Chapter Eight

Nikkos was excited to be going to the Underworld and had asked if we could go see all the things I mentioned to him but I had to remind him that it was more of a work trip than a vacation. He argued that we could do work and have some fun but after a strict phone call from my father I wasn’t too eager to give him more reasons to insult me with. So I told Nikkos that we would come back after all this mess was dealt with and he looked excited.

Instead of using my powers to teleport us to meet Hades we took portal entrances and ended up meeting Hades at the entrance of Oceanus. Oceanus was on the east edge of the Underworld and was home to a small town that wasn’t really monitored and had empty land for miles before you reached the Oceanus River. It was also the place that me and Nikkos would be staying for a day or two before traveling to wherever Hades needed us for the next three to four days.

“You’ll be staying at the house of Oceanus. It's been abandoned for years but I had it cleaned up. I also had it stocked with food and drinks for you to enjoy and I left a map of the land there. I want you to spend time checking out the places and people and note any suspicious behaviors. We haven’t had any death here yet but the few people here have been complaining of things that line up with what is being mentioned.” Hades explained to us.

“I’ll make sure to check things out and report everything back to you.” I said, making sure he knew I was serious.

“Good. I’d like it if you could handle things but if needed you can reach out to one of my kids. If it's not life or death don’t bother me. I have things to do other places that don't involve interacting with my arrogant brother’s kid.” The bored look that covered his face was clear that he was telling the truth.

“Understood.” He nodded and then disappeared.

“He seems nice. A little rude but nice nonetheless.” Nikkos said as he stared at the spot Hades was once at.

I didn’t respond and teleported us to the house of Oceanus so we would have to spend an hour walking there. It was a medium-size house that was in the middle of Oceanus and was surrounded by an old metal gate. I could tell the gate was spelled to keep those not welcomed inside by Hades out and I figured the spell had been there since the beginning of the place. If the gate was old so was the spell.

“I thought it would be bigger.” Nikkos muttered as we entered the house.

I shrugged, “Oceanus is one of the neglected parts of the Underworld and was home to only a few hundred. In Fact, I think there were a few creatures who lived in the empty land parts too but other than that it was pretty empty and neglected.”

Nikkos placed the bags he was carrying down. “That’s a shame. I think the place could be beautiful if it wasn’t neglected.”

“A lot of places would be wonderful if not neglected but there is only so much a god can watch over. And Hades only has four kids that are running other areas of the Underworld and since a lot of gods dislike Hades for his attitude they aren’t too eager to strike a deal and work for him.” I explained to Nikkos as I picked up the bags with our food, heading towards the kitchen with Nikkos behind me.

The house was only two stories but was still kind of spacious and was just enough for two people and maybe one more to live in. The kitchen was nice and I believed Hades had used his magic to fix the place back up. I sat the bags on the counter before going around and tossing out the food that was placed in here. It was all Underworld food and wasn’t good to eat unless we wanted to be stuck here. I wouldn’t put it past Hades to not let us go back because of his strong dislike for my father.

Nikkos picked up a loaf of bread, “Doesn’t it seem like a shame to throw all this food away?”

“No. If you eat any of the food you will be stuck here and Hades is highly unlikely to allow you to leave. It's why I packed so much food for days Nikkos, so we wouldn’t accidentally eat something here.” I told him as I took the bread from his grip and tossed it in the magic trash bin. The trash bin never got full and just evaporated everything that entered it. It's great as long as you don’t toss anything important down it on accident.

“That’s a shame. Why is the food like that here?” Nikkos asked as he leaned against the counter and watched me move around.

“That would be because Persephone, who is Hade’s ex-wife and long term friends with Tyche, was brought here by Hades and who lied about who he was and since he feared she would leave if he did he spelled all the food that grows in the Underworld to keep people here if they eat it. He fed the food to Persephone so when she found out who she was and tried to leave she couldn’t.” I said as I moved things around to fit in the fridge neatly.

“And she was okay with that?” The shock in his voice made me laugh.

