Olympus Drive Book 2: Nothing to See Here

Chapter 62

Hector

"No music, No booze, just a bunch of people silently swaying quietly in the dark. What is this, a Hector Rhea party?" I mutter, as we walk through the almost silent dancers.

"Shhh---where's my sexy little corpse?" Jasmine asks, tugging on my hand. I turn and smile at her, because, of course, I am her sexy little corpse--only for her to spin into my arms, laughing.

"What are you doing?" I ask, smiling though as I hold her. She almost collapses into my arms.

"Dancing with you, I love this song, it's by Krewella do you know it?" she asks, putting a hand on my cheek. "It's called Alive."

"No I don't hear anything---you're slurring your words," she's not drunk she hasn't had a drink in months I know that. She hardly drank before, she got really drunk once or twice in college, then hated herself for it. She didn't want to be like her dad. She would drink a cider now and then, but of course she hasn't since she got pregnant. And I haven't even kept wine in the house for myself. I don't want to remind her of her dad. But she certainly wouldn't drink anything tonight. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm glorious, I want you to kiss me," she says, pressing her face against mine.

"Jasmine, you're acting like you're drunk," I say, holding her up now.

"I feel really drunk," she laughs, leaning her head into my shoulder.

"But it's not Helen—that doesn't feel good, what she does. You, you feel fine," I realize, as she giggles in my arms. I know fully well what Helen's spells are like. One of my earliest memories, other than Basil cleaning the dirt and trash from my face and holding me up in the sunlight, is of her, as I was sobbing into his shirt in the car, growling at me to shut up. And for hours my voice was gone. It hurt, it felt like my blood was boiling. This isn't that. This is something else. "That's it, I'm taking you home. This place is doing something to you."

"You're fine though," she says.

"Yeah I'm your corpse remember?" I ask. I don't know why it's not affecting me. "Come on I'm taking you back to the car, this isn't good for you." Or the baby, it can't possibly be. Whatever the hell it is.

"No, no I want to stay here with you. I'm having fun," she says, kissing me again.

"I'll stay with you but not here—can you walk?" she's tripping over her own two feet. She lost a shoe someplace and didn't say? Those are her little pink ones she likes those. I'll have to go back for it tomorrow.

"Yes, yes I'm fine," she says, hugging me, "Maybe you're right; I am tired."

"Yeah you are, I'm gonna pick you up here," I say, swinging an arm under her knees. I'm not as strong up here and we're about the same height and weight. But this is still quicker than her walking on her own.

"Yes yes carry me," she says, putting her face in my shirt.

"I am—do you remember which direction the car is? No, you don't right now," I say, in two minutes I'm taking us back to the Underworld. I feel bad leaving Basil but I also don't want to leave her alone when I don't know what this place is doing to her.

"Not really, kiss me," she says, this time she gets her hand around her head to kiss me. And as she does strength works its way back into her body as she kisses my lips fiercely. I kiss her back almost by instinct, wanting to keep walking but unused to denying her.

"We need to go," I say, parting my lips from hers.

"No we don't," she says, and she kisses me again. This time I barely kiss her back.

Only for unrelenting pain to course from my head down my spine and settle in my chest, so fierce and shooting, as though my very nerves are being ripped open.

I scream and fall to the ground feeling Jasmine jerk from my arms.

"You?" Basil is holding me up by my neck, as lightening courses through both of us.

I'm in so much pain I can't speak, only writhe and twist and try to scream but there's no air in my chest.

"How could you do that to her?" he whispers, dropping me to the ground to let me die in this pain as it shoots continually through every inch of my body, burning my skin and frying my every nerve.

"Stop it!!!" Jasmine is between us, quite sober now, and the pain relents and I can breath again.  She holds up a hand, easily absorbing her father's lightening.

"What are you thinking---you can't be with him----" Basil's voice drips with murder as he stares past her at me.

"Yes. I can. Because I chose him. And this is why I didn't tell you because I didn't think you could accept how I feel," Jasmine says, lowering a hand and letting the lightening fizzle out.

"Don't---don't do that I could have hurt you," Basil says, shaking his head.

"You already did," Jasmine says, going to my side. Basil locks eyes with me and I see in a moment a flash of regret as his lightening still dances on my skin.

Then I take us back to the Underworld, where I'm free to scream in pain again.

"Get it off of me---no don't you could hurt yourself," I say, sliding back on the bed, and ripping off my shirt as the lightening still dances on my chest.

"Shit-----I don't know how," Jasmine says, trying to draw it off and failing.

I gasp, sobbing from pain, "There has to be a way to make it stop."

"I don't---I don't know. Let me try, breath just breath you're stronger here maybe you can break it," she says, putting a cool hand on my cheek. She's right I am stronger here. At least I can breathe.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper.

"No I am. We'll never go back there again," she says, kissing my forehead.