CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

WATER ON THE ALTAR

The taxi ride back to Chas' apartment building was fleeting to Juliet, and it wasn’t because she was anxious to get on to the next phase of her plan. Actually, it was the exact opposite. She wanted to stop and take stock of the situation. Nothing had happened for years and now everything was happening all at once.

The taxi pulled in front of Chas' building just in time for Juliet to see a police cruiser move away from the curb. In the backseat, she could see a white head.

The police had taken Chas away.

Juliet paid the taxi driver and met Seth at the front door of the building.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“They want to talk to him about the car chase I had with Rylan last night. Except they don’t know I was driving. It was Chas' car, so they didn’t even ask. They just assumed it was him and now he’s taking the blame.”

Juliet silently applauded Chas. If Seth got dragged off by the cops and got stuck in questioning, he might not be able to make it back by nightfall. That would be no good since tonight was her only sure-fire chance to get started. If they didn’t strike before Hades, she might not get a chance to strike at all.

“Why do you look so tortured?” Seth grumbled. “It’s not like Chas can’t handle himself.”

“Of course he can. I’m not bothered at all. It’s you. You look cheated. Did you really want to take responsibility that badly?”

“That guy does everything for me,” he said quietly as he stared down the road.

“As he should. Especially now. Stop worrying.”

Seth nodded.

“Great. Since that’s taken care of, I’ll just pop upstairs and have a word with Nixie.”

“What for?” he exclaimed, unintentionally glancing at the blue slippers on his feet.

“I’m promoting her,” Juliet said breezily.

“To what?”

“My personal assistant.”

***

“Is everything ready?” Juliet asked Nixie as she stormed down the stairs and through the doors to the pool level.

“Yeah, but it’s not very fancy,” Nixie admitted as she scampered around behind Juliet.

Juliet didn’t believe her for a second. Whenever people said things were modest, they always lied. On the pool deck, there was a feast set out on an elongated table. There were four different kinds of appetizers, two fruit plates, a tray of cream puffs, three bottles of wine, and bread with artichoke dip. “This looks perfect,” Juliet said as she observed the table of refreshments Nixie and Melanie had set out. “Except lose the wine. I don’t want anyone drinking tonight.”

“What should I get instead?” Nixie asked, picking up the bottles.

“Apple juice and steal anything presentable from the theater level,” she instructed. Something was different in the quarter siren. The change had to be due to Chas. He must have said something to her before he left with the cops, which suited Juliet perfectly.

“By the way,” Juliet said, changing the subject. “How did it go at my dorm room? Did you pick up my clothes?”

“Yeah,” Nixie said. “They’re waiting for you in Seth’s room.”

Juliet narrowed her eyes. “I told him that I’d take one of the unused rooms on the third floor. Didn’t he tell you?”

Nixie looked sheepish. “Yeah, but Chas said that one of those rooms couldn’t possibly be made ready by tonight. They’re dusty. Seth said you would prefer to sleep in his bed.”

A knot caught in Juliet’s throat. Then she swallowed and made herself calm down. He probably didn’t mean anything by it. She’d wake up in the morning and he’d be sleeping comfortably enough in his tub. That was, if he didn’t find somewhere else to sleep.

“That’s fine,” Juliet said to Nixie like it didn’t matter. “You didn’t do everything on your own, did you? Thank your mother for me.”

“I will,” Nixie said as she finished gathering up the wine bottles and heading for the doors.

“Hey Nixie,” Juliet said, making the girl turn. “Don’t go too far away. I need you to attend the meeting tonight.”

“Me?”

“Absolutely,” Juliet said somewhat brightly. Then she crouched on the pool deck and removed her shoes.

“Do you need a bathing suit? I think I may have an extra one,” Nixie offered.

“That’s nice of you, but I won’t be getting wet. I just wanted to dip my feet in the water.”

Nixie nodded like she understood and left the room.

The pool was exactly like Juliet remembered, a perfect circle. The bottom was painted blue with black symbols. From the surface, the circles and stars looked about as enticing as octopuses and fish painted at the bottom of a kiddie pool. But Juliet knew how important they were. This room had two functions. The first one was to give Seth a place to connect with his aquatic roots and the second was to create a direct path to the river Styx.

***

At four-thirty, the three witches and Fiona arrived.

“Welcome,” Juliet’s voice echoed across the water. She stood on the diving board and looked at them. “I’m glad you all came.”

