Worry courses through me at the panic in his tone. "What do you mean? I'm sitting right here!"

Instead of reassuring me, Hades pauses, realisation dawning on his face. "So that is your third gift. How interesting."

"Third gift? What do you mean, 'third gift'?" I frown. When Hades continues to stare blankly at me, I make a small noise of frustration and smack his shoulder. "Stop looking at me like that! I'm sitting right here!"

It takes a couple more smacks on the shoulder before Hades finally stops staring into the distance and meets my gaze. Recognition dawns in his midnight-blue eyes, and he sighs in relief.

"There you are."

"What do you mean, 'there you are'? I was sitting right in front of you the whole time, Hades." I shift in my position so I'm facing him head-on, my frown still etched on my face. "What's going on? Why are you acting so weird?"

"You disappeared, Evie. You were invisible for several moments."

I burst out laughing. "Okay, now you're really acting weird. I did not go invisible."

"I am being completely serious, Evie. You were invisible for a significant period of time." Hades watches me curiously. "What happened? Did something frighten you?"

"No."

"You hesitated."

"I didn't hesitate."

"Evie, please. I know when you are lying to me." He gives me a deadpan look. "What happened?"

"Well... that." I swallow, pointing at a large, furry shape barreling towards us. Hades turns to follow my gaze and chuckles when he realises what I'm pointing at.

"You were frightened by Cerberus?"

I warily watch the big dog bound towards us, flinching when he flops down next to Hades. "You do realise that there are two of him, right? And that there have never been two of him, right? Why are there two of him, Hades? Why can I see a big Cerberus as well as a small Cerberus? Why is the big Cerberus the size of a house and the small Cerberus the size of a normal Cerberus? What do I call more than one—"

"Evie. You're rambling again." Hades stops me with a bemused smile, seeming to find my alarm amusing. He reaches over and scratches Cerberus' head, somehow managing to scratch both the big and smaller dog's head at the same time. "This is his true form. He only cloaks himself in his smaller form when he is around those he feels will not be able to cope with his true self. However, now that you are a goddess, and a staple presence around here, he must feel that you deserve to finally see his true form. That is why you can now see both of his forms."

"Well, I appreciate the gesture, but a bit of warning would have been nice." I reply begrudgingly, still keeping a vigilant eye on the massive three-headed dog. Cerberus readily meets my gaze, a slobbery tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth as he watches me just as cautiously. After a moment, I shudder and shift my gaze. "Hades, why did I go invisible?"

"Do you remember when I said that you would discover a third gift? One that was tied to who you are as a person?" He asks. I nod. "Well, it appears that invisibility is your third gift."

"Invisibility?" I laugh incredulously. "No way. That's impossible. You're the one who can go invisible, not me."

Hades smiles and nods.

"I will admit, I am a little surprised it is not dissimilar to my abilities, but the Fates have always been paradoxical in the way they weave our threads."I throw him a dry look, and he chuckles. "I am sure that, with time, you will learn why invisibility is your final gift, but right now your guess is as good as mine."

"Gee thanks Hades, that's ever-so-helpful." I drawl sarcastically. "I thought you were supposed to be all-knowing."

"I thought you were supposed to be kind and caring." He throws right back, his eyes twinkling. I harrumph, taking a begrudging sip of champagne, eliciting another laugh from him. "Taking into consideration what just occurred, I suspect your ability to control your invisibility is more closely tied to your emotions, so you may find you will struggle more with controlling it. I will try and help you where I can, but this will be a journey that you will need to embark on yourself."

"Hang on," I frown, nodding and smiling my thanks when he silently offers to fill up my glass. "You can't help me train for it? Why not?"

"No. Unfortunately, as this is your personal ability, you learn to control it on your own. Your ability to turn invisible is controlled by different determinants than mine, so I will not be able to help you." He replies, scratching Cerberus' head. "However, once you have harnessed your ability to control it, you will be as adept at invisibility as I am."

"But how am I supposed to control it if I don't know where to start?!"

