Touched by Darkness (Young Creator Trilogy) (18 page)

“I apologize, Tisiphone. You’re right, I was distracted and not focused on the task at
hand. I’m surprised to see you here. To what do we owe this great honor?” Keagan, completely
back to himself, asks.
“Let’s just say things have taken an unexpected turn, and we must move the plan that
your team came up with forward… with a few changes.” Keagan looks at her expectedly.
“Instead of going tomorrow, we will proceed today. By we, I mean the three of us. I’m very
familiar with the Underworld and this plan is the most likely to succeed. I have already explained
everything to Trish. The reason that I need you to go, Keagan, is to once again haveTrish’s
back.” She walks over to him and gives him a hug. “I’m very happy to hear that you are back to
yourself, Keagan. Your mother was so relieved when Maximus got the news to us, she cried.”
“I’m really happy to have all of my memories back, too. Now there is just a lot to make
up for.” While saying the words, Keagan stares into my eyes, making me think that he is
referring to us.
This reminds me that I still need to have that talk with Keagan. There is a lot to figure
out, and I just hope that I’ll get the chance to before everything goes crazy, which I know it will.
“All right,so what exactly is the plan?” Keagan murmurs.
“We are leaving right now,” Aunt Tisi tells him. Keagan glances down at the clothes he is
wearing, and then looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Before she can even think about what to
dress him in,I’ve already got him in leather pants, a tight black shirt, and a leather jacket that
looks just like the one I’ve seen him wear at school. I quickly manifest a leather jacket for
myself, and look expectantly at Aunt Tisi.
“You two up for some art?”

I would have never expected the entrance to the Underworld to be in the Louvre, one of the most
famous museums in the entire world. I’m standing in front of the glass pyramids which are the
entrance to the museum. The theme of modern and old world carries its way into the museum.
Exhibits from Ancient Egypt on one side and modern artists on the other wall. Corridor after
corridor of art astound me. I can’t even fathom how much worth is in this one museum not only
in monetary value, but the value it has to history. Looking at the pictures I can see so many
stories written by the artist. Some pictures portray scenes from ancient times, andit’s amazing
how different times before the use of electricity made life so much simpler. I think it would have
been amazing to experience those times, but I would probably only want to experience them for
a short time. Advancement has just made it so much easier to survive in today’s society.

I gasp in wonder as we end up at the Mona Lisa, art
’s most mysterious piece of work.
The look on her face has inspired many a tale and guesses as to what was going on while that
picture was painted. We have been walking for what feels like forever and I’m surprised when
we stop in front of this particular painting. Looking at the picture,I don’t really understand what
the fuzz is all about. I mean, I have seen bigger, more complicated pieces of art, but for some
reason this one is the one that grabs everyone’s attention.

Aunt Tisi’s
eyes turn white, and before my eyes the Mona Lisa’s strange smile changes to
a gaping doorway. Talk about creepy. I look over my shoulder and find that no one is paying any
attention to us. I so need to practice the cool little trick that Aunt Tisi can do; I can see where it
would be useful in a situation or two. I step through the Mona Lisa’s gaping mouth onto an
escalader. I look up, but can’t see how far it goes. If Ididn’t know any better, I would think that
someone had a weird sense of humor. Instead of stairwell into Heaven,it’s a stairwell up into the
Underworld. The escalader eventually ends, and before us lays what seems to be a massive mall
with escaladers leading onto each new level. We are on the lowest level, and everywhere I turn
everything is a dark gray color, from the floor to the walls. Even the people that are walking
around are all in gray.

“Wow
, this is not what I was expecting when I heard we were going to see the
Underworld. I thought that Charon would have to ferry us across the Acheron. I always heard
that you had to pay a fee to get across and reach the gates,” Keagan says in wonder as he takes in
our surroundings. I nod in agreement, and can’t help but add my own thoughts to what Keagan
just mentioned.

“Right
, and from there everyone has to face the three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos, and
Aeacus, who pass sentence. The good get to go to the Elysian Fields, which I would, by the way,
love to see, and the rest are doomed to a pretty miserable existence. I don’t really understand
what I’m seeing here.” I wave my arms, encompassing everything around me.It’s just all too
weird.

“You know, you two are right. This is not how I remember the
Underworld at all. Hades
has made some changes to the place since I last visited. I have to say,I’m quite intrigued by all
of this.” Aunt Tisi looks around, shaking her head with a smile on her face. If Ididn’t know any
better, I would say that she is rather fond of Hades. Almost like he is the little brother that is
never up to any good. I look at Keagan, which reminds me of Riley. Oh no, I left her without any
explanation of where I was going or when I would be back.

