Persephone Incarnate [Wattpad Prize 2014] | ✔️

{20} Sophie

“Persephone, you’ve kept me waiting!” Demeter scolded me, when we’d all settled down for…what else but a cup of tea and some cookies.

“Sorry, mother,” I answered politely. I hadn’t said much more than ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ and ‘thanks’ since I’d gotten here. I wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse, since Demeter was rather talkative. Really talkative. She didn’t seem like Anna at all, except for her long wavy blonde hair.

“You’ve been gone for so long! Picking flowers in meadows, no doubt being chased by that despicable Zeus – gods, Persephone, it’s dangerous out there!”

“No, I’m fine, mother. My attendants are with me all the time.” The Oceanids nodded slightly at the statement, but otherwise fidgeted and coughed while sipping their tea and nibbling awkwardly on a cookie.

“Yes, still but still…” she leaned forward conspiratorially. “All men are swine, Persephone. All of them. Despicable, filthy, unloyal. Especially the gods. Oh, Zeus, he had a sweet tongue that one. And so did Apollo. And Poseidon. And Hermes. All of them!”

I leaned back unconsciously, surprised by the venom in her voice. “O-of course, mother.” I was at loss at what to say, though she seemed to be expecting something else from me. But I didn’t know how to speak like Persephone. I was sure the mannerisms back in this time were different than the ones the gods used now. So being formal seemed like the best option.

“You’re so quiet and pale, Persephone. Something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing.”

“I knew it – you’ve probably contracted some kind of filthy mortal disease out there!”

“Mother, we’re gods and goddesses –we’re immortal! How do we even…?”

“Oh dear, I forgot how young you are. Only several centuries old.”

“Mother, it’s been three thousand years now! I’m practically an adult!” I was making up most of it as I went, but I felt like the two of them had this conversation more than once. So I drew knowledge and words and sentences from my memories, glad that we were slipping into something resembling a mother-daughter relationship – something normal, that wouldn’t raise suspicions – instead of a stiff little tea party.

“Really? It seems just like yesterday that you were born! You were so unique…not springing out from Zeus’s head like Athena or arriving at Olympus on a wave of sea foam like Aphrodite. So innocent…” Demeter looked dreamy for a moment, no doubt reliving the day Persephone was born.

I shifted awkwardly in my seat - a hard plastic thing, not much different from the seats at school, except it was painted white so it wouldn’t ‘clash against all the colors in the garden – that’d be horrific!’, the nymph (Aigeiros) that worked in the indoor garden had told us. She was only one of many – there were purple-haired nymphs, green-haired mermaids, floating misty girls – all of them were working to keep the garden alive and gorgeous all year round.

Aigeiros was the one who had welcomed us when they’d entered through the gates, into a large courtyard with a floating, overflowing fountain. She was eager to help, and didn’t seem to find it strange that I (well, Persephone) didn’t seem to know anything about her home, and answered every question I had.

Four pathways branched from the courtyard - one went out of the palace grounds, one went to gardens (“your mother’s waiting there, let’s go”), one went to the actual palace (“four days on pegasi-back”), and another lead to the cliff (“you can see the whole of Olympus from here, and if you’re lucky, sometimes you can even see the sea!”). After taking us on a brief (very brief) tour around the courtyard, Aigeiros had brought us here, to see Demeter.