Hades (The God Chronicles #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

shining brightly by the door.
    I remained seated by the trash, my arms wrapped
around my blood covered body as I looked for signs of anything
supernatural lurking around me. The body of my attacker lay on the
ground next to me, the horrors of what he’d done still as real as
when I’d been lying trapped underneath him.
    Suddenly, my brain still struggling to come out
of the fog it’d been wrapped in, it occurred to me that I was
sitting next to a dead body. It was like a slap in the
face.
    I scurried to my feet, backing away from it
until I hit the back wall of the alley. It seemed like I should run
inside and say something, call the cops, do anything to take care
of it, but I couldn’t move. In my mind, a tiny voice whispered to
just leave and not say anything.
    What if I was blamed for the murder? I had no
proof it wasn’t me. Of course, I could claim self-defense. I looked
the part for sure.
    The voice whispered stronger, urging me to get
out of there before someone found us. I swallowed hard, not knowing
which way to go.
    The door to Barry’s started to open slowly and
I heard the noise from inside, someone tossing a bag out of the
door as they stood in the entryway, their back to me as they
laughed loudly at something someone. I could tell it was one of the
servers, but not which one.
    And then I made my decision.
    By the time the screaming started, I’d already
climbed over the wall and was running through the back parking lot,
seeking the comfort of my own truck to hide me from prying
eyes.
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    I flopped back onto my bed, my laptop sliding
off my crossed legs as I huffed in frustration.
    How on earth was I supposed to learn all I
could about Hades if there was virtually nothing to know about him?
There were such a small amount of myths that I’d literally read
them all in the space of an hour. A video search had turned up some
interesting documentaries, but they didn’t offer a whole lot of new
information either. The only other thing I could think of would be
to start getting into the more fictitious stories that had come out
recently, but I didn’t think that was what Erebos had intended for
me to do.
    The fact of the matter was the Greeks had
feared Hades so much, they didn’t talk about him. Surely, Erebos
would have known this. Why did he ask me to research someone with
so little written history?
    What I had found was somewhat disturbing
though; stories of kidnap and rape, resentment, and the horrors of
the Underworld. Hades did not sound like a good guy. What was even
worse, if Erebos was real, then he must be too, including all of
the horrible things he’d done during his existence.
    It was still a mystery to me why I needed to
know all of it.
    There was a knock on my bedroom door and Daddy
opened it a crack, peeking in.
    “Are you decent?” he asked.
    “Yeah, I just got out of the shower,” I said,
smiling tightly. “Come on in.”
    “Actually, there’s someone here to see you,” he
said grimly, his mouth a tight line.
    “Who is it?” I asked, recognizing his bad news
face.
    “The sheriff.”
    “Oh.”
    My heart began to beat faster, despite my brain
urging me to continue on normally.
    “I’ll be right down,” I said, successfully
sounding like nothing was wrong. “Just let me run a brush through
my hair.”
    “Sounds good.”
    The door shut quietly behind him and I let a
quick breath of panic escape me. Something in my gut told me he was
here to ask about my confrontation with the drunk in the
bar.
    I checked under my bed to make sure that my
bloody clothes from the night before were still safely locked away
in the box I’d put them in. I’d have to get rid of them soon it
seemed. After that, I did run a brush through my hair, combing out
any tangles I’d gained while lying down.
    When I left my room, I could hear Daddy and the
sheriff visiting together. The air in house seemed to be
electrically charged somehow.
    Maybe it was just me.
    “Sheriff,” I