by Dee King
“My first job has always been to protect my sister. It always will be.” Colin comes to my side, moving past Sebastian, hugging me, catching me off guard.
“Thank you? I think.” I hug him back.
“Selene, you’re a fighter, but you don’t know this side of our father. I won’t let them take you away from me; not again.” He whispers in my ear, hugging me.
I will not hide my face, I will not fall from this grace, I will hold strong. With my brother and my husband by my side; making me feel like I’m the goddess I was born to be. A smile spreads across our faces. We were ready for them. This time I was prepared. This time they would be the ones begging for mercy. This time there would be no way they would win. This time the children they had known had now become the gods and goddess that they would fear. We stand together facing the ocean. Ready for what was coming. Hand in hand, between my brother and husband, standing as proud as we ever had.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
In the face of danger, we find out what we’re made of…
The waves crashing hard on the shore, the sun now hiding behind the ominous clouds, you could feel it coming. The wrath of two people very scorned by someone they had loved. They were going to be quick, they were going to be fast, and they were going to meet their match. My charm bracelet begins to pull my hand toward the ocean. I pull myself back and Colin holds my hand tighter. Thunder coming from all angles, rain begins to beat down on the shore. Not one of us move. We were the calm.
“Where I say move you move!” Zack yells out at us, bending down looking at me.
“Left!” He shouts and we all step together moving one step to our left.
A lightning bolt hits beside Zack, making a beautiful glass sculpture rise above the sand.
“Right!” He screams out as we go back to where we were standing.
“Back!” He gives us every direction of where bolts of lightning are about to hit.
“Forward!” We march forward, now arm in arm.
“Stop!” Zack shouts.
We all face forward staring out into the water. There was my father, walking straight towards us, on top of the water. The waves pushing to the side as he steps one step at a time until he is walking on sand. Strong, bold, and scary as hell was walking towards us. Colin pushes me back a little with his arm. Sebastian moves forward, pushing me even farther back. I can hear Zack pulling back the arrow on his bow.
“I see we have come to a crossroads.” My father’s voice bellowing.
“No crossroads, father, we have come to the end.” Colin replies.
“You have chosen the wrong side my son.” My father shaking his head in disagreement.
“You’re wrong. You know this is wrong. Stop all this before something happens that you will regret.” I push past Sebastian and Colin.
“There you are…” My father walks closer to me.
“If you will just listen to me, Selene, you will see that your mother and I are doing what’s best for everyone.”
“Do you even hear yourself? Is this even you or is this her? You’re just another puppet all while she keeps pulling the strings. She’s been the master-mind of this before you probably even had a clue. She’s been playing you as long if not longer than she did Zeus.” Turning sharply, pointing to Hera who now stood directly behind me.
Everyone steps closer together facing my mother. When push comes to shove, she was the one they feared the most. She had the most powerful tool ever made, and she wasn’t afraid to use it just as Zeus had. No fear. No fear. I say in my head loudly to the ones I now called family.
They hear me, as Zack now aims the arrow at Hera’s heart. It was a kill shot.
“Selene, my darling, this is all for you.” She points around with the lightning bolt, making Iris duck down.
“Stop. Just stop this. I didn’t want any of this. You used me, you have used every single one of us. But you used me as a pawn to get what you want, but that ends now.” My voice loud and clear.
“Oh, but it is what you want… You wanted to fight me, you want to take all that pent-up anger in your little heart and you want to make me pay for all the wrong you think that’s been done to you. You see, I know you better than you think.”
My anger is building as the waves start crashing all around us. Sebastian’s hand begins glowing as he holds a fire ball within it. Colin’s trident appears to his side. As I search for mine, nothing comes.
“You aren’t meant to be the goddess you believe, not quite yet. You’re a goddess, but it’s just not what the worlds need right now. You will see all in good time that everything was done for you. For this moment. We may be binding your powers, but you are no match for me. I don’t want to fight you, Selene. I want you to be whom we know you were meant to be. Which is our daughter, and now the mother of the most powerful children in all the worlds. That’s just who you were meant to be. But in this moment, you want vengeance, and it’s not that simple.” She glances down at my wrist, where my bracelet is.
“Even in these chains you won’t break me… and vengeance is the only reason you’re still alive.” I make sure she knows she is no match for what I’m capable of.
She moves the lightning rod; it’s now touching my chest. It burns, but it doesn’t stop me. Moving forward, taking the bolt in my hand as it burns, turning it slowly towards her. Maybe she’s right, I wanted her to fear me. I wanted her to pay for all the hell that I had been through. It was now between me and her. As the anger inside of me pushes through my veins, screaming out, I brake the bracelet from sheer might, shattering it into pieces, pointing the bolt directly at her heart. A heart for a heart. Stepping towards her, I now held all the power. It was a sick feeling knowing that I could take a life and I wasn’t even going to bat an eye. So much anger, so much pain, its driving me towards her. Closer and closer I get, the noise of the ocean waves hitting all around us. As the lightning bolt becomes more a part of me, I hit the ground with it. As thunder tears through the air.
