Blinding Night , livre ebook

Blinding Night


Chantal Gadoury
Copyright © 2018 by Chantal Gadoury
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Amanda Wright and Jackie Turner
The Parliament House
www.parliamenthousepress.com
Cover Design by Shayne Leighton
Contents



Editor’s Forward


Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

1350

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

1784

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

1920

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26


Artwork by Aislinn Honeycutt

Acknowledgments

About the Author

The Parliament House
Dedicated to the Dreamers, to Dad and to me – to the 21-year-old who sat in her room one night and started the Hades and Persephone journey.
Editor’s Forward

Dear Readers,
Firstly, it was such a pleasure to work with Chantal on this incredible story; the retelling of Hades and Persephone. What was once originally a rewrite, became, on its own, an entirely new story. A story that I am proud to have been Chantal’s editor. I have been a part of the Parliament team for a short amount of time, but in the few months that I have worked alongside this collaborative bunch; I have found a kinship of like-minded, ambitious readers and writers. Sometimes it takes only a small measure of curiosity to drop you into your Wonderland; and that’s what this project has been for me.
“Blinding Night” has something really special, a sort of intrigue that has always drawn me to a certain type of book. Not only do we take a dive under the earth and sneak a peek at the Underworld of Greek mythology, but we also glimpse into the past of recurring lives. I have always been deeply fascinated by the background, I mean, just the mention of a memory or a past we only get a taste of; makes me want more! So, when you read into the mystique of Persephone’s lifetimes, I hope you’ll savor the reflection of a carefully crafted backstory.
What more can I tell you but to pick it up and start reading? What more can I say to convince you, dear reader, that Blinding Night is every bit as good as I claim? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll blush (your toes will most certainly curl, of that you can be certain), and you’ll fall in love. Gadoury has made it easy for you to enter the Underworld, free of charge (no death required), to experience Summer’s own journey down the rabbit hole. Fear not, dear reader, as Chantal has put you in the very best of hands. Her leading cast of handsome, male Gods will find a way to make your dreams come true.
Welcome to Greece in Gadoury’s eyes! Check into the nicest hotel (you’ll know which one when you read about it, trust me), and be a tourist in a city written specifically for this wonderfully fun story. The cast is lively and the sightseeing is lovely.
Finally, dear reader, I hope that you delight in this new adventure. A.M. Wright, Editor
Prologue

3 00 BC, Athens, Greece
The first day he laid eyes on her, it was incredibly bright and warm outside. The land above the Underworld, where the humans lived out their lives, was ripe with greenery and speckled with vibrant flowers. Lilies, magnolias, and violets swayed against the cool breeze, filling the air with a sweet aroma. The harsh winter was finally coming to an end.
The warmth poured over his cold skin like tepid water, creating a translucent mist around him.
He was never fond of the seasons, or how often they changed in a year, because his realm was not so. The Underworld never changed. In his great palace of souls, Hades was confined to his regal comfort and yet, he longed for the sliver of sunlight. Though he did not know it at the time, there was something different about the ever-changing human world.
Something new.
Something unexpected.
When Hades first emerged from the entrance of the realm below, he had not seen the Goddess right away. He had not noticed the way she kissed the petals of the blossoming flowers, breathing new life into their limbs. He had been too taken with the sun. When he finally spotted her, alerted by her presence only by a sigh as sweet as the fragrance in the air, he was breathless. The very essence of her being was the field of flowers. She radiated with the same vibrant colors as the lilies at her feet.
This Goddess was unlike his brothers or the others, because she was young and truly pure.
Her beauty would certainly put the naiads and nymphs at war with one another. The thought of those fickle forest creatures fighting one another caused him to chuckle. She turned at the sound of his voice, startled by his laughter, but made no move to flee. In her eyes, he could see her curiosity winning out over her fear. She wore her questions like the fine silk wrapped around her frame.
Who are you? Where did you come from?
The God of the Underworld held out his hand and smiled, “I am Hades.”
She looked to her flowers then, as if they held the answers she needed. It was a brief conversation that he could not hear, so he waited and when she smiled, he knew she was pleased. Her voice, much like the cool breeze, rippled along his skin and sighed against his ears.
Her voice was clear and light as she spoke, “I am Persephone.”
Chapter 1

May 12th, 2017
“B ritish Airways Flight 387 is now boarding at Gate 21,” the stewardess announced over the loudspeaker of the crowded airport. “Please have your boarding passes and passports ready for boarding.”
I turned to look over at my mother, who was nose deep in another one of her Jessica Lacey romance novels. I looked down at her feet where an oversized purse sat stuffed with books. My mother was practically the Mary Poppins of paperback romance. It was the craziest thing, too. She could read one book in the matter of two hours. I once timed her. She was a pro-reader.
“Mom,” I said as I nudged her elbow. “They’re boarding.”
“Hmm?” She asked, tearing her brown eyes from the page.
“They’re boarding our flight,” I repeated as I reached behind me for my phone charger.
Early on, I had beat a sticky six-year-old with an iPad for this seat. It was one of the only outlets in the whole seating area for British Airways, so I didn’t feel too bad about robbing him of electricity. I’m sure the other passengers waiting at Gate 21 were relieved, too. His iPad was so loud that I think there was a collective sigh of relief when it died ten minutes later. Besides, I had wanted to make sure my phone was fully charged for our ten-plus hour flight. We would be traveling from the Providence airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, then to the London Heathrow Airport, and finally to Athens, Greece.
“I better text your father and let him know we’re boarding,” she said mindlessly as she turned another page. I prayed as I stood and stretched that there wouldn’t be any crying babies on our flights; though, it was bound to happen in one of them. Finally, with all of my things gathered, I reached for my mother’s hands and folded the book shut.
“As spicy as Jessica Lacey’s love life may be, we need to board the plane before they leave without us.” The crowd was thinning quickly and if we got left behind, I wouldn’t be the one to tell dad that mom was too busy drooling over another romance novel to acknowledge our flight. “Please text dad.”
She dropped her book into her bag with a great huff and pulled her cell phone from her back pocket. I watched as my mother – who was terrible with electronics—began to punch out a message using her ancient flip phone. We tried to get her an upgrade one Christmas, but she refused to step foot inside the Apple store at the mall. She vehemently argued against buying a new phone, especially a touch-screen. I had never seen her react to a purchase like that since we bought our new toaster oven, which was an entirely different war that dad and I won.
My father was already in Greece. He had flown over almost a month ago to secure a place for us to stay while they worked all summer. I remember when they first told me that they would be excavating some Greek ruins with a team from National Geographic. What I thought would be a summer alone at home turned out to be a summer alone in Greece.
While the rest of my college friends boasted of spending their days next to the pool, taking selfies on Snapchat and going to the beach with all of their high school friends, I was being dragged to a foreign country, where my parents were going to go dig in the dirt. I just wanted something simple. Netflix and slushies. Barefoot and cool, air conditioned shopping malls. Maybe a movie or two with Johnny Depp. But this was their dream, so after a few fights and one week of finals, I caved.
“You don’t have to sound so ungrateful,” my mother had said to me over a burger and fries on the way home from college. “I’m sure kids your age would love to go to Europe. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
“I get that,” I said with a sigh, dipping my french fries into a