Chapter 6: Family ties
Sophie and I sat there even after the fire had stopped burning and the people had left. Argus, our eyes all over security guard was cleaning up the mess. He saw us easily with the eyes in the back of his neck but he let us be. Sophie and I were just sitting there watching the sun go down in the west. She was sitting up straight again and the tears had been wiped away. We were just sitting there in silence. I didn't know what to talk about nor did I feel the need to talk about anything. That might just be me though. I enjoyed the silence. I tried not to look at Sophie too much, I was afraid she would think I was staring. So I just looked up in the night sky. It was a clear one, many stars and not a cloud to be found.
"Angel..." The first word to be said in the last few hours came out of Sophie's mouth. I figured she wanted to go down and either go to bed or get something to eat. We didn't bother going to dinner. They decided to serve it right after we said goodbye to Grace. That kind of made us lose all kind of appetite. But it had been a while since then. It was almost ten PM now and even if we still didn't want to eat our stomachs wanted to. But this wasn't as simple as that. It was the question I had wanted to stop asking myself ever since I woke up. "What's happening tomorrow? I need to work and you have still got your job at Will's." She was right about that. We still had the apartment and the job. I had a life there. Could I live it with Colt inside my head? It was the current million dollar question.
"I know I do. I just don't know if I can still live that life like I used to." By the look on Sophie's face I could see she didn't agree. Maybe it was because she didn't think Colt could cause so much damage in the mortal world as I believed he could. Maybe I was overreacting, but could I take that chance?
"Nothing has changed you know? Not many of us get the chance to live a normal life but you and I are doing a good job. We got here for Grace's death but Ethan's gone and so is she. It's time for us to leave again." Sophie said. She had a point. We were living normal lives, really normal to be honest. Those Dracanae I encountered with Seth were the first monsters to try and kill me in quite some time. Maybe I shouldn't give up just yet, I could always return when needed.
"Why are you so determined to get me back to L.A anyway?" I had already made my decision but I was curious as to why she even cared. Of course I didn't think it was anything to be jumping around about. Maybe it was just to have someone there rather than especially me. I figured it had to be something like that.
"Well for one...shadow travel is a lot faster than any other way of travelling." A few answers had gone through my head but I hadn't figured she'd see me as a chauffeur of some kind. "That and...the last year has been pretty cool you know? Maybe we shouldn't end that only because of Colt. You shouldn't let him control your life and definitely not ours." She talked as if the two of us living in the same apartment had been so special but it really hadn't been. I usually kept myself away from her because I wanted to forget about her as much as I could, it didn't really work. But hearing her say that made me choose the stupid decision.
"So...we're not saying goodbye to the others?" I asked her. Sneaking out wasn't the nicest thing to do but what did the others expect? We weren't ones to stick around.
"Personally I'd rather just go." Sophie said and I kind of agreed. I didn't want to say my goodbye's to everyone and have them ask when I was coming back again and all that. And any way the both of us would return to camp in two weeks for the wedding. So I nodded, grabbed her hand and like that, we were gone.
The apartment was exactly the way we left it. The dishes had been done, the lights were off and the rooms had been tidied. It had been weird coming back to camp and now it was weird coming back here. Maybe I would always have that everywhere. I never really had a sense of belonging and maybe I would never have it. Maybe the sense of belonging didn't belong to me, wasn't that poetic?
Monday I spend at the apartment just sitting there listening to music hoping to find a solution to my problem. Was there a permanent solution? I doubted it now. I killed Colt in my mind and that only kept him at bay for a while. And now I couldn't do it again because There were no claimed Hypnos children any more. Who else could get me to sleep like they could? Ashlyn was a daughter of Morpheus, maybe she could do it. Her father was the god of dreams after all. Of course I mostly needed sleep not dreams. Was there any other way? Was there a mortal way of fixing this? I highly doubt it. Maybe there was but that would be risky and would probably result in me being locked away for a long long time. I didn't want that. And even if I did do that Colt would escape once the lights went out. There had to be a way though. Maybe the gods would help. Maybe Hades even though he seemed a bit of a fan of Colt. Maybe my own dad could help me but I doubted that. He seemed to be interested in testing me rather than helping me. I was running out of ideas when Sophie came back from work. It almost felt exactly the way it did before we went back to camp. Like it had been for a year without any change. But in my head I felt something changed, I felt him in there. I knew he was waiting for his moment to strike. The question was who was going to strike at. Sophie? The city? Camp? The world lay at his feet. It was a scary thought.
