Chapter Twenty Six

## Twenty Six

"We need to get him to the Anchor," said Melinoë as her father went limp. Her hands pressed tightly against the chest wound, attempting to staunch the flow of ichor. Half the clothing on his chest had burned to ash from the heat of the ichor. Hades' leather top coat remained, but it was no longer whole. It, too, was singed and smoking.

Makaria looked across her father's ichor-soaked chest. Her pale red eyes' gaze met her sister's. She said nothing, the words getting caught in her throat. The gaze fell back to her father's face, finding a hand stroking his cheek. It took her a long moment of confusion before she realized it was her caressing her father's face. "What about his killers? Are we just letting them go?"

Melinoë gasped. "His killers?! Makaria, our father still lives!" she said.

Makaria kept her focus on her father's still expression. Her fingers traced his hairline. "He's so peaceful..."

Taking a deep breath, Melinoë looked at her hands. Her elbow-length gloves were nothing but straps of singed leather held together by bits of string. Keeping one hand pressed to the wound, Melinoë reached across her father and grabbed Makaria by her sleeve. The heat of the ichor on her grip began to burn through the clothing immediately.

"Hey!" Makaria shouted as she grabbed her sister's wrist and tried to relieve herself of the clenching hand. "Let me go, you're-"

"You feel that?" asked Melinoë. "The heat of his ichor? Take that as evidence that he still lives!" she shouted. "I need your help, sister. We need to get him to the temple. If we want to keep him alive, we need to get him to the Haven. There is only one god who can save him!"

With a long blink and a solid nod, Makaria told her sister she understood. The shock of seeing her father so vulnerable had lifted. As the ichor burned through her sleeve, causing most of it to slide down her arm and bunch up on her forearm, Makaria reached under her father's body and raised him off the floor. Her left arm cradled his head as her right arm placed itself midway between his knees and buttocks. "I'll get him to the temple."

Melinoë stood up, casting off what little was left of her gloves as she did so. "No, we will."

Makaria nodded and then hastily fled from the dining hall, her father in her grip. As they returned to the lobby, she noticed movement in the corner of her eyes. She skidded to a halt. There was a door behind the fireplace, still shifting. Whoever opened the door did so in great haste or panic and partially tore the old door from its jam. "Mel, do you think they went that way?"

The green-haired sister shook her head. "I don't care about them, we need to continue on to the temple."

"Wait," said Makaria. "We can't run through the streets like this."

"We'll take the horses," Melinoë assured her. "Nothing is faster than they are."

"But there are mortals," said Makaria. "If they saw father bleeding-"

Melinoë scoffed. "I don't care about any of that. I only care-"

A cacophony of feral snarling, a bestial roar, and frantic panting gave both sisters pause. Turning to the sound, the sister saw something block the beams of moonlight that entered through the Orchard House's boarded-up front doors. The floor shook as a tremendous weight approached before the massive doors turned to splinters that sprayed across the room. Entering the lobby of the once grand and opulent Orchard House was the magnificent three-headed hound of Hades.

"Cerberus!" shouted Melinoë, with a sigh of relief.

The hound aggressively sniffed the air with his blue-eyed head. The head with red eyes scanned the room, snarling as it searched for its prey. His body stepped forward, the green-eyed head spying the limp body of his master in Makaria's arms. Suddenly, the other two heads joined the middle head, quickly overwhelmed by sadness as all six ears slumped downward. Three sad, distressed moans seemed to harmonize as the beast shrank in size and approached. The blue-eyed head sniffed Hades' hair as the middle head pressed its nose against the dangling hand. Finally, the last head simply lowered itself, gazing at the floor.

"Cerberus," said Melinoë, "where is Hypnos and the horses? We need them to take Hades to the temple."

The hound's blue-eyed head turned to gaze at Melinoë. The intelligent beast nodded as the two other heads placed themselves under his master's body.

"He wants me to climb on," Makaria said as two snouts bumped up against her thighs. She gasped. "I can ride Cerberus through town. No one who sees us will notice the bleeding god if they're too busy running out of the way of the Hound of Archeron!"

Melinoë nodded enthusiastically. "Go! Do it!"

Makaria simply turned to sit on the neck of the blue-eyed head, which then lifted her up and dropped her onto the base of the middle head's neck, her father laid out in front of her, supported by the other two heads' necks. "What about you?"

"I'll find Hypnos and join you later," said Melinoë. "Go!" she cried out.

