Daughter of the Earth and Sky (10 page)

I didn’t have time for Kora.

It was past three and this was my first free moment today. I still hadn’t been down to the Underworld for court, self-defense, and goddess lessons. How in the world was I going to add an eight hour school day to that equation?

“Kora?”

My foot caught on a branch. I saw a flash of Joel’s surprised face before my ankle twisted under me and I tumbled down the leaf-strewn hill. Branches scraped my skin. My breath whooshed from my lungs when I rolled to a stop.

Joel swore and tore down the hill after me. “Are you okay? Shit, you’re bleeding!”

“I’ll live.” I raised my head and managed something resembling a grin. “Long time no see, Joel. How have you been?” My ankle throbbed in time with my pulse, and a shallow jagged hole had been torn into my thigh.

He laughed. “Oh, I could be better. Saw the first familiar face all summer and practically pushed her off a cliff. Can you stand up?”

“I think so.” I shifted forward, and he grabbed my hands, pulling me to my feet. White-hot pain flashed through me when I put weight on my ankle, and I cried out, grabbing onto Joel’s arm.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He wrapped an arm around me and, to my surprise, swept me off my feet damsel-in-distress style and carried me to the nearest bench.

“Wow.” I laughed when I got over my shock. “That was kind of epic.”

“Epic fail you mean. Here, you’re really bleeding.” He pulled at his shirt.

“Gods, Joel, don’t!” I raised my hands, laughing. “It’s just a scratch. No need to strip.”

He straightened his shirt. “Gods? Ugh, Kora, I knew you were a fan of Orpheus, but I didn’t think you were a fanatic. I mean, what happened to his wife was sad and all, but I think the guy should have his head examined.”

“Not a fan of the Greek gods?”

“The fewer gods I have to deal with, the better.” He shrugged. “I missed you.”

“Me too. Way to disappear after your graduation.” I smiled at him to show I wasn’t really upset.

“I know, jerk move. I’ve just been so busy. You know I almost didn’t say anything? I saw you on the path, but it’s been so long, I didn’t…” He let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Just a few cuts and bruises.” I assured him. “How have you been?”

He sat on the bench. “Busy. Really busy. How about you?”

“About the same. It’s been a pretty crazy summer.”

He grinned at me, blond hair falling in his blue eyes. “Do you always wear jewelry when you run?” He motioned to my necklace.

I touched the small plant, feeling self-conscious. It bounced around a bit, but I hated to take it off.

When I didn’t answer, he asked, “Still run every day?”

I nodded. “I normally come a bit earlier, but…” Aphrodite and Melissa had gotten into an argument, and I’d had to help sort things out. “It’s been a busy day.”

“Guess that explains why I haven’t run into you before. What time do you usually make it out here?”

“Three.”

“I could do my run at three instead,” he suggested. “We could run together.”

“Do you have time for that? With college about to start and everything?” I didn’t want to sound too reluctant, but I really enjoyed the solitude my runs provided.

“For you, I’ll make time.” He gave me an easy grin. “Just not right now. I should head out. Do you need help getting to your car? Or can you drive? I could take you home…”

I laughed at his hesitation. I lived a bit outside of town, and gas wasn’t cheap. “I’m fine. I’m meeting someone later, so I should stick around.”

“Great.” He sounded relieved. He met my eyes. “Are we on for tomorrow?”

“Sure!” I needed to practice being human before school started, and Joel was about as normal as a human could get.

When he was out of sight, I teleported to the entrance of the Underworld. I let out a deep breath and looked around. This area was so drenched with life. A carpet of poppies surrounded the giant oak tree. It was difficult to believe that just last year I’d been fighting for my life under a mountain of ice and snow right here when Hades had burst from the ground to rescue me.

I touched one of the poppies and shifted until I was standing in just the right spot. I felt a brief sensation, like I was falling, and the picturesque park around me was replaced by the bleached red soil of Tartarus. I never stuck around here for long. As soon as my toes touched Underworld soil, I closed my eyes and teleported to Hades’ chambers. The library materialized around me, and my feet planted firmly on the floor. I yelped, ankle folding under me, and grabbed the leather chair for support.

Hades was beside me in an instant. “What happened?”

