Daughter of the Earth and Sky

by Musa Publishing

  “We need to get you out of here. You’re a sitting duck.” He leaned forward as if he was going to offer me a hand and stopped short when I flinched away.

  “Right, sorry. I’ll go get Hades.”

  “No.”

  Zachary swore again. “I wasn’t asking permission. I need to get you help.” When I shook my head, he knelt beside me. “Do you have your phone?”

  I managed a weak nod and pulled it from my pocket. My fingers slid across the screen, dialing on auto pilot. I wasn’t fully aware of what number I was dialing, but I wasn’t surprised at who answered.

  “Melissa?” My voice was so soft, I was afraid she couldn’t hear me. “I need you.” She asked me something, but I couldn’t focus. My eyes were so heavy. I was so tired. I felt hollow, empty.

  A hand on my shoulder startled me into consciousness. My eyes snapped open. How long had they been closed? I followed the arm to its owner and blinked with confusion when I recognized Melissa’s arm sticking out of Zachary’s body. He gave her an irritated look and moved out of her way. She, of course, didn’t notice him.

  “Persephone? Is that you?” Her eyes darted to the security guard at the entrance. She touched my shoulder again, blindly groping down my arm. She swore, pulling on my arm. “I can’t see you. Can you drop the shield?”

  I was still shielded? I blinked and lowered the shield. Melissa fell backward in surprise. “It is you, good! What happened? You look awful.”

  “How did you find me?”

  Melissa pointed at the automatic door opening and closing of its own accord. “You sat on the sensor.”

  “Oh.”

  “Come on, get in the car.”

  I braced myself against the wall, trying to stand. “I healed Eurydice. But I guess I overextended myself a bit.”

  Melissa wrapped her arm around me and helped me to her car. Zachary followed behind us like a shadow. “That’s not how it works. You either have the power or you don’t. You shouldn’t be able to burn more than you have.”

  “I had to borrow some power from the Reapers.”

  “Some?” Zachary barked the word. “That was more than some.”

  Melissa pulled me away from her to look at my face. “You did what?”

  I cleared my throat. “I channeled—”

  “Are you stupid? You can’t even use your own powers without endangering yourself, and you channeled someone else’s? What? Is immortality like a challenge to you? Are you trying to find a way to die?”

  Was I? I’d jumped in front of Orpheus when the lightning struck. I’d challenged Zeus, and then I’d channeled the power of the Reapers. I furrowed my brow in thought. “I don’t …think so.”

  Zachary muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath, and I shot him a look. He rolled his eyes and vanished.

  “Is that alcohol I smell?” Melissa demanded. “And smoke? Gods, Persephone? What have you been doing?”

  I tugged on the hemline of my skirt to make it longer. “It’s not smoke. It’s burnt ozone.”

  “Burnt ozone? Wait, like lightning?”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, touching my forehead.

  “You called,” Melissa reminded me, sounding worried. “Don’t you remember?”

  “Right.” I shook my head, trying to clear it.

  “Though I’m not sure why you called me instead of Aphrodite,” Melissa prattled on, not even trying to hide the irritation from her voice. “Afraid to interrupt her beauty sleep?”

  I blinked, too drained to deal with her anger. “I shouldn’t have called you. You can’t be here. It’s not safe to be around me. Sorry, I’ll just call Aphrodi—”

  “Oh, get in,” Melissa snapped, throwing the door open. “I can’t die remember? You took care of that.”

  “There are worse things than death.”

  Melissa gave me a look. “What’s happened to you? You’re different.”

  “Of course I’m different, Melissa!” I was too tired to bother with filtering and way too exhausted to listen to Melissa snark the whole way home. “My life has gone nuts. This is me, dealing. And maybe I’m dealing with everything badly, but you don’t get to criticize. You walked away. I don’t get that luxury.”

  Melissa rolled her eyes and pushed me into the car, slamming the door behind me. “I can criticize all I want. You called me, remember? If you want nice Melissa, try calling at some time other than three in the morning smack dab in the middle of midterm week. We can’t all charm our teachers into getting good grades.”

