Chapter 7
“We have to talk about what the poltergeist said,” Abe said as he pulled up at the school.
Fay flashed a smile unbuckled herself. “And we will but, for now, school awaits. I want to see if I can sniff out any more Poltergeists.”
He glanced at her again, seeing right through her cracked façade. “Watch yourself,” he said.
She nodded and climbed out. As soon as he drove off she realised she should’ve said something – anything, really. She’d been gone three days and then she’d just walked back in the front door without saying much, really. The relief had been palpable in his eyes. He must’ve seen how close she was to falling apart but did nothing. His fear of sending her spiralling again after he’d used the Command Orders on her, her fear of being used like that.
When the car turned around the corner she sighed and set off to the school front door. Students lingered out the front, gathered in groups, with only some looking over at her arrival. No doubt rumours swirled abundantly in the wake of her vanishing for a few days. Fay wondered if anyone would come up to her, ask about it. She shouldered her bag into place and set off to the main entrance; then, for one moment, as she passed all the other students, she wished she was one of them. A normal teen with normal problems; boys and school and body image issues. Not worrying about if the God of Death was around the corner, ready to try and steal her soul again; not if she was going to start seeing things she couldn’t explain; or if her relationship with Abe would finally implode. She walked a knife’s edge between control and chaos.
It was a relief though that much of the instigators of the events of two years ago were no longer at school. Ben had dropped out, left the pack, and worked in town. Ryan took up the mantle of Alpha after his dad died in a car accident. The others, like Tarryn and her friends, had left as well, reverting to home schooling. According to basic reports Abe had received. The rest were mostly humans, a few scattered werewolves who knew what she really was – they steered the furthest away. They knew what she was capable of. The monster she could be.
She made it to her locker, left alone. It was only when she got to her first class of the morning and sat down at the rear of the room when a dark-haired girl walked up to her, dressed in a punk shirt and grey jeans. She set a small poster in front of her. Fay glanced down.
Full Moon Party
Friday, 10pm
Lake Elysium
“A party? Didn’t think I was liked enough for one of these,” mused Fay, glancing up.
The girl smiled conspiratorially. “I like you. You got fire and you’re interesting. More than I can say for anyone else in this hole. Besides, I helped print them off and I’m inviting. Just don’t let any parents know, okay? That brother of yours included.”
Fay laughed. “Abe plays the protective older brother but I doubt he’d notice if I went out.”
“Oh, I’d be more worried about the female population of our school if he came,” she said dryly. “Some of the guys too. Anyway, I better take a seat before the teacher loses her shit.”
“Why don’t you sit here?” Fay said, gesturing to the spare seat next to her. “Everyone seems too scared to sit next to me, anyway, and you don’t strike me as someone easily scared.”
“Sure, why not?” she said with a wink and sat down. “I’m Tash, by the way.”
At lunch whilst the other students ate in the cafeteria or out in the main courtyard Fay took her food at the back of the school where the forest backed the oval. She sat beneath an ancient oak, the thick foliage stretching out with spindly limbs and lush foliage. It cast a short shadow over her, the sun high directly above it. She held out her hand and commanded shadow energy to her fingers; at command tiny horses galloped along the fringe of the tree’s shadow, pursued by a pack of wolves. A foal fell behind the herd. The wolves converged but, just as they attacked, a dark beast rose behind them and swallowed them whole. The herd of horses neighed silently, rejoicing.
She suddenly grew aware of another presence, someone standing close by, watching her. Lifting her nose to the feint, almost imperceptible wind, she caught their scent. In a flash she was on her feet, a snarl ripping from her mouth.
Hellhound.
One of the girls from the Underworld.
Fay glanced over her shoulder and saw no one watching her, so she strode into the forest. With each step the scent moved away, drawing her deeper into the forest. She let her senses one by one shift, her claws extending from her hands.
Far enough away from the school she stopped. “Either get on with killing me or bugger off. I haven’t got time for Thanatos’s games.”
From the trees a dark-haired girl emerged, limping badly, one hand clutching her side. Dark blood oozed out between her fingers. She stared at Fay with wild eyes, her lips pulled into a tight, thin line.
“So, Nebiru wasn’t lying. You are an Unbound,” she mused weakly. “A hellhound that Thanatos doesn’t possess.”
“Who is Nebiru?” Fay demanded.
She opened her mouth but slammed it shut, her head pricking upwards to the right. Her eyes narrowed. “Dammit. I thought I’d have longer.”
“Who is after you? I can protect you,” Fay said, stepping forward.
She shook her head fiercely. “No, you can’t. You need to hide. Hide in Shadow, if you can – or run. This is my fight.”
Fay dug in her heels. “You’re in no condition to fight.”
“I’m stronger than you nearly dead. Besides, I can’t die really. I’ll just go back,” she said dryly with a short laugh. “Guess that’s the point.”
“I’m stronger than I look.”
She glanced at Fay again, as if she was perceiving something new, seeing something buried deeper. Her eyes held, considering for a moment. Then she shook her head.
