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Chapter 35 - Unsealing the Tunnel

Chapter 35 – Unsealing the Tunnel

Weaver

It's me.

I lay down on my bed, flattered beyond belief. I was grinning, I knew. My shadows crept toward me, unaccustomed to the expression on my face, the giddiness I could barely contain. I clutched the copy of her book, holding it against my heart. I cherished anything of hers.

Tonight had been a dream. Everything was perfect.

Except for those bats. What's up with those bats? They weren't mine. At one point, I thought they were real and I regretted wrenching off their wings. Francis would go nuts if I had bat blood splattered on my suit. It was a good thing the vermin's bodies vanished.

But who was the culprit? My brothers? Thanatos?

I would find out. But not now.

Back to my rousing reverie. The touch of Selene's hands. Her lips. Her sweetness. The delicious heat emanating from her. I would let her consume me as I would consume her. Soon.

My shadows brushed the hand that held the book. I ignored them. I wanted the remainder of the night to myself as I basked in the memory of her kiss and reveled in the gift of her name.

But my pets' strokes became urgent, from a soft caress to a rather forceful pull.

"What?!" I growled at them. They couldn't possibly want a walk on the streets this time of the night. They could run later in the tunnels.

Then I noticed they weren't tugging my arm to let them out, but to open the book and flip to the page that Selene had signed.

I grinned at my beasts. "Good boys."

I turned to the last page. I thought it was impossible to become happier than I already was. Till I read what she had written.

Ice. Dark and golden. My winged demon. Selene.

I could not begin to describe how unworthy I was of her.

She had seen me even though sanity convinced her what she saw was a figment of her imagination. She'd taken a risk. She knew it was impossible in her reality, but she wrote it nonetheless. She wrote it even though she thought I would not understand nor appreciate her message. She wrote it even though there was a possibility I would think her insane. She wrote it even as she thought she was probably going mad with everything she had seen.

And everything else she saw tonight.

She took the risk.

As should I.

I closed my eyes and clutched the book. My Selene. I was unworthy, but I was hers if she would accept me. I would remove the barrier to her tunnel. I would continue what I started in the gallery and show Selene the bridge between our worlds.

Tonight, I would tell her the truth. I would tell her everything. I would willingly suffer any punishment from my parents than continue deceiving Selene.

I allowed my shadows to engulf me as I closed my eyes. I let their warm embrace lull me to sleep and take me to the tunnel to my realm.

I opened my eyes, knowing they had reverted to their golden hue as I woke in my world.

I eagerly clambered off my bed, grateful to find myself in my god form, and looked at the different exits surrounding my chamber. Zeus, it had been a decade ago. I had intentionally set all the deterrents so I wouldn't be tempted to find her. I'd rather face the agony of mutilation or witness the horror of Morpheus admiring his own reflection than what I was about to do next.

I drew in a deep breath. And cringed at the stench.

Coffee beans.

The door to her tunnel was situated the farthest from my bed, behind a massive gargoyle perched on a pillar that I didn't remember placing in my room. And the entrance to Selene's dreams was no bigger than a rabbit hole. I dropped to my knees and clawed my way in, my wings scraping the jagged walls of the burrow. Thank Olympus I only had to crawl a few meters before the shaft extended to a cramped cave that reeked with the pungent scent of coffee. I was not surprised how the repulsive odor kept mortals awake.

I could only tolerate the scent and taste of caffeine when it's in Selene's breath and on her tongue. I slavered at the thought. Coffee wasn't so bad after all.

Later. I needed to focus first.

I tore through the narrow passage, the stifling scent of caffeine nearly overwhelming me. The restricted passage yet again widened at the end and I was faced with a mountain of coffee beans.

This was my world. My word here was law.

Burn.

And the seeds roasted to the ground. Belatedly, I realized that wasn't the best move. Other beings would've enjoyed the bittersweet aroma that permeated the air. I tried not to gag.

I stretched my wings and fanned the flames, making the fire burn hotter and soon enough, the aggravating stimulant was incinerated to nothing, taking with it the boards and barbed vines I had raised as barricades to Selene's tunnel.

The embers fell to the ground, mingling with the powdery remnants of coffee and wood.

I folded my wings as I stared at the hollow space before me, scorched on my side, inspired on the other.

I did not hesitate. I stepped forward, again grateful that I did not regress to my grotesque skeletal figure.

And there she was, standing in the middle of her glade, wearing that dark tunic that fused with the earth. Her glorious black hair flowed down her back. My hands itched to touch her for the first time in my world, to enfold her in my wings, to take her to my chambers.

If she would permit me.

She was facing the trees behind her, staring at one in particular that had several oddly twisted branches and no leaves. But it had giant, tear-shaped fruits dangling from the branches.

Leave it to Selene to concoct the strangest things. I grinned in pride and awe.

"Selene," I called out. I was raring to tell her that as she saw me, I, too, saw her.