Hades (The God Chronicles #3) (13 page)

“It’s your food, you tell them how much of it
to make,” he finally said, picking up another leg from his chicken
and tearing into it with his teeth.

“Thank you,” I said somewhat
shakily.

“I can write it down for you, Highness,” one of
the servants behind me piped up.

“Thanks,” I said again, turning around to look
at him.

Hades cleared his throat and my attention was
drawn back to him. He had another one of those questioning,
surprised looks on his face, making me realize I’d probably done
something out of character again. However, he remained silent,
going back to his food after a few seconds of studying
me.

The rest of our meal took place in silence,
much like the night before. While I was relieved to know I was
going to be able to be more myself, I still had that underlying
feeling of fear whenever I was with Hades. I didn’t think he would
easily fall into a pattern of trust, especially since he’d
basically called me a liar to my face and accused me of having
ulterior motives. On the other hand, though, that seemed like
something Persephone would do. Maybe I was on the right track after
all.

As we finished up and plates were being cleared
from the table, I decided to take another stab at getting to know
him, hoping that there wouldn’t be any other myth contradicting
things to be revealed.

“What do you do during the summer?” I asked
politely, catching him off guard.

“What do you mean?”

“Surely, you do more than just ride around
checking on things,” I probed. “Don’t you have anything fun you
like to do?”

A wide grin broke out on his face, followed by
loud, belly laughter.

“Persephone,” he said, wiping his face with a
napkin. “Would you like to see the media room?”

“Sure,” I said with a grin. “I didn’t even know
we had a media room here.”

“There’s a lot of things you didn’t know
about,” he snickered. “Follow me.”

He motioned for me to come as he stood and
turned to the doors behind him.

I did as he said, curious as to what kind of
things a god would keep in their media room. Something told me it
wouldn’t be a popcorn machine.

We left the dining hall and turned the opposite
way from where I knew the bedrooms were, heading down another long
hallway. When we reached the end, a spiral staircase leading down
was revealed behind the large door. As we descended, I felt the
first inklings of cool air that weren’t in my bedroom and sighed in
pleasure.

Air conditioning. It did exist here.

When we finally reached the end of the long
staircase, another door greeted us, this one just plain black
stone, almost completely blending into the walls around it. With a
tap from Hades, it opened easily, revealing what I could only
imagine was the dream of every boy on the planet at some
point.

There were game and movie posters all over the
walls, a lot of which I recognized. Over stuffed couches and chairs
sat in places around the room, all of them pointed at one wall,
which I suddenly realized was one huge screen. I could see every
game console ever known to man sitting along the walls as well,
movies on tall racks, CD’s stacked into cubbies, and basically
everything anyone could ever want to have an enjoyable, multimedia
night.

“Oh my gosh,” I laughed, turning to look at him
after I’d entered the room. “You’re a nerd!”

“Excuse me?” he laughed.

“Look at all of this,” I snorted. “You have the
perfect man cave for nerds. Any game, any movie, any anything
basically.”

“At least it’s not a porn room,” he said with a
grin. “I was under the impression most men wanted that in their man
cave.”

“Ew, gross!” I said, wrinkling my nose. “This
is much better.”

“Do you want to play anything?” he asked,
motioning around the room.

“So, this is what you do for fun,” I said with
a grin. “You play video games.”

“Not always,” he said, still smiling. “There’s
a very nice library here as well and I like to read.”

“An intellectual,” I said, turning to look at
his collection again. “This is very impressive, I have to admit. I
wouldn’t mind seeing that library either, some time.”

“I can take you now, if you want,” he said,
motioning back to the door. “Like I said, there’s a lot you don’t
know about. It could take a while to see it all.”

“Then we better get started, don’t you think?”
I laughed.

“Great,” he said, surprising me with another
sincere smile. “Let’s get going.”

Chapter Twelve

The next few weeks seemed to pass unreasonably
fast for some reason, filled with days of either getting to know
Hades or looking for the elusive helmet I was supposed to be
finding. Try as I might, though, it just wasn’t anywhere I could
think of to look. Getting to know its owner was helping some,
giving me ideas of where to sneak a peek when he wasn’t around. I
should have known it wouldn’t simply be sitting out in the open
somewhere.

I hadn’t ever gone back out on the weekly ride
with him and his guards, choosing instead to have free reign of the
castle and explore while he was gone. I’d been in almost every room
now and was certain the helmet was not kept close like I’d hoped. I
was going to need to go out and search through the giant land of
the dead to try and find it.

While Hades was showing me all of the extra
rooms with their cool features and treasures, I’d discovered that
not only was the library huge, but it contained a copy of every
book ever written. It literally went on forever, something I
chalked up to the supernatural magic of the place. Knowing this
also helped me immensely. When alone, I’d spend hours pouring over
Greek mythology tomes and surfing the Internet, which I was also
stupidly surprised to find worked down here. I didn’t bother so
much with the stuff about Hades himself, since I was getting to
learn about that first hand, but focused more on the helmet. Thanks
to my research, I had a special trip planned today, my first one
outside alone. To say I was nervous about it was somewhat of an
understatement.

Now that I knew my way around better, I made it
to the stables easily, telling a servant along the way I was going
out for a ride if anyone were to ask for me.

“Hey Hero,” I said to my horse as I entered,
smiling at the name I’d finally decided on for him. “Are you ready
to get out of here for a little while?”

I saddled him up and got ready to go, some of
my nervousness fading away at the normal actions I was used to
taking. It felt nice to do something that reminded me of
home.

