Anne Ursu - The Shadow Thieves

"But there are more," Zee said. "A few in the lab."

Mr. Metos held up his hand. "I know, I know. A few of my trusty soldiers here got them. We have them all, and once they're up in the Upperworld, they will find their way to their humans. It's in their nature."

"But some of them are from England," Zee said.

"Yes. They'll come with us through the passageway. We will end up at the door at that hideous Mall. There are doors like that all over the world, but it is all the same door, if you get my meaning- the shadows will find their way. Now, if you children will help me up…"

Charlotte put down Mew for a moment and grabbed Mr. Metos's hands, and Zee moved behind him and lifted him from the back with his good arm. It was a long process, and Mr. Metos made little grunts as they helped him up.

"An A for both of you," he said with a pained smile. "Oof."

He moved as if to start off, but before they left, Charlotte had to ask him something. She looked at him shyly, chewing on her lip. "Mr. Metos… is there something we can do for the Dead?"

He shook his head and winced. Zee stayed behind, supporting him. "Awful, isn't it? I'd heard about it, but I'd never seen it before. This is just what I was telling you before. The gods do not care about mortals, not at all."

Charlotte thought about this for a moment. "Well, what about Persephone?"

"What about her?"

"And Orpheus. You know. Orpheus was in love with that girl-"

"Eurydice. Yes, Charlotte, I'm familiar with the story," he said drily. This was one of Charlotte's favorite myths-or used to be, before she found out it was real. Orpheus was a musician, and he fell madly in love with Eurydice, and then she died and was sent to the Underworld. But Orpheus was so heartbroken he went after her and pleaded with Hades for her return. Hades wasn't moved, but Persephone was. She begged Hades to make an exception, just that once. And he did-except he told Orpheus to walk out of the Underworld without looking back to see if Eurydice was following him, and just at the end he looked back. Eurydice was taken into the Underworld forever. She was still here, now, though Charlotte hadn't seen her. She would have liked to.

"Well," Charlotte said, "Persephone helped Orpheus. She convinced Hades to let Eurydice out."

"She was doing it for her own ends," said Mr. Metos curtly. "She was just causing trouble for Hades. No god or goddess cares about people. You don't see Persephone helping them now, do you?"

"I guess not," Charlotte said. They hadn't seen Persephone at all. Charlotte gathered she didn't like being around Hades very much. Charlotte could hardly blame her.

"I promise you this," Mr. Metos said. "I will make sure the Promethians look into it. Perhaps there is something we can do for the Dead, maybe a way we can convince Hades to acknowledge them or at least to control the Harpies. I don't know what, but I will try. Now… can we get out of here? Speaking of Harpies, I'd really rather not see any more today."

Charlotte couldn't argue with that. With Zee supporting Mr. Metos and Charlotte carrying Mew, they prepared to set off, back through the Outer Banks, toward the passage to the Upperworld. Mr. Metos motioned toward the awaiting shadows. "Zachary, will you do the honors?"

Zee nodded and turned his head. "Shadows," he called, "follow me!"

Going up the passageway was twice as arduous as going down, but Zee and Charlotte barely noticed. They were going back home.

What a sight they must have made- the boy, the girl, the cat, the bleeding, groaning man, and the five hundred-odd shadows-working their way up to the world of light.

They were glad of Charlotte's water and her cereal bars. (Good thing she hadn't told Charon about those!) Soon it grew too narrow for Zee to support Mr. Metos, and at a few words from Zee two of the shadows picked him up and carried him-much to Mr. Metos's consternation.

"I could get used to this," Zee whispered, nodding back to the shadows.

"Don't start getting a big head on me," Charlotte said.

They were largely quiet on their journey back-just about everything that was to be said had been said. All there was left to do was concentrate on home and the home-like things that would be waiting for them.

"Zee?" Charlotte whispered. "Do you think we'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a dream?"

"I don't know," Zee said, "but I wouldn't mind going to sleep to find out."

That sounded good to Charlotte.

She led the way this time, cradling Mew in her hands, her cousin following her and Mr. Metos and the shadows behind them. Again Zee's watch provided the only light, but it did not matter so much this time. She knew her cousin was behind her and that they would keep each other safe.

And slowly, carefully, they made their way up, up, up – the air grew more and more comfortable, the smell of Harpy grew faint, the Underworld seemed a great distance behind them-and finally, eventually, Charlotte saw the light reflecting off a cool metallic wall. The door.

"We're here!" Charlotte breathed.

Zee sucked in his breath. "Think Hades left it unlocked?"

"Hope so," Charlotte said. "He promised."

Mr. Metos let out a small snort. But Charlotte reached out, grabbed the nondescript knob, and turned. The door opened.

Light. So much light. Charlotte, Zee, and Mr. Metos fell back a little into the tunnel, their eyes burning. "Great," Charlotte said, "I'm a bat."

But slowly, gradually, they moved out of the tunnel, through the door, and into the world.

It was the same. The corridor was the same. The world was the same. The Mall was open-daylight streamed in from everywhere. At the end of the long, nondescript corridor Charlotte saw a pair of women pass by, and then another, and then another. They were all older women, wearing tracksuits and sneakers.

"Mall walkers!" whispered Charlotte.

"What?" asked Zee and Mr. Metos simultaneously. "Never mind," said Charlotte.

It was morning in the Upperworld. Early. There was no telling how long they had been gone. They moved into the corridor, slowly adjusting to the light, while giddy mall walkers trotted past them.

Behind them the shadows came through the door. Only a fourth of the number that had come up with them emerged-the others had gone through other doors elsewhere. Except they were all the same door. Or something like that; it didn't matter. The shadows would find their way.

And then suddenly the group of shadows took off, and great black flashes moved through the air and were gone before anyone could blink.

"There goes your army," Charlotte whispered to Zee.

"I'll live," Zee grinned. It was a beautiful grin that stretched all the way to his ears, revealing straight white teeth. It was the sort of grin that made you want to grin too.

If the mall walkers noticed the bleeding man supported by two sooty, filthy kids and one ratty-looking cat with a tuxedo-pants sling heading for the doors, they didn't say. Perhaps their minds were on other things. Perhaps they were concentrating hard on their mall walking. Perhaps they saw groups like that all the time in the Mall. We can never know. All we know is Charlotte, Zee, and Mr. Metos stepped outside the great glass automatic Mall doors, surveyed the mostly empty parking lots, the great tangle of roads and freeway exits, the cars honking and buzzing by, and together took a great breath in, savoring the air. Charlotte had never taken such a beautiful breath.

"My car is here," Mr. Metos said. "I'll drive you home. Then I'm going to take a nice long nap and wait for my liver to regenerate."

Home, Charlotte thought. Then something occurred to her. She gasped and turned to Zee, panic in her eyes.

"What are we going to tell Mom and Dad?" she whispered urgently.