Royal Heiress (18 page)

And resting here now, on his bed, he was back
home. He was acutely aware of the emptiness in his heart. For some
reason, Atlantis wasn’t the fulfillment he had longed for.

***

Hades led Jake through the tunnel that
connected the Underworld to his office in the arc. They entered his
office without being noticed, since his office window had a black
covering over it to maintain his privacy. The rest of his room was
ivory. Even his desk and chairs were ivory. The only other black
object in the room was the picture frame, which held his picture in
it.

Jake was struck by the irony that the office
was so bright while the Underworld was so gloomy. He could see how
Hades got to be moody. He did, however, notice that Hades’ mood had
considerably brightened since Persephone agreed to marry him.

Hades opened the door to his office, noting
the lack of activity in the arc. “Usually, it is busy through
here,” he informed Jake.

As Jake left the office, he was struck by the
grandeur of the place. It was more impressive than anything he had
ever seen on Earth. He could understand and appreciate the appeal
of this place, though he could not accept what it stood for.

Hades turned to him after he closed his
office door. “Thank you for doing this,” he said.

Jake shrugged. “It’s the least I can do for
Persephone who made the Underworld a better place.”

They quietly walked up the steps to the top
of the arc where Demeter was embracing Persephone. Zeus and the
other leaders were there to celebrate her daughter’s return.

The once disgruntled citizens were leaving,
and the leaders closed the arc so they could enjoy the rest of the
day.

As soon as Demeter noticed Hades, she yelled,
“Get out of here, you beast!”

“I have every right to be here,” Hades
replied. “Persephone ate a pomegranate while she was in my domain,
and I brought the man who witnessed it.”

Demeter’s face turned pale. “Say it isn’t
true!” she told Persephone.

Zeus walked over to Jake and asked, “Did you
see her eat while she was in the Underworld?”

Jake nodded. “I saw her eat six pomegranate
seeds while she was outside the mansion.”

“It can’t be true!” Demeter denied.

“We have a witness,” Zeus told her.

“Persephone, tell me this man is lying,” she
insisted.

Persephone shook her head. “I cannot tell you
that.”

“The matter is settled. She belongs with me.”
Hades crossed his arms and grinned.

“But this cannot be. I won’t allow it!”
Demeter fumed. “I will send back the wintery blasts.”

“Let’s not be hasty,” Athena intervened.

“We all know how wise Athena is,” Zeus said.
“It would behoove us to listen to her.”

“A compromise is the best way to handle
this,” Athena continued, smiling at her father’s compliment. “There
are twelve seeds in a pomegranate, and Persephone only ate six of
them. There are twelve months in the year. For six months, she will
be with Hades. For the other six months, she will be with her
mother.”

Zeus nodded, pleased by this arrangement.

“Fine,” Demeter consented. “But when she is
in the Underworld with that brute, I will send fall and winter to
Atlantis. Things will slowly get colder and the vegetation will
die. No longer will I let everyone enjoy spring and summer all year
long. If I mourn the loss of my daughter for six months, then the
rest of Atlantis will suffer with me.”

“We will make the necessary materials to
accommodate cold weather then,” Zeus agreed.

“She will stay with me for the next six
months,” Demeter said.

“Very well,” Zeus replied.

“But you’ve had her for her entire life,”
Hades protested. “I should be the one who gets her first.”

“We aren’t prepared for her to be with you
yet,” Athena pointed out. “We have to develop heaters and warm
clothes. That will take us at least six months to supply everyone
with the necessary arrangements.”

Hades sighed. “Alright. Agreed.”

“But I get tonight with him,” Persephone
said.

Demeter looked appalled that she would dare
make such a suggestion.

“It is my wedding day, Mother. I would like
to enjoy my wedding night since I have maintained my virginity for
this moment,” she explained.

Hades chuckled.

Demeter groaned. “The only good thing I can
say about this union is that the Stone of Immortality will prevent
you two from producing any offspring. One night. Then I get you up
here where you belong for the next six months.”

