AISLIN

I'm curled in a ball on the bed. Kai is watching me from the door. I don't want comfort, I want to sit in my despair, wallow in it. How much can I lose before this world breaks me? I feel her arrive. I smell the sweet scent of her and push up , hope flaring to life.

"They live. But... " She sighs and I feel that hope dying. "They are in the Underworld. Your girl made a blood sacrifice to call Hades to them to break the ward. It worked. He came and took them back with him."

"Why is that such a bad thing?"

"When Hades becomes interested or intrigued by something, he inevitably want to study it, and he is very interested in Emma and Jason. He locked me from the room they are being held in. I'm working on trying to free them. Emma is sick right now, though. For now, they are safe because his attention is on Arias, the others found and brought back. He will not be getting his revenge."

Kai pushes off the door frame. "The arrow was poisoned."

"Yes, and it is so strong, meant for Jason, that if they try to force it from her, it could kill her."

I gasp, fresh tears starting to fall. She turns back to me, and I see something on her face. "What? What happened?" I whisper it not daring to become excited.

"She calmed him. The beast should have torn her to pieces when they were locked together. It didn't, and I saw it with my own eyes in the room, she reached out and his eyes went from red to brown at her touch. And Orpheus said his power didn't work on her right. Jason said his didn't either."

I grin, "I told you she was unique. That's my girl. Thank you for coming to tell us. Please go back to them. Help them in some way." She disappears, and I glance at Kai. He is shaking his head. "What?"

"I knew you were up to something."

"Please. She said the one for Jason would listen but not hear." He stares at me. "Emma." Still nothing. "Her ears are messed up; she can hear but in double tones." He shakes his head. I jump off the bed and run down the hall passing him. I want to tell the others.

They are all in the garden, and I repeat what Perséphone told me, leaving out the part about Emma being Jason's mate, his destiny. Sean and Michael immediately begin trying to figure out a way to Jason and Emma out. God, I love these boys.

Nestor is listening intently. I watch him. Sliding over to his side, I draw his gaze and raise my eyebrows.

He answers his voice low. "I might be able to at least go to them. I can't bring them out though. Hades holds the keys to the underworld, and no one can pass go without his say." I squeeze his hand, thanking him. He sifts away. Kai is watching me, and I feel his love fill up the dark places inside me.

My attention turns back to the boys and the others. Raven is silent, Powaqu is relieved, and Mimi is crying.

"I'm sorry, so sorry." Mimi is rocking back and forth.

"Oh, honey what for?" I move and kneel in front of her, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I helped him. I helped him to make the poison. I was trying to save the others." She begins to sob uncontrollably, and Powaqu moves to her side, wrapping her arm around her.

"Darling, this isn't your fault in any way." I squeeze her hand before standing.

I move into Kai's arms, letting his heat warm me, and listen to the boys talk about storming the Underworld. I smile at them and glance at Raven. She is quiet. I realize that is how she operates - quietly assessing situations before she makes her suggestions. She glances up, smiling at me.

"I think I should contact my father," she states before moving away. "I'll return shortly." Her eyes drift over Michael and Sean. I smile at Kai, raising my eyebrows. I understand that look. Sooner or later, all those sparks are going to ignite.

The rest of us talk far into the night. We realized somewhere around dawn that it wouldn't be us saving Emma and Jason. Raven had returned some time ago and informed us that even Loki couldn't sneak us into the Underworld. No one entered or left Hades's domain without his knowledge. Kai takes me to bed and holds me in my sadness, whispering to me of times long ago, distracting me, or at least he tries. My memories of Emma play through my head. One flies in, in technicolor, and I blink, trying to force it away. I roll to my side away from Kai, needing to distance myself some. I know he is in my head, can see every memory, but this is one I won't speak about.

We had gotten into a fight, our only fight. We were fifteen, so young. She had stormed out of the Saint Charles house, running down the steps and yelling over her shoulder that she'd find her own way home. I didn't know until the next morning when her momma called asking where she was. She had never made it home. Three days, three whole days, later she had turned up, dirty and bruised in the quarter. She had stumbled into a shop of someone we knew, asking for help. Grandda drove me straight to the hospital. I remember the smell of sickness and the sound of her daddy's rage. Her momma was sitting in the chair crying when I rushed to my girl, crying. She smiled at me, wincing because of her split lip, pulling me close, holding me tight. I climbed right up in her bed and refused to leave. I stayed there until they let her go home the next day. She never told anyone what happened those three days. I spoke to Mr Stephen about it one time, and he told me sometimes the memories of the thing was just as bad as the thing itself. I didn't understand it then, but I sure do now.

I realize now that her need for perfection started soon after. She had always pushed herself dancing and at everything else, but after those missing days, she pushed like she was possessed.