You're family, aren't you?

Reckless heroine

Hades stretched his wrist from the last batch of paperwork he had to sign, laid down the fountain pen and sent the files away, clearing his desk from all clutter besides the small three-slot letter stand with dozen or so letters in its back slot, none in the middle and one in the front one.

Has it really been a year since he met Sephie Jackson?

It was difficult to believe, but the proof was staring at him. He dragged the letter stand to himself and went over the letters in the back slot with his finger. One letter for every month Hades had not seen Sephie in person. He had the stand enchanted by Hecate centuries ago, a pair of stands that allowed the owners to send mail without having to rely on Hermes. He never gave it to Persephone, since he never had to hide his correspondence with his wife, but he thought about his rare and far-between mortal lovers and found himself wanting to check on his children every now and then.

Sephie was not his lover, but their correspondence definitely needed to stay as low-key as possible. With Poseidon looking ready to incinerate just about everyone who looked at his little Sea Princess with less than pure thoughts, Hades feared his brother might read too much into his banter with Sephie and do something he'd later regret.

He picked out the letter dated to 22nd of December, day after the Winter Solstice. Campers had not attended this meeting; Zeus was still smarting over the fact the traitor son of Hermes stole his Bolt during the Council meeting and forbade all mortal visits to Olympus until they brought the boy to Olympus in chains.

Hi Uncle!

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly six months since we met and I got tossed in this whole mess with Greek mythology. It seems so unreal in retrospect. I mean, kids in school usually brag about having famous mummies, daddies and relatives, and I find myself wanting to say: But my Dad is the literal King of the Seas, and my Uncles rule the sky and the Underworld! Don't worry, I don't actually brag – I doubt anyone would believe me, and revealing our world to unsuspecting mortals would probably result in Uncle Z blasting me!

No monster attacks so far is making me feel a bit edgy, though. It's been over four months, and not a single monster has approached me, either in school or outside. Everyone told me my scent is, like, ridiculously strong, so why no monsters? Are they scared of me, or is there something around me blocking them from coming?

Tyson is feeling a bit down because of Christmas, so my mum and I invited him over to our house to spend winter hols. You should've seen that avalanche of tears and hugs – the big guy nearly broke my ribs with his hug!

That's all from me. Send my hellos to Lady Persephone!

Yours,

Sephie Jackson

Hades smiled and placed the letter back into its slot, carefully sliding it between the one dated to 18th of November and 19th of January before picking up the lone letter in the front slot. The date read 17th of June, indicating it was sent yesterday evening. He took the letter opener and easily slid the sharp edge through the closed top of the envelope, letting the letter fall out. This time, two pieces of paper fell out: the actual letter and a glossy square of paper Hades had no trouble recognizing as photo paper. He first picked up the photo and flipped it, revealing smiling Sephie in the middle, grumpy-looking Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and the grinning boy Hades guessed was Tyson on her sides.

The first thing that caught his eye was the single eye Tyson sported. So that was why no monsters attacked his little niece: no lone monster was insane enough to go near a Cyclops that had an amicable relationship with a demigod. It seemed his little brother took precautions and sent young Cyclops to watch over his daughter and help her as much as he could in deflecting other monsters' attention from the girl.