Tempted by Darkness

by Lillian Sable

  “This is Cerberus,” Ryn whispered harshly in my ear as he tried to pull me backward. I resisted, and he made an exasperated sound. “He guards the inner circle of the Underworld. If you answer his riddle wrong, he’ll kill you.”

  “I thought Cerberus was supposed to be one three-headed dog, not three men trapped in a wall.”

  “Many things take many forms here.” He almost makes it sound like a warning. “This form is close enough to the other.”

  Annoyed, I turned to glare at him. “How is one at all close to three?”

  “Which is more similar, one and three or three and infinity?” At my confused look, he cast me a humorless smile. “You see? They’re practically the same.”

  That wasn’t the sort of nonsense I could waste time puzzling out at the moment. My gaze swung back to the stone men. I didn’t quite believe they weren’t about to jump off the wall and attack us. “Is there a way around them, or him?”

  He hesitated but then answered honestly. “Not any that I know of.”

  “Then we don’t have much of a choice.”

  I approached Cerberus, unsure of which of the identical faces I was supposed to address. Their eyes had closed when I initially backed away, but now opened again and stared at me with equally impassive expressions.

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted Cerberus to be a real man or just a bit of enchanted stone. A real creature could potentially be reasoned with, although that probably depended on how long he’d been trapped here. Enough time spent as a statue might mess someone up pretty badly.

  Playing it safe with politeness, I addressed the face in the middle. “I apologize for disturbing you. But we have to get past these doors to continue our journey. How do they open?”

  “You must solve our riddle.”

  It still freaked me out when they all talked together. “What riddle?”

  Ryn made a sound of warning behind me. “Seph—”

  But the stone men were already speaking again. “Two of us only tell truth. One of us only speaks in lies. Find the liar, and you may pass. Make the wrong choice or run out of time, and your lives are forfeit.”

  Before I could ask what they meant by time running out, Ryn pointed over my shoulder.

  “See, this is exactly what I was talking about,” he exclaimed with obvious annoyance. “Look at their legs.”

  The bottom of the figures had already changed. Real leather boots were sticking out where there used to be stone. “What’s happening?”

  “You have until they become men to figure out the puzzle, or else they come alive and murder us both.” Ryn gripped my shoulder hard and then let it go, giving me a frazzled version of his normal smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you for the minute it takes them to chop my head off.”

  I remembered his disembodied head floating in the trees. “Can you survive if your head is chopped off?”

  “You might get the chance to find out.” He sighed. “I’ve never seen anyone solve this riddle.”

  But I didn’t come all this way to just give up. Addressing the stone men, my tone turned demanding to hide the fear. “How am I supposed to figure out which one of you is the Hunter?”

  They spoke together in the same monotone. “You may ask two questions of any of us, but no more.”

  “We can figure this out,” I told Ryn, determination overcoming any worries about imminent beheadings. This was just a simple logic puzzle, and as a true introvert, I’d read my fair share of them in books. “One of them always lies, and two only tell the truth. If we can figure out what questions to ask, then this should be easy. C’mon, help me.”

  But he only gave me an exasperated sigh. “My time might be better spent figuring out how many of them I can take in battle.”

  “Fine, be a pessimist. I’ll figure this out myself.”

  I approached the stone men, noting that they really were completely identical down to the finest detail. There weren’t going to be any physical differences that might help me figure this out.

  “Okay, so none of you guys can tell me that you’re the liar even if I ask because that one would only lie about it, and the other two would also say no because it’s the truth. And if I only get two questions, then just coming out and asking wouldn’t do me any good unless I already knew which two to ask.”

  All three faces continued to stare at me, giving nothing away.

  Their swords had turned a shiny silver as the stone melted away, the edges probably sharp enough to split a hair in half. That was not exactly a comforting thought.

  “If asking a direct question won’t work,” Ryn said with a weary sigh, his gaze on their swords. “Then maybe you should ask an indirect one.”

  And now I had the answer.

  Approaching the leftmost stone man, I pointed, so he knew that I wanted an answer from him. Their faces had already begun to change to the color of normal skin, but traces of the marbling pattern remained. It was fascinating, but I forced myself to focus on the more important issue of not having my head lopped off.

  “Are you and the man next to you both knights?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

  Which meant this one could be either the liar or one of the ones who only told the truth. It was impossible to know for sure without asking another question.

  I shifted to face the man in the middle. His eyes grow more expressive with each passing moment as the gray stone darkened into a limpid mahogany. Beautiful eyes trapped within a man made of stone.

  For at least another few minutes.

  “Did the man beside you just tell me the truth?”

  Some sign of life flashed in those carved eyes. “Yes.”

  With a smile, I turned to the stone man on the right. “Which makes you the liar.”

  Ryn let out a surprised laugh. “Well done.”

  I didn’t know what I expected to happen next, but the stone continued to melt away with no signs of slowing. I realized with growing terror that they weren’t changing back. There was a shriek of metal as their swords separated from the doors behind them. In another few moments, their arms would be free, with those blades swinging toward us.

