Chapter Text
A new city, and a new school, meant that Persephone Ceres could truly have a fresh start; or, as close to a new beginning that she could possibly get. Olympus Preparatory Academy for the Divine was the prestige high school for deities, nymphs, daemons, fae, other worldly creatures, and a few select mortals. The grandiose campus could be a little intimidating to the average onlooker, with tall ceilings atop polished marble walls that housed lockers that could have been made from platinum forged by Hephaestus himself. Numerous students wove in between one another, hurrying to their next class during the passing period. Persephone stopped as the others rushed past her, craning her head up to look around. Her heart was racing; she found herself a little overwhelmed while climbing the stairs, navigating through the gods goddesses, and myriad of other beings while she did her best to find her way based upon her school map and schedule. It was difficult to discern anything being said by the other students; the hallway was noisy with their constant chatter. But the words from her mother resonated in her mind:
“There is only one of you that exists amidst the realms, my flower. You have come entirely too far to give up before you’ve started. The time will come that others shall depend and rely upon what you are honing to be your unique gifts… it is not for others to understand, but for you to know—you have not even tapped into your potential yet, child. Be not afraid.”
“Be not afraid?” Persephone whispered to herself, hugging her books to her chest. “Mama I don’t always understand you, but I guess I can give it a shot.”
Following the map, she turned left at the top of the stairwell, focused on matching the room numbers to the grid on the paper in front of her. The corresponding numbers were confusing, Persephone noticed, but she was determined to make it to her next class before the bell rang. Dressed in a baggy shirt and khaki pants (some of her mother’s old clothes), she wished that she had something new for her first day in a new school. Seeing all of the designer dresses and latest trends on the other students made her feel a little out of style; but her mother stated that it was more efficient to reuse what they already owned. She had every ambition of making the best of her junior year of high school, starting with the very first day at OPA. Yet everything was going wrong-- she was running late, tripped walking into the building, had forgotten her one of her books at home, and was a little embarrassed by her clothing choice. Persephone came to a stop near a wall of lockers. She realized that the more she pushed down the hall, the more lost she became, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as it dawned on her the reason was that her map was held upside down. Huffing in frustration, she leaned against the wall behind her, taking a moment to gather her composure.
“Stupid village girl,” she muttered under her breath. “This day can’t get any worse.”
She closed her eyes and tucked a random strand of hair behind her ear, silently cursing herself for being so careless. Passing period was only a few minutes long, and she did not want there to be any mistakes. However, she found that her admonishment was cut short – a pair of ocean blue eyes peered at her from across the bustling wave of students. The blue eyes belonged to a very tall, very handsome boy, with hair the color of diamond dust, strewn about the top of his head. He was dressed very nicely with a white button up top beneath a grey sweater, with cerulean skin that was the perfect hue of blue one could only find in the nighttime sky just as the sun was beginning to set. A pointed nose rested above a big grin; was he smiling at her? He most certainly seemed to be smiling at her. Persephone felt herself flush, blushing deeply—her mother had warned that boys were conniving, dangerous, and all of them only wanted one thing and one thing only. But this boy? This smile of his? That soft dimple that creased as the word “Wow,” tumbled off of his lips? That response, after seeing her ? In this moment, that was all she had ever wanted in her seventeen years of existence.
Persephone found herself smiling back, shrugging her bag over her shoulder, and before she realized, blue flowers had suddenly appeared atop her bangs: a crown of forget-me-nots.
“Sugar snaps!” she whispered, and darted away with a trail of petals following, hoping that the handsome boy with the heart-melting smile wouldn’t think she was too weird.
“Wait!” he called, but it was drowned out in the clamor of the other students.
“Dude, I haven’t seen you smitten like that in forever,” a shorter, green god quipped, shoving his brother in the shoulder.
“Cut it out, Posey,” he scoffed.
“Holy fates, was that a flower nymph?” a violet-hued young man asked.
They were the Rusor brothers: Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon. Hades, a senior, was the eldest and most intelligent of the three. Zeus and Poseidon were twins, both juniors in school, although Poseidon was older by six minutes. The twins had identical facial features, save for a long scar over Poseidon’s eye. Still, there was no difficulty in telling which twin was which; the boys still wore their hair long down their backs, yet Zeus was purple in appearance, and Poseidon an emerald green. Both still only came to Hades’ shoulder in height, and both hated it. Poseidon was the laid back, goofy twin, whereas Zeus was the ladies man and social butterfly, charming his way into, and out of, whatever situation he could.
“Another thing,” Zeus continued, “Why is she wearing those old clothes?”
“Why are you always worried about what someone’s wearing?” Poseidon sighed, frustrated.
“The better to imagine taking it off!” He wagged his eyebrows in a dastardly motion, and Hades elbowed him in his side.
“You’re a pervert,” Poseidon added. “What if someone said something like that about Ma?”
“But… Ma is Ma , and that’s somebody else .”
Hades' heart beat like a drum within his chest. Slow, steady; deliberate. That girl was absolutely stunning. It didn’t matter if her clothes were brand new or salvaged straight from Tartarus. He kept watching her move through the sea of students heading to their next class, still smiling so hard it practically hurt.
“Somebody else?” he asked. “She’s… she’s a goddess .”
“Nah… that’s a flower nymph,” Zeus replied, jumping to try to catch a glimpse of the pink woman as she blended into the crowd. “I mean, look at how exotic she is!”
