Divinity

Chapter Eleven

"YOU KNOW, YOU NEVER TOLD me who Idas and Lyceneus were,” Melissa remarked. They were back on the road. According to the hopefully accurate maps, they were only an hour away from Quebec. Finally, finally, they could close the damn door to Hades, and go back to their ordinary lives. Well, not quite. Castor frowned as he remembered. They still had to buy a new apartment.

“They're not so interesting, why do you want to know?” Castor said.

“Apparently they contributed to your death, so I'm interested,” Melissa replied.

“Well, they were our cousins. Technically just my cousin by blood though. It's confusing. Anyway, so they were engaged to these two women, but since Pollux and I also fancied them, we kind of, well, carried them off,”

There was a steely glint in Melissa's eyes. “I see,” she said.

“We wouldn't do it again,” Castor assured her. “It was just... we were young and stupid, and it was ancient Greece. But, anyway, they were mad at us. For good reason, too. So when the four of us carried out a cattle raid, they decided to get back at us. They took all the cattle by winning a stupid contest. But Pollux and I didn't like that very much, so when the four of us were at a party, the two of us left early and released all of their cattle.”

Melissa frowned. “What does that have to do with you dying?”

“I'm getting there! So they ended up leaving the party early, and from like, I don't know, a few miles away, Lyceneus could see me hiding up in a tree keeping watch because he has super-vision or something. So the two of them crept up on me, and... well...”

Castor trailed off.

“What?” Melissa asked.

Castor didn't respond. In truth, he didn't particularly enjoy replaying the last few moments of his other life in his head. He knew that Pollux and he had stolen their wives, but he never thought that his cousins would kill him over that and some stupid cattle. And honestly, the only thing he really remembered was the betrayal and pain he'd felt.

“Stabbed me,” Castor finally said. “Idas stabbed me,”

“Oh. That sucks,” Melissa said awkwardly, not coming up with anything else to say.

There was a pause. “So... how are you still, you know, alive?”

Castor cleared his throat. “Pollux over there gave me half his immortality.”

“Half?”

Castor nodded. “Yeah, so we spent one day in Olympus, one in Hades. Hades days really sucked. Hades is so boring and awful, and spending your time in the fields of…” Castor trailed off as something hit him. Or rather, something nagged at the back of his head. What was it? Something about Idas and Lyceneus, with the underworld, and monsters blacker than Nyx...

And suddenly the details of the dream he had last night all came rushing back. “Oh my god,” Castor whispered.

“Castor?” Pollux asked.

“Idas and Lyceneus... they're behind these monster attacks,”

“Don't be stupid,” Pollux said, although Castor could see that he was turning the idea over in his head. “Why would they be doing that?”

“They're still sore about the cattle. And their wives. Think about it, Pollux. If your cousins had just stolen both your wives and your cattle and had caused your death and you had one thousand years in which to do nothing, how would you feel?”

“I wouldn't know,” Pollux said, shrugging.

Melissa, however, was nodding. “That makes sense. So, you think they're sending monsters after you?”