by Nicole Thorn
“Yes, you have,” Jasmine said, nodding. “I’m very happy for you.”
He clutched it to his chest again. “I’ve been looking for so long. I can finally do it. I can finally . . . ” He looked up, tears making tracks down his face. Jubilation filled his eyes.
I followed his line of sight, and saw a ferry coming toward the riverbank. People lined up, each of them holding the same gold coin that the man had. He rushed toward the ferry and waited with everyone else. It seemed like a decent sized crowd, which surprised me. Most people didn’t bury their dead with coins anymore.
I glanced back at the holes the man had dug. That explained why he had been so desperate to find one. How many people spent years, scrounging for one of those coins, praying that they’d find one before Charon finally had pity on them, and let them cross over. According to the stories, it took a hundred years before that happened. A hundred years of wandering.
The fog parted as the edge of the ferry touched the shore. I could suddenly see hundreds of people. Several of them knelt on the ground, much like the man had, digging into the grass for their coins.
Charon, the ferryman, appeared at the head of the boat. He looked like a shroud of darkness, and I couldn’t focus on him for more than a few seconds at a time. The people getting onto the ferry deposited their coins into his hand, and then climbed on. They all looked peaceful as they did so.
After everyone had gotten on the boat, Charon disappeared again, and the fog started to return.
One man decided that he didn’t want to wait anymore. He took a running start, and then leapt onto the boat. His feet landed, and he gave a cheer of triumph.
“Oh no,” Jasmine said.
“Idiot,” Juniper whispered.
Charon appeared out of nowhere and shoved the man’s chest. He went over backward, falling into the waters, screaming. The churning water turned into a mass of limbs that began to drag him down. Arms pulled at his chest, hands pushed at his head, fingers pulled at his hair, until he had been submerged completely in the water. His scream still echoed against the sky.
The ferry disappeared.
My sisters and I didn’t say anything for a long time after that. Jasmine broke the silence by breathing in deeply, and saying, “All right, so we need to find three coins, I guess. Do you think the demigods will give some to us?”
“What?” Juniper asked.
I rubbed the back of my head, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I don’t know. They’ll do it eventually, I’m sure. We can try to find some, like everyone else. I don’t think we have anything else to do, honestly.”
“What are you talking about?” Juniper asked.
Jasmine gestured to the ferry. “We have to find some coins to give to him. Otherwise, we’re stuck here, just like everyone else. I don’t want to wander the shores for a hundred years, thank you very much. I’d rather be at home, snuggling Zander.” She frowned, and then stared out into the waters. “I guess that’s not an option, though, so we should find our coins.”
“We can ask around,” I suggested. “To see how everyone else thinks we’ll find a coin. Someone will probably have an answer for us.” Though, many of them looked insane to me. Several looked like they had been digging for years and years. What made that worse, was that when the fog came back in, it appeared to have filled in all the holes. How did one know where to dig, when they didn’t remember where they had already searched?
“Yeah, we can do that, I guess,” Jasmine said, rubbing her hands down her dress. “Who looks the least crazy?”
Juniper waved her hands in the air. “What are the two of you talking about, finding coins and crossing the river?”
“That’s what we’re supposed to do,” Jasmine said. “We’re dead, and we can’t spend eternity doing nothing. We’ll go insane. I don’t know what else to do, so we need to find the coin.”
“No,” Juniper said. “Verin’s going to come for me.”
I stared at my sister like she had gone insane. “He can’t come for you, and even if he did, he would only be able to talk,” I said. “You can’t fix this by going into denial.”
Juniper raised her eyebrows. “I’m not going into denial. I’m telling you what’s going to happen. We’re all dating demigods, who have actual gods as parents. I don’t know about your demigods, but mine is stubborn as hell, and he’s going to come for me. And when he does, I’m going to be sitting right here, waiting for him.” She crossed her arms, found a nearby boulder, and sat down.
“You can’t know any of this,” Jasmine said.
“I do,” Juniper told her back. “I don’t belong here. I belong in our house, with my family, freaking out over cleaning things, and waiting for Verin to find his stupid drumsticks. I’m not going anywhere. If you want to find a coin, then be my guest. You’ll just make Verin’s job harder.”
Jasmine and I stared at each other. We had one of those moments where we silently communicated. We had already died. I saw no harm in waiting with Juniper until she realized that Verin wouldn’t come. Jasmine sat down next to the boulder, and I did the same in front of it. I hoped my sister came to her senses quickly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
I See the Light
Kezia
“WELL THAT SOUNDS like a terrible idea,” Hermes said in a sigh. “But I can’t say no to you. If your dad gets pissed off, remind him this is his fault.”
Verin’s eyes narrowed. “Or your fault for kidnapping his dog. Take your coin and bring us where we want to go.”
I stood there in the rain, acutely aware that the corpse of my love still laid behind me. I didn’t look, but Zander did. He stared, watching Nemo as he mourned over them. My brother looked empty, and I felt much the same. I had nothing but this dim spark in me, completely connected to the hope Verin had. If we went to the underworld, then at least we would get to say goodbye.
