Fall From Grace

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Six

"Good morning." I pad into the kitchen, where Dio and Hades are sitting. Dio made breakfast.
"Sleep well?" Dio smiles at me.

He came in to check on me before I went to sleep last night. Held me while I cried. Promised that time heals all. I don't believe him; that adage is a dumb one. I don't know where I stand with Hades anymore, and it terrifies me.

"Mhm." I pour myself some coffee before grabbing the plate Dio prepared for me.

I cried myself to sleep, letting my eyes, heavy from tears, close on their own.

"There is someone I'd like you to meet today." Hades tells me.

"I thought we talked about this." Dio glares at him but he ignores it.

"Dress for warm weather."

I would question it, but odds are Hades won't explain so I just eat my breakfast. Despite the cold weather outside, when I come down ready to go I am wearing mom jeans and a thin grey crop top. Moments later, Hades meets me by the front door.

"This will make you nauseous, but you will be fine." Hades warns vaguely.

I am about to ask what he is referring to when he grabs me by the waist, pulling me to him and everything goes black for a moment.

When color returns, we are no longer in the AirBnB. Instead, we are standing in the most beautiful garden I have ever seen, with the sun beating down on us. Everything is so bright and colorful, greens and blues and pinks, and there are butterflies of all kinds flying around everywhere. I now understand why I was told to dress warm, because the heat causes an immediate sweat patch on my lower back right were the top of my jeans hits my spine. This place is etheral, it feels like everything is shimmering.

" "Where are we?"

"The Underworld." Hades answers.

I want to be surprised and more excited but everything just feels off for me right now. It feels like someone hit the switch in my body where my emotions have just neutralized and dulled. I want to let my mind think about how this is not at all what I expected the Underworld to look at, but I just... don't care.

"What are we doing here?"

Instead I feel almost annoyed.

"I need you to meet with Hecate." He explains. "Her home is off the Gardens of the Palace."

"Okay."

"Everything will be okay, I promise."

"He killed her Dio."

"I know Aze, I know."

My entire body aches, as if I had fallen down multiple flights of stairs last night. Really, it's just from being curled up in a ball too tight, as if I could squeeze the emotions out of me.

I let Hades lead me through the rows of flowers and herbs, moving in a slow zombie like state. It feels as if I got no sleep last night; at least I didn't dream.

Hecate's home is a small Victorian looking cottage, and she is standing at the entrance waiting for us, looking exactly how I expected her to. Long black hair, not too different from mine, but dark mediterranean looking skin and a thin black slip dress. She looks exotic, and beautiful, and very dangerous. I suppose though that she is. Goddess of magic, witchcraft, and necromancy, not someone I would want to mess with.

"Hades," She drapes herself over him in a way I do not appreciate. "So many visits you have been paying me."

"Hecate, this is the girl I told you about." Hades moves carefully out of her grasp.