My Lord Hades (24 page)

She looked into the face of an adolescent child that could only be her and knew it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.

The girl stood a short distance away, her eyes locked on the two adults, head tilted slightly to the side. “Stop fretting, Demeter. They’ll be all right.” Zeus came up behind Demeter and rested his hands on her shoulders. “They’re goddesses of extraordinary power—”

Persephone frowned, although she stood next to her mother and father, she heard then as if listening from a distance. It sounded odd. Very odd. But then, everything about this place seemed odd. And yet, it was strangely comforting.

“But what if they get hurt! We’re too close to Mount Othyrs and the Titans could use

them…”

“That’s why they must stay here with the other children.”

Demeter turned to him. “They’re not safe here!”

“Where can you go where they’ll be safe? If they use magic outside these walls, the Titans will sense it and come for them. They’ll take girls from you.”

“And how are you any different? When I asked you to fill the role of their father, I didn’t think you would use them to benefit yourself. They’re children!”

“Persephone wanted to help, Demeter. I treated her no different than any of my children.”

“Yes, you did. You proved her stronger than any one of us. And by doing so you endangered them both. Do you know what the others will do? They’ll corrupt them, twisting them into

something they were never meant to be. I won’t allow it!”

A second adolescent Persephone broke away from the other godlings, rounded the bushes of

the garden, and joined the first girl. Persephone blinked. The two girls looked like exact copies except for the hair. One was golden, the other auburn.

“What is it, Kora?” the second Persephone asked, tucking her wild auburn hair behind her

ear.

Although they were further away, she heard Kora’s reply as if she were standing beside them.

“Mother’s angry at Zeus because of the favor you did him.”

Demeter shoved Zeus’ restraining hand away and marched down the stairs. “We’re leaving.”

She took each child by the hand. Persephone felt the echo of her mother’s warm hand close around hers.

The world shifted before her eyes and she was a baby held close in her mother’s arms.

Demeter smiled down at the twin girls in her arms. “You’re perfect, are you not, my daughters? I will call you Persephone,” she said to the auburn haired baby. “And you shall be Kora,” she said to the blond babe.

Demeter began to hum and rock her babies gently. Persephone smiled, tears forming in her

eyes.

The world shifted again. Kora and Persephone were sitting at the table in the villa eating breakfast of biscuits and honey while Demeter collected their plates. They were probably about three-years-old.

“I’m ready. Can we go now?”

“Yes, Persephone.” Demeter smiled and opened the door. “Don’t forget your hat?”

Small Persephone disappeared. Persephone’s jaw dropped. Then she reappeared with her hat

on her head.

Demeter stared at the child, her face pale. “How-how did you do that?” Demeter stammered.

The child shrugged. “I just thought of my room.”

“Dear, did you ever do that before?”

The child frowned. “No.”

“Come here, sweetheart.”

The child obeyed and Demeter knelt in front of her. “Little one, you must listen very careful to me. You can’t do that again. The Titans are very evil and they will take you from me.”

She cupped Persephone’s face. Her thumbs caressed the girl’s cheeks. Persephone grew

uneasy. The knot in her stomach tightened. Something unpleasant was going to happen and as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t.

“You trust me, don’t you?”

The child nodded. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to protect you.”

The child and Persephone gasped when her mother’s magic crawled up her spine. The child

tried to pull away but her mother held her in place. Persephone winced at the pressure snaking its way into her mind. She watched in a mixture of disbelief and horror as her mother placed small suggestions into the child’s mind.

Be wary of using magic. Beware the Titans. Hide what you are, by hiding your magic deep
inside.

Demeter released her hold on small Persephone, and Persephone felt the pressure leave her body. Demeter held her close, whispering endearments to the child. “I’ll keep you safe. I’ll keep you safe forever.”

The scenery changed again and again, memory after memory. Some of her as an adult, and at others were her as a child or an adolescent. There were memories of her friends, of her mother, of her sister Kora, and the gods she’d met over the years. There were ones where she laughed and danced and sang songs.

