The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (36 page)

At least James understood. “I'm sorry,” I said to Ava as I tugged up my sleeves. “I didn't know what else to do.”

“It's all right,” she mumbled, and she picked up her coconut again to take a halfhearted sip. “It's not like we had a better plan.”

“We do have a better plan,” said James. “Find Persephone and figure it out from there. If anyone can help, it's her.”

Ava made a face, apparently as happy with the thought of the fate of the universe resting in Persephone's hands as I was. “At least we don't have to worry about Cronus until we get there, I guess.”

“Exactly. And we don't know how to open the gate either, so it doesn't matter what Kate promised him to get him off our backs. We'll figure a way out of this.” James offered us a smile, and she returned it, but I looked at my hands.

Cronus was growing stronger by the minute, and no one, not even Henry or Walter, could possibly win against that kind of impossible power. If he stuck to our deal and let the others go, then unless I wanted to see him slaughter everyone I loved, I would have no choice but to open the gate.

All I had to do in the meantime was convince Persephone to tell me how.

* * *

Hours after we left the oasis, I found a second flower, bubblegum spotted with blue, waiting for me on a fallen tree as I sat down to rest. At first the log was empty, but when I lowered myself down, my fingertips brushed the silky petals.

It couldn't possibly be a coincidence, but who would be leaving me presents? Henry? I clung to that hope, but he was unconscious. The chances of it being him were slim.

And then my eyes fell on James, and I scowled.

“What?” he said as he leaned against a tree. I held up the blossom, and he arched his eyebrows. “Colorful. Where'd you get it?”

“It was sitting here waiting for me,” I said, but he shrugged indifferently. It wasn't from him after all. For all he cared, we could've been talking about a dead leaf.

Henry, then. I warmed at the thought. He must've been able to see me in the cavern after all, or maybe he'd figured out what we were doing. Maybe he was trying to tell me that he was glad we were coming to rescue him. Only because he didn't know what I planned on doing though.

We pushed on, constantly checking over our shoulders for any sign of Cronus. Every time we stopped, I found a new blossom waiting for me, and I tucked it reverently in my pocket with the rainbow of others, nestled against the jeweled flower. Eventually our breaks became less and less frequent, and while I missed the flowers, my body stopped becoming tired, and it was easier to continue.

I don't know how long we walked. It felt like forever, although it couldn't have been more than a week. My leg hurt every time I took a step, but eventually the pain faded into the background, giving me time to absorb the beauty and horror of the Underworld.

“Is this really the quickest way there?” I said as another nightmare faded. This time, it had been a child being burned alive as a mother watched, chained to the ground as she screamed, helpless to do anything.

“'Fraid so,” said James as we trudged up a steep dirt road. “Pity this all didn't happen after your coronation. You could've had us there in seconds.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, grabbing a fallen branch to use as a walking stick. “Like I needed another reminder.”

“You're the one who asked,” said James, and after that, I refused to talk to him for the rest of the day.

Now that the danger of Cronus attacking had all but dissipated, I spent most of my time trying to work out how best to convince Persephone not only to help us, but to tell me how to open the gate without Ava and James finding out. I didn't want it to be an option, but it was, and I couldn't ignore it. And the way he caressed my cheek in the desert—if Cronus really was willing to help me in exchange for me releasing him, then maybe he could help take down Calliope. And then the other siblings could recapture him. It was shaky at best, but so was everything else about this plan, and at least this was better than nothing.

The closer we got to Persephone, the tighter the knot in my chest grew. I ran through dozens of ways to convince her to come, arguments to make her see how important this was, but there was no guarantee that anything I said would be enough. Through trying to persuade her, I also ran the risk of pushing her away.

Between the worry and stress of everything that was happening, I grew quieter, listening to James and Ava talk instead of joining in. When they weren't talking about my deal with Cronus, most of their conversation centered on what the others were doing and whether or not Dylan had convinced them that it was a waste of time. Ava was certain he wouldn't; James wasn't so sure, and their squabbling grew more and more heated until I didn't know if I could take any more of it.

Finally, when it seemed we would never stop walking and they would never stop fighting, James held up his hand, and Ava fell silent. I froze, and James peered through the trees that surrounded us.