"Angel?" Sophie said after I walked out of my room and sat down on the couch. I had dinner before she came back and she was eating hers right now. It was nothing much, just some meat and vegetable that were in the freezer. I wasn't a great cook but I could do that much. I turned to Sophie and nodded. "Do you think I'll go to Elysium when I die?" That question came out of no where. I wondered why she would ask me that. How would I know if she deserved to go to Elysium I didn't even know her that well. Elysium was for heroes and the greatest people that walked this earth. How was I supposed to know if she would end up there? The thing that bothered me even more though was the reason why she would ask the question in general. As far as I knew nothing was going on, the chance of her getting killed now seemed slim. Why would she want to know about her afterlife when there was no reason why she would die any time soon. I didn't understand it but it disturbed me.
"I think so." I said truthfully. I had to think about it for a bit but I figured she deserved to go to Elysium. She had helped to stop Hyperion after all and that was a pretty big thing. That and I didn't believe she had ever done something really bad in her life so a major good versus no bad seemed like a ticket into Elysium to me. "We can't be sure though, not until you go in about 80 years." I said optimistically. I didn't believe any demigod had ever died of old age but hell we could dream.
"Yeah I guess so..." She said, she didn't sound as optimistic as I was. And that was quite rare as I wasn't known to be mister optimistic. I wondered if she knew something about her death. Was it close? Could that be? No, I wouldn't let that happen. I'd die if she could live. There were more people I would do that far. Luke could vouch for that. In the fight with Phthonos I caught an arrow for him. Even if I had died that day, I wouldn't have regretted it for one second. Of course Hades allowed me to live by saving my life. Not something you'd expect from a guy like him but hell I was happy I caught him in a good mood.
"Don't worry about it Sophie, you're more set than I am that's for sure." I said joking a bit. She just nodded and took a bite of her food. She seemed to be elsewhere with her thoughts. I decided to leave her alone by going to sleep. I was quite tired as it was and I needed to work in the morning. "I'm going to crash. Don't ponder on this too long okay?" I said as I walked towards the door of my bedroom. Sophie just nodded and took another bite. She probably didn't even hear what I say. For a second I wanted to make a joke by saying something stupid and hoping she'd nod but given how serious she seemed to think the matter was I decided against it in the end. I walked into my room, got changed into jogging trousers and a comfortable t-shirt and lay down in my bed. I closed my eyes and it wasn't long before I was in a deep sleep.
Ethan Raine woke up in his New York penthouse. It was dark out side, he went to sleep when it was dark. How long had he been asleep? What time was it, better yet what day was it? Ethan couldn't remember much any more. Ever since he got beat up at camp half-blood his memories had been a hazy mess. He checked his electric alarm clock. Tuesday 21st of July 2:30 AM. He had been asleep for 6 hours now. Last time he woke up he had taken some painkillers and went back now but now he was feeling a bit more active. He got out of his king sized bed and walked over to the door leading to his walk in closet. Most women want a closet like that so they can have a million pairs of shoes and a thousand pieces of clothing but Ethan had it for a whole other purpose. Inside was an arsenal of celestial bronze weapons made in all different styles. Swords made like weapons from the dark ages or feudal Japan. There was a sword made like a Gladius and one that was made like a scimitar. Other than that there were spears, bow and arrows and daggers. These weapons would be enough for an army and Ethan had mastered them all. It had cost him a lot though. The scars on his body proved that. Even though some had been gained while hunting demigods most were caused in his training. Ethan didn't care about the scars. They were proof of how strong he had become. When he looked in the mirror the scars didn't bother him but there was something else. He looked at himself and saw his own face black and blue. He had a black and his left cheek was swollen. His lip was cracked and he generally looked horrible. Ethan hated it. How could someone, a demigod of all things, have beaten him like this. It seemed impossible. Ethan picked up the celestial bronze Katana that was there and walked out towards the main room where he had set up a wooden dummy. With all his rage and fury he struck the dummy with the sword destroying it within seconds. The sword didn't have a scratch on it and he didn't even look tired but the dummy was wrecked. It's head had been destroyed and cut of and everywhere it had deep holed where the sword had hit it. Ethan was furious and he was going to let that rage flow very soon. And he knew his target, me.
