by Jen McConnel
When I was done, I had a rough idea of the territory that was under my control, and I shuddered. It appeared that I had power over most of South and North America, part of Malaysia, and the eastern edge of Asia, including the island of Japan.
That was a lot more than Justin or I had thought. I felt a pang when I realized I couldn’t tell him what I’d learned. I doubted if he’d ever talk to me again. Shaking my head, I steered my thoughts in another direction. I couldn’t get bogged down worrying about Justin or anything back at home. Persephone had sent me here to figure out how to use my power, and I needed to focus on that.
Just then, I felt a tingle on my neck. It spread down my back, and I realized it was the spell I had cast around the house. Someone was coming. Quickly, I rolled the map up and returned it to the shelf. I released the spell and dropped the pendulum into my bag as the cottage door opened.
I smiled at Demeter as she came inside. “You’re home early.” I had no idea if this was true, but the sun was still up, and I remembered that Persephone had told me her mother was usually working for the entire day during the harvest.
She smiled at me. “I wanted to spend some more time with you.”
My palms started to sweat and I worried that Demeter had discovered my subterfuge, but then I remembered that Persephone was due to return to the Underworld soon. I relaxed slightly.
“Will you walk with me, daughter?”
I nodded and crossed the room. She clasped my hand tightly, and there was a flicker of confusion on her face for a moment. I pulled my hand away, and her face returned to normal. She shook her head as if trying to get rid of a mosquito, and we turned and walked around the side of the house. She’d had no problem touching me last night; what if the glamour was starting to wear off? I tried not to panic as I followed her outside.
Demeter led me to the meadow behind the house. In the late afternoon light, it looked like a field of gold and precious jewels.
“I’d like to check on the hives, if you don’t mind.” Demeter spoke softly, not looking at me.
“That’s fine.” I glanced down at my thin tunic and trousers, worried. I hoped my glamour could fool bees.
A faint hum filled the air, like a helicopter in the distance, as seven boxy hives came into sight at the edge of the clearing.
Demeter crossed confidently and removed the lid of one of the boxes. The hum got louder and more distinct, and I realized I was hearing thousands of bees. The air seemed to vibrate, and my nose tingled. Demeter bent lovingly over the hive and pulled out a comb, examining it closely.
“We should have one more harvest of honey before they begin to sleep for the winter.” I leaned forward, interested despite my fear of being stung. The bees were massed on the comb, working quickly and efficiently. There was one tremendous bee in the upper-left corner; it was easily as long as the first two joints of my finger.
“That’s the queen, isn’t it?” I felt foolish for my question. Persephone had obviously helped her mother many times, and wouldn’t need to be told which bee was the queen of the hive. But I couldn’t help myself; there was so much I wanted to ask Demeter. I was carefully storing away everything she said so I could tell Mom once I returned home. She’d want to hear all about it, I was sure.
Demeter didn’t seem surprised by my question. “All the other bees in the hive live to serve her. None of them would dream of challenging their queen.” Her deep green eyes looked into mine and I felt a chill. “Have you felt any tremors in your magic, lately, daughter?”
I looked down at the hive, trying to keep my face neutral. “What kind of tremors?”
“I have been told that you offered help to a new Red. Is that true?”
I laughed nervously. “We all did. Kali, Pele, even I were vying for her attention. It is difficult to be a patron of Red magic, Mother. We only ever have the chance for three devotees. There are never enough Red Witches to go around.” I hoped that Persephone would have said something like that, and I tried to keep my voice casual. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was sure Demeter could hear it.
Demeter nodded slowly. “I understand the girl did not pick you.”
I swallowed, wondering how much Demeter already knew. “No. She vowed to our cousin, Aphrodite. A waste of Red magic, if you ask me.”
Demeter replaced the comb and moved on to the next hive. “Still, you had dealings with the girl. Hecate would like to question you.”
“Why?” My arms grew cold and I struggled to keep my voice steady. Demeter shrugged, looking down at the bees.
