over eternity and children that are reunited with their parents once they pass on. And even though he answers my questions endlessly, what I really can’t understand is the judging criteria. What makes one person better than the next?
“What if someone is kind of good? What then?” I ask.
Maybe I ask too loudly because Shayne pulls away from his most recent group of adorers and comes back to my side. “They get judged,” he says. “Just like everyone else.”
I press him. “Who judges?” I glance to Rhadam, but he has his lips pressed together like he doesn’t want to be part of this conversation.
Shayne stops walking and turns me to him. “I judge.”
“Everyone?”
He nods. “Every single soul that comes across the River Acheron gets judged.”
Rhadam clears his throat. “How about I catch up with you two later?” And before either of us can answer, he simply vanishes. It’s hardly the strangest thing that’s happened today.
“Isn’t that kind of a big job?” I ask once Rhadam’s gone. I’ve never heard the exact numbers, but I know tens of thousands of people die each day. And that number’s only increasing each day the Global Heating Crisis continues. I can only imagine how world disasters affect the death toll.
Shayne’s eyes get a faraway look, and they aren’t meeting mine anymore. “I’ve had help. But it’s still a big job.”
“And an even bigger responsibility,” I say. After all, trying to decide who gets paradise and who gets stuck with eternal torment could probably keep someone up at night.
“Don’t you ever get a feeling about people?” he asks.
“Like what?”
“You know. Like you can look into their soul and see what they’ve done wrong.”
I grab his wrist. “All the time. I swear. My mom tells me I’m imagining things, but I just have this way of knowing who’s to blame.” It’s the reason I want to go to law school once I get out of college. Whether it’s bullies at school or criminals on the tube, I get so sick of seeing people get off with no punishment. I think of the black fungus on Councilman Rendon. For some reason, I’m not only able to sense guilt. Now I can see it.
He nods, and I realize if anyone can ever understand, it’s Shayne.
“That’s how it is for me, too,” he says and motions out across the world. “But it’s just on a bigger scale here. And judgments last forever.”
We reach the dock, and Charlotte runs back up to greet us. She’s every bit of her eleven-year-old giddy self. She grabs both our hands and pulls us. “Come on. They’re just about to judge the contest.”
We let her pull us, and then we run after her as she moves through the people. I worry about running into someone, but it’s like a path has been cleared just for us. People have even stopped flocking around Shayne. And then we head up a dune and down the other side to the contest.
There are about fifteen sand sculptures scattered around the beach. The first I see is a giant head resting on its side with a crown of leaves around it. Its eyes are closed like it’s sleeping, and hanging above it is a giant hand pressing it downward. My face heats up when I see the next sculpture. A man and a woman are in a moment of complete ecstasy. The woman sits on top of the man with her mouth wide open, and birds flying out of it. I glance sideways at Shayne who looks over and reaches for my hand. I let him take it, and he gives it a squeeze. I squeeze it back and finally look away from the figures. Charlotte leads us through all the sculptures, and we stop at each one until we finally reach the smallest. My heart almost stops when I see it. It’s a perfect replica of the box Melina had given me on my birthday. The lid is wide open, and there’s a phoenix flying out. The sun sits just above the head of the phoenix such that the rays of light and the feathers of the bird become one.
“Do you like it, Piper?” Charlotte asks.
I nod. I can’t pull my eyes from it.
“I made it just for you,” she says.
“For me?” How could she have known I would be here?
Shayne smiles at Charlotte. “It’s definitely the best.”
And as if everyone in the contest can hear him, they all start cheering. I take this to mean Charlotte’s won the contest, and I’m not about to disagree. All the sculptures are amazing, but hers rises right to the top.
Charlotte grabs our hands again. “There’s the most wonderful view up from the hills. You have to come see it.”
“Of course,” Shayne says, and the excitement in his voice seems almost childlike. Like given his choice, he’d spend all his days on hills in the Elysian Fields rather than ruling over the Underworld. His eyes light up, and sunshine bounces inside them, mixing with the red flecks, making them glow. They seem to pour out love. But not just love for me. Love for the people around him. Joy from the Elysian Fields.
It’s everywhere, and I can’t help but let it touch me, too. From the beach to the trees to the clouds in the sky. And when we reach the top of the hill Charlotte’s taken us to, I look up and let out a gasp. The Underworld is a rainbow of unadulterated color.
Trees and bushes grow on rolling hills, and flowers of every size and color fill the spaces in between. Meadows of them—purples and yellows and even my favorite reds. Set underneath the tree tops are tree houses and hobbit holes and stone cottages. It’s a world of nature and beauty, and it reminds me of what I imagine our own Earth looked like before it got paved over.
Charlotte heads back to the beach, but Shayne and I stay, watching the clouds while lying on a blanket of daffodils.
“Do you like paradise?” he asks.
I laugh at the incredulity of the question. “It’s paradise.”
“Chloe would be happy here.”
“What if I say no?” There’s not really a
“Then Chloe will live.”
It’s the answer I want. “And then when she dies much later on, she’ll come here?” I think of Chloe and me here together enjoying paradise. Forever.
Shayne’s words shake me from my thoughts. “She’ll have to be judged again, Piper. She’ll live her life tempting Fate, and when her time comes again, I’ll have to make that decision.”
“But of course she’d come here.” I can’t see that it’s really a question.
“Near death can change people,” Shayne says. “Not even I know what will happen if you choose to let Chloe live.”
I fall into a half sleep there on the grass, thinking about Chloe and death, but I’m woken by the sound of voices. I pretend to still be asleep, but I crack open one eye so I can see. Rhadam’s come back, and he and Shayne are sitting across from each other, talking.
“I’m not trying to tell you your business,” Rhadam says. “But you have a serious problem.”
“Like what?” Shayne asks, and suddenly I’m wide awake, though I try not to move.
Rhadam’s eyes flicker over to me then back at Shayne. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Shayne nod. He doesn’t know I’m listening.
“I talked to Minos yesterday,” Rhadam says. “I borrowed help from him to move the house. And he mentioned he had a visitor.” His words are staid, and I know it’s because I’m just a couple feet away that he doesn’t want to speak freely.
Shayne’s whole body stiffens. “What kind of visitor?”
Rhadam leans in close. “Okay, he started drinking, and you know how Minos is when he drinks.”
“Everyone in the Underworld knows how Minos is when he’s drunk,” Shayne says.
“Right. So, he started bragging. Saying he knew how to return memories and get souls back across the river.”
“He’s lying,” Shayne says.
Rhadam puts up his hand to silence Shayne.
“Maybe. But then he told me he’d been talking to Ares. That Ares found a way to get through the boundaries of the Underworld. He said Ares knew everything.”
Shayne’s fingers dig into the ground. “That’s impossible.”
