Chapter 19

 

Charon left the seers’ pit and flew to the main region of Tartarus, where the Furies were busy inflicting punishment on three of their charges.

“What do you want?” Alecto demanded as her snake hissed from around her neck.

“Don’t be rude,” Meg warned her sister. Then, stroking the feathers on her falcon, she turned to Charon. “But really, what do you want?”

“I’m looking for someone,” he said.

“Could you be more specific?” Tisiphone said from where she stood with her whip. Her wolf howled as she brought the whip down on the back of a tethered soul.

“I don’t know her name,” Charon admitted.

“Good luck with that.” Alecto turned to the soul she had strapped to a table and continued her work.

To Meg, Charon said, “She killed her newborn baby.”

“We have a lot of those,” Meg said. “Do you know anything more?”

“She’s from a village in Greece. She wore a polka-dotted scarf on her head.”

Since the apparitions of souls took the form of their most recent living appearance, there was a chance the detail of the scarf would make a difference.

“Anything else?” Meg asked.

“Her child is still in Erebus. I’m told she longs for it.”

“That’s true of most of them,” Meg said. “I’m afraid you’ll have to search for yourself.”

Charon followed the Fury past the tools of torment to the back of Tartarus, toward the Hydra’s sinkhole, where thousands of forlorn souls sat, paced, or stood as they endured their boredom and suffering.

He walked among them, asking if any had been attacked by Zeus within the last year. He cut himself and fed hoards of them but found no answers.

Meanwhile, Matilda’s prayers to him had grown less hopeful and were once again tinged with despair: Are we not meant to be? Are the Fates against us?

She performed tarot readings almost daily and shared what they foretold: You’ll have to make a very difficult decision in the coming days.

Like he didn’t already know that, he thought bitterly.

Once, she alarmed him by praying: Sometimes I wonder if this is all in my head. Am I overstressed with work and school? Maybe I’m delusional in thinking that I’ve met a god and fallen in love with him. Maybe you don’t even exist.

Every day, at mid-day, he took a break from his rounds to search the miles and miles that stretched across the region of Tartarus. He wouldn’t give up, no matter how badly the odds were stacked against him.

One day in February, he spotted a small and frail-looking thing with short black hair and blue eyes. She paced among others, but what made her stand out to Charon was the polka-dotted scarf tied around her waist.

“Have you seen my baby girl?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he said, answering truthfully, for he saw every soul that entered Hades, even if he couldn’t remember them all.

Meg noticed him, and she flew over to ask what he was doing.

“Looking for answers,” he said.

Charon took his dagger and slit through the palm of his hand and offered it to the soul.

The soul of the dead lapped up his blood eagerly before he pulled it away.

“Who was the father of your baby?” Charon asked.

“No one ever believes me when I say.”

“Tell me. I’ll believe you.”

“Zeus. My baby’s father was Zeus.”

Meg shot him a look of surprise. “What are you up to?”

“Don’t be rude,” he said with a smile. “This is no concern of yours.”

Meg pouted and left with a huff.

Charon asked the soul of the dead for her name, for the name of her village, and for the date of her child’s birth. Then he gave her more of his blood as he plotted his next move.

* * *

At the spring equinox, after Persephone and Hecate had left for Mount Olympus, Charon summoned Hermes to his chambers.

Hermes appeared in the doorway and found himself unable to enter. Charon had forgotten that the wards carved by Hecate excluded everyone, including the swift messenger god of Zeus.

“Forgive me, Hermes,” Charon said as he scratched away the wards. “Come inside, please, and have a seat.”

“I don’t have time to stay.”

“That’s just as well,” Charon said. “Would you please tell you father that I have what he’s been asking for?”

Charon didn’t feel guilty for the deception, because he spoke the truth. Zeus was going to get what he was asking for, in a manner of speaking.

Hermes grinned and clapped his hands. “Great news. He’ll be in a good mood after I tell him.”

“One more thing,” Charon said. “I need to arrange a meeting with him. He’ll know why.”

“I’ll return with a date and time, and I’ll send the chariot, to boot.”

Charon shook his head. “Your father will need to meet me here, in secret.”

“In your chambers?”

“That wouldn’t be wise,” Charon said. “The seers’ pit, I think. I’ll arrange for it. Tell him to come tonight, before the full moon begins to wane.”

“Will do,” Hermes said before he disappeared.

A few moments later, Hermes reappeared. “For some reason, my father suspects a trap.”

“Tell him I swear on the river Styx that I do not intend to trap him,” Charon reassured him.

Hermes quickly disappeared.

A moment later, he returned. “Zeus will meet you in the seers’ pit at midnight, Greek time.”

Charon smiled. “Very well. Thank you, Hermes.”

When the messenger god left, Charon flew to the field of asphodel, to seek out Matilda in her dreams. He wouldn’t risk revealing his plan, where Hypnos might overhear. But he wanted to reassure her that he wasn’t a figment. He needed her to know that she hadn’t imagined him. He doubted her dream was the place to convince her, but until he had another option, he would do what he could to make her believe in him again.

* * *

Just before midnight, Charon waited for Zeus in the seers’ pit, where even Tiresias was not to be found. As the ferryman waited, he suddenly felt foolish for not asking for help from Thanatos, or Hades, or one of the Furies. Even Hecate might have been summoned from Mount Olympus to aid him. It would have been wise to have brought an ally. What if Zeus, after hearing what Charon had to say, swallowed the ferryman whole—or, worse, struck him down with a lightning bolt and threw him into the Titan Pit?

Zeus was late, and Charon began to fear he wasn’t coming. Perhaps it was best. The ferryman would have a chance to bring a friend at the next meeting.

