The garden of Demeter was one of the most beautiful and terrifying places that Samantha had ever seen. Beautiful in the sense that it was alive with plants and creatures that worked in a symbiotic balance that was gorgeous and natural in a wonderful way. It was terrifying in that Sam had learned quickly that Demeter could use any innocuous plant inside it as a weapon. Although she wasn't a fan of Demeter’s defense tactics, Sam considered herself lucky that Mel had stepped in when she did, and smoothed things over so that she could get to work on learning magic. 

Sam had been practicing plant magic all evening, but she wasn't having any luck as Demeter was a very strict teacher. As she tried the basic growth magic for what must've been the hundredth time, she let her mind wander a little on the last twelve hours or so.

After being attacked by Demeter as an intruder, she and David had been unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Dusting herself off, and shooting a frustrated glare at the embarrassed Mel; Sam checked on David to make sure he was okay as well. The then fully humanoid plant lady was conversing in a hushed tone with Mel, taking occasional breaks to look around her to examine Sam and David.

Eventually the two goddesses approached and Demeter made her formal introduction, being sure to be as snooty as possible, and not even offering a slight apology for what had happened. Once Demeter had finished speaking, a wall of thick vegetation opened up behind the goddess at her command, like a forty foot stage curtain. Behind the wall, was a colorful grove of vibrant plantlife in almost every color imaginable. Samantha's first looks at the meadow beyond didn't look like it was scrupulously groomed, like a typical garden, but more like a wild fairytale forest. Flowers bloomed in vibrant color on the trees that made up the structure of the walls, and the rest of the meadow had a small hill, where the vegetation was more typically green, and it got thicker as it reached the massive camphor trees that were on top of the mound. 

Demeter was kind enough to show them to her cottage nestled into the thickest vegetation. There were walls, doors and even a roof, but it was hard to tell where the home ended and the woods began. The vegetation served as the perfect camouflage, and as a defensive mechanism to defend the high olympian from any harm. A hearty ‘breakfast’ was wolfed down before the two mortals were shown to Demeter's sizable guest room to sleep off their hangover. 

By the time they both were back to their senses it was late in the afternoon, and golden light filtered into the room. They had made their way back out to find the two goddesses discussing the most effective training regime to put Sam through in the short time they had. It was apparent to Samantha that the older goddess' overbearing personality, and distaste for mortals was not something she hid, as she informed the group that a crash course in plant magic was first on the agenda. 

Over the short few hours Samantha had worked with her, Demeter had met more of the archetype that Sam had expected from the Greek gods when she read about them in mythology. She was crass, selfish and currently humiliating her every time she made a mistake with the novice level plant magic Samantha was trying to learn. Samantha snapped out of her reverie, when Demeter started to talk again. 

"Absolutely incredible. That was so impressively bad that I think you actually hurt the plant you were trying to grow" Demeter scolded in her usual lofty tone. Samantha had no retort though, the poor fern looked like it was clinging to life with brown shriveled leaves, when only a moment ago it had appeared moderately healthy. 

"Maybe I should try some dark magic for a bit," Samantha’s exasperation was plain across her face, "plant magic doesn't seem to agree with me."

"It's called Chthonic magic, not dark magic, and you've barely even attempted flora manipulation!" Demeter huffed, before following Sam's gaze to the small grove of brown and nearly dead plants that Samantha had tortured over the past few hours. "Fine then" Demeter sighed, using her latent strength to magically heal the plants. 

"Guess I'm up" Mel smiled, hopping up from the mossy bed she had been using to amusedly watch the new arch-priestess torment some innocent plants. 

"Let's start with the basics" Melinoë began once she had Sam's flustered attention. "Chthonic magic is the channeling of magic that is in the general domain of the underworld. Not to sell plant magic short, but Chthonic magic is significantly more useful in combat than any other type of magic, and if... when you get in a fight, it's going to be absolutely essential."

Samantha found herself admiring the nymph a little as she slipped into drill instructor mode. Mel had been abhorrent to her and David when they had first met, but she found the seemingly young god growing on her as time passed. If she was being honest with herself she would admit that a small part of that admiration was rooted in Mel’s physical attractiveness.

Melinoë was definitely the daughter of Seph and Hades, as she shared a lot of their traits. She was shorter than Seph, but taller than Samantha, and Mel’s body had a balance of soft curves, over what Sam imagined was probably a fairly muscular frame. She’d probably be a great cuddler, if she wasn't in that armor Sam thought with a blush. Focus.

"There are three different subsections of Chthonic magic that you will need to learn first. There are more, but these three types will get you to a point where you can hold your own. They are 'kinesis,' 'enchantment,' and 'stealth magic' the nymph said before stopping to make sure Sam was paying attention. 

