Page 66 of Hades

KAT: Maybe…

I’m about to call Kat when Kennedy returns, looking slightly more relaxed than when she left.

“I’m sorry about the wait,” she says with a wide smile, and I start to feel slightly better about being here. “Come on back. I’m sorry, I’ve had a bizarre morning,” she adds as I follow her down a short hall to her office.

“Oh, I completely understand, bizarre,” I joke, since my life has been nothing but bizarre since leaving California.

Her office isn’t what I expected. I thought there would be some strange couch where you talked about I don’t know what. But it’s nothing like that at all. Her office is light and airy, with a classic Cape Cod feel. Two beautifully upholstered wing-back chairs are slightly turned in and face a huge window that looks out over the Common. It looks more like a living room than a doctor’s office.

“Your office is beautiful, not what I expected at all,” I say as I sit in one of the chairs, and she does the same.

“I don’t know if Kat told you much about me or what I’m attempting to do,” she starts. “But you’re my first…” She pauses momentarily. “You’re my first non-human client.”

“Oh, well, I guess I’m about the most human non-human you’ll ever meet. It’s all new to me. But Kat told you who my mother is, so…” I trail off, unsure what I should be saying.

“And what about Hades?” she asks as she curls her legs, tucks her feed under her and leans on the arm of the chair, more like a friend than a doctor.

I let out a long sigh. “I really fucked that up.” I quickly cover my mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say fucked.”

Kennedy laughs. “It’s fine, I don’t mind at all. How did youfuckit up?”

Glancing out the window, I try to put into words all the ways I fucked it up, but there are so many. “I don’t know. Everything I did was wrong, or…” I stop and take a deep breath. “It wasn’t wrong, everything I did was selfish. I just wanted my life back, or at least I thought I did. But I miss him so much,” I say, and my voice begins to crack but I keep going because it feels so good to tell someone. “I don’t know how to be the daughter of two gods, and I don’t want to be. And now I’ve got some weird chick I just met outside telling me she knows my mother, and I agreed to meet her for lunch. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’m sorry I’m rambling. I do that when I get nervous.”

“That’s okay. Sometimes it is good just to let it all out and dissect it piece by piece.” She says, and somehow, that seems comforting. Kat had told me that she’s human, but not much about how or why she’s specializing in, non-human problems.

There

There is a long pause, as Kennedy waits for me to continue. “I love him so much, and I know he loves me, or at least he did. But I’m afraid he’s in love with a version of me that doesn’t exist. I’m just me. I never knew Abraham Lincoln or went to Paris to see the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower. Why would he love me?”

“Maybe you need to ask him that. Tell him what you’re afraid of. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that these guys aren’t human, and when they love, they love with everything they have. They will quite literally destroy a world to protect the woman they love. Even if that means protecting us from them.”

“Is your… husband—”

She cuts me off before I finish. “No,” she flatly states without elaborating further. I can understand since this therapy session is for me, not her. “How long has it been since you talked with him?” she asks as she glazes over the subject of whomever she had been referring to.

I ponder how long it’s been since I’ve seen or spoken to Hades, doing my best to appear as if I need to calculate the time, when in reality, I know down to the minute. “About six months,” I admit. “But I wouldn’t even know how to contact him if I wanted to. I’ve never used one of those gate things, and honestly, I don’t even think he’s on this plane of existence if that makes any sense.” Kennedy is silent, and I watch as her face again visibly pales at something I’ve said. “Are you okay? Should I call someone?”

“Umm, I’m sorry, I’m fine. It’s just something you said. It isn’t important,” she states as she tries to regain her composure.

Leaning forward, I rest my hand over hers. “Yes, it is important. I’ve said something that has visibly upset you. What was it?” I ask, not wanting her to feel ashamed or isolated like I have for many months.

She doesn’t immediately answer, but I see she’s thinking about what I’ve just said, so I wait.

“You know this isn’t a normal visit, right? We pretty much have to help each other through all this. I was so excited when Kat said there was someone I could talk to, and it’s not for you to solve my problems. But it’s nice to know we aren’t alone. And you aren’t alone, Kennedy. You can talk to me too.”

She lets out a long, frustrated sigh. “I know, and I appreciate it. But this is about you and your journey, not mine… My journey is over,” she adds with a hint of sadness in her words.

“And who are you going to talk to?” I ask, trying to give her encouragement. “We could go to lunch, but I agreed to meet the crazy chick at The Federal.”

“Yeah, about that.” Again, there is a long silence. But this time I don’t think she’s waiting for me to talk. I think she’s debating, talking to me, so I wait. “What did she look like?”

“Tall, blonde, your basic nightmare.” I laugh as I describe her.

“Did she give you a name?”

Recalling the conversation with the mystery woman, it occurs to me that she never mentioned her name. “She didn’t, actually. But I can tell you, if she knows of me and knows my mother, she isn’t human.”

“Was she tall, thin, with her hair pulled back in a tight pony? And looking completely out of place for eight in the morning?”

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