Shadows of Fate

Chapter 10

"Are you sure you're okay?" Icarus asked for the zillionth time.

"I'm fine," I grumbled, holding in a hiss as we walked up the small hill towards my home. "Apparently, I'm a freaking demigod. A sprained ankle should be nothing."

Icarus frowned, waiting for me to catch up. "I'm sorry about that."

"You saved me. Again. I was almost fried by your psychotic god of a brother." Stabbing pain shot up my leg, and I stumbled.

Icarus caught my arm and in one smooth motion hoisted me around and onto his back.

"I'm fine. I just need to walk it off." I hissed in a breath as an unpleasant mix of pain and tingling goodness prickled at my exhausted feet.

"Let me help," Icarus offered. "It's my fault you were hurt."

It was impossible to argue when my muscles slowly turned to jelly. Sighing, I laced my fingers together in front of his chest and rested my chin on his shoulder.

"I don't see why you can't just heal me like you did before."

"I didn't." Denial wasn't an attractive quality, but I assumed even a god couldn't be perfect.

"Oh yeah?" I yawned. "Then why does my shirt have holes where that hellhound grabbed me but my shoulder is fine?"

Icarus adjusted me more comfortably on his back. His hands clasped together beneath me. He walked a few moments in silence. Leaves crunched under his feet.

"I'm not sure how I did it," he admitted, much to my surprise. "I was so scared you were going to die. It just happened."

Warmth seeped deep into my muscles, and I relaxed. I wanted to know more, the entire truth, but I tried to accept that he really might not know. Just as I didn't know how I could talk to Tobias, I just could.

I broke our silence and asked, "Is this real?"

He didn't need to reply. I knew his answer would be the same as mine. We didn't know. It felt surreal, crazy, and impossible. But it was a dream that didn't end.

"I saw something in the woods," I said. "Before you rescued me."

"Something besides the hounds?"

I nodded against his neck. The soothing sent of sage filled my senses. I could see the porch light just ahead.

"What was it?" he asked.

Those green eyes haunted my mind. Something about the shadowed figure was eerily familiar.

"Charlie?" Icarus's voice seemed miles away, and my head lulled heavy on his shoulder.

~~~

"Charlie. Are you okay? Let me in," Tobias tapped on the bathroom door. It was the beginning of summer break...the end of the Junior year party at the head cheerleader's house. I was invited as an extension of Tobias. I'd been there a grand total of forty-five minutes and it was already going horribly.

I curled my feet up on the toilet and rubbed my damp eyes.

"She's such a freak. How are you even related?" Ally, Tobias's most recent girlfriend and second in command of the cheer squad, yelled and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her.

"Don't talk about her like that!" Tobias snapped. "What were you thinking setting her up with that D-bag anyway?"

I cringed. Tobias never yelled. He sounded like a different person. Older. He was growing up without me. I was still the awkward nerd I'd always been. In high school, Tobias became the guy everyone wanted to know. Somehow, he'd changed. Yet to me, he remained exactly the same.