Touched by Darkness (Young Creator Trilogy) Read online

  I know that I don’t have a choice, Haddie has made her intentions pretty clear. She wants to kill me, steal my life force, and then cause havoc on humanity. Who knows what she will do if she is allowed to continue as she is right now.

  “I guess we need to get everyone together so that we can get this sword,” I say, but Aunt Tisi shakes her head, telling me no.

  “It is just going to be you, me, and Keagan. The less people that enter the Underworld the better. Hades is going to have a field day with us regardless. Ihaven’t seen that old fool in ages.”

  “Hades still exists?” I never considered that Hades may still be around since all of the other gods winked out of existence when the belief in them vanished. But looking at Aunt Tisi, the explanation stares me right in the face. “He survives of off fear and pain, just like you and your sisters do.” A nod confirms what I just figured out.

  “Have you been using your powers?” I shake my head, telling her no. I just haven’t had the opportunity to. “I wish we had more time before we faced your sister. There are still so many things that you need to figure out. I see that your ability to make people travel is very strong, but I think that the reason you have your gift is to counteract Haddie’s. I’m really sorry that I told you not to mess with it. Maybe we can talk to Hades about it. He might be able to give you some pointers.”

  “You seriously think that Hades may be able to help me? I thought that he was a bad guy!”

  Tisiphone, clearly amused by my outburst, laughs. “Hades is many things, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider him a bad guy. You’ll see when you meet him. He is definitelysomething.” She puts her hand on my shoulder and leads me over toward an area that people must use to do floor exercises. I don’t know what we are doing.

  “Think fast,” is the only forewarning that I have before, out of nowhere,I’m surrounded by five faceless ninjas. Two of them rush me right away. Unlike last time I was put on the spot, I react. I call on my energy ball and fire it at the two that are approaching me. They disappear in a cloud of dust. Then, before the other three can make a move, I make two swords appear in my hand and imagine myself in stretchy jeans, leather boots, and a loose top. They disappear before my eyes and Aunt Tisi is clapping her hands. “Good job. I just wanted to see you react. It seems that you have definitelyimproved.”

  “Why did you make the other three disappear?”

  “I saw what I needed to see.” Her eyes turn white, and then Keagan stands in front of us. He must have gone for a run; all he is wearing is a pair of loose workout shorts and running shoes. His hair is disheveled and he is covered in sweat. My breath catches. Why does he have to be so hot? The sweat is making his skin glisten and his muscled upper body is just delicious. All I want to do is stare at him.

  Throat clearing makes me tear my eyes away from Keagan’s bare chest, and when I look up to meet his eyes I notice the smirk on his face. Shit, I really don’t want to give him any mixed signals. I still don’t know what to do about us. Us? No, I can’t think of Keagan and me as us. I shake my head, clearing the fog that has turned my brain to mush, away.

  “Keagan, good morning. Did you go for a run?” I casually ask.

  “Sure did, and you,” he slowly looks me up and down, making me catch my breath, “can join me anytime you want. Nothing better than getting sweaty together,” he tells me with a wink.

  “Umm … thanks, Keagan. Youknow how much I enjoy running.” I swallow nervously and try not to look like his words are bringing pictures of us all over each other to the forefront in my brain.

  “Well, all right then. If you two are done with whatever you are doing, then let’s talk. Keagan, please turn your attention to me and enough with the droolingover Trish.” To my surprise, Keagan flushes, and the flush is all the way from his face to the waistband of his shorts.

  “I apologize, Tisiphone. You’re right, I was distracted and not focused on the task at hand. I’m surprised to see you here. To what do we owe this great honor?” Keagan, completely back to himself, asks.

  “Let’s just say things have taken an unexpected turn, and we must move the plan that your team came up with forward… with a few changes.” Keagan looks at her expectedly. “Instead of going tomorrow, we will proceed today. By we, I mean the three of us. I’m very familiar with the Underworld and this plan is the most likely to succeed. I have already explained everything to Trish. The reason that I need you to go, Keagan, is to once again haveTrish’s back.” She walks over to him and gives him a hug. “I’m very happy to hear that you are back to yourself, Keagan. Your mother was so relieved when Maximus got the news to us, she cried.”

  “I’m really happy to have all of my memories back, too. Now there is just a lot to make up for.” While saying the words, Keagan stares into my eyes, making me think that he is referring to us.

  This reminds me that I still need to have that talk with Keagan. There is a lot to figure out, and I just hope that I’ll get the chance to before everything goes crazy, which I know it will.

  “All right,so what exactly is the plan?” Keagan murmurs.

  “We are leaving right now,” Aunt Tisi tells him. Keagan glances down at the clothes he is wearing, and then looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Before she can even think about what to dress him in,I’ve already got him in leather pants, a tight black shirt, and a leather jacket that looks just like the one I’ve seen him wear at school. I quickly manifest a leather jacket for myself, and look expectantly at Aunt Tisi.

  “You two up for some art?”

