Destined. Part 28

"Actually, Charon exaggerates. We're not really engaged. Aphrodite tried to arrange our marriage but - you know what? It's a long story. Let's just leave it at I love him."

Persephone tilted her head and a spray of honey-colored hair tumbled onto her lean shoulders. "I seriously need a messenger to bring me news from Olympus so I'd have a clue what's going on."

When she snapped her fingers, three tripods appeared and the cave illuminated under added torch light. Not that light helped any. Now I could see the stalact.i.tes hanging like fangs over my head and the filmy, grey ooze slowly creeping down the walls.

Persephone, however, seemed totally unaffected by her nightmarish reality. "Come, sit. I have all the time in the world."

So I told her, in as condensed a version as possible. But there was really no way to sugar-coat what I'd done or why I was there. As I reached the end of the story, I rubbed my hand nervously over the top of the little wooden box.

"And so Aphrodite sent me here as my final test. I'm supposed to bring back some of your beauty for her."

Persephone snorted. "For her? What does Aphrodite need with more beauty?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I hate to ask, but I have no choice."

"So let me get this straight," Persephone said, "if I say *no' then it's my fault you don't get to see Eros?" She flung her hands into the air and let them fall back to her sides with a thump. "That woman is unbelievable."

"I think I have an idea." Charon rubbed his chin with his crooked fingers. "Aphrodite never said Psyche had to get face beauty." Persephone and I looked between Charon and each other. "The Queen could give Aphrodite beauty from her big toe, and Psyche would still have completed the task."

This time, Charon was on the receiving end of one of Persephone's jubilant hugs. "Charon, you're a genius. I love it!"

"It won't hurt her, will it?" I asked. "I mean, her face isn't suddenly going to look like your big toe or anything, right?"

Charon and Persephone burst out laughing. "I wish," Persephone giggled. "I'd give her my whole foot to see that."

"No," Charon explained, "when she opens the box to receive Persephone's beauty, it will simply go to her toes. Nothing to worry about."

"But what if she thinks I tricked her?"

"There's nothing we can do about that," Persephone said, already unlacing her sandal. "The real test is whether you make it out of here alive after having convinced me to part with some of my beauty. What type of beauty you bring back won't be that important."

She freed her foot from the sandal and held out her hand. "Here, give me the box."

Placing it in her hands, I crouched forward on my stool to see how she went about extracting beauty from an appendage.

"Oh Psyche, you can't watch this part," Persephone said. "The essence of divine beauty would probably kill you. Once I give you this box back, whatever you do, don't open it."

I shook my head fervently from side to side to show how clearly I understood. No way was I going to open that box. Death by beauty was not what I needed. Talk about ironic.

Persephone opened the box as I backed away. "Wait," she called. "You forgot your other honey cake." She removed the cake from the box and held it out to me.

"Oh yeah."

"I'm not sure how far away you need to be," Charon said. "You'd better start back down the path. I'll catch up."

"What about Cerberus?"

"I didn't tell you to go all the way back by yourself, did I? Now get."

I nodded reluctantly. Bile rose in my throat as I thought about having to brush my fingers against the oozing slime to feel my way back out of the cave. "Okay," I croaked.

I started to leave, but then turned back. "Queen Persephone?" Her dark eyes met mine. "Thank you. For everything. You don't know how much this means to me."

Persephone just nodded and smiled kindly. She didn't need to answer. I knew she understood.

Slowly, I paced down the path that led back to Cerberus. If I moved slowly enough, I didn't have to touch the walls after all. I just shuffled my feet and leaned back, hoping if I hit a wall, my toes would stop me before my face collided.

As I moved, I squeezed the little cake tight in my fist, not caring if it crumbled, so long as I didn't lose it. How much further should I continue without him? What if I ran into Cerberus alone? We both needed to use the same cake for our escape. I was still trying to figure out my next move when Charon ran up beside me.

The torches rushed to life along the path as he returned, chasing away the inky blackness. I didn't think I'd ever be so grateful for the smell of burnt olive oil and the sting of smoke in my eyes.

"That was fast."

"Here you are, my dear," he said, holding the wooden box out to me.

I reached my hand out slowly to take the box, but then pulled back. "Are you sure I can touch it? Persephone said it could kill me."

He thrust the box toward me as if to say take it. "The only danger is if you let the beauty out of the box. So don't."

"Got it," I confirmed and grabbed the box.

"Better hold it with two hands just to be safe," Charon noted.

I held up my other hand to show that it was coated in mushed honey cake. "Mind holding this then?" I asked with a grimace.

