Charon

Chapter 4

I pull two Palace brochures down, one for me and one for Emily. She immediately flips to the back and finds the tour times. The tours begin at eight in the morning and end at four in the afternoon.

"What time is it now?" I wonder and look around for a clock. I don't see one in amongst the wall decorations on the gleaming wood paneling.

"I think we might have to ask," Emily says, also checking around. "Come on." She follows the soft red carpet up to the main desk, where a cute young woman in big round glasses looks up from her book and smiles at us.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" she chirps.

"Can you tell us the time?" I ask, holding up my phone. "I don't know if my phone is right."

"Oh! You're among the living! We have many dead that visit, too. They don't have phones." She smiled as if her explanation made perfect sense. "Will you be here for a while? We have an app that will help you keep track of time, among other things." She pushes a piece of paper toward us, announcing a new timekeeping app. I scan the QR code and open it.

"How do we book Palace tours?" Emily asks as I play with the app. The interface is simple: I can choose between an analog or a digital clock. I pick the analog one and see that it is a quarter to six.

"You can do that here, or you can buy tickets at the palace's entrance," the young girl answers.

"What currency do you use here?" I ask.

"Oh, we take all forms of currency from the living. For the dead, everything is free. The prices you will see will be in your chosen form. Just set your preference in your app!"

"Thank you." Emily scans the QR code for the app, too, and we make our way to the tables and chairs at the indoor cafe. We choose all of the relevant settings in the app, setting up our home time zone and currency, among other things.

"We have a little while until the Palace tours start," Emily points out. "What should we do?"

My stomach rumbles. "I think we should eat breakfast and figure out how long it will take us to get there. Do we drive, or do we take the subway?"

Emily leans in and whispers, "Do we want to eat or drink anything in the Underworld?"

I echo her stance and share, "I don't think we have a choice. We don't know how long we're going to be here."

"Maybe we should ask?" Emily nods to the girl at the desk.

"Do you think she'd be honest about it?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I'm going to ask."

I follow Emily back to the desk. "Excuse me," she says to the woman. "Can you tell me if it is okay to eat and drink here? I mean, not that we don't find the Underworld fantastic and all, but we all know about Persephone and the pomegranates..."

The girl laughs, a pleasant high sound. "Well, that's a fair question. Persephone herself set it up so that it is safe to eat and drink here. Please, order whatever you like."

We return to our seats and begin to discuss plans. The biggest decision seems to be whether or not to drive to the Palace or to take public transport.

"Driving might make for a quicker getaway," Emily points out.

I pull up the directions on the app. "It's only fifteen minutes from here. I agree. Let's drive."

Emily studies the coffee shop's menu. "They've got breakfast sandwiches here. Let's get something."

My stomach rumbles again, so I quickly choose a sandwich. We order and wait for our food. As we sit and eat, we hear a bit of a commotion and turn to see a group of people making their way into the center. One person in a red shirt with STAFF in white letters across the back turns to the group and announces, "Okay! We have about an hour and a half here before we head out to the Palace. Please don't be late. Use the bathroom, get some coffee, and some breakfast. Lunch is still several hours off. We'll meet back on the bus at seven-thirty."