Demeter jumped in fright when she heard the sound of impact, followed by what must be wood breaking. Her eyes widened at the realization that it was the door that was being broken, meaning that someone was breaking in.
In a flash, she waved a hand at Persephone, and her daughter suddenly fell back onto the bed with her wrists, ankles and waist pinned down onto the mattress by some invisible force. Persephone yelped in shock, but it suddenly turned into yells of protest, demanding that she be released.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" she screamed shrilly and at the top of her voice like a trapped animal, her body thrashing around violently as she tried to be free of her magic restraints. "LET ME GO NOW!"
But Demeter paid no attention to her. She ran out of the room, slamming the door shut in her wake, and rushed down the stairs. Meanwhile, she could feel a strong and powerful aura just within the vicinity. Alarmed, Demeter conjured up her own powers within herself, readying for any attack that she might face.
Just as she reached the first level, she saw that the door had been completely broken down, and that there was an arrow with the tip burrowed into the wall beside her. Just then, she was met by the sight of a goddess. Despite not seeing her for fifty years, she knew exactly who she was.
"Artemis."
Demeter stood still and defensively as she watched Artemis, with blackish-brown hair, dark midnight blue eyes and still looked to be the youthful age of twenty-three despite how many millenniums had passed, stomp into the house with her signature weapons, a bow and a quiver full of arrows, in her hands. The Hunting Goddess too stopped in her tracks when she saw the Harvest Goddess before her.
She gave no nice greeting, for she was here for a purpose.
"You have officially crossed the line, Demeter," Artemis said darkly, bow and arrow still readied in her hands.
Demeter felt her anger flaring once again, and she spat poisonously, "Do not interfere with my business, foolish girl. My daughter is none of your concern."
Artemis was not affected by how harsh Demeter was speaking to her. Instead, her scowl turned deeper and she took a daring step forward. Demeter on the other hand, instinctively took a step back, climbing up one stair step. Artemis knew then that she had her cornered; it was the same instinctive move that the animals she was hunting would make.
Her hands still poised for an attack, Artemis shook her head in disappointment.
"No. I am not the fool, Demeter. You are. You have always been the fool. You were foolish of many things, especially about how you think you were raising Persephone. You were not raising her to be a well-mannered goddess and a strong woman. No. You were raising her to be sheltered child and trying to avoid her from attaining knowledge of what a fully-grown goddess should have known. You were raising her to be your shadow, forever following what you do, never expected to leave to do her own things. You were a fool to think that the way you are raising her was ideal."
Hearing her words, Demeter felt her anger rising very quickly. How dare this goddess of a slightly lower status talk to her, one of the six elder gods, like that? As though she knew a thing about being a mother. Just because the Hunting Goddess' mother was Leto, the Titaness of Motherhood, that did not make her fully-knowledgeable in the art of being a mother. How ignorant of her.
Demeter wanted to scream at her. To curse her and tell her off. But the poison-laced words which were piling itself up in her mind did not reach her tightly-clamped lips. Instead, she had gotten a reaction that she had not intended to happen; she felt hot tears pooling in her eyes and streaming slowly down her cheeks.
That only gave Artemis the more reason to put her in her place.
"And what did you say of your daughter being none of my concern? Well, let me tell you that I should be concern because your daughter is my sister. Despite only sharing half of the same ichor, we are still sisters by Zeus. And that is a fact that you had tried to deny, but failed miserably."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Demeter suddenly screamed in a mixture of anger and pain as she pulled at her earthly-blonde hair and tightly squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the menace of Artemis' words.
Artemis did not back down. Instead, she continued to attack Demeter with even more menacing words. It was just like the saying goes; the pen is mightier than the sword.
"You're forcing yourself to be ignorant of it!" she shouted at the top of her voice. "You're trying to tell yourself that you're not wrong. That what you did is acceptable. Why can't you see that whatever you're doing is absolutely the opposite? Why are you trying to control Persephone's life, and why can't you see that she is actually happy with Hades?"
All of a sudden, totally unexpected, Demeter fell to the floor, her hands still pulling at her hair and her eyes still tightly-shut. Artemis stopped talking and looked at the now-crying older goddess. However, she remained impassive, and her hands still held her bow and arrow tightly.
"Please stop…" Demeter cried. "Just stop talking about that…"
Hearing her broken voice suddenly overcame Artemis' heart with pity. She lowered her weapons down just slightly, never once taking her eyes off Demeter. However, despite the pity she felt for her, she still did not deny the fact that what Demeter had done was still absolutely wrong. She too remembered that she was there to rescue Persephone, no matter the consequences.
