by Skyler Andra
“Whoa. Whoa, no, not me. I’m not–” I glanced at Hades as a look of abject misery and sorrow swept across in his face. Quickly, I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was still keeping something from me. I didn’t know what it was, but it was there, and it was big.
My stomach lurched, and that made what happened next even more confusing in my mind. I couldn’t say what transpired first.
Either Delly took advantage of my confusion to help herself or Hades decided that talking things out in a diner wasn’t his style. I didn’t know who did what or acted, but suddenly Delly had swung her shotgun toward Hades as he reached for her, and a blaring thought echoed through my head: FIX THIS!
In times of trouble, I could never sit still. It wasn’t in my nature. And now, defying all common sense, I hastily reached for Delly, lunging over the counter. Knocking my orange juice over, I tackled her low around the hips. I was doing my best imitation of a linebacker because something from all those days watching high school boys play football must have stuck. The glass struck the ground before we did, smashing everywhere, along with the contents. Laura’s body hit the ground as Delly let out a surprised squawk, and the gun went off like a cannon next to my ear. The sound was so deafening that I thought I must have been hit. But then a shower of plaster came down over us, covering us all in white dust.
Delly started to cry and thrash, trying to get the gun back under control, but it seemed as if her limited abilities were coming to an end. Her hands twitched, and the harder she cried the less motor skills she seemed to wield. Before she managed to get the gun level again, Hades grabbed it by the barrel as if planning on pulling it right out of her hands.
“I’m stronger than I look,” Delly panted, and a mad grin claimed her features as Hades froze.
In that moment, with Hades at point-blank range and her finger on the trigger, there was only one possible outcome. God or not, it could seriously injure him. Aunt Mae had only scratched him and made him bleed. So had the rose thorns. I didn’t know how rational that thought was, but I knew that I could not stand to see him bleed. Nor could I stand to see him die, and that was why with a sharp cry, I desperately summoned my powers. When I latched onto an invisible force, I curled my fingers and pulled, resulting in a scream.
Importantly, I hadn’t heard another gunshot or a mortal cry from Hades. Sweat broke out on my brow as I grit my teeth. I did what I was made to do, what came naturally. With an almost audible pop, a teenage girl, translucent pale, and shorter than me and with tears in her eyes, stood nearby.
“No!” Delly wept. “It’s not fair. I only got to be here for seventeen years!”
“I’m sorry,” Hades said as though he’d found compassion for her in spite of previously having had a gun pointed at him. Maybe I was making a difference after all.
“I don’t want to go!” she wailed.
“You don’t have a choice,” he reprimanded quietly. “But come, I’ll go part of the way with you.”
Reluctantly, she took his hand—because what else in the world was she going to do? As they stepped away, I realized that Laura was still laying prone on the ground.
I expected that after we got Delly out, Laura would be fine, that she would sit up and go on with her life and everything would be what it needed to be. Instead, she lay shaking on the ground, her eyes closed, her skin pale.
“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no…”
I slid down by her side, giving her chest compressions the way I’d been taught in first aid class.
I did this, I thought with a dark certainty. This is because I reached for her because I couldn’t… Just like I killed the dancers in my dream.
Hades tried to pull me away. “Come on. We need to leave now.”
“No! We can’t! I did this to her, didn’t I? When I pulled Delly out…”
He hesitated, and I went back to working on Laura. I could taste my own tears at the corners of my mouth, and I thought of my mother, whom I couldn’t save either.
“There is much we don’t know,” he explained, but I knew he was only trying to comfort me without lying to me outright.
“Fix her,” I demanded, turning to him. “You said you were able to heal with the magic of the Underworld. Heal her! I did this to her. Please. Please!”
The look Hades gave terrified me. Calm, cold, and nothing human about it. “We can’t interfere here. She is not bound for my world.”
“So, you’re just going to leave her?!” I demanded to know. “She hasn’t done anything wrong! It’s my fault.”
“And you cannot do anything about it.”
“And you won’t!” I shot back. “How can you say that? Fix her!”
Hades shook his head. “There’s nothing that can be done.”
I swear I nearly took a swing at him. We’d started this adventure with him getting decked by a dead man, and it now looked like we might finish it with him getting punched in the face by a florist.
Instead of giving into my frustrations, I chose to return to Laura. Talking to her, I resumed the chest compressions, losing myself in the passing haze even after she went still and two men in uniform dragged me away. It was only then that I glanced around perplexedly with tears staining my face, realizing that cops had swarmed the place and Hades was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 23
Hades
“Let me go!” cried the guilty soul, while fighting against my iron grip. She dug her feet into the ground on the banks of the River Styx.
I squeezed my fingers around her arm, holding her tighter. She whimpered.
“Please, dark man!” she hollered, the wild movement of her head darting around the judgment hall, to the three judges seated at their throne, the line of souls awaiting their future in the afterlife and Cerberus growling at her from the edge of the marble floor.
“You agreed to come with me,” I growled, clenching her tighter and dragging her to the front of the queue. She deserved the harshest of punishments. She had stolen the life of another. An innocent, whose life was taken far too young and before her time. A forbidden and traitorous act. “There is no turning back now.”
