I bolted. As if I could somehow outrun this body I was stuck in. Molt it away with speed, leaving it in a dusty heap on the ground and my Sophie self all happy in the sunshine.
Yeah, right.
I ran through grasses in wide fields, their sharp tang tickling my nose. All the plant life had that dry, brittle, washed out look of a land that was in the throes of a long, deep drought. It was a million shades of wheat and gray, with no vibrant colors anywhere.
Eventually, I found myself on a dusty cobblestone road. I knew that it would lead me back to Hades’ palace, where there were mirrors to confirm this change. But when I came to the shore of the crystal clear Akherousian lake, I realized that the water would work just as well.
One quick look into the lake was enough to leave me reeling.
It was true. Somehow, I was now Persephone.
Looking away quickly and looking back didn’t change things. Neither did pinching myself, opening and closing my eyes, or wishing desperately. Since hers was the last face I wanted to be gazing on, I trudged off, continuing toward the palace and lost in my thoughts. All the while, I was trying to figure out why Felicia would want this?
“She said make it hurt.” I froze at the sound of Kiki’s voice.
She sat on a flat rock at the edge of an empty intersection, dressed in the same outfit she’d been in at Felicia’s. Since I had Persephone’s memories, I knew every inch of this place as if I’d explored it myself. Which I had, in a way. At any rate, I knew where we were.
Hekate’s Crossroads.
Literally, it was an intersection with three roads branching off from it. The judged souls that Charon and his deadly ferry ride hadn’t brought to their final destinations came here. If they’d lived normal lives, they shuffled off to the Fields of Asphodel. If they’d been evil, they went to Tartarus. Or over to the Elysian Fields if their good deeds had won them the afterlife jackpot. Hekate didn’t need to be around to help them. The dead people would only be able to travel the appropriate path.
She patted the rock beside her. I’d always liked Kiki, but suddenly I was very wary of her. Because for the first time, I truly felt her power and knew what she was capable of.
She made a lit cigarette appear in her hands. “I’m not going to bite. Sit.”
I sat. Since Kiki was still human-sized, and I was about thirteen feet tall, I dwarfed her. My bum felt massive on the rock. After an awkward moment of sliding around, trying to fit both butt cheeks comfortably, I gave up and stood. I gestured at my goddess body. “Why?”
Kiki squinted at me, almost like she was surprised I didn’t know. “You did screw Demeter over.”
I gaped at her, ready to argue.
She gave me the hand. “You did. She said the oath in good faith that you’d reciprocate. You didn’t. Now you suffer the consequences. Balance out your choice.”
I laced my fingers together, steepling them against my lips as I studied her. “The consequence that I’m Persephone now? How does that follow?”
Kiki was silent for a bit, smoking her cigarette.
I watched the red ashy tip grow larger, waiting for it to fall. But she tapped out the cigarette before it could. “Are you familiar with the phrase ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?’” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She slid off the rock. “Well, you’re repeating it.” Then she was walking away, her stride brisk. As if that was the end of the discussion.
Couldn’t any of these Greeks bother explaining themselves in detail? I scrambled after her. “I remember everything about the past just fine. I have all of Persephone’s memories.”
“It’s not about literally remembering, you foolish girl. It’s about learning from past errors. Well, hello there.”
A group of twenty-something man candy car crash victims dressed in soccer uniforms swaggered along en route to Asphodel. The lascivious leer Kiki gave them made her look like she was trawling for boy toys, not shepherding souls.
I waited impatiently.
Kiki gave them a come-hither stare with the full weight of her charm behind it and the one closest to her blushed from head to toe.
I wanted to pull her off the cobblestone road, away from temptation and distraction, and make her talk to me. Or even sling her over my shoulders and carry her away, since I could totally do that, but I was kind of afraid to touch her. She’d already turned me into Persephone. And that was with her liking me.
I sidled in close and spoke up, hoping she’d stop running her hand over the soccer player’s bicep and answer me. “Learning what from my errors?”
Kiki trailed a fingertip down his arm and I tried not to shudder, since it was like watching my old aunt hit on a guy better suited to dating me. Finally, she smiled, pulled her hand away, and let them continue. “I have missed this place.”
With a last tilt to appreciate the receding view, she returned her attention to me, jabbing a finger into my stomach to make her point. “You’ve got to reconcile with Persephone if you’re going to fulfill that ‘one above one below’ prophecy. Keep going this way and things are going to end badly for you. And humanity. I didn’t go to all the trouble of saving Persephone so that you could blow it.” She punctuated that last bit with a few exceptionally hard jabs.
It was almost funny. Like a little terrier yipping its displeasure at a giant sheep dog. Which did not make me sound sexy in the least, but being this size took getting used to. You know, like being on top of a mountain. Or just being a mountain.
