Page 34 of Gods and Graves

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

EVERETT

“ R emember,” Athena says a short while later, as we all gather around her to be transported back to the safe house. Her unnervingly penetrating stare is fixed on Thea. “I put a bandage on the issue, but it’s fragile. You’re fragile. One more reaped soul will blow it open.”

She whirls to face the four of us surrounding her. “Do not kill anyone around her. I don’t know how the magic inside of her works—not yet, anyway—but I do know she will have no choice but to reap. She won’t be able to stop herself.”

I nod solemnly, as do my brothers. We will do whatever it takes to save Thea from herself.

The reaper absently twirls a strand of golden hair, her expression contemplative. “But aren’t we going to encounter a shit ton of souls in the Underworld? Should I be worried then?”

Athena’s lips twitch slightly before straightening out. “Those souls have already been reaped. They should be no problem for you.”

“Oh.” Thea’s shoulders sag in physical relief, and Zaid wraps an arm around her from the side, pulling her in close.

The sight makes my heart pound even faster.

I want to be the one to fucking comfort her.

God, what did this girl do to me?

“I’ll do some research here and will contact you once I discover something,” Athena continues.

Once, not if. I have to admire the goddess’s confidence. Then again, she is the Goddess of Wisdom. I imagine there’s very little she won’t be able to solve if she sets her mind to it.

And she’s highly motivated.

I find my gaze wandering towards the framed photo once more on her nightstand.

Once upon a time, she loved those five men fiercely and then lost them.

She probably hoped or believed they were safe in Elysium, but to know that they’ve been trapped in Thea’s dagger this entire time?

Slowly losing their minds? I can’t help but feel sympathy for the goddess.

Though she’ll probably smite me if she discovered the truth.

“Good luck, young reaper,” Athena says gravely. “I wish you well on your travels.”

Then she waves her hand in the air, and a white light engulfs us instantly. I squint, my eyes burning, and the cavern fades away, replaced by familiar furniture.

The safe house.

All of us release a collective breath, and Thea plops down on the couch, her head lolling back.

“We need to come up with a plan for tomorrow,” Zaid says, pacing.

He chews on his thumbnail, his dark gaze flicking between the four of us.

“Not right now.” Krystian moves towards the television—and the newest PlayStation underneath it. He grabs two controllers and returns to the couch, sitting beside Thea. “Right now, we’re going to play video games.”

Thea’s brows furrow adorably. “Video games?”

“You promised you’d play with me,” Krystian points out. “And there’s this new two-player action game I think you’ll really like.”

Thea seems uncertain, her gaze moving from the controller held out in front of her to our faces. When her eyes lock on mine, I try for a reassuring smile that probably makes me look like I’m seizing.

“I want to watch,” I say simply, moving to sit on her other side.

We’re so close that I can feel each graze of her thigh against my own, the heat her body emits almost palpable. It warms me from the inside out.

“I guess we can use a break,” Zaid says, attempting to smile for Thea’s sake.

But I can tell my brother is still stressed, still worried about tomorrow and what the future will hold.

Rafe simply positions himself against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed on the screen. After a moment, Zaid claims the armchair.

An hour later, Thea and Krystian are attempting to take on a horde of zombies, their combined laughter filling the room. I’ve left for a short while to make some homemade pizzas, and the evidence of my hard work lies scattered on the coffee table, nothing but crust and crumbs.

“Push X,” Krystian instructs as he slices at the zombie with his sword.

“I am pushing X,” Thea insists.

On screen, her character crouches, rises, crouches, rises, and then crouches again.

“That’s O.”

“Oh…okay.” Thea begins pushing more buttons, and her character walks repeatedly into a wall.

A zombie sneaks up behind her, and Krystian stealthily kills it.

“What the fuck are you doing, love?” Krystian chuckles.

“I don’t know!” Thea’s tongue sticks out of her mouth in concentration as she wiggles the joystick, causing her character to turn in a circle.

Two zombies burst out of the house she’s in front of and advance on her.

“Krystian! Help! I’m under attack!” She pushes more buttons, and her gun appears in her hand. Then it disappears, replaced by a stick. Then that disappears as well, and she begins karate chopping the zombies. “Am I doing it? Am I killing them?”