"Be safe, sister!" Makaria said, lightly kicking Cerberus with the back of her booted feet.

"And you be fast!" Melinoë replied.

Lowering herself to duck under the doorway as Cerberus bolted from the room, Makaria sat up to realize her jacket and blouse were smoldering as she had pressed her bosom against her father's wound. Sighing, she clamped her hand over her father's wound as her other hand stabilized herself by gripping a horn of the green-eyed head.

Cerberus was nearly as fast as Hades' steeds when he was allowed to run at full tilt; however, as he advanced toward the temple, he did so at a hasty but not reckless pace. The beast balanced his master on his three heads and tore through the streets, being somewhat cautious not to cause mass destruction with his gargantuan size and tremendous speed. As the hound bounded out of the district, he saw a crowded street ahead and let out two abrasive howls.

"No," said Makaria, shaking her head. It would take too long for those people to clear out. They were drunkards coming and going from a locally popular tavern, and the howling had only caused them to panic. "Go up, Cerberus! Up!"

The green-eyed head nodded. The beast leaped up, perching briefly on a moving trolley going through the center of the street. The monstrosity's weight pushed the metal roof, the passengers inside let out distressed screams as its glass windows shattered, and the street train tilted to one side. Fortunately for the mortals inside, the beast moved quickly from them, bounding to the side of the sturdier brick building opposite the tavern. With his sharp, strong claws gouging the brick and mortar, Cerberus scrambled to the building's roof.

From this vantage point, it was easy to see the Great Temple of Thebes. It was lit up at night by robust essence tubes, basking it in golden light. A literal beacon of hope, thought Makaria as she urged the hound toward it.

Jumping from one rooftop to another, the mighty hound caused buildings to tremble. Cerberus caused significant damage to the architecture as it knocked over chimneys, tore up clay roof tiles, smashed through heating vents, and collected several laundry lines around its legs. As the beast ran and she felt the chill of the night air on her breasts, Makaria thought to grab a peacoat from the air as its laundry line snapped and the wind caught it. Her partially exposed breasts did not concern her, but still, she would rather be decent if her father became conscious again.

As they approached the temple, Cerberus had run out of buildings and had to drop down into the plaza leading up to the temple. It was relatively empty, with only a few lovers out for strolls, temple lamplighters hauling trash away, and some beggars seeking out the temple grounds for shelter. Still, the beast released a ferocious bark from its green-eyed head, splashing its acidic venom into the air, warning people to vacate its path. Its auxiliary heads shot glares to reinforce the urgency.

Looking ahead, Makaria saw two templars flanking the temple doors, running toward the hound, only to realize what they were seeing and turn on their heels. "No!" Makaria shouted to them. "You two, open the damn doors!"

The templars did not appear to register the goddess' command as they continued to bolt away. Cerberus did not slow down; he simply let his blue-eyed head release a bolt of its icy breath. As the door froze instantly, the red-eyed head released a fierce heat wave. The creature charged in with the door thus compromised, causing the door to splinter much as he had with the Orchard House's door.

The beast then shrank in size to accommodate the narrower space inside the temple between its massive columns. Finally, Makaria dismounted the beast, sliding between two necks while leaving Hades on its back. The beast used its tail to help balance the god on its back as it ran alongside Makaria, slipping the peacoat on as she ran toward the Anchor at the opposite end of the grand hall. "By the decree of the Stygian Gods, I order you to open that gate!" she called out as she ran past the shrines of the minor gods and dashed between the shrines of her older brother Dionysus and cousin Hermes.

As the goddess and three-headed beast bolted by the shrines of Hephaestus and Apollo, and Artemis and Aphrodite, there was no sign of the priest with the Ascension Key. "I am Makaria, Goddess of Mercy! Is there no one that will listen to my command?!" she cried out as she ran by the shrines for Ares, Artemis, Poseidon, Demeter, Zeus, and Hera. By the time she reached the altar, her cries had gone unanswered. She screamed as she finally came to a complete stop and scanned the altar's alcove to find no one wielding the Key. "Damn you!" she cried out to the few scattered members of the clergy that were visible.

"My apologies," said a chalice-marked priest as he stepped forward. "The Ascension Key is being cleaned. I can fetch the Pontifex and-"

"Do it!" screamed Makaria. "Whatever you must do, go and do it! I need to ascend this instant!" she cried as Cerberus released a fit of howls, growls, and snorts.

