"Of course I heard you," Aphrodite answered. She'd materialized out of nowhere and stood towering over me as I stooped to catch my breath. She unraveled the ball of fleece from my fingers and inspected it.

"You got all twelve, I see."

"Yes," I panted, still trying to catch my breath. Even through gasps though, I noticed I was smiling and Aphrodite was not.

"Is that your blood I smell, or have you injured one of my rams?"

I lifted the hem of my tattered dress and looked down at my legs. Angry red scratches and dried blood still lined my shins, but I'd stopped bleeding. That was probably more than I could say for the sheep.

Dropping my dress, I stood and looked up at Aphrodite. "Probably a little of both. One of your sheep attacked me."

"Then the only way you could be here is if you killed it."

My shoulders slumped. This didn't sound like it was going to be good.

"I'm sorry, Psyche. But your task was to sheer the sheep without harming them."

Um, how'd I miss that instruction? Maybe while I was focusing on trying to look like I was paying attention but not actually hearing a word she was saying.

"Since you bested the ram, though, which is more than I expected, I won't call off our deal just yet. I'll give you another task."

I wasn't sure whether I should be grateful or p.i.s.sed. I'd had a hand-to-hand duel with a killer sheep and collected twelve tufts of wool, just like she asked, but I wasn't any closer to seeing Eros.

Then again, I wasn't any closer to being turned over to Ares either. I guessed I had to take what I could get for now.

Chapter 48 - Eros.

Eros raced back to Olympus, wishing for something more powerful in his quiver. If Aphrodite had so much as scratched Psyche's perfectly tender skin, he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold himself back. A week ago he'd cowered at his mother's vengeance, but that was before he owed Psyche an apology. Before she became his everything again. Now, he wasn't prepared to let anything stand in his way. Even his mother.

As he flew, Eros spotted a brilliant burst of color descending on him.

Iris. What was she doing here? He didn't have time for her now. Still, he slowed his flight, flapping his wings only enough to keep him airborne.

"There you are, Eros. " Iris stopped herself on Eros's chest. "I've been looking all over for you. I was thinking, maybe today we can find prayers to answer in a town where it's already raining. That'll make things easier."

Eros put his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her out of his way. "I can't today. I've got to get back to Olympus."

Iris's lips pursed as she set her jaw. "I suppose this has to do with Psyche?"

"I'm sorry, Iris. She might be in danger. I have to go."

Eros flapped his wings to continue his flight to Olympus, but Iris reached out and caught his wrist. "Wait."

Eros glared at her and she released his hand.

"I mean, let me help you," Iris offered. "You think she's with your mother, right? Why don't you let me go to Aphrodite? You can wait in my palace, and I'll figure out a way to borrow Psyche so you can see her."

"You'd do that for us?" Eros's lip curled up in a soft smile. "You'd really help us?"

Iris shrugged. "No, but I'll help you. This isn't for Psyche. I'm just trying to help my friend."

Eros crushed Iris into his chest. "I don't know how to thank you."

Iris clutched Eros's hand and launched into a flying sprint toward her palace, moving so quickly she almost dragged Eros behind. "Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something," she called over her shoulder.

Chapter 49 - Psyche.

"You're trying to kill me!"

I blurted out the words before my brain registered that it wasn't smart to yell at a G.o.ddess, even if she was sort of your quasi-mother.

"On the contrary," Aphrodite responded, twirling a golden coin over and under her fingers, "I'm saving you." She flipped me the coin and I caught it over my head. "The coin will ensure you get safely into Hades."

"And what about coming back out?" I demanded.

Aphrodite laughed, throaty and indulgent. "Smart girl. You did pay attention during our visits." She materialized another coin and tossed it to me.

I put the coins into a little wooden box and tucked it under my arm. For my second task, Aphrodite told me to take the box to the Underworld and borrow some of Persephone's beauty. To hear Aphrodite tell it, the stress of everything that'd happened between me and Eros had melted away some of her eternal glamour. And somehow, although Aphrodite was already prettier than everyone else anyway, Persephone would gladly give up some of her own beauty to make Aphrodite feel better.

In my opinion, that wasn't likely. Never mind that humans don't go into Hades and come out alive a- or come out at all for that matter.

