Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis Page A

the effort to see her after Hades. I’d seen too many girls in our school disappear into their boyfriends and wander around like zombies after the breakup because all of their friends had moved on.
    I didn’t bother knocking. This was like a second home to me; I’d never needed to knock.
    “Melissa?” I called, walking past the kitchen.
    Minthe rounded the corner from the hallway, and her eyes widened when she saw me. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Hello, Persephone. The girls are in their rooms.”
    “Thanks.”
    We stared at each other, awkward and uncertain. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to bring us back to normal, but what could I say? It’s cool you slept with my boyfriend eons ago. Let’s move on? Talking about it was almost worse than not talking about it.
    “Um…Would you like to stay for dinner?” she offered. Words I’d heard a million times, but never with so much stiffness. “I made chili.”
    “I’d love to.” My voice sounded too cheerful. Fake.
    Panic flitted through her eyes, and it cut me like a knife. She didn’t want me to stay. Seventeen years of being like a second mom to me, and now the thought of spending an hour in the same room with me was panic-worthy?
    “But,” I added. “I really should be getting home soon.”
    Her relieved smile was like a punch in the stomach. “Well…I’ll just leave you girls to it then. Can you tell Melissa I’m in the garage if she needs me?”
    I nodded numbly and walked down the hall. I paused at the guest room. It was strange to see Aphrodite in what I considered to be my room. Mrs. Minthe had always kept a change of clothes for me in the closet and a spare toothbrush in the bathroom for my frequent overnight stays. Melissa had a similar room in my house for the same reason. Now Aphrodite was curled up on my bed, entranced by a group of well-dressed teenagers yelling at each other on the television screen.
    “Hey, Aphrodite.”
    She turned to me, eyes wide. “Persephone, we need to talk about school. I do not wish to attend.”
    “Aphrodite —” I sighed and fiddled with my necklace “— we talked about this. It’s the fastest way you’re going to learn how to fit in. School has a way of conditioning you…”
    She twisted a ringlet of hair around her finger. “Is that what your school is like?” She motioned to the screen as the teenagers burst into song.
    I laughed. “Not at all. I’m going to talk to Melissa. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
    Aphrodite nodded, turning her attention back to the show. I shook my head and smiled when I saw Melissa leaning against her door.
    “We should sing next week; it would freak her out so much.”
    I flopped onto her bed. “It would freak everyone out.”
    “You could charm them into doing it. It would be awesome.”
    I smiled at the thought. “If only it didn’t involve charm…”
    She closed her door. “You’re no fun. How was court?”
    I shook my head. “Same old, same old. The souls are sad they’re dead and want to come back to life. Failing that —” I dug a crumpled list out of my pocket “— can I check in on their loved ones.”
    Melissa motioned for the list, but I waved her off. “I already divided up the names and texted them to all of the priestesses. We’re off this week since we’ve got school starting soon. Oh! Speaking of school, Joel ran into me today.” I laughed at my little pun. “Literally.”
    Melissa nodded, looking distracted. She usually perked up when I mentioned Joel. In fact, she’d been more upset by his absence this summer than I had.
    I frowned. “Are you okay?”
    “Promise not to get mad?”
    I gave her a look.
    She sighed. “I had my advisor appointment today. They looked over my grades, talked about my goals, and told me about this program…” She hesitated. “I want to go to the University of Iowa.”
    “Of all the random—er…I mean, why?” I couldn’t understand anyone wanting to leave Athens. It was our home. We