Hades and Persephone

Chapter 19

Artemis was tugging on a chocolate brown curl. She scanned the room for the fifth time. "Do you really think she'd be in the Underworld?" she whispered to Athena.

"I don't know where else she could be." The goddess of wisdom stood with her back against a column, arms crossed across her chest as she stared out at the crowd of deities. 

Artemis hugged herself tightly. She missed her friend. Persephone had gone through so many moods and then when the goddess had heard her friend vanished . . . and so suddenly . . . She shook her head. She didn't know what to think. Someone must have taken her. There was no way Persephone would have abandoned her mother, no matter how much they fought.

"Do you think she could have run away?"

Athena's frown deepened. Her grey eyes darkened at the thought, the skin crinkling slightly at the corners. "No. Persephone isn't that stupid. Where would she go? She would have needed help to have succeeded in staying hidden for so long, and she had no friends with her in the mortal world."

"Maybe that's why she left? Because she had no one?" Artemis played with a vine that was wrapped around the column. Strange to see such a vibrant plant in the Underworld. "What if someone had shown her some kindness? We didn't visit her as frequently as we could have. If someone was nice enough to her, do you think . . ."

"She'd run off on some foolish errand with a stranger just because he had been nice while she was sad? No. Like I said, Persephone isn't stupid."

Artemis wanted to believe Athena, but she really was worried about Persephone. No one had found a trace of their friend. Demeter was scouring the world, searching every crack and crevice. She hoped the goddess would find her daughter soon.

Athena inclined her chin slightly. "There's Hecate. Perhaps we can ask her some questions. She is the goddess of magic, after all."

The pair pushed off of the column they had been leaning against and made their way through the crowd. 

Hecate was standing in the middle of the room, in the thick of the crowd. Her blonde hair had been piled on top of her head in a careless fashion, with twigs and leaves sticking out of it. Her deep purple gown shimmered in the light, as if the dress itself wasn't sure what colour it was. 

Artemis was slightly afraid of the older goddess. Technically Hecate was a Titan, but she had sided with the gods during the Titanomachy, making her an honouring goddess. She was incredibly powerful and mysterious. No one knew how Hades put up with her, but they never wanted to ask.

Artemis and Athena neared Hecate. Artemis threw her shoulders back and straightened up. She wasn't about to show a goddess that she was afraid. Not her, the goddess of the hunt.

Hecate raised a slim eyebrow at the two goddesses. Artemis felt as though the lavender eyes were probing her very being.

"Hello you two. May I enquire as to the pleasure?"

For a goddess of the wild she was awfully polite. 

Athena stepped up. "We were wondering if you knew of the whereabouts of Persephone?"

Hecate grabbed a goblet from a passing servant. "Me? Know where Persephone is? Of course not," she said after draining the cup.

"So sorry to bother you, Lady Hecate." Artemis dipped her head slightly. She gripped Athena's elbow and turned to leave but her friend remained steadfast.

"Lady Hecate, you know many secrets. Some might say you are the goddess of them."

"I am the goddess of many things, but not mysteries and secrets. Don't bestow me titles that do not belong to me."