Death and Madness 2

Demeter gives me cereal and Persephone gives me a rose

Gods are the most annoying, stubborn and stupid bastards to grace the Earth in my expert opinion. 

When I saw Hades after we saw Maria Di Angelo's death, I was sure he would smite us or burn us to a crisp or something equally painful. Technically, Nico had been forbidden to search for his mother's ghost and we had did exactly that.

But now we found ourselves arguing with the lord of the dead, his wife and his mother in law in his palace.

"You have to!" Nico kept insisting.

Demeter and Persephone sat behind them at the breakfast table. Somehow, they had roped me into joing them at the table. So now I was sitting next to Nico's step mom and across from his step grandmother. Both of the goddesses looked bored. Demeter poured shredded wheat into five huge bowls.

"I prefer cornflakes" I said hesitantly. 

"BAH" Demeter waved her hand. I had no idea how to properly interact with gods, much less my bestfriend/crush's family. "That industrialised crap is no good for you. If you are to be good for my grandson, this will give you all the nutrients"

I gaped at her. Did everyone know about my crush except for Nico?

What the actual fuck?

Nevertheless, I accepted the bowl of Demeter special cereal and added milk to it as I watched the show between Nico and Hades unfurl. 

"Are they always like this?" I asked Persephone who was magically changing the flower arrangement on the table, turning the blossoms from red to yellow to polka-dotted.

"Most of the time" She grumbled.

I had no idea what day or time it was. Days could have passed and I wouldn't know. All I knew was that we needed to convince Hades to help us in the war. As stubborn as the gods were, I had a feeling we would need their help in the war. 

"I don't have to do anything!" Hades' eyes blazed. "I'm a god!"

"Father," Nico said, "if Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. You'll fade too."

"I am not an Olympian!" he growled. "My family has made that quite clear."

"You are," Nico said. "Whether you like it or not."

"Here" I made a small vine curl up onto the table, right over Persephone, Demeter and my bowls. It sprouted fresh, bright red strawberries and blue berries. "It makes cereal taste better" 

Reluctantly, the goddesses plucked the fruit and added it to their bowls. I had been in a lot of bizarre situations, but nothing like this.

"You saw what they did to your mother," Hades was yelling when I tuned back into their argument while I shoved cereal in my mouth. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I started eating. "Zeus killed her. And you would have me help them? They deserve what they get!"

Persephone sighed. She walked her fingers across the table, absently turning the silverware into roses. "Could we please not talk about that woman?" She handed me one rose. 

I may have blushed. 

"You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother—"

"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building."

"It would give him some sick muscles" I mumbled under my breath.

Nico stepped in front of his father, forcing Hades to face him. "My mother understood about family. That's why she didn't want to leave us. You can't just abandon your family because they did something horrible. You've done horrible things to them too."