by Dani Hoots
Although I wanted her home and for us to all be a family, I couldn’t stand her being so fake, acting as if she wanted to be here. She didn’t want to be here, she wanted to be back on Earth or in Olympus with her mother Demeter. The only reason she was in the Underworld was because of some deal she made with Hades.
Yay for gods making things difficult.
“My precious flower.” Persephone wrapped her arms around me, her hands still full of shopping bags. She always brought back earthly outfits. I didn’t quite understand why, as she had so many clothes already. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, Mother.”
I must have not seemed very enthusiastic as she backed away far enough to make eye contact. Well, kind of. She was wearing huge shades, making it hard to see her eyes. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you miss me?”
I smiled a little more convincingly. “Of course I did. I’m just tired, we played a lot of soccer today.”
She bit her lip. “With Huntley?”
Great. this conversation again. “Yes with Huntley.”
“Have you two done the deed yet?”
I felt my blood start to heat up. Every time he came up in conversation, it always had to turn to sex. She didn’t understand what it was like to just be friends with men.
Before I could say anything, Father appeared just in the nick of time. “The boy is still here, isn’t he? You know I would never let that human touch my daughter.”
Persephone took off her shades and rolled her amber eyes at my father. “Here we go again. How do you expect her to ever grow up if her father is a constant overprotective prude?”
He folded his hands behind his back calmly. He always kept his cool around Mother, somehow. “I just want what’s best for my daughter.”
I watched as Persephone and Hades just stared at each other, the air getting cold around them. You would think when a husband and wife were gone for long periods of time, they would embrace or kiss or something. Not these two. Things were always so awkward between them.
“Well Huntley is just my mentor. He’s teaching me all about the world.”
Mother turned back to me with a smile. “Right. Of course, he must be very knowledgeable. All boys at that age are.” There was almost a hint of sarcasm in her voice, but I ignored it. “What about A.J. then, hm? You’ve known him for quite some time.”
“Like my daughter would ever fall for a son of Poseidon,” Hades retorted sharply.
Persephone turned back to him and they looked as if they were about to start another argument. So I naturally intervened. “No boys right now. If I ever do fall in love with someone, you two would be the first to know. Okay? Now, let’s go have something to eat, I’m starving.”
Really I wasn’t that hungry but I wanted this awkward conversation to end. Hades smiled softly, gesturing towards the door for the both of us. I knew he had been planning this dinner for quite some time, picking the best food in all the worlds.
But interestingly enough, he never had pomegranates.
How Huntley and I found those seeds was still a mystery to me. We had snuck into Father’s office one day, just out of curiosity really, and in the bottom drawer there were hundreds of these things. So, naturally, we took a few. Huntley had said they looked like pomegranate seeds on Earth, but he had never had one that gave him that effect. They were like drinking gold, giving us a high that felt like nothing I had ever experienced before. When we showed them to A.J. however, he got mad at us, calling them the forbidden fruit of the Underworld. I didn’t see him for a couple of days and I had no idea as to where he went. Then he came back and acted like it never happened, which was exactly why I never mentioned it to him again.
I always thought about asking my father about the seeds, but since they were hidden in and locked in his desk, and we had a couple before I thought about asking, I decided him finding out now wouldn’t be the best idea. Although he was kind and a great father, he could be scary when angry and would send Huntley to Tartarus without a second thought if he found out it was his idea. So I kept my mouth shut about it, though Huntley seemed to find some every once in a while. I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell because if Father found out, I didn’t want to be able to tell him what Huntley did. It was the only way I could keep him safe.
So far so good though, as Huntley hadn’t been caught and Father didn’t suspect a thing. I wondered what would be worse to him, finding out that we had a relationship or that we had been eating this forbidden fruit... Probably about the same I would think.
As for being in a relationship, there was no way I’d get into one. I saw what destruction love brought to the gods, I saw how much it hurt my father, an eternity of being with someone who changed their mind. I couldn’t do that, especially not to Huntley. I knew he was dead, that he really had nowhere else to go. But to have to be with me for that long, I couldn’t ever imagine making him do that. He didn’t understand what it was like, to be alive for such a long time. He had only been here for a few years. He had no idea.
A.J., on the other hand, had been here for four thousand years. He knew the complications it brought, being with someone for an eternity. He had the opportunity to go to Elysium, but he decided to stay in the palace for now. Whenever he did decide to leave, he wouldn’t be able to come back to the palace, as no souls could move among the different realms of the dead once they left the palace. Why he decided to stay around, I wasn’t quite sure. It wasn’t because of me though, I knew that. Especially after that one night we had a little too much wine and we came close to doing things I would have regretted, but he insisted we stop. He never brought it up again and I tried to forget it had ever happened.
