Emily stares at me with wide eyes. "Wh—what?"

"It's the portal that gives it away. Only the higher-ups can use one," I explain. "Everyone else stays in the Underworld or drives."

"So Paul has been kidnapped by..." her voice trails off as what I've said sinks in.

"A Judge, a God, or a Goddess from the Underworld," I finish for her.

Her hand flies to her mouth as a sob sneaks out. "What are we going to do?" she whispers.

Thinking about the freely roaming dead, I screw up my courage and declare, "We're going to go and find him. We have no choice. To sit and do nothing makes us as guilty as the kidnappers for the havoc it will wreak in the Land of the Living."

Emily blinks several times before she takes a deep breath and visibly collects herself. She nods. "Yes, you're right. We need to find him and figure out what's going on. Then we can report everything to Hades."

If it's not Hades who's involved, I think, but keep to myself. "Right. Okay, so let's head to the Underworld."

Emily grabs her purse and drops her keys in it before fishing out an obolos. "Here."

"Hang on to that," I instruct as I move to the door. We leave the house, locking the door behind us, and I unlock the Crossfire with the fob. We slide in, and I plug in my phone out of habit. I put my foot on the break, depress the clutch, and start the car. She roars to life and rumbles.

I press the ashtray closure to make it pop open and roll out smoothly. "Put the coin in here."

She drops the coin in and I close it up again. She gasps as the skull appears on the hood, indicating the coin has been accepted, and we're ready to find the exit. I hope it won't be far. Sometimes, it was the first exit after I got on the freeway, and sometimes, it was twenty miles down the road.

I ease the car forward and head for the interstate, turning down the empty street. I was glad I gassed up before heading to the party earlier. We see just a few travelers as I open it up on the freeway, maneuvering around them with the quick agility of my car. When the exit doesn't immediately appear, I slip it into sixth gear and set the cruise to eighty.

"How far is the exit?" Emily asks.

"I don't know," I answer honestly. "I never know, but I think it has something to do with how far the person has to travel in the Underworld. So, that should give us an idea of what we're up against when we get there, I guess?"

We zoom long in silence with nothing but my Spotify mix to keep us from getting too antsy. Emily fidgets, picking at the tissue she still has wadded in her hands. In a few miles, I see the signs for the Underworld exit. I take it, slowing to spiral down and down through the layers of consciousness that separate the Lands of the Living and the Dead. Eventually, we smooth out and hit the acceleration ramp for the freeway in the Underworld.

The road to the river is familiar, but the traffic is light. I can't tell if it's just because there's something off or if it's just a coincidence. It isn't uncommon for the nighttime traffic to be light, yet... something doesn't feel right.

I turn down the radio. "What if Paul isn't the only moneyer missing?" I throw out.

"What I don't get is why Paul?" Emily says. "What's so special about him?"

"I think we will have more and more unanswered questions as time goes on," I admit.

Coming up on the river, I see the bridge that heads across it. When I ferry the dead, I take them across the bridge under the watchful eye of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that keeps the dead in the Underworld, then down into a station to let them out. There, they are greeted by the Judges who take the dead's life into account and tell them where they will be spending eternity.

The dead might be sent further west to the Asphodel Meadows, the place where most of the dead dwell. Or, they might go north to the Elysian Fields, a paradise created for exceptional souls. Or, they might be directed south to the Isles of the Blessed, though this was unlikely as only the purest of the pure were allowed there.

I've never been past the depot. I guess there is a first time for everything, and I wonder what we will find as we head for the city lights in the distance.

"How far do we have to go?" Emily asks as she looks around at the scenery.

"I don't really know. I just know that all the people who might answer our questions are in the city. It seems the logical place to go." I explain.

The drive is pleasant and easy, but I feel my stomach get more and more tense as the gates of the city loom. There, we will pass Hecate, who will either allow us to enter or not. Regardless of where they directed us, what we want is to go into the city proper. I don't know if we will be stopped like at a border check or if we will be waved through or what. I hope that the skull on my hood will be enough of an official-looking statement to allow us to enter.

Other Charons are on the road with us, so I relax a little. The eight lanes of traffic merge down into four slow-moving lanes, with a short stop-and-go pace to get people through the toll booths. At the entryway, I watch the Charons before me hand the obolos to the tollkeeper and receive a ticket in return. When my turn comes, I roll down my window and hand the old man in the gate the coin from the ashtray.

