The Underworld (The Atlas Series Book 3) (6 page)

“Exactly.” He dismissed Talan from his attention and turned back to Kala. “The only way out of the Underworld is through an Olympian and the Olympians obey
me
. So, are we making a deal?”

Kala envied Turner, who could remain silent through all this. Even Hephaestus was trying to stay out of it, quietly watching and re-watching the video of Kala’s Atlas vision. Talan was always in her corner, of course, but how could he argue with Zeus? From the look on the Grigori’s face, it was clear that he had no idea how to escape the Underworld, let alone enter it.

Though she wasn’t quite convinced yet enough to make any deals with Zeus, Kala decided to placate him anyway, to see where his intentions lay.

“What do you want from me?” she asked – then before he could respond, Kala added, “And don’t think I’m going to consume Cronus, either. Because that’s not happening. Ever.”

Zeus appeared appalled. “Why not? It’s the best way to defeat him.”

Kala groaned. “I knew it!” Shaking her head, she responded, “Are you serious? You really thought I’d agree to that? You are more insane now than you were in that prison.”

Hephaestus calmly entered into the conversation. “With Gaia in you, you’d have complete control of yourself.”

Kala whirled on him. “You know that for sure, do you? I’m still partially human and even having a single memory of Atlas made me pass out. As in, zero consciousness.”

“But
he
,” Zeus nodded toward Talan, “fixed all that.”

Talan joined in, “Atlas was a lesser Titan and it was a difficult process. If Kala consumes
Cronus
… I’m not sure I’d be able to help. He could be strong enough to take over Kala’s body and then you’d be dealing with the power of your father
and
your grandmother.”

“And Atlas.” Kala somehow felt the need to defend the Titan she’d swallowed. He might not be the biggest heavyweight in the Greek pantheon, but he was at least in the ring. “Look, I don’t want any part of your inbred war. I have to do my job and that’s to wake up your stupid brother and apparently plan a prison break out of the Underworld. So unless you want to help me complete my mission, I have no use for you.”

Zeus looked miffed. “If you can’t consume Cronus, then you can at least help us find my other Olympians. I told my father they were destroying the 5
^th
level of Hell in our epic battle if you remember? I lied. And now Cronus has the safety of the 5
^th
to protect him. The Olympians are lost to us and if we can’t find them, there won’t be a war. Cronus will come after me with all he has and I won’t be able to fight him off.”

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?” Kala was appalled. “You do remember you drained me like a battery to get your mojo back, right?” She waved at the screen. “And I can tell you where at least
one
Olympian is, if you can figure out the location of that cave.”

Zeus glanced at the screen and its repeated sequence of Kala waking up Hades. “Not
that
one. I would be perfectly content to go through the rest of eternity without my brother mucking things up.”

“Well, I’m not letting the world end for your brotherly grudge, so you better get used to the idea of a family reunion. Besides, don’t you have the whole of the Grigori to fight beside you? I thought that was the deal when you freed them.” Kala addressed the question to both Zeus and Talan.

Talan nodded. “Yes, the Grigori will help Zeus and all those that side with the Olympians, but finding the other Olympians could tip the balance.”

“Pressure, much? How on earth am I supposed to help you find your people if I can’t even find this stupid cavern!” Kala was at her wits end.

She glanced over at Turner, who seemed to be eating up this entire conversation. If it hadn’t been for physical proof of Kala being a Titan, he’d probably think this whole lot was insane.

It was then that he decided to come to Kala’s aid. “We’ll get the satellites on this footage and see if we can find a location. If it’s on Earth like Zeus says, then we’ll find it.” Turner smiled when he said Zeus’s name, probably because of how surreal it sounded aloud.

Zeus’s demeanor turned serious as he addressed Kala. “My grandmother runs through your veins. Her power could decide the war.”

Exasperated, Kala took a deep breath. “Then why don’t you go and find her? I only have a piece of her inside me. I think the real deal would be much more powerful.”