“Hold your breath,” Hermes warned.
The world twisted around, and my head felt light when darkness came. I couldn’t tell which way was up as I lost balance. I had nothing to hold onto, and I could have been falling through the air for all I knew. It didn’t feel like anything, and I wanted to close my eyes.
My feet slammed hard onto the ground, and I flipped my wet hair back over my head. Hermes had dropped us right inside of the mouth of the underworld, and I felt it in my chest. We didn’t belong.
“Good luck,” Hermes said as we stared out into what looked like a cavern. “You only get one favor, and I just paid it. You have to find your own way out.”
I glared at him. “You’re so damn kind.”
He smiled. “Hey, I have things to do. Don’t worry, you’re just in Greece. A quick day long flight, and you’ll be right home. Find this place again.” He tapped on the wall of the cavern, and then vanished.
I looked around us again, taking in where we were. The dead wouldn’t have come this far out, because the place was designed to confuse them. Hades didn’t want people wandering where they shouldn’t, so if they got too far out, something in their head would make them go back. Like they got caught in a maze.
“Which way do we go?” I asked Verin, since my brother didn’t feel like talking anymore. He stayed blank, and I worried for how long that would last.
Verin took a step forward and turned to us. “I’ve never been here, but I know which way to walk. I think . . . ”
“You think?”
“I can’t explain it. It’s a feeling I have, like my body wants to find our destination. Follow me and do stay close.”
I started walking, but Zander didn’t. He stared at the floor, looking so lost as the rain dried on his skin. Zander was the only one not covered in blood, because his love didn’t die that way. The slices from Jasper had bled onto me, and Juniper . . . Verin didn’t have many clean patches on him. I didn’t want to think about it, but at least I kept moving.
“Don’t make me leave you here,” Verin said to Zander. “Jasmine is going to be upset when the rest of us sh
ow up, and you’re standing right here.”
Zander stayed quiet.
Verin stepped to him once more, trying to make him listen. “Stay with us, please. You think I don’t know what you feel right now? You think Kizzy doesn’t? We are demigods, Zander. You know what that means? We are part god. God. That means something. The human in us is nothing, and I think it’s time to use the power given to us. I promise you that we will not leave without our people. Nothing can make me leave Juniper, and I know you and Kezia feel the same. I swear to you that the next time we step foot in our home, we will have all three of them with us.”
My brother spoke, and it surprised me. “How do you know? How can you be so sure?”
“Because I fucking am. I don’t have a reason, but I know I’m right. Jasmine is in here. Are you going to stand by while she waits for you? Because Juniper is sure as hell waiting for me, and I don’t want to keep her.”
Zander swallowed, and he looked at me. “You believe him?”
I nodded. “I think I do. Either way, I’m not leaving without Jasper. Come or don’t, but this is it. Either you lose everything, or you don’t. You should be there when we find out.”
When Verin and I started walking, Zander followed.
We crossed the main entrance of the underworld, and then I saw all the places we could have gone. The river crossed through all of it, so that Charon could go where he needed to. That ferryman might have been taking my boyfriend farther away from me as we stood there.
“Right,” Verin said. “The shores should be there. Five minutes, and we’ll be with them.”
Good, because my insides felt like they had been set on fire with every moment that passed. I wanted relief, and the ice in the air didn’t do anything to help me. I wouldn’t have felt settled until I could touch Jasper again.
“Tartarus is over there,” Verin said, pointing off. “I can feel it. When we reach the shores, you need to make sure you don’t touch the river.”
“What would happen?” I asked.
Verin shrugged. “I don’t know how you would react to it. It could suck up your soul or make you invincible. Let’s not take the chance.”
Every step felt heavy as we walked forward, looking around at the places soaked in death. I’d always had my own ideas of what the underworld would have been like, but nothing could have prepared me for the feel of it. The despair that settled into my bones with every inch deeper we walked through. Verin didn’t look weighed down by it, and I wondered if that should have been credited to his blind hope.
We avoided the hellish part of the underworld, since there was no chance our seers were there. The freshly dead were at the river, as Verin had made clear to us. We still had to trudge through misery itself.
When my feet ended up on grass, it took me a moment to accept what I saw there. Grass in the underworld. Sure. After today, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised with anything that happened or existed. My mind walked away, leaving me on my own to accept the things presented to me. Nothing made sense, but I didn’t care enough to wonder why. So I saw grass, I smelled something like mist or fog, and I heard water running. My senses remained dull as I shuffled along, half dead myself.
I kept my eyes wide open when I saw the shore. In front of us, people gathered up in a line, all waiting for the boat to come get them. They would exchange coins for a trip to where they belonged. We didn’t give those coins to our seers, so I hoped it meant we’d had time.
The shore, that meant the seers were close. They had to be here, because those were the rules. Something had to make sense, right? Something had to remain as it was promised to me. If it was going to be anything, then I wanted it to be this.
