Hades and Persephone

Chapter 4

Hades

"Sir! Sir!" the ghoul shouted, drawing my attention back. I blinked, dragging myself from my daydreams

"Repeat the question," I commanded, running a hand through my surely disheveled hair.

"Does Cerberus prefer telkhines or will he settle to eat harpies?" the ghoul asked. I was so startled by the question that I sat there blinking for a moment.

"Uh, th-the dog eats whatever you give him," I replied, attempting to regain some composure. The ghoul just bowed and left my chambers, leaving me to piece together the conversation I had just missed.

"What's gotten into you, Your Darkness?" Charon questioned, leaning against a marble pillar in the back of the room. "It's like you got a pegasus flying around in your head and you're trying to trap it while holding a normal conversation." He pulled a small knife from his belt and began cleaning his fingernails with it. "In case you're wonderin', the normal conversation thing ain't workin' out."

"Is there a question in that tangle of words?" I asked him dryly.

"Well, what's got your toga in a twist?"

"Nothing," I answered immediately. I had the feeling Charon would have narrowed his eyes at me, but it's hard to judge his expression when he only has a skull for a face.

"That sounds like denial."

"Good thing that's a river in Egypt, not Greece." Charon gave me a confused cock of the head, which I ignored. It wasn't my fault he never took a geography class when he was alive. "I'm fine," I insisted. "The ghoul was just boring me to tears."

"A'ight, boss. If you say so." Charon strode out of the room, his hands raised in a universal whatever-you-say gesture.

With the room finally cleared, I inhaled deeply, dragging a hand over my face. I was far from alright, but completely unwilling to admit it. The truth was the proverbial pegasus flying in my head was the girl from the forest. In the past two months since I discovered her, I had 'visited' her four times.

Of course, she didn't know I was visiting. Some might call it stocking, but to be perfectly honest, I was just too nervous to approach her. From careful listening to the chatter of nearby farmers, I learned that she was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Her mother tended to keep her cloistered in their home, but the girl enjoyed wandering the surrounding lands. She plagued my thoughts, turning things upside down and inside out. It was like putting two and two together and getting 37. She was an itch I could not scratch, a splinter in my mind.

I made my way to my personal office, sitting in a tall, cushioned chair seated behind a massive mahogany desk. Sorting through piles of papers, I tried to focus, but words began blurring together. Accounts blended and numbers began swimming off the pages. The more I concentrated, the faster they swam, until they were a swarm, buzzing around my head. Slamming the papers into a folder, I left the Underworld for the sixth time in two months.

Persephone

Stray blades of grass tickled my cheek and my leg had long since gone numb, but I didn't care. The day was warmer than usual, nearing hot, bringing out the rich scent of the soil. It was a day for lazing about, when children ignored their chores and parents didn't scold them for it.

I idly wove a flower crown of chrysanthemums and narcissus flowers. Mother was busy preparing the mortal farmers for the coming harvest, giving me the day to do as I pleased. My morning was spent swimming in a stream with the dryads. For the afternoon, I wandered the fields, eating wild berries and collecting flowers. Thrilling life, I know.