Hephaestus said almost sadly, “Gaia’s been lost for three millennia. No one knows where she is. You’re the first we’ve seen of her.”

The sentiment struck Kala as sad for some reason. Gaia was Zeus’s grandmother and Hephaestus’s great grandmother and being close to Kala made them feel closer to Gaia. It was a little warped, but made a strange sort of sense.

“Look, just let me find Hades and wake him up. If I’m going to be in the Underworld for a while, then maybe Hades knows where your fellow Olympians are. There’s not much more I can do,” Kala admitted.

Turner’s eyebrow rose. “Actually, my wife said she could do a locator spell if she had a personal item from any one of the beings in question.”

Zeus and Hephaestus shared a look of interest, but it was Zeus who spoke, “I can get you something from Poseidon and Hera, but the others, Cronus kept anything of theirs hidden.”

Hephaestus directed his comment at Zeus. “Poseidon and Hera may be all we need, especially if we could talk Hades into working with us.”

Zeus said to Hephaestus, “He might be angry enough, since Cronus put him to sleep for so long.”

“So you’ll help me find Hades?” Kala asked.

Zeus turned his attention to Kala and nodded slowly. “We’ll take
your human’s
aid and we’ll help you find Hades.”

Kala wondered at how one of the most powerful men on the planet liked being referred to as
her human
, but Turner didn’t seem to mind. He actually appeared eager to help.

Kala shrugged. “Let’s get to it, then.”

Chapter Five

Before Kala could do
anything
, however, five more beings suddenly arrived by teleportation. Four Grigori and Penny to be precise. The only one Kala cared about was her adoptive father, Owen, a Grigori angel himself. He was supporting Antel with the help of Penny since Antel was injured and couldn’t stand on her own. Antel was a beautiful Grigori with dark skin and even darker eyes. Next to them was Rotoph and another male Grigori Kala didn’t recognize. Antel seemed to be the only one hurt.

Turner was the first to speak, “For a high security building, people do tend to pop in whenever they like.” He was more amused than angry.

Owen was out of breath as he said, “I apologize. We had to move fast and Rotoph and I both focused on Kala. We didn’t know she’d be here.”

Kala ran over to him and took Antel from his arms. “Is she okay? What happened?”

Antel’s voice was weak, “I’ll be okay. Cronus gutted me with one of the Grigori blades, so it’ll take some time to recover.”

Kala remembered all too well what a Grigori blade could do. She was first introduced to one when
Rotoph
stabbed Talan in the back, literally and figuratively. Rotoph had sided with Cronus during the war and forged the blades with Hephaestus. Hephaestus thought the blades were being made to immobilize the Grigori to enable the Olympians and the Titans to imprison them.

But Cronus had had other plans. He directed Rotoph to engrave the weapons with a spell that not only stripped the Grigori of their powers, but would drain any supernatural being that wielded them. When Cronus handed the twelve blades over to the twelve Olympians, Zeus and his fellow gods were drained of their power, allowing Cronus to imprison the Olympians along with the Grigori.

Hephaestus had been duped. Rotoph had done it all willingly. He betrayed his family to serve Cronus.

Then, as of three days ago, Rotoph had proved he regretted his actions by helping Zeus and Hephaestus free the Grigori. Nevertheless, Kala could tell that Owen and Talan still had their doubts. If Rotoph betrayed them once, he could do it again.

Kala’s second introduction to the blades had been when Cronus had cut Talan into a pile of body parts. She had thought Talan was dead, but Owen was able to put him back together. That was the moment when she realized Grigori really couldn’t die. Or, if they could, becoming kibble apparently wasn’t a deal breaker.

And so it was now, apparently, with Antel: seriously wounded by a Grigori blade, but recovering. Kala led Antel to a chair for her to sit. When the Grigori was comfortable, Kala hugged Owen tightly.

“Where’s Mom?” she asked as she pulled away from Owen.