Anyways, Father went overboard as he usually did with food preparation. There were only three of us and yet we had a long table full of food. It all smelled fantastic as different waves of scents floated around us. Sweet, savory, everything cooked, or chilled, to the perfect temperature. He had overdone it yet again. I knew that after we were done that the three stooges along with A.J. and Huntley could take their share, so it didn’t go to waste. But it was still ridiculous.
Hades pulled out the chair for Persephone and I. We both took our seats across from each other and Father sat at the head of the table. Our gold glasses were already full of red wine. I took a sip. Tasted perfect as usual.
“Eat whatever your heart desires, I’ve been saving all of this for tonight.” Hades smiled. “Bon appétit.”
“Compensating for something, Hades?” Persephone snapped her napkin to unfold it and placed it on her lap. “Do you think you are really impressing anyone?”
I rolled my eyes. Not this again. Seriously, every time she came home and Father had a big dinner prepared, she had to make snide comments. Then the one time he didn’t have anything planned, she threw a fuss.
“I just want the best for my two favorite women. Do I have to have any other reason?” Hades asked as he took a bite of his salad.
“Why is Minthe here?”
Here we go. It always came back to that.
“You know I resent ever falling for her. Please, can we just have a peaceful dinner? How was Earth? Did you and Demeter do anything special?” Hades asked, trying to change the subject. Smooth, Father.
Mother looked like she wanted to argue some more, but resisted the urge as I was still sitting there, twirling my linguine nervously. “We saw some plays. We spent a lot of time in London this year. So much great food and shopping.”
I coughed. “And men.”
Persephone didn’t seem to notice my comment, but Father gave me a look to stop talking. Hades turned back to her. “That sounds lovely.”
“And what about you, flower, how was your time here?” she directed her question towards me.
I kept twirling my linguine around and around with my fork. “Fine. Normal. Helped judge people with Father. Huntley has been teaching me some geography. Today we focused on Asian cities.”
“Really?” Hades too
k a bite of his kale. “When I ran into him earlier he said you were studying Nordic cities.”
Shit. Huntley should have told me he ran into him. “Yeah, Nordic cities are in Asia aren’t they?” I tried to act dumb. I knew the difference.
Hades shook his head. “No, they aren’t.”
“Oh, crap. Looks like I’ll need to study some more.”
“Mm.” Father stared at me with suspicious eyes. He could always see past my lies, which was why I usually hid the truth instead of flat out lying.
“Father says I’m getting good at judging.” I tried to change the subject back to earlier today. Like father, like daughter. “If I pay more attention, he might even let me decide some fates.”
“And if you start showing up on time instead of always being late,” he commented.
Persephone smiled. “She takes after me in that regard. Good to know she takes after some of my traits, and annoys you with them.”
Family dinners were always the best.
Cerberus whimpered from Underneath the table. I grabbed one of the steaks from a platter in front of me and threw it down to the ground. I was hoping Mother wouldn’t notice but she did.
“Cerberus! Out!”
The dog whimpered some more as he grabbed his treat and scurried off.
Mother scowled. “I hate that creature. I don’t know why you keep it here, Hades, as if this place isn’t horrid enough already.”
“Three months is all I ask, Persephone. Stop acting like it’s torture,” Hades commented.
Mother slammed her fork down. “Torture? I wish it was torture. I’m in Hell, Hades, literally in Hell. This is not the life I chose, I can’t stand it here. There is nothing worth my time here!”
She said that in front of me. In front of her daughter who was forbidden to step foot out of the Underworld. Who was never allowed to know anything else, according to Father. The only way she could see me was if she came here and apparently I wasn’t worth it to her.
I stood up. “Excuse me, Father. I’m not that hungry.”
Hades was about to say something, but he waved me off with permission to leave. I turned and walked out of the dining hall, but not before I heard them start arguing again.
Tears fell from my eyes as I hurried to my room. I just wanted to curl up on my bed and listen to music, let all the pain just fade away with the beats of the song. It’s the only way I learned how to cope with the pain in my chest and not let it explode out in blind rage, as that never ended well for anything around me. It was something Huntley had taught me, and I was glad too since at once time he almost ended up on the wrong side of my rage. It wasn’t fair to have all this power and be expected to have a control of it at all times. I had no idea how Father did it.
Huntley had helped a lot since he came here only a couple of years ago. He was kinder than he would like to admit, and always helped me when I needed him. And he did actually teach me a lot about the world called Earth that I didn’t know, it just wasn’t necessarily stuff my father wanted me learning about.