She could hear and smell and see and taste everything connected to the memories. She could smell the gentle fragrance of flowers in the meadow and the woody aroma of the forest. She savored the taste of fresh baked pies in her mouth and salty taste of the ocean mist. She heard the plop of raindrops on the tiled roof and the crash of the waves on the beach.

Most of her life had been spent in one garden or another. She loved her flowers. She missed her flowers. She missed the freedom of her garden. But the idea didn’t ring true here; it was as if her mind was screaming ‘liar.’

PERSEPHONE GROANED and Hades jerked awake. It took him a moment to realize that

he was laying in Persephone’s bed and she was curled up against his side. He touched her pale face, knowing there was nothing inside, just an endless void.

The longer she slept, the more fearful he became and each day passed was another day she

came closer to slipping away from him and from life. Not that she would die, with the return of her magic to sustain her immortality, she would live unaware of life, forever suspended between the world of the living and the dead.

“Please wake, sweetling.”

She didn’t answer.

He slid his arm out from beneath her head and stood. Damn his mother! No wonder most

people called her Nemesis and Discord. He was tempted to throw the goddess of war and strife into Tartarus and have the three Hundred-handed giants throw rocks at her for a hundred years or more. The thought wasn’t as cheering as he hoped.

This waiting was maddening. He needed to do something, anything, but until she called for his help he could do nothing.

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I’ll be back soon.”

He flashed to the kitchen.

Zana jumped and scurried away.

“Stop that!” Penelope scolded him.

These two goddesses never ceased to amaze him. They appeared to be no older than eighteen and yet they were centuries older than him. They weren’t strong in magic, which was why the Titans probably enslaved them, and yet the weight of years permeated their power.

“Has the queen woken up?” Zana asked from her hiding place.

“No.” Disappointment hung in the air between them. “I’d like to feed her a little soup.”

Penelope nodded and wiped her hands on her skirt. “Of course.”

She dished out a bowl of soup and handed it to him. He returned to Persephone’s bedroom.

Persephone still slept. This didn’t surprise him.

He sat on the bed, close enough to Persephone to feel her side pressing into his thigh. If she were awake, he’d find the sensation arousing. But as she was, he found the contact comforting.

He was glad she was with him, even if she wasn’t aware of it.

He shook his head and thought of how ridiculous he’d seem to anyone else. Dipping the

spoon into the soup, he slowly dribbled the liquid into her mouth, wiping her mouth.

He touched her cheek, after he was done. She felt warm. He dipped a rag into the healing

water of the River Styx and bathed her face. After two weeks of trying, he knew it did no good, but it made him feel as if he was doing something for her.

Damn his mother! The woman had no sense of what she could and couldn’t do. Maybe

someday someone would teach her not to meddle.

THE SCENERY changed again and again, memory after memory of events Demeter had

taken from her played out. Some events were small things, hardly worthy of her mother’s fear.

Other things were bigger, but still hardly worthy of her fear. It seemed to eat away at her mother.

How much time had passed? Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. There was no way to answer that

question. Time was suspended here, it didn’t seem to pass, and yet she was sure it did.

The world shifted to another memory and she was on another beach, standing in the water

with the warmth of the sun beating down upon her. It was late afternoon and her mother was nowhere to be seen. Her child-self was now a willowy adolescent, running through the surf laughing. Persephone frowned, for as long as she could remember the beach was a place

forbidden and she had never stepped foot on the sands. But here she was, feeling the sand slid between her toes and the sea mist spray her face, and remembering every moment as it played out before her.

The girl stopped and shouted out into the bay, waving her arms wildly. Persephone looked, shocked by the sight of several men and a boy beaching their small boat in the sand and stepping onto the shore. The girl ran to greet the haggard crew and began to ply them with questions.

“Who are you? What are your names? What is that? Why are you here?”

