'I'm so done. Done with all of this. I need to wake up now.'
'Persephone, this isn't a dream,' she said, stepping forward and gripping my arm hard.
'Ow!' I exclaimed, my laughter dying out abruptly.
'See? You can feel that?'
'Yes,' I said sharply, tugging my arm back.
'This is real. And trust me when I tell you, you don't want to fuck with Zeus or Hades. Or any of the Olympians for that matter. If Zeus found you and brought you here, then you have to compete in the Trials. And that has... ramifications.'
I scowled at her.
'No. No, I'm sorry.' I turned, and my stomach lurched as I bumped into a wall made from solid earth. 'Where's the corridor gone?' I asked, my voice weak. Blue light flared around me and I spun back to Hecate. Her eyes were milky white again and her hands were raised by her face. Thin wisps of purple smoke were trailing from her palms, and slowly they convalesced into a dagger, spinning gently in the air in front of me. I felt my heart begin to hammer in my chest. 'I need to sit down,' I said, feeling my legs wobble beneath me.
'Persephone, you have a past in this realm. A past I am not at liberty to divulge.' Her voice had gone weirdly formal, compared to how she'd been speaking before. 'But I can tell you that Hades will be very shocked, and very angry to see you. And there will be many others who will be less than pleased. This weapon will work here in Olympus, even on a god, and you should keep it on you at all times.'
The dagger floated towards my shaking hands, and I tentatively reached for it. It was warm to touch, and had a little green stone set in each side of the pommel. Other than that it was unremarkable.
'Thanks,' I muttered, staring at it. It felt real in my grasp. Too real. I squeezed my eyes closed. Wake up, wake up, wake up. Sam, where the fuck are you? Wake me up!
Nothing happened. That didn't mean anything though. There was no way I was the wife of Hades. I'd been watching too much Netflix.
But something in my core was straining, almost longing for this craziness to be true. Why? Why would I want that? In what world would I want to compete to be the wife of a god I had apparently already been married to once, then completely forgotten? I wanted to design gardens! I wanted to grow living things! I didn't want to be in a cave with a magic dagger and angry gods!
'I want to go home,' I whispered, looking at Hecate. 'I was going to have a meeting today about my scholarship.'
A flicker of pity flashed across Hecate's face, her eyes blue again.
'I'm sorry,' she said quietly. 'Zeus is a prick. Don't tell him I said that either.'
'Can you send me back?'
She shook her head sadly.
'For your sake and Hades, I wish I could. But there's no crossing the big man.' She cocked her head at me again. 'You know, deep down, that this is real, don't you?'
I looked at her.
'I know something is wrong,' I admitted.
'Maybe when you see the realm, some of it will come back to you. Hopefully not all of it,' she added quietly. I frowned.
'If what you're saying is true, why will Hades be angry to see me? Did we fall out?'
'Something like that. Only he can tell you what happened. And he will likely choose not to.'
'Why?'
'Persy, I can't tell you, so don't ask, alright?' she said, a flicker of exasperation in her tone.
'Persy?'
She gave me an apologetic look.
'Sorry. That's what I used to call you. Before you... left.'
'Were we friends?'
'Yeah. You had cooler hair then. And much better dress sense.'
I looked down at my leather jacket and ripped jeans, then at her sleek black catsuit.
'Oh,' I said, not sure what else to say. My brain seemed to have slowed down completely, almost like it was refusing to process anymore. 'I can't think straight,' I told Hecate. 'And I feel very tired suddenly.'
'Let's get you some food and dry clothes. Maybe a stiff drink. The gods know, I need one,' she said and held out her hand.
I paused for a second, then took it.
Five
I followed Hecate through the wooden door and down more corridors lit with blue flames. They reflected off her silver jewelry and I let the light and patterns they made occupy my frazzled mind as we walked. I figured there was no point trying to concentrate on where we were going if walls could just appear to block the way. There was no point concentrating on anything really. This whole mad situation seemed to be far beyond my control. I was unbelievably tired and I wondered if going to sleep in this pretend place might make me wake up in the real world.
'Technically I'm supposed to present you to the gods in an hour, but I'll let them know we'll be a bit late,' Hecate said over her shoulder to me. 'Zeus won't be surprised, the asshole,' she snarled.
'Why did he come and find me?'
'I already told you, because it'll upset Hades.'
'Oh yeah. Apparently my ex-husband hates me.' I rolled my eyes. Batshit crazy.
'Woah now, I never said that,' she said, slowing down and looking back at me.
'You did too!'
'No, I said he'll be angry to see you. You're not supposed to be here.'
'Right. Is this one of those messy divorce things?' I asked with a sigh. None of this made any sense.
'Hmm, something like that. There'll need to be some damage limitation. I'll do what I can but...' She trailed off. She didn't speak again until we reached another door covered in glowing blue marks, which I was now positive were Greek. 'Persy, this is going to be a bit weird for you. Don't freak out on me, OK? Just... act normal.'
I looked at her.
'I'm too tired to freak out,' I told her. It was true. My thoughts were becoming more and more sluggish, and my legs felt like they weighed a ton. The adrenaline was wearing off. 'Plus I have no idea what normal is here,' I pointed out. 'I don't even know where I am.'
'You're in Olympus. Virgo, to be precise.'
'Virgo? Like the star sign?'
'Each of the Olympians has their own realm, and yeah, in your world they're star signs. Hades' realm is Virgo.'
'My star sign is Capricorn,' I said. 'Who's realm is that?'
'Artemis. And she and Hades do not get on. Also her realm is forbidden, except if you're a centaur. So unless you're hiding a horse body under those jeans, give up any ideas of visiting.'
'Right,' I said. Centaurs. Of course there were centaurs here. A little surge of panic bit through my fatigue. This couldn't be happening. But it was. At least there was something about Hecate I trusted. Likely because she was a figment of my own imagination and I'd invented her for exactly that reason. I would just try to treat anything and anyone in this place as though it were completely ordinary, I decided firmly. What other choice did I have? Freaking out wouldn't do me any good at all. As long as I could do nothing about this messed up situation, I might as well go along with it.
The room on the other side of the door was not that weird after all. It was a bit like a dressing room, with rails of clothes down one side, and a long counter down the other, with a mirror above it. The light wasn't blue anymore though, the rocky walls giving off a pale glow closer to daylight.