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"I don't know how much you will see. It's going to be dark in another thirty minutes or so," he warned her.
Persephone waved his concern away. "It's fine. I just need to get there."
Persephone let Piri help her down onto the small dock of the island. The magic was vibrating now, and she knew she was getting closer. Piri and Alcides followed her, kidnappers turned bodyguards. She almost felt bad for what Hades would do to them if he got his hands on them.
Probably throw them into the fighting pits of the Labyrinth just to watch them suffer,she thought. Hades could be reasoned with for most things unless someone was fucking with his family. He would be a good father in that way. Persephone just didn't know how he felt about being a father.Hisfather had eaten him, after all.
You didn't even ask him how he felt before running away, an unwelcome voice said in her head.
Persephonewouldask him. She just needed the right words first and to find out the owner of that damn voice that had broken through her mental wards like they were nothing. She could keep Hades and Hermes out, but not the mysterious woman who was summoning her.
Persephone walked up the dusty path to where the small, temple-like building stood on the water. The stones were humming around her.
"Curious and curiouser," she whispered.
"My lady, it's getting dark," Alcides said, looking around nervously.
Persephone ignored him. There was something odd about the temple. Something deeply magical that she couldn't see. The last rays of the sun died, and the stars began to twinkle above them. Persephone walked to the edge of the temple before it hit the water of the Nile.
Where are you?she whispered to the dark water. A sudden mist began to rise from the Nile before a boat made of reeds drifted towards the shoreline. A tall woman stood on the boat, dressed in a simple kaftan of white linen.
Persephone walked down the steps to the water, her heart thrumming as the stranger approached. She had large dark eyes and straight black bangs, the rest of her hair cut at the shoulders. The boat tapped softly against the stone of the temple steps.
"Persephone Acheron, it is a pleasure to meet you at last," the woman said, her wide mouth stretching into a smile. She was the owner of the mysterious voice. "Please come aboard. I'm sorry, but your male companions cannot come any further."
"They were my kidnappers, not my companions," Persephone said. She turned to dismiss them, but Piri and Alcides stared at the woman on the boat and back to Persephone. She realized too late that golden power was circling her left hand and shadows around her right. Her divinity was showing.
"What... What are you?" Alcides asked, lowering himself to his knees. The woman on the boat laughed softly, and Piri dropped before her.
"Looks like someone didn't believe the gods still walked amongst them," she said before offering a hand to Persephone. She took it and stepped onto the boat. She immediately sat down because she felt it was the wisest course of action. It had been a weird day, and it was getting more bizarre by the second.
"Why did you summon me? What is this place," Persephone asked. The boat glided through the mist, and another temple-like building on an island appeared. Huge braziers burned bright on either side of the stairs that led from the water to the beautifully designed complex.
"I heard your cry, child. I felt how lost and confused you were and wanted to invite you to this secret place." The woman smiled at her, and Persephone felt the ancient, deep power radiating off her. "This island is a refuge for all of those like us. Welcome, Persephone, to the Island of Lost Goddesses."
Persephone's mouth went bone dry. "Who... Who are you?"
"I am the goddess of ten thousand names," the woman said, her eyes glowing golden with power. Delicate, ghost-like wings of indigo and purple unfurled from her shoulders. "But you can call me Isis."
4
Hades waited until sundown before he lost the last shred of his patience. Hermes had tried to tell him Persephone was fine. It didn't matter because Hades knew deep in his core that she wasn't.
Persephone hadn't been bothered by the humans who had kidnapped her. That was an annoying inconvenience, and she could handle them. It was something else.
For a start, Persephone had never purposely shut him out. As a rule, they didn't use telepathy unless they had to. Persephone had completely locked herself off from him for the first time in their relationship.
What had he done? Hades went over the past few days and weeks, but they had been fine. Apart from being busy with work and Thoth and Kema's visit to help them catalog their new library, they were good. So what had Persephone so spooked?
Hades took his phone from his pocket and called Medusa.
"What's up, boss?" she answered brightly.
"Make sure you and Perseus have clothes on. I'll be there in five minutes," Hades replied and hung up.
Instead of opening a magical door, Hades went slowly from his office at the top of Acheron Tower, down with the elevator, and across to Serpentine Tower. By the time he got to Medusa's penthouse, he only needed to knock once, and Perseus answered the door in a pair of paint-splattered jeans and a T-shirt.
"Uncle, are you okay?" he asked, his scarred face going from welcome to worried.
