Persephone the Daring

by Joan Holub

  Persephone sighed inwardly as Ms. Thallo moved away. There was that word again. “Depend,” as in “dependable.” She’d liked it better when the teacher had described her work as daring.

  Ms. Thallo’s ivy hair swayed, gently rustling as she turned back to gaze at Persephone thoughtfully. “In fact, if your Underworld test succeeds,” she said, “I think you should consider entering your hybrid in the Anthestiria Flower Festival.”

  Persephone’s green eyes widened. “Really?” Her voice rose to an excited squeak.

  Ms. Thallo nodded. “Really. Your new flower is quite extraordinary.”

  “Okay, I’ll think about it,” she said as the teacher left the greenhouse to return to the Garden-ology classroom in the main Academy building. Getting a flower accepted into the Anthestiria festival was an honor bestowed on only a lucky few. It was supercomplimentary of Ms. Thallo to suggest that Persephone should enter her project.

  The festival was held just once every four years and took place on the island of Cyprus, near Greece. One of the highlights was a flower parade with decorated floats. Closing her eyes for a moment, Persephone imagined an Underworld-themed float showcasing her new flower. Maybe she could design a dress out of the petals from her flowers to wear in the parade too. How awesome would that be?

  But enough daydreaming. She had work to do!

  She spent the rest of class creating more hybrid seeds. When the lyrebell rang, she placed them in a small box, which she stowed in her scrollbag. Then, hearing a commotion outside in the courtyard, she pushed open the greenhouse door and scurried out.

  A Hermes’ Delivery Service chariot was landing in the courtyard. But instead of his usual load of packages, Hermes carried Orpheus and Eurydice today! Persephone stopped short, barely able to believe her eyes. Except for a few other students scattered across the courtyard, hardly anyone was around to see the rock stars arrive.

  Orpheus’s bodyguard was standing on the ledge at the back of the chariot, holding on and surveying the courtyard. He acted like he expected evildoers and villains to jump out and attack at any moment.

  Calm down, Viper, Persephone wanted to tell him. This is Mount Olympus Academy. Nothing bad will happen here.

  “Eeee!” a girl’s voice screamed at a deafening pitch. Persephone cringed as Atë and several of her friends raced down the school’s granite steps to the courtyard. “I can’t believe they’re here!” Atë continued in a voice made unnaturally screechy by excitement.

  Orpheus and Eurydice hopped out of the chariot, and the tattooed bodyguard leaped down beside them. Viper reached into the chariot for the visitors’ luggage just in the nick of time. Because, already, Hermes had begun lifting off again.

  Typical, thought Persephone. Hermes could certainly be unmannerly when he was in a hurry. Which he usually was.

  She looked around. Atë and her friends were still staring at the newcomers, wearing stunned, starstruck expressions. This was no way to treat guests.

  Persephone stepped forward. “Welcome to Mount Olympus Academy,” she told the two stars and their bodyguard politely. “Are you here to see Principal Zeus?” She hoped they hadn’t come without asking permission, because Zeus didn’t deal kindly with uninvited guests. Of course, Hermes probably wouldn’t have brought them if Zeus hadn’t already approved their visit.

  Before any of the visitors could reply, a boy somewhere behind her shouted, “Orpheus! You’re early!” She turned to see Apollo running down the Academy’s front steps. He raced across the courtyard, heading their way.

  As Apollo skidded to a halt before them, Viper stepped in front of Orpheus and Eurydice. Did he think Apollo was going to attack them or something? Talk about overprotective! He was worse than her mom was at times.

  “We’ll need accommodations,” the bodyguard told Apollo curtly.

  “Sure. We’ll figure all that out,” Apollo assured him. “Orpheus and you can stay in the boys’ dorm, and Eurydice in the girls’.”

  More students came along now, including Dionysus and Ares. They joined the others clustered around Orpheus. A hand touched Persephone’s. She turned her head to see that Eurydice had slipped over to stand beside her. The girl gestured to the autograph on Persephone’s arm.

  “I remember you,” said Eurydice. “You’re that flower girl from the concert.” She raised her voice. “Look, Orpheus. The flower girl’s still got your autograph.”

  “Cool,” said Orpheus.

