by Unknown
“I don't vant to sleep,” he growled without looking at me.
“Bad dreams again?” Something clenched inside me in warning. “This can't be normal. Why now? What are you dreaming about exactly?”
“I don't vant to talk about it,” he glanced at me and then away. Was that guilt? What the hell would Kirill have to feel guilty about?
“Kirill,” I touched his arm and he flinched. “What the fuck?” I nearly screamed. “Tell me what's going on with you and tell me right now!”
“I can't tell you!” He yelled back.
I heard Trevor shift in bed. As I stared at Kirill in horror, Trevor came padding over to stand beside me. I felt the heat radiating off of him and the anxiety.
“Someone want to tell me why we're yelling at each other on the balcony in the middle of the night?” Trevor eyed us both. “You know how sound carries out here. You're probably scaring the antelope.”
“Something's wrong with Kirill and he won't tell me what it is,” I felt like a little girl tattling on a playmate.
“Kirill, what the hell is going on with you, man?” Trevor went to lay a hand on Kirill's arm and he flinched away again. Part of me was strangely relieved that it wasn't just me he didn't want touching him. “Okay, that's new. This is obviously serious, so we're going to stand out here until you tell us what this is about.”
“Stand here all you like,” Kirill growled and pushed past us. “I'll find another place to sleep.”
“Kirill!” I was on the verge of hysteria. I'd just got Odin back, I couldn't lose Kirill. I started after him but Trevor pulled me to a stop.
“Let him go, Minn Elska,” he wrapped his arms around me as my body started to shake. “He's not going to tell us tonight but at least we know there's something wrong. We'll find out on our own if he won't come clean and then we'll fix this. It'll be okay.”
“He's not supposed to leave,” I whispered. “He promised. Not him.”
“I know,” Trevor tightened his arms around me. “He's always been the most reliable of us but something's been changing with him. I've sensed a slow shift.”
“I know about all that,” I turned so I could look at Trevor instead of the empty doorway Kirill had just left through. “He's been feeling more secure, both with me and with the Pride. He's healing, becoming stronger, but this... this is different.”
“It's not him,” Trevor agreed. “Something or someone is doing this to him. I'm almost certain of it.”
“Then I'm going to find them and do something back,” I gritted out the words from between clenched teeth.
“And I'll be standing right beside you,” Trevor's eyes shone gold for a second.
Chapter Thirty-One
My sleep wasn't the best to begin with that night, what with Kirill choosing to sleep somewhere else, but when Morpheus invaded my dream, it got even worse.
“Vervain!” Morpheus came running up to me through the trees.
I frowned and looked around. Was I in Alfheim again? The flowers at my feet started to sway towards me, their petals shivering in what looked to be fear. They turned toward Morpheus, then back to me, and finally they all pointed their petals down the path behind me. If I didn't know better, I'd say the flowers were telling me to run.
“Run!” Screamed Morpheus. “He's coming.”
“Who's coming?” I gaped at Morpheus as he released his wings and started flying towards me. “What the...” I let out a whoosh of air as he barreled into me.
And then we were flying. The trees fell away and I was able to see the full landscape. We were indeed in Alfheim. I could see Freyr's Hall, though there were no elves in sight. There was however, a large man running down the path in our direction. He reached the point where we'd lifted off and looked around wildly. Then he lifted his face to the sky and I saw lightning, excuse me, I mean thunderbolts, flash out of his eyes.
“Is that Zeus?” I looked up at Morpheus.
“Yep,” a serious tone. “He followed me into the Realm of Dreams through the Gates of Horn and now he's trying to kill me.”
“Kill you?” I watched as Zeus held up a hand which started to fill with sparkling power. A thunderbolt formed, crackling with energy. “Uh, maybe we should get back on the ground, where we make a less obvious target.”
“Yeah, you may be right,” Morpheus said as he followed my glance. Then he dropped us back to the ground and my mind finally started to work.
“Why are we running exactly?” I let go of him and backed away a little.
