Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(13)

"You said your 'realm.' What did you mean? Where am I?"

Demeter took her time before answering the human. Already she mourned the absence of her daughter's soul. She wanted nothing so much as to cal Persephone back and know her child was close to her, protected and safe. But that was the problem. She had kept her daughter too protected. It was time Demeter al owed, or in this case, insisted, that she grow. And the Goddess had made a decision; she was bound by her word - even if it had only been given to herself.

"My realm is never-ending - from the smal est garden plot to the vastness of the great fields as they grow ready for the harvest, there you wil find what is mine. As to where you are..." She hesitated, considering. "Is Olympus a name you recognize?"

In short, jerky movements Lina nodded. "Yes. In mythology it's where the gods lived."

"Why is it that mortal daughters always say gods and leave out goddesses?" The woman who stood beside the throne asked the other.

"That I cannot answer." She shrugged her broad shoulders. "Mortals do not always make sense, especial y mortals from Forgotten Earth."

"Wait, stop," Lina brushed the thick hair out of her face, forcing herself to ignore the fact that it was the wrong color, length and texture to be hers. "I need to know where I am, who you are, and what is going on."

In unison the women's heads turned to her.

"Mortal, do you not know to whom you speak?" The gray-haired woman whose name was Eirene bowed her head in the queen's direction. When Lina didn't answer, she frowned, but continued speaking. "You are in the presence of Demeter, Great Goddess of the Harvest." Demeter did not smile, but her blue eyes softened. "How could you not know me? Was it not my assistance you invoked?"

Dumbfounded, Lina felt her jaw unhinge. It had to be a dream - a horrible, amazing, realistic dream. When she woke up she'd have to remember not to eat whatever she'd eaten before she'd gone to bed. Or maybe it was hormones. Again. She real y needed to have a long talk with her mom.

"Carolina Francesca Santoro," Demeter said, sounding disturbingly like her grandmother. "You are not dreaming, nor do you hal ucinate."

"Can you read my mind?"

"I am a goddess, and your expression is quite transparent." She gestured at a spot in front of her. Instantly a gilded chair materialized. "Come closer. We have much about which we must speak, and our time is limited."

Unsteadily, Lina stood. Her steps should have been halting and awkward, but her body seemed to have a rhythm of its own. On delicate feet she stepped forward and then sank gracefully into the offered chair.

Demeter gestured, speaking softly to Eirene. "She needs wine." Lina watched, wide-eyed, as the gray-haired Eirene nodded, turned and seemed to disappear into a fold in the air behind her. Within two breaths, she returned, carrying a goblet that matched the one Demeter held, and a crystal bottle of golden liquid. First Eirene refreshed the Goddess's cup, then she fil ed the goblet and brought it to Lina.

The hammered metal was cold in her hand and the wine was icy and incredibly delicious. Its taste fil ed her, instantly soothing her harried senses.

"It's wine, yet it's not. It's like drinking sunshine," Lina whispered.

"It is ambrosia. Drink deeply. It wil quiet the trembling within you," Demeter said. Lina obeyed the Goddess, letting the cold liquid flash through her body. As she drank she could feel the last of the sense of displacement vanish, leaving her mind clear and surprisingly calm. Lina met Demeter's steady gaze.

"I'm in Olympus."

Demeter nodded.

Lina glanced down at the stranger's body. "But this isn't me."

"No, you inhabit my daughter's body," Demeter said simply.

Lina took another long drink of the ambrosia. Her daughter's body? Her mind flipped through dusty mental files of leftover useless knowledge from school. Demeter's daughter? Who was she?

A name came to her.

"Persephone?" Lina asked. There was something else that came with the name, some vague remembrance of a myth, but the Goddess's quick response gave Lina little time to ponder the elusive thought.

"Yes. My daughter is the Goddess Persephone." Demeter nodded solemnly.

"If I'm here" - Lina pointed at herself - "then where is she?" But the chil of dread that shivered through her body answered the question before she heard the goddess's voice form the words.

"You are she, and she has become you."

"Why?" She croaked the question.

"You invoked my aid. My daughter is fulfil ing that request."

"Your daughter? But what does your daughter trading places with me have to do with saving my bakery?" Total y confused, Lina struggled to stay calm.

"Foolish child!" Eirene snapped. "Enough of your questions. There is no better way to breathe new life into your insignificant little bakery than for it to be blessed by the personification of Spring." Lina looked sharply at Eirene. She was confused and out of her element, but she was certainly not going to tolerate that woman's offensive words.

"First of al , I'm not a child. Don't cal me one." Eirene's eyes widened at Lina's words. "Second, it might be an 'insignificant little bakery' to you, but you're talking about my life's work, and the livelihood of my employees. I have every right to ask questions and to expect them to be answered."