My parents had been on my mind occasionally
during my time here, as I wondered what was happening to them back
home. Had they worked everything out? Did Erebos do as he’d
promised? Was I still a murder suspect? If so, how was that
effecting my family?

It was hard to keep those things in the
forefront of my mind while I was here, though, almost like
something was making me forget about them in favor of fulfilling my
promise to the Titan.

After Hero was ready to go, we rode out
quickly, pushing our way through the mass of people just like
before. I still felt that they stared at me differently, like they
knew who I was. Thankfully, they kept their distance anyway,
looking at me from afar.

I pushed Hero as much as I could without
hurting him, quickly making my way to the bank of the river the
Islands of the Blessed rested in. The Underworld seemed a much
scarier place without armed guards escorting me, like I could
easily get swallowed up and lost here in mere seconds. Thankfully,
though, the path was well worn, something I hadn’t noticed before
because of all the dust the party had kicked up.

Once we reached the bank, I dismounted and let
the horse have a drink, the pace of our ride having taken a toll on
him. Once I was confident he wouldn’t wander off without me, I
stood on the bank, waiting for the boat to appear. Just as worry
started to cloud my mind, it rose up out of the water, magically
dry like always.

Without Hades in the boat to make me feel
uncomfortable, the sail seemed much shorter this time around. As
the islands came into view, I could see a few of the guards
gathering on the beach, probably surprised by an unannounced
visit.

“All right, Mean Persephone,” I mumbled to
myself as I came up to the dock. “You mean business. No letting
them push you around.”

I left the boat with a frown on my face, trying
to appear like I should be there.

“Highness,” one of the guards said, shifting on
his feet uncomfortably. “We didn’t expect you. Is there something
we can help you with?”

“I’m looking for Perseus,” I said in a matter
of fact tone. “Which island is he on?”

“Uh.” The guard looked confused and surprised
at the same time, pointing to an island that was back a ways, with
a view of the waterfall.

“Thank you,” I snipped, looking down at him as
I passed by, hoping I was portraying just the right amount of
haughtiness.

I moved between the different islands quickly,
eager to get to my destination and talk with the famous hero.
Looking for the helmet gave me a sense of adventure and forbidden
desires, a thrill of the unknown. Never would I have imagined I
would be in a place like this, discovering things that were meant
to be stories only, in their very real forms.

As I stepped foot on the island I needed to be
on, I could already tell it was somewhat different from the others.
The music didn’t sound the same, but like something from another
time. All of the other spirits here mixed and mingled together, a
timeless landscape of fashions and tastes. This place, however,
seemed to be only observing the traditions of their one, specific
time—ancient Greece. There was still laughter and a feast going on,
but gentle, string music filtered through the trees instead of the
loud, messy dance music of the others.

I made my way up the shore slowly, watching the
people visiting together and playing games I didn’t recognize. It
suddenly occurred to me I had no idea which one of them was the
hero I sought. To make matters worse, it sounded like they were all
talking in their native language as well.

This was not going to be as easy as I’d hoped
it would be.

As I came closer to the party, a few of the
patrons fell silent, bowing their heads to me in respect before
continuing on as if I wasn’t there. The same happened as I made my
way past the tables, into the middle of the great circle they
formed, by the fire that was lit there.

Everyone continued on as they were, only a few
stopping to watch me curiously. It was obvious I wasn’t going to
get anywhere without speaking up for myself. As one song came to an
end, I cleared my throat and looked around, trying to pick which of
the warriors here was the one I wanted.

“Perseus,” I said loudly, still searching the
crowd of people.

A man stood up from one of the tables, his body
clad in that of the armor of an ancient fighter, and bowed his head
to me.

“Highness?” he questioned, a curious look in
his eyes.

“May I join you?” I asked politely, bowing my
own head in return.

He gestured to the seat next to him, recently
vacated by another, and sat back down.

As the music started again, I walked over to
him, taking the spot and refusing a plate of food offered to me by
someone.

“No thank you,” I said, holding a hand up. “I
only came to talk.”

“I have to admit, this is most strange,”
Perseus laughed, a lopsided grin covering his face as he picked up
a roll from his plate and pulled it apart. “What could I have done
to bring the Goddess of the Dead all the way down here to talk to
me, in person?”

“Nothing,” I replied, watching him take a bite.
“I wanted to ask you about something about when you were
alive.”

He swallowed, nodding his head in understanding
and waving me on.

“You defeated Medusa using my husband’s
helmet,” I said, looking for any reaction from him.

“I did, in a way I guess,” he chuckled,
grabbing his goblet and taking a sip.

“What do you mean?”

“Surely you know already?” He wiped his mouth
with a small cloth, meeting my gaze fully and
confidently.

“I don’t mingle in matters that have nothing to
do with me,” I said coolly, smiling tightly.

“As I should have known,” he laughed loudly.
“Allow me to explain. I wasn’t aware when I was alive that the
monster couldn’t be killed. It’s true I used the invisibility of
the helmet to behead her, but Athena’s curse would not let her
suffering end so easily. While I carried the head of the beast for
the rest of my life, once I passed away and came here I discovered
the truth.”

“And what is that?” I asked
curiously.

“Snakes can grow back parts of their bodies if
they become severed from them. I assumed this to be true about any
limbs on Medusa, but didn’t realize Athena had included the head in
her curse. The whole time I thought I’d saved the world from that
monstrosity, she was still alive in her cave, hiding from
everything.”