He looks over his glasses at at me, white bushy eyebrows arched high, then at Emily. "I don't recognize you," he says, implying that he knows a great deal of people. "First time to the city?" He picks up a clipboard with a thick form on it. It's an old-fashioned one where, when you write on the top layer, it transfers to the two other layers under it.

"Yes," I admit. I feel the compulsion to explain more but decide to keep my answers short and sweet. No need to go into any elaborate that I might have to try to remember later.

"Names?" His knarled hand poised to mark the form. We give him our names, and he scratches them on the paper, pressing hard.

"What is your purpose in the city?" he wheezes.

I explain. "A friend wanted us to come in and meet him. He's a moneyer."

"I see," he says, checking a box on his form. "And your occupations?"

"I am a Charon," I say before looking at Emily.

"I am a Patron," Emily explains. I try not to react. I'd never heard the term before, but someone who monetarily supports the newly deceased seems to be about right for what she does. I had always heard her job described as a 'distributor.' It must be a slang term.

"And what does your friend, the one you are meeting, do?"

I keep a calm demeanor. The question had little relevance, but I am not in a position to argue. I just want through the gate.

"He's a Moneyer of Persephone's line," Emily fills in.

"Ah, yes, a fine profession," the man says as he nods and checks a few boxes. He signs the bottom in a flourish and hands the clipboard and pen to me. "Sign at the bottom."

I do so, and when I hand it back to him, he directs my gaze up. "Smile! We'll take a picture for identification purposes, and next time, you won't have to answer questions."

I give the camera a fake smile. "Very modern," I murmur.

"Oh, it's much better than it used to be, I assure you!" he insists. He rips the form apart into its three pages. "Put this ticket in your windshield where it can be seen at all times," he says to me as he hands me the bright yellow piece of paper. "Last thing you need is to be towed!"

"You got that right!" I agree and place the paper in the appropriate place.

"You have three days to enjoy your visit. Three hours will pass in the Land of the Living while you are here. Have a nice time!" he says as he waves us through.

I put the car in gear and ease out of the booth, merging into the traffic exiting the other tollbooths. The road heads toward the city, passing by what looks like everyday, ordinary suburbia as we travel. The lights on the streets get more and more frequent and the traffic gets heavier. Soon, we are in the city proper.

Ahead, I see a sign that says 'Visitor's Center.' With nothing more to go on, we decide that it's worth a stop to check out. I take the exit and merge into the street traffic, taking the first right into the parking lot.

The building is stunning. It is a classic Greek temple but made of black marble, lit with lights on every exterior column and glowing invitingly from within. I swing the Crossfire into a parking space and shut the car off.

"So, what are we looking for?" Emily says before she pops her door open.

I gather my things and pause. "We need a map, for sure. We also need to get into the Palace somehow."

Emily nods. "Right. Okay. Maybe they have tours? I mean, if they have a visitor's center..."

"It does seem a little odd. Let's check it out." I open my door and slide out, Emily following suit. We follow a few other people up the steps, bypassing the enormous central door for a smaller door on the right that says 'Entrance.'

Inside is as cozy as a massive marble temple can get. There is ample seating, lush rugs leading to the main desk as well as a small coffee shop off to the side. It's not at all what I'd expect to find in the Underworld.

Off to the right, behind a fun array of directional signs that have silly things like 'North Pole 6,378 kilometers' on an arrow pointing straight up, is a display of brochures for various activities. Among them, I spy a series of maps.

"Look at this!" I whisper to Emily, pulling out the one for the city. "This is exactly what we need."

She picks up one for the Asphodel Meadows and begins to unfold it. It's a terrain map of a valley situated between two mountain ranges, crisscrossed with various roads. I unfold the city map, spreading it out on a nearby table. On the right-hand side in the east, there is a large marker for the visitor's center. The city spreads to the west and the map contains items of interest as well as nearby public parking and information about public transport. In the corner is a QR code.

On a whim, I scan it with my phone, and my GPS app pops up asking if I want to download the area map. Of course I do. Emily does the same. I look for a similar code on the Asphodel Meadows map and download that one, too. We decide to download the one for the Elysian Fields, too, just in case.

Folding the maps back up is a tricky task, but we eventually figure it out, put them back into the brochures, and begin to look at what else is available. We find information for hotels, restaurants, and, at last, the Palace itself.

~

Author's Discussion: Why do you think there's a visitor's center?