Nero froze before his lips curved into his own evil grin. “You’re not cruel, College. I can tell. Besides—”
“Yeah, I get it. If I want to know, etc.”
She lifted one of his bags, wondering what she was doing helping this asshole who might have landed her aunt in the hospital or worse. But June didn’t trust just anyone. She wasn’t a fool. And Nero didn’t seem like a clever con man, just a stubborn kid. Of course, Cressida had never met a true con man. She bet a good one would know how to fit in. He wouldn’t be any good if people could spot him from the get-go.
The elevator dinged as they went into the hall. Nero switched direction seamlessly, heading for the stairs.
“Just how many times have you had to sneak out of hotels?” Cressida asked.
“Do you have a car?”
“Of course.”
“Good. We can go to your place.”
She almost said that there was no way she was taking a nutjob to her apartment, but at least he’d be in unfamiliar territory there. And her neighbors would hear it if she called for help. She thought of calling some of her fellow grad students, but there weren’t many she was close to, none she’d really call friends.
I should have gotten out more.
Ugh, that was something her mom would have said. Besides, she didn’t need friends watching her back when she had a baseball bat under the bed.
“This way.” She led him down to the street and hurried outside. He looked over his shoulder the whole time, and she started to feel as nervous as him. When she took a peek across the parking lot, she caught sight of the turtleneck triplets hustling toward them.
Nero dove into her car when she unlocked it, his nerves feeding her own. “Go, go, go,” he whispered.
“Shut up!” She missed the ignition and wondered if this was how people in a horror movie would feel if they could hear the audience screaming at them to start the damn car. The triplets were running, and she had to stop and watch them. Their footsteps fell in perfect sync, and she’d never seen anyone so fast. It was almost hypnotizing but calming enough that the key slipped into the ignition without fuss.
Nero leaned into her vision. “What is wrong with you, College? Go!”
Spell broken, she pulled out of the lot and sped away, nearly hitting three other cars and wondering idly if the turtleneck gang would catch up to her once she was stuck in traffic, but as she took a corner, she lost them from her rearview.
When they reached her building, Nero stayed on her toes, nodding to the day guard minding the desk. Cressida stopped, though, speaking loudly. “My guest will only be staying a few hours.”
The day guard nodded slowly as if she was the crazy one, but now someone knew Nero was with her. On her floor, she stopped to say hello to a neighbor, and Nero laughed, waiting until they were alone in her apartment to say, “Making sure enough people see my face? What do you think I’m going to do, College?”
She waited as he dumped his stuff on the rug. “Talk.”
He walked around her living room, looking out the window, fingers passing over the shelves stuffed with books, the television sitting on another pile of books that served as a low table. Piles of notebooks and paperbacks dotted the room like snowdrifts, fiction and nonfiction mingling wantonly, as June would have said. She’d always been tidier.
But she hadn’t always been careful, especially when she was on the chase for a new relic or a fresh take on a myth. Cressida ducked into her bedroom, got the bat, and stepped back out. “I said, talk.”
Nero put his hands up. “Whoa. What do you plan to do with that?”
“Beat the truth out of you if I have to.”
Hands still up, he sat on the sofa and shifted a pile of books out of the way. “I inducted your aunt into the Eleusinian Mysteries, and she went to the Underworld.”
Cressida waited for him to get serious, but he didn’t smile, didn’t try to play cute. “What?”
“I inducted—”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m the last hierophant.”
She blinked at him, trying to conjure up images of hierophants: priests of ancient mystery cults, secret sects that worshiped the Greek gods inside their own religions. Hierophant identities had been carefully guarded secrets, but they’d died out with all the rest of it. “There hasn’t been a hierophant for the Eleusinian Mysteries in a very long time.”
“They were getting too well known, so we went underground, so to speak. Now there’s only two of us at a time, the hierophant and an apprentice, just like the Sith.”
“Great. Good to know you see yourself as having something in common with Star Wars. Confirms you’re a nut.” When he only stared, she sighed. “And you’re the apprentice?”
He shrugged and stared at the carpet with a sad smile. “Not anymore. My predecessor died not long ago, and I have yet to choose an apprentice of my own. That’s why…” He stared at her. “Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know what it would mean, all right? I didn’t know what I was doing. I couldn’t believe I’d found someone who wasn’t in the scene who still believed in the Mysteries, so when June told me what she wanted, I had to find out if I could do it.”
“Had to find out if you could send someone to the Underworld?” And she hoped her skeptical tone said it all.
“Besides me, you need a gate,” he said, “and you have to sneak in. You have to be familiar with the Mysteries first and go through the tale of Persephone and Demeter. You have to know their pain before you can even see the gate. You do recall the story of how Hercules traveled to the Underworld?”
Cressida waved at him to stop. In the myth, Hercules had been forced to perform the Eleusinian Mysteries. Connecting with Demeter and her struggle to find Persephone supposedly made a person able to see the gate to the Underworld, but that was just a story. The Mysteries had been real, but they were gone. It was all gone.