I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to make sense of this. Kiki had decided that me being Persephone fit Felicia’s wish for me to suffer and helped me fulfill the prophecy. The first part made sense. Being stuck with Kai, with him thinking that I was his original love was so going to suck. I could even grudgingly acknowledge the sense in the second part.
I still grumbled. “It’s all about Persephone. I should have known.”
Kiki shook her head. “No. It’s all about you. Persephone is part of your younger self. She’s part of you, and you still share characteristics. But now you are you.”
I let out a half-laugh. This was sounding eerily familiar to the words I’d flung at Kai.
“… Except you’re way too hung up on the past. That’s no way to have a future. And a heart full of hate can’t love. You need love.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Like The Beatles song?”
She blinked, then got the reference and smiled. “Yes. Exactly.”
This was all too coincidental. The feeling of being buried alive in the tunnel. The song. “Did you plan all this? The visions? Has it been you the whole time?” I felt a little sick. My mind whirled with conspiracy theories as everything that had happened in the past few days started to look seriously shady.
To her credit, Kiki played confused very well. “You’re affecting the present, Sophinchka. That’s a danger to all around you. You will never be successful unless you work through it. This,” she spread her hands wide, “is both you facing the consequence and me helping you learn from the past.”
There wasn’t time for this. The equinox was in four days. Which may seem like a lot of time but, trust me, when you’re facing the battle of your life, it’s not. The last thing I wanted was to deal with was some after-school special about “life lessons for a better you.”
I put my hands on my hips, trying not let the fact that I had hips distract me. Persephone was a curvy girl. “The only help I want involves you showing me the exit to Felicia’s temple so we can break the stupid ward. Can you do that?”
Kiki scowled at me. She gave great scowl. “This is the way out. The way to ensure your victory. But you need to prove that you deserve it. Sometime in the next few days, Demeter is going to murder you.”
That stopped me cold. “We’ve gone back in time?”
“This is an enchantment,” Kiki scoffed. “Everyone here is under my spell. To them, they’re playing out these events for the first time. But the end can be just as deadly.” She motioned for me to get off the path and onto the grass beside it as a busload of seniors went past. “Seventeen years ago, in the early hours of the equinox, I put Persephone’s spirit into your body. At that moment, you and she were perfectly aligned. Now you’re not.”
“There’s the understatement of the year.” I focused on the procession before me. A widow on the prowl, hard scrambled grandma with a visor, lecherous old guy with an orange tan …
Kiki moved herself into my field of vision. “If you and she are not aligned once more by the equinox, you will fail. Save Persephone and the enchantment breaks. You’re free to go through the portal and save the day. Don’t save Persephone? You die here and no one knows Sophie Bloom ever existed.”
That got my attention. “Not fair.” My blood ran cold. “That’s cruel.”
“It’s balance. You repeated the past when you betrayed Demeter by not keeping your word. Now Demeter has her chance to repeat the past and avenge that. It’s up to you how it ends.” She smiled and patted my cheek. “Have fun.”
Kiki disappeared.
Fun? No. What I was going to do was get myself out of this stupid enchantment and back to reality. There were plenty of trees around to transport me. I felt under the dress for my pendent and, with its reassuring weight in my hand, headed straight for the nearest one.
Whacking my nose firmly against the rough bark as the pendant failed to do anything.
I cursed Kiki, rubbing my nose to take away the sting.
Evidently, short cuts were out. I was stuck here until the enchantment broke. Fine. I’d avoid going under the throne room to the gold room beneath it. Demeter couldn’t murder me if I didn’t show up.
And Persephone didn’t suffer from heat rashes or migraines, which was going to make a pleasant change. I’d need my all my wits about me here.
First up then? Find Kai and Theo and make them remember me, Sophie. Because I now understood the way this would hurt. It wasn’t being murdered again. It wasn’t even being Persephone while around Kai.
It was that I wouldn’t exist at all.
Which would seriously crimp my save humanity plans.
I touched the cuff that Hannah had given me which I still wore. As if to reassure myself of who I was and that there were people out there to whom I mattered. Maybe. Hannah had never fought with anyone like she had with me. Even if I wanted to apologize, which maybe I did and maybe I didn’t, I wasn’t sure she’d reciprocate. Maybe I no longer mattered to her.
Green light swam before my eyes. My palms got hot.
No! I shut my power down before I could blast one of my full body shockwaves. Which reminded me that I still wore the ring Festos had made me. Kiki had left it alone.
I unclasped my chain, slid the ring off of my finger, and threaded it on next to my pendant. I didn’t trust my temper at the best of times these days, and especially not now. The last thing I wanted was to get mad and use up my recharge before the final showdown. I could only go for three minutes and thirty seconds and I wasn’t about to waste any of it.
