Chapter 22
Fay stirred awake with her skull pounding, the light painful on her eyes. She blinked several times, waiting for her the world to soften; when it did, she opened her eyes fully. The ribbons of light and the haze were gone. It looked normal. She took several deep breaths and blinked, feeling the new sight come to her more naturally. Then, exhaling softly, she opened her eyes and saw the feint haze over the world but the lights were gone. Instead, shimmering dust floated softly through the air, like remnants of the ribbons…and a warm breeze swept through the square, whipping the golden dust into whirls.
Thank you, came the reply of Cerberus, his voice carried by the breeze.
It felt good to free him, right even, but she was still stuck with no way to Andromeda. She sighed and got to her feet, then thought, just to be sure…Before she got too tangled up in mixed feelings, she scrambled up the nearest building and looked out across the village.
Unlike before the village didn’t go on forever. It stopped several buildings away, bordered by a low, thin forest. The forest ran on until it nearly touched the horizon; there, it thinned and mountains rose up to greet it, looming eerily. Her gaze latched onto something hunkered on the side of the mountain, as if carved from the same stone, with towers that rose up like hands to the sky on either side. As she stared at it something within her pulsed, warm like her magic and the presence of Andromeda brushed her mind. Weak, like a shout from across a large field in a storm. She was calling out to Fay but her voice was soft, indecipherable. Fay tried to reach out but her mind struck a barrier around the mountains, a wall of sorts that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t push through it.
She drew back reluctantly but, relieved, that she had a direction in mind. She just had to hope that the world didn’t shift too drastically when she left the village; or, that if it did, she’d be able to use that connection she just felt. Let that guide her.
When she got down someone ran full bolt into her, the both of them tumbling to the ground. Fay scrambled to her feet, ready for a fight, when she looked up and froze.
“Ben?”
Ben jumped to his feet and looked at her, confused for a moment, blinking a couple times to be sure. He rubbed his eyes, then squinted.
“Fay?”
“Uh huh, what the hell?”
He looked past her, like he was looking for something. “Have you seen a guy about this high? Olive skin? Kind of Greek looking?” He gestured to someone around his height.
Amon, realised Fay.
“Why are you chasing him?”
Confusion and shock burst across his face. “You know him?”
“Amon, I assume?”
11Ben frowned. “I never caught his name but…Look, it’s a long story and I have to find him, okay?”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.”
I have time, thought Fay but realised she probably didn’t. She had to get to Andromeda. With a deep breath she looked at him again, then saw the restlessness in his eyes, mirrored in her own. He was determined to find Amon…
Oh my god.
Fay paled, staring at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. Her mind struggled to grasp the conclusion it had fallen into. The possibility resounding in her mind like a booming drum. She stepped right up to him, snapping his attention back to her, and she eyed him closely. How hadn’t she seen it before? The way all three carried themselves…and those eyes. Not so much the same colour but the look, the flashes conversations she’d had with him in the past. The fact that even in a pack he’d never felt truly one of them, something he’d confessed quietly to her the night before she turned.
Suddenly, it wasn’t just Ben she saw but three faces, three parts of a soul.
“Oh Gods…”
Her face must’ve worried him because he closed the distance and his hand was on her cheek, warm to touch. His worried eyes bore into hers.
“Fay?”
She wrenched herself away, spun around, her mind reeling. After a beat she looked at him again, trying to grapple all she knew.
“You’re him! Part of him, anyway. Oh my god, what are the odds? I mean you, of all people!” She was rambling, she knew but she didn’t care.
Cerberus.
Amon.
Ben.
Three lives.
Ben closed the gap again, grasping her shoulders. “Part of who?”
“Cerberus’s soul was splintered and you’re one of the parts…and Amon, the guy you saw, is the other. I mean, it’s a guess, really, based on what I’ve seen in the visions and it might be wrong. I wonder if that’s why I cried like an idiot when I saw you that one time. Andromeda. She must’ve felt it, felt you. Oh, my gods, we have to go to her! Right now!”
She was pulling away again, this time grabbing his hand and tugging him along. He resisted for a moment but her words made him quiet, obedient with shock. Did he even understand what she was saying? What it all meant? The gravity of what happened and what his future would be? He’d never be a werewolf again, if he even wanted to. He’d never be human again. If he reunited with Amon and Cerberus…and all three became one, he wouldn’t be Ben anymore. She grew quiet, uneasy. Would he call himself Cerberus? Or would he choose a new name? She rubbed her temples. It made her head hurt to think about.
“I’m…Cerberus?” Ben echoed.
She glanced at him, almost shyly. “Maybe?”
In the forest the sky darkened with heavy clouds of rain and in the distance, thunder rumbled, beckoning lightning. A heavy breeze rustled up through the trees, howling mournfully. Fay glanced skywards through the canopy, frowning. She hated storms, she realised, actually hated them…but was that an effect of being linked to Andromeda? Whom Cerberus and she had died by the hand of Zeus? She just remembered being a little human girl, cowering in the corner of her bedroom, whilst her ‘dad’ Peter, tried to comfort her. It never worked and she didn’t calm down until the storm passed.
Gods, how much of my own feelings are mine? And what are Andromeda’s feelings pushing through?
“Storms in Tartarus,” said Ben with amusement.
He’d finally come out of his shell after her announcement. Though he hadn’t asked anything more about it he seemed resolved, focused on meeting Andromeda now. Maybe he thought like Fay, that seeing Andromeda would give him the answers he wanted.
She climbed her way over a fallen tree when thunder rumbled close by; three seconds later, a crack of lightning and the ground shook, catching her off guard. She stumbled forward, a hand grabbing her shoulder. As she caught her footing she turned around and Ben was right in front of her, nearly chest to chest, looking down at her. She was intimately aware of how close they were, of the warmth rolling off him, the smell of smoke. Her heart slammed painfully against her chest. For a split second it was like he was leaning in, so she quickly stepped away and set off again.
