Like two ninjas, Isabella and I slinked against the tarred wall of the volcanic building as two armed soldiers walked past, they were not the dead. The two soldiers were as solid as the wall pressed against my back, but they were not human. I'd caught a glimpse of their green rugged faces, their black empty eye sockets and the green gooey flesh that peeled off their bodies. I shuddered at the sight; they were a walking nightmare.

I let out a slow breath as white ash floated gently from the sky, landing on my hair and lashes. I guess it was the underworld's version of rain because it was falling from dark grey clouds, at first it was thick and heavy but now as we kept out of sight ash fell sparsely. Once we'd left the ruckus behind at the gates we walked through the barren black sandy clearing, decorated by lumps of black rocks that looked suspiciously close to burnt coal as steam sifted up through it. 

In the thickness of the ashes, the rock shaped cutouts on the volcanic building, glowing a bright yellow guided us towards it. A gentle beacon in the dark and dreary plains of the underworld. All the way over here, the hairs on the back of my neck were rigid, I had felt exposed. As we had walked, I couldn't help but turn a full three-sixty every couple of minutes to make sure we weren't being followed. I'd prayed to Zeus for the first time, hoping my father would give me a hand should anything go wrong. I had little faith that it would work, he had fourteen years to get to know me when I needed a father. It was impossible that he wouldn't know he bore a child with my mother, especially if Thanatos could find me so easily. The more I thought about it a sour taste in my mouth grew, of course, he'd known. He had countless children before me, some who'd made it to legendary status and hadn't heard a peep from the man upstairs. I would be no different.

"Come on," Isabella hissed as she ducked through the archway bringing me back to my scary reality. 

I darted in, hot on her heels to the next podium. What I saw before me, took me by surprise. The inside of Hades lair looked more like a replica of a high-end New York office. Bright lights light up the grey marble stone floor, a double staircase to the left led up to the next floor which had a glass balcony. 

A squeaking sound abruptly ended my inspection as my head snapped to the source of the sound. A group of bird-like creatures with human heads hobbled down the hall, their wings fanning out as they walked. Their clawed feet clipping the flooring, sending a wave of unease down my back. If I thought those green creatures were disturbing these beat it by a mile. 

"Harpies," Isabella whispered, "They're foot soldiers of sorts."

I gulped wearily, taking one last look at their long talons and imagining them slicing through my flesh. I hoped to never run into those things again much less see them, but this was the underworld, I was bound to see worse. 

When the entry hall had cleared and no one appeared to be hanging around the first balcony, Isabella and I sprinted up the stairs keeping low. We hid behind the nearest pillar, and I scanned the wooden doors on the floor. Each one had a plaque nailed to the front, Security Room, File Room, ah, Thanatos's Office.

"Over there," I said to Isabella, gesturing to the door on the far right.

"Good spot."

Feeling somewhat proud of myself, I took the lead as we raced to the door, my hand falling on the handle in a leap of faith. It didn't give way as I expected.

"It's locked," I hissed, the panic settling in at the thought of getting caught red-handed, I frantically looked around us.

"Damnit." Isabella hissed and turned around scouting the floor behind us just as panicked as I was, "Are you sure Thanatos didn't give you an encrypted hint of how to get in?"

I looked for anything that could give me a clue until my eyes landed on the white box screwed into the wall. A lock, a keycard lock. I flung the backpack so it was at my front and unzipped the main storage compartment before I riffled through it. I remember seeing it among the many items in the pack, I hadn't paid much attention to it at the time but...

"Got it!" I didn't waste time sliding the card through the reader, a little white light appeared on the card reader followed by four rapid beeping sounds then the distinctive click of the door unlocking itself.

I pushed it open, pulling the back of Isabella's shirt - as she still acted as our lookout in the hall - and dragged her into the room with me. We closed the door behind us and surveyed the office before us. Old computer screens, monitors and cork boards filled the small white room, two large filing cabinets were just behind the door next to a small bin.

"He's really organised," I said as I flicked through a schedule book left open on the desk, every page had been colour coded and put into subcategories.

"OCD, I'd say," Isabella chimed as she showed me the neatly piled rubbish in the office bin.

"Where would we even start?" I asked as I flicked the plug socket for the computer on, "Does he control the portals?"

