Unedited. <- Seriously, people. It's unedited. My little man is distracted by lunch and The Lorax. Only reason this chapter got posted today. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen
I could still hear everything that was going on around me but I wasn’t there.
Not really.
Feeling like I was moving at the speed of light, the darkness took me to a familiar place. One I hadn’t been to since Hades asked me where Persephone was. The platform before me was blank as were the panels on the wall were different factors of the vision were to be played out.
It was cool here, neither hot nor cold. Just…cool.
This was a place only I could access, the main control room if you would of my particular. The only way outsiders could get in here was if I let them but whoever was in my head had managed to gain access somehow. And drag me along with them.
One of the panels came to life, startling me out of my pondering.
There was a strange sort of disconnect from my mind to my body. Nothing I did here affected what I did there.
The panel showed the library at the Schola and what was going on around me as I stood frozen. Andrzej jumped down from his perch and landed on the table with a thud. His face was completely controlled but if you looked in his eyes, you could see the worry and a little bit of panic.
The Gods had stepped away in surprise when he landed but were starting to crowd back to the table while I still stood gripping the edge. My fingers were making a slight dent in the wood, something I never thought I would be able to do. I had more strength now as a demigod than I ever imagined myself having. Problem was I didn’t feel very strong at the moment or the feel of the wood caving in my palms.
I felt trapped in my own head.
Andrzej looked completely frantic as he came to a sliding stop in front of me. The book I’d been staring at went toppling off the table along with some of the maps. Paper tore and the slam of the books on the floor almost sounded like a heartbeat. But unlike a real heart, the pounding stopped in the library and my own heart continued its rapid cadence in my chest.
“Lycaon…”
“Something’s going on.”
“Of course something is going on,” Ares said in a tone that clearly said he was annoyed. “She’s an Oracle. She’s having a vision. Give her a few minutes and she’ll come out of it. Get off the table.”
Andrzej shook his head and his hands cupped my face. “This isn’t a normal vision. Those I can stop. This…this is something else. Someone or something is doing this to her.”
The sound cut out and even though I could see everyone’s lips moving, I couldn’t hear them. The mysterious presence wanted to deprive me of sound as well it seemed.
“Andrzej?” I walked over and stood before the panel. “Andrzej!” I had no idea what would happen if I touched it but…I was clueless as to what was going on in the first place. Very carefully, and with loads of hesitation, I reached out and touched the panel carefully. It was like touching the glass on a door. It was cold and unyielding. “ANDRZEJ!”
Both of my hands came up as panic started to consume me. All my Abernathy cool was sucked out of me right then, leaving me feeling lost and afraid. I was literally trapped in my head and I didn’t know why or by whom. I placed both of my hands on the panel but still nothing happened.
Andrzej was looking me straight on, the image coming through like an actor looking straight into the lens. His lips were moving and the look in his eyes told me he was definitely frustrated.
My hands curled into fists and started pounding on the panel, doing everything I could to force myself to snap out of this. But whoever was holding me here had a grip on me like iron and there was no bending or breaking it.
The muscles in my arms were burning, almost like they were on fire, but I didn’t want to stop. “Andrzej! Anyone! Get me out of here!”
I was hoping someone would hear me but eventually I had to stop, becoming too exhausted both mentally and physically to continue the useless protests. Even though my actual body hadn’t moved, I felt like I’d just done hours on the treadmill. The panic I was feeling started mixing with worry.
Maybe I’d never get out of here.
And because I didn’t want to be done fighting yet, I slammed my hands one more time against the panel and let out an earsplitting scream.
The panel didn’t break and everything that was happening out there continued to play on without any interruption from me. I took several steps back, my chest heaving from my rushed breath. My eyes darted over the scene, trying to see everything I could. Maybe even read Andrzej’s lips as well as Apollo’s since he’d somehow edged his way into view.
But I got nothing. None of it was translating through. Their mouths were forming words but I didn’t know them. They were speaking English but it was as if I didn’t know the language.
“What’s happening?” I asked out loud. “WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME!”
I backed all the way up to the table and tried to regain my focus. There was no way I could figure this all out if I completely lost my head.
If I already hadn’t.
I took a couple deep breaths and closed my eyes. This was nothing. I could figure this out, no problem. All I had to do was calm down and stay that way. Clear my mind and erase the fog of fear and panic…
Something shifted behind me, the sound translating through as that of someone coming through underbrush in the woods. My whole body became tense and I held my breath, unwilling to turn around and find out what had made that sound. I knew something or someone was here with me but there was no need to…
A hand came to a rest on my shoulder. Even in my head I moved quick but apparently so did whoever was here with me. When I whirled around to look, there was no one behind me. Even though the room was naturally dark, like the lights were set on the lowest possible setting, there was no out-of-place shadow.
“Who’s there?”