In a more gentler voice, she said, "Even if I stopped talking about it, the fact still remains; what you have done is wrong. It will always be there, no matter how hard you try to deny it."
Just as sudden, Demeter got onto her feet, rising to her full height, and took a step closer to Artemis. The Hunting Goddess kept her stance firm and did not flinch as she looked directly at the Harvest Goddess' glaring dark olive eyes.
With malice in her words, Demeter spat, "And what are you going to do now? Are you really foolish enough to think that you can change me?"
In an instant, Artemis' grip on her bow and arrow became tight once again, and she positioned the arrow properly and expertly on the bow. Pulling back the bowstring just a tiny bit, she answered in a solemn tone, "I don't think I'm capable of changing your ways, but I do know that I have to get through you to get Persephone."
A sly smirk played on Demeter's pursed lips, and she then answered, "Then so be it."
And in just a split second, she released the power that she had conjured up inside her through her hand, directing it solely at Artemis. The force immediately sent the young goddess flying through the open entryway, and she landed on blacktop of the road in front of the house.
Artemis only took a few seconds to recover herself and immediately got back steadily on her feet. She picked up her bow, which fell just a foot away from her, and got out another arrow from her quiver.
She readied her weapons once again as Demeter dangerously emerged from the house. Her golden aura radiated strongly around her, her powers now reaching to its maximum. Preparing herself for battle, Artemis felt her own aura building up around her. It was absolutely strong and powerful.
On the sides, she noticed that the other residents had emerged from their houses as well, all staring in confusion at the two women who were about to be locked in a showdown. For a second, Artemis immediately began to get worried, now fully aware that the mortals would be able to see the unnatural power that both she and Demeter possessed.
But in the end, she thought to herself, Screw it. They're going to die soon anyway.
And without a moment's hesitation, she sent a powerful force heading towards Demeter, earning herself gasps and yells of shocks from her unwanted spectators.
COME ON! BREAK FREE! BREAK FREE!
Once again, my body fell limply back onto the bed, and I screamed out in frustration. Whatever restraints my mother had placed upon me, it was so strong that even my own magic could not break it.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, DEMETER!" I screamed at her, even though I knew she was no longer in the house. Just a few minutes prior, I had felt her aura clashing powerfully against the aura of another god or goddess. But I knew that it wasn't Hades who she was attacking. The aura did not attain the darkness that his did.
Whoever it was who had come to rescue me, I could only hope with all my heart that they make it out safe and sound.
I felt so tired. I had used up much of my stamina in trying to break out of these invisible bonds. But my powers kept on being beaten down by my mother's stronger ones. Still, I did not give up trying. I kept on pushing myself to the limit, the hope that I would break free still growing as strong as ever.
Come on! Try harder, Persephone! Just try!
I could feel my power once again fighting with all it has got against Demeter's, trying its best to find a weak area in the barrier. But once again, it was being beaten down easily, and I could feel myself getting weaker.
Still, I did not want to stop. I did not care if I was not strong enough. I was going to keep trying until I finally got out. So I did. I willed myself to continue, ignoring my body pleading for rest…
Until a touch of a hand to my forehead stopped me entirely.
I gasped in surprise, and let myself succumb to rest. My eyes darted quickly to the owner of the hand.
Seeing Hades stand beside my bed instantly made me cry tears of relief.
"Hades!" I cried out with a relieved smile, feeling happiness overwhelm my heart now that I know that he was safe.
Hades smiled back at me. Like mine, it was a smile of relief. Seeing that smile made my heart well up and more tears started to stream down my cheeks.
But suddenly, his smile disappeared, and his eyes suddenly began to assess me. I could see the way his jaw became taut as he realized that I was being trapped to the bed by my mother's magic.
His fathomless black eyes darted to my face again, and he said seriously, "I'm going to get you out. Stay still."
I nodded my head obediently, keeping silent. I watched as he lifted a hand and hovered it over my belly. And then, he shut his eyes and became completely still.
I felt a shift in the air then, and I could also feel the aura on my mother's bonds suddenly being taken over by his dark one. I could feel the invisible but powerful 'manacles' around my wrists, ankles and waist loosen increasingly as Hades continued to focus his energy with the intention of releasing me.
