IV. Sylver

I had somehow completely blanked out any bystanders and hadn't noticed onlookers, wandering in and watching the drama unfold before them. They were leaning towards each other, snickering and whispering. Writing the scenario they assumed would unfold. Wondering - what did she do wrong? What had I done wrong? Among them, a skinny tall man with glistening blonde hair and curiously symmetrical face was slowly making his way towards us. He seemed to be the only one brave enough to interrupt our dramatic encounter.

"Excuse me, sorry. I just need to clock in." His smile was genuine and rushed like he was running late for work as he quickly slipped past the black soldier and Me. Despite noticing the soldier's hand wrapped around my wrist and the potential of me being an imposter, his smile didn't stop at the soldier, still extending to me, before moving onto the receptionist.

"Come on, let's go." The soldier tugged at my hand like I was a naughty child. I tried to stand my ground but he was much larger and much stronger.

"No. Let me go please." I continued to be polite, despite him undeserving any kind of kindness, but getting angry and rude wasn't going to pay me well.

"If you resist arrest we will be forced to reprimand you." His voice was robotic. Monotone. He's learned that line in training, you could tell. It was implanted in all of them, something they said to all of the imposters and travelers of the Underworld.

"For what? I didn't do anything. If you just listened to me and called King Hades, he would tell you exactly who I am and why I am here." We continued to bicker.

"You're hurting my arm." I protested. It hadn't hurt yet, though his grip was tight and soon my blood was going to stop circulating. I'd hoped that he'd loosen his grip at my words, but I'd mistaken the dead soldiers for the mortal ones with feelings of sympathy. The black soldier had no mercy, his eyes were a cold, black coal and so was his heart.

"Well if you move along, I won't have to keep hurting you." He insisted, tugging on my arm one more time. This time I'd felt a wince of pain, but not enough to throw myself onto the floor and beg for release. I was stubborn. I could feel the knot in my throat, it was a familiar feeling of anger, which usually resulted in tears.

"Well if you called Hades and asked him, he would tell you that I am here to work with him." I didn't so much yell, I wasn't that stupid, he could rip my heart out of my chest with his bare hands, but I raised my tone, enough for it to show on the soldier's face as it somehow seemed to get darker.

"That is King Hades to you!" He pulled my arm swiftly, making my whole body jerk upwards towards him. My thin wrist aching between his rough, bony fingers. His dark grey face full of rage and contempt. I closed my eyes in a reflex, afraid he'd hit me, but he refrained, despite the craving to do so.

"Excuse me?!" I felt another hand wrap around my wrist, overlapping the soldier's grip. "King Hades, wouldn't appreciate your rough handling of this small mortal. Surely she poses no threat to you, nor me, for you to handle her like she's one of the travelers. Isn't there a fine for injuring or causing inconvenience to a mortal?" The tall, blonde man's pale hand was wrapped around the soldiers, slowly easing the grip around my wrist. I was worried my wrist wouldn't be attached to my arm once he released me from his grip. My cold, fear inflicted body had eased the pain around my wrist, which I knew would later be worse than it was. "I can vouch for her. King Hades did hire a new mortal assistant. I saw him last night showing somebody around the office, I just hadn't realised she was," he looked down on me like I was a small ant in quicksand, "you.". His hand dropped from the soldiers and seconds later the soldiers hand dropped from mine and I was free again. I wrapped my arms around my back, holding my aching wrist with my other hand out of the soldier's seight.

"You're willing to vouch for her despite not knowing whether it was her that you saw or whether she really is human?" Soldier spoke, his teeth gritted together in fury.

"I recognise her smell. Can't you smell her? The scent of fresh flesh and sweat, fresh, red blood in her cheeks and her pulse beating a drum under your tight grip." My saviour's depiction of me almost made me heave. It made me conscious of my own smell that I had no control over. I took a small step back as the soldier leaned a little closer, inhaling sharply.

