Darkness's Flower: Pulling It Together

Chapter 4: Ideas

~Nico~

"Lilly, sweetheart, um...why is your hair turning darker?" I asked.

"The Mist is making me look like that. I still look like Persephone, really. Now that you've kissed me, the Mist is going away," she explained.

I slipped my hand through hers. "How do we get you switched back?"

"I'm getting to that, Nico. Your dad said that you and I have to bring Persephone back to him. Then we'll be changed back and I'll be brown-haired Lilly again. Not Persephone looking or having blonde hair."

"To be fair, you look hot with blonde hair," I said.

She laughed. "You say that about anything!"

"Yeah, because it's true, hottie!"

"Anyway, the reason he wants her back is because I'm boring. I sat on the floor in the throne room the whole time, either arms crossed and not saying a word, or braiding my hair and not saying a word. Persephone's hair... Whatever! You know what I mean. I needed to be back here with you. I refused to do anything and he finally sent me back here to get Persephone back. The only problem is trying to get her back down there."

We started walking down towards the strawberry fields. Lilly's hair kept getting darker and darker, looking more like Persephone every minute that passed. My lips were tingling still from the kiss and I could still taste it, considering we had kissed only five or so minutes ago.

I continued watching her walk beside me and she glanced over at me, flashing a really cute smile. I smiled back. Just her smile made me happy.

"So what happens after we get her back in the Underworld?" I asked.

"Um, we can be together. But one thing, babe."

"And what's that?"

"After this, no more Underworld for me for a long time."

I laughed. "Same here."

"I better see my parents too. I never said bye to them when we came to camp."

"Sure. Can I come too?"

She smiled. "Yeah! We can maybe spend the weekend there or something. How does that sound?"

I kissed her on the cheek. "Perfect! Now, let's figure out how to get Persephone back with my dad!"

We headed up towards my cabin to talk it out. Lilly stopped suddenly and looked at me.

"My hair is really dark and I look like Persephone, right?" she asked.

"Uh...yeah. It's kinda weird if you think about it. My girlfriend is trapped in my dad's wife's body. So does that mean I'm kissing Persephone, ya know, since it's her body?"

She giggled. "No, not really. I'm Lilly. I just look like Persephone. When we traded souls...well, think of it like this. Say the Mist is making me look like Persephone. I'm still me, but I don't look like me. Is that easier to understand?"

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, I get it. That's why the kiss was so weird!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Persephone-Lilly never would kiss me and I understand why now. You see, babe, I didn't know what had happened. I though the Lilly I saw was actually you. Basically, I finally just kissed her and that's when I remembered everything. That's why when I kissed her, it was so different and when I kissed you, it was perfect."

She walked into my cabin and I watched her. Lilly sat down on my bed and I stopped staring at her, my face feeling warm. I heard her giggle and sat next to her.

"How is this gonna work?" I asked.

"We could always make her fall asleep and take her back down, I guess," Lilly replied.

"But how would we do that?"

"Magic."

I grinned. "I know a person. Let's get Persephone."

"Wait, Nico! She'll know it's me! I look like Persephone! I need the Mist magic stuff used again."

"Well, let's go fine Lou Ellen first. That'll get figured out, then we can get Persephone back down with my father. And once that's done, you and I can have some time together."