Chapter One:

I cradled the dried and shriveled-up rosebud between my palms, picturing how it might have once looked, and felt energy prickle along my skin. I sent it all towards the plant, envisioning it digging down deep, through soil and roots, pulling moisture and nutrients back up, smiling a little to myself in triumph as fresh green leaves poked their way up through my fingertips.

There you go, little girl. I'll be back next week, alright? Until then, here. I uncapped my Hydro Flask, dribbling a little water around its base.

"I killed that on purpose, you know." Grandma stepped up beside me, leaning casually against the trunk of the oak tree as my gaze slid sideways to her for a minute. I stood, brushing bits of grass and dirt off my pants.

"Is it worth it to ask why you did that?"

She picked at a hangnail, eyes to the ground. "I heard a rumor that you can bring dead flowers and plants back to life."

"Oh, Grandma..." I gathered my things together and she followed, hands on her hip.

"Were they right?"

"Does it matter?" Please, drop it.

"I dismissed it immediately, because if they were right, you would've told me by now." She tapped her slippered foot against the grass, waiting, and I turned slowly to face her.

"I help out Josie's Flower Shop once a week, alright? My gifts pay my rent, and I didn't tell you about it because I didn't think it was something you needed to know."

"Since when?"

"You don't need to know every single detail about my life, Grandma! Some things I'd rather keep private."

She shook her head side to side, curlers bouncing. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. How long have you been able to do this?"

I sighed heavily, already starting to regret my decision to come out here in the first place. I just wanted a little alone time, dammit.

"Since my near-death experience."

She pierced me with a look so full of judgment, I could feel it seeping from every pore. "Emma Louise Blackwood, that was eight years ago. I've been for six of those, and you didn't think it was worth it to tell me?" She paused, eyes widening. "So, this happened at the same time that-"

"Yup."

Drowning and coming back to life tethered to the spirit world was freaky enough back when it was the only thing I could do. The earth magic stuff was cool sometimes, but the thought of accidentally being caught, like now, gave me hives.

That's what I got for all but begging the other side not to keep me.

"You don't realize how special this makes you, do you?"

"Awe, c'mon, Grams, don't make me blush," I said, smiling. "You have to say stuff like that because I'm your granddaughter, but I'll bet plenty of people in the world can do what I do."

"Just two," she mumbled to herself and I frowned, mouth popping open in question.

"There you are."

A man materialized to my right, folding his arms over his muscled chest as he gazed down at Grandma with piercing, forest-green eyes. He wasn't like the other souls; he seemed real, more substantial, and was too flawless-looking for his own good with short, ebony hair that glistened, even in the partial gloom.

Completely out of my league.

If I was looking, which I most definitely wasn't. Stop eyeing him like a hunk of meat, Emma!

"I knew Jed couldn't keep a secret, even for an hour," Grandma said bitterly, stomping up to him as he watched her, a faint smile playing around his full, sensual lips.

Snap out of it right now! You can't see him, you can't see him. I fished a book out of my bag, cracking the spine as I sat cross-legged on the ground, smiling affectionately at the rosebush, which swayed in the cool evening breeze. My gifts aren't all bad.

"You weren't supposed to leave; there are rules for a reason," the man said, checking his watch. "And if you're not going to move on, you need to stay put, because I'm too busy to track down every rogue soul."

"You wouldn't deny me the right to visit my granddaughter, would you?"

He looked down at me as I deliberately ignored him, turning the next page. I didn't know who he was, but he radiated power like a freaking substation, and that scared me to the tips of my toes. Powerful souls were rare, and an even better reason to avoid the spirit world altogether. The more powerful the soul, the faster they drained my energy, and most days, I couldn't handle the power surge.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Maxine? She'll never know you're here."

Grandma glared at me over her half-moon spectacles as I clenched my teeth together, trying in vain to tell her what I couldn't say out loud.

If you do this, I'll never ever forgive you for it, so please just keep your mouth shut, for once. Nod and leave with him.

"She's pretending like she can't see me, but we have daily conversations. Right here, in this park, by this rosebush, actually, which was always this lush, full, and well-taken care of. Isn't that right, Emma?"

Oh my gods, Grandma! Could you be any less subtle? I didn't answer her, yawning as I turned another page, and the man winged an eyebrow at her.

"Say something, sweetheart. He's the least likely person to judge you for it, and he won't tell anyone else, either."

"Let's go; Jed is waiting for your return," the man said, taking her by the elbow gently. Grandma shook him off, staring directly at me, and I could feel the frost in her gaze.

"So help me gods, Emma! If you make me look crazier than I already am, because you're scared, I'll never visit you again. Ha! Yes, that's exactly what I'll do. You'll never see me after today, and you'll live the rest of your life wondering what happened to me, or if I'm happy. And when you eventually die, I won't be there to greet you."

