Hunter

Chapter Forty - Burdened

"You already have a Queen." I couldn't feel the usual fluttering of my heart in my chest.

"Six months out of twelve. For half of the year, I am left alone with no Queen to accompany me. I will let you return to the land of the living if you promise to return to me.

"I will not live here for six months!"

"You won't have to." My eyebrows creased as he stepped forward. "As a Queen, you have the power to make your own decisions. You will come when you are summoned, and you will return as you please." My eyes narrowed steadily at him. Something weighed heavily in my chest, but I couldn't place a finger on it. Uncertainty ate away at my mind, but there was no time to ponder. "All I require is an oath."

"I swear on the River Styx that I will return to you if you offer me discretion. I will be your Queen if you release me. I swear that my presence will be sufficient and that my duties will be fulfilled." I was binding myself to the dead without a second thought. I knew what I was doing, yet I proceeded with it anyway. There was no time for regret. The only thing that we had time for was action, and action was what was needed for me to return home alive.

"Rise, my Queen." I stood before him, and his hand assumed its prior position to my chin. He seemed to be fascinated with the way my jaw curved, to the natural shape of my face. His finger trailed the contour before dropping, once again to his side. "I release you, but you will carry the Burden of the Dead."

"What?" What was he talking about? "That wasn't part of the deal!" Anger coursed through my veins, but that was short lived as I felt sand rise in my throat. My scream was muffled by the coarse substance that spilled from my mouth, and ears, and nose. The rough grains scratched the back of my eyes, and I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying hard not to gouge my eyes out. Soon enough, I was covered in the substance, buried under loose soil. I dug around me, almost as if I was swimming through water. I kept pushing until I felt a whisper of air on my fingertips. My hand rested on the earth as I pulled myself out into the daylight.

I continued to push myself to of the ground, fighting against the forces of gravity. My energy was restored, making my struggle a lot less of a challenge. I felt more powerful than I had ever felt, despite the unexpected turn of events. Maybe being Queen of the Underworld came with certain perks. I lay on my back, staring at the bright blue sky. It felt weird to be back there, where everything was bright and beautiful when I had just returned from the land of no color. Craning my neck so that I could see behind me, I spied my bag and the sacrificial fire, still blazing. Queen of the Underworld. What had I gotten myself into? I tried not to think about it, knowing that I had done what was necessary.

I got up and grabbed my bag off of the ground before kicking sand into the flames. When I had reached down to grab my travel pack, I noticed something on my wrist. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be some sort of tattoo: an infinity sign. Forever. I was bound to Hades forever.

I ran my thumb over the mark, hoping it would rub off or something, but it didn't. It stayed exactly where it was. I pulled down the sleeve of my shirt and started walking. The sun was at its highest point, meaning that I couldn't summon midnight to give me a ride home. It didn't faze me as I started my fifteen-mile walk home in a determined manner. As long as I made it home, how it happened didn't matter to me.

* Ω *

It was dark when I finally saw my house. All of the lights were on and the front door was wide open. I lifted my bag over my shoulder once again, as it had started to slip off. I trudged wearily to the door, my feet dragging behind me. Once there, I stopped, looking inside. I couldn't hear a thing, but I knew that they were waiting for me to return. Hoping that I would return. I stepped inside the building and down the hallway into the dining room. My mom, Dee, and Jasper sat there. The looks on their faces broke my heart as they finally noticed me. I could tell that my mom was angry, but that was the least of her worries.

"Hayley! What were you thinking?" She gripped my shoulders and shook me violently. She watched me for a suffocating moment, her fingers digging into my shoulder blades. The feeling wasn't painful, but the pressure was prevalent. She looked like she was about to cry as she was holding her breath, but after what seemed like forever, she exhaled. Her relieved eyes scanned my face before she pulled me into a hug. "Next time you do something as reckless as that you won't need a way to get to the Underworld." I could hear the tears in her voice, but being the strong woman that she was, she didn't dare cry in front of any of us. She pulled back, her hands still on my shoulders and watched me carefully. She was searching for answers. "What happened?"

I looked down at my wrist, the infinity sign still burned there. I pushed her hands off of my shoulders and walked upstairs. I was tired, and I needed a shower. I peeled my sandy clothes off of my body and turned the heat all the way up. I stared at myself in the mirror, the fog slowly creeping its way across the glass. I looked the same. Anyone who didn't know me well would think that I looked the same. But something was different. There was something missing within me. Something that was broken. I didn't feel like myself: I wasn't myself. The fog covered the entire mirror, causing my reflection to disappear from sight. I stared at my silhouette, feeling like that was what I was becoming. Nothing but a body with no personality.

The warm water of the shower sluiced over my body as I stepped in and shut the curtain. I stood directly underneath the spray, the warm pressure massaging my aching body. I ran my fingers through my hair, getting rid of the sand that was nestled there. I opened my eyes and stared at the grains of sand that pooled at my feet when something caught my vision. I turned my head to the side and saw a silhouette of a man through my shower curtains. My breathing was calm but my heart was hammering. I turned steadily to the side and opened the curtain. He wasn't facing me, but that didn't make it any less frightening. He was pale and ghoulish, his thin black hair exposing a deoxygenated scalp. His head turned to the side and my heart beat faster. Slowly, he turned, eyeless sockets and bleeding lips puckering at me. He jumped forward, hands clawed, and I slipped, hitting my head on the corner of my bath. My eyes were shut, but when I opened them, the man was gone.

I tried to calm my thrashing heart, but my attempts were futile. I shut off the water and walked into my bedroom, my hands shaking. I sat on my bed, trying to regain some sort of stability. I rested my head on my hands and took calming breaths. I tried to silence out the world and focus on myself, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't concentrate with the voices in my head. I knew that they would go away, but I just didn't know when. They were so loud, almost as if there were people standing directly around me. My fingers pressed into my scalp, trying to silence the hushed words that were ringing uncomfortably in my mind. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it frustrated me, pushing me closer and closer to the edge of mania. I wanted to scream, I wanted to do anything that could help me, but I didn't know what to do. I held onto my own wrists and squeezed to prevent myself from doing any other type of harm. I squeezed harder as the voices got quieter. Eventually, there was nothing left, and the only sound that I heard was my labored breathing and the creak of my bed as I rocked back and forth.

I lay on my side, my legs curled into my body. My wrist was before my face, and I stared at the infinity tattoo on my wrist. Forever. I was going to have to live like that forever.