Verin sighed, looking around. “Lots of people died today. All right, I can fix this.” He cleared his throat and readied himself. “JUNIPER!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Heads turned to us, and I scanned them all, hoping for the ones that mattered. Then I heard a girl yell, “Verin!”
I looked, and I saw them all. I saw Juniper sitting on a boulder, her head popping up as she spotted her person. She looked the same as she ever did. Her wounds healed, and her clothes clean. I didn’t expect that, but I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. Next, I saw Jasmine, and she noticed Zander at the same time he noticed her. I hadn’t ever seen such pure and painful relief, and his eyes shined with tears as he saw her there.
I saved Jasper for last, because I was afraid. Afraid that he wouldn’t look the same, or something would change when I saw him. But he stood there, looking like he had this morning. The same person I loved, and then left alone.
We all started running.
Verin and Juniper met first, her body slamming hard into his. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around him and clutching the man tight. Then Jasmine and Zander, who embraced tightly. I would have worried he’d hurt her . . . if she were alive. Then came Jasper and I, and my arms came around him quickly. I tilted my head up, pressing my lips to his. It felt feverish and desperate, but I never thought I’d get to do it again. But there we stood, kissing in the underworld. Every single thing I’d feared, happened. We left and came back to bodies. I’d always have nightmares.
“Jasper,” I cried with a small voice. “You . . . ”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
I held onto him, unwilling to let go. Never again.
I looked at my massive, unbreakable brother, as he shook like a leaf. Jasmine had her hands on his face, quietly whispering to him that it would be okay. He didn’t look like he believed her, but he didn’t argue. Zander held onto Jasmine, letting silence win.
“I knew you would come,” Juniper said, smiling as she stayed wrapped around Verin. “I told them.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“I knew you would be here.”
“Good.”
“I knew.”
“Of course, you knew. You’re the cleverest one here.”
Juniper turned to glower at her siblings. “I. Told. You. So. I fucking told you so.”
“We get it,” Jasmine said. “We have no faith. Excuse us for thinking death meant death.”
I tugged on Jasper’s shirt, making him look down at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. I’m sorry . . . I should have found you . . . ”
He hushed me, cupping my face. “This isn’t your fault, and there’s nothing you could have done. I . . . ” He stopped himself and pressed his forehead to mine. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”
“Screw that,” I decided. “Verin is going to fix this. He promised.”
While Juniper didn’t question it, her brother and sister looked doubtful. “How?” Jasper asked.
Verin shrugged with Juniper in his arms. “My father is the god of death, and that has to count for something. If it doesn’t, then I will make it. I would rather die today and stay down here, than leave Juniper in the underworld.”
Juniper swatted at his shoulder. “You’re not dying.”
He smiled at her. “No, I’m not. I tried to clean up at home a bit, but I didn’t want to waste time. I hope you don’t mind.”
She kissed him quickly. “I can take care of it later. I’m glad you didn’t keep me waiting, because I don’t like it here. And they keep trying to make me think you weren’t coming.”
Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Sorry I didn’t think that the living would be able to come down here and magically make everything better.”
It hit me again. Even though I had my arms around Jasper, he died. He wasn’t alive right now, as solid as he felt. I couldn’t hear his heart beating, and I could only picture him hanging there, gone. Dead. Jasper was dead.
“I will,” Verin swore. “I’m going to fix this right now, and won’t you look foolish.”
Juniper pressed her lips to his cheek. “Good for you.”
Zander spoke again, and it sounded no steadier than it had since we left the house. “Who did this to you?”
&n
bsp; He asked the question that we all didn’t have time to wonder yet. We got home to them dead, but with no idea who did that. Who stole our lives from us.
Juniper answered the question, looking at Verin. “Argus.”
Part of me thought as much, and I assumed the others did too. That didn’t keep Verin’s eyes from flashing with rage in that moment. The man had taken his mother, and then his girlfriend, and all of her siblings. Argus has shattered the household, and Verin took that in.
“Hey,” Juniper said, putting her hands on his face. “Stay with me. Okay? Look at me. We have things to do.”
It took Verin a second, but he settled marginally. “I’m going to tear him to pieces.”
“I know you are, but can you fix us first? That would be great.”
“Of course. I’ll get you alive again, and after several days of near continuous sex, I’ll go murder a man.”
Jasper frowned, mumbling, “ . . . lock her in her room too.”
I smiled, and it felt like it cracked my face open. It sounded too much like him, and I hadn’t been ready for that.
I tapped on Jasper’s chest, smiling up at him as I whispered, “I might agree with that several days of sex thing.”
My brother shut his eyes. “Why do you have to hurt me when I’m already so fucked up?”
“Don’t pretend you weren’t thinking the same thing.”
Jasmine beamed. “I was. Don’t feel bad, Zander. We’ll all go have our special alone time, and pretend we didn’t hear everyone else. It’ll be . . . interesting.”
Most of us had a smile on our faces, and it felt a little better than it had a few minutes ago. That ember of hope in me started to grow, making me think that I could actually get my family back. Things could be right again.
“You have a plan?” Zander asked our other friend.
