Persephone

Chapter IX

Cassandra led me through the rest of the tour fast, but I didn’t mind. I was too busy seething with rage at Hades. I didn’t know what it was about him that set me off, but something just made me want to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off his face.
Cassandra had an amused grin the remainder of the tour, and I wondered what she wasn’t telling me. Instead she filled me in on Brumalia. In the Underworld, it was kind of like a combination of a Christmas party and New Year’s ball with a keg party thrown in. Cassandra explained people in the living realm used to celebrate it until the Anglo-Saxons combined it with their holidays.
“Luckily, there’s no need for sacrifices, because everyone is already dead.” Cassandra’s voice was too cheerful.
I stared at her, horrified.
“I’m kidding, Persephone. Hades was never into sacrifices.” She stopped before a door, and I realized we were at the same room I’d woken up in. “This is, of course, your room.”
I shuddered.
Cassandra frowned and opened the door. “Something wrong?”
“It’s a little creepy,” I confessed. “It looks kind of like my room at home, but…different.”
“Oh! You must have been thinking about your home while you were asleep. The room decorated itself accordingly.”
“The room can read my mind?” I twirled my hair around my finger and backed away from the door. “That’s weird.”
“Not exactly,” Cassandra said, walking over to my window. “It just kind of…molds itself to what you want. What kind of afterlife would this be if you had to spend all your time in a place you weren’t happy with? Home is the most important…” She trailed off, looking at the blank windows behind the curtain. “Yeah, this is creepy. Let’s redecorate.”
“There’s nothing outside!” I cried, alarmed.
“What would you like to be out there?”
“I can decorate anything, any way I want, just by thinking about it?”
Cassandra grinned. “In this room, sure. Go for it.”
A smile formed on my face. This was going to be fun.


“Enough!” Cassandra laughed, flopping down on my bed. “We’ve been at this for hours! It looks perfect; can we move on?”
I looked around, unconvinced. I’d traded out the loft bed for a huge king-size bed. At home I liked the loft bed—there was something comforting about being in the air—but it didn’t feel the same here. I also switched my pink comforter out for a white down blanket, added a canopy of sheer billowing fabric to the bed, and added identical curtains to the large bay window.
I moved the curtains aside and sat on the window seat, turning my back on the view of the flower-filled meadow to look at the rest of the room. I’d chosen a cherry shade of hardwood flooring with a matching dresser, nightstand, and bookshelf. A flat screen television was fastened to the green wall.
The closet was my favorite part. Cassandra lent me a thick stack of magazines to look through and figure out what I wanted to wear. All I had to do was think of an outfit I liked, and it would appear in my closet.
“What did you want to do?” I wasn’t anywhere near done, but it was nothing I couldn’t do on my own. Cassandra was clearly bored.
“Dinner. I’m starving.”
“You eat?”
“Well, fine. I’m obviously not starving. It’s just an expression. Yes, we eat. All the same foods you do.” She affected a voice reminiscent of Hades. “Meals are important rituals to the souls. It grounds them in the familiar and provides a wonderful opportunity to socialize.”
“He doesn’t talk like that!” I laughed.
Cassandra giggled. “Just get him started on what he thinks is best for the souls. He’s all about making everyone feel right at home. Oh gods! He reads these stupid psychology books and just spouts off random psycho-babble. It’s awful!”
I snickered. “Okay, so you can eat. Can we order pizza or something?” I realized the question was foolish. But decorating put me in a great mood. My mind danced with thoughts of pizza, movies, and maybe popcorn for later.
“We typically eat in the main hall. With Hades.”
My mood crashed. “Oh. Uh, is what I have on okay?” I smoothed my dress, wondering why I cared.
“Yeah, you look fine. I’ll show you where we go.”


Dinner was awkward, mostly because I finally got to meet Moirae. The “Fates” were embodied in this schizophrenic woman. She was middle-aged and average height, average build, average looking—brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin so light she could be any ethnicity. She referred to herself as “we,” and apparently had three voices vying for attention in her head at any given time. The past, present, and future; the young, middle-aged, and old; and the mother, maiden, and crone in one. Good times.
