Free Pandora Gets Greedy by Carolyn Hennesy Page B

after dark—or alone.”
    â€œOh, poo!” said Persephone.
    â€œDouble poo!” Proserpine agreed.
    â€œPersephone, what is it that you wanted to tell me? Is it the reason why Zeus has brought everyone here?” Pandy asked, her brow suddenly furrowed. “Is it to help … or hurt me?”
    â€œOoh, such a serious face.” Proserpine laughed.
    â€œI know!” said Persephone. “Well, the official line is that we’re here on a family reunion holiday. And as far as helping goes, that I
don’t
know. Zeus and Jupiter are calling the shots and it’s sort of a day-by-day thing. They both really want you to do this all on your own. But, yes, everyone knows about Hera, and that’s why we wanted to talk to you.”
    â€œFirst of all, good for you!” said Proserpine.
    â€œI
know
!”
    â€œI KNOW!”
    â€œSecond,” Persephone continued, “we know that Mercury is basically pulling double-messenger duty while Hermes is going back and forth to Persia to pick up Hera’s pieces. Sandals! You turned her into sandals! Oh, Hades, don’t you just love it! Zeus is telling Hermes to go slow which is why you haven’t seen her yet, but she’ll be restored any day now. And combined with Juno’s powers, she’ll be even nastier … we think. We wanted you to be on guard!”
    Pandy stood still for a moment; they were telling her nothing really useful, only that her time was now truly running out. Hera was probably going to kill her; same old, same old, blah, blah, blah. Only now, all the gods would get to watch.
    â€œI should get this water back to the senator,” Pandy said.
    â€œAnd we should get back,” Proserpine said. “Speaking of guards, there was a gorgeous centurion who winked at me today while Caesar was talking. And I saw him pushing people aside with his sword to get to where we were standing before we disappeared. I wanna find him!”
    â€œYou’re a married goddess!” laughed Persephone.
    â€œSo are you and I’ve seen you looking!”
    â€œOkay, honey,” Persephone said, turning to Alcie.“Everyone on the underworld food-prep staff says hello. Now, protect your friend and share the goodies. We’ll try to be in touch. Oh, I have
missed
you!”
    â€œMe too, you,” Alcie said.
    â€œI know!”
    â€œBye, Pandy, bye, Alcie! See you,” said Proserpine, as the goddesses faded into nothingness.
    â€œWell, now you’ve met her—them!” Alcie said as they walked back into the amphitheater.
    Suddenly it struck Pandy: the bizarre thing that Persephone had said.
    â€œAlcie,” Pandy said, stopping short. “Why did Persephone say that it had been a few years between visits? You were in the underworld with her only a moon or so ago. What did she mean by
years
?”
    â€œApri …,” Alcie started, then remembered her promise to herself that she was not going to swear using fruit anymore. “I mean, merciful Athena, I have no idea what she meant. It was probably nothing, because that’s exactly what time means in the underworld: nothing. You saw Persephone, P, she’s fantastic, but she’s bonkers!”
    â€œYeah,” Pandy said absently.
    She was silent for several moments.
    â€œLook,” Alcie said, knowing exactly what was bothering her best friend. “Hera’s tried to kill you before and she actually
did
kill me. It’s nothing we can’t handle.”
    Pandy stopped right before she entered the tunnel that would take them out of the building and looked at the immense semicircle of seats.
    â€œHow many people do you think this place holds?”
    â€œApollo’s toenail if I know,” said Alcie, popping a dove heart into her mouth.
    â€œAt least ten thousand people. And I’m here almost every day. If I were Hera, this is where I’d do it. Get a big crowd in here for some reason. A lot of