Page 53 of The Beyond
Erebus started walking away from her and said over its shoulder. “You have done what you came to do. Go. The next time you come, all will be revealed. As it has in the past and will be in the future.”
Selene willed herself back to the field. When she felt the tall grass under her feet, she gasped as strong arms wrapped around her.
“Where the hell were you?” Scott said next to her ear as he held onto her.
It was then that she noticed it was daylight out. How long had she been gone?
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
“You were gone for over eight hours,” Scott said. The words ground out as he pulled back the anger and worry that had fueled him the last eight hours since he’d woken up and found her gone. “We searched everywhere for you. You left without a word. Without telling anyone where you were going. What you were doing.”
Selene winced. “I… thought I’d only be gone for a few moments.”
“I did warn you that time could move differently in the Underworld now that things have shifted,” Mia said.
The four of them were gathered once more in the kitchen, this time for lunch.
Selene was eating a sandwich and drinking a large glass of orange juice.
“What I found out was well worth it.” She filled them in on what the daemon named Erebus had told her.
“It seemed very keen on answering my questions, so I got as much from it as I could.”
“Erebus?” Lucas said, getting everyone’s attention. He was on his laptop and read off the basics from old Greek mythology. Nothing really seemed to fit, with the exception of the creature being darkness. “Is this the same creature you spoke to?” Lucas asked Mia.
Mia shrugged. “I didn’t see it. There was only darkness surrounding us.”
“Yes,” Selene said, “it was the same.” Then she frowned. She turned to Mia. “What did you mean when you said, ‘Three hellhounds it takes to hold the gate. Three hellhounds must be present to wake the Fates. Are we the three that are called to be?’”
Everyone waited for Mia to answer.
“It’s an old rhyme from my family. Loosely translated over the years. All djinns are taught it and told that it will either be their savior or their doom.”
Scott felt Selene shiver next to her.
“Why don’t you finish your food, then we’ll go get some rest. If you left shortly after I fell asleep, that means you haven’t slept yet,” he suggested.
Selene stood up and took the rest of her sandwich with her as they started out. She stopped just at the top of the stairs. “At least I know one thing now,” she said to the room. “I can bring the three of you to the Underworld and you will summon the Fates, who will answer the next part of this riddle.”
He took her hand in his and led her down the stairs to their room.
She set the plate with her half-eaten sandwich down, and he shut the bedroom door and leaned against it. He watched her as she sat on the edge of the bed and removed her shoes.
He wanted to yell at her. To tell her how stupid of a move that was. But he couldn’t. She’d done it to get more answers and had done a better job at it than Mia had. Still, he hated that she had put herself in danger without telling anyone.
“I can hear you berating me in your head from over here,” Selene said, lying on the bed fully clothed.
He moved to sit next to her, not wanting to touch her. Not trusting that he wouldn’t wrap his arms around her and never let go.
Selene pulled his arm until he lay beside her stiffly. Then she wrapped her body around his.
“Yell at me later, will you? I’m tired and just want to hold you,” she said with a yawn.
He lay beside her silently until she fell asleep. Then he remained there, wishing more than anything that he could tell her just how he felt about her. In all the years they’d known one another, he’d never told her that he loved her. Not as a brother or in any other sense.
He lost track of time watching the shadows move across the ceiling of the room. By the time Selene shifted and started to wake, he had decided that he would tell her just what she meant to him. How she made him feel. But first, he wanted to show her.
Pulling her closer, he started trailing kisses over her face, her lips, her neck. He felt her wake a little more with each kiss.
