The GateKeeper of Atlantis

Chapter six- In which the weapons are introduced

Hades called me beautiful.

Caspian was shaking her awake, “Anya, wake up. We are at the station.”

The black-haired girl sat up automatically, sweat drenching her forehead. Was it just a dream? “Caspian?”

“You had a nightmare, I presume,” he said, putting a hand on her forehead. “You are warm, did you catch a fever?”

She stared at him, “I did... I think. Hades, he-”

Caspian’s eyes hardened, “The lord of riches came to you in a dream, didn’t he?”

“Yes...”

“He has found you, then.” The Shadow Guardian cursed under his breath in a language that Anya didn’t recognize. “This isn’t good.”

The Gatekeeper stood up, and immediately sat down again, a blinding headache handicapping her. Caspian looked at her, with an almost worried expression on his face. “We need to go. Here, I’ll grab your bag. Try to move as quickly as you can, we do not have much time before the cohorts of Hades find us as well.”

“I-” Anya winced, standing up. “I don’t think h-he’ll send anyone a-after us.”

The dark-haired boy grabbed her shoulders, steadying her. “What makes you say that?”

“He-He wasn’t vicious. He almost killed me, b-but instead he... Uh,” she didn’t know how to phrase it. “Um, he gave me a hickey.”

Caspian raised his eyebrows as they disembarked the loud train, with passengers streaming behind them. “A hickey? I don’t believe my vocabulary stretches that far.”

“He-” Anya bumped into a Russian man, “-sorry! He kissed my neck.”

The man she had run into glared at her behind blue-tinted glasses and rushed to the train. Anya frowned and limped through the doors with Caspian by her side, who looked at her neck, “I see nothing.”

“It was a dream, Caspian.”

“Dreams are powerful. Did he do anything else to you?”

The Gatekeeper wanted to keep this out of the conversation, but now it was impossible to skirt around it. “Um, Hades kissed me on the lips as well.”

Caspian’s eyes widened, though his expression stayed emotionless. “Do not tell me... Was that your first kiss?”

“I told him it was... But not really.”

“What does ‘not really’ mean?”

“I was kissed my a boy in first grade, I don’t know if that counts though.”

The Guardian clenched his fingers so that they were digging into her shoulder. “Did he love you?”

“Who?” Anya asked, her thoughts were becoming muddled.

“The boy who kissed you.”

“No, he was six. Wait, are you saying that Hades loves me?”

Caspian frowned, “There is much to explain. Come with me, we must find Dimitri and Viktoriya.”

Anya couldn’t see, “Wait, Caspian! Where are you?”

She felt a warm arm wrap around her shoulder. A stone-cold voice answered her. “I’m right here. You are only experiencing symptoms that the lord of the dead put upon you so you would be vulnerable, but we will find Viktoriya soon. You will be safe then.”

It seemed like an eternity of walking before Caspian spoke again. “A strange man is waving at me. What should I do?”

“What d-does he look like?” She was suddenly very cold.