Aphrodite’s couture gowns were so coveted, a girl killed for one just a few months ago. There was a trial and everything.
Nevernight was no different.
“How did you manage to get on the list?” Persephone asked.
“A guy at my internship can’t make it. He’s been on the waiting list for two years. Can you believe how lucky? You. Me. Nevernight. Tonight!”
“I can’t go.”
Lexa’s shoulders fell. “Come on, Persephone. I got us into Nevernight! I don’t want to go alone!”
“Take Iris.”
“I want to take you. We’re supposed to be celebrating. Besides, this is part of your college experience!”
Persephone was pretty sure Demeter would disagree. She had promised her mother several things before coming to New Athens to attend university, among them that she would stay away from the gods.
Granted, she hadn’t kept many of her promises. She’d changed her major halfway through her first semester from botany to journalism. She would never forget her mother’s tight smile or the way she’d said, ‘how nice’ between gritted teeth when she’d discovered the truth. Persephone had won the battle, but Demeter declared war. The day after, everywhere she went, one of Demeter’s nymphs went, too.
Still, majoring in botany was not as important as staying away from the gods because the gods didn’t know Persephone existed.
Well, they knew Demeter had a daughter, but she had never been introduced at court in Olympia. They definitely didn’t know she was masquerading as a mortal. Persephone wasn’t sure how the gods would react to discovering her, but she knew how the entire world would react, and it wouldn’t be good. They would have a new god to learn and to scrutinize. She wouldn’t be able to exist—she would lose the freedom she had just gained, and she wasn’t interested in that.
Persephone didn’t often agree with her mother, but even she knew it was best she lead a normal, mortal life. She wasn’t like other gods and goddesses.
“I really need to study and write a paper, Lexa. Plus, I start my internship tomorrow.”
She was determined to make a good impression, and showing up hungover or sleep-deprived on her first day wasn’t the way to go about it.
“You’ve studied!” Lexa indicated to her laptop and stack of notes on the table. But what Persephone had really been doing is studying a flower and thinking about the God of the Dead. “And we both know you’ve already written that paper, you’re just a perfectionist.”
Persephone’s cheeks flushed. So what if it was true? School was the first and only thing she was good at.
“Please, Persephone! We’ll leave early so you can get some rest.”
“What am I going to do at Nevernight, Lex?”
“Dance! Drink! Kiss! Maybe gamble a little? I don’t know, but isn’t that the fun of it?”
Persephone blushed again and looked away. The narcissus seemed to glare back at her, reflecting all of her failures. She had never kissed a boy. She had never been around men until she’d come to college, and even then, she kept her distance, mostly out of fear her mother would materialize and smite them.
That was not an exaggeration. Demeter had always warned her against men.
“You are two things to gods,” she’d told Persephone when she was very young. “A power-play or a play-thing.”
“Surely you are wrong, mother. Gods love. There are several who are married.”
Demeter had laughed. “Gods marry for power, my flower.”
And, as Persephone had gotten older, she had come to realize that what her mother said was true. None of the gods who were married actually loved each other, and instead spent most of their time cheating and then seeking revenge for the betrayal.
That meant Persephone was going to die a virgin, because Demeter had also made it clear that mortals weren’t an option, either.
“They…age,” she’d said in disgust.
Persephone had decided not to argue with her mother about how age didn’t matter if it was true love, because she’d come to realize that it wasn’t about being Divine or a mortal—it was that her mother didn’t believe in love.
Well, not romantic love at least.
“I…don’t have anything to wear,” Persephone tried weakly.
“You can borrow anything from my closet. I’ll even do your hair and makeup. Please, Persephone.”
She pursed her lips, considering.
She would have to sneak away from the nymphs her mother had planted at their apartment and strengthen her glamour which would cause problems. Demeter would want to know why Persephone was suddenly in need of more magic. Then again, she could blame the extra coverage on her internship.
Without glamour, Persephone’s anonymity would be ruined as there was one obvious characteristic that identified all gods as Divine, and that was their horns. Persephone’s were white and spiraled straight into the air like those of a greater kudu, and while her usual glamour had never failed around mortals, she wasn’t so sure it worked for a god as powerful as Hades.
“I don’t really want to meet Hades,” she said at last.
Those words tasted bitter on her tongue because they were really a lie. A truer statement would be she was curious about him and his world. She found it interesting that he was so elusive and the bets he made with mortals completely appalling. The God of the Dead represented everything she wasn’t—something dark and tempting.
Tempting because he was a mystery and mysteries were adventures, and that’s what Persephone really craved. Maybe it was the journalist in her, but she’d like to ask him some questions.
“Hades won’t be there,” Lexa said. “Gods never run their own businesses!”
That was true, and probably truer of Hades. It was well-known that he preferred the dark gloom of the Underworld.
Lexa stared at Persephone for a long moment and then leaned across the table again.
“Is this about your mom?” She asked in a low voice.
Persephone stared at her friend for a moment, surprised. She didn’t talk about her mom. She figured the quieter she was about her, the fewer questions she’d have to answer, and the fewer lies she’d have to tell.
“How did you know?” Was the only thing Persephone could think to ask.
Lexa shrugged. “Well, you never talk about her and she came by the apartment a couple weeks ago while you were in class.”
“What?” Persephone’s mouth dropped open. This was the first time she had heard of this visit. “What did she say? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Lexa puts up her hands. “Okay, first, your mom is scary. I mean, she’s gorgeous just like you, but,” Lexa pauses to shiver. “Cold. Second, she told me not to tell you.”
“And you listened to her?”
“Well, yeah. I sorta thought she would tell you. She said she hoped to surprise you, but since you weren’t home, she’d just call.”
Persephone rolled her eyes. Demeter had never called her. That was likely because she’d been there looking for something.
“Did she come into our apartment?”
“She asked to see your room.”
“Dammit.” Persephone was going to have to check the mirrors. It was possible her mother had left an enchantment so she could check up on the goddess.