by Dee King
“Thank you, Sebastian. It’s stunning.” Taking the ring out of the box, I toss the box over my shoulder, sliding the ring slowly on my index finger; it was truly a beautiful piece of jewelry I would cherish.
Hugging him tightly, stepping up on my toes, I slowly kiss his perfect pink lips and am taken away to a different place. He held me tightly, kissing me back with a passion we hadn’t had in a long time. We were slowly letting love back into our hearts, and we were doing it together.
“Are you ready for this?” Sebastian pulls back from our embrace, pointing at the house.
“Not really.” I say, shaking my head no.
It seemed illogical that I didn’t want to let the house go after everything that had happened here, both good and bad. A part of me hated this home, but the other part remembers such a very beautiful time. This house had held the key to finding out who I was.
“You know, we could keep it.” Sebastian steps back, staring up at it.
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“I mean, we could keep it. We could always come and stay here, like a vacation hide-a-way so to speak.”
“No. We can’t. I made this rule and I can’t be the one to break it. Then I would be like ‘them’ and I don’t want that.” I smile with a little laugh escaping from me.
“Okay, true. Well, my Charming Selene, do you want to do the honors?” Sebastian comes closer to my side.
“No. I can’t. You do it.” I turn my body into him, hiding my face.
Within seconds, Sebastian throws one of his fireballs at the home, igniting it into flames. Running down the balcony, Sebastian keeps tossing fire at the home. We then stand back by the ocean, feeling the waves crash all around our feet. I couldn’t watch anymore, wrapping my arms around his waist, holding on tightly, turning my head to the seas. This was our final goodbye to this world.
Chapter Forty-One
Home is where the heart is…
Sebastian embraces me, taking us to the Mount with one last flip of the coin. We were now standing in our new home. Keeping me held tightly with one arm, lifting my chin slowly to his lips, sweetly kissing me, taking me to a level of gratitude. In his arms, feeling safe, I felt at home. We had chosen not to make a grand entrance to coming home like the others had done. We wanted to keep our lives a little private for the time being, but there was another plan that obviously, we didn’t know about. There was a small crowd now cheering us on in our house. We stop kissing, suddenly very aware we had an audience. In true Sebastian form, he releases me. Taking one of my hands in his, he steps back and takes a big bow, forcing me to bow with him. I curtsey at the family and friends who had gathered, all while laughing very loudly. Sebastian brought out the best parts of me. Noticing who was in the room with us, I see Colin and Cato holding the twins. Each one smiling from ear to ear with our children cooing in their arms. Rushing to them, I take both of my children in my arms, kissing them about a thousand times. My heart was overflowing. Handing our son to Sebastian, we notice our clothes changing once again in front of everyone. I now wore a long sleeveless pastel pink dress, with a gold belt at the waist. Sebastian’s pants changed to a tan color with a matching pastel color button up shirt. We begin to smile at one another. Not only had our hearts decided to join, but our clothes now mimicked each other. It was as if we were truly becoming one. Turning around to face everyone in the room, I see faces I wasn’t expecting. There in the middle of the living room, gripping tightly onto Chris’s arm was Chloe. My heart skipped a beat, but then suddenly remembered how she had betrayed me. Sebastian, noticing at the same time, pulls on my arm, turning me towards him.
“Remember she doesn’t know this you. She only knows whatever lies your father told her.”
“Yea… I remember.” Pulling my arm back from him and handing Ember back to Colin, I make my way to her.
The whole room goes quiet. Chris takes Chloe in his arms, trying to protect her as if to console her. Console her? The nerve…
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with my father?” I step towards the two of them.
“Selene…” The entire room gasps as she says my name.
“I mean, Your Majesty, I was being lied to, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I should have known better.” Chloe is trembling.
“But if you’re here then…” My words stop short.
“Yes, it was the tornado that tore through Paris.” She replies bowing her head.
My mother, Hera, had killed her regardless of what my father may have tried to do and they had used her to get to me. Another way for them to hurt me. Chloe had died. She was just one of many that would now be on the Mount. My heart hurt for all the people that died in such a way. Trying to embrace her, Chris moves back, and I hold my oldest, dearest friend in my arms. It was the only way I could apologize for my parents taking her life before it was her time.
“Thank you all for being here.” Turning my body with one arm around Chloe, facing the small crowd in our living room, I thank everyone for being a part of our journey.
They all begin to clap again. Hugging Chloe one more time, then Chris, I begin making my way around the room, greeting everyone and hugging each one, until I got back to Sebastian. Colin hands Ember back to me while she takes a huge chunk of my hair in her little fingers, giggling at herself. Smiling at my children, my husband, and my family, this was the happiest I had been in what seemed forever.
“As my beautiful goddess said, thank you everyone for coming, but if you all could get out that would be great.” Sebastian announces to the group, laughing, but also serious.
Everyone waves, scattering out of our house, except for Zack, Ian, Colin and Cato.
“I said everyone, right?” He turns to me, speaking loud enough that they hear him.
“We need to talk to the two of you. You’ve missed quite a bit while you were taking care of things on Earth.” Cato says, ushering us to the oversized couches.
Shuffling Ember to my lap as we sit, I take Atlas’s little hand in mine, smiling down at him.
“There’s a problem with…” Cato speaks quietly as if he whispers ‘they’ will hear him.
“What the hell is the problem now, and why are you whispering?” Sebastian asks him, rolling his eyes.
“We don’t know where to put everyone.” Colin speaks out.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“There’s too many… there’s too many people here now. We are beyond capacity. Some are going to have to go to the Island. Or…”
“Or?” Sebastian asks.
“Nowhere.” Cato states the facts that we are all overcrowded.
