Persephone the Phony (Goddess Girls) (5 page)

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From now on that Persephone was gone forever!

Demeter made yambrosia for dinner that night. Although the school's yambrosia was good, her mom's was
heavenl
y. Persephone knew it was an attempt to patch things up between them, but she stubbornly ate her bowlful in silence and stared down at the tabletop to avoid looking at her mom. The only sound during the meal was the clicking of spoons against their ceramic bowls.

Later, as they were doing the washing up before bedtime, Demeter set down her dishcloth and sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have scolded you in front of your friends this afternoon."

Persephone grunted but didn't reply.

"You're my only daughter," her mom continued. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

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Breaking her silence at long last, Persephone muttered, "I'm not something you can misplace. I'm not a turquoise ring or an emerald bracelet."

Her mom frowned. "Don't get smart with me. You know what I mean." In a calmer voice she said, "It's late. We'll talk more tomorrow." Taking a step toward Persephone, she added, "Good night." As her mom bent to kiss her, Persephone turned her cheek away. "See you in the morning," Demeter said softly. Then she headed down the hall to her room.

Persephone knew she'd hurt her, but she shoved away her feelings of guilt. If she forgave her mom now, she'd simply fall back into her old pattern of letting others tell her how to behave, and that was something she was determined
no
t to do.

Returning to her room, she paced back and forth

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on the mosaic floor tiles beside her bed, thinking about what had happened and what she should do next. She just
couldn'
t continue to be the goddessgirl her friends and her mom thought she was. And then, like a bolt of lightning from Zeus, an idea struck her. She would run away!

And she knew exactly where she'd go.

Once she was sure Demeter was asleep, Persephone packed a few chitons and other things she'd need into a woven bag and sneaked out of the house. Hesitating on the doorstep, she looked back for one long moment. It wasn't too late to return to her room. She could still change her mind. Feeling her resolve waver, she steeled her spine. Then she clutched her bag tightly and hurried away.

Since Hades was her only
rea
l friend, she'd decided

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to ask him if she could stay at his place. Turning herself into a dove, she grabbed her bag in her beak and dropped down to the River Styx. About a half mile past the spot where Mr. Cyclops's sandals had been found, she spied some shades--human souls--boarding Charon's boat for the trip to the Underworld.

Changing herself into an old woman, a favorite disguise of her mom's, Persephone joined the throng at the river's edge. Her body was solid compared to that of the wispy shades, but she hoped no one would notice. She waited until it was her turn, then approached Charon. "I'd like passage to the Underworld, please," she said.

Raising his grizzled chin, he looked her up and down. Persephone pulled her brown woolen shawl tighter. For a moment she worried that the stooped old

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ferryman would see through her disguise, but all he said was, "That'll be one obol, please."

Persephone stared at him, dumbfounded. She had no human money! Giving her an impatient look, Charon reached past her and plucked another's coin, and then pulled the soul onboard.

As Persephone found herself pushed aside in line, a shade with a gaunt body and a long beard leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder. "You're not from around here, are you?" he whispered. "An obol is one sixth of a drachma."

"Thanks," she said. "But I don't have any coins--none at all."

"That's okay," said the shade. "I have an extra. Maybe helping you will bring me good fortune." He dropped a silver coin into the palm of her hand.

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Persephone smiled. "You're very kind." If she had anything to say about it, this nice shade would get to stay in the Elysian Fields. She'd heard it was the Underworld's most desirable neighborhood and that those lucky enough to go there feasted, played, and sang forevermore. She handed Charon the coin and he helped her onto his boat, grunting and frowning at her unexpected weight.

When the shades were all onboard, Charon dipped his ferryman's pole into the river and shoved off from shore. As the boat glided away, a cold lump of fear settled to the bottom of Persephone's stomach. Clutching her bag to her chest, she thought how little she knew about the Underworld, after all. What had she gotten herself into?
Have courag
e, she told herself. But what if her mom was right about the dangers of the world?

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Surely the Underworld was the most fearsome place of all!

After a while the river branched into a swamp. Charon guided his boat to the far side until the craft bumped up against shore. "We're here. Everybody off!" he called out.

There was some grumbling among the shades, and a little pushing and shoving, as everyone left the boat. Trembling a little, Persephone climbed over the side.

She followed the shades as they filed past an enormous dog with three slobbering heads and a snakelike tail.
Cerberus
! she realized with excitement. Because she knew he was Hades' pet, he didn't seem frightening at all.

Cerberus lay with his heads on his paws, not bothering to look up as the shades entered the Underworld.

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Persephone was tempted to reach out and pat him, but she didn't. She was afraid he might sniff out her disguise. But he ignored her, too. She knew it was his duty to keep souls from leaving, so he probably didn't care who came in as long as no one got
ou
t.

Following the shades, Persephone descended into the land of the dead. A dank, gray mist swallowed them up as they trudged down a marshy trail. Her sandals made sucking sounds as they sank into stagnant water that smelled of rotting grasses.

"Yuck," muttered the shade just ahead of her. "Could this place be any gloomier?"

It
wa
s a gloomy place all right, but Persephone didn't mind. Right now, it suited her mood.

After a while the mist cleared and the group came upon fields of asphodel. The tall stalks, topped with

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white blossoms, spread out in all directions. This part of the Underworld was rather nice, thought Persephone. So what if asphodel was the only flower that bloomed here
?
She bent down and sniffed the flowers' sweet fragrance.
Ahhh
. She
love
d asphodel.

