Designed by Death

by Melody Rose

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, unsure if he was joking or not. “Khryseos and Argyreos. They’re normally metal, made of silver and gold, but they adopted these personas for me.”

  Erich’s wide blue eyes blinked over the stone, looking like a cartoon. Khryseos and Argyreos blinked back at him, their faces curious at the glowing blue boy.

  “I’ve never met them before,” Erich admitted. He got to his feet and straightened his transparent shirt, brushing it off though not a speck of dirt was on it. “I didn’t even know our father owned dogs.”

  “He made them,” I corrected. “How did you not know this about him?”

  “There’s a lot I didn’t know,” Erich said with a shrug. “He was rather distant.”

  “But, didn’t you learn about Khryseos and Argyreos from the myths?” I asked, confused why the dogs hadn’t come up in his curriculum. When Khryseos and Argyreos were first mentioned in my Greek Mythology class, I asked the teacher, Graux, if I could bring them in for a kind of show and tell. They even assumed their original gold and silver forms, which made them seem more robotic, and I didn’t like it. Luckily, they returned to their Doberman forms, which put everyone, including me, at ease.

  Erich shook his head in response. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t remember everything they taught us in that boring class. And besides, there’s too much for anyone to know everything about the myths. Except for maybe Graux, but that’s only because he’s an owl and Athena’s son. It’s his gift.”

  I swallowed uncomfortably. “Right, no one knows that much.”

  “Well, they seem to have taken to you,” Erich commented with a disapproving sniff.

  I crouched down to pet both of the dogs, giving them sufficient back rubs. They leaned into my hands and couldn’t help themselves. Their anger at me from before quickly dissipated. While they were my guardians, they were also dogs. They were quick to forgive, which I appreciated.

  As I scratched from the top of their heads down their necks, I tried to itch beneath their collars. I made the collars for them when the pair came to live with Mom and me over the summer break after my first year. I knew we weren’t going to be able to get away with them running around with identification in our city like they did on campus. So I took the time before the year ended, right when they made the new smithy, to carve out individual tags for each of them.

  The tags resembled those Best Friend heart necklaces you’d wear with your best friend in middle school. The two pieces fit together, but like a locket with Khryseos’s on the top and Argyreos’s on the bottom. When I put them together, their names were where the pictures would be on a normal locket.

  As I stared at my dogs, I realized I had my answer to Erich’s question before. I had my physical item. Exuberantly, I clicked off each of their collars. Khryseos shook his neck in relief, whereas Argyreos reached over and licked the spot as though he missed the accessory. I got to my feet and held out the two collars like the catch of the day, right in Erich’s glowing face, though he did recoil from the neckbands as though they were real fish.

  “What are you doing?” Erich asked wearily, his lips curling into a sneer.

  “My item,” I said, thrusting the collars forward. “I’ll use these. I just have to take them off and put them together.”

  Erich opened his mouth and then closed it again quickly as if he was deciding against saying his first thought. “If you believe that will work, it’s your soul.”

  I looked over my shoulder at Khryseos and Argyreos, who smiled their goofy smiles up at me. “It’ll work,” I said with confidence.

  “Suit yourself,” Erich said with a shrug, not bothering to hide his doubt. Then he shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. “But what about me? How do you propose we hide me from Hades?”

  “That’s the brilliant part,” I said as I held up a finger. It took me a moment, but I managed to get the tags off the key ring on the collar. After returning the leather parts to the dogs’ neck, I took the tags and clicked them together. Then I released a hidden latch on the side. A chain unspooled from the inside of Argyreos’s bottom tag. I looped the new locket around my neck and held out my arms in a ta-da like motion with a big smile on my face.

  I awaited Erich’s approval, but he continued to stare at me as if I had just willingly eaten a scorpion.

  “What?” I asked, my smile faltering.

  “You’re a whole bag of tricks, aren’t you?” Erich said. I didn’t know if that was a compliment or an insult, so I didn’t reply right away. Instead, I took the locket off my neck and held it out like an offering.

