Pull Me Down

Chapter 1

LIVING IN THE UNDERWORLD wasn't the greatest place to call home, but it did have its perks, like partying with the vast guests in Hades' palace and enjoying the many great amenities within, such as a giant hot tub and majestic library. But being the daughter of a god was not all that it was cracked up to be.

Especially if your dad was Hades.

Usually, when gods had children with mortals, their powers were so diluted in the offspring that they could pass for normal humans. However, they were cases where the children developed powers. That's where the demigods came in. According to Hades, I held more power inside me than a demigod, which made the Olympians question my ability, so they agreed it'd be safer to return with my dad to the Underworld. And that's where I'd been for the past 18 years.

That's right, I had the same ill-lit, desolate, joyless view of nothingness for all my life. My dad banned me from traveling up top with him since the other gods took interest in my powers, although they hadn't even surfaced yet.

I guess being the only demigod potentially more powerful than any other demigod was bizarre. Who knew?

I didn't have many options in regard to entertainment around the palace. While there was a home movie theater, a massive library, and an indoor pool, those activities grew boring after many years of repetition. Despite that, something I never grew tired of was having Persephone around to keep me company.

Before she became the Goddess Queen of the Underworld, wife of Hades, she was the Goddess of spring growth. She was playing in a flowery meadow with her Nymph friends when she was seized by Hades and carried off to the Underworld long before I came around. Her mother, Demeter, searched the world for her daughter, and when she learned that Zeus conspired in her daughter's abduction, she was furious. Refusing to let the earth bear fruit until Persephone was returned, Zeus consented to returning her daughter, despite a resistant Hades.

Because Hades refused to let Persephone leave, he tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, and since anyone who tasted the food of Hades couldn't leave the Underworld, she was forced her to forever spend a part of the year in the Underworld. While she held the title of Queen of the Underworld, she remained the Goddess of spring growth,  and her annual return topside in spring was marked by the flowering of meadows and trees, while her return to the Underworld meant the halting of their growth in the winter.

When she was here six months out of the year, I constantly asked her questions of what the world was like outside of this hell. She always brought back little souvenirs from up top, keeping me tied to the mortal world, and because she knew how mind-numbing it could get down here.

From her last trip she gave me a large shiny, blue piece of glass that apparently was created by the ocean. It even had a special name: sea glass. Even though I lived in a world of fire, I'd always been fascinated by the oceans Persephone described to me. She was determined to sneak me up top with her one of these days so I could catch a glimpse of the wondrous blue water, but out of fear for her, I stayed behind, not wanting to upset Hades.

He was not a happy camper when people disobeyed him.

While Persephone was gone for the other half of the year, I had to make do with whatever was laying around in the palace since I was also banned from exploring the land. Hades didn't believe in giving me much freedom. It's not like I ever wandered off and fell into one of the rivers before.

Okay, there was one time when I was little where I might have almost fell into the Lethe River, which was the river of forgetfulness, but that was one time!

Needless to say, I hadn't been allowed to venture outside the palace walls after that incident. But I have been known to sneak some of the souls my age in when Hades was off at Olympus to keep me company, and by some miracle, Hades hadn't caught me yet.