“I’m done having this conversation,” Hades stated. “See you suckers at home.”
Persephone hurried through the mass of students; passing period was nearly over, and she still needed to make it to the other end of the hallway. But the numbers on her map were nothing but a blur, as she found herself thinking of the handsome boy with the handsome smile. Sure, she made a fool of herself with the sudden explosion of flowers. She really had to work to get her powers under control. But there was nothing wrong with trying to sneak one last glance at him, right?
She stopped to turn back, moving to the side of the hall to get a better peek. Surely enough, the flirty boy with the ocean blue eyes was watching her, still smiling. Their eyes locked, and it was like a spark of electricity pierced her heart and raced back to his with the current, linking them together.
A red nymph stood adjacent to Persephone, feigning false interest in filing her nails, but the scowl on her face indicated that she had witnessed something she didn’t necessarily care for. Her hair was blood red, pulled atop her head in a slick ponytail that showed off her high cheekbones and sharp, pointed ears. She wore a black crop top and a miniskirt with fishnet stockings tucked into knee high boots. Next to her was an oceanid, with webbed ears that perked up beneath her bouncy, cream colored locks. Skin like seafoam in a turquoise blue mini dress and heels; she stood next to her counterpart taking an interest in the unspoken dynamics of what was due to transpire.
The grey nymph leaned into the other’s shoulder, neither of them taking their eyes off of Persephone.
“Seems that your leftovers has his eye set on someone new,” Thetis chuckled.
“I don’t see why,” Minthe replied. “Those tacky hand me down clothes are horrible. I’ve seen better clothes in the trash.”
“I don’t know, there’s something about her.”
“Something or nothing – I don’t care. Anybody Hades tries to set sights on won’t ever compare to me.”
Minthe Elise was a senior, like Hades. She and Hades briefly dated two years ago but split for… very irreconcilable reasons. Thetis Nereus was a junior, and Minthe’s best friend, despite the fact that she regularly talked shit behind Minthe’s back. The two were a toxic, perfect match: catty, gossiping drama queens that maintained the belief of being better than everyone else and fed off of one another’s disdain for those they didn’t care for.
“Looks like our new flower nymph friend is lost,” Thetis sang in a sarcastic tone.
“You know, my dear friend, you are absolutely correct,” Minthe replied, grinning with a conniving look on her face. “We should offer this little flower some directions; get her going the right way.”
“Shall we?”
“Let’s.”
The two students approached the still blushing Persephone, cornering her against the wall.
“Hey there, Pinky,” Minthe grinned maliciously. “You must be new.”
Persephone squeaked, seeing the slender nymph before her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not see her approach.
“I see you have your map in hand,” Thetis added. “What class are you heading to?”
“Oh. Um… Hello,” Persephone replied, softly. “I’m looking for Professor Athena’s Econ class.”
Minthe snatched Persephone’s schedule from her hands and held it up in the air. As if on cue, Thetis pulled a pen from within her blouse and offered it to the devious nymph, who then began to draw a path for Persephone to follow.
“It’s a good thing you ran into me, you know,” Minthe argued. “Looks like you’ve got an outdated map.”
“Oh no, what a shame,” Thetis added, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“But, if you follow this route here,” Minthe continued, still scrawling on Persephone’s map. “You’ll be able to find it just fine. And don’t worry about being late – it is the first day. No one cares.”
“Gosh, um, thank you!” Persephone beamed, taking the map, and walking away.
“Don’t mention it!” Thetis called. And as Persephone turned her back, the two nymphs gave one another a high five, cackling as they walked on to their next class.
Persephone thought it was peculiar that the map the red nymph drew for her led to the emergency exit stairwell but dismissed her hesitance since she was in a hurry to make it to class. Sure, the woman said that people didn’t care if you were late on the first day, but Persephone very much cared. She wanted to make a good impression and would take whatever aid she could in seeing that to fruition. Quickly, she climbed the stairs, huffing and puffing after every flight, clutching her books to her chest as she advanced further upward.
“Be not afraid,” she said aloud. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
She wondered if she would see the handsome boy with the handsome smile again. If there was nothing that went right about this day, seeing him was at least one good thing she experienced, even with the embarrassment of flowers blooming at random. He was so tall and strikingly good looking; even in her old town, there wasn’t a god or a mortal that could compare to him.
And yet, she didn’t even know his name, having simply ran away flustered. Hopefully, she could make up for it in some way, if she could think of one. She hadn’t been around boys very often, but there was something in her core that told her: he is different. He’s not like the ones Mama warned of.
As she arrived at the door, she stood with her hand on the handle, inhaling one last deep breath of courage. She had made it; hopefully, she could slip in quietly without being noticed and blend in with the rest of the class. Econ was not too difficult anyways; most of Persephone’s education was received via home schooling from her mother and other tutors, and they had already covered the basics. Whatever work she missed she could surely make up quickly.
Pushing the door open, Persephone slipped through quietly, letting it latch behind her.
And as the raindrops pelted her in the face and the thunder boomed in her ears, she realized that she was given the wrong directions. Whomever that red nymph was seemed to have done this intentionally. Persephone found herself standing on the roof of Olympus Preparatory Academy, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with no way to re-enter the building; her heart thudding in her chest.