“Don’t be afraid, Natalie.”
Those words were whispered around me, a woman’s voice. It was gentle and kind. And way too calm for my liking. This was, after all, my mind that she was invading. There was nothing calm about invading someone else’s mind. If I wanted to be afraid, I would be and considering she was the unwelcome presence, she should be afraid too. I may not know the extent of my Particular but I knew she must be expending a lot of energy to stay in my head.
This time I felt fingers run through my hair and yet again, I wasn’t quick enough to turn around. The panel came back into view but I ignored it. If there was one thing I could count on, it would be Andrzej protecting me while this—invasion was taking place.
“Don’t be afraid,” she said again.
“If you don’t want me to be afraid, stop playing games.”
“I’m not playing games, my dear.” A hand cupped the back of my head and this time when I turned around, the mysterious presence in my mind was still there. She was sitting up on the table, looking very much like a ghost in a white dress. Her fingers dragged through strands of my hair as she said, “Hello, Natalie. You’re so much like your mother, it’s uncanny.”
I took a few steps back and she dropped her hand to her lap, not at all offended that I was distancing myself from her.
“Every daughter should be like her mother in some ways.” Her smile was awkward and brief. “You have her eyes.”
“That tends to be everyone’s first observation which is then followed by the exchanging of names.”
“But then the mystery would be gone. Besides, you know who I am just like I know who you are. Even recently acquired, your reputation precedes you.”
“Caelus told you about me?”
She nodded. “He’s told me a great many things. Your sacrifice was one of them. Tragic tale. He even cried. I could feel the tears drop on my skin as he—expelled them.”
“You don’t sound as grateful about the sacrifice as I thought you would. After all, it was done for you.”
She considered me for a moment before saying, “Do you honestly think if I wanted out of that hole, I would let Caelus do it for me? No, my dear, if I wanted out, I would’ve gotten myself out. No need for someone else to do it for me.”
That kind motherly demeanor was tossed out of the window for a moment as she brushed her fingers over the table and a flash of something shot across the surface. It was too brief for me to catch it but that was the way she wanted it. Some of this she still wanted hidden and untold.
“So this is all…what exactly? Why are you here, in my head?”
“I think you know.”
“I think I want you to tell me so there’s no mistaking your intention.”
She looked down at the hands in her lap and I had a feeling she wanted to hop down from the table but she couldn’t. Something was keeping her there and it occurred to me maybe that platform was the only way she was even able to be in my head in the first place.
That gave me an idea.
“Even though I was asleep, I was aware of everything. I could walk the Earth, get into people’s dreams in order to talk to them. I’ve seen the evil men can do, what they’ve done to this gift I have given them. I understand why Caelus wants to destroy it, erase the world as it is and rebuild it the way he thinks it should be done.”
“Then what’s the problem? Why are you here looking all offended that someone, Caelus, got you out?”
“Just because I understand his reasonings doesn’t mean I agree with them. I’m Mother Earth. I may not like what has been done with my creation but I can no more destroy it than see it destroyed.”
“So what you’re telling me is…”
“I want to help you stop him, of course.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She didn’t look surprised or even upset about that. Instead she expected it.
“For an Oracle, you are very easy to predict.”
“And for a suppositively sleeping Goddess, you sure are able to get around well.” I thought about my statement for a moment before taking it one step further. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it—Gaia?”
I said her name just to get it out there and I was rewarded with a brief smile. It made her appear much more pleasant and I had a brief urge to keep her that way. There was no way I wanted to experience her angry but the inclination was quickly gone and I was back to being pissed, wanting this over with so I could get out of my head.
“That is correct and I need your help to remain that way. Caelus failed to read the fine print for that ritual as usual.”
“He was able to retrieve you but not wake you up.”
“That’s the funny thing about those rituals, they never work the way you want them to and when they do, it turns out not to be what you expected. Technically I am the only one who can destroy what I’ve created. However, Caelus has found a way around that and it’ll be up to you to stop him just like it was up to you to bring this all about in the first place.”
“Why me?”
“Because, Natalie, you are the only one who can.”
That didn’t answer my question at all especially since she hadn’t given any specifics. “Is it an Oracle thing because if it is…”
“No. This time it has nothing to do with you being a virgin or an Oracle.”
“Then what’s so special about me?”
Her eyebrow arched perfectly. “Besides the obvious?”
There was nothing obvious about it, at least not to me. “Yes, besides the obvious.”
“You’re a demigod. The only demigod.”
I shook my head, knowing the untruth of that statement. “Technically every Elite is a demigod. All of us have some blood of the Gods running through our veins. It was how we were created.”
