Persephone the Daring

by Joan Holub

  “That rescue gave me a great song idea! I need to write down the words before I forget, so I can include the song in my next concert with Orpheus. Does anyone have any blank papyrus?”

  “Hush,” Hades warned her. “They’ll hear you.”

  “Who?” asked Eurydice.

  Hearing a strange cackling sound, Persephone peeked out of the chariot. The other girls did too. Glancing behind her as they flew toward the River Styx, she noticed someone—three someones, actually—chasing after the chariot. As the trio gained on them, she saw it was the three Furies!

  “Duck down,” Hades ordered Eurydice, but she didn’t listen. And then it was too late. The Furies spotted her.

  “Who’s that pink-haired girl?” one of them called out.

  “Great. Just great,” Persephone heard Hades mutter under his breath.

  Though she’d never met the Furies, Persephone knew each of their names. Hades had told her all about them. About how powerful they were in the Underworld, and how persnickety they could be about matters of justice. Especially when it came to shades . . . or mortals who entered the Underworld without actually being dead.

  All too soon the Furies pulled up alongside them. They eyed Eurydice suspiciously.

  Oblivious to the trouble she was in, Eurydice smiled brightly at them. “Excuse me,” she said. “Do you happen to have a sheet of papyrus you could spare?”

  “Who are you?” Megaera demanded.

  “Me? I’m actually pretty famous. Maybe you’ve heard of me—Eurydice? I could give you an autograph if you do have some papyrus I can use. Oh, and also a pen?” She raised her brows hopefully.

  “Stop asking,” cautioned Persephone. “You’ll only make things worse.”

  “Worse than what?” asked Eurydice, still not getting how worried she should be.

  Tisiphone looked her up and down. “She looks mortal to me, and very much alive.”

  “I am,” Eurydice informed her before Persephone could clap a hand over the girl’s mouth to stop her from speaking.

  “Aha!” The three Furies each pointed an accusing bony finger at Eurydice.

  She cocked her head in puzzlement. “So is that a ‘no’ to the papyrus?”

  Just then Alecto and Megaera reached for her. Suddenly Eurydice had the sense to be scared. Her eyes went wide and she drew back. Instinctively Persephone and Aphrodite moved closer to her, even though they knew it was hopeless to try to interfere with the Furies’ justice.

  They were still about a quarter mile from the river by now. Tisiphone glanced at Hades for support. “Mortal trespassers must remain in the Underworld. Our deal, remember?”

  Hades nodded, then tugged on the reins, slowing the chariot. “I’m sorry, Eurydice, but what she said is true.” He sent the girl a grim stare. “Once you enter the Underworld, you’re in forever. Which you might have known if you’d read my warning signs.”

  Eurydice’s eyes widened. “But I heard you let two mortal trespassers in the Underworld return to Earth just the other day.”

  Still holding the reins in one hand, Hades ran the fingers of his other hand through his dark hair in frustration. “It took some powerful convincing to get the Furies to release them. And a promise from me to let justice be done if any other mortals tried to sneak in.”

  “But what about Persephone and Aphrodite? They come and go as they like,” Eurydice argued.

  “We’re immortal,” Aphrodite explained. “Mortals don’t have the same privileges.”

  Eurydice turned pleading eyes on Persephone. “You can’t let them keep me here. I have concert dates next week.”

  Persephone gazed at Hades beseechingly. “There’s nothing you can do?”

  “I can’t break the rules of the Underworld again,” he said flatly. “I promised. If I go back on my word, my authority here will be called into question. Everyone will think they can break the rules. The shades might try to sneak into the Elysian Fields. Or even out of the Underworld!”

  Hades and the goddessgirls watched helplessly as the three cackling Furies plucked Eurydice from the chariot. “You’re ours now, girl!” said Alecto.

  But Eurydice wasn’t going to go quietly. “Put me down, you dumb Furies!” she commanded, struggling in their hold. “I’m not staying here. It’s way too icky.”

  Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera gasped. They weren’t used to being shown such disrespect. However, the shades in the field below studied the girl in admiration. None of them had ever dared rebel like that.

