Hades

Chapter four: A touch that kills

A.N

I changed a few minor things in the previous chapters and if you would like to read over because you are confused please feel free to do so.

***

The next few days went by as they should normally. I didn't have many friends at school as I might have mentioned earlier, so I spent most of my time studying and reading. I was sitting on my bed reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' when a dark shadow was cast over me. I looked up. I stopped myself from jumping as Hades stood over me his tousled hair hidden under his hood.

"Hi," he tried.

I put my book down. "You do very well in the art of scaring people."

"I'm sorry," he apologised.

"You don't show up for days, and suddenly here you are in my room," I said to him. "Is that how you treat a friend?"

His eyebrows rose, "I'm your friend?"

"Of course you dummy," I replied automatically. "Now let's go get some fresh air dead boy. Something is definitely wrong with your brain."

***

We walked through the early winter air. I was wearing my coat and scarf and already felt cold, but he was just wearing his hoody. He didn't even shiver.

"Are you not cold?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, not really."

For a while, we just continued to walk down the street in silence. Not the awkward silence where no one knew what to say though, the peaceful silence like the one where you are just enjoying the early winter wind tickling your ears.

"Let's go to the park," I said to him. "You might like it there."

There was a few people in the park, an old man feeding birds and a few kids having fun on the playground. The lake at the park hadn't frozen over yet, but the water was still really cold. Luckily, we weren't going into the water and we were walking in the sun which kept us warm. Hades held a rather large smile on his face.

"Do you like it?" I asked him, myself smiling too.

"It's beautiful," he said as he reached out to touch a leaf.

Unfortunately, the green leaf immediately turned brown and shrivelled to death. In fact, the whole branch shrivelled up and all the leaves on it turned brown. He quickly pulled his hand away and jammed it into the pocket of his hoodie. His smile melted right off his face.

"Hades..." I started but I didn't know what to say, I could barely contain my shock.

"Let's keep walking," he muttered as he marched ahead.

I followed him silently behind. I tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. He just wilted a tree branch with a touch of his finger.

He sighed and his shoulders sagged. He stopped walking and finally turned around. His face held sorrow and regret. "I'm sorry, that was awfully rude of me."

I shook my head and tried for a smile. "It's ok."

He stared at me with those eyes that peered straight into your soul then muttered, "I'm nothing but a freak."

"Nonsense," I found myself telling him. I smiled. "You're Hades, lord of the dead and of the underworld. No one calls you a freak, especially not yourself. Now let's go somewhere else, it's getting too cold for me here."

I brought him to the local library. It was one of my favourite places as some would call me a bibliophile. I found pleasure in learning things, but my favourite thing to do was to read.

"Books," Hades stated.

"Books," I repeated and smiled at him.

He didn't return the smile though. Instead, he looked rather sad and said, "I can't read."

"You, Hades, Lord of the underworld, cannot read?" I asked slightly appaled.

He looked hurt at what I just said about him. I forgot how he took everything literally. I cleared my throat. "No matter, I'll teach you."

"You will?"

"Of course," I replied and gave him a genuine smile. "That's what friends are for."

I pulled a book off the shelf and passed it to him. "Here, we can start with this."

He stared down at the cover. "What's it called?"

"'Little Women'," I replied. "It's based on a real life story. Louisa May Alcott just changed the names."

"A female author?" Hades asked as he stared down at the book in his hands.

I laughed at him. He still had so much to catch up on.

***

"'Ch...Chri...Christmas," Hades began. "Won't be Christmas, with-withoutpresents.'Gru-grumbled Jo."

I had thought him for a week now, but we couldn't start straight away with the book. He barely even knew the alphabet. I had to teach him everything from scratch. Luckily, he was a fast learner.

We sat next to each other on my bed our shoulders touching and our feet stretched out. Hades smelt like fresh roses someone would put in a coffin.

"'It's so dreadful to be poor!'" I read the next sentence. "Sighed Meg looking at her old dress."

To be honest, I was running low on patience. Hades was eager to learn, but I was a horrible teacher. I preferred learning, where I could do things at my own pace, but teaching, was far more difficult. Hades must have sensed the weariness in my voice. He shut the book and looked at me.

"We can stop you know," he told me.

"No it's fine," I replied though my voice betrayed me.

He smiled. "I can't believe I am seeking help from a mortal. My brother would think I am even more pathetic than ever."

"Was that meant to be an insult?" I asked jokingly.

"Oh no, I didn't mean--"

"I was joking."

Relief flooded through his face as he exhaled and smiled a little.

"Why can't you read?" I asked him.

"I can," he replied. "But only Ancient Greek. It is my mother tongue."

"Then how can you speak English?"

"When mortals die, I have to speak with them. I can speak several languages, I just can't read them."

Someone knocked on my room door. It opened, and my startled mother stared at the two of us.

"Oh, Hal, how nice to see you," my mother said. "I didn't even see you come through the front door."

"That's because I didn't," he replied honestly.

He would have probably tried to tell her about how he teleported into the room with his powers, but I quickly jumped in. "He climbed in through the window."

"Oh," my mother said the shocked expression not leaving her face. "If you need anything, just holler."

She left the room and Hades stared at me quizzically. "Why did you tell her I climbed in from the window?"

I tried my best not to roll my eyes so I ended up smiling and patting him on his knee. "Why don't we just continue reading?"