Chapter 11 #2
‘Eww, no thanks. Fangless is good if you don’t mind.’ I scrunched up my face, and she spluttered a laugh. ‘Anyway, I’ve been swotting up on the gods. Erm, particularly Hades.’ I felt blood rush to my cheeks at the mention of sort of being a total stalker over him.
Then, the questions fell out of my mouth in one long exhale. ‘He kidnapped me, but he also took the original Persephone, didn’t he? Was she like me? Do I look like her? Is that why he kidnapped me? And her poor mother was frantic with worry. What happened to Demeter?’
‘You are the original Persephone, Sephy, and you know it.’ I wrinkled my nose and the odd feeling that she might be right gnawed at my gut.
‘But how?’
Tee gave a half-shrug in response. ‘Hades will need to tell you the entire story.’ I grumbled expletives at her words. ‘Just know, Sephy, your soul is hers; your body and face are hers. You are her.’ I scrunched my brows together.
‘Even with the remote chance I am her—which is very much debatable—I’m a different person. I'm me.’ I squinted at Tee and raised my chin.
‘Well, you’re certainly more feisty and stroppy than you used to be.’ I coughed out a shocked laugh. ‘You’ve been reborn, Sephy.’
‘Reborn?’
‘Yes. I can’t exactly tell you what happened to you…
that’s down to Hades, sorry.’ Tee’s brow furrowed.
‘But I can tell you that rebirth is a possibility. Souls in the Underworld have the option to reincarnate. They drink from the river Lethe to forget their former lives and are propelled towards new birth; they are reincarnated. Many choose that path. It keeps the circle of life going.’
‘Oh,’ I muttered. ‘But I didn’t drink from the Lethe?’ Tee shook her head, and confusion addled my brain. If I were Persephone, then just… how the fuck? I clenched my jaw as she continued.
‘You were reborn to Hermione’s daughter, who, as you know, died in childbirth.’
‘My mother, yes.’ I swallowed roughly.
‘Your grandmother at the time was the High Priestess of the New York High Coven.’ I gave a brief nod, and Tee hesitated for a heartbeat. ‘You’re not a witch, Sephy.’
I shot from my seat. ‘Of course I’m a witch.’ I gritted my teeth. ‘This is bullshit.’
‘Your flora magic… Your dark power. It’s what you had before. You’re a goddess… Not a witch.’
‘No. No. I’m a witch. My grandmother taught me about magic. Taught me how to manage my dark magic.’ I shook my head in vehement denial.
‘She taught you to suppress your power, Sephy. She had no idea what it truly was, but you need to be able to control the shadow magic. You’re a goddess. A goddess of immense power. The goddess of spring, life, and fertility, among other things.’
I was torn between disbelief and an impending hysterical meltdown as panic sliced through my chest, sending adrenaline pumping through my veins. I wasn’t a witch… I was a deity.
‘Shadow magic?’ She nodded. ‘I’m actually a goddess?’ I muttered in disbelief. ‘All this time…’
‘You didn’t believe me. I know.’
Well, this was just the tip of the fucked-up iceberg. ‘What other things?’ I whispered.
Tee shifted in her seat. ‘Your name means Bringer of Death—’
‘What? Am I… Was I evil?’ I gasped.
Tee smiled kindly. ‘You’ve never been cruel, Persephone.
Not once. You’ve always been fair and kind.
But you have a darker side.’ My gaze shot to hers, my eyes widening.
‘You can heal and create life, but you can also take life away. That’s why we need to work on controlling your power.
’ I nodded wordlessly, glancing down at my clenched fists.
‘You are also the goddess of reincarnation and ghosts.’
‘I can heal?’ She nodded at my question.
‘Your powers are growing again, Sephy. I can feel them.’
‘I can’t even…’ I whispered, my mind a spinning vortex. ‘And reincarnation and ghosts?’ I breathed, frowning.
‘And mistress of the Furies.’
‘The Furies?’ Tee nodded with amusement.
‘Let’s not overload your brain. I'll fill you in on everything you need to know as we train, alright? We have a lot of work to do on this shadow magic of yours. You’ve got to get it under control.’
‘Shadow magic?’ I repeated again as I shook my head slightly; my life was going from crazy-la-la to straight Insanity-land.
‘Here.’ Tee refilled my glass of nectar, which I sipped. It tempered my jangled nerves and helped clear my spinning head. I sat there, mulling over her words for… I wasn’t sure how long, only that it felt like forever.
I’m not a witch; I’m a goddess. A real-life goddess. But that didn’t erase the truth: the gods had slaughtered so many with magic.
Tee roused me from my reverie. ‘Getting back to what you asked about. Okay, yes, Hades has sort of kidnapped you.’
