Open Your Heart

by Aspen Winters

  I bit my lip. I didn't know much of this new world I was thrown into. I only knew bits and pieces that I was told. "I will try. I really will. I know I haven't been the best person to be around."

  The room was silent as I continued to speak.

  "I am not a person who easily trusts, I am going to try." I didn't have much to say after that. I would try. I knew my actions before and my attitude to them wasn't the best. I could only go forward and try to make up for those.

  "That is all we are asking. Try. We are going to do the same. We will try not to take away all your freedom and make choices for you." Poseidon moved forward a small smile gracing his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  "Thank you." I didn't want to have my choices made for me. Even though they were older than me and might have more experience in life, I wanted to make my own mistakes. Though, I had a feeling since it had to do with my safety, I would not get much say on that matter.

  "We are going to go look for some information on the humans working with Cronus and the other Titans. Ra is going to stay with you," Zeus said, looking like he wanted to say more, but he didn't. He gave me a small nod, before leaving.

  The other three followed after him.

  "How mad are you all at me?" I asked as I looked at Ra.

  He gave me a sigh and picked up the bandages that he had removed, starting to re-wrap my arm.

  "And you guys never answered my question." I looked at the marks on my skin before turning my attention away from them. "... What did he carve into my arm..."

  Ra didn't say anything until the bandages were secured on my arm, then he took my hand and brought it to his mouth giving it a small kiss. He brought my hand back down, but he kept his hand on my own as he looked at me.

  "The marks Cronus carved in your arm are the beginning of a ritual. A ritual that will break us apart. That is why we are all on edge. We all want you safe." He rubbed circles with his thumb on my hand as he looked down at our intertwined hands and sighed. "We aren't mad. We are terrified." Ra gave a small chuckle. "That is an emotion we aren't accustomed to. Rage, lust, happiness...those are emotions we can do just fine...." He glanced up at me so he could try to convey his emotions to me, "Fear...fear isn't something we are used to feeling...and you made us feel that."

  "I didn't mean for that to happen. I wanted space. I was feeling suffocated and I was mad at the situation I was in... Though, now that I’ve had more time to think..." I took a deep breath. I never liked admitting I was wrong, then again I don't think anyone liked to admit to such.

  "I had time to think and know I haven't had the best attitude to all you." I hadn't. I fought and was snarky, and at times I was a plain bitch to them.

  "You are stubborn. I like that, so do the others. However, your safety will come first." His gold eyes hardened. "If you put yourself in danger again, we may end up doing something drastic to make sure you are safe."

  My eyes narrowed, my lip curling at his tone. "What do you mean...by taking drastic measures?" I had a feeling I really wasn't going to like this and by the hard glint in Ra's eyes, I was right.

  "We may find a room to lock you in if you don't put your safety first," Ra stated, letting go of my hand and standing. He ran a hand over his face, he really did look tired.

  "I will try not to put myself in harm’s way. I don't want to go through what I want through with Cronus again," I said, being honest. I would try to follow their 'safety measures', but I wasn't going to give up my life to do it.

  "That is all we are asking. We want you safe." He stayed silent after that. He seemed to be at a loss of what to say to me.

  "You usually are a bit more talkative," I mused, trying to break some of the tension in the room. It worked because he chuckled.

  "I just don't know how angry you are about the bond we have." He was talking about how he bonded with me without my full consent.

  "I am a bit angry that it was done when I wasn't able to consent to it." I saw hurt flash through Ra's face, so I continued, "But from the sounds of it, I would have done it sooner or later...right?" I was indicating that I did have feelings for him, but I didn't want to say it out loud as of yet.

  "Are you saying you don't mind?" He gave a half smile, as he turned his body toward me. Eyes alight with glee.

  "I have some feelings for you...I can't deny that fact." I took a deep breath in. Sharing emotions was not my strong point. "But I would have liked to have full knowledge when we Bonded."

  Ra gave a low hum in acknowledgment. "When you bond with the others you can be, for now we can get used to our bond." He flashed a mischievous smile my way.

  "What is the difference between a full bond and the one we had before?" I inquired, curious if there was going to be anything different.

  "I will be able to feel you when you have high spurts of emotion. That and you will notice you will have more strength than a normal human...so if you break something that is why." Ra crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

  "You may gain other powers besides the one of fire, I don't know for sure how many." He gave me a sympathetic look as I made a face at the thought of having another power.

  One power is plenty! Thank you! I didn't want more than the one I had now. I didn't even know how to control the fire power I had, and adding another to the mix… That was not something I was looking forward too.

  Rich laughter filled the room. "Don't look so down. Most would be happy with having powers."

  "I'm not most people, am I?" My comment came out a bit more snarky than I tended it to.

  Ra just shrugged it off with his grin growing bigger. "No, no you aren't." His voice was laced with fondness.

  I had to repress the growing blush on my face. I was learning Ra was a real sweet talker. "How long until I will be able to get out of here?" I motioned to the room. I didn't want to be confined to a bed. I wanted to go home to my apartment. I would fight them with that. I was fine being shadowed by them, but I wasn't going to give up my human life.

