Designed Destiny

3. Plot Twist: Now There's a Prophecy

Planet: The Underworld

Athena shot Ares a disgusted look as he scratched the chin of a manticore head mounted to the wall in Hades' parlor. "What?" Her brother scoffed.

"Olympians," Hades morphed from the shadows an instant later, his deep voice filling the dark room. "What's the latest? And can we please keep this brief?" he crossed his arms impatiently and leaned against one of the shimmering sapphire statues perched by an archway. "I literally have twenty-two million things to be -and rather be- doing than this," he huffed, inspecting his black nail polish.

"Oh, drop the attitude," Apollo snapped, glaring at him with a look of loathing Hades couldn't ever recall seeing in Apollo's eyes blazing with the power of a sun. "You know exactly why we are here."

"Yeah, whatever, let's just get this over with," Hades sighed Then his reflective eyes darted over the gods and goddesses suspiciously. "Where's Demeter?"

"Demeter?" Athena furrowed her brow. "Why would she be here?"

Hades' expression remained guarded despite his surprise. So they don't know about my latest pain in the ass? Then why are they all here looking to throwdown? "What do you want?" He demanded.

"My high priestess back! You murdered Shilly!" Apollo declared.

"Mind your accusations," he leveled the Sun God's glare with a frosty stare. I mean damn, the nerve of this jackass, coming down here to drop names and throw shade in my own house. Being the God of the Dead, one of Hades many powers was the ability to keep track of everyone who died, and yeah, only recently Apollo's high priestess had been killed and sure, it did perplex Hades why an Olympian's priest was murdered but he really wasn't in the habit of bothering himself with the details of the demise. "As it is...I am aware of Shillian's arrival, I gotta say...it was untimely but hey-"

"Of course it was untimely! You murdered Shilly!"

Hades stared without expression, mind racing. Why would he think I killed her?

"Apollo, control yourself," Athena shot her brother a look before she turned to face the God of the Dead again. "A god would have to be responsible for Shilly's murder and for the desecration of Apollo's Temple otherwise we would have been able to sense exactly who it was. All the other gods and goddesses have been accounted for already except for -"

"Oh have they really?" Hades flashed his eyes. "Or have they just been acquitted the instant my name was dropped?" Icicles started to appear over his armor of bones and everyone's breath could be seen on the frigid air.

"You're the only one who would dare commit such a heinous crime!" Apollo thundered. "No one else would have reason!"

"Admit it, Hades," Artemis snapped. "You're trying to send Olympus a message."

Hades just narrowed his eyes darkly, thoughts spinning as he tried to discern what exactly must have happened at Apollo's Temple. Yes, the Olympians weren't wrong, gods and goddesses couldn't sense other immortals so there wasn't any proof to suggest that Hades didn't do it... But at the same time -obviously knowing full n' well who all was on his And Then I Killed Them list- he seriously did wonder who the guilty god was...and why kill Apollo's High Priestess of all creatures? He supposed Shillian was one of the greatest foreseers of modern times, and that made her invaluable to the gods -especially in the middle of the modern era with technology they couldn't sense constantly moving and shaping things around them- but who would want Shilly dead? Unless (gasp) they wanted her to tell them something and didn't want anyone else to know so then they had to kill her to keep her quiet -