by Simon Archer
“Seriously?” I voiced aloud. “You knew I was hesitating, so you decided to give me a wake-up call?”
This time it didn’t reply directly. Instead, it just moved a little closer to the cemetery, a little farther away from the quad. The shuffle looked like a taunt, as though it were teasing me to come and catch it.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, knowing that this whole situation was absurd. “I’m following a sentient piece of fire to a cemetery full of fallen demigods,” I muttered to myself. “I think I’ve officially gone insane.”
Despite my reservations, I took several large steps towards the Flame to let it know I was coming. However, it never let me catch up to it. Instead, the Eternal Flame kept inching away from me, as though I was a horse, and it was a carrot. I knew I couldn’t let the flame go on without me. It needed to be supervised, specifically by me, because I felt an obligation having been the one to let it out of its cage in the first place. But now the dumb thing had taken control of what was supposed to be my mission.
Another thought struck me as I trekked up the hill towards the graves. Was the Flame trying to tell me something other than that I should go on this quest to the Underworld and find Sarah? Was there something else that I was missing?
The farther away we got from campus, the darker it got. Luckily, the Eternal Flame brightened its light, though it never changed from that annoyed maroon color. I followed it, though there were moments when it darted so far ahead, it felt like chasing a firefly.
Finally, the pair of us reached the cemetery which felt increasingly more creepy at night. Because of the scattered trees, with their big branches and full head of leaves, the night sky disappeared, the stars blinking in and out of view. The only source of light was the Flame. More than once, I tripped over a headstone and had to struggle to regain my footing. One time, I swore that I heard someone laugh at my clumsiness, but I quickly hoped that it was just my imagination and not some ghost… or maybe it was one of Sasha’s nymphs spying on me from behind one of the trees.
After my knee collided rather painfully into another gravestone, I stopped moving. Fed up, I called out to the Flame. “Alright, enough! What are we doing? Where are we going? I can’t see anything, but you’re obviously leading me somewhere.”
The Flame came face to face with me and changed colors. It went back to its happy light blue, surrounding the area in a similar glow. Instead of a reddish tone, the whole graveyard was illuminated as though it were underwater.
The Flame retained that bright glow as it jumped from headstone to headstone like it was playing leapfrog. I quickly realized it was pointing out where the graves were, so I no longer ran into them. I didn’t know what convinced the Flame to have a change of heart, but I was eternally grateful.
I continued to follow the Flame, with a little less reluctance this time. As we continued on, I noticed that the graves were getting older and older. Some were coated in moss, while others were chipped and cracked with age. The small glimpses I got indicated that these demigods passed away nearly a hundred years ago.
My curiosity instantly piqued. We were far from Sarah’s grave, that much was clear. So what was the Flame doing?
After what felt like an eternity, the blue flame stopped at one grave and waited for me to catch up. It didn’t move ahead but stayed on the top. Because of its gift of light, I was able to read the inscription on the headstone.
Katlynn Sideris
Daughter of Hephaestus
1900 - 1928
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed as I put a hand to my mouth.
Never in a million years did I ever think that the Eternal Flame would lead me to another child of Hephaestus. I was standing over my half-sister’s grave. I knew there had been other demigods who shared my father with me, but even in the myths, they were few and far between. Unlike Zeus or Poseidon or some of the other male gods, Hephaestus rarely sired any other children. It was such a strange sight that I didn’t quite know what to say or how to handle it.
My eyes flicked up to the Eternal Flame, who changed to a yellow color, like a lightbulb. It was the first time I had ever seen it shine so bright or so yellow. The sunny disposition surprised me, but it also burned against my eyes. I squinted against the Flame’s new form.
“Could you turn it down a little bit?” I asked. “We’re the only ones here, and I can see just fine.”
I didn’t know if the Flame responded to my request or what, but suddenly the thing went berserk. The Eternal Flame slipped into some sort of rave mode. The whole thing blasted a rainbow of colors in quick succession.
Blown back by the violent changes, I fell over and scooted away from the Flame, suddenly afraid. I didn’t know what had provoked it or why it was doing this. Plus, while I had seen the Flame change colors, I had never seen it change so frequently or so quickly.
My back collided with a gravestone. I quickly dove behind it and used the solid rock as a shield from me and the spastic Eternal Flame. I curled into a ball behind the gravestone and watched the shadows around me dance and shift as the light show went on behind me.
I closed my eyes and pressed them into my knee caps, wrapping my arms around my shins. I held tight to myself, holding my breath until the whole thing was over. There was no sound, no explosion to accompany the fireworks, only the light bursting over and over again.
I panicked, thinking that someone was bound to see the rave happening up in the cemetery. I wasn’t sure the cover from the surrounding trees would be enough. We were on the far end of campus, sure, but if there was a couple out for a midnight stroll, or Ann was out tending to some of the scattered cows, then I would be discovered for sure. I didn’t know how I was supposed to explain this to anyone.
Oh yeah, I just released one of the dangerous pieces of Eternal Flame, and it led me up here and decided to go all nightclub on me. No idea why.