  "Most likely in the morning. Airmed wanted to keep you another night to make sure the cleansing didn't have any bad after effects on you." Ra moved to sit down on the chair next to me. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? I will be here. Just rest and once you’re wake we can go over more details of where we will be going from here." He picked up a book that had been sitting on the side of the chair.

  "The others will have more information then too. This way we can figure out how we can protect you better and you won't fight us on that protection." He raised an eyebrow, as if telling me to try to deny I would fight them on it.

  I rolled my eyes and laid myself back in the bed, closing my eyes. My mind was swirling with thoughts and I hoped that I would be able to wake without nightmares this time.

  ~Clara~

  "Can I leave the infirmary now?" I asked, hope filling my voice of not having to be in the bed any longer. I didn't take well to not being able to get up and walk around. I started to get twitchy.

  Airmed's lip twitched, her red eyes looking at me with amusement. "Yes. I want you to take it easy still. No using your power at all, and no running around. Walking only. I don't want you to strain yourself. The cleansing took a lot out of you and I want you to heal as quickly as you can, but that means you will need to follow my directions."

  I nodded, walking was fine. I just wanted to get out of this damn bed. I wanted to get out and stretch my legs and not be in this room any longer. Whoever thought having a white room was smart didn't know how annoying it was to just stare at white walls all day.

  "I will behave. I promise." I really would. I had a feeling if I didn't this woman could be downright terrifying.

  "I will make sure she follows all your rules."

  I turned my head to see Poseidon leaning against the entrance pillar. I gave him a small smile in greeting. He gave me a nod.

  "Be sure you do. I don't want her coming back and then have to restrict her to bed rest again," the goddess huffed, givin
g me a stern glare. "I will leave you two then. I will check on you tonight after feasting. If you are worse than you are now..."

  "I will go back on bed rest. I understand," I interrupted her, a grin on my lips. I just wanted to get out of here already.

  The goddess rolled her eyes at me, saying in a stern voice, "Behave," before giving me a wave and leaving me alone with the sea god.

  I moved and stood up from the bed, my bare feet touching the stone floor. I straightened the simple white dress. It had no sleeves and went to past my knees. It was better than a hospital gown, but it felt almost as thin as one, that was for sure.

  "First things first...let's get you something to change into," Poseidon spoke, breaking the silence, holding his hand out to me.

  I looked at it wearily before taking it. He took my hand and tucked it between the crook of his arm, bringing me to his side.

  "Where are we going to get clothes?" I asked, as he led me out of the infirmary and into a long hall that was open to the outside.

  The tall stone pillars let me see the garden that was not far from us. A big fountain sat in the middle of the greenery. There were a few flowers I had never seen before and close to the fountain was a tree that was huge. It had to be as tall as some skyscrapers in New York, but what really caught my attention was what was in the tree. Gold apples.

  "Are those?" I motioned to the tree, eyes wide with wonder.

  Poseidon laughed seeing my expression. "To answer your first question, Zeus has some clothes set aside for you. We are going to go to the room we had put together for you."

  I was shocked at this statement. They had put a room together for me. That meant they planned for me to be here longer than I wanted to be. I narrowed my eyes, but didn't say anything. Ra said we would all be talking later today about what would be happening protection wise for me. I hoped they didn't mean to keep me here. If they did, I would fight it.

  "For your second questions, those are gold apples. Food of the gods." He gave me a smirk. "Though the story you probably heard is much different than the true one." He had a thoughtful look on his face as he led me down the hall, past the tree.

  I got a better look at it as we passed. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of golden apples in the tree.

  "I will have to show you the library here. You can read the history from our point of view."

  My eyes lit up at the thought of reading. To learn new information that normal people weren't privileged too, appealed to me greatly.

  I wonder how different history is from a god's point of view. There probably were a lot of things we humans didn't know. I wanted to know what things were twisted in history to take out gods or their creatures.

  "You might lose me in there then," I told him with a grin, as we went down another hallway, this hallway had walls though. On the walls were different paintings, they were all of different gods and goddesses or that was what I assumed, because I saw one of Hades as we went further down the hall.

  "You can spend as much time in there as you want...though I have a feeling some of the others would rather you spent time with them than have you read the whole time you are here."

  Poseidon stopped at a door at the end of the lightly lit hall. The double doors went from ceiling to floor and were carved with Pegasus flying on the top and went into clouds and eventfully at the bottom were grass and trees. It was beautifully done, and made me want to trace my fingers against the masterpiece.

  "How long until I can go home?" I asked, as Poseidon pushed the door to the room open. My eyes widened as I took the room in. It was a round bed that had sheer white canopy drapes hanging down around it. I could see the sheets were a light gold and there were many pillows adorning the bed. The rest of the room was just as beautiful. There was a big desk that was by the opening to a balcony, there were books on the desk already too.

  "Whose room is this exactly?" I didn't think they would redo a whole room for me, because I wasn't going to be staying that long.

