By Karissa Riffel
Gods, I hate the overworld. It’s bad enough that everyone mistakes me for the goddess of death. I’m only the keeper of souls—and I didn’t even ask for that job.
Also, everything up here makes me sneeze.
I hold in another one as I look around this stupid hippie commune. My sister, Zeus, sent me here because apparently I need to “get out more.” She took my helm of invisibility and will only return it if I stay for a month. I just need to get through this, and then I can go back to my books and my souls and my quiet darkness.
Behind me, a man pushes a wheelbarrow full of rocks up the path. Good thing I’ve hidden my true form.
He stops. “Hello?” His eyes are the exact green of the forest around us, but they look old—not only in the immortal sense, but weary. “Are you lost?”
“I wish,” I mutter.
“Pardon?”
“… English,” I say, recovering. “You’re speaking English.”
“Yeah.” He runs a palm over his brown hair, which is pulled back into a lopsided bun. “The humans here can’t understand Ancient Greek.”
Right.
“Welcome to my home. Where are you from?”
“The…” Oh no, I’m hesitating. Quick, say something believable! “… Arctic.” Nice one, Hades. You have a recreated Library of Alexandria in your house and that’s what you come up with?
“Ice nymph. Nice. Don’t get many of those around here.” The man lowers the wheelbarrow and holds out a hand. “I’m Persephone, but call me Percy.”
I shake his hand. This is the god of spring? Last I heard he was a kid being raised in the wilderness by wood nymphs and his overbearing father, Demeter, god of harvest. Actually, that could’ve been a while ago. When you’re immortal, time gets… fuzzy.
“And you are…?”
“Ha—” I stop. I really should’ve planned this better.
Percy doesn’t even blink. “Nice to meet you, Hey. I’ll show you around. Let me drop this off.”
I sneeze.
“Gods bless you.”
I follow him up the path toward the commune. The gardens are massive. They must have every vegetable under the sun. Beyond the raised beds, greenhouses stretch into the trees.
People are everywhere. Humans, gods, nymphs—all working side by side digging, watering, harvesting, or running back and forth. It feels strange to be surrounded by so much life. The chaos is giving me a headache.
Percy dumps the wheelbarrow near an overgrown garden and checks the sundial. “Actually, I’m way behind on this. Want to help?”
“Um…”
“Great!”
I’m dirty. And sweaty. Sooo sweaty.
“You’re doing awesome,” Percy says patiently as I hold the plant in the hole and shove dirt around it like he’d demonstrated.
He’s crouching beside me. I hope I don’t smell bad. Although he did say his favorite things were dirt, roses, and the smell of hard work—his words exactly. Not that I care what he thinks of me. There’s probably a thousand-year age difference between us. Besides, we’re nothing alike.
We’ve been at this for hours, pulling weeds, trimming, planting. When Percy isn’t guiding me or others, he’s healing sick plants or boosting growth. He’s amazing to watch—so much beauty and goodness and he’s orchestrating everything. But his shoulders sag when he thinks no one is watching, and he carries the weariness of a much older deity on his face.
Afterward, he shows me the flower garden, an explosion of colors and textures. It takes my breath away. “You made all this?”
He shrugs like it’s nothing.
I look down at my hands. “I’ve never made anything.”
“Never?”
“I just keep the order of things.” Dead things.
“That’s good.”
My gaze drifts over the life bursting from every corner of the garden. I wish my underworld looked more like this. A garden of souls. “It’s not the same.”
“Well, you made something today.”
I did. And it felt… good. Right. Pouring myself into something, watching it grow—literally, because Percy made flowers blossom before our eyes—was worth all the messiness.
Later, everyone eats dinner around a fire, the most satisfying meal I’ve ever had. Afterward, there’s dancing and singing and homemade wine. As I sit on the grass watching and sipping wine, somehow the chaos does’t bother me anymore.
“Hey, Hey!” Percy calls, then snorts at his joke. I think you’ve been living in the woods too long, buddy. “Come on!”
I grip his hand, and we dance. He holds me so close I can see the color of his eyes, black-green to match the night-cloaked forest. We stop for a rest and a drink a little ways away from the dancing.
Percy pours me a small glass of wine. “Sorry, we had to limit everyone when Eros was here pining for Psyche.”
“They’re so different—a human and a god. How do they make it work?”
There’s Percy—spring itself, grower, healer. Then there’s me—soul keeper, dusty and forgotten, content to be invisible and create nothing.
He smiles wistfully. “I think different is what makes it work.”
I’ve been lying propped on one elbow, watching the dancers, but now I turn to him. “You think so?”
He sits hugging his knees, studying me more intently than anyone ever has. Then his gaze drifts to my mouth, and he leans forward.
“I’m not an ice nymph!” I blurt.
He laughs. “I know, Hades.” He kisses me, deep and soft, and even though he definitely smells like “hard work,” I don’t care.
Percy withdraws and lies back on the grass, staring up at the sky.
“Um…” I say because centuries in the underworld have deprived me of social skills—among other things. “You seem… tired.”
For the first time, he frowns. “Demeter, my dad. Nothing I do is enough for him.”
“Maybe you need a rest.”
“You’re right. Sometimes I just want to go somewhere dark and quiet, preferably with a library.”
I smile. “I know the perfect place.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Very nice gender-reversal version!
(Also, I love Hades’ attitude vs. direct thoughts on the “I don’t care what he thinks of me. Nope,” moment.)
I’ve always enjoyed stories of the Greek gods. This was great!
great gods, what a pantheon of fun!
I LOVE IT!!!!!
The humor grows out of the characters and our expectations. Enjoyable.
I like that this version of Persephone chooses to love Hades and go to the underworld since this is usually such a sad story. I love the light and happy spin on this!
Oooh, very fun! And a nice exploration of this month’s theme. Well done!