Scrambling, the priest turned and fled the room, as did several other priests and priestesses, leaving only one nervous templar holding his ground to guard the Anchor.

"There is no time," Hades weakly said as he lifted his head, only to quickly be met by the nuzzling of Cerberus' frosty snout.

Makaria shook her head. "Don't say that, father... We made it this far, this is just a-"

Hades winced as he rolled off Cerberus and then stumbled to his side. Makaria rushed in to help him, but he pushed her away. "Stand back!" he commanded as he threw his right hand into the air as his left forearm held him upright against the temple's main altar.

"Father," said Makaria as she backed up and found a shrunken Cerberus caressing her hip. "You mustn't be on your feet, you-"

"Be quiet, daughter," he said, wincing with his eyes closed and his face tensed. "I command it..." he sneered, in tremendous pain. His shirt was gone, and his coat was little more than bits of burned leather clinging to his skin. His wound had closed. It was black and scabby, with black veins webbed across his chest, pulsating with a dim red shimmer that matched his weak heartbeat.

His ichor was turning to blood in the vein. He had likely burned through his body's reserves of Ambrosia to seal the wound, staunching the loss of ichor but at the cost of trapping the adamant bullet inside him. Hades let out a weak groan as his hand trembled, his fingers reaching for something that was out of his grasp.

Makaria took a step forward, but the blue-eyed head of Cerberus put itself against her thigh and pushed her back, whimpering. She understood the message clearly enough. Leave my master alone, the beast had told her. She nodded as she gave the creature a pat with her hand, her glove flaking off her hand as she did so. She wanted to tell her father to rest, but she would keep her tongue silent as he commanded.

Then as her father collapsed, Makaria stepped forward again, only to hear a strange distant whir and find Cerberus' teeth clamp onto her peacoat and pull her back. From his slumped-over position, Hades' right hand pointed to the Ascension Anchor, and as he did, his Bident came flying through the grand hall. Its necrotic essence crackling in its wake, summoned by the will of its master.

The Bident struck the Anchor and ignited it, opening a gate to the ether as the weapon itself disappeared into the white glow in the tear in reality. Not wasting any time, Makaria pushed past the hound and grabbed her father, lifting him to his feet as she then dropped him onto the beast's back.

"Go!" commanded the goddess as the beast was already bolting. She was on Cerberus' heels, vaulting over the altar and scattering its offerings onto the temple floor. She stumbled upon landing, herself weary and distressed, but managed to aim her body through the tear before landing onto whatever substance served as the featureless floor of the ether. As she scrambled on the floor, Makaria found the Bident, picked it up and pointed its twin blades toward the tear in reality.

With the seal made, the ether fell eerily quiet. Makaria could hear her heart pounding in her chest and that of Cerberus. If Hades' heart was still beating, it was too weak for even her sharp divine senses to detect. She did her best not to think about that as Gate to the Haven finally opened, allowing her to charge in with the Bident and leave Cerberus to carry Hades out of the ether.

"Help!" Makaria screamed as she ran through the foyer, making her way toward the throne room doors. "Anyone?!" she cried out. "Hades has been shot! I need Asclepius! Where is he?!" she screamed, knowing the Divine Surgeon was unlikely to be in his clinic at this late hour.

There was silence as her concerned eyes let their gaze drift to the whimpering heads of her father's hound.

Watching her sister disappear into the night, Melinoë stood on the sloped doorstep. A strange giggle escaped her lips without her noticing. She turned to her left and saw Hypnos stepping out of an alley with the leads for four jet black horses. The creatures snorted restlessly as Hypnos saw the Stygian princess and crossed the street. Closing the distance to the drowsy god, meeting him halfway in the street, Melinoë motioned to some small rings built into the exterior wall of the Orchard House. "Hitch the steeds there," she said. "I need you inside."

Blinking, Hypnos did not question his master's daughter. However, as he secured the first lead into the ring, he looked over his shoulder. "I should say that Cerberus got away from me. I- I- I don't know what came over the creature. He just suddenly tore off and-"

Melinoë shook her head. "That doesn't matter, Hypnos. Cerberus is fine," she said, glancing down the street where the sudden sound of layered screams in the distance had originated.

With a flat expression and a slow blink, Hypnos waited for the goddess to return her gaze to him. "Are you sure about that?"

