Prophecy of the Most Beautiful (45 page)

Roman opened his mouth to speak, but Strafford interrupted him. "So
Hades
saved Adonis? Why? For who?" Then he looked at her, the answer in his eyes. "Persephone."

She bit her lip and nodded, though not voicing to the others that the idea that Hades had played a part in all of this had not occurred to her. She had kept her mind wrapped around the frightening idea that he just wanted her for his own evil means, not that he could have brought
this
entire prophecy about by resurrecting a dead man.

Looking at Roman, Swindle continued, "Lord Hades probably made you immortal so Lady Persephone could keep you forever. Lady Persephone had always wanted Adonis for herself. Legend says, the goddesses were supposed to have shared you––part of your time in the Underworld, another part in the heavens, and a part to yourself––but you spent all of your time with Lady Aphrodite and eventually stopped going to the Underworld at all. You can probably imagine how much that pissed Lady Persephone off. So when you died, she claimed you for herself."

But something was puzzling Chloe and she hated that she had to ask. "Why would Hades save
another man
for his
wife
?" Roman opened his mouth to reply, but was once again interrupted.

"Probably to try to win her love," Swindle said, "Lady Persephone hates him because he kidnapped her and forced her to be his wife and live with him in the Underworld. She only gets to live in the heavens part time. The other part of the time she's corralling dead people in the Underworld with her lunatic husband."

She frowned at the absurdity she'd just been told and realized the dream she'd had of Persephone was making more sense to her now. She had
felt
how much Persephone hated her husband and knew it was true.

"So long story short, now tha' Aphrodite knows Adonis has been immortalized, she wants him back," Strafford said, "Understandable, but I still don't get wha' the Dropper has to do with any of this, wan."

"Don't you?" Chloe said, looking into Dropper's puzzled expression, glad that she had the answers, "You're Adonis's guardian angel, and to find him, the goddesses had to have you, because you're the one that could lead them to him. Stars are often used as guides, right? Even by gods."

There was another long silence.

"It
would
make quite a bit of sense…" Dropper said, looking thoughtful.

"And constellations are often thought of as guardians of mortals, among other things," Swindle offered.

"It would explain everythin' tha' happened in Corinth, too," Ace added. "Isn' Corinth the birthplace of Adonis?"

"No," Swindle replied, "Cyprus. But he entreated the people of Corinth to adopt Aphrodite as their patroness."

Chloe hated that even with all the Knowledge she had inherited from Apollo, she hadn't been the one to relay this information. Swindle knew more than she did and he didn't even have knowledge of the past three thousand years swirling around in his head. She felt her spotlight getting dim.

"But what about
my
prophecy?" Dropper asked, "What does it mean?"

"It means sacrifice," She replied, "Roman's sacrifice."

"
Me?
" The boy said, his blue eyes stretched wide.

She nodded. "The most willing of hearts. You're going to end this war. You're going where you belong, where you've always wanted to be. With Aphrodite. It’s your destiny. It was always your destiny."

Roman swallowed. "Are you sure about this?" He was staring at his guardian angel Dropper like he had just sprouted horns. Dropper didn't look any more relaxed.

"I'm positive," She said. "And we've got no time to lose." She took Roman's hand and wrapped his fingers around Dropper's wrist, then did the same with Dropper's fingers to Roman's wrist. They stood facing each other in an awkward handshake. "Don't ask me how I know what I'm doing. I'm totally winging it."

Just then, she felt a powerful jolt in her mind––those gears of Knowledge grinding to life again––and words she didn't know she knew began to roll off of her lips.

"
Restore to one what he has lost, for a life that is his own he will pay the cost, from dark to light, from death to life, and liberty where our paths have crossed.
"

The ground rumbled beneath them, like an aftershock of an earthquake and the holographic image of a man came bursting through the wall, looking back as though something was chasing him. He was tall, burly and handsome. He radiated strength and power and he was dressed like a great noble warrior.

Chloe stopped breathing. She knew this warrior.

