Chapter 9:

King Romptus received word from his guardsmen that villagers were at his doorstep, eager to have his attention. Not bothering for another thought, he accepted, brining in common villagers. What was so important that these villagers would come directly to the King for? Another ordeal with the gods?

One man by the name of Adelio told him about this 'miracle child' that had healing powers like no other. She had the power to heal others with the slightest effort. The other villagers supported the request by mentioning her strange clothes, strange voice, and the strange ways of this ocean healer.

They also mentioned her beauty.

Which is one thing they mentioned more than anything else, in fact.

How her teeth were so perfect that a man who do anything in his power to make her smile each day. Her hair so magnificent that it was almost like a halo of her purity surrounded her face. Then her eyes were so dazzling, a man would think it was fashioned from the stars. Her face was so perfect that all the women in the land would gawk in shame. Her skin as soft as a rose petal.

But the power of being healed caught the King's ears, because it was in his thoughts that he didn't want to die.

He wished to stay with his son longer, for soon he would die.

Persuaded by the idea of being free from his illness, King Romptus granted their wish by having an audience with Zeus.

Being lead to the alter in his palace, he called forth Zeus.

Your POV:

I was still in some shock after what happened, and the thought of being kidnapped by the real god Hades was stuck in my mind. It was him. It was really him. But since he was a god, what would he want with me? With his status and all, I thought he would have everything in the world. So what kind of mystery did this guy have?

But he was still the god of the underworld, so there was a chance that he wanted to kill me. What did I ever do to him? But the thought of sitting next to the grim reaper himself set my teeth on edge. I needed to get away from this man, even if it meant trying to run. Outrun death.

Which seemed impossible.

"So tell me Princess. Or ocean healer. Whoever you are. I don't care. What deal do you have with Zeus?" his voice was drowned in hate.

"Deal?"

"Don't test me! What sweet reward did he promise you? Immortality? All the riches of the world? The perfect reflection of the female fantasy?"

That last one made me blush. But I shook my head.

"I've never met Zeus before. I didn't know that he or the other kids existed. I was, like, stoked when I met you. So don't ask me anything. Can I ask you a question?"

"No. But I will tell you this. You shall remain with me for so long as you are here. Not as an advisor or a healer to my own benefits, but as bait."

"What!"

"I don't know how I could've made it any simpler-"

"Oh to hell with that!" I screamed," I am soooo done with this crap! Where's my bag! I'm going to walk away and pretend your invisible! Then I'm going back home, watch an episode of Jerry Springer, and hit the sack!"

I got up, didn't find my bag, but walked away in another direction. But I didn't walk very far since the man appeared right infront of me. I shrieked, jumped and stumbled back.

"Dude! You've got to stop with disappear and reappear in the black smoke crap! I thought it was totally psychedelic when you did it the first time, but now it's annoying the hell out of me!"

His hand caught my throat and squeezed. I was in trouble, so I dared not move. His face moved in, and seethed, almost whispered his warning.

"You will go nowhere…"

His hand was choking me, I began to claw the air, as he lifted me from the ground. But he did not let go, but wrapped me in his arms. He could snap me in half if he could!

"Did you not hear me when I saw that I am Hades? With poison at my fingertips, I could kill you, mortal!"

I gained back my breathe, and nodded.

"But I will not. You need to live. But for now, I must hide you. Zeus will never stop hunting you, nor the other gods. Their greed in insatiable…"

Softly, but surely, we were lifted off the ground. There was no way of escape now, but I was freaking out!

"Oh dear lord!" I screamed as I clutched onto Hades tighter looking down," Oh god! Oh god! I'm not good at flying!"

"Silence!" he hollered.

"I'm serious! If I didn't pass out when you kidnapped me, I would've thrown up 3 days worth of food and macaroni!"

"Mortal!" he hollered again, more angrier.

"Seriously! The last time I flew my mom had to shove pills down my throat when she couldn't get me to-"

He flew higher! And I clawed his arms!

"Too high! I'm going to have a heart attack!"

"Heart attack?" he asked.

"I think I'm going to throw up… Watch out! I feel this morning's breakfast!"

With that being said, he immediately set me on the ground, and I was thankful. I laid on my stomach, trying to catch my breath. Little bit of tears came to my eyes, and I felt like a lame loser!

"Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn."

"Why do you repeat that?" he asked.

"BECAUSE THIS IS BULLSHIT!"

I slammed my head on the ground.

"My life wasn't suppose to be like this! I was just suppose to live a normal life! Oh the humanity!"

Hades sighed, as he just stood there looking down at me.

"Very well. We shall take my chariot. But hold on…"

As soon I was done wallowing with my face in the dirt, Hades lifted me up, and we flew across the country in his chariot that could defy all physics! My fear of heights was still there, but I didn't want to complain to this man. Let alone a god. By the look on his face, he wasn't a man to cross.

I was definitely more safe, but scared. There were these monster dragon things that lead the chariot, and I was surprised that Hades had mastered them instead of them eating me alive when they should have. Was Hades really that scary?

I held on tighter to the rails, and tried not to think about it. But as soon as we took off, we landed. That wasn't so bad. When I got off his chariot, we were somewhere at the mouth of a mountain. Absolutely nowhere near the ocean. The sight was magnificent though. Clean wide open spaces.

Hades got off his chariot and whispered something to these dark-winged creatures, and the creatures looked as if they understood..

"My beasts will look after you whilst I am gone. If you run, they will hunt you down and bring you back. If you stay put, they will not harm you."

"Where are you going?" I asked, keeping an eye on those dragon things.

Hades looked up to the sky.

"I am going to Olympus to spy on my brothers and the others, to make definite sure they will never find you…" he looked back at me," You are bait. So start acting like bait!"

