Page 48 of A Single Thread Of Hope

Wiping her hands on her dress, she came back to us. “Poor souls. I always feel bad, but they can’t leave the Styx. It upsets the balance if there’s no one there to take their place, and there’s no way I’m losing my first fresh souls to the Styx. I’d never live it down.” Straightening, she flicked her skirts around her knees. “I guess I’m a two-for-one guide then. Welcome to the afterlife. What’s your name?”

“Wren. This is Cydon.”

“Wren, that’s a lovely name. It’s nice to meet you both. Come, it’s a long walk to Annwn. Not a hard walk, but time is odd down here, and it can feel like a lifetime to get anywhere.” She stepped past us, like we were good puppies meant to follow, but I guess no one had told her that I didn’t go blindly anywhere with anyone. When she realized we weren’t following, she turned and frowned. I kind of felt bad; if I’d been alone, I probably would have followed her across the Underworld itself. But I wasn’t alone.

Cy gave her a chagrined smile. “Sorry, Fea. But I have a stop we need to make first. Some old friends that I need to answer afew questions.” He pointed to a speck in the distance across the water, and I squinted to try and bring the tiny dot into focus.

“You know the Ferryman?” Fea whispered, partly in trepidation and partly in awe.

Cy snorted. “I once saw him get so drunk that he puked into the river and tried to make out with Cerberus. So I guess you could say, yeah, we’re acquainted.”

The dot got closer and closer until I realized it was indeed a barge on the river of dead people. There was a guy on it, and he was jacked. I mean, his shoulders were easily as wide as Milo’s, but he was super tall too. He looked like a giant. His body was covered in a large robe, a deep hood hiding his face, with long sleeves covering everything but the tips of his fingers.

When the barge made contact with the shore, it gave an otherworldly thud that seemed to echo around the place. Lifting a hand, he flipped back his hood, revealing a pretty attractive guy with a rugged face. “Cy? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Hey, Charon. Can we get a ride? I need to see the big guy.”

The Ferryman looked between us, frowning at me. “Uh, sure. You two are Mythics, but she’s a mortal soul. If she wants to ride the barge, she’ll need to pay.” He gazed at me sympathetically. “It’s just how the magic works. Sorry. Do you have payment?”

I blinked. Should I have died with my purse in my pocket? Did the Ferryman have Venmo? Was I going to be stuck on the side of the River Styx, just because I didn’t carry cash anymore?

Squeezing my hand, Cy leaned close. “Check your pockets.”

My dress did indeed have pockets. And in a pocket were two coins. “How’d you know?”

Shaking his head sadly, he curled my fist around the coins. “Because no matter how devastated they would be, they wouldn’t send you into the afterlife without the proper rituals to honor you, including giving you coins to pay your passage.”

What was left of my heart shattered to dust.

Chapter 26

DEMKE

You didn’t summon the God of the Underworld lightly, and I’d basically had him on speed dial over the past six months. But for Wren, I’d march into the Underworld itself and snatch her back.

He came once again when I called, and while I was grateful, I was also surprised. I met him in my garden, on a spot where two hawthorn trees met, their branches tangling together. If it went badly, this was where we would bury her.

Hades walked in the shade cast by the branches, though the sun was now setting and barely reaching over the walls of the compound. We stood silently, and I took a few calming, deep breaths.

Finally, I turned and looked at him. His face was impassive, but I knew that he knew. There was nothing that happened in the Underworld that escaped his notice.

“She’s dead.” The words echoed around the courtyard like a mournful lament.

“I’m sorry, my friend.” And his tone suggested he really was sorry, not just paying lip service.

“I want her back.”

He was shaking his head before I’d even finished. “I told you before, Asclepius doesn’t resurrect anyone anymore, not even people he respects. I won’t lose one of mine to bring back one of yours.”

Shuddering out a breath that was perilously close to a sob, I nodded. “I understand. But let me go down and get her myself. I can navigate the Underworld. I can get her out.” I turned to him, imploring him to understand my pain, my need. “You just have to let me pass.”

He was still shaking his head. “We both know it’s not that easy, and there’s a reason for that. Few beings, Gods or otherwise, have entered the Underworld voluntarily, and even fewer have brought back a mortal soul. There’s always a damn trap, and I wish there was a way I could spew her back up to the surface for you without a cost, buteverythinghas a cost in the Underworld. You knowthis, Demke.”

It was a hard truth. There were many tales about people going to the Underworld, for glory or for loved ones, and rarely did they ever bring anyone back. But someone had to be the first, and I was determined that I would be that person.

“Tell me how.” He might be old and powerful, but so was I.

He sighed, like I was a frustrating child. “Demke…”

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