Prologue
"My spell has been cast. If you're not married by your twenty-fifth birthday you will be banished onto earth; doomed to live as a mere mortal." Hades voice echoed in Quentin's head.
He wondered why his father Hades, lord of the Underworld (hell) thought him to be irresponsible, after all, life in Hades was one big party; with maids and servants waiting on you hand and foot, and a feast all night and day, who would blame him for being a little careless.
The stone boulder door rolled open and Philip, Quentin's older brother, walked in. Quentin, with his dark brown locks was the exact opposite to Philip's blond wavy hair; but they all had the same dark empty eyes. In fact all twelve of Hades' children had the same dark empty eyes. "Well, what are you going to do?" Philip asked. "At least you have five more years to look for the perfect bride. You can marry a witch, a goddess or a princess. Though goddesses are quite scarce, so you can't even find one to trick or kidnap, and witches are in hiding though with a good look on the witch-o-meter you might find a bad witch with strong powers. Why and how else do you think I picked my wife, Jessica? And if you can get a princess who could neglect her duties then you've got it. Well, think about it. I wish you all the best."
He left with his words playing in Quentin's head. Quentin walked over to a screen basin that was like an encyclopaedia. "Show me a princess." he commanded. The water in the basin began to swill and suddenly a picture of a red-head with emerald eyes in a tiara reading a geography book appeared. This is who I pick he thought.
Chapter 1
Princess Isabella sighed. How beautiful these butterflies are, she thought. Her mother had allowed her to go to the countryside with her maids to feel the breeze, and see the birds, butterflies and the forest. She sighed again with a smile on her face. Then, suddenly a brightly coloured butterfly flew by. It caught her eye because it glowed a strange green. She hesitated, but it seemed to call out to her to follow it. She took her binoculars and butterfly net and rushed after it swiftly. The butterfly fluttered away, but Isabella was so curious she started to follow it, mesmerized. Isabella did not realize that she had dropped her net and binoculars. Neither did she realize that the forest was drying up and browning and that all the flowers were wilting.
Suddenly, the butterfly stopped in a clearing in the middle of the forest. A huge three headed dog with dragons for a tail jumped out and grabbed her with its paw. She screamed and yelled whilst everything moved around like a whirlpool.
Julietta, her maid ran into the princess' room and found out she was not there. She ran around till she ran into the forest but all she saw were giant paw prints as big as a man's face.
"Aaah! The princess is missing; these cries rang out throughout the palace. The queen, Queen Nyurka, the princess' fiancé, Prince Antonio and the maid Julietta were all in the ball room when the soothsayer Okpen arrived in a cloud of billowing blue smoke.
"The princess has been taken away, to the dark fruitless land of Hades'' he said in a croaky voice. "Only three can save her and until their destinies entwine all we can do is to wait. For the chosen ones, the chosen ones …"