  “Can you go back to flame form and fit in here?” I said, holding out the locket.

  Erich eyed it with utter disgust. “You want me to get in there?”

  “Look,” I said, my cheery demeanor completely disappearing, suddenly replaced by irritation. “I’m kind of under a time crunch here, and I think if you could work with me here, I’d really appreciate it.”

  Erich rolled his eyes and released an exasperated breath. “Fine,” he relented. “Let me try.”

  In the blink of an eye, Erich’s form contorted and twisted as though he were being sucked down a whirlpool. When his limbs and distinguishable features disappeared, the small blue flame returned. For some reason, I felt as though I was able to see the sassy gestures and body language Erich had, even in the flame. Especially though when it floated to the locket made out of dog tags and shrunk down to fit in the compartment. I closed the lid once he settled inside. I debated leaving him in there for more than just a second or two, Gods knew that he deserved it, but I also didn’t want to make him any more irritated than he already was. Just because he’d been told by our dad that he needed to help me in order to get redemption, didn’t mean that he was going to do it with a good attitude.

  So I opened the door again, and Erich popped out, returning to his blue-skinned humanoid form. I repeated my ta-da motion with my arms and my ringmaster-like smile.

  “What do you think?” I asked cheekily.

  “I think we should get going if you feel ready,” Erich declared. But then he pointed to the dogs behind me. “They have to stay, though. Cerberus is not too fond of having other dogs invade his territory.”

  I looked over at the two dogs, and instantly, I could tell they didn’t like what I was planning. Their eyes drooped in sadness at the prospect of me leaving. I bent over to look each of them in the eye.

  “I’m coming back, you here?” I assured both of them. “It’ll be like I never left, okay? And I need you boys to be good while I’m gone. No running off to Ansel and telling him or the others where I went, alright?” I pointed a sharp finger at them, emphasizing my point. “You can wait in my room until I get back. Or the smithy, or with Mac. Wherever you’re most comfortable.”

  Khryseos licked his lips while Argyreos sniffed as though he had a cold. I kissed the top of their heads and turned back to the son of Hephaestus.

  “I’m ready,” I said as I straightened up and pushed my shoulders back. “What do I need to do?”

  “You need to step into me,” Erich said.

  I cocked my head to one side. “What now?”

  “You and I have to occupy the same space, and then I can transport back to the Underworld,” Erich elaborated. “Then I’ll slip into your locket as fast as possible. And you’ll be there. At the edge of the Underworld, just like you asked.”

  Erich then proceeded to mock my ta-da gesture and smile, though it didn’t reach all the way to his eyes. I frowned at him and crossed my arms.

  “I still don’t understand what you mean by ‘occupy the same space,’” I said, keeping my tone flat and devoid of as much irritation as possible.

  Erich resumed his regular stance and gestured between the two of us. “You’re resistant to fire, right?”

  “Yeah,” I confirmed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “You’re going to step into the Eternal Flame, which is my body, and then I’m goi
ng to take you to the Underworld,” Erich explained through exaggerated gestures as though I were a slow five-year-old.

  My face contorted into an expression of worry. “I’ve only done that once.”

  “Done what?” Erich asked, confused by my lack of specifications.

  “Put my whole body into a flame,” I clarified. “I mean, three if you count the two times with Ansel.”

  “I don’t know or care who Ansel is--”

  “Son of Apollo and my boyfriend,” I replied, though he hadn’t asked.

  “Great,” he sighed. “Now that we have that useless information, this is how it needs to be done, or you’re not going.”

  “Isn’t there a river or something I can follow?” I asked, not sure I was hesitating.

  “You said you were in a hurry, and this is the fastest way,” Erich reasoned. “Come on, Cheyenne, do you want to go or not?”

  I licked my lips and knew the answer, though I didn’t say it aloud right away. I needed to talk to Ruby come hell or high water. I couldn’t let them believe that she had committed suicide when clearly that wasn’t the case, even if no one believed me. I needed answers, and this was the surest way to get them: directly from the source.

