Hades

XVI

Important authors note at the end, please read!  

Ella's point of view 

Dark hues of evergreen trees occupied my eyesight. I had been awake for a while and had spent most of it staring out of the bedroom window. 

The darkness of night had been replaced with the promise of dawn. The sky was the color of lavender and the garden below was glowing in the early morning rays. I had realized very quickly that the garden was much larger than I first had anticipated. 

The beauty of it was stretched broadly across the land and at parts it seemed like the land intruded the gardens space - not the other way around. 

By the time the sun had warmed my cheeks sufficiently, I decided it was time to venture out of the room. 

Hades had not made an appearance yet and I was grateful for that. I needed to clear my head and wandering across the palace grounds seemed like the perfect way to do so. 

I dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a large oversized sweater. Winter had only just begun but the air was chilly with the promise of what was to come. I pulled on some boots and walked slowly down the abandoned corridor. 

I hadn't seen anyone here since I had arrived, and I wondered if the palace was empty. 

As I neared the large staircase the architecture of the palace changed. The walls rose higher and the ceilings were so far above my head that I didn't bother stretching up and trying to look. The stairs themselves were made of solid, smooth stone. 

My eyes drifted off to the large windows that stood the full length from the top of the stairs to the bottom. As I descended I glanced out quickly, observing the land more closely. 

I grabbed the handle of the large double doors and quickly pulled it open. I walked around in the gardens for a while before finding a bench to sit on. 

The garden itself, just like the palace, is in prime condition. This leads me to believe that there definitely were people within its dark interior. 

The cool pinched my cheeks and whipped at my feet, but I didn't mind. The stillness of nature made me forget where I was, but also gave me time to think. 

I thought about what Camila and Davies thought about my sudden disappearance, and I wondered what my family was doing. 

My mother and father still lived in my hometown and I hadn't seen them in months. My sister, now married, had decided that she too would not leave. Nina, my sister, had gotten married early last year to her longtime boyfriend Nash. 

She had phoned me last month to invite me to join them all at Lake Louise for Father's birthday next week. I had agreed to join them but regretted it almost instantly when she quickly changed the subject and asked if I was dating anyone. 

Even though Nina was only two years older than me, she and mother made it their passion in life to try to find me a boyfriend. 

Whenever they would ask if I was seeing someone I would desperately try to change the topic.

As I sat there, drifting in and out of my thoughts, a figure sat down beside me. I had gotten such a fright that I jumped and swung my arms out to the side with so much force that I pushed the person over. 

They fell to the ground and rolled over. Blue eyes shone into mine and my heart jumped. 

"You've got quite a swing on you," Hades laughed.

I blushed and held out my hand. He took it and I helped him up off of the dirt. He sat beside me and drew me closer to him. 

"I didn't mean to do that," I began, but he silenced me quickly.