by Simon Archer
“I can do it,” I said, pretty sure I was lying just then to both him and myself. I had no idea if I could recreate the iconic helm of invisibility by sometime in December. But for Sarah, I’d figure out how.
Then the lord of the Underworld held out his hand. His wife gasped from her corner, and I knew we had a deal.
“One soul for one helm,” Hades offered.
I stood up. “One soul for one helm,” I repeated as I took Hades’s hand and literally made a deal with the devil.
While I still held Hades’s icy cold hand, I looked up into the eyes of the god of death and dared to ask for one more favor.
“Do you think you could give me a ride out of here?”
11
“Get your lazy ass out of bed, Cameron!” a foghorn of a voice shouted in my ear.
I jerked awake and was met with the intimidating and fat face of Officer Ashley inches from my nose.
“Ahh!” I shouted and moved to get out from under her freaky glare. With no notion of where I was, I found myself falling and then landing immediately on the floor.
My body crumbled into a heap, sore and tired. I got up onto all fours, only to have the daughter of Ares get into my face once more.
“What the hell is your problem, soldier?” Ashley shouted, her voice sounding like I’d just stuck my head in a tuba. “You haven’t been this lazy since your first week here! Have I taught you nothing this whole time? Get up and get running!”
I managed to get my body to a standing position before I realized that I was back in my dorm room. Except, instead of being in my actual room, I was in the living room. Apparently, I had been asleep on the couch when Officer Ashley burst in for our daily five in the morning run.
It was one of the many curses of going to the Demigod Academy for the Elemental Military. The morning runs were supposed to get easier over the years, and admittedly, they did. I’d even come to enjoy them most mornings. But then again, there had never been a night where I lied to my girlfriends, ventured into a cemetery, met my ghostly half-sister who took me to the Underworld where I made a deal with Hades to remake the helm of invisibility by December.
Right now, the effects of that whole experience felt worse than any hangover I’d ever had.
I slapped a hand to my face and rubbed it against my skin. I grumbled something incoherent, and unfortunately, Officer Ashley’s finely tuned ears picked up on my protests.
“What was that soldier?” Ashley screamed. “Did I hear you talking back to me? Because I know I didn’t hear you talking back to me.”
“No, ma’am,” I said in the strongest voice I could muster, but it came out like a frog’s croak.
“Good,” Ashley said, though the intensity of her voice didn’t lessen any. “You’re going to get your ass out there while I round up everyone else.” She raised her beefy arm and pointed to the door.
Luckily, I was still wearing my uniform from the night before. I was sure I smelled horrible. There was no telling what lingering scents from the Underworld I’d carried back with me. But at least I wasn’t trying to run in my pajamas and bare feet as Officer Ashley had been known to torture students with when they weren’t up in time.
I broke into a slow jog to get myself out the door and down the stairs down to the courtyard. Quickly, I saw a familiar face that brought instant relief to my pounding head.
Jade ran right past me without a second glance. However, a moment later, Jade jogged backward and then stopped, her eyes popping out at me in horror.
“What the hell happened to you?” Jade gaped at me.
I reached up and tugged at my hair, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Is it that bad?”
“Cameron, you look like you have been through hell and back,” Jade said as she cocked out her hip and examined me.
“You have no idea,” I grumbled.
“And Holy Hermes, you smell. Did you even go to the bathhouses last night like you said you were going to?”
“No,” I admitted sheepishly.
“Well then,” Jade waved her hand up and down at me, indicating my sorry state. “I repeat. What the hell?”
“I--” I opened my mouth to tell her what, I wasn’t sure.
It didn’t matter because Officer Ashley, unknowingly, saved me from having to come up with some bullshit explanation. The daughter of Ares stuck her head out of a dorm room window and hollered down at the pair of us.
“If I don’t see you running in the next six seconds, Cameron, I’m going to jump out of this window and chase you until you wake the hell up!”
“I wouldn’t put it past her to Hulk out on you,” Jade said as she tugged at my arm. “Come on. You can talk while we run.”
“Can’t we just run?” I asked wearily as we broke into a steady jog.
My body ached unexpectedly. I wasn’t sure how until I felt the constant pounding of something hard against my sternum. I looked down to find the locket where Katlynn still hid. I quickly tucked the locket on the inside of my shirt to help stifle some of the banging.
Seeing my half-sister concealed in there reminded me that I had to die for even just a millisecond to get to the Underworld. Did that mean I had to die when Hades brought me back too? If that were the case, no wonder I was so beat.
We made our way off the main quad and towards the outskirts of campus. I knew Jade could have easily outpaced me this morning, even though she was shorter than me. I was lethargic and slower than normal. We were far behind our other third years, but Jade stuck with me like the loyal girlfriend she was.
Or maybe she just wanted more information. Because when we reached the lake on campus and began our two laps around that, Jade broke the silence.
“So, are you going to tell me what you really did last night?” Jade said, cutting right to the chase.
I rolled my eyes, too tired to come up with an excuse. So I tried avoidance. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“Have you met us?” Jade asked sarcastically. She raised her arms up and gestured out to campus. “Do you know where we are? There is nothing so crazy that you could tell me that I wouldn’t believe you.”
