by Linsey Hall
The night was dark and crisp as I stepped out onto the main lawn and headed for Hedy’s workshop at the edge. The round tower sat off on its own, just in case one of Hedy’s experiments went wrong.
And by wrong, I meant boom.
Golden light glittered in the windows, and smoke billowed from the chimney. I knocked on the heavy wooden door, drawing in the scent of roses that bloomed there even in the winter. Some kind of magic of Hedy’s, I was sure.
“Come in!” Her voice echoed through the door.
I pushed it open, stepping into a potion-maker’s wonderland. The round space was cluttered with tables, which were covered with hundreds of bottles of ingredients and dozens of little tools and bowls. A cauldron bubbled over the hearth, spewing out a glittery white smoke that smelled of lavender and honey. Three miniature cauldrons sat on a table on the left side of the room, each emitting a colorful smoke. Drying herbs hung from the rafters, hundreds of types.
I grinned at Hedy, who wore a flowy dress made of spangly silver fabric. Her lavender hair hung loose down her back, full of tangles and herbs. Normally, it was smooth and shiny.
She turned, revealing that she, too, was carrying an impressive set of luggage beneath her eyes.
“Tired?” I asked.
“Always, these days.” She shook her head. “But it’s fine. Until we’ve stopped the Stryx, it’s worth it.”
I nodded and stepped toward her. “What can I do to help?”
“Here.” Hedy handed me a silver spoon that sparked with imbued magic. “You can stir. And be careful to go at a three-quarters speed with a fluttering wrist flick.”
I nodded. “Got it.”
No matter how good I became with my magic, I’d always love potions. Mastering potions had given me confidence and strength when I’d needed it most, and I’d be forever grateful.
Hedy and I worked together in silence, making something called the draught of living death. By the time it was done, my wrist was sore but my heart was full.
Hedy poured the potion into two little glass vials and handed them to me. The rest of the potion went into a third vial that she set on the table. “That should do it. Drink it right before you enter Hades. You’ll still be alive, but it will appear to others as if you are just a soul. Don’t let anyone touch you, though. It’s just an illusion. You won’t actually be as transparent and incorporeal as you look.”
I took the vials. “Fantastic, thanks.”
“It will only last about twelve hours, so be quick.”
“We will.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black stone, then pressed it into my palm. “That is a very rare transport charm that will get you out of Hades when you’re done with your mission. One of a kind and hard as hell to make. Use it only if you need it.”
“Thank you.” I stuck it in the pocket of my jeans, which were so tight that the stone wouldn’t go anywhere without my permission.
“Oh, and here.” She turned and picked up two more vials. “Magical caffeine. Given that it’s after midnight and you have a full day’s work ahead of you, I think you need it.”
“I do. Thank you.”
“Use it wisely,” she said. “You can’t take too much. It’ll send your system into overdrive. So this is pretty much it.”
“Okay.” Now was as good a time as any.
Hedy and I left her workshop. As soon as we stepped out onto the lawn, I spotted Maximus and Nix. They approached from the castle. Maximus was carrying a big bag over one shoulder and a strange, torpedo-like thing in the other hand. The little machine was roughly four feet long and had a propeller at one end. Cool.
Nix raised her hand in the air. “Got your coins!”
They stopped in front of me, and she handed me a heavy gold coin.
I studied it, impressed by the age and importance of it. I looked up at her. “Are you sure the museum doesn’t mind?”
“They don’t make a habit of handing out artifacts, but considering that the original purpose of this coin was to be given to Charon to cross into Hades, they are making an exception.”
“And it will possibly save the world,” Maximus added.
Nix grinned. “That too. Both compelling reasons.”
“Well, then.” I looked at Maximus. “Ready to get dead?”
6
Because we were trying to save on transport charms, the friendly transport mage named Emily took us to Lerna, a region in Greece famous for its swamps.
