Hades sighs. ‘Very well. I suppose I won’t be resting then either, not if my library is under your attack.’
I’m still not sure I trust him to help, but, after all that, the thought of being trapped in a library with him feels a far simpler matter.
DAYS SPENT IN THE LIBRARYcrawl by. The exhilaration of rending land apart powers me through only a few hours of research. Soon counting the bricks of the fireplace is more appealing – ninety-six, I establish on my third day surrounded by these shelves.
Hades doesn’t talk much. He just sits there, dutifully reading whatever I hand him, taking notes to condense it all for me, never giving anything else away.
I’m never there alone. If I’m in the library, he is too.
He must really love those scrolls.
Admittedly, he’s not as frustrating as he could be. I might even venture so far as to say he’s rather helpful. He reads scrolls quicker than I do and makes neat notes in summary. After I check the first twenty for lies and they come back clean I decide to just spot-check.
When Hades notices, he smiles in a way that feels decidedly intimate. His eyes glint with amusement and his lips are pressed in so thin a line it’s like he’s suppressing the smirk. ‘Why, does this suggest a semblance of trust?’
‘Be quiet,’ I tell him, shuffling my papers like I’m trying to concentrate and not struggling to think of an appropriately sassy response.
His notes find their way pinned to my own scrolls, his writing all bold lines and swift marks. I find myself watching him write them more than once. I’ve only ever been frustrated by his reading – because it was previously done to ignore me – but now his concentration is like gravity, drawing me in.
The texts are boring. It’s the only excuse I’m willing to give for why I’m so easily distracted, for why staring at Hades might be at all preferable. Right now I’m reading an unbearable description of triremes – and I’m yet to find any indication of whether such boats exist out of necessity or if the mortals actually like them and might want some in their afterlife. And, if so, do they want to build them or row them or see them on the edges of an ocean? Why don’t they make all this clear in the stories they write?
Hades is not particularly interesting, but he’s more interesting than this.
And his presence feels like an itch.
Maybe working out why Hades is so committed to this research is all that’s distracting me. Maybe it has nothing to do with the way he bites the edge of his quill when he’s concentrating.
Or maybe being stuck in this tiny room with him for hours at a time is wearing away at my sanity.
A few days later, Hades unearths a diary from a human. It’s a treasure trove of hopes and dreams and fears, and we’re so excited it pushes everything else out. We’re still poring over it at dinner.
‘Where do you even get all these?’ I ask, putting the final page down.
‘Hermes brings them.’
The messenger of the gods is also the god of thieves and I have no doubt that some of the texts – especially the diary of the scholar we’ve been studying – are stolen.
‘Does Hermes hate you?’
Hades laughs. ‘Possibly. But as far as the scrolls are concerned he knows I like to read.’
What does that even mean? Reading is something you just do, not a hobby like music or weaving. ‘You enjoy those documents?’
Hades shrugs. ‘Well, I’d prefer to read poetry but they’re okay, definitely interesting. You don’t enjoy them?’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘You could just leave it to me then. I can do the research and you can talk to the humans.’
No. I can’t face that tiredness again, can’t risk restoring the humans in order to talk to them. Splitting the Underworld was incredible, a high I never thought I’d achieve – what if that’s where it ends? What if I go and I try and nothing works? I’m not ready for my new-found confidence to come crashing down.
So instead I give a withering look that I think I might have learnt from him. ‘No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that.’
‘Your trust is a fickle thing.’
‘Earn it and we’ll talk.’
Hades laughs and for once it’s a genuine, true laugh. The sound sends a shiver down my spine.