  I clenched my jaw. Was she serious?

  Melissa narrowed her eyes. “Hey, you’re welcome for coming to get you. I’m not supposed to be at your beck and call anymore, remember? You promised me space. Calling me sounding half-dead and giving me half answers isn’t space. It’s just annoying.” She dropped into her seat with a huff and started the car. “Seriously? Burnt ozone? ‘I’m dangerous.’ That’s all the explanation I get? Should I be worried? Are we in danger? Should I be driving faster? I mean come on, Persephone. I’m too tired to—”

  “You’re tired!” I exploded. “Oh gods, how inconsiderate of me to wake you up during midterm week. You must be so damned stressed!”

  “Oh that’s right, anything less than a goddess-sized problem is just completely irrelevant.”

  “Oh, would you get over it! I’m a goddess, you’re not. It sucks. If I could trade places with you I would, if only to shut you up!”

  Melissa closed her mouth with a click and pulled out of the parking lot.

  I ignored her silence. It was so Melissa to shut down the minute someone else had a point. “I’ve never rubbed in my powers, I’ve never treated you like some sort of subspecies, and I’ve never ever acted like your problems didn’t matter just because mine are bigger. And yeah, they are bigger. Are you seriously jealous of that? Do you know what I would give to be worrying about midterms right now instead of trying to figure out who’s going to die next? My whole life you’ve acted like my friend, but I think you just liked having something over me that I didn’t know, because the minute I learned my secret, you stopped acting like a friend and started acting like every other stupid girl at school.”

  Melissa opened her mouth, but I plowed ahead, talking over whatever she was about to say. “Got any more snarky complaints you want to throw my way? That’s the normal you wanted? That’s what you wanted so badly? Well congratulations, Melissa, if being normal equals being a bitch, you’ve arrived. I always thought you were above that, but whatever.”

  “You left the school! Those are the only people left to hang out with. And yeah, they’re snarky, but at least they aren’t—”

  “What? Better than you? So it’s only friendship if you get to feel superior? You told me to leave the school with her!”

  “You weren’t supposed to go! You weren’t actually supposed to pick her over me. Gods! I tell you your new perfect friend makes me feel insecure, and I’d appreciate it if I didn’t have to hang out with her anymore, and you cut off all contact? What is that?”

  I gaped at her. Stupid humans and their stupid ability to lie. I’d sell my soul to be able to break my word just once, and she was using her ability for the same kind of double speak my mom used? “I’m not supposed to have to read between the lines with you. I’m not supposed to have to watch every word I say so I’m not rubbing something in. I’m not supposed to have to downplay the problems in my life so you don’t feel stupid stressing over your problems. We’re supposed to be friends. You’re supposed to be there for me when things get crazy. You have no idea what I’ve been through-”

  “Because you won’t tell me! You never kept anything from me before you found out you were a goddess, and now all of a sudden you’re hiding things from me and spending all your time with Aphrodite and Hades. I get that I’m just a human, but I can still listen.”

  “I don’t want to keep anything from you. Believe me, if I could, I’d tell you everything. I hate keeping secrets.”
<
br />   Melissa stiffened. “If you could? Why can’t you?”

  I opened my mouth then closed it again. I sighed and slid my necklace back and forth on its chain. “Nothing, never mind, I just—”

  “What did you mean by ‘can’t’?Tell me.”

  We stopped at a red light, and she turned to face me. I opened my mouth again, but the words caught in my throat. I shook my head, feeling suddenly sick.

  “You’ve been bound.” Melissa’s eyes widened. “I know that look. I’ve had that look. Your mom bound me so I couldn’t tell you what you were when we were kids, remember? Holy shit! Who did this to you? Hades respects you too much, and your mom wouldn’t dare. She’d have to answer to him.”

  I couldn’t say anything.

  “I know,” she said. “I know exactly what that’s like. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We’ll find a way around it. I promise.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked, looking out the window and noticing where we were for the first time. We were passing the strip mall on Alps Road. We should have been on the highway going the opposite direction, not in the center of Athens.

