The Immortal Game (book 1) (23 page)

She looked all around, hoping that it wasn’t Hestia, or Apollo, or any of the other gods who would take one look at Ares’s fiancée standing alone with Zeus and turn away without a glance backward. A terrifying thought came to her. She hoped it wasn’t Hera.

Zeus grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the lavender, toward the forest. The whistling got louder. Zeus pulled her more forcefully. Ruby tried to yank away, but his grip was too strong.

They were twenty feet from the woods when Aphrodite came around the bend. Ruby’s breath left her in a rush of relief and surprise. She thought the goddess had gone to Earth to deal with Mark. Was it Tuesday yet? She had no idea, but the goddess of beauty had never been a more lovely sight. Surely she would not leave Ruby to deal with Zeus on her own.

Aphrodite stopped short when she saw them. The empty basket she carried swung loosely on her arm.

Zeus stopped. “The morning continues to brighten,” he said with a smile, still half-turned toward the forest and still holding Ruby by the arm.

“Save your flattery,” Aphrodite countered. She held her hand out and motioned for Ruby to come to her.

Ruby did not hesitate to move away from Zeus. His fingers trailed down her arm and through her hand as she left. Ruby went to her bike. She picked it up but she didn’t know if her shaking legs would be able to pedal.

Aphrodite put her arm protectively around her shoulders. “I think I hear Hera calling,” she said to Zeus.

Zeus held the goddess’s stare for a moment and then tramped out of the wet lavender.

They watched him walk away. When he was gone Ruby finally felt like she could breathe. She wanted to thank Aphrodite. She wanted to tell her that she had no idea what she would have done if she hadn’t come by. Instead she said, “Please don’t tell Ares. I don’t want to start a war.”

“I just came to pick some flowers before I go to Earth. Their lavender isn’t quite up to par,” Aphrodite said. She didn’t questioning Ruby’s request for secrecy. Lies and intrigue were part of life on Olympus and Ruby couldn’t help but think that whether she was a goddess or not, she was more like them every day.

…

Ruby pulled up in front of the Great Hall and propped her bike against the golden building. Ares leaned on one of the giant columns, waiting for her. She rushed up to him, though she still felt weak and scared from her encounter with Zeus.

“Hi,” he said with a smile that reached up to his eyes. She stood on tiptoe to peck him on the lips. He followed her back down to flat feet and kissed her more deeply. Ruby’s eyelids flashed open. She scanned the large hall of Zeus’s abode and pulled away.

“How was your ride?” he asked, searching her eyes.

“I found a new meadow,” she managed to say. She took a purple sprig from the purse at her waist and gave it to him. “Lavender.”

He twirled the flower between his thumb and forefinger and took her other hand. His energy flowed into her and her fear melted away. They walked to the middle of the Great Hall and stood under the willow branch altar Ares had built for their wedding. Everything was ready. There was no more planning to do.

“What’s the news from Earth?” she asked, feeling better and hoping for good news.

“The peace is intact,” he said.

She smiled, but it made her nervous that he had started with that. “How’s the weather?” she prompted.

“Rainy. Cold.”

Her stomach tightened. She touched a willow branch on the wedding altar as it wound in with the others, its cool surface smooth beneath her hand. “What’s going on, Ares? Do you have any ideas?”

“I’m not sure.” He looked away from her. “It’s late for spring to come but …”

She looked at him not looking at her. The incident with Zeus paled in her mind. “It’s
too
late, isn’t it?”

“Something’s wrong,” he said. “Persephone should be back by now. Demeter should have let spring come.”

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you read about Persephone yet?”

She thought of the picture of Hades pulling Persephone into the ground. She shuddered.

Ares held up the lavender sprig. “Hades saw Persephone picking flowers in a field and he fell in love with her.”

Her heart nearly stopped as she recalled the memory of Zeus in the lavender. “Why did he steal her then, if he loved her so much?” she said with more anger than was probably appropriate.

“You
have
heard it.” Ares cocked his head at her.

“No. That’s all I know.” That had been enough.

“Hades isn’t good with people. He’s arrogant.” Ares paused, and then smiled. “Maybe he didn’t know enough to take her bungee jumping.”

