Persephone

by Kitty Thomas

  “We’re going to 103,” Hades said, conversationally.

  “What? There is no 103rd floor.”

  “Oh yes there is. It’s a secret floor for celebrities and gods.”

  Persephone ignored that craziness and turned to the employee. “Hey! Help me! Can’t you see me? You have to help me get away from this man.” She was screaming at the top of her voice, but still the employee seemed as though he were deaf or ignoring her as he watched the buttons light up on the way to the top.

  She hauled back and punched the guy in the shoulder. He jumped, rubbed his shoulder and looked around, spooked.

  Hades grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back into the corner. “Now, now. That’s not nice. I only shielded for sound and vision.”

  He was too uncomfortably close. Persephone felt enveloped by him. And for the first time, she felt he was something other than crazy. He was something dark and powerful and determined. She felt a hard block of muscle pressed against her back as he held her close to his chest.

  The employee’s eyes darted around the elevator, unable to see that a big, terrifying man was holding someone captive mere feet from him. He turned back to the panel and pushed a button for a lower floor. The elevator stopped a moment later, and the guy couldn’t scramble off fast enough.

  When the doors closed again, and the elevator resumed its ascent, Hades released his hold on Persephone. She backed away to the farthest corner from him and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block everything out. Could this man actually have some legitimate magic powers? She felt crazy even thinking it. No. It’s a dream. When she woke up, she’d spend the whole day laughing about this. Lynette would love this story.

  And yet… until she woke, all of this felt a little too real.

  The elevator stopped at the observation deck. Hades dragged her out and took her to the right and pushed her through another door so fast she didn’t have time to scream at this set of tourists for help. Now they were in the belly of the building—the secret parts no one ever saw. She didn’t see another balcony. Instead he pulled her through a labyrinth of pipes and electricity boxes.

  “Climb,” he ordered pointing to a terrifyingly tight steel thing that was halfway between a stairway and a ladder.

  She shook her head frantically. “I-I can’t. Please, I can’t.” It was just too high. When he’d first dragged her onto the elevator, she’d thought they were going to the top observation deck, which though frightening, was enclosed by a safety fence. What if there was no fence where he was taking her?

  “Go! I’m right behind you.”

  As if there were any reality in which that could be a comfort. She did all she could do under the circumstances. She climbed.

  At the top, her worst fears were confirmed. It was a cramped balcony with a railing only a couple feet tall around it. She could easily stumble over it to her death. Or be pushed.

  “Please take me back down. Please. I’m not her. I swear I’m not.”

  If possible, the sky had grown even darker, nearly black as if it had become night already. The only light came every few moments as lighting streaked by, thunder chasing at its heels.

  “We have to jump,” he said.

  “Jump?” She couldn’t back away from him. There was nowhere to back to, except over that tiny ledge.

  Persephone had already returned to denial about the things she’d seen. The silent street. The crowds who couldn’t see or hear her. She couldn’t have seen what she thought. It just wasn’t possible. Now she was back to: crazy man wants to jump off the Empire State Building—and drag her along for the ride.

  When she spoke again, her voice shook so much she couldn’t believe she could get the words out. “P-please, you have to listen to me. We can get you help. I know this feels real to you, but... we will die if we jump. And I know you don’t want that.”

  He laughed. “I can’t believe you still think I’m insane. The glamor around us wasn’t a big enough clue for you? This mortal Kool Aid you’ve drunk must be pretty powerful stuff. But not powerful enough.”

  He grabbed her hand and brought her to the ledge. Her heart pounded in her chest and head and throat as she stood with him looking down from dizzying heights to the street far below them.

  “Scared of heights?”

  “Y-yes,” she gasped. She tried to pull out of his grip to get away from the edge. No amount of self talk that she’d wake up seemed to be penetrating the fear now.

  “I hear exposure is the best cure.” And then he jumped, pulling her with him over the side of one of the tallest buildings in the city.

