Earthrumbler

Chapter Five: Rising Strength

“Jenny,” she exhaled my name. “Oh, gods. What has he done to you?” She snapped her fingers, and the cuffs clicked open. In the moonlight, she was a goddess. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders. Her tanned skin drank in the silver light. A loose white dress wrapped around her. She had a long-sleeved cover of the same material.

I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Ah…” It was the first I’d spoken to her in so long. “You, ah…like this.”

She draped the thin coat over me. “I need to speak to you.” Though she had said this exact sentence to me before, her voice was full of warmth, concern.

Once I pulled my arms through it, I wrapped the cover around me. The cloth stung where it hit my skin. I latched onto her, searching for comfort. My front prickled.

She patted my back and muttered soothing words in my ear. “My uncle will not stop until I’m in his kingdom. I cannot believe he stooped so low as to strip you.” She kissed my forehead. “It’s safe where we are where the land, sea, and sky meet. Nobody owns this spot.” Her fingertips were cold against my hot cheeks. “You’ve already been so strong. I’ll hide you away. My father be damned. I’ll tell all of Olympus about you and I’ll smooth it over while you’re hiding.”

“Hiding? I can’t just hide. The traveling season is here, and Papa needs help with the inn. I might be writing my professor’s queries, if I decide to go to the university. I can’t just hide for however long this may take.” I kept my voice even.

She lowered her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “That would all be a bit difficult if you were dead.” Her voice had gone cold, her expression, stoic.

If my relief had not strong, a plume of anger would have fizzled in my chest. “Would they truly just kill me without any explanation? They’re gods. Shouldn’t they have to consider the balance of the universe and all of those other godly wonderings?”

“Yes, they would,” she said. “They destroyed an entire world to keep their existence secret. No one worships gods anymore, Jenny. At the end of the old era, they worshipped a god, alright, currency. And perhaps, your people, their ancestors, would do the very same. And you, you would be the first root of the problem.”

“Because of the one who revealed you all at the Old Era? He was the last mortal with the blood of a god, wasn’t he?” When she nodded, a sudden chill tingled my arms. I pulled the shawl tighter around me. “Did they kill him… in the end?”

Her eyes turned to me. Their bright green held tones of sadness, and uncertainty. “Even I do not know the answer to that. I do not wish to know what they’d do to you.” She embraced me once more, cradling me in the warmth I’d so desperately craved in my youth. Under her breath, she sang to me in Greek. It wasn’t the lullaby; its tone was sadder, yet had a sweet touch of honey. I buried my chest in her shoulder. “I love you.”

“Touching as this is, I have to interrupt.” The pungent floral scent filled my nose before I opened my eyes. When I stumbled backward, she laughed, a high-pitched squeal. “Now, sister, do you have something you wish to tell father?”

My mother looked at me. “Not until she’s protected.” Her gaze steeled to Persephone. “Why, Kore? Why would you give up my daughter?”

“She is not supposed to be alive, Athena! When will you understand this? Just as the council condemned Jacob all those years ago, she too will be sent to death before she escalates beyond our control. Mortals with our abilities are not fit to live. She is best off beneath the surface when she can cause no mischief.”

My mother’s tone remained placid, but strained. “You mean, where our uncle can torture her so that I’ll descend to save her? I beg you, sister, release her.”