Now, where was the most likely place to find Kai and Theo? I glanced at Hades’ palace in the distance. My stomach clenched with nerves. Hades won’t know it’s me. I recited that thought over and over as I made my way toward the palace. It helped keep the dread at bay. So did the realization that there was a definite plus to being stuck in enemy territory: I could ferret out any weakness that might help us during the battle. That cheered me up enormously.
But first, I needed transform myself into the most girly goddess imaginable. Become the pretty decoration that Hades expected, all the better to keep my secrets. Because if Hades realized who I really was before I could get Kai and Theo to remember, he’d kill me. And neither of them would know to stop him.
It was a bit of a trudge to get to the palace from the crossroads. The heat made me sticky, and by the time I reached Hades’ home, I’d been wiping the sweat off my brow for ages. The sun may not have been bright, but it was still hot.
I stepped onto the large front lawn that preceded the palace gardens and looked up at the building. The dark green marbled stone had seemed forbidding the one time that I, Sophie, had seen it. But it had been night, and Theo and I had been breaking and entering.
Now, in the sunlight, the stone was warm and richly veined. It had depth and a kind of magnificence to it. Didn’t mean I was planning to walk in the front door, though.
Thanks to Persephone’s memories, I knew other ways in. I skirted around the stoney path that led to the gardens full of twisted silver trees and statues. I sidestepped the Pool of Lethe, and the ornately carved iron doors depicting the War of the Titans.
I ducked around to the side, giving the palace a wide berth until I found what I was looking for: a narrow path with a vine covered archway overhead. Provided Hades hadn’t done a major reno, there would be hot springs where I could bathe.
I darted onto the walkway, feeling its wrongness. The filtered light should have had a green tinge, but it was flat. And not because of me. Which was interesting. So far, the only things I’d seen here with any richness to their color were the corrosive dark orange and red of the River Styx, and the green of the palace marble. It made me think that the Underworld was great with the evil color palette, but somewhat limited in the happier pigments.
I knew that Hades liked color. Kai had told me stories about how they would go to Earth to see all the colors it offered. But, for whatever reason, certain hues just didn’t seem to stick here. Idly, I wondered if that was part of the reason Hades had fought so long for control of Earth.
Nah, that made him vaguely likable.
I fingered one of the smooth-edged leaves on the vines that wound up and around the walkway. But where the vines should have been twists of deep green, they were silver. Which was cool but, well, really wrong.
Grapes hung from the vines in fat bunches of the palest blush. Like someone had sucked the purple from them. What little color there was could only be seen at certain angles of sunlight.
Cautiously, I sniffed at them. I was starving and they smelled right. I snapped off a bunch and gingerly touched my tongue to one. No immediate convulsing from poison. I hesitated for a second, unsure whether eating anything would leave me stuck here, but I figured that if I was Persephone—for all intents and purposes—then that ship had already sailed. Greedily, I scarfed them down. Sweet, sun-warmed, and sticky, I filled up on their juicy yumminess.
Behind me, I heard a flat dispassionate voice. “You look awful.” I practically choked on the grape I was eating. Seemed Persephone didn’t like the owner of that voice any more than I did. And I wasn’t even sure who it was yet.
I turned.
Oizys, Spirit of Misery, Woe, Distress, and Suffering, peered directly into my eyes. She took her image very seriously. Her jet black hair was pulled into a severe bun, with a short fringe across her forehead. Behind black, round glasses, heavy kohl ringed her green eyes, and her lips were a slash of deep purple against pale skin. She wore a black sweater, a black spandex mini skirt, and thick black tights with (shocker) black combat boots.
Okay, the boots were cool.
“Greetings, Goth Girl.” I saluted her.
She blinked in confusion.
Yeah, I bet Persephone never spoke to her that way, but I figured that if I could keep everyone slightly off balance by being myself, it might work in my favor when it came to making it out of here in one piece. Hopefully, it would also twig Kai’s memory of my existence. Besides, no way could I speak like Persephone and keep a straight face. Formal, flowery BS language.
I imagined her bristling at that. Well, truth was a bitch.
“Grape?” I held one out to Oizys.
She frowned. “They’re not washed.”
“Precious much?”
She nodded. “Yeah, you are.”
Hang on. Me? It figured. Persephone probably wanted them peeled on a silver platter. Gag. I popped a last one in my mouth
“What’s wrong with you?” Oizys touched a finger to some dirt on my dress and then touched her finger to her lip. “Why were you in the tunnel?”
My ewww, gross turned to huh, cool, when she figured that out. “None of your business,” I said.
“Because you don’t get dirty.” She pushed her glasses up her nose in a gesture that was eerily reminiscent of Theo.
A pang of missing him so badly speared my heart when I remembered the horrible condition Felicia had imposed. I needed to find out if he was here. See him right now. “Yeah,” I told Oizys, “well, I was cavorting with some deer and they led me astray.” I brushed past her and continued on my way to the bathing pool.