  Chapter 20

  Touched by Hades I would have never expected the entrance to the Underworld to be in the Louvre, one of the most famous museums in the entire world. I’m standing in front of the glass pyramids which are the entrance to the museum. The theme of modern and old world carries its way into the museum. Exhibits from Ancient Egypt on one side and modern artists on the other wall. Corridor after corridor of art astound me. I can’t even fathom how much worth is in this one museum not only in monetary value, but the value it has to history. Looking at the pictures I can see so many stories written by the artist. Some pictures portray scenes from ancient times, andit’s amazing how different times before the use of electricity made life so much simpler. I think it would have been amazing to experience those times, but I would probably only want to experience them for a short time. Advancement has just made it so much easier to survive in today’s society.

  I gasp in wonder as we end up at the Mona Lisa, art ’s most mysterious piece of work. The look on her face has inspired many a tale and guesses as to what was going on while that picture was painted. We have been walking for what feels like forever and I’m surprised when we stop in front of this particular painting. Looking at the picture,I don’t really understand what the fuzz is all about. I mean, I have seen bigger, more complicated pieces of art, but for some reason this one is the one that grabs everyone’s attention.

  Aunt Tisi’s eyes turn white, and before my eyes the Mona Lisa’s strange smile changes to a gaping doorway. Talk about creepy. I look over my shoulder and find that no one is paying any attention to us. I so need to practice the cool little trick that Aunt Tisi can do; I can see where it would be useful in a situation or two. I step through the Mona Lisa’s gaping mouth onto an escalader. I look up, but can’t see how far it goes. If Ididn’t know any better, I would think that someone had a weird sense of humor. Instead of stairwell into Heaven,it’s a stairwell up into the Underworld. The escalader eventually ends, and before us lays what seems to be a massive mall with escaladers leading onto each new level. We are on the lowest level, and everywhere I turn everything is a dark gray color, from the floor to the walls. Even the people that are walking around are all in gray.

  “Wow , this is not what I was expecting when I heard we were going to see the Underworld. I thought that Charon would have to ferry us across the Acheron. I always heard that you had to pay a fee to get across and reach the gates,” Keagan says in wonder as he ta
kes in our surroundings. I nod in agreement, and can’t help but add my own thoughts to what Keagan just mentioned.

  “Right , and from there everyone has to face the three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus, who pass sentence. The good get to go to the Elysian Fields, which I would, by the way, love to see, and the rest are doomed to a pretty miserable existence. I don’t really understand what I’m seeing here.” I wave my arms, encompassing everything around me.It’s just all too weird.

  “You know, you two are right. This is not how I remember the Underworld at all. Hades has made some changes to the place since I last visited. I have to say,I’m quite intrigued by all of this.” Aunt Tisi looks around, shaking her head with a smile on her face. If Ididn’t know any better, I would say that she is rather fond of Hades. Almost like he is the little brother that is never up to any good. I look at Keagan, which reminds me of Riley. Oh no, I left her without any explanation of where I was going or when I would be back.

  “Aunt Tisi, did you by some chance let Maximus know that we were coming here?” “No, Trish, Ididn’t get a chance to. Remember, you brought me to Paris?” “Oh right. I just hope that Riley and the others won’t be worried when they find us

  missing.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Trish. Time in the Underworld basically passes one hour for every

  minute. More than likely they will not even know that you were ever missing.” “So where do we go from here?” Keagan asks.

  “To Hades’ palace. That is where we will find the sword.”

  “How do we get there?” Looking around the “mall” I have no idea how to find a palace

  within this massive structure. It seems that there is no end to the levels, andI hope that we don’t

  have to explore all of them. I get that time passes really slowly down here, but come on. “I have some ideas. Follow me.” We make our way through the throng of people. It

  seems as if all of them are going in the same direction, which is the opposite way that we are

  heading. As we push our way through the crowd, I start noticing that even though they were all

  dressed in gray and have somber expressions, that’s where the similarities end. Some of the people are dressed in modern clothes, while others are in items from a time long past. I have to

  say,I’m completely geeking out at all of the cool stuff.

  A lady, with hair piled in tight curls on top of her head, is wearing a dress that I can only

  describe as phenomenal. It is layer upon layer of silk with beautiful beadwork in the chest area. I

  wish I could have seen it in its original color. The dress brings to mind a ball where young men

  in tight britches and frilly coats bow, asking the beautiful young women to dance. An older man

  in chaps and a cowboy hat knocks into me and continues on without a word. I stumble, and if it

  hadn’t been for Keagan, who with a hand to my elbow steadies me, I would’ve fallen. I give him

  a small smile filled with gratitude and focus on making my way through the throng of people. We finally reach another escalator, and about halfway up the color changes from gray to

  tan. This floor is almost the exact same as the one before; the people still have somber looks on

  their face, but are dressed in tan versus gray. While everyone on the gray floor seemed to be

  going in the same direction, on this floor everyone is going wherever they want. Stopping, I look into one of the stores of the mall and am surprised to see that the

  occupants of this floor are lined up to receive punishments. They aren’t horrible, but still … to

  have to do this every day, I just could not imagine. The next store I look in I find the tan ones

  receiving a drink.

