I walked in on Jasper and a deck of cards back in the living room of my apartment. The image was somehow endearing and also unsettling all together, and it didn't help the foul mood I found myself in.
"Come, sit with me, oh furious one." Jasper called to me with all the enthusiasm of a toothache.
"You don't have to hang out in here, you know." I threw myself down on the cushions across the coffee table. It was not what I had intended to do.
"Sulking is unbecoming, Autumn. Your anger towards me in entirely unwarranted and uncalled for," Jasper said without looking up from his cards. He flipped one down on the table letting the corner snap against the wooden surface.
He was right, of course; I didn't like him much but it wasn't Jasper I was upset with. I eyed him suspiciously. "You're not mind controlling me right now, are you?"
Jasper placed the stack of cards on the table and, using both hands, wiggled his fingers at me. Then he rolled his eyes and went back to his Solitaire game. "It's not mind control to be right. I'm sure you'll be happy to know how severely reprimanded I was after last time and that Hades has ordered me under threat of eternal death not to try anything funny."
"I wish I could have heard him yell at you," I giggled, imagining Hector with a disappointed look on his face, one finger wagging, the other hand on his cocked hip. "Don't you try any funny business, young man."
Jasper did not laugh.
The look on his face quickly slid from mild annoyance into great fear.
"Hades has a reputation to uphold. You would do well to remember that he wants something from you and is willing to do almost anything to get it; if he didn't need you so badly, you would not have the freedoms you enjoy today."
Freedoms? "Oh please, tell me what 'freedoms' I enjoy, Jasper. I'm dying to know."
The lamia abandoned his cards. "The freedom to address him as Hector rather than Hades, or my Lord; the freedom of access to two of his best and most loyal fighters; the freedom of this library," he waved his arms out in recognition of the book filled room, "which you never considered as a viable tool; the freedom of release upon your survival on the battlefield. Do not confuse our Lord and Master with a puppy, eager for your love and affection. You are a tool, Autumn, and you are his."
I let that sink in. The first words Hector said to me were "You belong to me," but barring a few frightening looks, he hadn't seemed all that scary to me. But judging by the look on Jasper's face I didn't want to bring that up. We sat in awkward silence for a moment.
"Sometimes the way he talks makes him sound like he's a hundred years old," I said, a peace offering, a neutral topic.
Jasper took the bait, releasing the tension that had taken up residence in his jaw. "You mistake his appearance for age but remember that Hector took up the mantle of Hades and assumed the roleâcomplete with the lifetime of memories. So he is many hundreds of years old."
I didn't know how to respond. The air between us still felt stale and I didn't want to upset Jasper further or he might make more colorful threats on all the ways he would like to eat me.
Had I pushed the subject, Jasper might have told me more of Hector's story but for the first time since arriving in the Underworld, I didn't have any questions to ask. The endless word-vomit finally ceased.
After a few minutes of watching Jasper lose to himself at cards, I took another energy bar into my room where I pulled out an outfit similar to Alex's trademark training duds and went to shower. The water was luxurious after the dayâdaysâI had; with pruned fingers and damp hair I headed back to my room and fell asleep.
Or at least I planned to fall asleep. Someone had other plans.
Ten minutes into my pity party, he knocked on my door.
My sigh was not enough to deter the interloper; he knocked again. "Go away, Jasper."
"Not Jasper," Gregory's voice came muffled from the other side of the door.
This better be good. I flung my bare feet over the side of the bed and grumpily made for the door that didn't seem to close quite right anymore. Hector must not have had time to call the Underworld carpenter to fix it. The face of my stoic trainer greeted me on the other side, as blank as it had been when showing off his weapons collection.
His next words were low and breathy, like he didn't want Jasper to hear from his perch on the couch, conspicuously watching our interaction. "Autumn, I want to show you something."
Okay, I'll bite. "Lead the way."
In a gentlemanly fashion, he offered his arm. I accepted and he led me through the portalâmy fingers gripped his arm with claw-like fierceness. He didn't seem to mind.
