Аполлион

None of the souls looked up as we navigated around them. There were no guards on horses, like I’d seen in limbo. It appeared as if these people had been placed here, left alone to their own devices and boredom.

“Why?” I asked in a hushed voice.

Aiden knew what I was asking. “The majority of the dead reside here.” He led me around a group of three huddled together on the dirt. “Those who have been buried, but haven’t gone on to face their judgment. Some of them may have done something in their lives to make them fear their judgment. Others are…”

A woman moved in front of us, her gaze glued to the ground as she wrung her hands. She muttered under her breath, “Where’s my baby?” over and over again.

“Some are confused,” I answered. “They don’t know they’re dead.”

Aiden nodded solemnly.

And then the sad woman simply vanished, as if she had walked through an invisible portal—there one moment and gone the next.

I halted. “What the…?”

“I’ll explain, but we must keep moving.” Aiden tugged me forward. “Legend says that some of these souls leave limbo and have turned shade. They go back to the mortal world, and then return here again. I don’t think they can even control it.”

I swallowed. “They’re ghosts.”

“Thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.” Humor laced his tone.

Now was a pretty good time to change my mind. As I peered out from beneath my hood, there was something ghastly to some of the souls. Many of them looked solid and from how they’d brushed against me, I knew they had mass, but others had that wonky fuzziness to them. And the more I paid attention, the more others simply vanished.

This place was creepy, like walking through a maze of the hopeless and forgotten. And we hadn’t even reached the Vale of Mourning yet. Yee haw, this was going to be fun.

A sudden damp coldness clung to the air around us. I lifted my head, eyeing the burnt orange sky. One drop of water fell, splashing off my cheek. Then they sky opened up, drenching us in cold rain within seconds.

I sighed. “Really, it has to rain?”

“At least it’s not acid.”

That was Aiden, always looking on the bright side of things.

Tugging my hood down closer, I trudged forward. The souls paid no heed to the heavy rainfall. Perhaps they’d grown used to it. I wanted to stop and yell at them to go to judgment, because whatever waited for them couldn’t be worse than this.

Especially for the little ones who were all alone—there was nothing they could have done to warrant them eternity in Tartarus.

One small boy sat alone in a large puddle the rain had already created. The child couldn’t have been more than four or five. He moved his chubby fingers in the mud, drawing a circle and then wiggly lines all around it.

The sun—he was drawing the sun.

I started toward him, not sure what I’d do, but I had to do something—maybe convince him to go to judgment. Gods knew how long he’d been here. His family could already be in Elysian Fields.

“No,” Aiden said softly.

“But—”

“Remember what Apollo said. We cannot intervene.”

I stared at the little boy, fighting the urge to break free. “It’s wrong.”

Aiden’s grip on my hand tightened. “I know, but there’s nothing we can do.”

My heart ached as I watched the little boy carve a moon beside the sun, heedless to the rain or the other souls practically trampling him. I wanted to be angry and I was—even at Aiden, because he was right. There was nothing we could do. And there would be more like this little boy—more forgotten souls.

Fighting back the sting of tears, I pulled my hand free from Aiden’s but didn’t run off. I fell in step beside him as we passed beyond the poor child, navigating the endless field of souls that had been either left behind or cast aside.

It took hours to pass through the Asphodel Fields. By the time we left the ankle-deep mud and our boots touched scattered patches of grass, we were drenched and cold, our cloaks weighted down and heavy. Rain had somehow snuck into my boot and, with each step, my foot sloshed back and forth. Exhaustion dogged me, and probably Aiden too, but neither of us complained. Traveling through the field of all those souls had served as a reminder that things could always be worse.

The rain had let up a little, turning to a constant, steady drizzle. The sky was now a darker orange, signaling that night was close at hand. Ahead, the rolling green hills led up to a thick, nearly impenetrable slate wall. It was going to be a steep climb.

“Do you want to take a breather?” Aiden asked from behind his cloak as he surveyed the hills. “It looks relatively safe. We could take a—”

“No. I’m fine.” I stepped around him, slowly climbing the first hill, ignoring the dull ache taking up residency in my temples. “Besides, the faster we can get into the tunnels, the sooner we can rest, right? We’ll be safe there at night.”

“Yes.” Aiden was beside me in a second. His hand came out from the cloak and slipped inside my hood. His palm was warm against my cheek. The gesture was brief, and gone all too quickly.