The Cult of Dionysus

Callida

I march up the steps of the palace with newfound confidence.

"Hades!" I yell as soon as I'm inside.

He appears from a shadow, towering over me. "You've returned. That was quick."

"I'm not here to dilly-dally." I tell him. "So, your wall is fixed, and Elysium is back to being a happy little paradise."

He raises an eyebrow. "What was the problem?"

"Phonies. I mean, Phthoni." I tell him. "Envious spirits."

"Ah." He nods as if it's a common occurrence. "Well, two tasks have been completed. You may bring the boy and the girl back with you."

"And Leo." I remind him anxiously. "That's why I came down here in the first place. You said you'd give me a task to bring Leo Valdez back to life."

"Yes..." He paces down the wall, examining the death paintings he's hung up. "Well, I was going to make you do one more task for me, but it would be cruel, even for me. After all you've done for the gods... I cannot bring myself to do it."

"What do you mean?" I can hear my voice shaking. "What's the task? I'll do it."

"It's not about the task." Hades sighs. He waves his hand, and suddenly he's sitting in his throne, and I am standing at his side. "It's about Leo Valdez."

"He chose to be reborn, didn't he?"

"No." He holds up his hand, and a cloud of black smoke appears. Inside the smoke, I see an image. It's Leo, slumped against Festus's neck. He jolts up, a needle in his arm.

"He's not here." Hades tells me. "He gave himself the physician's cure."

I feel like my insides are shriveling up into little raisins. "What?" The despair in my voice is evident.

Hades gives me a pitying look. "I'm sorry, girl. I probably should have told you beforehand, but... well, I was feeling rather angry then."

"Angry?" I ask. It takes everything in my power not to jump on the god and strangle him with my bare hands. He's in no place to talk to me about angry.

"Yes, well, as you know, my wife Persephone is supposed to be here at my side at this time of year."

"That's right." I remember. "Where is she?"

"She was up on Olympus." He admits. "Her stay here was cut short by the giant war, but I have just been informed she is returning tomorrow."

"Okay, I don't care, actually." I press my fingers to my temples, trying to stop my emerging headache. "So, Leo is alive?"

"Yes."

More emotions than I can begin to describe begin to bubble up inside of me. Anger, rage, frustration, exhaustion. "That... that son of a bitch!" I yell now. "He has everyone thinking he's dead while he... what is he doing, exactly?"

The image in the smoke changes. I see Leo on Festus's back, with another girl behind him. She has pale skin and auburn hair. Her arms are wrapped tightly around him as Festus flies through the clouds.

"That's Calypso, yeah?" My voice is eerily quiet.

"I'm sorry, Callida." Hades flicks away the shadow image. "I can tell you that it brings me no joy to share this with you. And you know I love suffering."

My fists clench up into angry balls. The temperature in the room rises by at least twenty degrees. It suddenly becomes hot and thick with the scent of grapes.

"Stop that." Hades scolds. His voice is so scary that I actually manage to control myself. The air returns to normal.

How dare he? Leo is alive. He let everyone think he's dead. He let me think he's dead. I cried over him. I came to the Underworld to rescue him! And he's flying into the sunset with Calypso?

My heart shatters, and I burst into tears. I fall onto the ground at Hades's feet. I can't take it. It's officially become too much.

"There there, girl." Hades's cold hands pat the back of my head. "All is well."

I shake my head. "All is not well. I came down here to rescue him! I-I can't go back to Camp Half-Blood now! What if he's there? And Camp Jupiter is out too! We have free exchange now. I'll be there, trying to live my life, and boom! Leo's back!" I wipe my eyes. "I don't ever want to see him again."

Hades gives me an uber-creepy smile. "Well, you have two demigods with you. What are you going to do?"

"I can drop them off at the camps, but I'm not.. I need to go home."

"Home?"

"I'm going to Miami." I decide. "I need some time alone."

Hades shrugs. "As you wish. I can do you one last favor. Consider it a kindness."

"A kindness?" I can't help but ask. "From you?"

He glowers at me. "Even the god of the dead can be kind, Callida."

"Right."

"I'll return you to the land of the living." He tells me. "Back to DOA Recording Studios. You can go where you wish from there. If you wish to be shrouded from communication, I can do that for you as well."

"Yeah," I say dryly. "That would be good." As of right now, I want to be left alone. I want to disappear off the face of the earth and start fresh. I don't want to explain to my friends that Leo is alive, or that he picked Calypso over me, or that I went to the underworld for him. It's too much, and it's too embarrassing. No, I need space.

He nods. "Very well." With a wave of his hand, I'm back in bright sunlight, with Giuseppe and Amber at my side.