I sat next to Cassandra, and she moved me to an ornately carved wooden chair to the immediate right of where Hades would sit, heading the table. The banquet hall was surprisingly homey. I’d been expecting something as grandiose as the throne room. The floor was divided into wooden squares. The wooden paneled walls had sporadically placed paintings depicting different gods.
Feeling out of place, I squirmed in my seat, watching as everyone else gathered around the table. Moirae turned in her chair to glare at me.
“It’s her,” she hissed, and then nodded in agreement with herself.
“Persephone,” I said helpfully. “Pleased to meet you.”
“You are the reason we’re down here.”
I looked at Cassandra for clarification and she shrugged. Leaning over, she whispered, “There’s a reason Hades keeps me around. She may be able to see the future too, but I’m way easier to talk to.”
When I nodded in agreement, eyes wide, Cassandra laughed. “Okay, that’s not the only reason. She can’t see anyone who’s been marked.”
“Marked?”
“When a god gives someone a blessing or a curse, it interferes with their fate. They drop out of Moirae’s sight. She can’t see gods, either; that’s why Hades needs me.”
I nodded again, amazed at how badly I’d misjudged Cassandra. She was without a doubt the most important soul in the underworld. No wonder she felt comfortable taunting Hades; her position here was completely safe.
I turned back to Moirae. I was dreading the answer, but had to ask, “How am I the reason you’re down here?”
“We are the fifth generation of Fates. We took our sisters’ place before the fall of the gods. Hecate, your mother, and you are meant to release us and be the sixth generation of Fates. Instead, you will choose to remain in the realm of the living. Hecate with her witches, your mother with her foolish crops. And you…” She sneered. “What will you do while shirking your duties?”
I blinked. “I…uh…what? I haven’t even come into my powers yet!”
“You will.”
“There’s something to be said for a self-fulfilling prophecy,” I muttered, shaking my head. If she wanted to be mad at me for something I hadn’t even considered doing yet, fine. I wouldn’t have to feel bad for not stepping up as the next Fate later. Good. I didn’t want to be a Fate.
“Making friends already?” Hades asked. I looked at him in mute appeal, and he grinned. “Persephone, allow me to introduce you to everyone. You’ve met Moirae, I see.” At my nod he continued. “This is Charon, my ferryman; Thanatos, God of Death; his twin brother Hypnos, God of Sleep; and Aeacus, Rhadamanthus—”
“Call me Rhad,” he interjected.
“—and Minos, my judges,” Hades finished.
I nodded as each man stood in turn. I knew some of the names from Latin class but seeing them matched up with actual faces was unnerving.
“And this is my—” Hades broke off and cleared his throat. “May I present my wife, Persephone.”
I moved to stand as they had for me, but Hades put a firm hand on my shoulder, keeping me in place. They all bowed then returned to their seats. People dressed in white robes served the food. I wondered if they were the people who drank from the Lethe. Dinner chatter began on the far side of the table, seeming to revolve around Charon recounting his day on the ferry.
I stared down at the white tablecloth, trying to remember which of the silver utensils I needed to use for the first course. A silver plate was placed before me with a fried pink oyster mushroom served with grapefruit. It was topped with an orange nasturtium blossom.
“So…” I turned to Moirae, who glared daggers at me, and quickly turned back to Hades. “Uh, what did you do today?”
He looked surprised by the question. “It’s barely been an hour since I last saw you.”
“It’s called small talk,” I snapped. “You should try it some time.”
He sighed. “Fine. I spoke with Hestia about your history lessons, arranged for you to begin self-defense lessons with Charon—”
“What?” Charon piped up from his end of the table. “When did that happen?”
“Just now,” Hades said around a bite of chicken. “I’m multitasking.”
“Why does she need to learn self-defense?” Aeacus asked.
