I take his hand and we rise from our chairs. “What are we doing now?” I ask. Every time he makes a gesture I feel like he has another surprise in store for me.
“I thought you might like to dance,” he muses.
I laugh. “You’re right. I would.”
In a flash, he vanishes and appears behind me, his warm hands resting against my bare shoulders. His lips are inch away from my earlobe. “Will you dance with me then,” he wh
ispers. And his whisper blows up inside of my head like a monsoon sound system. He voice trickles from my head into my throat before resting in my heart cavity.
“I will,” I say as his hands slide down my back and rest on my waist. He spins me around to face him and I close my eyes for a moment and when I open them we’re in the middle of the dance floor swaying back and forth as the band plays another ballad.
Lights flicker and dance across his face, highlighting his high cheekbones as he pulls me closer, enveloping me in his arms. “I didn’t think you’d be a good dancer,” I joke.
“Are you kidding? I’m an excellent dancer, but I will say I’ve done a lot of improving in the last five thousand years,” he says, dipping me backwards.
“Well, then you’ll have to forgive me if I step on your toes,” I reply as he pulls me back up. “I’m afraid I don’t have that much experience.”
He laughs. “You can step on my toes anytime you want.” I smile and rest my head against his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me tighter. I even feel him plant a soft kiss on the top of my head. But I don’t care. This moment is too perfect to interrupt.
I never thought that I’d be in an elaborately decorated ballroom, at my own prom dancing with death himself. And I never thought that I’d actually be falling for him.
Hades
At the end of the night Hades escorted Persephone back to her room, said goodnight, and retired to his own room. But he didn’t intend on actually staying in his room. He waited until he was certain Persephone was sleeping and walked back to her room.
Hades stood outside of her doorway watching her sleep. Her soft breathing filled the room melodically and it reminded him of a musician plucking the strings on a harp and the soft look on her face reminded him of peace.
Today had gone exactly as he planned. Actually it had gone better than he planned. He was pleased that he was able to pull it off. He knew he had never been the romantic type, but slowly when it came to Persephone he realized that anything was possible.
She was the light to his darkness. The compassion to his rage. The key to his heart. Point blank, Persephone was everything to him.
The moment he first saw her ages ago he knew he was attracted to her, but that attraction had blossomed into something true and beautiful. Something he’d wanted his whole life. Love.
Uncertainty throbbed inside of him as he walked down the hall away from her room. Did she feel the same way about him? He couldn’t be certain and that plagued the mighty God.
There were moments earlier in the evening where he’d thought she was looking at him with love or adoration. He thought. There was no certainty because Hades didn’t know anything about love. He couldn’t only base his opinions on the way he felt in his gut. And the way he felt in his gut was that maybe just maybe Persephone felt more for him than she was prepared to admit. Maybe just maybe she loved him in return.
Persephone
I set out on a mission the next morning. Back to the control room I’d found when I’d first arrived. A vision of mom came to me in my dreams and I had this urge to see her consuming me since I’d woken up. Part of me hopes that she’s feeling better, even though I know that’s probably not the case. I think seeing her upset will put me back in my place because ever since last night I can’t get over Hades and how I might not want to leave him.
Repeating all the steps I had followed a few days earlier, I smile at the sight of mom who is standing in front of a window. She looks better, healthier. The color is back in her cheeks and her face looks fuller, like she’s been eating. She’s even wearing a tiny smile. The sight of her smile makes me smile.
As I focus more intensely on her face I notice something, she’s not at home. Wherever she is the walls are bright, too bright, almost blinding in a way. I can’t make out any more of the room she’s in. Where is she?
Suddenly, lights in the room come on and mom’s picture cuts out. I twist around and Hades stands behind me, his arms crossed, his back against the control panel. “What are you doing?” he questions.
I exhale and my chest sinks. “Please don’t be mad. I had to see her. I had to see my mom.”
“I’m not mad,” he says calmly. “How did you know you’d be able to see her in this room?”
I explain to him how I’d stumbled across this room when I’d first arrived and was curious about it so I explored and was able to see mom after I’d first been taken.
He nods in an understanding way and sighs, “I could have done better if you would have asked.”
I inch closer to him. “What do you mean you could have done better?”
“I could have taken you to see her. In the flesh.”