Changing the Future

Chapter 74

"So, you wanna tell us why the Lord of the Dead whisked us out of Central Park?" Leah asked, before frowning. "I think that's the weirdest thing I've ever said."

"Screw that," Joe mumbled, hopping off the edge of my bed. "You're alive, and that's all that-oomph!"

I barely caught sight of Joe tumbling into one of my beanbag chairs before I felt someone plow against my chest, sending the both of us sprawling to the ground. At the sight of strawberry blond hair and tear-filled baby blue eyes, I knew it had been Patrick who'd tackled me, his head buried in the crook of my neck while his body shook with silent sobs, hands fisted tightly into my shirt as if he were afraid that if he let go, I'd vanish into thin air.

Which, to be fair, was a totally reasonable fear given my powers.

I carded my hand through Patrick's hair, trying not to compare my friend's features to those of Luke, whose picture hung mere inches above my head. I turned away, preferring to focus my attention on slowing Patrick's breathing before he worked himself into having an asthma attack.

I managed to get the two of us seated into a more upright position, but it didn't last long as Pete yelled, "Doggy pile!" not hesitating to bring Joe and himself down on us in a mess of arms and legs. Leah joined the hug once we were no longer a human knot, and Andy preferred to sit next to us, giving us pats of affection on the head instead.

Eventually, the six of us scattered about my room, Joe laying claim to the beanbag chair he'd fallen over, Andy spinning around in my desk chair, Leah and Pete sitting on the edge of my bed, and Patrick remaining pressed up against my side as we sat on top of my trunk by my closet.

I could still feel him shivering, his skin ice cold against mine. I increased my internal body temperature, pulling Patrick closer, and wrapping my arms around him as he tried to level his breathing.

"Are you ever going to answer my question?" Leah asked, leaning forward, appearing like a fairy about to take flight.

"I don't know why Hades brought you all here," I said, continuing to run my hand through Patrick's hair. "Honestly, it was as much a shock for me as it is for you guys."

"Whatever he did," Pete said, "I didn't like it. It was all dark and cold and ew."

"It felt like we'd fade into nothing," Joe said. "And the wind was awful like you could hear the screams of the damned."

"Well, we are in the Underworld," Andy deadpanned, absentmindedly drumming at his knee with a pen he'd snagged from my desk.

"Exactly," I said. "In any case, Hades travels through shadows, so it doesn't surprise me he brought you into his home using his preferred method of transportation."

I checked on Patrick one more time, frowning to myself as he had yet to say anything since his arrival, eyes staring at everything and nothing at all. Maybe he'd heard something while shadow-traveling that did this to him. God knows what lurked in the shadows.

No, I knew what lurked in the shadows, who controlled everything dark and monstrous.

I fought off a shiver. No need to freak out my already scared friends when they were literally in the Underworld, a place where no mortals were allowed to leave once they entered. At least that long-held record was about to be shattered because I knew Hades would let my friends leave seeing as he brought them here himself.

"Would you like a tour of the palace?" I asked, knowing that I needed to figure out a way to occupy my friends – cough, Pete and Joe, cough – ­before they did something stupid, like go running into Asphodel with the Furies chasing after them. Or worse yet, they'd prank my brother and permanently earn their stay in the realm of the dead.