That didn’t sound like it would go over well with anyone.
But then, suddenly, my fears came true when I heard an unfamiliar voice come out of nowhere.
“Well, that was quite an entrance, thanks for that.”
I lifted my head in surprise. The light was back to the Eternal Flame’s happy blue, swirling like a fish tank. However, it was more subdued this time, not covering as much distance as before.
Even in the limited light, I didn’t see anyone. That meant that the voice, whoever it belonged to, was behind me. Back where the flame was. But I couldn’t see her shadow against the light of the Flame. As much as I wanted to figure out all of this, I knew I would have to turn around to get my answer, which I really didn’t want to do.
“I can see you, you know,” the voice said.
I squeezed my eyes shut as though that would help me hide better. I thought about the voice itself. It was a crisp voice with a British lilt to it. Definitely female, though it wasn’t super high like a flute or gruff like a smoker.
“Do you plan to sit there all night, or are you going to come out and greet your big sister?”
“Big sister?” I exclaimed unexpectedly. Immediately, I scrambled to my feet, wanting to see what the hell this person was talking about. Needless to say, I was not prepared for what was on the other side of that grave.
Standing before me was a young woman, a little older than me. She possessed normal features: two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. But instead of having a normal complexion, her skin glowed with the same wavy blue as the Eternal flame at moments before. Her hair that was up in a tight bun was the same color of blue. Also, she was slightly transparent. Her clothes, the same long-sleeved and tight pants of the Academy uniform, were also the same blue color.
She stood formally with both hands behind her back and an upright posture, chest pushed out. She lifted her chin ever so slightly, which I could see why she thought she had to do that since she was smaller than me. She was a tiny thing, with the body of a dancer, all lithe and shapeless.
“Are you… a ghost?” I balked, unable to think of the word at f
irst.
“Really? Out of all the questions in the world, that’s the first one you think to ask?” the ghost-woman-soldier said as she cocked her head at me.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of stuff,” I snapped back, feeling indignant as she insulted my question. “So yeah, that’s my question.”
“I guess you can call me a ghost if that is easier for you to process,” she said with a shrug. “I am dead, and I am a spirit visiting you in the mortal by the grace of our father.”
“Our father?” I repeated, drawing out the first word into two syllables. “You’re a daughter of Hephaestus?”
“In the flesh,” she said as she removed her hands from behind her back and gestured at herself. Realizing what she said, she paused and then corrected herself. “Well, sort of anyhow.”
“That must make you…” I looked down at the gravestone for reference. “Katlynn Sideris?”
“Indeed,” she said with a tilt of her head, though she didn’t wear a hat. “And you are?”
“Cameron Alpin,” I said automatically.
“Pleasure,” Katlynn replied as she held out her hand.
I just eyed the gesture, unsure what to do with it. Katlynn sensed my hesitation and chuckled while she extended her hand a little farther. “It’s alright. You won’t fall through me or anything.”
I didn’t know why I trusted her, but I took the daughter of Hephaestus at her word. I clasped her hand in mine. It felt like it did when I reached my hand into a fire, smooth like silk. I shook her hand, a sense of familiarity washing over me.
“How did you know I was a son of Hephaestus?” I asked as Katlynn finally pulled away from me.
“Ah, well, I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Katlynn said with a shrug. “Tis my curse.”
“Curse?” I repeated, curious about her word choice.
“Or redemption, call it what you like,” Katlynn replied. Her voice talked with such ease and casualty, like a soft jazz song. As though she didn’t have a care in the world.
My eyebrows pinched together, asking for her to elaborate without saying it aloud.
Katlynn released a sigh and stuffed her hands into her front pockets, her shoulders tensing. “I did some shady shit during my time in the mortal world. Hephaestus wasn’t too pleased. So when I died, he trapped me in my headstone.”
“He what?” I balked. I couldn’t believe our father would do that. But then again, I had never met the god, so it was entirely possible that he was more vengeful than I thought. But trapping your daughter’s soul in a headstone just seemed beyond cruel.
“Yeah I know, didn’t exactly win him the Dad of the Year award, if you ask me.” Katlynn tilted her head back and forth, clearly uncomfortable talking about this and doing a poor job of hiding it. Still, she continued her explanation. “As punishment, he said that one day I would come back to help another child of his sometime in the future. I didn’t know when, but in order to make it to the Elysian Fields, I would have to do everything within my power to help them.” She took another sharp breath in and wrinkled her nose. “Since I’m here, I figured the time had come. I was up to bat.”
“You’ve met Hephaestus?” I said, a little too eagerly.
Katlynn raised an eyebrow at this. “You haven’t?”
“No,” I said as I shook my head. Though something caught in the back of my throat, unsure of how much I should tell her.
“Strange,” Katlynn mused. She looked off into the distance, as though she remembered something. “He was so active in my life. He might have seen how much it screwed me up, and he changed his parenting strategy.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t speak for a moment. I just continued to stare at this anomaly before me: a ghost who claimed to be my half-sister from nearly one hundred years ago, wearing the skin of the Eternal Flame.
