Lina fel into a rhythm of hurry-up and slow-down. She managed to keep Eurydice's back just at the edge of her sight, while staying out of the reach of Orpheus' music.
"Doesn't he ever get tired?" She muttered to herself. When she considered the situation with a clear head, versus one fil ed with the compel ing notes formed by a magician masquerading as a musician, it hadn't been difficult to see the drug-like effect Orpheus' music had on everyone and everything that heard it. The dead paused in their pilgrimages to Elysia as he passed. Flowers and trees swayed toward him. Even Lina found herself smiling ridiculously if she got too close to his voice.
"Ugh. He reminds me of too-sweet candy. He seems great at first, but pretty soon he'l just make me want to puke." Lina talked to herself, taking comfort in the non-hypnotic sound of her own voice while nodding briefly to the surprised spirits that curtsied and bowed as she hurried past them. "I should have been wiser. I should have paid more attention to Eurydice than to that singing boy. And I shouldn't have been so damn cocky after that whole Dido thing." She bit her lip in frustration.
The sky ahead of her was changing and a chil of trepidation shivered through her. She knew al too wel that the fading light signaled the end of the bright, cheery part of the Underworld. She was retracing the path she and Eurydice had traveled from the upper world. Lina ordered herself not to think about the bad dreams and the darkness. If Eurydice was going through it again; so would she.
Ahead of her she heard maniacal barking. Then the faraway music grew louder and the fierce barks changed to puppy-like grunts and whimpers. Lina shook her head. What the hel - she cringed at the unintentional bad pun - was Orpheus doing? Steeling herself against his compel ing song, she picked up her pace until she was jogging at a steady beat. Persephone's long legs carried her swiftly forward. Her breathing was deep and even. She smiled in satisfaction. Persephone's body wasn't just young, it was also in great shape.
The road angled abruptly to her left and she stagger-stepped down to a walk. Blocking the pathway directly in front of her was a humongous dog.
The creature raised its head and growled a menacing warning. Lina bunked, trying to clear her vision, but the image remained.
"The damn thing has three heads," she gasped.
The "damn thing" growled.
Lina tightened her jaw. It was just a dog. Sure, the biggest dog she had ever seen. And it had -
merda! - three heads.
The creature snarled a warning. Saliva dripped from its triple jowls. Jowls?
Lina's face split into a relieved grin as soon as her stunned mind processed what she was seeing. The dog was nothing more than a giant version of Edith Anne, complete with slobber and under bite - times three.
Her laughter caused three sets of stubby ears to perk in her direction. Lina hurried forward, speaking in what she liked to think of as her "doggie voice," (which was much different than her "cat voice" - cats didn't tolerate baby talk of any sort).
"Hey there you big, adorable thing!" she cooed.
Three tails wagged tentatively.
"Aren't you a wonderful surprise. And to think I was just missing my Edith Anne. Wel , I guess I'l just have to make you my big, bad Doggie From Hel while I'm here." She was within touching distance of the multiheaded creature.
"Arrwoo?" said the beast.
"Edith always liked her ears scratched. Bend down here and let's give it a try." She reached her slender hand up toward one of the six ears. The creature tilted its nearest head in her direction. Lina scratched.
One of the beast's heads sighed and leaned into her hand, almost knocking Lina over. The other two heads whined piteously.
"There's a good doggie." Lina grinned, patting the middle head's slobbery nose, causing the third dog to yelp like a needy puppy. "Oh, come here. How about a scratch under that chin?" While Lina cooed and petted and cajoled she searched her mind for a name. Cerberus - Watchdog of the Underworld - his job is to eat souls that attempt to escape and stop living people who attempt to enter Hades' realm.
"Wel , you're fal ing down on the job, big boy," Lina said. The dog whined and al three heads gave her pitiful, big-eyed doggie looks.
"Don't feel bad, Orpheus fooled me, too."
Three tails beat the air.
"Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to fol ow the shyster musician and Eurydice. You just be sure that Mr. Golden-tongue doesn't get past you again." Lina tried to meet al three sets of eyes.
"Understand?"
Cerberus squirmed and woofed.
"I've seen enough Lassie reruns to know a doggie 'yes' when I hear one. Be a good boy, ur, boys. I'l see you on my way back." With a final ear scratch Lina left the Guardian of the Underworld wriggling and yapping like a happy puppy(s). She hurried so that she was soon jogging with a quick, but steady pace.
"I should cease being surprised by her actions," Hades murmured to himself. He watched Persephone bespel Cerberus as she had his steeds. Safe within the Helmet of Invisibility, he had fol owed the Goddess closely enough to hear her berate herself about al owing Orpheus's music to sway her judgment. She was much wiser than she knew. Hadn't he felt the pull of the mortal's words, too? And he was a mature god, experienced in commanding his realm. True, she was a goddess, but she was real y just a child. Even so, she continued to show amazing insight and maturity. For instance, his instinct was tel ing him that Iapis would report that Aeneas had indeed just entered Elysia. How had Persephone recognized Dido's deception when al he had observed was a lovely feminine soul unaccustomed to being in the presence of immortals? And then she had stood up to him, not with the blinding temper of an irate goddess, but with logic and insight and, he chuckled remembering the bet she had proposed, wit. Before she had come to his realm, he would have never believed it of Persephone, but there was definitely more to her than a shal ow young goddess.
Persephone fondled Cerberus and Hades felt a sudden surge of jealousy for the attention she was lavishing on the slobbering, three-headed creature. The God ground his teeth. He wanted her to touch him. It shocked him, but he could not deny it. He was beginning to wonder if what Iapis had said was true, that perhaps it was better to experience even a smal bit of happiness than none at al .
The very thought made his hands sweat.
As she jogged down the road, Lina decided that she'd have to come back and visit the threeheaded dog. Maybe she'd bring him a treat. Edith Anne loved Bacos. Surely Hel 's kitchen could fry her up a little bacon snack. She thought about the creature's size - okay, maybe she'd have them fry up a big bacon snack.
The road took another abrupt turn and Lina slid to a halt, scrambling back from the edge of a lake that seemed to want to swal ow her feet. Its waters were thick and black, almost oily. She looked to either side. Darkness surrounded the lake so that the water seemed to stretch endlessly before and beside her.
Lina shivered.
She was Goddess. She thought each word carefully.
Light the recesses, her mind whispered.
With a gasp of relief she raised her hand and commanded, "I need light!" The bal of bril iance popped from her palm and hovered expectantly above her.
"What is your desire, Goddess?"
Lina jumped and made a squeaky sound she was sure wouldn't qualify as goddess-like. Out of the darkness beside her a skeletal man materialized. He was wearing gray robes that dragged on the ground. He carried a long, hooked staff that reminded Lina of the rods gondoliers used to push their boats down the Grand Canal. But that's where his resemblance to anything mortal or romantic ended. This man was a grim being whose large, amber-colored eyes glowed with a strange luminescence. Lina did not have to delve into her memory to give him a name. He could be none other than Charon, the Ferryman of Hades.
"I want to fol ow Orpheus and Eurydice. Did you take them across the lake?"
"Yes, Goddess."
"Then I want to go, too."
"As you command, Goddess." He made a sweeping gesture and suddenly a boat appeared nudging the bank at their feet.
Tel ing herself not to think about sinking boats, bottomless lakes or the scary stuff that might be lurking just below the surface, Lina climbed into the little craft, taking a seat near the middle of it. Charon stepped into the boat and leaned forward to touch his staff against the bank, but he stopped mid-motion and stood very stil as if he were listening to whispered words. He nodded his head with the briefest of motions, paused and then he final y pushed them away from the shore.
"The passage is not long, Goddess."
