Hermes | Book 1

: 32 :

They were both lost; only, she was better at hiding it.

Chapter 32

HE WAS staring at the striking color of her hair for so long that when she called him, all he could see was deep, rich red.

"You look like you're going to throw up," she stated casually. "Didn't scan yourself today?"

"I did," he muttered, then focused on scooping the spiced fruits onto his biscuit before  taking a large bite. Familiarity and unfamiliarity clashed together to perform a thunderous symphony for his taste buds, and Hermes stopped chewing altogether for a second to process it all.

A lingering yeasty flavor of the soft bread and the fading tang of the spiced fruits remained in his mouth when he quietly said, "Ronan showed me where to do the scanning yesterday."

Asta chewed for a moment, swallowed and then said a short, "Good."

"How long are we staying here?"

There was a lot of things that Hermes couldn't come to terms with yet, but he had decided on the roof that no harm could come from trusting Asta.  But the shock, rage and denial had still not left him completely; even as he sat in the silent atmosphere of the kitchen facing the huge glass wall that separated him from outside, his mind was a warehouse that had recently burned down from a fire. He wasn't very sure he had enough funds to repair it.

The red haired girl sitting opposite him shrugged, putting down the biscuit she had picked up.

Her grey eyes focused on him as she asked in a lazy, platonic way. "Where do you want to go?"

The residue of spices in his mouth suddenly seemed to overpowering. Pursing his lips, he took a lone piece of biscuit and chewed on it thoughtfully.

"Honestly," he said smiling just a little, "I have no idea. We can't go back to Alpha."

"No," said Asta nodding in affirmation. Then that intense, desperate look that had caught Hermes with an iron grip returned to her smoky grey eyes. There was only raw, untouched truth in expression as she said, "Do you believe me, Hermes?"

Do I believe that I am not what I thought I was? That I, the master of manipulation, was the one being manipulated all along?

"Your story holds firm for now." He said. In his mind, Hermes could still see the picture of Athena that she had projected and the clear resemblance the two of them carried. He could hear her voice, grieving and humiliated, speak brusquely about a world that had never belonged to them.

And although he hated to believe it, Hermes knew-as a great feeling of fury grew in his heart- that it was the truth.

At the edge of his vision, Hermes saw the door open. A man in a dark grey suit with dark gold lapels entered. Athena did not turn even as the man bowed slightly in respect and said, "Lord Zeus wishes to meet Lady Athena immediately."

Hermes looked back at Athena to find her gaze firmly fixed on him. "Everything is a lie, Hermes. Everything is a lie." Her voice was below a whisper and could hardly be heard, even by him. "Find me when you realise the truth."

Without another word, she turned around and walked out of the room.

"Did they wipe our minds?" He asked a little too sharply as he tried to shake of the damp feeling that the sudden memory had left him. They were becoming less painful and much more faster now.

"The pills." Asta said calmly, seemingly not affected by his tone. "We took them everyday because it apparently improved our physical abilities." A soft swear word escaped her lips as she fiddled with the last of the savory fruits on her plate.

"We didn't have any clear memories to begin with," she said, a sudden scowl appearing on her face, taking him by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not very sure," Asta was frowning a little. "But from what I remember-its still so bloody hazy- I managed to read a few files, before I was caught-"

"You were caught?" Hermes wasn't sure what to think anymore. How had she escaped  of she had been caught?

Taking the fruits one by one, she placed it on the last piece of bread on her plate. Giving him a troubled smile she hummed in conformation. "In the few files I read, we were in that place from when we were ten or twelve years of age."

"Do you remember everything?"

"No," she admitted. "It's coming back to me slowly. Much slower than I want it to." She idly poked at her food, but made no move to eat it. "At the beginning, your freshest memories come back, but then they slowly trickle out. After that you need a trigger of some sort."

"A trigger?" Hermes was interested now. So Asta too was suffering like him. It made him feel guilty that this made him happy.

"Extreme excitement, desperation, adrenaline rushes, seeing something that you seen before," Asta listed out looking at him from under her lashes. "Talking to you brought back a lot of them for me."

Hermes nodded, not knowing what to say or what to think. A pulsing sense of dread and a sharp pang of loneliness attacked him from behind, making him collapse internally.

Suddenly he felt a strange sense of admiration towards Asta; he wondered suddenly how she had managed to stay sane for so long by herself. But he was a selfish person and a thief. Guilt was something so familiar to him, he had learnt to ignore it.

Leaning forward just as she put the last of her food in her mouth he said quietly," You told me to find you when I realize the truth. Knowingly or unknowingly I have reached you. So tell me, Asta, what now?"

Grey eyes wide open in surprise, Asta stopped mid chew. Hermes couldn't help it, he gave her his best smile. "I escaped, just like you asked me to. You always have a plan-it doesn't matter,"he wasn't sure who he was convincing, "Athena or Asta, you always have a plan."

For the longest time, Asta just looked at him. Then finishing of the food in her mouth, she whispered-maybe for the first time-sounding vulnerable. "I don't know, Hermes, I really don't."