I woke up sweaty and more tired than I was before. Sleep was really becoming a negative thing. Camp comes back into my life and I start dreaming about a demigod slasher. And Chiron still tried to advertise camp as 'the safe place'. The thing that bothered me was the reason why I was having these dreams. Ethan was still a threat but I figured he would lay low for a while, at least until his face had healed. Still my subconscious showed me Ethan. I wondered if he was more important than I thought he was. Sophie did say there were more things coming but I couldn't imagine Ethan being one of those things. He was a good fighter but a good demigod could defeat him. Technically I had although bashing his head in while I was pissed wasn't really me beating him. Rage pretty much screws up every line of thought but it does give you that little edge to beat someone to a pulp. Only thing was that it worked once but I doubted I would get him with another tantrum. So were my dreams telling me I should become stronger? How was I supposed to do that? I never felt this strong. I was fast, I was strong and I was pretty focused most of the time. I was even healthy which really was new to me. How could I possibly get stronger? That thought troubled me all night. When the sun started to rise I got out of my bed and walked to the bathroom. Leaning on the sink I looked at myself in the mirror and recognized my own face again. Dark rings started to form underneath my eyes and I seemed to be a bit paler. I had a bit of a tan because of the sun that always seemed to shine in LA but two days away from the heavy sunlight and my skin started to become pale again. I was far from hitting my lowest point but I was getting there. I threw some water on my face and walked to the kitchen. Usually I wasn't hungry in the morning and I wasn't really all that hungry now but I had to work in an hour or at least I hoped I did. I still didn't know if I had my job at Will's but I was going to show up and find out. So I spent the next half an hour waiting around before leaving for work as if I was still the same normal person I was before. But I had changed in those two days I left. I was now the same freak I was before living here. It wasn't really a nice feeling to have. Behind the wheel I was thinking of a way to keep him under control but just like last time I had no ideas.
I stopped my car in front of Will's with an expression that couldn't possibly be described as happy. It didn't really matter, I wouldn't have to fake a happy emotion until the costumers arrived and the store wasn't opening for ten minutes. Of course Will was already in, he usually arrived an hour or so before opening time. I walked to the side entrance and opened the door hoping Will wouldn't throw something at my head on arrival. Nothing was soaring through the air so I figured I was safe. "Will?" I asked. No answer. The store seemed deserted. There was a cold air there. A shiver went up my spine. What happened here? "Will?" I tried again. The feeling I had was hard to explain other than that I was creeped out. The store empty and felt cold but there was nothing weird about that. This had happened before but usually Will would answer after the second call. He was an older guy and his hearing wasn't all that good (he was actually deaf on one side) but he did react when called. Now there was nothing. "Will!" I was still calm but I yelled louder now. Why didn't he here me? For a moment I considered him not being here but that was impossible. He would never leave the side door open. He was many things but careless wasn't one of them. I walked further into the store hoping to spot him but the further I walked in the more I started to lose my cool. "Will!" I yelled louder and more hysterical. I turned right and I saw something near the counter. It looked like someone's foot. It couldn't be! "Will!" I yelled louder than before and very hysterical. I ran over behind the counter and there I saw him. He was on the ground and he wasn't breathing. Usually demigods aren't supposed to use cellphones. They're 'come eat us' flares for monsters and other nasties. But this was an emergency. Will's cellphone was on the counter, it was an old Nokia phone which was nothing like those fancy smart phones people had these days. Will said he needed one and that he would rather have a practical one rather than a popular one. I was happy with that right now. I never had a cell phone and I was an old fashioned teen. I had no idea how an Iphone or a Black Berry worked. The number I needed was probably the most called number in America.
