‘You dare –’
‘I’m already banished, right?’ she asks. ‘Tell me, Zeus, what do I possibly have to lose here?’ My father falters and my mother turns back to me. ‘I was covering for you,’ she says. ‘I … When you were taken, everything started dying. Like everyone else, I thought itwasmy doing – not purposely, you understand, but my grief radiating. It’s not uncommon – Poseidon causes earthquakes, Zeus thunderstorms, perhaps my foul temper could cause a famine. But then I visited the Underworld.’
‘We all saw the way Hell looked at your wedding,’ Zeus sneers.
‘Not all of us,’ Mother snaps but then in a gentler voice she continues, ‘You said it yourself, my darling: you have power. Power over life itself. I thought, well, when I visited I suddenly thought, what if it’s you? What if you are the reason everything is dying?’
Of course.
The goddess of life began to live in the Underworld. And the world above began to die.
‘But why didn’t you say something?’ I bluster.
The grass sprang to life the moment I stepped on it, like the world itself was reaching out to me, begging me … This is me. Oh, Fates, I’m the reason all those people are suffering – the reason so many havedied. I’m responsible for the chaos in the Underworld – the sleepless gods, the exhaustion, the stress … It’s me.
‘I didn’t know who was listening and I –’ She glances at my father and stops talking. ‘I pretended it was me because I thought I could get you to the surface without telling you why. I didn’t want you to feel guilty about what was happening. If you thought it was me then you could blame me for the deaths instead.’
Hades rests his hand on my arm, a comfort that could never make up for what she’s telling me. It’s my fault – all those deaths.
‘Guilty?’ I demand. ‘You thought me not feeling guilty about people dying was worth more people dying?’
‘None of this matters,’ my father interrupts. ‘Your absence is clearly affecting Earth. I’ll confess, I too thought it wasDemeter. The absence of the goddess of flowers was not the first place anyone thought to look for an explanation. But Pan has seen his plants dying too and Demeter has no jurisdiction in the wild. Even Poseidon has reported issues of dying populations. Artemis reports fewer prey. Life, everywhere, is vanishing.’
The world was fine before I was born, perhaps even before I claimed my power in the Underworld. Life was not tied to any deity; it flowed freely and chaotically. But now, suddenly, it’s bound to me and my absence is catastrophic. There are other gods with this level of importance – life would die, too, without the sun or the air or the very Earth. But this still feels too much.
‘We’ve also heard, um, certain rumours about the Underworld,’ Father says. ‘About you styling yourself the goddess of life. It seems I overdid it when I gifted you flowers. I gave you more power than I intended to.’ Of course he’d try to claim that. Of course me holding power without him would be too much. ‘So, you see, I need you to return to living on Earth, not beneath it.’
Suddenly I’m clutching Hades’ hand with no memory of reaching for it. I stare at my parents. I was prepared for the possibility of them demanding my return. I thought it would be something I’d fight. I didn’t realize me returning would save people.
‘I’m sure we can come to a solution that satisfies everyone,’ Hades says fiercely, gripping my hand tightly.
‘This is the solution,’ my father says. ‘Persephone will return to Earth. You can annul your marriage – don’t worry, I’ll force Hera’s hand. Or –’ he grins viciously – ‘if your wife meansso much to you, Hades, you can abdicate your throne and go with her.’
This can’t be happening but of course it is. Of course this is an opportunity for him to snatch all the power we took back. That can’t happen – the Underworld means too much to me to let Hades leave it, to let whoever my father would set up on the throne take it instead.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I snap. ‘Why would I have to permanently leave the Underworld? I can visit the surface in the day if I must and return home at night.’
‘We have no evidence that would be enough to fix it,’ Zeus says.
‘We have no evidence to the contrary,’ Hades argues.
‘Life does not belong in the Underworld.’
‘Life is a cycle,’ I snap. ‘I can live in both. Earth needs me but the Underworld needs me too.’
My father scoffs, like the thought of somewhere needing me is too much, even though that’s precisely why I’m here.
‘This isn’t a negotiation,’ he growls, banging his lightning bolt on the floor. Somewhere on Earth thunder has struck.
‘Then what is it?’ I ask.
‘It is an order from your king.’
‘It’s an ultimatum, sprung on a problem that doesn’t exist,’ Hades snarls. ‘An effort to take away the very realm we both hold dear. Is that truly a move you are willing to make? Even the very suggestion of it is an affront – I imagine Oceanus would not take it lightly either.’
My father blusters as he turns on Hades. I’d assumed he’d know this would mean war but he appears shocked at the mere suggestion. He thought Hades and I would simply part, bowto his will and annul the marriage because Hades would never even contemplate giving up the realm. Father must have been so certain of Hades’ immediate agreement that he didn’t even consider the implications if the suggestion were taken seriously. Only now does he realize he has issued a threat – a threat that could lead to war – so he does what he always does and doubles down.
‘I have tried to be civil –’ Father starts furiously.
