The cavern turned to black once more, and when I came to, three pairs of eyes peered down at me. Ava and James were used to it, but even Persephone didn’t look startled. Maybe they’d explained it to her while I was out.

“What did you see?” said Ava eagerly.

I pushed myself onto my elbows and rubbed my throbbing head. “Calliope’s trying to get Henry to tell her how to open the gate. He isn’t,” I added when Ava’s eyes widened. “He didn’t say a word. She got frustrated and knocked him out again.”

“Good,” said Persephone. “He won’t tell her. He knows better than to risk it.”

“They’re all there,” I said. “All unconscious. Calliope ordered Cronus to go after me, but he refused.”

Persephone eyed me dubiously, but James and Ava didn’t question it. “Is that all?” said James. “Did you see anything else?”

“They know we’re coming,” I said grimly.

None of them looked all that happy about it, but no one said anything. It was no surprise Calliope knew, not when Cronus had hunted us down, and for now it didn’t matter. They weren’t coming after us anymore. We’d lost the element of surprise, but at least we had time to figure out a plan before we got there.

James offered me his hand, and I took it, hauling myself to my feet. The forest seemed to spin around me, and I sagged against James while regaining my balance. “It’d be nice if I could control it,” I muttered. “That’d make this a lot easier.”

“You can,” said Persephone. She leaned against a tree trunk casually, as if people passed out around her all the time. “Since you were mortal before all of this, it’ll probably take you a lot longer to get the hang of it, but you’ll get it eventually.”

I bit back my retort. No use giving her any reason to march right back to Adonis. “If you know how to do it, then why don’t you tell me so we can use it to our advantage?” I said through a clenched jaw.

Persephone inspected her nails. “I’ll think about it.”

James sighed. “Persephone, please.”

The two of them exchanged a weighty look, and I scowled. If Persephone knew how to control that kind of power, then the only reason she had not to share it was selfishness. I had her abilities now, the ones she’d given up along with her family, her mother and everything she loved, all for an attractive guy. I knew why she didn’t like me, but that didn’t give her the right to jeopardize our safety.

Eventually Persephone pushed herself off the tree and started forward, leaving the three of us to catch up. “Fine,” she called in a singsong voice that grated on my nerves. “I’ll teach her when Ava admits I’m prettier than she is.”

Ava’s mouth dropped open, and she stormed after her. “You little—”

James offered me his arm, and I shook my head. Disappointment flickered across his face, but he didn’t press the issue, and instead he walked beside me, close enough to reach out if I needed him. It was nice, his protectiveness, but I kept my eyes on the ground for the rest of the day. He’d slept with Persephone, too, and no vision was going to make me forget it.

Even without trying, Persephone tainted every facet of my life and every person I loved. Like a younger sister whose only things were hand-me-downs, everything I had reeked of her, and nothing was ever going to make the smell go away.

* * *

There was one upside to being with Persephone: our surroundings didn’t change, which meant I didn’t have to endure watching anyone else be tortured. So when I saw the flashing lights of a colorful carnival in the distance, for a moment I thought I’d lost her, but she was still there, skipping a few yards ahead of me.

A huge Ferris wheel towered above us, and the smell of popcorn wafted through the air, past the fence and over to the dip in the field where we made camp. No matter how many times Persephone insisted she was tired and needed a break, I was positive she’d chosen this spot because of the bright lights and hint of the future she’d never had the chance to see. It hadn’t been her Eden before, and that was the only explanation for why it would be here now. More than anyone down here, she would know how to manipulate her afterlife to see that sort of thing.

James and I collected wood this time, leaving Ava and Persephone to continue to argue. It would have been easier to let him create kindling for the fire, but I needed to get away from them, and apparently he did, too. I found another colorful flower nestled in a grove, and I smiled faintly as I inhaled its cotton-candy scent and placed it in my pocket. Henry was still alive, and no matter how angry Calliope got, she wasn’t going to kill him.

After collecting an armful of sticks, I lingered near the banner that hung above the entranceway of the carnival, debating whether or not to go inside. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I’d never been to a real carnival before either, and I was itching to see what it was like.

“I’m sorry,” said James behind me, and I jerked in surprise. A few of the sticks I’d gathered fell to the ground, and as I picked them up, James knelt beside me to help.

“I’ve got it,” I snapped. James stood and stepped away, but he didn’t leave. Instead he waited until I’d collected the rest, and when I straightened and headed toward another promising patch of tall grass, he followed.

“I should have told you about me and Persephone,” he said. “If I’d had any idea how you felt about her, I would have, and I’m sorry.”

“Is this the point where you tell me that it meant nothing?” I said waspishly.

He paused, as if he were choosing his words carefully. “No, it isn’t. While it was happening, it did mean something.”

I clutched the sticks so tightly that a few of them snapped. “You really need to learn when it’s better to lie instead of tell the truth.”

“Don’t see why,” he said. “Then you’d be mad I wasn’t honest.”

He was right, of course, but that didn’t make me feel any better. “So what happened?” I said. “What is so appealing about that selfish cow that she had half of the council wrapped around her little finger?”

We walked across the field, neither of us saying a word as the tinny sound of carnival music floated through the breeze. Ava and Persephone’s shrieks of outrage and indignation faded into the background until I could almost pretend it was only the three of us: me, James and the giant elephant that followed us.

“We were friends before she married Henry,” he said at last, after several minutes passed. “She and I were the youngest members of the council at the time, and we got along well. We were close enough in age that neither one of us had been through the rites of passage the rest of them had experienced, and…” He shrugged. “It was easy, that was all.”

I spotted what looked like a broken tree branch, and I knelt down to pick up the pieces. He joined me, his eyes focused on the ground.

“When her marriage to Henry started to fall apart, I was there for her,” he said. “I spent a lot of time in the Underworld guiding the dead to the right place, and when she needed a shoulder to cry on, she came to me.” He hesitated. “When Henry offered to let her leave for six months of the year, she jumped at the chance, and we started to spend time together above, as well. One thing turned into another…” He trailed off, and he didn’t need to finish.

“How long did it last?” I said as nausea filled the pit of my stomach. James had been the first person to cheat with her. He was closer to Henry than any other member of the council, and he must’ve known what it would do to him, but he’d done it anyway. He’d let Persephone use him like that. He’d done more than let her hurt Henry; he’d helped.

“A few hundred years,” he said, and he must have seen the look on my face, because he added hastily, “On and off, and only during the spring and summer. Eventually she met Adonis, and that whole mess happened, and I was left in the dust.”