Love or Fate

T
he
beginning of book four finds our three heroines down and out. Destitute. Doomed. Banished to the one place they most dread, after a rousing road trip in which the Furies’ trickery and Thalia’s own stubborn use of her powers have wreaked havoc on the modern world.

Meanwhile back on earth, Apollo is only just beginning to learn the truth: that unless he can do something about it, Thalia and her sisters will be trapped in Hades for all eternity….

ONE

M
y
toes were
really
cold.

There was a single puddle in the boat, and I was standing in it. The water, if you could call it that, was so frigid, so dastardly cold that I thought my feet might be frozen clear through my purple glitter sneakers.

The past few minutes (or hours? Who really knew?) had been a blur. There was our evil stepmom, Hera, in our living room, the green smoke and evil laughter, then an explosion, the darkness, and the landing. It was the landing that had hurt.

We’d fallen with a thud on the bank of a stream, in a gruesomely gray and dusty cavern covered in deep and pungent moss. And immediately, before
we could really get a good look around, a man with a long white beard and a very large stick had emerged from the shadows in front of us, drifting in on a creaky old rowboat. He had known our names. He had called out, “Thalia, Polly, Era, please come with me,” and motioned us into the vessel we were standing in now.

And that was it; here we were, slowly rowing away from shore, on our way to gods knew where, with a creepy old man as our guide. But where
were
we? And what was next?

I looked around, trying to get some idea of the layout. The whole place was three shades darker than night—or at least it felt that way, though we could still see. All around us nothing looked familiar. This was becoming a pattern with us—my sisters and me. We’d found ourselves in unfamiliar surroundings more than once since Daddy had banished us.

But at least before, we’d had a goal—something to strive for. We’d had the challenges Daddy gave us—the ones that were supposed to help us learn our lesson so we could return home. Polly was supposed to get a life of her own, start doing things for herself and stop meddling in other people’s business, and Era was supposed to stop being such a pushover (and such a flirt, too) and learn to stand on her own
two feet. And me, well, I was supposed to try and be more selfless. I’d been getting there. Sort of.

Now that might not matter. Because I’d used my forbidden powers. We all had, but mostly me—all because I had kinda fallen for this guy Dylan from Denver and was willing to scour the globe to find him. And Hera—who, apparently, had been just waiting for us to mess up—had caught us. And we’d ended up being sent here, wherever
here
was.

Of course, I had a pretty good idea. And a pretty good idea of who the creepy old man driving the boat was. But I wasn’t ready to accept it quite yet. Hera’s last words before everything went black had made it pretty clear that we were where she’d been threatening to send us all along, but she couldn’t have really succeeded in doing it, could she? I mean, goddesses weren’t supposed to go to Hades—it just wasn’t done. And even though this place certainly looked like I’d always imagined Hades to look, and our guide certainly looked like he could be the famous Charo himself
*
, it could be a coincidence. Maybe this was just a back way home to Olympus. Or maybe it was a trick to make us
think
we were in Hades when really we were in our little house in Athens, Georgia, under some sort of spell. There could be lots of explanations.

Maybe my sisters could think of one. We hadn’t
said a word to each other since we’d arrived, and now that I glanced over at them, I could see why. Polly and Era looked exhausted and sickly and incapable of speech. They were still in their clothes from the last leg of our road trip—unwashed and worse for the wear. The humidity of this place was wreaking havoc on their hair. Huge, dark circles were etched under their wide, panicked eyes. I had never seen either of them looking quite so bad.

They were standing in the farthest corner of the boat, their arms around each other, staring at Charo (he was Charo, I was sure of it) like he was some sort of majorly powerful being controlling our destinies. Which he couldn’t be, despite how creepy he looked. He was only a servant to the gods, doing what he was told. And we were gods, weren’t we?

“Excuse me, sir, but where are we going, exactly?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. “In case you haven’t realized it, we’re goddesses and our daddy is Zeus, and you probably want to—yeowww!”

Polly had shifted forward and kicked me in the shin. Okay, maybe I could have been a little more polite.

But Charo didn’t seem to care either way. Without so much as a look at me, he kept rowing
steadily, his skeletal hands grasping the oars tightly, and only replied, “You will find out soon enough.” Then he shut his lips tight.

“Okay, well, I was just asking,” I muttered, casting a hurt look at Polly.

