Persephone arrived at the hospital with Sybil two hours later. She was too anxious to stay away. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Apollo’s healing powers, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong. She could feel it—a tangible darkness gathering behind her, gaining speed and depth and weight.
Would Lexa be healed enough by the time they took her off the ventilator? Would Hades intervene? What would happen once he discovered she’d bargained with Apollo? Would he see her decision as betrayal?
The guilt made her nauseous and lightheaded and as she headed into the elevator with
Sybil, she worried she’d have another panic attack. She wondered if the oracle sensed her
turmoil, especially when she glanced in her direction.
Instead, Sybil asked, “Did you do it?”
Persephone didn’t look at the oracle. She kept her gaze on the red number as it changed
from floor to floor.
“Yes.”
“What did you offer in exchange?”
She’d hoped to keep her bargain secret for as long as possible. She didn’t want to know what her friend actually thought of her choice.
“Time.”
Persephone had yet to really understand what she’d agreed to when it came to Apollo’s
demand for her attention, but the worry was already sinking into her bones. In the hours
after she’d left the hospital, she’d gone over the terms of their agreement. She was certain she’d missed something, and it was just a matter of time before Apollo asked her to do something she couldn’t refuse.
If Lexa is alive, it will be worth it, she thought.
She hoped.
When they arrived on the second floor, Jaison was already there, sitting in the same wooden chair he’d occupied since Lexa’s accident with his eyes closed. He stirred as they approached and looked at them.
“Hey,” Persephone said as gently as she could. “How are you?”
Jaison shrugged. The whites of his eyes were yellow, his skin pallid.
“How long until we hear something?” Sybil asked.
“They plan to take her off life support at nine.” His voice was hollow.
Persephone and Sybil exchanged a glance. Jaison leaned forward and rubbed his face vigorously before standing.
“I’m going to get some coffee.”
He walked off, and Persephone watched him until he disappeared. No wonder mortals begged Hades to return their loved ones. The threat of death took more than one life. The thought brought tears to her eyes. How was she supposed to rule a kingdom that caused so much pain? That brought suffering to the living?
“He doesn’t know, does he?” Sybil asked.
Persephone shook her head. He still thought he was losing Lexa today.
“No one needs to know,” she said. “Let them think it was a miracle.”
The two took a seat and waited. Jaison eventually came back with a steaming cup of coffee and sat beside her. They didn’t speak, which was fine with her. She was lost in thought, unable to focus on any one thing. The longer the silence stretched the more her anxiety grew.
At some point, Lexa’s family began to arrive. Soon, they were led to a larger room where Lexa had been moved. Lexa’s parents were nearest to her, then Jaison, several aunts and uncles and friends from her hometown of Ionia. Each person in the room approached her and said their goodbyes, touching her, holding her hand or kissing her face.
When it was Persephone’s turn, she scooped up Lexa’s hand, and pressed a kiss to her cold skin.
“Please, please wake up,” she prayed to no one but Apollo’s magic and to Persephone’s
surprise, Lexa squeezed her hand. She looked up and met Jaison’s gaze, but she could tell by his expression that he had seen what happened.
“She squeezed my hand.” Persephone’s voice was high-pitched, unfamiliar to her ears, but she was experiencing a rush of adrenaline.
“What?” Jaison looked down at Lexa and clasped her other hand.
“Lexa, Lexa, babe. If you can hear me, squeeze my hand!”
There was a flurry of activity after that. Everyone but Lexa’s parents were ushered out of the room and the doctors were called in to check her vitals. Sometime later, Lexa’s father came to the waiting room to let everyone know that her body had healed enough in the last twelve hours to support life-sustaining activity.
“It’s a miracle,” he said, eyes watery. “A miracle.”
Persephone’s eyes watered, too, and her body trembled. Her sacrifice had been worth it! Lexa was back.
“You did it,” Sybil whispered, and the two hugged. It was then she noticed Jaison standing apart from them. She approached, hesitant.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Jaison said, he sniffed, wiping his eyes. After a moment, he embraced her, his breath releasing in a harsh gasp. “Thank you, Persephone.”
His expression of gratitude seemed misplaced given what Persephone had done, so instead of speaking, she remained quiet, hugging him tighter.
They lingered in the waiting room for a little while, talking and laughing. Everything felt strange but hopeful, like the sun was still managing to shine through thick, black clouds. At some point, Persephone decided it was time to sneak away. She needed a shower and a few hours of sleep. She said goodbye to Jaison, Sybil, and Lexa’s family and left.
