Hades

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

"Evie! Ellie! Hurry up and come inside; your dinner's getting cold!"

I keep my eyes trained on the enemy, the call floating away on the cool breeze. Her eyes narrow, shooting me icy daggers that just about crystalise in the winter evening. The ball bounces on the concrete, once, twice. Her foot twitches. Then she launches forward, a flurry of gangly limbs and flying strawberry-blonde curls. Quick as a snake, I leap forward to meet her mid-air. I reach out, as if to grab the ball, but she anticipates the movement, and bounces the ball to her other hand. But I already knew she was going to do that; I had anticipated her anticipation. My hand keeps reaching forward, and, instead of snagging the ball out of the air, my fingers curl around the ends of her ponytail instead. I give it a sharp yank. She squeals, and drops the ball.

"Hey!"

I dart forward and swipe up the ball, dribbling it away with a burst of speed. She doesn't even have a chance to recover before I'm popping up in the air and slipping it into the basket.

Swish.

"Goal!" I cheer, jumping up and pumping my fist. My opponent scowls at me, punching me hard on the shoulder.

"That doesn't count! You cheated!"

"Loser says what?" I sing, smirking as I hold my hand up to my ear. She punches me again.

"I'm not a loser! You pulled my hair — you're not allowed to do that!"

"Sore loser says what?"

Her scowl sours, and she throws the ball at me. "You only won because you cheated."

"I didn't cheat. I just used my resources to my advantage."

"That's just a fancy way of saying you cheated."

"Girls!" We both flinch, our heads whipping back to the front door. A figure stands in the doorway, their arms folded tightly over their chest. "You've got thirty seconds to be inside, or I'll feed your dinner to the dogs."

We look back at each other and simultaneously grimace.

"Truce?"

"Truce." She nods. Then her eyes narrow, a devilish smile playing on her lips. "Race you!"

She winks, tugs on my ponytail, and pushes me to the side. My jaw drops.

"Ellie!"

Ellie cackles and high-tails her way to the front door, leaping over the basketball I aim at her retreating back. I growl and take off after her.

You were a rather petulant child growing up, weren't you?

The voice echoes all around me, clear as thunder. I stumble to a stop, surprise rooting my feet to the spot. A shiver runs down my spine as my eyes flicker from side to side, trying to find the source of the mysterious voice. Nothing. I frown for a moment, and glance around one more time, but come up empty once again. Shrugging to myself, I shake it off and race back inside, hollering at my twin as I crash through the door.

"Ellie! Don't use my favourite plate!"

Ellie and I wolf down our dinner in record time, intent on heading back outside and continuing our game of basketball. Our parents have different plans for us, though; despite our begging, pleading, and even the employment of the twin-centric puppy-dog eyes, they remained stoic. We had to remain inside, and we had to suffer. We had no choice.

It was board games night.

"Evie, it's your turn."

"Oh, right, sorry." I drop my pencil and reach over to grab the dice. My mother gives me a look as she hands them to me.