“But not like you. The God blood running through you is pure, undiluted by centuries of generations born and reborn. By definition, demi means half. Hades, by doing what he did, made you completely half god instead of like every other Elite who are only a small part God. It was the only way he could get you out of the Underworld after you’d died. Didn’t you know?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the panel next to the one that was already active blink to life. Unlike the one that was still playing, this one held a frozen image. An image from my point of view that I didn’t remember but felt…familiar.
Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to it. I moved away from her and closer to it.
“The God of the Underworld doesn’t bring just anyone back to life,” she said softly.
I stopped just in front of the panel. The expression on his face was something I’d never seen before and it tore at my heart. It was a mixture of regret and sadness but it wasn’t directed at me. A frown crinkled my brow and I reached out with my hand to smooth away that look on his face.
“But you don’t remember, do you, Natalie? You don’t remember what he did for you.”
“I don’t remember any of it,” I whispered. “I recall dying—the pain—and it felt like a lifetime existed between the moment my heart stopped beating to the second it started again.”
“It’s not uncommon for mortals to forget their time in the Underworld. Most of them only remember a white light or that light at the end of the tunnel. Since you were mostly mortal entering the Underworld, it is logical that you would come out of it not remembering a single moment…”
“But it’s coming back.” I dropped my hand and turned back to look at her. “Slowly and in pieces.”
“That’s because you came back different. You’re no longer mostly mortal but mostly god. Well, goddess if you wish to be technical. You have the capability to remember and you are.”
As I stepped further away from the panel, the image faded until I was back to standing in front of her and it was black.
“But that’s not all of it, right? The reason why I’m remembering now—there’s more to it than that.”
“There is. I’ll admit that I’ve tried to prevent it. There are a few things that occurred and are about to happen that you’re not meant to see yet. We both know what happens when you see things prematurely. It leads to rash decisions and you’ve made enough of those to last a life time. I’m just trying to prolong your life, at least long enough for you to take care of Caelus.”
“If I wasn’t meant to see it then I wouldn’t. It would have nothing to do with whether or not you…”
“Has anyone told you that this set of the Time Twins are different? They’ve had to because different and the Gods never mesh well. You have realized why tradition has changed this go around, haven’t you?”
I didn’t know and I was tired of her incessant changing of subject and questions.
Since becoming Elite, everything had been moving so fast. Getting the chance to stop and think, catch my breath metaphorically, hadn’t come around yet. I didn’t pause very long on the whys of the situation just the whens. Before I’d become Elite, I would ponder it out, leave no stone unturned until I knew the entire truth. Now, I just let it be and hoped for the best. Realizing that might not have been the best thing to do smacked me so hard, the whole room trembled a bit.
She looked around with a smile on her face, knowing full well she’d been right.
There had to be a reason why Cecil and I were the Time Twins and not some other pair of unknowns out there. But would admitting it to her be a good idea? I didn’t trust her. Her motives were still unknown passed the brief and very vague explanation that she’d given me. It didn’t help her case that she’d admitted she was the one behind me not being able to see too far into the future.
She was hiding something, something important, and she was tempting me away from finding out what.
“Why are you keeping me from seeing the future?” I asked instead of answering her.
“I told you. It’s because you’re not meant…”
“I think you’re lying.”
A very devious smile graced her face. “You’re deflecting and that tells me you still don’t know much of anything.” The smile was instantly gone from her face. “You can’t defeat him if you don’t know anything.”
“No one gave me a manual on all of this. I’ve made it up as I went and I’m about tired of feeling like a novice in all of this. Yes, I came late to the game. No, I don’t know as much as everyone else but I’ve made do. I get that knowledge is power in this world…”
“But you hold the future in your hands, Natalie. With a Particular like that, you don’t need to know as much as everyone else. The future can teach you just as much as the past but lucky for you, you have darling Cecil to help you with that. In this you are indeed fortunate.”
“Not so fortunate when you take into consideration that the Gods have done everything in their power to keep us apart…”
“And the fact that they haven’t been able to is what makes you and Cecil different. The Gods have been unable to keep and maintain control over you two. Do you know why?”
“I know that I’m getting annoyed with all your deflecting. Tell me why you’re really here or I’ll find some way to push you out of my head. And when I find you, because we both know I will, I won’t be lenient.”
She appraised me for a moment, seeing me in a new light. I wasn’t one to be pushed around and I wasn’t going to start now. Stubbornness ran in my family, I’d gotten it from both of my parents, and I would put it to good use now in order to make her get to the point.
“You don’t trust me.”
“You’re holding me captive in my own head. If you were being truthful before, you could’ve just come to me in my dreams instead of high jacking my visions and bringing me here.” The room around us shuddered. “You want me to trust you, Gaia? Give me a reason.”
Her lips twisted in amusement. “Your mother was just like that. Needed a reason for everything. Fine, my dear. You want an olive branch of trust, I’ll give you one in the form of a weapon to be used against my overbearing husband.”
Well…that would be helpful.
~*~
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