Cressida sat down on the opposite chair and wondered just how crazy he was, how crazy June would have to have been to listen to him. God, she must have been in some kind of crisis, or this guy would never have been able to convince her he could do what he claimed.
Or maybe he really believed it, and he killed June and thought of her as being in the Underworld instead of just dead. Cressida clutched the bat tighter.
He watched her hands as if he knew what she was thinking. “She’s not dead.”
“And you expect me to believe all this?”
He lifted his hands and dropped them. Then he snapped his fingers. “When she underwent the Mysteries, she communed with a sacred object. Some of her essence should still be on it.” He dug in his bag and came up with the carved box again. With careful, practiced slowness, as if it might bite him, he opened the lid and brought forth a stalk of wheat.
Cressida breathed again. Sacred objects sometimes included a phallus, and she’d imagined Nero holding an enormous dildo. She definitely would have hit him in the head and thrown him out of her house then. But wheat was sacred to Demeter, definitely part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and he wasn’t holding it with gloves or anything, so it was probably safe.
He held it out. “Here.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Just touch it.”
And now, no matter what her rational mind said, she did not want to “just touch it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s got some of your aunt’s essence.”
“And I’m supposed to be able to sense that?”
He rolled his eyes. “No, I drugged this bit of wheat with something so potent, you’re going to fall unconscious even though I seem to be holding it with no difficulty.”
Well, now that he said it… Still, she reached out hesitantly, but he didn’t jerk it back or throw it at her. And it was just a stalk of wheat; she could see that plain as day. With one last aggravated sigh, she grabbed it.
The world fell away. Lights bloomed behind her eyes, and she saw flashes, heard voices, so many voi
ces surrounding her; smells and sights flashed before her eyes, the faces of people, of creatures she’d never dreamed of, all babbling and screeching, and oh God, was that one flying?
It was over in a flash, and she nearly fell forward, gasping. She steadied herself, staring at Nero with her mouth open. “What the hell?” A nimbus of light floated behind him like a halo. The wheat had fallen to the floor.
“A glimpse of what your aunt is seeing now,” he said. “Well, things she’s seen.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said, still blinking away after images. His halo faded. “That isn’t… You can’t…” She took a deep breath. “The Eleusinian Mysteries? Where people reenact the kidnapping of Persephone and try to cheer up Demeter?”
He blinked at her. “I know what they are. I’m the—”
She threw her arms in the air. “You can’t be a hierophant. There are no more hierophants. They died out with the Eleusinian Mysteries!”
“Or,” he said, lifting a finger, “they went underground where they were always supposed to be because they were a secret that was getting way too public. You shouldn’t even know about the Persephone-Demeter thing.”
“Everyone knows about Persephone and Demeter! Hades kidnapped Persephone. Demeter was really sad about it. That’s why we have winter!” Now she was shouting, but she didn’t know how to stop. “No one worships them anymore!”
He gave her a scathing look. “No one you know, maybe.”
“Myths! Legends!”
He waved. “Christianity. Judaism. Islam. Hinduism.”
“Those are different!”
“Buddhism. Wiccans. Taoism.”
That one made her trip. “I thought Taoism was more of a philosophy.”
“They’ve all got their different philosophies, and as many of them would tell you, it’s about faith.”
She stood up and had to sit down again. She needed water. The kitchen was only a few feet away, but it was still too far. She slid down to sit on the carpet, keeping her hand away from the wheat, but flashes were still playing behind her eyes. She’d visited different churches with friends when she’d been little, but she’d never felt anything like…
Had it even been real? Couldn’t have been. Couldn’t. “Can I do it again?”
His eyebrow quirked. “Ready to believe, are we?”
“No, that’s why I want to do it again. You know, scientific experimentation?”
He frowned. “I don’t know if science would agree with you, but all right.” He gestured to the wheat.
She grabbed hold. There, dress and costumes she recognized from pots and statuary and oh so many myths, stories that had been studied and rewritten and redone, powers that couldn’t exist, legends that couldn’t be true, and there was that flying thing again! She groped forward until she caught Nero’s wrist and let the wheat fall to the floor.
“Gods, Mount Olympus? It can’t be true. Is it the only real religion? Did people discover the true realm of the unknown, the only real gods, and then abandon them?”
“One thing at a time.”
She squinted. “Maybe you’re some kind of hypnotist.”
“I’m pretty sure a person can’t be hypnotized unless they want to be.”
And she didn’t want to be, but June would have leapt at the chance to believe in gods and goddesses and myths. “What happened to her?”
“She dug through tales and rumors, all around the world, until she found me. It took years, but she found the line of hierophants, one replacing another, the better to keep ourselves secret. No one is worthy of the Mysteries unless they can seek us out. We emailed back and forth for a long time, spoke a few times, and then she had me brought over so she could speak to me face-to-face.”
“And the bald triplets?”
He bit his lip. “Would you believe me if I said that was Cerberus in his Earthly disguise?”
She shot to her feet, shaking. “No, no, no. Bull. It has to be.”
“He guards the gates to the Underworld. He doesn’t like that I sent someone there. It’s a good sign, really. It means June got past him.”
