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table cloth hanging off the edges. It nearly touches the floor. That’s my only option. So when mom and Zeus are only feet away, I scamper toward the table and dive underneath it.

Chapter VI
    Persephone

    Z eus flops down in the wooden chair. The legs belch out creaks and snaps as it wobbles unsteadily, and for a second I think it might break beneath his heavy body.

    Pulling my knees to my chest I suck in a lungful of air as moms’ footsteps pound behind me. Zeus stretches his legs and accidentally kicks my knee. Pain shoots up my thigh and I let out a squeak, and then clamp my hands tightly over my mouth to keep myself from crying out again.

    Zeus stiffens, alert of my presence. “What was that?” he questions suspiciously. He hunches over, gripping the edge of the table cloth and lifts up the plastic covering the slightest bit. Instinctively, I shield my face with my arms as a knot of fear ties itself to the lining of my stomach.

    The pantry door swings open and I can hear mom shuffling around in there. “Relax. It’s probably nothing,” she assures him. “This is an old house. It makes noises.” Zeus lowers the tablecloth, sitting upright and mom walks over to the table. A loud clash rumbles through the quiet room like thunder and shakes the table. “He sent her these.”

    I tuck myself into a tighter ball as mom sits down behind me, her feet eerily close to my back. He sent her these? That has to be the bowl of pomegranates I received earlier.

    “Demeter,” Zeus says. “I think you’re reading into this too much. They are only pomegranates.”

    “I love how you’re acting so casual about this,” mom scoffs sarcastically. “Only pomegranates!” Her voice hikes. “Have you been away from Olympus too long, Zeus? Have you forgotten that pomegranates are the fruit of the dead? You know what will happen if she eats one.”

    “Did she?”

    “Did she what?”

    “Eat one.”

    “No,” mom huffs, shifting in her chair. “But she would have if I wouldn’t have walked into the kitchen and stopped her. And I think we both know what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped her. She’d be half-way across the Styx by now.”

    There’s an awkward moment of silence. I hug my knees tighter as my legs start trembling. Tears swell in my eyes and I swallow hard, exhaling, rolling my head back, doing everything I can to keep my tears from spilling. Across the Styx? If I cross the Styx I know I can kiss the sunshine goodbye, I can forget the smell of wildflowers, I can forget the earth in its beauty and the living things that inhabit it. Goddess or not, I do know this; if you become one with the realm of the dead, you might as well consider yourself dead because there is a high probability that you’ll never come back.

    Zeus lets out a frustrated sigh. “Demeter, he’s going to keep coming for her. You know you can’t stop him.”

    “I can and I will, Zeus. I will not let him take my only daughter.” There’s a harsh tone of determination in mom’s voice.

    “You’ve been running from him for five thousand years. Maybe it’s time that you two struck up some sort of bargain.”

    “Have you lost your mind?” mom shrieks. “And besides, we wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you!”

    Zeus slams his fist into the center of the table and I examine a crack as it travels from one end to the other. “I made a mistake!” he booms in a grizzly voice. “A mistake that I have regretted for the last five thousand! A mistake that you have never let me forget!”

    “You’re the God of Gods. You shouldn’t make mistakes.” Mom’s tone is cold and brutal.

    “Demeter, did I not go back on my deal with him? Have I not done everything in my power to keep you two safe? Have I not provided you with homes, hideouts, and financial stability? Have I not shielded her from him? I put up that time shield centuries ago, so he only has until midnight on her birthday to take her! And you know me,