My name is Nicoletta Hayden, and I am seventeen years old; at least, I am for the next seven hours. Today is my birthday, not that it matters much to me. From what I have seen on TV and read in books, my eighteenth birthday is supposed to be some big deal. I'm supposed to hang out with all my friends and do crazy, stupid things. I am supposed to go to a club or something. Yet, instead I am stuck here, in the place between the Elysian Fields and Tartarus. Don't get me wrong, I do like it here. I mean, I have friends in the Elysian Fields who will never die, so I never have to worry about losing them. And I get to hang out in the Elysian Fields whenever I want. There are also so many books in my house, and they go back hundreds of years. It's just that I have heard so much about the world of the living from people in Tartarus and the Elysian Fields alike, and there are so many things that they talk about that I wish I could see for myself, that I wish I could experience myself.

For example, pizza seems to be a very interesting food. Everyone seems to really like it. And apparently you can have all sorts of toppings like pineapple or mushrooms. You can even get it with small, salty fish. Though, I don't really understand why anyone would want to have pineapple and fish together. Anyway, I'd still really like to try it. All I ever seem to have here is pasta and sometimes we have steak or something. My mom isn't a very good cook. At least, that is, she doesn't know how to cook very many things. And there are just so many things that I'd like to try.

Which is why for my eighteenth birthday, I plan on asking my mother and father if I can go up to the world of the living. I mean, it isn't like I'm dead. Both my parents are; my father is the death deity of the Underworld for the island we live on as well as areas within about a twenty mile radius. My mother was alive when they first met, and when she got pregnant with me. But, after she had me, she died so she could stay young with my father in the Underworld.

There story is a romantic one, but it is not a sickly sweet one or anything, but kind of dark, as only the best love stories are; like Romeo and Juliet. Though, I do think that Romeo and Juliet killing themselves was a bit of an overreaction.

Anyway, I'm a little nervous about asking. I asked once before when I was sixteen and they just got really quiet and after ten minutes my dad finally said no, and not to ask again. But, I so want to go up there. I mean, there hasn't been an incident with the Furies in over fifteen years. I'm sure they've given up and moved on to some other death deity by now.

I hear them coming up the stairs now, I'm not going to ask until after dinner. When they ask what it is I want for my birthday. This is something that has become a habit since the Christmas fiasco that occurred about three years ago when my father got me a Barbie. I was relatively horrified that he still saw me as so young to play with dolls. Now, they ask what I want; which certainly ruins the surprise but, in general, has been an improvement as I now get gifts that I actually want.

What I want more than anything is to be free of this place. I talked to my only friend in Tartarus the other day about the living world. I like how she describes it. She doesn't describe it like my parents, as a twisted and dangerous place, or like my friends in the Elysian Fields, as a place of amazing beauty. Bailey is very neutral in her view of the world, so she describes the good and the bad.

Bailey is a close friend of mine, though I really wish that meant I could help her. She was sent to Tartarus. It makes sense in a black-and-white sense, but if you look at all the details and take in other things besides the bare facts, she doesn't belong there.

The bare facts are these: she killed a man and she meant to do it. The circumstances: he was her little sister's high school teacher and he got her sister pregnant. Her little sister was so happy; she had thought he would be overwhelmed with joy as well. However, his being married and her not yet being of legal age made him less that joyful. So he dismissed her, threw her to the side and treated her like dirt. Her little sister was so heartbroken, she killed herself. That is why Bailey killed him. The courts of the living world found her innocent, but I guess Rhadymanthus and his brother didn't see it the same way.

She is so different from the others in Tartarus, it almost seems cruel. There is a line between Tartarus and the Elysian Fields and it seems that the slightest of things could tip the scale either way, there is no neutral, and there is no middle ground. You are either innocent or guilty.

Anyway, her stories have given my pursuit fire. She has re-inspired me to try asking again.

They're here. They're sitting at the dinner table. Father is grumbling about some trouble that was caused when a couple died together, but were then separated. She went to the Elysian Fields, he did not. After dinner was over, which was quite an odd ritual since I am the only one that actually eats; I started mustering up the courage to ask.

I opened my mouth to speak. Silence. Well, that is not going to do me any good. I try again, this time a small sound escapes my lips.

Again, "Father? Mother? Before you ask what I want for my birthday, I wanted to remind you that you say that I can have whatever it is I ask for."

Father shifted uncomfortably. He could tell that I was going to ask for something he wasn't going to like. I could see it in his eyes, he probably thinks I'm going to ask for Bailey to be moved to the Elysian Fields, but I know that is impossible, partially because she doesn't want that. She feels that it is her punishment for the crime, the punishment she didn't get in the world of the living. However, I also know that he can't do that. He is in charge of making sure people get to where they are assigned to go, but he is not actually involved in the judging itself.