Lina nodded and tried unsuccessfully to relax. She kept her eyes focused on the distant shoreline. She didn't look down at the water. Unbidden, a memory came to her from the scene in Lord of the Rings when Frodo and Sam crossed the Dead Marshes. She shivered, afraid if she looked into the water she would see reflected faces of the dead. Her only consolation was the bal of light that hovered loyal y close to her shoulder.
She looked afraid, so afraid that he almost tore the Helmet off his head and betrayed his presence. Then he remembered her reaction when he had chided her for being young and sheltered. Likely she would not look kindly upon his interference and the subterfuge of the Helmet. Persephone would not be pleased that he had hidden himself and fol owed her. But his heart whispered for him to take her in his arms and protect her from her fears. As always, Hades listened to his mind, but for the first time in his existence, he yearned to fol ow his heart. Charon felt his God's presence. He knew when Hades boarded the boat. Charon also knew that Hades wished to keep his presence hidden from the Goddess. The Ferryman was nothing if not discreet. So Hades stood at the opposite end of the smal craft, his eyes never leaving Persephone. He saw how she clutched the seat on which she sat so tightly that her delicate knuckles whitened. She held her spine rigid, as if she could brace herself against her fear. Her little light il uminated the space surrounding her so that she appeared to be floating in a halo of brightness that was almost as bril iant as her beauty.
The boat bit a wave causing it to rock dangerously. Persephone's body shuddered in response. Careful y and quickly! Hades' anger burst through his thoughts to Charon. The Ferryman bowed his head in acknowledgment and shivered at the force of the God's fury. With the Lord of the Underworld standing vigilant attendance, the remainder of the passage was smooth and swift.
"Fol ow the path that leads there, Goddess." Charon pointed ahead into the darkness. Lina stepped from the boat to the shore. "The Gates of Hades are just beyond. Through them you wil find the entrance to the world above."
Lina realized she didn't real y need his direction. Demeter had been right, it was as if her body felt the way to the world above. But she smiled politely at the Ferryman.
"Thank you, Charon. I know my way from here." She took a couple of steps, stopped, and turned back to the tal man. "You wil be here when I come back, won't you?" Charon almost smiled. "Yes, Goddess."
"Good."
Lina and her circle of light moved away from the lake. Under the shroud of invisibility Hades fol owed.
The ivory gates loomed before Lina. Thankfully, there was no sign of the eerie fog of a bad dream. Jogging through the gates she narrowed her eyes, trying to catch sight of Eurydice's ghostly form, but she saw nothing except velvet layers of darkness. Lina stopped and strained to listen. She could hear music, but it sounded far away and indistinct.
Please, please don't let me be too late, she prayed silently as she broke into a sprinter's run. Lina passed through the grove of opaque trees in a blur. Then she spotted the tunnel, and, she breathed a sigh of relief, within it she could clearly see the silhouettes of two figures. One was several yards ahead of the other.
Lina ran silently and swiftly, covering the distance that separated her from Eurydice in a single breath.
The music was so sweet. Lina felt her shoulders begin to relax and her steps falter. She should just rest awhile and then...
Do not listen to his music! The words shouted within her mind, and with the power of a Goddess they chased away the cloying notes of Orpheus' song. Suddenly clear-minded, Lina was able to hear something that had been hidden beneath the spel of music until that moment - the sound of Eurydice's sobs.
As if sensing her presence, the girl looked over her shoulder. When she saw Lina her face grimaced with the strength of her emotion. Lina could see that Eurydice was stil struggling against the lure of Orpheus's song. Even though they were almost to the lip of the tunnel, the little spirit stil stumbled and dragged her feet, pulling back with everything inside of her against the magical lure of her husband's music.
With a powerful effort, Eurydice silently mouthed two words to her Goddess, help me. Orpheus stepped into the sunlight of the World of the Living.