“Was I beautiful as you tore my life into pieces? Was I beautiful as you watched me becoming more like you? Or are you just so sad and lonely that you never knew a true love when you thought you had it?” Step by step moving closer and closer to her, as she moved further back.
“I want you to beg me for your life. You casted me aside like I was nothing. You and I are nothing alike. I’m everything you wish you were.” My mother now stood face to face with me.
“You don’t deserve me… You don’t deserve the life you created…” Pointing the bolt at her, ready to make her feel the pain I had felt for so long.
“Selene! Don’t!” Colin screams out.
His voice catches me off guard, tilting my head slightly to see my father holding Sebastian.
“Selene, you will either stop this and see the truth or someone you love will have to die...” My father’s voice quiets me.
With the bolt in my hands, I brake it while they all watch. It dissipates into gold pieces on the shore. There was no way he was going to take anyone else from me. Turning my back to my mother I walk slowly towards my father, his trident close to Sebastian’s neck. Sebastian shakes his head at me, but I don’t follow his directions.
“You… You think this is about her?” As I point back towards my mother.
“You think that anything you do would hurt me? There’s nothing that you could do that will stop what’s coming.” My trident finally appears in my hand, as I now have the same abilities I was used to.
“Selene, I will do this. Don’t make me be the monster you created.”
“Do your worst!” Shouting loud into the air, as I strike him first.
Sebastian falls from my father’s grip as he throws the fireball straight at my mother. She grabs at her chest as she falls to the ground. My father, unbalanced, losing his grip on his trident. Colin swipes it faster than my father can. As the both of us now stand over our father with his own trident, Colin points it at him.
“As I see it you have on
ly two options…” Colin says to our father.
“You either die here and now, or you take your place behind Selene.” Colin’s voice catches me off guard as the cool whisper leaves his mouth.
“You stupid boy, this is all for her. We are trying to give her the strength that she needs to be able to conquer the worlds. Make them new and what would be a fair and just world.” My father says to us, then stands to his feet.
“You lie. You keep your secrets and you lie and lie. You lied to me almost my whole life, and here we are. I’ve tried to see things your way, but if she won’t do what’s needed, then I will!” Just as Colin is about to end our father, I couldn’t let him do it.
“NO!” I pull the trident back from Colin.
“What the hell are you doing?” He stands as tall as my dad.
“Enough is enough! We are better than this, better than them. We can make them pay in other ways, but this isn’t right. As much as I want them to feel our wrath, we are better than this, and you know I’m right.” Holding the tridents in my hands, stepping back away from the two of them.
Tears stream down my face as I let the tridents fall to the ground, their golden beauty slowly washing out into the ocean. No one spoke a word as the tridents rode the waves far off into the distance. I couldn’t hurt like this anymore. I couldn’t keep the anger inside of me anymore. The pain and the burden were too much to bare as I let my body drop to the ground. Enough pain, enough bloodshed for all the worlds had been shed. Cursing this life, I yell out that I was done. There was nothing else to give. I could no longer hate them as they had done their brother, their parents, their great loves. My heart was tired and broken. My heart yearned for a love that was true and pure. Letting go of all the pain that surrounded me, laying my body down on the sandy shore. The clouds break open, the sun peeking through, closing my eyes, I was complete. My children’s faces appear in my mind… They were what I had been living for all along. Life is funny that way, you fight for yourself, then you fight for something more. You fight for the ones you love, and even if that love feels cursed at times you fight for wanting more. Letting my heart relish in the quiet that surrounded my mind, I smile; because life had always been worth fighting for. Just maybe not the life I had dreamed of. Maybe this broken heart of mine could one-day mend… One day…
Chapter Thirty-Nine
When all else fails, love will find a way…
Unsure of how long I had laid on the beach, finding myself drifting to another place. A future that I so badly sought after. Watching my children run and play in fields of flowers as Sebastian runs after them, laughing all the while. My heart was filled with so much joy it felt it was going to burst out of my chest. When suddenly I was reminded of where I was. Standing to my feet, searching around me, they were all sitting there beside me. Each one of them coming up slowly, kneeling at my feet. Sebastian stands, smiling at me. My mother and father standing away from all of us, now everyone else kneeling to Sebastian and me. It was something I had never dreamed would happen. Forgiveness overflows my heart for my parents. It was no longer my burden to carry.
“Please stand.” I tell them all barely speaking the words as the tears came again.
Hades comes down the balcony with Medusa gripping his arm, smiling at each of us. Sebastian’s eyes follow his father as we all watch, as his father goes to my father and mother, helping them stand to their feet. Medusa makes her way to us, bowing down, and then standing tall in front of the two of us.
“Your father always knew that you would be the man, the god, you were supposed to be.” She takes Sebastian’s hand in hers.
“Thank you.” He tells her, bowing his head at her.
My mother and father stand in silence, staring at me. My dad moves his arm around her, pushing her to the two of us. Her face drops as she gets closer. She had been defeated and it showed. The power had overcome her for so long that she didn’t know how to act. All she had wanted was to become the goddess she knew she could have been. I wanted her to be happy, but not at the cost of my life. Somewhere deep inside of my heart, all I had ever wanted was true happiness. Not to be the goddess they were bowing to, but to be myself. Maybe this icy heart of mine was finally melting?