When he saw Dropper, he smiled and surged forward. Dropper jerked with a spasm as the image collided with him, merging their bodies into one. Roman was jolted to the floor from the force.

In that instance, Dropper morphed into the image of the man, taking on his robust body and noble air. He was more beautiful now than he had ever been before. This Dropper would have ripped the claws off of the Scorpion that had tried to behead him, plucked out every one of Borno's teeth with his bare fingers, and ran a sword through all three Graces. He was a hunter, a magnificent warrior, and everything living should fear him.

He was glorious. He was enchanting.

He was the
Most Beautiful
.

For a moment, he looked around like he didn't know where he was anymore. Then he made a choking sound, jerked, and looked down at himself. She gasped. Blood had started seeping through his shirt. Everyone took a step back as, surprised, Dropper raised his shirt to find that blood was gushing out of his abdomen.

He looked up at them with surprised fear in his eyes. He tried to speak, but no words materialized. Sweat formed on his brow, and his breath started to come in short spurts. All the color drained from his face and his once sparkling eyes became vacant. After a moment, Chloe wasn't even sure he could see them anymore. His body went limp, his knees buckled and he started to collapse, but there was a dark flash and a pair of arms came out to catch him from behind. Chloe gripped Strafford's arm.

The arms belonged to a tall dark woman with wild black hair and skin as white as snow. Chloe gasped because she had seen the woman before––in her dreams.

It was the Black Queen––Persephone.

"Thank you, Pythia," She crooned, wrapping one arm around Dropper's waist and the other around his neck. She caressed his face. "He is mine once again." She kissed his cheek.

Then there was another dark flash, and they were gone.

*****

XXXV. Chloe

"He's gone, Red."

Chloe had misunderstood it all.

She stared at the puddle of blood that was all that remained of Dropper for several long minutes, absorbing her failure. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from it. She wanted to smack Strafford for pointing out the obvious. The Queen of the Underworld had come for Dropper. Of course, he was gone.
Dead
and gone.

"So does this mean that you're still giving me to Aphrodite or what?" Roman asked, picking himself up off of the floor.

Ace smacked the back of his rising head. "Could you be more of a heartless jackass right now?"

"Sorry…" Roman mumbled, rubbing the back of his skull.

Her voice flat and emotionless, Chloe said, "
The most beautiful heart must sacrifice for one to succeed, for undone it is written, the two will never concede.
" She recited other parts of the prophecies as well, especially the parts about the sacrifices. It had all been about sacrifice. "There
was
one soul––Dropper’s, not Roman’s. I had it all wrong."

"I don't get it,” Ace said.

She smiled sadly. "It was always going to be Dropper. It was his destiny. Don't ya'll see it now?
Dropper
is Adonis, not Roman. Roman is here to take his place, not save him. I was
wrong
."

As the information registered in each of their minds, their expressions took on varying degrees of astonishment and
pissivity
as they realized the answer had been in their company all along.

Chloe continued on, "His life was traded for freedom––freedom from the obsessive love of two goddesses who would have fought an eternity over him.
The darkness that is death.
Persephone will get his body. His soul? Well, I'd like to hope that he has finally found his way back to the stars where he can be free.
The bright light that is life.
But I don't think it's meant for us to know for sure." She sighed. "Aphrodite will have to settle for the
new
most beautiful––Roman. She got dealt a better hand, but in the end, they both lose. Prophecy fulfilled."

Well done, Pythia
, Madame Cee said. Chloe did not respond.

"Dropper, rather Adonis, was the constellation,
The Great Lover
." Swindle said. His locket was a computer screen and he had fished around the Salamander's search engine and come up on some information. "Aphrodite commissioned it from Zeus when Adonis died." He shrugged. "The dissension on Olympus must've caused him to fall out of orbit, releasing his soul from Persephone's clutches in the Underworld."

"And tha's how he ended up in the Billows," Ace concluded, snapping his fingers.

