Page 17

The sounds of playful screaming reminded Hades of the Children’s Garden in the Underworld, though the comparison made his heart ache. He rarely grieved anyone who entered the Underworld, but children were the exception. He had never gotten used to it, and he never would.

He hesitated to even approach this park where clusters of children played on large, colorful toys despite the cold and the dusting of snow on the ground, theirparents either participating or watching idly. He was not invisible to their eyes, and his presence would likely strike fear.

The mortals above did not always realize there was a difference between him and Thanatos, one the God of the Dead, the other the God of Death, and they assumed he arrived to reap souls, but he was here for one person, and he did not require her soul.

He was usually good at ignoring the unease that settled on the world when he arrived, but something about being here made it far less easy. Still, he kept his eyes on Katerina, who was dressed in a brown jacket lined with fur. She was one of his employees, the trusted director of the Cypress Foundation.

She was also an oracle.

“She’s gotten big,” Hades said as he sidled up beside Katerina, who stood a few feet from one of the playsets, watching her young daughter, Imari, play.

Katerina jumped at the sound of his voice and then laughed when she saw him.

“Oh, Hades, you scared me!” she said, pushing his shoulder. Her breath frosted the air as she spoke.

He chuckled while Katerina’s gaze returned to her daughter.

“She is big, isn’t she?” she asked and then sighed. “I can’t believe so much time has passed.”

“Six years?” he inquired, though he did not need to ask. He knew.

“Yeah,” she said. “You’re good at that.”

“Good at what?”

“Remembering,” she said. “Or is that a god thing?”

“Is what a god thing?”

“Can you just look at someone and know their age?”

“I suppose,” he said. “Though I have never really needed to.”

Death was death, no matter the age.

“What are you doing here?” Katerina asked after a moment. “It’s Sunday.”

He took too long to answer, and Katerina’s smile faded.

“I need your assistance,” he said. “I would not ask if…”

“Hades!”

He turned his head to the sound of his name as Imari jumped from the play set to the ground. He laughed and knelt as she raced into his arms.

People had stared before, but not like they did now.

“There’s my girl,” he said, and she laughed as she pulled away from him, taking his hand in hers, which looked like a giant’s in her small one.

“Come play with me,” she said, tugging on his arm.

“Imari,” Katerina began. “Lord Hades is busy.”

“It’s all right, Katerina,” he said.

A wide smile broke out across the young girl’s face, and she pulled Hades along toward the play area. He felt far too large and awkward, but Imari was too young to see him like that—too young to know what others feared.

He watched as Imari climbed a set of steps to a platform and reached over her head.