Chapter Six: A Right Time to Call
Whenever Persephone got back from work, she would head immediately to her room, change out of her uniform, and flop onto her bed. Sometimes she would get up and do some chores, to keep herself occupied, but that day she just wanted to stare at her ceiling and sigh.
She never did like leaving her room, it was, unsurprisingly, her favourite room in the house. Everywhere else was dark green, like the suits Demeter wore, with dark plants and rustic furniture. Even at home she stuck out like she didn't belong.
Persephone's room was much brighter. Bright green walls, with pink curtains, and pink and green striped covers. The only thing it had in common with the rest of the house were all the plants, though Demeter's were always organised, whilst Persephone's were chaotically placed. Most were her own flowers she'd made out of boredom, and others were gifts from Demeter. She had received a few as gifts from Zeus, though she let them wilt.
"Kore! I'm home!"
Persephone sighed and rolled off her bed, scooping up the uniform she'd left thrown across the floor and tossing it into her wardrobe. After pulling on some fluffy socks, she trudged out into Demeter's section of the house (AKA the rest of the house) and found her mother sat on the bottom of the stairs.
"Anything interesting at work today?" Persephone asked.
"Same old, same old," Demeter said as she took off her shoes. "Spring has been easy to handle this year. No mess ups. Hopefully another week of smooth sailing."
"As if anything would mess up when you're in charge," Persephone said. "You're way too organised."
"I hope you meant that as a compliment." Demeter stood up and chuckled, though, as always, there was never any heart in her laugh. "Did you get up to anything interesting?"
"Same old, same old too," Persephone said, picking at her hair. "TV and marshmallows…"
Demeter turned around and frowned up at Persephone. "Kore, honey, are you okay? You sound a little down."
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about things, you know," Persephone said, lifting her head and forcing a smile.
"Oh, Kore…" Demeter's gaze flickered to the floor. A moment passed, and then she looked up and forced her own smile. "What do you fancy for dinner?"
"Is vegetable sauce with rice an option?"
"Always. With extra grated cheese on top?"
"Always. Need any help?"
"Oh, no. You know I don't need any," Demeter said, beckoning Persephone down the stairs for a kiss, before ushering away.
Persephone was never forced to do the chores, with Demeter much preferring to treat her as a pampered princess above all else. It was never spoken aloud, but Persephone knew the reason for that was because she was already kept inside against her own will, forcing her to do the chores would make her feel too much a servant. Persephone always offered, though. Always wanted something to do.
Upstairs, she flopped back down on her bed, pulling out her phone to continue watching cat videos. Only, there was a message from Hermes. Not unusual, seeing as was pretty much the only person she had to vent to about being locked up at home, though they weren't exactly close. Mostly he liked to send her photos of his stolen silverware collection.
Hermes: Persi I completely forgot to tell you earlier because I was busy with work and shit. Also please don't hate me but I gave Hecate your number this morning. I know I know I should have asked you first, but Hecate is scary, and I wanted her to get off my back, especially since I want some peace before she finds out about the gold girl
Persephone: Hecate wanted my number?
Hermes: Obviously. How else were you going to meet up with Hades without being able to contact him? It's not like you're on social media
Persephone: Uhhh I thought he would just meet me at the coffee shop?
Hermes: Does all the dust in your room erode your brain cells or something?
Persephone: Hey my room is very clean thank you!
Hermes: Well whatever. If you get a random call and don't recognise the number, it's probably from Hecate or Hades. I still think this is a Terrible Idea. They both suck
All gods suck, Arachne had said. Persephone sighed as she sent her last message.
Persephone: Don't care! Thanks for the heads up though x
With another sigh, she tossed her phone to the side. Would Hades call her? Well, it made sense, right? They had talked about going out again so they would have to talk somehow. But Hermes had said he'd given Hecate her number in the morning, and Persephone hadn't had any calls all day…
She sat bolt upright. There had been a call! In the coffee shop when they'd been lamenting over the gods. She snatched up her phone, copied the unfamiliar number from earlier and sent it to Hermes asking if he recognised it. He said it was definitely Hades.
