Ares walked down the hallway, his rock music booming in his ears. He walked past Demeter and Poseidon's room and he halted for a moment. Their door was a crack open, enough to know nobody was in the room. He removed his earbuds, peering into the room with curiosity.
"Demeter and Poseidon must have left for the library already," he muttered to himself under his breath.
A cheeky smile formed on his face as he slowly creaked the door open. Half of the room was decorated in floral designs with so many different colors it hurt Ares eyes. That end of the room was tidy and clean. Everything had a home and not even a single speck of dust could be found.
"Geez she's almost as bad as Athena," Ares said aloud.
The other half looked like it threw up the ocean. Blue paint, blue bed, blue laptop, blue coat, blue rug, basically almost everything was blue. Clothes littered the floor, the bed, even the dressers. Every drawer was open except for one in his desk.
"I thought my room was messy."
Ares bent down to inspect Demeter's books. Every book was on plants, and more plants, and more plants. He looked beneath her bed and found a brown box. He dragged it out, sitting criss cross on the carpet floor. The box had a lock on it but as luck would have it, Hermes was walking by.
"Uh…" Hermes stuck his head in, "What are you doing?"
Ares grinned, "Hey Hermes, remember that $20 bucks you owe me?"
Hermes face grew frightened and he gulped.
"Well I'll be willing to forget it if you unlock anything for me without question and without speaking a word to anyone, deal?"
Ares stuck out his hand and Hermes, now grinning, shook it. He unlocked the box and left without a word. Ares opened it as if it were one of Hephaestus's bombing contraption tricks. He lifts the lid but all he found were a bunch of opened letters. He picked up the first one, reading with a bored face. His eyes grew wide as he continued reading the notes. Ares smiled to himself as he shut the box and pushed it beneath her bed. He exit the room just in time because he could hear Demeter and Poseidon arguing at the bottom of the steps.
Ares tried to hide his smile when Demeter briskly walked past him. Her arms were full of plant-based books. Poseidon strut up the steps, a box of donuts in one arm as he munched on a blue frosted donut in the other hand. Ares stole a donut, spinning to avoid Poseidon's shove. He pulled out his keys from his pocket and boomed down the steps like an overweight elephant. Meanwhile, Demeter entered her bedroom and she halted for a moment. She rolled her eyes as she smelled the atmosphere in the room.
"Stupid Ares," Demeter tossed her bag and books onto her bed.
It was unmistakably Ares that was in the bedroom if his cologne wasn't enough to give him away. Demeter began inspecting her side of the room. All the books were in order, her sheets weren't wrinkled, and for once there were no giant muddy footprints from his boots. This only made Demeter more suspicious as she got down on her hands and knees, looking beneath her dresser and bed.
"Do I want to know?" Poseidon had halted at the doorway.
His face was stuffed with a donut, his mouth covered in blue icing.
"Ares was in here," Demeter said, sitting up on her knees, "And the room is still intact."
Poseidon shrugged, "You worry too much."
He shut the door with his foot, falling atop his blue bed. Demeter then pulled out the brown box beneath her bed. She inspected the lock, but it didn't seem to have any sort of damage to it. She spun the box around, checking to make sure not even the smallest dent was in it. Poseidon watched in amusement, finishing off his sweets.
"So, has your boy sent you any letters recently?" Poseidon asked, hoping to draw Demeter's attention from finding anything wrong with the bedroom.
"Even if he did what does it matter to you?" Demeter asked sternly.
"Because it's the juiciest story in the house now, at least any stories I know of."
Demeter sighed.
"I haven't received anything yet but maybe today will be different."
"I still can't believe out of everyone in the house you would be the one to break the rules," Poseidon laughed to himself.
Demeter's face turned red as she hugged her knees.
"I'm just afraid what would happen if mom and dad found out," Demeter said.
Poseidon had a look of sympathy on his face and chose to lighten the mood by stating, "Remember that day I found out?"
Demeter scowled at him making Poseidon send her a cheeky smile.
