Underworld's Daughter

by Molly Ringle

  Demeter nodded. Her gaze grew distant. “Who else to give the fruit to.”

  “Who indeed.” They turned back to the house. “Who deserves immortality? Who decides?”

  “The gods.” Demeter’s tone was dry.

  “The real ones? Or you—us?”

  “Unless anyone’s managed to contact the real ones, I suppose it’s down to us.”

  As Sophie prepared and ate French toast on Sunday morning with her chattering family, she revolved Persephone’s questions in her mind.

  Last week, Niko decided alone who deserved immortality. But at least he had based his decision on who had once been immortal. Were Sophie on a jury, she would grant him some leniency on that point. But deciding who deserved the golden apple in the old days had indeed been contentious.

  Sophie’s brother interrupted her thoughts by demanding to know if she was coming back up for Halloween.

  “It’s only in a few days. I don’t think I can.”

  “She’s got to study,” Dad reminded Liam.

  “And move.” Sophie sighed.

  Her parents looked at her. “What?” Dad said.

  “It is not working out with Melissa.” Though Sophie didn’t want to embark on the subject, it was time to warn her family and give them a piece of the truth. “She was feeding tips to Betty Quentin, that crazy cult woman who sent all those people after me. So we’re through, Melissa and me.”

  Mom slammed down the glass bottle of maple syrup. “Why is everyone not arrested for all this?”

  “The police are grilling Melissa. But I don’t think she really knew what she was getting into. And they did arrest Quentin, but…she got out.” Sophie set her fork down as her stomach twisted again.

  “What the hell?” Dad said.

  Sophie sent an entreating look at her family members. “Please be on the lookout, you guys. She could show up here. I don’t know. Don’t listen to her, don’t believe her, call the police the second you see her.”

  “How are we supposed to know what she looks like?” Mom said.

  “Can I taze her?” Liam asked. He had heard about Sophie getting to electrocute the intruder at the dorm, and had been quite taken with the notion of zapping someone.

  “Not unless you’re sure it’s her,” Sophie told him. “I’ll find you guys pictures or something. But I’m serious, be careful. I don’t know how I got on her radar…” Big whopping lie there, but she moved on. “But she’s 911-worthy. The second you see her, call them, I mean it.”

  “Where are you going to live?” Dad asked. “What kind of place is safe enough?”

  “I don’t know. I have to look around. The Corvallis police said they’re still going to offer me extra protection, so that helps.”

  Her parents exchanged frustrated looks. “Damn, girl,” Dad said. “I thought I’d only have to worry about frat boys pawing you.”

  “Them I’ll taze,” she assured.

  After breakfast, she packed up her clothes, and soon a text arrived from Adrian. Be there in about 5 mins. Ready?

  Yep, she answered, though her palms went clammy in apprehension. She swung her backpack onto her shoulder, trotted back downstairs and said casually, “My ride’s almost here.”

  “Do we get to meet this mysterious person?” Mom asked, looking up from a stack of invoices at the kitchen counter.

  “Sure. His name’s David.” Sophie picked up a Golden Delicious apple from the wire basket by the sink and tucked it into her pack.

  The knock on the front door came a minute later, respectful and proper.

  Sophie’s dad got there first. He swung it open.

  Wrapped in his black coat against the cold wind, Adrian lifted his head and smiled. But to Sophie’s trained eye he looked every bit as guarded as he had the day Niko hauled her into the spirit realm to meet him. Sophie’s heart thudded hard, as Adrian’s was likely doing at such a fraught reunion. Hades, you remember Demeter?

  “Hi there.” Dad stuck out his hand. “I’m Terry.”

  Adrian shook his hand. “I’m David. I, uh, gave Sophie a ride up here.” As she expected, he faked an American accent, but it wobbled into strange vowels here and there.

  Sophie tried not to wince. “Hey,” she greeted, and pushed past her dad to join Adrian on the porch. “Ready to go?”

  “Rushing straight off?” her dad asked.

  “Yeah, it’s kind of a long drive, and I have so much homework and apartment-hunting to do…”

  But now Sophie’s mom was in the doorway too. “Hi, I’m Isabel.”