  Persephone folded her arms across her middle so the autograph wouldn’t show. She had been careful not to wash it off, wanting it to last as long as possible after the concert. Now she was a little embarrassed. She hoped Orpheus and Eurydice wouldn’t think she hadn’t bathed since Saturday night!

  As Apollo, Orpheus, Viper, and the other guys discussed visiting arrangements, Eurydice linked arms with Persephone. “Want to hang out?” the pink-haired girl asked.

  “Um, well, sure,” Persephone replied, feeling surprised and flattered. “I still have one more class to go to today, though.”

  “How fun!” Eurydice bounced on her toes in excitement. “I’ll come with you. Maybe we can even be roomies while I’m here, huh? I mean, I felt like we connected when you were onstage, you know? It’s like I’ve known you practically all my life!”

  Persephone had no idea she’d felt that way. It was kind of strange, since their meeting had been so brief, but it was nice, too. “I don’t room in the dorms. I live at home with my mom,” she admitted.

  Eurydice blinked at her, looking disappointed.

  “It’s p-pretty. Our garden is awesome,” Persephone stammered. She felt like her status with this girl was wilting, like some of those early flowers she’d cultivated for the Underworld. “My mom created these magical daffodils that sing in our garden. And I taught them to perform one of the duets that you and Orpheus do!”

  “How mega-riffic!” said Eurydice, brightening again. “I have posilutely absotively got to see them sing that song or I’ll just die! How about if I spend the night at your house tonight? We can hang out and do girl stuff. Sound fun?”

  An amazing pop star wanted to stay over at her house? The old, dependable Persephone might have hesitated at least half a second, but the daring Persephone rushed to agree before the girl changed her mind. “Okay. Sure!”

  Ping! Ping! The lyrebell rang out signaling that fifth period was about to begin. Everyone moved toward the Academy’s front doors.

  “Orpheus and Viper can come with me to Music-ology class, since you and Ares have that test in Revenge-ology,” Persephone overheard Dionysus say to Apollo. Then Dionysus looked over at Eurydice.

  “She’s with me,” Persephone said quickly. “We’re going to Spell-ology.”

  As it turned out, Ms. Hecate, the Spell-ology teacher, was giving a review on elixirs and potions. However, the only person really paying attention was Athena, who was the brainiest student at MOA. For Persephone and everyone else, class was pretty much a blur. They were all too excited about having a star in their midst.

  After class Persephone gave Eurydice a brief tour of the Academy, ending up in the cafeteria. By now everyone was buzzing with excitement about their rock star guests.

  It seemed to Persephone that the whole cafeteria turned to stare when they walked in. She felt like there was a spotlight shining on her as she took Eurydice to the dinner line. But Eurydice seemed unfazed. She just smiled, said hi to everyone, kept up a constant stream of chatter, and gave autographs when she was asked.

  Seeing Hades up ahead in the dinner line, Persephone waved to him. He sent her a smile in return.

  “Who’s that?” asked Eurydice.

  “Hades,” Persephone replied easily. “Godboy of the Underworld.”

  “Ooh! He’s kee-yute!” said Eurydice.

  Persephone smiled at her enthusiasm. He was more handsome than cute in her opinion, but she didn’t say so.

  When the eight-armed cafeteria lady offered the girls the ambrosia surprise for dinner,
Persephone elbowed Eurydice and gave her head a little shake. It was the one dish at school that most students agreed wasn’t very good. They both reached for plates of nectaroni with a side of yambrosia instead.

  After they got their trays, Eurydice scanned the cafeteria with her gaze. “You’ll sit with me, right?” she asked, sounding kind of shy.

  “Of course,” said Persephone, steering her toward the table where she always sat with her three best friends. Like her, she knew they’d be thrilled to have Eurydice at their table.

  Suddenly a bright smile filled Eurydice’s face. “There’s Orpheus and your friend Hades.” Swerving, she headed off in the direction of the godboys’ table.

  “Wait!” said Persephone, hurrying after her. “You’re going to sit with the guys?”

  Eurydice flicked her head, flipping her pink hair over one shoulder. “Sure, why not?”

  “Well, I usually sit with my goddessgirl friends,” said Persephone.

