Chapter Twelve
Elysian

I wasn’t entirely too thrilled to be traveling through a portal of sorts, especially considering I wasn’t all that fond of being transported instantaneous to begin with.  Popping in and out of the Underworld wasn’t as disorienting as straight up teleporting, but I have no idea where we were actually going, and if traveling to a space that was outside of the moral and the immortal realm would be anything like traveling to the Underworld.  I had a feeling it wouldn’t be, since clearly living souls would still be allowed in Psyche’s little hideaway.  Or at least I assumed.  I mean, the only two people who had ever stepped foot there had both been immortal at the time, but I prayed that was the case, merely for my family’s sake.  But I couldn’t imagine Psyche – the old Psyche – would be that far gone when she was still a goddess to create a space that would exclude mortals.  They were pretty much the only think keeping her together at that point, after all.

But then there was also the fact that I had never traveled through a portal before.  Neither me nor Maddie had, of course, although it wasn’t like we really had many opportunities to do so.  We barely had the opportunities to travel instantaneous anywhere, and the only reason we did was simply because of a terrible, terrible mistake.  Or at least it was beginning to feel like a terrible mistake.  My life would be so much simpler if Eros had decided to keep his distance, and just remain watching me afar.

Sure, it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying, and I doubt I’d have the will to refuse to do it all again, but the fact of the matter was that my life would be a hell of a lot simpler without Eros actually in my life, and all these gods popping in and out of it, wreaking havoc everywhere.  My family wouldn’t be in danger, and I wouldn’t be hesitating to travel though a portal that my boyfriend’s daughter just created for us.

Oh well.  I wanted some excitement in my life, and I certainly was getting it in droves now.  Besides, dwelling on the what-ifs and how I would treat the situation differently knowing what I do now wasn’t going to change matters.  My parents and my grandmother were still in danger, and my sister was still in danger of a main ass-whooping courtesy of yours truly.  I was going to have to deal with this sooner or later, and I had already chosen now to stop sitting around and actually act.  I mean, hell, the only reason I was hesitating now was because I wasn’t too sure about the method of travel.  But like everything the gods did, all I had to do was steel myself and just go through with it, because it would be over quickly.

Eros seemed to pick up on my hesitation, since he gripped my hand tighter without saying anything or even looking at me, and literally dragged me towards the portal so we could step through.  I felt a little bad for panicking at that moment, but I hadn’t quite prepared myself for actually going through at that moment.  But I really had no choice; panicking just made it harder for me to fight Eros, and he had the momentum going that it didn’t take too much for him to suddenly have me on the other side.

Naturally, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It felt weird – my mortal body wasn’t really used to going from one place to another in literally under a second, which was sort of why Eros’ teleportation was so disorienting.  In the Underworld, that disorientation was counteracted by the feeling of not wanting to be there at all, which is why it was much easier.  This, however, was just flat out weird.  But that was mostly because I didn’t really feel anything.  One second I was in our library, and the next, I was in a completely different place, with a different feel and temperature.  But it wasn’t disorienting; I didn’t feel like I was about to fall down or anything.  I was just weirded out, which was an easy emotion to squash once I realized I was freaking out slightly for nothing.  Eros took that moment to glance down at me and give me a reassuring smile, mostly because I think he knew what was going to happen, that evil bastard.

The others followed us quickly, with Maddie and Zephyrus coming in last, since I think Maddie had a similar reaction as I did.  Except she was generally more gung-ho than I was, more ready to try new things and drag me along for the ride.  She probably would have been the first in had she realized how I was reacting to the idea, just to show me that it was okay.  But the fact of the matter was that she was more of a mortal than I was, so her reaction was probably similar, even if she didn’t want it to be.  Or else she and Zephyrus just happened to be in the back of the group.  I wasn’t really paying attention, so that was quite possible as well.

Of course, once there, it was quite easy to see why this place was Psyche’s personal sanctuary, and why she wasn’t willing to let anyone but her own daughter see it.  We had stepped into a clearing that facing the edge of a cliff about twenty feet away, which showed off a wonderful of this place as a whole.  Behind us sat a forest, one that seemed to teem with life and held no dangers for anyone traveling through them.  In front of us stood more cliffs, carved from the meandering river below us.  A waterfall on the other wide gave everything a sort of hazy, but wonderful, look, creating an everlasting rainbow where the water met with the river.  I could tell everything too influence by Psyche’s home, the only one she every really knew at the time, since I was getting a sort of Mediterranean vibe from everything.  But then again, the Mediterranean coast was so beautiful that I could hardly fault her for being inspired by it.

