Asphodel (The Underworld Trilogy)

“Hello, Adonis.” Mom waits a moment, staring at him intensely and I can tell by the look on her face she wants him to go home.

Adonis smiles at me and I return his smile, my insides fluttering. I have a stomach full of butterflies. “See you tomorrow Persephone.”

“See you tomorrow.” Then he jogs toward his house, disappearing into the shadows.

Mom sits down in the same spot he was sitting in, her emerald eyes immediately reverting to the moon. “Selene has been busy.”

I center on the night lantern being held up by miles of endless black. “She definitely has.” There were so many Gods and Goddesses that sometimes I forgot about some. I’ve been away from that world for so long that

I forget I’m a part of it most of the time.

Mom interrupts the moment of ambiance. “I don’t like the way you look at that boy.”

“Adonis?” My voice hikes.

“Yes,” mom says seriously. “Remember we can’t get close to the mortals. You know what will happen if they catch on.”

I huff and shift in my seat. “Yes,” I say in a snarky tone. “That means you’ll uproot me to another continent. Or who knows maybe finally there will be life on Mars. Then maybe you’ll move me to another planet.”

“I know you hate moving and we’ve gone over this. We don’t age. Mortals do. Adonis will get old. Eventually, he will die. Imagine how painful it will be for you to watch him age and wither away and you’ll still be young and youthful.”

“I wish you’d let me decide that for myself,” I snap.

“Maybe one day I will.” Mom rises from her seat and walks to the edge of the back porch. She picks up something from the ground and stalks through the yard. “What do you have in your hand?” I try to catch a glimpse of what she’s holding, but she keeps the object in her hand low—hidden from my sight. Following her, I try to keep up as she walks ahead to the redwood at the end of our yard. “Mom, what are you doing?”

She lifts her right hand, snapping a pair of hedge clippers. “The twins told me about the asphodel. I’m cutting it down.”

Those little snitches. “Did you have them spy on me?”

Mom stops and puts her left hand on her hip. “No not spying. You make it sound so deceitful. I just made sure they kept you safe. Hades only has until midnight to take you and I wanted to be sure that neither he nor Charon made a special appearance at your party.”

“Charon, the captain of the ferry from the Catalina Island thing?”

“Yes. Charon is Hades’ minion. He’s the ferryman for the dead. Only he can ferry a person across the Styx from the land of the living to the land of the dead. Hades is his master and does whatever Hades tells him to do.”

Mom starts walking again and I keep up with her stride for stride. “Don’t you think that I too will be on watch now. I won’t let him take me, mom.”

“He’s too crafty, Persephone and you are way too naïve. You don’t even know why he sent you the pomegranates.”

“Because you never told me,” I harrumph.

“You can’t eat in the realm of the dead or consume any food from it. If you do, you will be bound to that realm for part if not all of your eternal life.”

Red blurs in my vision like droplets of crimson oozing from a cut. In front of the tree grows a single red rose. The asphodel is nowhere in sight. I gawk at the fully bloomed flower, puzzled and scan the entire surrounding area. “I don’t understand. The asphodel was here a few hours ago. I don’t see it anywhere.”

I reach toward the flower and mom slaps my hand away. “Uh uh. Don’t you pick that.”

“But it’s just a rose.”

“You know Hades is the master of deception. He only has until one minute before midnight to take you.” Mom bends down, palming the hedge clippers.

I glance down at my watch as a loud snap fills my ears. “It is after midnight,” I say. “It’s one minute after midnight to be exact.” Mom stands gripping the rose and brings it to her nose. She inhales deeply and I watch intensely as her face lights up, the enticingly floral scent creeping into her lungs.

I snatch the rose from her. “Give me that.” I bring it my own nose desperate for its smell. A smell that reminds me of the spring and blazing summer sun. A smell that reminds me of the essence of life and beauty.

The lively scent of fresh air and flowers travels down my esophagus, blossoming inside of me. I swear that I’m a budding flower. My petals are unfurling. At any second I will fully bloom. But then, the rose starts glowing. A bright white light beams from the stem and it magically begins to transform. Before I realize what’s happening I stare at the flower in my hand. I’m not holding a rose anymore. I’m holding an asphodel.

Mom panics and immediately tries to snatch the flower from my grasp, but it’s too late. Within seconds of its transformation the asphodel has become speckles of small, glittering dust and it blows away in the wind.