Chapter 1

Persephone stretched out in the sun. It was a hot day, and Apollo must’ve been idling in the sky. The afternoon seemed to last forever as Persephone relaxed in the grass, letting her mind wander. She was blissfully alone—she’d finally managed to slip past Kalligeneia’s watchful eye. Kalligeneia, one of her mother’s nymphs, had been watching over Persephone since she was an infant. Neither Kalligeneia nor Demeter wanted to accept that Persephone was hardly a child.

Persephone was several hundred years old. It was a conversation she’d had too many times, leaving her increasingly exasperated every time. Demeter and Kalligeneia refused to accept that Persephone was a grown woman several times over.

‘What’s several hundred years to a god? Once you’ve hit your first millennia, we can talk.’

Demeter’s words from the night before echoed in Persephone’s mind. She ran her fingers through the grass and cursed under her breath. She’d been too restless for her own good lately. Nothing was helping. Her everyday responsibilities—anything from tending to crops to minding flower beds with the nymphs—held no interest for her. Persephone had been waking up from strange dreams she couldn’t remember, and her powers were starting to fail.

Persephone usually controlled several aspects of nature as easy as breathing. She could make crops grow and rivers flood. Her abilities could even overpower some of the minor deities associated with the weather. Anything relating to spring’s promise, bringing forth fresh life and fertility, Persephone could conjure.

Except recently, every other thing she touched died.

“Maybe I’m going insane,” Persephone spoke aloud to no one.

She rolled onto her stomach and studied a patch of wildflowers several feet away. She raised her hand, snapped her fingers, and held her breath…as several nearby blooms immediately wilted and died.

“Shit.” Persephone cursed, sitting up and pinching the bridge of her nose. “What the fuck is happening to me?”

Anxiety started to build in Persephone’s chest. She didn’t want to bring this up with Kalligeneia. Or Demeter. They’d undoubtedly lose their minds and would find a way to use it as proof that Persephone wasn’t as grown as she claimed to be. There was a good chance it’d threaten the mortal world too.

When Persephone first matured and could no longer wear the short tunic preferred by children, instead opting for a longer, more appropriate peplos, Demeter was so upset, it’d caused a significant drought. Persephone was forced back into wearing shorter tunics.

It wasn’t only the nightmares and the reversal of her powers. Persephone sensed something different running through her veins, a dark, heady power for which she had no name. It equally intrigued and frightened her—gods couldn’t get sick and die, but what if this was some horrible curse? She was confused and scared but not yet worried enough to threaten hundreds of human lives by admitting to Demeter something was wrong.

Persephone sighed, waiting under her pulse, relaxed again, and the rushing, strange magic in her veins calmed down.

It’s something I’ll have to figure out for myself,Persephone decided. If I do, maybe my mother will finally see some sense and realize I’m not a child or a teenager.

Persephone wiggled her fingers, and a strawberry bush materialized beside her. She smiled in relief, happy that sometimes her powers still did what they were supposed to. Persephone popped some sweet berries in her mouth, letting the juice stain her lips and run down her chin.

“Kore!” Demeter’s sharp voice cut through the clearing.

Persephone paled and jumped to her feet, desperately trying to smooth out the wrinkles in her peplos.

That was fun while it lasted.

Demeter appeared out of nowhere, materializing in front of Persephone in a cloud of green smoke. Persephone wrinkled her nose in distaste—Demeter’s magic always smelled like rotting crops and mildew.

“Mother,” Persephone groaned, “I told you to stop calling me by that name.” Her voice dropped so Demeter couldn’t hear her. “It’s hardly appropriate to call me ‘maiden’ anyway.”

“That’s your name, and I will call you by it.” Demeter snapped. She pointed a finger in Persephone’s face. “Kalligeneia was worried sick about you. I cannot believe you keep pulling ridiculous stunts like this, yet you want me to take you seriously.”

“Ridiculous stunts?” Persephone scoffed. “Demeter, be serious for a moment. I don’t understand how you think at nearly one thousand years old I need a goddamn nanny.”

Demeter sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m your mother! Do not use my first name like that.”

“What? It’s your name, so I will call you by it.” Persephone feigned innocence and parroted the words back to Demeter.

Demeter’s brow furrowed as her cheeks reddened in frustration.

“What was the point of running away from Kalligeneia?” Demeter looked around the glen where Persephone had been hiding. “So you could sit here by yourself and do what?”

Her eyes landed on the strawberry bush Persephone had been snacking from. She sneered as she looked disdainfully between the fruit and Persephone.

“Really?” Demeter put her hand on her hip, looking her daughter up and down. “You don’t think that you ate enough at lunch? My god, Persephone, you eat as much as a soldier.”

“You mean an adult?” Persephone barked back, crossing her arms over her chest. “I eat the same amount as a grown person? I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I’m not fourteen. It’s fruit, for the sake of the gods.”

“You don’t need any more.” Demeter scrutinized her daughter’s body. “You already look obscene every time you appear at the temple to accept gifts from the mortals.”

“I’m sure I do!” Persephone screamed, her anger getting the best of her. Persephone pinched her thighs and ran a hand up her curves. “It looks fucking stupid for an adult woman to wear a child’s chiton and a flower crown to accept gifts for ‘Kore.’” Persephone made air quotes around the name.

