Page 104 of Hades' Shadow
“I wish I would have had that same outlook as a young demigod. I would have made far less mistakes being so arrogant,” Heracles says with a chuckle.
“You helped a lot of people, though,” I say quietly.
“I didn’t do it so I could help people, little sister.” He shakes his head.
Our footsteps crunch in the grass and even though we are walking, I am the most peaceful I have been since starting this trek to the underworld.
“Your labors? We learn about them at the academy.” I nod with a smile. “That’s how I recognized you. We defeated the Nemean lion only about a month ago.”
“What? How? I slayed the beast,” Heracles asks, outraged.
“We don’t know how the monsters are coming back or who keeps bringing them back, but I have assisted killing the Minotaur, the Chimera, the Nemean lion, a few sirens, and the Hydra.” I shrug.
“This is an outrage but at least you didn’t mention the boar.” Heracles shudders.
“We didn’t kill him. The Erymanthian boar is indestructible, but once we trapped it, the boar disappeared.” I shrug.
“You have been very busy for one so young,” Heracles murmurs.
“The other demigods aren’t really capable of doing the things we do. It’s not like the ancient times,” I say.
Dax and Draven come to mind, and I block them out. The two idiots don’t belong in my headspace. Not when we are doing everything we can to help Hades and all they think about is girls.
Jayden falls back and walks on my other side with a nod. “We are pretty much it when it comes to saving the world.”
I grimace because he’s not wrong. We walk in silence for a while until we come upon another small desolate village.
“I really hate those demons,” I grumble.
“Stealing the essence of the dead is so wrong,” Jayden says with a sigh.
“Does it hurt you when they do that? Since you are part of the underworld?” I ask and put my hand on his arm, trying to comfort him.
“No, it’s just wrong. The demons are supposed to be in a different part of the underworld, torturing the souls of the damned, not sucking the essence out of those who lived a good life,” Jayden says angrily.
Heracles raises a brow at me and stops moving. “We should split up and look for the demon who did this.”
“Splitting up is a terrible idea,” I say. “You and Theseus are spirits here. If you get close to a demon, it will try to suck out your essence the way the other one did.”
“We work better as a team,” Jayden agrees and rests his hand on my lower back.
A shiver tingles down my spine at the contact and I glance away, a little embarrassed how my body still reacts to him.
I just wish it would stop. We can’t be together; we are toxic to each other.
“Yeah, um, we are better as a team, but are you and Raven up for another battle?” I ask, stumbling over my words.
Raven spins on me with a scoff. “I am always up for a battle, B.”
“You were just nearly turned into a demon and had the life sucked out of you. Excuse me for being concerned.” I glare at her and plant my hands on my hips.
Jayden holds up a hand, cutting off Raven’s retort. “We are fine, but we need to hurry.”
Theseus stops and turns to us with a frown. Adrian doesn’t catch the sudden movement and walks right through him.
“Shit, that was weird.” Adrian shudders and stares at Theseus. “Sorry.”
“We should just keep walking. If we come across another demon, we’ll slay it.” Theseus ignores the fact Adrian literally just walked through him.
