How To Be A Queen (Myths Finding Love #1)

Chapter 11 - The Locket

Note: To those who did not read the author's note, this book was completed before but now I am rewriting it. I don't want to repeat such a long explanation so please just go to the very first part and read the author's notes. 

CHAPTER 11 - THE LOCKET

The Garden
Hades' Palace
The Underworld

-Aerith-

I laughed – the kind where you're not sure what to do or what to reply when someone tells you something so you just laugh.

Hades reached for my hands and grasped them tightly in his. "Two nights ago, you were in a party. You dreamt that you died. In that dream, you drowned and you came here. You saw me and I promised you I will make things right. I did," he said.

That wiped all laughter from my face. "How did you know about that?" I asked. I thought about it hard and it made me pause. "Wait up. Of course, you'll know! You're a dream of mine and you were conjured by my brain."

Yeah, that makes sense.

Hades continued speaking as though I didn't say anything. "Yesterday, you went to your friend's house. You were with three women. They were not ordinary mortals. They were the furies. Mortals attacked you and your shoulder was wounded."

"And I am totally fine now. I don't feel even a bit of pain," I retorted.

He shook his head. "That's because Apollo healed you. I asked for his aid." His lips were pursed in that usual expression boys wore when you tell them they should ask for directions and it somehow hurts their pride.

"Apollo? And your name is Hades..." I laughed again. "...Don't tell me there's a Zeus and Hera too and that greek mythology is in fact real?" I continued.

Hades nodded. "My queen... It's not a myth. It's all real. And your life is about to change."

Suddenly, I felt heat in my right palm. And then felt a weight settle on it. Hades let go of my hand and I opened my clenched fist to reveal the item within. It was my locket ­– the only item I have that could reveal who I really am.

I gasped in shock and almost dropped the locket. I stepped back and looked around this beautiful garden and the rocky terrain right outside it. I was looking at things from a different perspective this time.

What if Hades was right and this was all real? What if I really died that night and went to where souls go when their mortal lives are over? I shook my head as a barrage of what ifs suddenly filled my brain.

When I looked at Hades again, he was looking at me with expectation. I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't find the words so I closed it again. Sadness crossed those beautiful features of his before he looked away. Seeing that made me want to reach out and maybe touch him? Soothe him? I didn't really know.

"My apologies but I have to go. But I have one last surprise for you. Maybe she will explain better the things I cannot," he told me. One second I was looking at him. The next second, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and in his place was... Claudine.

"Aerith!" she shouted as she ran the short distance and hugged me tight. "Oof," I gasped. This was my friend alright... even if she looked a bit different.

Her black hair which was usually left loose was now bunched atop her head in an elegant knot. Also, she wore a crown of golden leaves in her hair. Her usual fancy dresses was replaced with a gown which was knotted on one shoulder like those Greek togas we wore on school plays. The dress was sky blue and was cinched at the waist with a gold belt.