But I honestly couldn’t tell if the familiarity of the place was because I had spent more time that I really knew on Mediterranean beaches, or if it was because I had been there once before.

“Woah,” Maddie said as we were all sort of marveling at what we were seeing.  Well, all of us except Hedone, who had seen it all before and was sort of freaking out a little about being here.  “I can see why she liked to escape here.  I can’t imagine her wanted to come back to the real world if she had a place like this to escape to.”

“Yeah, really,” Eros muttered under his breath.  “I really just want to know why I never knew anything about this.  I mean, I know she liked to disappear for long stretches of time, but it never really concerned me.  That was just the life of a god.  It wasn’t like I really expected us to be together all the time, but I had no clue this was where she was going.”

“She didn’t want you to know because she was afraid you’d come and ruin her solitude,” Hedone muttered.  “I know at the time, it wasn’t anything against you, but she thought that if you knew, you’d come seek her out at inopportune times, when all she wanted to do was be alone.  And you have to remember that she was trying to hide her depression from you.  Only reason I was allowed in was because she made it very clear that I was to leave if she asked, since apparently, she had no trouble turning me away.”

“I thought you were allowed here because you were her daughter,” I said.  “Because she didn’t mind being around you when she didn’t want to be around the rest of the world.”

Hedone dropped her head.  “I like to believe that’s the case, but I honestly think it’s just because I had a tendency to obey my mother.  I was just her daughter; she had no trouble treating me as such.  Remember, that’s the reason she tore away her love for you, because she had no clue if it was hers, or if you created the feeling in her.”

“I still say that is insane,” he said, annoyed.  “I honestly can’t make anyone fall in love with me.  It’s part of a restriction of my power.  If she’d just ask…I mean, this Psyche here doesn’t question it.”

“I question it,” I admitted, causing him to give me a startled and accusing look.  “I mean, not my love, because even if it was created because of who he is, it doesn’t matter to me.  Because the feeling was already there when it was placed in me, since I know, at least in my case, it’s true.  I’m an artificial soul anyway, so what would it matter if I have artificial love?  It works out.  But I do question if the love Psyche felt for you was genuine – that she was in fact born to love you – or if it was created accidentally because she was around you.”

“Or is she merely perceived herself to be in love with you because she really had no other choice,” Maddie added.

He looked concerned about this.  “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it.  She’s this girl whose pretty much shunned from society because she’s so pretty that no man wants to court her.  Social norms insisted that she be married, but she can’t, so she’s a little desperate, as is her parents.  So when this mysterious guy shows up and tells her that he’s to be her husband, she jumps at the chance, and doesn’t really care about the outcome.  When she does figure out the situation, she’s already pregnant, and it’s not like it’d be okay for her to raise the child on her own.  So she decides that she’s in love with you, and thus goes through all that nonsense and whatnot.”

“Ah, so sort of like an arranged marriage?” Persephone asked.  “Like, she’s sort of forced into the situation, and ends up falling in love with him anyway?”

“I suppose.  How would you know she fell on love with him?” Maddie asked.

Hades sort of snorted.  “This is dumb.  Look, reincarnation isn’t really my thing, since I generally delicate that task out.  But I’ve done it enough times to know what soul mate love feels like, and when Psyche asked me to take her love of this boy out before I sent her on her way, that’s exactly what sort of love I felt.  I just never said anything because it was her choice.  So quit dwelling on it.  This Psyche here was literally made to be with Eros, okay?  I think we might be wasting time here.”

We were all sort of surprised at this revelation.  Eros and I sort of glanced at each other, and he ended up giving me a sideways smirk of sorts with that confirmation.  Of course, that didn’t really make anything better, since I think it meant that Psyche was questioning her love and slowly going insane because of it for nothing.  But I did have to wonder if they were meant to be together, or if they were made soul mates with association with each other.  Was Psyche born with that love, or was it just something that her reincarnations were supposed to end up with.  After all, Psyche was in fact my first life.  Maybe Eros was my soul mate because she fell in love with him in that first life.