“Thalia, can you please try to keep from making things worse than they already are?” she hissed. “Haven’t you done enough already?” My older sister crinkled her freckled, turned-up nose at me and then shot it into the sky with contempt.

“Oh, so this is all my fault, right?” I hissed back. “I’m the only one who used my powers and broke Hera’s rules, right? And who exactly turned the dogs into alligators, hmmm?” Of course, I knew full well it had been my two sisters and not me.

“Actually, it was the alligators into dogs—the dogs into alligators was an unfortunate side effect,” said Era, nervously twirling her blond curls.

“Oh, be quiet!” Polly and I snapped in unison.

Immediately I regretted it, but one look at Era told me she was somewhere else. She was just staring beyond the bow of the boat as we pushed farther out into what seemed to be an endlessly flowing river. The only thing moving on her face was her bottom lip. It was quivering.

“You know, Polly, we’ve all used magic. We are
all to blame. Or rather, none of us are to blame. It’s Hera’s fault, really,” I said.

Polly sucked in her breath, ready to heap a whole slew of fury upon me. “Why, after all this you still won’t take responsibility for what you’ve done! And I thought—”

Moannnnn, moan, moan.

Polly stopped in midsentence.

“What was that?” whispered Era, snapping back to reality, her eyes darting back and forth.

“I heard it, too,” I said.

Moannnnn, moan, moan.

“That’s
the
moan,” said Charo in a slow gothic manner, still staring straight ahead. “This here is Acheron, the River of Moaning.”

“It’s certain, then—we’re in Hades!” cried Polly, who had been holding on to one last shred of hope.

Okay, okay. So we were in Hades. But surely we wouldn’t have to stay long—Daddy wouldn’t allow it. And the underworld is an awfully big place. Some parts of it are better than others.

“Do you remember where the River of Moaning went?” I asked. “Was it to the Elysian Fields? Or the Castle of King Hades? Or was it to Ta—”

“Don’t say it!” snapped Polly
*
.

Of course we’d never been here before, but every
young god knows all about Hades. It’s the underworld, deep beneath the earth—the world where the souls of the dead go. But it isn’t all bad. Some folks go to Elysium, which is supposed to be quite delightful, with soft green meadows and lovely orange groves. And then there is the Castle of King Hades, which is lively, or so I’m told. There are rules, though I couldn’t remember them right then, about who goes where and why and for how long.

Then there are the awful places—the ones we didn’t want to think about. The different rivers all lead to different areas. I couldn’t remember where the River of Moaning led to.

“
Who
is moaning, exactly?” asked Era bravely, casting a glance in Charo’s direction.

Charo’s eyes got all big and wide. “The souls of those who have come before you,” he breathed.

“Oh, stop, you’re creeping us out,” I replied. “He’s just saying it like that, in that scary voice, to upset you, Era. Don’t pay any heed.” But Era’s complexion had paled considerably, and my own flesh was crawling.

“So these people, these moaners, they’re, um, dead?” asked Era.

“This is obviously his shtick, Era—you know, scare the new arrivals,” I said defiantly. “It’s probably not even real.”

“That sounds very real, Thalia,” said Polly as she looked high and low. Her shoulders were hunched over, and she was shivering.

“Hey, I know, let’s moan back. C’mon,” I tried. “Moannnn. Moannnnn.” I was trying to make a bad situation better. Really, I was.

“It’s not wise to poke fun at the dead, Miss Thalia,” said Charo in a haunted creepy way, his head finally swiveling on his wrinkly old neck to look at me. His eyes were absolutely black, like the blackest Olympian night.

“I’m not poking fun—it’s just…it’s just, well…” Polly and Era and even Charo were staring at me, waiting for an explanation. “Um…”

I gave up. I knew I
couldn’t
explain it. It was just that I thought if I acted like all of this wasn’t so bad, it might make us all feel better. But inside, I felt awful. I felt doomed. I felt serious guilt, no matter what I’d said to Polly. More than anything, I felt like something terrible was on the way.

Just then a shadow appeared above us. It swooped across the sky, and then it was gone.

“Did you guys see that?” I whispered. Polly and Era just gave me questioning looks. Maybe I was going crazy. Maybe the stress had been too much for me. Maybe it was my imagination.