“What is it?” said Ava in a hushed voice. James beckoned for us to join him, and I crept forward, tiptoeing around the roots. He stood at the edge of a clearing full of wildflowers, and when I glanced around him, I noticed a small cottage with a plume of smoke trickling from the chimney. Made of wood instead of brick, it was covered with vines of flowers, almost making it look as if it rose up out of the ground.

“It's beautiful,” I said wearily. “But we need to keep—”

James covered my mouth with his hand, and I automatically licked him. It was the same thing I'd done to my mother whenever she'd tried to keep me quiet as a child, though at least her hands were usually clean and not covered with dirt from the Underworld.

I made a face and spat, but I didn't have the chance to lay into him for covering my mouth in the first place. The door to the cottage opened, and out skipped a curly haired blonde who looked a few years older than me. She was tiny, and despite the sun shining down into the lush meadow, her skin was alabaster.

Beside me, James pursed his lips, and Ava let out a soft snort of distaste I didn't understand. The girl knelt down in the garden beside the cottage door, and she started to pull weeds as she hummed happily to herself. There was something disturbingly familiar about the way she moved, and as a drop-dead gorgeous man stepped out of the cottage and into the sunlight to join her, I finally understood.

“Is that…?” I whispered. James swallowed, and my breath hitched in my throat.

Persephone.

Chapter
Eight
Persephone

She looked exactly like
the image I'd seen of her months ago, except her hair was the color of wheat
instead of strawberry-blond. We weren't close enough for me to see the
freckles, but I was positive they were there, too. Henry's memory of her was
perfect.

Of course it was. What else had
I expected?

“So what?” I took a deep breath
to slow my racing pulse. The knot in my chest made it hard to breathe. “Do
we sit here and stare, or are we going to go say hi?”

James didn't answer. He watched
Persephone with wide, unblinking eyes, and I wasn't sure he was breathing,
either. I poked him in the shoulder, but he shrugged off my
touch.

“What's going on?” I said to
Ava. She, too, was staring, but she had the same look on her face that she
did when she was looking at Dylan. Or Xander. Or Theo.

“I almost forgot how gorgeous
Adonis is,” she said. “We should have made him one of us.”

She wouldn't have gotten any
argument out of me, but a strange sound escaped from James, almost like he
was growling. “And have to endure another narcissistic blond running around?
No, thank you.”

Ava opened her mouth to retort,
but I cut her off. “You're all narcissists. Are we going or not?”

Wearing a wounded expression,
James broke his stare, but neither he nor Ava made any move toward the
cottage. With a huff, I stepped past the edge of the trees and walked
through the meadow, making a point of stepping around the flowers. No use in
risking Persephone's wrath before saying a word.

Persephone must've caught sight
of me, because she stood and placed herself protectively in front of the
man—Adonis, apparently. It was fitting. He looked like he'd stepped out of a
movie, with long hair that hung to his shoulders and an abdomen that
would've put Henry to shame. It was hard to focus on Persephone with him
standing there, and my mouth went dry as I tried to think of something to
say. The desire to not make a fool of myself in front of him overwhelmed me,
and I immediately felt guilty for being so attracted to him. If Persephone
was half as shallow as Ava, at least now I understood why she'd left
Henry.

I touched the flowers in my
pocket. Now was not the time to start thinking like her.

“Who are you?” she demanded.
There was a sharp edge to her voice that forced my attention back on her,
but what could she do? Attack me with a weed? She wasn't a goddess
anymore.

“I'm Kate,” I said, holding my
hands up as I took another step forward. “Kate Winters.”

Her expression didn't soften. If
our mother had visited her, it either hadn't been in the past twenty years
or she'd never mentioned that Persephone had a sister. It seemed fair. She'd
never told me I had a sister, either.

I heard footsteps behind me as
Ava and James came closer. Even if Persephone had no idea who I was, with
the way her mouth dropped open, it was obvious she remembered
them.

“Hermes?” she said, stunned, and
then her eyes narrowed as she added, “And Aphrodite. Lucky me. What's going
on?”