  “The park. That’s where the entrance to the Underworld is, right? I’m getting you to Hades, and I’m going to tell him you’ve been bound. Who knows what damage you did channeling the Reapers. Speaking of which, how did that work exactly?”

  “I don’t need to go to the Underworld.” I couldn’t agree to go back. I couldn’t do anything that would help Hades figure out Thanatos’ betrayal without breaking my promise. “Just take me home.”

  Melissa reached over and flipped down my visor. “Have you seen yourself?” She indicated the mirror. “You need help.”

  “No, I need sleep. Hades will just give me more power to offset the deficit. Whatever he gives me will come back to bite me when I recover my powers tomorrow. I already have more than I can handle.”

  “So tomorrow he can take it away.”

  He would see what happened tonight. I wasn’t strong enough to shield my thoughts. He’d see the lightning storm, the Reapers—everything.

  “Please, Melissa. I can’t see him right now. Please just take me home. Or better yet, your house. I need to talk to your mom anyway.”

  Melissa sighed and turned the car around. “Why do you need to talk to my mom?”

  “You two are going to Iowa State this weekend to take a tour of the campus.”

  Melissa gave me a wry smile. “I don’t think she’s going to go for that. She wants me to stick around here and be your priestess, remember?”

  “It’s not your mom’s place to decide who my priestesses are. Orpheus said something to me, about how I need to choose between being your goddess or your friend. But he was wrong. I can’t be either. Not right now, it’s too dangerous. You need to go. Go there for the weekend, stay away from me the rest of the year, and then go enjoy four years of normal. After that” —I avoided Melissa’s eyes “do whatever you want. There will always be a place for you here when all this craziness dies down. But you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

  Melissa shook her head. “I’m not leaving you. Besides, normal’s overrated. If I don’t have you to talk to about everything that’s happened, it’s like it never even happened, you know? I’ve missed you.”

  I smiled at her. “I missed you, too. But I really need you to go for now. Just a few days, please? I couldn’t take it if something happened to you. It would take such a load off my mind if I knew you were safe.”

  “What’s to stop Zeus from following us?”

  “Nothing.” I waved my hands in frustration. “But what’s to stop him from taking you right here, either? It’s not like I can protect you. We might as well not make it easy for him. Why would he ever think to look for you in Iowa? Besides…” I gulped before I added, “I think he likes it when I watch. If I’m not around to see you get hurt…” I thought of Melissa’s words from earlier. “It’s kind of like it didn’t happen.”

  Melissa shrugged. My phone buzzed. I glanced down and saw Joel was calling and clicked ignore.

  Melissa’s eyes flickered over my phone. “Are you still seeing him?”

  “I’m breaking things off with him tomorrow.” I shrugged. “Well, maybe.”

  “Maybe?”

  “I have every intention of breaking up with him, but once I see him, I’m not sure I’ll follow through.”

  “Are you in love with him?”

  “No, it’s not that…” I trailed off, uncertain how to explain. “When I’m not with him, I know it’s not working. I just don’t like him like that. He’s a great friend, and he’s nice, but he’s not Hades. I know I’m putting him in danger and taking advantage of him and all that horrible stuff. So I tell myself, that’s it. We’re breaking up. And then, I see him. I look in his eyes, and all of that is gone.” I smiled. “For a few minutes, I forget everything. All my responsibilities, all my problems. For a few minutes I can just be normal. And so I let him kiss me, and we go out, and we do…stuff—”

  “Stuff?” Melissa’s voice was incredulous.

  “Not that.” I shot her a look. “Just making out stuff.”

  “How much making out stuff? Like what base?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” I crossed my arms and hunched down in my seat. “It makes me feel sick. Not right away, when I leave. Because he’s not Hades, and that feels wrong.”

  “But is it more than you did with Hades?”

  I shot her a murderous look, and she raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, but I want details later. So why aren’t you with Hades? Are you still freaked out about him and my mom?”

