by Nicole Thorn
“That doesn’t bode well for me,” I said, looking at the ground.
She patted my shoulder.
“Well, we need to get Hermes to drag them topside again, before Hades decides that he needs to teach Hermes a lesson,” Tisiphone said. “I don’t want to deal with another rebellion so shortly after cycling out.”
“What?” I asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Callie said.
Charon sighed. “They’re already here. We might as well ask them.”
“Hades ordered me to bring them to his palace, to await Hermes’ arrival,” Tisiphone said. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but he’s got a bad temper that I don’t really want to deal with right now.”
Charon looked pointedly at the Meadows, then at Tisiphone. “It would take her five minutes.”
Tisiphone glanced at us. Then she turned to look at the Meadows, a frown on her face. I didn’t know if a fury could look worried, but this one certainly did. She crossed her arms over her chest, then turned back to us. “Fine, but make it snappy. I don’t want Hades to think that I’m disobeying him. He’ll start giving all my assignments to Alecto, and she’ll just rub it in my face.”
Charon rubbed his hands together. “All right, children, follow my directions exactly.”
CHAPTER EIGHT:
Knife to my Throat, I Would Rather Eat Thumbtacks
Aster
I SAT ON my knees, my eyes closed as I tried to feel out for the answers that everyone wanted from me. I hadn’t realized that so many people could look at me and think I was the way to get what they needed. I could barely figure out a message from the gods, let alone find out why people had been vanishing. My power wasn’t meant to do this, and I worried about when everyone figured out I would only fail them. Like my friends who came to me for answers I almost never seemed to have. Maybe they would come over more if I helped them more.
I pictured the souls that lingered in the Asphodel Meadows. I had never known what it looked like before this, and I had so little to go on. Still, I ran through everything I’d learned in the last few minutes. I saw the bodies of the dead, feeling it when the despair would hit them. Their lives and deaths would never be anything more than this, not worthy enough to get to the nicer side of the underworld. That was reserved for those who had pleased the gods, getting the approval of the judges that waited past the gates. I hoped that I would be one of those people when my time finally came, because I didn’t like it here. I didn’t like this cold stillness.
I breathed in, held it, and slowly breathed out. I could practically feel the people behind me as they waited for me to start getting useful. They could have asked a demigod who had visions, or someone who could see the future. Jasmine, she would have been a better idea.
Humans shouldn’t have entered the underworld. I could feel that too. It scratched and clawed at me, screaming that I needed to go back home. My head swam with it too, and I wanted to lie down and never get up again.
I shook it off, clearing my throat. No, I wouldn’t sink. Instead, I pressed my hands against the ground as I focused even harder. I wouldn’t leave this place without doing something useful. I wouldn’t let myself down.
People had been leaving. That meant it would draw on some kind of hope, I thought. Hope of getting out of here. If I pictured that, I could follow the path. I only needed to find the scent of it in the air before I could grab one and go. Not that hard . . . I hoped.
With a breath, I started hearing voices other than the ones around me. Something deeper, both underground and in the air around me. I had to pick them out piece by piece, so I could hear them properly. For the most part, it all sounded like the mad ramblings of the dead and confused, but I found something that sounded more intense than the others.
I saw a woman when I focused, and her voice sounded so weak. It made me think of the wind, if it had a voice. She’d been here for a long time. I felt centuries inside of her, all where she wanted nothing more than to feel something different. Too much of the same. Too much of the same sky that she wanted nothing to do with. I felt irritation at Asphodel for being like this. For being such torture. They had no hope of leaving, so of course they would take the chance they had.
The woman panicked, but something soothed her. I heard another voice, softer than I had been expecting. It sounded sickly sweet, making me recoil. I wanted it out of my ears to the point where I pictured digging into them with a butter knife. It wouldn’t rid me of the sound.
I started slipping into the vision, losing my way . . .
“Come with us,” the sweet voice says. “Trust me, and everything is going to be calm again. Close your eyes.”
I see so much more than the woman, or the people wandering around with nothing else to do with their deaths. Do they want to be chosen too? Oh, that’s what this is. A choosing. I can’t tell if it’s for a reason, but it’s picking, pure and simple.
The dead woman walks forward to the other person, and I get a look at the sweet woman. Her hair is long and brown, curling wildly. Her eyes are like ice, gray and bright as they watch the woman coming to her. I see a man at her side, tall and handsome. His hair is blond and falls to his shoulders, but he pulled it back. I don’t know why he’s here, but I feel him connected to the woman. His eyes watch her the whole time.
“Where are we going?” the dead woman asks.
The other one smiles. “Everywhere, my dear. Trust me and I’ll heal your whole world.”
No, I want to scream. No, don’t believe her. But the woman takes her hand, and then there is no fight. I don’t understand why she’s letting this happen. Does she not feel the magic bubbling and the trouble coming her way? It’s all I can feel. They come in whispers and shouts, telling me that I don’t belong here. That I have no right to see this.
It’s more than the woman that goes. The man starts calling out to people, and his voice rings a familiar bell to me. It’s similar to Hermes’, while being off a bit. If I know anything, it’s the voices of the gods, and that voice is too close to his.