As soon as we arrived, the scent of wet vegetation hit me. The moon shined brightly on Lake Alcyonian in front of us.
I looked at Emily. “Thanks.”
She smiled, her dark hair gleaming in the light. “No problem. Be safe.”
“You too.”
She disappeared back to the Protectorate, and I turned to Maximus, who was setting the bag on the ground, along with the small torpedo-shaped thing that was apparently an underwater scooter that would help us get to the bottom of the lake.
“One thing I should mention about this lake….” I said.
“The Hydra.”
“Yep.” This was where Heracles had come to fight the famous Lernaean Hydra. “But Heracles killed it. So hopefully there aren’t any more.”
Maximus studied the calm surface of the lake, his gaze intense. “It’s said that the lake is bottomless and that anyone who attempts to cross it will be sucked down.” He shrugged. “Good news for us, since that’s the direction we’re headed.”
I patted the underwater scooter. “Maybe we won’t even need this thing.”
“It’ll be useful.” Maximus picked it up like it weighed nothing, though it had to be at least fifty pounds. It was about four feet long, with a propeller on one end and handles for us to hang on to. “I like to control my own destiny.”
After years as a warrior slave, I couldn’t blame him.
I patted the coin that was shoved into my jeans’ pocket. Then I pulled the two vials from my other pocket and handed one to Maximus. “Ready?”
He nodded and took the vial, then uncorked it quickly. We both drank the potion. I shuddered at the taste of dust as magic sparked down my limbs.
Maximus’s skin began to turn pale. So pale that it became transparent, and he looked like a shadow of himself. I reached out, surprised when my hand didn’t drift right through his chest. Hedy had told me we wouldn’t be incorporeal, but damned if he didn’t look like a ghost.
“Do I look weird, too?” I asked.
“Like a ghost.”
“Perfect.” I held out my hand for the scuba equipment we’d brought.
Maximus bent to the bag at his feet and removed one of the small tanks that was hooked up to a shoulder harness with a clip at the front. I strapped it on so the tank sat on my back and the straps buckled in front of me. It was far more minimalist than the scuba equipment I’d seen on TV. I picked up the mouthpiece and took an experimental breath. The air was cold and metallic, but it did the job.
“Remember,” Maximus said. “Don’t hold your breath.”
“Or my lungs will explode. Yeah, yeah.”
“Not exactly, but close enough.”
“I didn’t realize you liked scuba diving.”
He shrugged. “For most of my life, I never dreamed a person would actually get into the ocean and submerge willingly. Almost no one could even swim back then.” He bent again and pulled a mask out of the bag, then handed it to me.
I put it on, feeling like a total nerd.
Maximus put on his equipment quickly and efficiently, seeming comfortable. “This kit is so small we’ll only have about fifteen minutes’ worth of air. A lot less if we end up very deep.”
I nodded.
“If your ears start to bother you from the pressure, squeeze your nose, then blow. It’ll help.”
“Got it.” Now I just wanted to get this over with. I waded into the water, shuddering at the cold. Even though it was a famous beach destination, Greece was chilly in the winter
.
Maximus followed, carrying the scooter. As soon as we were up to our chins, he stuck the thing into the water and turned it on. A light attached to the front flared to life, shining a bright beam through the dark water.
Oh, fates. This is insane.
I might be able to control water, but this felt crazy. I sucked in a deep breath, then grabbed onto the handles on the scooter and submerged my head. Maximus did the same, turning a switch so the scooter shot forward. It dragged us through the cold, dark water.
We descended quickly, the water rushing by us.
My heart pounded as we went deeper into the darkness. The white beam of light revealed nothing but endless black water.
Soon, my ears began to ache from the depth, and I reached up with one hand to equalize in the way Maximus had shown me. I nearly lost my grip on the torpedo, and Maximus grabbed me tight.
“Thanks,” I tried to say, but it just came out as bubbles.
