Dicing with Death Read Free Page B

the week was out. Literally.’ He scowled. ‘Perhaps we could come to some arrangement with… er…’
    â€˜Max,’ Max supplied.
    â€˜Yes, Max, to take on a short-term contract in return for Amy’s life?’
    â€˜Eh?’ Max was struggling to keep up. Why did they want him when there was a thirty-year-long queue of candidates to choose from? It didn’t make any sense. His glance slid to Amy. Now wasn’t the time for looking a gift horse in its mouth – or in this case, a gift skeleton and its hideous PA.
    â€˜I’ll do it on one condition,’ Max began, trying to sound more confident than he felt. ‘Amy goes home –
now
.’
    â€˜Boy, making demands is really not the best way to start off your working relationship with me,’ Mopsus spat with a sly sidelong glance at Death.
    Death spoke over him. ‘Max will be
my
assistant. Not yours. Take the girl to her parents’ house, Mopsus.’
    Mopsus’s mouth dropped open. Max saw several maggots squirming around the gaps in the creature’s rotten teeth. ‘But
I’m
your – ’
    â€˜Enough!’ Death scowled. ‘Take the girl back. Now!’
    Mopsus glared at Max who felt completely bemused. He was going to be working for Death,
directly
? He hoped he wouldn’t have to kill anyone.
    â€˜Of course,’ rumbled Death, ‘if you do not fulfil your contract with me I will come back for your sister and her life will not be the only one to be forfeit – yours is also on the line.’ He stretched out his scythe and pressed it against Max’s chest.
    Max gulped. Questions raced through his mind. How short was the ‘short’ in his contract? What precisely would his job description be, since Mopsus clearly thought of himself as Death’s personal assistant? And how had Mopsus known Amy’s name?
    Before he could voice any of them, Death snapped his fingers, and a moment later Max heard a gentle splash. Losing his balance, he collapsed onto a wooden seat and felt the motion of a boat gliding through water. Max faced the stern, but could only just make it out through the swirling thick fog.
    â€˜I thought we would take the scenic route.’ Death’s voice rumbled. ‘If you are to be my assistant, you will need to learn your way around my kingdom. Take the key. It is next to you.’
    â€˜Why?’ Max questioned as his fingers connected with smooth, cold brass.
    â€˜Do not lose it,’ Death went on, ignoring him. ‘Without it you cannot gain entrance to, or exit from, the Underworld.’
    Exit sounds good
, Max thought.
It’s entrance I’m not so keen on
.
    A faint high-pitched howling sounded. It was the type of noise that made you think of werewolves and haunted graveyards. Worse, they seemed to be floating closer and closer to it.
    â€˜What’s that?’ asked Max.
    â€˜Cerberus.’
    â€˜Cerberus?’ Max grew uncomfortably aware of a smell worse than a crate full of rotting rats.
    â€˜I would not do that if I were you,’ Death said, as Max peered intently into the gloom. ‘Those who look Cerberus in the eye turn to stone.’
    â€˜What?’ yelled Max, squeezing his eyes shut and pulling his jumper over his head.
    â€˜He is the guardian of the entrance to Hades – my Underworld. Show him the key.’
    Max raised a shaking hand.
    â€˜Not to that head – it’s not looking at you.’
    â€˜W-w-what d’you mean, not
that
head?’ Max panicked. ‘How many heads does it have?’
    â€˜Three. Unless you count the snake, and then it would be four.’
    â€˜The snake?’ Max repeated, while transferring the key into his other hand and waving it madly.
    â€˜Cerberus’s tail. It is very effective at keeping uninvited people out,’ Death replied.
    Max couldn’t imagine there were that many people trying to get in.
    They carried on down