So, setting aside the fact that my task was basically doomed to failure, all I had to do was get Charon to ferry me into Hades, sneak past Cerberus the three-headed guard dog, find Persephone, convince her to give me some of her beauty for Aphrodite's benefit, get back past Cerberus, and get Charon to ferry me out of Hades. Oh yeah, and I had to get half-way across Greece before even meeting up with Charon.

No problem.

"Don't be so traumatized," Aphrodite said, probably noticing the glazed-over, scared-half-to-death look in my eyes. "You're a demi-G.o.d, remember? You can do it. Besides, I'll take you to Charon myself."

My heart lightened by the weight of a feather. There was still a ton of c.r.a.p to get through, but at least one part of this trip would be easier. "Thank you."

The words were barely out of my mouth when she grabbed my wrist. Salt water rushed into my mouth and my face was pelted by sea spray. I choked back the panic of drowning and tried to crunch the sand out from my teeth.

As quickly as the ocean a.s.sault began, it was over. As we regained our footing on solid ground, Aphrodite looked refreshed, her cheeks glowing. When I reached up and felt my own hair, I was convinced I looked like I'd just lived through a hurricane. Great.

Our new location was obvious even though I'd never been there before. There's only one way to get into Hades and that was through the gates in the Alcyonian Lake.

Aphrodite's hand lingered on my wrist before she released me. "Here you are then," she said. "See you on the other side."

"How will I get back? To Olympus, I mean."

"When you make it out, I'll come fetch you."

When. She'd said when, not if. Could it be that she was actually rooting for me now?

With another burst of sea spray, she was gone. And I was alone staring out across the endless blackness of the lake.

From a distance, I heard small splashes coming toward me. As I watched, Charon emerged from the mist, plunging his pole into the water as fast as he seemed capable of moving. He paused only once to rub the sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

He stopped paddling when his boat neared the edge of the lake, letting it glide into the bank. His yellowed teeth were exposed beneath a wide smile. Despite being covered in grime, there was something soothing about Charon. I saw kindness in his brown eyes and no trace of menace in his smile.

"Psyche, you've finally come to join me," he said as he held out his weathered, crooked hand.

I smiled back, although weakly, and took his hand as I stepped into the narrow wooden boat. "I don't plan on staying, but I could use a ride if you don't mind."

Charon covered his heart with his hand and sighed. "You are as I've dreamed. So perfect," he murmured. "Even Helen didn't come to me until she was an old woman. But you..." He caressed a strand of my hair between his fingertips. "No wonder Eros didn't want to give you up."

That got my attention. I locked eyes with Charon, no longer caring that he was fondling my curls. "What do you mean Eros didn't want to give me up?"

"Ah, there is so much in the way of the G.o.ds that you don't understand. Do you even know why Eros brought you to him in the first place?"

I shook my head. "Sit," he said, "I'll tell you while I paddle."

"Oh, your coin," I remembered, opening the little box and taking out a golden coin.

He took it slowly from my fingers and then sniffed it, long and deep. His eyes rolled into the back of his head with pleasure. When he opened them and saw me watching, he explained. "It smells of you and Aphrodite combined. Truly divine. I will ... treasure this." He tucked the coin into a pouch and plunged his staff into the water, pulling us away from the bank.

I sat nervously on a narrow bench at the back of the boat. "About Eros -" I prompted.

"Ah yes. Eros came to you at his mother's bidding. He was supposed to make you fall in love with a monster. But you bewitched him."

"That's impossible. The first time we met, he couldn't stand me."

"Don't be silly. He just didn't want to be hurt again." Charon paused again to wipe at his brow. "Anyway, he came to shoot you with one of his arrows, but when he saw you, he simply couldn't do it. And he nicked himself with the arrow instead."

Memories flooded back on me. "Then that wasn't a dream? The archer in the garden was Eros." I was somehow relieved by this information, like knowing it'd been Eros and not the most deranged prophetic dream ever meant I wasn't going nuts.

But just as quickly, another realization popped in behind that one.

"If his arrow..." My lower lip started to tremble and tears welled up in my eyes. I bit my lip hard to stop the teary aqueduct from overflowing. "He didn't really love me then. Not on his own. It wasn't real."