James stepped beside me and set
his hand on my shoulder. Ava lingered behind us, and I didn't blame her.
Whatever bad blood there was between the two of them, Persephone clearly
hadn't forgotten it, either.

“Persephone,” said James with a
stiff nod. “It's been a long time.”

“Not long enough,” she said, and
she took Adonis's hand, her knuckles turning white from her grip. “What do
you want?”

Nothing much. Just for her to
leave her perfect boyfriend and afterlife behind to help the three of us
find the most powerful being in the universe. Possibly free him as well, if
she didn't mind too much. I swallowed and opened my mouth to answer, but
James got there first.

“Cronus woke up.”

Persephone paled.
“How?”

“Hera,” said James, and
Persephone furrowed her brow. “It's a long story. We need your
help.”

Persephone eyed us cautiously,
and her gaze lingered on me longer than the others. “How could I possibly
help you? I'm not a goddess anymore.”

James sighed. “Can we come
in?”

She tensed, and as Adonis hugged
her protectively, envy snaked through me. What would it be like to have
those arms around me instead?

No, I had Henry. Maybe things
weren't going so well, but he was my husband. I loved him. And who else had
the ability to brighten my mood simply by walking into the room? I didn't
need Adonis.

But part of me wanted him very,
very badly.

“It's all right,” he said,
nuzzling the crook of her neck. “No one can hurt me anymore.”

I had no idea if that was true,
if Cronus could attack the dead like he attacked us, but it didn't matter.
As long as Cronus held to his end of our bargain, we wouldn't see him again
until we were ready. It wasn't a very reliable set of circumstances, but it
was better than nothing.

“Who is she?” said Persephone,
nodding at me.

James gave me a warning look,
but I stepped forward before he could answer. “Henry was going to let
himself fade because of you,” I said with more bite than I intended. “He
couldn't rule the Underworld alone, so I married him.”

Persephone stared at me as if
she could see right through me. It was unnerving, but I held my head high
and stared back, refusing to let her get to me. She was under my skin enough
already as it was.

After a long moment, she turned
toward the cottage door and nodded stiffly for us to follow. The three of us
trailed after her, Ava reluctantly so, and James gave me another look. I
ignored that one, too.

The inside of her one-room
cottage was cozier than I'd expected. A hundred different kinds of flowers
hung from the ceiling, sorted by family and color, and I immediately felt at
home. As I breathed in the heavenly scent, the tension in the air seemed to
melt away. My mother had made exquisite bouquets for every occasion in New
York, and by the time I was ten, businessmen paid exorbitant amounts for one
of her arrangements. Before I was old enough to take much of an interest
though, she got sick, and after her second round of chemotherapy, she had to
sell the business. Apparently cancer hadn't gotten in the way of her
teaching Persephone.

Persephone gestured for us to
take a seat in one of the two chairs at the table, but James was the only
one who accepted her invitation. I stood beside him, making a point of
turning so I couldn't see Adonis, and Ava lingered near the door.

“How long have you been ruling
the Underworld?” said Persephone. She stood in the center of the room, her
mouth set in a firm line as she watched me. It was unsettling, but at least
she'd let us in.

“I don't,” I said. “Henry and I
got married six months ago. I went away for the summer, and Cronus started
attacking the day I came down here. There wasn't time to finish the
ceremony.”

Persephone made a soft noise in
the back of her throat, and her eyes narrowed. “Why do you call him
Henry?”

I blinked. That was the last
question I'd expected. “Same reason you call him Hades, I guess. It's what
he told me to call him.”

“Greek names weren't in style
anymore,” said James. “And Zeus decided it was best to keep a low profile
after Rome fell, so we had to adapt. I'm called James now. Aphrodite's Ava.
Hera was adamant about keeping a Greek name though—she went with Calliope,
after her favorite Muse. It doesn't stand out as much as ours
did.”

Persephone was silent. Adonis
slipped beside her and looped his arm around her waist, but she didn't
budge. I couldn't very well look away from her without being rude, so I
gritted my teeth and tried to keep myself from blurting out something
completely inappropriate.

“Seems the world's moved on
without me,” she said with a haughty little sniff.