I gripped the scooter with both hands and hung on tight, my skin cold and heart pounding. Deeper and deeper we went. The water seemed endless, a flooded tunnel right into the earth.
When something flashed in front of our scooter, I gasped. The light had illuminated six large eyes, but most of the detail had been obscured. Fear iced my blood.
Hydra.
I looked around, frantic, but the water was dark on all sides. I shook my hand, igniting the magic in my light stone ring. It flared to life, shedding a bit of light to my left.
The eyes flashed again, along with three snakelike heads.
“Hydra!” I screamed, but the words were only unintelligible bubbles through my mouthpiece.
Maximus saw, though, because he turned toward it.
The creature struck toward us, three massive heads shooting out of the darkness. I cringed away, barely avoiding the beast as Maximus swung back with one arm and punched one of the heads.
He hit the creature so hard that it plowed backward through the water, away from us.
Holy fates, Maximus was strong. Moving any body part underwater was slow and laborious. The water dragged so hard at all of my limbs. But not for Maximus. There was nothing he couldn’t do with his gladiator strength.
My heart pounded in my ears as I searched our surroundings, waiting for the beast to come back. As Maximus steered the scooter deeper and deeper into the lake, I drew my sword from the ether. I couldn’t behead the thing or it’d grow two heads in place of the one, but there were no rules against stabbing it.
Please let us be nearly there.
When the Hydra flashed in front of our light, I flinched, then tightened my grip on the scooter. It appeared again, to the left, barely illuminated in the glow of my light stone ring.
I raised my sword, the current dragging at my arm. Damn, this was hard.
The Hydra struck, and I didn’t flinch. Instead, I thrust out my sword straight toward it and nailed it in the neck. A plume of green blood burst from the Hydra as it jerked backward, darting away.
No way I was lucky enough to have driven it off with just one blow.
When the water in front of us turned an even murkier black in the light of the scooter, relief flooded me. We had to be close.
The Hydra darted toward us again, this time from the right. Maximus delivered a fierce punch to the creature’s left head right before the portal to Hades sucked us in.
The creature’s angry eyes were the last thing I saw before the ether dragged me toward hell.
When it spat me out on a grassy field, I yanked the mouthpiece away and gasped. I lay flat on my back, staring up at a starless sky. Next to me, Maximus was sprawled out.
He removed the mouthpiece and turned to me. “You okay?”
I yanked off my mask and nodded. “Fine.”
I was wet and cold and miserable.
Except, not totally miserable. Actually, it felt good to be here.
Oh, crap. Did I like hell?
I did not want to like hell.
I shook away the thought, and I drew in a breath, then commanded the water that soaked my clothes to evaporate. It took a moment, but finally, it worked. I was dry. Mostly.
I did the same for Maximus, and he grinned, pulling me close to press a kiss to his forehead. “Thanks.”
Despite the fact that he was still ghostly and so was I, I could feel the warmth of his kiss. I leaned into it briefly, but it was over in the blink of an eye.
“Anytime.” Quickly, I tugged off the scuba tank and inspected our surroundings. We were on a flat plain covered in scrubby black grass. It grew three feet tall, but we lay in a flattened patch.
“Let’s hide this equipment,” Maximus said.
I helped him stash the mask, tanks, and scooter in the grass, then stood and brushed off my hands. The night was silent around us, without even the sound of animals rustling in the brush. I’d grown used to hearing them when I was outside, and their absence was telling.
Nothing wanted to be here.
Maximus spun in a circle, inspecting our surroundings. “It all looks the same.”
It did, unfortunately. Nothing but endless fields, each view indistinguishable from the next. But I could make out the sound of water in the distance, just ahead of us. I could sense it, too, with the gift from Poseidon.
I pointed. “I hear the river that way.”
“Ready?”
I nodded and set off, pushing through the tall grass. It scraped at my hands, surprisingly sharp for something so slender and delicate. I raised my hands above the grass, avoiding the sting.
