Persephone's Curse

Not Even Half a Truth

"You're coming with me."
Aidan's hands were still bloodied with my attacker's blood.
After I made him drop his weapon, he had shown up out of what seemed like thin air and punched him. Hard. His nose and cheek had been bleeding by the time he stopped. The other guy had put up a fight too.
And then something I would have not believed possible, even in a hundred years and another universe, happened.
The man who had come at me with a knife literally poofed into a cloud of smoke and dust.
I had stared dumbfolded at the place where he had been, now mere whisps of smoke and shadow in the air.
My mind could simply not wrap around the idea. I guess I kind of just glossed over it, because it had completely evaded my memory by the time Aidan silently led me to my dorm house.
I had been thinking about getting attacked, but my attention was on Aidan's fists as they connected with the man's face again and again and again at such a pace that his hands were almost blurry.
It had been an astonishing sight.
I did not dare look up at him the whole way back, and he did not speak, even as I let him wrap his arm around my shoulders.
I just chalked it up to shock.
I did not know, as he started speaking once we entered my room, if to also chalk my attacker vanishing into thin air up to shock. It did seem like a reasonable solution.

But as his words sunk in at last, I looked deftly into his eyes, "Where exactly would I go with you?"

He seemed a little bit at a loss, and didn't really make any sense to me as he spoke, "To my home. It is not safe here for you anymore." He ruffled his not so perfect anymore after the fight hair with a hand, "It is my fault, Thea. Whoever send that thing wouldn't have done it had it not been for me."

I told him he made no sense and he looked frustred as an answer, but at what fault was I that he sounded batshit crazy. Why would some street vagrant attack me because of him?
I sat on the chair near my desk, where two boxes of belongings still sat unpacked next to my flowers, and tried to make sense of what he was saying - and momentarily flirted with the option to tell him to leave, but I had a feeling he would not want to.

"What do you mean by your fault? Was the dude some kind of gang member you used to be a member of and seeing me close to you once made him attack me?"
Not even close close. We'd just been in the same class.
I wanted to laugh, but that was most probably still the shock.
Those dark blue eyes, a shade so close to that of the ocean - which I hadn't realised before, being so intent on not looking straight at him and all that-, lit up at the same time his mouth formed a half smile that looked more sad than amused.

"You really would not believe me if I told you. Don't worry, you will, in time. But I need to keep you safe."
He had been leaning on the wall near the door, but with those last words he shot up and stepped closer to me.
Then picked the hand that was not clutching my desk. I was too tired and he had moved to fast for me to react in any way.
"I need to keep you safe, Thea."

But then I did take my hand out of his and snorted. This was getting way too YA lit for me. But I had read too much of it to ignore these little occurences.
Occurences like the fact that I was getting more and more sure that the terrifying man in my dream, the one I only now remembered, had placed a kiss on the exact spot where my new tattoo now was, had looked eerly simmilar to Aidan.
I also remembered who dream me had thought the man was. Hades. I had dreamt we had summoned Hades, and he had asked for an offering, then chose me. I also remembered I had not completely balked at the thought.
But it had only been a stupid nightmare. It couldn't have been more.
Even though it was kinda too large a coincidence that the google search me and Larissa had done earlier on my newly acquired tattoo had indicated that it was, in fact, the symbol of Hades.

All these went through my head in about two seconds, so when I leaned back in my chair, Aidan still hadn't moved. And there was something about his face. It was like it was barren of any restraints, looking at me almost hopefully.

"I can keep myself safe, thank you very much."

The wall of icy condescension shot back up and he leaned on my desk.
"Yeah, I saw how well you dealt with that guy. Would I have given you another ten seconds, you would have stabbed him in the gut with those keys next."
I tried not to react in any way that would have given away the fact that it had been, in fact, my intention to do that.
I would also have taken it as a compliment if his tone hadn't dripped acid. He seemed to regret doing it right after the words left his mouth though, because he continued, "Look, I have not thought this through at all, and I don't expect you to understand what is going on, but what you need to know is that I messed up. I put a target on your back that shouldn't have been there, and I am making it my responssbility to keep you safe until I figure the situation out."

"Or you could, you know, explain what's going on? You're being hella vague." I raised my eyebrows, "Wait, are you part of the mafia? I mean, it would have made more sense if you were italian, but greek can do too."

He actually laugned, a loud barely there  laugh. His eyes were shining and he seemed more at ease at once. He smiled slightly, looking down as he answered.
"No, Thea, I am not part of the mafia."
Then he seemed to think better of it, and even though I had just been attacked and was probably talking with a lunatic, the expression on his face caused a warm feeling in my stomach. What the even fuck was I thinking.
"Well, it's not exactly the mafia, but close enough."

My quizical look made him go on, "Thing is, I'm rather the black sheep of the family."
Don't you say, with all those black tuxedos he probably owned. He wore one right now, after all. It was way too warm for a tuxedo, but here he was.
"And there's a really long story about this woman I used to be married to. She is believed to be dead, and my siblings are believed to have been involved in it."

Wow. This was harsh shit. And Aidan had been married. Well, he did look older than me, but certainly not married older. But I guess these things are purely subjective as long as you're an adult.
I had no idea what to say and was glad that he continued after giving me a few moments to take the information in and wonder what the hell it had to do with me.
"But thing is, Thea, that you look like her so much that one of my siblings - who is certainly keeping a close eye on me these days - mistook you for her."

This was even more fucked up.
"But why try to kill me? Were they involved in her death to begin with?"
August looked down at his hands, fidgeting with a thick silver ring on his finger.
"I don't know that. But what I know is that my sibling won't be convinced you aren't her. They're all rather stubborn and hotheaded. And if they want you dead, you will die."

By now, I was pretty damn sure I was  on some shitty prank show or someting. Or that the sorority initiation thing hadn't ended and they were just trying to freak the freshmen out.

"Isn't all this the police's bussines?"

That was all I could say.
This could not be the real deal.
But that guy had attacked me - then vanished into thin air. I foolishly tried to convince myself I had really bad eyesight, but the truth was, none of this was making any sense, and I was getting possitively freaked out.
Plus, I looked like his dead wife???
That certainly beat the whole my attacker vanished into thin air thing.

He smiled in a knowing way, "If only it were that easy."