Chapter Text
Persephone looked up as the bell above the flower shop’s door chimed. Her mouth was already curled up in a smile. Aside from the fact that she naturally had a sunny disposition, today her mother had left her in charge of the shop. Her smile stuttered a little when she saw who walked in.
Even though she hadn’t been expecting anything, the girl ducking deeper into the flower-shop wasn’t it. She had black hair that had been messily cut in a boy’s hair style. The jeans were a faded black and she wore a leather jacket over a ratty Viva La Pluto t-shirt. It was the sullen look and stormy eyes that identified her.
Persephone inhaled sharply. It was Hayden, the eldest of the Olympus siblings. The trio were the talk of the town, especially with their father thrown in jail recently. Even though she didn’t know Hayden personally, she thought it would be good to talk to her. Hayden seemed kinda lonely, even with her brothers bothering her at school.The twins were in her grade so she didn’t think it would be too weird if she talked to her. If Hayden asked, she could lie and say she was friends with Zayn or Piers.
She found Hayden standing in front of the asphodels. Persephone stood next to her, shoulder to shoulder and peering at the long stalks with white flowers sprouting along them. Hayden was only a year older, but Persephone felt unbelievably young in her bright yellow skirt and flowery top.
She didn’t say anything for a long minute. She didn’t know what to say aside from I’m sorry about your Dad. Persephone thought it would be the quickest way to get Hayden to never talk to her again. She was surprised that Hayden was even in here. “I didn’t take you for a flower person.”
Hayden glanced at her from the corner of her eyes. This close, Persephone could see that Hayden’s eyes were a different shade of blue from her brothers. They were a dark sapphire. Zayn’s eyes were sky-blue and the other one - she couldn’t remember his name for some reason - had ocean-blue eyes. Persephone thought that Hayden’s were the prettiest.
Persephone thought Hayden wouldn’t respond at all. When the girl did respond, it was flat. “I’m not, usually.”
Persephone gestured to the surrounding shop. “But you’re in the flower shop.”
“I wanted to avoid my brothers.”
“The town is pretty big.”
“When one takes to the sea and then the other takes to the highest point in the town, it sure starts to seem small. Crowded.”
Persephone thought about her mother. Demeter was always hovering behind her unless she was at the shop, home, or school. She loved her mother but sometimes she couldn’t help wanting space. “I get that.” She looked back at the flowers. “I would sell them to you, but they’re for the funeral home.”
“I know.”
Persephone threw a look to Hayden. It was some shock, some perplexity, and a little creeped out. “You know your creep factor goes from fifty-percent to one hundred percent.”
“I’m aware.” Hayden paused, thinking something over. She pulled her hand from her jacket’s pocket. She stuck it out for a handshake. “Hayden.”
Persephone looked at the hand. There was a heavy skull-ring on her middle finger. This was exactly the kind of person that her mother would hate her befriending. Hayden shifted, ready to pull her hand back alongside her offer for friendship. Persephone reached out and took her hand. Somehow it was colder than the ring, as cold as a corpse. “I know - I mean, everyone knows who - I’m going to stop. I’m Persephone.”
Hayden let her hand go. She smiled at Persephone, sharp and delighted. “I know.”
~*~
Persephone stared at the dog staring at her. She narrowed her eyes and swore the dog did too. She took a step forward and the dog was instantly standing at attention. A low growl started deep in its throat and vibrated in its chest. Persephone shuffled back a little. The dog stopped growling and relaxed a fraction. It still eyed her warily.
The dog was sitting in front of a white house with a bright green lawn. Persephone said house but she meant mansion. It had columns for no reason. It was grand enough that it showed that the Olympians were well off, but wasn’t big enough that it became tasteless. In the back was a small fountain and fields of grass. She thought that someone like Hayden seemed out of place in a house like that. She thought about their dad, further proof that people don’t always reflect where they were from.
She looked back at the dog. It was black with alert brown eyes. Persephone knew it was a mix, but she wasn’t sure what it was a mix of. It looked part Rottweiler, part Mastiff and part Doberman - three dogs in one. He trained his eyes on Persephone as she stepped closer to the house. An uncertain growl started back up.
