Page 107 of Hades' Shadow
“Let me see,” she says and closes her eyes.
That’s kind of a strange thing to say when closing your eyes but who am I to judge?
“Flames and fire and one blue eye are all I see,” she says almost in a trance.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
The oracle cracks one eye open and glares at me. I scowl back at her. I only whispered but how the fuck does she expect us to know where to go with that information.
“What should be wet is filled with flames,” she intones again.
Yeah, that doesn’t make it any easier. Why the fuck do oracles always talk in riddles?
I turn a glance at Jayden, and he shrugs. I guess neither of us understand what the hell that means.
Raven scowls at the woman with barely contained hostility. She needs to dial it down a couple notches or the old bat is going to kick us out without explaining herself.
I widen my eyes at Raven, and she sticks her tongue out at me.
I smack her arm. She needs to take this fucking seriously.
“That is all I see. Whoever has Hades’ helm is using powerful magic to hide it.” The oracle sits back against the cushion.
“Fire, flames, and one blue eye?” I ask, frowning.
I sit forward and rest my elbows on my knees.
“What should be wet is filled with flames,” Jayden says with a sigh. “I think I know what that means.”
“What?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.
“Our best bet is the river of fire. But it could be anywhere along that river, and it crosses the entire underworld. Everywhere except Elysium.” Jayden scrubs a hand over his face.
Raven fidgets in her seat. “What about the one blue eye? Could a cyclops be guarding it like the fleece in the stories?”
“I guess it’s possible, but they don’t really live in the underworld and don’t have access to the type of magic it would take to hide something from Hades,” Jayden says.
“That’s not entirely true,” the oracle says with a scowl. “There are ancient cyclops far more ancient than even the Olympian gods in the underworld, but they are being punished in Tartarus for eternity because they were too powerful.”
“They were locked up before the Titans and they did nothing to deserve it?” I ask in horror.
Should I really be shocked though? I mean, we are talking about the Titans here. Cronus ate his own children so they wouldn’t overthrow him.
Raven’s hand clenches in a fist at her side. “The Titans are bastards. They can’t ever escape.”
“This was before even the Titans, but they and the Olympians were sure to keep them locked up in the pit.” The oracle shakes her head.
“Assholes, all of them,” I say softly.
Jayden’s shadows swirl angrily up his arms. “If they are in Tartarus, then they can’t be guarding the helm unless it’s in Tartarus, right?”
“I am not going in the fucking pit,” Raven shouts. “That’s where I draw the fucking line.”
“No one is going in the pit,” I say and stand. “We are just trying to figure out this shitty riddle.”
“I know the closest way to Phlegethon River from Elysium,” Jayden says with a huff.
“How far is it?” I ask, chewing my lip nervously.