  “Are you sure that’s right?” Ryn asks, sounding more than a little frantic.

  “They would be attacking us if I’d gotten it wrong,” I argued, not sure I even believed what I was saying. “I got it right, I know I did.”

  Ryn tried to push me behind him. “It doesn’t matter. You need to run, I’ll hold them off.”

  “Wait. There has to be something I’m missing. I know you’re the liar. The only way that the answer to both those questions could be yes is if both of them were telling the truth.” I thrust my finger at the man on the right who continued to stare me down, making me wonder if his expression would remain that impassive as he cut us down. “Maybe just saying it isn’t enough.”

  “And what’s going to be enough?” Ryn sounded exasperated and more than a little terrified. “Because you’ve got about thirty seconds to figure it out.”

  “I know he’s the liar.”

  Working on an impulse that I didn’t fully understand, I lunged forward before Ryn could drag me back. I closed the distance between the rightmost stone man and me. His arm was only partially made of stone at this point and slowly raised above his head in preparation to strike.

  “Cerberus,” I cried, so close that our lips practically touched. “Enough of this.”

  The killing blow never came.

  I pulled away to see a face that was almost entirely alive. Tanned skin was a perfect match for the wood brown hair that was caught in a severe bun at the back of his head. My gaze traced down the aquiline nose and strong jaw to find lips that looked even plusher than they had felt against mine.

  The other stone figures were gone, with only this man remaining. “You must be Cerberus.”

  He smiled gently. “I am. Thank you for releasing me from this torment.”

  Ryn came up behind me. “Look. The doors are open.”
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  Cerberus stepped aside, revealing what lay behind him. Where the three stone men had once stood sentry, there were now three open doorways. And even though they stood side by side, each one appeared to lead to an entirely different place.

  Red hot anger rose up in me. “Oh, this is bullshit.”

  Looking like he had just been run through an emotional wringer, Ryn turned to look at me. “What?”

  “Hades said that there were no twists or turns, and the path to the castle would be laid out before me. There are three different ways to go here with no indication of which is the right one.” I swallowed hard before I made the accusation out loud because I had no doubt he was somehow listening. And there wasn’t a greater insult to levy at a gods. “He lied to me.”

  Ryn’s eyebrows shot up into the violet swatch of hair on his forehead. “Careful what you say.”

  A surge of triumph moved through me at the thought of it. “Hades lied. That makes our deal null and void.”

  “Did he?” Ryn shook his head, looking almost sad. “Every path leads to Hades’s castle, but some are significantly more treacherous than others. With this challenge completed, he now gives you the chance to choose your own path forward.”

  I didn’t exactly like the sound of that. “So I can go through any of these doors, and I’ll still end up in the same place? All of them will eventually lead to the castle?”

  “It would be a mistruth to claim that I know every inch of the Underworld or that I have walked every path, but I can assure you of this. If you are walking forward, then you move ever closer to his seat of power, the castle at the center of the Underworld.” His voice was grave as he regarded the diverging paths, each one different in both subtle and obvious ways. “One is the path of least resistance, one is the path of destruction, and the last must be the unexpected path. But it is impossible to know which is which without walking all three. And you haven’t the time for that. I’d also like to avoid a side trip through Tartarus, if possible.”

  Tartarus was the abyss, a place of dark torment and suffering for the wicked.

  I turned to Cerberus, who watched us with a grave expression on his face. “I can’t be the first person you’ve seen pass through here. Which path would you recommend?”

  He hesitated as if unsure how to answer the question. “I have never walked through any of these doors. And you are the first to solve my puzzle and release me from my duty.”

  His body was still imprinted with the pattern of marble, faint in places but more pronounced in others. He moved slowly and deliberately, but the sword at his side shone with a deadly gleam. I had no doubts that at a moment’s notice, he could erupt with deadly speed.

  “So you don’t know which door we should choose?”

  “I do not,” he said with formality, inclining his head. “But it would be my honor to serve you on your journey.”

  Ryn made a rude sound with his mouth, but only smiled placidly when I turned to glare at him.

  “Shut it. We need all the help we can get.”

  Instead of responding to me, Ryn addressed Cerberus. “How did you come to be here?”

  Cerberus slowly blinked and then frowned, as if it was difficult for him to recall. “I believe that I am being punished.”

  Neither of us asked for what.

  It hadn’t escaped my notice just how empty this place seemed compared to what I’d seen in my dreams. In my imaginings, mythical creatures of every type and temperament made their home here. The fact that I’d only encountered two other people so far, both of them apparently at odds with Hades, was beyond strange.

  Ryn gestured to the door on the right. Through it, sun shone brightly overhead, and I could hear birds twittering a strange song when I stepped closer. Fresh grass grew on the path between large, flat stones that were pale and glittered in the light. “This has to be the path of least resistance.”

  “Which is rarely the best choice.” Cerberus moved to the door on the left. His body made a clanging sound as if there was something metal inside of him. “I assume this is the unexpected path.”

  Through the door he indicated, the path was cast in twilight. It was dark but not overwhelmingly so, and I heard water rushing somewhere in the distance.

