Crossing the Bridge

Chapter 7

Mal and Hadie slipped through the door and paused as they took in the sight before them. Instead of Hades confronting Ben, as they both thought would be the case, Persephone was towering above the king.

To be fair, it shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. After all Persephone turned a nymph into a mint plant because Hades was attracted to her—meanwhile Hades was the dork who named his dog 'Spot'.

But the look on Hades' face indicated to Mal that Persephone was just the warm up to his rage.

"Oh Ben," Persephone shook her head, the tone of her voice indicating to Mal that she had neared the end of her diatribe. It had seemed that her step mother had wasted no time in tearing into her boyfriend. "You don't know how big of a mistake you made there."

Straightening out the king's jacket and brushing off some lint, Persephone continued "you see, Mal may be biologically Maleficent's daughter but she's also my step-daughter as well as my cousin. Do you remember what happened the last time someone messed with a god's family?"

Ben gulped at the reminder of the war on Olympus, with Hercules leading the charge against the Titans. Meanwhile Mal couldn't help but wonder how Persephone had mastered the Glare of Death and Pain, as some of the younger kids on the Isle had called it. Wasn't that only reserved for the Villains?

Then again, Persephone did spend six months of the year on the Isle. Some of their behaviors were sure to rub off—including threatening the King apparently.

Crap, is this going to come back to bite Persephone? Mal thought with a small glance toward Hadie. Even though he was used to living on the Isle full time, the ten-year-old didn't deserve the cut throat world.

"Now, I promised my dear, devoted husband that I wouldn't take your time and I know we have a limited amount of time before the others realize you're no longer with the group and come to find you," Persephone said as she slid back to be next to Hades. "Dear, you're up."

Hades walked up to Ben and Mal couldn't help but compare the two. Hades had a wide frame with large biceps, larger than Jay's. Meanwhile Ben had more of a lean frame but still had a decent amount of muscle definition from Tourney.

Quickly reaching out to stop Hadie from running up to their father, Mal watched as Hades continued to circle Ben like a vulture circling a decaying kill.

Do his powers work here? Mal thought with an inward gulp as she looked at her boyfriend, thinking about Ben potentially getting hit with a fireball.

"Mal is my daughter," Hades said with a bit of growl to his voice as he rolled his neck and lit up his hair. "She spent sixteen years on the Isle of the Lost, unfamiliar with the world of royalty; all because she happened to be born to Maleficent and myself. Persephone, bless her heart, did try to do what she could but nothing could really prepare someone for being thrust into another world. She did everything to please you and YOU DECIDE TO CRITICIZE HER?"

Yep, his powers work, Mal thought as her father seemed to envelope himself with flames. Thankfully he didn't envelope himself fully, as his face was still visible, but the normal blue flame he was associated with had now become red and orange.

"LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SUN SPOT, I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE THE KING. IF YOU DARE MAKE MAL CRY AGAIN WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN TEARS OF JOY, YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YOU WERE STILL IN YOUR MOTHER'S WOMB!"

"You have to give dad credit, he's very creative with his rants," Hadie whispered to Mal, who shrugged. After all, she had grown up with Maleficent after all. The rants her mother had made about Hadie alone would haunt Mal until the day she died.