"911 what's your emergency?" I heard the voice say on the other side of the line. It was exactly how you saw it in the movies. Of course none of the movies could ever capture the way it feels to call that number. My heart was pounding and I was going into shock. I couldn't keep my eyes off the lifeless body of my former boss. I knew he was dead, I had seen enough dead bodies to know. But I couldn't just leave him there.
"I need an ambulance." I gave them the address and the woman said there was one on the way. I had given the address and answered the woman's questions even though I answered vaguely. My mind wasn't really there. I had put down the cellphone and got closer to the body. Will looked old, I always knew he was old but seeing him like this I knew how he died. For once, it seemed to have been a peaceful death. That didn't really happen around me. Usually when someone I knew died they died a horrible death, but Will beat that streak. His skin wasn't warm but it wasn't ice cold yet. This hadn't happened long ago. It made me wonder if he could be reanimated or not. There had to be something the doctors could do. Will couldn't be gone!
I sat motionless in a plastic seat. I had been here for almost an hour. The waiting room was empty. People had come and gone. The last I heard Will was alive but that was an hour ago. They suspected it was an internal bleeding. They had gotten him conscious for a while but it wasn't long before he passed out again. At the time he was still alive but I had no idea how he was doing right now. The doctors had told me nothing at all. They said his family had been called and that they were on their way. I didn't even know he had family that the hospital could call. I didn't really know him all that well, I noticed that now. One of the ambulance crew asked me his name and I didn't know it, not fully anyway. It gave me a nauseous feeling. I said there wishing that demigods could use cellphones. I wished Sophie was there with me. She didn't know Will that well but I wouldn't have been sitting there alone. It would have helped, I thought it would anyway.
"Mr. Colt?" A nurse said to me. Being called Colt made me jump a bit but it was my official last name. I had given it in the ambulance but couldn't given Will's full name. I figured they had it by now, he must have carried identification or something. Will wasn't the kind of person that would leave it at home (unlike a certain someone in the waiting room...) I turned my attention to the nurse. I didn't answer but I figured she could see that I was listening. "The patient wants to see you." I got up lightning quick. If Will was awake it must mean he was getting better. Yet there was a sad look on the nurse's face.
"Is he well?" I asked her hoping to hear the word yes come out of her mouth. But instead there was only silence. The nurse had a sincere look on her face and looked down at the floor. It couldn't be a good sign. She was quite young (couldn't have been older than 23) so she wasn't very used to giving people bad news yet. And now she had to give me some. She looked up at me and sadly shook her head. I didn't mean to be rude but if it was bad I needed to get to Will as soon as possible. I walked right passed the nurse and into the room Will was laying in. He had always looked old (hell, he was old) but now he looked like the frail old man he always tried to prove he wasn't. He was wearing an oxygen mask and his breathing was heaving. I heard the heart monitor beeping with a steady rhythm.
"Michael..." He said weakly. I went closer to the bed to understand him, with the oxygen mask it was hard to. Will seemed to have picked up on that so he removed it. I was against it but he seemed to have something really important to say. "There's something I have to tell you, something that I should have told you a long time ago but I just didn't know how to bring it up." Will said. He reached into his pocket from underneath the cover and pulled out a folded up picture. He brought it back and gave it to me. His hands were shaking, he was getting weaker. In the picture there were two girls. The one on the left was younger than the other but you could see that they were siblings. Their faces were quite alike even though the girl on the left had straight blonde hair while the one on the right had curly brown hair. "Those two girls are my daughters. You might recognize the one on your left as your mother." Mom...I had seen her a year ago. She was dead but for a short time my father made her show a sign of life. It had been a tough but great moment. And she was Will's daughter. Making me his grandson. "She was only sixteen there."
"What about your other daughter?" I asked. I knew about my mother. I knew she was dead. I had found her lying in the bathtub with her wrists cut open. But if her sister was alive, I still had family left.
"She's alive. Her address is written on the back of the picture. They're good people. Her and your cousins too." I had cousins? How was this possible? How come no one ever showed up. My mom always convinced me that she had no family left. Why would she do that?