Persephone: Oh my Olympus do I call him back?
Hermes: Personally, I'd say no but logically I'd say yes
Persephone: But I ignored him earlier! What if he hates me now?
Hermes: You missed one phone call chill out. Just call him back or I'll do it for you
Persephone: Don't you dare
Hermes: I can do what I want because I'm an Olympian :)
Persephone: Hermes, no
Persephone: Hermes?
Persephone: Hermeeeeeeeeeees?
Hermes: The deed is done
A minute later, her phone rang, and she squeaked. "K-Kore speaking!"
"Persephone?" the voice on the other end asked, a surprisingly silky voice considering the corpse-like figure it came from. "This is Hades. Hermes said you wanted to talk…?"
"Hades!" She giggled nervously. "I, uh, think you called earlier but I was at work, so I ignored it. Hermes said he gave you my number?"
"Technically he gave it to Hecate, and she gave it to me, but yes." There was a long, long pause. "I am sorry. I am not used to making calls that are not business related."
Persephone giggled again, this time a little less nervously. "Don't worry. I don't think I've ever had a phone call in my life besides from those weird scammers insisting I've had a car accident when I don't even drive. Maybe a call from Mother once or twice."
"Well… how was your weekend?"
"Uninteresting. Just watched TV and hung out with Mother… Persephone said, rolling around onto her stomach and swinging her legs through the air. "Did you have an interesting weekend? Anything cool happen at work?"
"We have an interesting case regarding a temporarily dead soul of a girl turned to gold. We pretend the Underworld always runs smoothly, but sometimes we get cases that certainly confuse us. Are you doing anything interesting now?"
"Me?" Persephone rolled onto her back again and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm waiting for Mother to make dinner. Vegetable sauce, rice, and a hella lot of grated cheese. One of my favourite meals, you know. In case that's relevant."
"I'll note it down for the future," he said. "Anyway, I called you earlier because…"
After a minute, Persephone had to prompt, "Because…?"
"I was curious as to when you were next free," he said. He was good at disguising it, but she did hear the slight stammer in his voice. "Friday, again?"
"Oh, Psyche and Arachne want to hang out this Friday. It's the only day we all have off," Persephone said, picking up a stuffed toy with one hand. "So, the Friday after that?"
"But that is almost two weeks away."
"Aww, do you miss me already?"
There was coughing on the other side of the phone, and Persephone giggled when Hades said, in a rather strained voice, "I can do next Friday. I can always visit you at Cassie's Coffee as well, in between weeks."
"Oh…"
"Oh…?"
"Well, uh…" Persephone rolled over onto her side, curling up as she hugged the stuffed toy to her chest. "You see… the girls I work with…"
"What about the girls you work with?" When she didn't answer, his voice softened and he asked, "Persephone, is there something wrong?"
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about things," she said, words running into one. As if she was about to unload a bunch of emotional baggage onto Hades, one of the biggest gods in the pantheon, even if they had been on a single date (emphasis on a single date).
"Persephone, if…" A long, long, long pause, in which she held her breath. There were a thousand things he could have said after that if, but he said none of them. Instead he repeated, "What about the girls you work with?"
She let out her breath and would have buried her face into her stuffed toy if she hadn't been on the phone. "Oh, it's nothing. They were just a bit shocked to see a god there."
She couldn't exactly tell him Arachne had been slandering his name, could she?
"I do not blame them," Hades said, his voice no longer soft more… sad…? "Especially seeing as it was me. The mortals do not like me."
Dammit. He wasn't supposed to suss it out.
"Oh, no. It wasn't about you specifically. They were just saying that all gods suck."
"But they do not know you are a god, do they? That must be why you are upset."
Dammit. He wasn't supposed to suss that out either.
"I-it's nothing, just general mortal stuff," she whispered a little too quietly, because he had to ask her to repeat it. "You don't have to worry about me…"
"But, if I am to date you, am I not supposed to worry about you?" he asked.
