Angela

The third sister left the castle embarrassed. She knew she wasn't guilty of anything and yet she always felt impotent during the fights.

She found Ascalaphus, the green-haired boy, small and insecure, entering the castle with a basket of fruits. Angela immediately smiled at him.

“Good morning, Ask. How are you?”

Ask smiled, happy with the difference in treatment from the other residents of the palace.

“Very good lady. Another day at work.”

“I told you to call me Angela. This lady thing doesn't work well for me. I'm meeting Momus, do you want to come with us?”

For a moment the orchard keeper wanted to say yes, a thought that was soon abandoned and he backed away with his body.

“I'm sorry, lady, I have to work, maybe next time?”

With those words, he took hurried steps away from Angela.

She sighed in disappointment and continued on her way. She wondered where the other two had ended up and worried about them, but she knew that finding them would be no use.

She knew the city very well. Whenever she had the chance she asked Hades for the freedom to explore and, in time, that permission was no longer necessary.

Without delay, she reached one of the few parks in the urban area. The city was more functional than anything else, so recreational locations were rare to find.

Already in the park she saw two of his friends. Both were seventeen-year-old-looking and with defined muscles, looking like a pair of bodybuilders. The boy was blond and had bowl hair, he was sitting in a wheelchair. The girl had black skin and hair as red and wild as wildfire.

“You're late.” Joked Manny, the boy in the wheelchair.

“We were about to leave without you.” Donna continued with her wild hair.

“As if, Momus isn't even here yet. But you don't know, there was a big fight there in the palace…”

Angela told the pair what had happened without going into too much detail.

“I feel sorry for the boss sometimes,” Manny said when he heard it all.

“He should be stricter. These girls are spoiled.” Donna looked worriedly at Angela. “Not you. You are nice.”

Before continuing the conversation, someone half Donna's size jumped on her back. The young boy didn't look more than fourteen years old, he had a playful smile and showed off his extremely messy pink hair.

“Tell me more about this story there Angie, gossip is a powerful weapon.”

The girl looked disappointed at Momus, who was struggling to stay on Donna's shoulders, failing miserably.

“No way, you don't know how to control yourself.”

Momus hugged Manny and Angela and smiled at them, forgetting about the story.

“And what are we going to do today? See Phlegethon exploding? Looking for an illegal nymph party? I was watching this really cool tutorial on how to build bombs.”

Angela placed her hand on Momus's mouth, preventing him from talking uninterruptedly.

“We should chill today. I think mister Hades won't be in a good mood if we do something illegal.”

“And what about your sister?” Manny asked Momus, who started the answer by sticking out her tongue.

“She wasn't in the mood. Oizys is too boring for these things. Who needs her? Let's go to Elysium! I heard they are having a feast today.”

Donna snorted and grabbed Momus by the collar trying to contain his hyperactivity.

“They always have a feast on the Elysian Fields. Let's just enjoy it together, after all I don't know how long I'm going to stay here.”

Her words surprised her companions.

“What?” asked Manny.

“There's been a war going on on the surface and it looks like the Keres are going to have to make up for a shortage of personnel by collecting souls.”

They were silent for a few moments. Even Momus was holding back thinking about the farewell.

“You'll be ok?” asked the youngest.

She flashed a confident smile.

“Of course! That's my job, not dangerous at all for a Ker. I'm just going to be away for a while.”

Donna's reassurance calmed the group down and they began to walk. On the surface, there wasn't much to see in the underworld, but if you know the right places, you could find amazing things.

Colored trees belonging to various nymphs. Five rivers with completely different qualities from each other (although swimming in them is generally not a good idea). The magnificent and terrifying sight of the Erinyes flying across the sky.

Despite her colleague's farewell, Angela couldn't concentrate very hard. Knowing that Donna was going to surface hit her in an unexpected way. It had been a long time since she arrived in Hades and she remembered the upper world with nostalgia. Mount Olympus was a magnificent place and, even though the underworld had its fantastic beauties, it didn't come close.

The amount of colors that flowers could have. Huge statues and temples made in honor of dozens of her relatives. The wind blowing in her face. The clouds forming designs in the sky. And, most of all, the heat of the sun touching her skin.

Nostalgia was followed by melancholy. Now she couldn't help thinking that maybe Mac was right. She never had the opportunity to know any of these things. She had been trapped underground her entire life. Angela herself missed it and decided it was a shame that neither of the other two who lived with her knew what they were missing.

After a long day of walking with her colleagues, she received a message. To his surprise it was from Hades himself and asked to return to the palace immediately. A moment later she heard the huge wings of the Erinyes echoing in the sky.

“I think your sisters are in trouble,” Momus said with a grin.

“Yeah…I gotta go. Donna, let me know when you leave so we can say goodbye properly.”

Without another word, she turned back towards the palace.