She carefully pulled a dog biscuit from a baggie. Everyone in town knew about the fierce dog guarding the house and Persephone came prepared. She tossed it away from her and the house. The dog hesitated before he chased after it.
Delighted that she distracted the dog, Persephone rushed to the mansion’s front door. She was about to ring the doorbell when the door opened.
“What were you doing?” Hayden asked. She looked at the dog who was chewing on the treat. “He normally doesn’t let people this close.”
She waved a dog biscuit and shoved it back in a baggie. “I sort of bribed him.” The guilt evaporated as Hayden cracked a smile.
“I see. I thought I trained him better than that.” Hayden leaned against one of the pillars. She watched the dog carefully, like a parent watching their child.
“Is he yours?” Persephone already knew that he was. “What’s his name?”
“Cerberus,” Hayden said. She whistled sharply and the dog looked up. Cerberus trotted over to them and nuzzled against Hayden’s hand. Hayden instantly started petting him, and the dog started wagging his tail.
“Cerberus,” Persephone repeated. It sounded familiar. Right. “What does it mean? It sounds Greek. Or maybe Latin?”
Hayden looked away. “It just means Spot in Greek. But it sounds really cool.”
Persephone laughed. Cool, aloof Hayden in a leather jacket and her scary dog Spot. Through the open door she could hear Hayden’s brothers playfully fighting.
Hayden glanced through the crack between the door and the door frame. She could see Cerberus’ leash hanging on one of the banisters. If Hayden was quiet, she could get in and out without her brothers noticing her.
Persephone waited patiently for Hayden to re-emerge from the house. She could hear Hayden and her brothers talking over each other. They were squabbling with more passion than they did at school, which was saying a lot because that’s all they seemed to do in public. Zayn asked where Hayden ws going and she replied nowhere. She said something else too but it was muffled.
Hayden came out clutching a dark purple leash. She clipped it onto an equally dark purple collar that Persephone hadn’t noticed before. “Let’s go.”
Persephone looked at Hayden and then the house. She must be right about Hayden sticking out like a sore thumb in a place like this. Hayden was always going somewhere, like she wasn’t tethered to home aside from sleeping. She looked at the dog who was wagging his tail and already straining against the leash. The two of them made quite a pair, both ready for some new adventure. “I know the perfect place.”
~*~
“You never explained how you knew that the asphodels were for the funeral home.” Persephone watched Cerberus run free in the park.
Hayden said, “I have an internship at a funeral home.”
“You have a WHAT?” Persephone yelled. Hayden flinched away from the sudden loud noise. Persephone repeated herself quieter. “You have a what?”
“An internship.” Hayden’s fingers picked at the peeling paint on the bench. It got under her fingernails, but she didn’t stop. “You must think my creep factor went up to 150%”
“Maybe,” Persephone laughed. She bumped her shoulders against Hayden’s. “It’s cool that you have a job.”
“You have a job too,” Hayden pointed out. “You have that sweet gig at the flower shop.” She said it like she was trying the phrase out for the first time, hesitant and stumbling through it.
“My mom set me up at her own shop. How lame is that?”
“It’s not too lame. My dad wouldn’t hire us. He is crazy paranoid about us taking over the company, which is ridiculous since only Zayn is interested in that. And only if he has to.”
“And your mom? Maybe she’ll hire you.”
“I’m sure she would but…” Hayden made a face. “I don’t want to stay home all the time.”
“No.” Persephone couldn’t imagine Hayden staying in that house all the time. “So you want to work for the funeral home?”
Hayden didn’t know what she wanted. It was good work that she was intrigued by, but she wasn’t sure. “Yeah. I might as well.”
Persephone could tell Hayden wanted her to change the subject. She gazed out at the forest. The flowers were in full bloom but she could still imagine the bare branches from winter. “Do you like summer or winter?”
