Persephone

Chapter XVII

“You’re freezing.” Helen pried Hades’ cape from my fingers.
“And soaked,” Cassandra added. She led me through my room, adding onto my bathroom as she walked. The room widened, and a hot tub appeared in the center.
Helen touched my shoulder and I was wearing a green one-piece swimsuit. My feet touched the hot water and I hissed as the heat made contact with my freezing-cold toes. I eased my way into the water.
Cassandra and Helen joined me, keeping light conversation going. I sank into the water, pulling my knees to my chest. They hovered close, not asking me any questions, waiting until I wanted to speak.
“…and Hades agreed to give him another half-dozen Reapers,” Cassandra complained.
Helen shook her head. “Those guys give me the creeps.”
“They’re not so bad,” I objected. I felt like a ball of ice had replaced my heart. I was cold inside, where the warm water couldn’t reach. I summoned a glass of hot chocolate and took a cautious sip.
“Are you okay?” Cassandra asked. I looked from her face to the concern mirrored in Helen’s and couldn’t help but smile.
“I’ll be fine. Thank you.”
“So what was more shocking…seeing Pirithous get turned into a statue, or Hades’ confession?”
“What confession?” Helen asked.
“Oh, he said he was in love with her.”
“How did you know that?” I asked over Helen’s gasp.
Cassandra gave me a look. “I saw it.”
I shook my head. I’d been attacked. I’d just seen some guy turned to stone. And Cassandra wanted to chat about boys? “You guys really don’t do comfort well.”
Cassandra shrugged. “We’re dead. We still feel everything, but not to the same degree you do. It makes empathy kind of hard.”
I blinked, not sure what to make of that.
“Back up,” Helen said. “He said what?”
“He just wants to be friends.” I took another sip of my hot chocolate, and the ice-cold feeling in my chest dissipated. I smiled at Cassandra, grateful for the distraction. She had one long pale leg out of the water and was painting her toenails red. I summoned green polish with a shrug. It was better than thinking about what I’d just seen.
“I never realized Hades was that dense,” Helen said as she handed me a jar. “Put this stuff on your face, it’s amazing.”
“He’s probably right.” I shrugged. “There is a pretty significant age difference. You know, I’ve got to say, I wish I could redecorate up in the living world like I can here. My best friend Melissa would be so jealous of this bathroom.”
Cassandra took the jar of mud mask from my outstretched arm and looked at it skeptically. “If he thought you were too young to have a relationship with, he shouldn’t have married you.”
I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t count. I’m way too young to get married.”
“Oh, Cassandra.” Helen sighed. “Put the mask on. Anyway, I was married at ten years old. This concern over marrying too young is a completely modern invention.”
I nearly smeared the daisy I was painting on top of the dark green polish on my toes. “Ten?”
“It’s not as though either of you are human,” Cassandra pointed out. “You can’t play by human rules. Look at all those vampire romance books and movies and television shows. No one makes a big deal about those guys being thousands of years older than the—”
“Actually they do.” I sighed, studying my toes carefully. They looked dry; I dipped them back into the warm water, pleased when the polish didn’t run. “Just read the online reviews, someone is sure to mention it.”
“Physically speaking, Hades would be what, twenty? Twenty-five?” Helen asked. “That’s not such a big deal.”
I imagined coming home from school one day to tell my mom I was dating a man almost ten years older than me and blanched. “Uh…”
“My husband was fifty! Surely a paltry ten years doesn’t—”
“Times have really changed,” I explained.
“Whatever, it’s still stupid,” Cassandra said. “You’re too pretty to wait around for Hades to come to his senses.”
I waited for the follow-up to that comment, for Cassandra to say I was lucky or some other barb, but nothing came. It was a compliment, pure and simple. I thought back to my conversations with the girls at school and was surprised to realize they didn’t have to be like that. Girl talk could just be this. No insults, no guilt trips. I smiled and sank deeper into the warm water.
“It’s kind of nice not to be chased after,” I admitted. I cheated and imagined a tasteful French manicure on my nails rather than painting them. “For the last few months every guy I’ve seen has gone kind of crazy.”
“Yeah, I know all about that,” Helen agreed with a bitter laugh.
“Troy…” Cassandra sighed.
Helen nodded. “Daughters of Zeus are nothing but trouble.”
“Trouble is right.” I shuddered. “I still can’t believe what Hades did to Pirithous. I mean, he deserved it, but…”
“It’s one thing to wish a horrific death on someone. It’s quite another thing to witness it.” Cassandra scrubbed the mask from her face.
“Yeah…what Hades did. I mean Pirithous was—is—in agony!” I couldn’t stop thinking of Pirithous screaming in pain.
“He’s the Lord of the Underworld,” Cassandra pointed out, sitting at a stool in front of the vanity. Helen frowned at her, summoned two more, and perched on the one in the middle. “You didn’t think he had a dark side?”
I sat at the third stool and studied my reflection. I felt like I’d stepped into something way over my head, some world where torture was acceptable—first by my mother’s hand, and then by Hades’.
