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Let go.
You will have peace and feel no more pain if you simply let go.
Never, Andros thought, gritting his teeth against the indescribable agony clawing him apart, piece by piece.
He would never stop fighting. He had to go back.
Divina was waiting…
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“There,” Ere said, pointing to the jutting tip of a narrow boat and the looming figure that stood at its helm. Just around the bend, deep within the cavern.
It seemed they had walked miles already. Divina’s feet ached.
The only light within the bowels of the mountain came from the shimmering water of the stream that flowed through it. All was eerie silence and darkness.
Once in a while, she thought she heard the wind howl from within. But that must be her imagination. It didn’t feel like any air could penetrate the thick, unyielding stone she was surrounded with. It became increasingly more difficult to breathe the farther they walked into the mountain.
“That must be Charon and his ferry,” Ere murmured, slowing his steps as they drew closer to the shadowy hulk.
“He is supposed to carry souls across the River Styx to the Gates of Hades.”
He glanced at Divina, his eyes bouncing around her person.
“I don’t suppose you have gold coins tucked away somewhere? I used all of the ones I won in checkers to outfit the centaurs and buy presents for their women.”
His eyes shifted to her voluminous hair.
“Maybe in there?”
But she’d used her bracelets, necklace, and rings already to pay for their provisions thus far, too. Divina pulled the last of her trinkets, the hoop, bejeweled earrings, off and handed them to Ere.
“Will these do?”
Ere grunted, weighing the light gold and silver in his palm.
There was nothing for it but to try.
As they closed in on the ferryman, he turned his hooded head toward them.
Charon was draped in a long, black cloak that blended into his surroundings like smoke, the deep cowl casting his face in total darkness. Divina couldn’t make out any features. It almost appeared as if there were none.
If she reached out to touch his nose, would her hand be swallowed by nothingness?
But, his hands could be seen holding a long pole, the end of it disappearing into the glowing stream. Gray bandages wrapped his hands, as if he were a mummy from the horror movies Divina sometimes watched with movie-theater-butter popcorn. Sharp, dark nails embedded in gray fingertips gripped the middle of the pole, making Divina rather glad she couldn’t make out the ferryman’s features.
Ignorance was bliss, after all.
As they stepped up to the boat, Charon wordlessly extended his bandaged hand, palm up.
Ere cleared his throat and dropped Divina’s earrings into the awaiting hand.
Slowly, Charon pulled his palm in and peered down, examining the payment for passage.
Divina held her breath, praying that this would work.
And then, the ferryman turned his hand down, opened his palm, and dropped the earrings into the stream. They didn’t make any sound when they dropped into the water. But they disappeared all the same.
