Persephone the Phony

by Joan Holub

  When the shades were all onboard, Charon dipped his ferryman’s pole into the river and shoved off from shore. As the boat glided away, a cold lump of fear settled to the bottom of Persephone’s stomach. Clutching her bag to her chest, she thought how little she knew about the Underworld, after all. What had she gotten herself into? Have courage, she told herself. But what if her mom was right about the dangers of the world? Surely the Underworld was the most fearsome place of all!

  After a while the river branched into a swamp. Charon guided his boat to the far side until the craft bumped up against shore. “We’re here. Everybody off!” he called out.

  There was some grumbling among the shades, and a little pushing and shoving, as everyone left the boat. Trembling a little, Persephone climbed over the side.

  She followed the shades as they filed past an enormous dog with three slobbering heads and a snakelike tail. Cerberus! she realized with excitement. Because she knew he was Hades’ pet, he didn’t seem frightening at all.

  Cerberus lay with his heads on his paws, not bothering to look up as the shades entered the Underworld. Persephone was tempted to reach out and pat him, but she didn’t. She was afraid he might sniff out her disguise. But he ignored her, too. She knew it was his duty to keep souls from leaving, so he probably didn’t care who came in as long as no one got out.

  Following the shades, Persephone descended into the land of the dead. A dank, gray mist swallowed them up as they trudged down a marshy trail. Her sandals made sucking sounds as they sank into stagnant water that smelled of rotting grasses.

  “Yuck,” muttered the shade just ahead of her. “Could this place be any gloomier?”

  It was a gloomy place all right, but Persephone didn’t mind. Right now, it suited her mood.

  After a while the mist cleared and the group came upon fields of asphodel. The tall stalks, topped with white blossoms, spread out in all directions. This part of the Underworld was rather nice, thought Persephone. So what if asphodel was the only flower that bloomed here? She bent down and sniffed the flowers’ sweet fragrance. Ahhh. She loved asphodel.

  So did the dead. Up ahead, some of them were even eating it. Squatting near the ashes of a fire, they toasted the roots before gobbling them down. Out in the fields, other shades harvested the blossoms. They moved about in a mechanical fashion, seeming neither happy nor unhappy. Just calm. Persephone felt that way too. Like she could be herself here.

  Persephone looked around for Hades but didn’t see him. He wouldn’t be easy to find in such a large place. Well, she’d just have to keep looking. As the shades from the boat headed to a spot where three roads crossed, Persephone sneaked away from the group.

  “Hey, where are you going, shade?” called a bearded man with wings attached to his shoulders. “We’re just about ready to start the judging. You need to find out where you’ll be placed.” He studied a scroll list and then eyed her. “Do you mind fire?”

  “Actually,” Persephone admitted, “I’m not a shade at all. I’m a goddess in disguise. I—”

  The bearded man raised an eyebrow. “If you’re a goddess, I’m a Cyclops. Now get back in line.”

  “You don’t understand. I’m only here to look for Hades,” Persephone continued. “You see, I’ve run away from home and—”

  “Is that so?” interrupted the bearded man, making a quick note on his list. “Tsk-tsk. That’s not going to increase your chances of getting into the Elysian Fields!”

  “Hey, Thanatos!” Another bearded man with a scroll came up to them. The two men looked so much alike that Persephone guessed they must be twins. “There’s some kind of trouble down in Tartarus,” the second man said. “Hades volunteered to check it out. In the meantime, how about escorting a batch of shades up to the Palace?”

  Thanatos frowned. “Why should I? I’m busy, Hypnos.” He jabbed at his scroll list, as if to prove his point.

  “You’re not the only one who’s overworked.” Hypnos shook his scroll in Thanatos’s face.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  The two men glared at each other.

  Persephone didn’t wait to hear more. As the twins continued to bicker, she sneaked away.

