Tartarus Thief | ONC 2021 [ROUND 2 WINNER]

Chapter 5

"You are not going to steal from Hades."

Vita leaned back in her chair and dropped her little, leather-bound diary on her lap to cross her arms. She kept her eyes trained on Leo, determined not to show uncertainty. "Yes, I am."

"Why, in the Gods' names?"

"Because if he doesn't have my records, he doesn't know to send me back to Earth."

Leo frowned, taking a few seconds to mull over her words. Then she burst out, "That makes no sense whatsoever!"

"No, it does! Think about it. Over time, the Gods have had hundreds of children with mortals, if not more, right? Hades won't know who they are from the top of his head, he receives thousands of new souls every day. That's what his records are for. I just need to destroy my own records, so that he doesn't know I should be sent back, and I can stay in the Underworld and search for Barny."

"Vee...!" Leo sighed, leaning forward on the sofa and putting her head in her hands. "Listen, I understand that you miss him, but you're taking this way too far, sweetheart. Mortals lose people they love all the time. You know how they deal with it? They grieve and then they move on. It's the circle of life. You have to move forward with your life, Vee!"

"And I will," said Vita, her nose sticking up in the air. "As soon as I've tried everything."

"You have! Haven't you already died three times to try and get him back?"

"Twice," she muttered, finally averting her gaze to stare at the white knuckles that clutched her diary. "The third time was an accident."

Leo reached over the arm of the sofa to take her hand. "Hades doesn't make exceptions. You're only a demigoddess, you can't win from the God of the Underworld. And if you anger him, who knows how long he'll keep you in the pits of Tartarus to be punished. It's not worth it."

Heavy doubt settled in her stomach, but those last words made her look up. "You don't get it, Leo, this isn't just about Barny. I hate being a demigoddess, I hate the resurrections."

She pushed herself up from the chair, holding her diary up at her best friend. "I have lived for hundreds of years, yet I can only remember the last fifty or so. I used to live in Greece before I moved to England, can you imagine? Greece should be my home, but I don't know anything about the country, not even a single Greek word. It's all gone, that whole part of me has disappeared, and it..."

Vita turned around, dropping the little book onto the chair. Her eyes stung. "It doesn't feel like I get another chance at life when I'm resurrected. It feels more like someone else is taking over, pushing the old me out." She rubbed her eyes to stop the tears from falling. "I'm not the same person when I'm reborn. It terrifies me. I've lost Barny and now I'm slowly losing the part of me that loved him."

Each second that ticked by in silence felt heavier than the last. Her words hung in the air like thick smog filling up the room. She hugged her arms to her chest, trying to control her breathing.

"I'm sorry. I guess I didn't realise just how hard this is for you."

Vita turned to see her best friend stare up at her with sagged shoulders and a sorrowful look on her face. "It is. Look, if it doesn't work, come find me in ten years or so and I'll admit that you were right and move on. I promise. But I have to try one last time."

Leo nodded. "Alright. What's your plan?"

With a sigh of relief, Vita plopped down onto the sofa. The pressure of getting this right still suffocated her, but at least her best friend had her back. "I need to find where he keeps the records. Once I've got them, it shouldn't be too difficult to destroy them, what with all the fire around Tartarus."