Thanatos

by Carmen Kern

  By the time the others loaded Thanatos in the back and settled in the van, there was no sign of the djinn.

  Artemis and Apollo sat near the back, in plush swivel seats.

  Bob cupped his hands against the darkened glass between them and the driver, cutting the outside glare as he strained to see into the front. “He’d make a terrible taxi driver. I mean, at least show your face, man,” Bob shouted and sat back in his seat. Beside him, Kay Te smiled with rose-pink lips and patted his knee.

  Hecate sat on the other side of Bob, staring out the side window. Luther sat behind her, his red scarf and dark eyes reflected in the glass.

  “Dead man,” she said quietly, looking at Luther’s reflection in the window. “Stop staring at me.”

  “I’m not staring. I’m trying to figure out which one of you smells like the Stygian Marsh.” He leaned forward, his hand snaking between the seat and the window to brush her long-knotted hair from the back of her neck. He sniffed along the length of her neck. “Looks like I have a winner.” He thumped back into his seat.

  She smirked at his reflection, too tired to do anything else.

  Persephone and Hades took the seats next to Luther in the middle of the van.

  The van pulled out into a street that would have been bumper-to-bumper vehicles and lined with masses of pedestrians scurrying like ants on the sidewalks just a few months earlier, but now it seemed almost deserted.

  They sat in silence, eyes gazing out the windows as the streets of Vancouver rolled by and deadless bumped into each other behind fences and transport trucks roared by with their cargo of nonperishable foods and water, and only a few, a pitiful few, walked with coffees or briefcases, their heads down and feet quick. This was not the city any of them remembered from a few months ago.

  Persephone threaded her arm through Hades’s and rested her head on his shoulder. He smelled of smoke and ash. He smelled of home.

  “Home,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

  THIRTY

  The limo pulled into the loading zone in front of the City Center Station. Hephaestus stepped out of the high-rise shadows and made his way to the curb to meet them. Eyes blazing, he opened the sliding door. Leaning down to get his wide shoulders inside the van, he scanned the interior, his eyes pausing on Bob and moving to the back, toward the bound death god.

  “Glad to see all of you,” he said. His gaze snapped back to Hades. “I see you got my present.”

  “Pers made sure I got the cuffs.” Hades scooted to the edge of his seat. “You haven’t lost your touch; I don’t care what the rumors say.” Hades grinned through his grubbiness and thrust out his hand to Hephaestus.

  Clasping the outstretched hand, Hephaestus said, “Ha. I’m just coming into my prime.” The fire god pulled Hades out of the limo. They stood facing each other. “Zeus and the others are waiting. They’ve just received a ruling from the judges.”

  “Is Hermes here?” Hades moved aside.

  Apollo and Artemis climbed out behind him. The others unloaded through the opposite door.

  Hephaestus nodded. “He just got back from visiting the judges. Hand-delivered their verdict to the others.”

  “Good. It never hurts to have another voice of reason in the crowd.” A nasty grin formed as he took out his cigarette and took a drag. “Do you think they’re open to a ruling from the god of the Underworld?”

  “I think I want to be there when you find out.” Hephaestus smacked Hades on his shoulder. “Now, how can I help?”

  “Help me drag Thanatos out of the back. I’ll give you a thousand extra points if you accidentally drop him.”

  The god of fire laughed, his eyes burning brighter at the thought. “Give me two shakes…” Heph walked over to Bob and picked him up in a stifling hug. “You don’t even smell singed, son.”

  Bob’s arms were pinned between them. He dangled like a well-loved doll. “If you don’t ease up, I might combust,” he croaked.

  Hephaestus set him down gently but kept one hand on his son’s shoulder.

  “I didn’t burn anything I wasn’t supposed to.” Bob grinned, holding out his hands. “I’d call that progress.”

  “I don’t suppose you have one of those hugs for me?” Persephone came up behind father and son.

  Hephaestus reached out, pulled her into his barrel chest, and squeezed. “You did it. I knew you would.”

