Hunter: Fate & Fury

Chapter 28

Standing on the edge of the city, the sight of what was essentially Olympus never ceased to impress and terrify. Zane was not like Jordan and did not take this as a fun excursion brought on by too much alcohol and an unintentional dare. The seriousness of the situation was all over his face and had been since Cain gave him the ring to wear to get through the portal. I was sure there were currently parts of his brain exploding as what he thought he could handle no longer mattered and he realised this was all something he wasn't prepared for.

I hadn't even introduced him to Circe yet.

"This is something," Zane says before letting out a low whistle of uncertainty or for being impressed I wasn't sure. "To be honest, I expected the city to be our city. Like a mirror image of the world we left behind."

"It kind of is if we left it behind like five-hundred B.C before it had an affair with the late eighteen hundreds?" I shrug. "They do have some kind of electricity set up and decent plumbing in most places though so points to them just don't be expecting to turn on a TV anywhere. No wifi either. Evolution works in mysterious ways."

"And you live up there as a god when you're here?"

"No. I've claimed Cain's quarters as mine and it's separate from all of that. If we're not there, we're in a smaller castle hidden in the mountains somewhere that way I think," I point into the darkness like it actually matters. "Lucky you getting to be our roomie."

He cringes slightly at that but doesn't protest or say much else as a horse and cart come clattering down the road. Zane watches them go by us as if he's never seen such a thing before until he notices a poster on the side of a building promoting Ares and joining the army.

"Will I meet him, the God of War?"

"Only if you promise not to go into fangirl mode when you do." I tease.

Zanes smiled briefly, but I saw that hint of fear he was trying so hard to hide. "I know you don't want me here but so far, well this has been something else. It's one thing knowing about it, hearing the stories and putting pieces of those together but actually being here? Mixing your two worlds can't be easy, I understand how hard it must be for you to balance it all now. There's something about all of this that makes me want to stay, while at the same time there's a voice in my head telling me it's not real. It can't be and I am already missing what I've left behind."

"That does ease with a bit of time. I think it's like a realm adjusting jet lag thing."

"Makes sense." He hesitates but carries on anyway. "Thank you."

"Hermes wasn't lying," Apollo appears beside us, instantly doing one of those handshake hug things guys seem naturally made to do. "Welcome!"

"You're on the first watch then?" I ask him.

Apollo winks. "Sure am, Bunny. What should we do first? Pub, Nymph Bar, Rumpels?"

"Dungeon, where you can lock him up and keep him safe?" I throw it out into the mix earning an eye roll from both of them.

"Relax, I got this. Promise." Zane looks super uncomfortable with Apollo version four point zero, which Apollo notices. Slapping a hand on his back, Zane doesn't flinch and just glares at him. "Cain mentioned the library, so Deimos is going to meet us there. See, relax everyone. It's all in hand."

The pair disappear before I can say anything else and now that Zane has had the tour of this world that I was willing to show him, I was planning to go to Kara. Instead, I'm outside Faline's sister's shop, and keeping my head low and covered, peek in to see the sisters sitting by the register, drinking tea while two little girls run in circles with each other; capes of sparkling material floating out behind them as they laugh together.