Eyes of the Eternal (Realms of Rebirth Book 1)

by G. E. White

  “Cerberus?”

  “Well of course,” Jared replied, “You know of any other three headed dogs?”

  He pulled at the dog pointing him towards the kitchen. “Come on boy – let’s get you something to eat.”

  Cerberus perked up at the suggestion and allowed his master to guide him towards the semi-open concept kitchen. Quinn followed slowly, still marveling at the creature.

  “You can just put the bag on the counter,” Jared instructed.

  Quinn moved to do so, but couldn’t help but stare as Jared pulled some dog kibble out from one of the cupboards and poured it into three separate bowls, which the dog’s heads greedily dug into.

  This day was just getting weirder. Such a normal act of feeding the dog had gone sideways as one of the heads finished its food early and tried to sneak some from the one beside it, only to be growled at.

  “You can pet him if you like, he won’t hurt you. Though I’d wait till he’s done eating,” Jared told Quinn, opening the fridge and grabbing a two-liter bottle of cola.

  “Maybe later,” Quinn mumbled.

  Jared sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast nook as he placed the bottle and two glasses in front of them. “All of this really isn’t familiar to you, is it?” he asked.

  Quinn lowered his head, almost ashamed. “Not really, no… I mean, I get these feelings like I should know you, or that perhaps I may have been to some of these places before, but I know I haven’t. I can’t really explain it.”

  “But you knew who Justine was,” he stated, pouring Quinn and himself a drink.

  “I only figured it out from what I’ve read about Greek myths,” the teen said, taking a sip of his drink.

  Cerberus had finished his dinner and now lapped at the water in a large dish on the floor. Quinn turned to continue to observe him with a curious eye.

  “Do you like dogs?” Jared asked.

  “I don’t know. I never had one… at least, not that I remember. I’ll admit they sometimes scare me.”

  The truth was, ever since he could remember he had been wary of the animals. Well, at least the ones bigger than a toaster. Quinn credited his apprehension to some experience in his forgotten childhood, or perhaps the half-remembered dream that plagued his subconscious.

  “I was just kind of wondering,” he continued.

  Jared swallowed the pop in his mouth. “What about?”

  “Well, for one thing, isn’t he a little small? And shouldn’t he be in the Underworld rather than here?”

  Jared nodded, “In theory yeah. This is just an alternate form that he can take on. And while he should be down in the Underworld he’s not really needed at the moment. That is, people don’t try to break in as much as they used to. So, with time he got bored and started causing havoc; digging up Persephone’s flowers, ripping apart the furniture, using guests as chew toys… eventually Hades got sick of it and gave him over to me to look after. But his collar allows him to be summoned if something goes wrong.”

  Quinn pursed his lips in thought. “I guess that makes sense, but how come no one freaks out over him… You must take him out for walks, right?”

  To be honest the whole situation baffled Quinn; here was this large society, who used secret passages, were capable of using magic, and kept mythic creatures for pets, yet no one appeared to take notice.

  “How much have the others told you about the different realms?”

  “Not much. Just that most creatures dwell in the First Realm while humans remain in the Second, but it wasn’t always like that. Leo said they all lived together at one time.”

  “That’s right,” the dark-haired man said leaning forward on the counter. “But it wasn’t like the Creator wiped every human’s memory clean once the division between the realms was made. That’s why people still believed in these creatures existed for a long time. But, as generation after generation went by without seeing these beings, people just started to assume they were imaginary – fodder for fairytales and fantasy fiction.”

  Jared ran a hand through his hair, absently stopping to scratch the back of his head. “I guess over time people stopped being able to recognize beings from the old world. You know, from before it was divided into the three realms. So, when humans look at Cerberus they don’t see a three-headed dog… they just see a black lab, that’s it. Does that make any sense?”

  “I guess so,” Quinn replied. “Just seems kind of sad that anyone could forget about a creature like Cerberus or that magic is real. There are thousands, millions of people who’d die to be able to see this.”

  “It’s not how they say – seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.”

  “But these people do believe,” the honey-haired youth huffed.

  “Not entirely. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they want to believe, but what they perceive as reality has a horrible habit of covering up the truth. So as much as they want to believe, a small part of them argues that their existence and the existence of magic hasn’t been proven and therefore isn’t real.”

  Quinn wilted under the older man’s words.

  Jared frowned and dragged a hand across his face. “This is depressing. Come on; let’s see what Joseph and Justine gave us.” He reached into the large paper bag and frowned as he grasped something. Peering into the bag Jared gave an unamused snort. “Cute… Here, I think this is for you.”

  He tossed something over to the teen which Quinn caught with ease. In his hand he now held a perfectly ripe pomegranate.

  “Justine probably made Joseph pack that,” his dark-haired companion explained.

  The youth grinned as he twirled the fruit in his grasp. “She’s fun – has a good sense of humor.” His expression turned thoughtful, “Do they always meet up? Hades and Persephone?”

  Jared pulled out a fresh loaf of bread, some cold cuts, a block of Havarti cheese, and bunch of grapes from the bag. “For the most part… I’m not saying that their individual lives don’t have bearing on it, but more often than not they find each other.”

