"i wasn't afraid, mama;
i was bored. i was hungry.

do you know how long i waited
for that fruit? me in the fields,
the sunlight on my hair a crown.
sweat on my palms glittering
like starbursts carved in marble,
teeth sharp as athena's sword.
he took one look at me
and broke the earth open
for desire."

- Cecilia Woloch

I led Hades down the property line, Cerberus panting and wagging his tail. "Is there somewhere specific you're taking me?" Hades handed me Cerberus' leash while he rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt. I watched, transfixed for a moment too much, at the way his arms were shaped and how the muscles moved underneath the pale skin.

I snapped my attention away from his arms, wiggled my eyebrows at him. "A river."

"A...river?" His highly-arched brows descended over his eyes as they narrowed.

"Yeah," I said, "Ever heard of them?" A gust of wind blew then, graciously welcomed by the both of us. I had no idea how Hades was dressed the way he was and was even mildly comfortable. I thought of inviting him to peel his shirt off when we got to the river and blushed, though I hoped he attributed my red cheeks to the heat.

"Never," he replied, darting a teasing glance in my direction. "I hear that some use them to bathe, however."

I laughed, the breeze lifting the hair off my shoulders. "I thought Cerberus could cool down for a little, but you're more than welcome to join him if you like."

Hades' lips twitched towards a smile and suddenly my lips were pulling back to smile wider. We were silent a moment, only the song of the birds and grasses swaying against the soles of our shoes between us. Then he held his hand out for Cerberus' leash back, and I snatched it out of his reach.

"Mine!" I said, twirling further away. Cerberus barked after me and followed suit.

Hades made a face. "Persephon -"

"Nope! My dog now - get a new one."

And he looked very frustrated suddenly, unsure how to express the feeling. He also seemed to want to laugh at me. "I -" he began and stopped. His stops ceased, as well, and he put a hand to his chin, staring at the ground in contemplation. Finally he glanced up, fixed a hard and even expressions on me. "You can't have my dog."

I walked a few steps closer, folded my hands together in a pleading motion, the leather of the leash against my knuckles, and tilted my head back. I painted a pout over my face, "Please, Hades? Pretty please?"

His gaze had never left me, that hard, even stare and - suddenly it wasn't so hard or even. His blue eyes were wide, brows halfway to his hairline, and a bright pink flush was building in his pale face.

I unfolded my hands and gave a dramatic sigh, trying not to grin. Did I make him that flustered?

I held out the leash in Hades' direction: "Take him."

Hades cleared his throat and looked away, to his right. "No that's - um...It's alright, Persephone."

"You sure?" I teased.

He cleared his throat again. "Quite."

The river was a lot smaller than I remembered it. It was more a narrow stream, running through the forest, the smooth water broken up by bursts of sunlight breaking through the overhead leaves.

There was, however, still that flat, slightly slanted rock that I'd always loved to read on. I sat down on the lower end, calling Cerberus to me. I petted him behind his ears, his tongue lolling out to the side, and with Hades' okay, unhooked Cerberus - who bounded away almost immediately, splashing into the stream.

I got up and tentatively dipped a toe in the water - it was cold, but refreshing and a reprieve from the heat and sweat I'd been feeling all day. So I took a few steps in, trying to avoid Cerberus' sprays of water as he chased what I thought was a bee.

"Do you often try to steal peoples' dogs?" Hades asked behind me. He was sitting on the same low side of the rock I had been, one leg stretched out as he rolled up the pant leg on the other. His shoes and socks were put together neatly next to his feet.

"Only yours," I hummed in reply, pulling all my hair over to one shoulder and dividing it into three parts.

"Glad to know your aptitude for theft is only newly acquired."

I tilted my head back and laughed, fingers pausing on the braid. Hades didn't flinch at the coolness of the water as he moved to stand beside me, but I noticed his cheeks were pink again and his vivid blue eyes were on me. Butterflies flapped their wings in my belly, and I had to look away in case I was turning pink, too.

"Persephone!" The shout rang through my head abruptly. My heart started flailing around in me, almost like it was ringing the alarm bell. "Persephone!" My mother called again, and it seemed to happen all at once: I was standing and then Cerberus was knocking me over and I was falling backwards, and then Hades caught me by the hands and was hauling me back to my feet and I tripped and suddenly - suddenly -

"Persephone what on Gods' green Earth are you doing?!" My mother shouted, and I felt frozen, absolutely stuck, like my feet had taken root in the soil beneath the water and I had no hope of moving even the smallest fraction of an inch.

My mom started to march over to me, lips twitching in that way I knew they did when she was especially angry. I couldn't remember that look ever being directed at me the way it was now, and I couldn't tell if it was my heart beating that frantically, or Hades', because we were pressed so close together, practically tangled. He'd yanked me to my feet with so much momentum I had fallen right into him and Hades had done his best to break my fall again.

I tried to scramble away from Hades, but our feet were tangled, and this time I did fall into the water. Water splashed, and when I stood, the bottom and nearly whole backside of my dress was dripping, soaked through.

"Persephone, get over here this instant! Get away from him!"

I scowled at my mom, though I was more confused than anything. I was sopping, embarrassed, and she was the one who got to be angry?

"Excuse me," I said to Hades without turning my head, and marched out of the water, fists balled by my sides.

As soon as I was out of the water, my Mom pulled me into her side, wrapped her arms around me while shooting Hades a scathing glare that promised murder and nothing less, but probably something worse.

"You know you're not allowed here," she said in a low voice. "Not without permission, and certainly not around my daughter."

Hades' eyes moved slowly from my mother to me, as I tried to shrug her off. "Apologies," he said to her, and I thought he might be being sarcastic. "My dog needs his exercise as much as the next."

I looked away, biting back a small laugh, and when I turned back, he was gone, so were his shoes, and so was Cerberus.