KC – Thank you! I've sort of gotten on a roll with this fanfic, so hopefully updates will be quick and frequent. (:
All The Best People Are Mad – Thanks! I've thought about writing some grouped one-shots from James's point of view. I figured it would be interesting to see little bits and pieces of the stories from him. Maybe I'll write that one day. (;
Kct719 – Thank you (:
DyanneV – I'm glad you found it acceptable. Henry seems like such a thoughtful guy; I was hoping that I would manage to capture that.
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The Goddess Test Series belongs to Aimee Carter.
3: The Autumn Equinox
My concentration was broken by the sound of voices in the hall. Of course, they were coming towards me, and I had the feeling that they wouldn't be continuing down the hall and around the corner. I closed the book I was reading and waited. The library door burst open and Ava stalked in with James following her. I sighed and leaned back in my seat, setting the book to the side.
The moment he was in the room, James turned to look at me. "I can't believe you let Ava go through with that!" He yelled. "By the gods, Henry! She's terrified."
"She's fine!" Ava exclaimed. "She's stronger than any of the others." She mused, her eyes looking to me. I would imagine that Ava was trying to tell me something. She was relying on her eyes to do the talking instead of whispering to me in my mind.
"Just stay away from her, Ava. It's my job to get her to the manor, not yours." James replied sharply, breaking Ava's eyes from mine.
"I like her." Ava said. "And so I'm going to be her friend. You never know. She might need another push along the way."
"You didn't give her a little push last week, Ava. You shoved her."
"Did not!"
I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose. The two of them were like children sometimes. And in their argument, they'd come to me to fix their problems. I figured that it would have been a job for Walter. He always said he was the leader, anyway.
Ava turned to look at me. "He called you Satan." She said indignantly.
I blinked. It didn't surprise me that James had said that to Kate, regarding me. He was always saying that the girl should have a choice. I agreed with him wholeheartedly. But he always said that they should leave me, that I couldn't be good to them. I wasn't sure if he just wanted my position or if he really did think that I would just ruin their lives – both mortal and immortal. So far, it was looking like he was right. Someone had killed all those girls, and it was my fault.
"She's going to blow our cover." James replied, not even bothering to deny Ava's accusation. "Says she doesn't know anything about the myths and then starts spouting off what really happened!"
"I was not spouting." Ava said coldly, turning her glare on James. "I was just saying that maybe the myth wasn't all that true. And you know it's not. Don't go filling her head with lies just for your case."
"Kate has a choice." James replied, enunciating every sound in the word. He would not back off his platform for her to have a choice. He didn't seem to realize that everyone else agreed. But he wanted the girls to leave, and everyone else wanted them to stay. James was fighting a battle on his own. But I had to give him credit for not backing down, even when others – especially Ava – told him to shut up.
"I didn't say she didn't." Ava turned away from James and said, "The point is, Henry, that we managed to get Kate to read the myth of… that selfish girl and James here made her think that you were going to kidnap her." She waved a hand in his general direction. I bit my tongue to keep from filling in Persephone's name. Ava refused to call her by her name, instead referring to her as "the selfish one," "the bratty one," and so forth. She couldn't stand my first wife. I imagined it was because Adonis had chosen Diana's first daughter of the goddess of love. Rejection had never sat well with Ava.
James snorted behind her. Ava smiled brightly at me despite the frustration that had been on her face only moments before. I nodded to the two of them. James left, muttering something about not needing to be dismissed. Ava rolled her eyes, but her smile dropped a little when I didn't speak to her. With a huff, she turned and skipped out of the room.
# # #
Midnight was the dawn of the autumn equinox. I had given Kate two weeks to make her decision on whether or not she would attempt to fill the role Persephone left behind. For me, the two weeks had flown by.
I tried my best to seem disinterested. I tried to seem like Katherine Winters had no hold over me. In all honesty, she did. There wasn't a moment that I didn't think about her teary eyes looking up into mine, or the way that her brown hair, when dry, had moved around her shoulders and face. When someone mentioned her, the image of her staring at me, her hair wet and plastered to her skin, never failed to take the forefront of my mind. I did my best to hide all of it from the others. They didn't need to go thinking that Kate could make a difference. She wouldn't even get the chance if I couldn't keep her protected.
