Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(19)

"Venus, would you please pay attention! I said don't do anything to them. You really shouldn't punish them. The mortal is obviously a ridiculous young woman."

"She is not!" Venus reluctantly pulled her gaze hastily away from the intriguing man and snapped at Persephone with an unusual show of temper. Her head was oddly fuzzy and she was suddenly feeling like she might cry. "She just needs some help. She's actually sweet. Confused, perhaps, but sweet."

"Venus, what have you been up to?" Persephone asked as she took the love goddess's arm and propelled her from the restaurant.

"I only did what you said I should do."

"What does that mean?"

"You were the one who said if a modern mortal asked for my aid that I should grant it."

"I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Venus!" Persephone rounded on her. "What - did - you - do?"

"I walked in the ladies' room and Pea was - "

"Pea?"

"The mortal you think is pathetic. Stop interrupting."

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"Pea was reciting an invocation." Venus gave her a "so there" look. When Persephone didn't say anything, she added, "One of my invocations. She was actually asking for my aid. By name. Me. And you know the poor girl definitely needs my aid."

"Are you telling me that you told her who you are?"

"Well, of course. She was calling me."

"You said you're Venus, Goddess of Love."

"Of course I did. That is who I am."

Persephone began rubbing her right temple. "And this Pea person said what in response to your proclamation?"

"She was surprised and seemed perhaps a little slow in her ability to understand."

"You mean she didn't believe you."

"You could put it that way."

"Good. Then there was little harm done. Come on. Let's get you home before you're on the evening news."

"The what?"

"Forget it. I'll explain all of this to you later. Let's get back. Demeter is going to be unbearable if I'm late again." They left the restaurant and Persephone looked up at the prematurely darkening sky. "And our timing is excellent. No one, mortal or immortal, likes to get caught out in a nasty Oklahoma rainstorm, and it definitely looks like one is almost here."

Venus sighed and didn't say anything else, quickening her pace to keep up with Persephone. She felt so odd - definitely out of sorts, like part of her was sad and embarrassed and very, very tired. Persephone linked arms with her and silently Venus hurried down the sidewalk with her while rain clouds roiled across the bruised-looking sky. They crossed the street in front of the renovated Tribune Lofts and followed the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. They came to the spot in the heart of the bridge that locals had taken to calling the Center of the Universe because of the weird acoustical phenomenon they experienced when they stood dead center of the swirling brick-and-concrete pattern, which was actually a byproduct of having a portal to Olympus operating in the modern world.

Persephone glanced around them. "Well, the storm is definitely making things easier for us. No one's out here." She waved her hand at the space in front of them and the air rippled. A spherical area about as big as an ordinary door materialized, and without hesitation the Goddess of Spring walked into it, instantly disappearing. Venus sighed again and stepped forward, only to run face first into something so hard and impenetrable that, with a little yelp, she jumped back, rubbing her nose.

Persephone's disembodied head appeared from the middle of the sphere, like she was peeking out of a curtained alcove. "What is taking you so long?"

"I don't know. I..." Hesitantly Venus moved forward, holding one hand out in front of her. When she came to the area of the shining orb near Persephone's face the air suddenly solidified, barring her from entering it. "I can't get through," she said faintly.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course you can you just - " But Persephone's words broke off when she grabbed her friend's hand and attempted to pull her through the portal, but found that, although her own arm slid easily back and forth from one world to the other, Venus's encountered unmovable resistance.

"Has something happened and I've lost my powers?" Venus asked as Persephone reentered the modern world.

"That shouldn't matter. Even a modern mortal would be able to pass through Demeter's portal, which is why I'm so careful about no one seeing me come or go," Persephone said. While the Goddess of Spring was talking, Venus had turned to face a lovely tree that grew not far from them. She flicked her slender fingers at its winter naked branches and suddenly it burst into the delicate white blossoms of a Bradford pear in the middle of spring.

"My powers are fine," she said.

"Let's try it again. Maybe it's the portal and it's corrected itself now. We'll go through together."

Persephone linked arms with her again. "Ready? One - two - three!" The goddesses walked to the glowing sphere. Persephone moved through it easily, but Venus's arm was wrenched from hers as the Goddess of Love, once again, seemed to have walked into a glass wall.