With that, he floated up, rolled inside out into a dark winged bird flying up to the skies. A rooster tail of darkness followed behind him, and I couldn't see him anymore. He was gone. I looked back at the dragons, hoping there would be no trouble. I wouldn't want to be eaten by them.

1 Hour Later

"It's called bubble gum you dumbass!" I yelled at the dragon monster, as I slapped his head away from my back pocket.

"Quit sniffin' my ass!"

For awhile I was bored out of my mind, but then the winged monster started to sniff my back pocket. At first I thought he was getting frisky, but when I finally investigated. I pulled out bubble gum. It was grape flavored, and I decided to pop one in my mouth for the hell of it. (That's what she said.) And as time passed the winged creatures got curious.

"What'd ya want?" I asked, looking back at it.

It was almost like a big cow, pushy and curious, and almost annoying. Finally after awhile, I began to talk to the two winged creatures.

"Ok. Ok. Ok. Don't eat me. Nice dragon… Nice dragon… Just keep your cool and we'll get along juuuust fine."

I had the chance to examine the dragon up close. It's skin was tough and dark, almost like lava rock. But at the same time, it had that softness and warmth that a powerful fire-breathing beast should have.

It was the amazing thing I had ever seen. I wish I had one! Then I wanted to do a little experiment.

"Guys want one?"

I took out two slips of gum and allowed the winged creatures to sniff it. I know I shouldn't feed it, but Hades wasn't here. I know that he'll be pissed off if he knew what I was going to do.

"It's not going to hurt you. It's almost like food, but you don't chew it," I looked around for anyone feeling naughty and mischievous," And I know that you're not going to tell annnnnnybody…"

Almost like feeding a horse, the winged creatures ate the gum, and to my surprise, they began to chew it. Almost like gnawing, but they chewed it with their front teeth, and I was almost chuckling. Suddenly, without warning, the winged creatures bowed down, folded their arms and legs and fell asleep. Their stomachs hit the dirt with a pound and immediately began to snore.

"Ok…"

With this unbelievably lucky chance… I ran away! I stumbled down the steep mountain, trying to get away before the creatures woke up again. Hades is going to hate me.

I didn't care of Hades found me, I just wanted to get out of here! I still had to find a way to go home, but maybe fate will be kind and send me home as I wished. So… it's been hours, but the night fell over the blue sky, bringing out the stars, and it was really cold. To my chance, I saw torches lit out in an open field. Was it a celebration?

With my hopes of not running into hungry crazy cannibals who wonder the hills stealing young women away to drink their blood, I made my way to the lit torches.

The lit torches made a large circle that surrounded fireplaces. I hoped it was another village that I could get help from, but that didn't happen. As I wandered into a camp. But not just any camp. It was a soldier camp.

Crap!

"Oh, that was a bad idea…" I said to myself, as I began to quickly walk away.

"Halt! Who goes there!"

Then I stopped short and turned around. There was a man with a sword in his hand, holding up a torch. He was looking straight at me. When he hollered, more men came out of their tents with weapons, ready to fight something fierce. When the men saw me, it was a false alarm.

"Halt! Who are you? What do you want?"

"She's a spy from the South!"

"Why send a beautiful young woman?"

"A temptress of course! What else!"

"Come forth. What be your name?" a man asked.

This man looked like he was the leader of the whole operation. He had a mean expression on his face and more than that, he kept looking at me up and down. These men had one thing on their minds.

These guys were hostile! I better stick to the truth.

"My name's Evey…"

"Well, Evey, come with us…!"

"What for!" I asked.

"Interrogation…!" yelled the man, as he grabbed my arm. With a snarky smile and a very bad glint in his eye. Oh, gross!

"Wait!" a man yelled from the back of the crowd.

A tall handsome man came forward, wearing heavy armor with sharp blue eyes and golden blonde hair. The man came up to me, grabbed my chin, looking at both sides of my face, and looked deep into my eyes.

"You are the ocean healer I've heard so much about?"

Oh thank god! I sighed.

"Yea, I am. The village next to the ocean?"

"Yes, you are her!"

He picked up my hand and turned towards the men, with a proud and fierce look on his face.

"The stories are true! Look at her! It truly is her! This here is the 'miracle child' Evey we have heard so much about! The god Poseidon has blessed us with this fine beauty! An ocean healer! We are saved!"

The men whispered then erupted in cheers! Their swords and torches lifted high into the air, bellowing their war cries!

"What, what am I saving you from?" I asked

"From death itself. Many of our soldiers were wounded in battle, but now that you are here, you must help save our men!"

Aric lead me away from his men who were overjoyed that I was here, but lead me to his tent. There were furs and maps and weapons everywhere. He seemed to be a busy man. He put his sword away.

"Wait, what?"

"Hush, now, beauty…" he examined me closely," I am Aric, leader and commander of this army…"

"So how can I help? I mean, when do I start?"

"Tomorrow. You will help us with this war… Now that we have you as a secret weapon against the enemy. We will be victorious. But I need your agreement, will you help us, ocean healer?"

I nodded.

"So do you want me to work now?"

"Tomorrow, but for now…" he whispered, coming in closer, still holding my face with both hands," But for now…"

"What…?" I whispered, slowly expecting him to kiss me.

"When Zeus….created you…my beauty… I know….he was showing off…" he whispered.

I blushed and giggled. He pushed his blonde hair back, and he looked at my closely. There was a lot of butterflies in my stomach. His head looking at each side of my face, his blue eyes wandering around, and my face slowly turned red.

"What?" I finally asked.

"My life is so sad and lonely," he whispered, coming close to my lips.

"Why…?" I asked softly, as he felt his hand go up my arm to my shoulder.

He was gorgeous and I felt my toes curl up and melt.

"Because your not in it…."

He smiled.