Page 68 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

I Shuddered

What a cruel way to spend eternity.

Sending yourself into suffering

over and over again,

without recognizing the damage.

‘But why do they do this?’

I asked Styx, shivering

as a translucent soul walked

all the way through me.

Styx put her hand forward

and the souls around us

disappeared as we crossed

the bridge together.

‘They spent a life causing others

misery and because misery

is all their soul remembers,

despair is where they return.’

‘Styx,’ I said softly

as we reached Hades on the other side,

‘does nectar not do the same thing

to us and our bodies?’

I remember my mother and I

starving, sick, bare-boned

and scarcely able to ensure

our immortal bodies kept moving.

Styx looked down at me,

her expression unreadable.

She shook her head,

but her eyes held

a different answer.