  Tartarus was said to be the worst place in the Underworld. It was where the truly evil wound up, including those who had offended the gods and goddesses. But if Hades was there, that’s where she’d go. Her heart thumped in her chest as she tiptoed past the line of people waiting to be judged. She was sure that at any moment Thanatos or some other Underworld employee would come running after her. When no one did, she breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing a sign for Tartarus with an arrow pointing left, she set off in that direction, walking fast.

  As she turned a corner, she screeched to a halt. She’d almost tumbled into a river of fire! At her feet, red-hot lava hissed and steamed as it flowed over jagged rocks. Great billowing clouds of gray smoke hung over the river, and the air stank of rotten eggs. Pinching her nose, Persephone shrank away from the waves of intense stink and heat that rose from the water. She followed the river as the ground sloped steeply downward. Tartarus was the lowest level of the Underworld, so at least she knew she was still headed in the right direction.

  Eventually she came to an enormous lake that churned with boiling water and mud. Shades bobbed around in its bubbling waters, writhing and screaming. Suddenly she wasn’t sure whether to hold her hands over her ears or her nose!

  Shuddering, she wondered what these poor creatures had done to deserve such punishment. Surely something much worse than running away from home.

  Seeing her reflection in a puddle along the shore, Persephone remembered that she still wore her crone disguise. After shedding it, her step quickened as she thought about seeing Hades. Even the trouble with her mom and her friends couldn’t spoil the memories of how wonderful it had been to be with him yesterday. Eventually she came to the edge of a gaping pit. She stared down into it, but it was so deep she couldn’t see the bottom. This must be the entrance to Tartarus!

  As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness here, she saw there were steps carved in the cavern’s steep sides. Slinging her bag over her back, she began to climb down. The deeper she went, the danker the air became, and a murky gloom hung over the pit. She passed many shades along the way, each one more miserable than the last. They wrung their hands and thrashed about, complaining to whomever would listen that their being here was all a mistake.

  “I was framed,” one shouted to her when he noticed her. “And anyway, even if I did take the food and money, I needed it more than those orphans!”

  “It was an accident,” another claimed. “The knife just sort of slipped from my hands. I don’t know how it wound up in his back!”

  Persephone might have pitied them if she hadn’t doubted their truthfulness. Ignoring their feeble excuses, she called out, “Can any of you tell me where to find Hades?”

  “You a friend of his?” the shade who claimed to have been framed asked eagerly.

  “Yes.”

  “Put in a good word for me, and I’ll tell you exactly where to find him,” he said.

  “Don’t listen to him,” another shade called out. “He doesn’t know a thing. I’ll help you find Hades, though. And as a return favor—”

  “They’re both liars,” interrupted a third shade. “They have no idea where Hades has got to. But me and him are old pals, and . . .”

  It seemed obvious that these shades would be of no help, so Persephone continued on down. After a while, she passed a shade rolling a large boulder up the side of the pit. But well before he reached the top, the boulder rolled back down again. He had to run after it to stop it, then start all over again. Persephone watched him a few times, shaking her head. He’d never get that rock to the top, and that was the point, she realized. As punishments went, it was an interesting one, but not terribly creative. She thought she could think up a better one for him if she knew why he was here.

  It took forever t
o reach the bottom, but at last she arrived and immediately spotted Hades. She waved to him. He saw her and headed toward her. He looked worried. “What are you doing here?” he asked as they came even.

  Persephone’s face fell. She had thought he’d be happy to see her. “I ran away from home,” she told him.

  “Why?”

  She stared at him. He must know that he was part of the reason—that no one liked her seeing him. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to tell him that. Instead she said, “Because everyone keeps telling me what to do. I just couldn’t stand it anymore!”

  Hades raised an eyebrow. “Everyone?”

  “Well, my mom and my friends.” She told him what had happened when she got home from the cemetery.

  Hades listened quietly. But when she had finished, he gently took her arm and stepped past her, trying to lead her from the pit. “You can’t stay here. This is no place for someone like you.”

  Persephone yanked away and stood facing him. “Why not?”

