Hades Titans {BOOK 2}

XVIII. Corkscrew

Evelyn's P.O.V.

It wasn't long before a knock woke me up. I turned, ignoring it for a second. It felt like I had just drifted off and I was already being rudely awoken. Surely, I deserve sleep now more than ever. I reluctantly got to my feet and made my way out of the dark bedroom. The weather was still miserable, the rain was still knocking at the windows. It was almost dark outside. I squinted, trying not to knock into any furniture on my way to the door, being hardly able to see what's in front of me. I brushed my fingers against the wall on my right, using the wall as some kind of map to my apartment. I reached the door safely, before opening it. Slowly blinking away my sleep in the fluorescent light of the hallway, my eyes traveled from the person's feet to their face. I felt my whole body tense up with Chase standing in front of me. He wore a t-shirt and some jeans. He looked more human than I had ever seen him. He had cut his hair shorter than I had ever seen it and he no longer looked like one of them.

"Hi." My chest tightened up as he spoke. Though he figured out how to dress like a human, he hadn't figured out the mannerisms. His face was still stone cold. Like he had been forced to come over and speak to me. Most Titans didn't have much of a range of emotions when it came to others it was more of just anger and rage.

"Hi. How are you?" I smiled. My hands trembled as flashbacks of how I had seen him last began to swarm over me. I was glad he looked like he did. Healthy and strong. The thought of seeing him bloody and weak was gut-wrenching. You got soft for him. Hayden was right.

"I'm – I'm good. I uh – a letter came for you." He extended his hand, holding a small white envelope. He looked just as flustered as I was. Though his hand was steady, his speech wasn't.

"Oh, thank you." I smiled, taking the envelope from his hand and examining it. I hardly got mail on Earth let alone in the Underworld. It had no address on it, only my name. I was intrigued. For a second, I forgot Chase was still standing in front of me. Eager to open the envelope and see what it was. It's probably Dorian. Who else could it be?

"Not a problem and thank you for letting me stay in your old room. I really appreciate..." Chase spoke, despite my lack of eye contact. He stopped halfway through the sentence, making me look up at his puzzled face. "What is that?" His eyebrows furrowed as he looked over my head. "Oh, sorry. Is Hayden still here? It thought I saw him leave." As soon as he said that his face seemed to catch up with his words as he realised what he had said. Was he just outside waiting? Wait what?

"What? No. He left." I quickly shook my head, before turning around to look at my pitch-black apartment. "What's what? What did you see?" I felt shivers run down my back as I found myself moving closer to Chase as opposed to staying in my apartment.

"I didn't see anything. I can hear something." He boldly stepped into my apartment, slowly making his way through the dark. I felt my whole body rush full of panic. Is he messing with me? Is this one of the Titan tricks? But what if there is someone in my apartment? The light in the hallway turned off, with no one out there, leaving us in complete darkness. I brushed my palm across the wall, looking for the light switches. You never realise how little you know your apartment when you're in complete darkness. I felt a switch brush against my fingers, before flicking it up. I turned around with a smile, but it was quickly wiped from my face when I saw Chase standing still in front of a human-sized snake. My heart jumped into my throat as I tried to stand as still as I possibly could.

"Chase? Chase is that a normal snake?" I felt my whole body tremble as I tried not to move. The snake curiously moved from side to side, with its head in the air, above Chase's. Does nobody else live here? Why do these things keep happening to me?! Its glossy body peeked over Chase's head over and over, looking right at me.