Chapter 21 Persephone
Persephone
The next morning though, as I stared into the little box with the last magically preserved pomegranate seed in it, I couldn't do it. I couldn't pick one up and put it my mouth, no matter how much sense it made to me.
“What's the problem?” asked Skop impatiently, sat on the floor beside my dressing table stool.
“I don't know,” I said, staring at my reflection. But I did. The longer I looked at myself, the more sure I was that I could see tears the color of blood, leaking from my eyes and down my face. The image from that mirror, my skin cracking and rotting, the blood pouring from me...
I knew for certain that the person I was now couldn't be responsible for causing rivers of blood. But I didn't know for certain what more power would do to me.
They could turn me back into that person. I had vines that tried to steal another's magic. That seemed pretty dark to me. It was wrong.
Power corrupts. This was something I knew to be true.
The kids with the most influence and strength at school had always been the cruelest. And the longer they stayed at the top of the pack, the nastier they became, pushing and testing the limits of their popularity.
And that could only be worse in a place like Olympus.
Hecate had told me how Hades had needed to lose parts of his soul in order to use his power to rule the Underworld.
I was caught in a desperate loop. In order to find out if the powerful Persephone had done something truly terrible, I needed to gain more power.
“The damned irony,” I sighed.
“You might need more magic for the Trial today,” Skop said.
“It's an intelligence test. I don't think I need more magic right now,” I said, tearing my eyes form the warping reflection in front of me and standing up. “What I need is a shower and something to eat.”
After washing and dressing in my leather fighting garb, I found a pile of bacon the size of my head and a large wedge of warm bread on the dresser. I devoured it, absently noting that I may not have the headache and nausea of a hangover, but I sure had the appetite.
“So what do you think I can expect today?” I asked Skop.
“I don't know Virgo well enough to have any clue,” he said. “They'd better not use me as bait again, or I'll be having words with Dionysus,” he grumbled.
“I'm sure they won't,” I said, not really sure at all.
“I do know there are some pretty ugly demons here.”
“Ugly I can handle,” I said around my breakfast. “What's the worst?”
“Cerberus,” he said, without hesitation. “I like dogs, but he's a scary bastard.”
“Well, I highly doubt I'll be meeting him today.”
“Yeah, it does seem a bit early in the competition,” he nodded.
“What? You mean I might actually meet him at some point?”
“Well, yeah. If you're going to live here, then you’ll have to test your strength against Hades personal hell-hound at some point.” I gaped at him.
“Shit,” I said eventually.
“But I doubt you'll have to worry about that for a while. And Charybdis is one of Poseidon's worst monsters, and you survived him.”
I gave him a sideways glare.
“Don't remind me,” I muttered. I was still bitter that I'd won no seeds. Plus, I sort of wanted to see Buddy the hippocampus again.
“Yeah, he's like a giant asshole with teeth,” the dog said, and gave a little shudder. “I wouldn't want to be reminded of almost being sucked into that either.”
“You're gross,” I told him.
A knock at my door made us both look up, and Hecate pushed it open.
“I heard what happened last night,” she said as soon as she came in. “You OK?”
“I'm fine,” I told her. “I just wish I knew who was doing it. First the doll, then the mirror... Hades seems worried they'll step it up.” Her face was hard, and with all her sharp silver jewelry and black leather I was reminded of how intimidating she was when we first met in the cave.
“They want to hope they die before Hades or I get hold of them,” she said, and a mix of fear and gratitude rolled through me.
“I don't want anyone else to die because of me,” I said quickly.
“Trespassing in Virgo, particularly in the palace, is punishable by death,” she said shortly.
“Palace?” It had never occurred to me that we were in a palace.
“Yeah. We're in the palace above the business part of the Underworld.”
“And the 'business part' is where we're going for the Trial today?” And where the river Lethe must be, I thought.
“Yes.”
“Do dead people actually live in the Underworld?”
“Sort of. It's complicated. Souls are the only part of the dead that live on, and they don't take up any space.”
“But you said yesterday that the undead could rise.”
“You can get bodies from anywhere.” I cringed at her words, but tried to stay on track.
“So what else is in the 'business part'?”
Hecate cocked her head at me, then sighed.
“OK, super fast lesson in the Underworld. Souls go to one of three places; Elysium and the Isles of the Blessed if they led an exceptional life, the Mourning Fields if they led a life of unrequited love, and the rest go to the Asphodel Meadows. The Underworld also houses Tartarus the torture prison, lots of very cranky demons and species that are essential to Olympus but too unpleasant to live out in the world, and a bunch of rivers.”
I blinked at her.
“That's quite a lot of stuff.”
“Yeah.”
“How many rivers are there?”
“That's your question? Not what sort of unpleasant demons, or, why is there a whole place for unrequited love souls, but how many rivers?”
I shrugged.
“I like water,” I said lamely.
“Well these rivers aren't made of water and will all kill you. There are five, and they are sentient deities in their own right. For example, the river Styx circles the Underworld seven times and is made of hatred. And you want to stay the fuck away from her.”
“How can something be made of hatred?”
“If you become Queen you'll learn all about all the rivers. But they are not going to be the subject of today's Trial, as you couldn't be trapped in any of them without dying instantly so let's move on.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Tell me about the unpleasant demons instead.”
“I'm in charge of a bunch of them, and they're all assholes,” she muttered.
“Keres demons, for example, are the deities of violent death.
Arae are demons of curses, Lamia are rotten vampiric demons who drink blood, as are Empusa but they're usually on fire too.
Then you've got a couple of really nasty spirits, like Eurynomos, who is the demon of rotting corpses, and the three Furies, who are goddesses of vengeance and need seriously reining in most of the time.
And then you've got some who are just weird, like Ceuthonymos, who's a spirit we can never pin down and haunts anyone who's not a Titan.”
“Right,” I breathed, forgetting completely about the rivers. “Do you think I'm going to meet any of them today?”
“Maybe, yes. You've got Faesforos?” I patted my thigh as I nodded. “Good. I made you that blade because it can be used against any foe. And that includes Underworld demons.”
“And I'm extremely grateful,” I told her. My nerves were beginning to hum. Blood drinking vampires and demons of rotting corpses? The Spartae skeleton was starting to seem pretty tame right now. “This is an intelligence test though, right? I hopefully won't be fighting.”
“Fingers crossed,” she answered, without a trace of hope in her voice, and a half-assed smile.
She flashed us to Hades’ throne room, and my eyes shot to his throne immediately, instinctively. He was there, smoky and translucent, and he gave me the briefest flash of silver eyes.
Energy pulsed through me, and I rocked on the balls of my booted feet as I scanned along the row of gods. To my astonishment, Poseidon tipped his head to me as I made eye contact with him.
“Good day, Olympus!” sang the commentator's voice, and he glimmered into the space between me and the gods. “Today Persephone will be facing one of Hecate's creations. She will need to escape the Empusa's lair!” I glanced at Hecate and wished I hadn't. Her face was a mask of dismay.
“Empusa? Please tell me that's not the vampire who's usually on fire?” I hissed to her, pulse now racing.
“Erm,” she whispered, her eyes filled with apology. But before she could say anything else, the room flashed white around me.