“I journeyed to the Underworld last night and met Hades,” I said plainly.
Immediately, Jade stopped in her tracks. I didn’t notice right away and was several yards ahead of her before I heard her scream from behind me. “You what?!”
I turned around and began jogging backward. “See? I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Because that’s literally the craziest shit you have ever told me!” Jade called out as she picked up the pace. She zoomed up to me, and we ran at a slower pace, this time face to face with me still going backward.
“It gets crazier, I promise,” I said as I whirled back around so we could run in the same direction.
However, Jade had other ideas. She yanked on my elbow, throwing me off balance.
“What are you--” I balked at my friend, completely confused at what would have gotten into her.
“Shh,” Jade whispered as she held a finger to her lips. Then, she continued to pull me along, off the typical running path.
“Jade,” I hissed back. “Officer Ashley’s going to know if we coped out of the run.”
“We’re far enough behind, it’s fine,” she reasoned. “Come on, into the trees.”
I rolled my eyes but managed to free myself from Jade’s grip so I could walk independently of her. Together we ducked into the cluster of trees that marked the edge of campus. Somehow I managed to venture beyond the Academy’s borders at least once a year. My first year, it had been for a joint mission with some Enka soldier to find and slay a chimera. The next year had been less dramatic but was still harrowing in its own way. There, Hailey and I met Sasha, a daughter of Dionysis and the drama teacher at the Academy. Her nymph friends, the ones she rescued from a forest fire in their national park, still roamed the woods around campus, frolicking and causing mischief.
Jade turned on me
once we were several yards deep into the woods and pinned me up against a tree. She pressed her hands into the bark on either side of me, trapping me in. Her eyes grew serious, glowing with a fierce amethyst color.
“Now,” she said, her voice just as firm as her gaze, “start talking.”
“Look, Jade, you can drop the whole interrogation act, okay?” I said as I gently shoved her arms away from me, to give me some breathing room. “I promise to tell you everything.”
“Really? Will you?” Jade put her hands on her hips and lifted a single foot up on a nearby log. “Because you didn’t last night.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing I didn’t have an excuse for that. Jade caught on to my hesitation and nodded with pursed lips.
“My point exactly,” my girlfriend said knowingly. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to one side. “We’re supposed to be friends, Cam. We’re supposed to trust each other in a relationship.”
“I know,” I said as I hung my head. “I just knew none of you would agree with me, but it was something I had to do. So I… did it.”
“You didn’t have to lie about it,” Jade reminded me. “It makes us doubt you, and we don’t want to do that.”
“I get it,” I said, softening my voice. I leaned my head back against the tree and looked up at the bright blue sky peeking in through the trees.
Before now, I hadn’t thought about the consequences of lying to my friends as I had. I was too focused on finding and helping Sarah. That desire definitely clouded my judgment, and now I had more of a mess to clean up than I anticipated.
A flare of anger jumped to my defense. Real friends would have listened to me. They would have believed me when I talked about how Sarah’s death couldn’t have been a suicide. Instead, they all thought I was avoiding the grieving process.
There shouldn’t have had to be a grieving process because Sarah shouldn’t be dead right now! And despite what my girlfriends thought, I had made a deal with Hades, and I had to follow through with it.
But now, I had to deal with the problem of losing Jade’s trust. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to believe me, but I had bruised our relationship. I didn’t know how I was going to erase that mark. It had been so easy to put it there, but it was going to take some work to remove it.
Absently, I reached up and touched the locket beneath my shirt. As I did so, I could feel the warmth of Katlynn’s blue flame buzzing beneath the metal. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. If Jade didn’t believe me, maybe a witness to back up my words might help.
I tugged on the chain until it pulled out the whole locket. Jade’s head tilted the other way as her eyebrows pinched together in curiosity.
“When did you start wearing jewelry?” she asked.
“Since yesterday,” I answered. I held the locket in both hands and looked into my best friend’s eyes. “I know I messed up, okay? I know I hurt you and probably Beth and Daniella too.”
“Hailey, too,” Jade added.
“Hailey, too,” I agreed. “I was only trying to help Sarah, and I got it in my head that I needed to go to the Underworld to do that.”
“And you’re telling me you actually made it there?” Jade said with a scoff at the end of her sentence. “You do know that’s nearly impossible, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, nerves making my hands shake as I held the piece of jewelry. “But that’s why I needed some help.”
With that, I opened up the locket.
The blue version of the Eternal Flame flew out and zipped around our heads like a firefly before settling between the pair of us. It grew a little and shook itself like a wet dog.
Jade’s mouth popped open. “You used the Eternal Flame? How?”
“Not just the Eternal Flame,” I said with a weak grimace. “Katlynn, meet Jade. Jade, meet Katlynn.”
“Just because you named it doesn’t mean-- Holy shit!” Jade exclaimed as Katlynn appeared before our very eyes. She bolted backward, running straight into a tree. Instead of scrambling behind it to defend herself, my former roommate stood frozen as she watched Katlynn move about.