“I fell down a hill.” I collapsed into the chair with a groan. “How come I’m the only accident-prone god?”

“A mystery that eludes us all.” Hades knelt in front of the chair and examined the cut on my thigh, summoning a washcloth to dab at the blood. “Sharp hill.”

“It was full of branches and thorns.” I felt a rush of warmth go through me as he healed the cut. “My friend saw the whole thing. He’s going to wonder how I healed so quickly.”

“Is he?”

Jealousy slashed through me, and it took a minute for me to place it as his. Hades’ face was carefully blank as he brushed the hair off my forehead. He brandished the washcloth, dabbing at a cut I hadn’t realized I’d gotten.

“Just charm him if he asks any questions.”

I stiffened at the suggestion. The idea of charming anyone, much less Joel, was abhorrent.

“I told you before, there is nothing inherently wrong with using charm,” Hades said with a sigh.

“It
feels
wrong.”

“Use a glamour then. The souls aren’t accustomed to seeing injuries.”

A year ago, the suggestion that the dead were squeamish enough to be bothered by cuts and bruises would have seemed ridiculous. Now I knew better. The souls weren’t used to seeing blood, no matter how mild the injury. They didn’t have to worry about stuff like that anymore.

“Anywhere else?” Hades waved the washcloth in front of my face.

“My ankle.”

I drew in a sharp breath when his fingers made contact, but the warmth that spread from his fingers stopped the pulsing pain.

Residual traces of his anxiety snaked through me. His heart beat just a little too fast in fear. “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“You worried me for a second, that’s all.” He straightened up and gave me a wry smile. “I didn’t know what had happened to you.”

I flushed. “It was just a few bumps and bruises. I think I’d be worse off if Zeus had gotten hold of me.”

“I know. It just took a second. That made it out unscathed?” He motioned to my necklace.

“Lucky. Did you find out more about Zeus’ plan? Or his whereabouts?”

Hades took the other seat. “No. I even tried asking Hera.”

I kept my face neutral. “How did that go?”

“Zeus didn’t tell her anything.”

There was more. I could tell by the troubled look on his face, but I didn’t press him. He would tell me if it was important.

“Is that what you run in?” His gaze lingered on my outfit.

“Yes.”

He made a disapproving sound, and I gave him a look. “Do you really think it’s appropriate for you to critique my wardrobe?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “No, it’s not. I apologize for overstepping.”

I winced. “Don’t do that. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.”

Don’t I?
His sardonic thought sliced through my consciousness before he could stop it. I gritted my teeth against the wave of frustration that washed through Hades. He didn’t know how to act around me anymore.

I stared down at the floor hard, blinking back tears. I wanted to tell him about Thanatos’ secret. I wanted so badly to make everything okay again, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get around the promise. We just kept drifting further and further apart. I still saw him every day, but he acted different around me. Stiffer, more formal. I was losing him.

What if it took me so long to find a way around my stupid promise that there was nothing left to fix?

Hades sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Persephone…”

I cleared my throat. “We should really get to court.”

The muscles in his jaw tightened, and he motioned to the door. “After you.”

After Hades and I finished orienting all the new souls, I dropped by Melissa’s. I was exhausted, but I always made the effort to see her after Hades. I’d seen too many girls in our school disappear into their boyfriends and wander around like zombies after the breakup because all of their friends had moved on.

I didn’t bother knocking. This was like a second home to me; I’d never needed to knock.

“Melissa?” I called, walking past the kitchen.

Minthe rounded the corner from the hallway, and her eyes widened when she saw me. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Hello, Persephone. The girls are in their rooms.”

“Thanks.”

We stared at each other, awkward and uncertain. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to bring us back to normal, but what could I say? It’s cool you slept with my boyfriend eons ago. Let’s move on? Talking about it was almost worse than not talking about it.

“Um…Would you like to stay for dinner?” she offered. Words I’d heard a million times, but never with so much stiffness. “I made chili.”

“I’d love to.” My voice sounded too cheerful. Fake.

Panic flitted through her eyes, and it cut me like a knife. She didn’t want me to stay. Seventeen years of being like a second mom to me, and now the thought of spending an hour in the same room with me was panic-worthy?

“But,” I added. “I really should be getting home soon.”

