"Do you think we should go yet?" Vita whispered.

"Soon."

"We can't wait too long! If the ruckus is over before we go in, it'll all have been for nothing."

"Shush!" Gwen glared at her before placing her head near the door again to listen intently. Her left foot stuck between the door, so that it wouldn't fall shut.

Vita tried to peek through the gap over her head, but she couldn't see a thing.

"Now."

Soundlessly, Vita followed her new friend into the Hall of Judgement. The hall was more boisterous than she had ever seen it before. Several voices were shouting at the back of the hall, but even louder was the sharp hissing of dozens of snakes. Many souls stood facing the back of the hall, whispering to each other and craning their necks to see past the sea of heads. Somehow, on the other side of the room, the judges continued their work unperturbed, as if they didn't even notice the commotion.

The two women sprinted to the door of the Fields of Mourning, staying close to the wall. Her heart sank when she spotted the one Erinye still guarding the entrance. How were they supposed to get past her? Without Leo's speed...

"Hey!"

Vita flinched when Gwen suddenly started shouting and waving her hands. What is she doing? Vita thought, wide-eyed. Her robes are green – the Erinye will instantly know she doesn't belong here!

"Hey, help!" Gwen ran up to the Erinye, pointing behind her. "They're leaving the Meadows – the door is open," she exclaimed. "I think they're trying to get back to Earth. You've got to do something!"

The Erinye nodded. "Come with me."

"Yes, of course!" Gwen followed the guard, winking at Vita as she passed. "I'll go back to the Meadows, I just wanted to warn you."

Vita lingered nervously by the Fields' door, unsure whether to wait for her friend.

"Elijah, get down from there!"

She perked up at the familiar voice. It was Arthur, on the other side of the hall.

"Charon's going to kill you, mate, get off his boat!"

Her stomach turned. All her friends were in danger – for her. She couldn't just leave them behind! But if she didn't make it into the Fields of Mourning, if she didn't find Barny, all of their sacrifices would have been for nothing.

Just then, Gwen turned around. She'd trailed so far behind the Erinye that she could step away undetected. Vita gestured for her to hurry and they slipped through the charred door together. She closed it behind her with a sigh, rain hammering down on them as soon as they entered the Fields.

"Shouldn't we help them?" She held her hand on the handle, unable to let go just yet. "They're in trouble, they have so many Erinyen after them, and now Charon..."

Gwen smiled and lay a hand on her arm. "The boys will be fine. I'm pretty sure Arthur was enjoying the payback for all those years in The Sanctuary. Come on, we'd better hurry, before they realise we slipped through their fingers again."

With one last look over her shoulder towards the charred door, she let Gwen pull her along through the rain. Her robes were soaked within seconds.

The landscape of the Fields turned out to be similar to the Meadows, only without the happily chirping birds. The grass was dead and parched here, and the few plants that had survived hung listlessly. Rain poured from the sky, grey clouds hanging over their heads as far as they could see.

"Let's find him and get out of here."

Scattered around stood souls in grey robes, some staring at the ground, others with their head in their hands. The only movement she saw was when someone rocked back and forth on their knees.

Vita studied every face they passed, as they made their way through the Fields of Mourning. Every time it wasn't him, her heart sunk a little deeper to her shoes.

"What's the plan once you're reunited?" Gwen asked suddenly. "It's only a matter of time before they find you."

"Hmm," said Vita. "I've thought about too. I think we need to go back to Tartarus."

Gwen wrinkled her nose. "Why is that?"

"Because if we hide Barny's records too, they'll send us both to The Sanctuary. Together."

A short silence was filled only by the gentle pitter-patter of the rain. Vita walked off the path a few times to approach someone who had their back to her. It was never Barny.

"Are you sure you want to give up life on Earth for The Sanctuary? You've been there, you know it drives people mad."

"Watching everyone die around me and losing myself all the time drove me mad too. At least in The Sanctuary I can be with the man I love."

"Yeah," Gwen muttered. "Yeah, I understand."

There was a low rumble of thunder somewhere ahead of them, like a warning from the Fields themselves that they did not belong here.

"I'm sorry. About Leo. I wish there was something I could do to bring you both together again, too."

"Don't worry about it. We've always known it would end this way. I made my peace with it a long time ago." Hesitantly, she added, "Doesn't mean I don't miss her, though."

Vita froze when she spotted a figure in the distance, a way off the path, sitting by the foot of a waterfall. He sat with his knees pulled up, staring into the water. She couldn't see his face from this angle, but he seemed familiar even from the back. The colour of his hair, the shape of his head, the way his shoulders curved...

Her heart hammered as she made her way over to him. Was this it? Everything she'd been waiting for all these years, would her dreams finally come true?

"Barny."

The man by the waterside flinched. She stopped by his side and he looked up.

A relief-filled smile broke her face in half. His jaw dropped.