As Charon was about to fly away, the king of the Olympians appeared and said, “Do you have the helm?”

“I’d like a word, my lord.” Charon struggled to keep the fear from his voice.

“I don’t have time for this. Do you have the helm or not?”

“I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say. It concerns a girl you raped about a year ago. Her name was Agatha Galanos.”

“What is the meaning of this impertinence?” Zeus demanded as his face grew red with rage.

“I want to offer you a deal.”

“How dare you? I don’t need to hear this from the likes of you.” Zeus disappeared.

“I’ll tell Hera!” Charon shouted. “You broke your oath!”

Zeus returned, his face so red that Charon thought the king would explode. “You broke your oath. You told Hermes this wasn’t a trap.”

“It isn’t, my lord. You’re free to come and go.”

“And what’s to prevent me from smiting you down in your boots and paralyzing you for all eternity?”

Charon told himself to remain calm. He clasped his hands, to keep them from trembling. “Hades knows you tried to use me for the helm. What will he do without his ferryman? And who would take my place? Hermes?” Charon forced a laugh. “Hades will blame you. Do you want to start a war?”

“Maybe I’ll take my chances,” Zeus growled.

“If I disappear, I have a friend who’ll tell your secret.” Charon was thinking of Meg. The Fury had overheard Charon’s conversation with Agatha Galanos.

Zeus flew close to Charon and glared at him, his face inches from the ferryman’s face. “What do you want from me?”

Charon took a deep breath. “I want you to turn Matilda Whitmore into one of us. Make her immortal.”

The king of the Olympians flew across the room and pounded his fist on Charon’s table, cracking it in half. “Am I to understand that not only are you not giving me the helm, but you’re attempting to coerce me into making someone immortal?”

“That’s the gist of it, my lord.” Charon stifled a smile that threatened to spread across his trembling lips. “If you don’t want everyone to know you broke your oath to Hera and threatened me to get the helm.”

“This is extortion!”

“Indeed, it is.”

Zeus groaned. “I need time to think. I’ll leave you now.”

“So you can further plot against me?” Charon said. “I don’t think so, my lord. If you leave this pit without swearing an oath to me on the River Styx, I’ll tell your secrets. I promise you that.”

Zeus grabbed the goblet of ambrosia he’d once given to Charon and flung it across the room.

Charon tried another approach. “I know you love Hera, my lord, despite your transgressions. And she loves you.”

Zeus narrowed his eyes at the ferryman. “What are you getting at?”

“I want to have love in my life, too, don’t you see? Make Matilda a goddess, and our problems are solved.”

“Your problems, perhaps, but not mine.”

Charon sighed. Maybe this wasn’t going to work after all.

Zeus sat down in one of Charon’s chairs by the broken table. “If I do this for you, there will be consequences. First and foremost, it will set a precedence. How many other gods who fall in love with mortals will want the same? New gods will upset our delicate balance.”

A chill snaked down Charon’s spine. Upset the delicate balance? Those were the words of Tiresias.

Feeling desperate now that his plan was doomed to fail, Charon said, “No one needs to know.”

Zeus cocked a brow and leaned forward. “What do you have in mind?”

“Matilda wants to practice medicine and help children with cancer,” Charon began. “There’s no need for her to officially join the pantheon, to ever go to Mount Olympus, or to be known by the other gods. We can keep her immortality a secret.”

“But the Underworld gods will know, and word is sure to spread.”

“We could get them to swear…”

Zeus stood up. “No. It’s too risky. The more people we involve, the worse the situation becomes. We have to minimize the damage as much as possible.”

“You were willing to make her a goddess when you wanted the helm,” Charon pointed out.

“Because in having the helm, there would have been no reason to keep the delicate balance between us in place. I would have had the upper hand in all things. Now, the situation is different.”

Charon was on the verge of panic. His plan was failing, and he was all but doomed. He wracked his brain for some way out of this desperate situation, but came up short. Was there nothing he could do?

He was about to offer to steal the helm when Zeus said, “I have an idea, but you won’t like it.”

Charon took a deep breath. “What is it, my lord?”

“She mustn’t ever come here—not to the Underworld, not to Mount Olympus, not to anyplace sacred to the gods.”

“What?”

“You will see her at each full moon, when you rest from your duties, but you must go to her. She can’t come here.”

“And she will be immortal?”

“You must agree to swear to abide by my conditions, and one thing more.”

Charon was overwhelmed with emotions—hope, despair, joy, sorrow. “What, my lord?”

“Since Hades, and perhaps others, already know that I attempted to coerce you into stealing the helm, I want them to believe you were punished for not following through with it.”

“Punished? What do you mean?”

“I want to take away your youth.”

Charon’s mouth fell open as tears filled his eyes. “You want to do what?”

“You heard me.”

“But, my lord…”

“If you want me to make Matilda immortal, you must agree…”

“But how will she love me in that state?”

Zeus crossed his arms and then used one hand to cup his chin. He seemed to be thinking. Meanwhile, Charon was trying to process what had just transpired between them. He was so confused with overwhelming emotions, he wasn’t sure what to think. Would he really lose his youth?

“I have an idea,” Zeus finally said. “I’ll fix so that Matilda will see you as you are now. But to everyone else, you’ll be as you were, before your quest. And that is my final offer, Charon. Take it or leave it.”

Charon didn’t care how he looked to everyone else; it only mattered that he was beautiful for Matilda. And, truly, the full moon would have been their only time together, even if she’d been allowed to live with him and to commune with the other gods.

“Well?” Zeus demanded. What do you say?”

“I’ll take it,” Charon said.

“Very good,” Zeus said. “Let’s both swear to our agreement and get on with it.”