We emerged from the portal, stepping into another new hall. Wood floors were covered by burgundy carpet runners, tapestries hung every few feet depicting hunts and battles; par for the course here in the Underworld it would seem. I followed Gregory, hand still in the crook of his arm but with a slackened grip, to a n ornate door at the far end. It creaked open by itself as we approached.
The fortress spit us out into the Underworld and slammed its doors closed behind us. A boom echoed through the air and all living creatures stopped to stare.
Because out here where the River ran and dust covered everything there were hundreds of people. Before, when I exited the confines of the Underworld castle with Hector, the landscape had been empty; overnight it had become filled with all manner of life.
Beautiful and terrifying; deadly and hopeful. And all staring at me.
Over the gathered forms of those who hadn't stood upon our entranceâor exitâI could see the tunnel the crying woman warned me away from upon my last visit.
I would have run if there hadn't been so many bodies in between it and me.
One person stepped forward from their encampment. Well, I couldn't really describe him as a person: there were horns protruding from his head. He stood on furry legs that bent backwards at the knee and at full height was no taller than I was. His bare chest aligned with mine.
"I can't say I like being sized up very much, Gregory." Though I spoke to my companion, I did not let my eyes stray from the man-beast in front of me.
"I can't say I'm overly impressed, Gregory," the creature mocked me.
Join the club, buddy. Gregory did not let the word vomit get the best of me. He used his free hand to cover mine still on his arm and pinched me covertly. I can take a hint.
"This is Coleman, he brought the satyrs to Hades' side," Gregory explained. More and more creatures loomed closer, venturing in to see the big bad Fury they had been expecting and getting a good view of little old me. "With the Satyrs came the Chimera and the Minotaur. The Harpies and Gorgons answered the call. Cerberus guards the gates for spies while Charon, the ferryman, delivers human souls instead to us rather than their deserved afterlife to bolster our ranks." He waved an open arm towards the amassed army and for the first time I understood what Hector was doing: filling his army with the biggest and baddest, the ugliest of creatures. There was something to be said for strength in numbers.
Gregory continued, "This is what you'll be fighting for. Many of those gathered here are innocent of crime. Vicious though they may look, it has been a very long time since we experience the threat of war."
"Hades protects those who the Olympians don't care for," the satyr proclaimed. Coleman gazed pointedly at me. "We do not want to die."
Neither do I.
I opened my mouth again to tell him so when the crowd that had gathered around us parted. Hector, the great protector, joined the party. The army bowed low to the god until I alone was left standing before him. When his feet carried him the final distance between us and he stopped, I could feel the heat rolling off of him but his tone was carefully light when he spoke.
"Autumn, meet army; army, meet Autumn." Nobody moved to make further introductions. "Now that you've had a show and tell, Gregory, I believe I will take it from here."
The army relaxed its submissive stance so it would have a better view of Hades leading away his prized Fury by the hand, sort of like a dog or a llama being led away by its tether.
I did not want to be a dog anymore but between Hector and the Frankenstein army, I would choose Hector every time.
Through the external doors, down the hallway, and into the portal we went only to end up in yet another hallway.
Unlike the hall between the portal and the mirrored training room, this hall was wider, taller. With the detailed carvings in the stonewalls and trusses that came to peaks along the length of the hall, it was meant to be traversed, destined to be seen by important dignitaries and members of royalty. It was made for gods and goddesses to admire.
Hector did not stop until he led me into another room, just as ornate as the hall, a stark contrast to my apartment. He continued into the room towards the thick wooden desk, saying almost lazily as he walked away, "I'll thank you not to approach my army again without me. Many of them would sooner eat you than follow you into battle; they can smell the Fury in you but your humanity is overwhelming."
I was not about to go back out thereânot that I could.
He looked at me abruptly. "You are my last hope, Autumn."
So I've heard.
I liked it when he said my name. Warmth spread out through my chest but not the angry kind of heat; I looked away from him, hoping he didn't see it in my face. I fanned myself against the warmth of the room and the blush in my cheecks.