Nodding, Melinoë moved to the Orchard House's blown open doorway. "I am. Hitch the horses and find me inside," she said, walking away with a bouncy gait, a twirl, and a hop. Once she found herself away from the inattentive eyes of Hypnos, she let herself stumble to the lounge area of the lobby. Gripping the headrest of a fainting chair, Melinoë found herself breathing frantically.

Your father is dead.

Melinoë shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to will the voice into submission. As the pulse beating inside her mind grew stronger, she bit her lip as her fingers gripped the upholstery tighter, the fabric's integrity beginning to wane in her grip. The voice became louder.

The God of the Dead is himself dead.

You are responsible for this.

How dare you fail your family?

What will your mother say?

The voice had become a layered cacophony, each demanding to be heard, each feeding on her torment and becoming more assertive. She could not feel her heartbeat as it was overshadowed by the throbbing rhythm of her brain. A gray cloud crept into the darkness of her closed eyes' gaze. The gray became an inky blackness as the voices intensified.

"Melinoë?"

The voice pulled back to the moment. Melinoë opened her eyes as the voices subsided. She was lying on the fainting chair, and Hypnos was standing over her with tired eyes bearing a concerned gaze. He stepped forward and took her hand in his as she sat up. She thanked him silently with a dainty smile.

"Is something amiss?" he asked.

Melinoë shook her head. "No, just..." she shook her head and bit her lip.

"Melinoë, you're crying," said the drowsy god. "Melinoë..."

Melinoë nodded as she raised her fingers to her damp cheeks. She had not been crying. Instead, she had been bawling without realizing it. Her makeup must have been smeared all over her face, making her already disturbing appearance much more haunting. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked at her fingertips, blackened by her tears and runny makeup.

"Melinoë?"

"I heard you," she said, nodding. Then, after a long moment, she turned her mismatched eyes' gaze to the drowsy god. He had lovely eyes, even if they were half-covered by his droopy eyelids.

"Did you?" asked Hypnos.

Melinoë blinked and said nothing. Had she heard him? Had she blacked out as she was said to do? She could not say either way now. So, with no words at the ready, she smiled and giggled.

"Where is your sister? Where is your father?" asked the sleepy god.

Melinoë's laughter died as her shoulder slumped. How could he ask her that? She bit her lip, hiding her frown with her teeth. She felt a tight hold in her chest as an odd mass formed in her throat. "Hypnos, they're-" she gasped at his face changed in a flicker. His concern turned to shock.

She had blacked out. She blinked and tilted her head. "What did I just say?" she asked, grabbing his sleeve and leaning toward him. "Please, tell me..."

Hypnos put his hand on her shoulder and gave a lazy smile. "You told me that your sister reached the Anchor?"

With a relieved sigh, Melinoë buried her face in the sleeping god's chest. Her makeup blackened his tunic—or was it a sleeping gown tucked into his trousers? She giggled and pulled back, looking him in the eyes. "That's great! What about my father?" she asked.

"Your father?" asked Hypnos. "You said... You didn't say anything," he explained. He shook his head. "Nothing about your father. What is there to be said about your father?" he asked, then fell silent. "Has something happened to Hades?!" he asked, jumping to his feet with urgent haste that seemed impossible for the lethargic deity.

Melinoë followed him to her feet. "Calm down," she said, grabbing his collar and pulling his lankier and taller frame down to her level. "My sister has my father. She will not let any further harm come to him."

"Further harm?!" exclaimed Hypnos. He ran his hand through his shaggy head of hair and panted. "Golly, Melinoë, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to your father," he said, out of breath. "He's been... He's always been good to me. I don't know if I could go back to how things were before he took over. I- I just can't-"

Melinoë rolled her eyes as she grabbed the god's shoulders and pulled him into her lips, planting a sloppy kiss on him that sealed his mouth shut for a moment. Her mismatched eyes watched as his droopy eyelids melted into the kiss, slowly closing as the god's mind drifted elsewhere. Then with a giggle, she reeled back but kept hold of the god swaying almost weightlessly on his feet.

He will die, too.

Skewer!

Two voices made themselves known. Melinoë's eyes scanned her surroundings, but the trickle of her right ear gave her most pause. Then, turning her gaze to the right, Melinoë saw the hallway that led to the dining hall. A second later, she saw the Bident launch from where it had been embedded in the wall and fly into the lobby, its crackling blades leading the way.

"No!" Melinoë shouted as she tackled the dizzy god, bringing him to the floor with her landing on top of him.