"Why did I never know about this? After she died...why didn't you try to find me?" I asked Will. I had to know the answer to that. If him or my mom's sister had taken me in maybe I would have been different. I might have lived a normal life instead of the mess I had.
"We didn't even know you were born. We got into a huge fight about a year after that picture was taken. She got acquainted with lord Erebus, your father. She was only seventeen and he was an immortal god. He may have appeared as little older but I knew who he was." Will only raised more questions. He knew about the gods? It made me wonder if he himself was a demigod but I doubted that. As far as I knew no demigod ever reached his age. "Of course she was stubborn. After I forbade her to see him again she left. We didn't learn of your existence until after the orphanage you grew up in was closed. We tried to track you down but failed at every turn. Until you just came walking into my store asking for a job." Will got tears into his eyes. "I need you to take care of them Michael. I know you're a demigod and I know you're stronger than they are. Please protect them." I had no chance to answer before the steady beeps turned into one annoying monotone sound which was probably the worst sound I had ever heard. Will's eyes closed and all the strength was removed from his muscles. Doctors and nurses rushed inside the room and I was pulled out. Five minutes after that the doctor noted the time of death. 11:12 am. I felt cold inside. The man I knew as my boss just told me he was his grandfather and that I still had family in this world. I didn't know what to with it. I was already outside of the hospital still holding the picture of my mother and her sister when they were young. My mother was only sixteen when the picture was taken and if she was still alive she would be 41. 25 years had passed since that picture was taken. I was wondering what my aunt would look like today. I know I shouldn't have, I should have forgotten about that day and just live my life still believing that I had no family, but curiosity got the better of me. I had to go there, I had to find these people.
I saw them sitting around the table crying. The woman had two children, a guy of about my age and a girl who was a year or two younger than we were. They were mourning obviously. Maybe I should have been doing the same. I had known him quite well and finding out he was my grandfather should have made him even more important. If he hadn't told me about him being my grandfather I would have been at home feeling sad but instead here I was stalking my possible family. I wasn't one hundred percent sure if they were. I mean who was I supposed to trust? A man on his death bed showing me a picture or my mom? It was quite a dilemma but my curiosity made me check it out. The woman looked like my mom or at least the way I imagined her in her forties. She had darker hair though. It was funny that my mom was blonde while my dad had pure black hair. I obviously looked more like my dad, I always knew that. Still I could see resemblances between me, the woman and her children. I watched the mourning family for gods know how long. I felt like a creep but it didn't matter. I watched either way wondering who these people were. For hours they sat at the table talking, probably about their lost father and grandfather. I wonder if the woman thought of my mother at that moment. She lost her sister years ago and now her father. Maybe she had forgotten all about her suicidal sister though, I couldn't look inside her head so I would never know. She was the only one that moved from the table every once in a while. I didn't know where she went but she always returned with something in her hands. Tea, cookies, soda, things like that. Her children didn't touch anything. All the girl did was cry while the guy just stared into the wall. I watch motionlessly until something happened. The girl burst into tears again, got up and left the room. The guy wanted to go after her but the mother stopped her. A second later I saw her walking out of the door. Like her mother she had long dark hair and brown eyes. She had a small frame, she was slender and at least a foot shorter than me. I knew for sure she was younger than me, I would guess her at about age 14, maybe 15 but I didn't think so. If I looked at the family we all looked a bit older than we were. Except for Will, he used to look quite well for his age. In that moment I wondered if there was going to be a funeral or something like that. If so I wanted to be there, I had to be there. I walked behind the girl wondering how I could find out when he would be buried. There had to be a way, it couldn't be all that tough. How many graveyards could there be in and around Los Angeles? The girl walked on without stopping a single second. I couldn't see but I was pretty sure tears were still running down her cheeks. I followed her which was easy given she couldn't see me. She just kept on walking with the belief that she was alone. I didn't watch her for one moment, one short moment I didn't keep an eye on her and that's when something happened, just my luck. In front of her appeared a Dracanae, just like the ones I had fought with Seth. These things seemed to be popping up everywhere. As soon as the girl saw the monster she flinched, screamed and ran for her life. Did she see this thing for what it truly was? Most mortals would see the monster as a normal human because of the mist but the girl knew this thing wasn't normal in any way. Once I saw the monster I had to come out of the shadows. When I moved out of the shadows my gloves power wore off and I was visible for the girl now. Out of my pocket I pulled my lighter and I turned the flint making the black Zippo grow into a celestial bronze sword.
