Read Online Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel by Gary Jonas - Free Book Online

inside.
    “What’s the matter?” Brand said to Andy as he waved him around on the sword.   “You stumped?”
    Andy looked like he was ready to cry.   Miranda sat on the bleachers.
    “Time out,” I said.
    “This is inhumane,” Andy said.
    “Talk to me or I’ll let him keep you.”
    “Please don’t do that.   I’ll tell you anything.”
    “See?” Brand said.   “I am good for something.”
    Brand held Andy up so I could talk to him.
    “Do you want Miranda?” I asked.
    “Who’s Miranda?”
    I pointed at her.   “The woman.”
    He shrugged what remained of his shoulders.
    “You said you wanted the woman.”
    “We’re after Charon, who is someone you know as Sharon, but that’s not her real name and she isn’t really a she.   I mean, I suppose she is a she now, but she was a he for centuries.”
    “Charon is still in the Underworld.   He ferries the souls across the Acheron.”
    “The replacement is there,” Andy said.
    Of course, I knew that.   The replacement was a guy named Bob, but Bob didn’t sound nearly as impressive as Charon, and I wasn’t going to say Bob in front of Brand because I didn’t want to hear Brand say he’d give that name to Andy and toss him in a lake.
    “You folks realize I don’t know where Sharon is, right?   I told that to Persephone herself.”
    “You’re a detective.   You can find her.   We’ll even pay you.”
    “I have a case right now.”
    “You’re going to help us whether you want to or not.   If you refuse, we’ll have to kill you.”
    “Seemed like you were trying to kill me earlier.”
    “Just having some fun roughing you up.”
    “I see.   What does Persephone really want with Sharon?”
    “I’m not at liberty to say.”
    “You want to be Brand’s permanent playmate?”
    His eyes went wide.   “No!   Until you mentioned Persephone, all I knew was that the order came from on high.”
    “Or down low since it’s the Underworld.”
    “As bad as that was, it’s still better than your friend here,” Andy said.
    “Who rules the Underworld?   Hades?”
    “You’ve been there twice,” Andy said.   “You know Hades doesn’t rule shit.”
    “I wasn’t there long enough to delve into the politics of the place.”
    Andy sighed.   “Persephone rules the Underworld.”
    “I thought she was Hades’ prisoner and because she ate a pomegranate she had to spend six months a year down there and six months with her mother or something.”
    “I’m not really here to give you a history lesson, Shade, but let’s just say that Persephone wasn’t kidnapped.   She pretty much seduced Hades and took over the Underworld.   She can go where she wants when she wants for as long as she wants.   That said, I’ve never even seen her, so for all I know, it’s all mythology.”
    “So Persephone didn’t give you the order?”
    “Not to me.   A general gave us the order.   He sent one guy, then several, and now quite a few, and soon he’ll send so many, your graveyards will be emptied.”
    “Why do they care about Charon so much?”
    “Nobody leaves the Underworld without permission.”
    “So Charon didn’t have a get-out-of-Hell-free card, and Persephone is pissed?”   This told me Persephone wasn’t telling her people about her actual reasons, which made sense.   She could use this to her advantage to keep others in line if they thought no one could ever leave the Underworld without facing consequences.
    “I don’t know who’s pissed or why they care so much.   I just know we’re supposed to get you to take us to Charon.   We know he’s using a female body here.”
    “I have no way to contact Sharon or Charon.   After we left the Underworld, Sharon told me she would never see or talk to me again and that there was no way I could ever find her.   She opened up a rift and stepped through, and that’s the last I’ve seen or heard of her.   If I cut off your head, your spirit goes back to the Underworld,