Page 137 of Hell’s Weapon

Milo’s eyes open as he’s jostled with his boyfriend’s laughter. He stretches, smiling up at the other guy. That smile drops when he turns to sit up and spots me sitting on the end of the bed. Wyatt’s arm comes round his waist to hold onto him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here for any other reason than I needed to find Tacita, to check that she’s okay,” I reassure him. He seems to relax, leaning back into Wyatt more but his eyes are still wary. A second later, his panic is back.

“I can’t feel my panther,” he signs first to me and then to Wyatt when he realises he can’t see his hands.

Wyatt’s free hand comes to his own chest too, as if he’s feeling for the dragon living within him.

“The potions will be wearing off,” I tell them. “Remember, you’re supposed to take them every day.” We’d been giving them out at breakfast and it’s after midday now.

“Can we get more?” Wyatt asks.

“I’ll see if any of the stock survived at the compound. With the main building a wreckage, I’m not sure there are any. And I don’t know if Khaos will be able to send more.”

“How do we make it permanent? If you say we’re staying, surely we won’t have to drink that stuff forever?”

“No, you won’t.”

“You have to cross the Styx to make it permanent.” Tacita emerges from the bathroom, a fluffy purple towel wrapped around her body.

Both humans wear looks of shock.

“But the Styx is where souls go to die, or reincarnate,” Milo signs.

“Yes…” I say, pausing to figure out how to phrase this without alarming them more. “You will need to die to become a permanent resident of Elysium, to get full access to your shifter selves.”

“Garrick!” Tacita flies forward, slapping me on the arm.

“What?”

“Telling them that they need to die isn’t helpful.” Looking back to Milo and Wyatt, I see that indeed I failed to explain it without making them panic more. She turns to them to explain it in more detail.

“I don’t fully understand the magic, but Charon is able to direct you over the river so that you become a demon, rather than your soul being transported to the next life or whatever. It’s something to do with you still being alive when you enter.

“I go to the ceremony every decade after the games, because the party afterwards is always a lot of fun, but I’ve never really paid attention to the details of the transformations.”

Tacita’s description of the ceremony seems to calm them much better. The three of them keep talking but I get distracted by the buzz of my phone in my pocket. I’d grabbed it as I’d left the compound in case anyone needed to get in touch, having kept it in my room during the games.

Indeed, Tarron is checking when I’ll be back. There’s still a lot of clean-up to do and the successful recruits are getting an even bigger crash course in the details of how Elysium actually works now they’ve survived the interview process.

“Do you have to leave already?” the female at my side asks.

“Soon. I can spare a couple more hours to get you caught up, but I do need to get back.”

“Okay.” She gives me a sad smile. “Let me just get dressed and then we can go upstairs and talk properly.”

Chapter 46

Tacita

Three days.

It’s been three days since we got back to my apartment and I swear Hades is just torturing me. Maybe this is my punishment, because I’m going insane. Garrick has been calling in each day, but hasn’t been able to spend more than a few hours at a time.

Although, last night his exhaustion got the better of him, and he actually spent the night sharing my bed, sleeping next to me whilst Wyatt and Milo snuggled on my other side. I thought it might have been awkward, and it’s not like I don’t have any spare rooms, but no one even considered sleeping separately.

Garrick has been run ragged. Between starting to resume his role as Head of Tartarus, wrapping up the games, and supporting the new recruits in building their new lives he is working insane hours. Of course he is delegating tasks to his team but he takes the responsibility seriously.

And other than a note from Hades that appeared with a delivery of potions from Khaos, I haven’t heard from my boss. And that note was simple, to stay put and to not go investigating anything myself.