"Oh!" Charlotte said. There was something going off in her mind, some kind of high-pitched beeping noise like the one that used to wake her up in the morning back in her old life, where she didn't spend her time talking to really cute boys.
"What's the point of saving the world, anyway? Someone else will do it. It's not really your problem."
Something inside Charlotte snapped. What was she doing?
"Yes!" she said loudly. "Yes, it is my problem!" It was her problem. She wasn't going to sit on the sidelines of Tartarus and make fun of people, no matter how bad they had been in Life. She had to act. She had to save everyone, she was the only one who could. And, hey, how did he know-
"Okay!" He held up his hands. "Don't have a Nemean lion!" He sighed heavily. "If you'd rather 'save the world'… Do you want to make out first?"
"What?"
He stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder. The hand was strangely cold. "I said, do you want to make out? You're really beautiful."
And that's when Charlotte got suspicious. The boy looked soulfully at her, and oh, he had such nice eyes, but those same nice eyes seemed to be focused on her… neck…
Charlotte wrenched away and then kicked the boy as hard as she could in a place you are absolutely not supposed to kick boys, unless they are really mind-reading vampiric demons trying to suck your blood. She reached into her backpack, pulled out some of her bottled water, and threw it all over the boy, who was rolling around on the ground wincing, and then she turned and ran.
It wasn't holy water, of course; it was bottled in California. But it seemed to have some effect. Charlotte heard a loud, inhuman squeal, and she turned her head to see the boy transform into a flame-haired demon with the top of a woman, bronze horse-like legs, hooves, and, yes, a hideously long tail. The demon rolled around and howled, revealing two rather sharp-looking fangs, and Charlotte turned her head away and ran as fast as she could toward the City.
Charlotte had never been a particularly fast runner; she always finished in the middle of the pack in school fitness exams. But never during the exams had they used vampires to motivate Charlotte, and if they had, Charlotte would have been tops in the whole nation. It's amazing the things you can do when you're really motivated.
After she'd run for what seemed like hours but was probably minutes, Charlotte allowed herself a glance over her shoulder. There was no sign of the demon. She stopped and looked all around but didn't see the creature anywhere. The Dead, too, had begun to re-form around her, solemnly, silently following in her path.
"Thanks for warning me," she muttered.
The Dead said nothing. Charlotte exhaled. "Yeah, I guess I could have figured that one out on my own."
Charlotte sighed and brushed some sweat off of her forehead. A night black centaur galloped past her, kicking dirt in her face. Her eyes stung and she tried to wipe them out as best she could.
Charlotte was tired. You couldn't blame her; it had been a really, really, really long day. She'd been tired back in the passage to the Underworld, and that was several attempts to murder her ago. She'd been awake… oh, she didn't even know how long. Time didn't seem to have the same meaning in the Underworld. But her whole body felt ready to sink into the ground at any moment; she had to fight the urge just to curl up beside a nice rock and rest.
But she couldn't. She had a job to do, and she would do it bravely and well, even if she didn't have her gentlemanly cousin to go first all the time. And what of Zee? She hadn't been able to give him any food, any water. What were they doing to him now? Would Philonecron hurt him? Had he done his part, and were the shadows now on the march?
Her muscles protested, her bones rebelled, but Charlotte kept moving. If she could just get to Hades, she could stop all this. If she could just get to Hades, everything would be all right.
And then finally, finally, she reached the gates to the City-imposing gates of intricately wrought iron framed by black stone. The archway was inscribed with words Charlotte could not read.
She turned to the column of the Dead. "Shall we go in?"
The Dead froze.
"What?"
They began to back away. Charlotte's heart flipped, and she looked wildly around.
"More vampires?"
They backed away still farther. Charlotte looked to the gates and then back at them.
"You're stopping here? You don't want to come in?" No, it appeared not. The truth began to dawn on Charlotte.
"You can't go into the City, can you?… You're not allowed?… Well, who's it for, then?"
Silent, the Dead faded off into the distance. As they did, the gates creaked open for Charlotte. She took a final look behind her and then stepped into the City of Death.
CHAPTER 23
CHARLOTTE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SHE HAD BEEN expecting- something sort of medieval, sort of evil. Creepy, haunted-looking buildings, demons swooping in and out, lots of fire and skulls and people being tortured here and there. But it wasn't that at all. The City was bustling with activity. Official-looking buildings made of stone lined the roads, gaslights lit the streets, and pairs of ox-size black horses pulled carriages and carts with signs like PEGASUS DELIVERY SERVICE or AJAX AND SONS' GROCERY.
It would have looked like a picture of Victorian London, except for the strange reddish gray of the sky, the odd smell of burned leaves in the air, and the fact that the creatures on the street were decidedly not British. There were many who looked like men, like Philonecron- extremely tall, with four limbs and human faces, and dressed in bowler hats and frock coats. Others flew, crawled, or slithered-winged blue women, trotting centaurs, giant slugs, half-fish-half-men who carried tanks of water over their heads, hundred-eyed creatures, hundred-eared creatures, snake-haired women, and woman-haired snakes. All of them looked like they had very important places to be.
Many stared at Charlotte as she passed; some stopped right where they were and gaped. Each time Charlotte took a deep breath and snapped, "I'm going to the Palace."
Which made them stare all the harder, but no one tried to stop her. Or, for that matter, eat her.
Through the winding, gaslit streets Charlotte went, heading always toward the Palace at the City center-past office buildings with signs like DEPARTMENT OF MORALE PROMOTION and INTERNAL OPERATIONS AGENCY and the like. A giant, mausoleum-like building proved to be a school, and what seemed to be a cemetery next to it was a playground. Vast neighborhoods of stone houses stretched off like a network of tombs. She went past restaurants and clubs, in which strode men that could be Philonecron's brothers, and in the middle of the City, just before the Palace, there was a park.
Not an Underworld park, rocky and bare, with pools of blood for community swimming. An Upperworld park, with a pretty gate and green grass and flowers and trees and benches and a giant, sparkling, crystal clear lake that looked like summertime and safety and warmth and life. The Palace loomed up ahead, waiting for her-but Charlotte couldn't help it; she stepped into the park.
As soon as she crossed the gate, the rest of the Underworld disappeared. Gone was the Palace, the City, the musty, horrid smell. Gone was the ever present awareness of terror and Death and loneliness. Charlotte was back in the Upperworld, in a vast green park on the most beautiful day ever made. The sun shone warmly overhead, and puffy white clouds floated through the air. The wind carried the scent of lilacs. She walked up to a great elm tree, on which hung strange, wrinkled brown fruit like large, shriveled-up eggplants, the sun beaming down through the leaves. The lake sparkled and gleamed and seemed to beckon to Charlotte. She walked up to it and stared. She wanted to drink from it, dive in it, bathe herself and then swim off into forever-but she was pretty sure she shouldn't. A small black-and-white bird burst from the lake and up into the sky, splashing water in his wake, then a yellow one followed, then a purple and orange bird, then an all white one. They soared off into the distance, into the vastness of the blue sky. Charlotte's heart leaped with joy- she couldn't stay, she had to go, but oh, she never wanted to leave. She walked over to a bench and sat down for a minute, closing her eyes and lifting her face in the air, basking in the warmth of the sun.