Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NOVA
“Hereeee, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty.” I moved closer to the soul standing before me.
He was a younger man with dark hair and wide, round eyes. “Am I dead!?”
I paused before him and held my hands out, trying to calm him. “If I say yes, are you going to run?” He started to back away from me and I took a step closer. His head thrashed from one side to the other as if looking for an escape route. I moved closer to him. “Just don’t panic. Yes, you’re dead.”
“Oh no . . . Oh shit.” He floated back and forth as if he were pacing. “Man, my boss is gonna be so mad. I forgot to turn in those reports.”
“It’s gonna be fine—”
“I think I got drunk last night.” He ran his hand over his head.
“None of that matters now.” How the hell did Thanatos do this all day long? I’d only been doing it for a few days and was failing miserably.
He paced more. “I think I pissed in his plant at the party last night.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You did what?”
“Oh, man, you gotta let me go back.” He cupped his hands together, begging me. “I just gotta throw out that plant, then I’ll come back and you can take me wherever it is you’re gonna take me.”
“Dude, that’s not how it works.” I paused, knowing I’d regret asking the next question. “Why would you piss in his office plant?”
“Because he was a piss-ass boss and I got drunk at the company party.” He paused and turned to face me. “Is this why I died? Because I pissed in the office plant? That’s a really shitty reason to die.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s because you pissed on the power strip beside it and electrocuted yourself.” I pointed down at his body and the wet power strip sitting next to him.
He floated over himself and ghostly tears streamed down his face. “They’re gonna find my body like this?”
“I think—”
All of a sudden, he flopped down onto his body, trying to drop back into it, then sat back up. “Did I do it?” He lay down again. His body didn’t move. “Am I alive?”
I shook my head. “Nope, still dead.”
“Damn, man.” He sat up once more. “Can’t you just magic my ass back in there just so I can move my body. I don’t want people to know I died pissing on a plant.”
“How about this, you come with me and I will come back and move your body so no one knows?” I motioned for him to follow me.
“How am I gonna trust you?” He looked me up and down. “You don’t even look like that dude who’s supposed to come get me. What’s his name? Oh yeah, the Grim Reaper. Where’s your black cloak and super long axe thingy?”
“I am,” I sighed, “filling in.”
“So I got a substitute Grim Reaper who looks like goth-Barbie trying to leave me here with my literal dick in my hand.” He pressed his lips together. “Nah, there’s gotta be someone else I can talk to.”
“I’m all you’ve go—”
“You can talk to me.” Liesin’s smooth voice came from the shadows in the corner of the office.
I groaned. “What are you doing here?”
“You’re topside, which means so am I.” He looked down at the soul. “Is there a reason you’re lying in your body?”
“Now this guy looks like a boss. Look, my guy, can you just let me live for a few minutes so that I can move my body so no one knows I died pissing on my boss’s office plant?”
Liesin shoved one hand into his pocket. He held his other hand out and flicked his wrist toward the man. White light shone through the cracks on the floor under the man’s soul. “No.”
“What do you mean n—” The soul dropped through the floor.
Liesin turned to face me. “Why are you talking to the souls?”
“You can’t just throw them down there like that. It’s cruel.” I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips.
“We have more to do and no time for long conversations.” He turned away from me and walked out into the darkened office building.
Though the office was empty, the sounds of music came from the lower floors. I turned and moved out of the office, and when I stepped out into the hallway, I found that Liesin had paused, waiting for me. When I passed him, he fell into step with me.
“You don’t have to follow me around up here. I know the rules by now.”
“And miss out on your cutting wit? I think not,” he said in that dry, sarcastic tone.
“How long do we have to keep this up?” It wasn’t my job, nor did I want it to be. Collecting souls was Thanatos’ duty.
Liesin gave a heavy sigh. “Until Thanatos realizes he can’t keep playing human.”
“His powers are bound. Shouldn’t that stop all this?” I motioned back toward the body. “I mean, shouldn’t it stop death?”
Liesin shook his head. “Thanatos’ powers aren’t bound. They’re just not connected to him right now. So death will continue because his power is still in the world. He needs to realize he can only be what he is, a god, and reclaim them for his own.”
“I think it’s cruel to let him think he’s human.”
“Honestly, Nova, that’s what punishments are for. He broke the rules. How else does anyone learn the consequences of their actions?” He gave me a sideway glance.
