Dreamless

little she could of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. It was the first thing in Greek literature that she’d read, before she even knew she was a Scion. It seemed so long ago. “You have a very important job. Which is . . .”
    “You listen to people who have been accused of terrible crimes and if they are innocent, you offer them protection,” Orion finished for Helen when she stumbled.
    The three Eumenides looked at one another and smiled, sensing that this was the truth. They hugged and greeted each other as sisters, still not fully understanding everything that had happened to them, and that troubled Helen.
    “I sort of skipped over a lot of this play. I don’t know that much about the Eumenides,” Helen admitted under her breath to Orion.
    “Neither do I,” he whispered back. “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave them like this.”
    “I can take you to someone who can explain this better,” she said, raising her voice to include the girls. “Everyone join hands. I am going to take you to the queen.”
    The three girls blushed shyly at the thought of going before a queen, but they obeyed Helen and the entire party linked hands in a circle. Helen had never tried to move so many people at once, but she knew she could do it.
    Persephone seemed to be waiting for them. Or maybe she was just sitting in her garden, staring off into space—Helen couldn’t be certain. Whatever Persephone was doing, she was unsurprised by the arrival of Helen and Orion and the three newly made Eumenides.
    She welcomed them all with her characteristic gentility. Without missing a beat or needing much of an explanation from Helen and Orion, Persephone took charge of the three sisters and promised to prepare them for their new life as something like supernatural defense attorneys. The first thing she offered the Eumenides was refuge in her palace, and the second was a bath. The three sisters nearly sighed with happiness at the idea of ridding themselves of the dust of the dry land.
    Persephone led the party back to the edge of the garden where it ended at a grand staircase that led into the black Palace of Hades. At the bottom of the adamantine steps, Persephone stopped and politely informed Helen and Orion that they could go no farther. Halfway up the stairs she turned to address them in a formal manner. Helen had the feeling that this was some form of ritual, like a blessing, or maybe even a curse.
    “Over the millennia, many have found that it was their fate to attempt to do what you have done. They all failed. Most Descenders and their Shields only wanted to kill the Furies, or to break the curse by using magic tricks and even blackmail. You were the only two who were humble enough to listen to my suggestion, and then brave enough to use compassion as a cure, rather than force. Hopefully, you’ll remember these lessons in the days to come.”
    She suddenly raised her voice, like she was making an announcement to a large audience.
    “I have witnessed this incarnation of the Two Heirs, and I say that they have been successful. As queen of the Underworld, I find them both worthy.”
    Persephone’s words fell like stones.
    Helen had the uncanny feeling that millions of ghostly eyes were watching and witnessing this oath. Taking her cue from Orion, Helen crossed her arms in an X over her chest and bowed to the queen. A rush of flowing minds surged past them like a whispering wind, leaving fragments of the deads’ fears, doubts, and hopes hanging in the air like half-finished questions. The ritual was complete.
    “Worthy of what?” Helen whispered to Orion, but he shrugged distractedly, his attention captured by the dark door that led into the palace. A cloaked figured appeared from behind the locked door at the top of the stairs. Although he had been forbidden entry into the palace, Orion began to climb the stairs as if he was drawn to the apparition.
    “No, Orion!” Helen scolded fearfully as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “It’s Hades. Don’t go anywhere near him.”
    She clung to Orion, certain that something terrible would happen if the man and the god came face-to-face. Hearing the desperate note in Helen’s voice, Orion relented and came back down the stairs to join Helen at the bottom.
    “Descender,” Hades said in a kindly voice, unruffled by Orion’s aggressive behavior. He spoke softly, yet the sound carried everywhere and his tone was disapproving. “You have not done as I