  “As much as I like to take the credit for these kinds of heroics, it took all of us to pull this off,” Persephone said. “Seems like everyone here has saved each other in one way or another.”

  Hades called out from the back of the limo. “Heph, we could use a hand.”

  “Duty calls.” Hephaestus released Persephone and went to help Hades.

  The rest of the group stood in a small circle by the entrance to the train station. Kay Te and Bob talked in hushed tones off to the side.

  Hades wheeled Thanatos across the sidewalk.

  The god of death stared blankly, his eyes locked on a faraway point in front of him. The barbell in his lip twitched.

  “Um, we’ve been talking.” Bob stood beside Kay Te. “I think we’ll wait up here. It could be a little crowded down there…”

  Hades parked the cart and casually leaned on the handle. “I don’t blame you.”

  “I’ve been to one family meeting,” Bob said. “That’s enough for me.”

  Hades scratched at his wild beard and shot Bob a look of understanding. “Bob. Kay Te. Thanks for coming to get me. Seems I’m saying thanks more than I ever have…”

  Persephone walked across the small circle and gave each of them a quick embrace. “I ditto his thanks.” She backed up. “I’ll see you in spring, if not before. If you need us, you know where we are.”

  Apollo’s phone buzzed. “Zeus texted.” He held it up and said, “Need I say more?”

  Artemis hooked her arm through Persephone’s. “Seems as though I just met you at these doors, oh bringer of spring.” They strolled ahead of the rest of them, talking, finding their rhythm as Apollo jogged up beside them.

  Hades saluted Bob and Kay Te, jerked the cart backward, and wheeled Thanatos down the ramp. Luther waited for Hades at the bottom.

  “We shouldn’t be long,” Hephaestus said to Bob. “Your mom is making dinner tonight, and I’m bringing the wine. As soon as we’re done, I’ll take you home…both of you.” He winked at Kay Te, who blushed to the roots of her pink hair.

  Hecate strolled slowly ahead, waiting for Hephaestus to catch up.

  They walked down long corridor, past the few commuters that still traveled downtown, and the lone RCMP officer stationed at the top of the escalators. None of them were believers. None of them saw the gods.

  There was an urgency to be done with Thanatos, but also, something else. The station had changed. Not the structure, but the absence of noise and movement. There was an unsure silence, one that cast out a feeble feeling of change, one that could break at any moment because there was no normal.

  They all felt it as they slowed their strides. The gods in front lagged until the others, one by one, caught up to them. This strange silence bound them together, not as a strange flock of beings who had spent much of their existence fighting, ignoring, or trying to be rid of one another, but as survivors of all that the Fates had thrown at them.

  When they made the final descent to the subway platform, they went down together. Half of them ruffled and grimy and smelling of sewers, and the others hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and worry.

  Hera sat neatly on a bench by herself, suited up in wool and leather and fake fur to appease her most influential clients. She took a final puff on a solid gold e-cigarette and placed it in a bowling bag purse made from recycled chip bags. Snatching up the handles of her bag, she stood and walked over to stand next to Zeus.

  It was hard to tell if the thunder god was pleased or angry. He stood still as a statue. Arms crossed over his wide chest, his navy su
it jacket pulling at the shoulder seams.

  Nyx, her clothes dark as night and fitted snugly to her form but for the flared pants, stood beside Hermes, who smiled brilliantly at the gods walking toward them.

  “You used to know how to throw a celebration party, brother,” Hades’s voice boomed across the platform. “I’m a little underwhelmed with your welcome.” Still several yards away from Zeus, Hades propped up the furniture cart and Thanatos along with it. “I brought you a present. You could at least have brought wine.”

  “Funny, I said the same thing,” Poseidon called out as he walked out from the dark mouth of the train tunnel, his strides graceful and fluid as he balanced along a single track.

  “What are you doing down there?” Hades asked. He shook his head with amusement and flared up his cigarette.

  “I thought I’d take a walk. I was bored of the company here, to say the least.” Poseidon ate up the distance between them within the blink of an eye. His silvery-gray form misted in and out of form until he was solid and only a few yards away from Hades on the platform.