  Persephone hoped it didn’t put ideas in their heads. Hades would soon have a revolt on his hands!

  “The whole world will be furious with you if I don’t show up for my concerts,” Eurydice argued. “Including Principal Zeus! He loves Orpheus’s and my music.” Though her words were forceful, her voice trembled. She was afraid now.

  “Who’s Orpheus?” asked Alecto. But at that moment the Furies lost their grip on the wiggling Eurydice.

  And then, just like when she’d flown in the winged sandals for the first time, Eurydice was suddenly falling. Only, this time Persephone wasn’t there to grab on to her hand and save her!

  12

  Rules Are Rules

  Hades

  HANG ON!” HADES CALLED TO Persephone and Aphrodite as he swooped their chariot around to go to Eurydice’s rescue. The horses went into a steep dive and brought the chariot directly under her as she fell. Whomp! She dropped unharmed right into a seat. Relieved, Hades set the chariot down in a meadow of white asphodel, and everyone got out.

  In the distance Charon’s ferry had just arrived here at the Underworld side of the River Styx again. “If I hurry, I might have time to get on board before it leaves,” Aphrodite murmured. “I’ll take Adonis home, where he’ll be safe, okay?” She glanced warily up at the Furies as if concerned they might suddenly decide they had the right to keep a mortal kitten in the Underworld too!

  “Good idea,” Persephone told her. She gave the kitten one last pat. Then Aphrodite was winging off for the ferry, clutching the bag that held Adonis.

  Out of the blue, music began to play. Lyre music.

  It was far away and faint, but still the Furies’ ears perked up. “What’s that sound?” asked Alecto.

  “That’s O! Orpheus!” Eurydice called to the Furies. “The musician I was telling you about. He’s playing his lyre somewhere around here, but not too close from the sound of it.” She craned her neck, trying to see where he might be.

  “We left him on the far side of the river,” Hades told her. Keeping an eye on the Furies, he noticed that Orpheus’s music had entranced them, as it did animals, mortals, and immortals too. The Furies drifted lower and settled on the ground a few feet away to sway to the beat. Their faces softened and took on dreamy, faraway expressions.

  Then, as suddenly as the music had begun, it stopped.

  “Make him keep playing,” Megaera begged.

  “And bring him closer,” pleaded Tisiphone.

  “Yes!” said Alecto. “We want to hear more.”

  Suddenly Hades had a brilliantly crafty idea. “Tell you what,” he offered. “If you’ll agree to let Eurydice leave the Underworld, I’ll bring Orpheus here to play a few songs just for you.”

  Eurydice gasped. “But then he’d have to stay forever. Wouldn’t he?”

  “I’ll bring him in my chariot,” Hades assured her. “As long as we don’t land, his feet won’t touch the ground. Technically that means he won’t step foot on Underworld soil.”

  “So that wouldn’t be breaking the rules!” said Persephone, sounding delighted at his clever logic. He sent her a quick smile.

  “I don’t know,” Alecto said doubtfully.

  “But his music is so delicious,” said Tisiphone. “Almost like ambrosia pudding for the ears.”

  “More like a nectar shake,” Megaera put in.

  “Just imagine,” Hades told them. “Orpheus Rocks the Furies. Tonight only.” He spread his hands wide and assumed an expression tha
t invited them to envision a theater sign with those words framed by torchlights.

  “Let’s talk this over, ladies,” Tisiphone said in an excited voice.

  The Furies put their heads together. After cackling among themselves for a couple of minutes, they came to a decision.

  “We have a deal!” Alecto agreed. “Bring him here. After he plays for us, we’ll let Eurydice leave. Under one condition.”

  “And what’s that?” Hades asked, hoping it wasn’t going to be something impossible.

  “Concert now. Condition later,” Tisiphone insisted.

  “Yes,” he told the Furies. “We accept your bargain.”

  “What? But they’re cheating!” said Eurydice. “They should tell us the condition now so we can weigh its fairness.”

  The Furies bristled. “We are always fair and just!” huffed Megaera.

  Hades threw the girl a warning look.