“Selene…” My father’s words were enough.
“I know…” I speak with such solace that I had hoped he could hear it in my voice.
My mother still wouldn’t look me in the eyes, but as she stood still, the tears began to fall on her tattered dress. Her tears spoke to me. Even though no words were said in that moment, I knew somewhere deep down inside of her icy heart, she loved me. There didn’t need to be words spoken on this day, the world had just begun anew. Patting them both on the shoulders, I move past them making my way to Hades.
“I suppose they can stay with you.” I glance my head back at my parents.
“No… Wait…” My mother speaks up, finally.
“Yes. They will go wherever you want them to.” Hades winks at me.
“Great.” I smile back at him.
“Selene, I got this board, and um... I was wondering...” Sebastian surprises me from behind, whispering to me.
“Let’s do it!” I shout with such excitement that the small whispers behind me halted.
Sebastian and I run up the balcony steps taking two at a time, grabbing our surfboards, running back down the steps, straight into the water.
“You can take the girl out of the Mount, but you can’t take the girl out of the water.” Cato laughs loudly, making the others laugh at his joke too.
We paddle out. When a big wave comes to us, we both stand at the same time. Taking the wave, letting the water flow through my fingers, feeling the freedom of what life had to offer. We ride the longest wave we had ever ridden, all the while letting the water heal me as it always had. There was no way this smile could fall from my face; this was the happiest I had been in a long time. It was time to go home though. This would be my last time on Earth. We would rebuild the world as it had been, even better, and I would never allow another god or goddess to walk among mortals again. Of course, there would be stories of us, remnants of the fact we had been here, but no one would ever know a god and goddess had truly walked among them. There had been enough of humanity destroyed by themselves, and by my parents. Nothing was ever going to be perfect on this planet, but at least not everything was lost. My children would only hear the stories of what once was, but this Earth wasn’t for them. It was for humanity to figure out among themselves. For me and my family, it was time we learned to live and love, together. Everyone needs to be healed at some point in their lives, pain can become what consumes us if we let it. It had consumed me for far too long, all I wanted was happily ever after. That would be what I would fight for the rest of my days. I would be kind and just, never taking for granted the ones that loved me. Lessons had been taught, lessons had been learned, and it was time for me to evolve once again. The goddess within me was slowly healing piece by broken piece…
Chapter Forty
Learning to love again…
The time had come to leave this Earth, to say goodbye to something I had cherished for so long. Often taking for granted the kindness of strangers, the ocean calling my name, and my dearest friends. This life had been good to me, maybe not normal, but it was still mine. With the devastation my parents had done to this world, it was going to take time to rebuild it. We spent many days cleaning up after them throughout the world, hopping from one place to another and slowly finding life after life. Many of the lives that were saved don’t have a memory of what exactly had been going on before the storms had taken so many. They would rebuild, a new world and we hoped for the better. My children weighed heavy on my mind as each day passed. It was hard being away from them, but as the ruler of the worlds, I didn’t have any other option. We had come so far from what had started only a couple of years ago. My life as a goddess wasn’t something I had prepared for, and not for the struggles that came with it. My parents only hel
ped because Hades made them but seeing their dreams crumble was hard for them. It didn’t sway me though. This world needed a light in a very dark place it had been trapped in. The hardest day is today. We will be letting all the mansions be taken away to not give any mortal an idea of our lives on Earth. Even the little shack that Hades had was now gone. You wouldn’t think that a house would hold such a place in your heart, but it does. Sebastian’s mansion would be the last to go. It was where everything changed for me. My heart desired for it to still be here, almost as if I wish I could come back and visit or even live. But, we hadn’t made many rules, and even though it played out in mind that I could break some, this couldn’t be one. We had packed what little materialistic things we had wanted to keep, sent them back with Cato and Iris, and now it was just Sebastian and me to say goodbye to a home where we had fallen in love.
“This is the last of it…” Sebastian tells me, holding a small box in his hand.
“What’s that? I thought we had packed everything already?”
“No. Not everything.” His lips turning up into that grin I couldn’t help but smile at.
“It’s for you, it’s always been for you…” He hands me the tiny red box.
Slowly opening it I search his face, then back down at the box. Inside was a ring. Not just any ring. It was a gold rose bud with a tiny anchor imbedded inside of it made of diamonds. It was the tiniest diamond anchor I had ever seen. It was stunning.
“Oh, Sebastian, this is gorgeous. When or where…” I stare at the ring inside the box.
“I had this made shortly after we got married; it had been stashed away on one of my many trips back and forth to here. Truthfully, I didn’t even remember I had it, till I searched the drawers.”
His head is bowed down as he is staring at it now, too.
“Is it? Is it… charmed?” I ask him, scared to put this on my hand.
“No. It’s just a ring. Nothing charmed about it… well, except for the one who will wear it.” He winks at me, pulling his hair back away from his eyes.