“I don’t exactly know. We have a theory.” I glance at Dax, but he doesn’t jump in to help me. “I’m supposed to take you to the Underrealm so you can help the Court of Heirs find the Key of Hades. It’s kind of vitally important.”

“Take me?” Her voice wars between sounding angry and afraid. Anger wins out. “You think you can cut my name into your arm and act like I belong to you? You think you can just take me?”

“No,” I say, trying to step closer to her. She moves away, putting the armchair between us. “I made that mistake once—when I tried to grab you in the grove—but I won’t make it again. Coming with me has to be your decision. I need your consent. You have to say yes.”

Daphne stands up straighter, pulling herself to her full height. I wonder if anyone has ever told her she looks like an Amazon warrior when she’s angry.

“Then, no,” she says.

“Pardon?”

“You’re some fancy-pants prince. Go tell your king daddy or this Oracle or whoever that I say no. Tell them to choose somebody else.”

“I can’t, Daphne. I can’t just choose somebody else. Number one, because nobody would listen to me. I’m not exactly the Court’s favorite person. And secondly, because you were chosen by the Oracle. You were chosen by fate. You’re the Cypher. This whole thing is a whole lot bigger than you and me.” I can feel it in my soul how important this all is. “You can’t just say no. This is your destiny.”

“It has to be my choice but I can’t say no? That’s some pretty messed-up logic, you know.”

“This has nothing at all to do with logic. It’s about destiny. Our destiny.”

“Shove your destiny. I don’t believe in destiny or gods or oracles—even if they are real. What I believe in is myself. In my choices and my plans. I’ve got my plan for how my life is going to turn out, and it certainly doesn’t involve being dragged down to some mythological world of the dead. So my answer still stands. No.”

“What if the fate of your world depended on it?” Because if Garrick is right and the walls of the Pithos are falling, and bringing Daphne to the Underrealm is the only way to stop it, the Fates of both her world and mine are hanging in the balance.

She grips the edge of the armchair so hard, it looks like she might pierce through the fabric with her fingers. “Then I’d say, find another way.”

“There is no other way. This is what the Oracle decreed, so it’s what must be done.”

“Actually,” Dax says from the couch. The expression on his face makes it seem as though he’s been enjoying a really good show. “There might be another way.”

“What?” Daphne and I say in unison.

“Well, not another way, per se. But perhaps a way to find out some more information on all of this. See if there is another option even available.”

“What is it?” Daphne asks.

“What if you could talk to an Oracle again?” Dax says to me.

“She resides in Elysium. That would be impossible.”

“There’s more than one Oracle, Haden. You know that. Even one or two in this realm.”

“If we could find one, what difference would that make? The Oracle of Elysium has spoken. Her words have been sealed.”

“Not all Oracles speak from the same source,” Dax says. “Another one might be able to give you more information. Look at things from a different angle. Let you know what other options might be available to you. If any.”

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

“Helping.”

“How is this helping? You can’t make her think there are other options when there aren’t.”

“You don’t know that unless you find out for yourself.”

“It isn’t my place to find out for myself.”

“Yes, it is, Haden. You’ve been conditioned all your life to obey without questioning. To treat your father like he’s the new Hades. Like he’s a god. They tell you your impulsiveness is your weakness, but it’s not. And I never should have encouraged you to restrain it. Your impulsiveness is your greatest strength—because it’s the only time you think for yourself.”

I shake my head at Dax. “Thinking for myself is what got me into this mess. My most impulsive act was what caused my father to disown me in the first place. I can’t do this—”

“Yes, you can. But you need to stop thinking like an outcast. Stop thinking like an Underlord. Or even a want-to-be prince. You’re half human, Haden. Start thinking like one. Humans question. Humans think for themselves.”

I glare at Dax. “This is what you wanted all along, isn’t it? This is why you’ve encouraged me to open up to my emotions—to my humanness. I thought you were my friend. I thought you were on my side. But all you’ve wanted is for me to fail. From the very beginning.”

“What I want is for you to make your own path. To find love. To live. Just like me.”

“Like you?” How could Dax call anything about his life since he returned from his time as Champion living?

“Excuse me?” I hear Daphne say. “Still here, remember?”

Both Dax and I snap our attention back to her.

“Yeah. Hi. I know you think you all are whispering, but you might as well be shouting from the rooftops. I gather Mr. Drool here knows where to find one of these ‘other Oracles.’ ” She steps out from around the armchair, no longer barricading herself behind it. “I want to go see her.”

“I can get you a name and city,” Dax says. “Assuming she hasn’t moved to a new town in the last six years.”

“That’ll do.” Daphne looks at me. “You’re coming with me.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in all this ‘fate mumbo jumbo,’ ” I say, quoting the way she put it when we were in the music shop.

“I don’t, but I believe you believe it. And if I can convince this Oracle lady to tell you that you’ve got the wrong girl, then you’ll believe her.”

“You can’t change an Oracle’s mind. It doesn’t work that way.”

“We’ll see,” she says, sounding far too confident.

“So what’s it going to be?” Dax says. “Are you going with her?”