Prologue

Isolation was something that had jaded Hades. He walked aimlessly thru his stables wishing for someone to talk to. While his stables were filled with horses and they all made noises as he approached, there was a difference between the animals and a person. Walking and touching the nearest horse, he wished he could talk to her and have her talk back to him. He knew thinking to one’s self was acceptable, but he had been told before that talking to one’s self was not. After his wife Persephone had left him to marry a lesser god, he was left to walk the world and Underworld alone, which at first, he believed was for the best. But now, alone in the dark, he was not sure. While solitude was something he was used to, it was not something he enjoyed.

The darkness was a constant companion, but it did not fill the need for company. He wondered why that after all these years he was still looking for a mythical girl. It was long before he wed Persephone that a prophecy was given to him by the Moirai. He had been young and foolish at first, not understanding what the Moirai had told him. The prophecy was vague, it stated that one day there would be a girl born who would bring life to death. At first, he had been confused about what the Moirai meant, he believed that the cryptic message meant that one day a girl would end his task as ruler of the Underworld. He believed he would be replaced one day. This upset him, in truth it incensed him, but it sadden him even more so to think he was replaceable. He stroked the mane of the mare and noticed she had picked up on his emotions whinnying and bucking back at him. He smiled thinking at how easy his emotions were picked up by the horse, it was just as easy for the Moirai. They sensed his turmoil and frustration at being replaced.  

It was not until Clotho, his friend and only willing visitor to the Underworld, told him that the girl they spoke of would not replace him but be his partner, that he felt some peace. She told him that even more than her being his partner, she would be the one to love him and be the mother of his children. He never believed that there would be a chance for him to have a family let alone have someone who loved him, but with this knowledge he began to hope. After all this time though hope was not something that Hades had much of anymore. He had been alone for so long it was hard to have any optimism.

Though he was not one of the dead, Hades believed that because he ruled the dead and lived in the desolate underground, there would be no chance for him to have children. He had learned in all his time alive that nothing could blossom without hope, light and life, things sorely missed in the Underworld. But when the Moirai, or Fates as they were more commonly known now, told him that this girl would be born to one of his ‘brothers’ he realized he would not have to be alone which gave him hope. He brushed back the mane of the mare and walked back towards the doors of the stables. He wished that his hope alone could bring forth a girl who would love him as he was, but he felt that this was a lost cause. No one could love darkness which he was akin to.

He had mistakenly believed that Persephone had been the girl who would love him but after only 100 years of marriage they went their separate ways. It was not her fault he could not love her, he just assumed she would be different. Less like her father in regards to her willingness to have different bed partners. She gave love away easily to whomever she felt deserved her attention, but for him she kept spite and disgust. She grew kind towards the end of their marriage, but the seeds had already been sown and he could not see her as the mother of his children. He loved her like a friend and that was all he could give her.  She later fell in love with and married a demi-god who did not earn immortality, and when he passed, she chose to pass on as well. Thus, he lost a friend whom he thought would always be around. That was nearly 1000 years ago, which had felt like a true eternity to him, now that the time seemed to lag.

He was even more isolated now than he was when there were less people roaming the planet. He had reached out to the Moirai to ask when he should expect the girl, but they were vague and unhelpful when he asked. Neither of his brothers had had a female child since Ancient Greece and even with their many indiscretions the future did not seem to have a girl in the plans. With this heavy on his heart and mind Hades walked out of the stables to begin another day, only wishing that happiness would someday be his.  

Chapter 1 Bonfire Dread

With her palms sweating, and her heart racing Cassie asked herself again why she was at the back to school bonfire. Bonfires were something that made her feel anxious and nervous. Cassie stepped further away from the flames, feeling that the only safe place was as close to the water’s edge as possible. She tried wiping the sweat from her palms onto her jeans but with her heart pounding and ears pulsing, it was a fruitless effort, her hands just became sweaty again. Her few friends assumed her jumpiness was just because she did not like the heat of the fire, but the truth was the combination of the heat and the smell were suffocating to her. The ashy repugnant odor that clouded her senses and made her want to be physically sick. It was always strongest closer to the flames but even though she had moved towards the ocean she felt like she was still being smothered. While physically she was facing away from the flames, in her mind, she was looking straight at them and could see perfectly how the wood was charring, its forms twisting and gnarling like a withered old hand reaching out to her.

