The Goddess Inheritance (Goddess Test #3)(21)
Author: Aimee Carter

“I know,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

“But all of those people—Athens—”

“—would have happened no matter what you did. Cronus always intended on causing as much destruction as possible. That has nothing to do with you, Kate, I promise.” He paused. “In fact, your deal could work for us.”

“How?” I wiped my cheeks with my sleeve. “He knows we’re going to Rhea to ask for her help. He knows she can heal Henry, and the first chance Cronus gets, he’s going to kill him.”

“Probably,” said James. “We’ll make sure he never has that chance though, and in the meantime, we have a direct line to Cronus.”

“He won’t listen to reason.”

“No, but he might listen to you. Especially if you can convince him you’re still on his side.”

A wave of nausea swept over me. “I was never on his side.”

“Doesn’t matter when he doesn’t know that,” said James. “He’s always willing to believe the worst in us. Use that against him. Say you want to rejoin him, but Walter’s holding you hostage. You want to be with Milo, so it won’t even really be a lie.”

Unless he could see the lie in a truth, like Henry could. “He’ll come after you,” I said. “He’ll attack Olympus.”

James chuckled. “Last time Cronus tried, he wound up in the hottest, deepest pit on earth. I doubt he’ll give it another go.”

But no matter how hard he was trying to convince me that it wasn’t a big deal, I heard the worry in his voice. This was his entire family, too. This was his home, and he was gambling it all on what? On the slim chance Cronus might be willing to listen to me? If James was right and Cronus had heard everything that had gone on in the nursery, then he would know I knew. And he would know I was angry.

“What if it doesn’t work?” I whispered, finding his hand and lacing my fingers through his. A friendly touch. Nothing more, but I needed that much, and so did he.

James rested his head against mine. “Then we’ll just have to figure something else out.”

Six hours and one connecting flight later, we touched down in Zimbabwe. James hailed a cab on the curbside of the airport, and soon enough we were on a remote road traveling to a place I couldn’t pronounce no matter how many times James tried to teach me.

“You’ll get it eventually,” he said with a chuckle, but after a moment he turned serious. “None of us have contacted Rhea in a very long time. I have no idea how she’ll react, and I can’t make you any promises.”

“I don’t need promises,” I said, but my insides churned. What if I couldn’t convince Rhea to help us? What if she wouldn’t heal Henry?

I straightened in the back of the hot cab. No matter what it took, no matter what I had to promise her, I would find a way to make this happen. I would find a way to save Henry. If Rhea was really so unconcerned about the rest of the world that she wasn’t willing to step up and help us fight…

She would. She had to.

The Zimbabwe landscape, for the most part, looked surprisingly familiar. Drier and wilder, with scragglier underbrush, but closer to home than I’d expected. I pressed my forehead against the cracked window of the cab. A few people walked along the side of the road holding signs made out of battered cardboard, but the cabdriver sped past before I could see what they said.

We stopped at the edge of a village that looked more like a slum than a town. James held my hand tightly as we walked down the narrow way between cobbled-together buildings, some of which leaned dangerously to one side. Trash lined the makeshift streets, and a few children dressed in worn clothes began to follow us.

“Don’t we have anything we can give them?” I said. James paused long enough to take off his backpack, and he pulled out several apples that I was positive hadn’t been in there before. He handed one to each child, but the crowd continued to grow, and he frowned.

“Kate, I want to help as badly as you do, but we’re on a timetable.”

“We just wasted over a day flying when you could have dropped us off much closer,” I said. “We have a few minutes for this.”

James continued to hand them out. “You know how to create. Reach in and help me.”

“Actually, I don’t,” I said, but I reached into the bag and tried anyway. What was I supposed to do, just imagine it was there? I closed my eyes and pictured a juicy yellow apple. And then—

Nothing. Perfect.

James chuckled. “You’re the worst goddess I’ve ever met.”

“Calliope’s the worst goddess you’ve ever met. I’m just the most incompetent.” I scowled. “It’d help if anyone bothered to teach me how to do things, you know.”

“Hey, I showed you how to think.” He grinned, and I shot him a look. “In all seriousness, everyone’s sort of busy right now, but I’ll see what I can do. Most of it takes decades to learn.”

We didn’t have decades, not if I had any chance of helping in the war. James handed out a few more apples, but the crowd continued to build. Were they really so hungry that an apple was enough to stop what they were doing and come running?

A child shouted in a language I didn’t understand, but instinctively I knew what he was saying to the boy he wrestled. Mine.

“Whoa, hey, hold up,” called James, trying to wade through the wide-eyed boys and girls to reach them. “No fighting, there’s plenty more where—”

“Calm down, my children,” murmured a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Immediately the boys stilled, and James let out a deep breath. He didn’t need to say a word for me to know what was going on. Rhea was here.

The crowd parted, and a girl who couldn’t have been older than thirteen walked barefoot down the path. Her eyes stood out against her dark skin, and she wore a colorful scarf around her head. She moved with inhuman grace, and though she blended into the crowd purely by her appearance, she radiated warmth and comfort. Not power and pain like Cronus. As she passed, the children reached out to touch her, as if that alone could cure illness or bring them luck.

“Grandmother,” said James reverently, and as she approached us, he knelt down. “I’ve missed you.”

Rhea touched his cheek. “Hermes,” she murmured. “I have been waiting for you. It has been far too long.”