Flowers and Darkness

Chapter 18

"Violet."

I turned around to see a figure walking over towards me.

After walking outside and not finding Henry, I had made my way deeper into the garden. I was stood within a large stone, circular alcove when I noticed the presence of another.

"Violet? Not Queen Persephone like you called me earlier?"

He had made his way inside the alcove with me and was now leaning against the stone railing.

Earlier in the evening I was reluctantly stood beside Dean and was quickly greeting the many guests that had decided to attend. Henry was just another face. But now up close I could see he was quite handsome. His eyelashes thick and smile wide. It was difficult to work out how old he was, but he didn't look older than 28.

"Would you prefer Queen Persephone?" An eyebrow raised and his smile, if possible stretched wider.

"No-no, Violet's fine." I stumbled out.

He pursed his lips tight and nodded, as if holding back a chuckle at my reaction. I ignored it, my cheeks burning, and looked towards the pink rose bush to my right.

"So you wanted to speak to me?"

I whipped my head back to face him.

"Me? But I-"

"Although I have been meaning to speak to you too. Alone." His pale hand reached inside his blazer and pulled out a gold pen from its inside pocket. He clicked the pen once and before I could even blink it had shot up into a grand, golden staff with intricate swirls and patterns decorating its length. "I have a message."

My eye tore away from the staff. "A message?"

"One of your appointed guardians. Jayden Vale." He scratched his head with his spare hand whilst he rocked his staff nonchalantly. "I'm quite surprised he managed to track me down. It's not everyday a guardian can summon for me."

"What's the message? What did he say?" I tried to keep my voices low and neutral, but the excitement spilled out and my voice rung high.

"I can tell you or I can show you."

My eyes widened and I glanced back over at the staff he was casually swaying. "How exactly can you show me?"

He scratched his cheek. "Well for a God it's pretty simple. All I would have to do is tap my staff on your head and here presto you'll see the message."

He tapped his staff lightly on my head and held it there. "You may be a God, but you're a reincarnated God. You're human. And for humans to get a message, it's slightly different... they have to be asleep."

He smiled again a little too widely and before I could react he had pulled his staff back to slam it firmly against my head.

I felt my body involuntarily crumble before I saw blackness and passed out.

I opened my eyes and groggily slowly rose. My surroundings seemed less vivid, almost like I was looking through a sheet of thick transparent plastic or through heavy fog.

"This is stupid." I heard a familiar voice grunt out in disgust. "How do you know we can trust him? His allegiance is to the gods, not to some guardians."

I saw Alex slump down on one of the brown sofa's in Jayden living room, one of his hands propping up his head in exhaustion. He looked a mixture between tired and frustrated and the bags under his eyes were dark.

I thought back to the last time I saw him. He sold me out. Betrayed me. Played me. And now he's doing the same to the others.

"Well we have to at least try!" Jayden walked into the frame, closely followed by Rose. I wanted to run over to him. But I felt glued to where I was. I couldn't move, just watch. "She's in the Underworld with Hades, did you just want to leave her there?" He walked closer to Alex.