Hypnos' eyes shot fully open as his breath left his lungs. He and the goddess turned their heads to watch the weapon fly out the door and immediately fly up into the sky. "Hades!" shouted Hypnos before shifting his head to look into Melinoë's eyes as he excitedly gripped her shoulders. "He's fine! Only he could summon that weapon! That means he's fine... right?"

It means no such thing.

Shut up, usurper!

Traitor god! Rot in filth!

Giggling, Melinoë nodded. "Yeah..." she said, not entirely convinced herself. "That's exactly what it means," she said with a faint nod. She then found a flood of weird ideas flooding her brain, but she willed herself to push those aside. She had work to do, so she sat and got to her feet. She stroked her chin, glancing at Hypnos as he clambered to his feet. "Do you happen to have a tulip or a flute on you?"

Blinking, the god shook his head as he yawned and shrugged. "No," he said, smacking his lips.

Melinoë nodded and giggled. "Are you a snake charmer, by any chance?"

Hypnos shook his head. "No..." he paused, blinked, left his mouth ajar, and let his jaw slack for a moment. "Uh... Why do you ask?"

With a shrug, her eyes locked on the broken door behind the fireplace. "Oh, uh, no reason," she said absently as she wandered over. "Just, thought maybe that would have been a good moment to play a game."

Hypnos shook his head and followed the weird princess. "What sort of game requires a snake charmer, a tulip, and a... a flute, was it?"

Gazing into the darkness surrounding the descending stairs, Melinoë smiled. "I have no idea, but I was eager to find out," she said as she snatched the drowsy god's hand and pulled him into the dark staircase with her.

Stumbling behind her, Hypnos nervously chuckled. "I'm not sure you heard me correctly," he said.

"I heard you," Melinoë said as she walked haphazardly down in the darkness, leaving Hypnos to clumsily snatch a lantern from the wall and light it with faint blue chthonic essence. "Do you love me?"

Hypnos stopped his tracks, but as Melinoë did not release his hand, he was jerked downward clumsily. As he regained his balance, he stammered and tried to concoct some response to her sudden question. "You're my princess. I- I adore you," he said with a shy grin lit by faint lantern light.

Melinoë giggled as she suddenly stopped. "I love you, too," she said with a firm nod. "Which is odd," she said, stroking her chin with her free hand's fingertips. "I honestly never really considered you as a sexual companion until a few minutes ago... and your lack of snake-charming ability is a definite turn-off, but-"

"Wait..." Hypnos blinked. "Sex? You want to..." he paused, looking around to see if anyone were nearby. He then leaned in and whispered. "You want to have sex with me?"

Melinoë gasped and gave the sleepy god a shove, causing him to nearly drop the lantern as his back hit the wall. "Hypnos! Is now really the time? Seriously," she said with a gasp before trudging down the steps. "Read the fecking room!" she shouted as she threw her arms out and disappeared into the darkness, leaving Hypnos to clumsily stumble behind her, desperate to catch up to keep her path lit.

When the god did catch up, he bit his lip nervously. "I'm... I would like to apologize. I did not want to have sex with you in that moment-"

"But you did want to have sex with me?" she asked with a giggle as she twirled in her descent.

Hypnos' jaw went slack. "I... Well, uh..." he chuckled nervously. "Would your father approve of-?"

Melinoë's shoulder slumped. She let out a long sigh. "My father might be dead... Why would you remind me of that?" she asked, shooting a glare over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry!" Hypnos exclaimed with a gasp. He bit his lip, flared his nostrils, and stomped his foot. "I'm an idiot. I'm such an idiot. I'm so sorry, princess; I should have known. It would be my honor to lay with you in a passionate embrace to distract you from the grief of-" he stopped as he saw her expression shift in the lantern light.

Melinoë giggled.

"What?"

"You're such a weird deviant," the goddess said before turning around and walking down the stairs. "I know you wanted to feck me."

Sighing, Hypnos shook his head and followed.

"You know what?" said Melinoë, as she narrowed her eyes to what appeared to be the outline of a door. "I don't think you're my type, sleepyhead."

"I'm not your type?" asked Hypnos.

Approaching the door and finding it slightly ajar, Melinoë bit her lip and lightly pressed her hand against it. She nodded and giggled. "You're too needy," she said as the door swung open. "No offense. I'm just not looking for a relationship right now."