Charon snorted. "What'd the cake ever do to you?"

"Let's just say I was keeping a tight grip on it to make sure it didn't get away." Charon raised his eyebrows without comment and peeled the sticky, crushed cake from my hand. "I didn't figure Cerberus would notice if it was a little mashed up."

"I've seen worse come through here. As long as it's quasi-edible, it'll do the trick."

After wiping my sticky fingers on my dress, I gripped the box in both hands. For good measure, I also tucked it into my chest and clutched it there. When we got back to Cerberus, Charon launched the cake remnants and the hound greedily bounded after it.

"Let's go," Charon called to me and we both scurried past Cerberus's lair. I gripped the box tighter as I ran, even though it made me hunch over slightly and run a little slower.

We were barely past Cerberus when Charon started to slow. "Let's keep going," I begged. "I just want to get out of here."

"Of course. Why would you want to stay with me when you have Eros waiting for you?"

"No, it's not that." I stopped and turned to face Charon. "That's not what I meant at all. You've been wonderful and I couldn't have done this without you." I uncurled one hand from the box to touch his shoulder. "Besides, I don't know whether Eros is waiting for me or not."

Charon looked away like he didn't believe me.

"Really," I said. "I just want to get this box back to Aphrodite. I feel like I've got death in my hands and I don't want to touch it anymore."

When Charon looked back, he was smiling. "I suppose I'll see you again eventually anyway." He reached out and stroked my cheek with his k.n.o.bby fingers. "I've had fun though and I thank you for my day off."

"Fun probably isn't the word I would've picked, but I'm glad you came with me," I answered. "And I'm serious. I couldn't have made it without you."

He gave me a light pat on the back. "All right, enough with the sap. Let's get out of here."

We both trotted back to Charon's boat and he steadied it while I climbed inside, still clutching the box to my chest. Charon pushed us out into the river before climbing aboard himself. As soon as he was standing, he plunged his staff down to the river bottom and we were moving away from Hades.

I couldn't help but sigh with relief as the sh.o.r.e was lost in the blackness of the cave. Persephone had been wonderful, but nothing else about Hades gave me any reason to look forward to the day I'd have to return.

As we glided through the darkness, I tried not to peer into the murky water. I didn't want to see the hapless shades drifting like submerged clouds below the surface. But when I let my focus drift, something caught my attention and I had to look.

A pair of shades took shape. One was a woman who held her baby up to the surface. Her paper-thin lips pled the same silent word over and over until I was sure I could read what she was saying. Please. Please, she begged, and the infant's body broke through the surface.

"Charon!" I screamed. "Stop. We have to save them." Working more on impulse than reason, I set the box down on the floor of the boat and reached out to the shades. I scooped the baby up into one arm and grabbed the mother around her wrist with my other hand. They were like holding solid air. They had shape, but no weight. When I pulled the mother up, she easily came over the edge of the boat without so much as making it tip.

By then, Charon had stopped paddling and turned on us. "What are you doing? Put them back. Now."

Chapter 52 - Psyche.

Charon loomed over us in the small boat. The shade mother took her weightless child out of my arms and cradled him while cowering on the floor. "Please," she cried as she stroked her baby's withered head. "At least let my son pa.s.s on."

"Charon," I pleaded. "We had a deal. You promised to help some of the shades in the river. Why not let these be the first?"

He just stood there, motionless. In the darkness I couldn't read his expressions to gauge what he was thinking.

"Please. For me?" I asked. Seconds ticked by without an answer.

Finally, Charon grumbled, "It's lucky I like you, or you'd be in the water with them." But before he was even done grousing, he'd begun pulling the boat forward again.

Remembering why I was even on the river in the first place, I bent down to retrieve the wooden box from the floor. When I leaned over, the mother kissed me on the forehead.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know who you are, but may the G.o.ds be with you always."

For the rest of the ride, I watched the mother and child huddle together. Their obvious love was so consuming, I moved to the floor of the boat, just to be nearer. In fact, I was so engrossed by them, I didn't notice we'd emerged from the cave until our boat sc.r.a.ped to a stop on the sh.o.r.e.

That's when I heard Eros's voice calling my name.

Hearing him again was like getting my heart back. My chest had been empty without him and now it swelled. I jerked up and saw him half running, half flying toward me. His arms were outstretched, his lips pulled in a smile so wide it consumed his face.

I scooped the wooden box off the floor of the boat and scurried over the side and onto the sandy sh.o.r.e. Clasping the box tightly in one hand, I ran full speed toward him.

