by Mila Young
Immediately, we arrived on the banks of the River Styx. The black water rippled as if a breeze sailed over its surface. The river stretched outward as far as I could see, and directly across from us stood the side we needed to reach. Charon, the ferryman, sat on a chair looking out over the dark water. We were in a cabin made of stone, the gray slate on the walls smooth and slick with condensation.
“Well, I’m welcoming a lot of living company these days,” Charon groused with sarcasm. “What do you guys want?”
“We need to get to the Underworld,” I demanded, stepping forward.
“Sorry, that’s not going to happen,” the ferryman snorted, glancing at me. Then he frowned when he recognized me, and he straightened his posture as if he’d been caught misbehaving. “On the other hand,” he cleared his throat—“I’m pretty sure Hades’s brother is welcome. I guess, get in.”
He pointed to his ferry, and I nodded, unsure Hades would be okay with me being in the Underworld—I wasn’t exactly on his guest list. But anything to get past the river.
The five of us climbed onto the ferry and took a seat, facing the front. Charon followed and sat in the back. He started the engine.
“I thought you used an oar,” Elyse said.
Charon chuckled. “Do you think we don’t keep up with the times? Ferrying the souls across the river all the time is much easier when you have a motor.”
Ares had mentioned the ferryman was arrogant, and I saw what he was talking about. But Ares had a way of bringing out the worst out in people. He wasn’t exactly the most tolerable guy, either. So, knowing him, he’d rubbed Charon the wrong way.
The motor was surprisingly quiet, but we glided across the river at a decent speed. While we moved, I looked at the water around us. It seemed dark and dangerous, and it was unclear what lay underneath. I was pretty sure if anyone who wasn’t already dead fell in, they’d feel the consequences. Elyse was looking too, and she trembled.
“Here we are,” the ferryman announced when we reached the other side of the river that divided the living world from the Underworld. “I brought you this far. Don’t blame me if you don’t get past the dog.”
“Cerberus,” Elyse said.
She knew her Greek mythology—all the Lowes had studied it to understand what they were up against, the monsters they had to defeat, and many of the legends. Heracles had captured the three-headed dog with Hades’s approval, showed the mutt to King Eury as part of the quest, then returned the dog to the Underworld. Cerberus now guarded the gates of this realm so none of the souls escaped.
We climbed out of the boat, me first, guiding Elyse behind me. Ares leaped out next, while Apollo followed last. Charon flopped down in the boat and stared out into the river, waiting for our return.
We strode carefully across the stretch of black rock, our shadows flickering on walls pebbled with fiery torches. A haunting hum of voices sang in the distance, and my skin crawled. The songs of the dead were said to be hypnotize anyone who listened to them too long.
As we neared the gates of the Underworld, the humming faded, replaced with barking.
“Here we go,” Apollo said, shaking himself, almost bouncing on his toes. Elyse pushed ahead, gripping her scythe. She never once wavered, and I couldn’t have been prouder of her.
We closed in on enormous golden gates with an elaborate iron sculpture of Cerberus’s head attached to the front, because of course Hades would decorate the place with images of his most treasured pet.
When we pushed open the gates, Cerberus emerged from a cloud of shadows and charged toward us.
Elyse gasped as the animal easily reached her waist.
The three heads were all looked at us, their lips curled away from sharp teeth. The serpents tail swung back and forth rhythmically, and his body was oily and dark, riddled with muscle.
Elyse jumped back, but the dog didn’t attack. It halted a foot from us, growling, saliva drooling from his mouths.
“He’s only here to stop the dead from leaving,” Apollo informed us. “He should let us pass.”
Elyse eyed the animal and gave him a wide berth. “I’d rather not take that chance. And didn’t you hear Charon’s threat?”
“Hell, man, I’m ready to fight it if we need to,” Ares declared, staring at the snarling dog. The mutt leaped toward Ares, three sets of mouths snapping at the air, inches from his pants, and he flinched. Apollo chuckled.