Throughout the two weeks, Ava and James remained constant bothers, spending their first few hours at the manor from school arguing over what was and what wasn't said to Kate. It seemed that Ava was on my side, painting Hades as a lonely, poor individual with a penchant for young girls and a need for love. James was on the other end of the spectrum, casting a light on me that made me seem like the Grecian form of the devil. I couldn't be sure what Kate thought about me, or if she even believed me. By Ava's claims, it seemed that Kate was having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she had seen a dead girl come back to life.
Beyond that, Ava reported that Diana's mortal form was falling deeper into the trap of cancer. I imagined that it was a hard choice for Diana to make – how she was going to die. At least she hadn't chosen to die suddenly, leaving Kate behind and confused. At least this way, Kate had been given some time to say goodbye to her mother. Ava was worried about Kate in the sense of whether or not she would be up to the challenge of six months at the manor while her mother waited, dying, in the outside world. James was only preoccupied with whether or not Diana's death, coupled with the deal she'd made with me, would push Kate over the edge.
The last day before the autumn equinox, Ava ran in to tell me that Kate had left school early. Diana had fallen into a coma. Kate was worried, stressed, and ultimately unready for the loss of her mother. Instead of reminding myself to be indifferent, instead of saying that life wasn't life without death, I found myself aching for the girl that I'd seen once.
Right when Ava finished telling me the turn of events, James stomped in, proclaiming that what we were doing to her was cruel. How could we live with ourselves, he questioned, when Kate's life was a lie? We were putting her through pain that she hadn't needed to feel – the loss of her mother, and the stress of facing the gods for a challenge at immortality. Her life hung in the balance. James stayed put on his stand, determined that I give it up, that I let Kate out the deal. But what he didn't remember was that Kate was made for this. The reason she was born was to take a chance at the challenges the gods presented her. That was her born duty. I couldn't find it in me to tell him that, though. Any other day, any other girl, and I wouldn't have hesitated to put James in his place. But this time I just let him rant and accuse me until Ava sent for Theo and Xander. The two of them stepped in to remove the riled up James from the ballroom.
He wouldn't give up on her. The protectiveness he'd felt for Kate was fierce. James had always been on the girls' side, reminding them whenever possible that they weren't subject to this life. That they didn't have to try for immortality. That they could leave whenever they wanted and pretend like none of this had happened. But he had never attached himself so wholeheartedly to one of them before. Of course, it just happened to be the one that had managed to give me something new within the first few minutes of meeting her.
Once again, the battle was on. James was on one side, and I was on the other. I'd had to shake the thought out of my head. Kate wasn't a prize to be won. She was a human girl, a beautiful human girl with a heart that seemed to be made of gold. She didn't deserve to be drug through the tumultuous experience of the tests.
But I had promised Diana. I would always keep my promises to Diana.
And so I stood in front of a small house. On any other day, it would seem warm and inviting. But today, despite the blooming flowers in the front bed, it seemed cold and sad. Heartbroken. I knew instantly that this was Kate's house, and it was feeling her pain, the loss of the woman who had given it such life in just a few short weeks.
I glanced over at Walter. When Kate hadn't shown up at the manor's doorstep this afternoon, it had been decided that I would go to her and remind her of the deal she made with me. My brother had refused to let me go alone, already prepared to play his part. He said that he had a vested interest in the girl and that I should let him accompany me. I didn't have any reason to tell him no. The two of us had taken one of the cars from the manor's garage and had driven over to Kate's house.
I knew all of Eden was fabricated, but it was well done. James and Ava hadn't perceived that Kate believed anything was wrong with the sleepy town she saw before her. If I hadn't known any better, than I would believe that it was real, too.
Walter had driven us here. He had parked the car and turned off the engine. The two of us sat there for a moment, watching the second hand on the clock tick slowly. The equinox didn't start until exactly midnight, and I wasn't about to barge into Kate's house without having the means to do so. The equinox was the deal that we had made, and it was the deal that I was going to keep.
