Wrath of the Gods [Legacy, BK 3 - Hiatus]

4.3 - Jett

Hunter left me alone in a stone room after climbing a bunch of steps along the cliff face. I took a moment to change into the shorts and tee, packing my clothes back into the bag so I'd have them for my return. A quick glance at my cell told me it was useless, so I turned it off and packed it away as well.

This place was trippy, and I couldn't shake the deja vu feeling. I felt like I'd been here before, especially after seeing the monk earlier. Poe, Hunter had called him. Except that seemed impossible. Maybe I'd dreamed it?

I was still puzzling over it when Hunter came back. "Come back out to the courtyard. I want to introduce you to Mai."

"Who's Mai?" I asked as we headed down the stairs.

He glanced back at me with a grin. "Just wait."

Once we were down at the ground level again, I noticed that many of the people here were living in makeshift tents along the outer walls. The children had found another game to play, chasing each other. And while Hunter smiled and waved to a few people, no one approached us.

Hunter stopped in the shade of the lone tree and raised his hands as I'd seen Ezra do to summon the portals.

He spoke some words, and a circle of light appeared before us, this time flat on the ground rather than standing straight up. After a final word or two, the circle shrank to a pinpoint and then exploded out in a flash of light. A giant panther-like creature stood in front of us. It walked right up to Hunter, purring and bumping its head into his chest like a giant house cat.

"This is Mai," Hunter said with a grin. "She's my demon."

She turned to look at me, and all I could focus on was the size of her front teeth. They were like a sabertooth tiger's, protruding out of her mouth and looking razor sharp.

"Like Ezra's bird?" I asked.

"Yeah, though Vasco is just one of Ezra's. I think he's got four now."

"And how many do you have?"

"Just Mai, for now. But she's all I need." Hunter scratched at her ears, only to have Mai jump up to plant her forepaws on his shoulders and lap her long tongue against his face.

I was almost jealous. Here I was, thinking all about just being able to go wherever I wanted,  and I hadn't thought about the whole demon thing. What would it be like to have a companion like Mai or Ezra's bird? I'd never had a pet before, and friends? I had a large group of people I knew, but no one I was super close with.

Mai finally put all four feet back on the ground easing around to lean against Hunter, who, instead, sunk to the earth. She curled around him, at ease to lay in the shade.

"How did you get her?" I asked, taking a seat near them.

Hunter grinned at me and launched into the story of how a group of them had been traveling here to the temple, and Mai had attacked them. He quickly explained the circumstances and that they'd found her wounded the next day, and with the help of Kaylee, Benji's daughter, he'd patched Mai up and gained her trust. He also explained about the Reinhard pendants and how they were an anchor to their powers.

All the while, kids tore through the courtyard and, even though it was hot, there was a sense of peace here that I'd never felt before. Back in the city, even when there was nothing to do, it always felt as if I should be doing something. I should be trying to find another job or a better job, trying to save for my own room in a place. I should be helping my friends more. I'd always felt lacking like I was never doing enough, and that I needed to be somehow more than what I was.

But here?

Here I could just be. I didn't feel the same expectations.

Ezra stepped out from the stone archways, followed by Poe, but he didn't look happy as Vasco let out a shriek. He did smile, though, once he caught sight of Hunter and me. After a moment and an exchange of words, Ezra and Poe came over and joined us.

"Just who I was looking for," Ezra said. "Jett, this is Poe."

The older man in the monk's robes nodded to me. I nodded back but didn't say anything.

Ezra sat next to me in the shade of the tree. Vasco jumped from his shoulder, walking with the weird bird trait over to Hunter's demon, who playfully batted at him with her large paw.

"What do you think of the Halfworld?" Ezra asked me. The question shouldn't have been out of place, but it still felt forced to me.

I drew my knees up, ringing them loosely with my arms, and shrugged. "It's nice here."

Hunter raised an eyebrow at me. "I feel there's a but at the end of that sentence."

Looking down at the ground, I wondered if I really wanted to broach this subject with them. But as I thought about it, I realized that they all had similar stories to mine. They'd all lost their parents. So, maybe my story wouldn't be all that different from theirs.

"It's a little unsettling to be here. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like I've been here before. The murals on the walls, I've seen them in my dreams. And the language sounds familiar, like understanding it is just out of my reach."

Hunter sat up straighter and Ezra focused on me with a laser-like intensity.

"But you've never been here before, right?" Ezra asked.

"I don't know, not that I remember. But- There's a lot about my childhood that I don't remember, especially from before my parents disappeared."

"What do you remember?" Poe asked gently. "Would you tell us?"

I paused, trying to gauge how I felt about this. Years of therapy and shrinks, of meds and talk of trauma, had taught me to sensor my memories and to make it sound like some of the things I remembered were metaphorical. But as I looked at the others and glanced at the temple's walls, a sense of peace filled me. The feeling was the same as when I followed Ezra into the portal in the park. Like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, but I had nothing to be afraid of here.

Taking a deep breath, I shared with them a part of me that I'd held closest to my heart.