Thanatos

Chapter 2

Word Count: 1041

Laura and I both showered and bundled up in the big white and fluffy robed Esmeralda had told us about. Luckily there was a small washer and dryer for us to wash and dry out soaking wet clothing.

The room was nice and cozy. The electric fireplace warmed the room up nicely. Laura had also found a small coffee pot in the corner of the room with all of the stuff to make hot chocolate.

Now we were both bundled up in the covers of our beds. Laura had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. But her snoring along with the fact I had trouble sleeping in places that weren't my own room kept me from being able to do the same. So instead I got out of bed and put my clothes back on. They were warm since they had just come out of the dryer.

Quietly I grabbed the room key from Laura's night stand and left the room. Laura had always been a heavy sleeper plus the fact that she was exhausted meant that she would never even notice I had left. I would keep an eye on the clock to make sure that I was back before she woke up. Lucky for me Laura's sleeping habits were pretty routine.

I made sure to not let the door slam shut behind me as to not wake Laura up. All of the lights in the hallway were still on. I assumed this place was open 24/7.

When I got to the lobby I saw Esmeralda sitting in the same spot with her nose buried in her book. This time she looked up at me and immediately set her book down.

"There you are Ryan, I assumed that you would be down soon enough," she told me happily with a big smile upon her face.

"How do you know my name?"

"What do you mean dear," she asked me feigning innocence. It was easy to tell that she knew she had made a mistake.

"You know what I mean," I accused, "I never told you my name."

"Well of course I know your name dear. Your name is Ryan Amelia Saunders," she stated in a firm tone.

"How do you know that," I asked her harshly.

"Listen here dear," she sighed as she took off her glasses, "I know a lot of things about you. You see your part of the prophecy."

"Prophecy? What prophecy," I asked her.

I was highly considering running and waking up Laura. But my feet felt like they were glued to the floor. Even though my flight or fight instincts were screaming at me to flee. I couldn't move from my spot.

"A prophecy that the three fates wrote. It's about your fate, obviously. Your destined to be with Thanatos," she said as she started to clean her glasses.

"Thanatos? As in the Ancient Greek god of the dead?"

"Ah, now your catching on," she said with a smile.

"The Ancient Greek gods aren't real-"

"Don't say that dear of you might make them angry," she said when a strike of lightening lit up the darkness outside.

I could of swore I saw a dark figure with wings outside of the window. However, the thought of someone actually being out there sent a shiver down my spine. 'It was just the trees' I told myself. It sounded logical enough and I was able to convince myself I was worrying over nothing. Trees always looked creepy when it was storming and dark.

"Listen to me dear," Esmeralda said quietly, "every mortals fate is decided before they were born. The majority of the time you'll follow your fate exactly. However the three fates can only decide the fates of mortals. They cannot control the lives of the other gods. But of course, that's never stopped them from weaving mortals fates with the lives of the gods.

"You are destined to meet Thanatos. Your fate is to fall in love with him. It's up to him whether or not he wants to keep you around."

"So your telling me that I'm not only gonna meet a Greek god but I'm also going to fall hopelessly in love with them without any say in the matter."

"Well if course you'll have a say in the matter. But trust me, you'll end up falling in love," Esmeralda said as she picked up her book and started reading once more.

"Listen, I don't know what your on but-,"

"If you don't believe me you can find the prophecy for yourself," she sighed in annoyance and handed me a small slip of paper.

Written on it in beautiful silver calligraphy was an address. Tucking the price of paper in to the pocket of my jeans I turned and headed back to my room.

As I lay in bed I stared at the slip of paper in my hand. The ink seemed to shimmer whenever I tilted it. It almost looked as though it were made of real gold.

I glanced over at Laura who was still sound asleep. Her wavy brown hair spread out on her pillow. She was softly snoring and I was glad she was getting some sleep at least. I wasn't sure that I could do the same.

I set the slip of paper on my nightstand and did my best to get comfortable. It was obvious that sleep wasn't going to come to me very easily. Especially not after everything that had happened tonight,

I wasn't sure if Esmeralda was crazy or was just able to afford the good stuff. But either way everything she said left me feeling nervous. Maybe it was because she kind of scared me, or maybe it was because that dark figure outside of the window didn't look anything like a tree. But I could feel a churning feeling in my stomach that left me uneasy.

As I closed my eyes I couldn't help but thing of the dark figure. No matter how hard I tried I never could've convinced myself that it was a tree. Because it didn't look anything like a tree. It looked like a fallen angel. An angel of darkness, the god of death.

A/N: So it's officially winter break and I've already been working on a few of the chapters for this story. If everything keeps going according to plan I'll update as much as I can and then once the next semester starts I'll try and update once every weekend. Anyway let me know what you guys think of the story so far!