“You haven’t talked to your mom yet?” Zeus asks.
“My mom’s been gone all weekend. I thought she might be with you.” And a spark of worry creeps inside me.
“The assembly of gods found out what she did, and they brought her in for questioning. Lots of the gods are unhappy about the last eighteen years.”
“Will she be back?” I ask, not sure what answer I want.
“Eventually,” Zeus says. “But right now it’s just you and me.”
“And by me, do you mean Persephone or Piper?”
Zeus takes off his baseball cap and holds it in his hands. His skin is tanned to a perfect shade of gold contrasting against his platinum hair. “How about both?”
I nod. “That’s a good place to start.”
“You are Persephone.”
“Fine. But I remember the last eighteen years of my life as Piper.”
“That’s because eighteen years ago, your mother did the unspeakable.”
I know what he’s talking about as soon as he says it. “She killed a phoenix.” But I’m still not sure how it relates to me.
Zeus nods. “She sacrificed a phoenix. When Hermes brought you back from the Underworld, she sacrificed a phoenix, and you were reborn as Piper. A brand new baby from the ashes of Persephone and the bird itself.”
The blood drains from my face. I know I’m staring at him, but I can’t get my mind around what he’s saying. “Sacrificed a phoenix?” My tattoo. Sacrifice. The answer has been on my arm this whole time.
“It’s a horrible sin, but one containing the power of rebirth. The bird died, and Persephone died—for a time. But then she came back. As you.”
“So my mother killed the phoenix?”
And my mother killed me.
My mother is the one who belongs in Tartarus.
“She hid you from us. Locked your identity away inside a box crafted by Hephaestus himself.”
A box. My mind flies to the gift I received on my birthday.
Zeus continues. “It wasn’t until the first time September came and you didn’t show up in the Underworld that I realized what she did. Nobody did. But by then it was way too late.”
I blow out a breath slowly, trying to calm my voice and keep it from shaking. “I never went back, did I?”
“No.” Zeus looks up at the sun which is moving behind a cloud. “And autumn never came. Nor did winter.”
The pieces of the truth move together and take shape. “You mean the Global Heating Crisis is entirely because of me?” It doesn’t even sound real.
But Zeus looks at me and chuckles. “Well, of course. If you never go away, then your mother has no reason to make Earth change seasons. It’s year round summer as far as she’s concerned.” He wipes his forehead. “And a year round sauna for everyone else.”
“So you’re saying if I go back to the Underworld, fall and winter will come?” Could it really be that easy?
“Things are pretty out of whack right now,” he says. “It may take a bit of settling. But once all the climactic changes get in order, then yeah. You don’t even have to go back to the Underworld. You just have to reside in the domain of another god where your mom can’t get to you.”
The domain of another god. “Like when I went to visit Shayne?”
Zeus nods. “Exactly. But don’t think you have to be stuck with Hades. Your options are wide open.”
I narrow my eyes. “What do you mean? I love Shayne.”
Zeus rolls his eyes. “Don’t overrate love. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention you have choices.”
Is my father telling me to sleep around? Or am I totally misinterpreting him? “What choices?”
Zeus flicks his hands. “Well, how about Ares for starters?”
“Reese?”
“Well, sure. He’s my son. He’s a good looking kid. And let’s face it: he’s been pining for you since day one. Seriously, I figured with the arguments he and Hades used to have, we’d be looking at another world war.”
With Ares vying for the Underworld, it seems the next world war may start there.
“He’s a little on the pushy side.” And I realize so, too, is Zeus, king of the gods.
“But he thinks you’re gorgeous. Not to mention, he’s loved you as long as Hades.”
Ares was pushy ages ago. And Ares is pushy now. Not much has changed.
“I just think you should talk to him,” Zeus says. “Maybe when we’re done talking.”
I shake my head. “I don’t have anything to say to him.”
Zeus makes a dismissive gesture with his hands. “Suit yourself. But he’s waiting for you over by the greenhouses just so you know.”
“I’m not interested in Reese,” I say to make sure he’s clear on it. But the thought that Reese is waiting to talk to me right now makes butterflies start moving around in my stomach.
Zeus pretends to think some more. “I guess there’s always Hermes. He’s a good kid.”
The family tree in my mind plays before me. “Hermes is your son, too.”
Zeus nods and smiles. “I have lots of kids. It makes the wife a bit on the crazy jealous side, but I’m king of the gods. What does she expect?”
I can’t believe my father is telling me this. And worse, he doesn’t seem to want to stop.
“Or there’s Apollo. His twin sister might hunt you down, but you’d have fun before it ended.”
“Hunt me down?”
“I’m sure Hephaestus will be bothering you soon enough too, once he finds out where you are. Although that would just have to be an affair on the side. Aphrodite may not like her ugly husband, but that doesn’t mean she wants you running around with him either.”
“Why does it seem like you don’t want me to be with Shayne?” To me, Shayne seems like the obvious answer.
Zeus pinches my cheek like I’m a five-year-old. Which I am not.
“Because I just can’t stand the thought of my darling daughter running around with all those monsters and fires, doling out torture to everyone who happens to kill thy neighbor. Change might agree with you.”
“I liked being the Queen of the Underworld.” And I love being with Shayne.
Zeus points upward. “But think of the sun with Apollo. Or far away battles with Ares. There’d be plenty of death to be had with Ares in charge. Or Hermes, carrying messages around the world. You could see Japan.”
“Or the Underworld, with Shayne.”
Zeus exhales in disgust. “Yes, or the Underworld with Shayne. Just talk to Reese.”
“No.” I sit back, letting the bleachers support me. “What about my mom?”
“Ah, the lovely Demeter. I’ve always had a sweet spot for her—even with all her peculiarities.”
“Will she go to Tartarus?” I’ve been told more than once the price for killing a phoenix.
Zeus laughs, but it’s not funny to me. I don’t want to see my mom there even if she has been the most overprotective, overbearing mother in the whole wide world.
“She should.”
“Will she?”
Zeus puts up his hands in defeat. “The assembly’s split on it currently. There are some who would love nothing more than to strip her rank and cast her into Tartarus.”
“But not everyone?”
“Not everyone. There are others who recognize that what she did, she did for love. And they want her to resume her role here on Earth.”
Love. My mom has a strange way of showing it. “Send her home so I can talk to her,” I say.
Zeus nods. “I think that’s a good idea.” He stands to walk away. “And don’t forget…”
I scowl because I know what he’s going to say.
“…talk to Ares.”
Chapter 39
Betrayal
I have no intention of talking to Reese. I tell myself this the entire time I’m walking toward the greenhouses on the outskirts of the school property. It’s like my mind and my body are at odds. I try to justify my actions by telling myself that the only thing I’m going to say to Reese is that I never want to talk to him again. And then he’ll leave me alone, and I can have a future with Shayne.