“Maybe but we both can’t get caught. Please, don’t put Nebiru in that position. It’ll destroy him,” she said with a sudden urgency in her voice, ashamed, as if she’d betrayed something profound. “Just go!”
Fay went to speak but nearby the trees rustled, footsteps – several – crunched against the leaflitter. The girl threw up a hand, a force slamming into Fay, sending her hurtling backwards. Just as she was about to hit the tree she dissolved into shadow. She blinked and looked around. The girl had trapped her in a pocket of Shadow, unseen to everyone. Unfortunately, she was trapped until the girl left out of range – or died. Fay felt like it’d be the later.
She let out a thunderous roar of fury, slamming her fists against the barrier. It sent energy shooting back into her. A low, snarling hiss tore from her mouth as she stared scathingly at the barrier. She clutched her hand, the throbbing agony dissolving any more punches at the barrier. For the moment, anyway.
Several figures emerged from amongst the trees, seemingly materialising from the shadows they cast. Each one of them was clad as she had been in the Underworld, with a golden symbol emblazoned on their chests. The Mark of Hades. They were familiar, too. She froze, her anger momentarily forgotten, as she stared at the hellhounds; shocked that they’d come to the surface, that they crossed from the world she’d – before that moment – kept quite separate from the mortal world. Her gaze ran over all of them; their scarred, well-muscled limbs; the swords strapped to their backs, accompanying an array of daggers fastened about their hips.
She found in fascinating they wore what they did, as though they were more than capable to do whatever had to be done without shifting. Whereas Fay was heavily reliant on her hound form. Abe had taught her to use a sword and she was capable in it but she was nowhere near his – or these hellhound’s level.
The leader, who stood above them all – quiet literally – the one she remembered from her dreams, and the Underworld. She’d felt his importance but, seeing him amongst the other hellhounds, he was undisputedly the leader. They all seemed to look for him for a decision on how they were to deal with the rogue hellhound standing before them, looking as though she were about to die at their feet anyway.
“Why did you do this, Medea?” He asked with that same resonating voice from Fay’s dreams. So achingly familiar.
Medea laughed, blood trickling from her lips. “Because I want to know for one moment in my life what it feels like to be free. Because I grew tired of your promises, of your lies. I trusted you, Nebiru, and for what?”
“And now you’ll die, your soul condemned to the pits of Tartarus, for an hour of freedom. Is it worth it?” Nebiru challenged fiercely.
She stared back, fire blazing in her eyes. “Yes.”
“Fool,” he replied. “You’re a damn fool. I told you that our time was near.”
The fire dimmed a little in her eyes; not by submission but with a sadness that Nebiru’s words failed to dispel. She coughed suddenly, blood spitting from her mouth, painting the ground and she fell to her knees.
“Hades will never let you win. You’re not the first one to try and you won’t be the last. I’ve lived through enough of these games. I’m tired, Nebiru. I can’t fight another war. Eventually, the others will realise it too.”
Murmurs flittered amongst Nebiru’s ranks. He snarled a single command, silencing them, all without breaking Medea’s stormy gaze. His mask, however, cracked. A shame flashed in his eyes, and fear, too. As if Medea had torn down his walls and exposed a fear. Fay realised that whatever he was planning, for whatever reason, given that it was inherently dangerous, depended upon his subordinates not doing what Medea had done. That they followed him into whatever hellish scheme he’d concocted, regardless of the consequences.
“As you have broken the Law of the Underworld and betrayed our kin, you have been sentenced to eternity in the pits of Tartarus,” he said tonelessly and drew his sword. He raised it high above her and stared down, eyes cold and detached. “May you find the peace you never had before.” Then he swung the sword.
She exploded into a plume of black, dispelling swiftly. The barrier holding Fay began to crack. She prepared to fight off the hellhounds, her claws and form readying. Around her, the real world shattered into clarity.
The other hellhounds leapt back in alarm, snarling, drawing their swords. Nebiru spun to her but paled as he saw her. It faded quickly. He barked a string of orders in a tongue she didn’t know; then, one by one, the hellhounds dissolved before her eyes, until only he stood before her. His hand toyed with the grip of his sword before he raised it high and sheathed it. Fay didn’t relax her guard. She’d seen what Medea was capable of, near death, and she suspected Nebiru was far stronger.
“I won’t be taken to the Underworld,” she blurted out. “My soul is mine and mine alone.”
Nebiru just stared back for what felt like an eternity, judging, deciding. Then he spoke. “I am not your enemy, Fay.”
“You bear his mark,” she said pointedly.
“As you bear another’s mark,” retorted Nebiru.
Fay hissed. “I have no master.”
He fell silent for a moment, his gaze unfocused. When it sharpened a moment later he seemed torn, angry even, though not, she suspected, at her – at something else altogether.
“Hades summons me. Take care, Fay Childers. Our paths will cross again soon and, a word of advice, Divinity Dust is a key ingredient in the elixir used to make someone immortal.” With a bow Nebiru vanished before her eyes.
His words resounded like a crack of thunder in her mind.
…key ingredient in the elixir used to make someone immortal.
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