What kind of game was he playing? Was he trying to win me over, or was it like a pick-up line? If so, it was a strange one.
“I feel that we’ve met before. Where do I know you from?” I asked him.
A slight smile played over his lips, and I found it deeply frustrating. But it was the kind of frustration that summoned the urge to know more.
“I’ll tell you if you have a drink with me,” he said.
I thought about it as we danced. It took me a moment to realise he meant here, at the party.
“All right, but I’ll get the drinks,” I replied.
When the song finished, I left in search of a couple of cold drinks. Ellie and Ryan continued dancing when the next song started, and I realised it would give me and ‘Hades’ some more time to talk.
I just got a couple of colas. At least they were nice and cold. I handed ‘Hades’ his can, as I sat back down.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think to ask what you wanted,” I admitted.
“That’s all right, this is good,” he said.
We opened our cans and enjoyed our cold drinks.
“I guess I’d better not drink too much, in case I need to go to the bathroom,” I joked. “So where do I know you from?” I studied his face through my butterfly mask.
“I spoke to you when you were trick-or-treating with your sister.”
I raked my mind, wondering if he was one of our closer neighbours, and then I remembered the man I’d spoken to. The one Deanna claimed to have seen shape-shift from a raven.
“That was you outside the haunted house?” I gasped.
“I knew you’d recognise me eventually,” he replied.
I felt surprisingly at ease with him now. Maybe it was the dance or the atmosphere, with people around us, but I was enjoying his company. It wasn’t the same as encountering a stranger in the dark.
“Why are you here?” I asked him.
“Why not?” he asked. “I didn’t have anywhere more important to be, and a party in the woods sounded like fun.”
“How did you find out about it?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “It was all over the internet.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed. That made sense. “So what were you even doing at the haunted house?”
He smiled slightly, and I got a distinct feeling there was more to the story than he’d told me earlier.
“It’s technically my house, but I don’t live there all the time. You could say my visits are seasonal.”
“Seasonal?” I asked. It seemed a strange way to phrase it.
“You won’t believe me if I tell you I really am Hades, and I visit when the veil is thinnest between the worlds?”
“Probably not, no,” I replied, grinning back.
“I can show you,” he said.
I didn’t want to go back to the haunted house.
“Think of me before you go to sleep, and you’ll have a dream tonight. About me and about the house, and you’ll know what I’ve told you is the truth,” he said.
“That’s romantic of you,” I said. I didn’t believe him, of course; not yet. “I could go to the house in the daytime instead.”
“I won’t be there tomorrow,” he replied. “This is the only way. You’ll see what I mean.”
I hadn’t noticed but the song had ended, and Ellie and Ryan returned to the cushioned area where we were sitting and talking.
“Per… I mean, who’s your friend?” Ellie asked, biting her lip.
“It’s all right, he knows my name,” I replied.
“Don’t you know? I’m the stranger in black,” he joked. “It’s getting late, though, and I have to be going. I’ll see you soon, Persephone.”
“Ah, but we were just getting started talking,” I replied.
“I know, but it can’t be helped. You have a good evening,” he said.
‘Hades’ finished his can of cola and walked away, back toward the road.
At least I knew where he lived some of the time. The ‘other place’, I had my doubts about.
Chapter Six
We partied until the late hours, and I danced with no less than six guys, but the ‘stranger in black’ stayed in my thoughts. The others seemed ordinary, somehow; there wasn’t anything special about them that won me over. ‘Hades’, however, held my interest. Somehow I knew that whether I dreamed of him or not, one way or another I’d see him again.
It was after 2am when Ellie dropped me off back home, and the party was still going when we’d left. I unlocked the door as quietly as I could. I suspected one of my parents might’ve been waiting up for me, but I found the living room in darkness, and they’d obviously gone to bed. I quietly crept up the stairs, and after I’d changed and brushed my teeth, I practically fell into bed, exhausted. It had been a long day, and now I could sleep. I was so tired that I forgot about Hades’ promise that I’d dream of him.
I didn’t even remember trying to go to sleep. It’s hard to measure the passage of time in dreams. Sometimes a lot can happen in a brief time; on other occasions, it might seem like you haven’t dreamed anything when the whole night has passed. I didn’t know how long I’d been ‘out’ for when I found myself standing outside the supposedly haunted house further up my street.
I almost didn’t recognise it at first, because the door and its lower windows weren’t boarded up. Its front door was sitting open, and lit candles sat to either side, as though welcoming me in. The flames danced, as they were stirred by a light breeze, and I noticed other lights within the house. It didn’t look deserted the way it had before; it looked lived in and well-tended. Even where I stood, close to the road, I could smell the scent of the roses that grew in abundance.
I knew I must be dreaming, but it seemed so real. I was sure that if I walked back home, I’d find my family asleep in bed.
I walked toward the front door. At any other time I would’ve hesitated, but I felt almost compelled to step inside. I walked closer, and as I did so, I noticed a silver bird embedded in the frame above the front door. It was a raven, and somehow my instincts told me this was ‘his raven’.
