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“It’s a very posh lightless lounge, but sure, we can call it storage.” I couldn’t stop smiling. She’d come.

Having secured the door, the pilot waited until there was a lull in the conversation and then said, “Mrs. Fitzwilliam, shall I take off now?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

“Very good. If everyone could take their seats and strap in, I’ll clear us for takeoff.” He went back into the cockpit and closed the adjoining door.

Stheno moved to a seat, taking off a very worn-looking leather messenger bag. “Before you sit, can you get me some food or something? I’m starving.”

I went to the galley, put a selection of pastries on a plate, and went through the cupboards. In one, I found multiple bottles of red wine, Stheno’s drink of choice. Clive had been betting she’d show up. I uncorked a bottle, filled a glass, and carried her breakfast to her.

“Nice,” she said with appreciation, positioning a pull-out table over her lap.

“You’ll need to hold onto the glass and bottle during takeoff,” I told her, quickly getting into my own seat as the engines roared to life.

“This isn’t my first rodeo.” She downed the wine in one and refilled the glass before we’d lifted off.

Once we’d leveled out, Bracken turned to Stheno. “Might I ask a question?”

She was perusing her pastry selections but nodded before taking a bite of a raspberry tartlet.

“Have you visited the Underworld before?” he wondered.

She shrugged one shoulder, swallowing her bite. “Charon and I dated, sort of, a very long time ago. I know where the entrance is. I went in one time but only went as far as the river Styx. I wasn’t giving him my obol to cross. I saw what I wanted to see and left.” She gestured to me. “I can’t see ghosts like this one, so it just looked like a big, dark cave.” She took a sip. “It was a bit of a letdown, truth be told.”

Coco raised her hand, causing Stheno to laugh.

“Sam does that too. You can put your hand down and just ask.”

Coco looked uncomfortable but plowed on. “You said an obol. Is that the coin we have to give the Ferryman to take us across the river into the Underworld?”

Stheno nodded. “Yes. We always carry our obol. You never know when you might have a freak accident and die. Without your obol, you can’t cross. You linger on the shore with all the other abandoned souls.” She shivered. “No. I always have my obol with me.” She lifted the chain hanging around her neck to show us a small, silver coin.

“Problem,” Coco said. “I don’t have one of those.”

“I got you all covered.” Stheno went into one of her cargo pockets and took out a handful of silver coins. “We’re good.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Coco and Bracken nodded their thanks as well.

“And Hades,” Bracken began, “do you know him?”

Stheno tipped her head side to side. “We met briefly, long ago and far away. The thing with my sister caused a stir,” she elaborated, referring to Medusa. “I’m sure he has no memory of the meeting, but I’ll say he seemed a decent sort, as much as any of them are. He at least appeared to be concerned about my sister.”

Bracken glanced over at me. “That at least bodes well for us.”

Coco shook her head. “Hopefully he’s not as chaotic as Z⁠—”

Stheno hissed over the top of Coco, glaring at her. “Are you an idiot? We’re in the air! You don’t insult the one who could bring down this plane while we’re in the air. If a lightning bolt hits the engine, you could fly away. The rest of us will need to be pried out of the wreckage.”

Coco squinted at the insult and then her lips parted, a fireball on her tongue, ready to be spat across the cabin. Shitshitshit.

When Stheno reached for her eye patch, I jumped up between the two. Facing Stheno and risking a fireball to the back, I said in my most calming voice, “For you, that makes perfect sense. For us, they’re just stories we read about in school. It can be hard to rewire our brains to think of them as real. And in Coco’s case, I just asked her last night. She hasn’t even had twelve hours to prepare for this trip.”

Stheno threw her hands up in the air. “Well, I’m sitting here, aren’t I? Of course we’re all real. And you’re currently married to a myth, dead in the back room, so the disbelief is stupid.”

“I know it doesn’t make sense,” I told her, “but I’ve met you and Meg, and Clive and Vlad, and the rest. You’ve all become real people to me, but that doesn’t mean the rest is easy to wrap my mind around.”