Son of Hades (Redo)

Remembering Anna

The smile faded from my lips. I sat up a little. The excitement was gone. The Underworld would be celebrating my arrival tomorrow, and the arrival of six other girls. But did they forget what we had to sacrifice to get here? Were all of them as uncomfortable discussing death as Xavier was? Death wasn't anything to celebrate. "I - I - " I stutter. But I can't get the words out.

Xavier clears his throat awkwardly. "I apologize if I upset you." He begins to head for the door. "I should leave you alone with your thoughts. Would you like anything else, Miss Caverly?"

I stare. Swallowing a lump in my throat. "Stay with me."

Xavier looks surprised. "What?"

"Stay the night with me, or at least until I fall asleep." I didn't trust myself alone. I would aimlessly wander the corridors outside until I fell asleep against the floor. Not a good first impression on anyone. Besides, it had been a long day and my thoughts were the enemy right now.

He looks away. Suddenly shy. "I'm afraid I c-can't do that, Miss Caverly." He murmurs, looking embarrassed. "You'd be breaking a rule, and so would I."

I roll my eyes. "It's not like I'm asking you to crawl into bed with me, Xavier. Stay with me until I fall asleep? I - I just don't want to be alone."

Xavier looks at me. Really looks at me as if for the first time. He nods, then. "Okay," he agrees. "I'll stay with you. But you cannot tell anyone about this." He locks the door, and turns the light off. He moves to sit in the love-seat beside the bed; leaning close. He smells amazing. Intoxicating.

"Don't look."

I didn't care about changing in front of him. An order was an order and I knew he would follow it. I didn't check to see if he wasn't looking... I let the dress slip to the ground, unclipping my bra and let it rest in the big pile of scarves. I slip the oversized dark gray cashmere sweater over my head, and crawl into bed without pants on.

As I expected, Xavier's eyes were closed. "You can look."

His eyes grow a little wide when he sees me getting into bed. I crawl under the warm covers, and turn to face him. "What, no bedtime story?" I ask sarcastically.

"What do you want to hear, Cinderella?" Xavier is smiling.

"I don't know." I admit. "Tell me something about you. Like the timeframe you were from." I think that caught him a little off guard, because he looked a little surprised, and I truly did wonder what his classification was here. Where did Xavier belong?

"And what makes you think I'm not from your time?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"The way you talk... The way you walk. Everything about you screams old-fashioned." I adjust the pillow underneath me; sleeping with two instead of one. Xavier takes notice.

He looks away. At first, he doesn't speak, and I don't think he's going to until he clears his throat. "I was in the 1900's." He admits. "I was a simple farm kid. But there's not much to know about me." Xavier looks at his hands, twiddling his thumbs. I think he was purposefully avoiding my gaze. "No one ever wants to know about a servant's life. Especially a pretty girl like you. I didn't imagine the contestants being all so different."

Barely blinking, Xavier glances nervously at the shuffling footsteps passing my door.

My eyes were growing heavy. I liked listening to his voice before I went to bed. "This place isn't really what I expected, either." I tell him. "And I'm not like the other girls. I want to know about you?"