“I don’t know. I think summer. Then I’m not trapped with my brothers.” Hayden laughed but there was a sad tinge to it. She scratched the back of her neck. “I know it sounds weird, but it’s almost lonelier.”
Persephone sucked in a sharp breath. There was a big opportunity present and she couldn’t afford to mess this up. Right here and now she had a choice to make. She could either stay silent or give a shallow answer and let the moment pass. Or she could seize the opportunity and take a leap that she wasn’t ready for. “Maybe I could hang out with you during the winter. I’m sure it’ll keep you from feeling too lonely.”
Her heart was thudding away in her chest like she had just run a marathon. She clenched her fist, her fingers were freezing against her palms. Hayden’s expression didn’t shift at all, it only increased Persephone’s dread embarrassment. She had overstepped her boundaries. Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry. We can pretend I never said that.”
Hayden shook her head. She bit her lip, deep in thought. “No, it’s...it’s fine. Actually, it’s better than fine. I’d like that a lot.”
Hayden gave Persephone a genuine smile. It was soft and made her eyes crinkle up. It was nothing like the smiles Hayden normally gave. Those ones were normally cold and sharp like she was waiting for someone to give her a reason to destroy them.
This smile was warm and it made Persephone’s heart seize. “Great.”
Hayden looked to the darkening sky. “I have to go. Sorry.”
“I have to go too. My mom is probably freaking out.” Persephone stood up and Hayden joined her too. “Bye.”
As Persephone walked away, she refused to look back at Hayden.
~*~
Hayden crept into the mansion as the sun set completely. She couldn’t help waiting for her dad to call out to her. Instead, she found Zayn hanging out in the living room. She paused in the opening and then decided that she would rather grab dinner first. She was about to walk away when Zayn looked up.
He swung his legs off the sofa's armrest. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Where’s Dad?” Hayden asked. She couldn’t hear him stomping around. The stomping didn’t mean he was angry, he was a titan of a man and that was just how he walked. He was loud and abrasive and if you didn’t move out of his way he won’t hesitate to cut you down.
Zayn said, “Out.”
What he didn’t say was that their father was probably making some under the table deals with his clients or drinking. The most likely timeline was client and then drinking.
“Oh.” There was a flash of disappointment. Hayden pushed the curls out of her face. Hopefully he’d stay away from the weird psychics he went to whenever he was drunk. He only saw them when he was drunk and he came back ranting about how all of his children were going to stab him in the back. There wasn’t any substance to that but he still was riled up to violent proportions. Hayden breathed out carefully. “Okay.”
“Where were you?”
“Out.” Hayden walked away from the living room. Unfortunately, Zayn didn’t take the hint and he followed her to the kitchen.
Hayden grabbed some leftovers and stuck them in the microwave. She leaned against a marble counter and counted the minutes down. Zayn mimicked her position but kept his eye on her rather than the microwave.
“Out where?” He asked.
“The park.”
“Was it with that girl?” Zayn wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He laughed when Hayden glared at him.
“What girl?” Piers walked in. He raised his eyebrows high enough that they disappeared behind his dark blue hair. He looked at Hayden. “You’re talking to a girl? Is she pretty?”
“Maybe.” Hayden didn’t know which question she was answering.
“She’s very pretty,” Zayn said. “I’m surprised she wasn’t here for me.”
“Psh, as if anyone would go for for you if I’m an option,” Piers scoffed. He stuck his nose in the air.
Zayn flicked it. His expression darkened like a thundercloud passing in front of the sun. “Shut up, Fish-breath! Don’t you have a fish tank to stare at?”
Hayden stayed quiet. It as partially because she didn’t care and partly because choosing one side declares a war on the other. She looked up as their mother walked into the kitchen.
“What are the three of you doing?” Rhea asked.
“Nothing!” They exclaimed in unison. The suspicion only grew.
“As long as you aren’t fighting. Help me set up for dinner. Your Uncle Horace is visiting today.”
