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"Excuse me?"
My words came out breathless, incredulous. Jungkook's words bounced around in my head, and my mind scrambled to wrap around the true meaning of what the mark meant. Bound... will...bent...
Jungkook stepped away from me until his back hit the opposite wall. He shook his head, muttering to himself, his words just barely audible. "I should've realized something was up. No wonder the ocean was troubled last night. Dad was pissed."
Wonderful. So I— an average student just trying to survive the game of life—had somehow managed to piss off a deity. Not just any deity either. The ocean god, one of the Big Four.
Way to go Y/N.
"Why would your dad be pissed at me?" I protested, eyes flickering down to my wrist. The symbol branded upon my skin glowed mockingly back at me. "And whatever happened to the necklace of protection thingy?"
"The necklace only protects you from being mortally wounded or killed by an Olympian. That Mark does not mortally wound or kill you."
I glanced back up to give a smart reply. Instead I had just enough time to see Jungkook look away. My stomach twisted when I caught a glimpse of an almost haunted look that reverberated in the depths of his eyes.
"You've seen this mark before, haven't you?" I said softly. "You've seen what it's done."
He shrugged. But even that casual action was stiff from his tensed muscles. "My mother had that branded on her wrist."
Surprise flickered through me. I'd never once stopped to think of Jungkook even knew his mother. The only time he'd ever alluded to her had been when he was about to blab on how his father and her had met.
At the time I had not wanted to know anything about how a greek god might have taken up a mortal woman in his clutches. But now curiosity burned through me.
As if sensing my thoughts Jungkook continued after a couple more moments of tense silence. "I was taken up to Olympus when I was very young; as soon as the gods realized that I had retained Poseidon abilities, unlike many demigods who are born powerless. I don't remember that much of her. I can't even recall her face. I do remember seeing the mark on her wrist though. She'd been trying to stop them from taking me. But what is a mortal against the strength of an Olympian?"
I stared at him. "They ripped you away from her... just like that?"
"I also remember her trying to throw something at one of the Olympians," he continued as if he didn't hear me. "But then the mark on her wrist flared up and she collapsed."
To rip a child away from a mother's arms... "That's merciless," I murmured.
A cold smile twisted on Jungkook's mouth. "The gods have no mercy. That's why they're gods."
A new kind of fear blossomed over me that drove away my former fear of the trident etched on me. My new fear now belonged to the demigod and the emotionless smile fixed on the usually carefree face.
I tried approaching him, but when it became too much to come any closer to him I halted. My chest ached and I wanted to cradle his face in my hands. "Do you miss your mother?" I asked quietly.
"I don't even remember what she looks like."
"You don't have to remember what someone looks like to miss them."
Jungkook tilted his head, glancing up at the ceiling as if the answers were held there. "I don't miss her," he stated finally. "It's been too long and I was too young to have any real attachment. I have wondered sometimes what it might've been like to be raised as a mortal." He paused. "But then I remember how boring the mortal life is."
I rolled my eyes, but didn't have the heart in me to actually feel annoyed at his remark. Nevertheless the tense atmosphere was broken.
Jungkook rolled his head, as if loosening his neck after a long day's work. I pretended not to see the way the action accentuated the strong column of his throat and and corded muscles down it.
"So what are we going to do about..." I pointedly lifted my hand.
There had to be some way to get rid of the mark. The last thing I needed to think about was living in the knowledge an ocean god had full control over me.
"We need to get you away from the ocean," Jungkook replied immediately. The haunted look was now gone and a more present expression had settled on his face. "The farther away we can get inland, the less control Poseidon has over you."
"He'll still have control over me inland?" I blanched.
"Yes," Jungkook drawled, reluctantly. "But the bond will be significantly weaker. And I'll talk to Dad as soon as I can."
"Why not now?" I prompted.
"Priorities. I can communicate with Poseidon with any large body of water, but his powers are constrained to the ocean only." Jungkook grimaced. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but I think we're going to need to put the visit to your dad on a hold. You're lucky that at the moment the mark seems to be only serving to separate the two of us at the moment. Though why it's being used for that sole purpose is another matter entirely that I don't know."
I bit back my protest. I wanted to see my dad as soon as possible. Unlike Poseidon, my dad never branded mortals or ripped children away from them. My dad deserved all the love and support in the world. Poseidon deserved to choke on a Blobfish.
Yet I understood where Jungkook was coming from. Dejectedly, I nodded. "Fine."
Jungkook lead the way out of the house. I followed slowly behind him, my mind swirling like an uncontrolled whirlpool with all the new information.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't realize Jungkook had halted in the doorway of my house until my wrist screamed at me that I was drawing too close to him.
Irritation now mingled with my fear over the mark. The Mark of Poseidon was taking the phrase "thorn in the flesh" to a whole new level.
"What's wrong?" I inquired when Jungkook remained still in the doorframe.
Slowly he stepped out and I quickly followed his suit, eager to know what had caused him to halt.
The other demigods were still waiting outside where I'd originally left them (I'd half expected them to have already run down to the beach). But even more surprising was that there were more demigods now than when I'd last seen them.
I instantly picked out the newcomers.
There were two of them. I didn't know how I immediately knew that they were demigods as well. Call it a gust instinct perhaps.
Both strangers were tall, even taller than Taehyung and Jungkook— whom I'd dubbed the tallest out of the former pool of demigods.
One of them was slightly taller and thinner than his companion, but seemed much more intimidating with storm gray hair, flawless sculpted nose and mouth, and a stare so intense it could probably cut rock.
The latter next to the gray-haired demigod had vibrant purple hair that reflected the sunlight like untainted luster. His features were smooth, with poreless skin, dark brows, plump lips, and eyes containing a distant, untouchable look in them.
Before I could say anything Jimin whirled around at my presence, an innocently excited glint in his eyes.
"Oh Y/N, guess what! This is Namjoon and Jin hyungs—Olympian demigods like us!—and they just finished telling us this crazy story of how they got hired to take out some mortal dude in his car with their powers thus sending him into critical care in efforts to draw out the mortal dude's daughter to the ocean because Poseidon is pissed at her for some reason! Isn't that crazy or what?"
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