Olympus Drive Book 1: Everything is Fine

Chapter 38

Basil

I crash through three stories of pure concrete to land in the middle of the Titan compound. They leap to their guns but the force of the wind around me knocks them back, bullets become useless. But my lightening, raining down from the sky, finds and infects every single one of them, even as they scream in pain, in their final moments, actually begging for mercy.

"Helen!" I start slamming open cell doors. Please be there. Just be there. Just be there and run into my arms and let me take you home to our son and the mess I have of a life.

"Helen??" People rush out past me, prisoners, waiting to be eaten. But not her. Not her. Goddamn it.

I electrocute a few more Titans who escaped the initial onslaught, calming the winds so that they escapees can walk. I break open cell after cell. Many prisoners. No Helen.

The lower chambers are more closely guarded. Were. Were more closely guarded. The guards who were there are long since dead. The water that is now pooling in the halls shimmers with my lightening. Electrocuting all of them. I do my best to avoid actually killing the prisoners. I doubt if they'll have very long to live after they escape. It can hardly get out that they were here. But at least now they have a fighting chance. More than Helen got it would seem.

One door is particularly reinforced, so I expect to get lucky. I don't really see why they would bother to double lock my father, other than because he's a pain. So I'm hopeful that Helen is behind it as well.

She's not. But my father is, blessedly alive. A bit worse for the wear but then again so am I.

I didn't actually plan on what I'd say when I saw him again, but I find myself pulling him into a tight hug.

"I know you'd come, boy," he says, squeezing me back.

"You look like shit—where's Helen?" I ask.

"Not here---she tried to escape years ago, wound up going to the Underworld like I expressly told all of you not to—"

"Great, great, okay let's get out of here then, they will send reinforcements," I don't feel like doing this all night.

"Yes let's leave, please," he says, taking hold of my arm as I raise the air around us to pull us up, out of the compound, and to the field outside. The prisoners are staggering away. I begin to calm the storm.

"My ride is a good mile away," I say, nodding. "I needed a pretty big storm."

"Darkness and-"

"I've got them, they're back at the house with the others, Helen's the only one I'm missing," I say.

"Good, excellent I knew you could take care of them—"

"No—I fucking couldn't," I say, stopping in my tracks, "We went home—a week after you'd been gone—"

"What are you talking about you don't have homes—-??"

"Yes we do! We had homes—and parents who cared about us—actual parents who were worried about us."

"Those people don't know what you are," he says, blue eyes flashing despite the rain whipping in his face. "I do."

"No---no you did not know what we are—"

"You are what you were made to be."

"No I'm not! You should never have taken us----I didn't need this I know you did what you did because you thought it was right but it wasn't—"

"You couldn't have lived a normal life."

"I can't now ! Because of you! It was wrong. I know why you took us—and yes they don't understand what we are but what you did to every one of us was still wrong. That didn't make it right and I don't---I can't even start to understand every way it was wrong but I know it was I know I shouldn't wake up and feel the way I do everyday this isn't what life is supposed to be and I know it started when you took me away and I haven't ever gotten away since and I know it isn't even your fault because you were trying to save us but---I'd rather have died when those monsters came for me. I'd rather that than this. Because then at least I could have been a child. I'm not anything now."