Summoning Bones

34. Memories in the Ghost Queen's House

His words, it was a command. They hung in the air like cobwebs in a closet full of skeletons. Cadmus' yellow eyes were stone cold, for he was not going to let Eirene slither out of telling the truth this time.

Eirene slowly walked towards him, sorrow and acceptance shone behind her lashes. She sat across from him and stared down at the grain of the table. She could not hear anything over the pounding of her heart. Finally, she looked up at him.

"Very well," she said quietly. "I was a child," her story began with words so quiet they were a breath of air on her lips.

"I was a child of two powerful beings, Hades and Persephone. Makaria, is my sister, Zagreus my brother. I was more powerful than both of them, am, some could argue. Zagreus was like my father, cruel and heartless. But Zagreus was still son to Persephone. His joy and personality stems from that part of him. It's small, but there. Makaria always took after Mother, sweet, gentle, goddesses of the light. Neither were meant to stay in the Underworld for months at a time, but my mother never listened to reason when it came to Hades. As she was in love, her power weakened away from the sun, so she vowed to not let the same happen to me. This is where I began to train. Mother would not let my power fade. Father wanted power, he always had. Thrust aside by his brothers, forced to the Underworld, he wanted revenge. Mother tamed him, put his anger to rest. But with my brith, he began a plan to form an army I would lead into battle. He would have Zagreus if he was as powerful as me. I was their little protégé."

"Mother and Father trained me, selfishly. They nurtured and grew the half of me they preferred. My power split, my being, everything. I was two halves that did not make a whole. When I was powerful enough, I left them. I created this," she swung her arms around her house, her home for the darkest years of her life. "It was my sanctuary, my safe haven. Until my father stormed in and demanded I quit my break and began my real work. I couldn't take it anymore. The Underworld was beginning to poison me as it had my mother, my sister. I fled to the mortal realm. I switched between glamour, bodies, personalities. I was constantly on the run, looking for a place I belonged. It was not the Underworld or the mortal realm. Through the years of training as a child, I never knew love or acceptance for all of me. My parents loved me yes, but in their love was hate for the other half."

Cadmus reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. Physical comfort would not help her through her tale.

"My rage grew, I despised my father, hated what he did to me. I continue to train on my own, combing my light and dark to create magic more powerful than before. I began to bring souls back from the dead. Through the centuries, I popped up, saved souls and disappeared. Then humans began to get greedy, their wealth clouded their mind. They enslaved me, and I, I let them. I thought they would let me feel peace with myself and the worlds. But they tortured me, sold my abilities to the highest bidder. They grew their wealth from me, and I never got a penny. Not that the material wealth bothered me, I could conjure as much as I wished. No, they treated me as a slave, an object to be bought and sold. I would 'die', disappear, come back to life in a couple of decades, and convince myself they could accept me. I hoped they would allow me to help those who are taken far too early from this world, reunite families. But time and time again, they captured me and only had be bring the rich back to life, pocketing the thousands they claimed it cost for such a procedure."

"I died a final time, rested for a century, and rose once more. I learned my lesson, I could not trust anyone. I quietly went from village to village. I brought hundreds back to life before I made my way to the Eldridge Mansion. There, my brother, Zagreus, happened to also be following me on my father's orders, I'm sure. Then poor Lidia went and died just as I brought back a dying wife. Lord Eldridge heard of me, and I was brought to him." She finally looked up from the knot she had been tracing with her fingertip. "I can't be enslaved again. I can't." Guilt rang through Cadmus, sharper than anything he had felt before. It was as if a silver sword had sliced through him. "Then I met you. Through my suffering, not once have I loved. I still haven't, but I was blessed with a person who would love me as I am, accept me. Though now, after my hearing my truth, after the lies, I am not so sure." She looked at him, his eyes fading back to normal.

"I-" he began.

"I don't want an answer now." Her heart would not survive if he were to reject her. "We need to survive my father's wrath. I must speak to Selene. She will have answers for me that you cannot give. I will have her strengthen you before meeting Hades. I still need you there, outside the door. Please?" Her eyes begged him. He nodded. Relief flooded her face, but she quickly went back to her plan. "Now Makaria will need to be saved quicker than ever. I have the ruby and the gold. I will collect her blood when we leave. For now, you can rest. The goddess expected me long ago." Eirene stood and began to make her way past Cadmus to the living room, but he grabbed her writs. Butterflies took flight in Eirene, and all her breath seemed to leave her.

"What is your name?" He whispered. She smiled sadly.

"I am Goddess of Ghosts, Nightmares, Madness, Spirits, and what ever cruel creation my father could think of. My name is Melinoe. Although I have begun to like Eirene, it means peace, something I've always wanted." She pulled her arm away, and Cadmus let it slide from his grasp. She turned away from him, tears pricking her eyes.  She had just laid her heart on the table, now it was up to Camdus to give his back or break hers in two.