I tucked Elyse against my side, holding her around the waist. “Ares, you’ll get your chance, but not against Hades’s pet.”
We made our way around the dog. I kept myself between Elyse and Cerberus just in case. He dog growled and barked, snapping at the air between us, but he hadn’t sensed death on any of us, as he didn’t attack. Getting in easy seemed easy enough, but perhaps getting out wouldn’t be so simple.
We passed Cerberus and reached the neutral ground Heracles had spoken of. Hades had built himself a castle on this rock, a palace of darkness. When I looked up at it, I stiffened, studying a magnificent mansion—even if it was dreary. Everything was black. Part of the rock it had been built with glowed red, as if fashioned from embers. The very embers of hell.
This was where Hades had lived since he’d been banished to the Underworld to rule. It was where Persephone had been forced to live for half the year after Hades tricked her into staying with him.
Since we’d deceived Hades into the Underworld in the first place, I felt terrible about what we’d done. At the time, it seemed like a funny joke—a prank that would trump all other pranks. I hadn’t thought it would mean Hades’s banishment from Mount Olympus for the rest of eternity purely because he didn’t reign there.
As the centuries had continued on, the gravity of my mistake started to weight on my heart and mind. Or at least, so I’d thought.
Now, as we moved toward Hades’s palace, I grew overwhelmed by sorrow and guilt. Tightness coiled around my chest and limbs, and my heart ached. A wave of self-loathing filled me, leaving me unable to concentrate on anything else. This horrible place, filled with darkness and despair and the stench of decay, was what I’d doomed my brother to for all eternity.
It made sense why he remained so upset with us, why he couldn’t drop his grudge. I would’ve done so much worse had I been in his shoes.
What had we done? Could some of the shit going on with X also be partially Zeus’s and my fault too? Forcing our brother down here until he snapped?
Apollo and Ares stared at the place with wide eyes, convincing me they shared my sentiments.
“I think the Fates are here to greet us,” Elyse cautioned when three women appeared at the grand double doors.
“Agreed,” I said, recognizing the three witches, and clenching my jaw. Nothing good ever came from being told riddles about the future.
As we approached, it became clear that only one of them could see. The other two were completely blind, wearing blindfolds over their eyes. The Fates shared one eye, taking turns to look at the past, the present, and the future.
Elyse shivered against me, and I noted that Apollo and Ares let me step forward first.
“We’ve been expecting you,” said the first Fate, the one with the eye.
Of course. They’d known we were coming.
“And we have a message for you,” continued another with a croaky voice.
“Only when you accept your flaws are you strong enough to overcome them,” the third instructed.
Ares groaned. “We’re not here for some fortune cookie bullshit. We’re here for the human girl.”
“Oh, we know why you’re here.” They spoke in unison, which was downright creepy.
“None of us know if you’ll ever escape,” one of the blind Fates said.
Elyse glanced at me, fear clear on her face, and I felt it in my gut. Apollo marched on her other side, taking her hand in his, standing guard. Letting fear into my thoughts would be the quickest way to fail.
“Come on,” I ordered. “We’ll get out of he
re as soon as we find what we’ve come for.”
“We just hope that what you came for is what you find,” one of them said.
They always talked in riddles, and everything they said carried a deeper meaning, I just had to work out what they meant. But if this was the company Hades had to keep and the more I saw of the Underworld, the worse I felt about what I’d done to him.
Chapter 22
Ares
The Underworld wasn’t my favorite place to be. Goosebumps slithered down my arms, and I hated that we had to go farther than that ferryman who kept running his mouth. But we were all here for Elyse, to save Catina, and there was no turning back now.
As if that Hound of Hades hadn’t been eerie enough, now we’d run into the three Fates. Three old witches with one eye shared among them? Who’d come up with that shit? Of course, I’d heard of the Fates many times, but I was one of the few gods who hadn’t actually run into them personally. Until now.
