Page 16 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)
A few of the people surrounding me cried out. It was the first sign of emotion since our arrival. Several of my fellow Taken cringed, and I even saw the Head Shade ducking back as the figure descended.
Large feathered wings sprouted from the being’s back. When he landed, he tucked them in toward himself, and then they vanished entirely. I heard my breathing as it sped up, aware that I was on the verge of hyperventilating and powerless to prevent it.
With the Head Shade I had wondered, but now I was certain to my bones. This was a god.
When the figure lifted his head the sensation got worse.
If this was Charon, as the Head Shade had indicated, I couldn’t see much of him.
He wore a hood, and its opening gave way to a black void.
Not a darkness caused by a lack of light, but an intense and heavy emptiness, purposeful and yawning.
I wanted to look away, yet my eyes were riveted on the void that reigned in the place where a face should have been.
How had I ever assumed the Head Shade was a god? This being was terrifying and awe-inspiring .
I squeaked as I swallowed down the scream that threatened to erupt. Even so, the figure turned toward me. I looked at the ground and started swaying like my neighbors.
“This year’s Taken, Charon,” the Head Shade announced, and the figure snapped its hooded head back towards him.
“A large number this year. Good. I had worried people were growing too wary of my hour. But it seems we have many this year who were foolhardy. Perhaps doubting the power I exert between the years? Of course, this will be nothing compared to the centennial celebration I have planned.”
The voice from within the hood was booming and deep.
It rang out and seemed to linger in the air, grating on my nerves.
It sounded less like the echo of a voice and more like the sound of metal sliding against metal.
A ringing you felt in your bones. Jarring and disconcerting.
When the Head Shade spoke, I’d felt as if his very words were music, drawing me closer.
When Charon spoke, I wanted nothing so much as to turn and run without ever looking back.
As the god continued to look over his Shades, he removed his hood, and I had to wonder if my mind was playing tricks on me. Not surprising, given the night I’d had.
Charon had human features after all. Dazzling and simply too much, in a way I couldn’t quite describe, but human nonetheless.
He had black hair and grey eyes, similar to the Head Shade.
The god’s eyes, however, held none of the spark that the Head Shade possessed.
No flashes of blue. Just a steel wall, cold and unyielding.
“You now belong to the Ether. I am Charon, your ruler and host. You have died, but you are not in the realm of Death. You should be thanking me for that. Her domain is far less pleasant. Think of my kingdom as a state not so much as between life and death, but more as an aside. You have been removed from the cycle of life and death. Omitted from its plan. Death’s domain is vast, but mine grows at a rapid pace.
You’re all here at the most exciting time, because soon we’ll be able to implement the plan I’ve so carefully nurtured all these years.
In return for my hospitality, you will have a job to do during the Unseen Hour, under the guidance of my Head Shade. ”
Charon floated over the ground as he spoke. His Shades were swaying, pale imitations of their former selves, toes trailing the ground, while the god moved with purpose. He walked on air, seeming to command the very elements in his realm.
The extreme cold, and my close brush with death, were catching up to me. Only adrenaline and fear were keeping me upright and awake.
Even when exhausted, my curiosity remained intact. Charon had confirmed Death was real, and she had a realm of her own. Emrys had been wrong about the gods, in more ways than one. Charon’s name sounded familiar, and my tired mind just barely grasped a memory of seeing it in a book about Tang.
The gods, it appeared, were above trivial things like national borders.
“Acclimate to your new forms. By the time the next Unseen Hour rolls around, you will all be ready with your songs.”
Charon floated down the lines, and I swayed and turned my head away from him as he passed several people down the line from me.
I didn’t dare turn to look at him, praying instinctively to both gods that he would pass me by without noticing my feet planted firmly on the ground. Not that I expected praying to work. I was in the presence of a different god, and this place belonged to him.
He gave off a chill exceeding that of the surroundings, and I felt him growing closer. He had to be only a few individuals away when I heard the Head Shade call out .
“Charon, I have a final count for you, and the information you asked me to gather. Would you prefer to review it now?”
The wall of cold froze several feet from me, then receded. My muscles relaxed as he moved farther away.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll settle the Shades and convene with you.”
The two of them murmured some more words I couldn’t hear, and then Charon retreated beyond the Meadow and out of sight.
The Head Shade didn’t immediately follow, instead approaching me.
He leaned closer than was decent and whispered in my ear, his breath pleasantly warm.
“Remain here. Do not make a scene. I will be back soon, but if Charon finds you, it will not be good. Nod if you understand.”
I leaned even closer to him as he spoke, desperate for any source of heat.
I nodded, too tired to fight him on the request.
“Good. I’ll return shortly.”
He whisked away, taking his warmth with him.
I was stuck with the Shades, with nothing but my questions for company.