Ruby laughed a pitiful little laugh.

Ares looked at her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She forced a smiled.

“When Persephone’s mother, Demeter, found out that she had been kidnapped, nothing on Earth would grow. The goddess of the harvest was in mourning.”

“What does it have to do with us?” She was anxious to get to the heart of the matter.

“Demeter’s energy is tied to the Earth’s.” He held her gaze. “Without Demeter, spring will never come.”

“Why can’t someone else help? Helios could bring the sun a little longer each day, or—”

Ares shook his head. “It’s not just the temperature or the amount of sunshine. It’s a shift in the energy of the Earth.”

“I don’t understand. Obviously there have been many springs since Hades kidnapped Persephone.”

“Hades and Demeter shared her.”

Ruby flinched.

“After Hades abducted Persephone, when the Earth began to die, Zeus had to intervene. He told Hades to release Persephone. Hades said he would, but he insisted on holding her to the rules of the Underworld. Including that she not eat the food there.”

“Food? In Hades?”

“Only inhabitants of the Underworld can eat the food there. Anyone else who eats it will be trapped. Persephone had been there for days by then. Hades gave her a handful of pomegranate seeds and she ate them.”

“He tricked her.” She looked around the great hall at all the golden gods staring down on them.

“Hades had Zeus by his own rules, but Zeus often finds a way to move things to his own advantage. Persephone had only eaten six seeds before she realized her mistake. Zeus decreed that Persephone would spend six months, half of every year, as the queen of the Underworld with Hades. One month for each of the seeds she had eaten.”

“Fall and winter,” Ruby said.

“When Persephone returns to Olympus, Demeter’s sadness lightens. The Earth awakens. Spring comes. Then summer.”

“Well, where is she? Where is Demeter? Where does she go when she’s in mourning?” Ruby had never met the goddess of the harvest. She had never even heard her spoken of.

“I asked the Seasons if they’ve seen her. If anyone would know, it would be them.” He didn’t say anything else. He just shook his head.

“Where’s Persephone then?” Ruby looked around the empty Great Hall. “Why isn’t she coming back?”

Ares shrugged. “No one knows."

SEVENTEEN

Ruby ran into the main entrance of The Great Hall. Why would Zeus want to see her? Alone? She kept on moving. She saw nothing but a blur of color as she sprinted by.

Through the entrance hall, past the willow altar, she headed to the right. The note said he would be in the garden.

She went through the curved archway at the back of the chamber. Looking down from above were two commanding eagles, each with a lightning bolt in its talons. Next to them was a carved oak and then two golden bulls. Silver steam pushed forward from their flared nostrils. She glanced up and felt the weight of it all above her, but she didn’t slow.

On the garden path she passed his many sculpted trees. Huge maples and oaks that were planted close together with their branches trained and pressured into twisted shapes.

She glanced at one with a straight trunk at the bottom. Its early branches had been trained into an elaborate knot. The branches met again above the knot and continued straight up and leafed out as normal. Beyond the knot tree were three small trees growing close together. Their trunks were trained into a bench sturdy enough for a group to sit on.

She walked quickly. Her eyes darted around at everything. She saw it all and she barely saw any of it.

In the note he told her to meet him at the fountain in the middle. Hermes delivered it to her while she read in Athena’s garden, but he seemed as confused as she was. He shrugged when he handed it to her.

He waited as she read it and looked at her all the while. The note said to come alone. She simply said “Thank you,” and tucked the note in the purse at her waist.

As she rounded the bend into the large central part of the garden, Zeus was there, tall and imposing, especially without Ares at her side. She thought of meeting him in the lavender days before, and shuddered.

He didn’t look up. He was intent on pruning a small bonsai. Several were lined up on a potting bench in front of him. Racks and racks of these smaller versions of his tree sculptures lined the edges of the space.

A large gold fountain with an eagle holding a lightning bolt in its talons dominated the area. Water issued from below the eagle and collected in a large basin.

Ruby looked at his hunched back. She willed herself to say something, but her voice would not work.

He didn’t turn, but spoke before she could muster her courage. “Ruby. So quick. What a good girl.” He clipped at tiny branches.