Finally, the restraints disappeared entirely. I kept still for a moment, taking in very deep breaths, before shooting myself up into a sitting position and wrapping my arms around his neck.
I could feel his own arms wrapping around my frame, and I whispered softly through my tears, "I thought I'd never see you again."
Hades shushed me gently, pressing soft kisses onto my neck and my cheek as he did. I did not want something so small, so I turned my head to look at him and immediately kissed him with all the energy I had left.
He kissed back passionately, and I could feel the desperation that was coming from both of us. I kissed him harder, not wanting to let go of him. I wanted to cherish the taste of his lips. I wanted it to etch itself so deep within me that it would be almost impossible to forget.
But unfortunately, he pulled away, leaving me breathless and hungry for me.
I looked at him pleadingly, but was stopped short by the seriousness in his pitch black eyes. He pulled me gently off the bed as he told me quickly, "Get your passport and ID. We're leaving the country."
My eyes widened in confusion, and I said, "What? What do you mean 'we're leaving the country?'"
In an instant, he replied, "Apollo saw it. The rapture. It's tonight. We have to leave for Greece in an hour."
Hearing those words coming out of his mouth made my body froze and my ichor went cold. No words came through my mouth, but there were many appearing in my head.
Hades became worried and concern then. Gently, he shook me out of my trance. "Persephone? Love?" he murmured worriedly.
More tears fell from my eyes. But this time, they were not tears of relief. Instead, they were tears of fear.
"Tonight?" I whispered, my voice sounding small and completely afraid. "The world ends tonight? Are you being serious?"
"Persephone…" he murmured, coming closer to pull me into an embrace. I hastily clutched onto him, crying fearfully into his chest. He said nothing more. He only held me close, as though he was afraid that I will break apart.
I was so scared now. Not only has my mother fully succumbed into madness, but the world will end soon. Everything I knew now would be gone, without even a trace of their existence left to be remembered. The people that I have grown to know in Heatherton would die, without anyone even knowing that their threads of life were about to be cut.
"Persephone," I heard Hades whisper into my hair. "Everything is going to be alright. I promise. I'll protect you. You'll be safe."
Yes. I'll be safe. But the mortals would not.
But then again, maybe it was to be this way. Besides, the world was not going to be destroyed. It was going to be reborn. It would flourish once again with greenery and naturality, never again being endangered by the poison that was being dumped upon it by the mortals. And besides, the mortals were going to die sooner or later right?
Slowly, I pulled away from him, wiping away my tears and bottling up my sadness and fear. Then I went to my night drawer, pulling open the drawer and taking out my passport from it, before I went to my handbag, which was sitting on my study table, and took out my wallet.
Hades silently took the items from my hands and kept them in a small backpack that he had slung on his left shoulder. He then handed me my pair of ballet flats, and I slipped the shoes on quietly.
He took my hand gently then, and led me out of my room and down the stairs. When we had reached the first floor, I noticed then that nearly everything was in a mess. There were broken pieces of wood, glass and other materials messing up the floor, as though someone had gone on a rampage.
Who else but my mother?
The door had been broken down, and Hades led me quickly out of the house. But what I saw outside completely shock me.
The road was completely destroyed, the blacktop attaining many cracks, and the neighboring houses too suffered some damage. I could hear water gushing quickly out of broken fire hydrants, the panic barking of dogs, people crying out in fear, and there was also the faint sound of a police siren in the distance.
"What happened?" I questioned as I was being pulled through the front yard.
Without looking back at me, Hades answered hurriedly, "Artemis and your mother." Just then, we approached a vehicle that was park alongside the road and he easily lifted me into the passenger seat.
The vehicle was none other than Artemis' jeep.
"Artemis?" I exclaimed in worry.
He nodded his head as he climbed into the driver's side of the jeep. "She's distracting your mother so that we can make an escape."
My fear grew tenfold at the information. "She could be hurt!" I exclaimed in fear. "We have to help her!"
As he threw his backpack into the backseat and slid the key into the ignition, he turned to look at me and held my gaze with serious eyes as he said, "Artemis is one of the strongest in the pantheon. She knows how to take care of herself."
My worry did not die down, but I knew I had to trust Hades' words. As I nodded my head understandingly, I hoped that Artemis would still be able to make it out alright.
Hades revved up the engine of the jeep quickly, and we were riding out of the cul-de-sac in a few seconds.
And in just a few minutes, we were already driving on the road towards Portland.