It was all sort of complicated, but Hades was absolutely right about one thing; we were wasting time, and the more time my parents and grandmother were alone with Psyche and Penny, the worst things were going to get.

Of course, none of us really knew where Psyche would have taken them, since it was very clear that this space was fairly expansive.  Not even Hedone seemed to have a clue, which I think was saying something.  This place seemed big enough that I’m sure Psyche never really hung out in the same place twice, at least as far as Hedone knew.

Of course, our best option was to go through the forest, since we had no idea how physics really worked down here, and it wasn’t like only two of us really had the capability to fly or anything.  Sure, Zephyrus was more than capable of taking us down to the river, but it seemed easier not to have to rely on anyone else in here.  Besides, it gave us some time to explore and take in the wonders that we were seeing.  It was really hard not to be impressed with what we were seeing, despite the fact that I knew there was an extremely important reason for us to be there.  Every minute that we ended up stalling was another minute Mom, Papa, and Nona were alone with Psyche and Penny, and I hated the thought of what that meant.

It was rather strange that, as we were walking, the sights and sounds just seemed so familiar to me.  I mean, I knew why that was, but it was so just strange having a place I know I’ve never seen in this life look so familiar.  Nothing seemed to surprise me, and I felt drawn to this place.  After a while, I sort of felt more like I was leading everyone rather than Hedone, who knew how to navigate this place, because I also felt something drawing me in.

I figured maybe my connection with Psyche wasn’t as disconnected as we were all led to believe.  I knew I had something, but I figured it was minor at least, a single string that was about ready to snap.  Maybe it was this place strengthening that connection ever so slightly so that I could find her location.  I was pretty sure if that were the case, she certainly knew that I was there, and that we probably lost our element of surprise.

But that was okay.  She knew I was here at least, and she knew not to kill anyone until I actually showed up.  I was so close anyway, so she might as well give me a show.  Like everything else, it was so weird to sort of have my body just move in some random direction without me thinking about it, but rather going on instinct.  I don’t think anyone else really noticed this, since they were mostly just walking and following whoever seemed to have an idea of where they were going.  Eros looked sort of amused by my leading, but chose not to say anything.  I was glad; I didn’t want to bring up my theory about Psyche knowing we were here already, since I’m sure that would ruin moral.  We were counting on that surprise, after all.

It was rather good that I was sort of running on instinct, since the forest around me was really distracting.  It wasn’t like I had ever really been in a forest before, so that there was really nothing I could compare what I was seeing to, but it seemed to hold a beauty that was unmatched.  And I don’t think I felt that way because of the connection I was feeling towards this place, since Maddie seemed just as in awe as I felt. 

But then again, this place was a created place, so that made sense.  None of this was really natural beauty, so it was as beautiful and untamed as Psyche wanted it to be.  I could definitely see why she liked to escape here when the world got too much for her.  Although I have no idea why she didn’t want Eros to know about this place.  Sure, it was nice, but it was only really paradise for me because he happened to be by my side.

Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that not everything was how it seemed.  The beauty we were marveling at slowly became mediocre, nothing really to write home about.  It was nice, but there seemed to be something off about what we were seeing.  The animals around us actually starting paying attention to us, their beady little eyes watching out every move.  Hedone seemed boggled at this, as though she were seeing it for the first time as well.  The whole forest started to feel very creepy, and I noticed that Maddie was sort of leaning into Zephyrus nervously as she walked.  I didn’t do the same, but that was because I was more confused than frightened.

“What’s happening to the forest?” I found myself asked, not really expecting an answer.

“What do you think is happening?” Hades asked, looking bored with this whole escapade.  “This is a space created by Psyche, and thus its completely effected by her.  When she was completely sane, I’m sure it was beautiful all the way through.  But now that her mind’s snapped, it’s reflected in this place as well.”

Maddie pointed to a tree that seemed to have lost all its leaves.  “She’s killing this place.”

“I doubt she realizes she’s doing it,” Persephone said, glancing around with interest.  “Does anyone really recognize when they’ve gone off the deep end?  She might not even see this place the same way that we do.  She might see it for how it once was.”

