Crow of Flame

Chapter 8

Sapphire

"What'd ya see kiddo?" Phil asked

Another tear fell from my eye and streamed down my cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb, "I saw the lady. The one from my dreams... She pushed me..." I turned to look at Hades. His green eyes held concern and I stared at him for a moment of utter silence. I need answers. I need to know why I'm here and what's been done to me. I stared into Hades eyes trying to figure out the secrets of the universe, before I looked up. I took a breath, "Persephone, I call you, I need your help. Persephone hear my pleas, please assist me." I tapped two fingers on my sternum three times, "Persephone please, I need help."

Hades grabbed my shoulders and squared me to him, his eyes held urgency, "Sapphire, what are you doing? Why are you calling my mother?"

I gave him a plain look and took a breath, "She said I could..." My voice trailed off as the door to the training room opened.

Persephone entered gracefully in a gown of deep forest green with mesh sleeves that reached to her elbows, the bodice was fitted to her and flowed to the floor with layers of cascading material. She glided in and her soft blonde curls swayed behind her, her red lips were curled into a soft smile and her kind brown eyes were accented with green and gold eyeliner.

As she approached she held out her arms and when she reached me she wrapped me in a comforting hug. She ran her hand from the top of my head down my back. She pulled back to look me in my eyes, her hands resting on my shoulders as she looked at my face. She put a soft hand on my cheek, "hello little one, my how you've grown." She shifted her gaze to Hades at my side, his hand holding mine in a tight grip. She noted our conjoined hands, and looked into her sons eyes, "Hades, how are you?"

Hades put on a strained smile, "I'm alright, Mother. How are things at the palace?"

Persephone dropped her hands from my shoulders and looked her son over, "Things are good, they'd be far better if you or your brother ever visited." Cadmus came running behind us and nearly slammed me down as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. Persephone gave a delightful laugh. "Cadmus, how are you?"

Cadmus rested his chin on my head, "I'm good Lady P." He tightened his grip on my shoulders and I leaned back into him. I know what he was trying to do. I know that he and Hades were worried that I was going to blow up at Persephone, that I wouldn't be in control of my emotions. I released a nervous breath I didn't know I was holding. My grip on Hades hand tightened.

I heard Zeus and Eliot jump from the trampoline. "Mother." Zeus said in a forcibly cheery tone. I glanced up at Hades. My muscles were shaking, sweat dripped from my skin, and there was flame dripping from my hair.

Persephone looked at him with a hint of confusion in her eyes. "Darling, Zeus, what are you doing here?"

I took in his emerald gaze and I couldn't gather my thoughts, I could not stop my mind from whirling like a cyclone that ravaged every emotion I felt. I leaned into Hades' ear, "call them out." I whispered as I jogged back to the trampoline and began to bounce. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I needed to release my energy and I needed to do it before I spoke to Persephone.

Hades called out a series of jumps and flips and kicks and lethal maneuvers. I completed them all with deadly precision before Hades climbed up with me. We jumped and fought each other for a moment of blissful and comfortable silence. Zeus was retailing his mother with a story about who knows what, Phil was watching me with concerned eyes as he climbed on the trampoline and began bouncing with us. "What's going on kiddo?" He asked.

"I don't know," I confessed between bounces. I stopped the motion and put my hands on my hips breathing deeply. The air burned in my lungs, like it was the first breath I had taken in days. "I wanted answers, but then I saw her and I was so mad... I couldn't ger my mind quiet enough to speak to her so here I am." I shrugged as I bounced higher than before.