27. Hades
Hades
H ela held my hand and raised hers before us.
The back garden of Loki and Tomasz’s home turned brown, and the unusually clear blue sky over London turned momentarily gray as a pile of bones appeared out of thin air.
It started at our feet as bone by bone, marker of death by marker of death, they lined up to create a structure resembling a half-bridge.
“Fucking hell, that’s astounding,” Ivy gasped behind us, and Hela smirked.
Even though I knew my friend’s method of transport to her realm, it never failed to impress me, so I couldn’t blame Sandro’s mother for her reaction.
“Ready?” she asked me, and I nodded.
We’d wasted enough time chasing our tails and being subjects to Hermes’ machinations. It was time to take control again.
Hela stepped on the bone bridge first. The surface was uneven and treacherous, but that didn’t stop two necrogods.
Moments later, we reached the top of the bridge, where a wall of dark clouds coalesced, creating a storm unseen.
One more step and we were through to the other side, where the bridge continued onto the space between realms and stretched ahead toward my kingdom.
On our far right, appearing like a thin, shiny turquoise light, was the River Styx. But that was not where we were headed. There was only one way into Hades by way of the River Styx, and we couldn’t get past it undetected by Hermes.
But there was another way into my realm. Many, actually, but most of the others couldn’t be accessed unless I had my full powers. I didn’t. So that left me with Acheron—the often-forgotten other river to my kingdom.
I looked over the side of the bridge and into the dark waters vibrating under it. Aside from the fact it wasn’t visible to anyone unless they knew of its existence, few could cross it. Those chosen by the king himself. Me.
And that was why I needed Hela. To bridge the gap between Gaia and the Underworld. The rest was up to me.
We walked until we reached the kingdom walls, the rock pulsing with its very own heartbeat, one of the few things alive in the world of death.
“Are you sure Hermes won’t see us coming? You know I don’t have your powers to fight him off.” Hela took her hand back as we stopped in front of the small opening.
I turned to her and nodded.
“I never blessed him with all my secrets.”
And it was the truth. Hermes had no business traveling by any other means, so the Styx was all he knew. Maybe if I’d allowed him more freedom, he wouldn’t have revolted and turned against me, but how was I supposed to know?
We all had our purpose. We were all created for a reason. I’d assumed we were all happy with what we had been assigned.
“Okay. If you really think so.” She joined her hands in front of her and breathed in. “Right. Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I can’t follow you in there, and you’ve got no power…”
I stretched my arms and conjured my Sais for her benefit. To put my old friend at ease. I knew we couldn’t cross into each other’s domains without bringing about the apocalypse.
“I’ll be okay. I know this place inside and out.”
I took a step toward the opening before I retrieved the phone from my pocket and handed it to Hela.
“Could you do me another favor?”
She narrowed her eyes and stared at the phone with a stoic expression.
“I was wondering how long it’d take you to explain.”
“He wouldn’t shut up. I had to do something.”
She smirked.
“I know. They tend to be chatty. But you know you could have bonded with him instead of…you know, turning him into a ghost.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You have no idea how annoying he truly was,” I said.
Hela laughed and took the phone in her hands.
“Sure. I believe you.”
She waved her hand over it, and a shimmering blue identical copy of myself appeared beside us.
“I’m not annoying,” Tao said, stomping his foot at the same time as if to disprove his point.
“Nice to meet you, Tao,” Hela told him and nodded in my direction. “Take care of him for me, will you? I know it may not look like it, but he’s one of the good ones.”
Tao pouted and winked at her.
“I know. He’s like a turquoise fluffball covered in thorns.”
“I am no such thing,” I told him.
It was rather strange talking to another version of myself, but if only it was the strangest thing to have happened lately.
“Sure thing, buddy.” He patted my shoulder and gave me a sarcastic look that I could have easily punched from his face.
“Come on. We’ve got work to do. Again, thank you, Hela. I owe you one.”
The little girl waved a hand dismissively and laughed.
“At this point, we should wipe the slate clean and start over because we both owe each other a ton of favors.”
“Isn’t that the truth!”
Before I’d been trapped in my realm, Hela and I had gotten together every so often to discuss matters between realms as well as help each other when things went wrong.
We’d been through a lot together.
Hela waved and walked back across the bridge while I stepped through the opening in the wall, sinking into the cold, dark waters of Acheron, followed by Tao. The bone bridge collapsed behind me, and I trod to the other side, taking a long, deep breath.
“Home sweet home.”
Tao passed through me, sending shivers up my spine, and looked ahead at the dark plains spreading in every direction.
Valleys upon valleys made of nothing but stone and darkness only illuminated by the blue bioluminescent flora native to this world.
Dread and wonder went part and parcel with the environment. It was impossible to step through and feel one but not the other.
It was why I loved it.
Sure, after spending eternity down here, I’d had enough and needed the change of scenery, but this was my second true home.
My first was Sandro.
“Holy fuck and Sandra Bullock!” Tao exclaimed, and I couldn’t help feeling a little bigger at his reaction.
“It’s quite something, isn’t it?”
He turned to face me with a gaping mouth.
“Are you kidding? This is…definitely not what I was expecting.”
“I know. When most people think of Hades, they think of blazing fires and…”
“Christian hell? Yeah, no surprise.”
