Page 252 of Styx

I took his hand, gave him the last potent

healing potion that I had made before the decree.

‘You must fly to Perses’s palace,’

I whispered softly.

‘You must tell Asteria and Hekate

that the war is lost. They must run.’

The messenger stared at me,

his brown eyes confused,

but at my grim face,

his eyes widened and he nodded.

Within moments of my spell,

he had healed enough to go.

I watched his form in the sky

flying to Perses’s palace.

If nothing else,

it would give them a chance.

A chance to run.

River of the Dead

To be powerful after years of no power.

To be given goddesshood after years

of simply being a nymph

was a cataclysm of emotions.

Here in the Underworld,

no sisters defied me,

no brothers called me names.

No father tried to barter me,

and no mother used me for my skills.

I tended to the dead, their spirits silver

inside my waters as I took each one

and guided it to where it must go.