“Make yourself at home.” Griffin smiled at me, letting go of my hand as he made his way into the kitchen. Part of me wanted to follow him for security but another part of me wanted to look around. And the more I did, the more I got the impression this wasn’t the same apartment that was supposedly located next to mine.
“Is this the Underworld?” I asked as innocently as I could manage, moving further into the room to find bookshelves laden with heavy tomes like the ones I had been reading. Their spines bore no indication of their subject, they were embossed with the same strange symbols I had seen in Atlas’ study.
Griffin laughed from the kitchen, the sound different and deeper from the voice I had listened to all night. This one turned my blood cold. “You were always perceptive, if not a little naive my dear.”
My breath grew shallow as I focused on the books on the shelves, counting them to keep myself calm while my mind started running. How long had Hades been in control of Griffin? All night? Since the kiss? What was he doing, or more importantly: what did he plan to do?
“Are you going to try and rape me like you did Savannah?” My voice quivered on the word rape, my muscles tensing as they went into flight mode. The words were hard to say and the idea was even harder to swallow. I’d known, deep down, this was what Griffin had alluded to but I’d never said it out loud. And I’d barely even thought about it.
I had no doubt though, if Griffin was there, conscious inside of his own body while this God took control, that he would be heartbroken if something like that happened again. Most especially to me.
“Hardly.” He said, suddenly far closer than I noticed. I spun around, throwing my body back against the bookshelf as I shrunk away from him. “I don’t need to do that with you.”
“Why’s that?” Staying calm in this situation was a lot harder than I could’ve imagined it would be. My voice was shaking almost as bad as my knees, but some part of me wanted to stay strong, to not let him have any power over me.
“You still don’t know.” He clucked his tongue chastely and held out another wine glass to me: “drink?”
“You’ve had enough for the both of us.” I said drily, making him laugh.
“Oh, that’s Griffin’s influence. He thinks if he drinks enough of it he’ll silence me. He still refuses to accept we’re one in the same.”
“I could start a list of differences if you’d like.” He chuckled again, sipping the wine before turning and walking away from me. I relaxed immensely, taking a deep breath before peeling myself from the shelving unit.
“What are you going to do?”
“Help you figure out your Goddess of course.” I frowned, “why would you do that?”
“It’s of a dire importance to me.” “Do I get a hint?”
“It’s not as fun that way.” He grinned cruelly again before sipping the wine and setting the goblet down. He leaned against the arm of the couch and folded his hands together as he stared at me with interest. I felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny, like he was sizing up my capacity for dealing with whatever he was about to throw at me. I still didn’t want him to have any control over me.
“Do I have to stay here until I figure it out?”
“For a while,” he said ominously before straightening himself out, “let’s see... What do we know about your Goddess from your own life that might help you understand a little better?”
He tapped his chin, but I didn’t understand how he was going to know anything about my past when I still hadn’t divulged it to Griffin. “You have a lot of siblings.” He said, “and you were exceptionally close to your mother.” He eyed me to see my reaction. Initially, my eyes widened in surprise before I composed myself, trying to remain placid. I didn’t want to give anything away, who knew what other cards he had in his hands.
“You find yourself to be somewhat invisible amongst your large family, except for one family member. He noticed you, where others didn’t.” My skin turned cold, my insides twisted and he smiled at me. How did he know all this? I turned my head away; unable to bear looking at him anymore for fear that my eyes would tell him even my darkest secrets.
“Well, it seems far I’m right.” He was guessing? I instinctively looked up again before catching myself and diverting my gaze.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stuck my chin out and moved away from him to look at something else for a distraction. He laughed again like my entire existence was a joke.
“Oh, this is much fun. We should keep playing. Okay, was he a family friend?” He paused waiting for my reaction, “no. Okay... Milkman? Postman? Neighbor?” Nothing. I wasn’t giving him anything. I picked up one of the tomes and flipped it open. The pages were blank. I frowned at them. “Okay, Grandparent? Brother? Cousin?” He chuckled suddenly, but I wasn’t paying attention to him anymore.
The pages in front of me had begun to transform and words started to list themselves in a black curlicue script. Only it wasn’t words, it was names listed next to dates. Names that I recognized. They belonged to my siblings, but the dates next to their names wasn’t their birthdays. These were dates in the future, times that hadn’t passed yet. I looked up in horror as I realized what this was.
“Uncle.” He grinned at me as we both stared at each other. I was still shocked by the contents of the tome, but something in the back of my mind pointed out that this had been a game, he had known all along the answer. “Yes, it was an uncle.”
“These are death dates.” I said point blank, deliberately trying to ignore him.
“Yes.”
“How can you have them before these people have died?”
“I am the King of the Underworld, I must know when to expect high volumes of traffic.”
“I don’t believe you.” I closed the book, unable to bear looking at them anymore.
“Doesn’t matter what you believe does it? It is within my realm that I know these kinds of things; it’s not for you to know... Unless... ” He grinned more; he was referring to my Goddess again.