I turned toward the sky again, straining my eyes for
another glimpse. Nothing. I looked all around us. Nothing. Only I noticed the moaning that had started so suddenly a few moments before had suddenly stopped again. Everything had gone very still. And very quiet.

Until Era’s bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

I whipped around. And could hardly believe my eyes. Above us—just above our heads—was a giant winged monster with a hideous, long-pointed beak. And its claws were clasping a thick wad of my sister’s golden hair!

“Squawk! Mine! Squawk!” it shrieked.

Its beak looked like it could drill a hole deep in Era’s precious, beautiful head. It dug its sharpened talons into her shoulder. A droplet of red seeped through her lacy camisole.

“Help meeeeeeeee!” she shrieked.

Polly stood up, leaping toward Era, and the whole boat rocked violently, almost capsizing the vessel and sending us into the water. Polly fell with a thud at our feet.

“Squawk! Mine! Squawk!”

Era swung wildly at the creature, which only made it angrier. It clutched her shoulder with its claws and began to lift her up and out of the boat!

I had to do something.
“Theresius propidorious releasius!”
I yelled, waggling my nose extra fast. But nothing.
I did it again. Nada. Our powers—were they gone?

Era’s feet were now a full foot off the boat, but Polly had managed to grab her toes and was pulling down with all her might.

I took a step forward to help, but I, too, was thrown off balance, falling backward against the bow. So I did the only thing I could think of to do. Yanking hard at my sneaker, so hard, I practically pulled off my foot, I arched my arm back behind my shoulder and hurled the shoe at the
thing.

“Owww!” The creature yanked a few of Era’s golden strands from her head and then dropped her hard on the filthy seat. The boat continued to rock crazily as the creature hung over the boat. Era cowered, crying in the corner, rubbing her head. Polly, too, was sobbing hysterically.

I, on the other hand, was ready for action. I pulled off my other sneaker and got ready to throw it because the creature was still above us and clearly ready for more. But just as it gathered itself for another swoop, Charo threw his skinny gray arm into the air, palm facing out.

“Stop!” he bellowed, in a voice that seemed like it couldn’t have come from his tiny, ancient body. The river seemed to ripple with the sound.

And amazingly, for some reason, the creature froze in midair, its wings flapping only to keep it aloft.

“Not this one, Harpy,” Charo said, his voice going back to a monotone. “This one is a goddess. Off-limits. Be on your way.”

“Yeah, we’re goddesses,” I said, recovering my balance now but still keeping my sneaker poised to throw.

The thing, the Harpy, continued to hover. Its face, now that I could see it better, looked almost human, except for the beak.

“Go away,” said Charo again, slowly and, if you ask me, not forcefully enough.

I put my free arm around Era to reassure her. “Yeah. Did you hear him? We’re goddesses. You can’t hurt us. And we’re only visiting.”

With that the Harpy let out another squawk, only this one sounded more like a laugh—a sound that sent chills to the very tips of my toes. But still, it actually turned and flew away, melting into the darkness as we watched.

It was only after the Harpy was out of sight that I noticed Charo was staring at me, an odd, almost satisfied look on his face. “No, Miss Thalia. You’re wrong about that. No one just visits. Once you’ve passed a full day and a full night in Hades, you have come to stay.”

I forgot about the Harpy. I forgot about pretending this all wasn’t as bad as it seemed. I just stared back. It couldn’t be true. I knew about that old
twenty-four-hour rule—everybody knows about that—but like he’d said, we were
goddesses.
It was different for us. Wasn’t it?

Polly’s head was down turned, and her long straight hair was covering her face, but I could see from her posture that what Charo had just said had sent her into utter despair. Era started rocking back and forth, rubbing her curls and muttering gibberish.

“C’mon, now. Get real. There’s been a mistake. Daddy wouldn’t allow it. Daddy wouldn’t stand for it. Daddy will get us out of here.” I was yelling now, I’m sure, but I couldn’t stop. How could it be possible that we’d never see our sisters or our home or our dad again? And then there was Apollo. What if I never got to talk with him and tell him how sorry I was, and how much I cared for him after all?

Charo just sort of, well…he actually…I think he may have…smiled.

No. It simply couldn’t be true. A day or two, a week, or a month, and Daddy would realize what had happened. Somebody—Hermes or somebody else—would notice we were missing from our little house in Athens (surely Hera wasn’t talking) and inform him of what our stepmom had done. And surely he’d save us then. Surely.

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