HIS GOD COMPLEX | under construction!

34 | τριάντα τέσσερα

34 | τριάντα τέσσερα

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THE WEATHER WAS not getting any better after that day. In fact, it was tremendously worse. On the news there were reports of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis.

Crasmere seemed to have been getting the worst of it, with heat-waves on some days and snowstorms on others, I knew that there was something bigger going on.

Sometimes there would be random lightning attacks, striking innocent civilians and I was scared to even consider the fact that they were meant for me.

I was spending more time with my family and I was really happy for that. It felt good to finally have them back, to have people to talk to, laugh with.

Even though it was chaos on the outside we would have movie and game nights along with Gayle and Milo. Just like old times.

Gayle and Milo were fully immersed in the mythology world after our journey, and spent the days at my house reading my old mythology books and asking me questions about my adventure after we took our little trip.

We were all sat in my room now, Gayle pacing and thinking while Milo and I chatted over a large pack of Oreos.

"There's just one thing I don't get." She murmured, gaining both of our attention as we looked up at her.

Her bright brown eyes were glistening with curiosity. "You told me that the weird doctor dude extracted all of Ares' power from you, right?" She asked and I nodded.

"So you're back to being human?" She asked and I nodded again, unsure of where this whole thing was going.

"See, that's what I don't get. If you're human, why didn't you die after drinking the nectar? Remember, when you woke up the doctor gave you a glass of nectar and it had no affect on you whatsoever." She said, making my eyes widen as I sat up on the bed.

She was right. If I was human, the nectar would have been too powerful for me to consume and it would have killed me instantly.

Which meant that I wasn't human. Asclepius knew that, because he was the one who gave me the nectar.

I started to think that maybe Asclepius was the only one who could tell me what I was. I wasn't vomiting or crying blood anymore, so it was safe to assume that he fixed whatever was wrong with me.

What was wrong with me?

Silence engulfed the room as Milo continued to stuff his face with Oreos. Gayle was watching her investigation board like an action movie, eyebrows furrowed with determination as her fingers played with her chin.

"I've got it. I figured it out." She paused, brown eyes meeting both Milo and mine.

"You've got what figured out?" I asked curiously.

"I can't believe I didn't realise it sooner."

She had made a board, with cut out pictures of the greek gods and pieces of string connecting them together. It was fast becoming an obsession, as she would spend the entire day reading from my books and cutting out drawing and pictures from the books to paste onto her weird police investigation board.

"Okay, so Ares..." She pointed at the red string connecting the drawing of Ares to an old picture of me.

I stared at the far-from-accurate drawing of Ares, unable to pry my eyes away from it.

It had only been a few days but it felt like I hadn't seen Ares in centuries. I found myself wondering if he was doing well. He may have felt nothing for me, but I still couldn't shake how he made me feel, how much I cared for him.

How much I love him, i thought to myself.

"So, he basically told you to fuck off because he doesn't need you anymore, right?" She said and I pursed my lips.

"Thank you for driving the knife in deeper, I feel way better." I muttered, though she ignored me.

"But Apollo said nothing is what it seems." Her eyes were now stuck on the drawing of Apollo, not even leaving for a moment before her voice faded.

"Yeah?" I said loudly, trying to snap her out of whatever trans the picture had put her in.

She winced, turning back around to look at both Milo and I, and we both exchanged a glance before looking back at her. She coughed, clearing her throat as she whirled back around to look at her board.

"Aphrodite." She pointed at the painting of the love goddess. "She told you everything about Ares and he basically confirmed it, right?" She was now looking at me, waiting for me to verify her statement with a nod.

I complied and she jumped. "Right! But nothing is as it seems, remember? So what if Ares only said all that he did to drive you away?" She explained, eyes glistening with some kind of mad brilliance.

"But why would he want to drive her away? He needs her to win the war?" Milo interjected, leaving Oreo crumbs on the floor from speaking with his mouth full.

"Glad you asked, my mentally challenged friend." She said.

"Stay with me, here okay? Aphrodite is in love with Ares so she convinced him to go ahead without you, and he agreed only because he doesn't wanna see you die in the war. She only told you she loved you to keep herself clean. I mean, where in history have you ever read about her loving a woman? She was only trying to manipulate you." She took a deep breath after saying all of that in less than ten seconds.

"That's ridiculous." Milo said, shoving another two Oreos into his mouth at the same time.

"That's enough for you." I said, ignoring his groans when I pulled he box into my arms.

"And that's enough for you too." I pointed at the board and at Gayle.

"I'm glad you're so invested in all of this but you've got bags under your eyes, Gayle. I don't know when last you had a decent nap, but you're going to have one now." I was pushing both my friends out the door, despite their many protests. My mother watched from the kitchen, nibbling on a piece of celery as I shut the door behind them, resting my back on it.

"Looks like you've got your hands full." She chuckled and I couldn't help but smirk at her retort.

"You've got no idea." I chuckled.