Fiona was laughing. “So, this is the legendary pool room? Weird. Oh yeah. Halona and Paulo are two steps behind us.”

Fiona touched the water with her fingers. “Huh? There’s no chlorine. Hey girls, come have a look at this.”

The three witches recoiled. “This is a dark place,” Tawnee said as she moved to grab the door handle.

“I thought you said astral projection,” Cerise interrupted. “You didn’t say anything about necromancy.”

“What?” Fiona exclaimed.

“Look at the bottom of the pool,” Blanche, the oldest, commanded. “This is a place used to summon the dead. Don’t think because we’re white witches that we don’t know what those symbols mean.”

“I had no intention of fooling you,” Juliet said, walking backward until she stepped off the diving board onto the deck. Then she approached them. “I have something important to tell all of you. If you don’t want to meet in here, we can go into the theater and I will tell you my story.”

“We already heard your story,” Cerise said scornfully.

“No. You have only heard five years' worth. There is much more.” Juliet locked eyes with Blanche. She was the one who would decide for the rest of them.

“Okay,” Blanche said finally. “But if we don’t like what we hear, we’re leaving.”

“You’ll like it,” Juliet nodded as she led them out and took them barefoot to the theater.

Once in the theater, she sat Blanche, Cerise, Tawnee, and Fiona on the front row and then sat on the edge of the stage. Then Seth and Nixie came in and took their places by Juliet. She introduced them to Nixie since none of them knew her.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” Fiona bubbled. She didn’t have any apprehension about black magic. The stormy-faced witches did not affect her mood.

“I want to wait for Paulo and Halona,” Juliet responded. “Hey, why don’t you call Halona and find out why it’s taking them so long?”

Just then, the outside buzzer sounded and Nixie went to let them in.

“Paulo, Halona, sit over there,” Juliet instructed.

Once they sat down, she started.

“Okay, we’re ready,” the goddess said, uncrossing her legs. Changing her position she let one of her legs dangle off the stage and brought her other knee up to rest her chin on. “I’m not sure where to start,” she began as she let her eyes sweep across the people she had brought together. She paused when she reached Seth. His face was set in serious lines. Juliet looked away. She had to. She couldn’t let his discomfort ruin her concentration. So she bucked the sensation and began muttering, “I’m aware that every beginning for my story is too much for all of you to take, so you’ll have to forgive me for my abruptness. This is a story about past lives. It’s a good thing that I know that none of you have a problem accepting that possibility. Bless open-minded people.” She sighed. “A long time ago I was a virgin, but I was stolen from my home, abandoned by my servants, and forced into a marriage with a man I thought of as nothing less than a monster. It wasn’t just for one life on earth either. It has been a marriage meant to last forever. I have stolen this life—Juliet’s life—in order to finally have my chance to escape. Juliet didn’t want to live anymore. I possessed her body when she killed herself in the river and assumed her identity.”

The room went deathly silent.

“What are you saying?” Fiona asked quietly.

“I’m saying that Juliet succeeded in killing herself that day. Her soul is in a bottle on my dressing table in the Underworld.”

“Are you saying that you’re the Goddess Persephone?” Halona perked up, leaning forward on her tightly crossed legs.

Juliet was shocked at her perception. Actually, she hadn’t wanted to unload her story like that, but it seemed the fastest way to hold the witches’ attention.

Seth whistled.

“Is she right?” Fiona asked, leaning forward to look at her sister.

“Yes,” Juliet said, rubbing her palm with the tips of her fingers. “I am the Goddess Persephone. Because my body is bound to the Underworld, the only way I can escape is by becoming a body thief.”

“I don’t believe this!” Blanche said, getting up from her seat.

“It’s true,” Paulo said, getting up to look the oldest witch in the eye. “I don’t know why my sister brought all of you here tonight, but if she asked you, she must have a role for you to play. But I digress. After thousands of years of playing out scenes where mortals do not believe in the existence of the gods, I have become bored. Please allow me to end this nonsense and use my body as your sign that she’s not lying.”

Blanche’s eyes were as wide as serving platters as she watched him transform.

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Paulo put his hands to his hair and the brown was shaken off to reveal his perfect golden curls. He touched his face and whatever was swarthy about his skin before was removed and his countenance shone like the sun. Comparatively, his clothes looked like dry rags. They had seemed so smooth and new when he first came in. When he opened his eyes and looked at the guests, they were the color of polished brass. His glory was beyond brilliant.

“Apollo!” Cerise gasped.

