Persephone the Phony (Goddess Girls) (2 page)

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to admire the more elaborate monuments, including one with a marble bull perched on top. The plainer grave markers were simple stone cylinders, inscribed with the name of the deceased. Near the more recent of the graves, cups of wine and small cakes had been left as offerings to the spirits of the dead.

Next to one newly dug site, Persephone found some lilies scattered on the ground. She picked them up. Immediately the flowers' stalks straightened and became greener, and their drooping yellow petals curved upward, taking on a brighter hue. "That's better," she said to herself.

It was peaceful in the cemetery. Quite lovely, in fact. Persephone smiled. She was surprised how much at home she felt here. It was wonderful to have some alone time, with only her thoughts for company. She

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plucked a bunch of little daisies that had sprouted in a patch of grass. Relaxing against one of the stone markers, she began to weave a daisy chain.

Suddenly, not more than twenty feet away, the ground split open with a loud
crac
k. "Yikes!" yelled Persephone. Her hands jerked and she dropped the daisy chain into her lap as a black stallion pushed up through the gap. It reared on its hind legs, and its front hooves pawed the air.

A godboy sat on the stallion's back. He seemed as startled to see Persephone as she was to see him. "Whoa!" he shouted. The stallion calmed, and the godboy nimbly leaped down. He swept back his hair, which hung in long, dusky ringlets. "I know you," he said coolly. "Persephone, right? I've seen you at school. What are you doing here in my cemetery?"

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Persephone pulled part of the tangled pile of green string from her pocket. "I lost my ball of yarn. It fell out of my bag, and I followed it down here." She was surprised the godboy knew her name. He was older than her, maybe fourteen. He wasn't in any of her classes, but she did recall seeing him skulking along the hallways at school. Once she'd seen some mean godboys push him up against a wall. They'd been led by Ares, a real hothead.

The godboy was staring at her. He was cute in a dark and brooding sort of way, with flashing black eyes and a fine, straight nose. "What's your name?" Persephone asked, blushing under his steady gaze.

He raised an eyebrow, as if he was surprised--and maybe a little insulted--that she didn't already know. "Hades."

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Persephone gave a little gasp. She'd heard his name before, and though she couldn't remember exactly what she'd heard, she knew it wasn't good. For one thing, Hades was from the
Underworl
d--a gloomy, lonely, horrible place. Or that was the rumor, anyway. Yet he didn't
see
m horrible.

Frowning, Hades waved a hand toward the cemetery. "Most goddessgirls wouldn't step foot in a place like this. Doesn't it creep you out to be here?"

Persephone tossed her curly head. "Not a bit," she replied. "I like it here. It's peaceful."

Hades seemed pleased by her response. He nodded. "It
i
s peaceful."

"Is this where you live? Or--" She glanced at the hole his horse had galloped out of.

"No, but I come here a lot. Especially when I need a

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break from school and stuff." He sat beside her.

"Oh," said Persephone, hugging her knees. "I know what you mean. Sometimes I need to get away from things for a while too."

"I'm not real good at school," Hades confessed. He picked up a stick and dug at the ground with it. His dark hair fell over his brow.

"Me neither," Persephone lied. She was doing very well in her classes, but she didn't want Hades to feel bad.

"That's not true. I know you make As." He looked at her curiously. "Why are you lying?"

"Lying?" Persephone gulped. But he was right, and she liked that he had been so straightforward. She decided to be the same. "I guess I just wanted you to feel better."

He nodded, seeming to understand. "Sometimes I

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skip classes when I don't want to go. Which is most of the time."

Persephone thought about saying that she sometimes skipped too, but stopped herself from telling another lie. She was sure Hades would see through it. Instead she said softly, "Maybe that's why you don't do real well in school."

He looked at her and laughed. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Do you have any classes with Mr. Cyclops?" Persephone asked as they continued to talk.

Hades nodded again. "I have him for my last class of the day."

"Does he walk around barefoot in your class too?" Persephone asked, giggling.

Still bent over his stick, Hades grinned. "Yes, and

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he leaves his sandals lying around for everyone to trip over. Those things are as big as boats!"

Persephone nodded. "It's become a game to hide them."

"Have you ever done that?"

"No, but once, my friends Athena and Aphrodite decorated them with glittery stars and hung them from the ceiling!"

"I've seen you with them. Your friends," Hades said casually.

She'd been surprised that he knew her name, and that she got As, but the fact that he'd noticed her with her friends made Persephone feel happier than she'd felt all day. When it came to godboys, it was usually Aphrodite who drew all the attention. Blushing, she said, "Really? So who do you hang out with?"

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Hades pushed on his stick so hard it broke in two. "I'm kind of a loner," he muttered darkly. Then, lightening up a little, he shot her a glance and said, "Tell me more about your friends."

Persephone would have liked to ask why he didn't pal around with the other godboys, but since it was obviously a sore subject, she was happy to talk about her friends instead. "Athena is so smart, she invented the olive," she said. "And no one knows more about fashion than Aphrodite. Then there's Artemis. She's the best archer in the Academy! And she has these three dogs. Once they got ahold of Mr. Cyclops's sandals. What a drooly mess--"

"I heard!" interrupted Hades, laughing again. Persephone liked the deep, rumbly sound of his voice. "I've got a dog too," he said. "Mine has three heads.

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Cerberus. But he's a working dog. I can't bring him to school."