~*~
Having Uncle Horace around was a blessing and a curse, as with many of the family members, his eyes seemed to skip right over the shock of black hair. Hayden couldn’t fault them for that since she rarely tried to talk to them. It was because they ignored her, but that might make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. The blessing was that Zayn and Horace got along like a house on fire. That meant that all of Zayn’s curiosity about Persephone was put aside for a later day.
It also meant that Piers, put off by Zayn’s focus on Horace, started talking to Hayden. “Hayden, do you want the rest of my fries?”
Hayden looked at the handful of fries that were drenched in ketchup. She didn’t really want them but she nodded anyway. She switched out their plates so Piers had an empty plate in front of him. “How are your fish doing?”
“Polyphemus,” Piers sullenly started, “is going blind.”
Hayden lifted an eyebrow as she munched in a fry. “I thought Polyphemus was already blind.”
“Not completely!” He protested. “He had one working eye and now he’s going completely blind.”
“What are you going to do now?” Hayden bit into another fry. “How are you going to feed it?”
“I don’t know.” Piers stole a fry back from Hayden.
Uncle Horace chose that moment to switch his attention from Zayn to Piers. “What don’t you know, Piers? If this is about your fish, I know that I don’t have an answer either.”
“My fish is going blind.” Piers sighed. “What should I do, Uncle Horace?”
“Uh,” Horace flicked his eyes over to his sister. Even though Hayden was seventeen and the twins were sixteen, he hesitated to give his advice. He never had any time for pets since he was always traveling across the Earth, so his first instinct was to tell Piers to kill it. “I really don’t know. How old is it?”
“He’s five years old,” Piers answered. “He’s pretty close to dying.”
“Maybe…” Horace looked over at Rhea. “Maybe it’s time to let it go. If it...passes...in the tank it might mess up the filtration system. Or whatever. It’ll be better to let it go now.”
Hayden got the feeling that Horace was avoiding the word death and anything relating to it. She understood that it was a painful subject but wouldn’t it be better to address the issue head on? She saw the pained look on Piers face. Maybe not.
“Hey,” Hayden reached over and gave Piers’ shoulder a quick squeeze. “If you want, I can help you.”
Zayn guffawed. “You want to help? Of course you so. You’re so weird sometimes.”
“Don’t say that,” Rhea scolded Zayn. “What your sister is offering is very nice. You shouldn’t make fun of her.”
Hayden stuck her tongue of at Zayn. He made a face at her and they both went back to finishing their food. Then the door opened.
Everyone froze when the door was slammed open, startled by the loud intrusion. Connor, their father, walked in. He was already loosening the tie knotted around his neck. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for the meeting to run late.”
“That’s fine. You said you took your client to dinner?” Rhea asked. She hovered in between standing up and remaining in her seat.
“Yeah.” Connor sat down at the head of the table. To his left sat Rhea and to the right was where Hayden would normally sit. At this moment the seat had been given up to Horace. “I’ll join you for desert.”
Horace smiled at his brother-in-law. “Hey. I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up.” He laughed. “I heard that you’ve started going to psychics. I never would have pegged you of all people as the psychic type.”
Hayden’s shoulders tensed. She could see Connor’s eyes tighten at the corners as his irritation mounted. She didn’t know why Horace was still talking. She noticed Connor clench his teeth. If he got any angrier, they might start a yelling match.
“The psychics must be very pretty.” Horace winked.
Connor frowned at the implication. “No. They’re quite old. I didn’t realize that—”
“I suspected you were into older women, but—”
Hayden stood up fast enough that her chair scraped back uncomfortably loud. “Why don’t I grab the dessert, Mom. Piers, tell Dad about your Beta fish.”
Piers glared at Hayden. He had told this story enough times that he was bored with repeating it. He looked at the fork sitting on his napkin. He picked it up, absently noting that the fourth prong had broken off. It looked like a trident with the prongs smushed together.
“What’s happening with Polly-whatever?” The tone wasn’t concern but Piers pretended it was.
“Polyphemus,” Piers quietly corrected. “You never remember.”
“What did you say?” The warning to be careful was implied.
“He’s going blind.”