“Thank you, Mother,” Persephone said.

Jake followed Hades and Persephone back to
the Underworld. This time they went through the city since Hades
did not wish for the other leaders to know of his secret tunnel.
Jake marveled at the wet and slippery ground. He shivered as he
thought of how it must have been while Demeter was protesting the
loss of her daughter.

Jake was eager to see Katherine again. He had
never encountered anyone as compassionate as she was. Meeting her
and experiencing the improving conditions of the Underworld helped
him come to terms with what his father had done to him. He could,
at last, forgive his father.

Katherine had taught him it wasn’t his fault
his father had rejected him, but he could make choices that would
make his life worthwhile. It felt wonderful to be free of the anger
and bitterness that had plagued him since the day of his mother’s
funeral.

He examined the people around him, looking
for Pallid or Amanda, but he didn’t see them. He wondered where
they were and what they were doing. Would it be long before they
would come for him and Katherine so they could go back to the
future? He hoped not. Now that he had gotten his past settled, he
was eager to live his future.

Chapter Seventeen

Present Day

Atlantis

Olympian Spaceship

Zeus steered the spaceship into Earth’s
atmosphere. Ares cloaked the spaceship so they wouldn’t be seen by
the people investigating the city. Hades, Athena, Poseidon, and
Demeter quietly sat in their seats, each trying to remember where
everything was on Atlantis so they could perform their necessary
duties in order to drive the people on Earth away.

Silence hung thickly in the air as they
waited for a suitable view of Atlantis to emerge before them. Zeus
was the first to see it. He cleared his throat when he saw planes
and ships heading for Atlantis. Their approach would not be an easy
one, even if they were cloaked.

Zeus scanned the city, noting that the
military personnel were beginning to fight amongst themselves over
who would claim the rights to Atlantis and its technology. “That’s
interesting,” he said thoughtfully. “Perhaps we won’t have the
difficult battle we feared.”

Ares grunted in disappointment. “It’s been so
long since I’ve been able to employ my war strategies. What good is
being the god of war if you never get to exercise your role?”

“Relax, Ares,” Athena quickly assured him.
“Though it would be preferable if none of these people were here,
we should still send them away. They shouldn’t take any of the
technology from this place. It will be a curse to them, though they
won’t realize it until it’s too late.”

Ares’ countenance brightened.

“Is there a good place we can land this
thing?” Zeus asked Ares.

Ares scanned the area beneath them. “There is
a spot in the northwestern side of the city that is currently
vacant.”

“The old shopping district,” Athena thought
aloud. “We can easily get to the arc through that narrow alley
between the clothing store and the entertainment store.”

“I’ll take this thing in then,” Zeus said as
he steered the spacecraft effortlessly between two planes.

“After all this time, it still looks as
magnificent as the day it sank,” Demeter replied in awe.
“Hephaestus certainly did an impressive job.”

“Too bad none of us appreciated it back
then,” Hades grumbled.

“Must you always be so sour?” Demeter asked
him.

“If I weren’t, you might actually approve of
me, and we can’t have that, can we?”

“Your sarcasm is repulsive.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug.

“Thank goodness I mostly keep to myself,”
Poseidon commented. “If this bickering is all you people know how
to do, I’d rather deal with the sea creatures.”

“Get ready for the landing,” Zeus called
out.

They grew silent again and took a deep
breath. All of them were anxious to get this over with so they
could return to their comfortable lives on Olympia.

Zeus landed the spaceship between two
buildings that were out of the way from the Earthlings.

“Hades,” Ares began, “you will have to go to
the Underworld through the dome entrance.”

“Nonsense,” Hades protested as he stood up.
“I’ll go from my office.”

“But that’s all the way in the arc,” Athena
argued.

“Exactly. I have a tunnel that goes from my
office to the Underworld.”

“Why didn’t we ever know about this?” Zeus
asked, looking at him in surprise.