"What are you called?" I jumped at his voice, nearly losing my balance.

"Evelyn, Evelyn Lockwood."

"Seems human to me." The blonde man smiled at the soldier, before turning to me with the same smile. I pinched my lips together in an attempt to smile back, but this scenario was hardly better than the one I was just in. My body was trembling and my mind was racing. It felt like the only person I was craving to see, to find some relief was Hades himself.

"Don't issue her ID unless confirmed by King Hades." The soldier looked overhead to the receptionist who seemed to have carried on with her work like nothing had happened.

"Have a nice day everyone. Miss Lockwood, if you'd like to follow me." The pale man bowed his head at the soldier, before childishly pacing towards the door in long, slow strides. He slid his badge across and allowed me to walk through first.

"Thank you for vouching for me." I exhaled a deep, heavy, pained breath as we stepped into the elevator and the doors had shut, leaving us all alone in a small metal box.

"Don't thank me yet. It was my day off yesterday." His demeanor had changed. His voice was still friendly, but his eyes were examining me. His face looked tense, like he was worried that he'd made a mistake.

"Oh, then why did you vouch for me if you have no idea who I am?"

"Well you are either crazy or stupid to choose Hades over the receptionist and the black soldier, so assuming you are not stupid nor crazy, logic would tell me that you are telling the truth." His high pitched voice reminded me of riddlers and wizards in cartoons on Earth. Up close his features were much more enhanced and much more appreciable. He was a strange kind of handsome. Pale, lanky, blonde. He looked like he had never seen the sun. His eyes were a light blue, so light you could hardly tell.

"Thank you, I think." I continued to hold my aching wrist behind my back. There was nothing inside me that wanted to inspect it for bruises, as I already knew it was going to bruise either now or later. I had caused so much inconvenience, there was no room for complaints.

"My name is Sylver. Sorry about them, some Underworlders aren't keen on the mundane living in their world." He seemed embarrassed by their behaviour, which gave me some hope of finding some friendly Underworlders.

"That's understandable, I guess. I'm sure humans would be shocked if they saw beasts like Mihai just walking around on Earth." We both chuckled. I felt relief wash over me. It was pure luck that Sylver walked in when he did and I was grateful for it.

"Make sure to show your wrist to Hades. He'll fix it up for you." He spoke like he had read my mind. The pain was slowly getting worse, but nothing was broken and I wasn't bleeding, so I wasn't complaining.

"Oh, it's alright. It doesn't hurt that much." I smiled, appreciating his concern.

"Also don't lie to Hades, if I can tell when you're lying, then he will see through you like paper." Sylver's attention turned to his phone, as he fished it out of the pocket of his blazer.

"Sorry." I whispered just loud enough.

"Hayden prefers working in the dark, so he's always on the last floor. Also, he doesn't like being called King Hades, so stick with Hayden. You'll hear everyone talk about how difficult he is to work with, but just try to do what he asks as quickly as you can and if you make a mistake tell him, don't ever hide it. Ask him for help if you need to, but leave him to do his work, he doesn't like chit chat. He's a workaholic so don't be afraid to remind him that you are human and need to sleep and eat." Sylver explained. He seemed to go on and on. I felt like taking out a notepad to note all those rules down. There were too many to remember off hand. His attention was still on his phone, like he had been reading the terms and conditions of the job, but his thumb continued to type at the keyboard.

"Is that all?" I looked up at him with his words making rounds around my head in an attempt to embed themselves inside my brain.

"You might also want to invest in some Underworld clothing. Other than that, that's everything. He's not as bad as you think." He smiled, lifting his head.

The doors opened and everything was pitch black, with a couple of dim candles in the corners of the hall. I can't work in pure darkness. We walked through the hallway and came to a stop in front of three doors. Hades, Olympus, Underworld. Sylver knocked lightly on the door with Hades above it and opened the door, allowing me to walk in first.