The Underworld had a way of getting rather chilly at night.

Of course, night wasn't something that truly existed; it was always dark here. Persephone had enchanted the caverns to emulate something resembling daylight during regular busy hours, which really was akin to twilight on the Surface, and it'd be pitch black during resting hours. Since more people passed during the Surface' nighttime, that was our daytime.

The Shade clung to me, using my cloak as a blanket as she shivered. I didn't figure the Shades felt the cold, but there seemed to be something…different about this one. Perhaps it was her time on the riverbank on the Acheron.

"What is your name?" I decided to ask, because, though I preferred the silence, it was uncomfortable here.

She looked up at me. She had rather kind eyes in a muted, gentle brown. "Maya," she said.

"Maya," I repeated, cursing myself for caring about a Shade's name. On one hand, it felt as though I were doing my part, being a caring mother of the Afterlife, but on the other hand, I didn't see what good knowing her would do.

After one dunk in Lethe, she'd forget I ever existed.

"You said you were called Vanth once," Maya continued. "Are you called something else now?"

"Yes. Souidas. I still hear Vanth every once in a while, though."

"Souidas." She mulled it over her tongue like a delicacy. "You're very kind, Souidas."

I flinched. This wasn't going well. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…Charon was so cruel. He took my child, and threw him to the River."

"A sacrifice," I said.

"A really messed up sacrifice. But you! You took my pain away. Mostly," she added as an afterthought.

"It'll all be gone soon," I told her, because it would.

She tightened her grip on me, as though she were frightened of something. I looked up to see the milky-white waters of the Lethe, her voices already whispering to me.

"Well, here we are," I said, trying to let go of her.

She buried her face in my neck. I wondered if it was uncomfortable, being bent over like that with a smaller psychopomp, but I didn't ask.

"Go on."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

She stifled a sob. "If I went into Lethe, would I forget you, too?"

"Yes. But it's for the best."

She whirled out of my cloak, and I sunk back to the flat of my feet finally. "You're the only person who's cared for me since my death. Do you know what happened to my body?"

"No," I said, because I didn't.

"Because it was a suicide, they left me to rot, throwing me out the window like a bad omen! I had no payment, no place to go, and I have no idea how long I wandered those shores. My baby…he was all I had, but I had to move on. You've shown me so much kindness."

"I've barely done anything," I said. My voice sounded tight, almost small.

Her hand grazed my cheek. Her touch was icy. "You've done everything. And I'm not setting foot there."

I sighed. "Then that is your choice."

She sat at the same bench I stayed at every morning. Compared to the white and grey creating her Shade-form, her hair was midnight, spilling down her back in wild curls. "I'd rather remember terrible things, too, if it means I can have a little good."

"I'm not good," I reminded her. "I'm a harbinger of death. I'm the last thing many people see before they pass. I'm an omen." These were all things Hades told me, and I believed, but I didn't add that in.

"All you've shown me is possibilities. Perhaps the Afterlife won't be so bad."

"Perhaps not." I shifted from foot to foot. "You know…I'm really not supposed to personally escort Shades anywhere. I do my duty, and the Shades are to do whatever they choose until they re-enter the reincarnation cycle."

"That's right," said a low voice from behind us.

I turned to whirl face-first into a man's chest. I recognized the thin frame and quiet voice from anywhere.

Hades.

I had forgotten all about his nighttime walks.

I bowed. "My Lord," I said, because it was what I was supposed to do.

"Get up, idiot."

I got up and winced.

"What are you doing here with a mortal?"

I may have been an idiot, but I was no liar, so I told him everything, about the girl showing up at my home, taking what I could to ease her pain, and leading her here. I even added her refusal.

He was silent. Hades was often silent, but it was intimidating. His cold, black eyes analyzed me, and I felt as though he was seeing through my skin.

"You know you can't become attached."

I bowed my head. "Yes, Lord Hades."

"Yet here you are."

"I am not attached. I just have a conscience. I can't let her suffer. Besides, she asked me to."

"People die, Souidas. All the dead suffer. What would happen if we showed this sort of treatment to every single mortal? They would ask for more, and more, and more, and there would never be enough of us to provide for everyone. I know how you feel. I…was like you, once."

"What, kind? Warmhearted? Beautiful?" Maya asked.

I gave her a warning glance. "You should speak to the Lord of the Dead with respect," I reminded her, in case she didn't know who he was.

She stood and crossed her arms. "She did me a great favor. I dare say, she's the best you have."

He smirked and looked at me. "Your little dead friend here has a lot of nerve."

I sighed. "She really does."

He paced for a moment, thinking, tapping his chin as he did so.

"I'll do anything to repay her for what she's done," Maya added.

He raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"

"Yes. Anything to continue to support and praise Lady Vanth."

A faint smile played on his lips. "So you were aware of her existence before you got here if you knew that name."

"Yes. I used to…" She frowned. "That's odd. I don't remember what I did."

"Naturally, you won't remember much of your life now. This is the gifts psychopomps like Souidas here grant, as they eat your life force. Memories are often entangled in the forces that tether you to the mortal coil. Not all memories, of course. But the gaps may become unnerving, and to fully be reborn, you must forget it all. That is what my friend Lethe is here for."

