Young Writers Society

Kaz recoiled away from the war god in annoyance, and brushed off his arms in disgust, even though there was nothing to brush off. This whole time travel experience was just getting worse by the minute - at least, until the war god offered magical healing as an option.

He scoffed. "Well if magic painkillers were on the table, I'm surprised you didn't lead with that in the first place," he said, his speech almost slurred as his anger melted away almost as quickly as it had boiled up. He leaned back and gestured down to his thigh, with his leg propped forward. "Do the thing."

Annabeth grimaced at the sight of Kaz's wound. It looked like someone had tried to heal it, although it didn't look like he went to the hospital. At least he accepted Ares's help.

As Ares healed Kaz, Annabeth became aware of the space around her. It felt cold and empty.

Strange, she thought. Hades is the king, and yet there is no sign of any life here.

"Everything is so quiet," she said. "Even out there." Annabeth gestured to the door. "Where is everybody?"

As Ares healed Kaz with a spell softly muttered underneath his breath - and as the warmth of familiar magic settled into the hallway - Hades was contemplating something different than Annabeth. The train of thought was similar. Both were comparing what should have been to what really was. But while Annabeth was wondering where all of the people went, Hades was realizing that war god of myth would have never been so eager to heal Kaz's injury.

Ares took a step back. The warmth of the magic faded.

"There," he said, giving Kaz a grin. "Your leg is all set. Now, about all of the people missing-"

He was cut off by Hades suddenly embracing him.

"It really is you," Hades said, incredulous. Ares faltered for a moment - most likely lost on what was going on - but hesitantly returned the hug. Then he glanced back at the others, searching their faces for some kind of explanation.

After a moment, Hades finally took a step back.

"...I have a lot of questions," Ares finally said.

"We do, too," Hades agreed. "We all woke up near a strange mist. We tried to run away from it, but we found ourselves here when it caught up to us. It's far too empty and quiet here. Add in the portrait..."

Ares followed his gaze.

"...Oh," he said. "You look horrendous in that."

Hades gave a tiny smile. "Thanks."

"No offense," Ares quickly added. "But this is...weird. It's like we're in the Underworld the way that it's meant to be, not the way that it actually is. But even the one from the stories has people in it. Hades's palace should have some kind of servants. It's like this is a cheap theater production where they could only afford the setting - and none of the actors."

Kazimir was so elated by the sudden and almost immediate healing of his bullet wound that for a moment, no one else in the room existed. His eyes lit up as he stared down at his thigh and he poked his leg in genuine wonder and awe, searching for a wound that was no longer there. The pain was gone. The pain was gone. Better than any drug, it was just gone. He felt normal again.

He let out a low laugh as he spun around and jumped up and down while the others spoke, with his ears only tuning in to the last few words.

"Wait, we could be getting paid for this?"

Elias scrunched his face in confusion when Kazimir propped his foot forward and lifted up his dress up to reveal the bloodied bandage. How did that happen? Did someone come in and stab him just now and then he bandaged it right up? That seemed to be the most probable explanation given that he carried him across an earthquake, because clearly a sensible person who was hurt would not do that.

Then the Ares man healed him. Healed him. Elias gaped at Kazimir's healed leg, mesmerized with how he did it. Ellie has the same powers but it isn't a teachable skill. Ares seemed to mumble a couple words and BAM—healed.

Elias spaced for a bit as he tried to process this information and fantasized about having the ability to heal other people. He didn't really listen to what they were talking about, but he did interrupt Kazimir as he looked over at Ares and said, "That was cool! How did you heal him? Can you teach me?!"

He couldn't help but brim with excitement, but he slowly composed himself and looked back towards Hades. "And, uh... do you have any cool powers too?"

Ares gave a little laugh at Elias's comment.

"I might be able to," he said. "It depends on your kind of magic. I'm not an expert on what kind of magic people have, so we'd have to wait for someone a little more experienced to check it out - like Hecate."

He gave a glance over at Hades. The god of the underworld took his pause as his opportunity to answer the last question.

"...I'm not sure if they're anywhere as cool or as versatile as Ares's powers," Hades admitted. He shifted a little, gaze flickering back towards the portrait. Once this conversation was over, he would need to start thinking about how they could out of this strange version of his home.

