Goddess in Time (10 page)

“I've never seen so much obsidian,” Xander says as we turn down another hall.

Obsidian. That's it. The shiny black stone is actually volcanic rock, polished smooth. Which makes sense, since the underworld is swimming in lava and volcanoes.

“We're almost there,” I whisper as we reach the entrance hall.

The tile floor is a red-and-black checkerboard, framed within a border of glittering rubies, garnets, and stones that look like black diamonds. I swear, a good thief could live a lifetime on a square foot of stones from one of these palaces. The gods should really use their wealth for more than a disgusting display of expensive things.

At the far end of the entrance hall stands a pair of steel gray doors covered in carvings of mythological creatures. At the center of each door panel is a carving of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the underworld from intruding humans. Twin three-headed dogs doesn't seem the most inviting entrance, but hey, who am I to judge?

“It's weird,” Xander says as we move quickly to the ballroom doors. “We haven't seen a single person since we got here.”

“Yeah, well,” I say, reaching for the handle of the door on the right and finding it, thankfully, unlocked, “I guess Hades isn't quite the social hot spot it used to be.”

I don't take time to look around. And I don't bother quieting my bootsteps in the empty space as I race across the room to the curtain-covered back wall. Stopping at the center, I peel back the heavy red drape, looking for the alcove that—according to the map—contains the door to the Hall of Springtime.

Instead, I find only a solid black wall being guarded by sleeping giant.

I start to back out away from the alcove, but the giant's eyes blink open. I expect him to yell for help or make a grab for me. But when his gaze doesn't find me—doesn't even look for me—I notice that he has no irises. No pupils.

He's blind.

“Who seeks to pass?” the blind giant asks, his deep voice echoing in the small alcove.

I glance back over my shoulder. Xander shrugs and gives me a helpless look.

No turning back now.

“Nicole Matios,” I say, and mentally cross my fingers.

“Speak the password, Nicole Matios,” the giant says.

“Password?” I echo.

Crap. I don't know the password. Nothing ever said anything about a stupid password. I knew things were going too smoothly.

“I, um—” I glance back at Xander, who shrugs and shakes his head. He's just as clueless as I am.

“I forgot,” I say. “Sorry.”

“Then you must solve the riddle,” the giant says. “None but my master and his bride can know the answer.”

Great. How on earth—or in Hades—am I supposed to solve a riddle that only Hades himself and dingbat Persephone could know the answer to? It's not like I have any other options, though. The ruby pomegranate seeds I need are in the hall somewhere behind this guard. I have to try.

“Okay,” I say. “Shoot.”

“Name the power that binds Queen Persephone to the underworld.”

“Name the power?” I echo. “Um, give us a sec.”

I grab Xander by the sleeve and pull him a few feet away from the alcove, letting the curtain fall back into place to give us some privacy for discussion.

“What does he mean?” I ask. “The power that binds her? What keeps her in Hades?”

Xander jams his hands into his jeans pockets. “I don't know. It could mean the pomegranate seeds,” he suggests. “She has to stay here nine months a year because she ate them.”

“That seems too simple.” And again, when it comes to the gods nothing is simple. “It could be Olympic decree. The gods decided the terms of her sentence.”

“Or the Fates.” Xander's face lights up with inspiration. “Supposedly, it was the Fates who decided that anyone who ate something while in Hades could never leave.”

Pomegranate seeds. The Olympians. The Fates?

They all seem possible.

But they all seem . . . easy. Nothing about those choices is a secret. They're not things only Hades and Persephone would know. Those are details from the common myths.

“It has to be something more obscure,” I insist.

I start pacing.

How am I going to figure this out? I've come this far, collected two of the three objects. I can't fail now. I won't give up.

All at once, the sheer impossibility of my quest hits me. I've done two impossible things already; I'm not sure I can pull off a third. And then what? After I get the objects, I still have to call on Chronos and then my ancestor god. Won't that be fun? The book was pretty vague after that. Who knows what I will face if I ever get the pomegranate seeds and get the chance to call the god of time.