“Aunt Tisi, did you by some chance let Maximus know that we were coming here?”
“No, Trish, Ididn’t get a chance to. Remember, you brought me to Paris?”
“Oh right. I just hope that Riley and the others won’t be worried when they find us

missing.”
“Don’t worry about it, Trish. Time in the Underworld basically passes one hour for every
minute. More than likely they will not even know that you were ever missing.”
“So where do we go from here?” Keagan asks.
“To Hades’ palace. That is where we will find the sword.”
“How do we get there?” Looking around the “mall” I have no idea how to find a palace
within this massive structure. It seems that there is no end to the levels, andI hope that we don’t
have to explore all of them. I get that time passes really slowly down here, but come on.
“I have some ideas. Follow me.” We make our way through the throng of people. It
seems as if all of them are going in the same direction, which is the opposite way that we are
heading. As we push our way through the crowd, I start noticing that even though they were all
dressed in gray and have somber expressions, that’s where the similarities end. Some of the
people are dressed in modern clothes, while others are in items from a time long past. I have to
say,I’m completely geeking out at all of the cool stuff.
A lady, with hair piled in tight curls on top of her head, is wearing a dress that I can only
describe as phenomenal. It is layer upon layer of silk with beautiful beadwork in the chest area. I
wish I could have seen it in its original color. The dress brings to mind a ball where young men
in tight britches and frilly coats bow, asking the beautiful young women to dance. An older man
in chaps and a cowboy hat knocks into me and continues on without a word. I stumble, and if it
hadn’t been for Keagan, who with a hand to my elbow steadies me, I would’ve fallen. I give him
a small smile filled with gratitude and focus on making my way through the throng of people.
We finally reach another escalator, and about halfway up the color changes from gray to
tan. This floor is almost the exact same as the one before; the people still have somber looks on
their face, but are dressed in tan versus gray. While everyone on the gray floor seemed to be
going in the same direction, on this floor everyone is going wherever they want.
Stopping, I look into one of the stores of the mall and am surprised to see that the
occupants of this floor are lined up to receive punishments. They aren’t horrible, but still … to
have to do this every day, I just could not imagine. The next store I look in I find the tan ones
receiving a drink.
“Hold up for a minute. I just want to check something out,” I tell Aunt Tisi and Keagan,
who watch me as I head into the store. Thetan ones don’t acknowledge me. I make my way to
the front of the line and find my reason for entering. The creature handing out water is something
from legend. A Minotaur; the body of a man and the head of a bull. It is massive and I justcan’t
believe that I’m standing in front of it. Just like the rest of the inhabitants of the floor, the
Minotaur pays me no mind, it simply continues on with its task. Once I leave the store, I
continue looking into the windows and gasping in wonder as I make out creatures I’d only heard
of in Greek mythology.
Keagan has now picked up on what I discovered, too, and points out a Centaur. Ican’t
help but stop and stare as the man throws his long, blond hair over his shoulder and then gallops
from one end of the store to the other. We continue on from one floor to the next; tan changes to
yellow, yellow to pink, and pink to blue. The further up we go, the more lively and happy the
people seem to be. The floors are also nicer and have what appears to be apartments built into
them.
“I have a feeling that we may find Hades on this floor.” I snap my head in Aunt Tisi’s
direction. She hasn’t said a word since she told us to follow her. Meanwhile, Keagan and I are
filled with excitement and chatting about what we’ve been seeing.
“What makes you think so?” I ask. It’s not the top floor, as I can still see many above us.
“The color, it’s his favorite.”
“Really, light blue is Hades favorite color?” Keagan questions.
“It is. He once told me that he loved it because it reminded him of the sky. Now I need to
look for a door that has two golden statues on it. One is a trident, and the other is a lightning
bolt.”
“Seriously?” This comes from Keagan.
All that he gets from Aunt Tisi is a small smile. We continue on down the blue hall,
looking for the statues that mark the entrance to Hades’ palace. When we reach the escalator
without spotting them, I worry that she was wrong. Keagan and I look at her expectantly, waiting
to see what we are going to do now. I’m glad that I created myself some good boots, because
otherwise all of this walking would’ve taken a toll on my feet.
I remember when Chelsey invited me on a hiking trip with her family, who was there for
a visit. I had never been, and put on a brand new pair of boots that I thought would be perfect. I
didn’t realize how serious Chelsey and her brothers were about hiking, and after about five miles
up and down rolling hills, the back of my feet were developing blisters from the boots rubbing
against them. I tried enjoying the scenery, which was beautiful—especially once we made it to
the inlet and were able to look straight across the water into the skyline of San Francisco—but
my feet were killing me. Toward the end of the trip, I couldn’t walk in them and decided to go
barefoot, which was a relief on my blistered heels, but torture to the bottom of my feet every
