Page 115 of The Unseen Hour

“If we succeed here, we have everything we need to bring down a god. Trust me, Starlight, this is the first time I’m happy to be here.”

Just as we had with the gates, I let Orion step through first and then followed.

“Nothing,” I said after several moments standing in the entry of the house.

Orion blew out a long breath.

“Death was right. Blasted ghosts, but I was nervous.”

He let go of my hand, and we both stared at where we’d been touching for several moments, but I stayed whole and unharmed.

“You’ll use the water, then? You were burning up outside. I’m worried that he hurt you badly enough to bring on some sort of illness,” I told Orion.

“Once we get what we need here. Yes. I’ll use some,” he agreed.

The floor in Charon’s home was made up of the same stone that littered the ground on his lawn, but it was smoothed and gleaming. The floor-to-ceiling windows allowed the colorful lights of the Ether in, but the fog and sea spray kept it dim regardless.

The interior was just as different from Emrys homes as the outside. I was used to grand rooms, but nothing with this sleek and tailored feel. The interior was all blacks and greys. The room where we’d entered was a massive diamond. At the points on each side, there were halls leading away, but at the back there was a clear view of the falls, rushing past the window.

“There’s another story above us, where you can see the top of the falls. He has a balcony out there. It’s one of the few locations I’ve actually seen,” Orion said.

Around the edges of the room were a few short standing columns, each holding a small sculpture or vase on top. Everything was grey, white, or beige. No bright colors to speak of, which I found odd, considering the Ether’s forest was so vibrant.

The only exception was a ribbon of blue running through the black stone under our feet. It mimicked lights in the night sky in the Ether.

“When we’re not outside, this room is where Charon meets with me.” Orion gestured to the entryway around us.

I saw no comfortable seating, or even seating at all. Orion would have had to stand and wait for Charon each time.

How could he treat the man I loved like that?

But Charon didn’t view us as people, with love and relationships. He viewed us as souls that could be used in his petty squabbles. We didn’t understand the intricate nature of the gods’ realms, their relationships, or their powers. But how could we?

He’d soon find out, though, that love could fuel vengeance as readily as anger. And I had plenty of both.

“Where should we start looking?” I asked Orion.

He rubbed a hand under his chin.

“If I were Charon, I’d keep the key to the Shades somewhere personal.” Orion followed a vein of blue in the floor and chose one of the darkened hallways off the main room.

The first hall led to a room that had to be an office, containing a large desk made of a blackened wood with sweeping curves at the corners. The walls were made of the same bark as the Ether’s trees, and I was surprised to see books on Charon’s shelves.

We pulled several down, but none that I could read referenced music in any way. There were some in the languages of the other countries. While Emrys primarily used a universal language heard across Rayus, I knew Mejje and Sez had their own local languages as well.

“I’m very rusty, since my education was well over a century ago, but I did learn the basics in both. I don’t see anything here related to music,” Orion said as he placed a few books back on the shelf.

The desk did not open easily for us. The drawers were locked tight.

“If it’s in there, then we’ll have to pry it loose,” I said, tugging on one of the closed doors for a third time and making no progress.

If we did that, though, surely Charon would figure out someone had been in his home.

Orion shook his head.

“I think we’ll be drawn to it, just like the people of Emrys feel and are drawn to the Shade song. We felt the baton. I’m not picking up anything in here, are you?”

I shook my head.