“Um, cause he's Zeus,” Morpheus was looking at me like I was crazy. “Did you see the thunderbolts?”
“And we're in the Realm of Dreams,” I gave him my duh look.
“Yeah, I know,” he gave me his own look. “That's why I called you. You're the only ally I have here.”
“Uh-huh,” I looked at him like maybe he'd get it soon. “And this is your realm, you're strongest here.”
“You're stronger though,” he huffed. “That damn fey thing.”
“So imagine what we can do together.”
“Oh,” his face went blank for a second and then brightened. “Oh!”
“Seriously? You called me to help you run?” I rolled my eyes.
“I thought maybe you'd have an idea,” he laughed, “and I was right. So how should we do this?”
“I'll tell you how we're going to do this,” Zeus had caught up with us. “I'm going to fry you until you're nothing but charred meat, then I'm going to cut your traitorous head off.”
“Whoa,” I held up my hands. “That's pretty excessive, don't you think?”
“He betrayed me,” Zeus frowned at me, like he'd finally realized who was standing beside Morpheus. “He told Hades and Poseidon about my arrangement with the other Greek gods. For that he must suffer.”
“Too bad you're not as smart as you are angry,” I scoffed. Seriously though, you'd think Zeus, Father of the Greek Pantheon, would have been smarter than to chase a dream god into the Realm of Dreams. What a dope.
“What?” Zeus validated my thoughts by producing a dopey look.
“You. Are. An Idiot,” I said each word slowly, in case he really was dumb. “You chased Morpheus, a dream god, into the Dream Realm. Where he's at his strongest. Didn't you stop to think about that?”
Zeus started to look unsure and Morpheus started to chuckle.
“I'm the head of the Greek Pantheon,” Zeus tried to recover.
“And he's been gathering energy on his own for years,” I nodded my head toward Morpheus. “You wanna take a moment to calculate how strong he may have gotten?”
Zeus gaped at Morpheus.
“Out of respect for Persephone,” I said as I started to grow. “I'll give you a ten second head start.”
“What?” Zeus gaped as I got bigger and bigger, á la Alice in Wonderland. Soon he was craning his neck to stare up at me and Morpheus was laughing his tight little ass off.
“Run!” I roared at Zeus and his whole body jerked in shock. Then he ran. I watched him run all the way out of my dream. Then I shrunk back down to a normal size and slapped Morpheus on the chest. “Shut up, you moron,” I chuckled. “Did you forget that you'll have to leave the Realm of Dreams at some point?”
“Oh,” his face fell.
“Yeah,” I shook my head. “And you can bet he'll be waiting for you.”
“What do I do?”
“Hold tight in here,” I patted his pale shoulder as his black wings drooped. “I'll go get the God Squad and head into the Underworld. When Zeus has been taken care of, I'll come back in here and get you.”
“Oh,” he grinned in relief. “Okay.”
“I'll see you in a little bit,” I took a deep breath, preparing to wake myself up.
“Vervain?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“No problem, Morph,” I winked at him. “I got your back. That's what friends do, remember?”
“No, I didn't remember,” he smiled sadl
y. “I didn't know in the first place but now I do and I've also learned how to be a friend in return.”
“Morpheus,” I shook my head, “you've already been there for me. Or have you forgotten coming to my rescue in Asgard?”
“Oh, right,” he shrugged, “but I didn't do anything.”
“Well, that may change someday soon.”
“Anytime, V,” his eyes were steady, his face set in a calm and determined expression.
It looked odd on him. He'd always seemed a bit like Peter Pan to me, childish verging on wicked. This Morpheus looked mature. Pan all grown up. I'd missed it somehow, this change in him. Probably because I was too busy trying to figure out how to save his butt.
As I woke myself up, I wondered what else I'd missed in my obsessive focus on the problems at hand.
Chapter Thirty-Two
When I arrived in the Cave of Dreams with the cavalry, aka the God Squad, it was to find the place deserted.
“He's gone,” I growled.
“Thank you, Mistress of the Obvious,” Hades sighed.
