charm(less)

septem

—— s e p t e m ——

"WHERE DOES IT hurt?"

Korey indicated to his right side and Park knelt down in front of him, carefully probing the area to ensure there wasn't any broken skin which would mean a risk of infection. The passengers that had been hiding out below deck were slowly spilling out again, murmuring and looking around in shock at the aftermath of the attack. Tables and chairs were upturned, many having gone flying overboard, and deep grooves ran in every direction across the floor from the tentacles. Despite their battered appearance, none of them seemed to be paying Korey or Park any attention. No doubt the Mist filtering over anything that would make them stand out mortals.

Korey sucked in a sharp breath when Park's fingers found the lower half of his chest. "Yeah," he said breathlessly, his face tightening with pain on a grimace. "Right there. Hurts when I breath too."

Park nodded. "What I suspected. A broken rib, maybe two."

"Oh." Korey looked thoughtful. "I've never broken anything before."

"In that case, congratulations. Today's the end of that," Park said dryly.

"Lucky me. Will I die?"

"From a couple of broken ribs? Hardly," Park scoffed, pulling his bag from his back to rifle through it. It was something of a miracle that it had stayed on his back for the entirety of the battle. Small mercies. He dug out his flask of nectar and poured some of the honey gold liquid into the lid. "Drink this."

"Am I allowed to ask what it is?"

Park could have easily given an explanation, but instead found himself saying, "Trust me."

Korey took the lid from his hand without another word and drained the contents in one go. Park felt a strange warmth at that easy loyalty and pushed the feeling aside to deal with another time.  "Wow," he gasped, licking his lips with wide-eyed wonder. "That was...it tasted like Maria's hot chocolate. How? It's not even warm but I could taste the heat, somehow."

"More food of the gods," Park said. "Think ambrosia, in liquid form. It's called nectar. How does your side feel now?"

Korey pressed a cautious hand against his ribs and grinned. "Good as new. Doesn't even hurt at all."

"There are some perks to being a demigod," Park said, twisting the lid back onto the flask and slipping it into his bag.

"But I can think of some cons, too," Korey said, glancing around at the carnage that had occurred as a result of the Kraken ambush. "Being attacked by monsters that want to kill us, for starters."

"For starters. The list is never ending."

The tinny crackle of the overheard speaker sounded and was followed by an announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to apologise for the unexpected event and any inconvenience it may have caused. Due to possibility of such an event occurring again, the ferry will be turning to return you all to Manhattan. We apologise again that you won't be making it to Rockaway today."

"What?" Korey exclaimed, as the speaker cut off. "You have got to be kidding me. We risked our lives to kill that thing only to not even make it to Rockaway? I don't fucking think so. I have half a mind to go down there and yell at whoever the hell decided that."

Something in his last angry sentence sparked the possibility of an idea in Park's head. He'd seen the way Korey had shouted for the Kraken to open it's mouth and that it had obeyed, almost as if responding to his command. Park could've written it off as a coincidence if not for the fact that he'd seen hints of this ability, whatever it was, before. He'd seen that intent gleam in Korey's eyes and felt that strange, inexplicable urge to listen to whatever he said, to do whatever he wanted. Park could resist it those few times he'd experienced it because he was sure Korey didn't even realise what he was doing.