My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

This Is Hell (Part 1)

I bolted. As if I could somehow outrun this body I was stuck in. Molt it away with speed, leaving it in a dusty heap on the ground and my Sophie self all happy in the sunshine.

Yeah, right.

I ran through grasses in wide fields, their sharp tang tickling my nose. All the plant life had that dry, brittle, washed out look of a land that was in the throes of a long, deep drought. It was a million shades of wheat and gray, with no vibrant colors anywhere.

Eventually, I found myself on a dusty cobblestone road. I knew that it would lead me back to Hades' palace, where there were mirrors to confirm this change. But when I came to the shore of the crystal clear Akherousian lake, I realized that the water would work just as well.

One quick look into the lake was enough to leave me reeling.

It was true. Somehow, I was now Persephone.

Looking away quickly and looking back didn't change things. Neither did pinching myself, opening and closing my eyes, or wishing desperately. Since hers was the last face I wanted to be gazing on, I trudged off, continuing toward the palace and lost in my thoughts. All the while, I was trying to figure out why Felicia would want this?

"She said make it hurt." I froze at the sound of Kiki's voice.

She sat on a flat rock at the edge of an empty intersection, dressed in the same outfit she'd been in at Felicia's. Since I had Persephone's memories, I knew every inch of this place as if I'd explored it myself. Which I had, in a way. At any rate, I knew where we were.

Hekate's Crossroads.

Literally, it was an intersection with three roads branching off from it. The judged souls that Charon and his deadly ferry ride hadn't brought to their final destinations came here. If they'd lived normal lives, they shuffled off to the Fields of Asphodel. If they'd been evil, they went to Tartarus. Or over to the Elysian Fields if their good deeds had won them the afterlife jackpot. Hekate didn't need to be around to help them. The dead people would only be able to travel the appropriate path.

She patted the rock beside her. I'd always liked Kiki, but suddenly I was very wary of her. Because for the first time, I truly felt her power and knew what she was capable of.

She made a lit cigarette appear in her hands. "I'm not going to bite. Sit."

I sat. Since Kiki was still human-sized, and I was about thirteen feet tall, I dwarfed her. My bum felt massive on the rock. After an awkward moment of sliding around, trying to fit both butt cheeks comfortably, I gave up and stood. I gestured at my goddess body. "Why?"

Kiki squinted at me, almost like she was surprised I didn't know. "You did screw Demeter over."

I gaped at her, ready to argue.

She gave me the hand. "You did. She said the oath in good faith that you'd reciprocate. You didn't. Now you suffer the consequences. Balance out your choice."

I laced my fingers together, steepling them against my lips as I studied her. "The consequence that I'm Persephone now? How does that follow?"

Kiki was silent for a bit, smoking her cigarette.

I watched the red ashy tip grow larger, waiting for it to fall. But she tapped out the cigarette before it could. "Are you familiar with the phrase 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?'" she asked.

"Yeah."

She slid off the rock. "Well, you're repeating it." Then she was walking away, her stride brisk. As if that was the end of the discussion.

Couldn't any of these Greeks bother explaining themselves in detail? I scrambled after her. "I remember everything about the past just fine. I have all of Persephone's memories."

"It's not about literally remembering, you foolish girl. It's about learning from past errors. Well, hello there."

A group of twenty-something man candy car crash victims dressed in soccer uniforms swaggered along en route to Asphodel. The lascivious leer Kiki gave them made her look like she was trawling for boy toys, not shepherding souls.

I waited impatiently.

Kiki gave them a come-hither stare with the full weight of her charm behind it and the one closest to her blushed from head to toe.

I wanted to pull her off the cobblestone road, away from temptation and distraction, and make her talk to me. Or even sling her over my shoulders and carry her away, since I could totally do that, but I was kind of afraid to touch her. She'd already turned me into Persephone. And that was with her liking me.

I sidled in close and spoke up, hoping she'd stop running her hand over the soccer player's bicep and answer me. "Learning what from my errors?"

Kiki trailed a fingertip down his arm and I tried not to shudder, since it was like watching my old aunt hit on a guy better suited to dating me. Finally, she smiled, pulled her hand away, and let them continue. "I have missed this place."

With a last tilt to appreciate the receding view, she returned her attention to me, jabbing a finger into my stomach to make her point. "You've got to reconcile with Persephone if you're going to fulfill that 'one above one below' prophecy. Keep going this way and things are going to end badly for you. And humanity. I didn't go to all the trouble of saving Persephone so that you could blow it." She punctuated that last bit with a few exceptionally hard jabs.

It was almost funny. Like a little terrier yipping its displeasure at a giant sheep dog. Which did not make me sound sexy in the least, but being this size took getting used to. You know, like being on top of a mountain. Or just being a mountain.