Unhinged

by Chani Lynn Feener

  She tensed. That was exactly the wrong thing to say to someone before surprising them with something. What was in there and what was he planning to do with it? She shouldn’t have been so trusting. Shouldn’t have followed him down here without forcing an explanation out of him first.

  He glanced down at her and scowled, clearly finding distaste in her suspicious expression. “I didn’t bring you here to kill you or anything.”

  “Reassuring,” she mumbled. A low rumbling sound coming from within the mountain caught her attention. “What is that?”

  “It’s what lives in the house,” he explained, leaning closer as if to shield her partly.

  She got the distinct feeling it was more to ease her mind than to actually protect her from whatever creature was about to step out of there. At first she was touched, before she recalled that the only reason she was worried at all was because of him.

  Six glittering red orbs appeared then, about the size of beach balls and hovering a good thirty feet in the air. Another growl was emitted, and this time she recognized the sound for what it was. One massive dark black paw crashed down on the sand, followed quickly by a second. The first head that popped out had her gasping, too afraid to even back away.

  “Dog house,” she whispered, her brain barely processing she was doing so.

  It was by far the largest canine she’d ever seen. At least forty feet tall, it had the stocky muscled body, scrunched face, and pointy ears of a French bulldog. Just with three heads. One head moved to sniff down at the white structure sticking from the ground, and she realized with a sick twist in her gut that it was actually a bone. The second head shook and licked his nose in an almost bored manor, while the third blinked down at them.

  As one, they all turned their vibrant red eyes on Hadrian, tongues lolling out as they moved closer.

  “Shh, Spencer,” his arms banded around her gently, successfully enclosing her within the safe confines of his body and keeping her in place at the same time. “This is Cerberus. He guards the gate to the Underworld. He’s friendly, so long as you stand by me.”

  “So not comforting,” she exclaimed, counting the harried beats of her heart to try and distract herself. “Correct me if I’m wrong—seriously, please do and say I’m wrong—but I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that he’s got a taste for live flesh…?”

  “Yes.” There was no judgment in his eyes. He glanced between her and the massive dog that had dropped down to lie in the sand in front of them. When he took a step forward, she tugged him back. “It’s ok,” he said softly.

  She let him go, watching closely as he approached Cerberus and his ten inch teeth.

  “Hey, boy,” he lifted a hand and rubbed it on the underside of the middle head’s chin. “This is Spencer. She’s a friend. Be nice.”

  Cerberus’s first head turned towards her, lowering to the ground. He huffed out a breath, sending a small cloud of ashy black sand swirling her way. He whimpered a little when she let out a startled sound.

  The sand settled once more and she lowered her arms. The dog was still in the exact same place, and when she looked into its eyes, she didn’t see anything bloodthirsty staring back. His middle head certainly seemed to be liking all the attention Hadrian was giving him. He thumped his tail in time with the scratches.

  “I raised him as a puppy,” Hadrian told her. “Believe it or not, he was only about the size of a chicken when he was born.”

  “Kind of hard to imagine.” The first head was still staring at her, blinking innocently. She tried to picture Cerberus small enough to fit in her arms, wondering if he’d seem as intimidating if he were. “How long ago was that?’

  “His birth?” He thought it over a moment. “He’ll be four thousand and three this year. Like most of the creatures that dwell here, Cerberus is immortal. Good thing, too. He’s been in my life so long, I don’t know what it would feel like without him.”

  Suddenly she felt like she’d just been let in on an extremely private moment, though she couldn’t be sure why. Others had obviously seen him interact with his dog if he’d really been around that long. Right?

  Still, when Hadrian turned and motioned her closer, she found her feet only refused to move for a split second before propelling her forward like a robot.

  “He’s harmless,” he reassured her. “He won’t hurt you, Spencer. Go ahead, pet him. See for yourself.”

  She shook her head, sending tendrils of light brown hair cascading around her oval shaped face. She couldn’t touch him. What if he bit off her arm? Or worse, swallowed her whole? He could do it too. Any one of his three mouths could just gulp her down in one move faster than either of them could blink.

  She jumped when Hadrian took her hand, at her side before she’d even realized he was moving.

  He laced his fingers through hers, bringing both of their hands up to the first head’s snout. He pressed down his palm so that her hand flattened against the bristly dark black fur.

  “He’s so soft,” she whispered, taking a small step closer. Cerberus didn’t exactly smell awesome, more like stale food, but at least he wasn’t trying to eat her.

  “So long as you’re not a soul trying to escape, he’s one big softy,” he agreed.

  She frowned. “Wait. You mean like Micah?” Maybe she’d spoken too soon. Had this dog tried to eat her boyfriend before? Had he hurt him? Micah hadn’t been able to remember, so it was a distinct possibility.

  “No,” he said. “Not anymore.”

  “Why?”

  “Cerberus guards the gate to the Underworld, and therefore the river Styx. That’s the main entrance and exit. The Styx and Cocytus stem from the Acheron. Their waters entwine. That happens on the other side of this mountain, that’s why in some myths you’ll read that Charlie ferry’s souls across the Acheron, and in others you’ll read that it’s Styx. The meeting place between the two acts as a gateway of sorts. It’s the strongest point of entrance and exit, hence the need for a guard dog. The first time, I assume Micah merely took the Acheron, a river that was already familiar to his soul, despite not being able to recall it.

