Page 73 of Dead Heat

I opened my arms and whistled. “Here, boy!”

Cerberus charged.

I was fully prepared to be crushed the moment we made contact. As I fell backward, my fingers dug into his coarse black fur for purchase. I expected my back to slam into the hard ground. Instead, I continued falling, as though the earth had opened and swallowed us whole. The white house disappeared, along with the shed and the patchy green lawn.

Darkness gave way to light—a roaring fire in a snug room, rich in colors and textures. The walls were lined with bookshelves. In front of the inglenook fireplace sat a plush chair with a matching ottoman. A basket of needlework rested on the floor beside it.

I steadied my rapid breathing as I tried to grasp the situation. I knew I was in the underworld, but what I didn’t know was how or why.

Cerberus stayed by my side. His left-side head pushed against me, insistent on getting a scratch behind the ear. I complied, and with that one simple action, I was Melinoe again.

Once his itch was scratched, he stretched across the sheepskin rug in front of the fire, his body taking up most of the floor. I’d forgotten the details of him. The talons. The serpentine tail. I was so focused on memorizing every part of him that I failed to notice when a figure appeared in the doorway.

“Welcome home, darling.”

Her voice was strange, yet achingly familiar. As I pivoted toward the sound, I instinctively reached for a dagger I didn’t possess.

“You won’t be needing any weapons here. This is your domain, after all. Can I offer you a pomegranate juice? It’s fresh.” She held up a glass filled with purplish liquid. Her hair was the color of burnt umber and her eyes were a deep brown with golden glimmers, like two roasted chestnuts. Her essence screamed ancient, yet she wore black sweatpants and a cozy fleece. Despite a pair of flat, fuzzy slippers, she trumped me by at least three inches.

“No, thank you.” There was no chance I’d accept any food or drink while I was down here. I was familiar with the consequences.

As though reading my mind, she said, “There is nothing to fear, Melinoe. You were born in this realm. The homegrown food has no effect on you.”

“Please don’t be offended if I refuse to take your word for it.”

She cocked her head. “Do you not recognize me, niece? For I most certainly recognize your spirit if not your face.”

“Hestia.” The single word took me by surprise as it spilled effortlessly from my lips.

My response was rewarded with a smile more radiant than a sunbeam. “Thank the heavens. It’s been an age, child.”

“I don’t understand. What are you doing in the underworld?” Hestia was the goddess of hearth, home, and hospitality, but the underworld wasn’t hers.

“The realm fell into chaos after your father and mother disappeared. I’ve been holding down the fort until their return.”

Like Apep waiting on Anubis. It stood to reason that the more gods disappeared to the human realm, the more mess they’d leave behind in their respective ones. I was beginning to wonder whether The Corporation sought power in more than one realm. Lure away a god with waning power with the promise of a better life or possibly take them by force, then replace them with a puppet of their own.

Except where was the puppet?

“Has no one else tried to take over since we’ve all been gone?” I asked.

“Who else is there? As the rightful heir to the throne, the underworld is yours to govern. Your presence here means that I am finally free to return to my own.”

My heart fluttered. “No, I can’t possibly stay here. I don’t belong in the underworld.”

Hestia motioned around us. “Look around, my darling. This is your home. This is exactly where you belong.”

“I don’t understand. Why were you the one to take over?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do you think? I am the first born of Rhea and Cronus. The eldest daughter. An overachiever. I developed a false sense of responsibility to others and have difficulty upholding boundaries, if I bother to set them in the first place.”

“If you know all this about yourself, then why step into my parents’ shoes?”

“Because I also have an ability to create a tranquilenvironment, and the underworld desperately needed that. My presence here has kept the inhabitants at ease. You don’t want to know what might have happened had I opted to leave the throne empty.”

My aunt was the epitome of calm. It made sense that she would be the goddess to act in my parents’ stead.

“I can’t stay here. I’m Melinoe, but I’m also a human named Lorelei. I serve as the liminal deity of a multirealm crossroads in a small town called Fairhaven.”

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