time I stepped on a rock. From that moment on, I’ve always made sure to have the right kind of
shoes, for whatever I’m doing.
“Aha, there you are.” I look to see what Aunt Tisi has discovered, butdon’t see whatever
has grabbed her attention. Regardless, I follow her when she floats toward two men standing
against the blue wall. It still completely takes me by surprise when I see her like this; it reminds
me that she is a Fury and not just my Aunt Tisi. Not only is she floating several inches off the
ground, but her eyes are also a glossed over white. She stops in front of the two men and
bellows,“Open to me.”
“Tisiphone, what a pleasant surprise.” I hear the voice but don’t know who is speaking as
neither one of the men is moving their lips. I do let out a laugh when I realize what Aunt Tisi
spotted. The man on the left side has a Trident tattoo running down his arm, and the other man
has a thunder bolt shaved into his hair. It’s almost like Hades decided to modernize the
Underworld. I stillcan’t shake my surprise at what I’m finding here.
“Hades, how I have missed your fun little games. May we enter your palace?” Aunt Tisi
requests.
“Who have you brought to me?” the voice replies.
“You and your games, Hades. You know who they are and why we have come here,” she
answers.
A gate out of pure gold with people reaching for the top appears out of thin air. The doors
are thrown open to reveal a large room. We follow Aunt Tisi into the room, and Ican’t help but
gasp in wonder at my surroundings. Now this is more like what I would’ve thought the
Underworld looked like. Everything is black and gold; the black walls covered with more of the
golden people climbing on each other, and reaching up. The room is massive, and as we make
our way toward the throne I look from left to right, taking in everything in the room. All of the
other floors werechild’s play in comparison to this.
Hades has the entire room set up for torture; dark creatures with black holes for eyes are
punishing in the most heinous ways Hades has chosen. I recognize some of them, and even
though I understand that they did bad things,it’s hard to imagine that they have to tolerate this
punishment for all eternity. Recognizing a woman, not from my history book, but from
somewhere else, I stop and stare. At first,I don’t know where I’ve seen her before, but the longer
I look at her the more clear the picture becomes. The woman, sitting and facing the middle of the
room, unable to blink, is the Fury that I saw a carving of in Haven. She caused a disaster which
killed many people and watched as they fell to their death.
“Come closer, I have been waiting to meet you,” Hades beckons us. When we reach him,
he is nothing like what I would have imagined. I mean, the guy is supermodel hot. He is
sprawled out on his golden throne in leather pants and no shirt. His torso is covered by lean
muscle and not a single hair. Golden skin, black hair, and eyes the color of molten lava. I always
thought that Hades would be scary, but this guy is too pretty to be scary.
“Trish, is it?” I nod my head to confirm his question. “I have heard so much about you
and your sister. Something about one can raise the dead and the other can bring life. Hmm, well
let me tell you something, I don’t like having my dead raised. Your sister is costing me to lose a
lot of souls, and there’s nothing that makes me angrier than someone messing with them.”
Okay, I was completely wrong. Hades is super scary; when he’s angry, flames dance in
his eyes and he spits fire like a dragon would.
“I’m sorry, Trish.I know you’re not your sister, but seeing you here gets my blood
boiling. You two look the same, and the only way I can even tell you apart is your eyes.”
Walking up to me, he takes my face into his hands and stares into my eyes. Ican’t help but return
the stare as his molten lava eyes swirl with fire. “Very pretty,” Hades tells me as he returns to his
throne and sprawls out on it once again.
“That is exactly why we are here, Hades,” Aunt Tisi says.
“What … because she is pretty, you brought me some company?” He wiggles his
eyebrows, which reminds me of Chelsey, but when Hades does it there is something animalistic
about it. Keagan moves closer to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. This has Hades throwing
his head back and laughing.
“Hades, we don’t have time for your games. We’re here to ask you to let us have Flame
so that we can stop Haddie from taking any more of your souls.” Aunt Tisi’s words have the
desired effect on Hades, who sits up straight on his throne and gives us a serious look.
“You want Flame?” The serious look disappears and is replaced by Hades laughing at us.
Keagan and I glance at each other. I have no idea what is going on or why he would find this
amusing.
“Prepare yourselves,” Aunt Tisi tells us just before Hades jumps from his throne and has
her by the throat.
“So this is the reason that you, after so many years, have decided to grace me with your
presence.” I’m just about to lunge at Hades when I notice the slight shake of Aunt Tisi’s head,
telling me not to do it. Keagan reaches behind him to pull his sword, only to realize that we
didn’t bring any weapons.
“Hades, I know what I’m asking, but it’s the only way. If we don’t have the weapon, then
Trish may be killed by Haddie, which will make her stronger. You think she’s strong now,
imagine how many souls she’ll take from you then.” Hades throws her across the room as if she
were just a feather and walks back and forth, rubbing his chin and looking at the ground.