揥hat is happening??Circe mumbled.
Persephone and the woman spoke for several minutes, then Persephone motioned to the ship. The woman glanced toward us and nodded. Persephone got in the small boat and rowed back to us.
揅ome on,?she called from the bottom of the ladder. 揕eave our belongings. We抣l come back out for them.?
We climbed down and piled into the boat. Persephone rowed us to shore without saying a word. As we reached the shore and climbed out the woman approached us and extended her hand to me. I hesitantly allowed her to help me out of the dinghy. My hand looked comically small tucked inside hers, and she didn抰 help me out as much as she lifted me like a baby doll and set me in the sand. After I was out, she pulled the dinghy onto the shore in one smooth motion, like it was made of paper.
We stood in front of her, and as I stared into her face I knew she was not mortal. She was not like me or Circe, but she was not like Marie or Persephone either. Her golden brown skin glowed from within. Her hair was black as the night sky, and her eyes ?her eyes were the color of fall, all shades of brown and gold at once. She wore a gown that dusted the ground at her feet, its hem singed. She held a stringed instrument, like a small harp, in her left hand.
揌ow did you get the sirens to leave us alone??I asked.
The woman sighed. 揟hey cannot stand the sound of music more beautiful than their own.?She plucked at the strings of the instrument. 揟hey have forgotten who they were before. Forgive them.?
I wouldn抰 be doing that, but I wasn抰 gonna say that to her.
揑 was asked to make sure you arrived safely,?said the woman. 揃ut I抦 afraid I can offer no further assistance.?
Circe glanced at Persephone.
揌ecate asked her to come,?Persephone said. 揝he possesses Orpheus抯 lyre. The only thing that can keep the sirens at bay.?
Circe抯 mouth fell open. Marie took a step back. I stared at the instrument she held.
揌ecate is the mother of us all, in a way,?said the woman. 揘ot as literally as it applies to your family, but she is the oldest among us to still exist. I owe her an incalculable debt. When I was taken she was the first to know. No one is free from her watchful eye, not even Hades himself.?
Hades.
Another name I had become all too familiar with.
揧ou梱ou抮e桰 can抰 believe it,?Circe stammered.
Circe, who was normally so sure of herself, was at a complete loss.
Now was not the time to remind everyone, once again, that I wasn抰 up to speed on the relevant mythology, but I felt like I should抳e known who this woman was supposed to be. Marie pressed her mouth to my ear and murmured the answer.
揚ersephone.?
Not our Persephone, but the original Persephone. Her story was one I was familiar with. She was the woman who抎 become the object of Hades抯 obsession, the woman he抎 kidnapped and kept in the underworld for half the year.
She smiled and set the lyre in the sand. 揅ome. Make your camp on the beach.?
揥e can抰，？I said. 揥e have to keep moving. There are other people coming here. They抣l go after the Heart and we have to get to it first. We can抰 stop.?
揟hey made landfall on the other side of the island,?the woman said.
My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. They were already so far ahead of us. Did they already have the last piece? Was that possible?
揟hey landed on the other side of the island??Marie asked. 揂re there sirens over there, too??
揘o,?the goddess Persephone said. 揃ut there is something equally dangerous. I watched it smash their ship on the rocks. Four survivors came ashore, though I抦 uncertain if there were others aboard. Three adults and a young man. They haven抰 left. I assume they are dead.?
I struggled to reconcile the sudden dull ache of loss with the anger that coursed through me like poison. If Karter had been on that ship he could be dead now and it didn抰 sit right with me. I thought that抯 what I wanted梩o see him pay for his part in what happened to Mom, but I didn抰 feel relief at the possibility that his body could be floating in these cursed waters. I felt only sadness. But if he抎 been one of the four who made it to shore he might still be out there, which meant there was still time to find him and make him answer the only question I had梙ow could he have hurt me and my family like that after everything we抎 shared? I didn抰 just want revenge, I wanted answers.
The woman gazed back at the tree line. 揟his place was once barren. Nothing grew here until the original Circe was exiled to this land. What she created was meant for her alone. The only people who have thrived here were people like her, people like Medea and her children. The rest fell victim to the nature of this place. Poison lingers in the air, in the foliage, in the very soil at your feet.?She looked us over. 揟his will not be a problem for you, but make no mistake梩he path is treacherous in ways that no poison could ever measure up to in its ability to change you.?