Chapter Five: A Wrong Time to Call
Once again, Hades was sat at his desk. The Underworld was not like Mount Olympus, after all, and required constant attention. Currently, he was taking down some notes about the recently departed souls and where the judges had deemed suitable for them to be sent. The black vase next to him now had both of Persephone's flowers.
"Oh, you're doing work for once," Hecate mused as she strutted into the room, a clipboard tucked beneath her arm.
Hades looked over the top of his glasses at her. "Are you insinuating I do not do my work often enough? Also, please knock before entering. You know the rules."
"As if the rules apply to me, and that's exactly what I'm insinuating," she said as she plonked herself down on his desk. She handed him her clipboard and said, "Minos flagged up a case and wanted me to check it with you."
"Why did you not email me?" Hades asked as he took the clipboard.
"Because you never answer your emails, obviously."
He sighed as he flipped through the file. "A girl turned into gold?"
"Yeah, Minos has temporarily declared her dead, but he's not entirely sure," Hecate answered, pulling out her packet of black bubble gum from her jacket. "Obviously, she didn't have a coin under her tongue and can't pay the fair to cross."
"Being turned into gold can only be the work of a god," Hades said, waiting for Hecate to pop a stick of bubble gum into her mouth before handing her back the file.
"But no god has reported such a deed," Hecate said.
"They never do," Hades muttered. "See if she has any family. We can possibly track down a cause that way."
"If I have to," Hecate said, attaching the file back to her clipboard, then pulling her phone from her pocket. "But first, I've got some great news for you."
Hades pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and returned to leafing through paperwork. "Oh, really?"
"No need to act so disinterested," she said, "I went to hell and back to get this information for you."
"Hecate, you live in hell. To go to hell and back to get something is impossible."
"All right, I went to Olympus and back. Happy?"
"Terrifying." He nudged his glasses back down and looked at her over the rim. "And this information is?"
Hecate grinned as she held up her phone. "I got you Persephone's number."
"You... got me Persephone's number?"
"Yes, like her phone number. Come on, act a little happier. How in the Underworld did you think you were going to see her again if you couldn't ask when she was free?"
Hades frowned. "Visit her at the coffee shop."
"You're an imbecile. I can't believe I work with you. Gimme your phone." She clicked her fingers, and Hades handed his own phone over, not wanting to get on her bad side. Once she'd typed in the number, she handed back the phone. "Here you go, now you can text and call her whenever you want. At least do the decency of introducing yourself first, so you don't appear to be a random stalker."
"I was not the one to travel to Olympus and back to get her phone number," Hades pointed out. "How did you acquire it anyway?"
"I can't tell you There'd be no point in keeping me around otherwise," she said as she hopped off the desk, shoving her phone back into her pocket and scooping up her clipboard.
"Hecate…"
"Fine, I asked Hermes." Hecate groaned. "I can't believe I owe that thieving scoundrel a favour. Indebted to an Olympian! I have to take over his next psychopomp shift."
"What is wrong with that? I thought you were better than him."
"I am, but it doesn't mean I enjoy it," Hecate said, and she battered her eyelashes. "Hey, fancy taking the shift for me?"
"No."
"Damn."
Hades sighed at he leant back in his chair. "Did I not just give you a task to do?"
"Oh, right, the gold girl," Hecate said, and she strutted towards the door. "Don't forget to give her a call, okay?"
"I will not," Hades said as Hecate blew him a kiss and left the room.
Hades tapped his fingers against the desk, then picked up his phone and examined the new number. Was it really Persephone's? He supposed there was no harm in checking, and so he called the number and waited for a reply. There was not one, only a constant ringing, and so he sighed and put the phone down, returning to his work.
#
"Persi! Oh my gods, did you see last night's episode?" Psyche squealed when she stepped foot inside Cassie's Coffee. Almost immediately, the customers' heads shot up. After all, Psyche was the fan favourite barista. Almost every man fell for her and her bubble gum pink hair. Not that Persephone blamed them; she had done the same upon first seeing Psyche. Alas, Psyche was strictly into men, specifically the type who could literally sweep her off her feet, being the hopeless romantic she was. However, none of the boys ever took her fancy.
