Inbetween - Book 1 of the Guardian series

Chapter 8 - Goddess of the Hunt

Apollo had barely gotten to the temple before he was aware of her return, not even able to reach Clotho or one of the others, and when he knew she was back he wasn't eager to see what remained.

He had to go though. It was his duty. 

She wasn't there. She was, so to speak, the remains. The Harvesters liked to corner young Guardians, trap them in void spaces, and take pieces. Sell them to the paranormal for high prices. Amelia was valuable and she was now a known target. They'd be looking out for her again, probably hoping for another go, experts in keeping a Guardian alive till they had everything they wanted. He hadn't time to explain to her what was in the world. Yes, they were already dead, and yes, here they were safe. No one could really physically injure them. Apollo shouldn't have had to let her see this side of the world yet.

He sat down beside her and pulled out his lyre again. Apollo tried to relax the two of them with it.

 The living world wasn't here. It was different. Apollo had been caught several times too but he'd been prepared, aware of what it was, and had known it was going to be over. Amelia hadn't known because it had been to early to tell her. Apollo had thought so, anyway, but now he wasn't so sure.  One second she'd had a moment of warmth and contentment, then she had to face one of the biggest shocks sadly many Guardians had to face- that cold slap of mortality that came with being tortured and tormented.  Injured.  Compared to here, this place where only emotions could harm them, it was a shock for someone dead for a week or for ten thousand years- it didn't matter.

"Just let your body heal, Amelia." Apollo said softly. He found her hand when one arm was back, taking it, and squeezing. Compassion filled him as her grey eyes stared blankly up at the sky. At least she wouldn't be in any physical pain. "Nothing that happened can touch you in this place. We don't have to leave."

Amelia was in shock for a long time, physically. Not surprising.  Apollo watched the plants wilt and die, as the rain stopped, as the sun beat down on the land and dried it. Dried the puddles, the ground, destroyed the plant life that wilted under the harsh heat. Ground cracked. Somehow, even with the heat of the sun, the world remained grey and depressing, maybe even more so. It was freezing. Hot, dry, cracking, and yet it was freezing. Little tremors rocked the ground sometimes, the vine and flowers dying and crumbling away, the ruins cracking a little more.

She'd gone backwards instead of forwards. 

Fuck. He didn't want her to go back to the living world at all. 

Apollo stood up and carefully forced his own creations into the world, attempting to keep it from invading her world too much, simply creating a shade for her out of his cloak and something to hold it up. Her eyes had shut as he worked and it was a sign that some part of her was coming back. Apollo slid back down beside her and waited.

Physically she started to repair herself.  It was a gruesome sight but Apollo didn't budge. He played music as he had when she'd died, or let stars dance between her and the dark brown fabric, trying to comfort her, trying to keep her calm.  Only when the clouds came back, darker, grey, and the rain resumed, did he let himself sleep. It wasn't necessary but somehow Apollo needed to sleep anyway, emotionally wrecked with guilt, curling up on the hard ruins with his cloak for a pillow, ignoring the rain and cold.  

Amelia woke. She was afraid to open her eyes for a long time, laying there, feeling the cold rain settle on her skin. She didn't feel pain but she did feel fear, for the first time, fear of what she hadn't thought about. 

It took her a long time to open one eye, and then the other, aware that at one point she hadn't even had eyes. Had she? What a terrible thought. She reached up to touch her face, staring at her arms, this vague sense of them being gone at some point. Torture. Something with no skin. It made her shudder and the entire world shook- not just a little, but a lot. The rain was nearly frozen and nearly snowing. The entire world was cold like her.