“Hades,” I rolled my eyes, “how many times do I have to tell you, it's Captain Obvious?”
“But you're not a Captain,” he pointed out for the fifty billionth time. Or maybe the eleventh. But who's counting?
“I'm not a mistress either,” I gave him a snarky look.
“You're the Mistress of Lions,” he pointed out with a victorious expression.
“Ugh!” I threw my hands up. “I hate that title, it's so pervy.”
“Are you two done arguing over inane things yet?” Horus drawled. “I think Morpheus would appreciate a heads up that the coast is clear.”
“Oh drat,” I swore and ran for the Gates of Horn.
Morpheus was still in Alfheim. I was a little disturbed by that. I looked around the thick woods and then at him, sitting on a stump.
“How is it that you're still in my dream?”
“Oh, it's not your dream anymore,” he stood and smiled at me. “I decided I liked it, so I kept it going after you left. I added the stump though. Weird that you'd have a forest without any fallen trees.”
“It's Alfheim,” I shrugged. “The trees are immortal.”
“Really?” He blinked wide eyes at me.
“Yeah, really.” Then I stopped and wondered how I knew that. Odin probably told me. It would explain why the imported their fallen trees(cause they didn't chop trees down-gasp) from the Human Realm.
“That's pretty amazing,” Morpheus failed to notice my distraction. “So this is what Alfheim looks like.”
“Yep.”
“Can I go with you sometime?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?” He pouted. “You're going to rule it, aren't you?”
“No, actually I'm not,” I sighed. “I'm trying to find a way to get out of that.”
“Why would you want to?”
“Didn't everyone catch you up on this?” I started walking back to the gate.
“No,” he huffed. “People have been talking a lot around me but not really to me.”
“What?” I stopped and looked over at him.
“Well, no one really knows me,” he shrugged. “Not even my own pantheon. So when you're not around, no one really speaks to me.”
“I'm so sorry, Morpheus,” I frowned. “When we get a break, I'll take you out with us to the club. Maybe then you'll have a chance to get to know everyone under better circumstances.”
“Moonshine?” His eyes lit up. “Yeah, that sounds great but I think it's just me. I never really learned how to make friends.”
“You'll be fine,” I patted his shoulder and started walking again. “You just have to give it a little while. It takes time to get to know people.”
“Well, if Zeus doesn't kill me and if we manage to get the recipe for ambrosia away from him, I'll have plenty of time.”
“We'll figure it out,” I reassured him as we exited the gate and approached the others. “Artemis?” I stopped short when I saw her standing beside Torrent. “When did you get here?”
“Hades texted,” Artemis shrugged. “He said there might be a throw down, so I figured I'd head over.”
“Texted?” I looked at Hades. “Throw down? Who are you, Bobby Flay?”
“I did not say throw down,” Hades corrected.
“Whatever,” Artemis shrugged and winked at Torrent. Torrent smirked back and slid his arm around Artemis' shoulder. I gaped at them. Well what do ya know? Torr had game.
“So...” I looked anywhere but at the obvious lovebirds. “Maybe we should head over to Hades' place to reconnoiter?”
“Reconnoiter?” Trevor chuckled.
“What? That's the right word.”
“If you're Commando,” Pan added.
“Shut up, Pan,” I huffed and headed out of the cave.
“Aren't you supposed to say I'll be back?” Kirill slid into his Schwarzenegger impression. I was so thrilled that he was teasing me, I almost turned around and kissed him. Instead, I just smiled at him like an idiot.
“You should have been Dutch instead of the Predator on Halloween,” Trevor laughed and hit Kirill on the back, totally ruining the moment. “At least you would have got the quote right.”
“That's still not the right quote,” Pan corrected. “He doesn't say that in Commando or The Predator.”
“But it's an Arnold quote that applies,” Trevor argued. “So he was using it correctly.”
“Asta la vista, Baby,” Kirill ended the argument as Arnold would have and walked up to me. He smiled a little and took my hand. “I only know ze two quotes.”
