Truth Or Fiction

Chapter Ten

Elle smiled as her sister handed her a scroll. "Thanks Mel."

"No worries," Melody smiled back at her and went to go sit back down as Elle untied the scroll and got started reading.

It turned out Hades didn't have too much longer to wait, as the day wore on. The ebb and flow of customers was at a pretty steady stream until an hour before Hades 'closed' for the day. He never officially closed up shop and most knew that there were prepared dishes in the kitchen that people could take from if needed.

"Dad, that's a practice that needs to keep going," Mal nodded.

"Oh yeah, the crew's found that to be a lifesaver," Uma agreed.

"Or you know when one of us gets locked out for the night," Jay shrugged.

Aladdin looked at the older boy in shock. "I'm sorry what?"

Jay looked over at him. "Exactly what I said. If Harry, Uma, or I get locked out of our homes, we'll go over to Lord Hades' restaurant and grab one of those prepared meals."

"The clubhouse has nowhere to store food after all," Uma stated.

Hades sighed. Those prepared plates were meant to help the kids of the Isle but he didn't think they would have to help his kid. He was more than happy to of course. He just wish they weren't needed.

Where those dishes were kept, though, was a secret only a select few knew. Hades obviously was one of them, considering he ran the place. Panic was another, and Hook was the last person who knew.

Hades wasn't exactly thrilled to share that information with the pirate but in exchange for that and letting him and his allies eat for free, Hades got his orders from Hook's shop free of charge.

"Let me guess, you can't get something for nothing?" Elle asked.

"Exactly!" Uma nodded.

The front door clanged open and Hades didn't bother to look up. He knew, despite there only being one option, that most villains still took their sweet time ordering their food. Hades didn't mind—he just charged them extra for that. There was never a price on the board so no one ever tried to fight him on it.

Leah shook her head. Dastardly, trying to cheat his customers. The only positive about the whole thing is that he's trying to cheat villains!

They all knew the motto of the Isle: life ain't fair. Hades just happened to like teaching it to the adults who hadn't learned it yet.

"So what adults needed to learn that lesson?" Lonnie asked.

"My money's on low level villains who thought themselves more important than they truly were, right dad?" Mal asked.

Hades nodded. The 'high level' villains never came into his restaurant since they could easily get the food from the barge.

"What's bakaliaros?" Mal's voice called out, sounding out the word slowly as if it was foreign to her.

"Oh dad can make some great bakaliaros!" Hyllus grinned.

Hades looked over at Hercules. "You cook?"

Hercules shrugged. "I grew up mortal after all. It had been an interesting experience, what with my strength but I learned," he said. Even after all these years he wasn't sure if it was okay referring to his adoptive parents as 'mom and dad' around his parents. He didn't want to bring up bad memories.

Considering its Greek background, it probably was. Hades' heart clenched and he took a deep breath before looking out the window that allowed him to see out to the front of the house from the kitchen. Frowning when he didn't see anyone, Hades made his way from the kitchen to the front counter. Looking down, he had to hold back a chuckle as he saw Mal. No wonder he hadn't seen her, she was so short that the counter had completely hidden her from view.