So did the dead. Up ahead, some of them were even
eatin
g it. Squatting near the ashes of a fire, they toasted the roots before gobbling them down. Out in the fields, other shades harvested the blossoms. They moved about in a mechanical fashion, seeming neither happy nor unhappy. Just calm. Persephone felt that way too. Like she could be herself here.

Persephone looked around for Hades but didn't see him. He wouldn't be easy to find in such a large place. Well, she'd just have to keep looking. As the shades

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from the boat headed to a spot where three roads crossed, Persephone sneaked away from the group.

"Hey, where are you going, shade?" called a bearded man with wings attached to his shoulders. "We're just about ready to start the judging. You need to find out where you'll be placed." He studied a scroll list and then eyed her. "Do you mind fire?"

"Actually," Persephone admitted, "I'm not a shade at all. I'm a goddess in disguise. I--"

The bearded man raised an eyebrow. "If you're a goddess, I'm a Cyclops. Now get back in line."

"You don't understand. I'm only here to look for Hades," Persephone continued. "You see, I've run away from home and--"

"Is that so?" interrupted the bearded man, making

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a quick note on his list. "Tsk-tsk.
That'
s not going to increase your chances of getting into the Elysian Fields!"

"Hey, Thanatos!" Another bearded man with a scroll came up to them. The two men looked so much alike that Persephone guessed they must be twins. "There's some kind of trouble down in Tartarus," the second man said. "Hades volunteered to check it out. In the meantime, how about escorting a batch of shades up to the Palace?"

Thanatos frowned. "Why should I? I'm busy, Hypnos." He jabbed at his scroll list, as if to prove his point.

"You're not the only one who's overworked." Hypnos shook his scroll in Thanatos's face.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

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The two men glared at each other.

Persephone didn't wait to hear more. As the twins continued to bicker, she sneaked away.

Tartarus was said to be the worst place in the Underworld. It was where the truly evil wound up, including those who had offended the gods and goddesses. But if Hades was there, that's where she'd go. Her heart thumped in her chest as she tiptoed past the line of people waiting to be judged. She was sure that at any moment Thanatos or some other Underworld em-ployee would come running after her. When no one did, she breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing a sign for Tartarus with an arrow pointing left, she set off in that direction, walking fast.

As she turned a corner, she screeched to a halt. She'd almost tumbled into a river of fire! At her feet,

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red-hot lava hissed and steamed as it flowed over jagged rocks. Great billowing clouds of gray smoke hung over the river, and the air stank of rotten eggs. Pinching her nose, Persephone shrank away from the waves of intense stink and heat that rose from the water. She followed the river as the ground sloped steeply downward. Tartarus was the lowest level of the Underworld, so at least she knew she was still headed in the right direction.

Eventually she came to an enormous lake that churned with boiling water and mud. Shades bobbed around in its bubbling waters, writhing and screaming. Suddenly she wasn't sure whether to hold her hands over her ears or her nose!

Shuddering, she wondered what these poor creatures had done to deserve such punishment. Surely

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something much worse than running away from home.

Seeing her reflection in a puddle along the shore, Persephone remembered that she still wore her crone disguise. After shedding it, her step quickened as she thought about seeing Hades. Even the trouble with her mom and her friends couldn't spoil the memories of how wonderful it had been to be with him yesterday. Eventually she came to the edge of a gaping pit. She stared down into it, but it was so deep she couldn't see the bottom. This must be the entrance to Tartarus!

As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness here, she saw there were steps carved in the cavern's steep sides. Slinging her bag over her back, she began to climb down. The deeper she went, the danker the air became, and a murky gloom hung over the pit. She

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passed many shades along the way, each one more miserable than the last. They wrung their hands and thrashed about, complaining to whomever would listen that their being here was all a mistake.

"I was
frame
d," one shouted to her when he noticed her. "And anyway, even if I did take the food and money, I needed it more than those orphans!"

"It was an accident," another claimed. "The knife just sort of slipped from my hands. I don't know how it wound up in his back!"

Persephone might have pitied them if she hadn't doubted their truthfulness. Ignoring their feeble excuses, she called out, "Can any of you tell me where to find Hades?"

"You a friend of his?" the shade who claimed to have been framed asked eagerly.

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"Yes."

"Put in a good word for me, and I'll tell you exactly where to find him," he said.

"Don't listen to him," another shade called out. "He doesn't know a thing. I'll help you find Hades, though. And as a return favor--"

"They're both liars," interrupted a third shade. "They have no idea where Hades has got to. But me and him are old pals, and . . ."

It seemed obvious that these shades would be of no help, so Persephone continued on down. After a while, she passed a shade rolling a large boulder up the side of the pit. But well before he reached the top, the boulder rolled back down again. He had to run after it to stop it, then start all over again. Persephone watched him a few times, shaking her head. He'd never get that rock to

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the top, and that was the point, she realized. As punishments went, it was an interesting one, but not terribly creative. She thought she could think up a better one for him if she knew why he was here.

It took forever to reach the bottom, but at last she arrived and immediately spotted Hades. She waved to him. He saw her and headed toward her. He looked worried. "What are you doing here?" he asked as they came even.

Persephone's face fell. She had thought he'd be happy to see her. "I ran away from home," she told him.

"Why?"

She stared at him. He must know that
h
e was part of the reason--that no one liked her seeing him. But she couldn't quite bring herself to tell him that. Instead she said,