Demeter sat at her desk, writing a letter. Poseidon bumbled into the room, talking loudly on the phone with his, now ex, girlfriend. She had been so focused on her note that she forgot that she left the note she had received open in plain sight. Poseidon hung up the phone and slung an arm around his sister.
"So whatcha writing?" he snickered.
"None of your beeswax," Demeter snapped.
Poseidon shrugged and plopped onto Demeter's bed. She used to get angry at him for messing up her bed but at this point she'd given up getting him to stop. In the corner of her eye she noticed Poseidon pull something out from beneath his big fat butt, the letter. Demeter stood up so abruptly the chair had fallen with a loud crash.
"Poseidon, no!" Demeter literally dived on top of him, "Give that back to me! Don't read it!"
Poseidon had rolled off the bed, now standing and holding the note high in the air so he could read it and keep it out of Demeter's reach. She tried clawing his arm and climbing his shoulders, but she was too frail to get to it.
"Ohhhh, Demeter has a dirty secret," Poseidon taunted.
Demeter snatched the letter out of his hands, her face red with anger.
"So how long have you and Matt been talking?" Poseidon sent her a wink.
Demeter didn't answer but put her head down in shame. The Spencer family was a longtime rival of the Olympus family. They aren't a hundred percent sure how it went down but it began with a falling out between Zeus and Alan about something. Each family tells a different story, so no one really knows what happened.
Demeter could still hear the voice of her father speaking, "We don't associate with the Spencer family. They are bad news and bad for your health. Stay away from them, Demeter."
Even so, she still snuck out to play with the boy that was merely a year older than her. They would do things like catch fireflies, splash in the stream, and make shadow puppets. When they grew older it turned into stargazing, picnics, and planting. She could still feel his soft lips on hers when he had kissed her by the stream at the stroke of midnight. These thoughts began to make her blush and Poseidon looked at her funny.
"Are you ok?" He snapped her out of her daydream.
Demeter jumped a little, completely forgetting he had asked her a question.
"Ok, if I tell you then you have to swear you won't tell anybody," Demeter threatened, pointing a pen at him.
"Sheesh ok fine," Poseidon put his hands up in surrender, "No need to be so dramatic. What if I did tell somebody? What will you do about it?"
Demeter smirked and showed him the flash drive that was always attached to her keychain.
"Oh brother dear," Demeter said in a sinister voice, "I have more than enough dirt on you and if you even tried to destroy this flash drive, I have plenty more hidden elsewhere. So even if you wanted to you wouldn't dare if it meant keeping your reputation in check."
Poseidon huffed, crossing his arms like a little kid with a tantrum.
"Fine," He said through gritted teeth.
"It began when we were little," Demeter started, "Age eight if we want to be specific. It started out as just harmful playing but then the tides began to turn later in the years. Every day when we had no school the next day, we would sneak out to be together."
"And you still do it? How have I not noticed?"
"Probably because you sleep like a rock and your snoring tends to deafen any sort of sounds I would make," Demeter said rather bluntly.
"Hey!" Poseidon suddenly became offended, "I don't snore that loud!"
"I beg to differ," Demeter mumbled.
"Hey! Do you wanna fight?!"
"I'm a lady. Ladies don't fight pigs."
"Anyway," Poseidon quickly cooled down, "If it makes you happy then I won't say a word and if you need I can cover for you if someone caught you sneaking out."
"Really?" Demeter sounded a bit hopeful but quickly stopped herself, "Is this a trap?"
"No trap," Poseidon said, "But I do want to be there for Dad and Mom's giant blow ups when you do end up telling them. So be sure that I'm there."
Demeter rolled her eyes but smiled at her brother.
"That was certainly a day," Demeter responded to Poseidon's question.
"Hey, don't forget our promise," Poseidon winked at her, "When you tell the fam I gotta be there to witness the whole shebang."
Demeter rolled her eyes, smiling nonetheless. He may be a stupid, clueless, and a big fat idiot, but she could always count on him to have her back.