“Yes, sweetheart. You’re killing them,” Zaid says from the armchair, laughter evident in his voice.

And that may be true, but they’re also simultaneously killing her. Her character falls to the floor, dead.

“I broke the game,” she deadpans, frowning.

Krystian laughs. “You can’t break the game.”

“I just did.”

“Push X to respawn,” Zaid tells her.

Thea pushes a button at random.

“That’s O,” Rafe murmurs from his spot against the wall.

Krystian leans towards her to press the correct button, and then her character reappears on the screen, though a far distance away from Krystian’s.

“Where did all my supplies go?” She stares at Krystian incredulously.

“When you died, they died with you. Now come on. Start collecting loot. I’ll meet up with you. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take on the zombies in the north sector next,” Krystian says.

“Aren’t they the hardest enemies?”

Krystian arches a brow. “Will that be a problem?”

Thea’s face scrunches in fierce determination, and she narrows her eyes at the screen. “Bring it on, bitches.”

I settle back against the couch, a tentative smile on my face. My eyes drift shut as Thea’s laughter swirls in the air around me. I’ve never noticed it before. Not like this—the way it fills the space. The warmth of it.

I fade away with Thea’s name on my lips.

“Again,” Cerberus growls, his deep voice vibrating through the air.

He’s in his shifted form, and he’s a terrifying sight to behold. His three heads—each with a varying expression ranging from stern, to calculating, to angry—stare down at me from above. His numerous eyes are relentless, his presence suffocating.

“Focus,” one head snaps.

“You’re not trying hard enough,” another bites out.

I raise my fists to block the next strike, but I mess up. I don’t even know what happened. One second, I’m peering up at his three snarling faces, and the next, I’m sprawled on the ground, my knees scraped and bloodied and the taste of dirt filling my mouth.

“Pathetic,” a head snarls.

I push myself to my feet, glaring at the ground as my hands tremble.

Cerberus—I stopped calling him Father a year ago, when a training session left me with bruised ribs and a broken wrist—has made it clear that he thinks the gods made a mistake.

I’m weak, according to him.

A failure.

It’s why Hades didn’t choose me as a member of his team.

“Again,” Cerberus’s center head barks, his tone like stone. “You don’t stop until you do it right.”

My head aches, but I know complaining will only get me lashes across the back.

I try again, forcing my body to move, but I’m not fast enough. Not strong enough. Not fucking good enough.

Then, without warning, the air shifts. A chill careens down my spine, and the ground under my feet seems to tremble with unencumbered power. A shadow falls over me, and I hesitantly look up.

The sight of him… It shakes me. His presence is so overwhelming and domineering that my chest tightens. He’s tall, his form draped in shadows, his handsome features sharp and unyielding. His eyes burn like hellfire, molten and intense.

Hades.

I know it’s him, even before Cerberus’s heads turn in unison, his demeanor shifting. One head dips in submission, while the others grow still. And I realize then that my father—this terrifying, monstrous being—is not the ultimate authority. Not truly. There’s someone far more powerful out there.

Someone like this god.

“Leave the boy,” Hades drawls lazily, waving a hand in my direction. “We have much to discuss.”

I glance up at my father, my heart hammering in the general vicinity of my throat.

Cerberus has never allowed us to end a training session early. He has made me fight with broken bones and bruises and gaping wounds.

But no one can say no to Hades, not even my father.

“Understood.” Then, without another word to me, he turns and follows Hades, leaving me alone and confused.

I stagger the rest of the way to my feet, trying to catch my breath.

My father never gave me comfort before. He didn’t hold me when I fell or praise me when I did something right. All I ever saw in him was that cold, indifferent face he wore like a mask. My entire life, I thought he was the biggest, baddest monster of them all. That he was invincible.

But there’s something out there much, much worse.

The raw power Hades exuded…

The malevolent glint in those inhuman eyes…

The darkness he seemed to wear like a cloak…

He wasn’t a man who simply lived in the shadows; he commanded them.

It makes sense that Hades’s right-hand man would grow to be just as cold, just as angry.

