change you into something—like a plant. Then you’ll live forever, and I can always remember you.”
“That’s a horrible idea!”
“Maybe a tree,” Hades mused.
“No!”
“A tall, pale, white tree,” Hades decided. “A tree as beautiful as you are.”
“I—”
POOF.
Leuke became the first poplar tree, and Hades hugged her trunk. “Thanks for understanding. I will always remember you.”
The poplar quickly multiplied, until the Fields of Asphodel were dotted with them—a little bit of beauty in the gloomy fields of Asphodel. The poplar became one of Hades’s sacred trees, and tended to grow especially thick along the banks of the Underworld rivers, maybe because Leuke remembered that she had come from the sea and was trying to grow her way back there. Good luck with that, Leuke.
After his failed romance with the poplar girl, Hades became depressed. One day he decided to take a long stroll along the River Cocytus, the River of Wailing, which is an odd place to walk if you’re trying to cheer yourself up.
Hades happened to see a lovely young woman in a pale-green dress sitting by the water. Her fragrance wafted toward him on the subterranean breeze—a sweet, subtle perfume unlike anything he’d ever smelled.
He walked over and stared at her in amazement. Hades tended to surprise people, being so dark and stealthy and all; so when the girl finally noticed him, she flinched in alarm.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“Uh…” Hades found it hard to think. The woman’s eyes were pale green like her dress. “I’m Hades. You smell good. Who are you?”
The girl wrinkled her nose. “I’m Minthe, of course. Daughter of the River Cocytus.”
Hades frowned. “The Underworld rivers have naiads? I never knew that.”
“Well, maybe we’re not proud of it,” Minthe muttered. “It’s not easy being the nature spirit for a wailing river, you know. I’d much rather be in the upper world, where I could enjoy the sunlight and the fresh breeze.”
“I’ll take you there,” Hades blurted. “Just give me a kiss, and I’ll take you to the upper world.”
Minthe knit her eyebrows. “Why would you?”
“I love you,” Hades said foolishly, but he didn’t meet many beautiful women. Also, it was springtime. Persephone had gone to visit her mother in the mortal world, and Hades was lonely.
Minthe stood. She wasn’t sure what to think of this dark god, but a trip to the upper world sounded good. She said, “All right.”
She kissed him. Hades put his arms around her, and together they dissolved into shadows.
They appeared on the side of a hill near the Greek town of Pylos. Minthe gasped when she saw the blue sky and the sun, the green hills marching on forever.
She smiled and threw her arms around Hades, and for about twenty seconds they were very much in love. Minthe’s fragrance was intoxicating.
Then something changed. Hades tensed. Maybe the fresh air cleared his mind.
“What am I doing?” he wailed, pushing Minthe aside. “It’s springtime. My wife will be around here somewhere, making plants grow and whatnot. She’ll find us!”
“Who cares?” Minthe asked. “You said you loved me.”
“I—I—” Hades gulped.
Minthe’s green eyes were gorgeous. She was very pretty and she smelled good, but now Hades realized their love was hopeless. He remembered the murderous look in Persephone’s eyes when she’d heard about Leuke.
“I’ve got to get back to Erebos,” Hades said. “Enjoy the upper world.”
“You’re coming back, right?” Minthe demanded.
“Um…” Hades chickened out and dissolved into shadows.
Minthe should’ve forgotten him. She’d made it to the mortal world! She could’ve found a new river to bind her life force to. She could’ve lived forever in the beautiful forests and hills of Greece.
But nope. Too easy!
Being dumped on the hillside made her angry. It dawned on her that she’d wrapped the god Hades around her little finger without even trying. She really must be beautiful. And she did smell great. She deserved to be a queen.
“Hades loves me!” she shouted to the wind. “He’s going to come back and get me and make me the queen of the Underworld! I am more beautiful than Persephone, and more wonderful, and I smell better, and—”
The hillside rumbled. Grass and flowers swirled into a massive funnel cloud of petals. The goddess Persephone appeared as a fifty-foot-tall colossus.
At that point, Minthe realized she’d made a mistake.
“YOU, PRETTIER THAN ME?” Persephone boomed. “YEAH, RIGHT! YOU DO SMELL GOOD, THOUGH. PERHAPS I CAN FIND A USE FOR YOU AMONG THE PLANTS!”
Persephone raised her giant sandaled foot and squashed Minthe flat. When she smeared her foot across the hillside, tiny green plants