Half of What I Could Be

Chapter 40

Sorry everyone! I, of course, had an epiphany after publishing this chapter and had to come back and add some more. My favorite character is finally introduced! I hope you like him...

Kate POV

I counted down the seconds until we docked in Elysium. Being back there, on the boat, with him... That was its own type of torture. I knew from the beginning that beckoning the ship was going to be hard. It didn't help that regaining my mentality also meant reliving all of my old memories at once. Even though Clepius and I were years ago, it felt just like yesterday. It felt like he abandoned me all over again.

Elysium was one giant field of gold wheat. Like paradise, it was 70 degrees year round with just the right amount of breeze. It was large, and just like the rest of the Underworld, confusing. It followed no rules. There was no linear time and no set distance. We could walk for what felt like hours and only go what seemed like a half a mile. Other times, a few seconds would pass, and we could have walked halfway across the world. This made time estimates difficult.

Our next step was to trek our way to the nearest town. Yes, Elysium had towns. Originally, most souls wandered Elysium aimless but happy. Most souls drank from the Lethe to forget about life's perils. They were content. But, like all mortals, they craved change. They craved modernizing and evolving. Slowly, some souls decided against drinking from the Lethe as they believed memories to be precious. Later, they decided to build little towns. They had no need for shelter, food, or water. Yet, they wanted it. They were used to it.

There were only a few scattered across the land. None of them were huge by any means. Most resembled a small town somewhere in the mediterranean. Do not ask me how they built it. There was barely no lumber, and all the trees we would come in contact with were ageless, breathtaking, and ethereal. Rhadamanthus was a giving God, and I would not be surprised if he facilitated the evolution of Elysium. He grew bored easily.

The town we would be going to was by the name of Dyme, named after its middle world counterpart. The hike there would be the easy part, finding what we and who we need would be hard. Not only were we after Helen, but now I had to find Odysseus. What a pretentious fuck.

Yes, It could be very easy to skip out on the pirates and not follow through with our bargain. That was not who I was. The crewmates of the Twelfth knew that. Of course, that didn't stop them from performing a blood bond on me. I would forever be stuck in the Underworld until I presented them with the Stone. Mae and Jacin did not know that, and frankly did not need to.

We walked through the stalks. We were far enough to no longer see the water. No longer see the ship. Thank the Gods. Of course Clepius only got hotter. Stupid demi-god genes. His skin was slightly more tan, bringing out the gorgeous hues of his eyes. His now unkempt hair and slight 9 o'clock shadow did naughty things to my nether regions.

Get over it Kate. You know he had to do it to help you find your sister.

A sister that in the end found me. I was too far gone to remember my overarching mission for life at that point. I was surprised that I remembered my name. No smart person starts drinking demon blood thinking they are going to do it for the rest of their life. It is like any addictive substance. I started planning on drinking it for only a few years to give me longer to find Taylor. After two, the confusion subtly rolled in. It was like weight gain. You never recognize you are putting on the pounds until years later and you see an old photo of yourself. Two years quickly turned to two hundred. If I knew that would happen, I would have stayed. Stayed with him.

We walked in mostly silence. One of my companions would ask a question every now and then. I would answer. Then silence. It wasn't bad or awkward. All of us were compartmentalizing some personal issue. Even though I just met them, it did not take a genius to figure out what theirs were. Jacin was over analyzing Mae and their future. Mae was freaking out about meeting her mom, being a new fledged demi-god, and now having this over powering urge to fuck Jacin all the time. When I found them snuggling on an operating table this morning with one of them naked, I was surprised to find out they didn't do just that. Well, that was what Mae told me. Actually, that was the first thing she said when I woke them up to tell them we docked.