  I shook my head. “It’s this thing.” I searched for a way to explain.

  “The thing you can’t talk about?”

  “Exactly.” I clutched my necklace. “Once he finds out, he’s going to hate me.”

  “Not possible.” Melissa sounded so certain that I found myself believing her.

  “You don’t know what it is.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He couldn’t hate you. Have you seen the way he looks at you? It’s like you’re some long-lost part of him come whole. He couldn’t hate you if he tried. No matter what you’ve done.”

  Hope fluttered in my chest, and I swallowed hard. “I really hope you’re right.”

  * * * *

  It was late when I got home, but I felt better knowing Melissa and Minthe were leaving after school today. I waved at the Reapers I’d left stationed around my house and fumbled with my keys, cursing as my phone rang.

  “Hello?” I asked, shoving the key into the lock.

  “Kora? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all night!” Joel exclaimed. “Look, about what happened with Aphrodite—”

  “I don’t care.” I dropped my purse in the entryway and walked to the staircase.

  “Just let me apologize—”

  “Joel, I don’t think you understand. I don’t care. And I should.” I took a breath and leaned against the banister. “Look, this isn’t fair to you. I think you like me more than I like you, and I don’t want to lead you on.”

  “You’re breaking up with me?” Joel sounded incredulous. “Look, the thing with Aphrodite, it was nothing—”

  “It’s nothing to do with her.” I paused. “Though I think you should stay away from her. She’s dangerous, Joel.”

  Now why had I said that? My brow furrowed, but the thought that had made me say that slipped away from me like it was never there.

  “See, you do care.” Joel sounded hopeful. “Look, it’s late. Maybe we should talk tomorrow, in person.”

  “Joel, it’s not going to change anything.” I didn’t want to see him in person. I didn’t trust myself not to change my mind.

  “Well, if you’ve actually been leading me on, you kind of owe me, right?”

  I frowned. He had a point.

  “Fine. Tomorrow, usual time.”

  “I’ll bring smoothies.”

  I hung up and rounded the corner
into the kitchen. Mom sat at the kitchen table, thumbing through a back issue of Better Homes and Gardens. “Busy night,” she commented without looking up. “Shouldn’t you be in the Underworld?”

  I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and twisted the top off. “Do you ever sleep?”

  “The need diminishes when you come into your powers.”

  “Hades sleeps.”

  Mom raised her eyebrows at me. “Does he now?”

  I flushed. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean…I mean, not …you know, with me. I just know he sleeps. I…um, I healed Eurydice.”

  She gave me a wry look. “Sure, we can change the topic. For now. I heard about Eurydice. That’s quite an achievement. What ended up working?”

  I explained as best I could, and then, barely pausing for breath, I explained about Melissa’s admission to Iowa State.

  Mom nodded. “That was a sound decision. Your priestesses should not be unwilling. I only wish you would have told me what was going on. I could have explained to Minthe. Do you have any ideas for a replacement?”

  I hesitated. “I was thinking about Orpheus. He already accidentally started that cult. Think of what he could do on purpose? And his new CD, The Eleusinian Mysteries, it’s all about us. Plus, he’s a demigod. He gets all this stuff. More than I do half the time.”

  “Are you going to curse him and his wife with immortality?”

  I took a long sip of water. “I kind of already did. They don’t know yet. It was an accident. When I healed Eurydice, I used Orpheus’ soul. I’m not really sure how, but when I healed her, I just felt it. Their souls changed. They felt…different.”

  Mom nodded. “I’ll check when I next see them, but I wouldn’t be surprised. A healing that involved could have all manner of unintended side effects.”

  We lapsed into an awkward silence. I studied her face. She looked tired. Weary even. I looked down at the table. This fight…we’d never fought like this before. It was draining. I thought about what Orpheus had said and realized he was right. I needed to establish boundaries, but nothing good would come from hanging onto all my anger.

  “Mom, can I trust you?”

  She looked up at me in surprise. “Of course, honey.”