We neared the River Styx, and the air seemed to grow heavier. Darker. As if misery were a room fragrance and someone had gone nuts with the spray bottle. I breathed shallowly through my mouth, trying not to draw it too deeply into me.
When I spotted the river, I gasped. It was almost a hundred yards wide.
“It’s huge,” I murmured.
“Where’s the boatman?”
I turned to look up and down the river, but he was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t a bit of movement on the river, actually.
“I don’t think he gets a lot of business, these days. Not a lot of people believe in the Greek gods. At least, not as their primary form of religion.”
“If this is where they’d end up in the afterlife, I can’t say that I blame them.”
“No, it sucks.” I squinted down the river, spotting a lump along the shore. It looked like it was shaped roughly like a boat. “I see something down there.”
We hurried down the shore toward the lump. It was definitely a boat. Long and broad with an open cargo space. Like a huge wooden dingy, really. As we neared, it moved. A figure stood up.
“Charon,” I murmured. He must have been napping. Not what I expected from the infernal ferryman, but what did I know?
“Who goes there?” His voice rumbled like the fires of hell. He turned, his eyes glowing bright red from beneath his dark hood.
“We’ve…” Ah, what exactly? “Died.”
“We need to go to the other side,” Maximus said.
We approached to stand right in front of the boat, so close that I could smell the brimstone of Charon’s breath. It was impossible to see what he really looked like beneath the flowing black cloak, but his flaming eyes were enough of a hint that I probably didn’t want too much detail.
“It’s been over three hundred years since someone has arrived on these shores seeking passage.” His voice sounded rusty from disuse, and I wondered if he’d been sleeping since then.
I swallowed the jokes I wanted to make and dug into my pocket, then held out the coin in my palm. “We brought payment.”
Charon’s eyes traveled between the two of us. “Both of you?”
Maximus pulled out his coin. “Both.”
Charon continued to stare at us, gaze suspicious.
I resisted shifting on my feet. Instead, I tried to look miserable about being dead. Tension raised the hair on my arms as Charon kept staring.
Finally, h
e swept his arm to the side in a pseudo-welcoming gesture. “You may board.”
I sucked in a deep breath and boarded the ship of the dead. It rocked gently beneath my feet, and some of the hope in my body seemed to leak out through the soles of my feet. Though I wasn’t really dead and headed to a lifetime of damnation, my soul didn’t seem to know that.
In fairness, all souls probably hated crossing the Styx. It was probably why Charon was nothing but a shriveled husk with fiery eyes.
Charon held out his hand, and I was satisfied to note that I’d been right. Shriveled husk. Then I felt a bit bad for him. Poor guy.
“Well?” he snapped.
“Sorry.” I shoved the coin into his hand.
Maximus handed his over more gracefully.
“Sit down and stay quiet, miserable mortals.” Loathing coated his voice, and I felt a bit less bad for him.
Maximus and I sat at the back of the boat on one of the benches that lined the sides. Charon bent and picked up a long pole that had been sitting in the bottom of the vessel, then moved to the front. He stuck the pole in the water and began to punt us across the river.
I glanced at Maximus, whose face was drawn tight. I had a feeling mine looked the same.
All around, the river rushed quietly by us. It swirled, dark and deep, and I swore I could see figures in it. Souls?
I shivered and looked away. It felt like my chest was filling up with darkness as we made our way slowly across the river. The closer we got to the other side, the worse it felt.
An icy hand gripped my forearm, and I nearly shrieked. I bit it back and glanced down, heart in my throat.
A skeletal, ghostly hand had reached up from the water and grabbed me. I reached for it, trying to pry it off, and leaned over the side of the boat to look into the black eyes of one of the damned. The figure stared up at me, hatred and evil glowing in its coal dark eyes.
Oh, this was definitely one of the damned. And he’d been damned for good reason.
“You are filled with darkness.” Charon cackled “They like you.”