II. Gods and Monsters

6. Home Invasion

Sunlight streamed through the window as Oli's eyes cracked open. Not only had he not bothered to shut the curtains but he hadn't even bothered to change before getting into bed. Oli rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up fully after the first good night's sleep he'd had in a long time.

"Ugh, a shower should wake me up..." he muttered to himself, tossing his t-shirt to the floor.

He trudged into the bathroom and as the hot water washed over him he felt the last aches in his muscles flow away with it. He'd forgotten the last time he'd had a shower. Or fully relaxed even. His life had gotten so hectic that such simple things like a good shower every now and again were all but forgotten.

It took him a long time before he could finally drag himself away from the blissful waters. He'd been in there so long that the entire room had steamed up, so he opened the window just enough to let air flow through, then took the hand towel and used it to wipe the mirror (he wasn't going to use the towel round his waist was he?). As he looked at himself he realised something. He'd actually started to feel almost human again. Almost... The thought of being possessed kind of ruined the image....

But when he had caught his reflection's eye he noticed he wasn't disgusted by what he saw. In fact, he didn't feel anything negative at all. Oli smiled at this new revelation as he made his way back into his own room.

He pulled clothes out of his chest of drawers that were comfortable, yet practical. He realised that none of his clothes caught fire (thankfully) when he tapped into his powers, so there was no need to worry about what he wore, but he still wasn't exactly gonna go out in a three-piece suit. A pair of fresh, black combats and a dark green t-shirt would do.

He checked the time on his phone. An image of him and Charlotte appeared as the clock told him it was 11:30 in the morning. Not bad. Not bad at...

"Wait a minute..." he muttered to himself.

He picked up the phone and turned it over in his hand.

"This shouldn't be here..."

With all that had gone on, his phone had kind of gone down his list of priorities, but now he'd had a chance to rest and recuperate he had realised... his phone had been destroyed. His first encounter with Hades had smashed it into a million tiny fragments, yet here it was, fully functioning as if nothing had happened. Oli looked over at his jacket, remembering the first time something he owned had drastically changed.

The day he first found out what he was. What lurked beneath the skin.

Oli shook his head. He was just being paranoid.

He decided against turning the television or radio on as he made his breakfast. Every time he had done over the past couple of days it had told him something terrible. Listening to the news was asking for trouble...

Instead, he ate in silence, the only noises being the chirping of birds outside, his own breathing and the occasional dog bark in the distance. He'd always wanted a dog. A dalmatian to be exact. People always seemed to be surprised when he told them. For some reason they expected him to say he wanted a german shepherd or a bulldog or something. But no, he had his heart set on a dalmatian. It had actually been suggested to him by a friend at school. He'd told her he was gonna name the dog after her in her honor and fully intended to keep that promise.

"One day..." he told himself through a mouthful of toast.

Multiple slices of toast and a bowl of Lucky Charms later and Oli was finally ready to get on with... whatever it was he was supposed to be doing. He didn't know what was worse, the fact Uncle Joseph still bought them that stuff after Gabe stopped eating it when he was five, or that Oli had gotten so distracted he'd totally forgotten why he was here.