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“Now that makes sense,” Vlad responded. “Why would she care about Hades’ happiness? I don’t remember any stories where the two of them were on the same side. I think they mostly ignore one another.”

“You mean, in the stories written by humans that are most likely incorrect,” Benvair pointed out.

Vlad nodded. “Precisely. We can’t know, but speculation seems better than ignorance at this point. Especially as they’re making a habit of visiting us.”

The back door opened and every eye in the room went to the cloaked figure gliding to the last stool at the bar. The bartender came out of the backroom, poured a mug of grog, and slid it in front of the ferryman.

Clive left his seat and approached Charon. “Excuse my interruption, but could you share any news about our people?”

His cloak barely moving, Charon remained silent.

Clive tried again. “Perhaps you could assure us whether or not they crossed the Styx safely?”

The hood of the cloak dipped briefly and then that deep whisper of a voice said, “Yes.”

Benvair stood and moved beside Clive. “And my granddaughter? Is she all right?”

Clive hadn’t realized Benvair spoke Greek.

The hood moved as Charon turned to look at Benvair. At least that was what Clive assumed he was doing. “Don’t know,” he wheezed. “They were fine, but then Stheno opened her mouth.”

Clive and Benvair froze. “What do you mean?” Clive asked. “What happened?”

The hood turned back to the bar. Eventually, he rasped, “She insulted a goddess who took offense. What should have been an easy journey turned into a long and difficult one.”

“Are they alive?” Benvair demanded.

A ripple ran through his cloak. “I don’t know. If they are, they might not stay that way.”

Chapter 16

FE FI FO FUM

And so the walk continued. Let me just say, the Underworld is freaking vast. Stheno was still in the lead, with Coco and Bracken back to discussing Medieval history behind me. Stheno turned a corner and I heard her footsteps stop. I hurried forward and soon realized why she’d stopped. We’d entered another huge chamber. Historically, these hadn’t worked out well for us.

A ball of light zipped around the corner, and we were able to take it all in. The ceiling had to be at least fifty or sixty feet high, with pillars throughout, supporting it. I moved to the side, squinting into the murky depths, and my shoe made a strange sound. I rubbed my foot against the ground and a crust of dirt came away, revealing a tile floor.

“Look,” I whispered as Coco and Bracken turned the corner and came up behind us. “The floor is tile. Do you think this is some kind of meeting hall?”

“I don’t know,” Coco said quietly, “but we should move through here quickly. A few of the pillars have fallen and it looks like there was a cave-in.” She squinted up into the dark recesses of the cavern. “No one make any loud noises in case we start an avalanche of dirt.”

Stheno started moving again. There were giant piles of dirt on both ends of the downed pillars. She went closer, I assumed to determine the best way over them. It only took a moment before she was backing away slowly. Grabbing Bracken and me by the arms, she stared at Coco and tipped her head, telling her to follow us.

Once we were back in the tunnel, she whispered, “Those aren’t fallen pillars.”

Loud rumbling came from the cavern, making me jump. That was unmistakably the locomotive echo of a snore.

Her finger jabbed back toward the cavern. “That, my children, is a sleeping giant.”

Coco leaned back and looked around the corner, her brow furrowed, trying to make sense of the dark shapes. When she finally had, she flinched and rushed back to us. “It is!” she whisper-shouted. “That’s a whole-ass giant. And I don’t mean that’s a really tall guy. I mean, in my other skin, he still dwarfs me.”

“Quick,” I said. “What do we know about giants? How do we defeat them?”

Coco shook her head. “Screw defeating them. We need to tiptoe past him while he’s sleeping.”

I nodded. “I like that. That’s our Plan A. If he wakes, though, what are his weaknesses?”

“Not many,” Bracken said, “but I defer to Stheno. What I know, I learned through books.”