“So what happened to the Eternal Flame?” I asked, finally thinking about the nuisance of an element that led me here in the first place.
“It’s how Hephaestus was able to bring me back,” Katlynn said, holding out her hands, turning them over and over so that we both could examine her weird, glowing skin. “I promise I didn’t eat it or anything, but it’s how I am able to communicate with you and how you are able to touch me when others cannot. It’s a perk of being a child of Hephaestus.”
“I see,” I said, my voice a hesitant whisper because I still didn’t understand, nor accept, what was going on. Out of everything I had every experience at the Academy in the last two years, this was by far the strangest.
If what Katlynn was saying was true, and I had no real reason to doubt her at the moment, then Hephaestus knew I would need her help in the future. Before I even asked the question, I had the answer.
“What did the prophecy say?” I asked.
Clearly, I surprised my half-sister with the question because her mouth popped open slightly, ruining the casual vibe she had going for her.
“How did you know there was a prophecy?” Katlynn questioned suspiciously.
“I have a bit of experience when it comes to prophecies,” I said, keeping purposely vague.
“Did you get one too?” Katlynn said sympathetically, as though she were asking me if I got a bad grade on a test like her.
“Actually, more than I can count,” I replied cryptically, thinking about all of my mom’s predictions.
Katlynn’s face flattened in utter shock. “Who are you?”
“I told you,” I said, gathering strength as I spoke the words. “I’m Cameron, son of Hephaestus. And I want to know what the prophecy said.”
“I don’t know,” Katlynn said, returning to her blasé attitude. “I didn’t memorize it.”
I rolled my eyes and slapped my hands against my thighs. “How could you not know it?”
“I’m sorry,” Katlynn said, though she wasn’t apologetic in the slightest. “But not everyone has a fantastic memory where they can remember a prophecy after only hearing it once.”
Her defensive and apathetic tone were instant turn offs for me. I started to see what might have disappointed Hephaestus so much when it came to this particular daughter.
“Okay,” I said slowly, thinking carefully about my words before I said them. “Then what exactly are you supposed to be helping me with?”
“I don’t know,” Katlynn said in the exact same tone. This time she emphasized her uncaring nature by picking at her nails as though that were more important than coming back from the dead to help her half-brother. “You’re supposed to tell me.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I was about to argue with her, demanding that she tell me everything she knew. However, as I thought about it, I did know what I needed help with. Katlynn presented a potential solution to the question I had been asking myself, and the Eternal Flame, this whole time. Something about my doubt and my situation triggered the Eternal Flame to seek out Katlynn so she could help me. Because she might have been the only one that could.
“I need you to take me to the Underworld,” I said, voicing my desire aloud.
7
Katlynn blinked at me several times before saying anything. I held my ground and waited for her to speak first, knowing that she heard me the first time. I didn’t think there was any way for me to be clearer.
“And why, my brother dear,” Katlynn said, her tone adopting a condescending nature, “why would you want to go there?”
“Because I need to rescue a friend who died too soon,” I answered. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“I’m not sure you know what you’re asking,” Katlynn hesitated.
“I know exactly what I’m asking,” I confirmed, unwavering in my own affirmation. I held my legs slightly apart, my shoulders back, my chin raised. I even put my hands behind my back, mimicking Katlynn’s posture from before, when she had been the confident one, the one with the winning hand.
“I don’t think you do,” Katlynn
said, her nose twitching in irritation. “Do you even know what the Underworld is like for mortals?”
“I know the myths,” I defended. “I also know that heroes made it out alive, so I can too.”
“Oh, you think yourself a Hercules, an Odysseus, or Theseus, do you?” Katlynn sneered, doubt seeping through her gaze as it locked onto mine.
“I don’t know, maybe,” I said, having never really thought of it that way. I’d never pictured myself as that kind of hero. I always thought I would be the blacksmith in the background, making weapons for other people to wield. But more and more lately, I'd been thrust into hero-like situations, where I had to save my fellow soldiers, my school, and my friends. As much as I didn’t want to be a hero, life and fate weren’t giving me much of a choice at the moment.
“‘Maybe’ is a half-hearted answer,” Katlynn scoffed. “How do you expect to survive the treacherous Tartarus and retrieve your friend with a maybe attitude?”
“What are you, a life coach?” I clapped back. “I didn’t think it was your job to question me. I thought you were brought back to help me. And this is what I need help with. Can you take me to the Underworld or not?”
Katlynn released a weighted sigh as though my request were a Sisyphean like task, unwinnable and exhausting.
“There is a way I can take you,” she answered, though she sounded as though I was pulling teeth out of the back of her mouth as she did so.
“Which is?” I prompted, shifting my arms from my back to my hips.
“I can’t tell you yet,” Katlynn said as she held up a finger. “We need to make sure you’re prepared.”
“And how am I supposed to be ‘prepared’?” I said, using air quotes around the last word in order to mock my half-sister.
“You can’t just venture into the Underworld, as a living being without something tying you back to the mortal world,” Katlynn explained. “Also, we’ll need something to hide me in so I can come with, but so Hades doesn’t know he’s missing a soul right now.”