“What are you doing out here?” a deep musical voice asked startling her out of her musings, with a smile gracing his lips, Cassie’s friend stepped forward.

Cameron McMann, to be precise, was her best friend. Anyone who knew the pair knew they were thick as thieves; a comradery made unbreakable by time. To the outside world though, at first glance, Cameron and Cassie could not have been anymore different. He was six-foot-two-inches tall, with lean muscles that he regularly worked out with afterschool activities; he had piercing green eyes, which were complemented with sandy brown hair, which always looked freshly tussled, even when he wasn’t running his hands through it. People would be quick to point out, that the pair were from different social circles, he was the captain of the lacrosse team, Mr. Popularity, with a wide group of friends who he charmed with his infectious personality. While Cassie spent all her free time in the library, preferring the company of books versus the students in the school, she wasn’t very athletic, liking to swim for leisure versus partaking in school funded sports. The next thing people would notice was that Cameron was every girl’s ideal boyfriend, while none of the boys at school seemed to notice Cassie; she was invisible which was something she was ok with. It was only when people would notice how similar their personalities were, that they realized why the pair were friends. While they were both calm, Cassie was a “spitfire” when she got “comfortable with you” as Cameron like to say, while he was laid back and open with strangers. But regardless of their differences they had been best friends for years. He had met Cassie when she had been sent to the school office for bursting into tears in the third grade. No one seemed to be able to console the hysterical third grader who could not stop crying and begging for her mom and the home she had lost. Cameron walked into the office, sat down next to her, and simply put his arms around her and let her cry her heart out. Unbeknownst to Cassie at the time, Cameron knew the pain she was going thru from losing her mom and offered her the one thing she needed, a shoulder to cry on. From then on, he was her knight in shining armor whenever she decided to be a damsel in distress.

“I can’t stand the smell or the taste of the fire” Cassie said simply, shrugging her shoulders, and picking at her sleeve.

“Can I ask why you thought you should taste the fire?” Cameron joked, looking at her expecting an answer.

“You know what I mean. It feels like a took a gulp of flames and they are burning my lungs and no matter how far I get away from the fire the smell won’t go away. It’s making my head hurt. Why did you drag me out here again?” Cassie asked rolling her eyes.

“To socialize and experience the high school life” Cameron pointed out and poked her sides.

Cassie did not want to say out loud that she did not want to socialize or experience the high school life though. She wanted to be at home or swimming laps languidly in a pool anywhere else than beside the bonfire. She turned to Cameron and smiled and shook her head. He knew she was upset and did not want to be by the fire and he did not blame her. It’s why he had placed himself between her and the smoke. He also knew she would never say that the real reason fire bothered her was because of the house fire that killed her mother and destroyed her home. He knew after being her friend for years that she would never admit that she was really petrified of fire either. Cameron grabbed Cassie’s hand and said, “Let’s go then. I don’t want to be here anymore anyway. Josh is being annoying and trying to get me to smoke. He knows my Aunt would kill me if I came home smelling like an ash tray!”

Cassie laughed, he would smell like ash anyway due to the fire pit, but she nodded knowing full well that Daphne would most likely read him the riot act for putting a cigarette anywhere near his lips. Daphne had a way of knowing things, and honestly, she was never wrong. But Cassie agreed, Cameron should not be smoking she thought with a laugh, one he would look ridiculous and two it wasn’t good for him. Daphne was always looking out for what was good and not good for Cam, making sure he ate all the food groups on the food pyramid and didn’t drink or smoke or do drugs. Cassie liked his Aunt; she was kind and sweet and the kind of mother anyone would want. While Daphne was not Cameron’s Aunt really, she preferred that name opposed to the title of legal guardian. Like Cassie, Cameron was not being raised by his parents; Cameron’s dad had died when he was in second grade and his mom was simply not around. Cassie use to think that this was the reason that they bonded so quickly, they were two orphans wishing to belong.

