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‘You have helped me find much more than my proper hat, demigods,’ they said. ‘I have found my calling. I am not sure when I will see you again, because I have … I have decided to stay with Menoetes and herd cattle!’
Nico imagined Menoetes’s entire herd in matching uniforms with sequinned pants and plumed hats, marching to the barn each evening in perfect lockstep. The thought made him smile.
‘You will make an excellent cattle-herder,’ Will said. Tentatively, he touched the troglodytes’ faces, and a warm glow spread from his fingers across their skin. ‘Thank you both for your kindness, for taking care of me, and for getting us this far.’
The trogs stood a little straighter.
‘You honour us,’ said Screech-Bling.
‘I will never forget you, Will Solace,’ Hiss-Majesty said with a sniffle.
Then the trogs exchanged a look, as if silently agreeing that staying a moment longer would lead to ugly sobbing, and vanished in a cloud of dust.
Nico remained silent, stewing in his shame and irritation.
‘I’m sorry, Nico.’ Will broke the tension. ‘I didn’t –’
But Nico waved off his apology. He didn’t want to risk talking about it while he was still so upset.
‘Let’s go meet our shortcut,’ he said. Then he turned and walked towards the mysterious woman with the boat.
The woman was unlike any nymph Nico had ever seen. Her soft, round face, wispy hair and coy smile reminded Nico of Juniper, the dryad at Camp Half-Blood. Her gown was made of the same sort of billowing gossamer fabric. But, unlike the nature spirits in the world above, this woman’s eyes and skin were tinged blue instead of green. Her plump lips were the darkest indigo. Her grey dress seemed to whisper with plaintive voices, similar to the damned souls woven into his father’s robes.
As Nico approached, she barely glanced up from her cooking fire.
‘You seem intrigued,’ she said, as if they were resuming an old conversation. ‘Or confused.’
‘Both,’ said Nico.
‘You and your friend look exhausted. Please, rest by my fire.’
Nico turned to see Will stumbling down the decline. He felt a stab of guilt. He shouldn’t have walked away from Will like that, no matter how angry he’d felt.
Nico stretched out his arm as Will got closer. He mouthed an apology.
Will nodded and took his hand. But his eyes saidWe’ll talk more later.
As they settled in by the fire, the woman poked the embers with a branch of ebony.
‘You two have had a long journey,’ she said. ‘I do not get very many visitors out this way.’
‘Can I ask your name?’ Nico said.
‘Of course.’ Her smile was warm, but with an edge of loneliness. ‘I am Gorgyra.’
The name rang no bells for Nico. He glanced at Will, but his boyfriend shook his head.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Nico. ‘We don’t know who you are.’
‘I did not expect you to.’ The whispers in her gown grew in intensity until Nico could almost make out what they were saying. ‘I imagine there are no stories told of me in the upper world, since very few have ever made it here.’
‘And where is here?’ Nico asked.
‘At the edge.’ She cast her gaze downstream, where the River Acheron vanished over the precipice. ‘Like most things, the Underworld has an end. You have reached it.’
Will coughed. ‘And … if we needed to go beyond the edge?’
She jerked her gaze towards him. ‘Why would you seek that?’
