by Dee King
“Actually, no.” I raise an eyebrow at her.
“Well, good to know someone has my back.” She turns and shuts the door to the bathroom.
“I guess we are even.” Colin laughs.
“Haha. Yea, I had almost forgot about that.” I walk away from him remembering when Colin had tackled me down to the ground the first time Selene and Colin had met.
Preparing for today, and what just happened, I guess my nerves are a little closer to the edge than I thought. My main priority is Selene, and I won't tolerate anyone hurting her, or trying to. She doesn't know this, but I hear
her thoughts towards Cali and Colin. Her trust for them is very little, and now I guess that is making me question my alliance. Colin took our bags to his car, and we are ready to go. I was going to miss this place. I stop with her at the bottom of the staircase, admiring the new roses I had
just bought for her on the round table.
“We will be back.” She whispers in my ear.
I try to smile at her, but I wasn't so sure. I didn't know if the plan I had would work or not. It was just a house, but it was the first place that I ever truly called a home of my own. I kiss her on the forehead, and we walk out
to Colin's car, preparing for our departure of this world. Selene clasps my hand with hers, palms sticky from sweat, and her eyes watching every turn we take. She hasn't been made aware of how we will get home, she just
knew we would all be together. We arrive at the airport and her eyes, look shocked. I had wanted some of this to be a surprise. We decided to take the long route, let's call it that, then simply blinking and we are there. This
would be our safest route. Over the intercom we hear flights leaving for Athens. She stops as we are making our way to the terminal.
“What the heck? A plane to get there?”
“Come on, we will miss our flight.” Colin grabs her by the arm pulling her towards the stewardess.
“Stop it, Colin. I can walk on my own.” She pulls her arm away from him.
I take her hand in mine, and glare back at Colin. He pushes a fine line with her, and I don't like it. He isn't Chris and he hardly knows her. We board the flight, and her mouth drops open. First class can be pretty
overwhelming for someone who has never rode first class or even been on a plane. I let her sit by the window, as I sit by the walkway.
“A plane? We get there by a plane?” She is fastening her seat belt, tight.
“No, we get to Athens by plane, then we take another route, we just wanted you to have the full experience.” I try to lighten her fears.
“Okay, well, this isn't fun. I don't like planes.” She is now gripping the arms of the chair, her knuckles turning red then white.
“Try to relax, I promise, we will be okay.” I lay my hand on hers.
“Yea, you say that... but what if we crash, or what if the plane bursts into flames or something like that.” She is staring out the small window of the plane beside her.
“You’re a goddess. It would take a lot more than a plane crash to kill you.” I lean over and tell her quietly.
“I guess you’re right.” She doesn't let her grip on the chair relax, but she does seem to be a slight bit calmer.
The captain announces we will be taking off in just a few moments, to buckle our seat belts, and we have great weather for traveling. Of course, in my mind, I'm thinking, of course we do, Zeus will make sure we get at
least to Greece. He wants his master plan to be unleashed. We begin ascending into the air, and I lay one of my arms around Selene's soft shoulders. Soon she would probably sleep, and then she may feel better. The stewardess comes to my side asking what we would like to drink and
eat for our meal when it was time. I take the liberty of ordering for Selene and I, since she seems to be a mute at the moment. To my surprise she starts to relax as I play a movie on the screen overhead. I can hear Colin chuckling, so I would say he was watching a different film than we
are. She becomes more enthralled with the movie, not focusing on the fact we were soaring above the clouds. Laying a hand on her knee, she snuggles into me. Her hand releases as she wraps her arm around my arm,
with her engagement ring touching the skin of my arm. There was a feeling in her hand that seemed to soothe my fears, unknowing to her.
The flight continues without a hitch, and our meal was surprisingly delicious. We ate, we laughed, and even managed to kiss a while before I could feel the plane descending. A feeling comes over you in the pit of your stomach, and I knew she felt it, for her hands went back to
gripping the sides of the chair. I tell her we will be landing soon, and she just nods. She never fell asleep throughout the entire flight, and I was hoping that didn't make her irritable when we left for our next part of our
journey. We step off the plane, with our bags, and make our way outside to the heat of Greece. In the summer time, Greece is excruciatingly hot. My dad had made the temperatures here when they once walked among mortals on Earth. He said it was a joke, but I don't believe that. He wanted to prove to Zeus that he had control, too. The phrase, “hotter than hell”, came from my father. He has a warped sense of humor. It's not even that hot in the underworld, unless, well, unless you deserved to be that warm. Then it's hot. I watch as Selene wipes her brow from sweat already building along her forehead.
“Damn. It's hot here.” She takes a deep breath.
“Yep, you can blame that on your soon to be hubby's dad.” Colin tells her, laughing so hard, that he almost can't see where he is going.
“Huh?”
“My dad determined the weather for Greece, when they first walked amongst the mortals. He was being a smart ass.” I roll my eyes at Colin.