“My lord,” Minos said with a nod. “Welcome back.”
The other judges, Rhadamanthys and Aiakos, crossed their scepters over their chests and nodded their greetings along with Minos.
Before I could respond, the wretched soul yanked against my grip. “Take me back, dark man. I don’t belong here. I don’t want to go!”
Such a young and foolish soul. So unaware of the world and the way it worked. Her fate was sealed. She was initially called to the Land of the Living to teach her parents about the loss of a child early in life, the eternal love one holds for their child and the desire to do anything to save their beloved. But also, the helplessness when faced with the will of the unknown, a will that cannot be protected or saved.
Anger flashed through me, my pulse spiking into dangerous territory. If I did not get a hold of myselfI stopped the thought.
Her eyes widened and she went limp in my grasp.
“Do you know what you did?” I shook her. The judges gasped. The souls backed away from the queue. Cerberus growled at them. “You stole another life that was not yours to take. You had no right. You make a mockery of my realm and of me!”
She shook her head furiously. “Laura wasn’t using her life. She wasted it on working at the diner. I took her to college, and we were graduating!”
“How dare you.” My voice rumbled like thunder. The floors shook with my rage. I leaned over her, my shadow swallowing her. Her pupils expanded, making her eyes almost entirely black. Her mouth opened ready to scream.
In all the merged years shared by this God and me, we had never encountered such a soul that had used another's body to forcefully insert themselves in place of another to extend their own life before.
The petulant soul bent her head as if she feared I might strike her. Startled by this implication, I let her go. My hand flinched away from her
as I began panting for air. What was I doing? I never thought to raise a hand to anyone, and I could not believe my subjects would think so low of me. Not even the vilest of souls. I stumbled backwards, staring down at my hands. Disappointment and self-loathing flooded my system.
“Come with me,” I murmured, holding my hands tight at my sides. “Or I will make you.”
This time she submitted and followed me without protest.
“My lord,” Rhadamanthys’ voice chased after me. “Where are you going?”
“To see to it that this soul has a thousand years to consider her crime!” I shouted, heading for my chariot. The girl stumbled to keep up with my pace.
The judges materialized in front of me, causing me to break my stride.
“My lord,” Aiakos started, “It is our duty to judge her.”
“This girl possessed the body of another,” I snarled. “And when she was removed from her body, she pulled out the other soul, killing the host. If she couldn’t have the body, then no one would. What do you see fit to punish her for her crime?”
The judges looked at each other, their mouths moving, but no words came out. Silently they communed, formulating a punishment befitting the soul’s deeds. After a few moments they turned back to me, their eyes landing on the soul, heavy with their acuity.
“Delly Fitzmyers,” Aiakos declared. “You stole your parent’s vehicle, drove it without permission, crashed it and killed both yourself and your passenger. For that you are guilty of taking more than one soul.”
She gasped and tugged at my grasp.
I clenched her arm and drew her closer.
Rhadamanthys lifted both the scroll of light and his scepter. Luminescence shone from the scepter, hitting the words formed on the document.
“We deem one hundred years fitting for her crime, my lord,” Minos declared secondly. “Deliver her to Tartarus.” He lifted his scepter, ready to tap it on the ground and signify the conclusion of their judgment.
“No,” I interrupted. “That punishment is too short. She deserves a thousand years minimum. Enough time to consider her actions and repent.”
“But that is against the rules, my lord,” Minos argued.
“I do not care for the rules,” I countered. “This is my decision.”
“My lord,” Aiakos challenged. “Your decision does not enter the process. We fear that it will disrupt the realm.”
I groaned. Was I not Lord of the Underworld? Could I not make the rules? Gods broke the rules all the time. Surely, I could, especially now when it came down to judging this soul. Delly deserved to be thrown into the pits of hell for her crime. A millennia ago, I had appointed these judges, awarded them the honor of weighing souls of their good and bad deeds. Nothing could stop me from doing itnot nowI was master of this realm.
“I do not care.” The halls shook as my rage exploded with my words. “I am Lord of the Underworld, not you! This realm is my responsibility!”
Rhadamanthys nearly dropped the scroll of light.
Aiakos’ jaw fell open in outraged silence.
Minos’ grip on his scepter slackened.
I had offended them and insulted their authority. For a moment I feared their resignation. Such an offence could not be taken lightly. But I would face those consequences and consult with the Council of the Demigods.
I stilled my charging pulse and calmed my breath.
“I must depart to deliver her to Tartarus. When I return from conducting my urgent business in the Land of the Living, we will convene then.”
I shoved the soul forward, finally done with her. My judges would see to it that her punishment was recorded on the scroll and that the soul be delivered to Tartarus as I decreed. Chains of light clamped down on her wrists and feet, preventing her from fleeing.
The judges retreated without a courteous bow and mention of my title.
Yes. I had deeply insulted them. My stomach clenched with dread at having to deal with this business upon my return. I already had enough to mend, especially with my realm freezing over, souls not showing up, and some recently escaping.
I seized the wretched soul by the upper arm and dragged her down the hall.
