‘You’re bleeding.’
Hades appeared behind her
and tore a bit of his robe,
then handed it to Styx’s waiting hand.
I touched my forehead
and my fingers came away with gold.
I tried to be brave and not make a sound.
But my vision swam
as I looked around.
It was a chamber of white,
like a blank canvas.
Styx pressed the fabric against my head
and I hissed in pain.
‘It’s a surface wound, Hekate,’
she said impatiently.
‘I did tell you,
not to let go of my hand.’
Suddenly the Chamber Dissolved
And all around me I saw fire,
fire everywhere,
fire that licked at us
and yet did not burn us.
Hades looked at my confused face
and said,
‘It cannot harm us.
It only harms those that live here.’
I felt a chill despite the heat.
What could possibly live here?
This Crumbling, Burning World
My mother once told me about a place.
