Seeds: Hades and Persephone

Eighteen

I've been on a writing spree the past two days, so here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

The Sun was going down, and Persephone hadn't moved in about two and a half hours. Her legs ached, but she didn't dare stretch them, for fear of losing her balance. Yes, she was still at the top of the tree. She was sitting, perched atop a thin branch. There was a spindly branch the stretched out behind her, at the perfect height for her to lean back and not fall. The wind was colder up here, and Persephone's skin rippled with goose bumps every time a gust blew through the branches. Demeter had come out a couple times, parking herself at the bottom of the tree and begging her to come down for fear she was going to catch a cold, but Persephone refused every single time, and Demeter left in defeat.

Her stomach growled, long and slow. She hadn't eaten since she had gotten home from her morning out with Hades, and even then, it had only been bread and honey. Persephone was cold, and Persephone was hungry. But she was also stubborn. And she wasn't going to leave her tree.

She thumbed a small sprout of leaves at the top of the tree, absently letting a bit of power through her fingertips. The sprout began to writhe and shudder, growing bigger and bigger until Persephone realized what she was doing and quickly removed her hand. An idea came to mind, and she sat up, inspired.

She shimmied down the tree until she was about halfway between the top and the ground. She pressed her hand to the sides of the trunk and concentrated. Power flew from her hands and new branches erupted around her feet, stretching out in a straight line until she was left with a makeshift floor. She walked around the tree, each step a new branch. She felt faint but steeled her gut and knelt down at the branches, her power gently guiding them upward until they resembled a softened "L" shape. She stepped back and admired her creation. She had a floor, and walls. With a quick twist of her hands, three of the branches that made up the walls separated, making a window. Persephone did this four more times until she was left with five homemade windows. Her vision spun. Too much power, not enough food. Her mind complained. She sat down with some difficulty, rubbing her eyes. Maybe I should come down. She finally gave in, and looked around to find the opening so she could climb down the tree. Oh my gods... She realized. I forgot to make an exit. She mentally slapped herself.

"You're literally the dumbest person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting." She told herself. Wait... That doesn't make sense... I've never met myself. I'm dumb.

"Hi, I'm Persephone." She said aloud, to an empty treehouse. "Hi Persephone, I'm Persephone." She giggled. "Nice to meet you, Persephone."

"I'm tired." This was a horrible idea.

"I want to go inside." No, this wasn't a horrible idea, it was a horrible decision to exhort so much power on an empty stomach. She stopped arguing with herself when she heard her stomach growl once more. Her fiasco briefly forgotten, she looked around again for the way out. Oh, right, I didn't make one. Stupid Persephone. Stupid, stupid Persephone.

She looked around, trying to find a way out of the tree. "I could climb out the windows." She reasoned, but soon discarded the idea. She had grown the floor outward, which meant if she climbed out the window, she would be met with only open air.

She reached out to the branches, letting what was left of her power flow through, but only managed to create a finger sized hole in the floor before dark spots danced before her eyes and she stumbled back, falling back onto the wall and sinking down into a sitting position.

Her eyes felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. She lay down and touched her cheek to the cold branches, closing her eyes and letting her exhaustion overwhelm her.