That sucks. “You’ll find…another…way.”
“Lyra—” Hades’ deep rasp of a voice breaks over my name.
I catch his shuddering breath more through the one hand still on my face than the sound. “Not like this,” he says. “Not—”
His face blinks in and out, the angle changing as I can’t hold up my head. “Visit me…in…Elysium.”
“Fuck.” He’s shaking so hard, I can feel it.
Rima’s vision comes back to me. “Don’t—” I can barely get words out now. They’re so slurred, I hope he can understand me. “Don’t…burn…down…the…world…”
The grave drags me into oblivion.
The Underworld waits for me.
110
And Then…
Light pierces my consciousness, waking me from nothingness.
I feel myself frown at it. They say this is common at the end, no matter what gods you follow.
The light is only a pinpoint in the distance at first, and then nearer. Not like a tunnel I need to go down, though. This light is coming to me. It grows and grows until I am awash in it, everything around me radiant. It parts the darkness like it’s digging me out of it, and then…it touches me.
Warmth.
Glorious, perfect, soothing warmth. It’s everywhere inside me, all parts of me, and yet not of me.
The warmth turns to…heat. Not searing heat. Not unbearable.
Just everywhere.
I still can’t see anything but the light.
Then…a pulse of power.
It hits me so hard it’s like a jolt of electricity.
Did Zeus just strike me with lightning again? What a dick. Doesn’t he know I’m already dead?
Another jolt. And in the distance somewhere, a voice is calling. Faint.
What are they saying?
Another jolt. This time, an extra sizzle fills me with fear. The emotion is so strong it makes me want to run and hide.
My fear? What am I afraid of?
Another jolt. Then desperation.
“Come on, Lyra!”
Hades. That’s Hades.
“Come back to me, my star.”
Another jolt, and despair creeps into the emotions battering me.
Which is when I come back into myself in a whoosh. Into my body. And yet not. Because I feel no pain, no weakness, only vital, incredible, pulsating…life.
Life!
Another jolt—this one inundated with a sudden, searing hope—and I realize what I’m feeling is…him. His emotions.
“That’s it,” he whispers, as if he can’t make his voice work anymore. “That’s it. You can do this. Stay with me.”
Always. I want to stay with him always.
“Open your eyes, Lyra.”
And I do.
No fluttering. No struggle. I just open them.
To find that we are still in the desert. I am suspended in midair above the ground, upright, and Hades is standing below me, looking up. The champions are behind him, staring in awe.