  “Which makes this the path of destruction.” Through the center door, the path was overgrown with creeping vines twisting off the walls and thorny bushes sprouting from the ground. On its far side, the horizon appeared dark and stormy. Everything about it appeared treacherous. It would be insane to choose this one, but for some reason, I felt like I had to.

  It called to me, even though I was terrified.

  “This one.”

  “That is the Mourning Fields,” Ryn violently shook his head. “Going there is a terrible idea.”

  The Mourning Fields was reserved for souls that wasted their lives on unrequited love. It wasn’t the most dangerous place in the Underworld, but any number of disturbing things could be found there.

  A drug addict loves the one thing that can never love him back.

  Ignoring Ryn, I strode for the door. “It’s where I’m going. You can follow me or not.”

  “I will follow,” Cerberus said solemnly. “But please, allow me to go through the door first. Once you have passed the threshold, there is no way to return.”

  Ryn rolled his eyes so hard that I thought they might pop out of their sockets. “If some hideous creature jumps out and eats you, the last thing you hear before dying will be me saying I told you so.”

  I fought a slight smile. It had taken some time, but I’d finally decided what Ryn reminded me of, the Cheshire Cat. And just like a cat, he alternated between being one of the most fearsome predators in the animal kingdom and so skittish that he jumped at his own shadow.

  Cerberus held out his hand to me, and I surprised myself a bit by taking it. There was something about him that I trusted, even though he had nearly lopped my head off a few minutes ago.

  Ryn took my other hand from behind. For a moment, I thought he was going to pull me away from Cerberus, but he only squeezed it hard and didn’t let go as we walked through the middle door.

  It felt good to be between them as if I was protected from all sides. The back of Cerberus’s hand was bumpy and ridged under my fingers like a bed of river rocks. I stroked it gently, fascinated by the rough play of something hard under soft flesh. Ryn’s hand was so warm that it sent a shimmering heat down my arm to suffuse the rest of my body.

  Two challenges down, and two allies collected with them. Maybe the odds were finally turning in my favor.

  I expected it to hurt when we walked through the doorway, I wasn’t sure why. But it was as simple as passing through any normal door in the human world, except when I turned to look back, the door had disappeared and there was only a stone wall behind us.

  We had to continue forward because there was no way back.

  Chapter Eight

  The landscape had not changed significantly, even though we’d been walking for what felt like hours but was actually significantly less, at least according to my lariat.

  All around me was desolation and decay. Walls crumbled, and I stepped lightly around the broken pieces that littered the ground. All that grew here was bare of flowers, with leaves that withered and browned. The only bit of green was in the creeping vines that wound along the wall and crept at our feet, but I avoided them. Some unknown impulse alerted me that they were dangerous.

  I couldn’t help but feel like the Underworld hadn’t always been this way, that at one time this place had been glorious to behold. But I had no idea how much of that was just my overactive imagination.

  Although, I was certain that I hadn’t imagined my two companions. These men had never been a major part of the art I had produced based on my dreams, or characters in the fantastical stories I would tell myself as a child.

  If I was crazy, I didn’t know if that made them more or less likely to be real.

  It didn’t make sense that
I was trusting two denizens of this realm, but it felt right to have him with me in a way that I couldn’t explain. Holding their hands made me feel safe. I got the sense that holding other parts of their bodies would probably feel even better.

  That had to be more of the crazy talking.

  But gorgeous men just served as a reminder that I was supposed to be here to save Adonis. I told myself that I shouldn’t feel bad. It wasn’t as if we ever dated, and I sincerely doubted that he ever figured out the sort of feelings I had for him. If he did, the most likely emotion that would have inspired in him was pity.

  Because someone like me had no business with someone like him.

  But now the natural order of things had been redone. Adonis was kidnapped by Hades because that bastard figured out he was my greatest weakness. That imagining us in a bright house with a picket fence and 2.5 children brought me as much pleasure as my other fantasies. Even if it felt just about as likely.

  I needed to get Adonis back to the human world so he could find a bubbly and personable girl with practical skills to settle down and live happily ever after with. The girl with a tragic history and psychotic delusions wasn’t going to fit in those designer shoes.

  As if he could sense the direction of my thoughts, Ryn squeezed my hand. When I turned back to look at him, a mischievous smile spread across his face as his fingers gently stroked my palm, sending shivers up my spine.

  It was hard not to feel like Dorothy skipping down the yellow brick road. Only she probably didn’t feel any sexual tension with the Tinman or the Scarecrow. At least in the movie I watched as a kid, she never looked at her companions in the way I’d been looking at mine.

  Cerberus didn’t look back at me, his gaze focused on the path ahead as if alert for any danger. But his hand stayed wrapped comfortingly around mine, so much larger that it made me want to press our bodies together and compare every place where he was big and I was small.

  The salty tang of sea air stung my nostrils, but I had no idea if we were close to a source of water. The walls of the maze had widened, and gaps where they’d crumpled gave tantalizing visions of what lies beyond, but it wasn’t enough to know for sure what might actually be on the other side.