Her head down, Vita mingled into the crowd. The judging at the front of the hall continued uninterrupted. At a slow but steady pace, she zigzagged through the mass, towards the opposite wall, as far away from Tartarus as possible.

She didn't look up when the Erinye burst into the hall, nor when the door slammed shut behind her, echoing across the room.

"I know you're here." The voice of the guard sounded shrill in the huge hall. "Come out and play!"

Even hiding behind groups of souls, Vita could hear the smirk through her voice. It sent shivers down her spine.

Now what?

As inconspicuously as possible, she glanced around. Her robes were still white, because she hadn't been judged yet. She didn't stand out among the rest. But the Erinye had seen her face. And she was coming closer.

At the front of the hall, a woman whose hair reached down to her lower back was judged into the Fields of Mourning. Her robes turned as grey as her hair.

Vita pondered if she should just make a run for it and escape into the Fields. But she'd never find Barny if she hid in the wrong part of the Underworld. Then again, with the Erinye closing in, did she have much choice?

Uncertain, she watched the woman go through the door, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The moment was over before she'd made a decision.

"Where are you?" the Erinye bellowed, pushing her way through the crowd.

Vita slinked further to the front of the hall, but she was running out of space – and options.

Not far from her, a young, dark-skinned boy watched his robes transform to a vibrant green. She moved aside to let him pass.

This is my chance, she thought as she watched a guard open the door for him. She'd just have to shake off the Erinye again in the Meadows. Keep running until she found a way to destroy those records. She could almost feel the scroll inside her robes, burning against her heart.

The boy made his way to the door agonisingly slow, as Vita calculated the best path through all these people. Staying by the wall would probably be best.

Almost.

With Leo's blessing she'd be there within seconds.

Almost...

She'd have made her way through the door before that boy could even blink.

Now!

"There she is!"

Vita's heart sunk at the unknown voice. Oh no.

She turned her head to find her pursuer, but to her surprise the Erinye wasn't facing her. In fact, she was going in the opposite direction, to the back of the hall.

Confusion tugged at her brain, but she wasted no time in trying to figure it out. With both the Erinye and the guard of the Meadows distracted, this was the best shot she'd get. She sprinted through the room and raced past the boy through the door like a gust of wind, before the guard had a chance to turn back around.

The Meadows passed her by in a blur of greens. She pushed Leo's blessing to its limits, never looking back. She didn't stop running until she hit a dead end, where a waterfall trickled lazily off a mountainside.

Vita stopped and looked around. Greens and blues filled her vision. The mountain was overgrown with trees and shrubbery, while behind her a field stretched into a hill. Birds tweeted and twittered overhead and a bright sun shone down on her. The Erinye was nowhere in sight.

With any luck, neither of the guards had seen her slip into the Asphodel Meadows. It had been a godsend that they'd both turned away at that moment. Who had shouted? Vita wondered. It was a female voice, she'd heard that much. The Erinye must've been furious at the mix-up. Would the woman have been punished?

Before the guilt could flood her, Vita turned back to the waterfall and the stream it led into. It meandered around the mountain and through the field beside it. The water was clear; she could see all the way to the bottom. With how quiet it was here, this seemed as good a place as any to hide something as valuable as her records.

She took a quick glance around, pulled the scroll from her robes and stepped into the water. Her feet immediately sank into the mud, tickling her toes. "Ugh." The water came up to her waste and she held her arms up to keep them dry, only to realise how foolish that was a second later, considering what she was about to do.

Below the waterfall, she found several large rocks. She put the scroll in the water and lay it at the edge of the stream, lifting one of the bigger rocks on top of it. Then she grabbed some of the smaller rocks and lay them in a circle around it, to hide the edges of the paper and mark the spot.

Lifting herself up onto the waterside, she looked down at her creation. Good enough. If she ever needed to find them again, she'd know where to dig.

Now to find Barny.

She stood up, wringing the water out of her robes. The mud was easily brushed off her legs and feet.

"What are you doing?"

Vita jumped, whipping her head around. By the trees stood a young, crimson-haired woman in emerald robes. She was skinny, and kept her hands in the folds of her robes. Her ice-blue eyes pierced into Vita's as if she could read the guilty thoughts racing around her mind.

"Uh... Nothing, just... dipping my toes in."

The girl's eyes shot down to her soaking-wet robes. She pulled up her eyebrows. "Just dipping your toes in?" Distrust dripped from her voice.

