Page 140 of Styx

do alone.’ I thanked him curtly,

and he gestured to his ship.

‘Come then,’ he said softly,

‘let me take you to the mouth

of the Underworld.’

There we would meet

Tartarus, both place and God.

Asteria’s Intuition

Boreas’s vessel was made of ice and snow,

and even though we were immortal,

our bodies designed for eternal life,

we were creatures used to the hot sand

of my father’s shores,

where Hyperion’s sun was plentiful.

This vessel was shaped like what

Kronos’s mortals called boats,

but it was large enough to carry

a hundred immortals.

While Leto, Pallas, and Perses conferred

with Boreas, Asteria came to me,

wrapping a warm sheepskin

around my bare shoulders.

‘Thank you,’ I told her in relief.

As we passed through the clouds,

looking over the seas, Asteria

asked me softly, ‘Why did you

not tell me, Styx?’ I stared at her,

unable to fathom her words.

She looked down at my stomach

and my eyes narrowed in understanding.