  “Because it’s gloomy!” he explained, sounding frustrated and a little angry that she didn’t seem to understand. “You’re bright and sunny.”

  She scowled and crossed her arms. “Not always. Sometimes I just pretend  to be.”

  Hades planted his hands on his hips. “Look, if your mom discovers you’re gone, she’ll be furious. Especially if she finds out you came here. To see me. Let me take you home.”

  “Why are you sticking up for her?” Persephone exclaimed. “You know she doesn’t like you. And my friends don’t either!”

  “I’m used to it,” Hades said grimly, but she thought he looked a little hurt. “Listen, it’s not that I don’t want you here. In fact, I’d like us to be friends. But if they find you here, your mom and the other goddessgirls will blame me. They’ll like me even less than they do now. If that’s possible.”

  Persephone knew Hades spoke the truth, but it was annoying that he wouldn’t go along with her plan. Her face was a dark cloud as he called up his chariot and four black stallions. She stared stonily ahead when he escorted her out of the Underworld in the chariot, back across the River Styx, and up Mount Olympus. “You can leave me here,” she said coldly when they drew near her home. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

  Hades pulled back on the reins, and his stallions came to a halt. With a firm grip on her woven bag, Persephone hopped off the back of the chariot.

  Hades grabbed her arm and waited till she looked at him. “See you at school.”

  She glared at him and pulled away. “Not if I see you first!” Ignoring the shocked look on his face, she stalked toward home.

  8

  Home Again

  ALL WAS DARK AND QUIET as Persephone sneaked in the front door of her home. Tiptoeing, she groped her way down the hall. But as she passed her mom’s door, she stubbed her toe on a loose mosaic tile. “Ow!” she cried out. Dropping her bag, she hopped about in pain.

  “Persephone?” In a flash Demeter was out of bed and at her daughter’s side. Under a circle of lamplight, her golden hair shone and stuck out at odd angles. She’d thrown on her rosebud-patterned bathrobe in such a hurry that it was inside out. “What happened? Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’m fine.” Persephone’s heart beat wildly as she waited for her mom to ask why she was out of bed in the middle of the night.

  “What’s the matter? Couldn’t you sleep?” asked Demeter. Then her gaze fell on Persephone’s bag. Her forehead wrinkled. “What’s that doing here?”

  “I—um—” Persephone stopped, unwilling to lie, but unwilling to tell the truth, either.

  Demeter’s hand flew to her throat. “You were planning to run away, weren’t you?”

  Persephone rubbed her stubbed toe, looking away. “Not planning to. Already did. But Hades made me come back home.”

  “I thought I smelled smoke!” wailed Demeter. “That horrible godboy! This was his idea, right? I can’t believe you ran away to the Underworld! I—”

  “Stop!” Persephone exclaimed. “You’re not listening! It was my idea to run away, not Hades’.”

  Demeter turned as pale as a shade. “But why?”

  “Because I was mad.” Persephone let out a long sigh. “Can we sit down? I’m really tired. And my toe hurts.”

  “Yes, of course,” her mom said. “Let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll get you a snack. And some cold water to soak your foot.” In the kitchen, Demeter set some breadstyx and a bowl of nectar on the table.

  “Thanks.” Persephone sank onto a chair. Her mother set a bowl of cold water on the floor, and Persephone lowered her foot into it. Then she picked up one of the styx and dipped it into the nectar. When she was younger, her mom had often fixed this snack for her—especially whenever she’d woken from a nightmare in the middle of the night.

  Demeter sat down across from her. “So tell me. Why did you run away?” she asked again. There was a pained look on her face. “Am I such a terrible mother?”

  “No,” said Persephone. “Of course not. I told you. I was just mad.”

  “I know you think I’m a chariot mom,” Demeter said softly, “but I have more experience of the world than you. I know what can happen. It’s my duty to protect you, even when you don’t think you need protection.”

  “But I’m almost thirteen years old!” Persephone protested. “I can look after myself!”

