The garden around me faded, and my eyes flickered open with a start. These were definitely not ordinary dreams, I decided, blinking up at the star-covered rock ceiling. It really was quite pretty, I thought absently, trying to replay the conversation I'd just had before I fell back to sleep.
Was it Hades? I didn't think so. The voice sounded nothing like him, and I couldn't imagine him creating a garden like that. Zeus? Zeus hated me. And wouldn't be so gentle, I was sure. Then who?
I woke early the next morning and had a long bath. My muscles ached and the hot water felt good. After navigating my huge wardrobe and managing to select something to wear and dress myself without Skop sneaking a peek, I sat down at my dresser to try one of the hairstyles Hedone had taught me. I wanted her to be impressed when she arrived.
'What do you think would happen if I ate the pomegranate seed I won?' I asked Skop.
'Why would you go to all that trouble to win a seed and then just eat it?' he asked, his voice incredulous.
'Just answer the question.'
'I don't know, but I doubt you'd sprout a tree from your ass,' he said. I shook my head, rolling my eyes but unable to hide my smile.
'Thanks, that's really helpful,' I said sarcastically.
'Maybe if you win another one you could find out, but you only have one at the moment.' He made a good point, I thought. 'What made you think of eating it?'
'We eat them back home,' I said defensively.
'You eat seeds? Humans from the mortal world are weird,' he said.
'How come the gods stay here in Olympus and don't do anything in my world?' I asked him.
'Beats me. Mostly I ignore the gods, and concentrate on my own shit.'
'Which is?' I asked, raising my eyebrows at him as I fiddled with a lock of white hair.
'Screwing, primarily,' he said, his tail wagging and eyes gleaming.
'I should've guessed,' I said, rolling my eyes. 'You look too cute like that to be so disgusting.'
'There's nothing disgusting about sex. If you think there is then you've been doing it wrong.'
'Eew,' I said, turning away from him. Truth was though, I didn't know if I'd have gotten as far as I did on that cursed bridge without the randy little kobaloi. I was becoming a little bit fond of him.
Hedone arrived a short while later, and to my delight she was very impressed with my hair and make-up efforts. She took me to a grand dining room, very Greek in style with fluted columns everywhere, and high glowing ceilings. A long table set for twenty ran down the center of the room, and we sat together as she took me through the correct order to use knives and forks and spoons and little bowls. I tried to tell her about the movie Pretty Woman, but she just smiled politely at me. I spent the next hour trying to bury an increasing feeling of homesickness, and concentrate on what she was teaching me. Eventually she announced that it was time for lunch, and that she would be back in a few hours.
'And I'm bringing Morpheus with me. He says he knows of somewhere he thinks you might like.'
'Oh, thank you,' I said. 'I assume I'm not going to be dumped on an unsuspecting Hades for lunch again,' I joked awkwardly.
'Err, no, but your presence has been requested by someone else.' She gave me an uneasy smile.
'Who'
'Zeus.'
Sixteen
I uncrossed and recrossed my legs under the table, looking around at the ridiculous opulence for what must have been the hundredth time. The moment Hedone had stopped talking, bright white light had consumed me, and then I'd found myself in this grand dining room. Only the word 'room' didn't really apply. There were no walls or ceiling, and stunning pastel colored clouds swirled above and around me. A gentle, temperate breeze swept through my hair, and I closed my eyes. If felt incredible. I was outside. Properly outside, where the air moved, and the sky stretched on forever.
The floor was made from the same white marble I'd seen so much of, as were the columns that ringed the circular space, but gold vines with tiny little white flowers wound their way around them. I'd walked as close to the edge of the room as I dared, but it turned out I wasn't over my last brush with heights, and dizziness swamped me before I could see anything. So instead, I'd sat back down at the table. Steaming hot coffee had been poured for two, and I picked the cup in front of me up and sniffed it. It smelled divine, and I was sipping at it before I could stop myself. A small happy moan escaped my lips.
'You humans and your coffee,' said a voice, and Zeus shimmered into existence in the chair opposite me. He was in blonde surfer boy form. Fury filled me instantly.
'Hello,' I said stiffly. 'I've been wanting to have a talk with you, so I'm glad you've invited me to lunch.' He smiled at me, and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't pretend he wasn't obscenely gorgeous. He abducted you. He's an asshole.
'So I heard. Shame about yesterday's Trial. I understand you missed out on a room with a view?' I said nothing, just sipped more coffee, letting my anger bubble. 'What do you think of the view here?' My eyes dropped to the table, shame pricking through my anger. I was instantly annoyed with myself for giving my emotions away. 'Ah, but of course,' Zeus said softly. 'You won't be able to go close enough to the edge to see.'
'As if you didn't already know that,' I spat. 'You've done this deliberately, to mock me.' I glared at him, projecting as much venom into the look as I could.
'You and I have gotten off on the wrong foot, Persephone,' he said softly.
'The wrong foot? Explain to me how there could possibly be any other kind of foot? You kidnapped me!'
'That was when I thought you were just a useless little mortal human. I can see now, you may have lost your powers, but you kept your spirit.'
I stared at him, confused.
'You're saying this after I failed to cross the chasm?' I would have expected that to cement his poor opinion of me.
'You were clearly terrified, yet you tried anyway. I admire that.' I frowned suspiciously. 'Let me show you the view, Persephone. This might be the only time you're off Virgo for a little while, and I believe you will appreciate the... openness of my realm.'
'Your realm? Where are we?'
'Leo. Sky realm of Zeus, center of Olympus,' he smiled at me. Power emanated from him, and my anger was melting away. I knew, vaguely, that he was doing it, but I was struggling to care. 'We are in my personal rooms at the top of Mount Olympus. The citizens of my realm live in houses that float in the ring of clouds around the mountain, or further down the mountain itself. And they get around in wooden ships with sails powered by light.' I stared at him. 'Now tell me, surely you want to see that?' His voice was warm and seductive and I couldn't deny that what he had described sounded amazing.
'OK,' I said, standing up. Zeus stood up too, then held his hand out towards the edge of the room. Glass appeared out of nowhere, wrapping itself around the marble floor and stretching up.
'You can't fall, I swear,' he said to me, then strode to the glass. I followed him cautiously. The dizziness didn't come as I got closer, and I wondered if that was because of Zeus, or because I knew I couldn't fall. Either way, I got close enough to the edge to see beyond.