¹Pocket Full of Posies.

𝐈. apollo's problem (and kore's pain)

pocket full of posies
❛ i. apollo's problem ❜

━━━━━ ONESIMUS HAD BECOME SILENT. Posie thought there would never be a world where that happened, and for so long, she longed for that day to come—but now it has, and ... she hated it.

Oftentimes, he would go silent when she cornered him for answers he wasn't permitted to give. But Posie always knew Onesimus would be back, even if his back was to tease her for being awkward around Wyatt or Percy. He annoyed Posie at times ( see in: at all times ), but she knew she could count on him for advice if push came to shove.

... Sometimes, at least. He kept many secrets, which wouldn't bother Posie—only she couldn't keep secrets from him. She could never keep anything from him. He saw her life with her—her training, her conversations with others, the time she spent in the Underworld. He even saw her dreams; the dreams of her old home with Beau Easton, the old memories of Mrs. Sandra Hall as she lay in the hospital, dying with a rare cancer. He even saw the dreams of Liviana, a girl with green eyes the color of poison. He saw everything with Posie, yet he was a mystery to her.

Posie didn't even know what Onesimus was—Was he just a voice in her mind? Was he a figment of her sanity that was barely holding on? Was he a spirit that had taken home inside her mind? What was he? She had no idea. She had come to the conclusion he had something to do with Hades, "the man" who was speaking to her since Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen two summers ago. It made sense now—Onesimus started speaking to Posie right as Hades was being framed for the stolen master bolt. Posie didn't know Hades's entire plan, but she knew he had known about her ... abilities; Hades had known and thought she could help him, and he would help her.

Regardless, as much as Posie was assuming, Onesimus still was a mystery. She had a pretty good idea he was sent by Hades, who had "recruited" her ( it was hard to explain, especially because she only knew so much—or not much at all ). He talked as if he had been alive once, but that he couldn't die; however, he also spoke as if he wasn't human, as if he was something more than mortal. And his voice became louder the moment she got that dark ring—a ring carved to look like an ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail—from the Underworld, from Hades.

Onesimus wasn't the ring, but the ring was connected to him. Posie tried to take the ring off once, and he fused at her—he kept saying it helped her, and that taking it off would mean she would be in worse danger. He talked like he could see the future without Posie's interference. ( She was the one with the gift of foresight, not Onesimus. ) But still, Posie kept the ring with her; it was a reminder, of sorts.

Even worse than Onesimus going silent was Posie's weekly trips down to the Underworld. Well, not always weekly, but enough times that Persephone knew her by name.

"Josephine Easton," the goddess greeted.

"Just Posie is fine, Lady Persephone."

The Goddess of Springtime regarded the half-blood. Then her eyebrows raised cooly. She didn't exactly look very ... spring-like. Persephone looked more like a ghost, but was too scary to just be a ghost. Her dress billowed around her like smoke, and her long, dark hair floated and curled around her face as if it were weightless. Her face was beautiful, but drawn down as if the Underworld weighed so heavily on her, that her face started to sag. But Persephone's dress wasn't just white—it was made of the color of flowers; reds, blues, pinks, violets, yellows; but the colors were faded. Her eyes were the same, too—a would-be beautiful blue, but they were washed out.