  “Boys in one place. Girls in another.” Eurydice sang the words as if they were a song. “Don’t you think it’s dull to do the same old thing? Let’s shake it up a little. Be free spirits. I mean, who wants to be boring and sit in the same place with the same people all the time?”

  Persephone stiffened. “Boring” made her think of “dependable,” which was exactly what she did not want to be. She’d tried a new style for the concert Friday night, and that had gone well, so . . . “Yeah. Okay, let’s do it,” she said.

  As they headed for the boys’ table, she glanced over her shoulder at her usual table. Athena and Aphrodite were there, but Artemis hadn’t arrived yet. She sent her two friends an apologetic look. Then she followed Eurydice.

  Persephone really liked sitting with her goddessgirl friends. Still, she had often wondered what godboys talked about at their table. This was her chance to find out!

  7

  Daisies

  Persephone

  UNFORTUNATELY, THE BOYS WERE TOO busy peppering Orpheus and Eurydice with questions about their music and what it was like to be rock stars to talk about whatever they usually talked about. Hades, who was sitting across from Persephone, was mostly quiet. She could tell he was taking everything in, though.

  After a while some of the boys started acting goofy, building stuff out of food on their plates, then blowing it up. Huh? Were they doing this for her and Eurydice’s benefit? Did they really think girls were impressed  by that sort of behavior? Hades noticed her watching the other guys, and the two of them shared a grin. Apparently he thought his friends were acting goofy too.

  When dinner was over, Persephone took both her and Eurydice’s trays to the tray return. By then her three best friends had already finished dinner and were gone. She ran into Hades on the way back to his table.

  “Want to hang out for a while before you head home?” he asked her.

  She shook her head. “Can’t. Not today.”

  “Oh,” Hades said, sounding disappointed. “You’ve got something else going on?”

  “I’m taking Eurydice home with me.” She’d been planning to make a quick trip to the Underworld before it got dark, to plant his birthday flower. Looked like that would have to be put on hold now that Eurydice would be spending the night.

  Hades arched an eyebrow. “So you guys are friends now?”

  “Sort of. She asked to sleep over, and I thought it would be fun. Is there something you want to talk about?” Persephone asked. When he said nothing right away, she went on. “I could stay, but not too long. Because the trip home will probably be slower than normal since Eurydice isn’t used to flying by winged sandal. And Mom doesn’t like me flying after dark, as you know.”

  Hades still didn’t say anything, but from the way he shifted his shoulders, she could tell he didn’t exactly approve.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like Eurydice? I do,” said Persephone.

  “I don’t really know her,” Hades said. “But she seems kind of flighty.”

  “Flighty? What does that even mean?”

  “It means she likes to follow her whims without giving them much forethought. And that could lead her—and maybe you—into trouble.”

  Persephone’s jaw dropped at the injustice of his comment. “What? No, she doesn’t! What makes you say that?”

  Hades nodded toward Eurydice, who was now standing on a chair demonstrating a dance move for some of the other girls. When she executed a spin on one tiptoe, her sandal slipped. She started to topple off the chair. Persephone and Hades both instinctively took a step in her direction, though they were much too far away to help.

  Luckily Viper was nearby and saved her, catching her in his arms and setting her back on the ground. Eurydice laughed, not seeming to realize there could have been awful consequences to her actions if she’d fallen. Bruises at the very least!

  “Well, it’s only for one night. And I promise we won’t dance on any chairs,” Persephone told Hades wryly. This managed to wring a rare smile from him. “Anyway, what did you want to talk about?”

  An earnest look came into his eyes. “Well, it’s about that poll in the—”

  “Persephone!” Eurydice squealed, then dashed over to join her. “Ready to go? I can hardly wait to see your place.” Then she glanced at Hades in surprise. “Oh. Sorry. Did I interrupt something?”

  Hades shoved his hands into the pockets of his tunic. “S’okay,” he said. “No big deal.”

  But Persephone had a feeling that whatever he wanted to say about the poll was more important than he was letting on. Before she could question him about it further, Ares and Apollo wandered over.

  “Can we count on you to sit in with the band again tonight?” Apollo asked Hades. “Word from Principal Zeus is that Poseidon will be gone till next week investigating that shipwreck.”

