Persephone the Phony (Goddess Girls) (6 page)

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"Because everyone keeps telling me what to do. I just couldn't stand it anymore!"

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Everyone?"

"Well, my mom and my friends." She told him what had happened when she got home from the cemetery.

Hades listened quietly. But when she had finished, he gently took her arm and stepped past her, trying to lead her from the pit. "You can't stay here. This is no place for someone like you."

Persephone yanked away and stood facing him. "Why not?"

"Because it's gloomy!" he explained, sounding frustrated and a little angry that she didn't seem to understand. "You're bright and sunny."

She scowled and crossed her arms. "Not always. Sometimes I just
preten
d to be."

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Hades planted his hands on his hips. "Look, if your mom discovers you're gone, she'll be furious. Especially if she finds out you came here. To see me. Let me take you home."

"Why are you sticking up for
he
r?" Persephone exclaimed. "You know she doesn't like you. And my friends don't either!"

"I'm used to it," Hades said grimly, but she thought he looked a little hurt. "Listen, it's not that I don't want you here. In fact, I'd like us to be friends. But if they find you here, your mom and the other goddessgirls will blame me. They'll like me even less than they do now. If that's possible."

Persephone knew Hades spoke the truth, but it was annoying that he wouldn't go along with her plan. Her face was a dark cloud as he called up his chariot and

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four black stallions. She stared stonily ahead when he escorted her out of the Underworld in the chariot, back across the River Styx, and up Mount Olympus. "You can leave me here," she said coldly when they drew near her home. "I'll
walk
the rest of the way."

Hades pulled back on the reins, and his stallions came to a halt. With a firm grip on her woven bag, Persephone hopped off the back of the chariot.

Hades grabbed her arm and waited till she looked at him. "See you at school."

She glared at him and pulled away. "Not if I see you first!" Ignoring the shocked look on his face, she stalked toward home.

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Home Agains

ALL WAS DARK AND QUIET AS PERSEPHONE sneaked in the front door of her home. Tiptoeing, she groped her way down the hall. But as she passed her mom's door, she stubbed her toe on a loose mosaic tile. "Ow!" she cried out. Dropping her bag, she hopped about in pain.

"Persephone?" In a flash Demeter was out of bed

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and at her daughter's side. Under a circle of lamplight, her golden hair shone and stuck out at odd angles. She'd thrown on her rosebud-patterned bathrobe in such a hurry that it was inside out. "What happened? Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Persephone's heart beat wildly as she waited for her mom to ask why she was out of bed in the middle of the night.

"What's the matter? Couldn't you sleep?" asked Demeter. Then her gaze fell on Persephone's bag. Her forehead wrinkled. "What's that doing here?"

"I--um--" Persephone stopped, unwilling to lie, but unwilling to tell the truth, either.

Demeter's hand flew to her throat. "You were planning to run away, weren't you?"

Persephone rubbed her stubbed toe, looking away.

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"Not planning to. Already
di
d. But Hades made me come back home."

"I thought I smelled smoke!" wailed Demeter. "That horrible godboy! This was his idea, right? I can't believe you ran away to the Underworld! I--"

"Stop!" Persephone exclaimed. "You're not listening! It was
m
y idea to run away, not Hades'."

Demeter turned as pale as a shade. "But why?"

"Because I was mad." Persephone let out a long sigh. "Can we sit down? I'm really tired. And my toe hurts."

"Yes, of course," her mom said. "Let's go to the kitchen. I'll get you a snack. And some cold water to soak your foot." In the kitchen, Demeter set some breadstyx and a bowl of nectar on the table.

"Thanks." Persephone sank onto a chair. Her mother set a bowl of cold water on the floor, and Persephone

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lowered her foot into it. Then she picked up one of the styx and dipped it into the nectar. When she was younger, her mom had often fixed this snack for her--especially whenever she'd woken from a nightmare in the middle of the night.

Demeter sat down across from her. "So tell me. Why did you run away?" she asked again. There was a pained look on her face. "Am I such a terrible mother?"

"No," said Persephone. "Of course not. I told you. I was just mad."

"I know you think I'm a chariot mom," Demeter said softly, "but I have more experience of the world than you. I know what can happen. It's my duty to protect you, even when you don't think you
nee
d protection."

"But I'm almost thirteen years old!" Persephone protested. "I can look after myself!"

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"You
thin
k you can," Demeter said sharply. "But sometimes you don't use the best judgment."

Persephone bristled. She knew what her mom was thinking. "You're wrong about Hades!" she exclaimed. "So are my friends! Like I told you, he
mad
e me come home. In fact, he brought me back here. He knew you'd be upset if you found out I'd run away. He said I didn't belong in his world."

Demeter gaped at her. "He really said all that?"

Persephone nodded. She didn't tell her mom how mad she'd been at him for saying it, though. With a start she realized that this new, angry, daring side of her was no more
real
than the Persephone that went along to get along. The real her was somewhere in between.

Her eyes pleaded with her mom as she said, "How

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can I get better at making judgments if you won't let me make my own?"

Demeter opened her mouth, and then closed it again. At last she sighed. "I guess you're right. I
do
need to give you more independence."

"Really?" Persephone's heart skipped a beat.

Demeter nodded. "It's hard for me to admit this, but you
are
getting older." She looked a little sad, and tears pricked her eyes. "You're not my little goddessgirl anymore."

