Somebody shouted from the other end of the street.
"Check every building!" Another voice answered.
"They can't have gone far!"
Hades pulled me into an alley.We pressed ourselves against the wall. His breathing was heavy. I looked at him. He looked weak, now it was very visible.
"You can't keep running like this. You might faint at this point"
"I can."
"Hades—"
"Later." he said looking toward the street. "We need somewhere to hide."
Footsteps approached where we hid and I held my breath. Hades's fingers tightened around mine. Then a voice came from behind us.
"Psst." We both turned.
An elderly woman stood in a narrow doorway. She was small and frail. Her gray hair was pulled into a messy knot, and she wore a faded brown dress. She looked completely ordinary but her eyes were sharp.
"Unless the two of you suddenly learned how to become invisible," she whispered, "you'd better get inside." Hades immediately stepped in front of me. The woman's eyebrow rose.