  Adrian shook her hand. “David. Pleased to meet you.”

  “And you go to OSU too?”

  “Yeah. I’m a geography major.”

  “What brought you up to Carnation?” Mom asked.

  “I know some people in Seattle. I was visiting. Offered Sophie a lift.”

  “But we should go,” Sophie repeated.

  “David, can I get you some coffee or anything first?” her dad asked.

  “Oh, no thanks. I’ve got some.”

  Dad frowned past him at the driveway. “Where’s your car?”

  “I parked it by the gas station back there. I fancied a walk.”

  Fancied? Sophie shot him a warning look. “It’s fine. We’ll stop for lunch somewhere. Love you, Dad!” She stepped up and hugged her dad to ward off any further interrogation. “Love you, Mom.” She turned and hugged her too. “Bye, Liam,” she hollered over Mom’s shoulder.

  “Bye,” he shouted back from in front of his video game.

  “Love you, honey.” Her mom let go of her. “Good to meet you, David. And please drive safe.”

  Don’t say “precious cargo,” Sophie prayed.

  Her mom rubbed Sophie’s shoulder and added, “This is precious cargo you’ve got here.”

  Sophie shut her eyes for a second in resignation.

  Adrian smiled, a hint of mischief coming alive in his face. “Indeed. I’ll be very cautious. Good to meet you as well.”

  Several more waves and farewells later, Sophie and Adrian finally walked down the driveway and turned onto the path along the highway.

  “Fancied?” she accused.

  “Precious cargo?” he teased.

  They passed behind a thick stand of maple trees, and he took her hand.

  She glanced up and found him grinning. She smiled back, infusing the gesture with silent apology for all the anger and bitterness of their latest visit to the Underworld. “I wish you could get to know my family better. I think they’d like you.”

  “I’m not sure. That is Demeter’s soul we’re talking about, even if he doesn’t know it.”

  “Demeter didn’t always hate you. Just sometimes. But yeah, guess it’s a good thing Dad doesn’t know you’re the father of my child.”

  Adrian squeezed her fingers. His hand warmed hers for a second before the wind whipped the heat away. “In many lives.”

  “True. I knew about a lot of them. But I was so much more…invested in the Persephone life, that learning about Hekate was…” She chuckled in wonder, unable to express it.

  “I did want to tell you. If it would help, I would talk at you for hours, days, overloading you with every detail I can remember. But it’d more confuse you than enlighten you, and life keeps giving us other tasks instead.”

  “It does. It really, really does.” A car swooshed by on the highway. “Of course, I do want to know who the others are. Reincarnated, I mean.”

  “If you like.” Adrian sounded reluctant.

  “Zeus and Hera?” Sophie began.

  “I can’t trace either of them by the usual sense. We didn’t exchange blood or anything. In fact, none of us can trace Hera. But Freya can sense Zeus.”

  “Of course.”

  “She says he’s no one we’ve met. ‘An unaccountably popular, licentious, good-looking arse, like always,’ is how she put it.”

  Sophie smirked. “Poseidon, then?”

  “Still a kid.” Adrian looked away, into the fi
eld beside the road. “We reckon it isn’t right to meddle when they’re still kids.”

  “Suppose so. Athena?”

  “Very high-powered career. Too busy to bother.”

  “How high-powered?”

  “The president of Germany.”

  Sophie blinked in wonder. “Oh. Right. A bit busy. Um…Artemis?”

  “Also quite high-powered and busy, though she’s someone Sanjay was related to. She’s in the Indian military or something. And she’s married with little kids, and, well…after what happened to Sanjay, he doesn’t even want us to approach her. Not for a while, at least.”

  “I see. How about Hestia?”

  “Oh, she’s in the Underworld. Was a nice old Chinese lady. Died a couple of years ago. Hanging around, waiting for her family.”

  “Ah. Hephaestus?”

  “One of Freya’s ex-husbands, in Sweden. She has a few. She’s not terribly keen on making him immortal so far, but maybe we’ll convince her someday.”

  “Then let’s see, who else was there? Ares, I guess. Though I don’t recall liking him much.”