I popped the flower into my mouth, savoring the spicy flavor. I wondered how they’d known I was a vegan. Everyone had something different on their plates. Maybe it was just a cool Underworld trick, like the rooms decorating themselves.
“You’re going to have Charon teach her?” asked Thanatos. “He won’t be able to shut up long enough to teach her a single move. I’m way better at self-defense.”
“Not everyone can kill someone just by touching them,” Hypnos pointed out.
“You’ll be busy guarding Persephone any time she leaves the palace.” He looked at me. “You’re perfectly safe in all but the public areas of the palace. Only certain souls can enter the living quarters. Just stay out of the public sections, the ballroom, the front lobby, the banquet hall, and the court room, unless either myself, Cassandra, or Thanatos are with you.”
“Hah!” Thanatos laughed at Charon. “You may be the self-defense guru, or whatever, but I’m the one people want around if there’s any real trouble.” He looked at Hades. “I’m going to need to recruit more Reapers to cover my shift.”
“What?” Cassandra snapped. “You have too many Reapers already! One of them nearly killed Persephone today.” She saw my eyes widen and sighed. “Fine, not nearly killed. Gods, you deities need to learn to appreciate a good exaggeration.”
“I’m well aware of what happened this afternoon.” Thanatos yawned. “And since my Reapers are banned from the living quarters, that means I have to distribute the list. If I’m also expected to act as a guard, then I’ll need more Reapers to keep things moving smoothly.”
“And last week?” Cassandra asked. “What was the reason then?”
“You guys won’t believe who I met on the ferry today,” Charon said from his side of the table.
“Who?” Minos asked.
“Okay, you guys remember that movie with the…”
I didn’t get to hear the rest of his sentence because Thanatos drowned him out. “More people are dying every day. I need help.”
I shifted closer to Charon, but couldn’t hear him over Cassandra.
“Bull! You only had a handful of Reapers during the plague!”
“And maybe a tenth of the population,” he retorted.
“How many do you need?” Hades asked.
Cassandra sighed loudly and sat back in her seat. Heads shook around the table, and I caught more than a few amused grins. Cassandra seemed to be the only one who was bothered by the Reapers.
“A hundred?”
“You get fifty. And keep them out of the palace, would you?”
Thanatos grinned and took a bite of his steak. I studied him closely. He wore black robes, grim-reaper style. His dark hair was pulled back from his narrow face. His dark eyes met mine from across the table and I gulped, staring hard at the soup before me. I didn’t want Death shadowing me. I glanced at his twin brother, Hypnos. He looked just like Thanatos, only his robes, eyes, and hair were grey. Not old-people grey; more like the color of smoke.
Charon laughed. “Give us a week, Thanatos. Persephone will be able to kick your bony ass across the Styx.”
The table erupted into cacophony. Everyone was talking over everyone else, adding wagers and jesting with each other. Lethians deftly ducked between the dueling deities, serving the main course. A plate of corn-filled phyllo tulips and eggplant topped with tomato sauce was put in front of me and I took a nervous bite.
“You’re on!” Thanatos replied. He gave me a devilish grin. “One week, Persephone.”
“That’s okay,” I squeaked. I didn’t want to go hand to hand against Death.
No one heard me. Hades’ eyes glittered in amusement. He gave me a look that said see what you started? as plainly as if he had spoken.
“I’m also trying to clear my schedule to teach you about your abilities.” Hades smiled wryly. “And I’ve still got to prepare for Brumalia. You’re keeping me busy.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be any trouble.”
He chuckled. “Don’t apologize. It’s a welcome diversion.”
“Then thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, seeming pleased.
“Well, since no one else is asking,” Charon called from the end of the table, “I suppose it’s up to me. Hades, when did you get a wife?”
Everyone laughed. “You miss everything.” Cassandra snickered.
“Damn those needy souls,” Charon joked, sliding an easy grin my way, his gray eyes twinkling. “So what happened? Hades sweep you off your feet?”