Most souls that arrived here were shocked to find a lack of fire. Those were reserved for the depths of Tartarus, burning the sickest of souls.
“Are you ready?” I asked him.
He bit his lip, taking in the eternal night sky above.
“Sure. Just show me the way.”
I walked ahead, focusing on the castle in the distance, rising gloriously and ominously ahead.
“I’m heading there.” I pointed at my castle. “You follow this path where it meets with Styx. You’ll find them there.”
Tao nodded and turned his back to continue down the stream.
“Tao?” He glanced back at me, and I could see the determination in his eyes. We’d gone through the plan via text messages, and there was no reason it wouldn’t work. But with my luck, I wouldn’t be surprised. “Please hurry.”
He didn’t say anything, just gave a reassuring tip of the head and continued along Acheron while I came out of the waters to follow the path to Hermes.
The fucker who had stolen everything from me.
It was time to take it all back or die trying.
* * *
I’d never paid attention to how quiet my kingdom was. Away from the fields of judged souls, there was no life. Just plain dark-and-morbid beauty.
Maybe it was because I always traveled through my eternal fires that I hadn’t realized. But this was actually better. I got to see my realm as if for the first time. To appreciate its grace—often forgotten even by me and definitely by the world of the living.
They’d associated my realm with Tartarus, made it all sound the same, and to add insult to injury to both of us, they’d given it Hela’s kingdom’s name.
No, this was not hell. Hell was what happened to self-righteous, immoral, cruel people. This…
This was the kind of afterlife everyone deserved.
To run around the dark plains without worry. To look up at the endless sky and never fear death again. To know their life meant something because now they got to experience eternal mercy.
That was what my kingdom was all about. That was what I was fighting for. That was what I’d given up. And I would do it a hundred more times if it meant saving my one and only love.
But not if they tried to cheat me out of a deal. I could tolerate a lot of things.
Okay, some things.
Maybe not much.
But if there was one thing I couldn’t—wouldn’t—tolerate, that was stealing from my lover.
So Hermes had to pay. Preferably with his life.
When I reached the pomegranate tree right outside my castle, I was equal parts exhausted and rejuvenated by my thirst for revenge, and I was ready for whatever awaited me on the other side.
I glanced up at the stars and took a deep breath.
Tao should have had more than enough time to reach them by now. I just hoped he could get the job done.
I looked at the pomegranate tree, so large and prosperous. Not only was it always in bloom with the divine fruit, but it also offered extra protection, among other things.
I picked one from the nearest branch and snapped it in half to reveal its dark-blue seeds.
Eating them would give me more strength and buy me more time before I perished without Sandro, but it also had another function. One I desperately needed if I was to face Hermes without my powers.
With another thing checked off my list, I stepped through the bark and into my throne room, another one of the hidden passageways only I was familiar with.
I stayed in the shadows and looked toward the throne. It was made of stibnite and eternal lava, a marriage of its two royals, and as alive as the kingdom walls and ground.
Hermes was there, sitting cross-legged over the side and playing with a ball of yarn that glowed gold.
The motherfucker.
I stepped out of the shadows and walked toward him with my hands behind my back, bracing myself.
Hermes smirked when he spotted me, and the mosaic that covered the room came to life.
All the pieces of human and supernatural bone rolled into one another, forming the skeleton royal guards.
Good thing I was prepared.
“Welcome, dear cousin,” he said as I pulled the Sais from behind me and threw one at one skeleton. With the other one, I struck a guard beside me, and he tumbled back into the ground, taking its previous position as a mosaic.
“You think they can stop me?” I shouted at him, taking down one guard after the other. “I made them.”
A skeleton came at me from the side with a fist as large as my entire body, and I ducked out of its way, throwing a Sai at its legs. It crashed upon impact.
Two more appeared in front of me and one behind but they were no match for me. It had taken me centuries to put them all together and to fit each piece into an intentional shape on the floor, but it was one of my proudest achievements. One of my best creations.
A creation I was happy to demolish over and over again to get what I wanted.
I stabbed the last one just in front of the small pedestal where the thrones were situated, so I made sure to look at Hermes when I did it.
The ones on the other side of the room rose again.
If it hadn’t been for the pomegranate, I wouldn’t have been able to face them even once. But now, I could go as many rounds as needed.
I worked my way around the room again. Without my powers, I couldn’t command them to stand down. Without my powers, they were Hermes’ pets. Not mine.
“You won’t even face me when I’m stripped down and weak? You’re a coward , cousin .”
I glanced at Hermes, and he straightened on the throne.
“Why break up all the fun you’re having,” he said.
I spat, a mix of blood and bile that painted the ground red.
The guard running right at me stopped abruptly and froze mid-punch.
I narrowed my eyes and ducked out of its way to inspect it.
It relaxed its stance, and the skull on its spine stalked me around it, yet it made no attempt to beat me down.
“Keep going, you useless shit,” Hermes shouted at it.
The other skeletal soldiers crowded around me, creating a protective barrier. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I kept my offensive stance, prepared for the worse.
One of the skeletons pushed to the front, and when it stood in front of me over seven feet tall, I saw a red mark on its chest.
It was my blood that I’d just spat.
The guard bent one knee and bowed its head, and soon, all the other guards did the same.
I smirked.