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In the middle of the small clearing, Leukke lay sleeping with her back to him, utterly soaked, a small pool of water surrounding her. He crawled to her, his movements slow and pained.
When he reached her he dropped to a seat beside her, moving the hair that stuck to her face and tucking it behind her ear. Her skin was cold.
“No,” he whispered, horrified as he realized her body was not rising and falling with breath. That her eyes were not fluttering under their lids with dreams and deep sleep. He grabbed her shoulder, her cold skin biting into his palm, and shook her lightly. Then harder when she didn’t respond, shaking her until she fell toward him and onto her back.
Tears leaked down his face as she fell back. Her eyes were open wide, unseeing and glazed. Her mouth was gaping open, as if she was taking a deep breath, but no air moved in or out of her mouth, her body. No sounds. No movements.
“No, no, no.” Hades hugged her to him and shoved his face into her hair, breathing deep. He didn’t care that the salt water burned his nostrils, he just needed to smell her again, to hold her. But that sweet scent was gone. All that remained was the salty brine of the Aegean.
He sobbed into her hair, her beautiful white hair, and squeezed her tighter until his muscles ached from laying on the hard ground for so long. He only loosened his grip and shifted his body from under her to stand when he could no longer ignore the hunger clawing at his insides.
Hades looked back at Leukke, eternally soaked. With one long blink he changed her into a tree; a beautiful, sweet-smelling white poplar, at the heart of an unscented, silvery-white rose garden.
Her scent finally filling the palace and it’s grounds.
7
AGONY AND DESPAIR
The sun was already high in the sky and burning Persephone’s face when she woke up next to the ashes of their fire pit. Her cheeks stung under the hot rays, and she shielded her face, groaning in complaint.
She groaned again as she opened her eyes, blinking at the light pushing through the space between her fingers. Her elbows ached as she pushed herself up onto them, forcing them onto small sharp rocks littering the dirt she’d called her bed last night. Both her friends were still sleeping across the dusty pit, their arms draped over their eyes; a perfect symmetric picture of sleeping bliss.
The wispy hairs at the nape of her neck rose, sending a shiver down her back despite the warm morning. She quickly turned to gaze into the trees where she’d again had the creeping feeling that someone was watching her.
There was nothing there. Not even a small animal, or a young sapling rocking in the light breeze.
The feeling remained. An uneasy, queasy feeling settled in her stomach, weighing her down. The forest around her went quiet, a pressure forming in her ears to the point of pain. When she clutched her head with both hands, letting herself fall back to the dirt, it stopped.
Birds were loudly chirping, a breeze was shaking the leaves and Melia’s snoring was grating. Persephone loosed a breath, laying on her back listening to the sounds of the forest and pretending whatever had just happened, hadn’t.
Unable to take being awake alone anymore, she nudged Melia and Elektra awake with her feet, kicking them as hard as she could without hurting them. They both moaned and grumbled, but rose. Melia said something incoherent under her breath, the words strung together and jumble. At the same time, Elektra reached for her empty cup, reeled her arm back and chucked it at Persephone’s head. She raised her hands in defense and ducked her head just in time for it to hit and bounce off, rolling into the water.
Elektra chuckled and said, “Go get it,” with a wave to the water, “and drown yourself while you’re at it.”
Persephone rolled her eyes, but complied with her first demand. “I told Pelops I would meet him this morning, and it’s well past morning,” she said, her voice straining as she held onto the edge of the earth and reached toward the cup. It floated further away and she smacked the water in defeat. She looked over her shoulder, sticking her bottom lip out and pointing toward the cup, but Elektra only glared and crossed her arms.
Sighing dramatically, Persephone lifted the bottom of her dress, holding it in a bunch around her waist and waded into the water. The top of the pool was already warm against her butt, but her feet were freezing as they inched along the bottom. She managed to reach Elektra’s cup without soaking her clothes, only her hands and the parts of the linen she held in them were wet.
“Guess we have to stay another night then,” Elektra said, taking the cup from Persephone and poking her in the ribs. Persephone swatted her hand away, but chuckled at her jest.
“No,” Melia groaned, stretching her arms up and out in a circle, “she should really talk to him.”
“Whose side are you on?
“Not yours.”
Elektra punched her in the arm, not trying at all to be gentle.
Persephone sighed. “I should at least figure out why he’s being so elusive and weird about the whole marriage thing.”
“If things go south,” Elektra started, pulling a smooth phallic piece of wood from her bag, “here’s something for your south.” She winked and handed theolisbosto Persephone, who hunched forward a little as the weight fell into her outstretched hands.
“Oh, Zeus!” Melia exclaimed, laughing hard enough she had to sit down. “Gods, I have never seen one so big! Where did you even find that?”
“I don’t need this—”
“Everyone needs anolisbos, Persephone. Usually, we wait until you’re married, but,” she winked again, “desperate times call for desperate measures.”
