Dead Beautiful by Melanie Dugan

Author:Melanie Dugan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: UpStart Press
Published: 2012-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

Cyane

So Pers is gone and Demeter comes around asking questions with this look in her eye that makes me think maybe I won’t tell her the whole story. I don’t want her turning me into a stinging nettle plant, or crabgrass.

The story is inside me, though, itching to get out, but there is nothing and no one I can tell it to. I can’t even whisper it to the marshy reeds because we all know what that leads to.

So I get a bunch of the girls together — other water nymphs — and we’re talking and messing around and I don’t remember how it happens, but before we know it a river — a small one, really only a creek — has risen and a bridge — a tiny one, not more than a couple of planks over a puddle — is down.

The next thing I know, Darryl shows up. I guess the old guy whose little mud hut beside the river got a bit damp supplicated him, and there he is, sort of annoyed and all official.

“Let’s see your F-1-37 girls,” he says, demanding the requisition we’re supposed to file before any small floods are initiated.

The rest of the nymphs all get quiet and big-eyed and start evaporating.

“We don’t have one,” I admit.

“No?” His blue eyes are sparkling, maybe with irritation, but it doesn’t matter. It adds to his general cuteness. “That’s a fairly serious infraction — an unauthorized flood.”

“It wasn’t a flood, really,” I tell him. “More of a surge.”

That’s when he looks at me, really looks at me. He frowns. “You’re Persephone’s friend, aren’t you?”

I nod. “Cyane. Yeah.”

He glances around. “The rest of you can go — this time. But the next time I get wind of unauthorized activity I’ll have to file a report, o.k.?”

“O.k.” “O.k.,” the rest of them chorus. They’re fading out as fast as they can, their voices mere whisperings, the sound of water slipping over stone.

I’m about to turn into a trickle and clear out myself, when Darryl puts his hand on my arm. “Not you,” he says.

I’m a bit scared, but I say, “O.k.” I can’t go much weaker at the knees, but if he keeps up this masterly demi-God stuff, I’m going to turn into a puddle right here at his feet, which would be so embarrassing.

“What’s going on with Persephone? I haven’t seen her around Olympus. Her mom says she’s away on training but she doesn’t seem to know when Persephone will be back.”

I can’t tell him what really happened — what I think really happened. For one thing, it would hurt his feelings. For another, how do I know for sure Pers went with Hades? Maybe he took her against her will, in which case, if Demeter finds out, maybe he’ll be forced to give her back. And if Darryl does find out Pers is gone and Demeter thinks I told him, she may make things really unpleasant. I’ve got to come up with an explanation that sets his mind at rest so he quits asking questions.

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