Ares raised an eyebrow.

"He's a liar," the god of war proclaimed. "Hades has cool powers, too. He can manipulate darkness, summon skeletons, sense death, and see souls. I can only do that with fancy spellwork, but he does that without even breaking a sweat.'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at Kaz's obliviousness at Are's comment, but she grinned at him nonetheless.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," she told him. "So, Ares, you're in the same boat as us. Do you remember anything that happened before we met you?" Annabeth added to the god.

She walked down the corridor where hallways intersected and looked down each one. It was completely silent. Annabeth fiddled with her hair, feeling the nerves creep up.

"Ares, are you the only one in the castle?"

Elias's eyes glinted as excitement as Ares said that this Heck-a-tee could possibly teach him how to do healing powers, otherwise known as "magic," apparently. Sure, Hades has some cool sounding powers, but magic. Healing. TEACH.

He was about to express that he would definitely like to meet this Hecate, but then he noticed that Hades's face looked solemn as he was gazing at the portrait of himself. Suddenly Elias was reminded that they came to this place for a reason, and it was highly unlikely it was so he can learn magic.

Elias nodded, following Annabeth's initiative in venturing down the corridor. "Yeah, what happened here?" he added, feeling small as his voice echoed around the empty room. "Obviously this is not the same place that Hades remembered it being."

Ares looked around.

"...I'm not really sure what's going on," he admitted, half-eaten pomegranate dangling from his hand at his side. "I only just got here. I was minding my own business in Olympus when I found myself just down the hallway."

He crossed his arms and rested his chin on a curled fist in a musing expression.

"It brings up the question of why we're here in the first place," he said. He glanced over at Hades.

For a moment, the death god said nothing. He was nowhere as much of a strategist as Ares was, but he knew what his friend had to be thinking. They needed to figure out how they could leave this strange nightmare.

...And Hades had an idea of where they needed to go.

He took a deep breath.

"I have a throne room," he said. "I don't know what it would look like now. Normally, there's a section of the room where I store important documents. If we're lucky, there might be something there that we can use as a clue."

He raised a finger and pointed at the direction Ares had come from.

"We need to walk that way," he said. "The throne room is at the end."

Kazimir looked in the direction Ares pointed and nodded. With his leg healed, he felt like he was on top of the world.

"Throne-room. Got it. Okay."

He started running.

Throne room, you say?

Say no more.

"Let's go!" Elias said, interrupting Ares as soon as he said 'walk.' He ran right behind Kazimir, running towards the end of the hall.

Annabeth laughed in delight when Elias and Kaz took off toward the throne room.

"Hey, wait for me!" she called, running after them.

Hades didn't have even the slightest urge to go running down the hallway, but seeing the others rush towards the throne room left him little choice. Ares chasing after them - almost certainly trying to rush ahead of Kaz and Elias - didn't help, either.

Hades stood no chance of catching up. By the time he finally reached them, they had already arrived at the throne room doors. Ares stepped aside to let him open them. The reassuring smile he gave Hades wasn't nearly as comforting as it could have been, but he appreciated the thought.

Hades took a deep breath.

And then he opened the door.

The mist from earlier had returned. It was clinging to the corners and edges of the room. Some part of Hades had guessed that there would be something else lurking in the throne room besides information. He just hadn't expected what was actually there.

Sitting on the throne was the man from the portrait.

The man he should have been.

Hades froze.

Behind him, Ares froze as well.

Kazimir stood in the doorway, watching as the dramatic scene unfolded, and his eyes widened when he saw who was on the throne.

He looked between Hades and the guy.

"Bro, you never told us you had a twin."

Maggie had been following in silence all throughout the encounters. It was impossible to find a proper way to react. Every move they were tempted to make - every flex of their fingers, every too-quick flick of their eyes - all if it only reminded them to keep still and silent. Still and silent ended conflicts before they could begin. Still and silent was how you kept your head.

If only they could be at their studio. A chisel in hand and a set of earbuds playing their instrumental playlist on shuffle.

They could use a bit of peace.

Because the tension had just thickened in the air tenfold, and Maggie didn't think they'd be coming out of it with secrets intact.