  “They always add take-it-or-leave-it conditions to agreements,” he heard Persephone tell Eurydice in a quiet voice. “There’s no use arguing.”

  Eurydice still looked dissatisfied, but luckily she held her tongue.

  “C’mon,” Hades murmured to Persephone. “Let’s not give them a chance to back out of the bargain.”

  After assuring Eurydice that they would be right back, Hades and Persephone left her behind and raced his chariot back across the River Styx. When they reached Orpheus, they explained the situation with Eurydice and the deal the Furies had agreed to.

  “Of course I’ll go,” the rock star declared in a dramatic tone. “I must rescue my muse!”

  The three of them immediately flew back to the Underworld side of the river. As soon as they were above Eurydice and the Furies, Orpheus blew his muse a kiss. “We’ll have you out of here in no time,” he promised. Then he slung his golden lyre into position and started strumming it. Lifting his chin, he began to sing.

  Hades kept firm hold of his stallions’ reins as music floated across the meadow. Staying about twenty feet off the ground, he guided the chariot in slow circles around and around the area where the Furies and Eurydice now stood.

  In the fields down below, the shades stopped their work to listen. Slowly smiles spread across their faces. The smiles were kind of ghoulish but were probably the best the glum souls could manage.

  The Furies were not only smiling, however. They were dancing! At least Hades guessed that’s what they were doing. It was sort of like a cross between a chicken dance and the bunny hop. They were almost as bad at dancing as Principal Zeus had been before Hera had given him lessons!

  A small, pale hand found its way into his free one. Persephone’s hand. He looked over at her, and they both smiled at the sight of the dancing Furies and at the craziness of this whole weird, wild experience.

  After Orpheus came to the end of his third song, Hades let go of Persephone’s hand and motioned for the music to stop. “It’s time for you to keep your side of the bargain,” he called down to the Furies.

  “Yeah!” added Orpheus.

  “C’mon. Just one more tune!” begged Alecto.

  “Now, now,” tsked Tisiphone. “That wouldn’t be fair and just.”

  “True,” agreed Megaera. “Hades promised a ‘few’ songs, which generally indicates three.”

  “Oh, very well,” said Alecto. Then she called up to Hades. “Our condition for releasing the trespasser is—”

  “Condition? What condition?” Orpheus asked Hades. “You didn’t tell me about that! Why can’t we just—”

  “They always add conditions,” Hades explained once again. “And we’ll make it work, whatever it is.”

  Meanwhile, Persephone called down to the Furies. “What’s the condition?”

  “The three of you must depart for Earth immediately in that chariot,” said Tisiphone. “The one named Eurydice may follow you, but on foot. And you must not look back to check on her progress. For if you do, the deal’s off. She’ll have to stay in the Underworld forever.”

  All three Furies folded their arms as if to remind everyone that their offers were always take-it-or-leave-it ones.

  “Done!” said Hades. “We agree.”

  When Orpheus started to protest again, Persephone elbowed him in warning.

  “I don’t trust them,” he muttered quietly.

  “Don’t worry. They’ll keep their bargain. It’s their job to serve justice fairly,” Hades assured him. “Now let’s go before they change their minds.”

  With a gentle tug on the reins, he turned the chariot around and headed for the dock, which was less than a quarter mile away. There, Eurydice could catch the ferry that would take her across the River Styx and out of the Underworld. He flew slowly, so she could keep pace on foot.

  Although they did not look back her way, from time to time Orpheus did call to her. “Keeping up, E?” he’d ask.

  “Yes, I’m here, O,” she’d answer.

  With Eurydice walking, the trip seemed to take forever. But eventually Hades spotted the ferry pulling into the dock just ahead.

  “Almost there, E!” Orpheus called out. A few seconds of silence passed.

  “E?” he asked worriedly. When there was still no reply, Orpheus—forgetting the promise they’d made—turned around.

  “Oh, no!” Persephone exclaimed.

  The damage had been done, so Hades looked back now too. And he saw that Eurydice, impulsive as usual, had only stopped to pick some asphodel.

  Immediately the winged Furies rushed in. As Hades, Persephone, and Orpheus watched from the chariot in dismay, the cackling women lifted Eurydice from the ground and carried her away. “The one named Eurydice must stay!” they delcared.

