Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan, John Rocco Page B

been a dark goddess of magic, but she wasn’t evil. She immediately ran to help. By the time she got to the meadow, the action was over.
    Hecate’s magic was weak in the daytime. She could tell that the earth had opened and somebody had been snatched up in a chariot and dragged underground, but Hecate had no idea who was the kidnapper and who was the kidnapee.
    Hecate wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t like she could call 911. Since she didn’t know the facts, she decided to go back to her cave and wait until nightfall, when she could cast better spells and hopefully get more information.
    Meanwhile, the nymphs woke from their nap and went looking for Persephone, but she had literally vanished off the face of the earth. The nymphs were starting to panic by the time Demeter returned and found out her precious daughter was missing. I’m not sure what Demeter did to punish those nymphs, but it could not have been good.
    Anyway, Demeter was freaked. She wandered around shouting for Persephone until her voice got hoarse. She asked everyone she met if they had seen anything.
    For nine days Demeter didn’t change her clothes or take a bath. She didn’t eat or sleep. She did nothing but look for Persephone. She must have started searching in the wrong direction, because on the tenth day she finally circled back around and combed the area near Hecate’s cave.
    Hecate heard Demeter calling for Persephone. Immediately the magic goddess put two and two together. Every night, Hecate had been trying to figure out what the abduction was all about, but her spells weren’t telling her anything. Some strong magic was at work, covering up the kidnapping. Hecate had a feeling a powerful god was behind it—or maybemore than one.
    Hecate ran down to meet Demeter. She told the grain goddess about the screaming she’d heard, and her belief that some unknown god had kidnapped Persephone.
    The distraught mom didn’t take the news well. She shrieked so loudly that all the plants within a five-mile radius withered and died. For hundreds of miles in each direction, every ear of corn on the Greek mainland exploded into popcorn.
    “I will find whoever has taken her!” Demeter wailed. “I will murder him! Then I will murder him again!”
    At this point, most folks would’ve backed away from the crazy lady, but Hecate felt bad for her.
    “I’ll help you search tonight,” she told Demeter. “I’ve got torches, and I’m really good at seeing in the dark.”
    They searched from dusk until dawn but had no luck.
    Hecate went back to her cave to rest, promising to help again after nightfall, but Demeter couldn’t stop.
    She stumbled on alone until evening fell and she came to a kingdom called Eleusis. At this point, even the immortal goddess was getting exhausted. She decided to visit the town, maybe rest her feet for a few minutes and mingle with the locals. Perhaps they had seen something or heard some news.
    Demeter disguised herself as an old mortal woman. She made her way to the town’s central hearth, because that’s where strangers normally went when they wanted to ask the locals for assistance. A crowd had gathered in the square. A lady with fine robes and a golden crown was making some kind of speech. Being an intelligent goddess, Demeter thought: She must be the queen.
    It turned out Queen Metaneira was there with her family and her household guards, offering sacrifices to the gods in celebration of the birth of her newest son, Demophoon. (Or maybe she was there to apologize to the gods for giving her son such a dumb name.) Anyway, when Demeter walked up, Queen Metaneira was just offering a prayer to Demeter. Even in Demeter’s desperate state of mind, that must’ve been sort of a rush, hearing somebody praying to her when they didn’t know she was in the crowd.
    If it were me, I’d wait until the queen said, “O great Demeter—”
    Then I’d jump out with a bunch of explosions and fireworks and say, “YOU