearance so al they had to go on was Xavier’s

sketchy report of what he’d seen before Jake had run him

down. As far as they knew I might be held hostage in some

remote corner of the globe.

“Gabriel’s working on it,” Ivy said, trying to sound

confident. “He’s good at figuring things out.”

“Shouldn’t we be there with him?” Xavier said helplessly.

“He knows what to do, what signs to look for.” There was

an awkward lul in their conversation when al that could be

heard was the ticking of the hal clock.

“It’s my fault,” Xavier said final y. Saying the words out

loud seemed to offer him some relief. “I should have been

able to protect her.” His eyelashes looked wet with tears,

but he brushed them away before Ivy could see them.

“No human stands a chance against that sort of power,”

said my sister. “You can’t blame yourself, Xavier. There’s

nothing you could have done.” Xavier shook his head

adamantly.

“Yes, there is,” he said through gritted teeth. “I could have

stayed with her. If I hadn’t been fooling around down at the

lake, none of this would have happened.” He curled his

hands into tight fists and swal owed hard. “Don’t you see? I

promised I’d look after her and I let her down.”

“You didn’t know. How could you know? But you can help

Beth now by not fal ing apart. Be strong for her sake.”

Xavier squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

“Gabe’s back,” said Ivy, way before the key even turned

in the lock. Xavier rose from his chair and seemed to falter

forward. Minutes later Gabriel appeared in the kitchen.

Even though he was my brother and I knew him as wel as

anyone could, his radiance stil made me gasp. His perfect,

marblesculpted features were severe. His silver eyes were

solemn and his face grave.

“Any luck?” asked Ivy.

“I think I found something,” Gabriel said hesitantly. “It
may

be a portal. I could smel sulfur on the highway near the

Knox house.”

“Oh, no.” Ivy moaned and sank into the nearest chair.

“Why is that important? A portal? What’s a portal? A

portal to where?” Xavier asked his questions in rapid

succession, but Gabriel answered in a measured voice.

“There are openings in this world,” he said, “that lead

directly into other realms. We cal them portals. They can

appear randomly or they can be conjured by someone

powerful enough.”

“What kind of realms? Where’s Beth?” There was a

rising panic in his voice.
I’m right here
, I wanted to cal out

but my voice failed me.

“The asphalt on the highway was burned,” Gabriel

observed, sidestepping the question. “And everything

around it scorched. There is only one place that can leave

behind marks like that.”

Xavier took a breath as if to steady himself. I could see

the moment when the truth behind Gabriel’s words dawned

on him.

“That can’t be true,” he said weakly, his rational mind stil

struggling to comprehend.

“It’s true, Xavier.” Even Gabriel had to turn his face away

in order not to witness the effect he knew his words would

have. “Jake has dragged Bethany into Hel .”

Xavier looked as if his worst nightmare had been

realized. The news hit him like a slap in the face. His jaw

dropped and his eyes stared fixedly at my brother, as if he

were waiting for him to burst out laughing and reveal the

whole thing was a bad joke. He stayed that way for several

long minutes, as though he had turned to stone. Then

suddenly his whole body seemed to shudder with anguish.

My ghostly self, as insubstantial as vapor, grieved

alongside him. We made a sad and sorry pair—the human

boy and the apparition he could not see but who loved him

more than anything in the world.

Everyone it seemed was behaving out of character in my

absence. Gabriel did something then I’d never seen from

him before. He crossed the room and knelt down before

Xavier, his hand resting lightly on his arm. It was a sight to

behold—an archangel kneeling before a human in an

expression of humility.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Gabriel said, looking him

directly in the eye. “I’m not sure how to help Bethany now.”

These were the words I most dreaded hearing. Gabriel

never glossed over the harsh truth. It wasn’t in his nature.

What he was doing now was preparing both himself and

Xavier for the worst.

“What are you talking about?” Xavier cried. “We have to

do something! Beth didn’t choose this. She was

kidnapped, remember? That’s actual y a criminal offense in

my world. Are you saying it’s okay in yours?”