Milo was my only visitor. At least, he was the only visitor I was aware of. Sometimes I would be able to recall the nurses and staff that attended to me and sometimes I would not. Or I would think I would know a person by their smile or their voice, but I was never really sure. Frankly, I doubted I would ever be able to confidently place anyone again. They all seemed like ghosts floating in and out of my awareness.
But Milo was a consistent in my life. Sometimes I remembered him right away, other times it came later or not at all. He would talk to me about his work or he would chatter on about whatever show he was watching. Occasionally, he just stared at me for a little while and started pacing. He would mutter about the absurdity of it all. One day, I was the best, then next, I was sleeping with the enemy. He told me he should have killed Ryder.
"Ryder." It was a croak out of my mouth, but it tasted like heaven on my tongue.
Milo blinked and rushed to my side. "Yes, yes! Ryder. Do you remember him, Georgia?"
Of course I did, the man with the silver eyes whose laughter could crack even the coldest hearts. But I couldn't tell Milo that. The one word that left my mouth had taken all the strength out of me.
Milo sighed, deflating a little after a moment of silence. I knew just how that felt. The high of the hope and the crash of reality right after.
"I don't understand, Georgia. I don't. you knew this could happen to you and you still took the risk. And it's not even just about you. God only knows what they could have done to Cassey if they had gotten their hands on her. I was so happy to see you alive, to know that you came out of the royals' lands. But I should have known you couldn't have done it alone. I should've have seen that car pull up and grabbed a knife. Then you could have gone back to hunting and you wouldn't be like this."
He changed the channel on the TV to a kid's show then flipped it back, entirely agitated. I knew that too. Wishing so badly that you could turn back time.
"I just don't understand. Why would you let this happen? Didn't you care about what would happen to the rest of us? Weren't you worried about yourself? They're werewolves for god's sake. What were you thinking? I know that Dawn and Armond weren't running things properly, but you could have just left like me. you didn't have to bring one of them into it."
I couldn't recall what had been on my mind at the time and even if I could have, I still wouldn't be able to tell him. I just stared ahead at the talking sea sponge until Milo told me he had to leave to get ready for work.
I faded away from the earth then.
A woman was staring into a mirror, sighing, pulling at her hair. There was no colour to describe her hair. It wasn't blonde with its yellow tones and it wasn't white either. It shimmered and shone like pure moonlight laced with delicate shadows. The sharp points of two ears poked out from the strands. And her long, slender fingers were a shade of purple, the kind that was revealed when just the tip of the sun was starting to rise in the morning.
"Oh!" she gasped, whirling around so suddenly she bumped into a small side table. The small marbles that had been resting on top scattered to the floor.
Freckle like spots were on her purple cheeks, but they weren't brown or reddish like a human's. They glowed like constellations in the sky. Above her prefect cheeks sat two entirely black eyes.
"You're here," she said, almost like she didn't believe the words.
"I suppose so." This was the first time anyone had been surprised to see me in a dream.
"Oh Georgia, what has happened?" she asked, turning her dark eyes towards the ceiling.
It was then that I realized that I had never seen this place before. Not in my dreams or otherwise. I would have known it. I was sure of it. because who could forget the feeling of shadows curling around their feet and the sight of a night sky so perfectly painted on the ceiling of what looked like an otherwise normal log cabin? And the shelf of black books, all leather bound and gorgeous. Except for one blue cover that was slashed with silver streaks.
"I'm sorry, do you know me?" I pressed. "And to be honest, I can't answer your question, I don't know much of anything these days." The admission was painful, but I was always thankful that my voice worked, if only in my dreams.