"Yes, and he fell and landed at your feet because that's what the Billows do––lead you in the right direction. It led him to us."

"Yeah, but his soul had the memories."

"And he was fated with mortality… or immortality depending on how you look at."

Chloe wondered to herself why none of that had never occurred to any of them before now. She wondered what might have happened if Dropper (Adonis) had found his soul before she had found Roman. But then she realized that wasn't the way the Fates had designed it. The Fates had already determined everything. This was always how it was going to end.

"Aphrodite is gonna lose it when she finds out he's dead…for real this time," Ace said.

"
Persephone
didn't seem to mind that he was dead," said Roman, "She seemed kind of happy."

"For now," said Swindle. He must have sensed that Chloe didn't really want to talk anymore when she turned her back on them again. "She thinks she's won. But something tells me the only thing she has won is a corpse."

"Do you really think they'll stop fighting now?"

"No," Strafford replied. "The gods never stop fightin'. It's wha' they do. And you'll only make this lil' situation worse." His arms were around her now, but surprisingly, she found little comfort in them.

"Well, do you think Aphrodite will like me?" Roman asked. "I really want her to." He started messing with his golden locks and straightening his already pristine clothing. Chloe noticed for the first time how good-looking he really was. A perfect match for Aphrodite. The Fates had made a good choice.

From the other side of the room, a voice said, "She'll like you for about fifteen minutes." A figure stepped out of the dark shadows. "Subtract ten for the fact that you'll still have to pay homage to Deimos and Phobos."

"Hey, it's Cupid!" Roman exclaimed. Chloe stiffened. She already knew why he was there.

"Wha' was tha' you jus' said abou' Deimos and Phobos?" Strafford questioned the young god, not surprised at all to see him.

"Ask the boy," Cupid said with a smirk.

Roman paled a little as Strafford turned an icy glare on him. "I tried to tell you earlier," He said, "Hades is not my creator. Deimos and Phobos, the war gods of fear and panic, are."

"Deimos and Phobos gave you immortality?" Swindle asked, sharing a look with Strafford. "How long ago?"

"Right after World War II. I was a fighter pilot in my mortal life."

“So you were a soldier,” Ace said, “A warrior. Like Adonis.”

“And Deimos and Phobos are sons of Ares and Aphrodite,” Strafford said, “and they granted you
icey
status. Wha’ a bloody coincidence.”

"But that’s the least of our worries, don’t you think?” Swindle looked between Strafford and Ace.

Chloe crossed her arms, so not in the mood for obscurity. "I hate it when ya'll do that. Can you just tell me what's going on
without
me having to ask you a thousand times first?"

"It's just unusual, Chloe," Swindle replied, brow wrinkled, "We didn't think anyone but the Olympians bestowed
iceys.
"

"And? What's the problem?"

Strafford answered her. "The other gods, even minor ones like Deimos and Phobos, are bestowin' believers
,
which they've never really needed before. The existence of the Olympians has always been enough for them. But for some reason now, they feel the need to sustain their own existences by maintainin' their own set of believers. They know there's serious trouble on Olympus, and it’s been going on longer than we thought."

So the iceys kept the gods alive.
She thought hard about this.
Had the GUP triggered this too, she wondered, a need for the gods to secure their existence? Did the gods know more about the prophecy than they were willing to admit to?

What in the world was going on?

"So now that you have finally learned of Adonis, maybe I can get a little peace now," said Cupid with a smile that Chloe resented. He had known all along who Dropper was. He looked over Roman. "I'm here to escort you to the Oyster of Paphia, my mother's home, and I plan to obey her this time. She's waiting for all of you there and can't wait to chat with you, Pythia."

Nervous glances were exchanged until, as always, all eyes fell on Strafford to wait for his decision on what to do next. After a long visual exchange with Chloe, he nodded at Cupid.

"Wise decision, godling!" The god of Love said. "I would hate to have to ask twice. To Argonaut Station, shall we?"

*****

It was a while before Chloe realized she was in Paris, France.