Son of Hades (Redo)

Kissing Competitors & Punching Princes

After brunch, Castiel walks out with Harley and me on his arm. The gleam in his eyes fades, replaced by something that looks like annoyance. "You two want to see something cool?" He waits until the other girls and their servants have gone. "My secret hideout."

Harley nods quickly. I decide to go along with whatever he's got planned.

Our servants follow at a leisurely pace behind us, not close enough to eavesdrop when Castiel does decide to speak. He leads us higher into the castle, explaining to us in a low voice that this is the place where he came to think.

After walking seven flights of winding stairwells ranging from narrow to wide, we arrive at a doorway that's locked when Harley first tries to turn it.

Castiel produces a set of keys from his pocket, lifts a finger to his lips, making sure the servants see it, too. "Before I show this to you two, you gotta understand that this is our little secret. No one else knows about this. It's off-limits, and we could get in trouble for being up here."

"I don't kiss and tell." I winked.

Harley rolls her eyes. "What I'm sure Ariel means - is that your secret is safe with us."

For a second, his eyes linger on Harley, and he smiles. Then, distracted, he unlocks the door with the only jagged silver key. Before he pushes the door open, Xavier clears his throat. "Permission to speak?"

"What do you want, Reyes?"

"Well... " Xavier says nervously, licking his lips. "I, um - " he looks at me and back to Castiel. "This room is off limits for a reason. We shouldn't be up this high. It's dangerous."

Castiel rolls his eyes, and moves through the door. "Listen," he says. "If I would have wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it. Servants are better seen than heard."

I didn't like the way Castiel treated Xavier.

I follow Castiel inside. We've come into a dark room with no lights. Darker than average darkness. The type of darkness monsters lurk in... I stick close to Harley as she comes in, and she grabs my hand. "If you wanted to get us alone, Cas, you could have asked."

After a second of shuffling around, Castiel says: "Reyes, shut the door." After a second of hesitation, the last light washing over the floors becomes nonexistent. And then, the room fills with a dim light. "Welcome to my hideout."

His 'hideout' had cigarette and alcohol cartons laying aimlessly and crushed on the ground. There were beads hanging from the door. A small wooden table with random paraphernalia; a blue bong in the middle of the room... Posters of bands were taped along the walls. Few I recognize. Most I don't. There's writing on the walls, spray painted graffiti. The wallpaper is tearing. The floorboards creak. It smells... The smell of marijuana is overwhelming. A rainbow quilt is hanging on the wall; a peace sign is in the middle of it. This room makes this situation feel... Normal. "Ta-da."

"Oh, gods. What's that smell?" Harley asks. Wrinkling her nose.

"That, dear girl, is the smell of Heaven." I laugh when he says it. "But that's not what I wanted to show you both." He walks over to where the quilt is hanging, and carefully tugs it down to reveal a small window.

Harley and I exchange nervous glances.

"You girls thinking what I'm thinking?"

I move for the window first.

"Ariel, permission to speak?" Xavier asks.

I look back and nod.

His eyes are filled with nervousness. "Be careful," he says. He looks at Castiel, and then back at me. "Please." And I had the ominous feeling that he wasn't just talking about whatever Castiel had in mind for us.