“No. Tyche is good friends with Demeter who is good friends with my mother Hera. So word got back to Hera and Tyche wanted something done and this whole fight broke out which brought to light that Zeus had set it all up in order to make people dislike Hades more. It worked because only those involved knew but an agreement was reached for Persephone to be allowed to leave the Underworld half the year and spend the other half here. She lives in Elysium for her half here.” I broke down as I finally finished putting away the food.

“Why not just allow her to leave?” Nikkos titled his head.

“Like I said, very few know the actual story so Hades keeps her here because he thinks her beauty adds to the appeal of the Underworld. He’s hoping it makes more people come here and even live here. It’s more of a marketing plot mixed with a bad romance gone wrong. Although the population did increase since people believe Persephone actually loves staying here half the year.” I finished off.

“That’s kind of fucked up and it's all Zeus’ fault if you think about it. Your dad is an asshole to not just you but I see others too.” Nikkos frowned at me.

I sighed, “The life of being a Greek god.”

I left the kitchen and Nikkos followed me as I went to collect our other bags. Nikkos grabbed some too and we headed upstairs. There were three doors up here and one was open to show the bathroom and the other one opened to show a bedroom. The third door was closed and I dropped the bags I was holding to go open it.

It was another bedroom although it seemed to be filled with junk and so I shut it back before turning to look at Nikkos. He looked at me with suppressed excitement as he figured we would be sharing a room. I didn’t like the idea of sharing a room with him because while he might not be bad company, I still didn’t want to have to put up with this connection thing making me feel funny. Plus it was always stronger when he was close to me and I didn’t want to risk losing myself to the connection and doing something I wouldn’t normally do.

“We’ll be sharing a room but if you don’t stay on your side of the bed, I will kick you to the floor.” I warned him and he nodded his head with a smile.

We picked up the bags and set them in the room. I took my bags to the left side by the wall because Nikkos insisted on the right side by the door in case someone got in. I bit back from telling him I didn’t need his protection but seeing as it was literally ingrained in him by the Origin and this whole connection thing I didn’t waste my breath.

“Okay so first we’ll walk around the town and stop by and talk to some of the shops and dinner owners. We’ll also see if anyone on the streets has seen or heard anything going on here that they haven’t before.” I told Nikkos and he nodded.

I teleported us to the edge of town and ended up guiding us around to different places. There were some places that swore that they had something suspicious going on in their shop but it was just a critter or a spirit that had decided to stay there. Then there were some places that actually seemed to have heard strange things but nothing related to what we were dealing with. There were of course the owners who asked what we wanted to know but we could tell the truth because the whole situation needed to be on the low.

It wasn’t until we got around to talking to some of the people on the streets that we got information. There were a few homeless people who spoke up about how some of the people they use to see were coming up missing and one guy even said he found his friend dead by the dumpsters. He described how his friend looked and it was the same exact way the guy on the edge of the inner town in Mount Olympus looked, including the scratches. Which meant that we could officially add scratch marks to the list of things to look out for.

Nikkos had pointed out as we had stopped in a dinner, to rest but not eat, that only the homeless seemed open to speaking with us. He said that anytime I had asked another person that they were lying and he could tell from the sound of their heart rate picking up. Although he said there were some people without heart rates and he thought that was weird but I informed him that they were probably just vampires or from a branch of the vampire race.

“I think we should do house visits instead.” Nikkos suggested as we left the dinner.

“That may make people more unlikely to talk to us.” I pointed out as I decided walking back to the house would be better so we could think.

“I think house visits stating we are here for Hades might make people more willing to speak. They might think that we’re collecting complaints to better the place.” Nikkos offered and I stopped in my tracks.

I turned towards him and smiled, “That’s actually a great idea and it might work.”

Nikkos grinned back at me, “I’m glad I could be of help to you, Ares.”

I turned away from him and continued to walk ahead of him as I ignored the way my heart sped up at hearing him say my name. It was the way he said it with care but I think even if he said it plainly I would still react the same because of the stupid connection.