I consider. ‘My amphidromia.’
She nods, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘I thought as much. That’s my doing, I suppose.’ She takes a breath. ‘Before that, when it was just us on the island, I … There was no box I wanted you in. I used to tell you that you could do anything, be anyone, find your own place in this world. And then your amphidromia happened and I realized I was raising a girl whose father would never let her live the life she wanted. I thought if I could make you want the only life available to you, it might make it all easier. I love you unconditionally but I … I am so sorry I stopped making you feel that. I never meant to do that. I just … Persephone, before your amphidromia, I used to tell you that you could have the whole world if you wanted it.’
My eyes widen. ‘And that’s exactly what I asked for.’
And Father shut me down. Father made clear that my mother’s words were a lie, that he would never let me have something like that.
But perhaps the damage was already done. I’d never stop wanting it.
I pull my mother into a hug and hold her close. There’s a lot left to work through, but I think we’ll be okay.
‘I have six months on Earth,’ I say. ‘We can talk more then. I think maybe you should talk to Hecate too.’ I laugh. ‘You have more in common than I realized. She told me to meet her at Eleusis.’
‘Why?’
A long-term plan, perhaps. Not as Hecate wants it, but I’m sure I can persuade her towards something else – power united, power that might be enough, one day, to undo my father’s world without a war.
But that’s an idle fantasy.
‘I guess we’ll see,’ I say. ‘But I’ll see you there?’
She nods. And then, I suppose out of habit, she says, ‘You have pomegranate juice on your dress. It stains, you know.’
After I say farewell to my mother, I return to the megaron and Hades doesn’t even wait for me to reach him. He rushes towards me the second I walk through the door, grasps my hands, examines my wrists, sweeps my hair out of my face to check for damage.
‘Are you hurt? The chains or the lightning, did they –’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Your mother?’
‘I am equally undamaged by her.’ He looks like he believes that one less and I squeeze his hand. ‘I promise, I’m fine. And I think Mother and I will be fine too.’
He nods and casts a wary glance around him. There aren’t any gods here right now but there could be at any moment.
‘Let’s get off Olympus.’
‘Let’s. I can’t stand these clouds.’
‘Lack of soil?’
‘Yes, and I know exactly where I want to go.’
I have to wait until we’re out of the gates of Olympus, when my feet touch grass again. Flowers encircle us. When they clear, we’re in a meadow, stalks of dried asphodel in front of us.
‘This is …’
‘Where I called to you.’
‘Sicily?’
‘Sicily.’
The meadow billows around me as the flowers spring to life once more. I can feel it echo out, life flooding back not only to this island but across the Earth. I could stay here and the world would recover, the circles rippling out across the ocean to the lands beyond. Life has returned.
The nymphs won’t be happy their plants were dying. But they’re not here. The meadow is empty. No doubt they are off with the dryads of the trees on the meadow’s edges. Or now that I have left and the wards are gone, maybe they’re off with the mortals they always wanted to dally with. I hope they’re happy, wherever they are.
I sit on the ground that opened for me, where the hole formed and I leapt.