Persephone nodded. "Yeah, I've heard about him." He guarded the entrance to the Underworld and kept souls from escaping. She shivered just thinking about it. It seemed so creepy.

"So now tell me about you," Hades said. "What do
yo
u do best?"

"Well, I can garden a bit," said Persephone, surprised. Usually people liked to talk about themselves. It was weird to have someone ask about her. "My mom's Demeter."

"Goddess of the harvest and bringer of seasons, right?" said Hades.

"Yes," said Persephone.

"You take after her," said Hades.

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"I can make things grow, anyway," said Persephone, shrugging.

"Show me," said Hades.

"Huh?"

"Show me how you can make things grow." He sat back, almost daring her, resting his weight on his hands.

"It's really not that big a deal," Persephone protested.

When he just stared at her with those dark eyes of his, she shrugged and reached into her lap for her daisy chain. By now all the little daisies had become limp. But as she held up the chain and gently stroked the flowers, their green stems and white petals straightened and grew strong again, as if they were still in the ground.

Hades' jaw dropped. "Cool! Where I come from almost

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nothin
g grows--except asphodel. You've got skills!"

Persephone smiled. "Thanks." She couldn't imagine a place where things didn't grow. Asphodel was nice, though. She'd always liked the star-shaped white flowers, which grew atop tall stalks. Before she could ask Hades more about the Underworld, a chariot drawn by two wheat-colored horses swooped down from the sky.

"Oh, no--my mom!"

Beside her, she felt Hades stiffen. It was almost as if he'd learned to always expect trouble.

Demeter jumped down from the chariot as soon as it landed, and hustled over to Persephone. "I've been looking for you everywhere," she scolded. "You should've been home an hour ago. What are you doing in this awful place?" She herded Persephone

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onto the chariot. Then, whirling around, she gave Hades a look that would've killed if he hadn't already been immortal. "Stay away from my daughter, godboy!" she warned him.

For a second, hurt flitted across Hades' face, but then his features hardened into an unreadable mask and he turned away.

"Mom!"
Persephone's cheeks burned with embarrassment as the chariot lifted off.

Demeter urged the horses on. "If you don't like me hunting you down, you shouldn't wander off on your own without telling me where you're going and when you'll return," she replied as the chariot picked up speed.

Persephone tried to swallow the knot of anger that had become lodged in her stomach. It wasn't the

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first time her mom had come looking for her. In fact, Demeter was the ultimate chariot mom, racing here, there, and everywhere to keep tabs on her daughter. But whenever Persephone complained to her friends, Aphrodite said she should feel grateful she even
ha
d a mom. Having sprung from sea foam, Aphrodite had no parents at all. And Athena's mom was a fly! They just didn't understand.

"Who was that godboy, anyway?" Demeter demanded after a while. "I didn't like the look of him at all."

Persephone shrugged. "He didn't say," she lied.

Demeter pursed her lips, and they rode in silence a few minutes longer. At last she said, "Promise me you won't go off on your own again without telling me beforehand."

"Fine," Persephone said stonily. At times like this,

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she couldn't help thinking that Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena were fortunate not to have moms around. Feeling rebellious, she vowed to return to Earth as soon as possible. And with luck, she'd see Hades at school tomorrow.

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The Missing Sandals

ALTHOUGH PERSEPHONE LOOKED FOR HADES in the hallways at school the next morning, she didn't spot him. Maybe he was skipping classes again. What a letdown. She'd been so hoping to see him again.

Now, as she sat through a boring lecture in Mr. Cyclops's Hero-ology class, her third class of the day,

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she moodily toyed with her hair, pulling at a curl and letting it spring back.

She hadn't wanted to lie to her mom last night about knowing Hades' name. But if given that scrap of information, her mom would've pursued it like a bee after pollen. Demeter had always checked out Persephone's friends and never hesitated to criticize them. In
her
view, Aphrodite was too obsessed with her looks, Athena was too smart for her own good, and Artemis spent far too much time traipsing about in the woods with her dogs. It was a miracle Persephone was even allowed to
hav
e friends!

Since she wasn't paying attention, she was caught unawares when Mr. Cyclops asked her a question. "Could you repeat that?" she asked, sitting up straighter.

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Her teacher rolled the single humongous eye in the middle of his forehead. "I asked if you knew where they went."

Where
who
went? Persephone's cheeks flushed. She hadn't a clue what he was talking about. She couldn't very well ask him to explain, though. Then he'd know for sure that she hadn't been listening.

"Well?" asked Mr. Cyclops, tapping an enormous bare foot.

"I'm thinking," said Persephone. He'd been talking about heroes, of course. He must have asked where they went after they died in battle. "Heaven?" she guessed.

The class roared with laughter.

Mr. Cyclops's huge eye blinked. "I asked if you knew where my sandals went. It would be quite amazing if

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they found their way to heaven." He paused. "Though, of course, they do have
sole
s."

Everyone groaned at the pun. Why had Mr. Cyclops asked
her
about his sandals? Persephone wondered. Students were always hiding them. Even if she did know who had taken them this time, she wouldn't have told. She was no snitch.

A girl with short, spiky orange hair waved her hand in the air. It was Pheme, the goddess of gossip and rumor. "I heard that some godboys dragged them down to the River Styx to go rafting last night." As she spoke, words puffed from her lips like miniature smoke writing.

Snickers drifted over the class.

Mr. Cyclops sighed. "I'll make a deal. Whoever finds