We were in an office, dark with hunter green walls and purple-red stained wooden furniture. There was nothing personal about the room; the instant he was gone through the portal again I searched through the drawers in the desk, pulled out trinkets and papers written in ancient languages. Bookshelves lined with thick volumes, a decanter and two tumblers on a side table, a massive painting of an impressive-looking man; the study hid no secrets. The only thing missing from it was a fireplace, though the room felt near uncomfortably warm.
Oh, and windows. Not in any room I'd seen so far had there been windows. Not that I'd seen many rooms in retrospect. Eventually, failing to find anything with answers or clues or the English language, I sank into the desk chair, defeated.
"Autumn?" Hector, seated in an over-stuffed chair, would have looked at home with a cigar in his hand and house slippers to keep his toes warm. Instead, where the room was warm in its deep coloring and thick furniture, Hector was cold.
"Are we still playing games, Hector? You've been dancing around giving me anything concrete or meaningful in the way of answers for days now and I'm having a hard time trusting you." I put up one finger, signaling to his opening mouth that I wasn't done. "But say I do trust you. Tell me why you all of a sudden have more energy than you have all day. Tell me why Lindsay can't do this job if she's obviously a trusted companion of yours. Tell me about war, about you, about anything. All I do is ask you questions and I gotta tell you, even I'm annoyed with me. It's about time we had a real conversation, don't you think?"
Sitting in the stiff armchair on the other side of the desk, Hector looked seriously at me. "War is coming to my doorsteps because an idiot wanted immortality. It has happened before and while my brothers and sisters thought hiding the Nectar was the best option, they are unoriginal." Hector didn't move when he spoke. His words held little emotion or energy or any indicator that he was human at all.
But I guess he wasn't, really.
"Some moron takes the Nectar and then gods start to die; you come into the picture as the new incarnation of Hades, congratulations, but how?" Though it lacked a fire, the room was warm. Too warm. I could feel the fabric of my shirt on every inch of skin it touched, sticky, heavy.
"How did they steal the Nectar? The thief must have secured an invitation upstairs; none but the Olympians and those with invitations can step foot on Olympus. How did I embrace the role of Hades? It was there for the taking, I was just the first to seize the advantage. How did I know about war and the Furies and you? Because the Fates have been all-seeing and meddling old ladies since the beginning of time, this is just the latest in the saga of the gods, the newest episode in their daytime drama. Think of the sisters as babysitters for the Olympians." He paused. "Historically the Furies answer to the Fates more often than any god."
Fate this and Fate that; I was getting really tired of hearing about Fate.
Something else was bothering me though. "Where did all this energy come from? In the dungeon you looked like a sneeze could have knocked you over. Even after Lindsay tried to take your face off with her teeth, you still looked a little sick. Now you're practically glowing."
Hector glanced down at himself, a pleased smile playing his lips. "It's the energy of the realm, Autumn. It feeds me, like the River feeds me. Lindsay is simply a means to an end."
A very naked means, if I remembered correctly. Which I did; had it really only been a few hours since her release? I didn't want to wonder where she was now.
I knew I was pushing my luck to ask another question and hope for a reliable answer so I chose my next words judiciously, tasting them on my tongue before letting them loose. Hector, to his credit, waited without comment.
The warmth of the room was no longer stifling, like someone had turned down the heat by about ten degrees. I continued to hold my question, treating it like a precious diamond I didn't want to lose.
"You've turned off the heat, I see. What had you all fired up?" Hector asked, carefully not smiling with anything other than his dark eyes.
There you go, reading my mind again.
I had no idea what he was talking aboutâwhich I voiced to him.
His mouth could no longer hold back his smile. "Furies are incredibly hot-blooded creatures. You talk about me glowing when really you should notice your own luminosity; your body emitted heat waves until about a minute ago. What are you thinking?"
No longer able to hold it back, I jumped right in with my astutely chosen question. "What makes me so special?"
I had meant to ask about Lindsay's time in my place but that came out instead. Oops. Heat crawled up my mortified body like spiders building their web.
"Nothing," Hector chuckled. "And everything. I haven't quite figured it out yet."