“You could say that.” I glanced at Hades. I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to disclose.
“See, I had this vision—” Cassandra began.
“Always visions with you,” Thanatos groaned.
“—that Persephone was in trouble. So I calmly told Hades—”
“If by calmly you mean burst into the throne room shrieking like a banshee,” Hades teased.
“I do not shriek,” Cassandra said indignantly.
“Yelled, then.” Rhad’s white teeth gleamed against his midnight-dark skin.
“Whatever. Anyway, Hades took off—”
“Since when did you have visions about the living?” Hypnos interrupted.
“Two living deities were involved,” Cassandra said. “These days that’s unheard of.”
“Two?” Minos asked, stroking his gray beard. “So you must be…” He trailed off, looking at me speculatively.
“Goddess of Spring,” I supplied.
There were murmurs of approval from around the table.
“You’re a new one.” Hypnos sounded intrigued. “How old are you?”
Cassandra smacked him over the head. “Heathen!”
“Back to the story,” Charon said impatiently. “What was happening topside?”
Hades took over then, recounting the story dramatically. Anytime he made himself sound too heroic Cassandra put him in his place. I looked around the table with the fresh realization that this group wasn’t just a collection of souls or subjects but a trusted inner circle.
“Well, Persephone, it’s great to meet you.” Aeacus straightened his dark robes.
I nodded at him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t you worry any about any demigods,” Charon said. “Anyone who comes down here with the intent to do you harm will regret it.”
“Ah yes,” Cassandra teased. “Charon could do something really helpful, like hit them with an oar.”
“Hey! I’m the self-defense guru! Remember?”
“He could always talk them to death,” Thanatos said.
“Cassandra could shriek at them.” Hades snickered.
I laughed despite myself. For the rest of the meal, Charon grilled me about life among the living. I was surprised my voice wasn’t hoarse by the end of the meal.
No one lingered after the meal. Everyone had too much to do, I supposed. Even Cassandra waved goodbye and slipped away down one of the endless hallways.
I walked back to my room but paused outside the door. I wasn’t sure I could handle this. I’d followed in the footsteps of the dead, befriended a prophet, been attacked by a snowstorm, married the King of the Underworld, found out I was a goddess, and stabbed a guy with a pen all in one afternoon. I was terrified of what tomorrow might bring.
I walked back the way I came, idle thoughts of enjoying the entertainment center filling my mind. I’d created a television in my own room, but the thought of being in a place I decorated with my mind was just too much to handle right now.
Across from the entertainment suite, a half opened door beckoned. I could see a wall of books. A library? Cassandra hadn’t shown me that. What do they read in the Underworld?
I walked into the library, fingers trailing along the spine of the books while I read the titles. I didn’t recognize anything, but that didn’t surprise me. I laughed when I reached a section of psychology, self-help, and parenting books. Cassandra hadn’t been kidding.
A loud thud drew my attention. I heard Hades swear and turned to see him bending to pick up what looked to be an ancient book.
“Can I help you?” he snapped.
“I…uh…I was just checking out the library.” The look on his face told me that was the wrong answer.
“This would be the entrance to my private living quarters. Not a public library.”
I flushed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Do you have a problem with your own rooms?”
The condescending tone of his voice washed the apology right out of me and let in a torrent of anger. “I was under the impression I could go anywhere I pleased.”
“How presumptuous.”
I glared at him. “Whatever. So sorry to intrude on your precious solitude. Here, I’ll just—”
He laughed then, startling me.
“Are you bipolar?” I snapped.
Still chuckling, he shook his head.
“Then what’s so funny?”
“You, actually.” I narrowed my eyes at him as he continued. “You’re such a curious mix of humanity and divinity. I’ve just never seen anything quite like it.”
“Well, as much fun as it’s been to entertain you—” I spun on my heel when I realized I didn’t have a way to finish that sentence, and moved to leave the room.