“Ok, you’re right Daphne would definitely kill you if you touched a cigarette. Where do you want to go?” Cassie asked. While she did not want to be at the bonfire anymore, she really did not want to go home. With a shudder she turned and walked to the row of cars looking for the shiny silver Toyota.    

“Is Heather still acting like our darling Heather?” Cameron asked taking his keys out of his pockets.

Cassie was not as lucky as Cameron when it came to guardians. After her Mom’s death a second cousin of her mom had stepped up and claimed custody of Cassie, even though she had never met her. Heather was evidently able to prove that she was her second cousin but there was a part of Cassie that still did not believe it. There was no way she could be genetically related to someone as vile as her. Heather, and her now ex-husband Brandon, had been whom she had been left in the care of after her house burned down, and her mother was gone. Heather was nothing like her mom and had made this very clear when she moved Cassie into her house and tried to destroy all the books of mythology her mom had cherished. While Brandon had always been kind, Heather seemed to hate Cassie. No matter what Cassie did, she was wrong in Heather’s eyes. The way Cassie walked, the way she talked, anything she did was like putting a target on her back for criticism. Cassie did not know why Heather hated her so much, but at times the look of pure revulsion in Heather’s stare made Cassie wish she could be invisible. Cameron had said in the past that the way Heather acted was like a jealous school girl, but all Cassie could think was that she was no Heather.

Heather was beautiful, beyond beautiful as far as Cassie was concerned. Flawless skin, a perfectly shaped nose, a sinful pair of lips, and beautiful blue eyes that were sometimes thought to be violet. To top it off she was tall and slender which made her gorgeous to anyone at first glance. Her long blonde hair that never seemed to need to be brushed, that was so shiny it could put a shampoo commercial to shame, Heather was everything women wished they could be and then some. Cassie in her own comparison was not a prize. She was average height, not too tall but not to short, with blue eyes and black hair. Her blue eyes only stood out because of how dark her hair was, which is what Heather always pointed out. Cassie even overheard her telling a neighbor once that Cassie had a glass eye and that’s why they looked so fake. After that she had never been able to look Mrs. Matthews in the face because she was embarrassed that Heather would say something that twisted. People always assumed she dyed her hair the color it was because no one believed the blue-black hue was natural. Her hair was curly wavy and always seemed to want to do what it wanted. She had a mass of hair that no number of products could tame, and Cameron like to joke it was like her lion’s mane. It made her threatening, while her mom use to laugh about her hair having ‘a mind of its own’. Cassie knew she was not supermodel beautiful but if she was honest with herself she could pass for pretty.

Though Heather was awful, Brandon had tried his best to make her feel welcome, and often told her to ignore Heather’s mean jabs at her. Cassie wished that Brandon was still around, because when he was there, she felt sort of safe. When he was present he made sure that Heather never fully went after Cassie and would often deflect her negative comments. He had shown Cassie how truly good of a man he was when he fished out the biggest mythology book from the fire pit and got a bit burned in the process. Heather had tried to destroy all her memories of her mother and Brandon wouldn’t have it. He gave her the book back in secret, apologizing profusely for the burned cover; he had told her to hide the tome in her room under her bed or in her closet. But like all good people, he could only handle so much of Heather’s awful behavior before he left her. While he had left Heather 2 years ago, Cassie still missed the semi feeling of safety she got when he was around. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she turned to Cameron.  

“I know a place we can go. That is if you’re up for it” said Cameron with a smirk.

“Where?” asked Cassie hesitantly.

“Eric’s…” Cameron said laughing as he drove away from the bonfire.