Hypnos scoffed. "No, that's fine, I just- I, uh... I thought you were-?" he stammered himself into silence, clamping down on his lip and mumbling. Then, sighing, he shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Melinoë. I-"

Melinoë giggled. "Fine," she said as she stepped into the room beyond the door. "I'll take you back, Hypnos. But don't you make me regret this-"

"Meli?"

With a scoff, the Stygian princess closed her eyes and urged the voices to leave her alone. "Do you mind?" she asked aloud. "My lover and I are in the middle of a personal discussion!" she said as she stomped her foot.

That wasn't us.

What a fool!

Look to your left, traitor god!

Die a slow death! Screaming and crying! Alone!

Melinoë listened to precisely one voice from the madness that scraped her mind. Then, turning to her left, she blinked as the lantern's faint glow revealed bars of adamant surrounded by Stygian masonry. It reminded her of the holding cells in the Underworld where Charon would place the restless souls of the dead awaiting judgment.

Beyond the bars was only black until the shape of a woman began to form, dressed in the leathers of a harpy. Melinoë took a step forward as the woman did the same, revealing her features in the glow of lanternlight. Though Melinoë recognized Iris, she was a frail and weakened figure, with bruises on her flesh and tattered hair soiled with clumps of dried, inert ichor.

Except as the two moved closer, Melinoë realized it was not ichor. Instead, it appeared to be blood. Her blood. The battered goddess had cuts all over her face and a swollen jaw, yet her clothes were unburnt. With a sharp and startled gasp, Melinoë's mind immediately concluded Iris had been starved inside that cell, rendered mortal, and then beaten.

Rouvin did this.

Pain and anguish! We will rape the traitor gods with hot irons!

Theseus. That's who did this.

Was that his name?

Pirithous. Theseus was his friend.

Snapping her eyes closed and clenching her fist, Melinoë drowned the voices from her mind. Then, when there was silence again, she opened her eyes and saw Iris taking a cautious step back.

"Why would you say that?!" asked Iris in disgust, sneering at the other goddess. "I thought we were friends!"

Melinoë blinked as her mouth opened. She looked at Hypnos for some insight, but he was speechless. Then, turning to Iris again, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't- I don't know what- It was the whispers!" she said. Finally, after a long moment of trying to summon what had been blurted out, Melinoë bit her lip and sighed. "What did I say?"

Breathing heavily, Iris sniffed and shook her head. "No, I'm- You're right... I..." she wiped her sleeve across her face. "I just... I've been through a lot. I am tired. I probably do look like something that came out of a cyclopean arse..." she let out a long sigh. "Can you release me? I'm... I'm rather hungry."

Hypnos had been looking around as the goddesses talked. Finally, he had found some keys, and as he approached the door, he found Melinoë's hand grabbing his wrist and staying his hand. "Princess?"

"What are you doing?" asked Iris.

Glaring at her friend, Melinoë brushed her lips with her tongue. "How long have you been in here?"

Iris shook her head. "I... I don't know," she said, whimpering. "It's been... weeks? Maybe a month?"

Furrowing her brow, Melinoë tightened her grip on Hypnos as she backed away from the cell. "That's not Iris," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Hypnos.

Iris scoffed. "Excuse me, Mel? What did you say?!" she shouted as she approached the bars, as close as she could. "Of course it's me!"

Melinoë shook her head. "No... I saw you talking to Hera just days ago."

Blinking, Iris shook her head. "No. That's impossible. I haven't seen Hera since-" she paused as her eyes rolled back in her head, apparently doing some hasty mathematics in her mind. "I don't know when I last saw her. She sent me to Thebes to speak with the Pontifex. I took a bath in the temple and had my clothes laundered. When I came to collect my clothing, there was a note. It told me to meet my sisters at this address."

"A note?" asked Melinoë. "A note from who?"

Iris panted. "It was from Hera."

"Liar! It did not bear queen's seal," said Melinoë, consciously blurting that out, but the words were not of her making. Once the words left her mouth, she winced in pain but kept her composure otherwise.

"Is that true?" asked Hypnos, moving his lantern closer to get a better look at Iris.

The messenger goddess nodded. "It is... It did not bear Hera's mark. However, the writing did look like hers, and when I asked a chalicer attending to the dressing room, he told me that Hera had given it to him in passing.

Melinoë gripped Hypnos' arm as another voice forced itself to be heard through the goddess' lips. "Liar! Hera had not given it to him!"