Hades chuckles, apparently finding my perplexity amusing. "I have no doubts that you will figure it out with ease, agápi mou."

"If that response was meant to ease my nerves, it did a lousy job."

Hades tilts his head to the side slightly, studying me curiously. "Why are you nervous?"

"Because you just said I can turn invisible!" I exclaim, throwing my hands up in the air. "And that I currently can only turn invisible when I'm frightened, but you can't help me stop that from happening when I'm scared because I have to figure it out by myself! What am I supposed to do if, I don't know, I sneeze so loudly that I scare myself and you're not there to calm me down? I'll be stuck as a literal ghost!"

"Your sneeze could barely scare a mouse, Evie." He replies bemusedly, chuckling when I glare at him. "The only advice I can give you is to hone in on your concentration like you did with your mind-projection. Everything else you will learn on your own, I know you will."

"Your complete blind faith in me is utterly terrifying, you know that?" I reply reproachfully, shooting Cerberus a nervous look when he stands up to stretch. "What if I don't learn in time, and something terrible happens?"

"That will never happen."

"How can you be so sure?"

A serious expression washes over Hades' features, hardening them in the blink of an eye. "Because I will never, ever allow anything terrible to happen to you. Of that, you have my word."

My heart skips a beat, my throat closing up when I notice a shadow flicker through his gaze. Instead of responding, I lean closer and silently wrap my arms around him. Hades immediately returns the tight embrace, pulling me flush against his chest and tucking my head under his chin. I close my eyes, listening to the quickened thrumming of his heartbeat.

"Nothing terrible is going to happen to me, Hades."

His only response is to tighten his embrace and press a firm kiss to the top of my head, his heartbeat quickening even more.

We spend the rest of the afternoon lying there in amicable silence; not focusing on training, not worrying about the 'what ifs' of the future, just lying in each other's embrace and occasionally talking about the random things that popped into our minds. Even though Hades didn't say anything, I knew he needed this break as much as I did. He'd been so occupied with the Kronos issue that he'd worked himself almost to the point of total exhaustion. It worried me more than I cared to admit, particularly because he still hadn't told me what was going on, but the fact that he had taken time out of his day to organise the picnic afternoon made my heart melt. It showed me that despite everything that's going on with Kronos, despite the fact that he was a lot more tired than he was ever going to admit, he cared enough about me to make time just for me. And even though he might never realise it, that meant a great deal to me.

So, even though barely any words were said, everything that we needed to say was said just by us lying there, soaking up the other's company. We'd finally reached the point where we didn't need to talk to be comfortable, and for that one moment, that one brief moment, everything was perfect.

-— — —

In the week that follows, I hardly see Hades, and the fleeting moments in which I did see him made me worry about him even more. He quickly fell into the routine of stumbling into my room late at night, looking more and more tired as the week progressed. Every time, he'd manage a brief smile before he'd collapse on the bed next to me, dead to the world the moment his head hit the pillow. The first time that happened was the day after our picnic, and to say it shocked me would be a vast understatement. Hades had never slept in my room, or stayed for longer than he needed to, so the fact that he finally felt comfortable enough to let his guard down and sleep in my bed just went to show that our conversation that day had changed something in him more than I had thought.

But as time progressed, that shock quickly grew into all-consuming concern. I was still new to the whole immortality thing, but even I knew that gods weren't supposed to be as exhausted as Hades was, or need to sleep as much as Hades did. And that really, really worried me. But what could I do? Hades still hadn't told me what was going on, and aside from making sure my pillows were adequately plumped for when he fell into them, I was about as useful as one of the ghosts that wandered the Halls of the Underworld. And that frustrated me almost as much as Hades worried me.

One good thing came out of Hades' absence, though; I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands to practice my abilities without feeling the pressure of having to prove myself to Hades.