I shook my head.  “No, I think she realizes that she’s gone insane, but she simply doesn’t care at this point.  I think she might blame Eros for that fact, which is why she’s so desperate to get back together with him.”

“What?  That doesn’t make any sense at all,” he insisted.

“Neither does her insisting that she wants you back, but then completely avoiding you.  If she really wanted you back, she’s take every opportunity she could to show you that she’s the one you belong with.  I doubt she understands the feelings she has for you.”

“Feelings?  I thought she didn’t have any more for me.”

“Oh, no, she has feelings for you,” Persephone chuckled.  “They’re just of extremely hatred.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but she actually came to blame you for everything terrible in her life.  Every time she died and had to wait for a new reincarnation, all she could talk about was you and how you couldn’t leave her alone and how much she hated you.  I think Psyche might be right; I think she might be confusing hate for love at this moment.  She’s obsessed with you, but for a wrong reason.”

“And that’s why she wants to take over Psyche’s life, right, because she thinks she’ll forget about her past lives and start fresh, and forget all about him,” Hedone pointed out.  “Honestly, I think this is less about Papa and more about her needing to forget in order to feel good about herself.”

“That’s the idea I was getting,” I agreed.  “Yes, she hates Eros, but honestly, and she’s confusing that for love, but now that I think about it, I think the only reason she’s claiming to try is to get me to question it all, and possibly have yet another reason to return to the Underworld.”

“That’s insane,” Maddie said.  “I mean, for starters, Eros isn’t the reason you want to live.  You have other reasons.  And come on, how could she think that he’d all that willing to give you up?  I mean, give up an awesome girl like you?  That’s even more insane.”

I felt myself blushing at the praise.  “I doubt she’s thinking logically,” Persephone chuckled.  “I mean, if her mind’s doing this sort of damage here, than I know she’s farther gone than I thought.”

We had gone into a section of the woods were the trees were black with death, and the only life seemed to come from glowing red eyes watching our every move.  It was the definition of horror movie setting, and I found myself terrified enough now to try to see comfort from Eros.  It was terrible, and I honestly couldn’t believe that we were still in the same place as that beautiful forest we had walked into.

But that was the thing; this was Psyche’s doing, so it made perfect sense.

The strange thing was that it seemed that the further we went into the forest, the deader everything got.  Eventually we came to a spot within the forest that was completely devoid of life.  The black trees still stood, dead probably since Psyche gave up her immortality, but there was absolutely nothing else.  There were no glowing red eyes following out every move anymore.  It had gone from beyond creepy to just plain disturbing fairly quickly.  Even Hades seemed a little freaked out by what he was seeing, but I doubt even he had experienced anything this dead before.  The souls he governed at least generally had a consciousness to them, so considering them truly dead was sort of up in the air. 

But I wasn’t freaked out by what I was seeing.  I was at first when I realized that we were completely alone in the forest.  But then I noticed something that seemed out of place in this desolate void.  There seemed to be a light flickering in the distance, like someone had lit a campfire or something.  That drove me forward even more, although my companions were clearly hesitating now.  This was there my sister and Psyche were.  This is where my family was.

The others got the hint as we got closer, and the campfire was harder to ignore.  Almost as one, we slowed our progress as we got closer until we were almost crawling towards the clearing to avoid detection.  If Psyche could feel me, I doubted it would matter, but my mortal instincts just got the better of me.  The others just sort of figured we still had the element of surprise.

I peeked through the tree limbs to see an equally disturbing sight.  It almost appeared that Psyche and Penny were performing a pagan ritual or something, having Mom, Papa, and Nona on the ground in front of the fire, bound so they wouldn’t try to get away.  They were on the other side of the fire, Penny pacing like a wild animal while Psyche was just watching her, slightly amused.  Everyone’s focus was on Penny at the moment,

“You know what’s even more hilarious,” she was saying, clearly in the middle of a rant that we hadn’t been able to pick up until we were almost on top of them.  “You’re sitting there blaming me for this.  I’m not the cause for this, you know.”

“Penelope,” Papa warned.  “I honestly don’t know what’s gotten into you.  Untie us right now, and we might forget this whole ordeal.”

