Solstice

by P. J. Hoover

  There are about fifteen sand sculptures scattered around the beach. The first I see is a giant head resting on its side with a crown of leaves around it. Its eyes are closed like it’s sleeping, and hanging above it is a giant hand pressing it downward. My face heats up when I see the next sculpture. A man and a woman are in a moment of complete ecstasy. The woman sits on top of the man with her mouth wide open, and birds flying out of it. I glance sideways at Shayne who looks over and reaches for my hand. I let him take it, and he gives it a squeeze. I squeeze it back and finally look away from the figures. Charlotte leads us through all the sculptures, and we stop at each one until we finally reach the smallest. My heart almost stops when I see it. It’s a perfect replica of the box Melina had given me on my birthday. The lid is wide open, and there’s a phoenix flying out. The sun sits just above the head of the phoenix such that the rays of light and the feathers of the bird become one.

  “Do you like it, Piper?” Charlotte asks.

  I nod. I can’t pull my eyes from it.

  “I made it just for you,” she says.

  “For me?” How could she have known I would be here?

  Shayne smiles at Charlotte. “It’s definitely the best.”

  And as if everyone in the contest can hear him, they all start cheering. I take this to mean Charlotte’s won the contest, and I’m not about to disagree. All the sculptures are amazing, but hers rises right to the top.

  Charlotte grabs our hands again. “There’s the most wonderful view up from the hills. You have to come see it.”

  “Of course,” Shayne says, and the excitement in his voice seems almost childlike. Like given his choice, he’d spend all his days on hills in the Elysian Fields rather than ruling over the Underworld. His eyes light up, and sunshine bounces inside them, mixing with the red flecks, making them glow. They seem to pour out love. But not just love for me. Love for the people around him. Joy from the Elysian Fields.

  It’s everywhere, and I can’t help but let it touch me, too. From the beach to the trees to the clouds in the sky. And when we reach the top of the hill Charlotte’s taken us to, I look up and let out a gasp. The Underworld is a rainbow of unadulterated color.

  Trees and bushes grow on rolling hills, and flowers of every size and color fill the spaces in between. Meadows of them—purples and yellows and even my favorite reds. Set underneath the tree tops are tree houses and hobbit holes and stone cottages. It’s a world of nature and beauty, and it reminds me of what I imagine our own Earth looked like before it got paved over.

  Charlotte heads back to the beach, but Shayne and I stay, watching the clouds while lying on a blanket of daffodils.

  “Do you like paradise?” he asks.

  I laugh at the incredulity of the question. “It’s paradise.”

  “Chloe would be happy here.”

  “What if I say no?” There’s not really a what if about it.

  “Then Chloe will live.”

  It’s the answer I want. “And then when she dies much later on, she’ll come here?” I think of Chloe and me here together enjoying paradise. Forever.

  Shayne’s words shake me from my thoughts. “She’ll have to be judged again, Piper. She’ll live her life tempting Fate, and when her time comes again, I’ll have to make that decision.”

  “But of course she’d come here.” I can’t see that it’s really a question.

  “Near death can change people,” Shayne says. “Not even I know what will happen if you choose to let Chloe live.”

  I fall into a half sleep there on the grass, thinking about Chloe and death, but I’m woken by the sound of voices. I pretend to still be asleep, but I crack open one eye so I can see. Rhadam’s come back, and he and Shayne are sitting across from each other, talking.

  “I’m not trying to tell you your business,” Rhadam says. “But you have a serious problem.”

  “Like what?” Shayne asks, and suddenly I’m wide awake, though I try not to move.

  Rhadam’s eyes flicker over to me then back at Shayne. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Shayne nod. He doesn’t know I’m listening.

  “I talked to Minos yesterday,” Rhadam says. “I borrowed help from him to move the house. And he mentioned he had a visitor.” His words are staid, and I know it’s because I’m just a couple feet away that he doesn’t want to speak freely.

  Shayne’s whole body stiffens. “What kind of visitor?”

  Rhadam leans in close. “Okay, he started drinking, and you know how Minos is when he drinks.”

  “Everyone in the Underworld knows how Minos is when he’s drunk,” Shayne says.