  “Okay,” I conceded. “How do we do this? Do I just stand in front of you, or…” I trailed off, completely out of ideas.

  “Actually, come and stand behind me,” Erich instructed.

  I followed his direction and got between him and his gravestone. He told me to copy his body positioning as exactly as I could. I put my arms a little out to the side and widened my stance a bit.

  “Now, when you’re ready, step forward into me,” Erich continued the instructions. “But give me some warning first because this isn’t going to feel comfortable for either of us.”

  “Okay,” I said wearily. I took a big breath and released it. “I’m coming in.”

  With a step forward, I put myself into the line of fire.

  8

  I felt like I was suffocating.

  The minute I stepped in line with my half-brother, it seemed as though all of the air shot out of my lungs. They shriveled into prunes, making my chest tight and heavy. My ribs pulled in towards one another, shrinking my organs as though they were being forced through a straw. My mouth flew open in search of oxygen, but there was none to be found. My eyes bulged, my skin grew dry, and my muscles melted. It was the most uncomfortable sensation I had ever experienced, and for a solid seven seconds, I thought I was going to die.

  “Just hold on, Cheyenne,” the voice of Erich whispered in my ear. “We’re almost there.”

  As much as I appreciated his words, I would have appreciated a breath of fresh air so much more. My hands wanted to reach up and cling to my throat. My legs begged to be allowed to step forward, out of this torture. But I couldn’t move. I was trapped within the blue cage of the Eternal Flame.

  It didn’t burn, but it forced me down, compressing me until I was the size of a quarter. I couldn’t tell up from down, right from left, as the world contorted around me. Nothing prepared me for this. I thought Apollo’s chariot was bad, but that was a piece of cake. At least I had open skies or Ansel’s handsome face to look at when I was scared. Here, however, I stared into a sea of blue flames, claustrophobia taking hold of me.

  “Just a few more seconds,” Erich said, though this time, it felt like his voice was coming from far away, an echo on a mountain.

  I didn’t believe him. There was no way I was going to survive this. He had tricked me, that damned ghost! I was dying, he was sucking out my soul, he trapped me in one of the lanterns. My brain raced through a thousand possibilities for what had happened to me, how this long lost spirit of my distant half-brother tricked me.

  Right as I decided that the only answer was him trading his soul for mine, I gasped my first breath of fresh air. Everything re-inflated. My bones popped back into place while my skin stretched. I could move my fingers and toes, the freedom of movement slowly but surely returning to my body. My mouth fell open, gasping for air as I collapsed down on all fours.

  My back curled like a cat’s as I heaved in and out, shaking the squished sensation from my body and my memory. I jiggled every joint and muscle in silly ways, just to rid myself of the feeling.

  “What… the hell… was that?” I said, spitting out the words as I found my voice.

  “That bad, huh?” Erich asked with a cautious hiss.

  I slowly turned my head to look up at Erich over my shoulder. He twisted his fingers over one another, full of nerves. To his credit, he did have a worried expression on his face, with pinched eyebrows and pursed lips.

  “Bad is one word for it,” I hissed.

  “I’m sorry, but if I told you how awful it was going to be, you never would have done it,” Erich reasoned, his spinning fingers going faster with each word.

  “I still would have appreciated a warning,” I countered as I rocked back on my heels, slapping my palms against my thighs.

  “And how was I supposed to do that?” Erich asked as he put his hands on his hips, the worried expression instantly disappearing. “Hey Cheyenne, in order to get to the Underworld, you’re going to have to die and then come back to life.”

  “I died?” I balked, my mouth falling open.

  “See!” Erich exclaimed as he gestured dramatically towards me. “That’s the reaction I was trying to avoid.”

  I rubbed my hands over my face, stopping for an extra second at my cheeks to massage my jawbone. “I don’t seem to recall Odysseus or Orpheus having to die even just for a second.”