"Uhuh," said Vita, keeping her voice light and cheery despite her thumping heart. "The water's nice. Much cleaner than on Earth."

The girl nodded. "You new here, then?" She stood next to her and looked down into the stream.

"Yes!" Vita brightened. "Yes, that's right. Just got here."

"Yeah," said the girl, her eyes still on the stream. "You must be really new. You know, considering your robes are still white."

She looked up, eyes boring into Vita's, while Vita felt all the colour drain from her face. Oops.

"Right. That's because, uhm..."

"Save yourself the effort," said the girl. "It's not like I've never seen it before. My name's Gwen."

Vita hesitated. She didn't have time for this. She had a job to do, preferably before the Erinye caught sight of her again. And this girl was still staring into the water, right at her hiding place. Perhaps a conversation was just what she needed to distract her.

"I'm Vita." She held out her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

Gwen finally took her eyes off the water to stare at Vita's hand. She shook it, reluctantly it seemed. "Good to meet you too, Vita. So tell me, what is it you hid down there?"

Vita's face fell. Oh, for fuck's sake.

Gwen grinned and tilted her head to the side. "Don't feel bad. I've simply been here a little longer. You, however, seem to have done something I didn't think possible." She nodded at the white robes. "I'm intrigued."

"Right." Vita sighed. "Well, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so if you really want to know, you'll have to come with me." She walked away from the stream to lead the inquisitive girl away from her scroll.

Splash.

She whirled around to find Gwen wading into the stream. "Hey! What the hell?"

Gwen snorted, but didn't stop. She bent down and rolled the larger rock aside. "Ah hah!"

"No, wait!" Vita leaped forward and ripped the scrolls out of her hands, but the damage had already been done.

"You're a demigoddess?" Gwen's eyes widened. "I thought demigods didn't stay in the Underworld."

"We don't," Vita muttered, defeated. She lowered herself back into the water to put the scroll back where it came from. Gwen knew her secret; there was no use finding a new hiding place. "Hence the white robes."

Gwen was still staring at her as she finished tucking the scroll away. After wringing her robes out, she turned and walked away from the stream. She came upon a path leading through the forest, right below the mountainside.

Vita heard splashing behind her and Gwen soon caught up.

"Wait! Does that mean... Does that mean other demigods are here as well?"

"No," said Vita. "They like living on Earth. Apparently it's strange of me to think that watching everyone die around you is more of a curse than a blessing."

They walked through the forest together, the sun barely able to pierce the thick foliage. The chirping of birds was replaced by rustling of leaves and twigs.

"What are you doing here then?"

Vita looked up. Gwen's icy eyes were as piercing as ever, but something had changed in them. Something unidentifiable.

"I'm trying to find someone."

For the first time since they met, Gwen averted her gaze. She nodded resolutely. "I'll help you."

Vita stopped in her tracks. "You want to help?" She took a step closer to the fiery woman. "There's one thing you can do for me."

"Anything. What is it?"

Vita motioned her head towards the stream they'd left behind. "Don't tell anyone what you just saw. No one can know where that scroll is."

Gwen nodded fiercely. "Of course. Naturally."

They walked on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Vita struggled to think of a way to find Barny. With the Erinye probably still after he, she didn't have all of eternity to waste. She mentally kicked herself for not thinking far enough ahead.

"You don't happen to know a guy named Barnabas, do you?"

Gwen frowned, then shook her head. "No, sorry. But I'll help you find him, if you like."

"Thanks. I don't want to get you in trouble. I'm not exactly legal down here."

Gwen chuckled. "I don't mind. Trust me, I've been in stickier situations." She pointed up ahead. "There's a cave nearby. It'll keep us safe while we figure out a plan."

Just as she was about to respond, something sharp sliced across her upper arm and her own scream tore through the air. Her sleeve and the skin below were ripped open, three large gashes in a row. Blood bubbled up from them. She knew it was only an illusion, because her soul didn't have a body down here in the Underworld, but that didn't make the pain any less vicious.

Behind her, the Erinye cackled. With a single glance at her, Vita ran. She held one hand over the wound and sprinted off through the forest as fast as she could.

But she didn't get far. The path ended at a protrusion in the mountain. With the Erinye behind her and the mountain blocking her path ahead, she was stuck.

The flail whipped slashed through the air. "I've got you now, little worm."