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Soentle hand on my back was unmistakably Ava’s "Are you okay?" she said softly, and I straightened, keeping ht-headedness at bay

"Yeah, I’hed "I’m sorry, it’s just--"

"It’s just that you learned there’s a pretty good chance the world is going to end, and you need a moment to think," said Ava, and I nodded She see it better now, but she’d been with the council before I’d gotten there She’d had s had been different?" I said "If I hadn’t passed the test--"

"She still would’ve done it"

I opened ainst the wall, his hands shoved in his pockets and his hair athe saave him a s this for a long ti to stop her She wants you dead She wants us all dead She stopped thinking rationally long before you were born, and no ae that" My heart sank So that was it then--eventually I’d have to hand ardless of how this turned out If the council was right, if Calliope and Cronus really were unstoppable, if ere all going to die anyway--

I didn’t want to Every f iber of ain, knohat she would do to me But what if that was the only solution? What if that was the only way to convince Calliope to help subdue Cronus again? If she’d really fought with the others in the war against the Titans, then the part of her that cared enough to risk her own existence for humanity had to be in there somewhere And noe her ht Only as a last resort

If it did cohtmare could end--I wanted to be self ish and live, but I couldn’t stand back and watch everyone else be slaughtered because of me I wasn’t sure which option was ht have been within nore that, as badly as I wanted to forget it was even a possibility

Either way, I had to f ind her f irst "How do I get there?" I said "To the place where Calliope and Cronus are I know you don’t want o even if I don’t tell you," said James "I don’t knohere it is--honest No one does The elder gods can f ind it, but they made sure I couldn’t, and the location was kept secret from the others for obvious reasons The only other person who knehere it was--" He stopped

"Who?" I said "Please, Jah the whole Underworld if that’s what it takes"

"I know you will," he said with a tight smile "That’s what I love about you But, Kate, you have to understand--"

"What I understand is that if so to rip the world apart, and everyone’s going to die," I said "I don’t care what I have to do I’ll do it"

Jaate is--" He paused "It’s Persephone"

CHAPTER SIX

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