Out Of Time

𝔓𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢

The Beginning of The End*

Persephone held Lexi in her arms and stood over the body of the young girl who signed a deal with the devil. Desirae's body was in a glass coffin, giving her an eerie resemblance to Snow White. Persephone turned to the approaching footsteps while petting a whining Lexi.

"Was this really necessary?" she asked her husband.

"Yes. It had to be her. It had to be now. There was no way around it," Hades answered.

He looked at Desirae and sighed. For some reason, he liked the child. Not as much as his own, but enough. He thought back to when they made the deal that got her in this situation.

~Hades's throne room was a sight to behold. As Desirae cautiously but quickly made her way before Hades, she couldn't help but marvel at the room structure itself and the different pieces that come together to make the room so grand. She almost forgot that she was about to speak with the ruler of the Underworld. She snapped back to reality when she stumbled on her own foot.

"Desirae Moore-Williams," Hades started, with a booming voice. "I've been expecting your arrival for some time."

Whatdidhesay?

"Tell me. Why are you here?"

"Hello, sir - my lord?" She stuttered. "I am here on a quest for Adamantine. Trouble is stirring within the realms and Chiron wishes for everyone to be prepared."

"I see," Hades nodded, stroking his beard. "Tell me, Desirae. Are you willing to pay any price for the Adamantine?"

"I am, sir."

"Even if the price you have to pay is your life?"

She hesitated for a moment and thought about it. She didn't know what the adamantine was for, but she knew that it was important. She would be willing to pay the price, but how would her friends react? How would her family react?

"Yes," she finally replied, a solemn tone lacing her voice. "But Percy, Annabeth, and Grover... they won't have a way out."

He leaned toward her, an almost menacing sneer resting on his face.

"None of you have any pearls. There are other ways to leave my realm. Which do you suppose would get your friends out yet keep our deal intact?"

Stories of people who had ventured into the underworld flashed through her mind as if she was using a microfilm reader. Her brain suddenly stopped on Orpheus and Eurydice. All she had to do was get one of them to turn around when the three of them were safely out.

"Orpheus and Eurydice. I could get one of them to turn around like he did and it would send me back down here."

"And how would you convince them to go along with it?"

"We could... play a call and response game. Probably Marco Polo. The person at the front calls, and the rest respond in order. I'll be a the back, that way I can see when they're all clear."

Hades leaned back in his chair with slightly narrowed eyes and quietly huffed in amusement. She had thought this through. "And if they try to come back for you?"

"They won't. I'll make sure of it," she promised. Her eyes flashed to her new companion cuddling in her arms. "Sir, can Lexi stay with me?"

"Lexi?" He blinked.

'Ah, the chimera pup,' he thought. He briefly looked to the dark corner where his wife had quietly resided. She nodded her head.

"Persephone has taken a liking to the pup and will take care of her."