Under normal circumstances I might’ve questioned that, but it’s seldom the way in dreams. The house was dark inside, but tidy and furnished; not run down like I’d expected. It seemed old-fashioned in a charming way, especially the furniture and the striped wallpaper. A candelabra lit the room, casting golden light that was lovely but didn’t drive the shadows fully from the room. I felt like I should’ve been afraid, and yet, I wasn’t. In my dream I was curious; excited, even, because I knew this was the way to see ‘Hades’ again.
There was a staircase further back in the room, as well as a side door. My instincts told me to look upstairs, so that was what I did. Even though I wasn’t fearful, I was careful, and as quiet as a ghost. So far I hadn’t seen any sign of spirits or anything unearthly, except perhaps for my dream in the first place. The hallway at the top of the stairs had three doors branching off it, but one drew my attention more than the others. It was sitting slightly ajar, and I could see a golden outline, as though it was brightly lit on the other side.
I took a step closer and put my hand to the door, pushing it inwards. The room was full of light, but it only took a moment for my eyes to adjust. I’d been expecting a bedroom or just a normal room upstairs, but it wasn’t what I saw. I was in a large hall, and an archway was ahead of me. Even though there was plenty of light, I couldn’t see what lay on the other side. My eyes simply couldn’t make out the details in my dream. It was like a misty, radiant light, and somewhere in my soul I knew that beyond the arch was a different place. The border of our known world and the beginning of another.
Even though I wasn’t fearful in my dream, I hesitated. In that moment, a raven burst through the arch’s light, flapping its wings. I felt the stirred breeze on my face, but for some reason the raven’s wings were entirely soundless. And then, before my eyes and in a sudden blur of black, the raven took the form of a man, and not just an
y man. He was the man who’d danced with me, and who had called himself Hades.
“I told you that you’d dream of me, and here you are,” he said. “Thank you for being brave enough to step inside my house. I know it mustn’t have been easy.”
“I wanted to see you again,” I said, and took a step closer to him and the arch. In waking life I mightn’t have been so upfront, but not in my dream. “Besides, you have me curious now, and I feel there’s a lot you haven’t told me yet, that you will.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” he said. “Why don’t you come with me, and I can show you my realm. I promise you, I’ll bring you back here safe and sound, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“I’m not worried,” I said. “I trust you, and I want to see what you’re hiding in there.”
He reached out a hand to me, and I took it. Under most circumstances it would’ve seemed a simple and friendly gesture, but the moment my hand touched his, I felt my awareness deepen. I instantly knew that as we walked beneath the archway, we would cross the barrier between worlds, and that there were many people, places and things on the other side.
I walked with him, but I glanced at him questioningly.
“The realm of the dead is ahead of us?” I asked.
His slight nod answered the question for me. “It is.”
I knew I didn’t have to go, but I accompanied him there. The mist beneath the archway parted for us as we entered. I’d expected darkness and sadness, but my first sight was a grassy green hillside beneath the afternoon sun. There was a forest on the land below us, and I could make out the outline of a road. As my gaze followed it, I saw it led to a castle in the distance. It reminded me of a massive stone fortress; it didn’t look like a storybook castle. It took me a moment to process the sight, and remind myself again that I was dreaming.
“These are my lands,” he said, as he guided me further down the hill. “The house you just visited is an extension of it into the mortal world. Every city and town has one, but tonight I decided to visit yours and let the chosen cross the barrier for a while.”
“The chosen?” I asked him, unsure of what he meant.
“Sometimes, when the veil is thin, some of the spirits visit the mortal world to dance among you and experience physicality again for a while.”
“Are some of the people… spirits from this place still in the mortal world?”
“They’ve returned now,” he said, “but they attended the masquerade tonight. You even danced with some of them… oh, I don’t mean me,” he said. “I am a God and not a spirit.”
“How do you know?” I asked him, as I wondered what made him different from any human man. Immortality, perhaps?
“When you know, you know,” he said, smiling at me.
His eyes glittered with amusement, and I felt drawn to him once more in a way I couldn’t explain, but didn’t fight.
“I was given a choice long ago, and I accepted what it would require of me, then and always. I am now fundamentally different from you or anyone like you, but I am still the man I was as well.”
“Why did you invite me here?” I asked him. I wondered what he wanted from me, if it was anything at all.
“What good is a domain if you don’t have anyone to show it to or share it with? I’ve lived through thousands of years. I’ve seen the rise and fall of civilizations, and I’ve been here alone, performing my duties, and trying to create a world worthy of those who would live in it. It hasn’t left much for me, so sometimes I look in on the mortal world to see what more can be found there, and that, my dear Persephone, was how I saw you.”
“I’m really not that interesting,” I said, as I soaked up the sunshine, which seemed lighter and softer than that in the world I knew better.
“Oh, but you are,” he said. “And I’m so happy you’ve come here. Would you like to see my castle?”