The leader of the group laughed and mussed her hair. “My you’re an inquisitive child.” The others laughed. “We were fishing down the coast and our boat caught in a great storm. I’d say the Titans and Olympians are fighting again.” The others nodded and talked amongst themselves.

“We found ourselves outside your beautiful cove, thought we would see who lived here and

where here is. Maybe trade for food and fresh water. We’re sick of fish.”

“Only mother, Kora, and I live here, though the nymphs sometimes visit. There’s a river that way where you can find fresh water. I’ll fetch some food from the orchard.”

The man smiled and the girl ran for the orchard. The world changed and the girl was bringing the starving men her basket filled with fruits and vegetables. They’d built a fire and were cooking fish when she came back. They kindly sharing their meal with her and told her stories of the places they’d been. The girl wasn’t the only one fascinated by their stories. Persephone listening with fascination as they told stories of the battles in the long war between the gods and other daring adventures of mortals who dared to defy the gods, often with tragic consequences. It was the first time she heard the name Hades.

Her mother ran onto the beach and gathered the girl into her arms. “I demand you leave at once!”

“But, Mother, they just got here.”

Demeter glared at the men and then glanced down at her daughter. “Go pick them some more

food.”

She ran off and Persephone wished she could stay and hear what her mother was about to tell the men, but the boy broke away from the group to follow, and she found herself standing in the garden. They were filling the basket with fruits and vegetables. Many times the boy paused to glance at her with adoration in his eyes, but the girl didn’t notice.

“May I carry the basket…?”

She bestowed a beatific smile upon him. “Persephone.”

“Persephone, a name as beautiful as the girl who holds it.”

Persephone couldn’t help laughing. Hades had said much the same thing to her once, only

more eloquently. The boy took the girl’s hand, set the basket on the ground, and leaned in for a kiss. The girl stared at him and Persephone could feel her confusion. His lips lightly touched hers and Persephone felt the ghostly echo of the kiss on her lips.

It was nothing like the kisses she shared with Hades. There was no fire, no lightning storm. It was merely an innocent gesture and the boy took no more liberties. Persephone watched the two pass, hand in hand, and mourned the loss of this memory. He was her first kiss, her first love.

Persephone, her mother, and the girl watched them leave. Only Persephone saw the slight

wave of her mother’s hand and felt the surge of power through the girl’s senses.

The girl turned to her mother. “I want to see them again. They were fun.”

“They won’t be back. They will think this whole thing a dream.”

“But why?”

“Because it’s the only way to keep you safe.” She kissed Persephone’s forehead. “Trust me. I know what’s best for you, and talking to mortals isn’t good. Had I not shown up when I did, they would’ve taken advantage of you. Men can’t be trusted.”

“I didn’t sense anything bad about them.”

“That’s because you are innocent, my dear. You don’t know how to protect yourself.”

“Yes, I do. If one of those…men…had tried to hurt me, I would have…burned him.”

Young Persephone picked up a stick, held it in her hand, glaring at it until it turned to ash.

Persephone’s palm warmed but it didn’t hurt. The girl touched the sand and turned the beach into a block of ice. Persephone’s hand cooled. Then she thawed it, warming Persephone’s hand. What else could she do?

The girl picked up a handful of sand, and concentrating on the small pile she created a small flower with petals of purple and silver underside. Persephone’s hand tingled. The slight breeze brushed against the flower that hadn’t existed until that moment and it sang.

The singing flowers! They were her flowers, created with her magic, and hidden from her.

But why?

“That’s enough,” Demeter snapped, startling both Persephones. “You may be able to stop the mortals from taking you. But not the Titans. They are stronger than the gods. If you continue to use magic they will take you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Demeter sighed and shook her head. “Not today. Not when you’re still young. But someday,

you’ll grow up and to leave. You’ll want to explore the world and maybe get married. But that won’t happen if the Titans come for you.”

Every time she thought of anything outside the garden, these were the words that held her back. Her mother’s words. Her mother’s fears.