"I know!" Persephone cried from the till. "That cliff hanger broke me!"
"Uh, Persi, customers first," Arachne hissed from the behind the machines.
"Oh, right," Persephone said, turning back to the customer she was supposed to be serving and flashing her most apologetic smile. "What was your order, again?"
Once the order had been placed and made, Psyche danced back around the corner, clapping her hands together as she said, "So, that cliff hanger!"
"I know!" Persephone squealed. "I can't believe he's also in love with her!"
"Urgh, I knew I shouldn't have come in," Arachne said as she stomped to the sink to clean up the milk jugs. "You're gonna spend the next several hours whining about your trashy romance shows, aren't you?"
"Trashily fun romance shows," Persephone said, hands clutched to her chest as she recalled last night's episode. So romantic.
Psyche, who was already pouring milk in a blender so she could make a frappe, suddenly spun around. "Wait, Arachne? Whatcha doing here? Mondays are your day off. Where's Merope?"
"At the horse races. Glaucus is riding today," Persephone said.
"Urgh, and this is why I'm never having kids," Arachne said as she tugged on her thin, black ponytails. "Imagine having to go to watch the horse races. Besides, Glaucus is a show off. A good for nothing brat like his dad."
"Hey, that's not nice," Persephone said.
"To be fair, we all know Sisyphus is an arse," Psyche said.
"Someone get the till," Cassandra said as she came out from the back of her house, back slung over shoulder. The three girls turned around and squeaked when they saw the queue that had formed whilst they'd been bickering. When Persephone and Arachne stepped back, Psyche put on her best customer service smile and sauntered up to the till. The few guys waiting were there for her, after all.
As Persephone and Arachne waited for the order, Cassandra stared intently at the two of them. She was always weary-eyed, never really smiling, and when she frowned ever so slightly as she was doing then, it made her expression even colder.
"Don't let Merope hear you insult her family," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose. Today, they were pink, as were her matching earrings.
"But Sisyphus is an arse, though," Arachne whined.
"Just be careful," Cassandra warned. "And don't burn the shop down when I leave."
"You can trust us," Persephone chirped. Cassandra was the manager, and Merope was the team leader, but Psyche was in training to be a shift supervisor so there was nothing to worry about. "Besides, Psyche and I do closes and opens on our own perfectly fine."
"And Psyche and I close well enough on weekends," Arachne added.
"But the three of you…?" Cassandra sighed, and she pointed to the queue at the till. "Just don't get too excited. You've got orders, by the way. See you two tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," the Persephone and Arachne chorused as Cassandra left.
When the next batch of orders were done and made, the three girls made themselves some drinks and sat back, ready to relax for a minute.
Cassandra didn't mind the girls helping themselves to free drinks, as long as it wasn't any of the bottled juices since they were expensive to order in, and they made t drinks when there wasn't a queue. Arachne, being lactose intolerant, had a coconut milk latte, always with extra shots; Persephone had a hot chocolate, always extra hot so it would last longer; Psyche had coffee-less frappe, this time strawberry flavoured, but she was known to mix the syrups to create overly sweet abominations.
"Oh, oh, Cassandra isn't here anymore," Psyche said between slurps of her frappe. "And neither is Merope, which means it's time to talk about…"
"Trashy romance shows?" Persephone suggested.
"Eww, no," Arachne said.
"Hades," Psyche squealed, the same glint in her eye as when she talked about her favourite romance shows.
"Not so loud, you bubble gum bimbo," Arachne hissed. Psyche only giggled.
"Wh-what about Hades?" Persephone asked.
"Well, he was here last Tuesday, wasn't he?" Psyche said, keeping her voice low this time. "And we didn't have a chance to talk about it on Thursday, and Friday you were busy so we couldn't hang out."