  “Right. So, he started bragging. Saying he knew how to return memories and get souls back across the river.”

  “He’s lying,” Shayne says.

  Rhadam puts up his hand to silence Shayne.

  “Maybe. But then he told me he’d been talking to Ares. That Ares found a way to get through the boundaries of the Underworld. He said Ares knew everything.”

  Shayne’s fingers dig into the ground. “That’s impossible.”

  “Impossible, but it happened,” Rhadam says. “And you need to watch out.”

  Ares is the god of war; I know this from mythology. His name causes my skin to prickle while at the same time making butterflies form in the pit of my stomach.

  Shayne stands up. “Tell me how the god of war has managed to enter my domain.” His eyes bore into Rhadam who matches his gaze. “Tell me that.”

  Rhadam is silent for a moment while I watch. People getting into the Underworld without Shayne’s knowledge can’t be a good thing.

  Finally, Rhadam sighs. “He must have help. Some shortcut in.”

  I decide it’s time to enter the conversation. “There are shortcuts into the Underworld?”

  Shayne keeps his eyes on Rhadam and doesn’t even blink at the fact that I’m awake. I wonder if he’s known all along. “There are no shortcuts into the Underworld,” he says. “Everyone has to go by Charon.”

  Rhadam shakes his head. “Except Ares.”

  “How?” I ask.

  “Ares is working with someone on the inside; he has to be,” Rhadam says.

  Shayne runs a hand through his hair. “I still say it’s not possible. The boundaries should be secure.”

  “So this is a real problem?” I ask.

  Shayne looks at me then and tries to give me a reassuring smile, but I see how white his face has gotten. “It’s nothing. Just normal stuff going on here in the Underworld.”

  He’s lying. The Underworld has issues just like the world above. Maybe the worlds aren’t so different after all. And he really wants me to send Chloe here? “But other gods are getting in.”

  “Yes,” Rhadam says at the same time Shayne shakes his head.

  “So why now?” I ask.

  Shayne’s eyes meet mine. “Good question. Why now?”

  I glance at Rhadam whose eyes are fixed on me, waiting. Why would others be coming to the Underworld? I figure the Underworld can’t be much different from any world. “They want control?” I say.

  Rhadam nods. “My thoughts exactly. They want control. Ares wants to claim the Underworld for his own.”

  “The day Ares takes over the Underworld, I’ll tear his entrails out inch by inch and knit them into a chew toy for Cerberus,” Shayne says.

  Rhadam opens his mouth, but hesitates.

  “What?” Shayne says.

  “You should go to the assembly,” Rhadam says. “Get a warrant out for Ares.”

  “I’m not taking my problems to the assembly of gods,” Shayne says. “We’ve been over this.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  Shayne turns to me. “Because it’s the ultimate show of weakness. There’s no better way to lose control than to admit you need help.”

  I’m not sure if I agree with this logic, but I doubt Shayne wants to argue about it with me. Besides, he’s the one in control here, not me.

  He turns back to Rhadam. “Thanks
for watching my back.”

  Rhadam nods.

  And then Shayne reaches out for my fingers and intertwines his with them, rubbing his thumb softly on the back of my hand. “Are you ready?”

  “Are we leaving?” Not that I mind. As charming as Rhadam is, the conversation has put a certain chill into the air, even here in paradise. A chill of gods and battles over mythical domains.

  Shayne nods.

  “I’ll see what else I can find out,” Rhadam says. He looks at me, and his smile from the atrium returns. “Piper, can I just say how great it is to finally meet you?”

  I nod, and when he takes my hand and kisses it, I feel like I’m on a stage with a million eyes watching me.

  “It was great meeting you, too. Maybe I’ll be back sometime,” I say.

  Rhadam nods and looks to Shayne. “It’s a pretty nice place to come visit.”

  Shayne actually laughs, and a giant weight lifts off my chest, returning the atmosphere to one of fun. He grins at Rhadam. “Especially if you’re overseeing Elysium.”

  Rhadam lets go of my hand. “It’s a hard job, but I sacrifice for the greater good.” And then, once again, Rhadam vanishes.

