Pomegranate by Nicole Scarano

Author:Nicole Scarano [Scarano, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

Alkaios stood on the banks of the River Styx, eyes the size of his fists. Amazement, fear, excitement, and panic caved in on him from all sides, rendering him helpless. The air felt still to him even though a breeze blew ripples in the water. He felt out of place here, like bacteria flowing through blood. Foreign.

Hades watched his face. She could see in his eyes the string of thoughts and emotions running through his mind, but unlike all others, she saw here waiting to pass over, he was prepared to meet whatever was on the other side. He was welcoming it, embracing the experience. He was so brave. Hades inched closer to him and slid her little hand into his, dropping something on his palm. Alkaios uncurled his fingers and saw a little gold coin resting against his calluses.

“A bribe for the ferryman,” Hades said, nodding her head at the water. Alkaios followed her nod and saw the outline of a boat pushing towards them.

“This is Charon,” Hades continued, stepping into the boat before it even slid, to a halt the drapes of her dress skimming the dark waters. “Ferryman of the River Styx.”

As if on cue Charon, spread his palm out towards Alkaios waiting for the bribe. Alkaios looked down at the coin one last time and flicked it ringing through the air. Charon snatched it mid-flight and shoved his long pole deep into the soot of the riverbed. He leaned out over the boat’s edge, offering an equally calloused hand to Alkaios.

“And the last Titan left,” Hades finished just as Alkaios took Charon’s hand. Alkaios froze, and he would have yanked his hand away if Charon’s grip hadn’t swallowed his wrist.

“It is not me you should be afraid of,” Charon whispered as he pulled Alkaios up into the boat. Charon’s eyes shifted to Hades and then to the unseen shore across the river, before looking back at Alkaios. Without another word, though, the Titan gripped his pole and pushed them back into the river; leaving Alkaios heart pounding and palms sweaty.

Trying to distract himself from the blood pumping through his ears, Alkaios watched Hades standing at the front of the boat, her black hair sharply contrasted by the water’s fog. She was so beautiful he thought, and he tried to concentrate on only that and not the Titan behind him.

“I thought all of the Titans were dead,” he whispered, leaning his lips into Hades' ear, feeling her hair bat his cheeks.

“They were,” Hades said not bothering to whisper her reply. Alkaios snuck a glance at Charon who winked at him. Alkaios swallowed nervously and turned back around.

“Charon,” Hades called over her shoulder. “If ever Alkaios needs to cross this River, ferry him across, coin or no coin. And Alkaios,” she said, turning her eye to look into his, “always wait for Charon. Never touch the water.”

Alkaios nodded his head yes just as a hulking shadow caught his eye.

“What is that?” Alkaios asked, nodding his head at the darker mist.

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