Chapter 48: We stood still for a few minutes, even Fang, before he put his nose to the ground and moved forward again, looking for the trail, and trying to pretend that he had not likely been holding his breath like the rest of us. In the meantime, Phoenix berated me. “Artemis! What were you thinking? Meeting Hades himself?” “I have an idea,” I responded, hoping she wouldn’t wet-blanket it and we would end up meeting Hades for nothing. “Mom has the weapon of Hell itself, whatever that is. And Thanatos just said that she is playing a daring game that he may not exactly like. And Vera was afraid war might actually break out. Why don’t we hire Hell to help us?” “Hire- you act like Hell is full of mercenaries!” “Technically, it shouldn’t be. In practice, sometimes it is,” Fang noted. “You know what I mean,” Phoenix insisted. “But instead of risking Hades’s wrath, we could ask him for permission,” I continued. “Did I not tell you earlier that so many people have come asking for boons from him and so many were refused?” “Well, it’s too late to go back anyway,” Fang of Blood noted. “What is the weapon of Hell?” I asked. Phoenix went silent. Fang of Blood lifted his head and spoke. “The weapon of Hell can only be the mirror demons. Perhaps some of the most powerful beings in Hell. The fact that Agatha has managed to ‘use’ them is proof that Hell might just be full of mercenaries. Though I highly doubt Hades allowed that to happen just like that, he really does not like Agatha.” “I can use this then. See? It’s not so unreasonable,” I justified myself. “Provided he doesn’t hate the daughter of Agatha like he hates Agatha herself,” Phoenix pointed out. “And now you need to prove yourself worthy of his alliance. Though I suppose we don’t have a choice.” “Why does Hades hate Agatha?” “Only because she cheated death.” Author's Note: ...How? Can I have the manual? -Jenna
Chapter 49: “Because she what?” I exclaimed. “I found the trail again, apparently she stopped by the hellhounds. I can find things out there,” Fang said. “Can I recover from the shock of the fact that my mother just cheated death first?” I snapped. Fang snorted but stopped. “She didn’t cheat her own death, she cheated her husband's death.” “My father’s death?” I asked. “No, she had a husband before that. Christof. He’s dead now, of course, but Hades never got over the fact that she actually dared to come down to Hell and steal him from under Thanatos’s very nose.” “How in the world did she do that?” “Who knows? All we know is that she did it, and succeeded for 3 years before he died again.” Fang said. “And Hades could not punish her because it’s not her time for death, and because of her power.” I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again. “Let’s move on.” Author's Note: What amazing restraint -Jenna