I even looked to a side panel just in case I would see large buttons with an entrance switch glued on it. Unfortunately, that saving grace moment was purely in movies and wouldn't be so easy for us. 

"I would think the only one who controls the portals into the underworld was Hades. He's the god of the underworld, he controls everything and anyone in it." Isabella said with glassy eyes as if she could see Hades himself with that control switch, "But, seeing how this place is up and running like a business he's probably delegated that job."

"If he didn't give it to death, Thanatos I mean, who would it go to?"

Isabella stared at me, well not at me, more like through me as she ran through all the possible scenarios in her head.

"Would Persephone have access?" I asked not really believing this myself but thought it would help deduct people off of our list. 

"No, she already has an influence of her own, she wouldn't be inclined to deal with this stuff. Plus she's currently not here, at this time of the year she's up in Olympus or on the surface."

I flicked through more of Thanatos's belongings hoping I could find some sort of clue when I stumbled across a four-digit number written on a pink sticky note. I looked at the old computer and turned it on. I hoped my hunch was right.

The computer took a while to load, an old dial-up screen popped up and little squares filled the loading bar. I hadn't seen a computer this old in real life, I'd only see these in movies like Jurassic Park. When the screen finally loaded a request for a password popped up, I carefully typed in the four-digit number I'd seen and pressed enter. I held my breath as the loading circle appeared sending a silent plea to Thanatos himself. The screen loaded up, giving way to a desktop full of different files.

"Damn," I muttered to myself squinting at the names of the files.

Isabella came to stand beside me, her fragrant hair landed softly over my fingers as I moved the mouse. I was distracted for a moment taking in how close she was, did I mention how pretty she was?

"He really likes his files, " Isabella said, her finger pointed to a file on the screen, "Click here."

I did as she said, clicking on the file labelled colleagues. It gave way to individual files that had strange names - I assumed these were profiles of each worker in the underworld.

"See these?" Isabella asked pointing at the ten names on the third row, "These are the personifications that stand at the gates of the underworld. We didn't see any of them on our way in."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, but usually you're greeted by one of them, Pain, Fear, Hunger etcetera. The real question to ask is why weren't they at their posts unless they all had to rally together to close the entrances for someone specific?"

I started to understand where she was going with this, "You think that all of the personifications are blocking the entrance to the underworld wherever Thanatos tries to enter?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," she said grabbing hold of the mouse.

"Um, and what are the personifications?" I asked, again feeling like I should already know this.

Isabella was quiet and for a moment I thought she wasn't going to answer me, but then she said, "They're, sons of gods, Grief, Anxiety, Diseases, Old Age, Fear, Hunger, Need, Death, Agony, and Sleep. I don't remember all their names, but you know Thanatos, he's more active than his brother Hypnos, the personification of sleep."

"And they're all gods?"

"I guess they're minor gods. All born from the main gods we all still know so well today."

"Ok, so where do we find these personifications?" I said putting my face close to the screen to see if there were any extra hidden clues. 

"Give me one sec," Isabella's fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed, "There are four gates into the underworld. We came through," she paused as she read the screen, "Lake Avernus, so we have the other three to check."

That did not make any sense, "What are you talking about? We came from the Colosseum remember? The place in Rome where you followed me?"

Isabella nodded, "I remember, but the true entrances never change, we just took a shortcut through a portal. If we were to walk back, we'd end up by the Lake Avernus on the other side of Italy." 

The screen lit up as a map of the underworld appeared a very rough-looking map mind you. It was as if someone had taken the liberty to draw it themselves and upload it onto the system, it was nothing like the detailed Google maps we have today. For that, I was thankful to be living in the era that I am now. I can't imagine living without technology where literally everything was at your fingertips. That was unless someone incredibly strong broke the only phone you had. 

Luckily for us, the artist wasn't terrible and the distinctive drawing of an archway appeared in a square around the underworld. Sure enough, I saw one of the archways labelled Lake Avernus, and the closest one to the headquarters building was by the Archeron River. To the left of that river was the field of punishment and on the right was Tartarus. Please don't suggest we go there, I begged in my head. 

"We'll start at the fields of punishment," Isabella said, "I have no doubt that the personifications would take pleasure from the intensified emotions." 

"Great," I muttered under my breath. 

"Let's go," Isabella said patting my shoulder like I needed encouragement. 

Maybe I did.