“Using sarcasm to steer me away from what you’re really up to.”
She’d followed me and was still talking. Lovely.
“That makes you marginally more interesting,” she said.
“I’m so thrilled you think so.” I sped up, but she clomped alongside me no problem.
“Which leaves the question ‘what, precisely, are you up to?’” Oizys’ expression, like her tone, was bland. No. More like curiously detached. Like I was a science experiment. I swear, if she’d had a clipboard, she’d have been taking notes.
Hannah would like her.
I shoved that thought down, way far far away, and padlocked it tight. No thinking about people who may or may not remember their best friend with whom they had just had the worst fight of their lives.
Oizys kept pace.
I stopped, annoyed. “Back. Off.”
An amused glint cracked the blank slate of her face. “And here all I thought you were good for was dancing among flowers and looking pretty.”
Me too. “Me too.” Involuntarily, I voiced Persephone’s memory of that exact feeling. I frowned. I didn’t want to feel for her. I closed my eyes briefly, trying for patience. “Just … I need to go.”
Oizys tilted her head and studied me for a long moment. “You’ll keep your secrets longer if you play the part given you, Springtime.”
With that, she spun on her heel and left me wondering if she could see through Kiki’s enchantment. And what she would do about it if she could?
I killed that train of thought as I reached the end of the walkway, finding myself outside a long, low cedar hut. The air around it was warm and moist and full of that fabulous woodsy scent. I opened the door, glad that it was unlocked, and stepped into the vacant room.
My entire body sighed with relieved recognition. Smell was such a strong gateway to memory, and both were really powerful here. I was a tad worried that I might be assaulted with sexytime details but, thankfully, Persephone had only ever come here alone. It was been her place to unwind and relax.
And plot. And seethe.
Yes, well, I wasn’t doing any of that. I slid the wooden latch on the door, locked it, and slipped the blue dress up and over my head, tossing it in a rumpled ball on the floor. The heat in the room gave my skin a rosy glow, and I could already feel sweat beading the back of my neck.
This was the first time I’d seen this body naked, so yeah, of course I totally gave in to curiosity and checked myself out.
Score one for Persephone. Light olive skin that was butter soft to the touch, even my elbows and the pads of my feet. Dangerous curves, C cup boobs, long legs … Persephone’s hair was longer than mine, falling down the middle of her back, but our hair color was the same.
I twisted around to examine my butt. From what I could tell, it was a perfect, perky globe.
So pretty much a twenty out of ten.
Body issues? I refused to be jealous of a dead chick.
Instead, I faced the pool. It was probably about fifteen feet in diameter with cedar planks around the edges and steam rising from the water. Baskets of towels and pale green soaps were placed around in easy reach.
I dipped a toe into the water. Yikes! Hot. I was in heaven. I loved hot baths. The hotter the better. We’d only had showers at Hope Park. Same at Fee’s place.
Inch by deliciously painful inch, I slid in, gasping the entire time, until I was sitting with my head back, submerged up to my shoulders. I rested there, steam cleaning myself until I was lobster red and pruney. Then I soaped up, washing my body and my hair until I was squeaky clean and oozing lavender from every pore.
I pulled myself out of the pool, looked down at the less than clear water and waited for the neat trick I knew was coming. Sure enough the surface rippled, magically cleaning the pool of all dirt until the water was pristine for the next bather.
The Underworld did have some amenities I could get behind.
Toweling myself off, I picked up my dress. I didn’t really want to put it on again but I had no other option. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the heat had done a steam clean number on it. I slipped it on and wrung out my hair as best I could. It settled down my back in glossy ringlets.
She even had good wet hair. Whatever.
I threw open the latch and headed out. I still wanted to find Theo, so when I heard male voices close by, I went to investigate.
Coming around the bathing hut, I saw a field in the distance with a soccer game in progress. There were a lot of spectators: dead humans, a variety of demigods and goddesses, and a few fantastical creatures varying from small and ugly to large and hideous.
Kai was there, shirt off, running toward center field with his arms spread out, like he was trying to get things moving.
My brain promptly started issuing stern instructions on keeping my dignity in the face of his male magnificence.
Don’t stare.
No, not the head tilt!
Stop that! Straighten head. Close mouth. Act like the dignified goddess you are.
Now tear your eyes away.
Not down. Away.
Yeah, fine. It took me a minute to line up my intentions with my actions. But eventually, I was able to look at the rest of the field. I didn’t recognize any of Kai’s teammates but I did see Oizys playing on the other team. She was the reason for the hold up, juggling the ball on her knees and ankles in a very cool show. Her face was total concentration, until she suddenly grinned and snapped the ball to an approaching teammate.
My heart caught in my throat. It was Theo.
No, it was Prometheus.
Wow.