Page 1 of Charmed By Apollo

Prologue

A few months ago…

“Are you sure this is going to work, Persephone?” Geri Andersen nodded at the tall figure coming their way as they stood on the corner of Seventy-second Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side.

“Relax, Geri,” Persephone said in an assuring tone. “I’m a goddess. Glamouring is one of my powers.”

True, Persephone was, indeed, the powerful, near-immortal goddess of the spring, but the scope of this particular spell seemed immense. After all, how does one make the Underworld look normal to an ordinary mortal?

They watched as Adonis Lopez crossed the street, and heads turned to admire the man who looked like he stepped out of a streetwear ad. His dark skin stood out against the crisp white shirt that hugged his frame, accentuated by the snug fit of his black jeans. Like most New Yorkers, statement sneakers adorned his feet, but the glint of a gold chain around his neck added a touch of luxury to his ensemble, drawing the gaze of passersby. Even the older woman, navigating her walker along the crowded sidewalk, couldn’t help but steal a glance at the captivating figure crossing her path.

“Hey, ladies!” Adonis greeted as he came closer, bounding over to them to give them air kisses. “P, you are stunning as always.” He gave Persephone’s outfit—a bright yellow sundress—an approving look. “And, Geri, er…you look like, er, you?”

Geri rolled her eyes. “Right.” Fashionista, she was not, especially in her ripped jeans, white T-shirt, and black leather jacket. Having been raised outside Anchorage, Alaska, by a bunch of literal wolves—shifters, that is—she never did have a sense or interest in fashion. Of course, when one had to rip through a lot of clothing when shifting between forms, it was tiring having to replace nice, expensive stuff.

“So, where’re we off to?” He placed an arm around both of them, and Geri had to use all her might not to shrug it off. Her preternatural sense of smell was already sensitive, and today, Adonis had seemingly bathed in his favorite cologne.

Persephone glanced at Geri in that the silent communication they’d learned, having spent so much time together over the last year.

What should I tell him? Persephone said as her eyes grew wide.

This was your bright idea, Geri replied with a twist of her lips.

Fine, Persephone said with a cluck of her tongue. “Uh, we’re going to…Jersey.”

Adonis placed a hand over the clearly defined lines of his pecs under his tight shirt. “Excuse me? Jersey? I came all the way from the Bronx just so we could go to Jersey?” His tone sounded like he said they were going to the depths of hell, which perhaps, in some cultures, might be true as the Underworld was considered a place of the dead. “Who goes there anyway?”

“Spoken like a true New Yorker,” Geri snickered. “Have you been anywhere outside the five boroughs?”

“Once. To Connecticut.” Adonis shuddered. “A harrowing tale for another time. But tell me again, why Jersey?”

“Don’t you remember?” Geri interjected. “Persephone was hired by that fancy billionaire philanthropist to organize a street fair in their town.”

“Oh yeah. How’s that been going for ya, P? Is the boss giving you any trouble?”

“Er, no, it’s been great. He’s, uh, fine. It’s all fine.”

Geri could see that Persephone was uncomfortable, but she couldn’t quite tell whether it was because she was lying to Adonis about who her “boss” really was or because things weren’t fine. After all, she had more or less run away to the depths of the Underworld and was under the protection of Hades, the god of the dead himself, to escape her mother.

While that might have seemed a tad dramatic, considering that Persephone was nearly ten thousand years old, Geri could understand. While she herself loved Demeter and was grateful for her support this past year, describing the goddess of the harvest as overbearing was an understatement. She guarded Persephone like a mother hen with her chicks, but if that mother hen had been injected with steroids after doing a couple of lines of cocaine. Needless to say, Geri did not blame Persephone one bit for taking the opportunity to escape her mother’s watchful eye, and it certainly didn’t hurt that the god who offered her sanctuary was handsome, not to mention the sexual attraction between Hades and Persephone had sizzled the moment they met.

Demeter had told her everything, of course—her version anyway—that Hades had come and kidnapped Persephone. As her friend, Geri had been concerned, but knowing Demeter’s flair for dramatics, she’d kept her cool until she heard from Persephone herself via text that she was safe but just not ready to talk about what happened.

Geri was still waiting,but she was willing to give her friend some space. She had been surprised when Persephone showed up this morning, inviting her and Adonis to some street party she had organized down in the Underworld. Geri was intrigued at the idea of visiting the Underworld; as a wolf shifter, she was well aware of other supernatural creatures in the world and beyond—other animal shifters, vampires, witches, warlocks, and of course, the gods and goddesses. While shifters and gods rarely mixed—she and Demeter and Persephone being exceptions—they did know of the other’s existence. Her kind, of course, knew all the major gods and, in the early days, even worshiped or worked with them. Some even say shifters were descended from the gods themselves or created by gods to aid them, but no one had really confirmed that story, at least not to the shifter population.

Adonis, however, was fully human and thus had no idea of the existence of supernatural or divine beings in the world, nor that his two best friends were, in fact, a shifter and a goddess. That’s why Persephone had come up with the idea of glamouring Adonis so he could visit the Underworld without revealing themselves and their secret to him.

“Well, I can’t wait to meet him.” Adonis clapped his hands together. “How are we getting there? Did you rent a car, or did your boss send one? When are we leaving? “

“Er, uh, yeah. And we’re leaving right now.” Persephone waved her hand in front of Adonis, who then promptly rolled his eyes backward and went limp.

“Fuck!” Geri lunged forward and caught him before he hit the floor. “Dammit, Persephone!” She easily lifted him up and slung him over one shoulder. “Give me a warning next time?”

“Pshaw.” The goddess waved a hand at her. “You’re a wolf shifter. I knew you could handle him.”

Geri smirked at her. As a wolf shifter, she not only possessed the senses of a wolf but also superhuman strength and healing. “Ugh, alright. Let’s go then.”

She offered her hand to Geri. “Alright, let’s go.”

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