  As the boys began discussing their band practice, Persephone waved to Hades. Catching his eye, she mouthed a good-bye as she and Eurydice left the cafeteria. They made a couple of quick stops so Persephone could get her scrollbag and Eurydice could grab her small overnight bag.

  Heads turned and excited whispers followed in their wake as they walked side by side down the hall toward the enormous bronze front doors of the Academy. Persephone felt cooler than cool that this rock star had chosen her to hang out with.

  “Wait,” she told Eurydice when they reached the doors. “We’ll need winged sandals.” Both girls dropped their bags onto the floor. Plop, plop!

  Bracing a hand on the wall, Persephone slipped off her sandals. She set them neatly on the floor by the wall and then grabbed two pairs of winged ones from a big basket. She handed one pair to Eurydice.

  “I’m guessing you’ve never flown before?” she asked Eurydice, who was slipping off her own sandals.

  Eurydice’s eyes sparkled. “No, but I absotively adore trying new things.”

  “Me too,” said Persephone. “Lately anyway.”

  As soon as they stepped outside together, they hung their bags over their shoulders and put their traveling sandals on. The sandals’ straps immediately twined around their ankles. The silver wings at Persephone’s heels began to flap.

  Eurydice stared down at her feet. “Why aren’t my wings moving?”

  “They don’t work for mortals,” Persephone explained. “Unless you’re holding the hand of an immortal.” She reached out and took the other girl’s hand. Immediately the wings on Eurydice’s sandals began to flap.

  Persephone leaned forward slightly, and Eurydice copied her. Their sandals whisked them away! Together they skimmed down Mount Olympus, passing through a ring of clouds as they sailed toward Earth.

  Eurydice quickly got the hang of winged travel. “This is posilutely wing-tastic!” she said, leaning this way and that.

  Most mortals were so nervous on their first flights that they teetered off balance, but she didn’t seem nervous at all as they sped along. In fact, her daring was making Persephone kind of nervous.

  Besides leaning one way and then a
nother, Eurydice sometimes bent her knees until she was almost sitting. She even did a little dance step now and then in midair that caused them to wobble midflight. She wasn’t just daring, Persephone decided. Eurydice was a daredevil.

  “Careful,” Persephone murmured more than once.

  The wind whistled in their ears as they whipped past boulders and trees. Suddenly a lock of Eurydice’s long pink hair blew across her face. Automatically she pulled her hand away from Persephone’s, to smooth the hair back out of her eyes. And just like that, the girl was falling.

  “No!” yelled Persephone. Dipping low, she managed to grab Eurydice’s hand in the nick of time.

  “Woo-hoo! What fun!” said Eurydice. She laughed as she adjusted the straps of her bag on her shoulder with one hand, seemingly oblivious to her near-disaster.

  Persephone’s heart, however, was thumping wildly. “Don’t do that again,” she warned. Didn’t this girl realize she could have been seriously hurt?

  Eurydice gently bumped her shoulder against Persephone’s. “Oh, lighten up,” she said in a teasing tone. “I’m okay. And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you nearly lost me.”

  Persephone’s eyes widened at the unfairness of that statement. Eurydice had let go of her hand. Not the other way around.

  By the time they reached Persephone’s house, it was nearly dark. Mew! Mew! A black-and-white kitten scampered out to greet them.

  Eurydice picked him up. “Who’s this little cutie?”

  Persephone smiled. “His name’s Adonis. Isn’t it, little sweetie-weetie?” she cooed. She stroked his sleek fur. He started purring immediately.

  “Aphrodite and I share him,” she told Eurydice. “He’s mine this week. Next week he’s hers. Then mine again.”

  In the kitchen Persephone found a note and showed it to Eurydice. “It’s from my mom. She’s working late tonight in her flower shop in the Immortal Marketplace.” After they got a simple snack and fed Adonis, they went into Persephone’s room.

  “Nice poster,” Eurydice commented, grinning at the poster on Persephone’s wall of Orpheus rocking out. It was next to a drawing of Hades winning the long jump competition during the Olympic Games. She’d gotten both from Teen Scrollazine.