"Stay back." I told the girl who seemed shocked because of my sudden appearance. I didn't couldn't really worry about that though, I had to worry about keeping her safe rather than her ideas on how I just suddenly got there. The Dracanae didn't seem to like me very much. For some reason I seemed to recognize her. Had I fought this one before.
"You!" She screamed. "I will kill you for what you did to me in my lunch room!" So I did know it. This was the one I killed last year in a lunch room I ate in with Luke and Max. That seemed a life time ago. Obviously it had been a life time for this thing. It had reformed and now it tried to kill the girl I was here to protect. Not a smart move. The thing was unarmed this time. Last time it had carried a spear which had actually been quite a bother at the time. It lunged at me trying to claw open my face but I dodged her attacks. It kept attacking trying to push me into a corner and it was working pretty good. I kept on dodging and going backwards until I was caught between the wall and a trash can. I had no where to go and the claw of the monster scraped my left arm leaving a deep bleeding cut. The quick shock of pain made me drop my sword and if I didn't improvise I was done for. Luckily I could think well on my feet. I picked up the lit of the trash can and threw it like a Frisbee towards the monsters eyes. It hit the target perfectly and the thing screeched and fell back. I picked up shadow edge from off the floor and sprinted towards the monster. It was still in horrible pain and it was open for an attack. In my sprint my sword acted strangely once again. It copied and like so many times before I was holding two identical copies of my sword, one in each hand. I didn't mind now, this thing had to die and whether that happened with one or two swords that didn't matter. Once I was in reach I attacked relentlessly and without a weapon or any sight the Dracanae was done for. The first few cuts connected before it disintegrated into dust. This was the second time I killed this particular Dracanae, felt pretty good. The monster was gone, now to deal with the 'where did you come from?' problem. I walked up to the girl while putting the swords back together simply by moving the blades near each other.
"Hi there." I said to her as if nothing had happened. I put away the sword now that it was a lighter again. Erebus had made that possible when he claimed me and I was pretty thankful for that. Like he had said it was a lot easier to carry now. When I thought about it I owed my dad quite a bit. Without him I wouldn't have survived my quest. He didn't have faith in me and he was right to. If it wasn't for his tests and his help I wouldn't have made it.
"You should have said that before you started stalking me, creep!" That was kind of harsh given I just saved her. And how did she know I had been stalking her? Of course I didn't see it as stalking at the time but I couldn't deny that that's what it was.
"I wasn't..." She didn't let me finish.
"Yeah yeah you just happened to be in the neighbourhood, I'm not falling for that." She definitely had attitude. "So what do you want?" Where had this world gone to? Back in the day you saved the damsel in distress and you were a hero. These days you did so and you were the criminal. It made no sense what so ever.
"I knew your grandfather. He asked me to protect you." I said. It was actually true. I just didn't tell her everything. I was better that I didn't. I couldn't just tell her I was her cousin or at least suspected that I was.
"So what's your name?" She asked me suspiciously. I wondered if Will ever said a thing about me to his family. I didn't think so as he didn't seem 100% sure about me being his grandson just yet. But maybe he told them he had an employee. I wouldn't know until I said about it.
"Michael." I still hated using it but I had to in the mortal world. "I worked for him." I said to her again I didn't lie, not really. I hoped that Will had said something about an employee named Michael. Else she was never going to believe me. Maybe she didn't even if he had. She was hard to read. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. She seemed to be thinking while staring into the sky. Her gaze sometimes switched to the wound I had on my shoulder which started to hurt more and more. Obviously I was out of adrenaline.
"Well come on then, we should bandage up that wound." She said. "I'm Sarah by the way, Sarah Colt."