“He was being an ass that's for sure. Did he turn up the heater today or what?” Cali looks at me.
“Shut up.” I tell them.
Colin and Cali were laughing with one another, acting as if they are best friends. I ignore them, taking Selene by the hand to the boat docks. It's not far from the airport. In fact, there were many boats, and many docks, but this one is hidden, and no mortal uses this port. It could be because it looks like a rundown dock, that never got the attention it deserved. It was supposed to look like that.
“Oh, hell no. What is this?” Selene stops mid track, looking at the dock we were about to step on.
“It's safe. This was made to look like this. It's so mortals won't come to the dock.” Colin says stepping in front of us.
She looked at me, and I nodded in agreement with Colin, and we stand on the dock waiting. This was the part that I had been the most nervous of, and the part I believed she would actually like. The ship comes to dock, leaving room for the steps to be put down for us to walk along. I take one more look back. Earth, this could be my last time seeing her.
Selene is terrified for a moment as we walk along the creaking boards to step onto the large wooden ship. It towers any ship I have ever seen, and it's only to transport us from one place to another. I watch as her eyes are
fluttering from taking in the ship’s massive size, and the unique sails flying over our heads. This was the part I knew she would like. Water, where she feels most at home. The ship begins to move, and you can hear someone calling out orders to others, but we can't see them. We never see them. They are Mount Olympus's magical creatures guiding us home. We make our way to the stern of the boat, and we watch the water rush by us, underneath us, and to the sides of us. She stands tall, as I
knew she would. She took this like a goddess would.
Chapter Six
Welcome Home
The mountain opens from the bottom, looking as if it's a huge mouth that could eat you. This was it. We all take our places beside one another. Standing tall, with Selene by my side, I knew the change would be coming soon. Before my eyes I would watch her turn from her mortal self, to her goddess form. We all would. She is watching as we travel through the gates of the mountain. There are two stone
statues that stand high into the sky that guard the gate of the mount as we enter. Selene's eyes are moving fast, taking all the wonders of the mount in, her mouth gapping open. Waterfalls streaming, grass the greenest anyone has ever seen, and the most beautiful flowers growing along the side of the waterfall.
The ship sounds the alarm, to announce that a God is on board, and then you see them. All the magical creatures coming from the mountain sides, running along the mountain side. Pegasus' flying over our heads, birds
with heads of lions soaring over us, and I watch as Selene is enthralled. We dock at the golden pier. This is it.
When our feet touch the golden walkway, we will become our true forms. My hands begin to shake a little bit, fearing that Selene may not like what she sees. Colin steps off first, then Cali, then Selene, last is me. Colin's
transformation makes him about seven-foot-tall, with beautiful blonde hair, and striking features. He looks exactly the same except for the height. Cali is now wearing her uniform as the goddess of war. Tight brown
leather snugs her body, and a bow draped over her shoulder with three arrows peeking out over her long, curly blonde hair. She is now six and half feet tall, still not nearly as tall as Colin. Then we all watch Selene. She shoots up, to a height about the same as Cali. Her clothes change into a white goddess gown with a gold belt wrapped around her waist, gold flat shoes, and the most amazing looking goddess stands before us. She twirls around for a second admiring herself. She looks radiant, and I believe she is finding she likes what she sees. Now, it was my turn. Knees wobbling a little, and hands trembling I slowly step down in front of her. I feel the change soaring through my body. It takes a minute for everything to adjust, and just as I believe I am done, I hear a gasp. Selene's hand is covering her mouth. Cali is smiling from ear to ear, and I now have both of my feet planted on the golden pier. I am in my full god form, and I can't figure out what Selene is thinking.
“Oh my gods.. holy.. whoa.” These are her first words to me.
I look down to see what I am wearing. A red shirt, with my dad's family crest covering my chest. A pair of dark jeans, red converse, and my hair is perfect. Gold chains hanging down from my chest, and two gold rings on
each hand. One on my thumb that's pure gold, and the other has my father's crest on it. Looks very similar to my ring from my father that I had given Selene when I first asked her to marry me.
“He is pretty beautiful, huh?” Cali whispers loudly to Selene.
Selene doesn't say a word, she is just nodding her head back and forth. She drops her hand from her mouth, and I see a divine smile drifting across her face. I take a deep breath, she seems happy with what my real form looks
like.
“You’re even more stunning than I thought you would be.” I move very close to Selene.
“You're, you are, I mean, oh my gods.” She is speechless.
“Are you okay?” I look into her piercing blue eyes.
“Yes, I just didn't imagine this.” She points at me, up and down.
“The clothes? Oh, I can change that if you don't like these.” I tell her.
“No. You should, um, no, you look. Shit. You look amazing.”
Her face begins to turn a slight pink on her cheeks. I take her hand in mine, and pull it up to my chest. Kissing her hand very softly she lets out a small giggle and seems very shy all of a sudden. I can now see that I am
making her blush, and I am enjoying every minute of it.
