Hades Titans {BOOK 2}

XIII. Mendacious

We laid in our bed, Hayden's warm arm around my waist, softly petting my stomach. I felt completely at ease. There was nothing weighing on my mind. Nothing weighing me down. It was the first time I craved sleep. Usually, I'd lie awake, begging my mind to settle, but my mind was empty now. My eyelids were heavy, and my heart was full. There was nothing else I needed or wanted, but to fall asleep in Hayden's arms. The moon had casted a white light over our bedroom floor. It was a peaceful night.

I could tell by his unsteady breathing that he was still awake. His hand making circles around my belly. The room was in complete darkness and stillness. We were both at ease. Satisfied.

"What happened yesterday?" Hayden's warm breath brushed against my ear. "I haven't seen you use your powers since we were in Olympus." He continued. "And you only ever used your powers if we were in danger." My empty mind began to swim with flashbacks of what happened. I hadn't thought about it that much. I had even assumed that perhaps it wasn't my powers that knocked Hayden and Chase to the floor. I didn't know what it was, but it didn't feel like it came from me. The pain itself had manifested the power. I couldn't do much with the pain of my cramps taking over. There was nothing on my mind at that time, except for pain.

"I don't know." I exhaled, shaking my head. "I had kept my powers locked away. It was doing more bad than good. With Sylver and Phoenix and Gus, I was hurting so many people and when I pushed my powers away, all of that seemed to go away." I explained. Sylver, Phoenix, and Gus falling for me made me question if Hayden liked me because of me or because my powers were attracting everyone around me. "Last night, I don't know what happened. I had no control over them. I couldn't do anything to stop myself. It felt like I was separate from my powers like I wasn't controlling them." I felt my mind cloud over with worries again. I hoped it was an isolated incident.

"I've seen your powers before, and they never look like they did yesterday. Usually, it's a light, soft colour, but yesterday it looked like thick violet mist coming from within you. For a moment I thought it was coming from me." His arm tightened around me, holding me closer.

"I don't know. I hope it doesn't happen again." I closed my eyes, ready to leave the conversation behind and just enjoy the sleep I had been craving.

"You shouldn't run from it." He whispered, but I didn't pull at the conversation. I wasn't running from anything. My powers were only a tiny fraction of me, and I never felt the need to explore them. There was nothing to be gained but suffering for others.

"I'm not running. I just have better things to worry about." I placed my hand on top of his, over my stomach. Our heavy breaths echoed in sync as we both drifted off to sleep.

The night before I had forgotten that Chase was still on our couch. It was the first morning I had woken before Hayden. It seemed that the harder I tried to be silent, the louder I was. I tiptoed across the hardwood floor to the wardrobe and picked up a clean towel and one of Hayden's shirts with some jogging bottoms. I looked through my clothes and found my old key to the bedroom I still sometimes used to work in. My heart trembled as I placed the key in a brown envelope and picked up a pen and a piece of paper from the kitchen draw. My hands trembled as I wrote the room number down on the piece of paper and placed it inside the envelope. I knew that if Hayden found out, he would never allow Chase to stay anywhere near me and he would probably be furious, but I couldn't just watch Chase leave with nowhere to go. If I left him to fend for himself, he was bound to get into trouble again, and besides, we needed all the information we could get from Chase.

I tiptoed to the couch, where Chase was still lying, snoring louder than most car engines. He was covered in dry, black blood. He looked so innocent. Hayden was right, I did get soft for him. I couldn't see the evil that everybody else could see. I knew the things he had done, but I couldn't bring myself to hate him for them. I wasn't sure if forgiveness had a feeling, but it felt like a mixture of guilt and empathy. I felt guilty for empathizing with a murderer.