“Evidently, this girl is strong. Hecate wants to learn more about her.”
I was strong? That was good to know. “Why would this concern Hecate? Isn’t she above all forms of magic?” I took a stab, hoping that my encounters with Hecate hadn’t reached Demeter’s ears.
She looked at me. “Hecate is above all magics, but of them. She is the Queen of Witches, after all. Of course she is taking an interest in this new child.”
Silently, I walked to another hive. Demeter closed the one she was checking and followed me. “You know that I owe Hecate a great debt. She was the only one who was brave enough to tell me your fate. I won’t have you treating her rudely just because you weren’t able to win this mortal’s devotion.”
I shook my head, looking down. “Of course I will treat Hecate with all respect.”
Demeter nodded. “Good. She should be here soon.”
My head jerked up and I fought to keep the panic from my voice. “Soon? How soon?” Had Demeter figured out who I really was?
Demeter sighed. “She’ll be here before you begin your descent, to escort you as she always does.”
This was news to me. Why hadn’t Persephone warned me about this? Maybe she’d figured we would swap places again before the dark goddess arrived. How would I hope to fool Hecate? Forcing myself to remain calm, I nodded at Demeter.
The goddess took a few steps away from me, keeping her face averted, but her words were full of pain. “Must you really leave me?”
Gods, Persephone had to put up with this whining every year? How awful. I mean, I felt bad for Demeter, but she needed to get over it already. Still, I tried to keep my response kind. “There must be balance. It can’t always be springtime.” I held out my arms and hugged the goddess. “But I will be back. I always am.”
Demeter nodded, stroking my hair. “I still do not understand the choice you made, daughter, and I have had centuries to think it through. I do not know what love you bear for my brother in his cold realm, but you have borne your choice like a woman.” She sighed. “I simply cannot stop thinking of you as the child you once were.”
“But I have to live with my choices. And so do you.” My voice shook, and Demeter touched my cheek gently.
“Yes, little one. I live with your choice every day.”
The next week was tense. Every day, I worried that Hecate would appear in the cottage, denouncing me and demanding that Demeter turn me over to her. I had no doubt that Demeter would obey Hecate. Persephone had been wise not to trust her mother with my secret.
But Hecate didn’t appear, and Demeter and I spent the time walking the fields and speaking with the farmers who were her devotees. Dennis followed me everywhere, and although I teased him and chased him off each day, I secretly enjoyed his company. I would miss him when I returned to my own world.
Each afternoon, I arrived back at the cottage before Demeter and tried to practice Red magic. I could now sense its force if I was still, and I was beginning to feel the differences between Red magic and anything else. Red magic felt like a jolt of electricity, and it was the strongest force, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the gentle tug of Green magic, or the warmth of White magic. One day, I even felt a sickening pull in my stomach that I assumed must be Black magic, but I shied away from that quickly, thinking of Rochelle. I didn’t want to end up like her, and while I knew rationally that Black magic had nothing to do with her being power hungry, she h
ad proved my parents’ prejudices when she tried to kill me. Black or Red, whatever she was, she’d gone from being my best friend to my enemy, and I didn’t want to be anything like her.
Before, I had only used Red magic when I was frightened, when I was desperate, or when I was angry. Now, in the small house in Greece, I tried to call upon Red magic when I was calm and quiet. It was hard. The more I tried, the more I wondered if it would be impossible to separate Red magic from chaotic emotion. I didn’t want to do anything too dramatic, but I tried to light the hearth fire each evening and failed.
After I had been in Demeter’s house for a week, I got particularly frustrated.
“What good does any of this do, if I don’t know how to use it?” I slammed my hand down on the table in frustration. The fire leaped when my fist hit the wood, and I stared into the now-dancing flames. I took a step closer to the fire, excited. As a test, I tried to breathe slowly and evenly. As my mind slowed, the flames fell.