  “Hold up for a minute. I just want to check something out,” I tell Aunt Tisi and Keagan,

  who watch me as I head into the store. Thetan ones don’t acknowledge me. I make my way to

  the front of the line and find my reason for entering. The creature handing out water is something

  from legend. A Minotaur; the body of a man and the head of a bull. It is massive and I justcan’t

  believe that I’m standing in front of it. Just like the rest of the inhabitants of the floor, the

  Minotaur pays me no mind, it simply continues on with its task. Once I leave the store, I

  continue looking into the windows and gasping in wonder as I make out creatures I’d only heard

  of in Greek mythology.

  Keagan has now picked up on what I discovered, too, and points out a Centaur. Ican’t

  help but stop and stare as the man throws his long, blond hair over his shoulder and then gallops

  from one end of the store to the other. We continue on from one floor to the next; tan changes to

  yellow, yellow to pink, and pink to blue. The further up we go, the more lively and happy the

  people seem to be. The floors are also nicer and have what appears to be apartments built into

  them.

  “I have a feeling that we may find Hades on this floor.” I snap my head in Aunt Tisi’s

  direction. She hasn’t said a word since she told us to follow her. Meanwhile, Keagan and I are

  filled with excitement and chatting about what we’ve been seeing.

  “What makes you think so?” I ask. It’s not the top floor, as I can still see many above us. “The color, it’s his favorite.”

  “Really, light blue is Hades favorite color?” Keagan questions.

  “It is. He once told me that he loved it because it reminded him of the sky. Now I need to

  look for a door that has two golden statues on it. One is a trident, and the other is a lightning

  bolt.”

  “Seriously?” This comes from Keagan.

  All that he gets from Aunt Tisi is a small smile. We continue on down the blue hall,

  looking for the statues that mark the entrance to Hades’ palace. When we reach the escalator

  without spotting them, I worry that she was wrong. Keagan and I look at her expectantly, waiting

  to see what we are going to do now. I’m glad that I created myself some good boots, because

  otherwise all of this walking would’ve taken a toll on my feet.

  I remember when Chelsey invited me on a hiking trip with her family, who was there for

  a visit. I had never been, and put on a brand new pair of boots that I thought would be perfect. I

  didn’t realize how serious Chelsey and her brothers were about hiking, and after about five miles

  up and down rolling hills, the back of my feet were developing blisters from the boots rubbing

  against them. I tried enjoying the scenery, which was beautiful—especially once we made it to

  the inlet and were able to look straight across the water into the skyline of San Francisco—but

  my feet were killing me. Toward the end of the trip, I couldn’t walk in them and decided to go

  barefoot, which was a relief on my blistered heels, but torture to the bottom of my feet every

  time I stepped on a rock. From that moment on, I’ve always made sure to have the right kind of

  shoes, for whatever I’m doing.

  “Aha, there you are.” I look to see what Aunt Tisi has discovered, butdon’t see whatever

  has grabbed her attention. Regardless, I follow her when she floats toward two men standing

  against the blue wall. It still completely takes me by surprise when I see her like this; it reminds

  me that she is a Fury and not just my Aunt Tisi. Not only is she floating several inches off the

  ground, but her eyes are also a glossed over white. She stops in front of the two men and

  bellows,“Open to me.”

  “Tisiphone, what a pleasant surprise.” I hear the voice but don’t know who is speaking as

  neither one of the men is moving their lips. I do let out a laug
h when I realize what Aunt Tisi

  spotted. The man on the left side has a Trident tattoo running down his arm, and the other man

  has a thunder bolt shaved into his hair. It’s almost like Hades decided to modernize the

  Underworld. I stillcan’t shake my surprise at what I’m finding here.

  “Hades, how I have missed your fun little games. May we enter your palace?” Aunt Tisi

  requests.

  “Who have you brought to me?” the voice replies.

  “You and your games, Hades. You know who they are and why we have come here,” she

  answers.

  A gate out of pure gold with people reaching for the top appears out of thin air. The doors

  are thrown open to reveal a large room. We follow Aunt Tisi into the room, and Ican’t help but

  gasp in wonder at my surroundings. Now this is more like what I would’ve thought the

  Underworld looked like. Everything is black and gold; the black walls covered with more of the

  golden people climbing on each other, and reaching up. The room is massive, and as we make

  our way toward the throne I look from left to right, taking in everything in the room. All of the

  other floors werechild’s play in comparison to this.

  Hades has the entire room set up for torture; dark creatures with black holes for eyes are

  punishing in the most heinous ways Hades has chosen. I recognize some of them, and even

  though I understand that they did bad things,it’s hard to imagine that they have to tolerate this

  punishment for all eternity. Recognizing a woman, not from my history book, but from

  somewhere else, I stop and stare. At first,I don’t know where I’ve seen her before, but the longer

  I look at her the more clear the picture becomes. The woman, sitting and facing the middle of the