His hands tightened into fists as the female disappeared under the dark archway that led directly to the Judges of the Dead.
A pair of oars materialized in his hand, and he began his hunt.
Cyane struggledagainst the current but quickly gave up. There was no point in fighting it. The water had a mind of its own. It wasn’t like the ocean’s current but the will of a living being.
She kept her head above the water, kicked her legs frantically, and tried to get as far from the man on the boat as fast as she could.
Please. Please, please, please.The word pounded in her head with every stroke.
The foreboding castle loomed ahead of her. She thought she was headed for the gate, but with a final surge, the water pushed her towards a dark cavern that opened at the rocky castle base. Cyane grasped for the sidewall just as the opening swallowed her up.
The current was faster here, desperate, hungry, and far more powerful. Her fingers dragged across the wall without finding purchase, and the faint light from outside shrunk as she slipped farther into the darkness beneath the castle. She was about to give up hope when she caught the edge of a stone. She gripped it with her life. Several of her nails snapped as the current tried to drag her away. Sharp pain surged up her fingers but quickly vanished in the numbing cold of the water. The current rushed around her like eager, grasping hands.
“Take my hand!” the Greek soldier from before roared, his boat quickly slipping past. His fingers grazed over her shoulder as he reached for her. He was gone, disappearing into the darkness beyond before she could make a choice.
The last thing she saw before he completely disappeared was the sheen of his eyes from the shadows of his helmet.
Cyane whimpered and closed her eyes.I don’t know what to do. Her fingers ached, everything ached, and the adrenaline that kept her going was diminishing, leaving fatigue behind. She didn’t know how long she could hold on.
All I wanted to do was to meet my parents.Tears streamed down her cheeks. The pain in her fingers returned with the strain of her clutching.
Something grabbed her leg and tugged her off the wall.
With a frightened wail, she kicked off the thing holding her.
The current shot her forward, deeper into endless darkness. Despite the water’s speed, her head remained above the surface. It was as though the water itself was trying to keep her alive. But to what end?
Blindly, she called out for help, to find the man and his boat, to find anyone who could help her. No one answered. When she reached for the wall again, there was nothing but slick, wet rock.
Death awaited her. She was sure of it now. She’d escaped it twice, but a third time wasn’t always a charm.
The water froze her to the bone. And just when she thought she’d lost hope, as the endless blackness threatened to drive her past the point of insanity, a light appeared in the distance.
Cyane stared at it, transfixed.
It grew bigger with each passing second. Relief flooded her. Even if death awaited her, at least hell wouldn’t be an endless journey in which crushing anxiety drove her mad.
The tunnel opened up into a cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. She gazed at them mutely as the current delivered her into a shallow pool in the middle of the cavern. Three old men stood near the bank awaiting her. Suddenly she was beside the shore, floating unmoving as if the current had never existed at all. Her feet found the bottom, then her knees as the water grew shallow.
She crawled weakly onto the edge of the bank and fell upon the dry ground with a cry.
“Leave, Cerberus, she is in our domain now, not yours,” one of the older men said.
Cyane huddled into herself, fighting off the deep cold penetrating her flesh.Cerberus?
Nothing makes sense.
She frowned and forced herself up on trembling arms. The Greek warrior stood rigidly a short distance away, staring at her. A silvery haze and pulsating shadows enveloped him.
An uncertain truth settled in. Her frown deepened. He couldn’t be a dream, could he? He appeared poised to rush to her, but something held him back. Cyane tore her eyes away from him.
The three elderly men in Grecian robes surrounded her. She wiped the water from her eyes as she fell onto her back.
A low growl of a dog vibrated through the space as the closest of the old men knelt beside her. “My name is Aeacus, and I find you unfit to take my hand and join the western dead in the afterlife.”
Cyane blinked, and the man was gone. One of the two remaining men took the first’s place beside her.
“My name is Rhadamanthys, and I find you unfit to take my hand and join the eastern dead in the afterlife.”