Juliet looked at the girls to see if they believed after seeing his display, but when she saw Halona’s face, there was no surprise—only praise. She had seen this before. Fiona’s mouth hung open. It looked like Halona had been able to keep one secret from her sister.

“Are we clear?” he asked the assembly.

The women nodded.

Then in the blink of an eye, he returned to the way he was before. “Continue, sister.”

Juliet nodded thankfully.

Then she told them the whole story.

***

Juliet recounted the tale to the end. When she got to the part about how she fell in love with Sethos, she spared no detail in explaining her love for him. After all, wasn’t he listening, too? She wanted him to know how much she cherished him and how her memory of their shared feelings hadn’t diminished on her side.

She ended by saying, “When I was with Sethos, I felt whole. I felt the warmest form of sacrifice as he labored for my sake from sunrise until he pulled the blankets over me at night. I was protected, calm, and beloved. I have never felt the happiness that I felt with him elsewhere. Now I want to save him.”

The room was quiet. No one wanted to interrupt after that. Paulo was getting restless, bored by their astonishment. Juliet paused in her story, she wanted to see Seth’s reaction, but couldn’t look at him. If he wasn’t moved, she didn’t want to see his face after her confession.

“What about Juliet’s soul? It’s in a bottle on your dressing table?” the youngest witch asked after the moment lapsed.

The goddess nodded. Then she told them of Juliet’s sexual abuse and her hurt and mutilated spirit when she arrived in the Underworld. She had been ferried directly to judgment because she had a two-dollar coin in the pocket of her cut-offs when she jumped off the bridge.

After that, the twins and the witches were especially interested in hearing about Rylan being Hades and the car chase Seth had had with him while trying to escape with Persephone.

“Do you think Hades didn’t lose his memory when he took Rylan’s body?” Tawnee asked speculatively.

Juliet answered, “It’s hard to tell. When you drink the water of Lilium, you’re supposed to forget everything, but some things are so ingrained in your soul that you can’t forget them. For instance, I wasn’t able to forget that I loved Seth and I wasn’t able to forget my goal.” She paused and prepared to drop her bomb. “I need a few people to help me. That was why I joined an occult club. I was trying to find people here on Gaia to help me fill the last of my requirements.”

“What do you need us to do?” Fiona asked, barely sitting on her chair.

“We need to start by opening the door to the river Styx. As I already explained, I need Apollo and Seth to go to the Underworld to have a look at my body and remove the seeds. Witches, please do not be alarmed by the magic that we will be drawing on. I’ll be calling on the Goddess Persephone, which is me, so there won’t be any strange repercussions. I’ll just be creating a link with myself.”

“It sounds fine,” Blanche said. Even if she was a white witch, she wasn’t unreasonable.

Juliet nodded. “In order to open the door, I need you three witches and Halona to go into that back room and allow Nixie to draw five hundred milliliters of your blood.”

“Why?”

“We need to pour blood on the altar. I can’t go into the siren’s storehouse for blood. It only works if it’s fresh. Don’t look at me like that. You think I made up necromancy?”

“I’ll do it,” Halona volunteered immediately. She stood up and yanked up her sleeve. “Fiona has told me about this plenty of times. It’s not a big deal. It’s exactly like donating blood. All you girls get up.”

Juliet felt a jab of conscience. She had threatened to murder this loyal girl not six whole hours ago. Her eyes unconsciously flicked over Paulo. He knew what she was thinking, and he smiled at her gloatingly.

Nixie got up and led Halona back toward the room where Juliet had given blood the day before.

Juliet pushed away her feelings and focused on the task at hand. “Will you help?” she asked, looking directly at Blanche.

“Sure,” she said, taking off her coat and following Halona.

“What about me?” Fiona interjected. Her voice sounded hurt. “Why don’t you want my blood, too? I’m immortal. You could get more than enough from me.”

Juliet shook her head and jumped down off the stage. “Your blood won’t work at all. It’s got to be a human sacrifice.”

“But I want to help, too.”

“And you will,” Juliet said soothingly. “Your role is one of the most important. You see, when I said that we were going to practice astral projection, I meant that you and I are going to. When the others finish giving their blood there will be nothing else that they need to do, though I am going to invite them to watch.” She hesitated before continuing. “You know, I feel like I’m dropping nothing but bombs today.”

“It’s okay. Go ahead and spill it.”