"V-Vivi?" His voice cracked and rasped, as if he hadn't used it in decades. His eyes were sunken, with dark bags underneath them.

She nodded, her grin unchanging, and held out her hand. He let her help him up and fell into her arms. Hot tears rolled down her face, mixing with the cold rainwater. With his body pressed against hers, she finally felt whole again.

He broke away to look at her, his hand cupping her cheek. "Is it really you?"

"It's me, Barny," she whispered. "I found you."

"But how?"

"It's complicated." She sighed. "There's something you should know about me. Something I wanted to tell you years ago."

"Ready?"

"Yes... No, wait!"

Gwen turned to glare at her, but Vita turned to Barny.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, The Sanctuary is literally an empty and never-changing space. It drives people insane."

Barny chuckled and squeezed her hand. "If it's between that and this," he gestured around him, to the gloomy, sombre fields around him, "my choice is easily made. Besides, so what if there's nothing there? You're all I've ever needed."

Vita couldn't stop a grin from spreading across her face as her heart melted in her chest. Barny pecked her cheek before joining Gwen by the charred door.

"Right," said Gwen. "Give us twenty seconds and then run like hell."

Vita nodded determinedly. "Just... Be careful, okay? Don't get caught."

When the door finally opened, to let a new soul in, Gwen slipped through the gap with Barny on her heels. Vita held the door ajar and counted to twenty. She ignored the bewildered stare of the young woman in grey robes who had just entered, as her heart raced in her chest.

"17... 18... 19... Now!"

She burst into the Hall of Judgement and propelled across it. The door to Tartarus stood ajar, so she leaped through it and bounded down the hallway, her eyes fixed on her target. The door to the record room was also unguarded, just like they'd planned. She entered and flew past the rows upon rows of shelves. Barnabas Fletcher... Where was the F shelf?

"Hello again, Vita."

She froze at the sound of the female voice. Oh, shit.

A woman stepped out from the shadows, smiling at her. Vita had always thought that her mother was the most beautiful person she'd ever seen, but this woman was in a whole other league. She was stunning. Graceful and radiant. Her eyes were of a dazzling, deep blue and her lips were full and her cheeks rosy. She wore a black dress that showed her curves, and gold and silver jewellery that made her twinkle like a constellation of stars in the night sky. Her black, braided hair shone despite the lack of light. The silver tiara crowning her head was a mere finishing touch.

"My name is Persephone."

Vita took a step backwards, ready to run.

"Don't be afraid. I've been following you for a while now. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already."

That's when something clicked in her head. That voice, she recognised it. "You were in the Hall of Judgement when I escaped into the Meadows, weren't you? You were the one who shouted and set the Erinyen on the wrong path."

Persephone's eyes lit up. "Yes, that was me. And I was also in this very room when you took your records. You've caused quite some trouble for the Erinyen."

"Why did you help me?"

She laughed and tilted her head to the side. "What can I say? Living in the Underworld can get a little boring. You have been the first entertainment I've had in a long time. So I figured I'd help you out a little."

Taking another step backwards, she asked, "Why are you revealing yourself now?"

"I have a gift for you."

Vita hesitated. "A gift?"

She flicked her wrist and two objects materialized in her hands: a scroll and an old-fashioned fountainpen.

"This pen allows you to change your status from demigod to human on your records, which I have also retrieved for you. With this, you can stop running."

Her eyes widened. This was what she'd always wanted. With that pen, she would finally belong in the Underworld, just like any other soul. "But... There are no records of my life on that scroll. Where will the judges send me?"

"Ah," Persephone sighed. "That's the question. When your status changes to human, the records of your life with automatically appear, but I do not know what decision they will make. However, the Fields of Mourning were not created to keep souls apart. With you in the Underworld, there is no reason for Barnabas Fletcher to be sent to the Fields of Mourning. I can't be certain you'll end up together, but this'll give you a chance you didn't have before."

Vita eyed the pen warily, her mind racing a mile a minute. That pen could give her the one thing she'd always wanted, but she and Barny might still be separated.

Before she could make a decision, Persephone spoke up again. "I know of your plan to hide Barnabas Fletcher's records as well, but that is not a permanent solution. You'll always be wondering when they'll find the records and send you back to Earth. With this pen, you will get to stay in the Underworld for the rest of eternity."

With a nod, Vita held her hand out and accepted the items. "Thank you."

Persephone smiled. "You'd better hurry. The Erinyen are coming."

"They're after my friends. Can you stop them?"

"No, I'm afraid I cannot. They are Hades' army. I have no power over them." She gestured towards the pen. "I urge you to hurry. If they see you with that pen, they will send you to Tartarus without question."

"I will. Thank you. For everything."

"Good luck, Vita." Persephone turned around gracefully and walked off, her dress rolling over the floor behind her like waves on an ocean.