The Gemini

18. Six Feet Under

An Hour Ago

Raymond Evers stumbled as he tried to find his way back to his apartment. Maybe getting drunk in the afternoon and trying to warn a random barista about the apocalypse was not the best idea.

When Greg told him that Hades was dead, Raymond thought it was all a sick joke. But the way that Greg looked told him everything he needed to know. A stranger had taken his place, and she wasn't someone to mess with. Technically, Raymond wasn't supposed to know anything, but Greg was terrible at keeping secrets from his best friend.

Greg planned on quitting the fourth circle as soon as the new management came into town. But the new leader wanted the circle to find something, and she wasn't letting anyone leave until they did. The way he would talk about her made it sound like she wasn't even human.

Right now, he probably needed to nap. Maybe everything would make more sense when his head stopped pounding.

"Can I help you?" Raymond asked. A girl with strawberry blonde hair who was currently fighting her way into his apartment building stopped and looked up. She seemed vaguely familiar, maybe from the cafe, but the girl didn't act like she had witnessed his outburst.

"This door won't let me in." the girl explained. "I just moved in, and the card they gave me is crap."

"Really?" Raymond asked. He moved past the door to tap his card against the scanner. When the light turned green, he moved to open the door. It didn't budge.

"I tried that." said the girl matter of factly.

"Do you think you can buzz your mom?" Raymond asked.

"I don't live with my mom anymore." the girl explained. "It was this whole thing."

This girl looked sixteen, way too young to be living by herself in the middle of New York City. "Word of advice kid. It might be worth it to try and make things right with your mom. The city's overrated, and it's just gonna get worse from here."

The girl rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself."

"Okay," said Raymond. She would probably learn her lesson soon enough. "What's your name?"

"Gem." Gem answered, still not taking her eyes off the door. "Yours?"

"Raymond," Raymond responded. The girl turned around, her eyes seeming to search for another solution to get in. "There's a door around the back we can try," Raymond suggested.

Gem nodded. "I think I saw it. It's worth a shot." She walked along the apartment building and sharply turned the corner. Raymond followed, having to jog just to keep up. The area behind his apartment building had a door, another scanner, and a small courtyard with empty flowerbeds that now hosted several tall weeds, their stems almost an inch thick. At the top, they sprouted several small white flowers, spread in wide disk-like doilies.

Gem noticed what Raymond was looking at, and she inspected the flowers herself. "Giant hogweed," she explained. "That's what you're looking at. You should be careful. They're highly toxic."

"How do you know?" Raymond asked nervously.

Gem shrugged. "I'm a dryad, so I try to keep my botany facts straight."

Raymond wasn't sure if he had heard that correctly. Maybe she was using it as a new term to mean plant lover or something. He wasn't exactly caught up on what kids were saying these days. "Why would someone plant something toxic?" He asked.

"Well," said Gem, inspecting her cubicles, "We like it when plans stay quiet. And when someone doesn't do that..." Gem shrugged, watching the color drain from Raymond's face. "Did no one tell you, Ray? Around here, snitches get put 6 feet under."