“I had some business to take care of.” She changes the subject. “When did you get back?”
Mom’s odd behavior enhances my suspicions even further. “Where’s Hades?”
Hades. Just mentioning his name makes my heart split open and throb. Tears water in my eyes and I pull the phone away from my face, exhaling. I’m building blocks scattered about on the floor. I need a six year old and a table to make something out of me. I need to feel built up and whole again. I’d only been away from him an hour and already his absence is haunting me. I’d only been away from him for an hour and it felt like days, years even. There was even a moment earlier where I swore I could feel him touching my shoulder.
“Don’t you worry about Hades,” mom snaps. “He’s being taken care of. And he’s not your concern anymore.”
At that moment, I decide trusting my mom may not be a good thing. She’s gone dirty, sided with Zeus and I know any information I give her won’t go to my advantage. “I know,” I say with a hint of snarkiness. “I hope he gets the punishment he deserves.” I blanch after saying those words because Hades doesn’t deserve to be punished. He didn’t do anything wrong. Unless they considered loving someone for centuries a crime.
“So you haven’t spoken to him?” mom questions me. There is a suspicious undertone to her voice and I know she’s trying to tell if I’m lying. I have to step up my game.
“Of course not!” I scoff, pretending to be offended. “Why would I talk to him? He abducted me, remember?”
“Did he….Did he…” Mom fumbles her words. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I say with force. I can’t lie about that.
“Good.” A sigh of relief from her whooshes through the phone. “Don’t worry sweetheart. Hades will be judged and tried accordingly.”
Wait a second. “What?”
Muffled voices fill the backround and mom’s hand covers the receiver. A second later she’s back. “I have to go sweetheart. I’ll be home in a few days. And I promise no more running. We can stay in Oregon for a while. And I might even let you date that boy next door,” she pauses, “Oh. What’s his name?” I can hear her snapping her fingers.
“Adonis,” I say with a growl.
“Yes, Adonis,” she gushes. “I love you sweetheart.”
But I don’t want Adonis. I love Hades. He is my forever.
“Mom, wait!” But it’s too late. All I hear is a dial tone.
After hanging up the phone, I walk into the living room and fall backwards onto the couch. I need to come up with a plan and I need to figure out what’s going on. But there is a barrier blocking out my thoughts. I can’t think straight. Wanting a distraction, I reach for the remote and turn on the television. I look away, hoping that the noise makes me come up with a solution of sort—a way to find out what’s going on with my mom and what they are going to do to Hades, but I come up with nothing.
“More breaking news on the Pomegranate crisis.” The deep overpowering voice of a male newscaster throbs in my ears and pulls me from my reverie. My eyes flash to the television screen. I pick up the remote and turn up the volume, keeping my eyes glued to the screen.
Multiple images flash across the screen of blazing trees. Bright orange and yellow flames dance around in my eyes and my mouth gapes open as I watch the broadcast and the events being broadcasted unfold. I get up from the couch and sit down on the floor, inches away from the screen. The picture fade from the screen and the newscaster comes back on. The regal, well put together man adjusts a stack of papers in front of him and clears his throat. “Thank you for tuning in.”
“Pomegranate crisis,” I mumble in disbelief.
The newscaster goes on with his report. “The pomegranate crisis has reached an all-time high as it appears that now every tree has been set ablaze. We’ve got Stan on the scene with more information. Stan?”
More images flash on the screen and each image has a place listed underneath, but I look away momentarily and the only one I notice is
India. I focus on the screen again when the reporter on the scene comes into view, standing feet away from a burning tree. “Thanks Bob.” The reporter steps to the side and hold his hand out, pointing to the tree behind him. “This is Stan Williams reporting for WKFTV and I’m here in California reporting on the unfolding Pomegranate Crisis and we’ve got an eye witness account. A short rotund man steps forward. There’s a wobble in his step and ashes and dirt smeared all over his round face. Stan extends the microphone to the man. “Sir, can you tell us what you saw?”
The man looks dazed and exhausted, not to mention terrified. “It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” his voice quivers and I’m pretty sure he’s shaking because his belly jiggles. “One second everything was fine, the next, “The man turns and points to the sky, “The entire sky was white with lightning.”
I shut the television off. The second the man said, “lightning,” I knew there was only one person I could blame for this…Zeus.
Hades
Hades heard her painful shrieks. He heard he call out his name, sobbing in agony, and blanched at the sound of it. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and tell her not to be upset. That she shouldn’t cry because everything would be okay. Even though he knew saying that would be a lie, he didn’t care.
Shortly after she left his realm Hades had noticed little things happening that threw him off guard. For one, Hermes had returned to the underworld and confiscated his entire supply of pomegranates before Zeus had taken it upon himself to wipe out every other tree in the world. Then his invisibility cloak disappeared and Hades ability to vanish and reappear wouldn’t work. He’d tried initially to appear in front Persephone while she was crying, but couldn’t. It’s like a barrier had been put up, preventing him from using his powers and he knew exactly who was behind it.
Pacing in front of a roaring fire place, Hades stopped allowing the whirling flames to fill his gaze. He was lost in a trance, developing theories, and trying to figure out how to get back to Persephone or how to bring her back to him. He was at a disadvantage. The five God’s and Goddesses a part from himself had forged an alliance against him, using whatever means possible to keep him away from his one, true love.
But why?