She took a deep breath. “I need you to be the marker in Juliet’s body. If my spirit leaves her body, it will die. If your spirit leaves your body, you will live. It will be the same for you as it is for me. My body lies in the Underworld without my soul in it and it lives.”

Fiona’s bangs fell over her eyes and covered her expression.

Juliet couldn’t tell if it was going well or not. “It would only be for tonight,” she reassured, but Fiona’s face didn’t move. “I’m sorry, but my spirit needs to be in my body while the surgery is taking place, or it won’t work. Do you think you can do it?”

Fiona suddenly jolted up. “I can do this!” she practically screamed. “In all the time I’ve been in this club, I’ve never got to do anything a tenth this exciting. So, how does it work? Tell me and we’ll get started.”

“Thank goodness,” Juliet cried and threw her arms around Fiona. “I was afraid you were going to say no.”

Fiona put her arms around her and said, “It’s not such a big deal. After all, I don’t know who my dad is. We could be sisters.”

Juliet smiled politely. Fiona’s father was a demigod and there were so many of those, it would be hard to figure out which one without Chas’ insight. The truth was her blood wasn’t almighty or royal. If it had been, Chas would not have had the strength to bite her hard enough to draw blood. However, Juliet didn’t want to call attention to it, so she just smiled.

***

After that Juliet went back to the pool deck. She had some work to do there while the girls were donating their blood. She needed to trace runes around the edge of the pool. If she had been in her own body, she would have simply used her black, soul-stained fingers to write the runes. Since she was mortal, she had to use a black eyeliner pencil that she kept in her backpack. She smirked. Maybe it was more fun when she had to be inventive with her tools.

So she got to work. The circles and stars for the inner track of the magic circle were already painted on the bottom edge of the pool. Now she had to draw the outer track. It was her name in Greek characters over and over again. Gauging the distance around the pool, she guessed she had to write it six times, so she divided the edge of the pool into six sections beginning in front of the diving board. Then she began writing. The outer track could be used to draw power from other deities from the Underworld besides herself, but she only needed her own power tonight.

“What are you using to write with?” Seth asked, suddenly leaning against the doors.

“An eyeliner pencil. What? Not professional enough for you?”

“I guess it doesn’t matter as long as you get the job done.” He came up and inspected her work. “It seems to be working well.”

“Thanks,” she said, getting up and looking at her writing. “This is taking me forever. Are they almost done downstairs?”

Seth nodded. “Tawnee is the last one.”

“Good. Hey, I have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Do you have any more money?”

“If you’re worried about how Paulo and I are going to pay the ferryman, I’ve already got it all worked out. Raidne has been saving Greek and Roman currency for thousands of years. You better believe she’s already sent half her treasure trove to us for this very purpose. I could pay Charon enough to make him a king.”

“Wonderful. Except I think he likes toonies. He said something about how he thought the gold and silver coins were precious when Juliet gave him one.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. He said they were different. Heaven knows what he does with all of them or why he needs them. So Seth,” she said, pausing to regard him seriously. “Are you ready?”

He sucked in his breath and cast his eyes downward. “I don’t know how to prepare myself. I’m not hungry because I had so much to drink yesterday, so I haven’t been able to work up an appetite. Is there something I need to do?”

“You just have to have a clear head. My mind is clear, but I can understand if yours is clouded.”

“I want to,” he interrupted, looking in her eyes. “I remember more every minute and what you said this evening was... eye-opening. That first time we met in the tower, I don’t remember it and that tower fell into the sea before I was born the second time.”

“Hades toppled it after I slit my throat,” Juliet said with a sigh. “That was why Raidne and Teles were devouring our corpses in the cave instead of where they lay at the top of the tower.”

“So, it was like that?” Seth said sadly.

She suddenly grabbed both his shoulders and forced him to look at her. Studying his brown eyes she said with conviction, “This doesn’t have to go on. This can end tonight. If you’re single-minded, if you listen to me and work quickly, we could finish this tonight. I could walk out a free woman, leaving my obligations behind and start a new life.”

“And we’d be together?” he asked quietly.

She smiled uncertainly. “I love you, but I can see you’re floundering. I don’t blame you. The way I am right now... what’s lovable about it? Nothing much. It’s just that,” she continued, “We don’t have time. If we’re going to win, I have to fight. I have to be uncompromising and slightly reckless.”

“We’re not important right now?” he said, indicating the two of them together.