  “You think you can,” Demeter said sharply. “But sometimes you don’t use the best judgment.”

  Persephone bristled. She knew what her mom was thinking. “You’re wrong about Hades!” she exclaimed. “So are my friends! Like I told you, he made me come home. In fact, he brought me back here. He knew you’d be upset if you found out I’d run away. He said I didn’t belong in his world.”

  Demeter gaped at her. “He really said all that?”

  Persephone nodded. She didn’t tell her mom how mad she’d been at him for saying it, though. With a start she realized that this new, angry, daring side of her was no more real than the Persephone that went along to get along. The real her was somewhere in between.

  Her eyes pleaded with her mom as she said, “How can I get better at making judgments if you won’t let me make my own?”

  Demeter opened her mouth, and then closed it again. At last she sighed. “I guess you’re right. I do need to give you more independence.”

  “Really?” Persephone’s heart skipped a beat.

  Demeter nodded. “It’s hard for me to admit this, but you are getting older.” She looked a little sad, and tears pricked her eyes. “You’re not my little goddessgirl anymore.”

  Overwhelmed with love for her mother, Persephone took her foot out of the bowl of cold water and rose from the table. “Don’t worry,” she said, hugging her mom. “I’ll always be your little goddessgirl—no matter how old I get.”

  * * *

  As good as Persephone felt about her late-night talk with her mom, she was worried the next morning as she crossed the courtyard and began to climb the wide granite steps to the school. Would her friends be mad at her? Yesterday was the first time they’d ever seen her angry. What if they’d only liked her because she always tried to be nice?

  “Persephone! Wait up!” Athena bounded toward her, with Aphrodite and Artemis right behind her.

  “Hi,” Persephone said awkwardly as they caught up to her.

  “Hi,” they said back.

  For an awkward moment all four goddessgirls stood there silently. Finally Persephone looked away. “I’m sorry I—”

  “We’re sorry we—,” Aphrodite started to say at the same time.

  Both goddessgirls stopped talking. They smiled at each other. Then all four began to laugh.

  “I’m so glad you’re not mad at me,” said Persephone.

  “Us too,” said Aphrodite.

  “Yeah,” Artemis and Athena agreed together.

  Persephone could hardly believe it. Her friends must feel as bad about what had happened yesterday as she di
d!

  “Are things okay between you and your mom?” Artemis asked anxiously as the friends linked arms and climbed to the top of the steps.

  Persephone nodded. “We had a good talk last night.”

  “That’s great!” said Athena.

  Aphrodite studied Persephone. “I’ve never seen you as mad as you were yesterday.” She grinned. “I didn’t know you had it in you!”

  “You erupted like a volcano,” Athena added. “A real Mount Vesuvius!”

  Persephone’s cheeks burned. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” said Artemis. “Don’t you think we get angry sometimes too?”

  Persephone thought for a moment. Then she remembered how mad Aphrodite had been at Artemis one day when her dogs got into Aphrodite’s room and chewed up her favorite pair of sandals. And Artemis had practically gone ballistic once when Athena had beaten her in what was supposed to have been a friendly archery contest.

  Yes, of course her friends got angry sometimes, she realized. Then it dawned on her: Strong friendships could survive an occasional outburst or bad mood. She didn’t need to fear losing her friends. “From now on I promise not to keep my real feelings a secret,” she said. Then she grinned. “So watch out!”

  The goddessgirls laughed. As they passed between two Ionic columns and entered the school, Persephone told them about Hades being friends with Principal Zeus and how they ate lunch together most days. She was eager to put the “bad boy” rumors to rest. Then maybe her friends would see Hades in a new light.

  When Persephone finished explaining, Aphrodite looked thoughtful. “Typical of Pheme to jump to conclusions,” she said. “But we shouldn’t have been so quick to believe her.”

  “True,” said Artemis, “but it doesn’t exactly help that Hades glowers all the time.”

  “Maybe we would too, if we had to live in the Underworld,” said Athena.