Chapter Eight

Immortal.” Demeter stared, round-eyed.

Persephone stood straight and proud in the garden outside Demeter’s house. She had switched to the spirit world and back before her mother’s eyes. She’d explained about the orange, shown her mother the vanished scars and the regrown tooth, and lifted the sheep’s stone water trough in one arm.

At Persephone’s request, Hades had stayed behind, leaving the two women alone for this conversation.

“I wanted to show you in person,” Persephone said. “You’re the first to know, besides Hades.”

“But how do you know it’ll last?” Her mother sounded anxious rather than joyous.

Persephone rolled her eyes. “You and him, you’re a lot alike, you know. It’s taken him all this time to start believing it too.”

“Your scars, your strength—it’s amazing.” Demeter drew closer and touched her daughter’s arm and the tip of her braid, as if even Persephone’s hair was different now—which it wasn’t, particularly. “I’ll dare to hope, I suppose, but you must give me time.” A smile surfaced on Demeter’s face, rejuvenating her features. “Having you healthy is wonderful, though.”

“I feel fantastic. You can’t imagine the difference. Being strong, not having to worry about hurting myself or falling ill, it makes a person so much freer.”

“Well, don’t be too confident.” Demeter picked up a clay jar and began walking toward the spring.

Persephone accompanied her. “You could forgive Hades. Since I’m one of you now.”

“He committed his crime when you weren’t one of us.”

“It wasn’t a crime! He didn’t kidnap me.”

“People are saying he did. The story’s more lurid every time I hear it. The earth opening up beneath you and Hades pulling the innocent maiden under to rape her in hell.”

“What nonsense. You know it isn’t true. Aren’t you setting them straight?”

“If I do,” Demeter said, “I sound exactly like Hera defending Zeus every time he seduces another mortal.”

“Hades is absolutely not Zeus.”

“Perhaps not, but in their eyes, immortal men are all the same.”

“You have to tell them it isn’t so!” Persephone stomped on the ground as they walked. Her foot left a deep crater of a print, which she paused to stare at in wonder. Recovering the direction of her thoughts, she added, “Please. For my sake.”

They reached the spring. Demeter lowered the jar and filled it. “Dear, I will try for your sake, but you must realize how ineffective it’s going to be. We can speak the clearest words, explaining exactly how immortals live and operate, and what the differences between our personalities are, and the people will nod and bow and say, ‘Yes, my lady, we understand now.’ Then the moment our backs are turned, they begin spinning their stories. And by the time I meet them again, they’re begging to hear about…” Demeter waved her hand impatiently in the air and came up with an example. “How a sea monster offended us by eating our favorite city in Egypt, so we killed it and threw it into the sky where it became a group of stars. Or some such insanity.”

Persephone laughed, despite her irritation. “Gracious. We Greeks do enjoy our poetry.”

“If word gets out that Hades has made you immortal, I can only imagine the stories they’ll tell next.” Demeter set the water jar against her hip, and gazed with a troubled expression at her daughter. “Oh, Persephone. I want to believe it will last. Yet I’m scared to hope.”

Persephone took the full jar and held its weight easily in one arm. “You may as well hope. Hope makes life ever so much better. But that isn’t our only concern. If the orange works for me, as it seems to have for the dog, then we have many questions to consider.”

Demeter nodded. Her gaze grew distant. “Who else to give the fruit to.”

“Who indeed.” They turned back to the house. “Who deserves immortality? Who decides?”

“The gods.” Demeter’s tone was dry.

“The real ones? Or you—us?”

“Unless anyone’s managed to contact the real ones, I suppose it’s down to us.”

As Sophie prepared and ate French toast on Sunday morning with her chattering family, she revolved Persephone’s questions in her mind.

Last week, Niko decided alone who deserved immortality. But at least he had based his decision on who had once been immortal. Were Sophie on a jury, she would grant him some leniency on that point. But deciding who deserved the golden apple in the old days had indeed been contentious.

Sophie’s brother interrupted her thoughts by demanding to know if she was coming back up for Halloween.

“It’s only in a few days. I don’t think I can.”

“She’s got to study,” Dad reminded Liam.

“And move.” Sophie sighed.

Her parents looked at her. “What?” Dad said.

