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Charon said he was living when he blinked into existence, but the obols had gradually become what sustained him. Other beings did not rest here. The wraiths were harnessed by fate,wandering the marshy shore for a century to earn passage. Only the gods could come and go.
But that wasn’t true.
Mortals, both human and demigod, had, on occasion, passed into this realm and returned. They were the names of legend, retold around evening fires and children’s beds. If they could, I could. Charon dwelt on being caught between the two worlds. What if I could put one foot into death? The current of the river jostled the boat, interrupting my thoughts.
The gods and Charon had been bickering, but I hadn’t caught a word. They were focused on each other; the distraction gave me just enough time.
With a feral grin I lept to the far side of the boat and plunged my face towards the Styx.
“No!” Charon cried. He grabbed my body and hauled me back, but it was already done. I turned, grabbed his cheeks, and pulled his mouth to mine. My palm pressed against the open area of his cheek as I spit water into his mouth. Even though he sputtered, I covered his lips with my other hand to stop him from spitting it out.
His eyes were wide with surprise, but I held tight until his throat bobbed, swallowing my offering.
“What have you done?” he rasped.
His hand clutched at his throat, then his chest, finally over his metal heart.
“I can feel you. In here.”
“The Styx siphons the soul into the water that touches you. You told me many, many times. If I need ties to the Underworld, then I’ll make them. It’s no pomegranate, but a piece of my soul was absorbed in the water. Now it’s in you. I’m forever tied to you, Ferryman. I hope we don’t get sick of each other’s company.”
His features slackened with horror. “You can’t. What if it’s not enough?”
“Well, this is all very melodramatic and touching, but we need to go.” Hermes snapped his fingers and reached forward as he approached the ferry. “Give me the obol, Moira. It’s mine, per our agreement. Consider it your fare to the mortal realm.”
Instead of complying, I glared at Hermes and popped the obol in my mouth where it would be harder for him to take.
I had had coins in my mouth hundreds of times before; it wasn’t uncommon to store them in your cheek at the market. But this was not like those times.
Searing pain took over and blood flooded my mouth. I dared not lose the coin by spitting it out; instead I swallowed, praying to gods that the coin didn’t enter my throat as I fought not to drown in my own blood.
Luckily, it was short lived. The pain subsided. The inside of my mouth felt… different. My tongue was swollen and tender from the pain, but there in the center, I felt it.
I smiled and stuck out my tongue, showing Charon and Hermes—and Dionysus, if he was even paying attention—the obol now embedded in my tongue.
“You carry a piece of my soul and I carry a piece of your heart.” My words were jumbled from the swelling and my new treasure, but Charon still understood.
He stared at me in wonder, glancing back and forth from my chest to his.
I felt different. Something coursed through my veins, filling my body with somethingmore. Something more than that of a mortal.
“Your eyes,” Dionysus whispered from a distance.
Charon
This absolutely wild,reckless woman.
I knew Moira would be my undoing.
Here I was, half dressed, thoroughly satisfied, aching at the thought of saying goodbye to the one soul I had cared for in centuries… and she still managed to outdo herself.
She had severed a piece of her soul and spit it into my mouth as if it was nothing.
I could feel her inside of me, like a tether linked us to one another. There was a flicker of her emotions, wispy tendrils of thought I couldn’t quite hear but could feel.
Moira put her hand on my chest and grinned, mouth once again coated with blood, but this time the crimson of hers instead of the silver of mine. I could just see the glint of the obol between her teeth.
“There’s silver in your eyes.” Around the deep brown two silver rings, one outside and one inside, had developed.