Was I going about this all wrong? Maybe I shouldn’t try to distance strong emotion from Red magic; maybe the two were irrevocably bound. I didn’t want to use Red magic irrationally, though. Instead of focusing on frustration, I stared at the fire and tried to call to mind the fear I felt of Hecate. The fire surged again.
Not all emotions were destructive, I reasoned. Staring at the flames, I pictured Justin’s face, and for the first time I allowed myself to fully feel the emotions he stirred in me. Frustration and embarrassment swelled through me as I remembered his rejection. My cheeks burned, but the fire leaped high on the hearth, so I let myself keep retracing the emotions of our relationship. The relief I felt when Justin accepted my declaration of Red magic without question or judgment, the anger I felt when he refused to believe that I’d had nothing to do with the accident at the coffee shop. Images flooded my mind, and my heart raced. I focused on the feeling of his lips on mine after I cast the love spell, ignoring the fact that I wasn’t likely to feel that again.
A loud boom brought me back to reality. The fire had grown so hot and the flames had gone so high that the kettle over the hearth had imploded. I fought for a calm state of mind, and the flames gradually dropped down.
Taking a rag from beside the hearth, I reached in and tried to rescue the remains of the kettle. The lump of smoldering iron looked like a misshapen skull, and I carried it out of the cottage gingerly. I flung it into the field and dusted my hands, feeling satisfied; I had made some progress, even if I had destroyed the kettle. It would be easy enough to walk into town and purchase a new one.
Smiling, I turned back to the house, but a sound in the grass stopped me. I turned slowly and spotted Dennis, who was running frantically toward the vineyard. I called to him, but he only ran faster. I didn’t know how much he had seen, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up my disguise much longer. Dennis had clearly seen enough to know that I wasn’t Persephone, and now he’d run off to tell everyone.
Frantic, I thought of the goddess I’d traded places with. We hadn’t devised any way for me to contact her if things went wrong; she had said she’d check in on me, and I had trusted her. But so far, I hadn’t seen or heard anything from the goddess. I started pacing, trying to figure out what to do now that my cover had been blown.
I didn’t want to run the risk of Hecate catching me, not now when I was just beginning to understand how to use my power. And if Dennis went to Demeter, it wouldn’t be long before she summoned Hecate. As if in answer to my thoughts, I heard the low rumble of voices over the hill. Someone was already headed my way from the vineyard; it sounded like a large group of people. I squinted in the distance, and saw Demeter crest the hill with a withered figure in black beside her. Hecate was here! How had everything fallen apart so quickly? I forgot that Demeter had said Hecate would be arriving soon to escort me to the Underworld; all I could think was that the Queen of Witches would soon have me in her clutches.
I panicked. Turning in the opposite direction of the crowd, I ran blindly down the path. I skidded to a halt outside the cave.
I stopped, weighing my options. If Hecate had heard what Dennis had seen, I didn’t stand a chance. I might be starting to learn how to control my power, but I had no doubt that she could destroy me in an instant. The last time I’d pissed her off, I’d had Aphrodite’s protection, but now I was totally vulnerable. I decided to take my chances with Hades, and I plunged into the dark mouth of the cave.
It was like being buried alive. Once I was in the cave, it turned sharply downward, and all light from the entrance was gone before I had taken ten steps. I paused, panting in the dark, fighting back fear. The cave was still, but I could hear the faint whispering that had drawn me to it that first night. Hecate was somewhere behind me, out in the light. With a deep breath, I continued into the darkness.
I emerged into a large, dimly lit chamber after what felt like hours in the dark. The trickle of water echoed off the cavern walls, and I realized with a start that I stood on the banks of the River Styx. In Greek mythology, souls passed over the River Styx to reach the Underworld. It had never occurred to me until now that Persephone had to follow the same path as the dead to reach her husband. I shuddered, wondering how she handled such a depressing journey year after year.
