Chapter Twelve
Gods on Earth
I jump from site to site, searching for stories about people going to Hades and coming back to tell the tale. If I can figure out how they did it, maybe I can come up with a rescue plan.
There are plenty of tales about the gods and the Titans (the fathers of the gods) coming to earth. The Titan Prometheus came to earth to show people how to make fire. Ares, or Mars, the god of war, actually liked living on earth all the time, in a place called Thrace in Greece.
Zeus came to the human world over and over again, because his wife would get mad at him and then he’d leave her for a while and mess around with human women instead. He spent time with Danaë and had a son they named Perseus, the guy who cut off Medusa’s head. Another time Zeus got himself involved with Alemene, and they had a son named Hercules.
Perseus and Hercules and the other kids of gods and humans were demigods. They had special powers, like Hercules’s incredible strength. That’s how Hercules got to the Underworld, in fact. He wanted to see Hades, so he beat up Karon to get there. I like the sound of that when I read it. But I already saw, when he dragged me back to the pit, that I’m no match for my uncle.
Orpheus desperately wanted to get into the Underworld because his wife, Euridice, died and he was so sick with grief that he wanted her back. I can relate to that. Orpheus was an awesome musician, and he played such irresistible music that Hades was moved and said that Euridice could follow Orpheus back to the land of the living. That sounds like something my dad would do.
But that plan won’t work for me, since I’m practically tone deaf. Anyway, it didn’t work so well for Orpheus, either. He was supposed to lead his wife back to the world of the living and never look back at her until they were out of the Underworld. But Orpheus got worried about her and turned back to check that she was all right, and Euridice slid back down into the Underworld forever.
I can’t imagine how that would feel—getting close to my parents, only to lose them again. I won’t let that happen, whatever it takes.
Only one other person got into Hades and back, a writer named Aeneas. He got into the Underworld by plucking a golden bough, which is some sort of gold branch, because it was something Persephone really loved. She had commanded that the golden bough be brought to her immediately. Whoever was carrying it had to be given safe passage into and out of the Underworld, to see the queen.
I suddenly think of Mom’s gold leaf pin. Uncle Karl doesn’t know I have it. Can I use that somehow?
I rub my aching head, and pull out a granola bar. I think of all the red meat Uncle Karl loves, and his and Eric’s doom and disaster movies with their high body counts. Clearly, Uncle Karl loves his job of ferrying the dead. Did my dad love his job of killing people? Am I supposed to love it?
Exhausted, I collapse on my bed. I try to think what to do, but the gods and the Titans and the demigods all keep spinning around in my head.
Sometime later, Uncle Karl knocks on my door. “Come on, Mort. It’s time for dinner.”
I sit up groggily. I must have fallen asleep. When I don’t answer, he says, mildly, “I don’t want to bang down the door, but you can’t stay in there forever. You can’t hide from your destiny.”
If it’s my destiny, I can do what I want with it, I feel like telling him. But I keep my mouth shut and come out to supper. I make some carrot juice and eat some salad, but I don’t have much to say. Eric looks worried, but his dad gets him talking about some new DVD that’s due out in a couple of days, and he cheers up.
While I chew, I think. A plan is taking shape. Uncle Karl keeps looking at me, and I think how he followed me last night. He’ll follow me again. I can use that.
– End Chapter Twelve –