I was finally becoming more adept at the whole mind-projection thing – I could now project an entire sentence with complete ease, much to the annoyance of both Calla and Kezia. Apparently, I'd scared them numerous times with my random, unexpected mind invasions, to the point where they immediately told me to "shut up" the moment I walked into a room. One time, I almost lost a hand to Kezia's fright, when I made the mistake of mind-projecting when I was standing too close to her. Apparently she didn't want to randomly discuss with me why cats always looked like they wanted to spit in my drink. I thought it was an interesting topic; her knife did not.

My ability to control invisibility, on the other hand, was proving to be more difficult. In fact, I was struggling with it more than I had with any of my other powers. Apart from that day in the garden, I had only managed to turn invisible one other time, and that had been on the following night, when Hades collapsed on my bed for the first time. It appears that Hades was right; I only ever seemed to be able to turn invisible when I was frightened, and the fact that he couldn't help me to control that made it all even more infuriating.

Kezia found that absolutely hilarious; said it was Murphy's Law, and that I absolutely deserved it for scaring them so much.I telepathically told her exactly where to shove her Murphy's Law, and she almost cut her finger off.

Then, the morning came where Hades was still in my room when I woke up, and I instantly knew that something was wrong.

"Hades? What are you still doing here?" I groggily sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Hades stays motionless on the edge of the bed, his hair still tousled from a restless night's sleep. I hear him sigh inaudibly, his shoulders stiffening slightly. My heart skips a beat.

"Hades?" I prompt him quietly. No response. I sit up even straighter, my heart beating even faster. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

"I need to ask something of you."

"Of course, anything." I reply immediately. Hades sighs again, but doesn't say anything further. I frown, crawling across the bed to sit next to him. "What's going on?"

"I need to leave. For longer than usual." Hades says quietly, turning to face me. "And I need you to oversee matters in my absence."

"Wait, what?" I stare at him, alarm rippling through my features. "You're leaving?"

Remorse washes over his expression. "Yes."

"And you want me to run the show by myself? Tell everyone what to do, judge the souls by myself? I don't know if I can do that, Hades. I don't even know if I can look Minos in the eye yet!"

"Of course you can, Evie. Minos only looks like he wants to kill you; you have the look and the ability." He cracks a smile at the glower I throw in his direction, before sobering up again. "Evie, I understand it is an immense favour that I am asking of you, but I would not be asking if times were not this dire, nor if I did not think you were capable of overseeing the Underworld in my absence."

I sigh, glancing down at my feet. "This is to do with Kronos, isn't it?"

Hades pauses for a moment, before nodding. "Yes."

My heart bunny-hops right into my throat. Crap. I was really hoping he wasn't going to say that.

Hades stands, picking his trench-coat up off the floor and shrugging it on. "Agápi mou, I am sorry, but I must go. Are you going to be alright?"

I push myself up to my feet, speaking hesitantly. "If I do this, will you finally tell me what's going on?"

His jaw clenches for a second, but then he notices the worry on my face and his expression softens. He reaches out and tilts my chin up until I meet his gaze. "If it is as bad as I fear, then yes. I will tell you."

My eyes widen. Well, I wasn't expecting that. Double crap.

"Okay. I'll do my best, but... be prepared for some potentially angry spirits."

The corners of his mouth quirk up into a small smile. He presses his lips to my forehead. "You will be fine, Evie."

I bite my lip, but nod in what I hope is a show of confidence. "Please be careful."

"Always." Hades disappears with a nod, the ghost of his lips still brushing across my forehead.

I let out a shuddering breath, slumping back against the bedpost and rubbing my face vigorously with my hands.

Crap. Crap. Crap. This is really not good.

— — —

"What do you mean I don't deserve my Elysium?!"

"Because you killed fifteen women!" I exclaim, massaging my temple with my fingers. "Why under earth do you think that constitutes eternal happiness?!"

"Because my bitch of a girlfriend broke my heart!" He objects loudly.

"You were seventeen. Most relationships at that age end in heartbreak." I retort. "That still didn't give you the right to kill fifteen other women!"

The middle-aged man glares at me furiously. "It was nine!"