  As she fell, everything switched to slow motion while her life flashed before her eyes. And then, in the moment before impact, she had the sick realization that death would definitely take her to the underworld if such a place existed.

  But she never hit concrete. Instead, her hand slipped out of his, and a couple of moments later, she splashed into a cold, black sea inside some kind of cavern. Persephone didn’t have time to contemplate the impossibility of this outcome because the water was trying to pull her under to drown her. It seemed angry at being disturbed by her unceremonious falling into it.

  A hand reached down and pulled her out, soaked and shivering. “I told that fucking idiot to have the boat ready for us when we came through the portal.”

  But there was a boat now—a small, dark, wooden row boat. Hades pulled Persephone into it. She clung to him for a moment like a half-drowned rat trying to get her bearings. Then when she realized whose arms she’d sought safety in, she pulled away quickly and moved to the far end of the boat. Hades didn’t comment or try to stop her retreat. Why would he? It wasn’t like she could go very far.

  The water had smoothed and calmed now; the only ripples were the oars as he rowed them across this mysterious black sea. Neither of them spoke as Hades rowed. Persephone felt she must be in shock. She felt cold and unreal. But she couldn’t deny what was right in front of her eyes. Not anymore.

  “A-am I dead?”

  He chuckled. “No. Though that is the normal way of it. There are few living beings down here, but you are not dead.”

  So if she wasn’t dead, and this wasn’t a dream… Despite the growing unlikelihood, Persephone continued to hope that she would wake up in her bed, maybe late for work, but safe in the sunlight. Maybe that forecast of a perfect day she’d been promised would happen from the first morning bird chirp until the sun went down. She and Lynette would laugh about it at the flower shop.

  But even as she tried to hold onto these last frail bits of hope, a deeper, darker part of her knew that Hades was real. This place was real. She wasn’t sure if he was a god or a demon, but he was definitely something supernatural. And she was beginning to believe him when he said he was immortal. But it still didn’t mean he wasn’t crazy. If he lived down here… well it wasn’t exactly in the sanity guidebook. One might easily lose their mind down here. Maybe Hades had, too. Either way, she was just a regular person, and she had to make him understand that.

  “Ummm, Hades?”

  He looked up from the rowing. “Yes?”

  “I… I believe you are who you say you are...”

  He chuckled. “Well, how noble of you to throw me that small bone.”

  “I… I mean… unless I’m dreaming. But I’m not her. Whoever you’re looking for, it’s not me. I’m just a human.”

  A red, fiery glow came into his eyes, and she thought she heard him growl. A moment later, he seemed to have composed himself, and his eyes went back to the rich, coal black of before.

  “Everything will be explained.”

  And that was that. He didn’t speak another word to her for the duration of their trip across the water. After a long time, they reached a dock. Hades got out and helped her out. He led her to a large, black gate that looked like massive gnarled tree limbs had been transformed into metal.

  This time he didn’t grip her arm so hard. There was no need to. Where was she going to go? S
he had no idea how to get out of this place. And the water here wanted her dead. Maybe it knew she shouldn’t be down here in the dark. It wasn’t natural.

  Just inside the gate stood a giant monster with three heads. Persephone drew back.

  “It’s only Cerberus, my dog.”

  “T-that’s a dog? But it’s huge. And it’s got three heads,” she said as if these facts must have escaped Hades’ notice when he picked the pup up at the evil pet store.

  But then the giant thing started to bark out of the mouths of two of its heads. The other head was busy panting happily. A tail thumped hard and fast on the ground in excitement, sending off tremors like a small earthquake.

  “Settle down, boy,” Hades said as the dog bent down to be petted, each of the three heads fighting for the attention of its master.

  “Will he bite?” Persephone asked, still keeping a minimum safe distance from the giant beast.

  Hades looked back at her. “Cerberus? This silly thing? Of course not.” But then his expression turned dark. “Unless you try to escape the underworld. Then he might eat your face.”

