AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back onto the edge of the bath while I carefully peeled the material of her clothes away to get to all the scrapes and cuts. While I tended to her, I focused on what I felt. The shield X had placed around her scared me, but it didn’t seem to be permanent, because as I worked, it faded away.
Or somethingdroveit away, rather. It was as if Elyse’s power combated X’s energy. And slowly, as it disappeared, I felt something else too. Power stronger than before, clawing over my flesh, a purer energy than I’d ever sensed from her. This got my attention. I tensed at the thought of what growing power could mean.
When I was done, I collected her into my arms, and she sagged against me, exhausted, so I placed her onto the bed, and she fell asleep almost right away. I’d been by her side watching her for hours, and it wouldn’t be long before Poseidon got here to take his watch, but I left a message on his home phone from Elyse’s place, so he’d know what had happened. I had to see Heracles for something urgent, but I wouldn’t leave Elyse alone. Not now, not after another battle with X. Not after what I felt clinging to her after I bandaged her.
I glanced at the time on the bedside table. There were three of us who could be with her, but I still felt like it wasn’t enough. I wished Apollo was still around to help us out. We needed every man we could get at this point, especially with Hades being MIA.
Not long after, Poseidon turned up, appearing out of thin air in the living room.
“What the hell is going on?” he roared.
“Shut the fuck up,” I whispered. “Elyse is sleeping, and she’s injured.”
His face paled, and he glanced toward her bedroom. So, I quickly filled him in because he hadn’t received my text since he was somewhere out on the sea, and there was no signal there. Now he paced, his arms swinging by his sides, furious, as he’d waited to feel Elyse’s energy to pick her up from near Hades’s. Not finding her inside her apartment, he popped to his place and got my message. Yep, he wasn’t happy, but there was nothing that could be done, and Elyse was tucked safely into her bed. As soon as I was sure Elyse was protected with Poseidon by her side, I left.
Heracles wasn’t at home. I didn’t need to go and check to find out. I could feel he was on Mount Olympus. He went there a lot lately. Even more than usual. And it wasn’t just to check in with Daddy Dearest. I needed to speak to Heracles; I felt I deserved answers.
“Ares, is everything okay?” he asked when I stormed into the praying temple one used to converse with Zeus, situated in the very middle of Mount Olympus. It was a large structure, the ceiling almost as high as the heavens with thick pillars holding it up. When I’d appeared on Mount Olympus, my clothes changed and now I wore the white robe everyone did around here. Heracles had on the same, his shoulder length, red hair a stark contrast against the material.
He was on his knees as if praying, but he was conversing with Zeus, who only deigned to appear in person when he was in the right mood.
“Yeah, everything is finenow. Elyse went to fight X again,” I blurted out.
Heracles frowned, the shadows beneath his eyes darkening.
“She’s fine,” I confirmed before he asked. “But I sensed something strange radiating from her. Her power… What’s going on? I know you know something.”
Heracles pursed his lips. “Maybe you’re imagining it.”
“Really? You going to throw that shit at me like I don’t know what the hell’s going on around here? I’m not an idiot, Heracles.”
He shook his head. “I can’t be sure. I don’t want to say anything until I know the facts.”
I studied him, itching to rip the information out of him if he didn’t hurry the fuck up and tell me. It had better be something that would help Elyse finally defeat X.
He shook his head as if reading my thoughts, he responded, “I don’t want to talk about it until I’m certain. But it won’t be long before Elyse realizes her full potential.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded to know, heat coiling up my back. “Why can’t we just help her unlock it so that she can end this once and for all?”
“You know how it works, Ares.” His voice was condescending, and he stood, facing me. “Nothing works that way. If it’s handed to you, it’s not enough. She has to control this power herself. She has to find it without help. If we give her the answer, if we teach her how to unlock the power, it means nothing.”
“This is such bullshit. If she has the ability to end things with X, why can’t we lead her there and show her how to save everyone? She’s going to get herself killed trying to make it happen herself.”
He shook his head, his lips thinning, pulling into a tight line before he responded. “Zeus knows what’s going on, and he promised me nothing will happen to her, not until she’s ready to figure it out for herself. She’s not going to die before her time.”
Fuck the Fates and their threads of life for the humans. I wished it didn’t apply to Elyse. She might have had four strings where everyone else only had one, but she only had one left, and it could still be cut. If it was the end of her time, there was nothing we could do about it.
“You can’t tell her anything about this,” Heracles barked.
“What are you talking about? I don’t even know what’s going on.”
“But you do know something. You know enough. You can tank this if you speak to her about it, even if you tell her what you suspect and nothing more. You have to let her figure this out for herself.”
This was bullshit. I wasn’t even allowed to tell Elyse she could protect herself better, that she didn’t have to be afraid? She worried about dying just as much as we were feared for her getting killed.
“I mean it, Ares. If you tell her, it might be the thing that kills her.” Heracles’s voice darkened, his threat an ominous cloud overhead.
Hell, no. That wasn’t something I was willing to live with. Being the reason why Elyse died would quite possibly end my immortal life, if that were possible.
“Fine,” I snapped. “But I don’t like this shit. I don’t think this is the right way to go about it.”
“I know.” Heracles nodded. “Sometimes, it’s difficult to step back and let things run their course. But with this one, we can’t get involved. I’m nothing more than her trainer, and you weren’t even supposed to be in the picture. The fact that you fell in love with her… We’re all lucky Zeus allows us to stick around.”
I didn’t want to admit to it, but he was right.Shit!And even though I burned inside to speak with Elyse about this, I couldn’t. I clenched my fists. Not if my silence meant keeping her alive in the long run. But I’d rather battle a dozen Xs than lie to her.Fuck!I hated rules.