“Stop.” Hades laughed. “Really, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. You’re more than welcome to browse. I get…” He paused. “…defensive, I suppose, when I’m around too many people. It’s become understood that after dinner I prefer to be left alone.”
A biting retort died on my lips as he motioned me to the shelves. “I understand.” I bit my lip as I searched for a familiar book. “So that never goes away?”
“What?”
I tried to explain. “I used to love being around people. I always wanted to be right in the thick of things. But lately…” I trailed off, careful to select the right words. “I just want to be left alone. Not always, just… I can’t take so much—”
“It never goes away,” Hades confirmed. “Not for us. We’re made for solitude, I’m afraid. Well,” he amended, “except Zeus. He was always more like the humans than the rest of us. Most of the deities can’t even stand each other’s company after a while.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re not human.” Hades set his book down. “Their lives are over in a blink of an eye, so they surround themselves with noise and…life. They throw themselves into everything they do with all their energy, and it is exhausting to watch. The dead calm down after a while. Except Cassandra.”
I smiled. I’d known her less than a day, and I already knew calm was not a word that could ever be applied to her.
“Unfortunately, most of the souls we’ll interact with are new.”
“It must suck for you to have to stay down here.” Hades looked confused, and I rushed to clarify. “Well, you drew, like, the short straw or something, right? I just meant that—”
“I chose the Underworld.”
“Why?”
“The same reason your mother chose the earth or Poseidon the sea. I was drawn to it. I didn’t have to deal with all the problems of Olympus, and I could help people down here.”
“Help people?”
“You’re surprised I care? I helped create this species, Persephone. I’m invested.”
My heart gave a strange thump when I heard my name uttered from his lips. Damn it, I was staring again! I shook my head to clear it. “So you help them when they die?”
“People are vulnerable after death. They’re confused and frightened. I help them find a place here.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Even after Cassandra showed me the suburbs, I hadn’t truly contemplated the fact that people lived here. It was just too strange.
“That’s nice. You’re not what I expected as ruler here.”
“How do you mean?”
“You seem to care about your people, and the way Cassandra and the others talk to you…” I smiled, remembering the lively dinner. “You don’t treat them like subjects.”
“I’m a god. I don’t have to rule through fear or intimidation. That’s a mortal weakness.”
“Tell that to my Latin teacher. The myths don’t portray you guys as friendly.”
Hades shrugged. “There was more competition back then. The gods were already fading, and they were desperate to outdo each other and stay alive.”
I thought about that. What wouldn’t I do to stay alive? And how much more frightening would impending death be to an immortal?
“Cassandra and the judges were always volunteers, but the others could have retired when Olympus fell. Hypnos and Charon died long ago. Thanatos is the only other god left in the Underworld who’s still alive, and just barely. People fear death, but in reality what they fear is the uncertainty of their afterlife. That worship gets channeled to me.”
“So why did they stay?”
“Because we’re friends,” Hades said as though that explained everything.
Maybe it did. I would do anything for Melissa, and I knew she would do anything for me. The most tedious and boring classes were fun as long as she was there. We had a lifetime of memories bonding us together. Hades had known his friends since the beginning of time.
“They’re your family.”
Hades laughed. “No. Goddess lesson number one: Fear the family.”
“My mom—”
“Was a wonderful mother to you, I’m sure. But she still lied and deceived you at every turn.” He waved off my protest. “Consider yourself lucky. Our father tried to eat us. We all grouped together and killed our parents. Instead of drawing us closer, we spent the next few millennia ripping each other apart. Families think they know what’s best for you. Your friends let you figure that out for yourself.”
He looked down, blue eyes boring into mine. “The people who sat around that table tonight are my friends. Not my subjects, not my employees, not my family. I’m not that kind of god, and I’m certainly not that kind of king.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured, staring into his eyes again. “I uh, mean I’m glad.” I shook my head to clear it, again. He smiled and I felt my face grow hot. “Um, thank you for letting me look at your books.”
“My pleasure.”