“So his powers aren’t gone?” I was so confused. The gods had an odd way of doing things.
“My father doesn’t seem to think so. If his powers were bound within him then it would stop death for a time. But I don’t think the fates have the power to bind him. They do however have the power to teach him a very harsh lesson.”
I turned and walked down another row of cubicles. “I think it’s crappy to do this to him.”
“Good thing your opinion doesn’t matter in this situation.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes at him. “I almost forgot why I hated you. Thanks for reminding me.”
He gave a dark chuckle. “There’s that anger that I adore being around. Really, it’s a lot of fun for me.”
“I thought it was my charm that kept you coming back for more.” I stopped and turned to face him.
“You made a deal. I’m just making sure you stick to it.” He offered me his hand, and I took a step back, reflexively pulling my gloves farther up my arms.
His eyes glinted and the corner of his lip curved. “Oh, so you do care?”
I forced myself to drop my hands to my sides. “Do not.”
He leaned in closer, so close I could feel the heat coming off his body. “Enough to make sure you never touch me with whatever power you’re hiding behind those gloves.”
Just to prove him wrong, I offered him my hand. “Then take it.”
He didn’t hesitate to wrap his fingers around mine.
White light surrounded us and the floor cracked beneath my feet.
I didn’t bother to look down. I knew how he traveled, and I was used to it.
The floor dropped out from under us, and we fell into the hole he’d created with his power.
He didn’t let go of my hand. Instead he wrapped his other hand around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
“Too close,” I hissed.
“Not close enough.” A chuckle rumbled in his chest.
My feet hit solid ground, and I shoved away from him. My breath caught in my throat. “Don’t you ever get that close to me again.”
“I make no promises.” He turned away from me and froze. “Fucking hell, Dad.”
“Good to see you two getting along, finally.” Hades stood on a hilltop overlooking the Underworld.
On occasion I caught him up here surveying his realm. I scoffed. “I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
“Pity.” He gazed at me with those probing violet eyes as if he could see everything I thought and felt.
Liesin turned to stand beside him, gazing out over the Underworld.
When they were right next to each other, they were both so compelling with their inky hair, violet eyes, and dark clothing.
Though Liesin was younger, he was just as devastating with his sharp jawline and five-o’clock shadow.
His brow furrowed at the sight of the Underworld in disarray.
“All this because of Thanatos?” Liesin motioned to the view.
When I turned around to look, I sucked in a sharp breath.
The line of souls that led from the rivers surrounding the castle and the path to the judges was madness.
Usually, the souls flowed steadily from the Ferryman to the path.
They had time to walk and adjust to being dead.
It was a calming process where they could hear the music coming from Elysium.
It would calm them and give them a moment, but this . . .
The souls wailed, crying out in shock. They milled around not moving toward the judges. Some of them sat on the riverbanks with shocked looks on their faces. “I told you not to just drop them down here.”
“We had a lot to do,” Liesin reminded me smoothly.
The sound of flapping wings over my head sounded a moment before Megaera landed in front of us. Her dark locks were wild and windblown around her face. Her emerald eyes were sharp with annoyance. “I do not know what fresh hell this is, but it needs to be dealt with.”
“I’m working on it.”
“My sisters were not built for crowd control.” Megaera motioned to the line where her one sister Tisiphone tried to get a soul to keep following the path.
When it kept grabbing her arm and trying to speak to her, her wings flared and an ear-splitting screech came from her.
She held her claws up, about to swing them at the soul, when Meg called out, “No! No, Sister!”
Tisiphone lowered her hand and hissed in Meg’s direction.
Hades nodded. “I see your point.”
“None of us can do this,” I muttered.
They all turned to look at me. Hades arched his eyebrows. “I am the ruler of the Underworld.”
I nodded. “And yet Thanatos is death, and we all need him. He might be just a piece of the process, but he’s an integral one.”
“You just miss having your friend down here with you.” Liesin narrowed his eyes at me.
It was true that Thanatos and I were friends. He’d helped me on more than one occasion and I in turn adored his company. “Jealous much?”
Liesin met my eye. “Yes.”
It was too disarming when he just answered like that. “In any case, where is he?”
Hades sighed. “He will return soon. Things are already in motion.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “What does that mean?”
“It means never you mind the business of gods, little witch.” He turned away from the chaos. “He will return . . . soon.”