"No. Don't you dare lie to me about innocent lives!" I snap, leaning forward and glaring at him scathingly. "Don't you dare have the gall to look me in the eye and tell me you only killed nine women when you know very well that there were six other women who you murdered in cold blood."

"They deserved it."

"They did nothing to deserve death!" I spit. Fury twists up the man's face, and he opens his mouth to fire off another defence, but I hold a hand up, stopping him with a single, frigid look. I clench my fist and slowly lower it, letting a long, frustrated breath out through my lips. "They were innocent, Michael. Fifteen innocent women, who did nothing except look like your ex-girlfriend."

"I never said that was the reason."

"Yes, well, there are a lot of things you 'didn't say' that I know."

"You're even more of a bitch than she was." He grumbles bitterly. It takes all my strength not to reach over and punch him right then and there. Instead, I just stare him down, looking past the filthy look he throws my way. "Look, why won't you let me have my afterlife already, or whatever it is that you do? Isn't it your whole damn job to show me mercy?"

I pause, and take a deep breath, my fingers making their way back to my throbbing temple. It's official: Minos is definitely punishing me, despite the fact that I was literally here to do my job. Even though Hades had previously told me that we wouldn't be needed often to actually judge the souls, as that was more Minos, Rhadamanthos and Aeacus' job, I had discovered upon wandering down to the Judgement Room that first morning that they needed my help a lot more than usual. In fact, Minos' face was graced by an actual smile when he saw me walk through the door, which was the second most shocking thing I saw that week. But then I asked what was going on, and the smile quickly disappeared. For some reason, they had been more inundated with more souls than normal, and, according to Minos, as "Rhadamanthos is more preoccupied with keeping his nose firmly lodged up Hades' left butt-cheek," and was therefore MIA, they needed all the help they could get. In fact, Minos had even tracked Aeacus down and dragged him in to do his job, and from the sour look on the dishevelled man's face, Aeacus wasn't all too pleased by that either.

But after I judged the first few souls, Minos quickly discovered that I wasn't useless; in fact, I was kind of good at my job. For some reason, that made him even more angry, so he begrudgingly accepted my help by throwing every difficult soul my way; every murderer, every sociopath, every misogynistic prat who couldn't accept that a young woman was in charge.

It only took a couple of days before I was lumping Minos in with that last group. And boy, was he happy when I let him know that.

Almost as happy as the scowling soul in front of me, in fact.

I straighten, finally looking the red-faced man dead in the eye. "I thought I made the 'why' abundantly clear. You don't deserve a happy afterlife Michael, not after all the suffering and misery you caused. Instead, you will spend your afterlife in servitude to the lives you stole, repaying back the torment you were the cause of. You will be constantly reminded of the girls who fell victim to your selfishness; you will see exactly what you tore them away from, exactly what they missed out on because of you, exactly who they could have become if it wasn't for you. You will know, understand and love them, and then you will watch yourself murder them. Perhaps that will teach you a little mercy."

"How dare you, you can't—"

I sigh and wave my hand, removing him from my sight with a flick of a finger.

I groan loudly and slump over, rubbing my face vigorously. If I had to deal with one more selfish, woe-is-me, morally compromised idiot, Minos would be at the wrong end of a goddess-sized tantrum. I wouldn't even bother with the concentration it would require to harness my powers; I'd just used up the last of it trying to navigate the minefield that was Michael the Maniac. Minos would just have to deal with whatever chaotic frustration I brought with me when I confronted him. For a moment I pause, and daydream about what exactly I'd do to Minos when he next deigned to show his ugly, bearded face. A slow, sadistic smile spreads across my lips as images of thick, black tendrils winding around Minos' neck fill my mind.

Hades has been away for too long. He needs to return rational thought to the palace before I do something he'll tell me off for.

The sound of footsteps echoing through the marble doorway tear me out of my thoughts, and I sigh inaudibly. Here we go again.

Sitting up straighter, I rearrange my expression into neutral indifference and look up, expecting to be greeted by the sight of yet another vengeful spirit, hell-bent on getting their happily-ever-afterlife.