Page 26 of Immortal Sun (Dark Olympus)

CHAPTER 26

CLEO

“Keep away from trouble and sing to it.” –Egyptian Proverb

I ’m so frustrated and annoyed that I want to scream, and I do, into my pillow over and over again until Bast, still in massive panther form, plops down onto the bed next to me and starts licking my arm.

“Everything okay in there?” Kratos’s voice sounds.

“Go to hell!” I shriek.

He chuckles. “Looks like you’ve already set up a tent, so I think I’ll just stay in this realm.”

“Realm,” I repeat, then flop onto my back and stare up at the cave ceiling, wishing I could just fight my way out of here.

Bast jumps from his spot on my bed and runs toward the mouth of the cave then starts hissing like a madwoman. Madman?

“New clothes are here along with dinner. Can you get Bast to back off, so he doesn’t bite my head off?”

I frown and sit up. “I thought you were all-powerful. Why would he bite you?”

Kratos is standing at the entrance with a tray in one hand and clothes draped over his other arm. His helmet’s gone as are his daggers, which is weird because I could have sworn they were just in his hands minutes before I screamed.

“You love reading,” he says dumbly over the hissing. “And your brother works on all types of mythologies, plus you just met Ra himself and you still don’t know who this little panther is?”

“Little?” I point at Bast.

Kratos laughs. “Fair.” He shrugs. “Just get her to back off, nobody wants an actual Egyptian goddess of protection biting their dick off.”

“I was right!”

“Do you need a gold star or…?”

I roll my eyes. “I figured it was her I just wasn’t sure. I did wonder though, because, well, when she was a cat, she was very obviously...uh. Male. But now she’s a...she?”

Kratos smirks. “Why would a powerful god feel the need to be limited to either male or female?” She likes you.” He sighs. “Also, she’s like a raccoon, likes pretty things.”

Bast hisses.

He holds up his hands. “But seriously, tell her to back off.”

Kratos walks through the entrance and sets my food on one of the tables along with my clothes. He’s suddenly back in his full armor, maybe because Bast looks like she needs a snack.

I frown. “Your armor seems too cheerful for your personality.”

He hesitates, his hands shake lightly at his sides before he turns to me and crosses his arms. “I’m guarding you, not talking about the gods or my armor with you.”

“I’m dying soon, it’s the least you can do.”

He sighs and looks heavenward. “I loathe the chatty ones.”

“Probably because you grunt more than you talk from what I’ve seen.”

“Untrue!” He points a finger at me.

“You’ve been grunting while standing at the cliff for the last two hours, like you’re having a conversation with yourself or something!

“Stop talking!” he yells as lightning flashes across the sky. His white eyes reflect that same lightning, and then it starts to rain.

Panic seizes me until I can’t breathe.

I’m alone in a cave with a giant cat, and what looks like Kratos a God of War, at least so he claims even though he looks nothing like him. And I can’t breathe.

“Shit. Why did I say I would go the first night?” he mutters under his breath before stomping over to me.

Bast hisses again.

Kratos waves his hand over the feline and snaps his fingers. Bast yawns and then falls asleep. Why didn’t he do that before then?

“Because it’s a waste of power,” Kratos says, answering my thoughts and then sitting on my bed.

I don’t realize I’m shaking until he slowly reaches for my hand and grasps it, squeezing it tight before singling out my forefinger and very slowly lifting my arm toward the sky in front of us.

Something buzzes through me like electricity, and then he flicks my finger forward and lightning strikes the small island, tossing a tree into the water.

I attempt to jerk away from him, but he does it again, and again, and again, until I’m exhausted.

“Sometimes…” Kratos’s voice is low, raspy; it’s almost soothing. “We’re afraid, not because of what we face. We’re afraid that if we do finally face it, we’ll be disappointed. Sometimes people hold onto their fears too because it’s all they have to cling to.”

He turns to me. His jaw’s sharp, beautiful, his reddish hair falls down his back, nearly halfway to his waist. “I used to be petrified of the lightning.”

“Wh-what?” This makes zero sense.

He chuckles. “Because it always precedes thunder, and which do you think is more powerful to a small child?”

I swallow the thickness in my throat. “The one that hurts the most.”

“But I learned later on that I was gifted with both; my parents just wanted me to control one thing at a time before I could control what could destroy worlds.”

“And you did, right?” I ask suddenly curious. “Learn to control it?”

His smile is sad, he looks away, down at his black and red clad legs. I can see now that in the moonlight it looked more like armor than leather but sitting next to me it’s almost like hard leather strapped tightly around him.

His hands shake as he presses them together. “I learned that gifts are a curse, and curses are gifts.”

He stands and turns. “Face your fears, Cleo. I’m going to go grunt by the wall now just to annoy you.”

“Wait!” I reach for his hand and grip.

My palms buzz the instant we touch.

Weird.

Maybe it’s his power?

“If Enki is some Sumerian god, then you’re who?”

I’m afraid of his answer is so many ways.

“Kratos, Greek mythology, I keep the world alive and running. My purpose.” His eyes are kind. “Is humanity. I help keep the balance in my own way. I failed my trials, I asked for too much, sought too much, and now I stay here and keep the immortals here in Deer Harbor as sane as I can and oh yeah, I’m a contractor, super good with nails.” He winks.

I scramble out of bed and suddenly realize I’m naked from the waist down and grab a sheet, wrapping it around me and follow his surly figure as he stomps out of the cave.

I’m hit with an invisible wall the minute he passes through.

“Wait!” I say again. “I just want to know what I’m dealing with here. Who are the remaining gods?”

He looks over his shoulder. His daggers are back in hand, his helmet is back on his head, and he looks so menacing I take a step back.

“Write the names, you’re running out of time.” He lowers his head. “We all are.”

“For my sacrifice?” Maybe if I keep asking questions, he’ll get so annoyed he’ll answer.

“No.” He leans against the wall. “For Ra. If you don’t, he’ll be trapped here and where would you be without the sun?”

My mind spins. “Is it soon?”

“You’ll be dead, why do you care?” He shrugs. “And your precious brother won’t live to see the day, but yes, it is coming, it’s always coming. Nighttime, always comes.”

I’m given his back seconds later. But he does flick the sky and then twist his fingers like he’s pulling it toward him.

It’s like the sky is his iPad as he swipes across it like it’s nothing, and then rubs the clouds away.

He gives me nothing but shining stars.

“Thank you.”

“I was bored.” His response. “And don’t for one second think we’re friends. I help keep the balance between immortals and humans now, remember?”

I want to ask more questions.

He’s quiet, though, and he stops answering.

I’m so confused.

I change into the silky black pajamas that Kratos left for me and reach for the book with shaking hands.

The quill is in my right hand, the book in my left.

With a deep breath I open it.

And the first name I see.

Is my mom’s.