Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(14)

"How dare you..." Eirene sputtered, but Demeter's upheld hand silenced her.

"Enough." Though the Goddess's tone was commanding, her expression was open and thoughtful as she studied Lina. "Your points are valid."

Eirene huffed and Demeter tilted her head in her friend's direction.

"Carolina Francesca is only demonstrating her maturity and sense of responsibility." Eirene's mouth tightened into a thin line, but she didn't speak.

"Lina," Lina corrected, drawing the Goddess's attention back to her. "My friends cal me Lina." Demeter's brows rose.

"I would be honored if you would cal me Lina, too." She said, holding her breath. Had she overstepped herself?

"Then I shal ," Demeter said.

"And you shal cal her Great Goddess - "

"Or Demeter," the Goddess interrupted, flashing an amused look at her friend.

"Demeter," Lina said, "please explain to me why Persephone and I have exchanged places."

"I heard your invocation. It moved me. No one from your world has cal ed to me with such earnest hope in many ages. I chose to answer you."

With her free hand, Lina rubbed her forehead. "But why exchange your daughter and me? Couldn't you have just, I don't know, zapped some new life into my business?" Demeter's lips almost smiled. "I did. I gave it my daughter."

"I don't mean any disrespect, Demeter, but what does your daughter know about the baking business?"

"My daughter has the wisdom of a goddess." Demeter's face hardened and her tone brought gooseflesh to Lina's arms. "And she is the embodiment of Spring. She wil honor your bakery by breathing the freshness of new life into it." The Goddess's expression softened. "Have no fear, Lina. You have my word that your business wil thrive and prosper. In six months the money you owe the tax col ectors wil be repaid threefold."

"Six months?" Lina felt like she'd been hit in the stomach. "She's going to take my place for six months? What am I supposed to do while she is being me?"

Demeter appeared to consider the question. "There is a smal task you could perform for me. For a woman of your maturity and experience it should be easily accomplished." Demeter's eyes captured Lina's gaze as she mirrored the final words of her invocation. "Let us just say that you are returning my favor."

Lina had offered the deal. The Goddess had accepted. And Lina the Businesswoman would keep her word.

She nodded stiffly. "Okay. What can I do for you?"

Chapter 6

"You want me to go to Hel !" Lina's head was beginning to throb.

"Do not think of it in your limited, mortal terms," Demeter explained. "Hades is the Underworld. A place where souls spend eternity. There are many realms within the Underworlds - most of which are places that hold both beauty and magic."

"And the rest of it is Hel ," Lina said. She glanced at Eirene, who was impatiently listening to her exchange with Demeter. If the old woman had had a watch she would have been checking it every minute or so. "I'd like some more wine, please."

Eirene huffed, but she refil ed her goblet.

Lina took a long drink.

"You stil misunderstand," Demeter said patiently. "There is no 'Hel ' in the Underworld. There are just differing levels of reward or punishment."

"Which are al fil ed with dead people," Lina blurted.

Demeter shook her head sadly.

"Okay, not dead people - the ghosts of dead people."

"Souls, Lina. Hades is fil ed with souls."

"Just exactly what is the difference?"

"You of al mortals should well understand that difference. Does your soul not quicken within my daughter's body? Does that make you one of the unnumbered dead? Or, as you would cal it, a ghost? No, you are simply displaced. That is al that has happened to those who rest in the Underworld. They, too, have been displaced. Some of them wil spend eternity amidst the wonders of the Elysian Fields; some wil pay for their sins in Tartarus. Others wil drink from Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness, and be al owed to be reborn within another mortal body. Some souls wil languish beside Cocytus, the River of Lamentation, never able to cease mourning for their lost mortality. Stil others - "

"Wait!" Lina blurted. "You've completely lost me. I don't know anything about those rivers or the levels of Hel ... ur... I mean the Underworld. How am I supposed to manage these...these... dead, displaced souls if I don't even know where they should be or what they should be doing? It seems to me that you have the wrong woman for the job."

Demeter waved off her doubts. "That is al easily understood. Just listen to the voice within your body. There is enough of Persephone's essence left within you to guide you through any difficulty you might have in understanding."

Lina looked dubious.

This time Demeter's lips did turn slightly upward. 'Try it, child of mortals. Listen within." Lina narrowed her eyes and concentrated. Demeter had said there were rivers down there. She'd only remembered ever hearing about one. Styx. As soon as she thought the word, the whisper of a response, like a half-forgotten memory, came to her mind.

The River Styx is the River of Hate. Do not drink from it, it wil cause no good end. Lina yelped in surprise. It wasn't that there was another person inside her head, it was more like she could tap into an information source that was the ghost of a shelf of ancient encyclopedias buried somewhere in her medulla oblongata. Lina appreciated the irony of her analogy and smiled askance at the Goddess, who was nodding in understanding.