by Kitty Thomas
At the flower shop, just outside, there had been a tree on the sidewalk where a robin had built a nest. The week before Hades had come for her, the baby birds had chirped incessantly in the background. She remembered wanting them to shut up, and now she would never hear them again. If she could go back, she’d appreciate it more.
There was a knock on the door, and she startled. “Who is it?” Please be Hades. Maybe he’d just gone to bring her breakfast in bed. He had sweet moments like that. Sometimes it was easy to forget she was essentially his prisoner. Queen or not, he’d kidnapped her from the surface and hadn’t given her much choice in her accommodations.
But it was only one of the female servants. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Your Grace. My Lord Hades left many hours ago on business. He may be gone several days. He instructed me to bring you this token of his affection and his apologies for his absence.”
Persephone’s heart hammered in her chest as she tried not to think about several days and how she would get through it. Instead she turned her focus to the large, mysterious gift that had been rolled in on wheels by two other servants.
The gift was tall and domed on top with a black blanket draped over it. The servant pulled the blanket off to reveal a large silver cage with a raven inside.
“You can let the bird out. It will always come back to you. It’s charged to watch over you,” the servant said. “You should come down for breakfast soon.”
“Thank you, I will,” Persephone promised.
When the servants had left, she opened the cage. The raven flew out and did a few swooping laps around the room then came to rest on Persephone’s shoulder. She petted the bird and put it back on its perch in the cage, leaving the door open.
It wasn’t the same as a songbird, but it was a bird—something she could pretend was really alive, even if she felt sure it was just the soul made flesh again by the magic of the underworld.
The raven tilted his head and studied her for a long while as if trying to puzzle her out. Then it began grooming itself.
Persephone wasn’t sure how long she watched the bird or how much time had passed, but she forgot about breakfast. She wasn’t hungry. The raven wasn’t a big enough distraction, and her mind kept going back to the utter horror that Hades would be gone for days.
Days.
The most she’d been apart from him had been a few hours, and she’d barely held it together then. She felt now as if she were moving through a thick sludge of molasses. The air felt heavy and too hard to breathe. The darkness seemed to swoop down and engulf her. She wanted to scream, but the sound refused to exit her mouth. She tried to cry, but the tears dried on her face.
Persephone wanted to climb out of her own skin. She paced the room, but though it felt like she was moving furiously fast in her mind, in reality she moved in that achingly slow way—like she was dying.
Yes, she felt like she was dying in this place. Dark voices started to whisper in her mind, offering her death, release, peace, escape. She wouldn’t last days. It was too much time. What if she just shriveled up and blew away in his absence?
She’d done her best. She’d fought as hard as she could to exist and be here, but now the underworld crowded in on her senses, crushing her. Suddenly, the entire vastness of Hades’ kingdom felt like a small black box from which there was no escape. If she screamed, no one would hear her or care. No one could help her. She was utterly alone. She felt as though she were trapped at the bottom of a dry well, shouting up into a void, and there was nobody at the top to hear her.
Persephone left the bird cawing after her in the cage and went to run a bath. She slipped the robe off and got into the warm water. All at once, there was a small silver razor resting precariously on the porcelain edge of the tub. Yes, the castle knew what she wanted. What she needed. Escape. This was her ticket out. It was the loophole. If she couldn’t get past the dog...
It didn’t hurt. Nothing could hurt like the suffocation of the underworld and Hades’ absence. She smiled at pink water. Color. Finally, color in the underworld. She drifted in and out of consciousness, lulled by a peaceful, fuzzy feeling. She didn’t know how much time passed or how much time it would take.
All of a sudden, she felt herself violently pulled from the water as it sloshed over the sides of the tub.
“Your Grace!”
She slipped and slid on the marble floor in the puddles of water that kept splashing over the edge. She banged her knee on the side of the tub. One of the servants steadied her and helped her back to the bedroom. Then several others were there with gauzy bandages and ointments.
They wrapped her wrists. The bleeding stopped.
Persephone wondered vacantly if she could have really died. If she was really immortal like Hades said then probably not, but if he was wrong and she was just a human… then maybe? Either way, why should the servants flit around her so panicked? If she were truly a goddess then surely this was nothing. There was no need to be alarmed. It couldn’t hurt or kill her. And if she were a mere human, why should they care? Obviously, Hades got it wrong.
Nothing around her seemed real. It all felt like a fuzzy dream. She was so tired. So unbelievably tired. She just wanted to sleep and sleep.
“No. Your Grace. Drink.” A servant pressed a glass of water to her lips.
“Leave me alone,” Persephone said, pushing the glass away. She wanted to go back to the peaceful pink dream, the comforting embrace of death that must have been coming. She could feel it. It was coming for her.
But they wouldn’t listen to anything she wanted. They pushed and prodded until she drank the water down, and then someone else was offering her a warm sticky bun.
“You need to eat something,” she said.
It smelled so good, strong cinnamon and warm melty icing that, for the smallest moment, she didn’t feel the oppressive weight of the darkness. For one moment, it felt almost like springtime and the sticky buns Lynette used to bring in from a corner bakery on bright spring mornings.