  “You see, an average soul isn’t strong enough to cross the rivers Acheron or Styx themselves. That’s why a Ferryman is needed in the first place. Where the two converge is the only place where a soul has ever been successful before. Micah was somehow strong enough to do it, and never had to come here. He’s very fortunate in that sense. Had he tried, Cerberus would have stopped him and alerted the guards.”

  “There are guards?” Funny that he kept mentioning all these other living beings and creatures that were supposedly down here, and yet the only one she’d seen on any of her visits had been him, and this dog.

  She sucked in a breath when a large tongue licked her palm, and she realized with a startled laugh that she’d been petting the dog during his explanation. She’d been so terrified by the dog in Syd’s neighbor’s yard and every dog before and since, but now…

  “He’s not so scary,” she admitted. “He’s actually kinda sweet.”

  “I knew you’d like him. Just had to get past your fear first.” Hadrian sent her a smug grin that made her think that maybe there’d been more to this little excursion than just visiting his pet, but he turned towards the opening in the mountain before she could question him about it.

  “Where are you going?” she asked. It seemed that half of her day was going to be spent chasing after him.

  “Don’t you want to see the river?” he asked her, glancing absently over his shoulder. “There are only two left, and Styx is right on the other side. It’s beautiful, trust me.”

  That was the problem.

  She was starting to.

  Chapter 20:

  The way under the mountain was dark and foreboding. She kept thinking that if she were a soul attempting escape, she’d have turned back a second after stepping foot in here. There wasn’t a single light, and if it weren’t for the fact that she could hear Hadrian’s footsteps before her and
they only walked in a straight line, she would have freaked.

  It was obvious now that this was the dwelling of a dog. She could smell saliva, and damp fur. She hoped she didn’t come into contact with anything of a liquid variety.

  They walked through the darkness for about ten minutes before reaching the other side, and she blinked against what now seemed like blaring pink light from above. It took her a moment to adjust, and once she had she gasped at what lay before them.

  A winding river stretched vertically about twenty feet away. At the center it forked right, branching off into another river of equal width. Glancing downstream showed that a few hundred yards away was where these two bodies of water met. The water of the one that branched off was recognizable, and thinking of the Acheron and their swim there had her blushing before she could help it.

  The second river, the one that kept flowing straight, was the Styx, its waters different from that of the other three rivers she’d seen so far.

  The hundred yards of water where these two combined sparkled tints of blues, greens, violets, and yellows; like watercolor paints flowing next to each other without mixing. Multicolored pebbles shimmered at the bottom, clearly visible from above. There was a soft melody coming from it; the twinkling chimes of music lulling her closer.

  When she reached out to touch it, he stopped her, taking her hand firmly in his.

  “You don’t want to do that,” he said. “This is a gateway in and out of the Underworld. Without an escort, you could end up anywhere.”

  “Could you find me?” She wasn’t really sure why she’d asked. The words just sort of slipped out.

  The music was still playing, coaxing her to defy his warning and touch it anyway. Suddenly she felt very hot and confined in her jeans and t-shirt. The sweatshirt she’d still been holding over her arm dropped to the sand. Maybe if she just splashed some of the water on her, she’d cool off and wouldn’t go anywhere.

  She thought about how pretty her skin would glow underneath its depths, how the water would wash her clean. What if it could make her whole again? Make her the person she used to be? It was obviously magical. There had to be special properties to it.

  If she could just dip in, all of her pain would vanish. She could go back to the “It girl” version of herself. Vivacious, full of life.

  “You would like me more that way,” she told him in a hushed whisper, so enthralled with the running water that she barely registered her lips moving. “The girl I was. I would have done anything then. We would have had fun. I’m sure as an immortal you’re used to doing all sorts of new things. I could be her again if I just…”

  “Spencer,” his grip tightened on hers, and he tugged her back.

  Once there was more distance between her and the river, she frowned, turning to face him questioningly.

  “Acheron, the River of Pain, and Styx, the River of Hate. When they come together their pull on humanity grows. Only those strong of will are able to resist tumbling into oblivion. You go into that, and you don’t know where you’ll come up for air,” he told her.

  “It hypnotizes people?” That made sense. Not.

  “It draws on a soul’s inner pain and turmoil, turning it against them. If a soul somehow manages to get past Cerberus, this is a second safety clause. Through it you can realize your hopes and dreams, the things you feel you lack the most. The things you think you need in order to be happy. It tricks you into thinking that by going through, you’ll acquire those things. But you won’t.

  “Any soul that goes through is forced to wander aimlessly, lost to the world they once knew. Most aren’t aware of the time passing here below. If one does manage to slip away, they usually find themselves petrified of how the world has changed since their time. They can’t come back though; they’re cast out. Some ghosts are the result of this.”

  “Micah—”

  “Was different,” he cut her off. “He had a tether.”