She made it outside before the hair on the back of her neck stood up and a terrifying hiss drew her attention skyward where three women hovered, black, leathery wings spread wide. Their limbs were pale white, and black snakes twined around their bodies. Their hair was inky and seemed to float around them as if they were underwater. Each wore a crown of thick spires, resembling black blades.
They were Furies—goddesses of vengeance, and they only popped up when someone broke Divine Law.
“Persephone, daughter of Demeter.”
They spoke in unison, their voices echoing in her mind like the hiss of a snake.
“Fuck.”
“You have broken a sacred law of the Underworld and therefore, must be punished.”
A shiver of fear shook her spine. She had not considered that her decision to help Lexa would be punishable by the three goddesses.
Suddenly, serpents slithered around her feet. Persephone jumped.
“Oh, no! Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
She tried to jump from the middle of the pool of snakes, but they were quick to surround her, slithering up her legs, torso, and shoulders. Their scales were slippery and rough and tightened around her like rope. A faint whisper reached her ears—punish, punish, punish. Then one of the serpents sunk its fangs into her shoulder.
Persephone screamed. The pain was sharp, and the venom burned. Suddenly, she was frozen—her scream dried up in her throat and her legs wouldn’t work. She tried to move but fell, striking the cement hard. Her body felt like it was being torn apart, and all of a sudden everything was dark, and she was falling.
She appeared on the floor of Nevernight.
She was surprised when Apollo landed on his face beside her. The god groaned, rolling onto his back. Persephone regained movement in her limbs and started to get to her feet when she saw Hades standing over her like a dark cloud. There was an acute fury in his eyes, and she felt like he was skinning her alive with that stare. She had never experienced fear standing opposite him, even after she had published her story on Apollo, but right now, it settled heavy and cold in her stomach.
Is this what it was like to come before Hades, King of the Underworld—judge and
punisher?
“Fucking Furies,” Apollo said as he got to his feet, brushing himself off. Persephone glanced at the god, who now spotted Hades. “You know you could upgrade to something a little
more modern to enforce natural order, Hades. I’d rather be carried off by a well-muscled man than a trio of albino goddesses and a serpent.”
“I thought we had a deal, Apollo,” Hades gritted out.
Persephone marveled at how her lover could appear so calm, and yet infuse his voice with a quiet fury. She felt it in the air, and it settled on her skin, drawing goosebumps to the surface.
“You mean the deal where I stay away from your goddess in exchange for a favor?”
Hades said nothing. Apollo knew the deal.
“I’d have been more than obliging, except your little lover showed up at Erotas demanding my help. While I was in the middle of a bath, I should add.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Persephone hissed.
“She can be very persuasive when she’s angry,” he continued, ignoring her. “The magic helped.”
Apollo didn’t even need to say the last part, Hades knew what it meant when she got angry—loss of control.
“You never said she was a goddess. No wonder you snatched her up quickly.”
Why does everyone say that, she wondered?
“I could hardly deny her request when she had razor-sharp thorns pointed at my nether-regions.”
Persephone wanted to vomit, but she glanced at Hades and noted that despite the anger clouding his face, he seemed a little proud.
“So, we struck a deal. A bargain, as you like to call it.”
Hades eyes darkened.
“She asked me to heal her little friend, and in exchange, she provides me with…companionship.”
“Don’t make it sound gross, Apollo.”
“Gross?”
“Everything that comes out of your mouth sounds like a sexual innuendo.”
“Does not!”
“Does too.”
“Enough!” Hades voice cracked like a whip, and when Persephone looked at him, she saw fire in his eyes. Though he addressed Apollo, his gaze didn’t leave her, and she felt it tear
away all her layers, exposing the raw and real fear she felt beneath. “If you are no longer
in need of my goddess, I would like a word with her. Alone.”
“She’s all yours,” Apollo said, who had the good sense to evaporate and say nothing else.
Persephone stood still, staring at Hades. The silence on the floor of Nevernight was tangible. It set heavy on her shoulders and pressed against her ears, and when his voice erupted, burning away the quiet, it promised pain—she could already feel her heart
breaking.
“What have you done?”
“I saved Lexa.”
“Is that what you think?” He seethed. She could see tendrils of his glamour coming off him like smoke. She’d never seen him lose control of his magic.
“She was going to die—”
“She was choosing to die!” Hades snarled, he advanced upon her. His glamour fell away, and he stood before her, stripped of his mortal form. He seemed to fill the room, an inferno,
spreading his heat, his anger billowing, eyes inflamed. “And instead of honoring her wish,
you intervened. All because you are afraid of pain.”