  Persephone couldn’t be sure if he was kidding or not, but from his serious expression, she thought not. And she very much didn’t want to test it to find out. She edged closer. When she got within striking distance, a giant tongue came out of a giant head and licked the side of her face.

  “Cerberus, stop that!” Hades said.

  The monstrous dog stopped slobbering all over her, and Hades extended a hand. This time she took it. He led her past the big guard dog and down a long tunnel lit by torch light.

  She wasn’t prepared at all for what lay on the other side of the tunnel. It looked like a glittering dark kingdom. They stood inside what appeared to be a giant cavern. Only she saw a black sky overhead with thousands of shining stars and a big full moon.

  “It’s not the real moon, or sky, or stars. It’s just a glamor. More magic.”

  “Is it always like this?”

  “If you’re asking if there is a magic sun to go with it, no. There are rules in the underworld that even I must follow. It’s always night here.” He said this with some sadness, and something inside her constricted for a moment.

  A small distance away there was a castle. It was made out of some black glittering stone that almost seemed to glow in the moonlight.

  Hades led her down hundreds of steps, deeper into the cavern where a heavy, terrifying fog seemed as though it might smother them. But Hades was untroubled by the fog. They only walked a short distance until they reached the mouth of a forest of dead trees that formed a tangle of gnarled branches. Tethered to one of the trees were two large, black horses.

  “At least they managed to follow one instruction properly,” Hades said as he untied the horses. “It’s quicker by horseback.”

  Persephone felt as though every step she took and every second that passed she was being more deeply ensnared into a dark world she might never escape, but Hades waited patiently for her to move closer to the horse he’d assigned her. He helped her up into the saddle, got on his own horse, and then they were off.

  She leaned in close to the horse’s mane, bracing herself against the branches that tried to jump out and snag her. Hades’ horse was just up ahead, moving much faster than hers. Yet hers obviously had its orders and knew where to go, and there was no diverting it from its mission.

  They reached the end of the dead forest and came upon a vast meadow where nothing grew—only a sea of tall, dead, brown grass that swayed in the breeze she knew couldn’t be a real breeze. In the meadow, the fog cleared away to reveal the moonlight and the glittering castle again just up ahead.

  When she reached the castle, Hades was already getting off his horse and giving it to someone. Or something. Persephone wasn’t sure if the groom was human or some sort of demon. Dead or alive.

  Hades helped her off her horse and passed those reins to the groom as well, then he led her up a set of black marble stairs and into the castle.

  Guards lined the long entry hall, gazes straight ahead. They wore heavy armor, and again, Persephone couldn’t be sure if they were human or demon. Dead or alive. She found herself gripping Hades’ hand harder because the one thing that was becoming increasingly clear to her was that there could be no way out of this place, no escape from her captor.

  And if possible, Hades somehow seemed like the least scary thing down here and the only one who might have enough interest to protect her.

  A gleaming silver rug glowed like the moonlight and extended the full length of the hall, lighting their way. Hades led her to the end, then he turned left and took her down a set of gray stone steps that spiraled downward for what seemed like forever.

  Down below was a large room encased entirely in stone. Torches lined the walls. The room seemed mostly empty except for a large cage in the center.

  Persephone jolted out of the disorienting fog she’d been in. As she truly realized what was happening, reality seemed to snap and make a long metallic grinding sound. No, that was the cage door opening. Hades flung her in and slammed the door shut and locked it.

  Then he turned without a word and went back up the stairs.

  “Hades! Don’t leave me down here, please!” She couldn’t think what she could have done for this to happen. Had he just meant to take her and lock her in a cage forever? Why?

  She sat on the ground and drew her legs up to her chest. Her jeans and T-shirt were still damp from the water she’d been in. And now this cold, dank dungeon. She was going to freeze to death. She was going to die down here. She’d never see the sun again.

  Persephone began to cry. She cried so hard and so long that she didn’t hear Hades come back downstairs.

