Half and Half

Chapter Eleven

Persephone sighed as she made her way to the portal. Normally she would have had Mal with her but with Mal having gone down for a nap, Persephone didn't see a need to wake her up. Not when the castle was full of people who would look after her.

Not to mention, Persephone wouldn't be too long. However, this was something that would require face to face interaction rather than simply using the mental link.

Gods, I can't believe it, she thought as she stared at the portal. The council actually voted to send Beast of all people to the Isle. Gaston alone would lead the charge to finish the job he failed to do the minute Beast stepped foot on the Isle...which is why I'm here.

"Hades," Persephone spoke into the portal and waited for the image of her husband to appear.

"Steph?" Hades asked as he appeared on the portal. "Is everything okay? You usually don't portal call this early in the day."

Persephone couldn't help but smile at the warm and loving tones in his voice, the tones that could only be heard when he spoke to her or about Mal. Though now that Mal knew the truth, that hopefully would change.

"I know dear and normally I would have waited to make the call but I...I wanted you to hear the news from me rather than hear it on the Isle grapevine. Beast has...has just been stripped of his title and sentenced to the Isle," Persephone said, her voice soft as if she was trying to avoid being overheard.

"What?"

"Oi, taste testers! You ever heard of privacy?" Hades exclaimed as Uma and Harry rushed in.

"Excuse me for being curious after the last time you had a portal call with Aunt Steph, I found out Mal was my cousin," Uma said, shaking her head. "Now, Aunt Steph was talking about King Beastie being sentenced to the Isle?"

Persephone sighed, and made a mental note to tell Hades about their petition to adopt Mal being delayed later. The kids didn't need to know about that just yet. "Apparently there are some on the council who can sympathize with the plight of you kids," she said. "As well Belle talked to Mal and me to get a sense of the Isle and Mal told her the truth. Five year old don't exactly have a filter after all, especially when they're in pain, and since Beast was the one deemed the most responsible for the Isle...once they found out it hadn't been monitored properly for about eight or nine years..."

"I get it," Hades said with a small nod.

"He'll be officially leaving for the Isle in about two weeks, to give him time to get everything in order for Belle and his children," Persephone said. "However, Hades, that's why I wanted to reach out to you. You know as well as I do that when the Isle finds out he's on the Isle, he won't last a day. They'll be out for his blood."

"That's true," Harry nodded. "Fish for Brains keeps telling me about how his dad will rant about how he wished he had 'finished the job when he had the chance'."

Thank you for making my point for me Harry, Persephone thought with an inward sigh.

"But what else can be done about that?" Hades asked. "It's not like Beast has earned himself any allies on the Isle with his lack of action."

"Hades..."

"...Wait...you're not going to say that I should...why would I help Beastie? Do you know how many kids are in the Underworld because of the situation the Isle's in? And I'm supposed to help the man who created the Isle? No way Steph!"

"Hades...I know," Persephone said. "Trust me I do, but Beast has already been stripped of his title and life in Auradon...stripped of his wife for the rest of his life...the only solace he'll have is that his four year old son and his daughter when she's old enough will be able to come to the Isle every six months. Sound familiar?"