Why hadn’t Persephone done something to help me? I’d been in Greece for over a week; shouldn’t she have checked in to make sure I was still alive? My heart constricted painfully. I should have known better than to trust any of the gods. Hadn’t they all tried to use me ever since I declared to follow Red magic? Hecate clearly thought my life was worthless; she had set my best friend on me, hoping that I’d end up dead. Why had I thought Persephone would be any better?
I shivered again. What if Persephone had known this would happen from the beginning? What if her mother wasn’t the only one with a strong allegiance to Hecate? Angry, I stood there on the edge of the river. My fists clenched and released, and without even realizing what I was doing, I began to weave a spell. Red sparks shot up and down my arms, singeing my skin, but I was oblivious.
The boat was almost fully formed before I noticed it. Low to the water, it was red with a lantern hung off the prow. It looked sturdy, but I hesitated. Wasn’t there something weird about the water in the Underworld? I couldn’t quite remember, and pieces of myth teased at the back of my mind. Oh, well. Hecate was worse than whatever waited for me down the river. Glancing back over my shoulder one last time, I stepped into the boat.
There was nowhere to sit, but the boat began to move with the current as soon as I was aboard. I braced myself, trying not to fall overboard, and considered my options. Clearly, I would have to deal with Hades soon, and I had better come up with a plan before I met him. Making a decision, I closed my eyes and unbound my glamour.
I had never tried wearing a glamour for so long, and my skin tingled like a day-old sunburn as the spell faded. I glanced down at my arms; they looked familiar. Taking the mirror out of the pouch at my waist, I held it up to my face. My own eyes looked back at me, my own unremarkable and mortal features. I felt strangely relieved. At least whatever happened would happen to me, not to the girl who had been pretending to be a goddess.
The river cut through cavern after cavern, and the light of the lantern allowed me to make out the features of stalactites and stalagmites around me. Everything was still, except for the gently flowing water, and I didn’t see any signs of life. The air around me grew colder, and I thought wistfully of the warmth of the ratty old sweatshirt that was probably still lying in a heap beside my bed, half a world away. I shivered and wrapped my arms around my body, wishing the boat would hurry up.
In the darkness, I worked to summon Red magic. I had nothing else to do, and a faint voice in my mind whispered that I was running out of time to master my powers. I allowed myself to dwell on my fear of Hecate, banishing all thoughts of betrayal or anger. The fear filled me, and I started to shake, but when I felt like I couldn’t handle it any more, I extended my arms, palms down,
and tried to open myself to Red magic. The boat surged, and I staggered to keep my balance. I peered into the water, startled.
The boat, which had been drifting quietly with the current, had sped up as if I’d attached a motor to it. The inky water was choppy around me, and I could see waves peaking in my wake. I raised my arms slightly, and the boat accelerated even more. I grinned broadly.
Lowering and raising my arms like a bird learning to fly, I played with the force I had summoned. The boat went alternately slow and quick under my command. It was a heady feeling. Sparks danced on my skin, and energy surged through me. I was having so much fun that I almost didn’t notice where I was.
The lamp on the boat sputtered and went out, and I found myself plunged once more into eerie darkness. Looking up, I saw the silver illumination of a tremendous gate over my head, and I dropped my arms in awe. The boat slowed to a crawl, and I didn’t even try to summon up any more magic. I knew I had just crossed into the Underworld, and my skin prickled.
The boat drifted to a ratty pier and bumped against it. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the edge of the pier and stepped off the boat. The earth felt like it was rocking under my feet, and I waited a moment for everything to right itself. I looked around, nervous.
I had come ashore near a worn footpath, lit with randomly placed torches along the cavern wall. There was no one around, but I felt sure that someone was watching my every move. Turning my head slowly, I scanned the shore, but nothing happened. Still, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and my fingertips tingled. Someone was watching me, waiting to see what I would do.
I sucked in my breath and squared my shoulders. Without looking back at the boat, I began to walk up the path. Whatever was watching me followed: I heard a faint rustling behind me, but I didn’t allow myself to look back. In a few minutes, I would meet Hades, and I needed to come up with a story fast.