A tiny fire lit up in her heart, and she said, "So… are we definitely dating?"
"I was under the impression that going on a second date meant we were dating. If memory serves me correctly, on Friday a second date was, in fact, agreed upon."
"Oh, look at you sounding all business-y. A second date was agreed upon." She giggled and hugged her stuffed toy a little tighter. "But Friday was also a whole three days ago, so forgive me if my memory is foggy."
Was that… was that a chuckle coming from his side? Persephone didn't get a chance to process it, because he was already saying, "Three days is nothing to an immortal god."
"An immortal god of your age maybe," she teased.
"Persephone, you wound me," he said, and she giggled again. "Your laugh is precious. I am glad you sound better."
Oh, how glad she was he couldn't see her face over the phone, because she was a hundred percent sure that her cheeks were burning red. "My laugh is precious?"
"Yes. I would like to hear it again, but I am afraid I do not know any jokes."
Still, she giggled again. "Well, apparently you don't need jokes to make me laugh, but I do like jokes, so I recommend you learn some. Hermes is pretty good at it."
There wasn't even a sigh this time, but rather a groan. "I do not want advice from Hermes. He would deliberately attempt to sabotage me, I am sure."
"Man, you don't like Hermes, do you?" Persephone asked, letting go of her stuffed toy so she could roll back over onto her stomach and kick her legs again.
"I do not like how he always argues with me over the Underworld. I am the king of the Underworld. I know how to run my own home," Hades replied bitterly. "That, and whenever he says 'I'm an Olympian' a little part of my soul gets stuck in Tartarus. I fear at some point there will be too much of me in there that we shall need a new king of the Underworld."
Persephone snorted, and had to wipe tears from her eyes. "That was a good joke."
"I will be honest and say a part of me fears that was not a joke," Hades said. "To stay on the safe side, if I am to disappear to Tartarus, Hermes is not to be the next king of the Underworld. Tell everyone I named Hecate, thought she may prefer to be called queen."
"Well, you might have to give that to me in writing, or I might just accidentally say that you insisted I should be the next queen of the Underworld," she teased as she idly drew hearts onto her pillow with her finger. "I absolutely look the part, after all. Hecate gave me her blessing to be the brightest and most colourful witch imaginable. I just actually need to learn to be a witch."
"If you fill out an application, I might consider you," he said. "Anyway, I need to leave. I have to lock up my office for the day and head back home. Will I be seeing you next Friday, then?"
"I'm gonna have to check my plan but since my plan is pretty much nada, I'm gonna say yes," she said. "I can always text you later! I'm probably better at texting than calling."
"I might be better at texting too, considering how much Hecate likes to message me," Hades said. "Anyway, I shall see you next Friday, potentially."
"Next Friday! Love you," she chirped, then she let out a strangled cat type scream. "Oh my Olympus, I did not mean to say that! I'm so used to saying that when I hang up the phone with Mother. Oh my Olympus, pretend you heard nothing."
"I, uh, shall…" he said. "But… thank you anyway?"
"You're welcome," she said, and then she let out a slightly quieter strangled cat type scream. "Um, good luck with the gold girl case."
She hung up before he could say anything else, sighed, and buried her face into her pillow. Talk about embarrassing.
Then, remembering her final words to him, her head shot back up, but when she reached for her phone, it was not him she messaged.
Persephone: Hermes? What was this about a gold girl you mentioned earlier? Hades said something about it.
Hermes: Shit
A/N
Conclusion to last weeks chapter! Sorry it's another short-ish one, but I promise next fortnight's will be a long boi! Alas, I'm back at work full time now, so I don't have as much time to write. But, next week we'll get the conclusion to this mysterious gold girl, and we get to meet a new character! Also, if you want to support me so I can continue writing this, and see some cool art, check out my twitter! ( Blake_Farron). Keep being awesome guys ^_^
Blake
