The Girl that Hades called Persephone

-29-

 I ran out of the kitchen, ran back to the front porch. They weren't there anymore, and no signs that they were anywhere in the house. I walked around in the front yard looking for them, only to find them on the side of the house. I was about to go up, about to save my boyfriend from my mother, about to have a typical meal. Until I heard their conversation.

I peaked around the corner, kneeling down, trying to hide. I could see Hades and my mother, speaking face to face. They looked angry. 

"You can't hide this from Steffi forever, Demeter ."

"I'm sorry, Steffi?" my mother narrowed her eyes. She didn't like him using my nickname. "And I wasn't going to. I was going to tell her about herself."

"Then when are you going to tell her?"

"Soon...I didn't plan for you to be in the picture though," my mom yelled at Hades. "How dare you. You're only after her because her father sent you, isn't that right?"

"What? Who the hell is her father? You know what, I don't care. Also, no one knows we are even dating. Just her friend and that's it. No one in Olympia even knows. I don't speak to my brothers even. No one knows about us dating." 

"NO! NO! No! No! You are not dating," my mom screamed at him, like a child not getting their way. "I forbid it."

Hades just sighed. "You forbid your grown daughter to date? Okay, go tell her that. Go explain why she can't date me."

"It doesn't matter! She would never believe you. She doesn't know anything about that world, she will think you're a crazy person when you call yourself King of the Underworld. She doesn't know about that side of her, and it's going to stay that way." 

"She knows."

My mother didn't say anything for a while, I could see the panic on her face. She looked flustered. "And...And she's still with you."

"Yes," he was cold. "And she loves me, like I love her." 

My mother didn't care about the L word. She refused to acknowledge it. "She believes you?"

"Yes. . . . and she still told me she loves me, so maybe, since you haven't yet, maybe you should tell her the truth about yourself?"

My mother was silent for a moment, searching for the next words to say. "She told you she loves you?"

"Yes."

"You made her, didn't you?" she asked, her voice shaking. She didn't really believe her own words, I knew her too well. She was in denial. 

"I did not."

"Bullshit, Hades. I know how the three of you are."

"Okay, just because the other two idiots are my brothers, does not mean I have their history of hurting women."

"Bullshit."

"Who have I hurt? Demeter, who have I dated before? Can you name one "

There was a few seconds between them, no words exchanged. "Why her? Why my daughter?"

"Because we found each other. It just happened. I didn't know who she was, not until later on, not until now. She's a goddess. She 

"Hades, I have a hard time believing this."

"Whatever you want me to do so you believe this, I will."

"I want you away from my daughter."

"She will hate you if she thinks you drove me away. I won't leave her until she ask me to leave her."

"I will make sure she does-"

"Why haven't you told her?" Hades cut her off. "Why didn't you tell her who she is? Why haven't you told her about her powers? She told me how she was in the hospital for years? Did you know you scared her like that? Letting her thinking she was dying? What was the point of that? Letting her stay in a hospital, knowing there was nothing doctors could do. Doctors only fix humans, not people like Steffi. Not people like us."

My mother looked shocked. Rare was the day that people raised their voice towards her, and lived. "Um . . . that . . . look-"

"You scared her-"

"Let's get through this dinner, this visit . . . Then. . . then we will go from there."

I could feel my heart thumping through my chest. What were they even talking about? I couldn't follow their conversion, I couldn't make out the connections to what they were speaking of. 

They seem to have spoken to each other like they have known one another for many years. And my mom, she just said King of the underworld.

She knows who he is. She knows about me, things about she that she hasn't mentioned in the all 21 years of life on Earth. 

What did she know.