I pray I won’t end up like them.

That eternity won’t wither away my softness the way it did theirs.

Swallowing heavily, I move my fists into position again. Cerberus may not be here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t train.

I need to be the best, and to do that, I need to practice.

So I do it alone.

I wake with something soft wrapped around me, cocooning me in warmth.

I blink groggily, wondering which of my brothers placed a blanket on me. But then someone shifts beside me, and I know it wasn’t any of them.

It was Thea.

Beautiful, irritating Thea.

There’s something about her that hits me like a soft wind. It doesn’t blow me off my feet, but it’s a constant presence, a perpetual awareness I feel in the marrow of my bones. She has slowly and surely slipped past my defenses one witty retort or innate rambling at a time.

She sits beside me now, her legs curled up beneath her.

Her expression as she gazes at me is soft and tender.

I could stare at her like this for hours, taking in every diminutive detail I’ve never noticed before.

Like the darker streaks in her blonde hair.

Or the way her perfect nose is slightly turned up at the tip.

Or the pink flush on her cheeks. Or the way her lips part just slightly…

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare at you like such a creeper,” she says when our eyes clash.

Most girls would be embarrassed at being caught watching me sleep, but not Thea.

“It’s okay,” I grumble, sitting upright.

The television is off, and the room is dark. Farther down the hall, I can hear the steady snores of most of my brothers.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Not too long. We stopped playing shortly after you fell asleep. And I was going to wake you, but you just looked so peaceful…” She absently runs her fingers over the blanket surrounding her. “Well, you needed your sleep. You’re always grumpy without it.”

I smirk and roll out my neck, trying to alleviate the stiffness there. “I’m grumpy with it.”

“So I just can’t win, can I?” Her eyes sparkle impishly, then dim, turning subdued.

She focuses once more on the blanket. “Are you anxious about seeing your father again tomorrow?” She risks peeking up at me through her fringe of sooty lashes, gauging my reaction.

“I have a feeling—based on your reaction to hearing his name—that you two don’t get along well. ”

The part of me that pushed people away my entire life wants to snap at her to mind her own business.

But I’m done hiding. Done building up impenetrable walls.

“It’s hard,” I admit. “He was always tough on me. Never thought I was good enough.”

I glance away, unable to bear seeing the emotions in her eyes. I don’t want her to pity me. I would fucking die before I allowed that to happen.

“He knew from my birth that I was fated to join Ares’s team, and he was pissed. He didn’t understand why Ares chose me and not Hades, his boss. I feel like, because of that, he thought I wasn’t good enough. Like, if Hades didn’t pick me, there was obviously a reason.”

Fuck, I’m saying too much. These are words I’ve never spoken out loud—not to anyone, not even my brothers—but I can’t stop the verbal freight train now that it’s left the station.

“You don’t have to visit him if you don’t want to.” Thea leans towards me, her expression open and earnest. “We can find another way. We can…”

Her breath hitches, and she drops her gaze to her hand—which is held in mine now.

I rub my thumb over her knuckles absently, focusing on the sensation of her hand in mine and the current of electricity rippling between us.

“I thought you hated me,” she whispers, her voice trembling slightly.

I swallow. “I’ve never hated you. Maybe, at first, I didn’t trust you, but can you blame me?

You materialized out of thin air and started spewing crazy-ass shit.

But even then, I didn’t hate you. How could I?

You’re warm and vibrant and real…” I look away, my throat clogged.

“I admit, when I first met you, I tried to push you away. I don’t want to say I was afraid, because I wasn’t, but?—”

“You totally were afraid.” Thea’s brows lift in surprise. “But why? Did you think I would hurt you or the team?”

Yes, but not in the way she seems to believe. Not physically.

We’ve all been alone for so long, only having each other, that the thought of someone infiltrating our group terrified me. But I’ve been fighting against myself for too damn long. Fighting the way I feel when she’s around. Fighting the way she makes me think of things I’ve never considered before.

“I’m done fighting,” I say.

Done being afraid.

Before I even realize what I’m doing, I lean forward and kiss her.

And it feels inherently right—the quiet storm between us finally stilling.