Divine

Chapter 2: A New Goddess

Pierce

When Hades came down, I was working in the dungeon with the Fates. The gods above get the Graces, but we got the Fates here in this hellhole.

The three old crones were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. They were the revolting sisters who decided how long you lived, how good your life would be, and when exactly you would die. Clotho was the spinner, so she spun the very thread of life. With Lachesis deciding how good your life would be; she was the disposer of lots. And Atropos was the wonderful person who cut your life thread when time was up.

They all scared the crap out of me. They could kill me at any second, so I tried my best not to piss them off. Or talk to them. Or even look at them really.

I was in the dungeon with them dealing with a particularly nasty one. A woman was supposed to be cut off in about a minute, but I had to be down there to make sure the Fates didn't kill her too early, or too late. It was a thing that only Atropos got to do and she would probably do it wrong just to get me in trouble with the big man.

"Sure you don't want to do it, honey?" the old crone asked me. She held out the scissors to me with an evil smile on top of her expansive wrinkles.

I started to glare at her before I caught myself. "No, Atropos, I don't want to kill anyone today," I answered crossly. Lame jokes always got the old bats going, but it was a pain just to talk to them.

Clotho let out a bark of a laugh, which got Lachesis and Atropos going as well. They were all old as dirt. Probably even older. So their laughs, well, they were really the chilling cackles of sadistic witches. But if I guessed, I'd say Clotho looked the youngest, but that wasn't saying much. She had maybe one or two less wrinkles than the rest of her sisters.

There was a large crash and boom as Hades came into the room. The door he had kicked sprung off its metal hinges to the floor.

"What's wrong with her?" he screamed. His voice was so expressive that it didn't even sound like him. Usually, the deep voice was just that, a deep voice in the room. No feelings, no ups or downs in the way he spoke. He talked sternly and that was it.

Sometimes, though, he did get angry, and that made his voice go deeper. I figured he was just reacting a little differently this time. So, I turned around to look and see what had made him go crazy this time. And in his burly arms, he carried a girl.

I was so far beyond confused, I was getting close to scared. What if this was the girl we were supposed to kill today? What if . . . I couldn't even think beyond that point. I looked back at Atropos to be sure she hadn't cut the thread while I was distracted, and saw that she was just as shocked as I was. So shocked that she had set the scissors down, which never happened, and was just daintily holding up the string with her fingertips. A string that was all in one piece, thank the gods.

I turned back around and looked at him again. He had been addressing me, but I didn't understand why. I was still scared but now it was for an unknown reason. I was petrified with fear of this unknown reason.

He raised his eyebrows at me when I remained in the shocked position. "What's wrong with you? Answer me!" he commanded.

I blinked and then everything came back into focus, I needed to do whatever it was he was saying. I moved forward to touch the neck of the girl in his arms. The pulse was calm and steady. She was alive, whether she wanted to be or not.

"She's fine," I whispered to the invincible god. "She probably just fainted, because she's only unconscious now."

He glared at me a little, but I could tell he was satisfied with my evaluation. "Take her to a room, boy, and make sure she's comfortable." He lifted her away from his body gently and held her out for me to take. Which seemed surprising to me, because he never treated anything gentle.