Rebirth of a Murderer. The Hemerwig Series.

Ch. 19-Hope

            The passage was a straight freefall and Thanos kept me in his arms during the fall. At the time, I pretended to be nervous, but I just wanted to be close to him. I don’t know if Thanos noticed the way I clung to his shirt. It is still soft even after I clung to it so tightly.

           “You can let go now,” Thanos says with a grin. Darn. I’m comfortable in his arms. I take a few steps back before looking around. We’re in some kind of cave. Maybe we’re underground. Water is dripping from the ceiling and the walls are a reddish brown color. Actually the walls, ceiling, and floor are made of the same reddish brown color. There are a few lanterns spread out and I can hear the water dripping at a constant rate.

          “Where are we,” I ask.

          “Underground. Gnomes used to work down here. The last survivor died about a year ago. I don’t even know if the humans knew they were down here. The gnome asked me to keep an eye on the place,” Thanos says while taking a few batteries out of his pocket. How does Thanos stumble on places like this?

          “Are Dalton and Selene here,” I ask.

           “Yes somewhere. We just have to find them. There are only three entrances that lead down here. I also ran into Thalia and Rivan when I got Scalibrious back. Thalia and Rivan might show up,” he says. Scalibrious? I thought the humans wanted to do tests on Scalibrious.

            “How did you get Scalibrious back,” I ask as Thanos puts the batteries in the lanterns. Having battery powered lamps is pretty smart.

            “Well…I probably shouldn’t tell you in case we get captured again,” he says and I shake my head. What happened to asking for others to return your things? Apparently that’s a foreign concept to Thanos.

             “Why will Thalia and Rivan show up,” I ask to change the subject. I also want to know why we had to leave so early in the morning but alone time with Thanos doesn’t hurt.

               “I’m not sure. Thalia of course needs a place to hide. Rivan was asking questions about you. Something about Pandora needed to talk to you. I told him where you’d be,” he says. I look Thanos over and he’s being honest. Thanos must have really changed if he doesn’t seem jealous. Why he would be, I’ll never know but just the thought that he didn’t kill Rivan is satisfying enough. Thanos gets up and walks my way.

                “Until then, we have some alone time,” Thanos says with a smirk. I wonder why he’s so confident that I’ll kiss him. Why does Thanos assume that I’ll melt as soon as he touches me? Thanos pulls me into his chest and I melt. Maybe he does know things about me. I don’t want to ruin the moment but I see some pain in Thanos’s eyes.

               “What’s wrong,” I ask and touch his face. It’s so smooth. Thanos closes his eyes and kisses my hand.

               “Nothing. I just don’t know how much of this will work. All of my usual plans are flawless but this one relies on too many people,” he says. Is relying on too many people a bad thing? I don’t like to think so but this is Thanos I’m talking about. His mind works differently than mine and mostly everyone else.

                “Even me,” I ask.

                 Thanos opens his eyes and says, “Especially you.” My eyes widen a bit and I’m even more confused than before. I didn’t know anything about a plan. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t let anything happen to you. We better start walking. We’re on a tight schedule,” he says and releases me.  Thanos tries to put distance between us but I don’t want that. I grab his hand in intertwine my fingers through his.