‘Sort of? Really?’ I let out a sharp laugh.
‘Well, the daft, grumpy bugger rushed into it without thinking it through properly; he was so desperate to get you back, and now look at the mess we’re in.’
I closed my eyes, my heart sped up, and as I took another drink, I felt a slight tremor in my hands. It was true; I was in a giant dumpster fire of a situation as far as the gods were concerned.
‘But when he lost you the first time…’ She hesitated, and my eyes snapped to hers. ‘He exploded with rage, Sephy. He killed thousands of innocents.’
‘What… what did he do?’ The words scraped out of me. I couldn’t reconcile the man I’d spent time with as someone capable of slaughtering innocents.
Then again, the gods had never needed a reason to slaughter witches. So what the hell did I know?
‘He is mighty, Sephy. He has control over the Underworld, which is essentially the Earth from the crust down. Because of this, he is also the richest god.’ I gave her a ‘carry on’ gesture with my hand.
‘He exploded. And, I mean, exploded. His grief over losing you caused him to lose his mind. His rage caused many earthquakes, killing thousands of mortals. He was absolutely devastated once we managed to calm him down.’
I gasped. ‘Holy crap.’ Was it my fault so many people had died? A storm of emotions rushed through me—every fibre of my being was swept up in the onslaught.
At times, I could taste his sorrow; it felt almost tangible.
Was it due to his anguish over losing Persephone and his ensuing actions?
That tug in my chest intensified, threatening to drag my heart from my ribcage.
I had an overwhelming urge to see him, but I squished that little fucker back down before I bolted out of the kitchen to find him, like a total creeper.
‘And as for Demeter, no one has seen her since you disappeared. We believe, with Zeus’s permission, she took herself off to Delos, which was Artemis’s court. The original legend of you and Hades isn’t true, you know, Sephy.’
‘What do you mean?’ I tilted my head at the Titan.
A faint smile danced on her lips as she took a drink. ‘You first met Hades in Olympus at one of Zeus’s gatherings. It was the first one your mother allowed you to attend. She was quite… controlling. You were essentially like her prisoner—’
‘Great gods. That’s so not cool.’
‘Yeah. Demeter kept you on her island for centuries. Your only friends were nymphs, and no one had ever laid eyes on you. She was petrified of losing you.’
‘Demeter sounds like she had some major parenting issues.’
Tee huffed a laugh. ‘She sure did. Anyway, being able to smell and taste emotions—’
‘Which is freaky on so many levels,’ I interrupted, prompting her smirk. ‘Can any of the other gods taste emotions?’
‘Only the big three: Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon. Though, Hades can also see through lies and into souls.’
‘Into souls?’ My eyes rounded, and she cough-laughed.
‘Yup. Anyway, Hades sensed how lonely and miserable you were. When you chatted with him, you opened up and confessed that you wished for your freedom from your mother. He understood, having come from a fucked-up family himself. Zeus has always bullied him.’
‘Bullied him?’
‘Yeah, he constantly jibes Hades, but he’s quite envious of him. He resents how his people adore him and how powerful he is. Naturally, once Hades had you, Zeus’s jealousy only grew worse. He’s an egotistical prick.’
‘That’s awful. Why doesn’t Hades challenge him?’
Tee shrugged. ‘He’s gotten used to it over the aeons. He once told me that the only person you can change in your family is yourself, and that comes down to how you choose to interact with them. But he keeps his distance from Zeus as much as possible.’
‘Was Zeus really Persephone’s father?’
‘Your father.’ She shot me a narrow-eyed look.
‘Nope, we don’t believe so. Demeter has never revealed his identity, but you’ve got to remember, Sephy, that the original gods were created, not born.
Though they consider themselves siblings, there’s no DNA going on. They’re beings of magic and power.’
I mulled over her words for a few seconds. ‘Persephone—erm, I—must have trusted Hades to confide in him about Demeter?’
She gave a half-shrug. ‘Like I said, he’s a nice guy. Anyway, he offered you sanctuary in the Underworld, for as long as you wished. You both staged the kidnapping because Demeter rarely let you out of her sight.’
‘Did he really split the earth and come out in a chariot?’
‘Yup.’ She grinned.
‘Like a knight in shining armour,’ I breathed, a little bemused.
‘Hades knew he loved you from the moment he laid eyes on you.’
‘And Persephone?’
‘You’—she hesitated—‘most probably fell in love with him the first time you met. You were repressed, because of your mother. You weren’t accustomed to men. Hades gave you time, but it didn’t take long until you and he were—’
‘Okay. I get the picture,’ I cut in, raising a hand. Hecate grinned, then immediately sobered.