Her heart raced at being alone with him. She didn’t think Aphrodite would show up here to save her.

Zeus looked at her, low and from the side. “I have something to show you,” he said, and stretched out his hand.

A cold heat ran through her, like when she held snow for too long. She shivered in the warm air of Olympus. She moved closer but she didn’t touch him. “Zeus …” She started and then stopped. “I was surprised to get your note.” She hoped ordinary words would make her feel more normal.

He smiled, but it did not warm his cool blue eyes. “Come sit by the fountain.”

The fountain was at least two stories high, the eagle and lightning bolt towered above Zeus’s head. He did not look up at it, though. Instead he looked down, into the pool of water that was at waist level. She looked too and saw a perfectly mirrored reflection of the blue sky above.

She didn’t sit. Neither did he.

“You, no doubt, have enjoyed your time here,” he said. “Bike riding and such.”

She nodded slowly.

“And Ares does seem to … enjoy you.” He looked at her again. His eyes flashed down her body. She felt uncomfortably warm. She wanted to move from him, but she held her ground.

“The thing is, Ruby …” He let her name hang in the air and looked away. “Having you here doesn’t work.”

The hot feeling in her body amplified. “I don’t understand. The wedding …” She trailed off. Her mind touched on Ares and her thoughts froze. Her pulse throbbed in her head. She thought instead of her friends: Athena, Aphrodite, Pan, and Hermes.

“Ruby …” He sounded as if he were letting a child in on a secret everyone else already knew. “There won’t be a wedding.”

“But, everything’s ready,” she said with a dry mouth. “The altar. The crowns. Everything.” Her eyes searched the ground. Then she looked at him, square on. “You swore.”

“I swore?” He gripped the edge of the fountain. “I swore that I would marry Ares when, and only when, the first flower blooms on Mount Olympus.” He smiled. “But nothing
will
bloom, my sweet. Not as long as you’re here. As long as you’re here, nothing will ever bloom on Earth again.”

She jerked back. “What?”

“Ares thought he could just go to Earth, pick up a juicy little thing, and bring her to
my home
.” His knuckles turned white on the rim of the fountain. “It will not stand.” He looked down into the water again. Ruby followed his gaze.

Images began to develop on the surface of the water. She saw fields covered in snow beneath steel grey skies, bare vines that were brown and twisted, orchards filled with scraggly leafless trees with their thin branches shivering in the wind.

“It’s May on Earth already,” Zeus said. “There’s no war. Ares would know if there was. But there is fear, Ruby. It’s almost too late to save this year’s crops.” He looked at her. “Almost.”

Ruby’s heart beat hard and loud. “I don’t understand. Where’s Demeter? Where’s Persephone? When will spring come?” She forced the words out of her constricting throat.

“Only when you are gone from here will I suggest to Hades that he set Persephone free,” he said.

“He’s keeping Persephone?” she said, her voice a croak.

“Hades just needed to be reminded that
he
is the god of the Underworld.
And
his wife’s master.” Zeus stood straight and reached his full height before her. “And I believe I’m the only one who can bring him back to his senses. I’m the only one who can remind him of the ancient agreement to share Persephone with her mother. Then, and only then, will Demeter feel relief from her long suffering.” He laughed at his own cruel joke. “Then spring, life, and food will be brought back to the people of Earth.” He paused and looked into her eyes. “And you, Ruby dear, in turn, are the only one who can convince me to want to have such a conversation.”

“By leaving?” Tears pricked at her eyes. “I can’t. I love him too much,” she whispered.

“You can certainly stay here, where it’s always warm, and there’s always food. You can have your way. But will you be able to forget what you sacrificed? The millions, no, the
billions
who will starve for your love?”

Ruby looked to the grey gravel path, then back to the images still clear in the water. “No. No. Of course not. I thought being with Ares would be good for the Earth.” A tear rolled down her cheek. She hated that she was crying in front of him.

“I can’t go back,” she realized. A sob came halfway up her throat but she somehow managed to hold it in. “The Great Peace will end. The wars will start all over.” These were her excuses, but her reason was only one. Ares.

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with Ares,” he said and added quickly, “I have arranged for Helios to take you back to Earth. He’s at the edge of the garden. Come this way.”