  “Nor did I. Arrogant wanker. Happy to say he’s some random loser from…Massachusetts? Missouri? I forget, something with an M. A woman this time, not much older than us. But I’ve no plans to bring her into the fold. The world can do without the god of war, if you ask me.”

  “I agree. So that’s everyone, I think.”

  “Well. Not quite. But never mind, now we’re entering ‘overloading your brain’ territory.” He led her into the swampy field. They stepped from one mound of grass to another, then he took her in his arms and switched realms. The spirit-world forest materialized around them, dark and full of twisting branches and birdsong. “Your living situation,” he said, still holding her. “Listen, I don’t know if you’ll go for it, but—”

  “Can I move in with you?” she interrupted.

  He looked surprised, then eased into a smile. “That’s what I was going to suggest, yeah.”

  “I’ll still need a front. Some place around campus I can have mail delivered to, somewhere I can show my folks if they come to town. But I don’t want to sleep anywhere except in this realm, next to you.”

  He lifted her off the ground in an embrace. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Yes, of course, it’s all I want. I’d worry so much less.” He set her down, repeated, “Thank you,” and kissed her.

  She grinned. “Well, don’t thank me until I’ve snapped at you for leaving dirty dishes out, or whined about what a pain it is to do laundry. How do you do laundry?” His Airstream trailer, she knew, had no washer and dryer.

  He shrugged. “Laundromats. Easy.”

  “But, really, would it be all right? I mean, living together, it’s kind of a big step.”

  “Not near as big as eating a chrysomelia.” He squeezed both her hands. “Which you were willing to do the other night, and which we will have you do, the second it becomes possible.”

  She nodded. “All right, then. Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Nine

  I hear Adrian hit you.” Tabitha laughed and rolled back on the grass in Volunteer Park.

  “Didn’t hurt,” Nikolaos claimed. “And I hit him back. Harder.”

  “Then he banished you from the Underworld.”

  “Whatever. Like he can tell me what to do.”

  “So now they know about Zoe. Your cat’s out of the bag.”

  He glanced at her. “No one ever knows about all my cats. But I knew they’d find out that one soon. So what are you going to do now?”

  She sat up, dead leaves and grass sticking to her hair. The nearest streetlight in the park stood several trees away, but the light was enough for her to make out his curious look as he watched her. She turned to face the city skyline. “This is gross and selfish, but I kind of want to show off. Make people worship me. Make the douchebags from high school sorry they ever dissed me.”

  “Don’t we all. I’m fine with that as long as you don’t actually show off your immortality.”

  “Well, duh.”

  “So how will you acquire this worship exactly?”

  “Theater was always my idea. Plays, musicals. Become the newest big name on Broadway or classical crossover, have cute girls begging me to sign their boobs.”

  “As long as I get to be there to help hold their shirts out of the way. How’s your voice? Good enough for this fame plan?”

  She pouted. “Not really. A month at Cornish with all the future divas of the world has been enough to show me how lacking I am.” Tabitha had just begun her studies at Cornish College of the Arts, in the rushing heart of Seattle. “Plus the whole bullshit of auditioning, waiting to be called back, working your ass off in a restaurant or something while you’re waiting—it actually kind of sucks. Or so I’m gathering.”

  “Then forget that. The parties are the choicest part of fame anyway. Skip straight to those.”

  “I’m remembering some. I just got into another life, in China, and dude, do you remember? I was this prince, and I seriously had a harem of women, and the parties I threw—”

  “Oh yes, those were grand.” He stretched his legs out in front of him. “But your parties as Dionysos, your festivals, now those were the days to be reckoned with. I’d scoot your memories along if I were you, and start recalling those.”

  Tabitha sent an impatient breath out her nose. “Sophie said the same thing. What I do not get is why some life three thousand years ago is so much important than what we can do now.”

  “On the whole I agree. But I make an exception for that life, because in that one, and only that one, we were immortal. Therefore it’s instructive. Also it’s sexy.”

  “I’ll get there eventually.” She pulled her long hair off her shoulders and twisted it up behind her head, sliding a stick through it to secure it. “So why’d you come find me? To make me the life of the party for eternity? Not that I’m complaining.”