"Kinesis is the type of magic we use to move things around, and it can be used offensively or defensively depending on whether you want to burn or protect the thing you're casting on." As she spoke a ball of flames appeared in her hand, then moved as if by it's own choice to a nearby potted plant, and lifted it harmlessly off the ground. "I'm not gonna do it offensively, because grandma hates it when I burn her plants."

"Anything you do to my plants, I reserve the right to inflict back on you" Demeter added protectively from the sidelines as she sipped her tea.

"Right,'' Mel met Sam’s look with a charming grin. "So next we have enchantment. This can be a quick enchantment to cause an item to burn or turn into shadows, but it will wear off. Or you can do a permanent enchantment which has a higher cost on the caster, but as the name implies; is permanent." Mel reached behind her to pull out a small dagger that looked very similar in design to the one Seph had used in the recent fight with Ares' soldiers. The heat and glowing symbols brought memories of burning flesh, and her stomach lurched with a wave of nausea. "You have to be careful not to overload an item with heat, as it can burn or melt if not properly crafted, just as if you were to heat the same item non-magically."

"What about the last type of magic? Stealth?" Sam hoped the cute nymph would take the hint. 

"Right, stealth. As the name implies it's a darkness magic used to hide people or things from sight, or if used properly, to remain undetectable from all senses." Mel sheathed her blade as darkness swirled around her feet like a slow black tornado. 

"The premise of basic shadow stealth is simple, you're creating a thin film around you of air that is colored in a way that eyes do not perceive any light bouncing back, so your mind interprets that space as dark. Because it's magic, we are able to color the opposite side of that film transparently so we can see through it. More advanced stealth magic can go so far as to dematerialize you into a shadow smoke, that allows you to pass molecularly through objects."

"Is that how you brought us here? When you turned us into shadows?"

Mel’s smile seemed to widen at her pupil’s newfound enthusiasm. "No, that's a similar concept, but a different branch of magic completely called interportation. It allows you to shift between realms and across vast distances, provided you've been there before, and can remember it."

"Hahaha, fast travel! Nice!" David commented from the sidelines. Sam doubted that Mel understood his video game reference, but was happy to see his spirits up again. The realization that she'd turned his whole life upside down the other day had left her feeling guilty and powerless. 

"Yes, travel with interportation is quite fast" Mel responded confused. "Anyway, those are the three basic types of magic you'll need to learn for combat. We will start with kinesis, so take a combat stance.” 

Before Sam could process what was happening, Mel had moved to her side and started looking for her to take a fighting stance. Frustrated with Sam’s apparent lack of understanding she grabbed her shoulders and squared them. A few basic commands, and a light kick to the inside of Sam's left foot had her standing like she imagined a boxer would stand. 

“Alright Sam, bend your knees a little more and lean forward, like you're worried someone is going to push you back. Perfect.” 

At this point Mel had moved around behind Samantha, and she could feel her cheeks burning, from how close she was standing. Is she doing that on purpose? Sam tried to shake the intrusive thoughts from her head and focus on what the nymph was saying now.

“Now hold your dominant hand out, palm up and imagine a fire that doesn't burn, but just lights up in your outstretched hand." 

Sam focused for a moment on her flameless hand, trying desperately not to think about the girl she was just crushing on standing so close that she could feel her breath on her neck. 

"Sam, are you able to imagine flames that don't burn?"

"Um yes, I'm doing it exactly how you described. I've actually seen this in practice, I'm imagining the flames that Seph used to protect me and throw me into my bedroom." Sam explained with an increasingly focused look of frustration.

"Hmmm, well this is usually a bad way to teach magic, but we are short on time. Let me try something" as Mel finished, a small flame erupted in Sam's hand, but it didn't burn her, or even create any heat. 

"Woah! Did you do that or did I?"

"We both did, technically. You use magic by channeling the energy through my mother, and casting it with your own, albeit much weaker magic. I acted as a sort of battery charger and amped up the flow to make it easier for you to cast."

Samantha stared with astonishment at the flames in her hand. I made this… Kinda… 

"Alright Sam, now I want you to close your eyes, and memorize the part of your brain you feel active right now, casting the fire. This is called mind mapping. When I take away my boost, you'll need to think the same way you feel now to activate the flame without my help. Do you have it?"

"I think so?"

"Alright, I'm removing my boost" the moment Mel finished her sentence the flame went out. 

"Shit."

"Focus, Sam. Think back, what part of your brain was most active? What did it feel like when you casted the flames?"