“I am afraid of pain,” she snapped. “Will you mock me for that as you mock all mortals?”
“There is no comparison. At least mortals are brave enough to face it.”
She flinched, and her anger ignited, a searing pain erupted from all over as thorns sprouted from her skin.
“Persephone.”
He reached for her, but she stepped away, the movement was painful, and she inhaled between her teeth.
“If you cared, you would have been there!”
“I was there!”
“You never once came with me to the hospital when I had to watch my best friend lie unresponsive. You never once stood by me while I held her hand. You could have told me when Thanatos would start showing up. You could have let me know she was…choosing to die. But you didn’t. You hide all of that, like it was some fucking secret. You weren’t there.”
For the first time since she was dumped in front of him by the Furies, he looked shocked and sounded a little lost when he said, “I didn’t know you wanted me there.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, and there was a twist in her voice, a note of her sadness she couldn’t hide.
“I’m not the most welcomed sight at a hospital, Persephone.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“And what’s yours?” he asked. “You never told me—”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you to be there for me when my friend is dying. Instead, you act like it’s as…normal as breathing.”
“Because death has forever been my existence,” he snapped, growing more and more frustrated.
“That’s your problem. You’ve been the God of the Underworld so long, you’ve forgotten what it is really like to be on the brink of losing someone. Instead you spend all your time judging mortals for their fear of your realm, for their fear of death, for their fear of losing who they love!”
She was a little shocked by the words coming out of her mouth. To be truthful, she hadn’t realized how angry she’d been until this very moment.
“So you were angry with me,” he said. “And once again, instead of coming to me, you decided to punish me by seeking Apollo’s help.” He spat the god’s name; his hatred evident.
“I wasn’t trying to punish you. When I decided to go to Apollo, I no longer felt like you were an option.”
Hades eyes narrowed. “After everything I did to protect you from him—”
“I didn’t ask that of you,” she snapped.
“No, I suppose you didn’t. You have never welcomed my aid, especially when it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.” He sounded so bitter, she flinched.
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it? I have offered an Aegis, and you insisted you do not need a guard, yet you are regularly accosted on your way to work. You barely accept rides from Antoni, and you only do now because you don’t want to hurt his feelings. Then, when I offer comfort, when I try to understand your hurt over Lexa’s pain, it isn’t enough.”
“Your comfort?” she exploded. “What comfort? When I came to you, begging you to save Lexa, you offered to let me grieve. What was I supposed to do? Stand back and watch her die when I knew I could prevent it?”
“Yes,” Hades hissed. “That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You are not above the law of my realm, Persephone!”
Clearly not. The Fates had come after her.
“I don’t see why her death matters. You come to the Underworld every day. You would have seen Lexa again!”
“Because it’s not the same,” she snapped.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She glared at him; arms crossed tight over her chest. How was she supposed to explain this? Lexa was her first friend, her closest friend, and just when she thought she had her life in order, she met Hades who threw it all out of orbit. Lexa was the only anchor to her old life and now Hades wanted to take her, too?
Which led to the real problem and it hurt to say, because she was admitting her greatest fear.
“What happens if you and I,” she paused, unable to say the words. “If the Fates decide to unravel our future? I don’t want to be so lost in you, so anchored in the Underworld, that I don’t know how to exist after.”
Hades eyes narrowed, but when he spoke, his voice was desolate. “I’m beginning to think that maybe you don’t want to be in this relationship.”
Those words made her chest feel as if it were caving in. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are you saying?”
She shrugged, and for the first time, she felt tears building behind her eyes. “I don’t know. Just that…right when I was really starting to figure out who I was, you came along and fucked it all up. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be. I don’t know—”
“What you want,” he said.
“That’s not true,” she said. “I want you. I love—”
“Don’t say you love me,” he interrupted her again. “I can’t…hear that right now.”
The silence that followed made her feel even more hopeless. Her face felt wet, and she touched her cheek, wiping away the tears.
“I thought you loved me,” she whispered.
“I do,” he said, staring at the floor. “But I think I may have misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood what?”
“The Fates,” he said bitterly. “I have waited for you so long, I ignored the fact that they rarely weave happy endings.”
“You cannot mean that,” she said.
“I mean it. You’ll find out why soon enough.”
Hades restored his glamour and straightened his tie; his eyes void of emotion. How could he recover so quickly when she felt like her insides were destroyed? Then, as if he hadn’t already torn a hole through her heart, his parting words reached her—ice cold and haunting.
“You should know that your actions have condemned Lexa to a fate worse than death.”