  “So what did I miss?” I ask Shayne.

  “Nothing,” he says. It has to be a lie. He must not want me to know. And, of course, this only makes me more curious. I’ll find a way to figure it out.

  Chapter 17

  Disease

  Paradise is perfect, but Chloe is waiting for me. “Are we going?” I ask.

  “Almost,” Shayne says, and he leads me down from the hill. I guess he’s still trying to convince me to let Chloe come here. He must know by now it’s pointless. Or maybe he’s just trying to stall for time. If this is the case, I can’t say I mind much.

  We walk until we reach a path of manicured greenery. Trees have grown along the sides, forming a tall arbor with a grass walkway below. It slopes downward, and water bubbles in a stream at the bottom. The green is so vibrant, so different from the world I know back above ground. That world hangs on the edge of extinction. And this world thrives. It’s ironic how the world of the living is dying, and the land of the dead is alive.

  Shayne grabs my hand, and out of nowhere bounds Cerberus, who knocks into Shayne and sends us both flying. After I wipe my face from Cerberus’s exuberant licking, we get up and stroll down the path, Cerberus leading the way. He stops every so often to snap at a passing bird with one or all of his heads, but either has really bad aim, or isn’t trying all that hard to catch one.

  Once we’re out of the arbor, we reach a stream which flows over rocks in a white froth until it clears them and settles into an even flow. To the left is the source of the water—a waterfall cascading down from a small cliff cut into a hill. The sun catches the water, reflecting a blaze of light around the entire valley. Vines climb up the rocks on the side of the falls, creating curtains that bloom with vibrant flowers. Mist hangs in the air above the crash of the water, forming a cloud of rainbows which holds steady even as the mist within it shifts and settles.

  With each step I take, I want to move to the Underworld and stay here forever. To have Chloe actually come to paradise. To make it my new Botanical Haven away from the stifling presence of my mom. To live with Shayne forever. I follow him off into the trees, and pretty soon we come to a clearing which is planted with all sorts of orange and purple and electric blue flowers. Saffron yellow. Cherry red. Vibrant colors. Colors I love.

  I look at Shayne. “This is your garden?”

  “It’s a new hobby. I’ve only been at it for a few years.”

  I walk into the center of the garden and look at the abundance of life sprouting out of the Earth around me. “And I thought I could grow things.”

  He walks over and joins me. “But there is this one that won’t grow.”

  Around me is nothing but life. I smell each plant. I almost hear nectar pumping through stems, feeding them. But then I catch it—the smell of death, here in this beautiful garden. So misplaced that, as soon as I smell it, all other aromas go away. I close my eyes, and begin walking, following my instincts, and pretty soon I find myself in front of a tree which, although still alive, is not in bloom like the rest of the garden. It seems to be coated in a thick layer of yellowish green mucus, though when I reach my hands out to touch it, the mucus disappears. It reminds me of the disappearing mold I’ve been seeing on people back in the outer world. I wonder if both are an illusion that gives some sense of what is inside.

  “A pomegranate tree?”

  Shayne nods and reaches up to touch a branch with green leaves. “It won’t produce fruit.”

  I run my hands over the bark. At home, in the Botanical Haven, I can nurse almost anything back to life. I can make fruit grow from even the ficklest of breeds. My mom says it’s been that way since I was born.

  The pomegranate tree is breathing. I feel it under my palms. But it’s missing…something. Something fertile in the soil hasn’t made its way to the roots. Or has been removed entirely.

  “I built the garden around it,” Shayne says.

  I hear him but don’t turn. “What happened?”

  In his voice, I hear the resignation. “It just started dying.”

  Slowly, I turn. “The soil around it is empty.”

  “I do fertilize.” Shayne seems to be reading my thoughts.

  “Then why isn’t it working?”

  He shrugs. “I figured you could ask the tree.”

  I again place my palms on the hard bark. It seems to tell me it’s missing a vital ingredient, but I soon realize maybe this isn’t quite the truth. I recognize something, and suddenly, I feel like falling to the ground and crying. In my mind, I’m walking in a field. And aside from the grass which reaches well past my knees, the pomegranate tree stands alone. Awake. Aware. And bursting with life.