My chest squeezed as pain stabbed me deep in the heart. I had left Autumn alone to deal with the aftermath of the Laura’s death. Something that I had not intended. I did not trust that this wretched soul would make its journey to the afterlife. That is why I left. To personally deliver her and ensure that she was punished. Locked away in the fiery depths of the underworld, where she could not escape to the Land of the Living and possess another body. The safety of my realm depended on it. I had to prevent the underworld from descending into further chaos. Before any more souls escaped. Before winter consumed my realm and turned it to ice.
We reached my chariot and I whistled. Immediately my four dark horses appeared, all chained to the golden cart. I gestured for the soul to get on. Hesitantly she obeyed.
“Hold onto the guild.” I pointed to the lip at the front of the chariot. She gripped it, her face morphing with an expression of absolute misery.
The horses whinnied as she climbed aboard the chariot. Her fingers traced the jewels encrusted in patterns along the top.
I wasn’t above pity. She had experienced such a short life. Her soul longed for more. To live out the rest of her life until death. To finish high school, study medicine at college, get married and have a family. But that was not intended for hernot her fate. The act of possessing another body had pushed Laura to the recesses of her own mind, never to control her body again. Left to watch helplessly as her life passed her by. That crime made my blood boil.
I caught my reflection in the chariot plating. My eyes wild with rage, expression as jagged as the horns on my armor. Mouth curled into a snarl. I stumbled backward, frightened by my image.
I was once a fair and just God. Calm, composed, and stoic. Now, my temper had gotten the better of me. I had broken the rules more than once. My grip on mortality was slipping from my fingers. What was becoming of me?
“My lord,” a voice interrupted our departure from the room.
I turned to see Melody hovering in the entrance.
“What is it?” I asked her, climbing into the chariot and grabbing the reigns.
“General Thaddeus has requested an urgent audience with you,” Melody announced, her wary eyes flickering between me and the wretched soul cowering beside me.
I did not have time to visit The Crag. Autumn awaited me above. I had to get back to her. Protect her. Comfort her. Pulling the soul from Laura’s body had horrified her and filled her with such guilt. She mustn’t be alone at a time like this.
“Master,” Melody said softer this time. She leaned against a pillar in the room. “Where is the mistress?”
“She is not the mistress!” My voice came out as a roar. I hadn’t intended it to. I don’t even know why I had said it. Autumn was an avatar, not the goddess.
Melody shrank away. Quickly she nodded then retreated, having delivered the message, and probably fearing a further outburst.
Shame flooded through me and my shoulders drooped. She had not deserved to be spoken to that way. I was not a tyrant like my brother. It was because of my reputation for fairness that he spread such lies about me, made me something to fear. I would not embody these lies now.
“Hold on,” I told the wretched soul.
She held on for dear life as the horse took off, gliding across the lands. In a matter of minutes, I had escorted her straight to Purgatory. The wails of souls echoed from inside the burning chasm. This was what a soul like Delly deservedfor what she had done to poor Laura.
Alucious, my general, greeted me. “My lord. A personal visit to deliver a soul?”
I did not entertain his inquiry. “A thousand years. Summon me when she repents.”
My general nodded and took hold of the wretched soul. “Yes, my lord.”
“Please, dark man, no!” The wretched soul’s cries thumped in my ears
as she was carted away.
I didn’t have time to linger as I immediately retreated to my chariot, making a quick stop at The Crag on the way back. My horses protested with snorts and whinnies as I pulled them up onto the rocky platform.
“Thaddeus!” I shouted.
Instantly he appeared, drifting out from the rock, solidifying in front of me. “Thank you for coming, my lord.” He bowed his head.
“What is it?” I asked, desperate to get back to the Land of the Living. “I have business I must attend to. I don’t have much time.”
My general nodded. “Sorry to disturb you, but I bring word from the hellhounds.”
Part of my body unwound from the tension I had been holding. Some good news at last. Right now, I needed this. Something to soothe my agitated and frayed nerves. Calm my simmering temper.
“What did they find?” I asked, my forehead tight, wanting to get back to Autumn before she could worry about my absence.
“They found two of the souls,” Thaddeus stated. “One is in Las Vegas, the other in California.”
“Excellent work,” I replied. “Do not let them out the hounds’ sights. I will retrieve them immediately.”
Chapter 24
Autumn
To my dull surprise, I wasn’t in any trouble for trying to revive Laura. Even though she’d died, and the cook hadn’t seen anything, and everyone else in the diner had fled. The customers who’d seen what happened had a different idea of what went down. Some of them said that there had been another man there. Others said that there’d been no such person.
I don’t know where Hades had gone. On previous occasions, he’d touch a soul and it was transferred to where they needed to go. This time he’d gone with it and left me there for the cops. I was taken to the station for questioning.
When they asked what had happened, my response was to wrap my arms around myself tightly and pull the blanket they’d provided closer. I could barely mumble out an, “I didn’t know.”
After some time, I was able to tell them that Laura had aimed a gun at me and fired. Tell them that I didn’t know why she did it, that she was acting crazy, and I fought her to get the gun. I ended my story with, “she collapsed and there had been nothing else I could do.”
