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Her destination is a door I missed on my first glance. It leads into a hallway studded with more doors. She glances over her shoulder at me. “This is where most of our staff sleeps, or at least the ones who don’t want bedrooms on the second floor.”
ConsideringI’mthe only one I know who sleeps on the second floor, it seems like everyone who works for Hades and Persephone prefers to be housed down here. “I see.”
We turn a corner and push through double set of doors into a room identical to one we would find in a hospital. The only difference is that it’s quite a bit bigger than I expected, but if I don’t miss my guess, they have everything they need here in order to conduct a surgery. The room isn’t empty either. There’s a trio of people in scrubs at the sinks on the far side of the room, washing their hands. Hades stands a few feet back from them with his arms crossed over his chest and a forbidding expression on his face. It only lightens a little bit when he catches sight of my sister as she hurries to him and throws herself into his arms.
I’m happy my brother-in-law is safe. Really, I am. But he’s not what catches and holds my attention. No, that’s the five gurneys with bodies on them.
My legs are shaking, but I muscle past that instinctive response as I carefully cross the room to look down at the people. Two of them are burned so badly I’m not even sure who they are. I recognizethe other two, but I don’t pause until I get to the final one. To Charon.
At the sight of him on his side, my knees really do buckle. Only Orpheus’s arm around my waist keeps me off the floor. I suspected it would be bad when Persephone tried to warn me away, but I had no idea. Charon isn’t as badly injured as the first two, at least on the front. But his back? The burned skin has my stomach attempting to rebel. “Oh, Charon.”
“The burns are nasty, but he’ll be fine as long as they don’t get infected.” This is from the nurse who I hadn’t even realized had approached. He’s a tall white man with an easygoing smile and a comforting energy. “We gave him something for the pain, which is why he’s unconscious right now.”
I want to believe him, but I don’t think I’ll take a full breath until Charon opens his eyes and tells me with his own words that he’ll be fine. It’s not going to happen right now.
The nurse motions toward the door. “The others, however, need our help immediately. It would be best if you waited in the hallway while we work to save them.”
“Of course.” Orpheus tightens his hold on my waist and steers us toward the door. “We’ll wait outside, but please come get us when he wakes up.”
“I will.”
Part of me wants to argue that I don’t want to leave the room, that I want to ensure Charon doesn’t leave my sight. I can’t shake the feeling that if he does, I’ll never see him again. The only thing that keeps my lips pressed together is the fact that Hades and Persephone have also been exiled to the hallway.
Now, without the distraction of those gurneys, I actually take in my brother-in-law and realize that he looks like shit. He’s limping, and half his face is caked in blood. It doesn’t slow him down even a little. He leads the way to the next door over, which reveals a comfortably appointed waiting room.
Persephone sinks down onto one of the overstuffed chairs. “What happened?”
In answer, Hades curses longer and harder than I’ve ever heard him before. “They played us. They set a trap and we walked right into it, and we couldn’t even salvage it by taking one of them captive, because they fought to the death.”
My sister goes pale. “It was all for nothing?”
“Not for nothing.” He shakes his head slowly. “But at this juncture, I have to make a hard call, little siren. One you’re not going to like.”
Orpheus and I exchange a look, and I feel the same worry I see reflected in his expression. Somehow, I know that the next words out of Hades’s mouth will change everything.
My suspicions are confirmed when he takes my sister’s hands and says, “I can’t allow this to happen again. There’s not a damn thing I can do about the upper city right now, but I can protect the lower city.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m closing passage between the upper city and the lower city. After today, no one crosses the River Styx.”
Shock makes me forget myself. “Can youdothat?”
“Yes.” He looks at me, and then past me at Orpheus. “It wasn’t an option under the last Zeus because he would’ve starved us out. Italso served my purpose to allow his spies over the river. That ends now. No one comes into the lower city that I have not personally welcomed through the barrier.”
My sister’s mouth works, but no sound comes out. Finally, she clears her throat. “But the barrier is failing.”
“The external barrier.” He holds up two fingers. “That one is keyed to Poseidon and his descendants. The one around the lower city is keyed to me and mine. Right now, that includes me and you…by virtue of the children you carry.”
My sister’s still visibly struggling with what he’s suggesting. “But my family.” She glances at me. “Our family.”
“It’s not forever, little siren. I wouldn’t make this move if we weren’t in desperate times. Our enemies crossed the river to attack us—to attackyou.If I don’t do this, there’s nothing to stop them from doing it again. I will not allow it. Even if it causes a rift between me and the rest of the Thirteen, it’s a small price to pay. They will stand against Circe—or fail—on their own.”
“Hades—”
“Until they can come to me as a unified front, I’m done endangering our people for their petty politics.” He turns to me. “I need you to deliver Ariadne to one of the bridges as soon as possible. The barrier goes down at sunset. As for you.” His gaze flicks to Orpheus. “Both Eurydice and Charon value you, and for the sake of my love for them, I will grant you permission to stay here. But youwillstay here, Orpheus, until—if—I lower the barrier again. If that’s not what you want, then you need to cross the bridge into the upper city before sunset as well.”
It’s all happening too quickly. I’m afraid to look at Orpheus.It was one thing for him to decide to stay with us when he still had access to his family, but Hades is taking that away. I know Orpheus loves me, and that he can see himself falling for Charon, but what is that compared to his family that he all but worships?
