was relieved she wasn't alone. She had expressed her hatred for Virgo many times before, but now the subject had been laid so bare before us that we would have to talk about it. And I had no solutions. Only wildly conflicting emotions. The thought of making her suffer was intolerable. But so was the thought of living without her. Was visiting her on another realm whenever the Underworld could spare me really an option? In the early days I had tested the limits of my bind to Virgo, and found that I could never leave for long, or the monster became wild and even less tamable, and my control over the demons and Tartarus weakened.
I made my excuses and left, forcing myself to focus on more immediate problems. Persephone had two more Trials to survive and win, and she couldn't be sabotaged again. The thought of her in Tartarus made the monster roar within me, dark rage twisting my insides. I wanted to talk to Kerato about my suspicions. Every human member of the faction we had caught had known nothing about how their memories had returned, and if it was indeed a god directing them, then interrogating them further was pointless. We would learn nothing from them at all.
Nine
Persephone
'You know, you can't avoid me forever.' I sent the thought at Hades, hoping that wherever he was he could hear me.
'I'm sorry. I have much to attend to,' he replied immediately. 'Go to sleep, and we'll talk in the morning.'
I blew out a sigh and lay back on his enormous bed. It felt too big without him in it, his mighty presence altering the scale of everything around me. Hecate had brought me to his rooms earlier, and now I'd had too much time alone to think.
Whilst I was incredibly relieved to have passed another Trial and won a seed, I couldn't suppress my anger at the gods. I'd been warned of the loyalty Trial, I knew I wouldn't see it coming, but to force me to admit in front of Hades that I didn't want to live in his realm? It was cruel beyond belief.
He had come by after the Trial but his face was strained, his manner awkward. I hadn’t known what to say to him. My mind screamed against the notion of being trapped in the dark for eternity, but the feeling didn't outweigh my desire for him.
'The last two Trials are going to be the hardest,' said Skop, interrupting my thoughts.
'Huh,' I said, hugging my knees to my chest. 'If Hades catches you on the bed you are going to be in deep shit.'
'Persy, you should eat another seed. The more power you have, the more likely you'll survive. And win.'
'We'll find out what the Trial is first,' I said evasively. I didn't want more power. I didn't want to make myself stronger.
I was already dangerous enough.
I did fall asleep before Hades returned, and almost instantly found myself in the Atlas garden.
'Ah, little goddess,' the voice whispered across the breeze, as a delicious calm wrapped itself around me. The sunflowers had grown, they were now as tall as I was. I brushed my finger along their petals as I made my way across the soft turf to the fountain.
'I have a question for you,' I said.
'By all means.'
'Do you know how I ended up in Tartarus?'
There was a long silence from the voice, filled by the sound of birds tweeting.
'I did not know you had been to Tartarus. That is an unpleasant place,' the stranger said eventually.
'It is,' I replied, running my fingers through the warm water and watching the lily-pads ripple. 'Will I die if I live in the Underworld forever?'
'No. Not if you are stronger than the evil there.'
'But if I become stronger, I become more dangerous.'
'Wrong. The stronger you are, the more control you have.'
'I want to stay in Olympus. But I don't want to live away from nature. It feels wrong.'
'That should not be your biggest concern now. You must regain your memories and right the injustice dealt to you. You must regain your power and learn who you are. Then you will know what is right or wrong. Then you will be able to make decisions about your future.'
I thought about that, the calm of the garden allowing the thoughts to organize themselves more clearly. It was true that the most urgent issue was surviving the Trials and discovering who had sent me to Tartarus. But did I need my