  The branches hang low to the ground, plump with fruit. Light radiates from it as I draw close. I take a few steps closer until I can brush the bark with my hand. So healthy. So unlike the reality of what I’ve felt.

  I lift my hand and reach for a fruit. It pulls against my touch, but then it gives and comes loose in my hand. It’s the color of red wine, and I peel it until I can see the seeds inside.

  And then, all at once, I’m being pulled from the tree. I reach out toward it, but it’s moving away, and so am I. Leaves fall and fruit begins to drop. I’m so far away the tree is only a brown shape in the distance. Oppression hits the tree like a fist. And I’m back in the garden of flowers with Shayne.

  I take my hands off the tree and turn to Shayne.

  “I thought you said there was no sadness here in the Elysian Fields.”

  “There’s not. At least, there isn’t supposed to be.”

  “This tree is full of sorrow.” I think of the River Acheron. And deep inside me, the origins of the sorrow twist and form, growing like roots. I grab Shayne’s eyes with my own and hold them. “Why is this tree sad?”

  I see tears in the corners of his brown eyes; they shine when the red flashes. “A lot of the Underworld is sad. We’ve been that way for years.” He looks away and reaches out to touch a nearby red flower.

  A breeze blows through the valley.

  “Should we go now?” Shayne asks.

  I nod because the initial happy thoughts of paradise have vanished. I’m trying to hold onto them, but the tree’s dug its sorrowful roots inside my soul. We walk out of the garden and head back the way we came. It’s only when I see Cerberus’s three heads looking our way that my sorrow begins to diminish. I push it away, but part of it sticks, as if echoes of the sadness will never leave me. Like it’s a part of me I’ll never understand.

  Chapter 18

  Departure

  I can tell Shayne’s pensive, and so am I. He’s got his lips pressed together, and he doesn’t even skate when we cross the river. Instead, we walk hand in hand in silence. And when we finally reach the winter wonderland on the other shore, I’ve decided it’s time
to head home. Shayne must realize he’s been quiet, so he starts to make chit chat, but my mind drifts to Chloe, back above ground, at the side of the creek bed.

  “I need to leave.”

  Shayne turns to me, and his eyes soften. I see the sadness filling them now.

  “Please don’t go.” He brushes my arm. “Not yet.”

  And I think if he asks me right now, I will stay with him forever.

  “Please?”

  I nod, and he pulls me in and holds me. My body presses up against his on the edge of the River Cocytus, under the icicle trees. His muscles are hard, and they mesh into mine. I feel the beating of his heart in his neck; my forehead is so close to it. His skin is warm enough to melt every bit of ice around us; I let the heat soak into my body.

  He kisses the top of my head, and a chill spreads down me, having nothing to do with the frozen river we’ve just crossed. He lets go of me and backs up so I can see his face. His soft, gorgeous, dark face. A face of mysteries. A face of secrets. I want to know his secrets. Want to share them with him.

  “I really like the Underworld,” I say.

  “I really like you,” he says.

  He smiles, and I want to sink back into his warm arms. But he’s one step ahead of me. He pulls me to the snowy ground, letting my coat fan out below me, and moves to me. His lips find mine. My arms snake around him, and I let his whole weight fall on me.

  His kisses are hard and fierce, and his hot breath explores my mouth. I gasp for air when I can between kisses, but don’t twist away because if it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up. His hands move to my hair, breaking the ponytail holder with a snap, and he runs his hands through the tangles which have accumulated. Against me, I feel him, and I want him to be a part of me more than anything else.

  His hands travel down my sides; I don’t want to stop anything with Shayne. I lift his shirt and let my hands move over his skin. Each touch is electric, and his kisses taste of singed sweetness. Being with him here in our winter paradise is more perfect than the Elysian Fields, but Shayne stops way too soon and rolls off me. I try to move back to him, but he pushes me away and jumps to his feet, grabbing one of the supply chests near the dock and throwing it. It smashes into the rock wall, and the pieces scatter everywhere. And then thunder rumbles around us.