  “O!” Eurydice called. But it was too late to help her now.

  It was a sad group that returned in Hades’ chariot to MOA. After sending his chariot back to the Underworld, Hades followed Persephone and Orpheus to Principal Zeus’s office to deliver the bad news about what had just taken place.

  Zeus sat on his golden throne with his hands folded atop his desk while the group stood before him. As he listened to the three of them speak, there was a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “So Orpheus agreed to the Furies’ bargain. He promised not to look back, but he did,” Hades explained calmly.

  “I was worried about Eurydice,” said Orpheus. “I still am. What’s going to happen to her in that awful place?”

  “She’ll be sent to the Elysian Fields,” Hades told him. “It’s beautiful. The dead who go there feast, play, and sing forev—”

  “Enough!” Zeus interrupted. “The matter is settled. Eurydice must stay in the Underworld.”

  “You have got to be kidding!” Orpheus exploded. “You aren’t really going to make her stay there, are you? She’s not a shade. She’s a superstar!”

  Hades wasn’t exactly happy with Zeus’s verdict either. As King of the Gods he had the power to overrule the Furies. Still, his decision was a fair one. And Zeus didn’t like having his decisions questioned. As Orpheus continued to protest, Principal Zeus began to glower. His bushy eyebrows lowered over his bright blue eyes. Tiny zings of electricity snapped and crackled from his fingers and ran along his forearms.

  “Come on, Orpheus,” Persephone whispered, tugging at the pop star’s elbow. “Arguing isn’t going to help.” She managed to usher him out of the office before he got himself zapped. Hades followed.

  Out in the hall Hades glimpsed Pheme zooming off. Now that she had wings, that girl could really move! Had she somehow managed to eavesdrop on their talk with Zeus? She was buzzing with excitement about something. What she’d just overheard, no doubt. Which meant that soon everyone at MOA would know Eurydice was stuck in the Underworld. Great.

  Orpheus flung himself onto a marble bench. “Your principal doesn’t seem to understand that Eurydice is my inspiration,” he said in a dramatic voice. “And my good luck charm.”

  Hades thought of Persephone as his good luck charm sometimes too, so he knew
how Orpheus felt. Still, the situation with Eurydice was pretty hopeless. Frustrated, he rammed his hands into the pockets of his tunic.

  Persephone sat beside Orpheus, trying to console him. “Your talents are within yourself,” she told him. “Your music will live on even if we can’t rescue Eurydice.”

  Orpheus leaped to his feet. “No,” he announced. “I will never play music again.”

  “Never?” Hades echoed.

  “But what about your tour?” asked Persephone.

  “It’s off,” Orpheus said. “I can’t play. Not without Eurydice.” With that, he trudged down the hall and up the stairs to the boys’ dorm.

  Persephone and Hades gazed after him in shock.

  13

  F lower Power

  Persephone

  YOU OKAY?” A VOICE ASKED Persephone the next morning as she stood inside the MOA greenhouse. She turned to see Athena framed in the doorway. Aphrodite was with her. And through the glass wall of the greenhouse, she saw Artemis waiting outside with her three dogs, who were romping around the courtyard.

  “We heard what happened with Eurydice and Orpheus yesterday,” Athena added.

  “This whole thing stinks,” said Aphrodite.

  “Oh! Sorry. The stink is probably skunkweed,” Persephone told her. “I was just making a birthday card for Hades and had a little problem with—”

  “That’s right! It’s Saturday—his birthday,” said Athena, coming closer. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

  “Me too. It’s because of all the excitement lately,” said Aphrodite as she followed Athena inside.

  Persephone shrugged. “That’s okay. Hades might want to keep things low-key. No one’s exactly in a mood for celebration around here. Wish I could think of a way out of this whole Eurydice tangle. I can’t, though.”

  She sighed, then held up the huge card she’d made. “I came here to make him a magical singing-flower birthday card. Only, my mind was wandering as I did the spell. And voilà . . . instead of a singing-flower card, I made a singing-skunkweed one!”