“If you’re not to blame for kidnapping us, tying us up, and taking us to the horrid place, then who exactly is?” Mom ventured.  “I doubt you’re on a rescue mission, dear.”

“You want to know whose responsible?  Psyche is responsible.  You all think she’s so innocent when she’s been secretly living a double life right under your noses!  I bet you never even thought to ask her about that damn so-called boyfriend of hers.  He just so happened to decide to move here after meeting her?”

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility, Penny,” Papa said, trying to salvage the situation.  “Your mother ended up living in Greece for a few months until I was finished with school and could return home with her.”

“Please, have you even met your daughter?” she demanded.  “No living being in their right mind would go after that loser.  Not unless they’ve been obsessively following her soul for the past fourteen hundred years.”

“What on God’s green Earth are you babbling about?” Nona demanded.

Penny chuckled darkly.  “You haven’t figured it out?  Psyche, dear mother, is the reincarnation of the Psyche of myth, and all those characters she deals with all happen to be the same.  Your darling daughter is most likely screwing with some ancient Greek god.”

They all sort of blinked at her, with Papa looking like he’d like to facepalm more than anything in the world right now.  Mom and Nona sort of glanced at each other.  “I’m impressed,” Nona said in a rather sarcastic tone.  “I wasn’t aware that sweet Madeline she likes to hang out with was a goddess.”

“God, you’re dumb,” Penny said in her superior nasally tone.  “That Goddamned Maddie isn’t a god.  Eros, however, is.”

“So let me get this straight; Psyche is the reincarnation of the Psyche of myth, and her boyfriend is the actual Eros, god of love from Greek myth?” Mom asked, sort of glancing at Papa to see how he’d react.

“Exactly,” Penny said proudly.

She was silent for a good long moment.  “Well, that certainly explains all of this.  You’re just throwing a temper tantrum because you’re not good enough to catch the attention of a god.”

Even Papa looked surprised that she said that.  “This is bullcrap, Penelope,” Nona said.  “Psyche is a goddess, and gods can’t die, in case you haven’t figured it out.  So our Psyche can’t possibly be a reincarnation of a goddess.”

“Oh, it’s quite possible,” Psyche said, speaking up and drawing attention to herself.  “Especially if you happen to know how to reincarnate a goddess.  It’s quite easy, actually; all you have to do is strip the soul of the immortality, and keep that part within the Underworld, freeing the mortal half to be reborn into the world again.”

“And you are?” Nona asked suspiciously.

“Me?  I’m no one of conscious.  I’m merely the mortal half of your daughter’s soul, seeking to take my rightful place within in body.”

They were both silent now, glancing at each other.  “But…you look nothing alike,” Nona said in a concerned and confused voice.

I couldn’t quite tell if they were actually buying it, or if they were humoring them both, but I felt with Psyche now involved, things were going to get ugly pretty fast.  I quickly stepped through the trees and into the clearing, making my presence known.  The rest of my group remained where they were.  “Knock it off,” I said to her.  “Your tiff is with me, not my family.”

They all looked surprised to see me, which suggested we did actually have the element of surprise on our side.  “Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, child,” Psyche spat at me.  “I finally figured out that they’re your greatest weakness.  I could steal Eros away from you, and you’d still have the will to live on.  But if I take them away from you, then you’d have nothing to live for.  It’s quite simply, really.  I just wish I had thought of it before.”

“It’s not going to work, Psyche.  I’m not going to let you.”

“Oh, you’re not going to let me?” she demanded.  “How cute.  You think you, a mere mortal girl, could best me?  I am the goddess of the mind, after all.”

“You’re not anymore,” I snapped at her.  “You’re the mortal half.”

“And you reside in a mortal shell, so it’s basically the same thing.  I have millennia of knowledge under my belt.  You have what, twelve years?”

Penny snorted at that, but I rolled my eyes.  “Is that the best insult you can give?  You know how old I am, how long you’ve been a prisoner down here.  Don’t play the idiot with me.”

“No, that’s a completely accurate insult,” Penny told me.  “You never really grew into your figure, did you?  You definitely still have the body of a preteen there.  I wonder if Eros feels like a pedophile when he’s…”

“What is your damage, Penny?” I demanded.  “What the hell did I ever do to you to ever make you want to ruin my life?  I’ve kept out of your way, I’ve never done a damn thing to embarrass you, and yet, you still insist on it.” 

