Chapter 26 Persephone
Persephone
Hecate flashed us to a room that for the briefest of moments, I thought was Hades' breakfast room. But as I looked around, I could see stark differences.
It shared the towering vaulted ceiling, and the tall arched windows covered by heavy drapes along one wall. But the platform with the tree in the center, and the table for two that should have been dwarfed by the room but somehow wasn't, were very much missing.
Instead, a long row of twelve marble thrones dominated the middle of the room, running parallel to the windows. There was a cold formality to the room that made me even more uncomfortable than I already felt.
Where the masquerade ball had been almost ethereal, with twinkling stars on the rocky walls, atmospheric lighting and columns everywhere to hide behind, this room looked serious and solemn.
It was lit by cool blue flames flickering in wall sconces, and waist high columns with flat tops provided somewhere for guests to put their drinks. And there were many guests.
Faces that were now familiar peered at me from where they gathered in small clusters, all beautifully dressed in gowns and robes and togas that wouldn't have looked out of place on a catwalk back home.
I spotted Selene, Eros, Hedone and Morpheus, and others I had last seen at the party on Aquarius as I scanned the room, smiling politely.
The smile slipped slightly when I made eye contact with Minthe though, her eyes filled with malice. She looked stunning in a black strapless sheath dress, and my gut constricted as my confidence started to shrivel.
But then Hades' voice sounded in my mind.
“You look incredible. I love you in red.” I felt my back straighten, and my smile widen again.
“Where are you?”
“The gods are all here, we're just not allowed to reveal ourselves yet. My brother is a glutton for drama.”
“I thought you weren't supposed to talk in people's heads in Virgo without their permission?”
“Ah, I apologize. I assumed I did have your permission.”
“Well, you know what they say about assumptions,” I told him, accepting a drink from a satyr waiter who had appeared by my side.
“No. I have no idea what they say about assumptions.”
“Oh. That saying not made it from my world to here then?”
“It has not. Enlighten me.”
“They say assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups.”
There was a long pause, then Hades spoke again.
“The mother of all fuck ups is that pain-in-my-ass goddess, Eris.”
I snorted a laugh and Hecate gave me a slightly alarmed look as she raised her own glass to her lips.
“I guess the saying doesn't really apply here.”
“I guess not. I'll see you soon, Beautiful. Good luck.”
Hecate and I separated, and I did my obligatory tour of the hall, smiling and nodding at everyone I spoke to whilst sipping my fizzy wine.
As Hecate had said there would be, there were many more guards than I had seen before, posted at each of the large doorways at the ends of the hall and lining the walls between the windows.
The hall felt weirdly empty, despite how many people and creatures filled it, and nervous energy was crackling under my skin with increasing ferocity.
“It's so lovely to see you again,” beamed Selene as I reached her.
“And you,” I smiled, meaning it. She had been warm and kind to me at the masquerade ball, and I sensed sincerity from her.
“Don't tell anyone, but I rather think you've become Olympus's favorite for this you know,” she said conspiratorially.
“Seriously?” I blinked at her.
“Told ya,” said Skop in my head, and I glanced down at him, his tail wagging. “I knew they'd all love an underdog.”
“Watching you come into your power is a pleasure,” Selene beamed.
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Selene was one of the nicest people I'd met so far, and even she thought watching me nearly drown in shit and be eaten by a sea monster was 'a pleasure'.
What the hell was wrong with the people here?
“I'm sure you'll do fantastic tonight,” she said enthusiastically, filling the gap I'd left in the conversation.
I felt a tap on my arm and spun around gratefully.
An enormous minotaur that I had seen a few times before in Hades’ throne room bowed his head slightly at me, and I resisted the instinct to step backwards.
“Dionysus drown me in wine, he's a big bastard,” breathed Skop.
“You must be Kerato,” I said quickly, remembering what Hecate had told me about Hades' Captain of the Guard as I stared up at the minotaur. He was least nine feet tall, his hooves alone reaching half way up my shin.