“Safe.” Owen alleviated her fears. “Your mother is the reason we’re here. Cronus tried to take her. He brought five Titans with him. We barely made it out. Antel managed to create a distraction, but it left her vulnerable. Rotoph and I were the only ones powerful enough to teleport everyone at once and since we both have a strong connection to you…”

Kala eyed Rotoph with disdain. “I do not have a connection with that guy.”

Owen chuckled. “Well, he thinks you do and apparently thinking it made it so.”

Rotoph waved his hand. “I’m right here.” He turned to Turner. “I put a
no teleport
dome over this place. Not even Cronus can break it.”

Zeus joined in, happy at that news. “I bet it’s driving him mad not being able to get in here.” He glanced at Kala. “Especially, if he knows you’re here with me.”

Kala rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure.” Then she sighed in frustration. “So Cronus went after
Mom
? Did he really think I’d be okay with that?”

Owen shook his head. “Cronus can’t convince you to join him, so he’ll try to persuade you by force and use leverage against you. He knows how much Linda means to you. I hid her where he can never find her.”

Kala didn’t exactly like the sound of that. “And where is that?”

“It’s better if you don’t know.” Owen placed his hands on Kala’s shoulder. “But she
is
safe, Kala. Trust me.”

She did.

Kala nodded to the monitor. “Check it out. Turner managed to capture my Atlas vision.”

Hephaestus seemed miffed at her statement. “I’m the one who made it playable.”

Kala wanted to laugh at all the fragile egos. It made her realize humans had thicker skin than gods.

Penny hugged Hephaestus in greeting. She was so happy to have her father back after years of imprisonment by Cronus.

The new arrivals watched the footage. When Hades touched Kala’s head to kill her, the unfamiliar Grigori nodded and spoke for the first time: “We’ll have to come up with an escape plan to get you out of the Underworld. Hades won’t let you leave easily.”

Kala was impressed. Until now, not even Talan knew what Hades had done in that vision. And from the look of relief on Owen’s face, neither had her foster father.

Owen asked the Grigori. “So it’s possible to get Kala out?”

Zeus puffed up his chest. “Grigori can’t go into the Underworld.” But Kala could see he didn’t really know that for sure. His leverage was falling apart before his very eyes and Kala was enjoying it immensely.

The new Grigori gave Zeus a look of incredulity. “I hope you’re joking. You do know the Grigori helped
create
the Underworld, right?”

From the expression on Zeus’s face, he did
not
know that.

“Who are you?” Kala needed to know. Anyone that could verbally bitch-slap Zeus was a friend of hers.

“I’m Ashliel.” He nodded with a smile. “And I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“Feelings mutual.” Kala smiled back. “So, you can get me out?”

“Of course. The issue will be finding you first. Talan has the closest connection to you. He’ll be able to find you the fastest.” Ashliel’s blue eyes met Talan’s for his nod of confirmation. The new Grigori’s features were soft, as if he hadn’t lost his baby fat, making him look forever twenty. His body was lean though and Kala could see from his arms that he was in good shape.

Talan didn’t make eye contact with Kala when he said, “She has a connection with Asmodeus as well. He should be brought into the plan. I may not be strong enough.”

Kala knew how much that admission hurt Talan, but like always he put her safety above his pride.

She knew Talan was right, though, and she added, “He’s asking around to see if he can find where the cave is located. He’ll find me when he has information.”

Owen did not look happy at the prospect of involving Asmodeus in anything to do with his daughter’s safety, but he kept it to himself. “If Talan thinks we should bring him in, then I trust his judgment.”

Kala noticed Owen didn’t say he trusted
her
judgment, but she knew Asmodeus was a sore spot for her foster father since he’d found out Kala had kissed the king of Demons. Plus, Owen had banished Asmodeus to the 5
^th
Level of Hell after all. It probably annoyed him that it had been Kala and Talan that set the Demon free.