“It’s time to let him go,” Connor said. The psychics had warned him about a death in his near future. He had expected it to be a person, not a fish, but it was equally assuring to have proof of their second Sight.
“Dad!” Piers shouted. He swallowed when Connor glared at him. “I don’t want to.”
“You have to. If you want, I can—”
Piers was already shaking his head. “Thanks, but Hayden has this covered.”
Hayden ignored the look Connor gave her. She set down the platter with the cake. The cake had three layers of chocolate with coffee-flavored icing slathered in between each layer. It also covered the entire outside of the cake. The sides and top were also covered in chopped up walnuts. Hayden set down a large knife to cut the cake with. “Eat up.”
~*~
Hayden returned the flower shop the day after the dinner with Uncle Horace. She wasn’t surprised to see Persephone watering all of the plants while humming along to the music softly playing on the overhead speakers.
She wondered if Persephone would be more startled if Hayden interrupted her or if she stumbled into Hayden on her own accord. Hayden leaned against a wall.
Persephone had her dark brown hair — it reminded Hayden of soil and summer — loose down her back. Her dark skin contrasted nicely with her dark green dress. A flower crown was easily held in place by the kinks in her hair. The flip-flops she wore were so thin that Hayden wondered if Persephone deliberately let them get that bad.
Persephone spun around, the water splashing in the watering can, and she let out a muffled noise of surprise. “Hayden!”
“Persephone!” Hayden mimicked, laughing. “The look on your face!”
“Ha, ha.” Persephone set the watering can on the back counter. “At least I don’t stalk people.”
Hayden scratched the nape of her neck. “I’m not the only stalker here.”
“What does that even mean?” Persephone felt her face heat up. She knew exactly what Hayden meant. She hadn’t expected Hayden to notice her over the last three years. She shifted her eyes away from Hayden’s raised eyebrow.
“Oh, you know exactly what I’m talking about.” Hayden stuck her hands into her jackets pocket. She looked over Persephone’s shoulder.
A woman with a plant as big as her brought the potted plant to the back of the store. Her hair was coiled up on her head. It had golden pieces in it, they reminded Hayden of wheatfields under the sun.
She took one look at Hayden and turned to face Persephone. “Can I speak to you?”
“Actually, Mom, I’m taking the day off.” Persephone saw Demeter start to shake her head. “You said I could yesterday.”
“That was before--” Demeter bit her tongue.
Persephone raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Hayden and I are going to buy some ice-cream.”
“You are?” Demeter asked incredulously. Persephone almost never went against her wishes. Hayden really was a bad influence.
“We are?” Hayden asked.
Persephone nodded. She grabbed Hayden’s hand and pulled her outside.
They slipped into the crowds that bustled along the sidewalks. Halfway to the ice cream shop Persephone realized that she didn’t let go of Hayden’s hand yet. She thought about letting go, but she decided as long as Hayden didn’t say anything, she wasn’t going to.
Hayden was acutely aware of Persephone’s warm hands against her cold skin. She felt mentioning it would ruin the moment. She kept her eyes fixed on the street ahead of them.
~*~
“What’s up with you?” Persephone asked.
Hayden shrugged, “My uncle came over for dinner. And Piers’ fish died.”
Persephone’s mouth pulled into a shocked ‘O’. “That’s horrible.”
Hayden nodded. “But Polyphemus was blind so…”
“Still.”
“Yeah...What’s up with you?” Hayden sighed when they stepped into the ice cream store. The AC was much appreciated after the beating heat of the sun.
“Mm, not much. We just sell flowers.”
The two of them joined the line that snaked to the door. If anyone joined the line after them, they were likely to be stuck waiting outside. The conversation switched to ice cream flavours and it was totally exhausted by the time they got to the registers.
A girl with red hair smiled at them. “What can I get you guys?”
Hayden peered at all of the ice cream flavors. “I’ll take a scoop of Hazed and Confused and -- what are you getting?”
“I’ll get some strawberry.” She leaned over the display case and pointed at the pink tub of ice cream.
