Olympus Drive Book 3: According to Plan

Chapter 74

Erin

"It went well today, don't you think?"

"Don't you feel free?"

"I'm sorry about what happened last night."

"Yeah, don't think about that."

"He only came because some—," I frown not knowing exactly what happened.

"Goddess," one of them supplies.

"Mind controlled him," but who was he?

"Yeah, it doesn't matter," we're waiting in the main hall, with other---spirits. Like us I guess. Waiting for Mr. Executioner and the one the girls call 'the man in black' or 'the old man' to come.

"I just wish---I knew him," I say, frowning.

"You probably did before. But before is so short compared to here."

"And it hurts back there. Here doesn't hurt at all."

"That's true," and he didn't even want to come and see me. Why would I think he'd actually come. "What was he---people, don't come down here?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe he's one of the gods, or their children. They're special sometimes."

"How special?" I muse.

"Good Evening, Ladies," the man in black and the executioner appear in the  front of the church hall, the light dulling as they come. The man in black isn't old, he's young, or he's simply not anything at all. Either way he's the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. His eyes turn on me behind dark glasses.

"Stop thinking about back there," one of the girls whispers to me.

I didn't expect him to come back at all.

I didn't expect to see him again at all.

I didn't even intend to be thinking about him.

I certainly did not expect him to burst in the front doors, a bow and arrow on his back, music drifting in behind him, as he begins to sing. Tentatively at first, but then when he realizes all eyes are upon him, he sings bolder, now. I recognize the song. It's 'Your Song', by Elton John. And his voice. I know it too. It's the strongest, clearest thing I've ever heard.

And I've never seen anyone smile as they sing like he does. And as he steps into the church, a great light fills it, pouring in the doors, and shining through the windows so much it blinds us. The man in black and the Executioner move to stop him, but some invisible force pushes them back. I realize it's the sound, the sound waves. They're slowly pushing everyone but me away from him.

He grins as he sees me realizing, holding out a hand to me.

I step forward, slowly, not to take it but to tell him to run.

"Enough," a lady, a beautiful, dark haired, lady is standing next to us. And we're not in the hall anymore. We're in a forest. A peaceful forest.

The boy's singing instantly stops as though his voice is cut out. A shame, I liked that song and watching him sing it all the more.

"Let me take her home, Jasmine. She doesn't belong here----I'm sorry Erin, I had to come back I just---I didn't want her to think I only came because of Helen's spell. I wanted her to know someone---I thought everyone ought to know someone's willing to go down to the land of the dead, to say goodbye to them one more time," he says, hanging his head a little.

"She does belong here now, sunshine boy," the pretty lady says, putting a hand on his head.

"I do," I say, quietly, "I don't know what's back there."

"Your mother. You had a fight the morning you---left. Let me bring her home to her mother—let them say goodbye you yourself would wish that wouldn't you?" the boy asks, "Or are you so powerful now you can't imagine what it would feel like to lose someone?"

"You're not talking to my husband. Save some of your boldness, boy, you'll need it someday. Today, yes, escort her home to her mother, they have only a few hours. Then I will return for her, personally. And you will stop invading my house, with your choruses, at every whim, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am," he says, grinning.

"I don't know my mother," I say.

"You will," He says, taking my hand.

And then we run through the forest.