Sam knitted her eyebrows in frustration for a few moments, and then with a series of small sparks, and a timid flame burst in her outstretched hand. At hearing her companions cheer, she opened her eyes just in time to watch the small flame flicker out. 

"Very good! Alright, it's like a muscle, the more you do it the easier it will become. Start with making a ball, and as you find it easier and easier, I want you to make different shapes. Do not try to make burning flames yet, you don't want to hurt yourself." Sam shook away the disappointment she felt, as Melinoë stepped away and made her way back to the rest of the group to watch.

A long frustrated sigh erupted from the side of the garden where Demeter was perched "at this rate the war will be over by the time she learns to do anything useful. I'm literally immortal, and I'm having doubts that I'll live long enough to watch her do anything interesting. Are you sure this is the girl from the prophecy?"

"Grandma! Stop." Mel’s glare was tinged with worry and guilt. "Mom doesn't want us to bring that up."

"Bring what up?" Sam and David said simultaneously. "Are you keeping secrets from us? We have a right to know,” Sam completed the thought alone. 

"It's not important," Demeter said with a glance of mild disinterest, taking a purposefully long sip from her tea. 

"If it's about me, and what my future holds, it sounds pretty important" Sam said with growing anger at the two goddesses before her. 

“Look, it's not our place to talk about" Mel said with a note of conviction towards her grandmother. "Seph will tell you when she feels it's time to hear it."

"Fantastic," Sam's anger was growing, oblivious to the tendrils of flame licking up her arm from her casting hand. "What else are you keeping from us? I've thrown my fucking life away for this cause, I have a right to know if something else is going on."

"Calm down Samantha" Mel's concern was visible on her face. "Let's just take a second to relax. My mom wouldn't lie to you, or keep anything from you unless it was for your own good."

"Sam, your arms on fire!" David interjected with concern. 

"Oh shit!" Sam’s anger evaporated as she patted out the flames, leaving her jacket unburnt. 

"At least your Chthonic magic is showing improvement" Demeter quipped, unphased with the entire interaction. 

Sam shot a glare at the older goddess and was about to speak, before David’s hands held onto the smaller girl's shoulders. "How about we take a break for a bit? Sam, maybe we could take a walk?"

"I just… I need a moment to think" Sam responded with frustration, before turning and walking off to the hedges that made up the lower part of the hilly villa. 

Silence reigned until Mel awkwardly said "I'll uh, make sure she doesn't get lost," and walked briskly after her to catch up.

**

David stared at the imposing goddess of the harvest, who was innocuously sipping her tea, when he realized this was the first time he'd ever been left alone with a deity. Be cool, David. Sam will be right back. 

"Would you like some tea… David, was it?" The goddess finally met his gaze. 

"Yes, please. That would be fantastic" David found a seat and tried desperately to look aloof which only seemed to amuse Demeter. 

A vine slithered out of some nearby foliage delicately holding a teacup, which David tenderly took with a mild look of curiosity. As he took it into his hands he found it was a whimsical wooden cup that seemed to have been grown into the shape of a cup, complete with a small leaf growing off the handle that held the tea bag from reaching all the way to the bottom.

"This place is really incredible. I wish my plants could live here, they'd love it."

That statement seemed to pique Demeter's interest "your plants?"

"Yes!" David relaxed "I've got all sorts of plants in my apartment, I'm allergic to most haired animals, so I had to choose between plants, lizards, and fish. Plants smell the best,” David chuckled. 

"Tell me about them?" Demeter leaned in a bit with visible curiosity, and David passively wondered if this was the first enthusiastic conversation she'd had with a mortal.

"Well I try to keep them practical, I don't have a lot of space. I've got some different foods growing in my kitchen window; strawberries, tomatoes, green onions and the like.”

Demeter’s rapt attention was all the nudging that David needed to continue.

“Then I keep some pots of ivy hanging around the living room and bedroom, because they are good for making oxygen, they smell nice, and they don't need direct sunlight. I’ve also got some… uhh medicinal plants that I grow under some UV lights in my bedroom. They are all pretty comfortable with being inside, and I’m glad that I don't have to go to the community garden in order to water them or talk to them.”

“You… talk to your plants?” There was no mirth in Demeter's tone, she legitimately was curious.

“Well yes, and play music for them. Botanists have found it helps with growth, and it helps me see them more like pets, so they can keep me company.”

“Really” Demeter’s gaze left David and she surveyed her garden. “That’s wonderful, I might have to play some music for my garden. I’ve always talked with my plants, but I never knew it was something they enjoyed. Marvelous.” Demeter turned back to David, and seemed deep in thought, like she was considering something that she hadn't in ages.