Hades Legacy (Hades Series #3)

Epilogue

She was extraordinary.

And I'm never going to see her again.

Swallowing back the lump lodged in my throat, I glance down at my hands and slowly uncurl my fingers to reveal a shining silver necklace nestled in the palm of my hand, the small prancing baby deer pendent glistening in the sunlight. Like every other time I've tortured myself by bringing out the birthday present I bought for Ellie, my breath catches in my throat, and I don't even last ten seconds before I hastily shove it in my pocket and remove it from my sight. Clenching and unclenching my jaw several times, I roughly push myself up to my feet and get off the park bench I'd been sitting on for the past four and a half hours, determined to leave this place and the painful memories it dredges up within me far behind for the last time.

But then I turn around, and I'm suddenly frozen to the spot.

It's her.

All the muscles in my body simultaneously stiffen as I feel the blood drain from my face, and all the breath is torn from my body so abruptly that it feels like I've been hit by a train. I stare at her in shock, unable to believe my own eyes.

"No." I whisper, my voice trembling. "This isn't real. This is someone trying to mess with me. This is fucking cruel."

She smiles at me, not moving a single muscle either, and the few meters separating us suddenly feel like miles. "Hello Eric."

I blink several times, my mouth suddenly very dry. "I watched you die. You aren't real; you're a ghost."

"I am not a ghost." She says, her soft voice dancing over to me in the wind. "Ghosts are figments of human imagination conjured up by unintentional experiences with my father's representatives here on the surface. They do not exist."

I laugh a little in complete disbelief, shaking my head stubbornly. "You aren't real. This is just some sick illusion my mind is making up to torture me."

"I'm not an illusion, Eric." Ellie replies, smiling at me.

"You aren't?" I echo, my voice barely above a whisper. I'm too scared that if I speak any louder, it'll somehow shatter whatever the hell is going on and I'll lose her a second time.

She nods, laughing. "I promise. And if you stopped standing there gawking at me like you have seen a ghost and actually—"

But she isn't able to finish her sentence, because by that point I've already run over to her and wrapped her up in my arms as tightly as I can. She hugs me back just as fiercely, her arms locking around me so tightly that I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move; but I didn't want to.

She felt real.

I glance down at her at the very moment she looks up at me, and the air between us suddenly turns electric. Unable to hold myself back anymore, I pull her even closer and kiss her passionately, and suddenly it isn't just the air surrounding us that sparks with electricity. It's her, as I hold her in my arms; it's my skin, every single cell alighting as she runs her hands up my back to loop around my neck; it's my very veins, the feelings of ecstatic desire running through them making me feel like I'm slowly bursting into flames from the inside, but in the best kind of way.

When we finally break away, she looks up at me, a wide smile stretching across her face.

"Told you I wasn't a ghost."

"You're alive." I whisper, disbelief still gripping me. I cup her face gently, searching her shining, bright green eyes. "How the hell are you alive? I watched you die right in front of me."

"Yes, and that was not an enjoyable experience either, let me tell you." Ellie winces a little, her nose wrinkling up.

"I'm shocked." I drawl sarcastically. "And here I was certain that being stabbed was like a walk in the park."