“My mom never changes,” I say. “But I still don’t get how I’m Persephone and Piper.”
Shayne takes a sip of wine. “And I don’t have that answer.”
“So who does?” I ask.
Shayne sets his glass down on the end table and reaches to pet Cerberus again. “I’d start with your mother or father.”
My memories are coming back, filling in the gaps. “My mother is Demeter.”
Shayne nods. “Who still hates me, I might add.”
“Let her,” I say. I’d much rather spend eternity with Shayne than with my mom. I felt that way from the minute I met Hades so long ago, and it had driven my mom crazy.
Shayne nods, and his eyes flicker red amid the brown. “I will. And how about your father?”
“My father.” I can’t say it. I think of the man from the barbeque dinner. The man whose face looked so much like my own. It’s too much. Too hard to believe.
So Shayne says it for me. “Zeus. King of the gods.”
I work my mind around this fact. My father is the king of the gods. Not the king of Earth or the sea or even of the Underworld like Shayne. He is the king of all other kings. The ruler of everyone and everything. And I am his daughter. Every god on earth should bend toward his will—with should being the operative word here.
As memories flow back to me, I remember plenty of times when gods defied him. I remember plenty of times when I defied him. But I also remember talking endlessly with him over a campfire or by a mountain lake or in the dense trees of a jungle. My father never told me what to do and when to do it. He gave me advice and let me make my own decisions, so unlike my mom and her domination. She controlled everything from the number of ears of corn a stalk might sprout to how long I could spend in the gardens away from her each day. If nothing has changed with my mom, I’m willing to bet nothing has changed with my father either.
“He made up the thing about the pomegranate,” I say, remembering the story my father told my mom after one of my visits to the Underworld.
Shayne nods. “Definitely a victory for us.”
Zeus lied. That was all there was to it. He made up the whole superstition that food couldn’t be eaten in the Underworld. And that if it was, the person who’d eaten it could never leave again. He told my mom I’d eaten six pomegranate seeds and had to stay in the Underworld one month out of the year for each seed I’d eaten. That she should be thankful I could return at all. That he was doing her a favor.
My mom was livid. She threw Earth into the coldest winter it had seen since the Ice Age. And my mom couldn’t set foot in the Underworld, so Zeus never had to worry about her finding out the truth. I married Hades, and we lived together for half of each year in bliss, while my mom tormented the world above.
“Did she ever find out the truth?” I ask.
Shayne finishes off the rest of his wine. “I can’t imagine who would have ever told her any differently. And she did let you keep coming.”
She did. Even though it pained her each and every time. She adored me all spring and summer and then mourned me when I left. And I endured her all spring and summer, losing myself in the plants and flowers on Earth, and then rejoiced when I departed.
“They’ll have answers,” I say.
Shayne smiles, but there’s a hint of sadness in his dark eyes. “They should. All I know is you’ve been gone from Hell for eighteen years now, and all of the Underworld is suffering as a result.”
My suspicions are confirmed. “Because of me.”
Shayne pushes some of my out-of-control hair behind my ear. “Yeah, because we missed you.”
We walk back to the River Acheron, and it’s as if lenses have been lifted, making a world where I feel comfortable turn into a world where I belong. The Underworld is as much a part of me as Shayne is. Love for it is rooted in all parts of my body. I ache when I think of all the time I’ve spent away. Time in which monsters have grown strong and boundaries have weakened.
When we reach the banks of the river, Charon’s face breaks into a smile. I run over and hug him, never wanting to let him go. He’s been my friend since the first time Hades brought me down here, thousands of years ago. He talked to me when Hades was gone. He listened to me blather on about anything, only stopping me when souls demanded his attention. He treated me like a part of Hell even before I was.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Charon has been like a father to me. I love him as sure as I’m Persephone.
When we pull apart, tears run down his face, and his already milky eyes seem translucent. “And I’ve missed you, my Queen.” He seems to have a hard time getting the words out, and before I can think, he’s hugging me again like he wants to make sure I won’t vanish.
My Queen. I was Queen of the Underworld. I remember walking the fields of Elysium and the meadows of Asphodel by myself, maintaining order and keeping control. And I even remember Tartarus. Delivering punishment to those damned. I think of Sisyphus and Tantalus and Pirithous. Punishment is deserved for evil like theirs.
Tantalus cut up his own son and served him in soup to the gods—to my own mother who actually ate it, which explains her aversion to meat.
Pirithous tried to steal me from the Underworld to make me his bride.
Sisyphus carved up travelers and guests for pleasure, keeping them alive as long as possible to prolong their suffering.
They deserved their fates in Tartarus. And I was happy to ensure their eternal torment. I delivered their sentences with pleasure.
Charon gives my hand a final squeeze and then takes us across the river. I look to the bubbling sorrows, and realize I can see faces with them now, not just hear words. I see Randy Conner’s face with his sadness. I see Councilman Rendon; he wants another chance. I see deaths and miseries and longings, all left behind. But the sorrows don’t tug on me as before. I dip my hand into the water, knowing the monsters won’t harm me, letting them come to me and trying to offer calmness in return. And when my hand touches the water, the monsters disperse, and the mad, frenzied bubbling of the sorrows stops. Within seconds, the River Acheron is calm.
Shayne and Charon both stare at me.
“The water hasn’t been calm in eighteen years, Piper.”
I smile at my name, and Shayne starts laughing.
He puts up his hands in compromise. “I’ll call you whatever you want.” And then he motions back out to the water. We’re bumping into the dock now, the boat causing the only ripples on the now smooth surface. “Just remember, we need you down here. I need you down here.”
When we step out, he holds me, and I never want to leave. “I want to be here. Forever.”
Shayne laughs. “And this is the root of the whole problem. It always has been.”
I pull back and look at him. “What do you mean?”
Shayne rolls his eyes. “Talk to your parents. But just promise me one thing.”
I nod. I’d promise Shayne anything. “What?”
“Promise me you’ll come back.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “Promise you’ll take me.”
Shayne smiles, and more than anything I want to be with him for eternity.
I smile and give him a kiss. And then I’m moving through the earth and the silver divide again, rising up from Hell back to the Botanical Haven above.
Chapter 37
Awake
I check the clock on my FON; it’s Sunday afternoon. While it felt like an eternity in the Underworld, it’s only been about twelve hours of real time. And aside from me, the Botanical Haven is empty; my mom isn’t home.