  She looked back up to see him watching her closely. He’d taken on that expression, the one that left her wishing she could read minds. Or, at least his mind.

  “He had you,” he added so softly at first she thought she’d imagined it. Then he began leading them to the left, further down, until they’d reached the part where the river forked and became two once more.

  The Styx alone wasn’t as pretty as where it formed the gateway, its water a milky white with what appeared to be wisps of smoke flowing within it.

  “The Styx wraps around the Underworld seven times,” he said. “It passes through every part, a link through all.”

  “What’s the white stuff?” she asked. At least here she wasn’t tempted to dive in. In fact, the exact opposite; even the idea of her toe coming into contact with it made her shiver. She couldn’t explain it, but her stomach recoiled on itself and for a split second she thought for sure she was going to vomit.

  “Its essence,” his words distracted her enough to help keep her dinner down.

  “Of what?”

  “Of life. Pure. Undiluted. All who are like me come from it; born from the ashes of intentions and the tears of the universe. From it we are created, and from it we will return.” He shrugged a little too stiffly. “If we die, that is.”

  “You can die?” Why that freaked her out even more than the river itself unnerved her.

  He flashed her a cocky grin. “I don’t intend to, but it is a possibility, yes. Did you think I was the only one? There were many before me, during me. Probably will be more to come.”

  “You mean like Zeus?”

  He made a face at that. “There may be a god above, Spencer, but his name isn’t Zeus, and he’s definitely not my brother. Besides, Zeus died many years ago, along with most of the Greek pantheon. They were not meant for this world, and so they passed through it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They moved on.” He seemed sad then, watching her with those cobalt eyes. “We all must at some point. Everything that has life must end; death is the only thing that’s eternal.”

  Maybe he understood how it felt to be left behind. Like she did.

  “How did they die? I thought gods were supposed to be unstoppable?” she asked. Part of her was sad that the gods she’d grown up reading about were no longer in existence.

  “We can be killed by another of our kind,” he said, this time with more bite in his tone. “There was a war among us, one that was waged above the land of man for over nine centuries before finally ending. Few survived it, and those that did, scattered. I keep in contact with most, but our relations to one another have been vastly over-imagined. Far less inbreeding, and we were birthed from the same source. This river.”

  “What was the war about?”

  Hadrian gazed off in the distance, clearly caught up in the memories. His body had gone stiff, like the statues that had once been carved so frequently in his likeness “Have you ever heard the story of Helen of Troy?”

  “Yes…I was actually just thinking about that movie earlier,” she said, not sure where he was going with this. “Two men fighting over the same woman.”

  “Paris gifted Helen with a golden apple taken from Hera’s garden,” he told her. “It was to symbolize that she was the most beautiful woman on the planet. She was so flattered, and so hated her husband, that she agreed to run away with him, sparking the flames to a war that would burn down entire nations, leaving nothing but scattered remains in its wake.

  “It was like that with us. Two foolish individuals lusting after the same woman, both believing they deserved her more than the other. It tore my world asunder, destroyed everything I knew and loved. Eventually it just…ended.”

  “Who got the girl?”

  He blinked, as if remembering she was there. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat and stepped back, taking her with him. He turned so that they headed towards the mountainous cave and the hellhound that lived there.

  She expected him to answer, but they continued on with neither of them speakin
g the whole trip. Through the dark, the sounds of his breathing and his feet against the ground comforted her, keeping her constantly aware that the hand in hers belonged to someone and not a statue.

  He’d closed himself off just as quickly as he’d begun to open up, and she found she disliked the idea of him not trusting her enough with his past. Not that she should want his secrets.

  Cerberus was asleep when they came out the other side, small tornado clouds of sand spiraling up in front of each of his three noses with every exhale. They didn’t stop to rouse him, Hadrian leading them by without a second glance at his pet.

  They passed the River of Fire, the heat momentarily reminding her that she’d left her sweatshirt back on the ground where the Styx and the Acheron joined. A glance at his guarded expression made her decide not to bother asking to go get it. She could always buy a new one, or maybe Ferris would be nice enough to get it for her later.

  He kept her hand in his and she didn’t pull away. At least with him like this there was less for her to fear. She could feel his heated palm, the strength in his fingers wrapped around her own. But the rest of him…he’d cut himself off so completely that he’d become intangible. Just out of reach. It made him appear less vibrant, less alive, and she couldn’t get swallowed up by something dull.

  Not that he looked dull; he was still as hot as ever. And they looked ridiculous next to each other, him in ancient battle gear and her in her jeans. The contrast amused her though, pointing out just how many differences there were between the two of them.

  He’d seen armies destroyed, gods murdered, and civilizations ruined. The most she’d witnessed was the killing of a colony of wasps one summer when they’d made a nest on the back porch. So not the same. He was worldly, and she couldn’t name half the countries in Africa, let alone the world as a whole.

  He was a god, and she was… well, nothing special.

  Without warning, he flashed them to a new location in a blink, and they re-entered the empty hallway. However, instead of leading her towards the direction of the ballroom, he took a right, spurring them further into the bowels of the castle.