Chapter forty (2)

Lamplight cast a bright orange glow in the hall and soft classical music began to play.   Persephone looked across the room catching sight of an equally beautiful ginger woman seated at the end of the table. The scene, it was all too familiar. Then it painfully dawned on her. The first day she laid her eyes on Poseidon.

"You remember this day. Don't you?" The ginger girl queried, circularly twirling a goblet of gold as she spoke.

"Who are you?" Persephone demanded.

"Aye, I remember. You were fresh out of the water. Demeter just dumped you with the old one and this particular day, The old one came to pay a visit to his children. You chose to tag along. It was the day you met his brother."

Persephone stood up, slamming her hands hard on the table. "Who sent you? Hades?"

The ginger rose from her chair and gave a slight cackle. The fact that she wasn't afraid made Persephone worried. The woman was not a god. She lacked the golden seal but she knew things even historians hadn't found out about Persephone. The girl might not be a god but she definitely wasn't mundane.

"You do not remember the many faces that have had to suffer because of you?"

  Persephone stared at the figure, her breath ragged as if she had just run a race while she tried figuring out what the ginger girl was getting at. She felt the need to throw in a question but her breath failed her. It was strange. Persephone felt her weight collapse and she slumped, hitting her head square on the floor. The girl was responsible.  Persephone trembled knowing she was in harm's way while being completely powerless. The last thing she remembered was going to bed. How did she end here?

The girl strode down her way and smiled down at her. "My name is Murmur." She said. "The demon you sealed for thirty years without for once thinking how it felt to be trapped in a place that wasn't home!"

"Murmur?" Persephone muttered. Murmur the demon... The one her late husband personally trapped to save her from torment. If it was free, then she was under its hold. Persephone was done for.

"I beg you Murmur. It was not in my place to decide. Poseidon did it for my own good." Persephone pleaded, a fine line of tear pouring out of her lid and tainting the red carpet. "You tormented me."

"Yes!" The demon yelled back. "It was not in my place to defy my father. If your whore habit did not get in the way, Hades wouldn't be like this." Suddenly her expression softened, she looked down at Persephone and wiped away her tear with delicate fingers. "I really want to sit and watch as the divine life force drains out of you. But..."

"Hades won't let you." Persephone mocked when she remembered the advantage she had. No matter the malevolent ways Hades tried to get her back to him, the one thing he would never do was hurt her physically.

The girl frowned and slapped Persephone right on the cheek. It stung.

"Father left me here to rot for years and he releases me when it has something do with his plot to get you by his side. I am tired. I will no longer obey him. I cannot."

"So you will kill me?" Persephone whispered, feeling her strength dwindle even more. At the pace the demon was draining her life force, Persephone suspected she only had minutes before her entire existence would be stuck in a nightmare dimension which happened to be under the whims of a vengeful demon. And demons, Those vile features were not capable of forgiveness.

"I really want to. But I love my father. I cannot hurt him. However, I will punish him. He left me here for ages and just when I thought his grace had turned in my favor. It turns out. It is still about you."

"I am dying." Persephone choked out through a film of tears right before her strength suddenly surged into her like lightning.

  The ginger bitch went for her chair and plopped down comfortably while she waited for Persephone to gather her strength. Persephone wanted nothing but to charge at the night hag and gorge the bitch's eyes out. She wished she had the power too but in her state, the demon would make her its rag doll. The best Persephone could do was be thankful the maniacal demon spared her life.

"You spared me. Why?"

"Because I need you sadly. While it would have been such a high to get rid of you, I can not risk my father's love. So I will let you live and you get out of here unscathed but, you have to do me a solid."

"And what is that?" Persephone asked, reeling at the fact that she was making a bargain with a demon.

"When I send you back, his daughter will still be under my hold. Kill her."

"What!" Persephone flinched at that. It was just a weird thing to say. She wasn't a murderer. She never wanted to be one. Persephone had once considered it but the girl was only a pawn in a bigger game. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Not without a valid reason too. "You want me to murder Hades child? Since when do demons become instigators? I thought your kind are powerless without a word from their master?"

The demon chuckled. "I know you have craved to kill her.  I am surprised you do have a moral code. But let me help you with your conflicting thoughts, I will let you go but if you spare Talia. I promise you she will know of the prophecy, her bloodline, and worse, she will be in your boy's head. Wouldn't that your worst nightmare?"

"Denys is here?"

The demon did not answer. She simply waved her hand and Persephone felt a force wrap around her throat, pressing and shoving her consciousness down a dark well until the world shrank to a tiny pinpoint of light, then blinked out of existence.

***

"It has gotten to the court that Talia has been resurrecting dead animals and even making small weather changes. Maveth, You know this is not the Seelie way." The strawberry pink-haired faerie said. "If you don't keep your girl ability in check, The court will find out not only is your daughter a demigod but they have been housing an Unseelie Fae."

Talia hid by the creaky old wooden door as she eavesdropped on her mother and the stranger. She was a tiny creature then. Probably just ten. She remembered making a sound and unintentionally alerting her mother of her presence.

"Come here Talia," Maveth called to her child when the stranger left.

"Mum, Are they going to chase us here too?" Talia remembered querying her mother in innocence.

"Maybe, but we don't have to go. I know it's hard to resist that power Talia but try. For both our sakes."

"But..." Little Talia protested.

"No Buts Talia. No more raising animals and just because you don't like its raining doesn't mean you have to tamper with it. I want you to promise me Talia that when the voices in your head are conflicting, Choose the Fae. She is impulsive but she is never wrong."

But... That was a long time ago. Talia wasn't that compulsive child anymore. She knew very well to listen to her fae and with time, the voices stopped fighting for dominance. As Talia inhaled briny water, She felt the conflicting voices rage for dominance. It was like having a gun to the head and being told everything was alright. Of course, everything wasn't alright. Each time she opened her mouth to mumble a spell, nothing came forth and she only swallowed more water. It would only be moments before her lungs were completely filled with water and she would be dead. For the first time, she let the impulsive fae step down but as the second passed by and her lungs got heavier, Talia realized something. Her God side wasn't taken over. At her time of great need, the only power that could ensure she remained alive had abandoned her. The words "Choose the Fae" kept playing on her head on repeat. Talia felt her head spin as those words have been wired like the very breath she took. Resigning to fate, she shut her eyes.

"I'm sorry Mother." She thought before taking a deep breath of water and accepting death but at the very last moment, another word popped into her head.

"Even if you are scared, You are stronger than you know."


It was one of her mum's favorites quotes. It was a snippet of one of her favorite songs. With no tears left to cry, Talia dropped her hands to the sea bed and let it all go. It was as though she tapped into the head of somebody. She had no idea what she was doing but something was happening. Blood was rushing in her ears and her temples pounded. The pain in Talia's lines vanished and she felt her whole body grow warm. Her eyes burned as bright as a furnace flame and hovering above her was a shadow that sat over her, enveloping her body whole.