  “I wanted you along for the ride,” he said.

  “And Zoe?”

  Nikolaos looked up at the full moon, which shone through a shroud of autumn clouds. “Her too.”

  “Why us? You understand we’re not going to have sex with you, right? I mean, if we live forever, I guess it’s possible we’ll come around to liking guys, but…”

  He grinned. “I’ll never give up hope. But even a perv like me does want friends. Ade and I aren’t always the best match. Obviously.” He pulled up his knees and folded his arms around them, considering the moon again. “I got on well with Sanjay—Apollo. But they’ve killed him, and souls aren’t the most exciting friends. You and I tended to be good mates. Drinking buddies, in most lives, though in immortal days we couldn’t actually get very drunk. More like getting-other-people-drunk buddies.”

  “Right on. So, Zoe? She got people drunk with us, or what?” Tabitha realized she kept steering the conversation toward Zoe, and felt dorky about it. She did want to learn more about that tasty Kiwi, but hadn’t decided yet if she wanted to be Zoe’s girlfriend, or her friend with occasional benefits, or what. Living potentially forever with a person was a daunting prospect, and Tab didn’t want to screw up their friendship, or relationship, right out of the gate. Thus the friendly but not totally affectionate texts, which she hoped weren’t offending Zoe.

  “No, her I brought back because…” Niko lifted his chin toward the moon. “She’s magical.”

  “I get that, if by ‘magical’ you mean ‘hot.’”

  “I also mean magical.”

  “We switch realms and ride ghost horses. Aren’t we all magical?”

  “Yeah, but her more than most. You’ll see.”

  Tabitha shrugged at the enigmatic remark, and squinted at him. “So, parties, you say. Hanging with famous people. How do we even do that?”

  “I know a few and can introduce you. Your charm and charisma will do the rest.”

  “Not with my sucky wardrobe and small-town hair,” Tabitha grumbled.

  “Money f
ixes those.”

  She considered that truth, and remembered something he had said about diamonds and emeralds in the Underworld. “You said we can get money?”

  “Already have it. Mountains of it. You’re welcome to some. Immortal’s salary, let’s call it.”

  “Hmm. Then you’re saying I can have some fun while I decide what to do with eternity. Enjoy the perks first.”

  Niko lay back, folding his arms behind his head. “The world is your jar of caviar, my dear.”

  Zoe lay on her back in the grass, gazing up at the feathery leaves of the titoki tree above her. She’d never actually seen the tree till this spring. All her life, in her parents’ back garden, she’d heard its leaves rustling in the wind, touched its fallen seeds upon the ground, and sometimes thought she felt the tree’s vibrant life force quivering through the Earth under her. To finally gaze upon it was a priceless treat.

  And yet, closing her eyes worked best for sensing the magic. So she closed them. At once she felt the trunk stretching its roots like fingers into the soil. She sensed the mushrooms, mosses, worms, beetles, spiders, and every little quiver of life that added up to the symphony of Earth magic. It balanced the sky magic perfectly, the warmth of the sun and the rush of the wind as they poured across her.

  She hadn’t reached Hekate’s life yet, though she was moving backward faster than Tab was, to judge from Tab’s laid-back texts. But Zoe already understood how closely her own soul always linked itself to magic—witchcraft, if you wanted to call it that. And she already knew that in the Underworld, the Earth magic was of course immeasurably strong, but the huge mass of souls brought sky magic with them to balance it, and that was why they glowed.

  Later, after going indoors, such thoughts never made much sense to her. But at the moment, lying with her eyes closed, her back against the Earth, spring’s breath washing over her, it felt like the clearest, purest logic.

  Chapter Ten

  The immortals sat around a fire in the spirit realm, eyes locked on Hades and Persephone as they told their revelation of finding the long-dreamed-of golden apple. Getting them all together in one place for a meeting on short notice had not been easy. It had taken a good deal of searching to find some of them in the first place, as plenty of them still couldn’t track one another. But Persephone, Hades, and Demeter had urged the importance of the topic upon everyone, and insisted they come at once.