“You shouldn't act so
surprised,” said James. He stretched his legs and toed off his boots.
Persephone wrinkled her nose, but she didn't say anything. “It's been a
thousand years. You wouldn't recognize it if you went up there.”

For a moment I thought I saw a
flash of regret pass across her face, and my stomach twisted unpleasantly.
Had she decided she didn't love Adonis as much as she thought she had? Was
Ava right about Persephone's loyalty, and had she grown tired of him and
wanted to move on? I couldn't see how, unless Adonis was nothing more than a
pretty face. A
very
pretty face, but still.

I didn't have time to think
about that for long. Persephone turned back to me, her blue eyes icy. “So
what, he picked you out of the millions of people in the world—”

“Billions,” said James. “It's
been a while.”

Persephone scowled. “The point
stands. Why you?”

Part of me wanted to avoid this
as long as possible, but she was bound to ask questions, and if I was honest
with her, there was a chance she would be willing to help. If she really was
bored with Adonis, maybe we'd get lucky and she'd jump at a chance to go
someplace new. Either way, lying to her or withholding information wasn't
going to help my cause.

“I wasn't the first,” I said.
“Eleven girls were tested before me over the past century. Calliope killed
them before they had a chance, and—”

“Hera would never do that,”
interrupted Persephone. “Maybe if it was Zeus, but—”

“She's in love with Henry,” I
said. “After you left, she thought she'd have a chance, but he didn't want
to be with her, so she killed off the competition.”

Persephone sniffed.
“
You
survived. You must be something special. I bet Henry's just cooing over
you.”

Maybe it was the way she said
his name or the sarcasm dripping from her voice, but something inside of me
snapped. This was impossible. I wasn't going to stand around all day
explaining everything to her when she wasn't listening. I would never
understand why Henry loved her so much, and if she couldn't show me basic
courtesy, I wasn't going to bother, either.

“He's only with me because I'm
your sister,” I said hotly. “Diana—Demeter, she's my mother. She decided to
have me in a last-ditch effort to save Henry because she felt so damn guilty
for what you did to him, and she didn't want to be responsible for him
fading. He married me because he couldn't have you, and I was the next best
thing. Thanks for rubbing my nose in it.”

The words were out before I
could stop them, but there was no taking them back now. Besides, it was the
truth. Tiptoeing around it and acting like she had nothing to do with me
being born would've been stupid.

I was born to be another
incarnation of her, to be the version of her that even she couldn't be, but
now that I was standing in front of her, I knew I would never come close.
She was beautiful and graceful and put the flowers around us to shame, but
at the same time, she was willing to hurt the people who loved her for the
sake of her own happiness.

I wasn't Persephone, and for the
first time since meeting Henry over a year ago, I finally realized that was
a good thing. I was the one who could want Adonis and say no.

Overwhelming silence filled the
cottage. Persephone stared at me, her eyes burning with something I couldn't
identify, but I knew it wasn't good. She didn't have to tell me to leave. I
turned on my heel and walked out the door.

The breeze blew through the
meadow, and when I took a deep breath, the smell of freesia filled me, but I
was too far gone to care. Anger boiled away any sympathy I'd had for
Persephone, and I didn't care if she was my sister. I'd never had a sister
before, and there was no need to change that now.

I heard the door swing open
again and footsteps against the dirt as someone came after me. I kept
going.

“Kate,” said Ava. “Kate,
stop.”

I was halfway to the trees when
she grabbed my arm. I whirled around, ready to lay into her, but the words
formed a lump in my throat.

“You know that isn't true,” she
said softly. “Henry didn't marry you because you were Persephone's
sister.”

I tried to speak again, but all
that came out was a choked sob, and my cheeks burned from humiliation. I'd
barely spent five minutes with her, and already she'd reduced me to
this.

“She—she's the only reason I got
the chance in the first place,” I blubbered. “And love was never part of the
deal. All I had to do to marry him was pass, and—and that's all I
did.”

Ava hugged me, and I buried my
face in her shoulder, struggling not to cry more than I already was. Now
that the dam had burst, however, I couldn't stop. All of the worries and
tension I'd kept bottled inside me since arriving in the Underworld came
spilling out, and wave after wave of sobs assaulted me, stealing every last
shred of dignity I had left.