Chapter 72

Elika waited outside the door whilst Darkous stepped into the room where Michael was sleeping, nervously shuffling her feet and wringing her hands. She wasn’t sure what would come next, or what hades wanted with her, but she knew that it couldn’t be anything good. It never was.

Hades was a whole different kind of monster, and he was someone Elika would have to be very careful around, especially if she wanted to survive. And she wasn’t ready to die, not yet.

She wanted to live, especially now that she had an idea what that truly looked like.

Elika had a taste of freedom over the months of her escape, and she didn’t want to have to give that up. Not now. Not ever.

Hades was the one who invented the serum that kills immortals, so in a way, he’s also responsible for the deaths of her mother and Timmy. And many, many more.

He was the reason that Elika’s father feared Darkous, because no matter why Atlas through their way, Hades always came up with something that would be equally as destructive, sometimes more so.

He was dangerous, especially to her.

“Michael.” Darkous shouts, rousing his comrade from sleep. “Hades called, we have to go back, now.”

Elika hears a groan and a heavy sigh, wondering how on earth these men coped on such little amounts of sleep. She couldn’t even survive a day on five hours, let alone as little as they have.

But they were used to it, it was how they have lived for centuries, they’ve had no choice, war comes at all times of the day.

“I’ll be out in five minutes.” She hears Michael say, “Just going to jump in the shower to wake my eyes up.”

She watches as Darkous nods, leaving without another word and pushing past her. He was in a bad mood again, but she wasn’t sure why. Maybe he didn’t want her to go to Hades either. But she couldn’t be sure.

“Follow me.” He tells her harshly, his mechanical white eyes locked onto her face as she trembled a little.

It didn’t matter how strong she thinks she is, whenever he looks at her that way it sends tremors or terror down her spine, and her heart sinks into the bottom of her stomach. When he looks at her like that he isn’t joking, and defying him would mean pain, lots and lots of pain.

Elika rushes to catch up to him, silently following him down the hall and through a back door onto a small porch.

Confused, she stands just outside the door, not sure what he wants from her or where he wants her to go.

“I want you to use your power.” He says, turning to look at her with a scowl on his face. “I want you to take down that tree with your power.”

Elika takes a sharp breath, her hands sweating as she rubs them against her jeans. “I’m not sure that I can.” She murmurs.

She shouldn’t refuse him, she knows that she shouldn’t refuse him. But she wasn’t sure that she’d succeed, and she doesn’t want to destroy the entire house should she fail.

Her power was dangerous. She was dangerous, and no matter how much she wishes it wasn’t the case, she couldn’t change what she was.

Elika wished she was someone else too many times to count, she wished she was a mortal or maybe someone else’s daughter. She wanted to be anyone but who she was.

She hated herself, she hated her family, and most of all she hated the power that she couldn’t control.

“Do it, pup.” Darkous snaps, crossing his arms and moving to the side. “I will not ask you again.”

Elika steps forward, nervously walking around her uncle as she eyed the large oak tree that he wanted her to destroy.

“I’m not sure I can.” Elika says, her chest tight with panic.

“Elika. Concentrate.” He growls, stepping up close behind her, “if you fail, you go back to the cage.”

Elika’s head snapped around to look at him, her eyes wide, he promised her that if she obeyed, he would never put her back in that cage again.

But why was she trusting his word? Darkous hated her because of who she was, she was only here because he claimed her as his own. No matter what she does, he will always come for her.

He will always own her.

She had to succeed, she couldn’t go back in that cage, she’d rather be torn apart by wolves.

Elika stepped forward, trying to put some space between her and her uncle, and then she closed her eyes, calling upon the darkness inside of her. She grasped a hold of that darkness, and pulled it forward, forcing it to bend to her every whim, and then she forced it outward towards the tree, opening her eyes as a loud explosion sounded not far away from her.

Elika was knocked back a few steps, the tree had exploded in tiny specks of wood that scattered across the yard. She did it. She destroyed it.

Elika laughed a little, turning back to look at her uncle with a smile on her face, “I did it.” She said proudly.

Darkous turns to her slowly, his eyes a little wider than normal, “You did well, pup.” He grabs her wrist and hauls her back into the house, “Now we can show hades exactly what you are capable of.”

“Are we going to see Hades now?” Elika asks, almost running to keep up with Darkous.

“Yes, as soon as Michael is ready.” He confirms, pulling her into the living room/kitchen. “Get yourself a snack, using power depletes our bodies.”

Elika wasn’t sure that she was even hungry, but she obeyed him anyway and grabbed a banana from the side, biting into it as he watched her.

Perhaps he was wondering what he could do with her, or maybe how he could use her power for his own gain, but she didn’t like that idea.

She didn’t like the fact that he believed he owned her, because he didn’t, not really, she was just waiting for an opportunity to escape. And when that time came, she’d run and never look back.

Elika belonged to herself, not anyone else, and especially not her tyrant of an uncle.

She ate the entire banana and then leaned against the counter, watching as Darkous tapped away on his phone.

“What about Joey and Darren?” She asks, curious as to if they were just going to leave them behind.

Her uncle looked up from his phone, raising a single eyebrow, “I’ve informed them of our departure, they are going to meet us at Hades’ mansion in a few days, they still have jobs to do here in the mortal realm.”

Elika nods, curious to exactly what they were doing here in the first place, but she didn’t ask, she didn’t really need to. They found her and that was the end of that, her freedom had once again been taken from her, and her choices are also gone.

She is back to square one. Alone and trapped.

But it won’t be like that forever, Elika will make sure of that.

She’ll make sure that she tastes the air of freedom once more.