"Of course, I know you Georgia," the woman said. "You are the werewolf hunter. You're the one I chose for Ryder." She reached out for me, her hands as cold as ice on my shoulders. Then, she pulled me in front of her, so I could look into the mirror. But instead of seeing my current self-reflected in the mirror, I saw me with bleached blonde hair, screaming at my brother. "A strong girl who made hard choices. A damn shame that you weren't born as one of my children, you would have been a powerful wolf," the woman murmured. One hand left my shoulder and gently touched the surface of the mirror. It shimmered and rippled for a moment. And there was Ryder, younger than I had ever seen him. He stood beside Keiko, jaw hard and eyes focused. A coldness I didn't know could be felt from the mirror, like even the glass could feel the hurt in his heart, the hatred brewing there. "A perfect match for a man who let the world harden him. I gave him the most wonderful laugh, you know. it's too bad I never get to hear it anymore. And his eyes, they used to light up. I was inspired by my own attributes, what do you think?" she asked, running her fingers through her hair.
"You chose me for Ryder?" I repeated.
"Just like I chose Keiko – thunderous and stubborn – for arrogant and protective Ajax. You know, Ryder is one of my favorites. I took careful steps choosing you," she explained. She released me to go and gather the marbles that had fallen earlier, so careful with each one. "A wolf's mate is a delicate thing. A balance to what they need. But with you, it was a balance the kingdom needed." She straightened, two marbles pinched between her fingers, and gently, she merged them into one.
"I don't understand. How am I supposed to balance the kingdom when I can't even go to the bathroom by myself?"
She sighed and set down her cherished beads. "It wasn't supposed to be like this, Georgia. You were supposed to see Ryder, see that he was gentle and kind. When I decided to take power from my own people and share it with others, I gave the traits of shifting, yes, but I also gave them the traits of the wolf too, caring and playful and devoted to community."
"He is all those things. That didn't stop me from getting wolf-drain. That's why I started hunting in the first place. Because of my parents. Because of this." I gestured to myself, but in my dream state, I always saw myself as able-bodied, like the warrior I had been, not the soft creature I was becoming from all of the stagnant time.
"But he didn't do this to you, child. None of them did. Werewolves cannot harm humans the way you think they can, I made sure of that. I had seen power move and shift too many time, destroy too many lives to be so careless with it." She came back to stand beside me, touching the mirror again. A pretty blonde woman filled the surface, a tall man with dark hair and darker eyes behind her. his arm was wrapped protectively over her collarbones. "King Archer and Queen Willow, mated for dozens of years. Both died of old age with no signs of this wolf drain." She touched the mirror again. King Archer remained, but beside him with another man and woman. "Archer befriended a human king, Leo. No aliments there. And sweet queen Ember, wife to Leo and a siren, also had no issues. Werewolves have no history harming humans like this. And it hasn't started now. I wanted the two of you together so your hunters would finally stop hurting my people. The hurt in my people is great from the violence the hunters have brought."
"This has to come from somewhere, and right now, werewolves are the common denominator," I remarked. "Maybe werewolves have evolved to become toxic." She could tell me a thousand times that this wasn't meant to happen, but that wouldn't stop me from waking up from this dream in a body that didn't respond.
The woman sucked a hard breath through her nose. Her black eyes narrowed beneath plum eyelids. "I can smell it on you. Magic, certainly, otherwise you couldn't be here, but it's not werewolf magic. Their powers are only for shifting. You have something...different in you. The same, but so different all at once."
"Of course, I can be here, this is a dream," I snapped, feeling my frustration rise. Knowing that the man that I was supposed to be with for eternity had done this to me was a big enough blow. Having this figment of my imagination deny it was painful all over again. I couldn't hope. I wouldn't hope. Because waking up on a worn-out couch with a nurse spoon feeding me would be unbearable.
"Oh sweet human, this isn't a dream."
Then she was gone and I was sitting on an ugly couch in front of the television all over again.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" someone asked. It was the low voice, the one from the funeral.
The raven-haired woman was crouched in front of me. "I don't know if anything is a good idea right now, Hades." She looked up at me, her lips pressed together in a determined line. "We're going to get you out of here, Georgia."
~~~Distraction Section~~~
Keep your eye out for some exciting things happening with Hades in the near future!!!
Question of the Day: What did you eat for breakfast?
I had left over chicken Kung Pao!