Page 25 of Merciless
“No,” Hades repeated. “It’s not my place to interfere.”
“Right,” I scoffed. “That’s what you use me for.”
“You’ve been grasping for control your whole adult life,” the god mused. “Now, that control is completely out of your hands. What better time to reflect? To think about how you would go through life differently if you return. Or, should you choose to move on, the impact you had with this life.”
“No control, huh?” I felt claustrophobic, despite being out in the open. An itch crawled up my skin, some instinct pulling at me.
I looked back toward the cabin, at the door that would send me to the underworld. Immediately the itch stopped, replaced by a soothing, peaceful feeling.I have to go,I thought.
“Reaper.” Hades’ voice was hard, carrying a note of warning as I turned to face the house. “Do not go through that door unless you are absolutely sure it’s what you want.”
“I don’t know. I just…” One foot stepped closer, then the other. “I don’t like it here. It doesn’t feel right, and that’s my home.”
“If you go, there is no coming back. Do you understand?” Hades stepped closer to me. “You may not see Mariposa again for a very long time.”
“Fuck, Mari.” The urge to walk through that door felt magnetic now, and resisting only made it worse. “What’s happening, Hades? Why is it pulling me?”
His brow furrowed the tiniest amount, the only change in his otherwise calm, neutral face. “Your body must be failing. You’re getting even closer to death.”
“Shit.” I slapped a hand to my chest, feeling like there was a fist inside my chest cavity physically pulling me toward that door. All my instincts were telling me that that place would feel much better than here. “I want to go, but…but not yet. I need to work things out with Mari. I want to become a father and watch my kids grow up—fuck!”
Calm.
That single word rumbled through my senses, lifting the hairs on my skin and echoing through my mind.
Be calm and stay. We are here with you.
“What is that?” I looked all around me. “Whois here?”
“Well.” Now Hades had some amount of surprise in his voice. “I didn’t know anyone else could be here.”
I whipped around again to find another man standing in front of my parents’ cabin, effectively blocking the door. Like Hades, he looked like a normal guy, but with warm brown skin and glossy black hair that hung straight past his shoulders.
“There seems to be much you don’t know, old god,” the stranger said to Hades, almost in a playfully chiding way.
“Leave it to a young god to still have an ego,” Hades responded with a huff.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked the newcomer.
“The companion god of a friend,” he answered, leveling his dark gaze on me. I thought Hades’ presence was heavy. This god made my knees want to buckle under some invisible weight. “Don’t be afraid,” he added. “I’m only here to encourage you to not choose death. At least, not until there is no other choice.”
“You cannot interfere with his free will,” Hades said with a snarl.
“His failing organs already are,” the new god retorted. “I cannot heal as others can, but I can hold him closer to life for a short while longer.” His gaze returned to me. “Until you are rescued or you die, Reaper.”
Ten
JANDRO
Mari’s dad was cleared to leave the hospital the next day, and all three of us welcomed the distraction of getting him set up in our home. I felt my old caretaker instincts kicking in from when my aunt and uncle started getting old and they needed more help around the house.
Gunner and I hovered, eager to help but also not wanting to be overbearing. Mari knew her dad best and it was heartwarming to see them bantering and cracking jokes. She had more brightness in her and smiled like she hadn’t in days.
“Are you hungry, Dad?” Mari was darting around his room now, checking and rechecking that he had everything he needed, while us three guys just watched her movement like the cutest tornado.
“No,mijita. I don’t have much of an appetite lately.”
“You’re skin and bones,viejito.” She poked his cheek. “You’re gonna have eggs for breakfast every day. You need the calories.”
