want warm sunshine and a cool breeze, and trees as tall as buildings stretching into endless skies. I'm not meant to be here.' I could hear the pleading tone of my voice. 'Even if I was once happy here, I'm not that person any more. And Hades knows that.'
'You are not the woman I married. You are someone new.' That's what he had said to me, when I was practically delirious with lust.
Hecate stared at me for a full minute, then downed the rest of her coffee.
'When are you eating the other two seeds? We need to practice using your magic.'
I sighed.
'You can't just ignore me,' I told her. 'And I'm not eating them.'
'What?' she exploded, leaping to her feet. 'What do you mean you're not eating them?'
'Not yet anyway. I want to get my power back slowly.'
Hecate narrowed her eyes at me.
'Are you trying to lose on purpose?'
'No, but up until recently I was just a human, with no notion that magic even existed. You'll forgive me for being a bit cautious,' I snapped. She eyed me suspiciously.
'Fine, but I think you're making a mistake. The next round starts tonight, and you need all the help you can get.' My stomach twisted at her words.
'The next Trial is tonight?'
'No, not the actual Trial, it's just a little ceremony thing to start the second round and announce what's coming next. But Minthe will be there.' I groaned. Brilliant. Just what I needed. 'And... so will Hades.'
Three
Persephone
Hecate zapped us back to my own room, and I gratefully stripped off my gown and stood under the hot water of the shower until my skin pruned. I tried again to access my supposed new powers, but other than a tingling awareness I couldn't get anything to happen.
'Was one of my powers making light?' I asked Hecate as I walked out of my washroom. She was sat at my dresser, one ankle crossed over her knee and her head back, singing something pretty.
'No,' she answered without looking at me.
'Oh.' I rubbed at my wet hair with a towel.
'I can't make light either,' said Skop in my head.
'You're not a god,' I told him.
'I'm a god in bed,' he answered, tail wagging. I rolled my eyes.
I got dressed in my fighting garb quickly, unable to keep still, my palms itching. I needed to do something physical; there was a pent up energy building inside me that was making me feel restless and uneasy.
'How long until this second round thing starts?' I asked.
'Ages, it's not until this evening'
'Good. I'm going to the conservatory,' I said.
'Oh. I thought you'd want to train,' Hecate said, tipping her head forward to look at me. I shook my head.
'Maybe later.'
'Fine, have fun. See if you can get those green fingers working some magic,' she said, and winked at me before shimmering out of my room. I looked down at my hands, wiggling my fingers. Could I get them to work actual magic?
It turned out that Skop had been telling the truth about paying attention to the routes through the underground maze I was living in. I would never have been able to find the conservatory without his directions. As we walked, I filled him in on what I knew about my past, which was a depressingly short conversation, and about eating the seed and my powers returning. I didn't tell him why I ate the seed, and he didn't ask.
I knew we were at the right door for the conservatory before I even laid my hand on the wood to push it open. Something was sparking inside me, and I could almost feel the plants on the other side of the wall, joyous energy rolling off them. My pulse quickened as I stepped into the glass room and inhaled the smell of soil. The restless energy thrumming through me transformed as I ran my fingers along the nearest yucca leaf, frustration morphing into excitement. I could feel more than just these plants in this room. Almost like little sparks of light in my mind’s eye, I could sense seeds, unable to grow, trapped under invisible barriers that held them deep in the soil beds around me. I dropped to my knees and began to dig frantically in the nearest bed, hunting for what I knew was hidden there.
'Yes!' I pulled my hand up triumphantly, clutching a hard little seed.
'What is it?' asked Skop.
'A sunflower,' I said instantly, then looked sideways at him, drawing my brows together. 'How did I know