Page 77 of Half Dead

“Listen, don’t beat yourself up, sweetie. You did what you had to do, just like I did.”

“That doesn’t make it acceptable.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re seeing Tartarus, a taste ofwhat’s to come for all your bad deeds.” She rolled her eyes. “Like they could really trap the goddess of the underworld in her own prison.”

“It’s my feelings of guilt.”

“That’s probably why you chose me to accompany you,” Aite said. “You still feel guilty about me, too.”

It was a reasonable assumption. I had no doubt I’d carry Aite’s sacrifice with me for the rest of my life. It made sense that thoughts of the goddess would bubble up now in connection with Kumbhakara’s death.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty. You know I’m not dead dead, right?”

I frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“I’m a goddess, duh. One dinky arrow isn’t enough to lay me low for eternity. Like Frosty the Snowman, I’ll be back again someday.”

Frosty. I loved to watch that show every year around Christmastime. My grandmother would make a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and settle me on the sofa to watch a snowman come to life.

“Did you watch Frosty, too, or am I giving you my memories?” I asked.

She heaved a petulant sigh. “Frosty is iconic. I don’t need your memories to make a pop culture reference.”

I gazed at the mountains in the distance, debating whether that was my intended destination.

“What now?” I asked, but my companion had disappeared.

I was alone again.

I woke up with a start, drenched in sweat. Kane’s arm was draped across my stomach. I ran my hand along the sinewy muscle.

He opened a lazy eye to peer at me. “Good morning. How did you sleep?”

“Good,” I lied.

“Glad to hear it. You need all the rest you can get before the next trial.”

“And Lucifer was kind enough to give me a whole twenty-four hours to work through the trauma of yesterday.”

Kane’s face hardened at the mention of the demon. “Yes. He’s generous like that.”

I repositioned myself on the bed so that Kane and I were nose to nose. “What do you know about Tartarus?”

“Isn’t that your territory?”

“Yes, but I’m curious what your understanding is.”

“It’s a place of punishment for souls unworthy of Elysium. It’s where Sisyphus is doomed to push a boulder uphill only to have it roll down again.” He paused, brow furrowed. “Do you know Sisyphus?”

“If I do, I don’t remember him.” I wasn’t sure I’d stepped foot in Tartarus in Melinoe’s lifetime, although my dream suggested otherwise.

Kane propped himself up on one elbow. Tufts of hair spiked the top of his head. “What sparked the sudden interest in Tartarus?”

“My conversation with Kumbhakara. He wanted me to tell him about the afterlife, what to expect. When I mentioned Tartarus, it got me thinking.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Lorelei’s brain, the most dangerous weapon of all.”

I splayed a hand on his bare chest. “I hate what happened to you, what Lucifer did. Then I realized—we do that in my underworld. We dole out endless punishments.”

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