p e r s e p h o n e

e l e v e n

As the day progressed, the weather got colder, so as Persephone took a walk, she hugged her black, fluffy cotton jacket closer to herself.

Her steps were brisk and she knew her destination, she needed some time to think, she needed to get a new job, and fast. Her apartment was fairly expensive and she wasn't sure how long she could keep up with the rent.

The tip of her nose was red and she knew that the park was close, she couldn't wait till she got there to just wind down and watch the sky as it turned dark and the stars came out. It made her feel as if her mother was watching over her, her mother did say, that she had asked Helios and Selene to watch over her.

It was a warm summer day, as it usually was, and Persephone, only 4 years old, was sitting underneath an apple tree, playing with the long, dead grass and braiding it as if it were hair.

"Kore?" a woman's voice called out, it sounded far away as Persephone was too preoccupied with what she was doing, so she didn't bother to respond. "Kore!" the voice yelled with some desperation this time.

Persephone looked up to see a tall slim woman with light brown, almost blonde hair, in the distance, wearing a green robe dress that glided over the short grass that her bare feet walked on. Her face had a frantic expression as she looked around.

"Persephone!" Her mother cried out, beginning to run in random directions.

"Mummy! I'm here!" Young Persephone was barely taller than the grass around her.

"Persephone Kore! Why didn't you answer me?" her mother ran to where she was and held her shoulders, looking over her to check for injuries.

"I'm sorry mummy." Persephone looked down at her own bare feet and the circle of dead grass that surrounded her.

"It's alright my little flower bud, but don't you ever do that again." she scolded and pushed away the young girl's unruly hair out of her face.

"Yes, mummy."

The memory popping into her head was sudden but welcomed. She still remembered little snippets of her life before the orphanage, and she deeply cherished those memories.

She could hear the laughing of young kids and she knew she had gotten to the park, so she looked up and she couldn't believe her eyes.

In the middle of the park was a giant, fat man, taller in height than the trees. His skin was grey and he was wearing brown rags. In one of his hands, he held a large wooden club the size of a tree and he was swinging it around, he spun to her direction and where he should've had two eyes, was one eye instead. Cyclops.

As she looked more, she realised that someone was fighting the monster, the person was tiny in comparison, and she only seemed to be annoying the cyclops. She looked around and noticed that no one was paying attention to the fight going on, so she ran forward.

"Hey! Do you need any help?" Persephone yelled out and the person turned their head to look at her, the cyclops used this moment to wack the person on the head and she flew through the air until she landed a few feet in front of Persephone.

It was a girl, and she wore casual clothes, a red shirt and blue denim jeans, her red curly hair was sprawled all around her, a contrast to the bright green grass. In her left hand, she held a bronze sword tightly and she groaned in pain. A few feet away from her was a blue backpack, and her arm seemed to be reaching for it, so Persephone rushed to go get it for her.

"Are you okay?" She placed the bag in the girl's hands and the girl quickly zipped it open.

"I'll be fine, I've had worse." The girl responded, still rustling through her bag.

Persephone glanced up and the cyclops seemed to hesitate its advance towards them once he saw her face, but then instead he resumed his approach.

The girl began muttering to herself before exclaiming in relief and she held up a bottle filled with a golden substance. She proceeded to drink some and then place it back in the bag. Looking up, she tried to jump out of the way, but the cyclops' club hit the girl's shoulder and she went flying to the other side of the park.

"Oi, you big lug!" Persephone yelled as she ran over to the girl who was groaning in pain again, holding her shoulder. Persephone checked to see if the girl was in any immediate danger regarding health, before turning to the cyclops that was making it's way over to them, "It. Is. Not. Nice. To hit!" she screamed out, her anger getting the best of her.

Her hands were tightly fisted and as she yelled, a pine tree, taller than the cyclops, sprouted out of the ground, right through the middle of him, and with one last yell of despair, the cyclops vanished into a pile of dust, that was already beginning to be carried away by the wind.

"What in Tartarus?" Persephone stared at the tree that she was pretty sure wasn't there a few minutes ago, before turning back to the mystery girl.

"Well, that's where it went," the girl gaped, looking between the large tree and the girl beside her, "how in Hades are you still alive?"

"Excuse me, what?" Persephone kneeled beside the girl who had what looked like a cake slice and was eating it.

"You're what, 18? And I've never seen you at school." she elaborated, staring at Persephone.

"I'm 29." her reply only made the girl begin to gawk at her as if she couldn't believe her ears or eyes.

"You need to come with me." the girl stood, still holding her shoulder, with the bag hanging off her other one and a sword in her other hand, Persephone stood as well.

"No, no, what do you think you're doing, you're injured," Persephone gently pushed the girl back on the ground and knelt beside her,  studying her shoulder, "on a range of 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine, but you need to come with me." the mystery girl stood, her face full of determination.

"You need to get that shoulder checked out." Persephone stood.

"And you need to come with me."

"Why would I need to go with you?"

"You just have to, I'll be able to explain all of this." with her sword hand, she gestured to where the cyclops had been.

"Like why in the world you were fighting with a cyclops?" Persephone scoffed.

"Yeah, but you'll have to come with me."

"How do I know you're not just some bait in a plan to kidnap me?"

The girl let out a genuine laugh, "If I was the bait in a plan to kidnap you? I don't think you have to worry about that." the girl looked pointedly at the tall pine tree in the middle of the park.

"Fine, I'll go with you, but to where?" the girl smiled triumphantly and began walking away, gesturing for Persephone to follow.

"You'll see."

Mystery girl led her to an orange Toyota and got into the driver's seat, Persephone followed, "Why didn't anyone else seem worried about the cyclops?" she inquired, seeing children beginning to play around the pine tree as if it didn't just spontaneously pop up out of the ground.

"The achlýs, it obscures what the mortals see and change it into something believable that wouldn't blow their little minds." The girl began driving the car ad they went into the busy, bustling streets.

"The mist." For some reason, Persephone understood the word, "But what do you mean, mortal, aren't you mortal?"

"Somewhat." The girl shrugged and didn't continue.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in the greek gods?" Persephone nodded in reply, "You've heard of Hercules and Achilles?" she nodded again, "They're demigods right? One side of their parentage is a god, and the other is a mortal" 

"So what are you saying?"

"We're demigods."

"We? No, I'm not." Persephone looked out the window, and at the pinkening sky.

"Tell me, did you grow up without one of your parents?" The girl spoke calmly as she aggressively beeped the car's horn and stuck the middle finger up to someone.

"I'm an orphan, but I remember my mother, but not my father. That's probably normal though, he most likely left her before I was born." 

"Perhaps, or your father is a god." Mystery girl shrugged as if this were a normal occurrence to her.

"That's not possible, my parents are both normal, they were both mortals." She shook her head, refusing to believe what she was hearing.

"Did you see the way that tree grew out of the ground? Exactly where it needed to be to kill that monster, and how fast it grew? That's neither normal nor mortal."

"No," Persephone laughed uncomfortably, "you're out of your mind."

"You'll see." Was all the girl said.