I stop midpace and cover my face with my hands.

I was stupid to even think I could pull this off.

As I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the tears of despair that I feel tingling, I try to stop thinking about the big picture—the pressure and the desperation to undo what I did all those years
ago. Instead, I think about the current step, the next action I'm trying to complete.

The pomegranate seeds.

If I think about Chronos and time travel and changing everything that happened in the last ten years, it's overwhelming. The pomegranate seeds seem easy in comparison.

My mind relaxes, and as it does it fills with an image.

I see a man—tall, strong, broad-shouldered, with long, flowing dark hair and a matching beard. He reminds me of Zeus and Poseidon, which means he can only be Hades.

He is looking at something. In the vision, I turn. No, he's looking at some
one
.

At Persephone.

Pale blond hair and airy green dress blowing behind her as she races toward him. Her eyes are wide, desperate. Happy.

I look back and forth between the two gods, amazed at the emotion burning in their eyes, burning for each other. When Persephone reaches Hades, she flings her arms around his neck, and he wraps his around her waist.

With a gasp, I pull out of the vision, back into the ballroom.

I turn to Xander, unable to hide my grin. “I know.”

Racing back over to the alcove, I yank back the curtain and shout, “Love!” I laugh. “It's love that binds Persephone to Hades.”

I hold my breath until the guard nods and steps to the side of the alcove. Behind him, the black stone wall transforms into an archway.

“Come on,” I yell at Xander. “Let's get those pomegranate seeds.”

The room is spectacular. Even compared to Mount Olympus and Poseidon's palace, it is breathtaking in its splendor. Descriptions in the sources Troy and I found must have been only guessing at what the Hall of Springtime really looks like, because they aren't even close.

Mirrors line the walls on all sides, kind of like the fancy hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Weaving in and around and among the mirrors are inlaid mosaics of emerald-leafed trees with gold trunks and branches. The branches hang heavy with ruby-seeded pomegranates. The gemstone trees reach all the way to the ceiling—I mean
all
the way. It has to be at least thirty feet above my head.

It's like being within the canopy of a gemstone forest. This must be what the Emerald City in
The Wizard of Oz
really looks like.

Through the branches, I see a sky of aquamarines and other pale blue gems. There is a giant golden sun—formed by real gold and amber-colored topaz. I swear I feel the heat from its glow.

The floor beneath me is a flowing river of sapphires, with pearl and opal whitewater rapids. As I watch the water, it actually moves, undulating like a real river. I even see the little movements of fish beneath the surface.

“This is incredible,” Xander says, trying to take all of it in at once.

That is the understatement of the century.

For a moment—a
looong
moment—I'm caught up in the beauty and magic of the room. But as I watch the tree branches sway in a magical breeze, big, fat pomegranates bouncing around on the verge of falling, I force myself to remember why I'm here.

“We need to get the seeds,” I say, breaking the spell. “Fast.”

Just because we got ourselves inside the hall doesn't mean it's all cake from here.

“How?” Xander asks. “Those pomegranates must be two stories in the air.”

“We'll have to improvise.”

I walk to the wall and study one of the gem-crusted trees. It's a full, three-dimensional version, as if they took a real tree and dipped it in jewels.

“I can climb it,” I say. I motion Xander over to my side. “Give me a boost.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, lacing his fingers together to form a step.

I place my boot in his palms and, bracing my arms on his head, push myself up. A few seconds of grappling later, I'm standing on his shoulders and reaching for the trunk.

Xander braces his hands against the wall while I pull my weight off him and onto the tree.

When I get to the first fruit-bearing branch, I climb out until I can reach the nearest pomegranate and yank. The branch sways beneath me, but the fruit stays securely attached. I try pushing with as much of my weight as I can without losing my balance, but I reach too far. In an instant, I'm dangling from the ceiling, the fruit still clinging on.

“Are you okay?” Xander shouts.

