Persephone’s head twitched to the side.
“Apollo has no last name. He is Apollo. Sun-lord.”
“And he uses a last name now. Like you must’ve done, during your time above. So what is it?”
“He hasn’t said.”
“Go ask,” said Athena. “We’ll wait.”
Cassandra let go of Athena as Persephone trembled. She didn’t know. She couldn’t ask. He wasn’t here. Cassandra’s heart fell down hard and took her body with it.
*
Athena tried to catch Cassandra as she crumpled, but the girl hit the ground.
“Dammit.” Athena scowled at her cousin. “Where is he? Is he not here? Tell the truth! I’ll pay your stupid fare.” She tore the sock off her hand and used the knife to cut through the clots. Blood ran into the dirt. Cerberus sniffed the air.
“I don’t want your filth,” Persephone said. “Vile blood, infested with feathers.”
“Well, it’s what you get. You certainly don’t get Cassandra. You don’t even get my snake.” She reached into Cassandra’s backpack and uncapped the honey. It flowed into her palm and pooled with her blood, sweet and golden with salty and red. She drew back and threw the whole mix into Persephone’s face.
“Tell the truth!” she shouted.
Persephone grimaced and growled, but her black tongue stole out and licked the mess from her cheeks in spite of herself.
“He is not here,” she said after she’d swallowed. “He never was.”
“If you’re lying, I’ll slice you down the middle. Dead half separate from deader half.” Athena stepped in front of Cassandra where she’d buckled, her hands dangling in the dirt.
“Why would I lie?” Persephone asked. “And if he were here, do you think I could control him?”
“Where is he, then? Where are they? Where do they go?”
“I don’t know.”
Athena jumped forward and brought the knife against Persephone’s throat. The dead goddess’s gray skin parted like paper but didn’t bleed.
“Queen of the dead, and you don’t know? You’re lying. Down!” she shouted at Cerberus, who growled. “Why are you here and they aren’t? They have to be here.”
“I’m here because I’m tied to this place. I have been since Hades took me from the autumn. I’m here because I’m dead, but I’m not finished dying.” Persephone pushed her throat farther onto the blade and showed teeth smeared red with Athena’s blood. Her hands shoved against Athena’s chest and sent her flying backward. Athena stumbled over a stone and landed on her hip in the dirt beside Cassandra.
She scrambled onto her feet and crouched. Persephone’s hands against her ribs and sternum hadn’t felt like dead hands, or even dying hands. They were elastic, hard, and fast. Cerberus had both sets of hackles raised beside his mistress. And Cassandra had collapsed slack, in no shape to run or fight.
But Persephone didn’t advance. The black dress hung on her bones like a sack, and she sighed.
“I wish they were here,” she said. “I felt it when he died his mortal’s death. And I dreamed of Artemis set upon by dogs. Torn to pieces. Her screams echoed off these walls. We smelled her blood soak into this dirt. But she never came.” She looked at Athena. “I’ll wait for you, too, when Hera crushes your bones. But you won’t come, either. I’ll be here, alone with my rotting dog, until this place fades. Or perhaps until Hades coughs his final plague.
“Get out. Take her back where she came from. Offer her some comfort.”
Athena’s hands balled into fists.
“She doesn’t want my comfort.”
*
Cassandra let Athena get her up and guide her back through the catacomb caves of the underworld. She let her load her back into the skiff and push off the shore. They’d come so far. Crossed worlds. She’d been so sure she would see him. Only hours ago, she’d been sure they would bring him back.