I nodded. “I would. It’s impressive,” I replied, unsure of what else to say. I’d always had so little and he had so much, but I had to wonder if it was the other way around. I might not be rich, but I had family and friends, and a life of my own. If he was alone, perhaps he had less than I did.
He still held my hand, and we walked down to the bottom of the hill.
“I will call up some horses for us,” he said.
I watched in awe as they manifested in the air before us, amidst a swirl of colour and mist.
There was a chestnut mare with a white patch down her nose, presumably for me. The larger of the horses was a black stallion, which I suspected would be for my host, and I was right.
I didn’t remember climbing into the saddle, and I think my dream must’ve skipped over that action, but I clearly remember our ride toward the gates of his castle as silent soldiers in black livery awaited his return.
Chapter Seven
Hades led the way into his throne room, gesturing to it grandly before he gave me a boyish smile. I assumed it wasn’t because he wanted me to sit there; he just wanted me to see it, because he was proud of it.
“So what do I call you?” I asked him, wondering if I should be using ‘Your Majesty’ or a term of respect like that.
“I told you,” he said. “My name is Hades.”
“Then I will call you that,” I promised him.
The room was steeped in luxury, but his attention wasn’t on it; it was on me. In my normal, everyday life I might’ve questioned why, but in this land and in my dream, I merely took it as a compliment. We walked on through his castle, and when we reached another room, which seemed a more relaxed reception room, we sat down together at a wooden table.
It wasn’t lost on me that the castle was exceptionally well-kept, with tapestries decorating its walls, ornate chandeliers, and many beautiful relics and paintings from all over the world. It made me wonder when he had gathered them, if he’d done so himself, but my instincts told me he had. I could sense his touch on everything in our surroundings, even the castle itself. It truly felt like his realm.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked me, as he leaned forward over the table, steepling his fingers beneath his chin.
I shook my head, because it was hard to explain. “I’m just experiencing this—your castle, the world it’s in, Hades.”
His name felt strange as I spoke it, as though it held more power here than in the mortal world. I finally understood then that speaking his name had meaning, and there were many who might not have dared to speak it at all.
“This is the underworld,” he told me, as he regarded me with interest.
“I know,” I answered softly. Prior to meeting him, it had merely been a concept, but now I knew it was real, and I was here for a time. I glanced out the window. It was stained glass, and patterned in blues and greens, but I could tell that the day was growing darker outside. It seemed night was swiftly approaching.
“As it grows closer to night here, the hour in your own time approaches dawn. When the sun sets here, you will know that it’s time to go. Otherwise, you won’t awaken until you return.”
I could imagine that worrying my family. “How long do we have?”
“An hour or two,” he replied, studying me from across the table. “Please, I would like you to tell me the myth about us,” he said. “I’ve travelled the world over, but it’s new to me. I don’t know how I haven’t heard it before.”
“I think that if you don’t know the myth, and you haven’t been able to discover it, perhaps you’re meant to experience it rather than knowing it,” I suggested.
It wasn’t how I would’ve replied normally, but as I spoke the words, I knew they were true. They too seemed laced with power.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “Who was Persephone?”
“A maiden who was kidnapped by Hades and taken to his underworld realm. She became his Queen, and was eventually allowed to return to the mortal world. She spent part of each year with Hades and part with her mother, Demeter.”
“That’s interesting,” he s
aid, as he thought it over. “I want you to know that I would never kidnap you. That story gives me an idea, though.”
“Oh?” I asked, wondering what thought had occurred to him.
“You could come here to see me at night when you dream, and live your life in the mortal world in the day. I don’t know you all that well yet, Persephone, but I would like to know you better. I can give you a mark of the raven, and if you desire it, it will show you the way back here so we can talk, and dance, and see each other again. What do you think?”
I could tell he was excited at the prospect, and even though I might be dreaming, so was I.
“What form would the raven take?” I asked.
“A small bird… here,” he said, brushing his fingers over my hand.
A mark took shape, no longer than a few centimetres across. It moved on my skin, a bird with its wings outstretched, and then they settled upon its back. It wasn’t black, as most ravens were; rather, it glowed a pale gold that shimmered softly as I turned my hand.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. It was as though he’d given me a precious piece of jewellery, only it was something more personal than that, and it was magic. A gift from a God.
“Will I remember being here when I wake up?” I asked. I wondered if I would dismiss this as ‘just a dream’.
“For a while,” he said, “but then it will fade like most dreams. When you fall asleep again, you will remember, and if you want to visit me and this realm, you can. I leave that power in your hands, where it belongs,” he said.
I smiled; the Hades in the tales of mythology seemed set apart from the man sitting opposite me. He was warm and kind, powerful and intelligent. I knew my instincts that drew me to him in the first place recognised that, even before I saw it for myself.
I liked the idea of visiting him here in my dreams.
“Will I see you again by the light of day in the mortal world?” I asked.
“No,” he said, “and the truth is, you never did. You saw me at night. There are times of year when it’s easiest to cross between the worlds—especially Halloween, as you know. At other times, it would be more difficult, even in dreams, except—”
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 59