Page 38 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

“How is it you can come inside the cemetery?” Mae asked. “And you were able to make portals in The Estate?”

“Anywhere the river flows, Styx can go,” Styx said, laughing. “It’s not nearly as much fun when you can’t take people with you. As an example, you might notice Morel is not here. No, it’s not because I don’t want my beloved here. Most certainly not. He is unable to move between New Attica and the rest of the world because the demigods have decided it should be a certain way and beings should be segregated and unable to communicate.”

“I don’t think they ever said you couldn’t communicate,” I said. “I had a Fae pen-pal in school, and I heard now it’s getting much more progressive. They’re even having the Fae and the demigods go to school together at the Crown Academy. There is progress being made but it can’t be made when a demigod and a Dark Fae run rabid in southern Oregon. Before you kill a whole bunch of humans and destroy a demigod portal, you might want to slow your roll.”

The whole time we were talking I noticed in my peripheral vision the gathering of zombies was growing larger. I guess zombies were living a little more deeply inside the cemetery than we had realized. Now we saw in horror rows upon rows of zombies surrounding us. My blood ran cold, and my breath caught in my throat.

“We are never going to make it out of this,” muttered Chloe.

“Not with an attitude like that,” Kartika said, holding the sword raised above her as the zombies swayed behind us.

“The good news is I don’t need you to be a zombie,” Styx said. “In fact, it actually goes completely against the spell, so you won’t be made into zombies today. What we do need, however, is a sacrifice.”

I looked at her. “You’ve got to be shitting me. Are you telling me six of our ancestors all decided it was okay to sacrifice their descendants?”

I felt like the world was falling out from under me. He hadn’t only left me here. The Dagda had made sure I had stayed. He’d set up the pub, set up money, insurance. He set everything up so I would stay, and I would be here when the sacrifice happened.

“Don’t take it personally,” Styx said. “He didn’t have a choice. It was his only way to leave. He showed up for Geraldine’s party but fell head over heels for Esmeralda.”

“The dark fairy, my ancestor,” Kartika nodded.

“So, his only way of getting out was to agree to leave something behind.”

“How did he know when to come back to leave me behind?” I asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“He’s a god. Time doesn’t make sense. They are here, then there, then they’re in a different place. For whatever reason, at his determination, he showed up here forty some odd years ago and made you. His sacrifice.” Styx’s lips ended in a thin line.

Up until now I’d been paying every bit of attention to Styx and trying to watch her demeanor. I was hoping to see a slip in her composure that would allow us the opportunity to get us out of this situation. There was literally no way to get past the packed zombies behind us.

I looked behind Styx to the lion’s statue. At the base of the lion stood a tablet with words etched on it in a language I couldn’t understand.

“Thank you for the key,” Styx said. “Now we have the means to unlock the well house beneath the guardian lion.”

“The lion’s dead,” Chloe said.

“Nothing is dead, and all shall live again,” Styx said. “This is the beauty of the River Styx. It is why these foul blockages must be opened.”

“Nobody’s arguing they need to be opened,” Mae nodded as if to soothe the riled demigod. “We are trying to find solutions to clear the river.”

“I will show you exactly how we’re going to clear this river,” Styx said.

I didn’t like the sound of that.

Styx clearly didn’t care. She was positively gleeful. “We are going to make good the pact your ancestors each made with The Hayes.”

“Don’t think we agreed to this,” Jane murmured, inching closer to Styx.

Styx turned toward the tablet, which stretched taller than her. In her hand she held the egg. Through the magic of the coven, it had transformed into the shape of a key, just as my mother had predicted. Styx inserted it into a hole in the stone tablet I hadn’t even noticed before. Without a sound the tablet swung open revealing a downward stairwell.

Styx turned and looked at the six of us. “You can either stand here with the zombies or you can come with me down to the river. Which do you prefer?” she asked.

Chapter 28

I knew we didn’t have much choice. We couldn’t exactly face the zombie hordes, and all make it out alive. The choice to go with Styx wasn’t much better. The fact she needed all six of us was the one chance we had to thwart her. If a few of us tried to make a break for it, there was a better chance one of us would get away.

I glanced to the side and made eye contact with Mae.

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