Overwhelmed with love for her mother, Persephone took her foot out of the bowl of cold water and rose from the table. "Don't worry," she said, hugging her mom. "I'll always be your little goddessgirl--no matter how old I get."

* * *

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As good as Persephone felt about her late-night talk with her mom, she was worried the next morning as she crossed the courtyard and began to climb the wide granite steps to the school. Would her friends be mad at her? Yesterday was the first time they'd ever seen her angry. What if they'd only liked her because she always tried to be nice?

"Persephone! Wait up!" Athena bounded toward her, with Aphrodite and Artemis right behind her.

"Hi," Persephone said awkwardly as they caught up to her.

"Hi," they said back.

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For an awkward moment all four goddessgirls stood there silently. Finally Persephone looked away. "I'm sorry I--"

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"We're sorry we--," Aphrodite started to say at the same time.

Both goddessgirls stopped talking. They smiled at each other. Then all four began to laugh.

"I'm so glad you're not mad at me," said Persephone.

"Us too," said Aphrodite.

"Yeah," Artemis and Athena agreed together.

Persephone could hardly believe it. Her friends must feel as bad about what had happened yesterday as she did!

"Are things okay between you and your mom?" Artemis asked anxiously as the friends linked arms and climbed to the top of the steps.

Persephone nodded. "We had a good talk last night."

"That's great!" said Athena.

Aphrodite studied Persephone. "I've never seen you as mad as you were yesterday." She grinned. "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"You erupted like a volcano," Athena added. "A real Mount Vesuvius!"

Persephone's cheeks burned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Artemis. "Don't you think
w
e get angry sometimes too?"

Persephone thought for a moment. Then she remembered how mad Aphrodite had been at Arte-mis one day when her dogs got into Aphrodite's room and chewed up her favorite pair of sandals. And Artemis had practically gone ballistic once when Athena had beaten her in what was supposed to have been a friendly archery contest.

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Yes, of course her friends got angry sometimes, she realized. Then it dawned on her: Strong friendships could survive an occasional outburst or bad mood. She didn't need to fear losing her friends. "From now on I promise not to keep my real feelings a secret," she said. Then she grinned. "So watch out!"

The goddessgirls laughed. As they passed between two Ionic columns and entered the school, Persephone told them about Hades being friends with Principal Zeus and how they ate lunch together most days. She was eager to put the "bad boy" rumors to rest. Then maybe her friends would see Hades in a new light.

When Persephone finished explaining, Aphrodite looked thoughtful. "Typical of Pheme to jump to conclusions," she said. "But we shouldn't have been so quick to believe her."

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"True," said Artemis, "but it doesn't exactly help that Hades glowers all the time."

"Maybe we would too, if we had to live in the Underworld," said Athena.

"Actually, it's a rather interesting place," said Persephone, as they all paused in front of her locker.

Her friends stared at her, shocked looks on their faces. "You've been there?" asked Aphrodite.

Persephone nodded. "Last night, actually." She paused. "I ran away from home."

"What?" her friends exclaimed together.

So Persephone told them how she'd slipped out of the house, flown to Earth, then boarded Charon's boat disguised as an old woman. As she described how she'd trudged down a marshy trail, through fields of asphodel, along a river of fire, and down into the pit of

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Tartarus past the shades of murderers and thieves, her friends' eyes widened.

"Ye gods!" Athena exclaimed. "Weren't you scared?"

"A little," Persephone admitted, shutting her locker. "But if Hades hadn't rushed me home, I would've liked to have stayed and seen more."

Artemis looked at her with admiration. "You're braver than me, then."

"Me too," said Aphrodite. "I wouldn't even know what
outfi
t to wear in the Underworld!"

"Maybe something fireproof," Persephone advised.

The other goddessgirls laughed. So what if liking cemeteries and the Underworld made her different from others, Persephone thought. Her friends didn't care. They liked her just the way she was. And it had been fun to wow them with all the sights she'd seen.

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She wondered if Pheme got the same thrill whenever she passed on a particularly juicy bit of gossip or an interesting rumor. The difference was, what Persephone had said was
true
.

The herald appeared on the balcony above the girls' heads and struck his lyrebell. "The sixty-sixth day of school is about to begin," he called out.

"See you at lunch," Persephone called to her friends as they split up to go to class. She glanced around as she hurried down the hall, hoping to see Hades. She wanted to apologize for the way she'd acted last night. She wanted to tell him he'd been right to take her home. But he was nowhere in sight.

At the end of third period she joined her friends in the cafeteria for a quick bite. She grabbed a bowl of yogurt topped with pomegranola from the cafeteria

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and hurriedly spooned it down. Then she stood up. "I've got something I have to do," she told her friends. "I'll see you later." After scurrying out of the cafeteria, she headed for Principal Zeus's office.

When Persephone asked Ms. Hydra if Hades was around, the nine-headed office lady seemed a bit surprised. Still, she knocked on Zeus's door, then opened it a crack. "There's a goddessgirl here to see Hades," said her cheerful, bright yellow head. The other eight remained staring at Persephone.

"Who is she?" Zeus thundered back.

Godness
! His voice was so loud and scary Persephone had to fight down the urge to turn and bolt. She reminded herself that Principal Zeus was Athena's
fathe
r, and that Hades had been afraid of Zeus at first too. Now Hades called him "a really great guy."