15. Pinocchio

CHAPTER 15

PINOCCHIO

I crest the corner and see the machine Midas had put out a call on. He'd called it "strange" and "unprecedented". I have to say I agree once I get a good look at it. I've never seen something like it before. I want to keep looking at it, would love to study it, but my attention is drawn to Midas and a fiery woman storming up to him. I tense, ready to intervene in case the woman is powerful, but she only pokes Midas in the chest and starts scolding him like a child.

My brows raise. Apparently, she has a death wish. No one has such brazen disrespect for the Gods of Under here. Midas seems amused at least, rather than angry, so I hang back, inspecting the machine from afar.

Until the sound of a large burst of air sucks the moisture from around me. A second later, a merge opens up right beside the woman. Before I can so much as shout a warning, both the woman and Midas are dragged inside. The merge collapses, leaving everyone standing around the machine, including the two matching friends of the woman, slack-jawed and confused. Her two friends immediately start to panic, one screaming in horror, the other younger one trying to calm him down.

But that's not what I'm worried about. The woman disappearing isn't an issue.

The god in charge of intake missing is very much a fucking issue.

I hold my breath, hoping they simply reappear, but I know that's not how merges work. They're relatively new here, and I've been studying them since a few people have found their way in and out after Jill, but we still don't know anything about them. I have no idea where to start to even track down the god.

And we're gonna have to track him down.

On que, an alarm starts to sound, notifying us of more people arriving in Under, more people that Midas would normally handle the intake for. As if the demons and people surrounding the machine suddenly understand, chaos explodes. Another alarm sounds, and another, and another, merges opening and dumping people into the Underworld at a speed I don't even think Midas could manage. Souls begin backing up, spilling into the River Styx but bunching up at the entrance as too many appear at once.

I stare in horror as the demons nearest me suddenly decide now is as good pf time as any to overthrow Hades and immediately start attacking people.

"Fuck my life," I snarl. "I can never catch a break apparently."

I grab the nearest person by their shirt and drag them closer. "Go get Hades. Now," I snarl.

And let's hope this shit is only temporary. Because otherwise, Under is in some real trouble.

Without waiting to see the person run to Hades, I grab one of the demons screaming about freedom and snap his neck. The others scatter, afraid.

Good. They should be afraid. They should all be very fucking afraid.