Walter decided to use the time to remind me why I was doing all of this. "Remember, brother, that this is the last chance you have." He said quietly, not even looking at me, but rather at the flowers Diana had carefully put in the front of the house. I should have known that she would not let a house – even a fabricated one – go without some sort of natural color.
"I'm well aware, Walter." I said calmly. My eyes stayed glued to the clock in front of me. As an immortal god, I was hardly aware of time. It passed quickly for me. What would seem like a lifetime to a human was only a spec of history to me. But for the first time in my very extensive life, the seconds ticked by so slowly I was starting to get the feeling that midnight would never arrive.
The moment all three hands were on the twelve, Walter opened his car door. I did the same, stepping out onto the paved sidewalk. The house was dark, Kate was probably asleep. She would be looking forward to a day at the hospital tomorrow, at her mother's side. But we were here to change that. I couldn't imagine the loss that Kate felt when it came to her mother. Neither of my parents had been very loving. We gods had to make do on our own. But Diana was sure to mother Kate like a doe would to a small baby deer.
We reached the front steps. Walter glanced at me and I looked at him. I knew it needed to be done, but I couldn't help but feel like dropping in at midnight wasn't the best way to approach the situation. Before I could change my mind, Walter reached for the doorbell, deftly pressing it. His eyes met mine for a second, a smirk crossing his face before rearranging into a careful coolness. We waited silently. Nothing was moving inside the house. Walter hit the doorbell again.
Just as he was going to hit it a third time, a light snapped on in the hall. The door unlocked, swinging open to reveal a very rumpled, very tired Kate. She held a pillow to her chest, her eyes sleepy. When they met mine, something flashed in them, waking her up a little more. I had the feeling that she had been waiting for someone else. Who else would come calling in the middle of the night? Ava? James? Was he already making a move on Kate?
I didn't even think about what I was going to say to her. Words just escaped from me, and I was thankful that they weren't brutally honest. "Hello, Kate. Do you remember me?"
The sleepy fog that had seemed to be hanging over her vanished. Her eyes narrowed in on me, and she cleared her throat before answering. "Yeah. You're Henry." Her voice wasn't as smooth as it had been at the river, and that had been when it was shaky with fear. Even so, I couldn't deny the feeling that washed over me when she said my name. I had never had such a reaction before. I found myself struggling to keep from grinning at her too broadly. A small smile would suffice.
I introduced Walter as my valet. I had been expecting some sort of look from him to remind me that he was not, in actuality, my valet. But he kept up a good front, giving Kate a smile. He said a hello to her and asked if we could come in. Kate looked between the two of us before sighing and consenting, stepping back and opening the door a little wider. We both stepped into the front of the house. She closed the door behind us and, still clutching the pillow to her chest, stepped past me to lead the way. Her bare arm brushed the sleeve of my jacket. I swallowed.
Kate seemed just as nervous as I felt deep down inside. I had never procured a deal in this manner before. She moved slowly, reaching for the light switch as if she believed that we were there for more than a visit. She would be correct in her assumptions. Kate sat in the only armchair in the living room, leaving the couch open for me and Walter. I sat down fluidly, doing my best not to make it any more awkward than it already was. I would not show her what she had been able to do to me. Kate's eyes searched my face as Walter took his seat beside me.
I asked Kate if she knew what day it was. And to my amazement, she knew. Most mortals had no clue of such important days. I asked her if she read about Persephone, knowing full well that she had. According to Ava, it was all that the three of them talked about. But I couldn't give Kate the idea that I knew about what she had gone through the past few weeks. I would have to stay a stranger for the time being. Ava was playing a part, and to Kate know that I knew little things about her would be blowing the covers of everyone.
Kate paled in response. She gave a slow nod, her arms gripping the pillow a little tighter. I hated to make her so nervous. It was not what I had planned. I wanted to comfort her, not to make her think that she was in trouble. I asked if she was ready to uphold the deal. If she decided right then to back out, then it was nearly over for me. The end of today would mark the end of the equinox, and the start of her six months. It wouldn't be a full six months if she didn't show up at the manor.