Hypnos clasped his hand over Melinoë's, patting her hand, assuring her she could grip as tightly as she must. He was a kind god. He always was so good to Melinoë, even when she was cruel to him. Of course, she did not mean much, but her madness often compelled her to do strange things and speak sinister words that affected the god. Yet, even when he was helping her master her purview, he never spoke harshly to her. Even when she had mocked the loss of his wife in the course of the Exodus. She had not meant to. Still, even then, he was gracious and kind.

"Mel?" Iris asked, tilting her head to one side. "Are you okay?"

Melinoë took a deep breath. "Get out of my friend!" she shouted as she grabbed the keys from Hypnos' hand and jammed them into the lock. Then, the short goddess angrily grabbed the door and swung it open.

Defensively, Iris took a step back but was too weak to outpace the mad goddess. As a result, she was pinned to the cell wall. With Iris unable to retreat, Melinoë clutched the sides of the other goddess' ribs and glared into her eyes. Wincing in pain, Iris put her hands on Melinoë's shoulders and tried to push her away, but to no avail. She lacked the divine might that the fresher goddess possessed.
 Hypnos stumbled into the cell, his lanky frame moving in an odd and awkward gait. He scooped his free arm around Melinoë's waist and tried to pull her from Iris. His feet slipped on the floor, trying to find purchase to give him the leverage he needed, but it did not come easy.

"I am the Goddess of Nightmares! Heed my call! Obey my command!" Melinoë rambled on as she glared into Iris' eyes.

"She's lost it!" screamed Iris.

"Princess, please," groaned Hypnos as he grit his teeth. Then, desperate, he threw the lantern down. It shattered into glass and scraps of metal and wax, its essence snuffing out immediately. Plunged into darkness, he wrapped his now freed arm around Melinoë's waist and ripped her away.

Stumbling backward in the darkness, Melinoë felt Iris leave her grip, but there was something else she clung to. As Hypnos hit the wall behind him and Melinoë hit him, the sleep god released a painful groan. Then Melinoë channeled her Stygian essence into her mismatched eyes and lit her vision, piercing the darkness.

As she gained the vision she had lacked moments ago, Melinoë looked at her hands and saw a living mass of inky shadow with snapping teeth and red pulsing veins. "Horror!" she screamed as she channeled her essence into her fingertips and caused the abomination to screech and sizzle. As she pressed her hands toward one another, the creature began to distort and wail. As it did, Melinoë let out a ferocious scream and poured more essence into her fingertips, channeling her Nightmare Purview and willing the mass to cease its existence.

Somewhere, in her fugue of senses, Melinoë was somewhat aware of Hypnos slipping out from behind her and stumbling out of the cell. She heard his footfalls in the darkness and the clatter of a torch being groped. Elsewhere, Iris was slumped against the wall, moaning weakly.

Then there was a spark of Hypnos' essence; Stygian blue flame erupted and bathed the dungeon in pale blue light. As it did, Melinoë smashed her hands together, and an ephemeral cloud of black smoke burst between her hands, leaving no trace of the creature she had pulled out of Iris. "Ha!" screamed Melinoë, following up with a giggle and an odd shuffling dance. "Oh, lover... Who just killed an otherworldly abomination? I did!" she asked with a twirl and a dramatic wiggle of her hips.

Hypnos had returned his gaze to the Stygian princess, having averted his eyes with the torch's ignition. "You did what?!" he asked, racing back to the cell and bowling over Melinoë as he ran up to Iris. Then, as he knelt beside her and saw her still breathing, he shared a sigh of relief. "Oh, for a moment, I thought you had-" he paused, catching sight of Melinoë glaring at him from the corner of his eye.

"You thought I did what?" she asked, hands on hips.

"Nothing..." Hypnos smiled nervously. "We should get her out of here," he said, handing Melinoë the torch as he lifted the barely conscious goddess into his arms. "Lead the way."

As Melinoë left the cell and began to put the dungeon in her past, she saw a distant shelf stocked with implements of torture and chains dangling from the ceiling. Beyond that, she saw a slender doorway that led into the city's old catacombs.

That is where they escaped.

Rats fled into the sewer.

Pluck out your eyes and feed them to me. Let me taste your tears!

Melinoë let out a long sigh as she turned to the door and marched up the stairs, Hypnos following her with Iris in his arms.

## Characters

### Gods

* Melinoe
* Makaria
* Hades
* Hypnos
* Iris