The Demigod Files(19)

She didn’t finish the thought. We all knew about the big prophecy: a war was coming, between the Titans and gods, and the next child of the three major gods who turned sixteen would make a decision that saved or destroyed the world. That meant one of us. Over the last few years, the Titan lord Kronos had tried to manipulate each of us separately. Now… could he be plotting something by bringing us all together?

The ground rumbled. Nico drew his own sword – a black blade of Stygian iron. Mrs O’Leary leaped backwards and barked in alarm.

Too late, I realized she was trying to warn me.

The ground opened up under Thalia, Nico and me, and we fell into darkness.

I expected to keep falling forever, or maybe be squashed into a demigod pancake when we hit the bottom. But the next thing I knew, Thalia, Nico and I were standing in a garden, all three of us still screaming in terror, which made me feel pretty silly.

‘What – where are we?’ Thalia asked.

The garden was dark. Rows of silver flowers glowed faintly, reflecting off huge gemstones that lined the planting beds – diamonds, sapphires and rubies the size of footballs. Trees arched over us, their branches covered with orange blooms and sweet-smelling fruit. The air was cool and damp – but not like a New York winter. More like a cave.

‘I’ve been here before,’ I said.

Nico plucked a pomegranate off a tree. ‘My stepmother Persephone’s garden.’ He made a sour face and dropped the fruit. ‘Don’t eat anything.’

He didn’t need to tell me twice. One taste of Underworld food, and we’d never be able to leave.

‘Heads up,’ Thalia warned.

I turned and found her aiming her bow at a tall woman in a white dress.

At first I thought the woman was a ghost. Her dress billowed around her like smoke. Her long dark hair floated and curled as if it were weightless. Her face was beautiful but deathly pale.

Then I realized her dress wasn’t white. It was made of all sorts of changing colours – red, blue and yellow flowers blooming in the fabric – but it was strangely faded. Her eyes were the same way, multicoloured but washed-out, like the Underworld had sapped her life force. I had a feeling that in the world above she would be beautiful, even brilliant.

‘I am Persephone,’ she said, her voice thin and papery. ‘Welcome, demigods.’

Nico squashed a pomegranate under his boot. ‘Welcome? After last time, you’ve got the nerve to welcome me?’

I shifted uneasily, because talking that way to a god can get you blasted into dust bunnies. ‘Um, Nico –’

‘It’s all right,’ Persephone said coldly. ‘We had a little family spat.’

‘Family spat?’ Nico cried. ‘You turned me into a dandelion!’

Persephone ignored her stepson. ‘As I was saying, demigods, I welcome you to my garden.’

Thalia lowered her bow. ‘You sent the golden deer?’

‘And the shadow that collected Nico,’ the goddess admitted. ‘And the hellhound.’

‘You controlled Mrs O’Leary?’ I asked.

Persephone shrugged. ‘She is a creature of the Underworld, Percy Jackson. I merely planted a sugestion in her mind that it would be fun to lead you to the park. It was necessary to bring you three together.’

‘Why?’ I asked.

Persephone regarded me, and I felt like cold little flowers were blooming in my stomach.

‘Lord Hades has a problem,’ she said. ‘And if you know what’s good for you, you will help him.’

We sat on a dark veranda overlooking the garden. Persephone’s handmaidens brought food and drink, which none of us touched. The handmaidens would’ve been pretty except for the fact that they were dead. They wore yellow dresses, with daisy and hemlock wreaths on their heads. Their eyes were hollow, and they spoke in the chittering bat-like voices of shades.

Persephone sat on a silver throne and studied us. ‘If this were spring, I would be able to greet you properly in the world above. Alas, in winter this is the best I can do.’

She sounded bitter. After all these millennia, I guess she still resented living with Hades half the year. She looked so bleached and out-of-place, like an old photograph of springtime.

She turned towards me as if reading my thoughts. ‘Hades is my husband and master, young one. I would do anything for him. But in this case I need your help, and quickly. It concerns Lord Hades’s sword.’

Nico frowned. ‘My father doesn’t have a sword. He uses a staff in battle, and his helm of terror.’

‘He didn’t have a sword,’ Persephone corrected.

Thalia sat up. ‘He’s forging a new symbol of power? Without Zeus’s permission?’

The goddess of springtime pointed. Above the table, an image flickered to life: skeletal weapon-smiths worked over a forge of black flames, using hammers fashioned like metal skulls to beat a length of iron into a blade.

‘War with the Titans is almost upon us,’ Persephone said. ‘My lord Hades must be ready.’

‘But Zeus and Poseidon would never allow Hades to forge a new weapon!’ Thalia protested. ‘It would unbalance their power-sharing agreement.’

Persephone shook her head. ‘You mean it would make Hades their equal? Believe me, daughter of Zeus, the Lord of the Dead has no designs against his brothers. He knew they would never understand, however, which is why he forged the blade in secret.’