“It would have no defense against darkness,” Gage said. “It wouldn't be able to help itself. Evil would eventually consume and then destroy it.”
“But often good and evil are all about perspective. Who judges the souls? Hades?”
“Souls judge themselves,” Garret said. “Everyone is born knowing good from bad. You're right that sometimes it's all about perspective. That's integral. So, the soul must judge itself. A person knows when they do wrong.”
“But what if they do something truly evil but believe it to be good?”
“Not possible,” Gideon said. “If the act was irrefutably evil, with no redeeming factors to it, the soul would know. Deep inside, they would know. But if they believed that what they were doing was good, truly believed, then their soul wouldn't be weakened. No punishment necessary. It's not up to us to judge a soul's journey or even their perspective. That is on them. A mother could murder to protect her child and only be strengthened by the act while a socialite could raise money for charity but be weakened by it because she's only doing it for her own glory. As you said, it's all about perception.”
“That makes sense. I was just playing Devil's advocate,” I said. Then I realized what I said and grimaced.
Garret chuckled. “If you call Hades the Devil, I guess that would make us his advocates.”
I rolled my eyes. Then I recalled something they said and circled back to it. “You said that souls escape?”
“Yes, usually from Tartarus.” Gage grimaced. “They don't want to be punished. I can't imagine why.”
I giggled.
Gage's expression sort of drooped into a goofy half-grin.
I cleared my throat.
“Anyway,” Garret said with a smirk at Gage. “Hades posted Cerberuses all over the world to catch escaped souls that make it to Earth. That was our original purpose. But then we noticed other issues involving souls. Some wouldn't move on or couldn't because of clinging loved ones. A lingering soul can cause all sorts of problems.”
“You're talking about hauntings?” I asked.
“That's right,” Gideon said. “We deal with those a lot. More than escaped souls. An escape is rare these days.”
“But when a soul does escape, they often possess people so they can feel alive again,” Garret said.
“Like Michael,” I concluded.
“Yes. But Michael has special abilities that other souls don't. He can jump bodies. Usually, once a soul possesses a living person, that's it. They don't leave until we pull them out.”
“You can exorcise them?”
“Yes. That's one of our duties.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “That's why Michael is afraid of you. You're like prison wardens—no, bounty hunters! You're like bounty hunters who can take him back to prison.”
“Yes. But he's been hard to catch because of the body-jumping thing.”
“You said something about that before,” I murmured. “So, Michael escaped the Underworld and possessed someone. Then another team tried to exorcise him, but he jumped bodies?”
“Yes. He gathered an army and attacked the Portland Cerberus. I don't know exactly what happened in Portland, but Michael ended up running up to Washington. Then the Seattle Cerberus had a go at him, and he got away again. Last up to bat was the Spokane Cerberus. And that's when Silas joined forces with Michael.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We were hoping you might provide some insight on that,” Garret said. “Has Silas said anything? Hades thinks this is personal. He thinks Silas is a minor god, but he's backed by an Olympian. That's how he got away from the last pack—with the help of one of the main Greek Gods.”
“An Olympian? Like Zeus?”
“And Hades.” Gage nodded. “Hades thinks it's Apollo. Has Silas mentioned him?”
“No, but then, he was trying to convince me that he's the Christian God and you three are demons sent here by the Devil.”
“You haven't overheard anything odd or seen anything?” Garret asked.
