Chapter 3:

I remained silent during the entirety of lunch, listening and nodding along with whatever people were saying at this point. My stomach turned, even though I'd eaten something, nervous about what the man had said.

When I had come back inside everyone asked where I had been, and as I told them they all exchanged glances.

"Aislinn, there was no one at the door when you came in, you were by yourself," a curly haired blonde girl named Sheila had told me. They all looked at me as though I were insane.

"'Maybe those white eyes of your's are starting to show their true colors, you can't see real things and you make it all up," Maddy said with a sneer, Ginna snickering behind her.

I ignored her and picked around at the food on my plate, losing my appetite by the second, and worrying about what was really wrong with me. The girls resumed talking about events for later that evening, sports games coming up, and a giant birthday party that everyone in the school was invited to. I tossed my fork aside, putting my chin on my hands staring into space, I wanted nothing more than to be back home with my brother watching T.V. and talking about what I learned about the artifacts in the Hades room while we had been at the museum.

The teacher looked at me with a studying look before gathering everyone together and heading outside where the bus was waiting. The weather had changed from brightly shining, to the clouds had rolled in and there was thunder filling the background, I watched as the wind had even picked up, something was about to happen, and I was scared to know what it would be.

The rain just began falling on the metal body of the bus as we loaded in, and it smoked fitfully as we roared off. I kept my bag close to me as we drove, the sickening feeling in my stomach growing as the lightning flashed again, the thunder almost instantaneously afterwards.

I shuddered and sunk lower into my seat, turning up the volume on my iPod even farther as the girls were laughing and giggling with all they had, not noticing that the engine was almost blatantly on fire. But of course, only I could see it, and no one, especially after today, was going to believe me.

The bus was going down one of the last roads back to our city, and it was in a steep ravine. The rain was pelting against the driver's window coming down so hard that it was a constant stream, nothing visible. Even for me, I couldn't see through the torrential downpour.

Slightly panicked I pulled my bag tight against me, coiling myself into a ball, hearing the girl's voices in the background as they sang different songs, not noticing, that all of the sudden, our bus was slipping sideways.

My heart felt like sludge, each beat a thud hitting my chest so hard it hurt. My head turned so slowly it felt like hours before I could see out the window, everything was silent, no voices, no engine, only my heart pounding against me. The ground came towards us, black and sure in the pouring rain.

I clamped my eyes shut, and just before we felt the ground, the man's words echoed in my ears.

"I'm here to save you."

SMACK! My head flew forward and into the metal side of the bus. I heard glass shatter and metal shrieking as it ripped apart from the impact. It rolled sideways and my arm fell, only the now broken widow, slicing it. My leg twisted in the metal of the seats as we rolled, up was down, left was right, my head spun and ached like I'd never felt before.

The back of the bus slingshot forward and spun the bus around, I gripped the seat I was in for dear life as we flipped around. It finally stopped, and my world came crashing down.

Girls were screaming in pain as we sat there, and bit by bit I realized I could hear the fire roaring outside from the engine. My eyes fled in any direction trying to look for a way out, I tried to move but felt something pinning my leg. I twisted behind to see the metal from the seat, bent and trapping my ankle. I pulled again, ignoring the scream of protest from my arm, but to no avail, I couldn't break free.

Panting I tried to look around and see if anyone was still awake, or alive for that matter.

Smoke was starting to fill the interior of the bus. I coughed and tried with all my strength to yell.

"Is anyone out there!" I screamed, coughing as I inhaled more smoke. Sputtering, I tried again, and again.

"Please! Is anyone out there?" my lungs burned as if they were filled with acid.

My heart throbbed painfully inside my chest, and I flailed about trying to break free again. Tears rolled down my face as I pulled at my leg, my thoughts turned to Seth as I thrashed about.

'I don't want to die! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!' I screamed inside my head, staggering for air. My head swam with dizziness as the flames flickered not too far off, burning the seats.

It was growing in intensity as the heat burned my face, I tried my best to pull my jacket over my face.

"Please," I whispered though the hoarseness of my voice, tears streaming down my face.

There was a loud crash as the back of the bus split in half, I looked around and saw most of the girls bodies, unmoving, bloodied and a few crushed between the metal. I realized then, I was the only one still alive.

Suddenly there was a figure moving from the back of the bus towards me, walking around the shards and fire as it weren't touching him. He had a black chiton robe, and almost looked as though he were floating towards me. My eyes started blurring in and out; I didn't feel like I could hold on much longer. He stopped next to me, leaning down. His hand passed over the metal bar holding my leg down and it disappeared instantly. I scrambled around to find I couldn't stand on it, and the figure caught me in his arms.

