Thirty-Three: Mal

Fen was, in fact, in dire straits when I made it inside. Hades stood over him, hand over his mouth as he--I assume--tried to figure out what to do.

"Heeey, look, it's the big guy," came the weak, rattled voice of Fen.

"How ya doin', buddy?" I asked him, smirking at the little pile of smoke he'd become. He was mostly face, his red eyes blinking slowly up at me.

"Never better," Fen grimaced. "You look like shit. Like you've seen a ghost or something."

"That's what they're calling you these days. So what's the plan, boss?"

Hades sighed, waving me off with a dramatic flourish. "The plan is that we try to smuggle Fen in and hope that he doesn't collapse moving from one threshold to the next. Normally, we'd need time to find a source of power for him to feed off of, but I think your body would suffice."

"I would do anything to save Alchimia," I admitted. "But I think I have something better." A leaden weight had been burning a hole in my pocket ever since I asked Reus about the stone. I knew when he told me it was missing who had it, and I was not surprised to come to learn that she had a plan for it all along. I produced it from my pocket and Hades' eyebrows shot up past his hairline.

"Incredible. That will certainly work." He took it from me and fed it to Fen, who shut his eyes and started to do something that looked a lot like boiling. Admittedly, it'd been a long time since I spent a lot of time with any daemon. They weren't flesh and blood like Nero, and I didn't know if I should be thrilled that it was working or worried that it would not. It was easy to swap bullshit jokes with Fen, but our time was running out. My connection with Alchimia wasn't restored, by any means, but I could feel the ebb and flow of it. Something was seriously wrong with her.

Hades moved back, so I followed him. Fen continued to twist, contort, and bubble until there was an explosion of dark energy and a noise that could only have been the strange screaming of a disembodied immortal thing. When the dust cleared, Fen was standing before us in all of his glory.

"Let us go and save the Queen," he said, disappearing through the door. Hades and I followed at a jog, past Persephone and back through the gardens.

"You're going with them?" she called after him, the anger in her voice palpable.

"I'll be home soon, my love!" We slid with Reus back through the portal just before the ball of Hades' fire careening in our direction could hit. "Everyone always thinks she's so sweet and gentle," he muttered, dusting ash off of his singed blazer where the fire had just touched him.

"Was that Fen?" Reus asked as the three of us made our way through the city. It was quiet, now. I had never seen the city so still. The black silk mourning scarves hanging in doorways and windows told me that the news of the Queen's death had gotten out, and the silent but menacing presence of the Palace Guard told me that Bia thought there was reason to be prepared for some sort of uprising. Passers-by who saw us on the street hid. Some of them sneered in my direction.

"Yes," I answered him, my eyes still focused on Hades. "You're here in Echelon twice now for Alchimia. Why?"

"Oh, more than that," Hades grinned. "Are you concerned that your future wife will be looking to take on a more powerful, less repulsive lover? I must say I'm flattered, but I am a loyal husband, unlike my brothers."

"Future wife?" Reus sounded more shocked than angry, but his brow still furrowed and his cheeks still turned red.

"Not if he's rejected," Hades hummed, pleasantly, as if he would have found glee in watching Alchimia destroy our soul tie. "Or banished by Zeus for causing this mess."

"Why is helping Alchimia so important to you?" I asked again, ignoring them both.

Hades stopped, coming to stand in front of me, and patted my cheek with a cold hand, smacking me hard each time. "Poor, poor simple boy. Malfizan, do you not see Alchimia for who she is? Who she will become? You are a God, no?"

"...yes."

"Did she or did she not nearly destroy your immortal soul right over there in those courtyards?" He pointed behind us, where the Palace grounds were visible at the end of the street. I realized, suddenly, that the sun had begun to rise in Echelon.

"She did."

"Then you must know the answer to your question. We--me, Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia, Athena, *your mother*--are interested in the girl because she is a powerful weapon. Should Zeus's children revolt one day against him, or perhaps the new order of Gods that the humans worship, then he will have the ultimate power on his side. Your betrothed, she knows this. It is why she asked for favors. Why she worked so hard to get here? She aims to prove herself worthy--even as young as she is--of remaining alive. For if there were ever an inkling that she was not loyal to Olympus, she would be in grave danger. Alchimia has allowed herself to be tied to the likes of you and--therefore--now put in a great deal of danger because she wants to give birth to children whose lives will not be so burdened by their duty. So this city may continue to live. So that her mother, had she not betrayed her and angered Bia, could have lived. I have an innate investment in her and this place as I helped Corra in bringing it to life, of course, but more than that I bear my obligations to Olympus, such as being the first to know if she can no longer be trusted."

When his speech was over, he searched my eyes, and I knew that I was a part of the equation he was trying to lay out for me, too. I had to save my relationship with Alchimia not just because I wanted to, but because I was a part of Zeus's plan. He'd paired us together because he thought I would be able to keep her in check. If I didn't, or if she rejected our bond out of anger and without permission, there would be dire consequences for us both.

Hades jumped when a fox appeared and wrapped itself lovingly around his ankles. Soon after, the sound of running footsteps told us that Presta was on her way, too. Her eyes were wide, her movements wild when she first appeared. "We must go," she hissed, grabbing mine and her brother's wrists and pulling us in the direction she'd come as Nero prodded Hades to follow suit. "We can not speak here, but I have much to tell you."

We raced with her toward the Palace where we had to step through a vortex to enter through the gates. The gardens were empty. I could see through the glass doors into the lobby and knew that it was a ghost town, too. "Presta, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I know where Alchimia is," she panted. "We will take you to her. But Mal--"

"You, Fen, and Alchimia must leave Echelon the second you get to her." Nero was standing now, his silver hair framing his solemn face. "Hades is the only reason that the two of you were able to be out in the open like that without force. Kako's sister and the rest of Apo have been working to poison the people of Echelon against Alchimia. Right now, they think that Kako has rid the city of her to protect them. But if they see her--"

"She's in danger," I finished. "This is a war."

"Yes," Presta breathed. "The Palace Guard was primarily for show, so we only just have the numbers to keep the people at bay right now because they believe there is no reason to fight, but Kako intends to bring an army back from the mortal realm."

"So Alchimia will need to raise one of her own," Hades muttered. "Take us to her."

"Okay, we must hurry. Fen brought us to her and I went directly after to get you all so I'm not sure how much time we have to get to them."