“It is not working out with Melissa.” Though Sophie didn’t want to embark on the subject, it was time to warn her family and give them a piece of the truth. “She was feeding tips to Betty Quentin, that crazy cult woman who sent all those people after me. So we’re through, Melissa and me.”

Mom slammed down the glass bottle of maple syrup. “Why is everyone not arrested for all this?”

“The police are grilling Melissa. But I don’t think she really knew what she was getting into. And they did arrest Quentin, but…she got out.” Sophie set her fork down as her stomach twisted again.

“What the hell?” Dad said.

Sophie sent an entreating look at her family members. “Please be on the lookout, you guys. She could show up here. I don’t know. Don’t listen to her, don’t believe her, call the police the second you see her.”

“How are we supposed to know what she looks like?” Mom said.

“Can I taze her?” Liam asked. He had heard about Sophie getting to electrocute the intruder at the dorm, and had been quite taken with the notion of zapping someone.

“Not unless you’re sure it’s her,” Sophie told him. “I’ll find you guys pictures or something. But I’m serious, be careful. I don’t know how I got on her radar…” Big whopping lie there, but she moved on. “But she’s 911-worthy. The second you see her, call them, I mean it.”

“Where are you going to live?” Dad asked. “What kind of place is safe enough?”

“I don’t know. I have to look around. The Corvallis police said they’re still going to offer me extra protection, so that helps.”

Her parents exchanged frustrated looks. “Damn, girl,” Dad said. “I thought I’d only have to worry about frat boys pawing you.”

“Them I’ll taze,” she assured.

After breakfast, she packed up her clothes, and soon a text arrived from Adrian. Be there in about 5 mins. Ready?

Yep, she answered, though her palms went clammy in apprehension. She swung her backpack onto her shoulder, trotted back downstairs and said casually, “My ride’s almost here.”

“Do we get to meet this mysterious person?” Mom asked, looking up from a stack of invoices at the kitchen counter.

“Sure. His name’s David.” Sophie picked up a Golden Delicious apple from the wire basket by the sink and tucked it into her pack.

The knock on the front door came a minute later, respectful and proper.

Sophie’s dad got there first. He swung it open.

Wrapped in his black coat against the cold wind, Adrian lifted his head and smiled. But to Sophie’s trained eye he looked every bit as guarded as he had the day Niko hauled her into the spirit realm to meet him. Sophie’s heart thudded hard, as Adrian’s was likely doing at such a fraught reunion. Hades, you remember Demeter?

“Hi there.” Dad stuck out his hand. “I’m Terry.”

Adrian shook his hand. “I’m David. I, uh, gave Sophie a ride up here.” As she expected, he faked an American accent, but it wobbled into strange vowels here and there.

Sophie tried not to wince. “Hey,” she greeted, and pushed past her dad to join Adrian on the porch. “Ready to go?”

“Rushing straight off?” her dad asked.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a long drive, and I have so much homework and apartment-hunting to do…”

But now Sophie’s mom was in the doorway too. “Hi, I’m Isabel.”

Adrian shook her hand. “David. Pleased to meet you.”

“And you go to OSU too?”

“Yeah. I’m a geography major.”

“What brought you up to Carnation?” Mom asked.

“I know some people in Seattle. I was visiting. Offered Sophie a lift.”

“But we should go,” Sophie repeated.

“David, can I get you some coffee or anything first?” her dad asked.

“Oh, no thanks. I’ve got some.”

Dad frowned past him at the driveway. “Where’s your car?”

“I parked it by the gas station back there. I fancied a walk.”

Fancied? Sophie shot him a warning look. “It’s fine. We’ll stop for lunch somewhere. Love you, Dad!” She stepped up and hugged her dad to ward off any further interrogation. “Love you, Mom.” She turned and hugged her too. “Bye, Liam,” she hollered over Mom’s shoulder.

“Bye,” he shouted back from in front of his video game.

“Love you, honey.” Her mom let go of her. “Good to meet you, David. And please drive safe.”

Don’t say “precious cargo,” Sophie prayed.

Her mom rubbed Sophie’s shoulder and added, “This is precious cargo you’ve got here.”

Sophie shut her eyes for a second in resignation.

Adrian smiled, a hint of mischief coming alive in his face. “Indeed. I’ll be very cautious. Good to meet you as well.”

