Page 51 of The Beyond
“No, not necessarily. What I saw could still be beneficial. If not temporary.” Lucas was frowning.
“What does that mean?” Selene asked.
“It means, we go ahead with our plan. Tomorrow, you take us to the Beyond,” he said, and she smiled a little inside knowing that he finally thought of it as that instead of the Underworld.
“And what? Hope that our plan works?” Scott asked.
“It will work,” Lucas said firmly. “I’ve seen it.”
“Okay, so we go. Then what? What if all this is just… a Band-Aid?” Mia asked.
“Then it is, and we regroup,” Lucas said easily. “At least we will have kept Moros from destroying everything for another day.”
“Okay,” Selene said after a long silence. “Now, can I ask… What the fuck? Why did the daemon want me? Why does he think Hades’ power grows stronger while I’m there?”
Everyone turned to Mia.
“Because it does,” Lucas said, gaining everyone’s attention. “The story goes that Hades kidnapped the goddess Persephone from Sicily and took her to the Underworld so he could marry her.”
“What has that got to do with me?” Selene asked.
“Gods never die,” Mia said softly, causing Lucas to nod.
“Selene, you’re the goddess of darkness,” Lucas said, as if that made everything clear. “Persephone was the goddess of the Underworld. It could be perceived as one and the same.”
Selene felt her stomach lurch. “I am not marrying the devil.”
Scott took her hand as Mia and Lucas laughed.
“No,” Lucas said. “That isn’t what he wants. He needs you there for his power to grow. Which is why, after you drop us off, you need to leave.”
“But I’ve been going to the Beyond all my life.” She frowned.
“It’s different,” Mia said.
“What is?” Selene asked.
“You know the difference between the Void and the Between?” Mia asked.
“Yes,” Selene said slowly.
“Your Beyond and the place we went today are two different places. Think about it,” Mia said.
Suddenly, Selene knew it was true. Her safe haven was nothing like the loud, scary place they had all four just traveled to.
“Then, I haven’t been going to the right place. I can’t take you there,” she said to Lucas. “But Mia can.”
Mia shook her head. “It may have appeared as if we were there earlier, but we weren’t. We were only a projection. Which is why our legs were stiff and we were hungry. I don’t have the ability to take anyone anywhere.”
“You take us to the Void and the Between,” Selene pointed out.
“Those belong to me,” Mia said. “I come from them. You come from…”
“The Underworld,” Selene finished softly.
“We have two days to figure this out,” Scott said, touching her arm. “For now, let’s finish eating and get some rest.”
They finished the meal in silence and then went their separate ways. She and Scott lay in bed, listening to one another breathe, until Scott fell asleep.