The two of them paid quickly and escaped to the park. During the summer. Hayden might start thinking of it as their place. She liked the thought of them meeting with each other regularly enough to have their own spot.
When they arrived at the park, Hayden saw a boy and girl walking in their direction. She was going to ignore them, but as they got closer they recognized each other.
“Hey, Karen, Theodore!” Hayden called. She waved them over.
Persephone looked up from the flowers dotting the grass and to the two seventeen year olds walking towards them. The girl and boy both had brown hair and mean eyes. They weren’t related but they had spent so much time together that they gave the illusion they were. She only recognized them because they constantly hung out with Hayden.
“Hayden, what’s up, man?” Theodore asked. He grinned wildly at them.
Hayden smiled back. “Persephone and I got ice cream.” She lifted the empty cone as proof. She only had a couple bites of it left.
Karen looked at Persephone. “You’re in Piers’ and Zayn’s grade, right?”
“Right.”
“Nice to meet you.” Karen smiled a little but her eyes drifted over to Hayden. “Can I borrow Hayden for a couple of minutes?” Her eyes flitted back to Persephone’s before she gave a small ‘what can you do’ grimace. “It’s private.”
“Uh, sure.” Persephone nodded Hayden forward.
Hayden and Karen walked away until their voices weren’t audible even when they were talking normally. Hayden glanced back to Persephone. She looked back to the girl standing in front of her.
“Are you okay?” Karen asked. “Your dad has been coming to my house a lot lately.”
Hayden bit the inside of her cheek. Karen’s mom and her two aunts made up the town’s resident psychics. The three of them -- Clio, Leslie, and Amara -- only did joint sessions so Connor saw a lot of the three of them. He always came back paranoid and ranting about something. Whatever they said, it was dangerous. “What are they saying?”
Karen shook her head. “Same old, same old. It’s just them talking about how Connor will be overthrown by you and your brothers.”
“Tch. He has been drinking more.” There was a moment of silence. Then she asked the golden question. “Do you think that they’re finally getting to him?”
“I...I don’t know.” Karen gave a laugh. “They kick me out most of the time because they say I’m too close to the other side, whatever that means.”
“Thanks for the update.” Hayden started walking back. Karen followed after her after she realized they were going back.
“No problem. Be careful.”
“I will.” Hayden popped the last piece of the ice cream cone into her mouth.
“Did you tell her?” Theodore asked Karen.
“Tell Hayden what?” Persephone glanced between them. She wanted in on the secret. She knew that she didn’t have the right to ask considering that she only just became friends with Hayden a little while ago, but she still wanted to know. “What--”
“It has to do with my dad. It’s fine.” Hayden waved her concern away. She turned to her two friends. “I’ll see both of you next Saturday, right?”
“See ya.” Theodore and Karen walked away while waving at them.
Persephone turned back to face Hayden. Her eyes flitted between Hayden’s eyes and the space behind her. Hayden assumed she was looking at Theodore and Karen’s retreating backs. Hayden looked away from Persephone’s intense gaze.
“It’s really stupid,” Hayden said through gritted teeth.
Persephone nodded, “My mom does stupid things too. You don’t have to tell me, but I’d love if you did.”
Hayden dropped to the ground under the shade of a tree. She stared up at the blue sky and green leaves hanging above her. No, she didn’t have to tell Persephone anything, but she wanted to. Not yet, not now, but eventually.
Persephone dropped down next to Hayden. To her left, if Persephone stretched her arm out far enough, there was a thick bunch of flowers close together. She started weaving them together until she made a crown to match hers. She dropped it on Hayden’s face.
“For you,” she said as Hayden sat up.
Hayden peered at the small blue flowers that made up the crown. She hesitantly put it in her hair. It felt light and entirely too breakable. Hayden didn’t expect it to last longer than a couple of minutes. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Persephone smiled. She pointed to the crown in her hair. “Now we match.”
“Yes, we do.” Hayden reached up to fiddle with the crown. But she aborted the movement halfway to her head. She dropped her hand to the ground. “What time is it?”