As she ate, she was vaguely aware of the activity going on around her, the urgent tones of the servants.
“He has to come back,” one of them said.
“Send the raven,” another said.
There was a flutter of wings as a note was attached to the bird’s leg, and then it flew out the balcony doorway.
“H-Hades? He’s coming back?” Persephone asked.
“Yes, Your Grace. The raven will be quick, and I’m sure he’ll rush right back.”
Persephone wasn’t sure what to feel. Everything seemed dull and unreal.
“The water is pink,” she said absently. “It doesn’t match the bathroom. Something must be done.” She sounded more and more like a lunatic even to her own ears. All she could think was that Hades would see that girly pink water and have some sort of fit.
“Someone is already cleaning up the bathroom. Everything will be fine. Just rest.”
Persephone couldn’t think about anything beyond that, not even to decide how she felt about him coming back. She’d just needed to make it stop. It was too much. And days was too long. She couldn’t do days like this. She barely held on for hours. Hades had to stay, or she had to go. It was the only reasonable thing. Surely he would see that.
She lay back against the pillows and stared at the gauze wrapped around her wrists. She was like a mummy. A partial mummy. Why was there gauze on her wrists again? She couldn’t remember now. Everything felt so fuzzy and unreal. All she could remember was Hades was coming home and she was so very, very tired.
***
Hades was in the Northern Sector only a few hours’ distance from his castle. He hadn’t wanted to meet with Nick again in a place where Persephone might walk in. She didn’t know all the drama her father was causing on the surface trying to get her back, and she didn’t need to know. It would only remind her that she was his prisoner.
Besides a discreet meeting place, the trip also gave him a chance for a diplomatic visit with one of
his generals. He tried to make the rounds regularly, especially to those whose work kept them too busy to attend many of his parties. Stavros hadn’t even gotten to meet Persephone yet. The Northern Sector was a busy place, containing most of the souls of the dead. Average people trying to carry on their average lives as if nothing had happened.
Hades sat at a long dining table with Stavros along with his lovely consort Estella. Stavros had allowed Hades use of her while he was there, and she was just as yielding and charming as the general had promised—though it had only made him miss Persephone. As pleasing as Estella was, nobody was his goddess. No one else was so sweet yet so wanton.
He hoped to make his visit short so he could get back to Persephone, but realistically, it would be a few days. He didn’t want to be rude.
The door to the dining hall flew open, and Nick rushed in. He glanced quickly at Stavros and Estella, then back to Hades. “My Lord, if I could have a private word.”
Stavros and Estella quickly excused themselves. When they’d gone, Hades stepped outside on the back terrace. Nick followed.
Walls had ears in the underworld, and if what Nick had to say was truly private, Hades didn’t want to risk anyone else hearing.
“My Lord...” Nick started.
Hades put a finger to his lips. “Shhhh. Not yet. Follow me.”
Nick quietly shadowed him until they got off the property and into the woods at the mouth of a nearby forest of dead, black trees. Here there were only a few mournful owls to disturb them.
“Okay. This is good. What have you got for me?”
Nick had been keeping an eye on the winter situation, trying to convince Zeus to end it and bring the world back to balance.
“It’s started.”
Hades rolled his eyes. Nick could be so cryptic. He was sure he did it to drive Hades crazy. “What’s started?” But deep down he thought he knew.
“The deaths. I haven’t just been on the surface; I’ve been checking at the gates as well. We’re processing too many souls too fast. Zeus hasn’t backed down. Winter on the surface has grown more violent than ever. And now the consequences are starting.”
Hades growled. “Does he not care at all about his daughter? I told him what would happen if he persisted in this.”
Hades wasn’t sure if Zeus hadn’t believed him or if he didn’t care. At the time, even Hades himself had thought he was only bluffing. But now he was becoming more and more sure that he hadn’t been.
“You must return her to her father,” Nick said. “He’s not going to stop. He won’t let you have her.”
Hades laughed. “Let me have her? So all of this having her I’ve been doing for the past few months was all in my imagination? It seems like she’s been mine for a while now. Besides, she ate the pomegranate seeds. She’s tied to this place. Even Zeus can’t undo that.”
If Hades were honest with himself, he knew he still had some power to free her, at least temporarily, but those seeds made her his by right. Zeus wasn’t winning again.
“Yes. I-I told him about the seeds. He still demands you send her back. There’s no other choice. You have to send her back, and soon. We can’t take this influx of souls. And it will only grow.”
He’d been so wrapped up in Persephone lately that he hadn’t noticed the increase. It shouldn’t have been something left for Nick to discover. Hades hated being out of the loop in his own kingdom.
“There is another choice.”
Nick’s eyes widened. “My Lord… begging your eternal pardon but… you can’t.”
“Can’t? You dare to tell the lord of the dead what he can and cannot do? You forget your place, boy. Return to Zeus. Tell him to end winter immediately, or I will start destroying souls. If he cares for his daughter’s safety with me, he won’t push me that far.”