Kate looked confused. I had hoped that Ava and James would be able to clear up the whole thing without revealing what they knew, but apparently it had been too hard for them. I started to formulate the answer in my mind, but before I could answer, Walter did. He didn't sugar coat it for her. His words were blunt and to the point. I found myself watching Kate to make sure that he didn't upset her. Kate stood up in alarm. I held up a hand to stop Walter. He wasn't doing this delicately like I had planned. He had just taken the reigns and done it himself, like he did with so many other things. I stood up and faced Kate. I tried to undo some of the finality that Walter had put into it. He was right, of course, but we didn't need to make her panic so soon. She could easily step out of the deal and none of it would apply to her. I would keep her on a need to know basis.
"Queen. You mean you want me to be your wife?" Was it so wrong of me to feel a pang when she asked that with such horror? I couldn't wipe the frown off my face. That was exactly what this was, if she managed to survive the first six months. But there was a high probability that she wouldn't make it, and if that was so, then I wasn't going to worry her so soon. I explained to her that I wasn't asking for her hand in marriage, ignoring the glare that Walter sent my way for just a second.
"No," Kate said suddenly. "Thank you for your offer, but you're crazy, and no. Now if you don't mind, I have to sleep." I could have sworn that I felt my heart skip a beat the moment the words came out of her mouth. She was rejecting me. Walter stood up silently, and together we walked to the front door. I stopped before stepping out of the door all the way, instead choosing to stand on the threshold. Kate stopped just behind me. She was so close that I could see every lash that surrounded her beautiful eyes. I found myself wanting to touch her, just like I had at the river. But this time I held back, settling for just looking her over.
"Do you understand what will happen if you do not uphold your end of the deal?" I asked. I was giving her another chance. It was a last ditch effort. Kate would never back out of it if she knew that Ava's life was the cost. It had been our deal – her life for Kate's time.
"I don't know, and I don't care. Now please leave." Kate said, her voice strong. Even as she said it, though, I knew she didn't mean it.
Walter was already ahead of me, heading towards the car that we had left at the street. "I will give you until midnight," I told her. Why couldn't I just accept the fact that she had said no? James had always said that Kate should have a choice. This was her choice. Even so, I could not stop the words that continued to flow from my mouth. "But I am afraid I cannot wait any longer. Don't be so quick to dismiss my offer, Kate. This is the only time I will make it." I paused, standing on the front path of the house. I was hoping that she would reconsider, take another breath and try to figure it out.
Instead, she slammed the door in my face. I stood there for a moment longer, staring at the closed door. I only saw Kate in short bursts, lengths that only lasted minutes. Yet when I did see her, she did something to me. I didn't feel so alone anymore. So hopeless. And yet she had just taken that away from me the moment that door had closed behind her.
Walter came up behind me, clapping a hand on my back. "It seems that she's harder to crack than we thought."
# # #
"I sort of feel bad, Henry." Ava said, perching on the arm of the chair in the library. I sighed and slipped the bookmark in between the pages, setting it off to the side. She never bothered to leave me alone when I was in the library. For being a universally quiet place, Ava sure didn't seem to grasp the concept. "I mean, I just feel bad. And you know that's sort of a big deal for me." She said. "I mean, I make people fall in love for giggles. But Kate is a really good person."
"Yes, yes," I said, annoyed at the fact that Ava would not let it go. She refused to give up on it. She'd even spent part of her afternoon calling Kate's home repeatedly to ask whether she was okay and if Diana was okay. I knew that she was just fishing for answers while trying to stay in her role, but the snotty cheerleader that Ava had chosen to play wouldn't have done those things. It seemed that Kate didn't just have a hold over me and James. She had managed to charm to the goddess of love, too. "She is a saint."
Ava wrinkled her nose at me. "Don't be so sarcastic. It's not a good look." Ava flipped her hair over her shoulder, glancing over at me. "James is with her now. He didn't know that you and Walter went to visit her last night. I have no idea what he was doing, but apparently he wasn't watching her with all the gusto that he said he would."