  "We will talk about your living arrangements with the others... We have somethings we want to talk to you before any decisions are made." His green eyes looked at me accusingly. "Last time we made plans, you didn't follow through...we want to make sure nothing like that happens again."

  I winced at this. I don't think they are going to let me live that down. Ever. I couldn't blame them. They were all going to keep reminding me of my kidnapping and how it could have been avoided.

  "This room was redone. It used to belong to Artemis. She is no longer with us though. She would have liked you though," Poseidon mused, his voice soft as he probably thought of the fallen goddess.

  "She didn't find a Bonded?" Curiosity filled me as I asked that question. I knew it was probably rude to ask about the dead, but he did mention her first.

  "She did find her Bonded. He was a very interesting human. Strong willed and wouldn't take any of Artemis's attitude. He also respected her greatly. Artemis's hunters adored him too...which is something unheard of." The sea god chuckled, and looked like he was lost in the memory.

  "What happened to her then?"

  He’d said she found her bonded, so she had to have died another way. To be able to kill a goddess...it would have to have been another god or a Titan. A memory flashed in my mind of when the gods told me about Bonded Ones. That meant something could have happened to her Bonded and that could have killed her too.

  "A group who wanted to capture ones who were entrapped with gods..." his voice darkened as he continued to speak, "that is what they called them over a hundred years ago. They thought them possessed and performed exorcism on them. Those exorcisms were rituals to break a bond between a god and their Bonded Ones."

  "He died in the ritual?" I asked, sadness filling me. That could have happened to me. These gods could have died because of me. I tried to shake the guilt, but it wasn't leaving me alone.

  "He did and not soon after Artemis followed." Poseidon took a deep breath, as he put his hand behind my back, leading me to a set of doors I hadn't seen.

  He opened it and in there were clothes upon clothes, but they were mostly dresses. Some were older dresses and looked like what I had seen out of textbooks. There was a small section that looked like it was armor.

  "Were these all her clothes?" I was guessing from all the woman clothes these belonged to Artemis. My eyes ran over all the different clothes with a frown. I didn't know if I should wear them. I knew she wasn't here, but it felt like I was almost stealing from her.

  "They were. She wouldn't mind you wearing them, if that is what’s going through your head." He took a step out of the closet leaving me there alone.

  "Get dressed and I can show you around...or show you the library."

  He moved out of sight, so I was left alone with the closet of clothes. I gently reached out for one of the dresses. It felt like silk.

  I grabbed the dress and held it up to me. It was a light lilac color with no sleeves that had a sweetheart cut. It flowed down to my ankles, with a slit on the side. I took a deep breath and set the dress down and took off the dress I had on and grabbed the other dress and slipped into it. The coolness of the silk going against my skin made me smile. I never could afford a dress like that, but it was definitely beautiful.

  I glanced at the dress on the floor and decided to leave it in this room. I grabbed it and folded it, then put it to the side of the closet. I stood back up, straightening the dress. I gently ran my fingers through my hair, and wrinkled my nose when I felt my fingers get caught on a knot. I pulled my fingers through, wincing when I pulled too hard to get one of the knots out. When I was happy with my mostly untangled hair I stepped out of the closet and saw Poseidon waiting, looking out of the opening that led to the balcony.

  "Poseidon," I called his name, gaining his attention.

  He looked at me, a smile breaking across his face.

  Why are they all gorgeous? I shook the thought out of my head before giving him a small smile in return.


  "You said something about a library, I believe." I grinned, excitement at the thought of being able to read such books. There probably were thousands of books I could read in their library.

  "I believe I did, didn't I?" He walked toward me, stopped in front of me and gently touched my cheek.

  I stiffened and gave him a curious look before stepping back. "Let's go then." I looked to him to see a frown on his face, but he said nothing, as he grabbed my hand and put it back in the crook of his arm.

  The walk was quiet now. I must have hurt him when I stepped away from him. I said I would try, but it was hard to get out of those habits. I had let Ra do it, and didn't feel the need to shy away. Could it be the bond? All these questions ran through my head as he led me through the halls of Olympus. I didn't pay attention to my surroundings either as we walked because I was so caught up in my head.

  "We are here."

  I almost jumped out of my skin when Poseidon spoke. I saw that we were at the entrance of what must be the library. There was two huge white columns on each side of us. He led me down the hall and into a room top to bottom filled with books. There was even more than one floor. There had to be at least four floors of books.

  "Oh my god," I whispered, eyes wide as I looked around. Everywhere I looked there was another bookcase. The middle of the room held tables to sit down at, but from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, were books upon books. I’d never seen so many in one place before. It was astounding. I had been to the library plenty of times but this place put it to shame.

  I walked forward, taking my arm away from Poseidon and walked to the nearest bookshelf. I had a feeling I was going to want to live in the library if I was allowed. It was my dream place.

  "I take it is to your liking?"

  I could hear the amusement in his voice as he spoke, but I ignored him and opened the book in my hand. It was in English, so that was a good start. I was so engrossed in the book I never heard the footsteps and Poseidon standing right next to me.