“They were perfect,” I squeezed his hand and we walked into the Land of Dreams together.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Traveling through the Greek Underworld is an unforgettable experience. I've already been through part of it but this time we were heading back to Hades' palace the other way around. Which meant we had to cross the Acheron.
“Um,” I eyed a disturbing elm tree that had water drops clinging to the bottom of every single leaf. They appeared to be filled with black ink, which swirled through the droplets in a way that felt menacing to me. “Why do those water drops make me nervous?”
“They're false dreams,” Morpheus said in a low tone, eyeing the creepy liquid like it might suddenly attack him. “Stay away from that tree.”
“Right, okay,” I glanced up at Kirill, who was still holding my hand. Yay! “Stay away from the tree, everyone.”
“No shit,” Trevor grimaced as all the false dreams shivered.
A chorus of moans and crying floated across the water to us as if on cue and I shared an uneasy look with Trevor. I knew exactly what the crying was about but that didn't lessen my anxiety. I had no desire to walk through the Vale of Mourning and see all of the dead who were still consumed by unhappy love.
“Our ride is here,” Hades announced and we all went to stand beside him.
He was on the banks of the Acheron, one of the rivers that bordered the Land of Dreams. It stretched out to either side of us as far as I could see. It was a peaceful river and ironically enough, it didn't give me the heebie jeebies like the tree did. Looking at the glassy surface actually calmed me a little. Until I realized we weren't alone. There was a whole lot of dead people getting in line beside us.
“I'm sorry,” Hades held up a hand to the approaching dead. “I've need of Charon for one trip, then you may all pay the ferryman.”
A shiver ran over me and I looked back toward the water to see a really creepy boat approaching. It was black wood but not that nice shiny black of freshly painted boats. Nope this was more the faded, stained black of wood so old, it didn't know what color it had been originally. It was larger than I'd expected, a flat bottomed thing that got fairly wide at its center and then tapered to two sharp looking points. No curlicues or hanging lanterns like you see in the movies. This boat was made to cut through the water quickly and silently. It even beached itself in silence.
The guy manning it was just as creepy looking. He had a full shroud on, hood hanging low over his face. The material was another shade of that undetermined black and it hung over his hunched shoulders limply, the ends ragged and torn. It had the look of age to it, like there was dust embedded in the fabric, but the hands gripping his staff, were clean and young looking. I frowned at that, Wasn't Charon supposed to be an old guy?
The dead drifted away and we all climbed aboard the boat. Kirill got on before me and then helped me up. Hades was already on board, patting Charon's arm as he passed him. I passed the ferryman more cautiously, peering up into his hood since I was a whole lot shorter than him.
There was nothing but shadows at first. Then they started to lighten and a face appeared. Well, not really a face so much as a skull. The jaw creaked open like it was laughing at me and twin flames of red lit in its eye sockets. I glanced down at the hand holding the staff and saw that it had become skeletal as well. Well damn.
“Never stare into the hood,” Hades laughed at me. “It has a protective magic so none will see the true face of the ferryman. Now sit down, Vervain. Charon has to wear that awful thing until we leave the shore. Appearances and all.”
“Oh,” I hurried over to one of the benches and sat. “Sorry.”
“No worries, little honey,” the man within the hood spoke.
“What the what?” I shot Charon another look when I heard the surfer accent. “Is that Poseidon?”
“No,” Hades chuckled as Charon started to chortle. “Definitely not Poseidon.”
We eased away from the shore and when we got out a little ways, Charon pulled his hood back. A beautiful man with bone white hair cropped close to his head stared back at me. He had pale skin, almost as pale as his hair, and light blue-gray eyes. His color was so washed out, he almost looked like a ghost. A very handsome ghost.
“Donnie's my bro, we ride the waves together,” Charon grinned and I lost it. I just started laughing my butt off. “Whoa, easy now. We keep it irie on the Acheron. These are healing waters, a place of peace.”
“Oh?” I stopped laughing, curiosity winning out over humor. “I thought this was the River of Woe or something like that.”