I didn't reply. I had no need to reply. Ava would probably continue on anyway, if she saw fit. I ran my hand over the binding of the book. I liked all sorts of reading. It didn't pay to be picky when I had an entire eternity. I had already read the classics, which had been new when I picked them up, as well as educational readings spanning from science to art to philosophy, as well as a few contemporary novels. I had to admit that I preferred the classics, particularly the dramatic, suspenseful, slightly dark novels, over the silly love stories of today.
"Anyway, I think we all know the next step in the plan." She said, picking up a nearby book. She held it to her eye level, glancing over the hard backed cover. She took a deep breath and blew a fine coating of dust off of it. My library was forever growing, and some of the oldest books I had not moved since I'd read them hundreds of years ago. I could see the dust motes in the air as Ava made a face and dropped the book onto the table.
"And what would that be?"
She rolled her eyes. "Like you don't know. You take my mortal life, of course." She said, eyes trailing over the shelves of books. "A deal is a deal, Henry. You offered her my life back for six months. She broke the deal, so you're no longer required to do what shouldn't have been done, anyway." She gave me a quick wink before looking away. "Besides, maybe this will open her eyes."
"What do you mean?" I questioned. I could feel my eyebrows drawing together at their own accord.
"Kate knows you brought me back to life. But she doesn't realize that it means you can take a life, too. And think about it, what would Kate anything for? And I mean anything?" She asked, leveling her gaze with mine.
I took a deep breath. I knew exactly what she meant. According to Ava, while they weren't discussing my exact words to her and the probabilities of what the deal meant, they were talking about Diana. At least, James and Ava had been. Kate had been meticulously closed off when it came to her mother. She was to the point, always saying what needed to be said and nothing more. She got extremely emotional when it came to talk about her sick mother, as well. "Diana," I breathed.
"Bingo, we have a winner." Ava looked out of the library window. She wouldn't be able to see much but the tangled branches of trees surrounding the manor, but she still stared out anyway. "I'm not saying that we should play up her weaknesses. That would be cruel, and James would have a fit. But what I am saying is that you can offer her another deal. She cares about me, she does. But when she thinks I'm dead, it will make her realize what you have to offer." She got up and reached for a book off one of the shelves.
"Wouldn't that be breaking the rules?" I asked sardonically.
Ava rolled her eyes. "Rules are made to be broken. Besides, you're Hades, God of the Underworld. I doubt rules really apply to you all that much." She said. "And think about it this way. You know those feelings that you get when you look at her?" I tried to mask my shock, but I knew that I wasn't doing so well. I had just figured that Ava would stay out of it like she always did. She smiled at me. "Those are some signs, Henry. They're not just some stupid little butterflies."
I had no words to answer her. Did she really mean that, or was she lying for my protection? Any other time, I would immediately assume the latter. I loved Persephone with all of my heart and soul. There was no other that could take her place. That had always been clear to the girls before Kate, as it would be to her if she decided to show up at the manor before midnight. My love for her could not be simply broken or wiped away by another. It was a high probability that Ava was giving me the push she thought I needed. She wouldn't hesitate to lie if she thought it would work out for the better in the end.
Sometimes, Ava was too optimistic.
She brushed the front of her shirt off and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She glanced at the clock that hung on the wall, ticking at a constant rate. "Well, it's almost midnight. I say we get this show on the road. Please, kill me." She said with a grin.
Okay, so this is sort of a short chapter. Sorry about that. I just wanted to save the next part for the next chapter.
As always, I want to remind all of you that I am not Aimee Carter. I do not own the characters or the plot. Some of this is my own creativeness, but it is built off of her work. Some of the dialogue is exactly as it is written in the book (particularly scenes that involve both Kate and Henry.) I tried to skip around some of it while keeping up with what was going on.
Anyway, please leave me a review. Also, I was wondering if you guys get the significance of the picture? It's sort of cheesy, but I like cheesy sometimes. :D
Thanks for reading. Peace. (:
