Tempting the Fates

Chapter 8

Hermes smirked, like he enjoyed my startled reaction. He turned down a dark side street, which stretched out into the country. The houses were becoming scattered and they sat farther apart the more we drove. I hadn't been this far out of the city in years. The darkness and silence I'd once found peaceful and calming were suddenly unnerving. I clenched my hands in my lap as memories of my attack came back to me.

"My job is to transport souls of the dead to the Underworld." Hermes said coolly. "Easiest way for me to get you where you need to go and not get behind in my work is to take a fresh soul down and bring you with us."

"So I'm gonna see... a dead person?" I pressed.

I'd dreamt of becoming a heart surgeon my whole life. Anatomy, the human body, it was all fine to me. I'd had several classes where I'd even dissected and handled human organs. But they had never been connected to an actual deceased human being before. Part of me was thrilled, and the other part was terrified.

"You know, you'll be seeing a lot of dead people in the Underworld. Better get used to it." He glanced at me for a moment before pulling the car over to the side of the road.

I glanced out the car window. We were in the middle of nowhere, but a short distance away sat a large two-story farmhouse. It appeared dark and vacant. He got out of the car and grabbed my suitcase from the trunk. Against my better judgement I stepped out of the car and followed him up the long dirt driveway, my heart pounding wild. My brain was on high alert. I turned back to look at the car, but it was gone. I looked all over, but it had well and truly vanished.

"The car!" I whispered to Hermes. "It's gone!"

He didn't respond. Hermes waved a hand and the front door unlocked with a loud 'click'. He didn't hesitate as he walked into the house. I was more terrified of being alone in the dark, so I followed him inside. With a snap of his fingers, several lights came on in the house, revealing that Hermes had changed. His 'college kid chic' outfit had been shed in favor of white robes, like the kind one assumed the Greek Gods always wore. He held a golden staff in one hand, which looked like two long serpents coiling around each other and a set of wings at the top. I'd seen the symbol many times before during my time studying medicine.

Hermes handed me my suitcase and walked through one of the nearby doors. As he disappeared, his entire body lit up with a golden, heavenly glow. I followed behind, gripping my suitcase with tight, clammy hands. Being in someone's home without being invited felt like an invasion of privacy, even if they were dead. As I walked into a room behind the Messenger God, I spotted an old man lying in a bed, motionless. He almost looked like a realistic doll. I stopped in my tracks, staring with tense fascination. He looked too pale, too still. His chest did not rise and fall with his breaths. The man was dead, and it likely only happened a few hours ago based on the physical appearance.

"It is time, Jyri. Prepare thyself for everlasting rest." Hermes whispered.

At his words, the deceased man's body also began to glow, though his light was a soft blue, just like the ghostly figures Hades had conjured up. In a flash, the man's spirit broke free from the physical form that was laying in the bed. He looked around, and then his eyes rested on Hermes' face. A soft, relieved sigh left his mouth.

"I am ready." The man said quietly. Hermes held out his hand, and the man took hold. I grabbed onto Hermes' other hand, clutching my suitcase tightly. I wasn't sure if we were about to go zipping through time and space like some episode of Doctor Who...

Instead, we all began to glow, and we started to sink down into the floor. My eyes must have been big as saucers, because Hermes smirked to himself as he peeked over at me. I wanted to scream as my fear rippled through me, but instead I forced myself to breathe and calm down. Just before my head sunk under the floor, I took a deep breath and held it.

Turned out I didn't need to hold my breath. Even when my vision went black, when I couldn't see anything around me, I could still breathe. It was almost as if we were in a place between places.

After a few moments, my vision restored like an old television turning on. We were no longer sinking. In fact, we were standing on solid ground. All around me I saw gray mountains, gray sky... gray everything. It looked like earth, but... dead.

It looked like the place from my dream.

"This is where I leave you." Hermes said, letting my hand go. "Some of your new handmaidens are waiting on the other side to escort you to the palace."

"The other side of what?" I turned around and was startled to see a deep chasm just feet from where I stood. Hovering over it, in the air before me and Jyri was a small boat captained by... a zombie.

The man looked as though he hovered somewhere between life and death. His skin clung to his bones like he was starving, his eyes were sunken in and black. His white hair was thinned and long, and his beard matched. Tattered gray robes hung off his skeletal frame. He held an oar in one hand, while the other was outstretched in my direction.

"That's Charon, the Underworld ferryman. Give him this," Hermes handed me a small gold coin. "and he will take you to the other side, where your handmaidens will be waiting."

The entire experience had been so overwhelming that I was feeling cracked. I shed the air of stoicism and strength for a quick word with my new acquaintance. "I... I'm scared." I admitted. "What if Hades is awful?"

He gave a small, reassuring smile and glanced at the other side of the huge abyss. "Just because he rules the dead, doesn't mean he's cruel. Be strong. Don't believe everything you've heard about him." He motioned for Jyri to fall into a line that formed a short distance away. As the man followed the orders he'd been given, Hermes set a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't be a stranger, either. You can come up to Olympus anytime once you're married."

With that, he kicked his heels together, and his Converse (which I hadn't noticed he was still wearing) sprouted small golden wings and lifted him into the air. He waved once at meand zoomed away like a streak of light in the darkness.