"Yay," I muttered, then froze, every muscle clenched around that one word. What the hell did I just do? There was no way out of it, I had to look, and when I did, I groaned as two sets of eyes skewered me to the ground.

"Did you just answer her?" I man asked softly, fingering a scar along his jawline, and I dropped my head into my lap, wishing the earth would reach up and swallow me whole.

"You baited me, Grandma, admit it," I said, pointing a finger at her. "Just like you did with that freaking rosebush! If I hadn't said anything just now, he would've taken you away with him, and I could've gone on enjoying my day without any more ghostly visitors, or nosy family members dropping cryptic hints to other souls about me."

"That rosebush is just a rosebush until you acknowledge it, Emma! You can cover it up all you want, but it doesn't make it go away. Own the rosebush, or it'll eat you alive."

"And what if I don't want to, huh? I was never supposed to have that rosebush in the first place!"

"What are you two talking about?" The man asked, confused, but I ignored him, advancing on Grandma as she held her ground.

"The rosebush should never have happened in the first place. I didn't ask to die and come back to life with freaky-ass abilities that I don't even know how to handle. Yeah, sure, the plant magic is cool and useful most of the time, because it's how I make a living, but where there's light, there has to be a little darkness too, right? Except that I wasn't born to do that. What's the opposite of life, Grandma? Death! They shouldn't both exist in one person!"

She pushed her square-rimmed glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. "Would you rather be dead right now? Because that's the alternative. Use your rosebush, please, because it could help other people who need it. Do what he does," she jerked her head sideways at the man, who stiffened in place, eyeing her warily. "And stop ignoring it, or your rosebush will grow so large, you won't be able to contain it. By the way, he's Hades, Lord of the Underworld and also entirely corporeal, so you don't have to worry about being the crazy woman yelling to herself in the park, for once." She paused again before doubling back. "He's probably the only other person in the world, besides me, of course, who won't judge you for your gifts, so you're welcome for the introduction." She poofed out of sight, and my gaze narrowed on the man, who watched me in return, curious.

Lord of the Underworld? Seriously, Grandma?

"Are you going to keep staring at me, or did you have something to say?" I barked as he smiled in return.

"I'm just baffled by you, that's all," he said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. "You can see spirits of the dead, that much is clear and, what else? Make plants grow?"

"More or less."

"You're the first person I've ever known who can do what you can. My gifts are limited to communicating with the souls, but you're something else entirely, which is more than a little intriguing."

"It's annoying," I said as he quirked an eyebrow in question. "I don't have a life because they find me everywhere I go. If I could somehow give these gifts away, I would in a heartbeat."

"Why are you trying so hard to be normal?"

"Why do you seem oddly frustrated by it?"

"Oh, snap, Hades, she got you there," Grandma said, reappearing, and I frowned at her. "Don't ever use that word again, okay? You're one-hundred years old. Act like it." I turned to the man. "Are you really Hades?"

He nodded, eyes scanning my face.

"Like...Hades, Hades? Greek god of death?"

"Emma, stop with the twenty-questions already. He's the real deal," Grandma said, exasperated, rummaging around in her purse.

"Why are you still around, then? Isn't he supposed to help you move on to wherever you're supposed to go after death?"

"She was stubborn. She didn't want to get on a boat," Hades said.

Grandma smiled and leaned towards me, cupping her hands over my ears. "Because I was going to go to the wrong place."

I'm not even a little surprised. "So, you escaped from Hell and decided to, I don't know, rendezvous amongst the living? That's...weird."

"First of all, it's not Hell, it's the Underworld. Big difference. Tartarus was where I was headed before I, eh, hid," Grandma said, refusing to meet my gaze.

"You couldn't force her to go? Pick her up and toss her butt on a boat?"

"Once she decided she didn't want to move on, it was a permanent decision. That's what I get for allowing my brother to give mortals free will," he said, homing in on me again, like a dog to a bone. "But you don't seem surprised by any of this. In fact, you're taking the information better than I expected you to. Why?"

"I have plant magic and can see spirits of the dead. I stopped questioning the existence of things, no matter how strange, a long time ago."

"And yet you're actively trying to ignore the fact that you can see spirits at all," Hades said. "Willing it away won't work, because it'll eat you up inside. I need to take your grandmother's soul with me, but this discussion isn't over."

"Hooray..."

I felt a tension headache forming between my eyes as Grandma grimaced at my sarcastic tone, joining Hades on the sidewalk.

"Your granddaughter is a piece of work."

"She gets it from her mother's side."

"I can still hear you!" I shouted as Hades lifted one hand in farewell, and I stomped back to my book, muttering curses to myself the whole way.