was.”
I bite my lip, trying to piece this out. “Then I can’t talk to him?”
“Why would you want to?” Shayne asks.
I push the lump in my throat back down. “To tell him I’m sorry.”
Shayne shakes his head. “It’s not your fault.”
But I know it is. Even if Shayne wants to deny it, I cursed Randy to this place as surely as if I’ve killed him myself. And somehow I’ll make it up to him. “Does the Helm only work here?” I ask.
“It works anywhere. The sea. The Earth. The Underworld.” He links his fingers with mine. “And trust me— there are monsters everywhere.”
We ride in silence. The only sound is the snapping of the monsters’ jaws. They bump against the boat, some hidden below the thick red of the river and some jumping until I fear they may join us in the boat. But none do. Overhead, the sky is as lifeless as the world around me. There’s no sun to speak of. No light, but also no darkness. Only that in between gray of a lifeless world.
I lean against Shayne, feeling the muscles of his arm holding me. I try not to focus on the death around me, but my mind can’t help the comparisons that keep forming.
“Do you think Earth is going to die?” I ask.
He brushes his cheek against my hair. “From the Global Heating Crisis? Yeah. I do.” There’s not a bit of doubt in his voice.
“What about the other gods? What do they think?”
Shayne looks out across the red water. “They’re divided. They have been for years. Some of the members of the assembly fight to do everything in their power to restore the world to how it was. And others…they think the crisis is a good thing. They think change on any kind of massive scale is needed to keep humanity moving forward. They relish the struggles for power, and they enjoy choosing sides.”
“Like Ares,” I say.
“Yeah, like Ares.”
I turn so I can see him better, but he’s not looking at me. “So which side are you on?”
Shayne lets out a low chuckle. “Neither, which is the root of my problems with the assembly.”
“Why neither?” Because if I had to guess, I’d have been sure that Shayne wants to restore Earth to how it had been before the Global Heating Crisis ever started.
“Because I have enough problems of my own, Piper. The Underworld keeps me plenty busy. I don’t need two worlds to take care of.”
I’m not sure this is valid reasoning, but I don’t argue. Who am I to tell Shayne he should do more? But maybe he can read my mind.
“You think I’m horrible,” he says.
“No. Not horrible. Just…” I struggle to come up with the right word.
“Obsessed?” he suggests.
“Dedicated,” I say. “You’re dedicated to the Underworld.”
“Someone has to be,” he says.
I look back across the water, and soon I see the opposite shore, and Asphodel there beyond it. We’re almost to the dock, and the souls wait for us. As we pull up to the dock, empty stares surround us. One grabs the rope Shayne throws, tying it to a wooden pier. Another clears the path in front of us.
Shayne walks like he is Lord of the Underworld. He holds his head high, and he doesn’t look anyone in the face. I make the mistake of doing so and am met with eyes which seem to penetrate right through me without seeing me. But then one face in the crowd catches my eye, and I gasp when her eyes meet mine.
“Chloe!”
Shayne turns to face me. “What?”
I point into the mass of faces, but she’s gone. “Chloe. She was right over there.”
Shayne looks, craning his neck over the crowds, searching. “Chloe isn’t here, Piper.”
I realize I haven’t taken a breath since I saw her, so I inhale. “I saw her. She looked right at me.”
He shakes his head. “You couldn’t have, Piper. Chloe is back above. Alive. You know that.”
I do know that. But it had looked so much like her. And there had been recognition in those eyes. It had been Chloe. “She knew who I was.”
Shayne takes my hand. “She couldn’t have. Even if it were Chloe, people here don’t have memories, remember?”
“But she looked right at me.”
Shayne narrows his eyes and searches the crowd again. I see the same thing he does. An ocean of empty faces. Thousands of them, pressed in on each other. None of them familiar. And none of them meeting my eyes. I must have been wrong. Chloe is still alive. Back on Earth and waiting for me. And then I catch the scent.
“He’s here,” I say.
Shayne’s face turns away from mine and back to the crowd. He’s smelled it to. Reese’s aroma hangs in the air like thick, dry acid. I hold my ground, promising myself I will not show my emotions. I will keep Reese out of my mind. And then I spot Randy Conner’s face looking back at me.
“There.” I point to Randy Conner, but when Shayne turns to look, Randy disappears. And the scent shifts to the right. My head snaps over, and again I see Chloe. But instead of casual recognition, her face is painted with malice. Cold. Hatred. She despises me with those eyes. She blames me for her death. A death which never came. A death I helped prevent. But her face is steel. And her look is poison. It’s a look I never want to see on Chloe’s face.
Shayne must see it to. “Stay here.”
And before I can protest, he’s off, putting the Helm of Darkness onto his head; he vanishes in front of my eyes. As I watch him disappear, Chloe’s mouth turns into a sneer, and she laughs. And then she’s gone also. But the scent remains. Reese’s scent.
I’m alone then, in the middle of a growing crowd of empty ghosts pressing in from all sides. I steady my nerves which threaten to send me running for the clay river. But thoughts of the monsters halt me. I can do this. I can wait for Shayne who should be back any moment. I can keep my thoughts from Chloe who is safe back above ground and from Reese who is looking for a tunnel into my mind.
Reese’s smell surrounds me and pushes its way into my nose, but it’s only teasing me. I shift my feet as if firm footing will steel my resolve. The scent plays with me, coming from all angles, and I squeeze my eyes and hold my breath to keep it out.
“Piper.”
The voice is a whisper. But there is no doubt whose voice it is.
“I want you.”
Reese sounds like a melody, but I stay in place, not breathing. Not opening my eyes to see if he is really there.
“Don’t fight me.”
I want to grow my feet into the ground. I want to close my nostrils and live without air. But instead I inhale, trying to get as much of it as I can.
“I can give you everything.”
Could Reese give me everything? Does he want me? I don’t want to fight him. I want to stop fighting. But I exhale and then stop my breath, seeing how long I can last. Will I die here in the Underworld if I don’t breathe? Is it possible to die in the place of the dead?
I’m pretty sure I’m about to find out. I keep my mouth closed and plug my nose. And just when my lungs vow to retaliate if I don’t suck in air, Reese’s voice fades along with his scent; it disappears into the air above me. And only then do I inhale once again.
All at once, Shayne is at my side. He pulls off the Helm of Darkness and appears next to me.
“Reese was here.” I’m gasping at this point from holding my breath, but Reese’s smell is a drug.
“It’s not possible.” His face twists in frustration. “The Underworld may be weakening, but nobody should be able to penetrate it. Not even Ares.” He attaches the Helm of Darkness back to his belt and takes my hand. “He’s gone now.”
“But he was here.”
