Chapter 6

Because we were tryingto 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, he 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."

I shifted, not liking the sound of that.

"Well, I don't like them." I grabbed the hand and yanked, but it held firm. Anger and fear burst in my chest like bubbles full of black tar.

Maximus reached over and grabbed the hand, prying it off with his gladiator strength. He flung the creature back into the water. It splashed, hissing angrily.

"Thanks." I looked into the water, my heart thudding. I didn't want to attract these damned monsters. There was darkness inside me, but I didn't want it. Didn't like it. It wasn't me.

And I didn't want to feel so comfortable in this place. I was afraid of the souls, but not of this place, which was weird. Weird and horrible.

The water rippled, and anxiety crept along my back. When the creature lunged out of the water, reaching for me, I bit back another scream and dodged away. It was too fast, though, grasping for my arm. Maximus grabbed it, prying it off, but before he'd even flung it away, another grabbed for me. And another.

Two came out of the water simultaneously, reaching for my arms.

Panic flared, bringing cold fear with it.

"No!" The word exploded out of me, and I called upon all the goodness within my heart. Anything that was light and kind, I dragged it to the surface, imagining that it was a bright white light.

The creatures of the damned fell back from me, their eyes flashing with hatred. They slipped into the water.

"Good." I turned back to find Charon staring at me, red gaze assessing.

Damn.

I shrank into myself, trying to look non-threatening. Normal.

"I wonder what the judges will think of you," he mused.

Frankly, I didn't care. The Greek gods had given me their powers, but I wasn't interested in their judgement of me. I'd read a lot of the myths, and frankly, I wasn't impressed with them. Between all the trickery and cruelty and misogyny, a lot of the gods were jerks.

It was my job to be the Greek Dragon God—to use their magic to make the world a better place. But I didn't care what they thought of me.

The rest of the journey continued in silence. I couldn't help but glance anxiously at the water as we crossed. Several times, I met the hateful gaze of one of the damned, floating just below the surface, but they only stared. Maximus sat at my side, ready to defend me. But more importantly, I was ready to defend myself. Those bastards didn't stand a chance.

By the time we reached the other side, I was vibrating with tension.

The boat drifted to a stop alongside the bank, and Charon gestured with his arm. "Get out."

I climbed out of the boat, swallowing a sarcastic thank you, and looked at Maximus.

He nodded, and we headed away from the boat. I could feel Charon's burning gaze on my back, and I hoped the rest of the denizens of Hades weren't as suspicious of us.

We climbed the river bank quickly. As soon as we reached the top, I spotted the gates of hell. They were made of massive pieces of black wrought iron that twisted and turned, rising high toward the black sky. Had to be the work of Hephaestus. A massive black mound lay before them.

Then it moved.

I blinked.

Slowly, a huge creature rose to its feet. It had inky black fur and four huge paws. Three heads.

Cerberus.

The three-headed dog turned to us, blinking six yellow eyes. Three mouths fell open, revealing fangs as long as my legs. A growl rose in the beast's chest.

I swallowed hard and stepped closer to Maximus.

"We must approach," he said.

I nodded, continuing forward on shaky legs. I liked animals. All of them, even the mean ones. I didn't love it if they were mean to me. But in general, I thought they were fine. They were just doing their animal jobs, being murderous crocodiles and the like.

Except it was Cerberus's job to inspect us.

So that made this a bit more complicated.

We walked toward the dog. With every step, I shook harder, unable to keep my eyes away from the monster's many sharp teeth. It had breath like dead bodies and claws that could tear open my ribs with one flick.

"Nice doggie," I murmured.

Cerberus looked at me like I was an idiot.

I probably was.

He leaned low to sniff us, warm air puffing out of his three nostrils. My heart thundered and my skin chilled.

He stopped, holding dead still. A growl rose in his chest, louder and fiercer than the one before. He sniffed again.

Growled again.

Oh, fates.

Cerberus could smell that we were still living, and he knew that something was definitely wrong.