Nick looked as though he wanted to argue some more, but he was smarter than that. In the end, he only bowed and said “Yes, My Lord.” Then he left to carry out the order.
Hades was about to return to Stavros’ home when a cawing sound bounced and echoed through the trees. He looked up to see Persephone’s raven swoop down and land on his arm. There was a small rolled-up piece of parchment attached to the bird’s leg. Something inside him went cold, and a sick clammy dread grabbed hold of his heart. His hand shook as he unrolled the paper.
Come home. Persephone is unwell. Hurry.
He sent the raven back and mounted his horse. He didn’t bother to give his apologies to Stavros and Estella for cutting their visit short. He would send a messenger back to them after he reached Persephone.
Hades drove the horse faster and faster through woods, over rolling hills and meadows, through cities and towns until, hours later, he reached the castle. The entire trip his mind had been abuzz with worry. What did they mean she was unwell? How could she be unwell? She was immortal. Gods didn’t get sick.
He left the horse with a groom and took the front steps two at a time. He flung his coat at a flustered servant in the entryway. “Where is she?”
“Upstairs, My Lord.”
Hades bounded up the grand staircase and then the second smaller staircase to his private floor and raced down the hallway to the room he shared with Persephone.
When he opened the door, he found her sleeping.
“What’s wrong with her? What happened?” he demanded. One of the female servants rose from a chair where she must have been watching over her.
“We found her in the bathtub. The water was full of blood. She cut herself.”
“Accidentally?”
“No.”
He rushed to the bed, and as he got closer, he could see the white bandages wrapped around her wrists.
“She’s okay. We just thought you should come home.”
“Why would she try to hurt herself?” What did she think she would accomplish? Where was she going to go? Even if she could die, she’d still be in the underworld. It didn’t make any sense. An irrational anger gripped him. Did she want to be free of him that much? He’d thought she was coming around. She’d seemed happy to him. Must he fight both her and her father?
The seer had promised she was his.
“Persephone!” He gripped her by the shoulders and shook her, but she didn’t stir.
“My Lord, perhaps you should let her rest.”
He rounded on the servant. “Get out. I’ll handle this.”
“Y-yes, My Lord.” The servant and several others excused themselves from the bedroom.
Hades sat beside her on the bed and brushed the golden hair off her face.
“Sunshine, wake up.”
He waited, but still she slept on. He shook her again, and her eyes fluttered open.
“Master?”
“What happened?” he demanded.
She seemed disoriented, as though the question were too confusing.
“What?”
He gripped her wrist, perhaps harder than he should have. “This? What is this? Why would you try to harm yourself? What were you trying to do? Were you trying to leave me?”
Her expression flitted quickly from her initial relief to fear.
“I-I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Tell me why you did this!” He could feel his hands trying to transform into claws and the glow burning behind his eyes. He felt his teeth growing longer like a monster. It took every ounce of willpower to calm himself down and push the thing back down.
Then she started to cry.
Hades pulled her into his arms and held her and stroked her hair until she calmed, but the questions still gnawed at him. If she thought she could show him her pathetic tears and this would be over, she was sadly mistaken.
“Why?” he said quietly.
“I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was afraid you might use it to hurt me.”
The more she talked, the less sense she made, but he forced himself to be quiet and wait for her to tell him more.
She took a deep breath. “When you l
eave me, even for just a few hours, I feel like I’m going to die. I-I can’t explain it, but this place… Master, I’m not supposed to be down here. This place is only for dead things.”
“I’m not a dead thing,” he said, practically growling. Is that how she saw him?
“N-no. I didn’t mean you. But you’re a god.”
“And you’re a goddess.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have powers. I can’t withstand this place. When you’re with me… when you’re touching me, everything is fine, but when you’re away… This place is killing me; you have to let me go.”
Zeus had gotten to her somehow. Had he turned one of the under beings against Hades? Zeus must be feeding her the lines to say to manipulate Him. He had to be. It was all too convenient. Everyone and everything working against him.
“Never,” Hades said. “You belong to me.”
She started to cry again, great gushing sobs that she seemed to have little power over. It went on for several minutes until at last she gained control of herself.
“Then come to the surface with me,” she begged. “Please. I don’t want to leave you. The thought of leaving you tears me apart, I just… I can’t be in this place. Surely you must understand that. I have to have the sunlight and the flowers and plants and all the things that belong to the living. I can’t live here surrounded by death. Please. It’s destroying me.”
Hades searched her eyes for deceit, but he couldn’t find any. She seemed to truly want to stay with him. Maybe Zeus hadn’t gotten to her after all. But if these things were really happening just as she said, that was even worse.
“Persephone, listen to me, I can’t go up there.”
“But you were up there when you took me. And you said you searched for me for centuries, so you must have been up there a lot. Just leave someone else in charge and come away with me.”
Hades shook his head. “No. It doesn’t work that way. I had under beings searching for you. When there was a strong enough lead, I went to the surface to check it out myself. But I can only be up there a few hours at a time, then I have to return. It takes months before I’m able to surface again.”