  “So, there he is. The elusive god of death.” Poseidon turned around to face Nyx. “How proud you must be.”

  “Don’t presume to tell me how I feel.” Her bottomless eyes bore into his. “His actions are independent of me, as are most of your children’s deeds. Don’t cast the first stone, Poseidon. No one here has been able to keep a tight rein on their children,” she said, her voice ancient and tinged with anger. “I’ve already pledged my loyalty to Zeus and to whatever judgment is decided.”

  “We’re all ready to hear his judgment.” Hades clamped his lips around his cigarette and wheeled Thanatos into the center of the space and left him to face Zeus and his mother on his own. “What do you say, oh mighty Zeus?”

  The rest of the gods and Luther unconsciously formed a circle around the death god.

  Zeus was the last to move. He grew larger, expanding to his god size, the details of his checkered sports jacket and matching pants becoming clearer, and at the same time, he strutted forward like the thunder god of ancient Greece, naked to the waist and layered with muscle, his mighty thunder bolt extended and raised in his powerful hand. “Do not mock me, brother.” Zeus boomed. “There’s much to discuss. There’s a mess of a world to clean up because of Thanatos, god of death.”

  “No one here is questioning your authority, Zeus,” Poseidon said, trident in hand but not extended. He glanced at Hades. “We jest, as brothers do. Don’t waste your powers on this show. We’ll need it in the coming days.”

  Hades grinned and draped his arm over Persephone’s shoulders. “In case you need an interpretation, he’s telling you to lighten up a bit. We know you speak for all the gods and for the judges. But I’m tired, I’m beat up, and I want to go home with my wife and everyone else who calls the Underworld home. So, what is your judgment for the god of death?”

  All the gods now wore brilliant but subdued versions of their former selves. And if anyone other than Luther had been there to witness the scene, they would have seen two forms for each of the mythical beings, one more believable than the other. It had been decades since they’d shown themselves this way.

  Zeus throttled back his power, diminishing to match the others. His stormy eyes studied each of them, as if trying to read their thoughts, their intent. With a satisfied grunt, the thunder god said, “We cannot solve all the problems Thanatos has brought us, but there is one glaring issue: the undead. There is no way to handle the influx of dead, either in our world or yours, Hades. Charon doesn’t have large enough vessels to transport them all in a timely manner, not to mention the backlog in the Underworld courts of the judges.”

  “You’re going to take charge of Thanatos’s reapers, then?” Hades asked.

  “Yes. It is decided that there will be a death lottery. The reapers will take five hundred thousand lives per day until we are caught up to the current average. The judges of the Underworld have declared it.”

  “I’ll see a lot more of you, uncle.” Hermes glanced at Hades and tossed the end of his colorful scarf over his shoulder. “I’m to help pick up some of the slack.”

  “Is that supposed to be a silver lining?” Hades asked, grinning.

  “What happens to Thanatos?” Nyx asked, staring at her son. All his bronzed glory had faded, his magnificent wings torn and hidden behind him.

  “He is to be thrown into Tartarus. Into the deepest of its abyss and furthest away from your skies, Nyx. There is no light in this place, only darkness and hot, rancid air. Thanatos will abide at the end of the earth. Unbreakable chains, forged from the iron of the Underworld and shaped by the hammer of Hephaestus, will bind his neck, wrists, and ankles, burning his skin for endless days until the god Hades chooses to remember him once more.” Zeus’s words swelled and grew and filled the tunnel like a mighty wind.

  Hades and Persephone exchanged surprised glances. There was a rustling of unease from some of the gods.

  Zeus continued. “This is the punishment of the judges and is agreed upon by the absent Olympians. The rest of you may speak for yourselves.”

  “Aye,” said Hera, the first to proclaim her vote.

  Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hephaestus, and Poseidon voiced their agreeable vote, one after the other.

  The world paused as a train pulled into the station and emptied its bowels onto the platform. A handful of humans scuttled out of the cars and up the ramp, with barely a word or a look at anything else other than their shoes.

  Nyx sauntered up to her son and circled his body. Black mist followed her like a wedding veil. And when she opened her mouth, stars shone out from behind her teeth. “I am primordial, not Olympian,” she said. “But if I were to vote”—she leaned close to Thanatos’s ear—“I would say aye.” The one word of affirmation was the softest of whispers.

  “I”—Hades turned to Persephone—“we, have no official say here, but as the rulers of the Underworld, we have one request.”

  Hera rolled her eyes. “I knew it. I told—”

  “Silence!” Zeus’s voice stopped her. His thunder bolt brightened as if in warning, but he gestured for Hades to continue.

  “Thanatos has hidden certain information about his world, about the people in his world. Without it, they won’t be free of his dictatorship. I’d like the liberty to extract that information as I see fit.”

  “You mean you want license to torture him.” Poseidon leered. “Excellent.”

  “What are these people to you?” Zeus asked.

  “They helped me capture Thanatos. And they deserve better than what they got.” Hades spared a hateful glance at Thanatos.

  “They want the right to govern themselves,” Persephone added.

  Nyx narrowed her eyes. “I know what your idea of torture looks and sounds like, Hades. The moans and cries of the dead greet me every night as I pass through the skies. My son is to be imprisoned in the deepest pits of Tartarus. That is punishment enough.”

  “Be still,” Zeus commanded, and moved past Hera to stand before Nyx. “The judges have given their verdict and we have cast our votes. But I will still hear what my brother has to say,” he said to her, more gently than he would anyone else.

  Nyx, a head shorter than Zeus, looked up at him, her eyes dark and dangerous. “As Hades said, the rulers of the Underworld have no official say.” She spat out the words like chewed glass.

  Hades had seen the fear Zeus held for Nyx, even when they were younger gods, stronger gods. She, if any of them, could sway his brother.

  “Thanatos broke the bond of his godhood, refusing his destined purpose,” Hades started in. “He killed immortals without a thought. We lost friends and lovers because of him.” Hades paused. “The Overworld, the Underworld, and Necromourn are burning. Maybe not literally, but they will shrivel and die if we don’t do all we can to reverse his treacheries. Is there a punishment too great for his heinous acts?”

  The tunnel, th
e platform was silent again. Water dripped somewhere down the line.

  Poseidon licked his lips and then said, “For a guy who hates the politics of the gods—your words, not mine—you sure have a lot to say when you finally speak up.”

  Hades chuckled. “If you play your cards right, you won’t have to hear my voice for another millennium.”

  Zeus spun around on his leather-soled heels to face Hades. After a pause, he said, “Your request is granted.” He continued to stare at his brother. “Hermes, get a message to the judges. The god and queen of the Underworld are on their way with the prisoner. Make sure they are met at the gates.” With that, he walked away from Hades and the rest of them, moving through their circle toward the exit ramp. “The rest of you will hear from me in the next few days,” he called over his shoulder. “Keep your phones charged.”

  Hera followed in Zeus’s wake, hips swaying like a swing in a gentle breeze.

  The rest of them barely noticed that Nyx had disappeared in a blur of shadow and mist.

  Hermes appeared at Hades’s side. “I’ll see you down there. I’m buying the first round.” He nudged his arm and raced off in a blur of color.

  Poseidon walked up to Hephaestus. “You want a ride home?” His shark teeth glinted silver under the fire god’s blazing eyes.

  “Are you driving the Bentley?” he asked.

  “Do you want a ride or not?” Poseidon walked away without saying a word to anyone else.

  “I’ve got the kids waiting for me,” Hephaestus called out.

  “Whose kids?” Poseidon asked, still walking away.

  Persephone watched Poseidon walk away and said to Hephaestus, “I’m not sure you want to get into that conversation with him, but I’d take the ride. That’s a hell of a nice car.”

  “I better go before he changes his mind.” Hephaestus grinned. “I’ll see you soon. Some of you sooner.” He nodded to Artemis and Apollo.

  “Heph, thanks.” Hades nodded at the fire god.

  “I’m running a tab,” he said, lumbering away to catch up to Poseidon.