“I can answer that one,” Persephone said, blowing her cover by stepping out of the trees as well.  “I can’t believe I never realized it.  It seems you’re not the only one who was reincarnated in this family.”

“Persephone,” Psyche snapped, causing both Mom and Nona’s eyes to widen.  “You dare side with this child rather than your friend?”

“You ceased to be my friend the moment you decided to give up your life without telling any of us.  I was just as shocked as Eros was when my own husband had to tell me what you had done.  You gave up the side of you that I befriended, and gave it to this so-called child.”

“Wait, back up.  What do you mean, I’m not the only one whose reincarnated?”

She glanced at me.  “Your sister is an Erinyes, or Fury if you’d like.  Megaera, to be precise.”

“An Erinyes?” Papa asked.  “I thought they sought vengeance for crimes, not personifications of the crimes they punish for.”

Persephone shrugged.  “Your mythologies tend to wrap the truth more than anything.  They were the cause of those crimes in their prime, but the Higher Gods managed to capture and contain them, forcing them to punish those who committed the very crimes them encouraged.  Once our power waned, our hold on them weakened, and they tricked us, escaping into the mortal world.  Except they were clever, choosing human hosts to mask their presence from us.  But in this place, she is easy to detect.”

I glanced at Penny, who just looked annoyed.  “Does she know she’s Megaera?”

Persephone shook her head.  “It’s more of a possession than a straight up reincarnation.  The Erinyes picks a host and occupies it, merging with the soul and causing the soul to slowly take on its attributes.  That’s why her change was gradual.  She doesn’t hate you for any other reason than you happen to be another ancient being who could potentially detect who she really was when your powers started to shine through.”

“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t I have figured it out?  I’m usually an excellent judge of character.”

“Not in those case.  You’re too attached to Penelope to understand her true nature.  Besides, your judgment is based on how people are at the moment you meet them, not their potential.  Like I said, you might have detected something as time went on, regardless if you had met Eros or not.”

“Enough of this,” Psyche snapped.  “We didn’t come here to discuss this mortal before me.  We are here to carry out my plan of vengeance on this child for usurping my rightful position in the reincarnation cycle!”

“Rightful place?  This is my freaking life!  You have no claim to it!”

“Are you following any of this?” I heard Mom mutter to Papa.

“I’ll explain it once this is all finished with.  From what I understand, it’s complicated.”

“No claim?  You shouldn’t have been reincarnated in the first place!  You’re the immortal soul!  You were to stay in the Underworld where you belonged!”

“And you shouldn’t have given up on your husband.  If you had just realized that the love you felt for him was completely natural, none of this would be happening in the first place!  It’s your own damn fault, and you need to own up for that, and leave me alone.”

Psyche’s lip curled slightly.  “Are you actually defying me, girl?  I have more power than you think.”

“Yes, I’m defying you!  I’m sick and tired of all you damn people coming through and trying to tell me how I’m supposed to live my life.  Newsflash; I don’t give a shit anymore.  And I am going to fight to ensure that my life is lived how I want it.  Not to mention you have no right to involve my family.  Release them.”

“I don’t think so.  If you’re going to actually fight me, then I think they’ll be quite comfortable where they are, don’t you?”

“No,” I hissed.

She sort of glanced speculatively at Penny.  “You know, I’m a rather reasonable person.  It’s clear that we have a conundrum.  I know I have a right to your life, but you seem to be quite unwilling to give it up.  I think I simple duel could clear things up.”

“A duel?”

She looked delighted.  “Yes, a duel.  That’ll work quite nicely.  If you win, then I’ll release my claim as well as your family.  But if I win, you must give up both your claim and your body.”

“What?” I demanded.

“Oh, come down, Psyche; I suspect you’re a reasonable person as well.  Surely you’re not scared of a little competition, are you?”

I glanced at my parents and my grandmother, all of whom looked concerned, and partially confused.  I was scared of a little competition, since she was an ancient figure from mythology.  But there was one thing that rang true; if I won, then all this would be over, and I could finally go back to living the life I so craved now.

“Fine,” I said.  “I’ll do it.”  

Chapter Eleven

Cupid and Psyche Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen