Between Worlds (TEMP HOLD)

KNOX'S HIDEAWAY

CASTIEL

The sunlight feels warm against my face, and the air is cool and crisp. We're standing together on the top of a large hill. Colors of the LOTL swirl beneath my gaze. I forget all about the temporary sickness, the burns that scorch our skin and the heart that still beats in my chest. I forget everything for this one moment. Tears burn my eyes.

        "Knox!" Persephone suddenly calls out.

         There's a man waiting for us at the bottom of the hill; he's dressed entirely in white, with indescribable blue-grey eyes and wind blown dark hair. A wide smile spreads across his flushed features. He holds his arms open and meets my mother halfway in a loving embrace. He has his eyes closed, holding her tightly and I hold my breath. A million questions run through my mind, and the silver watch ticks loudly on my wrist.

        We're on an island surrounded by glittering water. Green rolling hills look as though they stretch for miles; a large white home stands tall in the distance. I shiver.

         Knox kisses my mother's cheek, and whispers something in her ear. She takes his hand and together they move back up the hill to meet me. My mother looks expectantly at Knox, but Knox is gazing at me with a look I can only describe as admiring. I back up a little on this hill; basking in the sun's glow as it washes over half my face. Thunder rumbles above us. "Do you know who I am?"

Those eyes and that hair. I look back and forth between him and my mother as a gasp tries to rise in my throat. "I'm not calling you daddy, if that's what you want."

"Cas — " Persephone begins.

"It's quite alright, beautiful. We can explain this all over lunch. Are you both hungry? The journey from the Underworld is long, and you both look slightly unkempt. You can shower while the maids prepare our feast."

       I narrow my eyes. "Let me guess. You live in some palace like my father, don't you?"

       "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a palace." Knox gestures towards the home on the top of the hill. It was breathtaking and I didn't like the nasty expression on Knoxs face. There was something that didn't feel right about him, something twisting in my gut that told me to run as we could. How much did my mother really know about this guy?

        He lived in a castle that was set on the top of the tallest of the rolling green hills. A castle that was larger than even my father's. It glittered in the light from the sun, and looked like everything I had ever wanted. I wanted sunlight. I wanted to see the ocean, glittering like diamonds, and hear the sound of its lullaby as it washes against the shores. But here... here we're on an island. Here — I knew secrets would be bigger and kept even more hidden.

       Knox's place is everything that my father's was not. It was brilliantly white and full of sunlight to the point where I couldn't believe that I actually missed my dad's place. I narrowed  my eyes as he leads us through sterile corridors, past doors that are unlocked and wide open. There are no doors that are locked or passcoded. There are no secrets here written visibly on the walls, with arrows pointing to scream out "here we are". No. Knox's secrets would be dirty, and this guy looked like he was full of them. I wasn't buying his new godly, fatherly role; and he knew it, because I could see him watching me carefully as I investigated and touched everything I could get my hands on.