“It’s killing you keeping it a secret, why don’t you tell me?” I crossed my arms defensively and gave him an indignant look. I was brave but inside I was worried. Was my name in that book? No, it would’ve shown itself to me. Instead, it showed family. He was messing with me, trying to get into my head.
“It’s not as fun that way.” He stood up and moved toward me again. This time I moved quicker to get away from him and he stopped short, all bemusement in his features gone. “You’ll find everything you need here for you, you’re welcome to whatever your little mind can conjure as a necessity. It’s a prison, but not a rudimentary one. I’d like for you to be comfortable.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because, you’re important to me and it hurts me ever deeply that you continue to avoid my advances.”
“I went to a dinner and a party with you! How is that avoiding your advances?”
“Those were nothing more than a stupid boy’s sad attempt at love. What he doesn’t understand is that love doesn’t come that quickly. Sometimes it is necessary to force love.”
“You’re wrong, how could you think that?” I said, watching in horror as he walked around me and made his way toward the door. “Love only comes to those who deserve it and you’re nothing but a sad pathetic man who thinks he deserves everything when he deserves nothing!” He laughed again as he reached the door and pulled it open, he turned around slightly to glance at me before shrugging his shoulder.
“You’ll see in good time that what I am doing is in your best interests.”
“Griffin!” I shouted at him, starting toward the door as it began to swing shut. “Griffin! HADES.” The door slammed in my face and I made to grab the handle to try it but there wasn’t one. There wasn’t even a door anymore. I shrieked in horror, pulling back from the wall and looked around frantically for an escape. But there wasn’t any. He had locked me in a room with no exit or entrance. No door was available to anyone
who wasn’t the God of the Underworld.
“HADES!” I screamed his name again knowing that he could hear me. I could feel that he was listening, even watching me. “HADES!” I kept screaming until my voice was hoarse and I felt defeated, I walked over to the couch where he had left the wine and hit it with the back of my hand childishly. The goblet fell to the floor with a clamor and the ground absorbed the liquid. I slumped down on the couch, burying my face in my hands.
I wanted to cry but I was angry and confused than anything. It felt like the revelation of my Goddess was at hand, like she was staring me in the face waiting for me to realize who she was. Hades certainly seemed to think it was obvious. I wished I knew Greek mythology a little better; maybe then it would be obvious to me.
I turned slightly on the couch to look at the bookshelves. Maybe one of those tomes would have a list of Gods in it, a hint I could glean. But I was afraid to open them again to see when my family would die. It was a dark thought I wasn’t prepared for. Instead I stood, deciding that moping on the couch wasn’t helping anyone. I wasn’t hungry, or thirsty, nor had my anger diminished yet. I walked into the bedroom and looked around. The bed was grander than the one in my apartment, it was a four-poster bed with lavish curtains of dark purple and gold hanging from each post. There was a down blanket thrown on top with another fuzzy foot blanket. There was a closet too, but this one didn’t appear magical, Hades had picked out the outfits in this wardrobe for me.
I shuddered to think he might be able to watch me undress. Not wanting to sit on the bed quite yet I sunk to the floor, curling into a ball where I leaned against the bedside table with my arms wrapped around my knees.
I wanted to know how he had known all those things about me without me telling him. They must have something to do with my Goddess. Thinking about needing a notebook I pulled away from the drawer enough to open it and freed the book that appeared there with a pen. I flipped it open and propped it on my knees, quickly jotting down the things I could remember him saying and marking them by importance with numbers.
Except the things I found to be more important than others, might be different for my Goddess. I frowned at the list trying to bring to memory all those personalities I had read about. She had to be there somewhere amongst them otherwise he wouldn’t have made it seem obvious. I longed for a computer though; a simple search of Goddesses that were important to Hades would give me my answer. Underneath my list of things, Hades had spoken about I started recording Goddesses that might fit the profile. While one would work for point one it wouldn’t work for point two and on and forth, I had no leads.
When I ran out of names, I started thinking of other clues I could think of. Jed’s reaction to Cerberus, him calling me “Princess”, other things and hints that Hades might’ve dropped even when Griffin was in control. I frowned at the list getting more frustrated and feeling stupid for not knowing right off the bat. It had to be there, hidden somewhere in all these lists I had created.
I rubbed at my tired eyes, feeling sleep calling for me like a mistress, but I was afraid. If my Goddess knew what was happening, she might make me sleep forever to protect us. This had to have been what she was trying to keep from happening. This is what I stopped her from saving us from but instead had walked us right into it.
If she was even slightly awake inside of me, I had no doubt she was angry with me. This was entirely my fault. I had been desperate for someone to notice me, to care about me. I was enthralled with the idea of having a boyfriend I ignored the warning signs and there had been plenty of them.
“Stupid.” I muttered, throwing the notebook across the floor watching as it lodged itself under the crack of the door. I wished Cerberus were here, at least for company; the darkness of this cavern didn’t make me feel any better about the situation.