We quickly closed the distance to each other and I was only a few steps away from launching myself into his arms when I noticed a ribbon of color descending on me. The radiant hues tangled around my feet, tripping me as I ran. I was moving too fast to keep from falling. As I toppled, my chin smashed into the packed sand and the box skidded out of my hand, bouncing away.

I watched, eyes wide, as the box tipped onto its side and the lid cracked open. Scrambling on my hands and knees, I scurried to the box, hoping to close the lid before any of Persephone's beauty escaped.

The last thing I remembered seeing was an illuminated fog circle up out of the box as my hands closed around it. The mist swirled around my head, filling my nose and mouth. When I gasped, the mist pulled me under the surface of my own consciousness. And everything went black.

Chapter 53 - Eros.

Eros's heart skipped a beat when he saw Charon's boat emerge from the cave. At first, he didn't see Psyche crouched low in the boat. An involuntary pull set his feet in motion, dragging him slowly toward the approaching ferry. Even if Psyche wasn't on board, he had to see the boat, talk to Charon, figure out what happened. If nothing else, he would find out how to get into Hades so he could see Psyche one last time.

When Psyche's head bobbed into view over the side of the boat, Eros exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he's been holding. His footsteps quickened as he hurried to reach the spot on the bank where Charon was mooring his boat.

"Psyche!" he yelled, now running and flapping his wings to push him faster. "Psyche!"

Relief washed through him as Psyche's eyes met his and she scrambled to get out of the boat. He was amused that she wouldn't leave without the little box that must be holding Persephone's beauty. As if his mother could stop him now. He would have her again whether she fully completed Aphrodite's task or not. He opened his arms wide so he could wrap them around Psyche the very second she was close enough to embrace.

Soft and low, Charon muttered, "You don't deserve her, boy. Take good care of her, or someone else will."

The warning was too low for Psyche's ears, but Eros heard. He cut his eyes away from Psyche for a second to glare at Charon. What business did the old ferryman have telling him to take care of his love? Anger almost blinded Eros for a moment, but Psyche's steps were so close, he quickly regained his elation.

Eros looked back at Psyche in time to see her eyes dart right. In a burst of rainbow-tinted speed, Iris swooped down on Psyche, wrapping up Psyche's ankles in her vibrant tail. All he could do was watch as Psyche slammed into the ground. Overcome by rage, Eros lunged after Iris, but missed catching her.

"d.a.m.n it, Iris!" Eros shouted after her. "This is enough."

He ripped his bow from his shoulder and s.n.a.t.c.hed an arrow from his quiver. Taking aim at the sky, Eros said, "Helios," and released the arrow. It shot into the sky and exploded in a burst of silver fire when it hit the sun G.o.d's chariot.

Iris immediately stopped running and looked to the sky. Her violet eyes sparkled as her expression changed from vengeance to adoration.

Shooting toward the clouds, Iris left a glittery trail of color in her wake.

Satisfied that he was finally rid of Iris, Eros slung his bow back over his shoulder and hurried to Psyche. He knew he should've gone straight to her and dealt with Iris later, but his temper had gotten the best of him. Especially after the stunt she'd pulled last night by drugging him. If it hadn't been for Iris, Eros could've saved Psyche from having to go into Hades at all.

As he reached her, Eros saw that Psyche wasn't moving.

"Psyche. Psyche, are you okay?" He skidded to a stop by her shoulder and kneeled. The sand pressed into his knees as he reached down and scooped Psyche into his lap. Eros rolled Psyche over so he could see her face and cradle her head. Her expression was still and peaceful, a mask of tranquility.

Eros rocked her and stroked her hair. "You'll be okay, Psyche. Everything's okay now. You hear me? You're safe with me."

"That's where you're wrong, boy," Charon said. The old man leaned on his staff as he approached. "The box is empty."

Eros's jaw fell open when he saw Charon holding Psyche's box, but he couldn't stop rocking her. "No, I'll protect her." Eros whispered his conviction more to himself than Charon. Tears burned at his eyes. "She has to wake up. I need her."

Charon crouched down and looked at Eros from across Psyche. "I didn't want to see her back so soon either." Charon's old blue eyes misted as he looked away and back out over the lake. "She did everything right. It wasn't her fault the box opened."

Eros stopped his rocking to concentrate. "How do we fix this?"

Charon slowly stood and tossed the box to the ground. "She's a mortal. There is no fix. She should be dead already."

"But she's not," Eros said. "I can feel her heart beat. And she's breathing. She's not dead." Eros looked down at Psyche and resumed his rocking. "I won't let you die, love. Hang on with me until we figure this out."