Chapter Two

Storm

"W ell, as we are, we aren't strong enough to take down the princes and their armies. That will take time, and we don't have that," Khaos replies.

"How do you know that they have armies at their disposal?" I ask.

"Because without Hades there, they will have control of his armies, and because of the number of Helliers that were in the memories that Hades showed me."

I nod, "That makes sense."

"So, what you're saying is we need to sneak in?" Loki asks and then adds, "Please tell me that you guys know a way that we can sneak into the Underworld without dying because I'm fairly certain that if any of us die, Farren will find a way to bring us back and kill us again."

"That would be counterproductive," Khaos points out, and Loki just shrugs. "If I'm being honest, I'm not actually sure that there is an entrance that we can use that won't be heavily guarded by any of the princes' followers."

My heart sinks, "What are we going to do then? Use one of the ones you do know of and just prepare for a fight?"

"I could do with a fight," Rival grins, his darker side showing and earning him an intrigued look from Khaos.

"Those of you who have a connection with Farren, have you tried to communicate with her? Can you feel any of her emotions?" Mayhem asks.

"I tried," Loki says, and from the disappointment in his voice, I can already guess what he's going to say next. "I couldn't find her at all."

While Kill says that he can't sense her either, I check in on my own connection with her, although I'm reasonably sure that if Kill can't get through to her, I'm not going to be able to either; he's got a much stronger connection with her than Loki or me, he's had it for far longer.

"Neither can I." I confirm, "So there's no way for us to know if she's okay, or help her, or even know exactly where she is."

"We'll figure it out," Zev says firmly. "We need to try to work out how we're going to get into the Underworld first."

"Just a suggestion, but why don't we ask Xerxes? He knows things that he shouldn't, and he's ancient; maybe he knows a forgotten way that we can get in?" Rival suggests.

"That's probably a better idea," Hades agrees. "It's my realm, but it has been for such a long time that I doubt that I remember all of the entrances."

"Let's go then," Loki says, looking at us all expectantly.

We all quickly make our way to the library. Poca, and I'm going to carry on calling him that because one name change is enough for me, runs ahead of us. He's gone back to his one-headed, power-concealing self, but he's a lot bigger than he usually is and still visible. He's clearly filled Meri in on what happened because he's sitting on Poca's back and looking ready to kill. I think we should all just be grateful that he's still mini and hasn't grown in his worry for Farren. It's evident in both Meri and Poca's body language that they are incredibly worried about Farren.

I find it interesting that although Khaos has given Meri a few curious looks, he hasn't asked any questions about him. Although to be fair, he's had quite a lot thrown at him, and I imagine any questions that he has about Meri are pretty far down his list.

"If Poca is really Cerberus, then how did he appear to Farren as a puppy?" I can't help but ask. Poca glances back at me and rolls his eyes like I've asked a stupid question, although I don't see why.

"He can appear however he wants to; he obviously decided that Farren needed him as a puppy and not his three-headed self. He is also allowed to come and go as he pleases. I was outed from the Underworld decades ago, and when I left, Post was still at the gates as far as I was aware. The only person who's really going to know what happened and why he went to Farren is Cerb himself, and I doubt he'll share. Cerberus is incredibly powerful, and no one should be able to touch him; not only that, but he's ancient, older than even I am," Hades explains, "if he doesn't want to tell us where he's been or why he's done something then that's the end of that."

"Wow, do you think Farren realises?" Loki asks.

Hades shakes his head, "I don't think so, I didn't recognise him, and he's been my friend for a long time."

"I recognised him, but if what Hades is saying is true then I most likely recognised him because he was pissed as fuck that one of the princes had managed to take Farren, and so his glamour slipped," Khaos suggests.

Poca barks in agreement and seems to confirm what Khaos is saying.

"I guess that means you're right," Rival replies.

"Hold up, you said no one should be able to touch him," Khaos suddenly says, "does that mean that she can?"

Hades nods, "Yes, she cuddles with him. I don't know how, but we can all touch him as well, and I don't think that it's because we could have the whole time that we've known Cerb or because he's weaker here."

Zev's eyes flash white, and he smiles, "It's because of her and our connection to her. If we weren't connected to her, we wouldn't be able to touch him."

Khaos's eyes widen, "That's incredible."

"She is, mate; you don't know the half of it," Hades tells him.

We all fall silent as our minds turn to the incredible woman that could be experiencing fuck knows what right now.

Something else occurs to me and prompts me to ask, "How exactly are we going to get in? I don't mean, what gate are we going to go through? We can ask Xerxes this: I mean, how are we, who aren't Underworld natives or dead, going to get through? We're trying to stop the princes from opening the gates. I assume they're talking about the main gates, although you obviously know of other ways you can get in. From what I understand, only certain beings can come and go as they please."