Hades raised his hands to pull off the Helmet of Invisibility and do something he had never before done: he would revoke his word by refusing to al ow Eurydice to leave the Underworld. But before he could act, Persephone moved. She grabbed Eurydice's hand and held it in such a tight grasp that the little spirit was able to keep from stepping from the edge of the Underworld and into the light. Then, in a voice pitched to impersonate Eurydice's naivete', she cal ed to the musician who stood with his back resolutely facing them.
"Oh, my goodness! Orpheus, look! This sunlight makes my robe completely see through! And I have absolutely nothing on underneath it."
With a victorious shout, the arrogant young musician spun around, but the look of triumph vanished when he realized that he was staring at his wife and the Goddess Persephone. Both women were stil safely within the dark mouth of the Underworld.
"NOOOOOO!" His shriek of rage echoed through the tunnel. He lunged forward. Unseen, Hades threw his hand up and issued a silent command.
When the musician's living body tried to pass into the shadowy entrance of Hades' realm, the air surrounding him seemed to solidify. Orpheus set his square jaw and kept trying to move forward, but the invisible barrier prevented him. The harder he struggled, the more firm the barrier became.
"You belong to me!" His words were no longer seductive or magical; instead they had become hard and cruel.
Eurydice shrank back from him as if she was afraid he would strike her. Lina was fil ed with a wave of righteous anger.
"You sound like a spoiled brat. You can't own another person's soul. Go back to your world. Leave Eurydice at peace in hers," Lina said.
"Never! She wil always be mine!" Orpheus shouted.
Lina shook her head. She had known his type of man. He would never be content with simply loving a woman. His kind had to control and bully and subjugate. She felt the anger expand within her, lending power to the words she hurled at Orpheus. "Go away, boy!" The command slammed into the musician, lifting him off his feet and tossing him end-over-end away from the tunnel, carrying him back farther and farther until he disappeared completely from sight.
Apparently she'd discovered another one of Persephone's Goddess powers. Lina smiled grimly. One shouldn't piss off a goddess.
Unaware that she was being shadowed by the invisible God of the Underworld, Lina wrapped an arm around Eurydice, who was sobbing quietly. Supporting her slight weight, Lina turned away from the World of the Living and led Eurydice through the welcoming darkness of the tunnel and into the glade of white trees. Once within their shielding canopy, Eurydice col apsed onto the soft, dark ground. The girl had quit crying, but she was panting like she had just run a marathon.
"You c-c-came for m-me!" She struggled to talk while she fought to bring her breathing under control.
Lina sat beside her and hugged her fiercely. "Of course I did. I knew something was wrong. I'm sorry I let you go - it was his music. At first I couldn't think clearly because of it, but as soon as Orpheus left with you I understood that you didn't want to go with him."
"N-no!" She shivered, but drew strength from the embrace of her Goddess. "I did not want to go with him."
"That wrong choice you said that you made. It wasn't taking the path that led to your death, was it?" Lina asked.
"No!" Eurydice said. The strength of her voice grew as she continued to speak. "It was him! He was the wrong choice I made. I was so incredibly wrong. I met him one day and the next I pledged myself to him. I was blinded by the magic of his music. I did not look into his heart." She trembled, but forced herself under control. She needed to say it. She had been silent too long. "If I had looked into his heart I would have seen that it was fil ed with cruelty. I did not understand until it was too late. It began with little things. He did not like my hair when I wore it a certain way. He asked me to change it. I did." Eurydice's words came faster and faster. "Then it was my clothes. Then my friends. I tried to tel my family, but they could only hear his music. They gave me to him wil ingly, believing that my hesitation was simple, maidenly reserve. After we were married he would not even al ow me to visit my family. He could not bear it if I was not always by his side. He wanted to consume me. When I tried to get away from him, even if it was just to have a moment of privacy, he struck me. He struck me again and again. Life with him was a prison." Eurydice's eyes were bright, but her tears had stopped. "When the fog separated us I simply ran from him. I did not know about the nest of vipers. But I was glad of their bite. I welcomed the release."
