Seeds: Hades and Persephone

Fifteen

When Persephone heard the sound of swans, she knew Aphrodite had arrived. She raked a comb through her tangled hair and exited her room. She had always felt inferior around Aphrodite. She was too pretty, too perfect. Persephone could never compare to her. Perhaps it was because Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty-anyone would think less of themselves when compared to Aphrodite. Persephone tossed her hair behind her shoulder and looked back in the mirror at herself, before walking out into the hall.

"Persephone!" Aphrodite exclaimed, gliding elegantly across the floor to delicately embrace her.

"Hello Aphrodite," Persephone greeted politely, returning the hug. "How have you been?"

"Oh, that's not important." She chuckled, stepping back and looking at Persephone intently. "How have you been, dear?"

"Oh, you know," Persephone said awkwardly. "Still serving time for the incident with Ares a few months ago, but I've been fine. I've just been staying home and baking in my spare time."

"Really?" Aphrodite's golden eyes flashed, and her lips curled up in a knowing smile. "Are you sure that's all you've been doing?"

Persephone looked at her, uncomfortable. "Yes." She said stiffly.

"If you say so." Aphrodite sung.

"What is she talking about, Kore?" Demeter asked, just walking into the room.

"Oh, I'm just giving her a hard time." Aphrodite teased. "Anyway," She continued, turning towards Persephone's mother." Demeter, you said you had some oats and spices for me, did you not?"

Their conversation faded into the background as Persephone's mind was engulfed in panic.

How does she know? Was her first thought. Is she going to tell my mother? Persephone's mind was racing a mile a minute. HOW DOES SHE KNOW?

Persephone swallowed and looked at Aphrodite, trying to figure out how she could talk to her without the fear of her mother overhearing.

"Aphrodite!" Persephone blurted out. Aphrodite's piercing golden eyes turned to her.

"Yes?" She asked, dark eyebrow raised in question.

"I-" She thought fast. "Could-could I, maybe get some, uh, hair tips from you, sometime?" She asked lamely.

Aphrodite's eyes widened in surprise. She looked genuinely touched. "Of course! How about after this? You could just come with me back to my temple and I could give you some one on one tips!" She turned to Demeter, her perfect ebony hair swinging behind her. "What do you say, Demeter? I mean, Persephone's been," she cast a smirk back at Persephone. "she's been trapped here for the last two months, she deserves some free time!"

"Well," Demeter thought. "Could you give her some advice on how to make her more appealing to boys?"

"Oh," Aphrodite chuckled. "I'm sure she's doing a fine job of that on her own."

"Sure, I guess!" Demeter finally said. "Just be home before dark."

Aphrodite flashed a pearly smile. "Let's head out now!" She said to Persephone. "We have so much to talk about." She took the spices from Demeter and took Persephone by the arm, leading her out of the house and humming a cheerful tune.

As soon as they were out of earshot of Demeter, Aphrodite whirled around to face Persephone.

"Spill your guts." She ordered, pausing a bit between each word. Persephone sighed.

"First, I have a few questions. How the Hell did you know?"

"Easy!" Aphrodite laughed coolly. I'm the goddess of love. You could say I have a sense for these things."

Exasperated, Persephone spoke. "But-but you just looked at me! That's all it took! How am I supposed to keep it a secret if all you have to do is look at me?"

Aphrodite's eyes shone brilliantly. "And it's a secret love too? Gods! It must be Christmas. Tell me." She said breathlessly, looking into Persephone's eyes in excitement. "Who is it?"

"Oh, so you can't just tell?" Persephone asked, a little irritated.

"Usually I can, but I can't figure it out through all the denial it's hidden under." The raven-haired goddess complained.

"Wha- I'm not in denial!" Persephone protested, jaw dropping.

Aphrodite gave her a look. "Keep telling yourself that,"

Persephone groaned and swept her hair back from her face. "Well, I was serious about the hair tips part. Could we go?"

"Oh, of course!" Persephone walked towards Aphrodite's carriage. She stepped on and Aphrodite stepped gracefully on behind her.

"Oh!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "I forgot about something! I have to go and get it. I'll be right back." She hopped off the carriage and darted back around the side of the house, leaving a very confused Persephone.

She looked back where Aphrodite had disappeared and sighed in annoyance.

She looked around, bored, and sighed in relief when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone coming back around the house. She turned to see who it was.

Persephone gasped.

"What are you doing here?" She leaped out of the carriage and ran over to him, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him back behind the house.

"How did you even get here without my mother noticing?" She demanded. But Hades just grinned.

"I have my ways." He said mysteriously.

"You need to get out of here!" Persephone couldn't help but smile, despite her earnest tone. "If my mother catches us together, I'm dead. We're dead."

Hades gasped, and Persephone looked up, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

Hades' dark brown hair began to lengthen and darken to black. His lips became fuller, and his eyes lightened from brown to golden. In an instant, he had transformed from Hades, to Aphrodite.

"I knew it!" Her voice was back to normal now, light and smooth. "I knew you were in love with someone unexpected, but I never expected it to be Hades!" She cried joyfully.

Persephone's emotions went wild. From her previous joy, to surprise, to fear, to outrage.

"What the Hell was that?!" Persephone demanded. "And I'm not in love! And what-what the Hell was that?"

"Come to my temple with me and I'll tell you. You wouldn't want your," She lowered her voice. "Mother to overhear, would you?"

Persephone rolled her eyes and followed Aphrodite, stepping into her carriage. Aphrodite waved a finger, and the swans tied up to the carriage obediently spread their wings and took off, lifting the carriage into the air.

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Sorry for not updating,and thanks for putting up with all my crap! School has been AWFUL, but I finally wrote enough to publish a chapter! Hopefully the next one will be up by at least a week from now. What did you think? Constructive Criticism is always appreciated.