“If you’re saying that, I don’t think you appreciate how rare this opportunity is. Do you realize how hard-won your lineage was? Even beyond that, other components have only now been brought into place. And it’s not like our relationship won’t reach a new level tonight. For the first time, you are going to drink immortal blood that you have cut for yourself.”

He seemed mildly uncomfortable. She knew he had never liked himself as a blood drinker.

She slid her hand around his waist and put her head on his shoulder. “It’s all right. I trust you completely. You won’t lose control. And the experience will be so much more rewarding than you realize, beyond tasting my blood. So far, you’ve only seen two sides of me. Tonight you’re going to see more, and if things happen the way I foresee, the changes in me will change you.”

“How will I change?” he asked as he tried to look at her.

She kept her face away from him. “You will grow up to meet me. The road we travel tonight will be a painful one, but even if it hurts, you have to walk it with me until the end. What happens after that will be completely new, for both of us.”

The moment hung silent and stretching before the door thwacked open to announce the entrance of the witches and the Gemini.

Halona and the witches sat in deck chairs and ate to raise their blood sugar levels while Nixie delivered four plastic bags of blood to Juliet. She looked at the girls sitting in the pool chairs sipping apple juice out of cocktail glasses and taking tiny bites of biscuits. They were fine. She didn’t need to worry about them, even though she secretly had.

Juliet was marginally regretful as she popped open the top of the first bag of blood. “Thank you,” she said to the girls. “I know this was a big sacrifice that you made specifically for me. Thank you for wanting to save me.”

They nodded, and Blanche even smiled at her.

Then Juliet got to work. She started by squirting the blood in a slender line all the way around the edge of the pool on her name. One bag of blood covered two of her written names, so she used three to encircle the whole thing. Then she had one left. She stepped out onto the diving board and emptied the last bag into the water.

The lights flickered.

Juliet started saying the words to the spell.

Then the lights flicked off and only the lights that illuminated the pool from underwater stayed on.

“What’s happening?” Tawnee whispered.

Juliet chanted.

Mist rose off the water and filled the room with gray fog. Then tiny blue lights appeared. Juliet knew those lights. They were the lost spirits that wandered the edges of the river Styx. Then the ferry appeared. At first, it was gray like whispers of ghost breath, and then the tiny lantern hanging from the bow of the boat came into focus. When Charon came into view, someone gasped. Charon took no notice and maneuvered his craft so that the side was level with the diving board, where Juliet stood.

He looked at her and said, “My Lady, you never cease to amaze me. Asking me to come all this way to collect you? You should have just slit your throat like the last time. It would have been quicker.”

Juliet smiled wanly. Even though he acted like this, she had grown to like the old ferryman, but she’d never stopped wondering why he chose to spend eternity in his role.

“This ride isn’t for me,” she said, retreating off the diving board and making room for Seth and Paulo to step on.

She watched them make their way down the diving board. Seth went first, stepping onto the boat with an odd clatter, making the boat jostle in the water. He gave one of his coins to Charon and then took a seat in the back of the vessel and spread out his arms like he was master. Juliet clenched her jaw with emotion. It was exactly the way Hades had sat nearly two thousand years before when he had kidnapped her. She felt a surge of hope. They were going to be able to do this. Seth would unmake her contract. She knew it.

At the end of the diving board, Paulo stood and shed his mortal disguise to reveal himself as Apollo before he stepped into the boat. He gave Charon another one of Seth’s coins but did not take a spot by Seth’s side. The space on that seat was only enough room for one, so Apollo sat on the floor of the boat and leaned his back against the side.

Juliet strode to the end of the diving board to have one last word with Charon before they left. “I’m going to leave this gate open, so you can return these men to this entrance when they’ve completed their task.”

“Aren’t you coming, too, my lady?” Charon inquired.

“Not by this path. I’ll meet you at the mouth of the river. Travel safely.”

“You know I don’t promise my customers anything, especially not their safety,” the ferryman of the dead rasped before he pushed away from the side of the pool and steered the boat into the mist.

After they disappeared into the haze, the room did not change. It was still black and foggy with the only light coming from under the water’s surface.

“Fiona,” Juliet said, stepping on the pool deck. “Get comfortable. It’s your turn now.”

“So, what do I do?” she asked as she put her cocktail glass on a table next to her.

“Lie down and imagine your spirit is flying,” Juliet said as she lay down on the deck next to her.

Even though it did not seem possible, the little goddess was about to live the most horrifying night of her life. It might even make what Hades had done to her seem tame.