Chapter 23 Hades
Hades
Igripped the arms of my throne as Persephone appeared in the middle of the throne room floor, covered in the thick black sewage.
She fell forward onto her hands and knees, heaving, and white hot fury roared in me, so close to breaking free from my godly constraints. Look what they have done to her. They will all die.
“Can't... breathe...” her words were ragged, and I leaped from my throne, but Poseidon got there first. In a flash he was standing in front of her, a cascade of water pouring from thin air over her body.
Her back arched slightly and she began to take deep, shuddering breaths. My coiled muscles relaxed ever so slightly, but I glared at the back of Poseidon's head.
Watching her drown in that shit-hole, the lair of a creature created by Hecate, her only friend here, and supplied with prey by me, had been torture.
My own realm had almost killed her, and Zeus had me powerless to help her.
The monster inside me was hungry, and my brother was the subject of its attentions. Had she actually died in there...
Suddenly black vines whipped from Persephone's palms and she was staggering to her feet. Her wild eyes were filled with hatred, and the vines blasted towards the thrones. Artemis, Ares and Zeus leaped to their feet as her voice roared through the room, clear and crisp and furious.
“I'm sick of this! You are done playing with me!”
Poseidon threw up his hand and spoke as Zeus and I stepped forward.
“It is the Underworld sewage making her angry. She will be fine when it has all been cleansed from her.” His gaze was fixed on Persephone as the jet of water above her tightened and moved, forming a powerful jet.
The black stuff began to sluice off her drenched body, her white hair clinging to her furious face.
“Why are you helping me?” she hissed at Poseidon, the vines still flicking fiercely through the air.
“Put the vines away, Persephone,” he answered her calmly. “I'm helping you because my hippocampus liked you.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and the tension in the vines slackened immediately.
“You give a shit what a hippocampus thinks?”
“Very, very much.”
She held his gaze a moment longer, then lowered her palms. The black vines disintegrated. I let out a long breath, and backed up again, glancing sideways at the other gods who had stood up. They all followed suit, Zeus flashing me a look that made my blood boil even hotter.
“I think it's all gone now,” Persephone said quietly, looking down at herself.
All the slime had washed away. But the anger lingered on her face, hot and barely contained. I could feel it emanating from her.
The shower of water stopped and Poseidon shimmered, then reappeared on his throne.
“And now to be judged!” sang the commentator, his normally irritating voice ever so slightly tense as he appeared at the foot of the dais.
Persephone turned slowly on the spot, clearly knowing what to expect.
The three judges, one cold, one fat and one wise, were seated behind her.
Five more minutes, Persephone, and you'll be alone.
Just keep it together for five more minutes, I willed.
“Radamanthus?”
“One token.”
“Aeacus?”
“One token.”
“And Minos?”
“I agree with my colleagues. You will be awarded one token,” Minos said. The seed box appeared in Persephone's wet hand and she stared down at it.
“There you have it, folks! With four Trials still to go, little Persephone has won four tokens. Let's not forget that Minthe, the current leader, completed the nine Trials with a total of five tokens. Persephone only needs two more to win the position of Queen of the Underworld.”
Persephone's eyes found mine, and I could see the realization dawn on her face. She could end this in just two more trials.
“For her next Trial, tomorrow evening, our favorite little human will be facing an endurance test like no other. Of the twelve gods, four will have a surprise for her. Dress for the occasion!”
With that, the commentator vanished. I stared at the spot he had been standing in, my mind whirring.
The gods had endurance tests planned for her? Well, I certainly wasn't one of four who had been selected. I threw a dirty glance at my brother and Zeus grinned back at me.
“Hades?” Persephone's voice in my mind made my whole body flinch, and as I looked at her I saw the barely contained power brimming over inside her, green light glowing from her body. “Help me,” she whispered in my head.
I flashed to her, grabbing her burning hot hand, then flashed us both to the first place my brain connected with her. Our derelict breakfast room.
“Let it out, Persephone, you're safe here,” I told her. Something dark was dancing in her green eyes, and now her actual skin was glowing too.
Vines erupted from her palms and she threw her head back as a blast of energy burst from her.
The breakfast room was lined with windows fifty feet tall, and the glass smashed in every single one of them in unison.
As her power hit me I staggered slightly, not because of the strength but because of the way it felt. It wasn't just fury or wrath. There was more, something deeper. She needed to use her true power, I realized.
I moved quickly to the little platform her tree used to grow from, and made myself larger, forcing her attention onto me.
“Use the green vines. There is earth under here,” I said loudly, stamping on the cracked marble beneath my feet.
Immediately her vines turned green, bolting towards my feet. I moved fast out of the way as they smashed through the remaining tiles, churning through the hard, dead earth beneath. Then she gasped, and the green glow around her intensified.
Everything stilled to nothing as I watched my Queen, my beautiful goddess, turn the dark fury of the Underworld into awesome, unbound life.
Lightning fast, the trunk of the blossom tree began to grow from the middle of the platform, swirling and spiraling as it got larger, branches shooting from the trunk, then leaves and flowers following fast.
Grass rose from the churning soil at the base, daisies sprouting amid the green turf. Pink petals began to dominate the sweeping branches as they extended over the table, and I could almost feel a phantom breeze ripple past me and through them.
Life. Color. Light.
I had longed for this tree for twenty-six years.
Her vines went slack suddenly, and she stumbled as they disintegrated. I flashed to her as her knees gave out, scooping her up and setting her down in one of the two chairs at the table. Always laid for two but never used.
She took a shuddering breath as she looked up into my face and my heart swelled with so much hope and love that it actually rivaled the size of the dark pit of power in my gut.
I would never let her go again. I couldn't. She was light and life and love, and she was mine.