"You will be able to get in and out because you're with me," Hades replies simply as we finally get to the library.

"Can the princes get in and out as easily as you can?" Mayhem asks curiously.

"Not as easily, no. It will take a toll on their bodies and, most importantly, their magic, but they can get in and out; they will just need to rest and recharge their magic." Khaos adds.

"So, in theory, if we were to want to take them out then the best time to do it is when they've travelled out of the Underworld?" I ask curiously.

Khaos's eyes light with interest as he inclines his head, "Yes, in theory, that would be the case."

"Good to know," I smirk. "Right, let's find Xerxes and see if he knows a way to get into the Underworld without alerting the Princes."

"I heard my name?" Xerxes says, flapping into view, "Did everything go okay at the last stronghold? I was worried."

"Well, fuck me," Khaos says as he catches sight of the flying book, "Do you know how rare he is?"

Kill nods, "We've been informed he is one of the creatures that Farren has found and that has stayed with her."

"One of them?" Khaos asks, intrigue in his eyes.

"We can explain while we travel," Hades says, clearly impatient now. As he turns toward Xerxes, he swipes a hand through his hair and explains, "We need your help. Farren was taken to the Underworld, and for obvious reasons, we can't just pop in; we need to be as careful as possible so they don't know that we're there; otherwise, our appearance could trigger them to kill Farren."

He hasn't put it like that before, and hearing him say it now sends a fresh wave of urgency and fear through me.

Xerxes's pages move agitatedly, "This is not good; she should not be in a different realm, not yet. She's not ready."

"What does that mean?" Reaper asks, his arms folded over his chest and his eyebrows raised.

Everyone's attention is on Xerxes, but mine is on Zev; when Xerxes first spoke, he had a slight frown on his face, but it's suddenly cleared almost as if he's remembered something, and now, if it's even possible, he looks even more worried than he did before.

"We really don't have the time," Zev says, the urgency so strong in his voice that he has everyone tensing, "Xerxes, we need to know how to get in. Do you know of a door that isn't likely to be guarded by any of the Princes' followers and isn't too far away from the castle where she is being held?"

"How do you know that she's being held at the castle? How do you know that there is a castle?" Khaos asks.

"He's the future head, Seer," Hades tells him rather flippantly. "And the castle was mentioned earlier."

It's apparent that he isn't going to get any more information at the moment, so Khaos just keeps quiet while he watches us all closely. We're definitely throwing a few things at him that he hadn't expected.

"I'm sorry, but I don't," Xerxes starts, but before he can finish, his pages start flipping rapidly as they glow, "it appears a page has just been added."

"What does it say?" Zev asks impatiently.

"It's a map," Mayhem replies as we all gather around the page where Xerxes has stopped and take a look.

"There's nothing else on there, so I'm assuming that the glowing gate is where we're supposed to get in?" Loki asks and then adds curiously, "Is it actually a gate, or is it just depicted as such for easy understanding?"

Hades's lips tik up into a smile as he replies, "It's not an actual gate. Fortunately for us, I do know where this is."

"Let's go then," I say, desperately wanting to get going. "Is everyone armed? We're undoubtedly going to need as many weapons as we can carry."

"I can transport us all to the gate, but then I'm going to have to take you through one at a time when we get there," Hades explains, looking slightly worried, "Xerxes says that the gate is safe for us to use, but there's no guarantee that between us leaving here and getting there that it still will be."

"I will go through first and check the other side. It will also help to have someone who knows the Underworld and their various customs and laws just in case we do come across someone while you're moving people across," Khaos offers.

"Good idea," Mayhem starts and then adds, "although, I'd imagine that if the princes are as bad as you and Hades have said, then they have most likely changed the laws, and you need to be careful as well."

"That's a very good point; I dread to think what kind of archaic and harmful laws they have put in place in our absence," Khaos replies.

"Is everyone ready?" Hades asks, getting us back on track. When everyone nods their heads, Hades simply smiles.

"Good luck," Xerxes says.

One second, we're in his home, and the next, we're in the middle of a forest in some unknown location. To be quite honest, I don't even know if we're still in the Fae realm, and I don't want to waste time asking.

"If you wouldn't mind?" Khaos says, looking at Hades. I'm momentarily confused until Hades waves his hand, and a literal door appears only a few feet in front of us, embedded into one of the enormous surrounding trees.

"Whoa," Loki mutters, "it's glowing."

Khaos smirks as he wastes no time striding toward the heavily and intricately carved door and simply opening it; behind the door is a swirling gold and black abyss; in a move that Farren would love, he salutes us with a smirk and then just steps into it.