“I was entitled to my secrets,” Hades
replied. “Besides, it was a nice way to slip in and see Persephone
while she was above ground.”

Demeter gasped in shock. “So that’s why no
one could see through your office window. You are a sly and
abhorrent man.”

“Yet more clever than you,” Hades
retorted.

“Can we save our lives instead of bickering
about things that no longer matter?” Zeus barked, clearly annoyed
by their behavior. “I swear, you two are nonstop. I’m glad Hades is
confined to the Underworld on Olympia. You two are worse than
Aphrodite and Ares when they argue. At least, they occasionally get
along.”

“We’ll enter the arc through the secret
entrance in the north side,” Ares said, deciding to ignore Zeus’
comment. “We can reach our offices from the separate staircase once
we’re there. We shouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding
us.”

“It sounds like they’re more interested in
fighting each other at this point anyway,” Athena pointed out,
listening to the gunfire in the distance.

Poseidon rolled his eyes. “Amazing. No one
has claimed Atlantis yet, and people are already dying for it.”

“Even if we aren’t going to die, I don’t want
to get hurt in the middle of all this chaos,” Zeus replied, handing
everyone a gun for protection. “Let’s get this over with.”

As they exited the spaceship, Athena quickly
pulled Hades aside. “Are you still able to sneak up from the
Underworld to see Persephone when her mother isn’t aware of
it?”

Hades grinned. “You’re a smart woman. You
figure it out.”

Athena shook her head as he left the
spaceship. “I’m beginning to think I didn’t give you enough credit
for being wise.” She closed the door behind her and followed the
rest of the gods down the alley.

***

Thousands of years in the past

Atlantis

Amanda sighed with relief when she heard the
knocking on her hotel door. She ran to open it, glad to see Pallid.
“I was beginning to think you decided to leave me behind.”

“And give you the pleasure of not having to
associate with me anymore? I’m not quite ready for that,” he
joked.

She grinned, despite herself. She walked to
the hallway and closed the door to the room. “You’re in a better
mood than before. Sleep must agree with you.”

“I don’t sleep. I just rest.”

“How can you get by without sleeping?”

“The Stone of Immortality enables me to keep
going. I can sleep if I want to, but it gets in the way of
productive thinking.”

“Oh. Well, I like to sleep. I usually have
good dreams.”

“It’s a fortunate thing to be able to say
that.”

“Why? Don’t you?”

“Not often enough to make sleep
enjoyable.”

She was ready to ask him what his dreams were
about but decided against it. She had learned he liked to keep a
lot of things to himself.

As they went outside, she cringed at the
dirty puddles on the streets. She didn’t relish the idea of getting
messy. She imagined that Pallid’s white pants and shoes would have
to be thrown out after this. For sure, she’d be getting rid of her
shoes and dress once this ordeal was over.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“We’re going to Avar’s apartment,” he
replied.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’re
really going to go through with your plan?”

“I fully intend to.”

“Even now. After everything we
discussed?”

“This is the only home I’ve got. How would
you feel if Raz was destroyed and you couldn’t go back to it?”

She considered his question as they walked
slowly around the puddles. “I would miss Raz,” she admitted. “It
would be hard to accept its destruction. But if Raz was endangering
the lives of the people living on it, then I would have no choice
but to let it perish.”

He seemed displeased by her answer. “Are you
going to stop me?” he finally asked her as they approached an
elaborate apartment building with a beautiful miniature sculpture
of the city in front of it.

She hadn’t considered that option, though she
realized it was something she had to consider. “It seems like I
won’t have a choice. My duty is to protect the Olympians and
Augurs, regardless of how I feel about you. If you are to become my
enemy, then it will happen. The Augurs are right when they say
Atlantis must be destroyed.”

“And how will you defeat me since I’m
immortal?”

“I don’t know.” She knew she had to, but the
details wouldn’t come to her. She suddenly felt inadequate in her
role as queen. How was she going to rule her planet if she couldn’t
make decisions quickly and easily?

He put his hand on the door of the building,
ready to enter.