  He opened one of the kitchen drawers, took out a bread knife, and began slicing the loaf. “Hey, think you can handle slicing the cheese without cutting yourself?” he asked as he dug out a small sharp blade from the cutlery drawer.

  Quinn plucked it out of his hand as he dragged the brick of cheese towards him, “I think I can manage.”

  The two worked in silence for a moment or two, when Quinn paused in his cutting.

  “What happens if when they come back she’s like him… or vice-versa?”

  Jared peered at Quinn confused. “What do you mean?”

  A blush crept across Quinn’s face as he fiddled with the knife in his hand. “What if in one incarnation she’s not… you know, a she? Athena was a woman and, well, I’m not… so, you know…”

  Jared raised his eyebrows in disbelief and snorted. “That’s what’s been bothering you? That the soul you’re a reincarnation of was a woman?”

  “Well, wouldn’t it bother you?” Quinn asked.

  Jared set the knife down and rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t think you understand the big picture here. Okay, first of all, souls don’t have genders, only mortal bodies do. Now the reason Athena was originally recognized as a woman was because that was the form the god inhabited when all of us were recognized for the first time. As for Hades and Persephone, we have roots in ancient Greece – do you honestly think a little homosexuality would bother us? I think you’ll find that most if not all gods would be considered… what are the kids calling it these days? Pansexual. We love whom we love and that’s about it. I mean can you honestly say that all your thoughts have been one hundred percent heterosexual?”

  A blush exploded across Quinn’s face. The truth was he hadn’t really thought much about his sexuality, he’d had a couple crushes growing up, which looking back he had to admit weren’t all girls. Though Jared’s words were kind of a relief to hear, all he could think of think of was awe-struck reaction to the death god as he
had come to Quinn’s rescue. Looking back to the man in question his blush deepened – so this is how he dies – of embarrassment.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Jared said with a chuckle. “Listen, I know this has got to be confusing as hell, and it probably feels like everything you’ve been told about your life up to this point has been a lie,” Jared sighed. “But what you found out today doesn’t make you less of who you are. If anything, it only adds to who you are. Who you’ve been in the past doesn’t have a whole lot of bearing on who you are now. Sure, there may be some quirks that you’ve kept from incarnation to incarnation, but that has been with you all along. You’re still you, you’re still Quinn.”

  “I guess,” the youth shrugged, though he did have to admit Jared’s words made him feel slightly more in control. In a way, he was still treading water in this sea of new knowledge but knew that there was someone there ready to pull him out if it got to be too much.

  Jared stood and grabbed a couple of plates from one of the cupboards and placed the slices of cheese, meat and bread on them along with the grapes.

  Picking up his glass and plate he gestured with his head for Quinn to follow. “It’s been a long day. Let’s watch some TV while we eat and then we’ll hit the sack.”

  Quinn shuffled after his host, food in hand, and sat down on the couch beside Jared. The older man’s words continuing to swim about his mind.

  During their conversation at the counter Cerberus had finished eating and now lay on the living room rug.

  Jared grabbed the remote, turned on the television and flicked through the channels, settling on a rerun of Seinfeld. They sat in silence as they ate and watched Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine wander around a mall parking garage searching for their car. Quinn had seen it before but still laughed as each member of the party was caught trying to pee in public when they were unable to locate the bathroom.

  Finishing his sandwich and grapes, Quinn went over and picked up the pomegranate he had left on the counter.

  He returned to the couch where Jared shot the teen an amused look. “It’s okay; you don’t have to eat that if you don’t want to. Despite what the rest of my family says I actually do keep food here, if you want something different – might have some ice cream in the freezer.”

  “I know, I was just thinking of how nice Justine was to me,” Quinn said.

  “She’s a nice person for the most part,” Jared replied. “Though trust me, you do not want to see her mad. She goes on a bloody war-path.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really, even Joseph hides from her. Though I don’t think you’ll need to worry about her. She likes you I can tell, but then she’s always had a soft spot for kids.”

  The teen wrinkled his nose in distaste. “I’m almost eighteen you know.”

  Jared laughed. “You’re still a kid to her and probably will be for as long as she knows you.”

  Quinn pouted; pretending to be offended by the idea, to which he was to a small degree, but the warm feeling of being liked and maybe even cared about by Justine overrode that emotion.

  He had often wondered what his mother had been like when he was a child. Miss Carol had always been kind to him, but then she had been kind to all the children she fostered. Call him selfish, but Quinn had always wanted someone to call his own – a mother that was his alone. Perhaps he was willing to share with a couple of siblings, but with new kids constantly in and out of the house, the woman was never able to spend a huge amount of attention on him.

  Quinn considered that the lack of attention given to him probably had to do with his manner. It was said that the squeaky wheel got the grease, but he wasn’t one to act out, whine, or cause too much trouble.

  He just kind of disappeared into the background.

  “If she likes kids so much, why don’t she and Joseph have any?” he asked.

  Jared frowned at Quinn’s question, slowly sinking back against the couch pillows. “Some things just aren’t meant to be… you know?”