Persephone checked her phone. “Around four-thirty. Why?”
“It seems way earlier.” Hayden had stopped by the flower shop around two in the afternoon. That meant only two hours and thirty minutes passed. But with the sun still beating down from above, it felt like time hadn’t moved at all.
Persephone laughed. “Tell me about it. It’s like today will stretch into forever.”
“That sounds good, like a line out of a poem.”
“Do you like poetry?”
“No,” Hayden scoffed. “I’m not a total cliche.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.”
“Whatever.” Hayden let her eyes drift closed. “I think I’ll take a nap.”
“Okay. Go for it.”
Hayden did not get a chance to ‘go for it’. Barely five minutes after Hayden closed her eyes, she felt Persephone shift restlessly. At first she thought it was the other girl settling down, but it didn’t stop.
“Hey, Hayden?” Persephone whispered dramatically. She leaned over her friend until she could see Hayden’s eyes flicker open before they closed determinedly. “Hayden.”
“Yes?”
“Can you tell me what the talk with Karen was about?”
“...My dad.”
“What about him? Is it the,” she dramatically lowered her voice, “drinking?”
Hayden swallowed. “Yes...yes.” She rolled onto her stomach and rested her head on her folded arms. “Will you relax now?”
“Yeah.” Persephone shifted until she was lying on her back.
Hayden sniffed. “Good.”
They napped for a long time before Demeter broke the silence by calling Persephone. The girl groggily put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“You have to come home for dinner.”
“Dinner? What time is it?” She rubbed her eyes and focused them on the setting sun.
Demeter sighed. “It’s six twenty-two. Come back for dinner.”
Persephone nodded even though she knew Deméter couldn’t see her. “I’ll be home soon, Mom.”
Hayden propped herself up on her elbows. She watched Persephone stand up and brush off her green dress. “I guess you’re going.”
“Yep.” Persephone leaned down and offered a hand to pull Hayden up.
Hayden waved her hand away and stood up. She reached up to make sure her flower crown wasn’t displaced by the sudden movement. “I should head back too. I’ll see you soon.”
~*~
Hayden kept her eyes glued to the rocky ground as she meandered home. If she took the shortcut by the blacksmith shop where Henry worked, she could make it home in just under twenty minutes. Hayden didn’t want to go home. But Hayden didn’t want her mother to worry over two missing people, so she made do with tacking an extra fifteen minutes to her walk.
When Hayden got home she stomped up the stairs to her room. Cerberus followed her up with an enthusiastic bark. He automatically jumped onto her bed. Hayden joined him after a pit stop at the bathroom where she changed into a grey muscle tank top and loose pajama bottoms along with brushing her teeth.
Hayden plugged her charger into her phone. She peeled the sheets back to let the cool air soak into her skin. Cerberus kept trying to lie on her legs, but she kept pushing him off. It was way too hot to cuddle. She scrolled through her phone until 1:20 am before she closed her eyes to blink and never opened them again.
Blue eyes snapped open as Hayden gasped for breath. She couldn’t remember the nightmare that woke her up, but it must be bad if she was having trouble breathing properly. Above her, she saw her father leaning in close.
She didn’t remember hearing him come home. “Dad?” She croaked. The words was breathless as the pressure to breathe increased.
“Sh, sh,” Connor whispered. He shifted and the pressure temporarily decreased as he brought one hand to stroke through Hayden’s hair. The smell of alcohol filled up her nose as he spoke. “Sh. I’m sor— everything is fine. Go back to sleep.”
Hayden’s heart hammered frantically in her chest. Her lungs burned. She heard wheezy inhales that she realized were coming from her. She brought a heavy arm to scratch at her throat, but her fingers loosely wrapped around the hand pressing down.
“Hayden, baby, go back to sleep.” Connor smoothed her hair back again. His voice cracked on the last word.
Black was creeping up the edges of Hayden’s vision. The last thing she saw was a green smear of light from her alarm clock. The hazy shape made a wavering four before Hayden passed out.