I watch other people leave, but I have no idea where they go. I can feel them around me, but I do not see a soul. How can they be here and not here at the same time? I don’t understand, as hard as I try.
Others leave, and I can’t do a thing to stop it.
I opened my eyes, the imagery changing like the other one had never been there in the first place. That might have been a good thing, because it left me feeling sick. My head still swam, and I wanted to go home and forget I had ever been here. Hermes shouldn’t have left me in the underworld.
“Anything?” Aster asked me.
I nodded, but didn’t turn to look at anyone. I stayed on my knees, my voice weak when I spoke. “Someone was taking people. I don’t know who she was, but I saw her picking people out and taking them. They weren’t afraid, and it didn’t look like she was hurting anyone. I don’t know what her intentions are, or who her companion was.”
“Companion?” Tisiphone asked. “What are you talking about? How many people were taking souls away?”
“Two. A man and a woman.” I gave them all descriptions of the people I’d seen, as well as the souls that had been taken. It didn’t seem like it would be helpful. With so many bodies, how could anyone keep track?
I finally stood up, Aster taking my arm to help me up. Everything would be fine once I was topside again, I reminded myself.
“Are you okay?” Aster said, looking me over. “You look a little frazzled.”
“I’m fine,” I said, hopeful that saying the words would make it true. “I think I just need a little nap when we get back home. That, and ice cream. Ice cream heals all underworld inflicted wounds.”
Charon and Tisiphone were quietly chatting with each other when I started paying attention again, and it felt like they didn’t want me in the conversation. I attempted not to be offended that they would use me for information, and then be done with me. It made me feel disposable, like I’d stoppe
d being a person, and existed only as the mythical, mystical, Oracle. Not a human. Not anything but a tool of the gods.
“I don’t know how we would even stop it if they tried again,” Tisiphone said quietly. “We don’t know who it is.”
“No,” Charon responded. “But we know that it’s someone. Two someones that can be watched out for. I can try and have someone sniffing around for the living souls that are lingering. If they’re stupid enough to try again, then we’ll catch them.”
He sounded sure of himself, even though they’d missed who knew how many people getting pulled out of this place. Not to mention, they didn’t even know where the souls had gone. That seemed like a problem that needed to be solved. One that I couldn’t even help with.
Tisiphone turned to me, a sigh leaving her lips. “Is there anything else you need to tell us? Anything at all? It could be helpful, even if you don’t know it.”
“Sorry, that was it.”
She cursed. “Well, at least we have something more than we did before. That’s a place to start.”
I got no thank you, and no indication that either of these people even found me helpful. Maybe I wasn’t worth the effort that got me down here, and they would have made a different choice if they could do it all over again. It shouldn’t have mattered to me, but it did.
“They need to go home,” Tisiphone said, pointing to Aster and I. “Get them out of here.”
The man gestured to us, and we followed without question. That dark feeling crept back into my body, and I walked closer to Aster. I would have wrapped myself up around him if I thought it would keep me steady. Aster stood as the only other thing near me that was really and truly alive, and the brightness of that throbbed like a pulse I wanted to hold onto. I still kept my distance, not wanting to push it. Not until I couldn’t handle this anymore.
We got back to the boat, taking our seats. I dared to take a peek into the blackness, unsure of what I might have seen down there. Nothing, as it turned out, but I still felt the death inside of it. This whole realm felt like that. I didn’t know how everyone didn’t go insane. I would have if I had to stay much longer.
My breaths were shallow as I sat in the boat, curled in on myself while I counted out the seconds. I would be home soon, and I’d survived this horrible trip. With any luck, I wouldn’t be back until something killed me, and I belonged in the underworld.
I gasped when fire entered my mind. It wasn’t pain, but it took all of my attention up. It came from across the river, and voices whispered to me. I didn’t know where anything was located, but it felt like that voice had become a flash of a map. The Vale of Mourning tingled to the left of me, drawing my eye.
I stared at it, taking deep breaths that felt like they didn’t do anything. “Power,” I said, staring at it. “Power like lightning and thunder. I see ashes falling from the sky, and they melt like snow.”
“Callie,” Aster said, shaking my shoulders lightly. “What are you talking about?”
“How do you not feel it?” I asked. “It’s everywhere, so massive and warm. So angry. Bad things, bad things happened, and will happen, and are happening. It’s not fair. He didn’t do anything. But he would. He will. He should.”
Aster stared at me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t solve, but everything felt clear in the passing seconds. I understood my words, and what they meant for that magic I felt. It was powerful and delicious. But he didn’t. The one who owned the skin it tore at.
“Not long,” I said. “Shouldn’t be long. It would be cruel.”
“I don’t understand,” Aster said. “Is something wrong? What’s happening?”
I couldn’t find that answer in my head, but the whispers started getting louder. “I see people,” I said. “Three of them. I see knowing eyes, feel the warm glow of a heart, and the burning sharpness of brimstone. All together to tame him. They have their hands on his shoulders as they brace him, and they’re bringing him somewhere. The messenger is there too, but he leaves once they’re topside. Switching for more power.”
