I rolled my eyes at Seph and said, “Yeah, right. Why would Hades want to talk to me? I’m just Cerberus’s caretaker, and he never needs to speak to me about anything. So what’s up?”
Seph glanced around nervously and whispered, “Not here, Vic. I can’t tell you yet. Hades wants to tell you himself.”
“Oh, wonderful. Walking up to a king without knowing what you’re getting into. Great idea,” I reply, dusting off my leggings. “Well, we might as well go and get it over with.” I carefully set down Cerberus’s rusty dog bowl, made a mental note to make it not be rusty anymore, and followed Seph to Hades’s throne room.
We hurried across Cerberus’s yard and leapt over a river of lava. Seph made a sharp left and I followed suit, nearly crashing into a gigantic, furry black leg. We tilted our heads up slowly and grinned when we saw Cerberus.
“Hey, Cerbie!” I shouted up to him. I scratched his leg and worked my way around until I was rubbing his stomach. Cerberus let out a delighted bark and moved so that his eyes were level with my head and he wasn’t squashing me. I unzipped my bright orange bag and withdrew a dog treat, which I gave to him. “Good Cerberus. Seph and I are just going to visit Master Hades. I’ll be back soon.” I zipped my bag back up and slung it back around my shoulders in one fluid movement, then moved back to stand next to Seph.
Seph gave Cerberus a quick pat and then dragged me away in the direction of Hades’s palace. We dodged lava and the dead, who gave us withering looks and huffed at us. I don’t think they realized that Seph was the queen, otherwise they probably wouldn’t have done that.
The palace came into view, looming in the distance. The volcanic rock it was made out of almost blended in with the volcanoes and the darkness. It was only given away to us by the brightly flowering vines that hung over the windows flickering with dim candlelight. The flames danced and cast wavering shadows through the Underworld.
I breathed in the scent of fire that I loved. Whether it was a campfire, candles, or literally anything fire-related, the smell was always my favorite.
Seph tugged me even faster than before, weaving between the dead. We reached the palace doors really quickly because of that.
The doors opened slowly and creakily of their own accord, and we speed walked inside. Seph led me toward the dais and up to Hades’s black throne made of volcanic rock and went to her mossy throne with flower patterns.
Hades looked up from his throne and smiled brightly when he saw Seph. “Hello, Seph,” he greeted her. Then he addressed me. “Ah, Victoria Lawrence. I have something… quite interesting… to tell you. Follow me. Seph, you’re in charge while I’m showing the Oracle to Victoria.” He stood up from his throne, his black robes billowing around his feet, and gestured for me to follow him through a formidable black door carved with swirling patterns.
I cautiously walked after him, checking behind my shoulder to see if Seph was comfortable. She was. I turned back to Hades and my jaw dropped open when I saw his Oracle.
It wasn’t the Oracle of Delphi. This was a different Oracle entireley.
In fact, it wasn’t even a person.
It was a glowing spere with mist surrounding it.
“Go ahead,” Hades instructed me, nodding toward the Oracle. “Go to it and discover your fate.”
“Oh, yeah,” I muttered under my breath, “not doomy at all.” I shook myself and walked up to the Oracle and held my breath.
The mist began to swirl, slowly at first, then faster and faster. A deep voice came from above me, and I tilted my head to try to see whose voice it was. Then I mentally kicked myself. Of course I couldn’t see who it was. The gods were speaking through the Oracle, and they weren’t about to reveal themselves to me anytime soon.
“Four and three shall journey west
To save the village on this quest.
Fireborne daughter leads thy pack
To find the songs Olympus lacks.
Unite the stars to kill the beast
Living in a cave far due east.”
Well, that wasn’t concerning at all.
Unfortunely, I knew who the fireborne daughter was. Me. I’m the daughter of Hephaestus, the god of fire, was my father, which makes me his fireborne daughter. No one knew which set of mythology my mother was from, but we knew she wasn’t Greek and is somehow related to fire.
When the Oracle stopped working its magic, Hades came up behind me and said, “You get to choose who will come with you. There are four girls and three boys who will go, but you only need to pick three girls and three boys because be already know you’re going.”
I nodded and thought about it. My friend Lotus was good with survival and self-defense, so she would be good to take. As would my cousin, Carter, because he was good at hunting and could help with getting food during the quest. “Lotus Smith and Carter Lawrence,” I said slowly. “I need to think about the other four a little longer.”
Hades stepped aside and gestured for me that I could go now, and I did so immediately.
The words of the prophecy rattled around in my mind the entire way back, through the lava and the dead, through Cerberus’s yard, through the junkyard, across the river, and into my ramshackle hut.
I flung down my bag, pounced onto my bed, lit a citrus-scented candle, and lay down to fall asleep.
The prophecy never left my mind the entire night.
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