"Then I won't be reborn."

He hummed. "I think she fancies you, Souidas."

My face flushed. "She does not! She had a child. She had—"

"I fancy whoever I so please," Maya interrupted. "What of it? Who wouldn't fancy her?"

Hades sighed. "I will make you a deal. Persephone is in need of assistance in her gardens. Would you be willing to help her?"

"Of course." She bowed.

"I think she'd enjoy you. You're rather…feisty, after all, and that's a quality she enjoys in her mortal companions, few and far between as they are."

"But Persephone isn't Souidas."

"But you could visit Souidas if I grant you this."

Her eyes lit up. "You would?"

"Of course. But you cannot tell the fellow dead of my offer. Everyone will be begging to be Persephone's waitstaff. There just isn't enough room."

"Then I accept. It's not like I'm familiar with the dead here."

"I'll give you time to try it out. If the lingering memories become too much, then you may bathe in Lethe and be reborn. But you have a week to decide."

"Why are you offering her this?" I asked Hades. "This…isn't like you."

His smile widened. "Because it'll be interesting, don't you think? She's a unique one, and she has a drive. And you know how Persephone likes her maids to have a bit of fire to them."

That was true, so I nodded.

"And it's about time you found yourself a lover."

I groaned. "I barely know her."

"We have all the time in the world," Maya said.

It wasn't that I was particularly against the notion, but relationships and romance weren't something that connected well with me. I loved fooling around with women, of course, but I'd never been able to connect with someone on that level. I wasn't sure if Maya would be the one for that.

"We'll…talk about it."

"So it's a yes?"

"I mean that I'd like to get to know you, Maya. I have a lot going on right now, and I should rest for tomorrow."

"Oh, you volunteered?"

"Volunteered for what?" Maya piped up.

I ignored her. "I did."

"Then you have much to prepare for. I'll bring her to the palace, and you get some sleep."

I nodded. "Thank you for your forgiveness, Lord Hades."

He waved me off. "Go to sleep."

I left them behind, pondering the taste of her soul on my lips.


I was awoken far too early the next day by Hermes, who thought it was a brilliant idea to climb through my window and stand on my bed, shouting, "The Queen of the Heavens awaits you!"

Some people, like Hermes, had the instinct to run or fly away when startled. Others, like Hades, had the tendency to do absolutely nothing and look stunned. I was neither type and promptly stood and punched the messenger god in the face.

Golden blood streamed out of his nose as he laughed, fluttering backwards by his sandals.

"I told you," said a voice from the main room, "not to wake her up!"

Hermes shook off the injury, still cackling. "It was worth it, Diandra! You should've seen the look on her face!"

I groaned and went back to bed, pulling the blankets over my head.

"Now, now, Sou," Hermes chided me, yanking the blanket off, "we need to go. Now."

"Why now? Can't she wait?"

"She's…the Queen, Souidas," Diandra said from the threshold. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "She heard Persephone was sending people to talk to her, so she demanded we come now, before her husband wakes up."

"Since the women she's hiding and Zeus are, y'know…" Hermes didn't finish his sentence. He just thrust his hips.

I groaned, then wadded up my blanket and threw it at Hermes to get him out of the room. "Let me at least try to look presentable."

"I'll help!" Diandra volunteered. She walked fully in then, wearing a flowing black dress. Her hair was pinned and tied up with dangling gold chains attached to the black cloth, obsidian hanging at the ends of the chains. With the kohl lining her dark eyes and her high cheekbones, she looked dangerous. I hoped that it was a look Hera would appreciate and not smite on spot.

"Fine, fine, I'll wait out here." Hermes shuffled out of the room, still giggling to himself.

After the door was shut, I stood, and Diandra analyzed me. "Probably should put your hair up."

I held out a strand. It was waist-length and straight, unlike Diandra's unruly curls. "Why?"

"It's customary. Women wear their hair up on the Surface."

I dug into the trunk at the foot of my bed, pulling out a simple black peplos and putting it on. "Why?"

"It's hot up there. Also, modesty."

"I don't know how to do my hair."

She motioned for me to sit on the trunk. "You're lucky I brought extra hair stuff."

I let her brush and oil it.

"What's with the short hair up here?" she asked, stroking the fringe on my forehead.

I shrugged. "Keeps the hair out of my eyes. And I don't like my forehead."

She tisked and continued her work. I felt her tie up my hair in some sort of knot at the back of my head, then the weight and jingling of a similar chain pattern as hers. "Don't worry, it's silver."

I nodded. I wasn't a fan of gold.

She put a hand to my chin and turned my face to her. "You need to at least wear nice rings," she said, motioning at my face and the endless holes I insisted on poking in it. She had them, too; they weren't rare in the Underworld. In fact, she wore a golden ring with shiny black and blue gems between her nostrils now.

I nodded, then stood, digging my jewelry box out of my trunk. I picked a few shinier silver pieces, not the ones that were stained with blood or souls that I normally wore. "We should leave, if it's so dire."

"It is. I really don't want to make her angry."

Hermes was sitting in the main room, eyeing the endless scrolls shoved haphazardly in the shelves. When his eyes landed on the Codex, I grabbed his hand.

"Let's go."