  “Oh, they did,” Erich assured me. “They just leave that painful part out in the poems.”

  I rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth. “But I’m not dead, dead, right?”

  “No,” Erich said with a shake of his head. “There is no permanent death in this whole process.”

  “I still can’t believe you didn’t warn me,” I groaned.

  “Well, it got you here, didn’t it?” Erich said as he opened his arm and gestured to our surroundings with the elegance of a showgirl.

  After one more annoyed glance at my half-brother, I finally took a minute to examine our new environment.

  The ground beneath my knees was stone, rocky and unpolished. It was dim, dank, and dark. The air was humid, as though I stepped into a swamp, but there wasn’t a single sign of life of any kind. No plants or animals roamed about. It looked like the center of a cave, vast and open, but with undertones of gray and light blue.

  There was the sound of running water, making its way steadily along. Normally that kind of sound would comfort me, like something I could fall asleep to, but this river seemed to be out of tune. It pricked my ears at uncomfortable octaves and missed chords.

  I watched the black water race along into an opening farther down the tunnel, growing darker as it receded. Behind us was a solid rock wall with no sign of an opening. It was then that I realized we were good and truly trapped in the Underworld.

  “Uh, Erich?” I asked, my voice catching in my throat.

  “What?” he wondered, blinking at me expectantly.

  “You’re going to be able to get us out of here, right?” I checked.

  “Oh yeah, no problem,” Erich said, but then he paused and looked off in the corner of his vision, his eyebrow twitching. “I mean, at least I don’t think it will be a problem.”

  “You don’t think it’s going to be a problem?” I hopped up on my feet, my frustration returning swift and sure. “That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, now does it?”

  “We’re going to be fine,” Erich assured me with too casual of a tone for my taste. “I’m imbued with the Eternal Flame, and you’re not really dead, so Hades can’t technically keep you down here. Plus, you have your own powers, which could help get us out of here. What could possibly go wrong?”

  My hands flew up to my head, and my mouth dropped open in shock. “You did not seriously just say that?”

  “W
hat?” Erich held out his hands innocently. “I was trying to give you confidence.”

  “Have you never seen any movie ever?” I said, my voice raising of its own accord. “That’s exactly what they say before everything goes completely wrong.”

  “You forget that we didn’t have movies in my day,” Erich pointed out. “So the answer to your question is, no, I did not know that.”

  Before I could completely chew Erich out for being completely incompetent and stupid, there was a break in the current from the river. Erich and I froze, and our eyes shifted to the black water. Slowly, the ripples stilled like a line of dominoes.

  The river had stopped flowing.

  “What’s happening?” I said out of the corner of my mouth, as though my voice would startle our surroundings.

  “Open the locket,” Erich said urgently as he waved his hands in circles to hurry me along.

  “What?” I said, surprised by his reaction.

  “He’s coming,” Erich clarified without really clarifying anything. “Open the locket. He can’t know I’m here.”

  “Who can’t know you’re here?” I asked, even though the answer seemed obvious.

  “Anyone in the Underworld,” Erich explained, his words tumbling over one another. He waved his hands in circles, ushering me along. “See, I’m dead, but they don’t know I’m dead.”

  “What?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

  “When I died, Hephaestus didn’t let my soul be taken to the Underworld,” Erich said, his movements becoming more sporadic like he was trying some complicated, flailing dance. “It was part of my punishment to stay and help the next child of Hephaestus when they needed it.”

  “What did you do?” I wondered.

  “We seriously don’t have time for this, Cheyenne,” Erich snapped. “If any of the psychopomps catch me down here, I’ll be dead-dead and won’t be able to help you anymore.”

  “Would that include getting me out of here alive?” I balked.

  “Yes, Cheyenne. Now open the damn locket!” Erich exclaimed as he reached out for my neck. I recoiled from him and finally obeyed. The second the latch of the locket unhooked, Erich transformed back into his small flame form. With a leap, he zoomed into the locket, shrinking down to fit in the piece of jewelry.