Young Writers Society

Elias bent down to examine one of the stone heads next to him, poking it to make sure it really was stone-cold dead. Was it even alive in the first place? What were these things, anyways? The face was kind of creeping him out.

"So, uh... what's with the stone people?" he decided to ask. "Why did they want to attack you? Where are we, anyways?"

Hades kept an eye on Maggie and Kaz in case a fight broke out, but in the meantime joined Annabeth in moving the statues to the places Maggie had pointed out earlier. He also suspected that there was something they might have missed. Hopefully, Elias's question would help them figure out what exactly that something was.

Kazimir took in a deep breath, in and out, with his eyes fixed on Maggie.

"You really think the rest of this dream is gonna play out just so we can play clean up?" Kazimir spat. "Maybe none of it has to do with your horde of previously unfinished hits. They're all 'dead' now, but clearly, this has more to do with you than it does with them. This whole time you keep the attention off yourself. Well, maybe that's what this whole nightmare is about, huh? Do you think you're special enough that you don't get to have your dirty laundry aired out just like every-body-f***ing-else?"

Maggie glared at the wall, away from the others. It was starting to grey and crack, the paint shrinking and peeling into flakes of stone.

"You all know basically everything," they growled. "I had a hoard of unfinished hits left up in my luxurious second home. I'm a f*cking gorgon and a killer for hire. I'm not ashamed of any of it."

Hades glanced over at Elias. Maggie hadn't outright answered his question, but Hades wasn't all that sure Elias would have minded with the tensions currently rising between Maggie and Kaz. Hades glanced at Annabeth, too, making sure that she wasn't bothered by the fight that felt like it was moments away from breaking out.

Killers, by definition, were people that he was supposed to condemn for their actions. The Underworld offered few exceptions for those who willingly committed murders on a regular basis. If Maggie had ended up in the Underworld, it would have been a very long time before they could go to Asphodel.

But his job wasn't to condemn their actions right now. It was to get everyone back to their times and lives. This wasn't meant to punish Maggie. It was designed to make them face some kind of internalized fear they had. Hades just had to help them see what that fear was so they could fight it.

"You don't have to be right now," Hades reassured them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wall beginning to change. "Kaz is onto something. If we're still here, there's something that you still need to do. It might not be necessarily tied to you being a gorgon or a killer-for-hire, but those statues might have something to do with what that something is."

Annabeth nodded slowly, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger. A bit of dust and pebble tumbled down. She finished sweeping up the last of the "dead" statues and leaned the broom against the wall. The floor was mostly spotless except for the dust and sand that hadn't been picked up.

"What are those statues?" she asked. "Why did they come to life?"

If Maggie answered those questions, it could be a step in the right direction.

Maggie crossed their arms. "They were targets. Technically they were never dead."

He glanced at the statues he had just moved.

"And you don't feel any guilt for it," Hades quietly said. He didn't want to condemn Maggie's actions right now, but he knew it accidentally slipped into his tone when he was just trying to figure out what was going on.

Maggie shrugged. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

They were guilty. More guilty than Maggie could ever be. Every one of them had earned a place on their hit list, every one of them had earned a price on their head. Nothing they did was unjustified.

Elias glanced between Maggie and the rubble of stone on the ground. "What do you mean by... targets?" he asked.

Maggie rolled their eyes. How dense was this kid? "I make people disappear for money," they said condescendingly, "These were the people on my little hit list." They tilted their head. "And the material for my sculptures," they added as an afterthought.

Elias didn't understand. "So you, uh... your job is to smash some people rocks? I don't get it... Do you use magic to sculpt them to life? And then you get paid to smash 'em?"

He was stupid. "I turn people to stone, moron," Maggie snapped.

“And then make sculptures out of them after,” Kazimir added, his voice serious and grave, but it didn’t sound like he was making any moral judgement. “Dark… but I guess I’ve seen worse.”

"Well, I'm not going to waste them," Maggie shrugged.