The Day Death Died

The Day Death Died - Chapter 18

I lay beside Edwin, frustration gnawing at me. Answers weren't going to come by lying in bed, but my body wouldn't cooperate. It ached to move, to do something, but I was stuck in this limbo of inaction.

Who could control the Keres? Some god, perhaps? Whoever controls death must have the answer. But who the hell is that? I turned to Edwin, the only one I could ask.

"Hey, Edwin?" I said, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Who's in charge of Hell?" I asked.

He shifted beside me, finally lowering the book he'd been thumbing through. "It's not really hell," he corrected, a hint of exhaustion in his voice. "It's more like... an underworld."

"Fine. Who's in charge of that?" I pressed.

He paused, as if weighing how much to say. "He's got a lot of names, but you'd probably know him as Hades."

"Hades?" I blinked, processing the absurdity. "As in God of the Dead, Hades?"

"Yep, that one," he replied, tone as casual as if he'd told me we were going to the grocery store.

"So, he's... our boss? Or your boss? The guy overseeing death?"

"Sort of." He sounded reluctant now, like he was tiptoeing around a complicated hierarchy. "We report to a lot of entities, but Hades is technically over everything."

"If he exists, then... Zeus is real too?"

Edwin looked at me sideways, frowning. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Well, if Hades and Zeus are real, that means all those other gods are real too—like Erebus, Thanatos... the ones tied to death."

Edwin hesitated, clearly wary of where I was going with this. "Yes."

"And Thanatos and Erebus, they have other siblings, don't they?"

"Hypnos and the Oneiroi, yeah," he said, finally turning to face me.

"So why haven't they done anything?" My voice grew louder, my frustration bubbling over. "Why are they letting this happen?"

"Hypnos and the Oneiroi don't usually meddle in their sisters' affairs," Edwin said, shrugging.

"Well, maybe they should start! If they'd done something earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Edwin exhaled sharply. "I don't know what you expect me to do about it, Maddison."

"I'll figure it out," I snapped, jumping out of bed. I needed to move, to act, even if I had no idea where to start. My hands were shaking as I threw random clothes into a knapsack.

"What exactly are you planning?" Edwin asked, watching me with mild curiosity.

"I don't know. But I have to try something before everyone else ends up dead." The weight of my desperation made my voice tremble.

"You can't go alone," Edwin muttered, though it sounded more like a fact than a plea.

"Then come with me," I demanded. "We'll find someone who can help. We'll stop this."

"Stop gods? The Keres aren't exactly human villains, Maddy. Their power—"

"That's your problem, Edwin," I interrupted, glaring at him. "You're too negative."

His deadpan response was immediate: "I'm death. Of course, I'm negative."

"Well, stop it. There's got to be someone stronger than the Keres."