“It is your role—”

“Leto, give me strength.” Persephone rolled her eyes. “I’ve had tits for five hundred years, Demeter. The only person who looks obscene is you, continuing to insist I play the same role for you for generations.”

“Kore!” Demeter gasped, looking mortified. “I don’t even know where you picked up on language like that, but when I get you home, you’ll be sorry.”

Persephone’s frustrations quickly turned to anger. A deep, unforgiving rage had been building up in her for the better part of a century, and suddenly, on a sunny afternoon, she realized she could no longer hold it in. Her mother watched and critiqued Persephone, especially over things she could no longer control.

“Language?” Persephone laughed mockingly. “The way you can live in a reality completely of your own making is incredible. Genuinely, your denial is impressive.”

“I don’t know who you are and what you’ve done with my daughter, but this is abhorrent behavior.” Demeter continued with her tirade. “You need to understand the responsibility you have in this world. For me and for the mortals who depend on you.”

Persephone’s anger boiled in her blood. It was like a living thing, becoming more a part of her than any of the attributes her mother attempted to thrust upon her. Persephone was a fertility goddess and encompassed all that it entailed. She spent only a few decades starving herself to remain waifish and prepubescent for her mother’s approval until she’d had enough. Persephone dressed as she wanted to, ate when hungry, and admired each curve and soft roll of her body.

“How dare you make me try and question my place in this world over and over again.” Persephone’s voice dropped an octave, and Demeter’s face blanched. It was a tone neither Persephone nor Demeter had ever heard come out of her mouth, but Persephone was too angry to stop.

“You insist that I play a perfect part for you while denying the other parts of who I am. You don’t have to fucking like it, but you do have to accept it!” Persephone hissed.

As she spoke, dark clouds began to accumulate around Demeter’s ankles. They were subtle at first, only tiny wisps of clouds. The angrier Persephone got, the stronger they grew. It looked like black oil floating in the air, tightening slowly around Demeter. She didn’t notice it until they were nearly up to her waist.

“Oh… Oh, no.” Demeter started to panic. She wiped at her arms and legs as if she could scatter the dark clouds. “Persephone, stop it!” Demeter shrieked. “Stop it, now!”

Persephone sneered. “Now you want to call me by my name.”

“Now!” Demeter yelped, her eyes wide with horror.

Persephone didn’t fully understand what was happening or where the power was coming from—she wasn’t even entirely sure it was hers—but it was giving Demeter a good scare, which was enough for her.

“Why should I?” Persephone flicked her fingers out of curiosity. The dark magic responded to her, wrapping tighter around Demeter on command. Like a fresh breath of air, a rush of magic danced over Persephone’s skin. Persephone was almost lightheaded with relief, as though exercising some of this mysterious power in her body was overdue.

Persephone formed a fist, and the binds tightened again. Demeter looked horrified, beautiful, and scared, like one of Artemis’s deer caught in a trap. Her heart was beating erratically, and she was beginning to get dizzy with power. It swirled in her stomach and tingled at the base of her spine. Persephone quickly realized she didn’t know how to control the black power or stop it.

The realization washed over Persephone and sweat broke out on her forehead and palms. Her relief turned to panic, so Persephone did the only thing she could think of.

Persephone turned on her heel and ran.

The fieldswhere Persephone had been hiding were in Cape Matapan. As she kept running, the foliage died out around her. Before she knew it, Persephone stood before an abandoned maze of ruins. Long ago, even before her time, a lavish palace existed on the cape. Stories persisted that the king who once inhabited these ruins boasted the caves beneath his palace went straight to the Underworld. The mortal king bragged that he was as good as Hades, and practically an ambassador from the Kingdom of Shades.

Hades, of course, had not responded well to this. In retaliation, he granted the king”s wishes. He opened a door to the Underworld in the caves. The crops on the surrounding acreage died, and the king was eventually disposed of in an uprising.

According to legend, the caves still functioned as a gateway to the Underworld. That was where Persephone now stood. In front of a stone arch, still perfectly intact, with a crumbling maze of old foundations beyond it. The arch was a perfect black doorway. Even in the midday sun, Persephone could see nothing beyond it. It was total blackness, an actual portal to nowhere.

Yet, something in the darkness called to Persephone. It mimicked the strange power mixing in her veins, beckoning her forward.

“I shouldn’t,” Persephone whispered to herself.

She”d been warned a thousand times never to go anywhere where Demeter couldn”t find her. With its lack of light and fresh air, this mysterious entrance was the definition of a place where Demeter would dare never tread. It should horrify her.

It enticed her instead.

There was something wild and unruly about the blackness that was practically begging for Persephone to jump forward. To leave Greece and Olympus behind and descend into the dark earth. To uncover what secrets of the Underworld could tell her about the magic in her veins.

“Persephone?” Demeter”s voice called out to her on the winds. It never took long for Demeter to find her.

She must have gotten out of those bonds.

Persephone panicked, realizing that her mother would be upon her in minutes. After the stunt she”d pulled this afternoon, she might as well say goodbye to her freedom forever.

So, with one last look over her shoulder, she glanced up at Helios, gave him a wave, and jumped across the doorframe into the darkness.