"Well, I guess that's it then," Rival states, looking a bit apprehensive about stepping into the unknown, in an entirely different realm, and one that we're not supposed to see until we die.

"I'm going to try and do this as quickly as possible, but as I said before, I can only take one of you at a time. If I take more than that, my power is going to flare, and it will be like announcing to the Princes that I'm in the Underworld and have my magic back." Hades explains quickly.

With no discussion, Hades grips Reaper's shoulder and walks him through the door, disappearing from sight and making me nervous. I really don't like us being split up, even if it's only for a few minutes. Not only that, but Reaper is on the other side in the Underworld, which is an unknown to us, and with Khaos, who is another unknown. My magic isn't negatively reacting to him; in fact, it's curious and far too calm about his sudden presence if you ask me, but it is allowing me to trust him a small amount, that and I trust Hades, my trust in Hades was easier because Farren trusted him, and that was good enough for me.

With each one of my brothers that goes through the gate to the Underworld, I get twitchier. My wings move agitatedly behind me, but then I don't think they've really stopped moving since Farren got taken. I can't get the picture of her bleeding and slumped from my mind and whenever I focus on it for too long, my magic rises, wanting out, it wants to destroy the fucker who hurt her and I have to use all of my strength in order to keep it contained. As soon as I find the fucker, Prince of the Underworld or not, I'm going to fucking rip him to pieces, have Loki put him back together, and then do it all over again.

"Are you okay?" Zev asks me, pulling me out of my murderous thoughts; when I raise my eyebrow in question, he smirks, "You're floating, and your horns have a raging ball of red fire between them."

I look down, surprised to see that he's right and my wings have lifted me into the air, I gently lower myself to the ground as I realise that the others have already been taken through and it's only Zev and I left.

"I was just thinking about what I'll do to the fucker that took her and every fucker that harms her."

Zev's face becomes serious as his eyes darken, just as he opens his mouth to reply though his eyes flash white, "Shit, Wraith's incoming."

That's the only warning he can give me as we suddenly find ourselves surrounded by four Wraiths.

I grin, my smile dark and dangerous.

They're going to wish they hadn't come for us. We're both itching for a fucking fight.

Both of us draw our weapons, and I call on my shadows as I watch Zev dive head-first into the fight; he's a damn good fighter, and I know that there's no need to worry about him. As I find myself being circled by two of the Wraith's that have decided to come for me I realise that there's something different about them. I spin out of the way as a stream of black fire that is unmistakably hellfire.

Shit, that explains why I didn't immediately recognise the kinds of supes they are. They're from the Underworld, and this is the second set that we've come across, we need to figure out how they're coming across and whether they're turning into Wraith's here or in the Underworld and then coming into the realms. I thought that Wraith's didn't exist in the Underworld, but Hades has been gone for a long time now so there's a really good chance that things have changed, the princes could have discovered a way to turn Underworlders into Wraiths.

I swing my sword at the one attacking me while I use my shadows at the same time to attack the other Wraith, who has turned into a creature that I have never seen before; all I can really take in right now is sharp teeth and lots of them. It takes me barely any time to dispatch the first Wraith, despite him trying to roast me at any opportunity, and his head thumps to the floor satisfyingly, my blade slicing cleanly through his neck.

Turning my focus to the creature, I switch tactics so that my shadows are no longer just distracting the Wraith, and instead, I use them to flood in through the mouth, nose, and eyes of the creature; I stay back as I watch the Wraith start to panic as it inhales more and more of my shadows. When he's inhaled enough, I give the command, and the creature literally bursts into thousands of tiny pieces.

"Nice," Zev comments as he wipes his sword off in the grass.

"Thanks," I reply. I have to admit that I'm impressed at how quickly and efficiently he took out the Wraiths; it just goes to show how seriously he takes his training at Black Onyx.

I do think that he has something else going on that maybe he doesn't even realise. With everything that's been going on, I haven't managed to talk to him about it, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon, but it is definitely something that we need to look into, you know since we have all of this spare time.

"What the fuck happened here?" Hades asks as he steps out of the portal behind us. Before we can answer though, he strides forward and nudges one of the bodies; frowning, he asks, "Shit, they're all from the Underworld. This is a big fucking problem. After we've saved Farren, I'm going to need to figure out how exactly they're getting here and whether they're turning into Wraiths because they should be here or if something is changing because they shouldn't be able to turn into Wraiths at all."

"Not by yourself. We will help, but Farren is our top priority," I reply, and he nods readily, clearly in agreement.

"I couldn't agree more," Hades replies. "We better get back through the door, we have no idea if there are more heading this way."