"What is it?" My father asked cringing slightly.

"I want to go to the world of the living." I muttered, I said it quietly, but I knew it would still be loud enough for him to hear. From the expression on his face, I could tell he had heard me. He opened his mouth to speak and I knew what was coming.

And yet I was still not expecting is reaction to be so excessive. I mean, you'd think I asked for something totally impossible when he stood up with a start and almost knocked the table over as he did.

"No!" He shouted; his fists clenching and face scrunching to a very angry expression.

"But why?" I asked sounding more like a whiny child than I had hoped, but it was too late to change my tone, the words had escaped my lips.

"Because I said so!" He shouted as he turned and started to stomp away.

"But Dad-"

"And don't ever ask again!" He called out as he disappeared down the stairs. Meanwhile, my mom just sat there at the table staring down at the gold lined place setting in front of her. She reached out a hand and touched the gold lining with her teeth clenched, as if she was trying her hardest to distance herself from what was happening. I looked at her. I tried to catch her eye, but she didn't look up.

So, I did what any frustrated teenager would do, I stormed out of the dining room and into my room. I slammed the door shut and locked it, put my hands over my ears and screamed as loud as I could. It was a long, blood-curdling scream so full of frustration and anger that it was a wonder that the mirrors in my room didn't crack. I collapsed onto the floor, as I heard one of the men father assigned to be my bodyguard running down the hall to my room. I heard him slamming into the door. I heard him asking if I was alright, but his voice faded into the distance as I stared at the bottom of my dresser and the carpet's edge.

He managed to break down the door. He picked me up and checked to see if I was breathing. When he saw that I was, he put me on my bed and left to tell my father I was alright, or not alright. I don't know for sure what he was going to say, because as soon as he left, I knew what I was going to do.

It hit me like an old forgotten memory reawakened in the strangest way. And as soon as he was gone, I jumped out of bed. I ran to the door and pushed my dresser in front of it. I turned my CD player on as loud as I could, grabbed my bag and threw some clothes and miscellaneous other things inside it. Then, I went to my window and climbed out. There are walls around my house here, but they are easy to climb.

As soon as I was over I was on my way to Tartarus.

It may seem silly, as the easiest way to go into the world of the living is a door in my house, but father keeps the door locked tight. So, I am going to have to go another way.

And the only person who knows how to get there besides my father, who definitely isn't going to tell me, is a very creepy, very evil little girl in Tartarus.

And when I say evil, I mean it in the 'she died at seven and there is no doubt she belonged in Tartarus' kind of way. When she was alive, she killed her parents and her baby brother. She says she did it because she was bored, but if that is true or she was angry at her parents for giving her younger sibling more attention than her, I have no idea, but setting her house on fire and taking a poor, innocent baby and throwing it in the pool, that is just insanity.

I talked to her once and only once when I was visiting Bailey in Tartarus. I asked her why she was there, because I thought perhaps she was visiting her mother or father, which sometimes little children who have died with their parents are allowed to do. And she told me about what she did like she was explaining what she had for breakfast, with no remorse or feelings of any kind. I have never felt so sick to my stomach as when this girl who looks no more harmful than a porcelain doll explained in great detail the horrible crimes she committed. Still, she is the only person who ever left Tartarus as something other than a Fury. No one is really sure how she did it without being stopped or seen, but she did. However, as she is dead, she was only a ghost when she got to the world of the living. She could not touch anything or talk to anyone; she couldn't even leave the hollow ground of the graveyard. So, she grew bored and went back to Tartarus. She seems to like Tartarus, and no one messes with her. In fact, some of the creepiest sinners in Tartarus are in awe of her and give her a wide berth.

She is not an easy person to find in Tartarus, though. If you don't find her in the first few moments of being Tartarus it may be days before you find her. So, I really hope she will be easy to find.

As soon as I get in Tartarus, I see Collette, the little sociopath herself. She is playing with some insects that are scurrying in fear as she surrounds them with fire. I can't help but feel a shutter run down my spine.

I feel my legs shake as I start walking over to her. Other than being just plain creepy, Collette gives off this vibe, or aura, that just makes you feel uneasy. It makes you feel like one of the small little creatures she torments.

But, if I ever wanted to go to the world of the living, my only chance lies with her.

I step forward and tap on her shoulder, "Collette?" She turns to face me her sickly sweet smile spread across her face.

"Yes?" She asked in her high child-like voice.

"I need your help. I'm trying to go to the world of the living. I want to know….how did you get out?" I asked lowering my voice as if I was telling her some secret, even though there was no one around. I heard a small laugh escape her mouth as her eyes turned up at me.

I had no idea what was going to happen next.