My Tattered Bonds by Courtney Cole Page B

regardless, you cannot continue until you have drank from it.”   He shrugged as he panned his gaze across each of us.
    “I do hope your minds are strong,” he added.   “I was not forthcoming when I asked why you were here.   I already knew.   We’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Listen to me now.   We generally do not offer instructions or suggestions.   A person’s afterlife is a private affair.   However, you are not dead and this is a unique situation.   You will need to attain, by any means necessary, Hades’ helm of darkness.   Without it, you will fail.”
    There was a collective gasp from my group.   We were to somehow take Hades’ helm of darkness from him?   That was unheard of.   It would be impossible.
    Each of the three rulers, Poseidon, Zeus and Hades, had special tools at their disposal.   Poseidon had his trident, Zeus had his lightning bolt, which he had converted into the form of a sword, and Hades had his helm of darkness.
    It was a helmet enchanted with power.   The holder of the helm would be granted invisibility, but more importantly, the one wearing it would be immune to the powers of the Underworld.   And the Underworld was teeming with strange magic.   Hades kept the helm continually by his side.   There was no way that we would be able to steal it- especially without our own powers.
    I shook my head slowly from side to side, so astonished that I couldn’t think of what to say.   My father, on the other hand, had no such trouble.
    “What do you mean, we must take Hades’ helm?” he thundered, the veins bulging in his forehead.   “To what end?   For what purpose?”
    “We cannot share anymore than we already have,” Rhadamanthus replied calmly.   His two colleagues remained silent, their cold stares frozen on our faces.   “We have already risked a great deal. Procure the helm.”
    With his final word, the walls around us began shaking and the panel of judges faded away.   Within a few seconds, the room was gone. We were standing out in the open once again on the Plains of Judgment with the wind whipping around us. The ground beneath us was undisturbed.   No one would ever know that the stone building had ever been here at all.
        “I can’t believe that just happened,” I muttered.   “Did you have any idea?” I looked to my mother.   Her eyes were round as she shook her head.
    “I’m still processing it myself,” she admitted.   “I can’t believe it either.   Hecate betrayed us?   I can’t imagine how. She annoys me at times, as you know. But I never would have thought her a traitor. I can’t imagine why she would do such a thing.”
    “It’s likely that we’ll find out soon enough,” Ares replied gruffly, as he reached out a meaty hand and rubbed Aphrodite’s shoulder.   “Don’t trouble yourself with it now.   One thing that I have learned in my life is that there are very few people who you can truly trust.”  
      “Well, that’s depressing,” I replied grumpily, kicking at a dirt clod in front of me.   In doing so, I realized that I was still barefoot.   I was suddenly thankful that I had rolled up a pair of knee-high buckskin boots and tossed them into my bag. My abilities were impotent here, so I couldn’t just conjure up something.   I dug through my knapsack and found the soft boots, pulling them on.  
    Ares shrugged.   “It’s the truth, daughter.   You will never be disappointed in someone if you don’t allow it.   Don’t place your trust in them in the first place and they cannot let you down.”
    I stopped in my tracks and gazed at him, shaking my head.   “I’m glad I’m not the god of war, if that is how you view the world.”
    He threw his head back and laughed. “As the god of war, that is how I must think.   It must be nice to be the goddess of peace and contentment—is everything rainbows and butterflies for you?”
    I rolled my eyes.   “You know it is not.   I have jumped in