I’d made a point of staying away from them. They couldn’t cast me out if I wasn’t there. It was the motto I’d lived by for a very long time. And it had worked so far.
But I’d changed that rule—for Elyse. In fact, it was only because of her that I’d started seeing myself as part of the team. And even though it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be, there were definitely a few things I could’ve done without.
The trip to the Underworld was definitely at the top of the list at this point. I was creeped out.
“Do we have to go in there?” I asked when we’d passed the Fates and stood in front of the large doors that led into the palace. The whole building was black with red lights that pulsed like a heartbeat. It was ironic, considering everyone who came here—aside from Hades, Persephone, X, and the Fates—were dead.
Maybe it was supposed to be a joke. The palace was the only heartbeat around.
“I bet she’s at the top of the tallest tower,” Apollo said.
Like this was some kind of fairy tale. But he was probably right. X had a dark sense of humor and turning this into something that humans were familiar with would be right up his alley.
“So, I guess that’s a yes to going inside,” I remarked when no one had answered my question.
Maybe they’d thought it had been rhetorical. And maybe it had been. We’d come here for Catina, and we weren’t leaving without her.
Dead or alive.
I shivered when I thought that. Alive. We’d definitely get her back alive.
As soon as we stepped into the palace, a chill ran down my spine. The place was a representation of death. Everything was carved from black stone. Mirrors hung everywhere, and it gave a house of horrors effect. Here and there, the pulsing red parts of the stones showed. How fucking depressing.
As we walked through the rooms, we encountered occasional cutesy heart shaped decorations, candles everywhere, and some random pieces of tasteful furniture. But none of it made up for the horrible feeling of doom that hung in the air.
How had Hades held out down here? If I had to spend an eternity in a place like this, I was pretty sure I’d get creative about finding a way to end the life of an immortal. Namely me.
We traveled down every hall and checked every room we passed, discovering more tasteful furniture. But no X.
Down here, darkness reigned, and we couldn’t tell X apart from any of the other shadows. When we were about halfway through the palace, going from room to room, each lavishly decorated and ready for guests, I looked out one of the windows.
In front of me lay the Asphodel Meadows. To my left were the Fields of Mourning where those with broken hearts ended up, and to my right, Tartarus, reserved for those who’d sinned in their lives, who didn’t deserve pardon.
And on the horizon—if the Underworld had a horizon—were the Fields of Elysium. It was where the heroes were allowed to reside, and where Elyse’s entire family awaited her. It was technically part of the Underworld, but not really. I read a lot of books in my spare time.
Elyse came to stand next to me and glanced out across the areas beneath us, beyond to the Fields. I knew she was thinking about her family, about where she was going when she died one more time. If X didn’t get her first.
I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Not today,” I said.
She only nodded, but her breath hitched. I hoped she believed that we’d succeed as much as I did. But her fear danced over my flesh like a bitter cold. She was worried. Silence and tension permeated the air between us, and there were only grim faces among the group. My stomach tightened.
“Let’s keep moving.” Poseidon broke the quiet.
I turned, and Elyse followed.
It took us a while to work our way through the palace, moving up and up. Always silent. Never finding Catina. The farther we traveled, the fewer rooms there were to inspect until we found the spiral staircase that led up to what could only be the tallest tower.
How ironic. And Apollo had called it.
When we arrived, the door was locked. It wasn’t hard to break it down, though. I stepped up for the job and kicked my heel into the wooden door, the loud thud reverberating around us as the wood splintered and the door swung open inward.
And inside, like a princess who’d been closed up in the tower, Catina lay on a bed. She sat up, her watery eyes enlarged. Her skin looked clammy and glistened with a cold sweat. Her hair hung limp, and fear edged her face. But Elyse stepped around me, and Catina’s face changed to relief. Her mouth slackened.
“Oh my God, I’m not even going to ask how you found me!” she cried, wrapping her arms around Elyse. The two women embraced, and the rest of us waited for them to get their emotions out of the way.
