Page 2 of The Ferryman’s Rest Inn & Grogshop

“Why are you reading crap like that?” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you those stories are bullshit, written by humans hundreds—if not thousands—of years after the fact. They say more about human beliefs and practices than they do about those of us who were actually there.”

I nodded stupidly, still not sure how to win her over. Finally, I gave up. “I need your help and I don’t have a good way to pretty it up. I know you’re going to say no, but please think about it, okay?”

Stheno gave me the once-over with her one eye. “You’re making me nervous, kid.”

I blew out a breath. “Me too. Just promise me you’ll let me finish before you turn me down.”

She shook her head. “Way to have a positive attitude.”

Glancing around the bar, I made sure no one needed me and leaned in. “Clive and I received a text from Meg,” I told her.

Stheno curled her lip. “What did that old harpy want?” Stheno and Meg had a history, an ancient one wherein Meg had broken Stheno’s heart quite cruelly.

“She said it was my turn to help her, and she gave Cape Taenarum as the location.”

Stheno’s one eye squinted. “Cape Taenarum? As in the Underworld? She wants you to go into the Underworld to help her.” Shaking her head, she took another drink. “Geez, that bitch doesn’t want much, does she?” After a moment’s thought, she stabbed a finger in my shoulder. “Don’t you dare do it. The Underworld is not for the living.”

Nodding slowly, I considered. “I get that, but Meg has shown up for me many times. I can’t just ignore the request. Meg never asks for help.”

Stheno finished her wine. “Don’t do it. She’s an immortal. You’re not.”

“Right,” I said, trying to ease into it, “but you are.”

Whatever she was going to say froze on her tongue as she pinned me with a glare. “Don’t even think it.”

My shoulders dropped. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. I’ve never been to Greece. I don’t speak the language. It’ll be like Budapest all over again. Even if I can see and speak with the dead in the Underworld, I won’t be able to understand them. You know all the players, the history, the language.”

“Kid, I like you. I do.” She pushed the empty wine glass back at me. “But I have no desire to return to that place, especially not to help that asshole. There’s a reason my sisters and I try to avoid Greece. Our lives weren’t happy there.”

Slumping on the bar, I nodded. “I get it. You’re right. Sorry.” I’d have to figure something else out. Bracken, my great-uncle, had already asked if he could accompany me. He was there when the text came through and had explained the significance of Cape Taenarum. He’s a powerful wicche and historian. He knew a great deal, but like Stheno had said, what we knew from mythology was very different from what had actually happened. Stheno knew the truth. We just knew the myths.

“I’ll pay you quite handsomely to accompany us,” Clive said, walking into the bar from the kitchen. The sun had apparently set sufficiently for a very old vampire to handle the residual light reflected across the sky. Make that two very old vampires, as Vlad had followed Clive in.

“I speak Greek,” he continued, “but not its ancient form. And while I lived through quite a bit of European history, I have no experience with gods and goddesses.”

Vlad came around the bar and took the stool beside Stheno, while Clive wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

Stheno shook her head, pointing at Clive. “She’s bad enough. You definitely can’t go into the Underworld.”

Clive’s arm tightened around me. “Sam’s not going without me.”

Stheno’s hand clenched on the bar. “Neither one of you should be going anywhere near it.” She glanced at Vlad as though looking for someone to agree that Clive and I were nuts. “She shouldn’t go because she’s alive and breakable. You can’t go because you’re dead,” she told him. “You take one step in, and Hades will claim you as one of his own.”

Clive scoffed, but Vlad said, “She’s right. You want her to go as an expert consultant but then you don’t listen to what she tells you. It’s been done. A vampire tried to enter the Underworld⁠—”

Stheno held up two fingers.

Vlad turned to her. “It happened twice?”

“Yes. The first followed a human in. He was stalking her and didn’t realize that he’d entered the Underworld while hunting up dinner. He never came back out. The second one wanted to prove the first was a fluke or a hoax. He never returned either.”

She turned back to me. “You read those stupid myths, and it all seems made up and far away, but it isn’t. The magic that lives in us still lives in them. Hades has dominion over the dead. You can’t just walk into his realm and walk back out again, especially if you’re like your husband and mostly dead.”

I looked up at Clive. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t think Meg would have asked me to come if she thought I was going to be stuck in the Underworld forever.”

Stheno scoffed. “Remind me who knew the whole time it was your aunt trapping you in visions, trying to kill you. Don’t even start with Meg would never put me in danger.”

I tried not to think about that because it was hard to reconcile that with how I thought of Meg. “She would have helped if she’d been allowed to.”