Persephone
Olympus is blinding.
The shoes click on the white marble floor with every step I take, and I can barely breathe. Hecate’s hand protectively around my arm holds me close, and I…I can’t see. It is the brightest light I have ever encountered. One moment, I was in the Underworld and the next, the mother of crossroads and keeper of the keys has taken me home.
I cover my eyes with a stifled gasp as my legs find grounding. Hecate’s grip tightens, but only so much that I may rely on her for support. She’s strong. I’ve always known such things, but now I can feel her power in her touch.
She pauses as my body stiffens and I heave in a breath, my head light.
Her eyes are vacant as I look up to her and yet they hold so many memories.
“Are you well?” Hecate whispers. Her voice echoes as if I’ve heard it three times. The mother, the maiden, the crone. All of her is concerned.
“Yes,” I answer in a hushed tone. I am not well though. My heart screams the truth. My soul is torn and where I belong is unknown to me. Fate has meant to torture me.
Her eyes flash as if she knows. As if she can hear every thought that races through me.
Unable to meet her gaze, my eyes adjust to my surroundings. Olympus.
Everything has changed during my time in the Underworld. I found myself there, my power and my strength. I learned to live without the fear of what was to come, and now I have been ripped away. Or rather I ripped myself away.
The words Hades and Hecate spoke ring in my ears. The words she said to me:
No magic will save you now. You must come back to the world that is now forever changed.
We have both changed, I answered, and now I know it is true. The girl I was before I went to the Underworld would never have found the light of Olympus to be so harsh.
And what Hades said to Hecate…
Do not leave her side. Do not betray me.
His own words were a betrayal to me, though. I’d fallen for him, truly and deeply. And yet he spoke in front of me as though there were conversations I may not partake in. Could he have made a deal with Hecate about me? Did they have some understanding before Hecate appeared in the Underworld?
You have betrayed me. That was what Hecate replied. I am no fool. There were conversations Hades participated in that I was not privy to. It all happened too fast. I was kept in the dark, and resentment bleeds in slowly with that knowledge.
Why didn’t Hades tell me? The memory of his voice sends chills through me.
Hecate is coming. There is too much death, my queen. The gods have created an imbalance.
My mind spins with these revelations. I inhale deeply. I will not allow myself to slip into feeling small. That is how I felt when I discovered I had been taken to the Underworld, and it cost me days I could have done more with. Instead, those days were filled with tears and despair.
“Are you sure?” Hecate questions. My gaze searches hers. Comfort lies beyond her concern. As if this is meant to be.
“It is…very bright,” I manage to say, my eyes stinging as they adjust. “And the Underworld…” I whisper, unable to complete the thought. It was chaos in the Underworld. Parts of Hades’s realms collapsed, crumbling as I watched. Souls poured through the sky above us, and Hades moved through the vast space so quickly I could not fathom the power it must have taken. “I cannot see. I need a moment to adjust.”
Her grip loosens only so she may hold my hand as I come to terms with all that has happened.
I crave to go back to Hades. For him to stand at my side. I need to go back to my power, to the rooms I had grown used to, and to the magic I had been working on.
My magic. My heart stutters, and the doubt I once felt returns only to fall silent to the ringing in my ears.
The marble remains steady under my feet.
I blink slowly, forcing myself to stare at the floor. Even the floor is bright with light reflecting off it. It is a strange light, though.
The room Hecate and I are standing in is spacious and cool, but it looks out on a courtyard with white smoke drifting through it. A large pot has been tipped over and cracked, its pieces lying scattered where it fell. There is more smoke wafting above the roof.
Hecate must see my shock, because her grip gets gentler. “You have nothing to fear, Persephone.”