I searched the mirror, looking for the mark of change I felt burning like a brand. I’d seen something terrible. Surely I must look different.
The girl in the mirror remained unchanged. Her eyes were more troubled than usual, but nothing looked out of place.
I jumped as Cassandra’s face leaned over mine in the mirror. “You know what we should do?”
“What?”
“I know exactly what you’re thinking.” Helen grinned.
“What?” I asked again, looking between the two for some signal I was missing.
“We’re going to make him regret turning you down,” Cassandra announced.
“Makeovers!” Helen said, smiling. “Don’t get me wrong, Persephone; you’re pretty, but a little makeup wouldn’t kill you.”
I blushed. I used to love makeup and nail polish and all things girly. Melissa and I used to play in front of the mirror for hours, but eventually snide comments from the other girls had washed away my love for primping. If I put much effort into my appearance and some guy was especially obnoxious, they’d say I was inviting the attention. The girls would glare at me… It was just a lot of trouble.
I didn’t want attention. I wanted to blend in as much as possible—on the surface. But here…here I could be myself again with nothing to fear. Helen and Cassandra weren’t going to whisper about me for wearing makeup. No guy down here would dare do more than give me a polite grin. I was marked as the bride of Hades after all. Besides…it would be kind of fun to see his reaction.
“What did you want to do?” I asked.
The next half hour was filled with bewildering instructions. “Look up,” Cassandra would order, and in the same second Helen would tell me to look down.
“Ooh, that’s a lovely color,” Helen complimented. “You have to show me how to make my eyes do that doe thing.”
“Sure thing,” Cassandra replied in a pleased voice. She showed her and let Helen try it on my other eyelid. Behind closed eyes, I relaxed to the comforting sounds of girl talk.
“So,” I said when they fell silent for a minute, “you two knew each other when you were alive, right? In Troy? What was it like?”
The quality of the silence changed. I peeked through half open eyes to see Cassandra and Helen share a long look.
“I’m so sorry,” I stammered. I couldn’t believe I’d just asked that. “I didn’t think about… You two must want to forget all about—”
“It’s okay,” Helen assured me, collecting some pink powder onto an angled brush. “There are days I would give anything to drink from the Lethe.” She paused for a second before putting the blush on my face. I closed my eyes instinctively. “I think about it every morning when I wake up. Just forgetting all those horrible things. But all those people died for me. It wouldn’t be right to forget them.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Cassandra said as though reciting a familiar line from a familiar argument. “Menelaus was bound to attack Troy eventually. He was greedy. You were just—”
“A convenient excuse.” Helen’s voice was bitter.
“What happened?” I asked. “If you don’t mind my asking.”
“You’ve heard the stories, I’m sure. You’re a daughter of Zeus, so you understand better than most the way people can change around us.”
“It’s not change,” Cassandra said. “You just bring out the—”
“I understand that,” Helen replied. “It’s still not something ordinary girls would have to worry about. But then we’re not ordinary, are we, Persephone? We’re lucky.”
I looked at her, and she saw that I understood.
“I was taken from my husband and daughter and given to Paris as a prize.”
“You had a daughter?” I shook off my surprise, remembering how different things were back then.
“Hermione.” Helen smiled fondly. “The last time I saw her was her ninth birthday. I imagine she’s down here somewhere, but she probably drank from the Lethe to forget me. They all hated me in the end.”
“You were just a scapegoat,” Cassandra reminded her.
“I wish they would have just listened to you,” Helen replied.
“Even without the curse, my brother was too much of a moron to listen to anyone.”
“Who cursed you?” I asked.
“Apollo. I was his priestess, but he wanted me to be a bit more…” Cassandra bit her lip, considering her word choice. “…active in my worship. I refused, so he cursed me with visions of the future no one would believe in life. Death was actually kind of a relief to me.” She shook her head. “Forget about us. We’re supposed to be cheering you up.”
“You don’t have to cheer me up. Nothing happened to me. I just—” I sighed, trying to put my feelings into words. I couldn’t really talk about my problems to Cassandra or Helen. I was alive. I’d escaped every horrible fate that presented itself to me. They hadn’t been so lucky.
“Take a look,” Helen said gently.
I opened my eyes and stared into the mirror at their handiwork. “You guys are amazing!” My eyes looked both dreamy and mysterious. My skin glowed, and I finally understood what kissable lips looked like. “What should I do with my hair?” I asked, touching it uncertainly.
“Leave it down,” they said in unison.
“Wear this,” Helen said, touching my shoulder.
I now wore an off the shoulder peasant dress the precise shade of my eyes. The flowing gown somehow emphasized every curve. “I can’t leave the room like this.”
“Oh yes you can,” Cassandra said, pushing me toward the door. “Go find Hades.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Guys like gratitude. Say you forgot to thank him for saving your life or something,” Helen said, shutting the door behind me.
“Tell us everything!” Cassandra cried from behind the closed door.
I walked uncertainly down the hall.