I pressed my forehead into my knees, letting my eyes close momentarily. I convinced myself that if I continued to think about the situation I would stay awake. Soon enough though, against my will, sleep pulled me under and I fell into a dream the first I’d had since coming to Olympus.
~
“I’m sorry.” I turned toward the voice, surprised to find myself staring in the mirror. Only the Valentina on the other side of the glass wasn’t a reflection. She wore different clothes; a dark purple toga intricately wrapped around her body and looping up over her shoulder, clasped in place with a flower. “I never thought... I never imagined that...” She frowned and shook her head, lost in her thoughts for a moment.
“Who are you?” I asked, stepping closer and hoping for an answer. She looked up again, smiling sadly.
“You.” It wasn’t the answer I was looking for.
“No, I mean... Which Goddess are you.” She reached out, her hand coming out of the mirror to touch my face. It was the strangest sensation; cool to the touch but soon it burned.
“My husband is a fearful man: he fears solitude, he fears loss, he fears our light... Fear can lead men to do great and terrible things.”
“Husband. Hades you’re our husband?” I blinked at the other Valentina and then gasped in recognition. A name coming to me out of the hundreds I had read about.
“Persephone. I’m Persephone.” She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before looking up again at me, her pupils suddenly on fire, the brightest shade of green I had ever seen.
“I’m sorry for this, I promise I will fix it but until then you have to stay here.”
“Stay where?” I frowned at my reflection as she started to fade away, disappearing from the mirror. “Persephone! Stay where? In this prison? Hey! Come back!”
She was gone and I, decidedly, was starting to get frustrated with Greek Gods.
Chapter 14
I woke not long after that feeling different than before. My limbs moved but I wasn’t controlling them. I felt like I was floating outside of my body yet my perspective hadn’t changed. I tried to speak, to ask questions but my mouth was no longer mine to command. Something moved me through the bedroom back into the central part of my apartment prison.
I stopped in the middle of the room and looked around as if searching for something, “such an easy prey.” I heard myself say. I crossed to the bookshelf and pulled down a tome different from the one of the night before. This one’s pages were not blank as I flipped them open. Words were scrawled across the page. My hands moved deftly to go through them I caught glimpses of what it said, “my dearest” “my love” “Persephone” “forever yours” “Hades.” This book was a collection of love letters written to me well, to her. That must be who was controlling me right now.
She finally stopped three quarters of the way through and found the letter she was looking for. Her finger scrolling along the words: “I fear that you might one day see what others have seen in me and abandon our love. I know that despite our situation that is what it is, you are my one true soul mate... I hope one day you will see that and our time apart will be limited. When you’re ready my Princess I will be waiting” I didn’t get to finish as I reached out and touched a part of the letter and the whole book lit up. Stepping away from it I turned, crossing my arms over my chest as the door of the wall opened and Griffin-Hades returned. He was grinning in that uncanny way as he walked in.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long.”
“Well, when you take to literally repeating history, it’s a little hard to stay hidden away.”
“You weren’t coming back to me.”
“I didn’t want to.” His face changed for a moment, the grin faded and it was momentarily replaced with one of genuine hurt.
“What did I ever do to you to deserve this punishment?”
“You tricked me! You lied to me! You took me away from my family.”
“A family that didn’t appreciate you! That didn’t love you... If Zeus cared about you as much as he said he did he wouldn’t have turned you over to me as my wife quickly.” “He was forced to because you tricked me into eating the food.”
“I re
member it differently.” He said flippantly, waving his hand at us before walking toward the couch.
“You are controlling and manipulative. You are like a child. You need to have your way or you throw a temper tantrum and act dramatic.”
“Nothing about this has been dramatic.” “Everything about this is dramatic!” My arms lifted above my head, signaling to the room around us. “Why couldn’t you play by the rules for once? Maybe I would’ve come to you...”
“She would’ve never come. The boy is weak.” “The boy is the perfect vessel for you!” He was up in a flash, towering over us with his hand tightly clamped around our neck. I felt myself panic, fearing I wouldn’t be able to breathe but Persephone was the picture of calmness.
“I am not weak.”
“You are. That’s why you are King of the Underworld and nothing more, only the wills of ghosts may be bent by you because you’ll never have the ability to command men.”
“I was never given the chance.” He tossed me away from him and my back hit the bookcase where Persephone steadied us.
“Gods, you’re arrogant.” I huffed, moving away from him and rubbing at my neck. I walked into the kitchen and found a glass, filling it with water.
“You can fight me again but this time I will have you entirely to myself.”
“Why can’t you see that leaving things alone is in your best interest? I hoped that maybe you had learned, that maybe this time it would be different and I could let myself love you organically. But instead you resort to archaic methods out of fear.”
“Again with this fear, this weakness.... Woman, you know me not.”
“Nor you I. I hoped we might have a thoughtful conversation but apparently, I was wrong. You’re dismissed.” Hades laughed again and moved toward me, taking
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