“Fine,” I call out, holding on to the pomegranate with all my strength.

I swing my legs, making the branch bounce, hoping a little extra momentum will dislodge the fruit. The thing is not letting go of its branch, no matter how hard I pull.

“You wanna play tough?” I grumble at the gemstone pomegranate. I glance down at Xander, anxiously standing below me like he expects me to fall at any moment. “Can you catch me?”

“Yeah,” he answers. “Why?”

“Get ready.”

Swinging my legs harder, I manage enough of an arc to hook one boot back up over the unforgiving limb. I place the other boot against the bottom of the branch and—when I'm ready—I release the other and push against the tree with both feet.

The pomegranate holds on for a moment and then—
snap!

Ruby fruit clutched in my hands, I free-fall for the floor.

“Ooof!”

I fall straight into Xander's waiting arms. He manages to keep us both upright, too. I'm impressed.

“Thanks,” I say as he sets me on my feet. “Let's get out of here.”

“You're nuts,” he says.

“I know.”

Xander and I race out through the alcove, past the blind guard, who steps back into position, and across the ballroom. If only we could
autoport
back to Serfopoula. But the supernatural protections in Hades make Mount Olympus look like a preschool. No one wants the dead getting back to the world of the living.

We have to return the way we came.

We hurry back through the hallways, reversing our course for the side exit.

The palace was so still, so empty on our way in, it never crossed my mind that we might run into someone on the way out. But as we race out of a side corridor, back into the entrance hall, I crash full-body into someone.

“Grnph,” I groan at the collision.

A woman screams as she falls backward onto the tile floor.

I stumble, but manage to stay upright.

As Xander skids to a stop next to me, I reach down—instinctively offering to help the woman up.

“I'm sorry,” I say as her palm connects with mine and she looks up at me, “I wasn't—”

My words freeze as I realize the woman on the floor—the woman I slammed to the ground in my haste to get the heck out of this place—is none other than Persephone herself.

“No harm,” Persephone replies, pulling herself to her feet using my now-limp arm. “I am uninjured.”

She smiles at me, a grin that embodies all the youth and rebirth and nature we just saw in the Hall of Springtime. Her blond hair, the same golden shade as mine, falls perfectly over her shoulders and her gauzy, light-green gown. She is the embodiment of perfection. No wonder Hades kidnapped her.

“Hi,” I say lamely, with a lame wave thrown in for general all-around lameness.

“Hello,” she replies with a vague smile.

Then, as if I weren't standing right in front of her, she sidesteps me and continues on her way. She heads for the back room—for the ballroom and the gem-encrusted hall beyond, I'm guessing—and I turn in a half circle to watch her walk away. Without another word.

“That was close,” Xander says, shaking his head as Persephone disappears from view. “You're lucky she didn't—”

“Stupid cow,” I mutter.

“Whoa.” Xander lifts his hands in a defensive gesture. “That's a little harsh.”

“She didn't even recognize me.”

Xander scowls. “Should she have?”

“You would think,” I say, jamming my hands through my hair. “An ancestor god is supposed to recognize their descendants.”

Yes, weak-willed, harebrained, damsel-in-distress Persephone is my godly ancestor. Makes a girl proud. It's not hard to guess why I've kept that juicy embarrassment a secret all these years.

I barely register the shock on Xander's face before I turn and race away, ready to get as far from the underworld as possible.

X
ander and I
autoport
back to the stadium and are immediately surrounded by our friends.

“Are you okay?” Phoebe asks.

I nod and she smiles.

Stella looks relieved as she launches herself at Xander.

While the pair attempts to make kissing an Olympic sport, Troy steps in front of me and pulls me into a crushing hug. I don't know if it's the odd sensation of his strong arms around me or the change to blue-sky Serfopoula from the darkness of the underworld or just the gravity of everything I've done—of what I'm about to do—but for a second I can't breathe. I lift my arms and hug him back. My emotions crash down around me and I lean into him, grateful for his strength.