“Why?” Cressida said at last, and she felt the tears threatening. She pressed on her eyes to get them to stop. “Why would June want to go to the Underworld?”
He shook his head. “You should know as well as I do. I mean, we can’t have had as many conversations as you must have had. She was looking for what she’s always been looking for.”
“Something real.”
He nodded.
This time, she couldn’t hold in a little sob. “I’m real.”
“Hey.” He seemed uncomfortable but didn’t try to touch her. “She spoke about you all the time, College. Couldn’t stop talking about you some days, when we video chatted. She didn’t intend to stay in the Underworld. It was supposed to be a quick trip. She planned to have this conversation with you when she got back. She wanted to introduce us. Hell, I’ve never sent anyone to the Underworld. I wasn’t even sure it would work.” He shuffled his feet. “I…was just about to call you, actually, let you know something was up.”
She thought of the liquor bottles and room service trays. “Oh really?”
“Yeah, sure.” He smiled and looked guilty as if realizing they both knew that was a lie. “Don’t panic. We’re linked, she and I, since I helped her get there, and I would have felt it if she’d…died. I’m pretty sure.”
She searched his face for a lie, but she hadn’t known him that long, and someone who hid special Underworld powers from the rest of the world had to have a good poker face at least some of the time. “And you think I can contact her where you can’t?”
“Contact. Sure. You can find her in person.”
“You want me to go to the Underworld?”
“Dead simple. We go to this cave I found that has the right spiritual resonance, the same place she went, and then I’ll perform the Mysteries.” He wiped his lips. “I have to warn you. Your aunt found a way to sneak past Cerberus because he wasn’t looking for anyone, but now he’s on high alert. If he finds you, he finds me.”
“If June found a way…”
“I think she had help. I sensed a presence.”
“What kind of presence?” And why was it making her blood run cold? She told herself she still didn’t really believe any of this was happening, but she’d had the visions, and it wasn’t like any drug she’d ever heard of. And now they were talking about the dangers of Cerberus and an unknown presence.
“Well, based on what I’ve learned, living people are a hot commodity in the Underworld. If she’s smart, she made some kind of deal to get her back where she belongs.” He sighed and paced, rubbing his hands over his head. “To tell you the truth, College, I have huge doubts about helping you. I liked June. I don’t want to think I sent her to something bad, and now I’m sending her niece to the same fate. It’s why I didn’t want to tell you in the first place.”
“Fuck that!” Cressida said. “If she’s in trouble, I want to help her.”
He laughed. “If Cerberus is here on Earth when I part the veil between worlds, you should be able to slip past, but we need to do this before he catches up to us.”
“But you’ll be left here with him.”
His head hung a moment. “Let me worry about that.” He rubbed his hands together. “First, you need to pack. You can’t eat anything in the Underworld, so you’ll need your own supplies.”
She paused on her way to the kitchen. “Did June have enough food for four days?”
He shrugged. “Her life force is still going strong. I don’t think it would be doing that if she was now a permanent resident. Maybe time or hunger works differently there?” Another shrug. “The stories vary.”
As she gathered some things, still not believing what she was getting herself into, he went over what he did know, telling her that people in the Underworld could do anything living people could do: eat, drink, talk, have sex. She paused at that one, giving him a look.
He shrugged. “They can’t have children. That’s about it.”
“And what happens if they die in the Underworld?”
He shook his head. “All I know is the stories. But since you’re still alive, College, if you die there, you’re stuck. I don’t know if you’ll have to feed your blood to the shades in order to speak to them like in The Odyssey. Reports are…mixed where the Underworld is concerned. That eating or drinking thing is a definite, though. Eat any Underworld food, and you’ll also get stuck.”
“I got it. And the sex?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you planning on it?”
She thought to blurt out no, but if she was going to take this seriously, well, myth was full of lovely ladies. She shook the thought away. “No, I mean, this is a serious—”
He put a hand up. “Look, the simple question is, do we need to get some condoms or what?”
She glared at him. “For any fellow lesbians I happen to find?”
“So, latex gloves? Dental dams?”
She’d hoped to embarrass him, but now felt her own cheeks burning. “Shut up.”
“Don’t blame me if you come back with undead VD. I’m trying to keep things classy.”
“How will I find my way back once I have June?”
“Well, I can give you the same thing I gave her.” He took a vial of oil out of his bag. “This’ll let me know you’re still alive, and in theory, you should be able to follow it back.” He dabbed a bit on his finger. “I need to touch your chest, over your heart; your forehead; and uh, over your womb.” It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes. “So I can sense your lifeline, College.”
He touched her forehead, and she pulled her shirt down enough for him to dab over her heart and pulled her pants low enough that he could touch over her uterus.
He looked up. “Now, it’s just your labia, and we’re done.” When she leapt away, he laughed. She gave him a black look, and he shook his head. “Kidding.”
“Would you shut up and finish this already?”
“All done on my end.”
She scratched idly at the oil as she gathered some last minute things, stuffing them into an oversized backpack June had given her. “That stuff itches.”
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