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"No, that isn’t the only reason he cae, I was the one to--

freak out" She made a face at the expression "We hadn’t been married twelve hours, and already I’d run back to Mother She talkedit a shot, and sheto Hades, because we never tried it again I slept in a separate room, and he never pressed the issue"

On the other side of the f ire, Jarew quiet

"I’m sorry," I said "You shouldn’t have had to stay with Henry if you didn’t want to"

So that hy Jae my choice to leave if I didn’t want this He’d already toldit fro me the best he kne, exactly like he had the year before When I thought I’d failed a test, I’d tried to leave Eden Manor, wanting to see my mother before she died

Henry had talked me out of it James hadn’t known that I’d stayed out of h to hi," said Persephone "I thought love happened i without Mother, and I hadn’t knohat to expect On top of that, being in the Underworld and away from the sun made me miserable It was the perfect storht up in it" She shook her head ruefully "I never gave him a chance after that He tried so hard--you wouldn’t believe the lengths he went to in order to see h"

It was dark now The glow from the carnival and the piti-ful f ire were the only sources of light, and when I looked at Persephone again, it was hard to see her face "He loved you anyway though," I said "He still loves you "

"I’hter and looked toward the sky I followed her gaze, and once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that the stars weren’t in their usual pattern

"You said he went down to the Underworld to get you," said Persephone "Were you really dead?" I nodded "It was night, and I was in a park Mom and I used to visit back home Mom traded her life for mine Herwas dying anyway"

"It doesn’t matter," said Persephone "He wasn’t supposed to do that While I ruled with him, we only made a few exceptions, and even then there were so many caveats that no one ever reallyhe’s stood for since the dawn of humanity to save your life"

Across the f ire, Ja the truth, Kate," he said "He shouldn’t have saved you" He had anyway Sht air settled over estures went, but I was pretty sure it was at least as high as getting me a puppy

"Can you telllighter than I had since co me hadn’t cost Henry ht it was a big deal, and that mattered more tofor her, I was sure, but he hadn’t I still had some piece of hi "You have to focus on where you want to go or the person you want to f ind"

"You can f ind people?" I said, a it, thinking about Henry It takes practice, but once you get it, it’ll come easier each time Try," she said "Think of someone you want to see, and let yourself drift into it"

As easy as Persephone see Still war that Henry had broken the rules for me, I closed

"It’s not working," I said

"Relax," said Persephone "It won’t happen right away" Apparently it wasn’t going to happen at all I tried again and again, until all oflack of self-worth My head pounded fro so hard, and the more Persephone pushed me, the more out of reach it felt

"It won’t come naturally at f irst," she said severalshe’d said so far "You’ve never had abilities before" Why that h it was clear I wasn’t going to get it that night "I’ with a killer headache,everyone back so myself for warmth, I headed toward the carnival entrance Of course none of this was supposed to be easy--

if it was, any girl could’ve done it and the test wouldn’t have been necessary Still, I felt like a co ahile the three of them undoubtedly whispered about how I couldn’t do it

Resentment f lared up inside of me, and I forced myself to suppress it It wasn’t their fault I couldn’t control et it eventually But I needed it now, not days or weeks oron with Calliope--