“Faster . . . faster . . . “ The white figure glowed in contrast to the murky water he was trying to row through.
The boat struck the shore and the figure tossed his ore in frustration before seeing a dark shadow above. The soul opened its mouth to scream, but a wet tongue shot out and wrapped around his head.
“Hey . . . hey—don’t make this look like I’m eating you. Do you know that Elysium fields are that way?” The figure was a fury. A huge prehistoric bird with a slime-covered police uniform. The beak had small sharp teeth jutting out. The copper hat on its head shone slightly in the limited lighting of the swaying lamp that was on the edge of the boat. One of its shaggy black wings pointed in the way that the soul had come. The tongue loosened from around the soul’s neck.
“Yes, I do know that I’m—”
The huge fury cackled and flapped its huge wings. It lifted itself slightly off the boat’s edge. Its tongue shot back into its beak. “Aha, as long as you know, I am under no obligation to stop you. Stay safe. Explore as you will, lil glug.”
The fury took off, flapping its giant ma
le of feathers. The water was clear, dark and still. There was a great hum as the roar of a machine came closer and closer to where the soul had wrecked his boat. The fury felt a change in the wind currents and arched backwards to check on the stranded soul. The soul itself should not be in any kind of danger, he thought to himself. He tucked his wings into himself to roost on a decaying willow that had not been swallowed up by the river.
He was aghast to see a lithe figure covered in a dark diving suit and a gas mask riding a jet ski through the river. Now first and foremost, he was not aglow in that faint radiance of one of the Elysium residents. The fury cocked its head and whiffed the strange apparition. Flesh.
His beak was washed with drool. The fury hadn’t tasted real meat in years. He smiled to himself, this prey would be easier to catch than a bird with a worm. He was hungry and such a prize to be eaten on a day like this. The bird dove with its vicious claws stretched out.
The specter turned his vehicle around quickly in the water so the fury was splashed with the water and his wings got wet. The voice was cold and strangely sounded inhuman, “No one can beat me, bird man.”
The fury flapped its waterlogged wings before tumbling fully into the water.
This was no ordinary stream. As the water flowed from the Stygian Marsh here, the water ran with an enchantment of that anyone who would fall in would be wrought with an absence of memory. Hell’s welcome to those who decided to flee or run.
The fury’s head bobbed above the waves. Its shrill voice whispered, “Flesh, flessssh, I almost tasted you. Flessssh has commee.”
***
Dead End Florals had for once had a successful day of business. Persephone checked the register and found it full of hell’s gold. She hadn’t originally planned on charging the underworld’s residents for buying her flowers, but they had insisted. The gold wasn’t worth much to her, as she was the consort of Hades, but still it felt like an accomplishment.
Max slinked through the door and flipped the sign so no more people would come by. He streaked between Persephone’s legs before floating to sit on her shoulders. “You’re making much more than Hades thought you would.”
“I mean I’m not trying to please anyone here other than me. I’m glad though that he gave me the opportunity to have my own independence.”
“My queen, you’re a goddess. No one is under any obligation to give you anything. You take what you need. This revenue is yours. You can do whatever you want with it. If you hate the underworld, you could use it to—”
“No, don’t ever say anything like that ever again. The absurdity of me ever leaving. I love it here. I get to meet so many amazing people from different time periods and hear their stories. I would never want anything more.” Persephone held out her finger and a white dove landed on her outstretched finger. “Isn’t that right, Roxas, dear?”
The dove cooed softly.
Max sighed. “Are you making any progress with it?”
Persephone’s eyes hardened. “No, I still don’t know the extent of my powers here. I didn’t know I could change souls into animals. I can’t get him to talk or make any indication that the rock man we knew is still in there. The dove is very similar to those I use to keep at the old Divine Right, but it eats only dried leaves and berries. Maybe undead, but also not at all.”
“A new—”
“It’s different. I was going to discuss it with Hades, but he’s been busy with that border skirmish at the Dawn Gate and reinforcing Tartarus. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
The bells on the doors jingled loudly as a very tired dark-haired man burst through. Hades looked beyond tired. In the limited lighting, Persephone could see the faint outline of musculature fading. This was one of the things that she liked about him—while Zeus and the other gods glamoured themselves with perfect bodies, Hades did not shy away from showing others his natural body shape which for the most part, as Persephone could tell, was unremarkable. “Good afternoon, Maximillian. Hello, Persephone, did you enjoy your day today?”
“Speak of the devil, sir. We were just speaking about you.”
Persephone closed the register and smiled softly. “We were speaking of how tired you must be after your duties.”
“It’s a good kind of tired. I enjoy my realm. But I did not come here to socialize, as pleasant as it is to see your beautiful smile. It brightens up my afternoon. I got a letter.” A stream of smoke erupted from one of his grey palms and he withdrew a piece of gnarled, burned parchment. He leaned forward and gestured that he wanted her to take it.
Persephone unfurled it and quickly read it through. Dark lines of worry appeared on her forehead. She placed the parchment slowly on the counter. “It’s from my mother.”
Hades pursed his lips. “She’s been trying to contact you for a while, this isn’t the first message. I didn’t want to alarm you.”
“Hades, I need to be in contact with my mom, even though I might not agree with her parenting.”
“She’s a goddess. We aren’t mortals, Persephone. She will not die. You have no debt to owe her. You were also incapacitated so . . . as per the orders of Max, we both decided that it would be better for you if you decided on it when you were stronger.”
Persephone felt hot. The merchandise in the shop around her started vibrating. Max curled himself around her neck and she relaxed. Hades looked alarmed, but once seeing she was calming, he hid his emotion behind a thin smile.
“I’m sorry if this was upsetting to you. I wanted you to adapt before burdening yourself with issues of the outside world.”
“I probably would’ve done the same thing in your situation. I’m not happy you made the decision for me, but there are a lot of things I’m discovering about myself here. I’m not completely unhappy here, but I’m also confused. I need to see her.”
Hades nodded. His eyes flashed yellow for a second. “I brought you this in preparation for us to head back for an afternoon with all of them.”
“Oh, you mean—”
“Yes, the whole family.”
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