His Other Half

Forty-seven

I turned and looked at him before turning back to Pablo. "We were never supposed to be three beings in one body. You were supposed to be Malik's twin." He said.

I stared at him wide-eyed. "What?" Our grandfather said taking the word right out of my mouth. "I had help from Olivia and the Pereiras but I also had help from our grandmother." He said. Our grandfather began mumbling angrily in Arabic.

"Tell me everything," I said.

--

"Twins." I said quietly. "She told Ahsha everything and then compelled her from telling me anything. She was only able to tell me because of Oshun." Pablo explained. "So when you died—"

"It was supposed to be you in my place. Fate wanted to give you your body back. Make things right so to say." He said repeating his words a second time for my sake.

"So I would have to die to get my body back?" I asked needing to hear the words spoken again. "We would have to be one being again. Then you will be offered the same deal that I was." He explained.

I wanted to believe him but hearing that I would have to die to correct the mistakes of my grandmother didn't seem like a fair trade. "I never had a fucking chance, did I?" I questioned as I looked between the two of them. Ahsha's words rang in my mind.

"I was literally set up to become a monster by the very people who were supposed to have my back," I said.

I shook my head. "I didn't ask for any of this shit." I snapped as I walked off to my car. "Let me talk to him." I overheard my grandfather say.

"I don't want to talk," I said. "I know you didn't ask for this—" "What could you possibly say to explain this? My own grandmother didn't and doesn't even care about me, so much so that she's willing to kill me, to keep the powers she's stolen. I have been on my fucking own from the very beginning." I snapped turning away from him. "But you haven't." He said. "I was here. I've always here for you." He said. I turned and looked at him.

"I promised you I would always be here for you." My grandfather said. "I don't want to die," I said as my voice broke. "I finally have someone who despite all my faults and fuck ups wants me. I don't want to leave her." I said shaking my head. "Then we'll find another way." He said hugging me.

"I know you don't trust me but I want to make things right.  We were lied to. I shouldn't have just blindly listened to our grandmother. You were my brother and I treated you like a stranger." He paused.

"Ares I am so sorry for the part I played in making your life harder. I know asking you to trust me especially given our history is a lot, but trust Ahsha and Oshun." He said. I looked up at Pablo before stepping out of my grandfather's arms. "Did she say anything else?" I asked.

--

I stared at my grandfather and Pablo for a few moments. "I want to speak to Ahsha before I agree to anything," I told them. Pablo looked at me before nodding his head. "I understand." He said before we parted ways.

Ahsha

It was going on almost 2:30 am and Pablo was still out. I was feeling so anxious and antsy and I guess the baby could tell because he was kicking up a storm. "Kid I swear if you don't calm down." I mumbled.

My head rose when I saw the door open and in walked Pablo. "You're still up?" he said. "Duh, I went to sleep you were here. Then I woke up you were gone. I was worried." I said. "I'm sorry about that." He said as he took his jacket off and pulled out his phone.

He typed a bit on it before walking over to me sitting on the side of the bed. I looked at him before he turned the phone to face me.

I looked to see he was facetiming an unknown number. "Who is—" "Ahsha." I looked to see Ares looking at me. "Ares? How—" "I can't talk long, love." He said. I nodded my head. "Were Malik and I supposed to be brothers?" He asked jumping straight to the point.