“What?”
“It’s too much. Too big,” I explained. “Too big for this place, and too big for outside. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Trapped, but you can’t trap lightning. You can’t muffle thunder. Not this loud. When it comes, it’s going to be a scream.”
Aster said my name again, worry in his voice. “I hate literally everything you’re saying.”
I went on, needing to get out what I saw. “The ocean cannot be here. He waits above, prepared to push the new thunder. It feels like wind. It’s blowing even harder than it was before, and we need thunder to scare it away.
“It’s burning him from the inside,” I whispered. “But I don’t know if it’s going to burn us too.”
Something hit my lap as I heard Charon said, “Here, calm down.”
I looked at my lap, seeing a pack of gum. I took it, unwrapping each stick and then shoving them in my mouth. I chewed them soft, distracting myself from everything that wanted to poke its way out of my head. I shoved it back down. For now, I wasn’t scared.
I kept chewing, wanting to blink and be home again. I would have to deal with my angry mother, but I could handle that. Hermes promised that she stopped floating as soon as we left, so she hadn’t been stuck up there for I didn’t know how many hours. Time didn’t feel right for us down here, all tilted funny. If I had a watch, then I could have taken a guess.
Charon stopped by a beach, telling us to get out. “You’re done here. I’m sure this goes without saying, but don’t go spouting off about any of this. You aren’t supposed to be here, and it would only cause a lot of trouble if people found out that some of the living were down here. I don’t like the precedent it sets.”
My nose wrinkled. “Who the hell would choose to come down here?” I would have paid good money for a promise that I wouldn’t have to see it again.
The ferryman shrugged at us. “You never know. There are a lot of stupid and brave people out there, and the death of a loved one can often make stupid and brave people do stupid and brave things. I don’t want to deal with it, so zip your lips. I can make you regret talking.”
I believed him, so I promised that I would be good and not mention this to anyone.
I stepped out onto the beach, Aster taking my hands so I wouldn’t slip into the water. He caught me when I stumbled, letting me rest on him as Charon took off and abandoned us with a lot of desperate and freshly dead people.
“This has been a ton of fun,” Aster said flatly. “We simply must go on more death adventures together.” After a pause, he added. “Not that you’re the problem here. I like having you around. I just meant, not here.”
Smiling, I patted his side. “It’s okay. I would prefer it if we went somewhere a little less rotten too.”
A dead old man digging through the sand glared at me, and I didn’t like it. I stuck my tongue out at him, making him frown harder before he went back into his apparent search. Other people were digging too, and some shouted at Charon as he floated off and away from us.
“Most people just go out for lunch,” I said to Aster. “Or maybe we could have seen a movie. You should try coming over when there aren’t gods around. We would have a lot more fun.” Oh, that sounded cheeky when I hadn’t meant it to. I let it go, because Aster could think whatever he wanted about it.
“We can still get food,” he offered. “I would be fine with eating ourselves stupid, as long as there isn’t anyone there that doesn’t have some human in them.”
“If only.”
We waited on the beach, nothing happening for a long time. I didn’t know what should’ve happened, but I got more worried with every minute that went by. Did Hermes have better things to do than get the living people out of the underworld?
I took Aster’s hand, swinging it with mine when I got bored.
“Ugh,” I huffed, still swinging my arm with Aster. “Entertain me.”
“How?”
“I don’t k
now. I would suggest skinny dipping, but I think that water isn’t really water. I would rather not get super freak powers.”
“The water here is the only thing keeping your clothes on?” Aster asked. “Don’t you have a pool at home?” He blinked. “That sounded bad. I promise I don’t want to see you naked. Oh, that sounded bad too. I would love to see you naked. Dammit! I meant, in the sense that I wouldn’t mind seeing a lot of pretty girls naked. Wow, that sounded bad too. And now you think I’m a creep.” He sighed. “Whatever.”
I giggled, then snorted. “I don’t think you’re a creep; I know what you meant.”
“You, you did?”
“Yeah, it’s not that hard to figure out. If it makes you feel better, I think you would look really nice naked. You’re very cute. And hot too. All of you are pretty hot, but I like you especially.”
His eyes darted around on the ground. “Why’s that?”
“Because you’re kinda tall, and I like your eyes. And your face. Your face is unbelievably hot. Even hotter than Zander and Kizzy.”
“Kizzy? Is that a girl?”
“Yup.”
“Do you like girls?”
“Just boys, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t think a girl is hot. There are a lot of them. I don’t wanna sleep with them, but I wouldn’t hate seeing them naked. There’s this YouTube girl I like and she’s a demigod—she hasn’t said it, but I can tell—and she might be the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. But I like boys that look like you.”
He didn’t seem to know what to do with that, still staring at the ground. “Um, thank you. You’re . . . pretty.”
I smiled again. “Thank you very much. Now I almost hope I see you naked.” I popped my gum, the bubble getting on my nose and lips.
“Huh?”
I didn’t get the chance to give him more information, because the world around us started to change. I couldn’t keep a hold on reality. It might have been better that way, because I wanted to let go of the underworld all together. It started falling through my fingers as things shifted from one reality to another.