Her relieved smile was like a punch in the stomach. “Well…I’ll just leave you girls to it then. Can you tell Melissa I’m in the garage if she needs me?”

I nodded numbly and walked down the hall. I paused at the guest room. It was strange to see Aphrodite in what I considered to be my room. Mrs. Minthe had always kept a change of clothes for me in the closet and a spare toothbrush in the bathroom for my frequent overnight stays. Melissa had a similar room in my house for the same reason. Now Aphrodite was curled up on my bed, entranced by a group of well-dressed teenagers yelling at each other on the television screen.

“Hey, Aphrodite.”

She turned to me, eyes wide. “Persephone, we need to talk about school. I do not wish to attend.”

“Aphrodite —” I sighed and fiddled with my necklace “— we talked about this. It’s the fastest way you’re going to learn how to fit in. School has a way of conditioning you…”

She twisted a ringlet of hair around her finger. “Is that what your school is like?” She motioned to the screen as the teenagers burst into song.

I laughed. “Not at all. I’m going to talk to Melissa. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

Aphrodite nodded, turning her attention back to the show. I shook my head and smiled when I saw Melissa leaning against her door.

“We should sing next week; it would freak her out so much.”

I flopped onto her bed. “It would freak
everyone
out.”

“You could charm them into doing it. It would be awesome.”

I smiled at the thought. “If only it didn’t involve charm…”

She closed her door. “You’re no fun. How was court?”

I shook my head. “Same old, same old. The souls are sad they’re dead and want to come back to life. Failing that —” I dug a crumpled list out of my pocket “— can I check in on their loved ones.”

Melissa motioned for the list, but I waved her off. “I already divided up the names and texted them to all of the priestesses. We’re off this week since we’ve got school starting soon. Oh! Speaking of school, Joel ran into me today.” I laughed at my little pun. “Literally.”

Melissa nodded, looking distracted. She usually perked up when I mentioned Joel. In fact, she’d been more upset by his absence this summer than I had.

I frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Promise not to get mad?”

I gave her a look.

She sighed. “I had my advisor appointment today. They looked over my grades, talked about my goals, and told me about this program…” She hesitated. “I want to go to the University of Iowa.”

“Of all the random—er…I mean, why?” I couldn’t understand anyone wanting to leave Athens. It was our home. We had plans. We’d live in the apartment above the shop and go to UGA. It was going to be perfect. Why give that up to move to Iowa?

“I like their creative writing program. It’s the best in the country.”

“You still write?” I asked, surprised. I sat on her bed, pulling my knees under me. “Since when?”

“I never stopped. Not since that creative writing class.”

I grimaced. I’d hated that class. Creative writing was one of the few things I was bad at. For an agonizing month, I’d tried to put some kind of a story down on paper, but it had never happened. In retrospect, I realized it was because I can’t lie. Storytelling requires lies, or, at the very least, exaggerations. For as many myths as the gods inspire, we couldn’t tell one to save our lives.

Melissa had dropped out of the class the same week I had. I’d always figured her interest ended there, too. I winced and fought off the sudden urge to hit my head on the doorframe. Of course Melissa dropped out the same week I did. That had been her job. I’d always taken it for granted that we were always in the same classes, clubs, and activities, but she’d known the whole time that she was my priestess and so we were to share the same interests. Of course, we hadn’t always done what I wanted. Melissa could talk me into just about anything, but creative writing was where I’d drawn the line.

I felt sick. My friend stopped taking a class that she’d been interested in because of me. How many times had that happened? How often had she missed out on something she wanted because of me?

Melissa was looking down at her green and white quilt, picking at stray threads while I sorted my thoughts.

“I’m so sorry,” I said finally.

She waved a hand. “You didn’t know. And it didn’t bother me, not really. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but after…” She trailed off for a moment and swallowed hard. “You know, the Boreas thing.” When she died. “I just felt this need to write, you know? To get it all down. So I’ve been doing that.” Her words came faster and faster, tripping over each other in their haste. “And I joined this writers group online, and it’s been really great and really fun, and they think my stuff is good. I want to learn more about it. Writing helps. With what happened, it helped so much, and they said this place is the best. So I was just wondering, did you want to go there?”