Secrets of the Gods

Chapter Seventeen Part One

warning: this is unedited. 

Death. Such a strange thing to handle, so many questions, but never enough answers. It makes you wonder if life truly held any meaning, or if at the end, we all crumble into nothing and are forgotten. As time passes memories fade, they become less and less tangible. Your memory is no longer what it was before.

I sit on my bed while another storm rages on outside and stare at a picture of a family I once belonged to. Henry sat atop my lap with eyes shining ever so brightly. The picture had been buried in a box, hidden in my room, and forgotten. You see, the thing about death is that once you've passed the people left behind become broken. That pain is not easily mended, and for me, it was better to forget- or at least to try- than to be faced with the memory of what I had lost.

These past few weeks, as Damien and I have grown closer and closer, the memories I'd fought so hard to subdue were suddenly rushing to the surface. It was as if everything that I'd worked so hard to accomplish had come crumbling down.

I was good at compartmentalizing. With taking a source of pain and removing myself from it, because that day in the wood I hadn't lost only my brother, but an entire life filled with endless possibility. I had to learn to separate emotion from action, and to come at stressful situations with a level mind. Yet today, for whatever reason, I struggled.

The sound of rain hitting the windows softly did little to calm the storm raging within my brain. I wondered why, after all this time, had my resolve wavered. Why was I no longer able to resist a boy who I had long given up on? Was it his smile? Or the way his eyes met mine in a way that made my heart race? I didn't know.

I didn't know what tomorrow would bring. I didn't know why I hadn't mourned my life more, or why I hadn't stopped to look at the world around me. There were still so many unanswered questions that I had yet to find the answer to. Like, why, if we'd both had so many abilities, were we not able to save my younger brother that day? Or, why people were after me... I'd been too caught up in new discoveries and my own little world that I hadn't taken a moment to step back and to think.

There was something different about me. A key lied in my dreams, dreams that no one else seemed to have. Between Lucas, Damien, and Calliope there was something that set me apart from them. Something that I needed to find out. I owed it to the people in my life that never got a chance to start. No longer would I hide behind the kindness of the people that cared about me, it was time to stop hiding. So, in that moment I stood and placed the picture back in the box, took one look at myself in the mirror analyzing the features of my face, and then made a decision. Once, a darkness in my dream had told me that I had summoned him, and today- I would find out.

~

There was a familiar smell in the air, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I stood surrounded by the greenest grass, the tallest trees, and even the brightest sun that seemed to illuminate the clearing with the most brilliant of light. But there was a smell and it didn't quite fit. I moved slowly, following the scent deeper and deeper into the wood.

A dark feeling in the pit of my stomach seemed to ebb and grow the deeper that I went and my subconscious objected at every step that I took. I knew that the deeper I treaded, the harder it would be to find my way back. I also knew, that once I reached my destination that there would be no turning back.

As I moved the bright sky suddenly became dark, and the stench of burning wood became ever so clear in my mind. The dark feeling turned to fear and I knew that I had made a mistake by coming here. Whispers filled the air, and they all seemed to be saying one thing in a hushed, sinister tone. That one thing was my name.

Smoke filled the air and I couldn't help but raise my hand over my mouth as I coughed. My chest tightened and it felt as though I could no longer breath. When I looked back into the forest, I was met with a thousand red eyes staring straight back at me.

I struggled not to scream, because fear is what it wanted. And, in that instant I knew that there was something darker just beyond the smoke, something I could reach- but it would come at price, after all, everything in this world does.

Caw.

Tap.

Scratch.

It sounded almost like metal. But, the bird swooped down beside me and the wind picked up. I followed its dark feathers through the smoke and raised my hand to shield my eyes. In an instant the smoke cleared, and I saw the bird perch on what seemed to be a wooden cane. I would not be defeated here, my subconscious was sure of that.

"I see you have found me," an old battered voice called. A cloaked figure stood before me, surrounded by smoke and flames. "There are not many who seek to speak with the gatekeeper, yet you- Ms. Grey- seem to call all too often."

I don't move forward. Instead I simply hold my ground. "I want to know what happened to me. Who am I?"

The old man chuckled and pulled a small pocket watch from his cloak as a grim smile appeared on his weathered face. He held it out, and for a moment I hesitated, but then I remembered why I was here. "It is easier to show you. Come, child. Take it."

I stepped forward. Every fibre in my body told me to retreat, to wake up, and to call the boys. But instead, I continued. The whispers grew louder and louder the closer I got. The man began to laugh as my hand neared his, and as soon as I touched the watch....

Everything turned black.