Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(45)

Lina shivered.

She was Goddess. She thought each word carefully.

Light the recesses, her mind whispered.

With a gasp of relief she raised her hand and commanded, "I need light!" The bal of bril iance popped from her palm and hovered expectantly above her.

"What is your desire, Goddess?"

Lina jumped and made a squeaky sound she was sure wouldn't qualify as goddess-like. Out of the darkness beside her a skeletal man materialized. He was wearing gray robes that dragged on the ground. He carried a long, hooked staff that reminded Lina of the rods gondoliers used to push their boats down the Grand Canal. But that's where his resemblance to anything mortal or romantic ended. This man was a grim being whose large, amber-colored eyes glowed with a strange luminescence. Lina did not have to delve into her memory to give him a name. He could be none other than Charon, the Ferryman of Hades.

"I want to fol ow Orpheus and Eurydice. Did you take them across the lake?"

"Yes, Goddess."

"Then I want to go, too."

"As you command, Goddess." He made a sweeping gesture and suddenly a boat appeared nudging the bank at their feet.

Tel ing herself not to think about sinking boats, bottomless lakes or the scary stuff that might be lurking just below the surface, Lina climbed into the little craft, taking a seat near the middle of it. Charon stepped into the boat and leaned forward to touch his staff against the bank, but he stopped mid-motion and stood very stil as if he were listening to whispered words. He nodded his head with the briefest of motions, paused and then he final y pushed them away from the shore.

"The passage is not long, Goddess."

Lina nodded and tried unsuccessfully to relax. She kept her eyes focused on the distant shoreline. She didn't look down at the water. Unbidden, a memory came to her from the scene in Lord of the Rings when Frodo and Sam crossed the Dead Marshes. She shivered, afraid if she looked into the water she would see reflected faces of the dead. Her only consolation was the bal of light that hovered loyal y close to her shoulder.

She looked afraid, so afraid that he almost tore the Helmet off his head and betrayed his presence. Then he remembered her reaction when he had chided her for being young and sheltered. Likely she would not look kindly upon his interference and the subterfuge of the Helmet. Persephone would not be pleased that he had hidden himself and fol owed her. But his heart whispered for him to take her in his arms and protect her from her fears. As always, Hades listened to his mind, but for the first time in his existence, he yearned to fol ow his heart. Charon felt his God's presence. He knew when Hades boarded the boat. Charon also knew that Hades wished to keep his presence hidden from the Goddess. The Ferryman was nothing if not discreet. So Hades stood at the opposite end of the smal craft, his eyes never leaving Persephone. He saw how she clutched the seat on which she sat so tightly that her delicate knuckles whitened. She held her spine rigid, as if she could brace herself against her fear. Her little light il uminated the space surrounding her so that she appeared to be floating in a halo of brightness that was almost as bril iant as her beauty.

The boat bit a wave causing it to rock dangerously. Persephone's body shuddered in response. Careful y and quickly! Hades' anger burst through his thoughts to Charon. The Ferryman bowed his head in acknowledgment and shivered at the force of the God's fury. With the Lord of the Underworld standing vigilant attendance, the remainder of the passage was smooth and swift.

"Fol ow the path that leads there, Goddess." Charon pointed ahead into the darkness. Lina stepped from the boat to the shore. "The Gates of Hades are just beyond. Through them you wil find the entrance to the world above."

Lina realized she didn't real y need his direction. Demeter had been right, it was as if her body felt the way to the world above. But she smiled politely at the Ferryman.

"Thank you, Charon. I know my way from here." She took a couple of steps, stopped, and turned back to the tal man. "You wil be here when I come back, won't you?" Charon almost smiled. "Yes, Goddess."

"Good."

Lina and her circle of light moved away from the lake. Under the shroud of invisibility Hades fol owed.

The ivory gates loomed before Lina. Thankfully, there was no sign of the eerie fog of a bad dream. Jogging through the gates she narrowed her eyes, trying to catch sight of Eurydice's ghostly form, but she saw nothing except velvet layers of darkness. Lina stopped and strained to listen. She could hear music, but it sounded far away and indistinct.

Please, please don't let me be too late, she prayed silently as she broke into a sprinter's run. Lina passed through the grove of opaque trees in a blur. Then she spotted the tunnel, and, she breathed a sigh of relief, within it she could clearly see the silhouettes of two figures. One was several yards ahead of the other.

Lina ran silently and swiftly, covering the distance that separated her from Eurydice in a single breath.

The music was so sweet. Lina felt her shoulders begin to relax and her steps falter. She should just rest awhile and then...

Do not listen to his music! The words shouted within her mind, and with the power of a Goddess they chased away the cloying notes of Orpheus' song. Suddenly clear-minded, Lina was able to hear something that had been hidden beneath the spel of music until that moment - the sound of Eurydice's sobs.

As if sensing her presence, the girl looked over her shoulder. When she saw Lina her face grimaced with the strength of her emotion. Lina could see that Eurydice was stil struggling against the lure of Orpheus's song. Even though they were almost to the lip of the tunnel, the little spirit stil stumbled and dragged her feet, pulling back with everything inside of her against the magical lure of her husband's music.