“If the love fest is over, I would like to keep moving this little party on.”
Colin turns away from us, taking long strides along the pier. Cali was next, smiling at herself, and then I take Selene's hand in hand with mine as we walked the pier. I could feel her staring up at me, which made my breathing come back to normal. Turning to us, Colin stops just
as we are about to step foot on the street made of gold.
“Now, all you have to do is wave, smile at the crowd, and keep moving till I say stop. Cali will do the same, then when we reach the fork in the road you will follow me. Got it?” He says to Selene.
Selene raises one side of her mouth to protest, but then just nods yes. He begins the walk; we follow close behind. The crowd that has formed is larger than any crowd I have seen for a god or goddess. They all want to
see Selene. The trumpets are playing, creatures of the realm are throwing flowers, and quite a few others are watching. Selene takes it like a champ. She smiles at them, waving to everyone, and even bends down to pick up a flower that a small creature had thrown towards her. She was a true goddess, now she knew it. I search the crowd for Ian. Maybe he was waiting for us at the fork in the road. We finally reach the fork in the road, or otherwise known as a trident, no sign of Ian yet. Colin follows the path to his father's home, but I really want to turn and go to mine. I follow along though, knowing that Selene should see her father first. Selene is gripping my hand so tightly that I have to try and relax hers.
She mouths sorry to me, then keeps her eyes fixated on the street. I see it before she does. There is a huge banner in front of the house welcoming Selene home. It's being held up by two centaurs with a man's upper body
and the rest of his body being that of a horse. I'm not sure which shocked her more: the centaurs, the sign, or the mansion.
“What the...” She says quietly.
“Go big or go home, huh?” I try to make a joke of it.
“Something like that.” A small smirk stretches across her lips.
The home may have been the most shocking to her. The mansion is not what she expected either. It's larger than anything she had ever seen, even on television. Huge glass windows surrounded the home, and a door so
large that a giant wouldn't need to duck their heads. Colin just walks in, yelling he is home. Cali waits for the two of us. I let Selene inside first, waiting for a response. Her eyes taking every aspect of the home in. In the middle of the room we walk in, is a large waterfall, that leads to a
small pond where fish are flowing with the stream. She moves around the large waterfall, letting Colin somewhat be her guide. Never speaking a word to one another, we are led into the kitchen. A kitchen for a god, nonetheless. Everything is marble or gold. She runs her hand along the
large marble countertops, taking in her surroundings. Cali keeps a close eye on the both of us, when I hear him. Her father is coming. When a god of that size walks into a room, you can hear it. Everyone can.
“Selene, welcome.” The low voice says.
She turns on her heels, staring at her father, but hardly recognizing him. She takes a hold of my arm, gripping it with both hands.
“Dad?” She asks.
“Yes, Selene. Welcome home.” He tries to move gracefully towards her and holds out his arms for an embrace.
Selene doesn't move, in fact, my arm is beginning to turn a shade of red from where her hands are now.
“That's okay, it may take you a minute to get used to being here.” He lets his arms fall to his side. Colin runs up to their father, giving him a huge hug.
“Father. So good to see you.”
“You too, my son.” They both step back from one another.
“Selene, don't be shy.” Colin motions for her to come near them. She doesn't budge. This may be more difficult than I had thought.
“Hello, Sebastian, nice to see you.” Her father nods at me.
“Yes sir. Nice to see you, too.” I try to shake his hand, but Selene grabs it, pulling it down to her side.
“I am not going to hurt you.” He tells her. She doesn't make a move, except she is holding my body captive. I can feel her whole body trembling under my arms.
“I would like to take Selene to my house, if that's okay with you?” I have to help her somehow.
“That would be great. I am sure your father is waiting. I shall see you both for the dinner?” He asks me, no longer looking at Selene.
“Yes sir. We will be there.” He nods at me and moves to the side
letting Selene and I past him.
We move fast out of the mansion, the two centaurs who were holding the sign is no longer there, and make our way back down the street we were just walking on. I needed to figure out the best route for us to move
quickly and quietly to my house without anyone seeing us. I don't think she could handle anything else just yet. I whistle loudly, and before us, are two Pegasus. Mine, the black one, and hers that she has now met on Earth
twice, are kneeling in front of us. I tell her to get on, and she releases me from her grip, climbing on his back. We soar fast above the ground, and I can hear her squeal from delight. The Pegasus land on the ground, making
a trot to the front door of my home. They kneel back down, and I hurry to help Selene off.
“This is your house?” She asks me out of breath.
“This is it.” I smile at her, taking her in my arms, giving her a kiss she wasn't expecting.
We walk to my door, and I can hear the music playing. Typical Dad, as if he needed a reason for a party. He always made an effort to stand out. I open the large door for her. She idles at the doorway, looking around the
