“A pomegranate tree?”
Shayne nods and reaches up to touch a branch with green leaves. “It won’t produce fruit.”
I run my hands over the bark. At home, in the Botanical Haven, I can nurse almost anything back to life. I can make fruit grow from even the ficklest of breeds. My mom says it’s been that way since I was born.
The pomegranate tree is breathing. I feel it under my palms. But it’s missing…something. Something fertile in the soil hasn’t made its way to the roots. Or has been removed entirely.
“I built the garden around it,” Shayne says.
I hear him but don’t turn. “What happened?”
In his voice, I hear the resignation. “It just started dying.”
Slowly, I turn. “The soil around it is empty.”
“I do fertilize.” Shayne seems to be reading my thoughts.
“Then why isn’t it working?”
He shrugs. “I figured you could ask the tree.”
I again place my palms on the hard bark. It seems to tell me it’s missing a vital ingredient, but I soon realize maybe this isn’t quite the truth. I recognize something, and suddenly, I feel like falling to the ground and crying. In my mind, I’m walking in a field. And aside from the grass which reaches well past my knees, the pomegranate tree stands alone. Awake. Aware. And bursting with life.
The branches hang low to the ground, plump with fruit. Light radiates from it as I draw close. I take a few steps closer until I can brush the bark with my hand. So healthy. So unlike the reality of what I’ve felt.
I lift my hand and reach for a fruit. It pulls against my touch, but then it gives and comes loose in my hand. It’s the color of red wine, and I peel it until I can see the seeds inside.
And then, all at once, I’m being pulled from the tree. I reach out toward it, but it’s moving away, and so am I. Leaves fall and fruit begins to drop. I’m so far away the tree is only a brown shape in the distance. Oppression hits the tree like a fist. And I’m back in the garden of flowers with Shayne.
I take my hands off the tree and turn to Shayne.
“I thought you said there was no sadness here in the Elysian Fields.”
“There’s not. At least, there isn’t supposed to be.”
“This tree is full of sorrow.” I think of the River Acheron. And deep inside me, the origins of the sorrow twist and form, growing like roots. I grab Shayne’s eyes with my own and hold them. “Why is this tree sad?”
I see tears in the corners of his brown eyes; they shine when the red flashes. “A lot of the Underworld is sad. We’ve been that way for years.” He looks away and reaches out to touch a nearby red flower.
A breeze blows through the valley.
“Should we go now?” Shayne asks.
I nod because the initial happy thoughts of paradise have vanished. I’m trying to hold onto them, but the tree’s dug its sorrowful roots inside my soul. We walk out of the garden and head back the way we came. It’s only when I see Cerberus’s three heads looking our way that my sorrow begins to diminish. I push it away, but part of it sticks, as if echoes of the sadness will never leave me. Like it’s a part of me I’ll never understand.
Chapter 18
Departure
I can tell Shayne’s pensive, and so am I. He’s got his lips pressed together, and he doesn’t even skate when we cross the river. Instead, we walk hand in hand in silence. And when we finally reach the winter wonderland on the other shore, I’ve decided it’s time to head home. Shayne must realize he’s been quiet, so he starts to make chit chat, but my mind drifts to Chloe, back above ground, at the side of the creek bed.
“I need to leave.”
Shayne turns to me, and his eyes soften. I see the sadness filling them now.
“Please don’t go.” He brushes my arm. “Not yet.”
And I think if he asks me right now, I will stay with him forever.
“Please?”
I nod, and he pulls me in and holds me. My body presses up against his on the edge of the River Cocytus, under the icicle trees. His muscles are hard, and they mesh into mine. I feel the beating of his heart in his neck; my forehead is so close to it. His skin is warm enough to melt every bit of ice around us; I let the heat soak into my body.
He kisses the top of my head, and a chill spreads down me, having nothing to do with the frozen river we’ve just crossed. He lets go of me and backs up so I can see his face. His soft, gorgeous, dark face. A face of mysteries. A face of secrets. I want to know his secrets. Want to share them with him.
“I really like the Underworld,” I say.
“I really like you,” he says.
He smiles, and I want to sink back into his warm arms. But he’s one step ahead of me. He pulls me to the snowy ground, letting my coat fan out below me, and moves to me. His lips find mine. My arms snake around him, and I let his whole weight fall on me.
His kisses are hard and fierce, and his hot breath explores my mouth. I gasp for air when I can between kisses, but don’t twist away because if it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up. His hands move to my hair, breaking the ponytail holder with a snap, and he runs his hands through the tangles which have accumulated. Against me, I feel him, and I want him to be a part of me more than anything else.
His hands travel down my sides; I don’t want to stop anything with Shayne. I lift his shirt and let my hands move over his skin. Each touch is electric, and his kisses taste of singed sweetness. Being with him here in our winter paradise is more perfect than the Elysian Fields, but Shayne stops way too soon and rolls off me. I try to move back to him, but he pushes me away and jumps to his feet, grabbing one of the supply chests near the dock and throwing it. It smashes into the rock wall, and the pieces scatter everywhere. And then thunder rumbles around us.
I stand up and try to force away the yearning which is pulsing so hard through my body it hurts. His back is to me, and I’m not sure if I should go over next to him or keep the distance between us. “Is it something I did?”
Shayne whips around, and his eyes are flashing. The red beats and throbs inside, and the brown is so dark it looks like ink. His teeth are clenched, and for a second, it seems he wants to kill me.
“Gods no! You could never do anything wrong.”
I’m relieved and baffled all at the same time. I didn’t do anything, but he also doesn’t want to be with me. “Then why did you stop?”
Shayne closes his eyes, and tries to get his anger under control. His hands are balled in fists, but when he reopens his eyes, he relaxes his hands, and the red flashes settle down. “Because it would only confuse you more.”
It’s like his answer only throws more uncertainty my way. “I’m not confused about anything.” Except every single event in the last week.
Shayne shakes his head and whistles, and soon Cerberus comes bounding out of the dark tunnel ahead. He runs to Shayne and stops at his feet. “The time isn’t right.”
The time seems right to me. But it stings, and even though he denies it, I’m sure it’s something I’ve done.
Shayne smiles and reaches down to scratch Cerberus’s left head. Its ears go back, and its eyes close as Cerberus leans forward. “I have to be patient; but it’s just so hard.” Our eyes hold each other until finally he breaks the contact. “I do think you’re right about one thing.”
Finally. “What?”
“It’s time for you to go. At least for today.”
I nod, though at this point, I don’t really want to leave—ever. But Chloe’s waiting for me back at the creek. “Can I come back sometime?”