"You are so brave." Lina touched the girl's damp cheek.
"Do you real y think so, Persephone?"
"I know so. On that you have the word of a Goddess."
Eurydice's smile flashed. "Then I must believe it." Her expression changed, and became introspective.
"What is it, honey?" Lina asked.
The girl was staring down the path that led back to the Underworld. "I have to go. I don't belong this close to the World of the Living. It does not feel right."
Lina nodded understanding. She could see the need in the little spirit's eyes. This time Eurydice's steps were confident as she hurried through the grove of milk-colored trees. Lina fol owed her more slowly. When they broke through the trees, Eurydice glanced over her shoulder at Lina, who had stopped.
"Wil you not return with me?" Eurydice's voice had become frightened again.
"Yes, don't worry. I'm coming" - she hesitated - "but, honey, would you mind going on ahead of me?" Lina pointed behind her. "I need to do something first, and I don't want to ask you to wait for me."
"But you wil return to the Palace of Hades?"
Under the Helmet of Invisibility, Hades held his breath, waiting for Persephone's answer.
"Of course? I just need to have a quick talk with Demeter." Hades and Eurydice breathed sighs of relief.
The girl understood Persephone's need to speak with her mother. In many ways the Goddess had taken the place of her living mother. She nodded and smiled. "I can return ahead of you to the palace."
"You won't be afraid to go by yourself?"
"No. I belong here. I am not afraid."
Lina hugged her again. "I won't be long."
Eurydice grinned and skipped through the ivory gates. As Lina re-entered the grove of trees, she heard the girl's voice echoing through the limbs. "I wil see that a meal is made ready for you. You wil be hungry when you return and I must make certain that..."
Lina smiled wryly. Eurydice would be fine.
Feeling like a voyeur, Hades shadowed the unsuspecting Persephone. He should not continue to fol ow the Goddess. Eurydice was free; she was returning safely to his palace. That had been his reason for donning the Helmet of Invisibility and going after them. And it had been a credible reason. Now he should return to his palace. His task was completed. But he didn't turn back. He couldn't. Not yet. He wanted to watch her as she hurried so graceful y through the trees. The bal of light touched her lovely features like a bright caress. He envied that light.
She passed through the tunnel quickly, barely pausing before raising her hand and cal ing the light back within her. Then she stepped from the entrance to the Underworld and into the soft glow of a beautiful pre-dawn morning. Hades fol owed her.
Persephone looked around quizzical y. Hades wondered if she was worried that Orpheus might stil be lurking near. No, he reminded himself. The musician had been cast away by the power of the Goddess's righteous anger. Persephone would know that he would be far from there. But she was obviously searching for something. She walked away from the tunnel and down the little path that was lined in frothy ferns. Occasional y, the Goddess stopped and peered amidst the greenery as if looking for a lost trinket. Then she would sigh, mumble something unintel igible, and move on. The path tilted gradual y up and soon Persephone stood near the high bank of Lake Avernus. The Goddess smiled and breathed in deeply, obviously appreciating the view. Hades wanted to shout that Avernus would seem as nothing when compared with the wonders of Elysia. There were beauties in his realm that were far more spectacular than an ordinary lake in the simple, mundane light before dawn. He ground his teeth together. He wanted to show the magnificence of his realm to her and to watch her face brighten with the discovery.
"There you are!"
Persephone's voice sounded relieved and she rushed over to a pil ared marble basin which stood to one side of the path. Resting within the basin was a large glass bal . Its interior was murky, like it had been fil ed with thickened cream. Hades recognized it instantly as the oracle of a Goddess. Persephone stood in front of the oracle. She hesitated. To Hades it seemed that she was almost uncertain of what to do next. Then she closed her eyes, as if she needed to concentrate very hard. When she opened them a moment later her full lips lifted in the briefest of smiles. With no more hesitation, she passed her hands over the crystal three times, causing the inside of the globe to begin to swirl.
