3
" Who are you going to believe, son? Me or this mortal?"
Meg's eyes flashed. "I'm not the one who let his own child be stolen while he slept."
The minute the comment left her lips, she knew she'd gone too far.
The other gods quickly began to dissipate. Hera stayed put, but Meg wondered if she was in shock.
Zeus's face turned almost purple as he seemingly grew three times his size. Behind him, the sky darkened like an approaching thunderstorm and lightning bolts crisscrossed the sky. Hercules instinctively stepped in front of Meg, putting one hand on her arm, but she nudged it away. She'd lived with Hades. She wasn't afraid to stand up to Zeus.
"You dare question my judgment, Megara?" Zeus thundered as the storm clouds rolled in around him. Lightning crashed dangerously close to where she and Hercules were standing. "You, the woman who worked to keep my son from completing his quest?"
On second thought, maybe she should be a little afraid of Zeus. Especially now that she realized he was well aware of what she had done. "
― Jen Calonita , Go the Distance (Twisted Tales)
6
" Meg quickened her pace when she saw a meadow peek out over the next hilltop. As she got closer, the sun seemed to pull away from the clouds and the grass under her feet turned a bright green. She heard definite sounds of a party in the distance and quickened her pace. The air started to smell sweeter. Were those apricots she smelled? Or figs?
And there were trees again! She hadn't realized how much she missed them till she saw them growing there along the path. They had perfect little green leaves and flowers budding on branches. And at the side of the road was a woman kneeling over a garden tending to a bed of hydrangeas blooming in rich fuchsias, blues, and whites.
"Those are gorgeous!" Meg said in surprise. They were the most colorful things she'd seen in the Underworld and the vibrancy warmed her heart for a moment. "I can't believe anything like that grows down here!"
The woman looked up at her and smiled, her eyes dark yet warm. "Thanks. I wasn't sure if it was possible myself, but with deep rooting and some good soil, it seems anything is."
"You planted these?" Meg said in awe.
The woman looked pleased as she glanced at the colorful beds of blooms in the nearby meadows. "You could say that. I love the drama of it all- the seeds being sown, the elements working for and against them, the flower erupting against all odds, then the death of the bloom. So much more exciting than my old life. "
― Jen Calonita , Go the Distance (Twisted Tales)
12
" This your handiwork?"
She hesitated. Hera liked to claim this garden was her idea.
"Come on. You can tell me- I won't say a word. Everyone I know is dead!" He chuckled to himself and she couldn't help smiling.
He was clever, just like some of the snakes that tried to worm their way into her gardens. She knew how to handle them. She could handle this snake, too.
"They're my work, yes." She inched closer again. He didn't scare her. If anything, she was intrigued. He was obviously enamored of her apples, and for that alone, she wanted to keep talking to him. "Each and every branch on this tree and the apples that hang from them are my creations, as is this whole meadow."
"Stellar work, truly." Hades took another bite. "Too bad you don't get credit for it. Hera is always going on about how she's the one who nurtures this garden."
Her eyes flashed. "I can assure you, this is my work, and mine alone."
"Feisty! And not afraid of Hera! Nice combination. "
― Jen Calonita , Go the Distance (Twisted Tales)
14
" In the last few years, Meg had been to hell and back- literally. She'd sold her soul to the god of the Underworld and spent her days and nights fulfilling Hades's every demand. While she still walked in the land of the living, her life was no longer her own.
Meeting Hercules had awoken something in her. Honestly, she wasn't sure what that something was, but she knew it felt important. Why else would she have leaped in front of a falling pillar to save him, causing her own demise in the process? That moment, and Wonder Boy's rescue of her afterward, was a blur now, like so many nightmares she tried hard to forget. The next thing she remembered was air filling her lungs as if she'd held her breath underwater for too long. Then there had been a crack of lightning, a flurry of clouds, and she and Wonder Boy were being whisked into the heavens toward Mount Olympus. "
― Jen Calonita , Go the Distance (Twisted Tales)