Speaking of Huntley, he was in the hallway as I turned around the corner. I hated it when he saw me like this. I hated to show any kind of weakness, as Father put it. The moment he saw me, he hurried over.
“Whoa, are you okay Chrys? What happened?”
I shook my head, tears flowing heavier.
Huntley wrapped his arms around me. “Shh, it’s okay. You don’t need to talk about it. Let’s go to your room, alright?”
I nodded and he helped me to my room. I collapsed on the bean bag chair, still sobbing. I felt pathetic, I was pathetic, but I had gotten my hopes up that maybe just this time she would act like she wanted to be with me. That she was happy here. I had been such a fool.
Huntley turned the stereo on and The All-American Rejects started playing. I smiled a bit, as he knew me all too well. He sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around me. I rocked back and forth, trying to let the pain go away.
“She said there was no reason to come to the Underworld. She said she hated it here,” I whispered.
Huntley didn’t say a word, but I could feel he understood. I wondered if A.J. and Huntley felt the same way, as if they were stuck here and didn’t actually want to be here with me, that they had no choice.
“This place isn’t that bad, is it? Do you hate it here? Would you leave if you could?” I sniffled.
“No. This place is much better than anything I have ever known. And you alone make it worth it.”
I turned to him. Maybe it was the lingering effects of the pomegranate, or the fact I was mad at my parents, but I leaned in, about to kiss him.
Then the door to my room opened.
I had never seen Huntley move so fast. He got up in an instant as my father stepped into my room. He seemed surprised to see Huntley.
“What are you doing here?” he asked him quickly.
Huntley opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“He saw me crying and was comforting me,” I answered. “And nothing you can say will make me feel better, Father.”
Hades frowned. “Huntley, leave so I can talk to my daughter alone.”
I didn’t want Huntley to leave, but I knew he wasn’t going to disobey my father. He simply nodded and hurried out the door. Hades closed the door and sat down on my bed.
Here we go again.
My parents and I had a lot of fights. I mean, a lot. But never had I seen fights like both these gods could get into. I guess when one had an eternity to make up, they just let it all out and waited to see what would happen. However, with the two of them, I knew that they loved each other more than anything else. Hades cared about his daughter more than anything in the universe and Chrys respected her father more than any other girl I ever knew.
But they were gods and gods could argue like none other.
I sat outside the door, half wanting to be there for Chrys after her fight with Hades, half wanting to hear the conversation. Fights among the gods were really entertaining.
I couldn’t really make out their words, but could tell Hades was trying to calm his daughter down. He should have probably just left her alone. I knew why he came, to make sure she wasn’t going to let go of her power, destroy everything in this wing of the castle.
Like last time…
She was pretty upset and sometimes when she got upset the unstable emotions she felt took over her powers of self-control. Most of the time she didn’t even realize it until her father had successfully woken her out of her trance. I had been there once when it happened. Damn was she powerful.
So that was also another reason I made sure she was never alone, because I didn’t want to see that side of her again. Nor did I think she wanted anyone to see it.
It was scary, to be honest. I didn’t know all she could do, but the shadows she made, the darkness that came out of her. A piece of one of the tendrils had hit my shoulder once when Hades and I were trying to calm her down. It hurt like acid, like what A.J. had called the liquid death. It wouldn’t have surprised me though, that she could have so much power in her. She was the daughter of Hades after all.
Another crash. She was going to have to replace that lamp. If this were the real world, she would have been grounded for months. But this wasn’t the real world and Hades had a soft spot for his daughter. That and he knew throwing things was better than her power rising up from deep within and causing even more devastation. Now, if I argued with him, that would have been a different story.
The darkness that resided in Chrys was like something out of a fairy tale, like one of the Grimm Fairy Tales. Although she was nice and kind, she could definitely be the witch and take over all the land if she wanted to. To think of what power her Father possessed since he was more powerful than her, you would think I would stay out of trouble. No, that is just why I never got caught.
“Bullshit, Father!” I could actually hear Chrys’ voice now. “Stop lying for her! Stop trying to make this better when you know how I feel
! When you know that I can’t stand her any longer! Why do you even care?”
Another crash. I had to agree with Chrys on this one. Why Hades kept trying to form a bond between his daughter and Persephone was beyond me. It was Persephone that should have been coming here and talking to her daughter of her own free will. Not Hades.
A couple moments later, Hades stepped out of the room, straightening his tie. I stood up, kind of out of respect, kind of because I was afraid to ever be at a disadvantage. He looked me over, surprised I was still there.
“Were you eavesdropping?” he asked.
I shook my head quickly. “No, just wanted to make sure Chrys was okay after everything.”
His eyes narrowed at me, which they always did. “She likes you. Don’t know why but she does. You make her happy.”