"Does it matter why he loved you? You won the heart of a G.o.d."

"And I lost the heart of a G.o.d. If his love wasn't real to begin with, what chance do I have that he'll take me back?"

Charon stopped paddling for a moment and looked back at me. "I'd say your chances are better than average."

"Thanks," I said, only half believing him. After we sat in silence for a moment, I asked, "What did you mean when you said he didn't want to give me up?"

"Aphrodite went into a real rampage after you refused her son. First she sicked Eros on you, but that wasn't enough. So then she promised to send you here to me. Of course, I figured you'd be dead when you arrived. But I think I like you better alive." His chuckle came out hoa.r.s.e. "You are heavier this way though."

"Oh ... sorry." Was I supposed to apologize for not being dead? "Charon, can I ask you, how do you know all of this?"

"I hear things," he said. "Of course, most of my information came from the G.o.ds themselves."

"So you actually talked to Eros - about me?"

Charon ducked his head as we entered a cave. The light nearly extinguished behind us. I could barely even see Charon just ahead of me in the boat, still pulling us forward. "Eros stood right where you stood on the bank of that lake. You can be sure he was quite angry when I told him his mother intended to send you my way."

"How long ago was that?" I moved to the edge of my seat, anxious with antic.i.p.ation.

"It's been weeks. Before you went to him."

I dropped my head. So much had changed in the past few weeks. Maybe he hadn't wanted me dead then, but I still had no clue whether he cared now.

Lost in thought, I gazed down at the water, barely visible in the darkness. It sounded like we kept brushing against branches as we slid through the water. I strained my eyes to see what we skimmed against. The water swirled like an inky pool and gray wispy figures began to emerge. Their long, snakelike fingers clawed at the sides of the boat, but had no more effect than if we were brushing past a weed. I watched in horror as their soundless mouths opened in screams and their hazy eyes chased us as we pa.s.sed.

"Wh...what are those?" I asked, barely able to speak myself.

"You're no longer in the land of living. Those are shades, lost forever in the Acheron River."

"I don't understand. Why aren't they in the Underworld?"

"No coin," he answered. "You don't think I haul dead people down this river for free do you?"

I looked back down again at the shades and watched them slip beneath the water. Like clouds of smoke blown away in a breeze, they disappeared under the surface. "You can't just leave them here," I said, scrambling forward in the boat to get closer to Charon. "You must have so many coins already."

Charon turned on me, rocking the boat more than I liked, and locking me with an icy glare that was visible even through the blackness. I backed cautiously to my seat in the rear of the boat, knowing I'd overstepped some invisible line.

Still.

"Maybe these souls died on the battlefield and weren't recovered," I pleaded. "Or maybe they died at sea. Or maybe ... maybe their families were just too poor to spare a coin to line your pockets. It's not fair for you not to take them."

Charon threw his staff into the boat, where it clattered against the sides. "So now you're going to tell me how to do my job? Fine. You row the d.a.m.n boat." The boat bucked as Charon thumped himself down on the seat.

I sat in stunned silence until the boat b.u.mped against the wall of the cave. Without Charon steering, we were adrift on the river. Never mind that I'd never paddled a boat before, I certainly wasn't going to sit around in a dark cave waiting for the current to dump us back in the lake.

Reaching forward blindly, I felt around the boat until I grabbed Charon's staff. The weathered wood felt smooth, almost polished, from the years of use. I plunged the staff into the water, striking the bottom of the river, and used it for balance while I stood. It took all of my weight to move us forward against the current. With a heave, I quickly moved the staff forward, digging again into the silt on the river bottom, and put my weight into pulling us forward.

After just three pulls, I was starting to feel breathless. I didn't know how much farther we had to go, but I was already doubting I could make it.

"You're not so light ... yourself," I panted at Charon between breaths.

Charon snickered. "Must be my heavy heart from drowning all those poor souls in the river."

His sarcasm fueled my determination, giving me strength when I thought I didn't have any left. "You're just ... a lonely old man," I heaved. "But not too old ... to change your ways." I paused from my rowing, resting my head against the staff. Charon was looking back at me, waiting. I shoved the boat forward again. "You're never too old ... to change."

"What do you know about being old? Or about change for that matter?"