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stones are what make them gods. Zeus became the Sky God and he fashioned his Kronolithe into an
iron thunderbolt. Poseidon, who was chosen as the god of the Oceanrealm, made his into a trident.
Hades drew the lot of overseeing the realm of the dead, and he made his Kronolithe into a golden
bident kind of like a two-pronged staff. That s where Christians get their stories about their devil
carrying a pitchfork. But it was also a Key.
 The Key of Hades? I read something in my mythology book about that. It was what he used to lock
and unlock the gates to the underworld. So the Key and the bident were one in the same? But how did
he lose it? The book said he never let the Key out of his sight.
I smile at Daphne. Her enthusiasm for the subject surprises me for someone who claims to want
nothing to do with my world.
She gives me a look that I can t read.
 What?
 You look different when you smile, she says.  You should do it more often.
 I ll try, I say, but my expression defaults back into my practiced mask. Why does smiling in front of
her make me feel so . . . vulnerable?  As for the answer to your question, I don t really know. There
are lots of versions of the story, and I don t really know what s myth and what s real, but according to
the version Master Crue taught us . . .
 In what, like, Underlord primary school? It would be impossible not to catch the sarcasm in her
voice.
 Something like that, I guess. According to that version, it was a traitor who stole it. A man who
begged for one thing but took something else instead.
 Who was he?
 Orpheus. There s a bite to my voice when I say his name. We ve been taught from the age we were
nurslings to despise him.
 The musician?
I nod.  He used his music to confound Hades manipulate his emotions. He begged for his wife to be
returned to him, and the goddess and god of the Underrealm were so moved by his songs that they
agreed to let him take her back to the mortal world. It wasn t until he was almost gone that they
realized that Orpheus had taken something else while they were distracted. The Key. Hades sent an
army of Keres to stop him. They grabbed Eurydice, but Orpheus escaped. Hades went after him in his
chariot, but he never returned. He was ambushed without his Kronolithe, and the Sky God struck him
down. Some say Orpheus was working for the Sky God; others say it was Orpheus s father, Apollo,
who orchestrated the theft, and that Hades death was unintentional. Others say Orpheus knew nothing
of what he was doing and acted purely out of fear he d stolen the bident so he could lock the main
gates, thinking nobody would be able to take his wife from him again. Whatever the case, the
treacherous deed was done. Hades was slain and the gates of the underworld have been locked tight
ever since, and the war has been at a virtual standstill.
 This may seem like an obvious question, but if Hades was the ruler of the land of the dead, and he,
you know, is dead, then why isn t he still in charge? And what about your mother? Why wouldn t she
still be with you there?
 It doesn t work that way. There are many different lands within the Underrealm, and three different
places souls go when they die. Tartarus is the land where people go if they have outrightly wronged
the Gods. It s a place of eternal torment, like what Christians and other religions believe to be their
version of Hell. People who die with glory and honor like victorious Champions, war heroes, and
the like go to the land of Elysium. It is what you would think of as heaven. But everyone else
becomes a nameless, faceless shade in the Wastelands. They re kind of what you would think of as
zombies. Hungry, insatiable, mindless souls.
 Normally, someone like Hades would have gone to Elysium, but as the stories go, fearing reprisal,
the Sky God refused to give his brother a proper burial, and dishonored him by scattering his body
throughout the Overrealm. As a result, Hades became just another shade, forced to wander the
Wastelands. Most people believe Tartarus is the worst possible fate that could befall a soul, but I
think it s the Wastelands. Because at least in torment, you re still yourself.
 I agree, she says.  So do you ever get to visit your mother in Elysium?
 My mother wasn t a Champion or a hero. Only the honored go to Elysium. She is just another shade
now.
 But there is more than one way to be honorable, she says.  Doesn t being a good person count for
anything?
I don t know how to respond to that. I ve never thought of honor in any other way than I have been
taught to consider it. I ve never imagined my mother being anywhere other than lost to me forever in
the Wastelands.  I don t know, I finally say.
 So what happened to the Key? she asks.
 Nobody knows. But Dax has a theory that we need the Cypher to find it.
 And that s supposed to be me?
 Yes.
 We ll see about that, she says.  Hey, wait a second. So how did you get here? If the gate is locked
and all?
 Through Persephone s Gate. It s kind of like a back door to the underworld. Demeter built it to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]