Chapter 9 Persephone
Persephone
“You know, you can't avoid me forever.” I sent the thought at Hades, hoping that wherever he was he could hear me.
“I'm sorry. I have much to attend to,” he replied immediately. “Go to sleep, and we'll talk in the morning.”
I blew out a sigh and lay back on his enormous bed. It felt too big without him in it, his mighty presence altering the scale of everything around me. Hecate had brought me to his rooms earlier, and now I'd had too much time alone to think.
Whilst I was incredibly relieved to have passed another Trial and won a seed, I couldn't suppress my anger at the gods.
I'd been warned of the loyalty Trial, I knew I wouldn't see it coming, but to force me to admit in front of Hades that I didn't want to live in his realm? It was cruel beyond belief.
He had come by after the Trial but his face was strained, his manner awkward. I hadn’t known what to say to him. My mind screamed against the notion of being trapped in the dark for eternity, but the feeling didn't outweigh my desire for him.
“The last two Trials are going to be the hardest,” said Skop, interrupting my thoughts.
“Huh,” I said, hugging my knees to my chest. “If Hades catches you on the bed you are going to be in deep shit.”
“Persy, you should eat another seed. The more power you have, the more likely you'll survive. And win.”
“We'll find out what the Trial is first,” I said evasively. I didn't want more power. I didn't want to make myself stronger.
I was already dangerous enough.
I did fall asleep before Hades returned, and almost instantly found myself in the Atlas garden.
“Ah, little goddess,” the voice whispered across the breeze, as a delicious calm wrapped itself around me. The sunflowers had grown, they were now as tall as I was. I brushed my finger along their petals as I made my way across the soft turf to the fountain.
“I have a question for you,” I said.
“By all means.”
“Do you know how I ended up in Tartarus?”
There was a long silence from the voice, filled by the sound of birds tweeting.
“I did not know you had been to Tartarus. That is an unpleasant place,” the stranger said eventually.
“It is,” I replied, running my fingers through the warm water and watching the lily-pads ripple. “Will I die if I live in the Underworld forever?”
“No. Not if you are stronger than the evil there.”
“But if I become stronger, I become more dangerous.”
“Wrong. The stronger you are, the more control you have.”
“I want to stay in Olympus. But I don't want to live away from nature. It feels wrong.”
“That should not be your biggest concern now. You must regain your memories and right the injustice dealt to you. You must regain your power and learn who you are. Then you will know what is right or wrong. Then you will be able to make decisions about your future.”
I thought about that, the calm of the garden allowing the thoughts to organize themselves more clearly. It was true that the most urgent issue was surviving the Trials and discovering who had sent me to Tartarus. But did I need my memories back? Would it really help?
“What happens if I just stay ignorant? What if Hades and Athena are right?”
“Then you will forever be incomplete. Those who have used you, sought to harm you and Hades, will have won.”
Anger rumbled through me. Harm Hades? No. No, I couldn't allow that.
“Can't you just tell me what happened? Who my enemies are?”
“To know for sure, you must recover your memories. If you eat another seed, you will be able to find the river Lethe.”
The conversation was clear in my mind when I awoke, Skop still at the end of the bed and Hades nowhere to be seen.
“Where are you?” I projected at him groggily.
“I'm here,” he replied, and I sat up with a start. The voice hadn't been in my head, it had come from the adjoining room. I swung my legs out of bed, the only light coming from the softly glowing vines on the ceiling.
“Hades?” He was sitting shirtless in a large wingback chair, a tumbler of something amber in his hand. “Are you OK?”
“I had a lot to clear up,” he said, his voice bitter.
“It wasn't you, don't forget that,” I said, padding over to him. He didn't answer, but I felt his body relax as I eased myself onto his lap. “How's Kerato?”
“Good. It'll be a while before he's strong again, demons get stronger the longer they've been living.”
“Are all minotaurs demons?”
“No. Kerato became a demon to live here.” He looked at me as I wound my arms around his neck. “Did Hecate tell you what she gave up in order to keep her soul?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
“Well, Kerato, and many others here, didn't have enough to give up. The Underworld owns them.”
“It doesn't own you,” I whispered. “It owns the darkness inside you, but you are stronger.”
“We are stronger,” he corrected me, and kissed me gently. “Persephone, Zeus was right. You could be so much more above ground. You are a nature goddess, with earth magic. This is no place for you.” The anguish in his words made the need to help him overtake my own concerns.
“I'll be fine,” I said. “And anyway, I've decided not to think about it until after the Trials. My brain can only take so many life-threatening scenarios at a time, and the Trials are more urgent,” I said, thinking about what the stranger had said to me.
Guilt trickled through me at the thought of the Atlas garden. Should I tell Hades about it? It felt wrong keeping a secret from him, but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, I closed it again.
Hades wouldn't tell me about my past, but the stranger wanted me to know. They were at odds. And I had first-hand evidence that Hades didn't always make the right decisions; he had felt obligated to take me back to New York when that was the worst thing he could possibly have done.
He didn't necessarily know what was best for me, and until I knew what I wanted, it seemed a good idea to keep silent.
“I think focusing on the more immediate issues is a very good idea,” Hades said, and swigged from his glass. “I believe the person who sent you to Tartarus was an Olympian.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Nobody else except my inner circle knows about Cronos.”
“What if whoever it is doesn't know about Cronos, and just hoped I'd die there? I mean, a trip to Tartarus is a pretty awful punishment, even if Cronos wasn't part of it.”
“No, it's too much of a coincidence.” I cocked my head.
“Hades, did Cronos have something to do with what happened before?”
“I swore to you I would never talk to you about what happened, please stop putting me through this,” he said tightly. That wasn't a no.
“Putting you through this?” I said indignantly. “I think you'll find I'm the one being put through it.” I pushed my chin out, and he moved his hand to my jaw, stroking his thumb across my skin.
“I know. I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you?” His eyes were dark suddenly, and his chest was tensing. A wave of heat, smelling like wood-smoke, rolled over me and desire tingled through my whole body, my anger vanishing.
“I suppose I could be persuaded,” I mumbled, as he leaned forward and closed his lips over mine.