  “Eat,” he ordered.

  She looked up and wiped the tears off her face to see him holding a deep red fruit out to her through the bars. He’d sliced it open. It looked juicy and delicious and inviting. How could he get fruit down here when nothing grew?

  “What is it?”

  “Insurance,” he said.

  “What?”

  “A pomegranate. If you ever want to leave this cage, you’ll eat.”

  “Please tell me why I’m here. I don’t understand any of this. Please.”

  His eyes glowed again. “Eat first.”

  Was he drugging her? Why was he so insistent? There was something wrong about this. She knew there must be, but she was getting hungry, and she was so tired and cold. If this might get her out of the cage…

  “Eat!” he growled.

  Persephone reached out and took the pomegranate from his hand and plucked out one of the seeds. She closed her eyes and ate one. She expected to die. But nothing tragic happened. So she ate several more.

  She opened her eyes to find Hades smiling at her—that gorgeous, evil smile that couldn’t mean anything good.

  “Now you’re mine, tied here forever. It doesn’t matter what your father does now. You are mine.”

  She felt the trap close over her as the pomegranate fell from her hand. The sound of the fruit hitting the ground was deafening as seeds and juice spilled out to stain the stone like blood.

  “W-what do you mean?”

  “My sweet, innocent little goddess. There is a part of me very glad you were fooled into believing you were human. You couldn’t know that eating pomegranate seeds in the underworld would link you to me and this place forever. Well, now you know.”

  “Hades… please. I’m cold. Don’t leave me in the cage.” She couldn’t deal right now with the prospect of forever. She could only handle dealing with the immediate circumstances of being locked in a cage.

  “I have things to say first. And you will listen.”

  She didn’t argue, too afraid to. Persephone was back to believing he was mad. He must be. And she’d been in this place too long now to really believe she was dreaming anymore. Somehow… this was real.

  He paced around the outside of the cage, looking quite agitated as he told her a
story he must have held inside for a very long time.

  “There was a prophecy. You were destined to be mine. But your selfish father found out about it from a seer when you were born. And he couldn’t allow that, not his sweet, beautiful daughter down here in the dark with me.

  “Zeus has the upper world. Poseidon has the sea. What do I have? Darkness and death. Your father couldn’t let me have one beautiful, bright, warm thing. Not one. He took your powers and hid you away in the mortal world. When I learned of his deception, it still took me centuries to find you. He’ll find you, too. My magic won’t hide you forever. He probably already knows where you are. But it’s too late. And now he will know it as well.”

  “My father is a farmer in Idaho. H-he’s not a god.”

  “That’s not your father. Zeus gave you fake memories. He keeps moving you around so people don’t figure out you don’t age and altering all the memories, including yours. Spiteful bastard.”

  “No. I-it’s not true. I’m just a person.”

  Hades unlocked the cage and stepped inside. Persephone backed away, suddenly more uncomfortable than ever with his nearness.

  “I think we should send daddy a package. What do you think? A finger? I bet he’d like a finger.”

  Persephone’s eyes widened. She was still convinced Hades had the wrong woman. This goddess he was talking about couldn’t be her. But at this point, playing along with the crazy god seemed like the smartest response.

  “H-Hades… why did you want me? Surely not to cut me into pieces.” She hoped.

  He withdrew a gleaming silver knife from his pocket. “Oh, don’t worry. I told you you’re indestructible. It’ll grow back.”

  He was really going to do this. She took a couple more steps away from him until the black, hard metal of the cage pressed against her back.

  “No! Please...n-no. Don’t. I-I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t do this.” She dropped to her knees, begging him. The tears flowed down her cheeks. “Hades, please. I-I’ll be yours. Forget my father. Don’t...”

  Something in his expression softened the smallest fraction. Then he growled and left the cage, slamming and locking it behind him. He flung the silver knife to the far corner of the dungeon, well outside her reach, and then left her there.