Persephone and Lexa exchanged a look.
“Wait,” Lexa said. “He asked? Like…for permission?”
Sybil seemed amused, and Persephone admired how the oracle could talk about this so easily. “He did, and I told him no.”
“You told Apollo, the God of the Sun, perfection incarnate, no?” Lexa sounded shocked and looked slightly appalled. “Why?”
“Lexa, you can’t ask that!” Persephone chided, but Sybil just smiled and said, “Apollo will not love one person and I do not wish to share.”
Persephone understood why Sybil wouldn’t want to get involved with the god. Apollo had a long list of lovers that spanned divine, semi-divine, and mortal, and, as the God of Light’s list had proven, he never stayed with one person too long.
Conversation lapsed into making plans for the weekend, and once they had decided where they would meet for drinks and dancing, Persephone left for the Underworld.
She watered her garden and found Hecate in her cottage. It was a small home, nestled in a dark meadow, and while it was charming, there was something…foreboding about it. Perhaps it was because of the coloring—the siding was dark grey, the door a dark purple, and ivy crawled up the house, covering the windows and roof.
Inside, it was like she had stepped into a garden filled with night-blooming flowers—thick, purple wisteria hung overhead like clusters of stars in a black-out night while a carpet of white nicotiana covered the ground. A table, chairs, and bed were crafted of soft black wood that looked as if it had grown into the formation of each piece. Orbs rose into the air and it took Persephone a moment to recognize what they really were—lampades, as they were called in the Underworld. They were small and beautiful fairy-like creatures with hair like night, laced with white flowers and silvery skin.
Hecate wasn’t sitting on the bed or at the table, but on the grassy floor. Her legs were folded under her, and her eyes were closed. A lit black candle was in front of her.
“Hecate?” Persephone asked, knocking on the doorframe, but the goddess didn’t stir. She stepped further into the room. “Hecate?”
Still no response. It was like she was asleep.
Persephone bent, and blew out the candle. That’s when Hecate’s eyes snapped open. For a moment, she looked positively wicked, and Persephone suddenly understood the kind of goddess Hecate could become if she was pushed—the kind of goddess that turned Gale the witch into Gale the polecat.
When she recognized Persephone, she smiled.
“Welcome back, my lady,” Hecate said.
“Persephone,” she corrected, and Hecate smiled.
“I’m only trying it out,” she said. “You know, for when you become mistress of the Underworld.”
Persephone blushed fiercely. “You are getting ahead of yourself, Hecate.”
The goddess raised a brow and Persephone rolled her eyes.
“What were you doing?” Persephone asked.
“Oh, just cursing a mortal,” Hecate replied almost cheerfully. The goddess reached for the candle and got to her feet. She put it away, and turned to face Persephone.
“Watered your garden already, dear?”
“Yes.”
“Shall we begin?” Hecate asked.
She was quick to get down to business. The goddess directed Persephone to sit on the floor. Persephone hesitated, but after encouragement from Hecate to see if her touch still took life, she knelt to the ground.
When she pressed her hands to the grass, nothing happened.
“Amazing,” Persephone whispered.
Hecate spent the next half hour leading her through a meditation that was supposed to help her visualize and use her power.
“You must practice calling to your magic,” Hecate said.
“How do I do that?”
“Magic is malleable,” she said. “As you call for it, imagine it as clay—mold it into what you desire and then…give it life.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Persephone said, shaking her head.
“It is easy,” Hecate said. “All it takes is belief.”
Persephone wasn’t sure about that, but she tried to do as Hecate instructed. She imagined the life she felt in the wisteria above her as something she could shape, and willed the plants to grow larger and more vibrant, but when she opened her eyes, nothing had changed.
Hecate must have noticed her disappointment because she placed a hand on Persephone’s shoulder. “It will take time, but you will master this.”
Persephone smiled at the goddess, but felt wilted on the inside. She had no choice but to master this if was going to fulfill her contract with Hades, because, as much as she liked the King of the Underworld, she had no desire to be a prisoner of the Underworld.