“We should hurry on. I don’t know what storms are like here and I don’t want to be caught out when it hits,” she said quickly.
He cleared his throat. “Okay.”
They picked their way slowly to the forest which seemed to thicken around them, tangled limbs curling down, as if trying to bar their way. Fay kept her eyes scanning, looking for any sight of Eris. She knew the Goddess hadn’t surrendered on the idea of stopping Fay meet Andromeda. That she was equally focused on stopping Cerberus. With Ben at Fay’s side they were doubly a target, so Fay didn’t expect the last stretch to be easy. Still, with each minute that crept by and no monsters appeared, she only felt more and more tense. Like a wire was being pulled taut inside her gut. She took long, deep breaths, then exhaled as softly as she could, focusing on the noises around her; with trees rustling an ominous tune, leaves crunching underfoot and every so often something small scampering by, there was enough to try and distract her.
She knew the second she let her guard down Eris would be there, ruthless and ready. There wouldn’t be a second chance, like there had been at the village square. The squad wouldn’t save either of them; at least, she wasn’t about to count on them jumping in and saving the day.
“Do you ever think about Abe?” Ben asked suddenly.
She glanced at him, restlessly. “I try not to.”
“What ever happened between you? Everyone spoke about you two as this super team but when I saw you both it seemed like you were at each other’s throat,” he said cautiously. “At least, you seemed, I don’t know, wary of him?”
She had a sudden flash of that moment; of her trying to save a girl whom everyone was convinced beyond saying…and Abe commanded her to stand down.
“You know how Hades can command any hellhound to do as he bids, like an Alpha does?” When Ben nodded, she had to take a moment to answer. “He did that to me and something inside of me broke.”
“But Hades commanded you at some point. What was different?” He asked softly.
“Because I wasn’t in love with Hades!” She exploded with a rush of emotion. “Because after he did it something inside of me kept revolting against him, in whatever way I could.”
Tears burned her eyes and Ben went comfort her but she shoved him back, angry. Angry he’d made her remember, angry she still hurt over it. She’d come to terms with Abe’s need to keep her from becoming like Andromeda. That he’d been afraid, that he hadn’t trusted her enough in the end. Yet that memory still hurt, like a knife to the heart.
Ben flinched back, looking away. “I shouldn’t have pried.”
“You asked…and I shouldn’t snarl at you for that. Look, he made me feel like I wasn’t his slave – even though, really, I was. My chain was just longer than most. Then when I needed him the most, his strength, him to believe in me, he yanked on that chain and made me come to heel. That broke that naïve girl in me. After that, so long as I was bound to someone, I’d never be free.”
He nodded mutely and, in his eyes, Fay saw understanding. Akin to Ryan ordering him to run her off the land, to hunt her. Only now she really understood why it tore at him so much, just how Abe’s betrayal had torn her up. They were both scarred. Hers had destroyed her relationship with Abe; his had severed whatever connection he had with the pack.
“You think Andromeda will free you?” He asked but there was no judgement in his eyes, only quiet curiosity.
Perhaps he hoped for freedom, too. Fay nodded.
“Honestly, if anyone can, I think she can. I may have been born a Hellhound but I don’t think I was ever meant to be a slave to anyone,” she confessed. “I just wish I understood what I am. I mean, I’ve never fit in anywhere; not as a human amongst wolves, and definitely not even as a hound. Maybe I didn’t try enough, not that it matters now.”
The meaning of her words sunk in. Ben reached for her and she didn’t flinch away when he gingerly touched her arm.
“Why doesn’t it matter?”
A smile stretched her mouth. “Let’s just say I’ve burnt my fair share of bridges but I’m good at that, you know? Destroying everything that was ever good in my life. Don’t listen to me, though. I’m just a little bitter and angry right now.”
He laughed, then rubbed his neck. “I don’t know about that. I’d say I did my share on ruining us. Well, I know Ryan did but I could’ve reached out once I left the pack. Tried to-“
“Fix things? I was so angry back then I wouldn’t have listen had you tried but you’re right. There’s one thing I didn’t ruin – even if it went up in flames in the end, like everything else,” she said with a low laugh. “Come on, let’s keep going.”
They set off again but the quiet between them was nice, easy even. Whatever anger and pain she had with Ben it was gone. Perhaps because she understood from her own experiences…She’d forgiven him and whilst she’d forgiven Abe, she doubted she could ever be his partner again. That, and there was the matter of him being bound to Amanda anyway. They’d been good for a time, great even, but it was like a bright candle that was eventually snuffed out.
She took several deep breaths and cleared her head, focusing instead on the forest. Her sharp sight pierced the shadow, pinned every tree and track every flash of movement. Nothing, of course, that seemed in any way threatening. Beside her, Ben mirrored, looking for just a split second, like Cerberus with his actions. She shook her head and looked ahead.
Slowly, she had a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, like she was being watched. Only, it felt nothing like Andromeda. She pulled up, just as Ben did, and they shared a knowing look. He’d sensed it, too and they turned around slowly, as his eyes bled to an icy blue. It was strange to see his eyes blue, instead of werewolf gold, but she decided she liked the blue better.
“I can’t see anything – can you?”
She let her second sight wash over her and the haze rose up from the ground. She saw no monsters.
“No but I can still feel something watching us,” she said and stepped up to the nearest tree, pressing her palm against it. As she did, a sharp bolt of pain rushed up her arm, hit her mind and she wrenched her hand back. “I don’t know what’s watching us but I don’t like it.”
“Run?”
“Yep.”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
