My heart races with giddy joy. My hands shake. Truly, I did not think this would ever be mine to give to the world. If it is only this once, I will treasure this memory forever. But then there’s a thud in my chest. Is she only offering this truce because she intends to keep me here?
“That was wonderful,” I say, my throat tight with emotion. “Thank you, Mother, for doing such beautiful magic with me. I thought the chance was lost to me. I—” I am so overwhelmed that the truth comes to the tip of my tongue without any thought behind me. “I thought these powers were lost to me.”
My mother opens her eyes, confusion in her gaze. “Because of the Underworld?”
“No. From…” I start but I’m all too aware of Aphrodite’s presence. Perhaps that’s why my mother plays coy. I straighten my shoulders, no longer wanting to hide the truth. “From whatever caused my powers to weaken before that. Remember how I feared becoming a nymph?”
Aphrodite laughs. The sudden sound startles me. “Because you took them back, didn’t you?” With her neck arched, she leans back, as if casually playing with me.
I stare at her. “What do you mean?”
“You took them back,” Aphrodite repeats. “You knew they were being stolen by the wine, so now you refuse to drink it. It is a lovely trick.”
“The wine?” Chills run down my spine. A subconscious truth writhes within me, begging to be released.
Aphrodite’s eyes go wide, and she puts her fingertips to her mouth as if she has said this by mistake and then smiles delightfully. “The poisoned wine,” she whispers. “The wine our father gave you.” Her blue eyes spark. “You took your power back because it was never something he could take, only a piece of you he could wish to dull. Much like what Hades has done. He can never have you if he forces it.”
Anger blisters along my skin.
“Hades cannot have you fully if he forces you. These selfish gods. And all in the name of love…” She sighs, peering longingly into the pool as a mortal pair embraces with the fire closing in around them. “Their prayers are as foolish as their actions.”
Hades
In the Underworld, the souls are caught in faded white streaks across the dark sky. Their passings are slower now, leaving only smaller groups behind, and then individual souls. One here, then a pause, and then another. The deaths have slowed and those that appear have arrived with more peace than before. The heartache has softened. Although the stench of fear is ever present in some, there is a sense of normalcy. Of what used to be returning.
There’s a churning in my stomach of slight regret but also of the unknown. The doubt seeps in.
I watch from one of the arched stone windows of my chambers, Minox at my side and Cerberus laid on the floor on my other side. Demeter has changed something. We must listen to the whispers. To the prayers that are ever-changing. The gods can rarely hide from one another, for the mortals' prayers come from truth and often desperation.
Cerberus sits up, sensing that something has changed. Perhaps it is the silence that Cerberus notices. The screams and cries have settled. He barks, once, and I pat each of his heads duly and with a soothing hush.
Through the eyes of my disciples and demons alike, I can visualize the mortal realm. At times, it’s as if I’m there. It is easiest when scrying, just as it is easiest to see Olympus when scrying. But occasionally I can see into the souls who are passing or those who are close to doing so. I can see the images they hold in their minds, vivid with the colors of the mortal world.
And what I see?—
What I see are families huddled together, peering out the windows of their homes. Standing up from where they had been crouched underneath the sills. They are pointing. Smiling. Saying look.
What are they looking at?
They are looking at the coming of life. Of greenery on crops that had withered. They see hope and are thankful. They imagine abundance and no longer starvation and crisis. They feel hope. They weep with gratitude.
The ice and snow and fiery storms brought by the demons are fading, and everywhere there is green.
Swallowing thickly, I bring my vision back to the Underworld and meet Minox’s gaze.
His eyes have centuries of familiarity to me. Minox has been at my side since the moment I arrived in the Underworld.
“That is the work of my wife.” My tone is even although turmoil is present.
Another glance at the sky. Minox will want to know if the lull in the souls is only temporary or if it is permanent. Nothing is ever permanent, but this lull is because of Persephone. I know it in the essence of my soul.
We both stare above us into the sea of souls. For a while, not a single soul crosses to the Underworld. Then one soul, very small, flies overhead like a shooting star. It’s graceful as it floats down to the river, disappearing from sight just before it arrives.
“She could never do that while she was here,” I tell Minox as I reminisce.
“What could she not do, my Lord?” he questions, his brow furrowed. As if he does not know. Genuinely so. How could he not?
“She could not bring new life to the earth…she could not even do it here. The Underworld only invites the dead.” There is a hollow feeling in my chest. It aches, like it is begging to be filled. I miss her dearly. My beloved. Persephone does not need to bring souls to the Underworld, that is not for her to do, and she could not, but I know how much she wanted her magic to follow her here.
