February Thaw Read Free Page B

lists." The King of the Dead bent down and pulled a piece of cold pizza out from under the sofa cushions. "Very precise lists."
    Demeter sighed. She knew she was enabling his helplessness, but she couldn't have her daughter return to this mess. "Would you like me to take care of it?"
    "Could you?"
    The goddess put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. Almost instantly, as though they'd been waiting for a signal, a crowd of worried spirits wafted into the room. Demeter waved at the mess. "Compost this crap," she told them.
    Hades frowned as the mess began to disappear. "I'm pretty sure that's not how Persephone does it."
    Remembering that his argument with her daughter had started over saturated fats and fully aware of what side of the issue Persephone came down on, Demeter looked more kindly on him than she had. "You're probably right.
     
    *
     
    "Did you have a nice Mystery, Mother."
    Demeter stuck her heel in the boot-jack and pulled off her left wellie. "I planted a seed, time will tell if anything comes of it."
    "I hate it when you've been off talking to your priests," Persephone sniffed. "You get all obscure." She patted a pile of paper before her on the table. "While you were gone I worked up a plan to redecorate the kitchen."
    "But I like my kitchen."
    "Our kitchen. It's hopelessly old fashioned. The microwave still has dials."
    "I only use it to reheat tea," the goddess protested.
    "The kitchen in the palace has all the most modern equipment. Very high tech."
    "Yes, well Hades is God of Wealth," Demeter muttered. "He can afford to get every new piece of junk that comes out."
    Persephone ignored her. "And we'll have to get some servants." She smiled brittlely at her mother's aghast expression. "Mother, we're goddesses. Cook-outs and things are all very well in the summer..."
    Demeter had long suspected Persephone regarded the seasons spent with her as an extended visit to Guide camp.
    "...but it's not something we should have to live with year round."
    "Sephie, when you're with me, it is summer year round."
    "That's no reason why we shouldn't have servants. We can add on a wing out back." Rummaging through the pile, she held up a sheet of paper. "I drew a sketch. What the...?"
    Both women stared at the paper, trembling like an aspen leaf in Persephone's hand.
    Suddenly concerned, Demeter reached for her daughter. "You're shaking."
    "No, I'm not." A mug fell off its peg and crashed into a dozen pieces against the floor. "The whole house is shaking."
    "Earthquake?" Demeter folded her arms. "When I get my hands on the god who's doing this," she growled, "he'll get a piece of my mind and boot in the backside!"
    "Not now, Mother." Grabbing the goddess' shoulders, Persephone pushed her toward the door. "We've got to get outside. This whole place could come down any moment."
    "If it does," the goddess promised, "I'm going to be very angry."
    They'd got only as far as the porch when the lawn erupted. Four black horses, nostrils flared and eyes wild, charged up from the depths of the earth pulling behind them a golden chariot. In the chariot, stood Hades, ebony armour gleaming, the reins in one hand, a black rose in the other.
    Demeter had to admit the rose was a nice touch.
    His eyes beneath the edge of his helm almost as wild as his those of his horses, Hades turned toward the cottage. "Persephone, this time I do not pull you from your mother's arms but implore you, for the sake of love, to come home with me."
    "Very prettily said. Almost classical." Demeter poked her daughter in the hip. "Well?"
    Persephone tossed her head. "You cut down my tree."
    "And I have caused another seven to grow in its stead. One for each of the seeds you ate so that you can see how much my love has multiplied."
    "I ate?" Persephone repeated, her voice rising dramatically. "You fed them to me."
    "I only offered them to you," Hades protested. "You ate them."
    Her chin rose. "I didn't know what it meant."
    "And now you do." He opened the hand that