  The grey-eyed youth turned his gaze to the fruit in his hand, regretting having asked. “Yeah… Has it always been like this?”

  “For Persephone? So far, yeah. I mean, it’s not like we’re encouraged to have kids, what with possible side effects, but she never really got the option in the first place.”

  “That’s really too bad,” Quinn said, allowing his head to roll back against the couch. “I think she would make a wonderful mother.”

  “You and me both kiddo… All right, I think that’s enough caring and sharing for tonight. Time for bed,” Jared announced, turning off the television and stood.

  Quinn put the fruit on the coffee table and trailed after Jared over to the bedroom door.

  “You can sleep here,” his host said pointing to his bed, before crossing over to his dresser. He yanked the drawer open and grabbed two sets of sleepwear, tossing one at Quinn.

  “Those should fit you – might be a tad big.”

  “That’s fine,” Quinn assured. “But I can sleep on the couch-”

  “I don’t want to hear it,” the other interrupted. “You get the bed; I get the couch. The bathroom is just down the hall and there’s a new toothbrush under the sink you can have. Why don’t you go change in there?”

  “Okay,” the teen agreed awkwardly, walking out of the room and into the bathroom.

  It had been an extremely long day and he hadn’t realized how badly he needed to use the bathroom till that moment. After taking care of his business and washing his hands, Quinn changed into the loose t-shirt and sweatpants. He found the toothbrush still in its wrapper where Jared said it would be.

  Quinn stared at his reflection in the mirror above the sink as he brushed his teeth, the minty toothpaste feeling especially welcome after drinking the large glass of pop. He spit out the concoction and rinsed out his mouth, taking another moment to examine himself in the mirror.

  After the day that he had been through he expected to notice something, some sort of difference in his appearance, being older and wiser now that he had awakened to what was supposedly the truth.

  But he was the same. His hair was still too long, his frame too thin, his nose too small and his eyes too tired.

  “Hey hurry up in there,” Jared called from the other side of the bathroom door. “Other people need to use the bathroom too.”

  “Be right out,” Quinn replied, wiping his mouth and opening the door.

  Jared stood on the other side already having changed into his sleepwear, which fit his toned figure much better than Quinn.

  “Finally,” the dark-eyed young man said with humor. “Goodnight Quinn,” he continued. He passed the teen, ruffling his hair playfully before shutting the door behind him.

  Quinn snorted to himself and tried to fix his hair. As he walked back to the bedroom Cerberus stood and walked over to the youth, rubbing one of its heads against Quinn’s leg. His initial wariness towards the creature had lessened allowing him to stop and pet each of the dog’s heads, pausing to give each a scratch behind the ears.

  “Night Cerberus,” he whispered to the dog as he turned down the hall and into the bedroom.

  Quinn crawled under the cool sheets smiling as he relaxed into the mattress. Closing his eyes, feeling comfortable and secure for the first time in weeks, he slipped into sleep.

  Jared stepped out of the bathroom and flicked the light off after him. He re-entered the living room, pausing to glance up at the tall bookshelf shoved into the corner. There were few actual books on the shelf, most of them being works of fiction spanning the centuries.

  The rest of the space was taken up by knickknacks collected from various trips: a bottle full of sand from the Caribbean, a rock with a lighthouse painted on it from Nova Scotia, a tulip sealed in glass from Holland as well at the knock-off Oscar statue, with the words “Best Brother” printed on the bottom, which had been a gift from James on a trip to Los Angeles.

  His eyes drifted over all these objects before pausi
ng on the lone figure sitting beside a family photo on the top shelf.

  A stuffed toy duck sat propped up against the back of the shelf, its head flopping forward due to the lack of stuffing in its neck. The white fabric that made up the majority of the duck’s body was worn thin in places yet was still soft to the touch. The yellow fabric of its feet and beak had only fared slightly better, being somewhat thicker, while the beady black eyes still shone despite the scuff marks on them.

  It hadn’t changed much from when he had first acquired it almost ten years ago. In his mind, he could still see it sprawled on the wet asphalt where its previous owner had accidentally dropped it.

  He had already broken so many rules that night it had made sense for him to take the toy – it wasn’t like its owner would be collecting it anytime soon.

  Jared looked back at the now partly closed bedroom door.

  Though perhaps now he could return the childhood keepsake.

  He shook his head briskly, attempting to free himself of the notion. Giving back the duck would only lead to questions Jared was unsure he could answer, at least not at the moment.

  Jared turned away from the bookcase and the memories it held. He plodded over to the couch only to see his massive dog sprawled across it. “Okay, buddy, that’s cute but it’s time to get off,” he said as he tried to shove the dog from the couch.

  Instead one of the heads turned to Jared and growled, giving him the message that the dog would not move unless it wanted to. Jared doubted the beast would actually bite him but had learned that the dog would not be moved. Defeated he grabbed one of the pillows from the couch along with a few blankets and settled down on the floor.

  Pulling the blankets up to his shoulders he heard a soft snore come from the direction of the bedroom. “Well at least someone’s going to get a goodnight’s sleep,” he sighed, not in the most comfortable position but strangely enough content for the moment.

  ~ Chapter 13 ~