One
Persephone
'Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. You seriously expect me to believe that you were kidnapped by Zeus and taken to Olympus?' My brother stared at me as I paced frantically up and down my small room, his hazel eyes wide.
'Yes! It's true. I was there for weeks.’
'Persy, I spoke to you on the phone yesterday.' He ran a hand through his sandy hair and shook his head as he glanced around my trashed room. 'Should I call mom? Are you OK?'
I stopped pacing and screwed my face up. Gods, I'd love to see my mom and dad. But they were nearly a thousand miles away in their RV, touring Atlanta. And if Sam phoned them and told them I was babbling about being kidnapped, they would likely use the little money they had to fly back to New York. The selfish part of me wanted nothing more, but the rational part of me answered Sam.
'No,' I sighed, and sat down. 'Don't call them.'
'Tell me again what happened,' he said, his voice gentle. 'And... What are you wearing and why is your hair white?'
I had called my brother the second my wracking sobs and blind rage had lessened enough for me speak. If I had any question or doubt about the strength of my feelings for Hades, the shock of him leaving me had completely dispelled them.
It felt like a piece of my chest was missing; breathing, thinking, walking - everything was now staggered and difficult. The sense of wrongness I felt when I looked around my room only served to widen the gaping hole inside me.
I'd never felt betrayal and rejection like it. I couldn't have left him like that. I couldn't have flashed myself away, knowing I would never see him again. My body and mind wouldn't have let me do it, I was sure.
Which I knew was irrational. Not a day earlier I had told him I didn't even know if I wanted to be with him. But the moment I had heard him say those words, a light this bright can't be kept in the dark, something had gripped my insides in a vice-like hold. Something bright and hot and intensely fierce. It carried his sadness, his passion, his love, straight into my heart and it had overwhelmed me. And it had flared to life only long enough to be doused out seconds later, when he’d flashed from the room, leaving me for good.
I'd cried so hard I'd almost thrown up. Then anger took over, fury forcing the tears out. Before I knew what I was doing I was launching my belongings around my room, cushions and clothes flying. Then I had noticed my purse on the bed, along with my leather biker jacket, and sense had bled through my rage. I'd dug out my cell phone and plugged it in to charge, then called Sam.
He was at my door faster than I thought possible, and I'd thrown myself at him, fresh tears filling my eyes as I took in his concerned face. A face I never thought I would see again. When I was done sobbing and hugging him, I had tried to tell him what had happened. Unsuccessfully, it seemed.
'I'm not from America. I'm from a place called Olympus, which is ruled by the Greek gods. I was married to Hades before, but I did something awful and they sent me here to have a new life as a human mortal, with no memories.' Sam stared at me, eyebrows high, and I took a deep breath. Was what I was saying even possible?
There was no way I could have imagined it all. Hades' silver eyes filled my mind. No way whatsoever. They were real.
'And Zeus kidnapped you?' my brother prompted.
'Yes. Hades disobeyed him publicly and created a new realm in Olympus, so to punish him Zeus let a bunch of women compete to be his wife, and he took me from New York to force me to compete too.'
Real concern was now clear on Sam's face.
'You were competing to marry Hades? The devil?'
'Yes. I'm wearing this torn, burnt dress because I was in the middle of a Trial that went wrong. I ended up in Tartarus.'
Sam stood up.
'We need to go to the emergency room. You've had a stroke or something,' he said, his voice strained.
'And you think having a stroke extended to dying my hair white and doing this to a ballgown?' I asked, waving my shredded skirt at him. 'I'm serious Sam, I'm telling