Page 84 of Love and Death
We continue in strained silence, fear wrapping its icy tendrils around my heart as the water’s gurgling voice swells in my ears. Making our way down a set of stairs, the catacomb walls begin to grow slick and bead with moisture, as does my skin with worry.
The hellhound stops and moves to one side, allowing me to come up beside him. Small waves lap at the stairsjust below, and I hold up my flickering torch to look down a long, sloping hallway of dark, shimmering water.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can. We are nearly there.”
“How deep does it get?” I ask, every fiber of my being dreading the moment I choose to enter it.
“Knee-deep at first, and then it should rise to about your waist. Perhaps a little higher, if there was an influx today.”
“An influx? Of what?”
“The dead.”
I shudder just as a droplet from the ceiling hits the back of my neck, racing an icy trail down my spine.
“There must be another way.”
“No, the other tunnels have long since collapsed. This is the only way. I would not bring you here if I thought I had another choice.”
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“Because it is not. The Styx is an angry, devouring beast, long mistreated by the Underworld. It would swallow us whole, if it could,” Cerberus says, his voice low but steady. “But in here, it can do little more than taunt us. Trust me, Hazel.”
“Okay.”
“Hold on to my shirt, and keep the torch high.”
With that, we step down into the dark waters of the Styx.
25
HAZEL
The obols do not work here, at least, as far as I can tell.
My boots are first to fill with the frigid water, squelching as they weigh my steps down, dragging against me, until the water rises above them and then to my knees. I’m already shivering, little icy droplets peppering me from above.
“I am sorry I cannot carry you,” Cerberus says, glancing back when my teeth begin to chatter. “It will not be long now.”
I only nod in answer, the cold making it too hard to talk as it splinters up my bones. My toes have already gone numb, and I can’t feel my fingers, despite holding onto Cerberus’ shirt for dear life.
Still, the water climbs higher, past my knees and halfway up my thighs to snap frozen lightning at my inner thighs with each rippling movement. There’s a current now that I hadn’t noticed before, pulling at me,dragging at me, and I find each step harder and harder to take.
My torch flickers over the water, small hisses of protest escaping it with each droplet from above. Ahead of me, Cerberus grunts as he readjusts his hold on Death, and I almost lose my hold on the torch as the floor slopes suddenly and drives water up to my waist.
“Cerberus,” I gasp in fear and shock.
“Keep going! We are almost there,” he says, although his repeated encouragement has started to lose its effect. “Just around the next corner and—”
Something bumps against my calf.
“Cerberus,” I say with a startled scream, my grip on his shirt tightening even as I nearly lose my footing.
“What is it?” he asks, turning to look at me.
“I don’t think we’re alone in here,” I whisper.