"Demeter," Persephone spoke to the oracle. "I almost messed up. Badly." The face of the Goddess of the Harvest materialized within her oracle.
"You use the word almost, which must mean that you righted your error," Demeter said, her voice sounding a little hol ow and unnatural as it echoed from the oracle.
Persephone sighed. "Yes, but if I hadn't, my mistake would have cost a lovely young girl a lifetime of misery."
"Being Goddess does not mean perfection. We must each use our best judgment. Sometimes mistakes are made."
Persephone pulled at a long strand of her hair and twirled it around her finger.
"I don't want to make mistakes that cause others pain."
Hades forced himself to turn away. He strode quickly back through the tunnel. He had intruded upon the Goddess's privacy too long. His conscience would not al ow him to continue to listen to Persephone's conversation with her mother. Hades yanked off the Helmet of Invisibility. It was not meant as an eavesdropping device. It was to be used with discernment, not selfishness. He was ashamed of himself. Had he not just berated Stheneboia for selfishness and deception?
He had never before behaved in such a manner. He was not a cal ow youth. He understood that sneaking and spying would not win a goddess's heart.
Hades stopped.
Was that what he desired, to win Persephone's heart?
He raked a hand through his hair. He wanted her. His body had begun to ache for her. For eons he had thought that his difference had in some way hermetical y sealed him from the common lusts of the gods. He avoided women, be they mortal or immortal, because his very nature had been fashioned so that meaningless passion and brief dal iance was not enough for him. Age after countless age he had witnessed in the spirits of the dead that which mortals knew so wel , the eternal bond forged by soul mates. Bearing witness to that unique, unforgettable depth of joining had soldered the difference that had already been imprinted into his nature. Anything less than mating for eternity would never satisfy him.
Oh, he had tried - centuries ago. His stomach stil tightened when he thought of his one brief mortal lover, Minthe. He had come upon the maiden during one of his rare visits to the World of the Living. She had been gathering flowers for her first fertility ritual and his appearance had seemed an answer to her prayers. He had made her his, there in that fragrant meadow, and there he had visited her often until she vowed that she loved him and that she would leave her home and cleave only to him.
Looking back, he was amazed by his own naivete. He stil shrank away from the memory of her hysterics when he had final y revealed himself to her as Lord of the Dead. In his mind he could see it al happening again. Minthe's blind flight from him as she hurled herself over the cliff, and how he had snatched her from the air before she could end her own life.
Instead of condemning her to an eternity of lamentation within his realm, Hades had cal ed forth his immortal power and changed her form into the sweet scented, ever-growing herb that retained her delicate beauty, as wel as her name.
Unlike mortal women, goddesses did not fear him, but they also did not understand him. They scorned him, thinking him somber and stern because he ruled the Underworld. Until Persephone, no goddess had ever bothered to visit his realm. He scoffed. Truly, he had never had any desire to offer an invitation. Goddesses had no real loyalty, no real ability to love. Look at Athena, she even betrayed her precious Odysseus by al owing him to be led astray for twenty years before returning home to his faithful wife.
It had been easy to convince himself that there was no mate for him. Mortal women must die to reign forever beside him, so they feared him and shrank from his love. Goddesses were immortal; therefore, they could never truly belong to him.
He had been content to rule his realm and live surrounded by the beauty of the Elysian Fields and the wonders of his palace.
But no longer.
Hades' lips twisted in self-mockery. The God of the Dead desired the Goddess of Spring. Even within his head it sounded impossible.
Then he remembered the Goddess's bril iant smile and the childlike wonder with which she responded to his realm. Yet she consistently displayed a maturity that belied her youthful appearance. She was different from the other goddesses - that she had proven. But was she different enough to love him?
How to woo Persephone? He paced back and forth across the black path while he considered. Then a sudden idea halted him. His smile was fierce with victory. Hades brought his fingers to his lips. His whistle pierced the blackness, traveling with mystical speed al the way back to his palace.