The Eternal Flame expanded from the single flame outward and into a humanoid shape. It adopted Katlynn’s hairstyle, height, and complete demeanor. The spirit of my half-sister cracked her neck by moving her head from side to side.
“Jeez, bro, took you long enough,” Katlynn complained as she stretched her arms over her chest, like a dancer warming up for a routine.
“I wasn’t ever in a good place to let you out,” I countered. “I don’t know about you, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to prance you about campus.”
“Why not?” Katlynn asked with a cheeky grin. “Afraid some cute demigod would steal me away?”
“You’re ridiculous,” I groaned with an eye roll. “I just didn’t think everyone would be accustomed to having ghosts floating around.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Jade croaked from her place by the tree.
Katlynn turned to look at the Vreg soldier. Her face broke into a smoldering grin. “Why, hello there.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I said as I reached out and dragged Katlynn behind me. Now that I was in the middle of Jade and my ghostly sister, I thought I could redo the introductions. “Katlynn, this is my girlfriend Jade, daughter of Hebe, and Jade, this is Katlynn, daughter of Hephaestus.”
“Wait, what?” Jade asked as she pushed herself up off the tree. She pointed from me to Katlynn and back again. “You’re telling me you resurrected your half-sister?”
“I didn’t… no!” I said, thrown off by her questions. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
“I was going to say,” Jade said, her body slouching in relief. “Because between that, the fire, the metal sensing, and the Seer abilities, you’re starting to become rather powerful.”
I cleared my throat to warn Jade about mentioning the Seer powers, but unfortunately, much to my dismay, Katlynn picked up on her slip up.
“What Seer powers would those be, brother dear?” Katlynn asked from over my shoulder.
“I’ll tell you later,” I tried to blaze over the awkwardness and get to the real reason I pulled Katlynn out in the first place. “Can you please tell Jade what happened to us last night and what we did?”
“Only if you tell me about the Seer powers,” Katlynn bargained as she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.
I closed my eyes for longer than necessary, trying to calm my frustration at Jade’s mistake. “My mom is descended from the Oracle of Delphi. So not only did I inherit some of our father’s abilities, I inherited some of hers as well.”
Katlynn released a long whistle, low and steady with a single note. “How did Hephaestus ever find her?”
“At a Renaissance faire,” I explained quickly, “it was very romantic. Now can you please tell Jade about last night?”
Katlynn huffed out her frustration, but she complied. Apparently, Katlynn could see and hear pretty much everything that was going on from inside the locket. She explained that she could witness everything from my perspective, just as I could when she was in there.
She covered everything from my battle with Charon to the almost dinner with the king and queen of death, but finishing with my deal with Hades. When she finished, Katlynn looked over at me expectantly. “Did I cover everything?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said gently. Then I turned to Jade. “Now, do you believe me?”
“I believe you’re absolutely insane!” Jade shouted. She threw her hands up in the air. “What the fuck were you thinking, Cam?”
“I was trying to help Sarah,” I argued, my own voice rising to her level.
“And what made you think that making a deal, with a god, was the best way to do that?” Jade wondered, though her voice was sharp and pointed. “Not just any god either. Hades. The god of death.”
“It was the only way, Jade, trust me,” I begged. “She didn’t kill herself. She
didn’t deserve to die. Not like that. Not so soon.”
Jade looked up at the sky with a sigh. She watched the clouds drift over our heads from between the slats in the branches and leaves. Then she lowered her head and looked at the dirt, stalling. I let her, not wanting to press my friend anymore. I wanted her to believe me, and if she needed time to do that, then I had to give her that.
Finally, Jade looked up and met my eye. “Either way, whether Sarah did or not, doesn’t matter. You made this deal, and you have to honor it.”
“The request was reasonable,” I said, encouraged by her words, even if it was a practical answer and not the exact one I wanted from her just then. “I’m a good blacksmith. I can make the helm of invisibility… I think.” Doubt came through as I spoke the words.
“You think?” Katlynn asked, stepping in. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean,” I hesitated and then shrugged. “I’m more of a bladesmith. I’ve never actually made armor like that before. Excluding Aphrodite’s girdle.”
“Oh gods,” Katlynn held a hand to her forehead and spun away from me as though I had just announced someone had died. “You’re doomed.”
“No, I’m not,” I defended. “I can learn.”
“From who?” Jade interrupted. “Sarah’s gone. There’s not another blacksmith on campus. Or at least not one that’s better than you.”
The truth of Jade’s words struck home, making my stomach churn. Ask me to make a weapon of any kind, out of any steel, and I could do it no problem. I specialized in blades and ancient weapons. But armor was a whole different story. While they were both made of the same materials, armor like chest plates, gloves, and helmets took a different kind of technique that I hadn’t completely mastered yet. It wasn’t a completely foreign concept, and I believed I could learn it, but who was going to teach me? I couldn’t just ask Aphrodite to come down again and attempt to help me.
Just then, my Seer powers came into play. Images of three creatures popped up in my mind’s eye, giving me the answer I needed. Memories of something Aphrodite said to me last year clicked the final piece into place.