“I’m so sorry. We came as soon as we tracked you down.” Elyse’s voice crackled with emotions.
“What the hell took me?” Catina’s chin trembled.
“A fuckhead. Have you not seen him since you were taken?” Elyse asked.
Catina looked around as if expecting a monster to jump out of the shadows. “I was locked in here with food and water and nothing else to go by. Where are we? This place is like hell on Earth.”
“Or hell in hell,” Elyse said. “This is the Underworld.”
Catina’s head flinched back slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain later.” Elyse rushed her words and kept glancing at the boarded-up windows. “We have to get you out of here. Now.”
“Who are they?” Catina asked when she walked with Elyse toward us. She looked up with uncertainty, with caution.
Elyse sighed. “This is Poseidon, Ares, and Apollo. The guys I’m dating.”
Catina looked from us to Elyse and shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
Of course she wouldn’t. Not only did it sound like a silly joke, but everything about this was difficult to believe. From the moment Catina had been taken, nothing would have made sense to her anymore. How could it have?
“We have to go,” I told Elyse, holding out my hand. She cleared her throat and took my hand, letting me guide her out of the tower. Catina followed, flanked on both sides by Poseidon and Apollo. The five of us had to get out of here alive.
We made our way all the way to the bottom floor of the palace without incident. I stopped and turned to Apollo and Poseidon.
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered. “This was too easy. X hasn’t even tried to stop us.”
“He will,” Elyse muttered.
“You’re absolutely right,” a voice said behind us and we all spun around. Catina let out a scream riddled with terror, faced with the person who’d taken her captive. She sank to the ground, crippled by her own fear.
Apollo, Poseidon, and I stepped forward, ready to attack. Elyse stayed right next to us, willing to fight, even though she struggled with her power. But she wouldn’t let anything happen to Catina, not now we’d found her.
X laughed, his hissing voice grated on my nerves, and he looked at the four of us.
“What a
band of misfits,” he sneered. “It’s cute you thought you could save her. But I’m glad you tried.”
With that, he attacked. But it wasn’t the physical contact I’d expected. Instead, a cloud of darkness rose around us until it was almost impossible to see each other, to see him.
“Elyse!” I cried out.
“I’m right here,” she said, grabbing on to me.
She carried her scythe in a sheath on her back, and she was ready to use it. Maybe she would. But right now, it was about our power against X’s.
I focused on my magic, the ability buzzing over my nape, and I let it flare up. I sensed Apollo and Poseidon do the same, the electricity around us heightening. When Elyse tried, her power vacillated, coming and going, and X chuckled. He sensed it, too.
“Really, you shouldn’t have bothered bringing her along. She just weighs you down. Now you have two humans to look after, and it’ll only cripple you.”
Elyse attacked first. She let out a battle cry and swung her scythe through the air with practiced precision. I mirrored her and jumped in on her heels. Her power might not have been as controlled as before, but she was still a seasoned fighter, and she’d trained for most of her life. X hadn’t expected us to attack so vehemently, and we managed to catch him off guard, sending him recoiling backward. Excellent.
The fight was immediately brutal. As soon as X recovered from his surprise, he retaliated, and Elyse was in over her head. X was stronger and faster than her, and she needed help.
Apollo charged in, but Poseidon hung back, taking care of Catina. He had the power to call any of his weapons, so he was best suited to protect her, and I was glad he’d taken the initiative. On the battlefield, we could only rely on what we did naturally. Hesitating would be our downfall.
The fight grew intense, and Elyse wielded her weapon. X ducked and kicked her in the gut, then unleashed another round of magic, slamming into her. She grunted and withdrew a few steps, but she never fell. She wasn’t handling her new magic very well. I moved out, staying at her side, mimicking her movements. I’d trained with her a couple of times and was familiar with her routines, the rhythm she found, the way she jumped from one side to the other before doubling back. We were a team, fighting X together. Apollo attacked from the side, his bright energy colliding into X, but we weren’t bringing him down.