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her voice.
    “Yeah, but you are all second to Persephone. She’s his queen,” I pointed out.
    “She is gone for half of the year. I come first when she is not here,” Leuce defended.
     She set the tray down roughly in front of me before stalking away.
    Damn, I don’t need any extra enemies down here. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that.”
    She stopped, and I took it as a signal to continue. “You’re just so beautiful. I don’t
     understand how he can put you second. You could probably do much better,” I complimented,
     attempting to get on her good side, thinking she might be able to help me escape.
    She turned and walked back towards me. “I guess you haven’t seen Persephone. She is
     pure beauty—flawless. Plus, a nymph like me could do no better than a God like Hades.”
    “Do you like living down here?”
    “Most of the time. It doesn’t matter since I can’t leave. He would just come back
     to Earth and reclaim me,” she said sadly.
    “If you help me escape, I’ll take you with me. I’ll protect you,” I offered.
    “Oh, I couldn’t do that. He would find me and punish me. Don’t let him hear you talk
     like that,” she replied fearfully before glancing around to make sure no one overheard
     what I said.
    “Do you want to eat?” she asked after a few moments, changing the subject.
    I looked at the tray, which had a sandwich, an apple, and some baby carrots. It smelled
     a lot better than that slop the Cyclops had brought me last time, but that didn’t
     matter. I couldn’t eat it anyway.
    “I’m not stupid, I know that if I eat anything down here, I’ll be bound, just like
     Persephone,” I informed her.
    A smirk tilted the corner of her mouth. “I told Hades that you wouldn’t be so easily
     fooled.”
    “Let me guess, he thought some stupid mortal wouldn’t know that law.”
    Softly laughing, she replied, “Those were almost his exact words.”
    I scoffed, “He really underestimates me.”
    Smiling, she picked up the tray before turning to leave. “I’ll leave you be.”
    Shit, this could be one of my only opportunities to escape. Women had to stick together,
     right? “Leuce, wait!” I called out to her, hoping she might help me.
    She turned and looked at me, giving me a smile. “Yes?”
    “Can you tell me how to get out of here?” I asked, figuring she would know the layout
     of the castle, if not the whole Underworld.
    Her face paled, and her smile faded before she wordlessly turned and hastily walked
     out, despite my repeated apologies and pleas for her to come back. I hoped that she
     wasn’t going to tell Hades that I had asked for her to let me go, and I wondered if
     I had made a huge mistake.

 
     
     
    I stumbled along the banks of the Acheron River in Greece. We had just been transported
     by the Oracle, and were all experiencing the side effects of teleportation. I braced
     my hands on my knees as I waited for the nausea to subside. I didn’t want to throw
     up what I had forced myself to eat, but it was hard to fight when combined with my
     withdrawals.
    I vomited my breakfast, and then proceeded to spit several times to get the residue
     out of my mouth. My throat was already becoming raw, and I felt like my energy was
     being siphoned from me every time I vomited. Behind me I heard someone else throwing
     up, followed by Kimber cursing.
    Once we had all regained our bearings, the Oracle spoke, “You must travel southwest
     until the Acheron flows underground. You will find Charon there. May the Gods’ favor
     be with you.”
    She disappeared following her statement, leaving Zane, Kimber, Kiera, and me to continue
     the journey by ourselves. I led in the direction the Oracle had instructed, and the
     others quickly followed.
    “I wonder how far it is,” Kiera said.
    “Doesn’t matter—all that matters is getting to Brielle,” I spat, agitated by this
     whole situation, especially my withdrawals from Brie. I hated how weak they made me,
     how