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“It doesn’t really look like a Hellion river.”
Vehuel gives me a look.
“Excuse me?”
“Most of the rivers I’ve seen in Hell are a lot more Hell-y. You know. Rivers of shit or blood or fire.”
“No. There’s none of that here. The Styx is merely water, though few know of this tributary’s existence.”
“And that’s the way I like it,” says an old man who’d been hiding behind one of the pier supports. His eyes narrow at us, but they turn to slits when he looks at the angels. “Greetings, Vehuel,” he says.
“Charon,” she says, a hint of surprise in her voice. “I thought you’d retired.”
“You mean you thought I’d been retired. They tried it. Lucifer and his minions. They could pull me off the main part of the river, but I’m still the Styx’s boatman. No one gets past me without paying.”
“But you’re alone down here,” Vehuel says. “Doesn’t that defeat the point of being a boatman?”
“Not at all. I am as patient as the river. And as for being alone . . .”
He looks at the long line of vehicles beginning to fill the tunnel.
“I don’t seem to be alone anymore.”
“Very well,” says Vehuel. “We’d like—”
“Shh,” he says, holding up a hand. “I’m trying to count.”
“Of course,” Vehuel says in a tone that makes it pretty obvious she’s not used to getting shushed.
The Magistrate steps forward.
“Hello. I am—”
Charon holds up a finger.
“You made me lose count. Now I have to start over.”
“I can tell you how many are in our party, if that would help.”
“It wouldn’t. I have to count. You might try to cheat me.”
“We travel with angels, sir. We would never cheat you.”
“Shh.”
Charon waggles his finger as he counts people or vehicles or maybe both. Whatever he’s counting, it’s clear it’s going to take a while. I get out the Maledictions. Daja and Wanuri take one. I bring one over to Gisco and start to light it.
“There’s no smoking,” says Charon sharply. “Read the sign.”
I look around.
“What sign?”
He looks at the wall over my head.
“Oh yes. I thought I hadn’t seen it for a while. It must have rotted away in the damp. Anyway—no smoking. Now quiet or I’ll have to start over again.”
Everyone gives me back their cigarettes. Alice hops onto the back of the Charger and I sit down next to her.