He reached around, fitting an arm under my legs, I buried my face into his shoulder, trying to breather more easily. My arms were shaking as I tried to hold onto him with everything I had left. My arm and head hurt more than anything I'd ever felt before. Just as we were walking away from the bus, I opened my eyes to watch as it exploded into debris. I jumped, startled by the event, looking up at the face of my rescuer, his black eyes locked with mine.

I was shaking in his grasp, so much trauma in such a short time, I stuttered trying to speak, exhaustion flooding through me.

"P-p-please, he-help me," I managed to whisper before seeing his eyes again, and passing out in his hold.

? P.O.V.-

I looked down at the girl, blacked out in my arms as I made my way over to my chariot not too far off. The rain was still falling fairly heavily, chilling her to the bone as I put her inside the black, Pegasus drawn, chariot. Picking up the reins I tapped them once and we were off soaring high above the mess within a matter of seconds.

Lightning flashed across the sky , and I had to turn suddenly to avoid a massive thunderbolt hitting the chariot. Aislinn moaned from the background as I turned sharply the opposite direction to avoid another. The rain hadn't touched me in the slightest, but glancing towards the girl I saw her shivering from the cold then.

In one swift motion, I managed to maneuver my cloak off of myself, and carefully set it over the shivering girl. She wouldn't get rain on her anymore; the cloak was much too powerful for that.

I looked up at the sky again afraid of what might happen and formed a ball of energy in my hand before shoving it into the chariot giving it an unparalleled burst of speed.

We surged out of the storm within moments and almost over shot our destination before I slowed down, careful not to disturb Aislinn as she slept, she winced every once in a while when she bumped her wounds. The clouds were fading into the background, we had moved plenty past the range of the storm and I pulled the chariot to a stop as we landed over a valley.

Thanking Pegasus, I reached in and gently pulled Aislinn into my arms, holding her in my cloak as tightly as I could against me. She was still shivering, her clothes damp, and whimpering only slightly. My eyes hurt as I looked at her, how was I going to manage to use her when she herself had found the real me. The accident hadn't been caused by me, though it was tempting to speed things along throughout the day. I'd been watching the bus as it went, already knowing where it was going to crash. A small shudder passed through me as I remembered watching it slide off the road. Wait? A shudder? I shook my head annoyed, I didn't normally feel emotional when people died, or were about to die.

I carried her down into the cavern and floated down the hundreds of stairs rather than walking. Walking over to the boat master, I climbed in without acknowledging Charon, and stood at the end, looking out towards our destination. Impatience radiated off me as I stood there, waiting for the boat to move.

Whipping my head around to face Charon, my eyes were burning red, I could feel my hair was already orange as well.

"MOVE!" I bellowed, loud enough the cavern shook, and Charon jumped up and immediately began pushing off through the River of Styx. The souls of the dead reached up, trying to grasp at me, I kicked them back without a second thought. I Jumped off the boat when we landed and headed straight for my palace, hissing at Cerberus when he bounded over with a fresh corpse wanting to play.

I opened the door with a quick wave of my hand, too annoyed to talk to anyone, and ignored any of the maids that tried to ask questions. I passed through the cold hallways, back one door beyond my own bedroom and opened it.

The room was lit only by the candles in different sections, a few Greek tapestries hung off the walls, all of them portraying Hades is some way or form. The room was pleasantly furnished and the large canopy bed was covered in a red silk sheets. A trail of smoke following my hand as I waved it over the bed and the sheets pulled themselves back.

Laying her down carefully, I walked over to the adjacent bathroom and pulled out the bandages necessary to wrap her arm. Walking back over, I pulled her arm, gently treating it like tissue paper, out of the covers and blew a small ring of smoke over the wound. It would help speed up the healing process, and clean it out, but I couldn't really heal her because she was mortal, a technicality in being a God.

Wrapping the bandage around her arm, I set it back down, and stood up to leave. About halfway to the door I heard her moving and looked back at her. White eyes burning she looked up at me, she was going to pass out again soon, I could see the exhaustion coming through her.

Using her grunt effort she managed to sit up and look right at me, I smirked towards her, staring deep into the pure whiteness of her eyes.

"Hades," she managed to whisper before her arms gave out and she fell back towards onto the bed.

"Yes Aislinn," I walked over to her and brushed the strand of hair that had fallen back off her face.

Bending close to her ear, breathing lightly enough to cause shivers, I let my pride resume its place.

"Welcome to my Underworld."