The beast blinked at me, his jet black pupils ringed with scarlet red. Hairy eyebrows cut above his eyes at an angry angle, and two curved black horns jutted from the sides of his furry skull.
“That is correct, my Lady,” he said gruffly. “King Hades asked me to make myself known to you.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Anyone wearing this sigil is part of Hades' guard.” He banged his clawed fist to the metal disc in the center of the gleaming armor that was strapped across his chest.
A skull with a snake emerging from its left eye was carved on it. I couldn't help thinking that it looked like the sort of tattoo someone in a biker gang would have.
“OK,” I said.
“Good luck,” the minotaur grunted, then turned and marched back towards the doors.
'Quite intimidating, isn't he?” said a sultry voice, and I turned with a smile to see Hedone. She kissed me on both cheeks.
“He seems like he takes his job seriously,” I said.
“I've no doubt.”
“Where's Morpheus?”
“He couldn't make it tonight, but he wishes you luck.”
“Thank you. Hedone, what kind of creature is that?” I asked her as something with massive leathery wings and what looked like the legs of a lion stalked past us. His nose was a hooked, yellowing beak and his beady eyes swept over me as I stared at him.
“He looks like a Griffon hybrid,” she said.
When I raised my eyebrows questioningly at her, she elaborated.
“There are wild and sentient versions of most creatures in Olympus, although some are more prone to staying wild.
Like manticores. They are large winged cats with scorpion tails that live in forests, and it's very rare to find them sentient.
But Griffons, who are lion and eagle, have enough human in them that most are sentient.
It's rare to find them wild. His wings are large for a Griffon though, so perhaps there is some Harpy in there somewhere.”
“So a Griffon had sex with a Harpy?” I tried to keep the disbelief out of my voice as my brain went into overdrive picturing that union. The only harpies I'd seen here were mostly bird with human heads.
Hedone gave a soft chuckle.
“Where there's a will, there's a way,” she said.
“There sure is,” added Skop. “I'm only three feet tall, and you should see what I've managed to bang.” I rolled my eyes at him, but he just wagged his tail faster. “It's all down to my enormous—”
“Good evening, Olympus!” The commentator's greeting cut the kobaloi's sentence off, and it was the first time I had been grateful to hear the irritating blond man’s voice.
The room stilled, and I followed the collective gaze of the crowd to the middle of the room, where the commentator was standing at the left end of the row of thrones.
“Welcome to the last Trial of Round Two. And we have a bit of a twist for you! But first, please welcome your Gods!” The room dropped to their knees as one, myself included, as a white light filled the room.
But I raised my bowed head enough to see Hades, his rippling smoky form on the far right of the row.
“Now, this evening Persephone will have to withstand four endurance tests, instigated by four gods,” the commentator boomed, as everyone rose to their feet. “She can choose to go and talk to any god she likes in any order, but she does not know which gods will be testing her.”
I cast my eyes over the gods’ faces, searching for any giveaways in expression. I saw none. Not one even glanced at me.
“This evening though, there will be no judging,” said the commentator, and a ripple of chatter filled the room. No judging? What? “Instead, for every test Persephone fails, she will lose one of her existing four tokens.”
Dread trickled down my spine. Lose my tokens? I'd already eaten two, for gods’ sake. Would that mean I would lose the power I'd gained back as well? Plus there were only three more Trials after this one, and I needed six tokens to win. I did the math fast.
If I lost only one seed I could still win, but I would have to get at least one token on the next three Trials. And as I'd already proven twice, getting tokens was not easy.
Anger boiled through my blood as all my hopes of only having to do two more Trials faded away. Not only could I not win any more tokens now, they were actually going to take away what I'd already earned? And possibly my powers too?
“This is total bullshit,” I hissed under my breath. The chances of me getting tokens on every single other Trial were surely slim to none. And even if I hadn't just decided that I wanted to win these cursed fucking Trials, there was no way I was losing my new powers.
I was going to have to deal with whatever they threw at me and keep all four seeds, no matter what.