Hades' Cursed Luna

Hades

He had not just been noticed by the high-ups but by the supreme commander himself. There was no escaping the military then.

"What happened then?" Kael asked.

Sweat beaded her forehead now as she held her brother tighter. "The meeting was not at the Alpha's residence, the Lunar Heights. It does not even have a place on our maps, nor yours, I'm sure. My father knew nothing about this place."

I straightened.

"It was a secret city. Alpha Darius called it Malrikian Eden. His paradise. His utopia. The city for the Worthy—that was what the people there were called."

I exchanged looks with Kael. As much as I wanted to dismiss it as the outlandish story of some war-scarred colonel, Ellen had spoken about Darius' inner circle and how they would be protected. They must be the ones called the Worthy. That much was clear. I had expected a safe house—but a safe city? The bigger picture was forming, and I was starting to suspect that our ending up in Silverpine was fate.

"Alpha Darius told him about the final war with your pack. My father said he spoke of it like prophecy, like he had no doubt in his mind. He promised my father he would be promoted to general."

"That's quite a jump," Kael remarked.

"My father thought so too. But Darius said if he survived the war, he and his family would join the Worthy in the city. That was only half the visit. They led him to a laboratory and tested a serum on him. They said it was a classified steroid for the Gammas, and that he was being honored with the chance to use it. My father had no choice. But nothing happened to him. He was even given a dose of the serum as some kind of keepsake."

"So your father had a bad feeling after the visit," Kael offered.

"It was worse than that," Thea whispered, her voice barely above a breath. "My father immediately knew there was no way he'd be let off the hook after being exposed to so much classified information. So he tried to run with his family."

Kael leaned forward. "That's how he died with your mother," he said, raising a brow. "But if he knew about this other route, why take the more dangerous path that led to both their deaths?"

Thea's grip on her brother tightened. "Because the other path was over the hidden city—Malrikian Eden."

Both Kael and I stared at her like she'd lost her mind. Hope gave way to painful despair. "Wouldn't the security of a hidden city be even more intense, since it has to stay hidden?" I asked.

But Thea only shook her head. "There's a reason the city is technically non-existent and not on any map. Because it simply isn't there—not to the naked eye, anyway. The city is protected by an illusion that makes it impossible to see. You see endless woods, but the city is right there. There aren't heavy patrols, just minimal guards. The only things close to frightening are the stone statues my father said looked like petrified creatures—no actual Gammas. To them, they're safe. Why guard something that technically isn't there?"

"Nothing is more hidden than something in plain sight," I murmured, stunned but still dubious. Our planet was small—how had satellites missed something like this? But then again, if we were talking about Darius…

Thea must have read our doubt on our faces. "There's a route there—a straight line from the border, directly opposite Obsidian. It's like crossing the border without anyone shooting you down. No eyes watching. No guns at the ready."

My eyes narrowed. "Why didn't your father take that path then?"

She swallowed hard. "They would be alerted to any movement at ground level. So moving through or around the invisible city would've been suicide. Flight was the only option, but if our family had procured an aircraft after that visit, it would have been the same as announcing their escape."

Understanding dawned slowly. "But since I can fly silently enough to catch a Gamma off guard…" I said, the pieces clicking.

"You can discreetly fly over the city," she finished with a nod. "No one expects what they can't see, especially above something that doesn't exist."

I leaned forward, suspicion sharp in my voice. "How do you know the route if the city is invisible and hidden?"

Without flinching, Thea reached down and pulled off her metal prosthetic foot. She twisted something at the ankle joint, and it popped open like a container. From inside, she drew out a thin case.

"My father made a map," she said simply, opening the case with careful fingers.

Inside, nestled in faded velvet, lay a folded piece of parchment and something else—a glass vial containing a clear, pinkish fluid that caught the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

The moment I saw it, Eve's scent hit me like a physical blow, wafting through the air and nearly cleaving me in half. My eyes sharpened on the vial as every muscle in my body went rigid. The familiar ache in my chest throbbed with renewed intensity.

Kael took the map, but I snatched the vial before he could reach for it. I uncorked it with trembling fingers, and Eve's scent flooded my senses completely—honey and lavender and something uniquely hers that nearly knocked me backward. The longing that had been a dull ache erupted into something raw and desperate.

"What is this?" I demanded, my voice harsher than I intended.

Thea blinked in confusion. "It was the serum souvenir my father kept after his visit to the hidden city. The one they tested on him—"

"What is it?" Kael asked, looking between my stricken face and the vial.

I stared at the pinkish liquid, pieces falling into place with sickening clarity. "This was extracted, isolated, and distilled from Eve's blood."

Kael's eyes widened as the truth struck. "The so-called steroid is—"

"It's the Fenrir's Marker from her blood," I finished, my voice barely a whisper.

Kael let out a low whistle. "Fate has a cruel sense of humor," he said, his gaze shifting to Thea and her brother, who had both paled again, clearly baffled by my violent reaction to what they'd thought was just some old military experiment. He clapped my shoulder, grounding me while I was still spiraling. "We're getting home by morning, at this point. It's written in the stars."