Several more waves and farewells later, Sophie and Adrian finally walked down the driveway and turned onto the path along the highway.

“Fancied?” she accused.

“Precious cargo?” he teased.

They passed behind a thick stand of maple trees, and he took her hand.

She glanced up and found him grinning. She smiled back, infusing the gesture with silent apology for all the anger and bitterness of their latest visit to the Underworld. “I wish you could get to know my family better. I think they’d like you.”

“I’m not sure. That is Demeter’s soul we’re talking about, even if he doesn’t know it.”

“Demeter didn’t always hate you. Just sometimes. But yeah, guess it’s a good thing Dad doesn’t know you’re the father of my child.”

Adrian squeezed her fingers. His hand warmed hers for a second before the wind whipped the heat away. “In many lives.”

“True. I knew about a lot of them. But I was so much more…invested in the Persephone life, that learning about Hekate was…” She chuckled in wonder, unable to express it.

“I did want to tell you. If it would help, I would talk at you for hours, days, overloading you with every detail I can remember. But it’d more confuse you than enlighten you, and life keeps giving us other tasks instead.”

“It does. It really, really does.” A car swooshed by on the highway. “Of course, I do want to know who the others are. Reincarnated, I mean.”

“If you like.” Adrian sounded reluctant.

“Zeus and Hera?” Sophie began.

“I can’t trace either of them by the usual sense. We didn’t exchange blood or anything. In fact, none of us can trace Hera. But Freya can sense Zeus.”

“Of course.”

“She says he’s no one we’ve met. ‘An unaccountably popular, licentious, good-looking arse, like always,’ is how she put it.”

Sophie smirked. “Poseidon, then?”

“Still a kid.” Adrian looked away, into the field beside the road. “We reckon it isn’t right to meddle when they’re still kids.”

“Suppose so. Athena?”

“Very high-powered career. Too busy to bother.”

“How high-powered?”

“The president of Germany.”

Sophie blinked in wonder. “Oh. Right. A bit busy. Um…Artemis?”

“Also quite high-powered and busy, though she’s someone Sanjay was related to. She’s in the Indian military or something. And she’s married with little kids, and, well…after what happened to Sanjay, he doesn’t even want us to approach her. Not for a while, at least.”

“I see. How about Hestia?”

“Oh, she’s in the Underworld. Was a nice old Chinese lady. Died a couple of years ago. Hanging around, waiting for her family.”

“Ah. Hephaestus?”

“One of Freya’s ex-husbands, in Sweden. She has a few. She’s not terribly keen on making him immortal so far, but maybe we’ll convince her someday.”

“Then let’s see, who else was there? Ares, I guess. Though I don’t recall liking him much.”

“Nor did I. Arrogant wanker. Happy to say he’s some random loser from…Massachusetts? Missouri? I forget, something with an M. A woman this time, not much older than us. But I’ve no plans to bring her into the fold. The world can do without the god of war, if you ask me.”

“I agree. So that’s everyone, I think.”

“Well. Not quite. But never mind, now we’re entering ‘overloading your brain’ territory.” He led her into the swampy field. They stepped from one mound of grass to another, then he took her in his arms and switched realms. The spirit-world forest materialized around them, dark and full of twisting branches and birdsong. “Your living situation,” he said, still holding her. “Listen, I don’t know if you’ll go for it, but—”

“Can I move in with you?” she interrupted.

He looked surprised, then eased into a smile. “That’s what I was going to suggest, yeah.”

“I’ll still need a front. Some place around campus I can have mail delivered to, somewhere I can show my folks if they come to town. But I don’t want to sleep anywhere except in this realm, next to you.”

He lifted her off the ground in an embrace. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Yes, of course, it’s all I want. I’d worry so much less.” He set her down, repeated, “Thank you,” and kissed her.

She grinned. “Well, don’t thank me until I’ve snapped at you for leaving dirty dishes out, or whined about what a pain it is to do laundry. How do you do laundry?” His Airstream trailer, she knew, had no washer and dryer.

He shrugged. “Laundromats. Easy.”

“But, really, would it be all right? I mean, living together, it’s kind of a big step.”

“Not near as big as eating a chrysomelia.” He squeezed both her hands. “Which you were willing to do the other night, and which we will have you do, the second it becomes possible.”

She nodded. “All right, then. Let’s go home.”