Busy hanging out with Hades, of course. Not that Persephone was going to tell them.
"And on the weekend Cassandra and Merope banned us from gossiping about him." Arachne pouted. "Saying 'Hades' around Minthe upset her too much."
"Minthe? She's the one who works on my days off, right?" Persephone asked.
"The mint-haired one," Psyche explained.
"We're not here to talk about Minthe!" Arachne cried, and she squeaked when she realised she was now raising her voice. "Well, whatever. So, Hades. I can't believe a god came to our coffee shop. I mean, how dare he."
"Well, gods are allowed coffee too…" Persephone murmured.
"Yeah, but they can get their fancy ambrosia filled coffee at Mount Olympus instead of our cheap stuff. The gods are scum and should stay away from the mortals," Arachne said, and she downed the rest of her latte. "Man, I think I need a quadruple expresso."
"You already had four shots in your latte," Psyche said. "And you're really small, so you'll be way too caffeinated. No more coffee for you."
"I am not small!" Arachne argued, even though she was stick thin and shorter than even Persephone. With a huff, she stomped around the back to put her empty cup in the sink.
Persephone's grip tightened on her hot chocolate mug. Of course, the girls at the shop thought she was only a mortal. What would Arachne think if they knew she was a god too…
"How did he even find our shop anyway?" Arachne said as she appeared back around the front. "We aren't the easiest to find."
"He said Odysseus recommended us," Persephone explained as she stared down at her hot chocolate. She wasn't thirsty anymore.
"Aww, how sweet of Odysseus," Psyche said, one hand to her chest as she gave a dreamy sigh. "He's always so kind. And attractive. I bet he could sweep me off my feet."
"He's also married," Persephone reminded her.
"Wait, wait, wait," Arachne said, back to tugging on her ponytails now she wasn't holding anything in her hands. "When did you learn that?"
"That's he's married?" Persephone asked. "He talks about his wife all the time. Arachne, you really should pay more attention to the guests. Cassandra says it's important."
"She also says you need to work on your customer service smile," Psyche added.
"I do not need to work on my customer service smile," snapped Arachne, who got a fair few complaints about not smiling enough. "And I was talking about Hades. When did you find out he found out about us from Odysseus?"
"Oh, uh, he told me when he came in on Wednesday."
Psyche gasped. "He came in on Wednesday too? I can't believe he came in on both my days off. I missed Hades!"
"Don't sound so sad," Arachne said. "You shouldn't get all lovesick over gods."
"But you got to talk to a god, and I didn't." Psyche held a hand to one of her cheeks and sighed. "What I wouldn't give to speak to a god. Do you think they'd like me? I think Aphrodite might. We both love love after all."
"You actually willingly spoke Hades?" Arachne asked.
"We don't know for sure he's Hades. He never said his name…" Persephone said.
Arachne rolled her eyes, as if she could sense Persephone's obvious lie. "He has a three-headed dog! We all know he's Hades. And you willingly talked to him?"
Persephone giggled nervously. "Well, I was out the front on my own. I had no choice but to talk to him. Imagine if I was rude? He might… smite me…?"
"Don't care. All gods suck," Arachne huffed. "Hades is probably the worst too. Not even the gods like him."
"I thought Athena was your personal enemy?" Psyche teased. "Something about how you're always better than her?"
"Athena's the worst!"
"Voice down. You don't want a god to hear you…" Persephone urged, even though she, a god, had just heard them. What would Arachne say if she knew…
It was at that moment Persephone's phone started to blare her embarrassing ringtone (she had set it to a kid's cartoon theme song so she would recognise it easily). Everyone in the shop turned to stare as she fumbled to silence it. Seeing as she didn't recognise the number, she assumed it must be a wrong call, and so simply turned her phone off.
A/N
Sorry about the minor cliffhanger, but I promise next chapter we get a cute phone call! I hope you like the three girls at the shop (though we still have to meet Merope and Minthe. Don't worry though, because I have plans...)
Blake
