Chapter 19

“The chick at the arena pointed you out, you stopped those beasts with the sound of your voice. You picked up the sword. It all comes back to you.” Scotty counted off all of the events before wagging his finger at me with the final statement.

“But why? I’m not special.” I shook my head. “I’m just a girl.”

I watched Scotty regard me, his brown eyes wondering over me with pure intensity that forced me to look away under their weight. “Witch or not, you’re more than just a girl to me.”

When I could finally manage it, I took a deep breath and looked back at him. “Okay, let’s say for a moment that the dogs belong to Hades. The dogs attacked Baulder’s funeral. Why there? Why not at the Burning or somewhere more public?”

“Maybe because of the security at the Arena? Maybe he knew they wouldn’t be able to do as much damage there. Or maybe he wasn’t going after the whole crowd, maybe he was just going after one person.” Scotty peered down at me. “Maybe he was going after you.”

The words made my blood run cold. “You think he knows who I am?”

Scotty shrugged. “Anything is possible Khloe.”

“Okay, maybe that’s true.” I took a breath, trying not to let the words frighten me too much. “We still don’t know why he’s targeting witches? Why would such a powerful god care about witches?”

“Maybe it’s not specifically witches,” Scotty mused.

“According to Greek mythology, witches were created by the goddess of magic, Hecate. They were intended to be soldiers, protectors. Their main jobs are to protect innocent victims from dark magick, but maybe her intentions were more personal.”

“I’m not following.”

“See the story goes that Hades fell in love with this goddess, Persephone. She was young and innocent and lovely, but he was the king of hell and knew no one could love his darkness-“

“I wonder why?” I snorted.

“Will you let me tell the story?” Scotty rolled his eyes. “So anyway, he made arrangements with Persephone’s father, Zeus. Zeus is Hades brother and King of Olympus. So they made a deal. The next day, Hades kidnapped the young goddess.

“Persephone’s mother was angry, of course. So angry that winter fell over Earth and Olympus. The gods couldn’t take the cold anymore and they complained to Zeus. Zeus tried to rescue Persephone, but he was too late. Persephone had already eaten the fruit of hell and was doomed to live there forever. Zeus also saw that Persephone was falling in love with Hades.

“So Zeus decided that Persephone would spend half of her year with her mother and half with Hades. Both Hades and Persephone were accepting of this offer.”

“But let me guess. Momma bear wasn’t so happy?” I rolled my eyes. “I’m guessing they tried to rescue Persephone?”

“Yes, Demeter was furious and so were Hecate and Selene, her two sisters. They devised a plan. They created a warrior that could connect to the nature around them, control the air to their will and live by the dead of night in the shadows, guided by only the stars above. They made warriors.”

“Witches.” I guessed.

“Some say the first. Strong, nearly invincible creatures,” Scotty continued. “They took the warriors and stormed the gates of hell. A long battle ensued. Some say it lasted a decade, some say only a few days and the world shook with its violence.”

“Dramatic.” I raised a brow at him. “So, Persephone is dead?”

“No.” Scotty shook his head. “Gods don’t die.””

“But then why else would Hades be so upset?”

“Legend doesn’t say if Persephone made it out of the war, but if she didn’t, most likely she lost her spirit.”

“Spirit?”

“Gods are immortal, they have blood, but it is indestructible. Gods can break. They break the way a human might go crazy.”

“How many pieces?”

“It depends on the amount of damage. It could be two, twenty, two hundred.” Scotty shrugged.

I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “So they need vessels? Like, human vessels?”

“Correct, but the vessel has to say yes before they can take over.”

“So anyone, anywhere can be a vessel.” I rubbed my temple, frowning.

“Yeah, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense,” He mused.

I slammed my hand on the desk. “Scotty, we’re right back where we were. How do we fight something we know nothing about? How do we find Persephone? How do we find Hades? How do we stop anyone else being hurt?”

“Look, I know you’re scared. I’m scared. We’re going to figure this out. We’ll do it together, kay? I’m here as long as long as you want me here. We already know what to look for and that’s better than nothing.” Scotty stood, rounding the desk. He stopped just beside my chair. He leaned over slightly, lifting his hand to run along my chin.

I let out a breath I didn’t realized I’d been holding in. “I’ve some contacts I can go to tonight for help, they might know something we’ve missed.”

Scotty smiled, pulling his hand back. “That’s my girl. I’ll stick around here and dig into Baulder’s past. Maybe there’s a link to Hades somewhere.”

My skin still tingled from his touch, and I nod. “Sounds good.”

“Right. Now perk up. Because the sooner this war is over, the sooner things go back to normal.” He grinned at me.

“Since when did you become so chipper?

He laughed. “Are you kidding, I’m the masculine ray of golden sunshine around here.”

“More like completely unbelievable.” I snorted.

“Why thank you.” In one graceless swoop, Scotty gave a mocking bow.

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“I know.” He gave me a wink. “I’ll have a car pick you up and take you wherever you need to go.”

A knock on the door stopped him mid-sentence.

“It’s open.” Scotty frowned, moving to sit back down. He grabbed the photos and slid them into the desk drawer as Chris walked in. His green eyes landed on me. “The head inquisitor wishes to speak with you.”