“Oh…” I say quietly.
“Have you talked to Dad?” Sebastian asks, getting uncomfortable in his sitting position.
“Um…” Cato pauses.
“Oh my gods! Just spit it out, Cato!” Sebastian’s growing tired of this as I was.
“Yea, he’s overrun too. I mean, there were a lot of restless souls on earth.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear, Cato.”
“So, you see, therefore it’s a problem.” Colin speaks before Cato can.
“I don’t know what to do just yet. Are you saying we should send people back?” I question them.
“We can’t. They now know the truth; they know us… That risk is too high.” Zack finally speaks shaking his head no.
“Are you saying we kill them?” I ask.
“I’m saying we need to fix this situation somehow, some way, and super-fast!”
“How long do we have before it becomes too much?” Sebastian asks, putting Atlas down on the floor in front of him.
“About a week…”
“Can someone fill me in? Why is this such a big deal?” I was lost.
“This happened only once before, and it didn’t end well…” Colin tells me.
“What happened?” Still confused I ask.
“That’s when Zeus started taking over Earth. That’s how your Dad became who he i
s and that’s how Hades became the God of the Underworld. There was too many here and it was chaos. Hence, how we have quite a few Migades now. Here. Now.”
The words weren’t coming out of my mouth as my mind raced with what we were to do with everyone. If no one could go back to Earth, then… Then they would have to be sent to the Island. They would have to die by our hands. That’s what we had been trying to stop. No more death, no more tyrants. This was unexpected, and time never seemed to be on our side.
Chapter Forty-Two
Being a Goddess was more than expected…
In my mind, all the issues would be over once we had defeated everyone, but here we were with another big problem. Since we were now in control, our council was very small. We could ask our elders for the answers, but that wasn’t going to be a smart idea. That would show we lacked the ability to control the world we had just created. We were the rulers after all, and we were supposed to have all the answers. Except, this time, there was no answers to be given. If we sent many back, they would know who we were. If we killed them, then we were no better than what had been done before us. This was looking like a no-win situation for all of us. With only a week to figure out where, how, when with everyone seemed surreal. A week here would feel more like a day on Earth. That wasn’t enough time to teach someone to tie their shoes let alone where they would spend their eternity. This time my parents really had made a cluster of problems for us. A part of me thinks that maybe this is still part of their plan. If we fail, they could try and overthrow us. Once again, history would repeat itself.
“This is going to sound crazy… but… no… never mind…” Sebastian says to me as we are finally, alone in our bed.
“Nothing sounds crazy anymore.” I begin to giggle at myself because nothing seemed crazy any more after what we had been through.
“What if… Just hear me out before you say anything…” He pleads with me, rolling over to his side, facing me.
“I’m listening.” Still laughing at myself, I quiet down.
“What if Zeus wasn’t wrong in a way?” He says.
“What? Oh okay, I take back what I said… you do sound crazy!” Sitting up in the bed, staring down at him.
“No, you said you would listen, and this isn’t listening, Selene.” He begins to tickle me as we roll around on the bed.
Laughing at him and then pushing his hand away, I try to get serious.
“Explain.” I say trying to act like I’m very smart and pristine by folding my arms over my chest.
“When Zeus built Alexandria, he did it for the wrong reasons. But what if… what if we built a new place. You know, like a piece of Earth or something right here on the Mount?” He tells me his idea, now sitting up beside me.
“What do you mean? That took him a long time! How are we going to recreate that in less than a week now?”
“We do have the abilities to take out anything, why can’t we build something? Just bigger and better?” Contemplating this idea, it wasn’t half bad.
“What do you mean like Earth? The Mount has everything, and more than Earth does.”
“Yea, but we could recreate all the places we love and miss on the new part.” He bats his eyelashes at me.
“Cute, but are you being serious?” I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows at him as I ponder this.
“Hell yes, I am. I mean if Zeus built it by himself, think of how fast we could do it. We could even put schools on there, teach the kids what they will need for their future! I mean, the possibilities are endless.” He was almost giddy.
“Okay.” Unfolding my arms, letting my body relax.
“Okay? Like okay let’s do this, or like okay, Sebastian shut up because this won’t work, okay?”
Bursting into laughter at him, I tell him okay again. He begins to laugh with me, tickling me again, intertwining ourselves with one another. This was a magnificent idea. We could build on, bigger, better, and the problem had been solved without anyone having to die. Sebastian was truly a genius and I was head over heels in love with him. We wake up with our hearts and minds settled on the next plan of attack for the situation. Picking up Atlas from his crib, his features grew more and more every day. He was beginning to truly look like Sebastian and me. It was uncanny to say the least. Giving him a big hug, I find the chair in his room taking a seat.
“Atlas Kai, do you know that one day you will rule the worlds? You’re going to be big and strong just like your Daddy.” I whisper, rocking him in my arms.
“And Ember Rose you will be as beautiful and as fierce as your mother.” Sebastian walks in holding our daughter, who is now wide awake.
Standing to greet my daughter and Sebastian, taking turns kissing both on the cheeks, we make our way down the stairs discussing the upcoming topic of the day.
“You know they are going to think this can’t be done.” Sebastian says, placing Ember in her highchair.
“And you know that we can accomplish anything together, right?” I wink at him while placing
Atlas beside Ember.
“That’s why I married you. Smart, sexy and… damn… I’m one lucky god.” He says to me, wrapping me up in his arms quickly.
Giggling at him, we begin trying to find normal in this world with our children. Making breakfast, blaring music from the oversized sound system, and trying to discuss what we see for the future of the Mount. We couldn’t help Hades with the underworld, that would have to be Cato; but we could do something for the Mount. It was a good feeling.
“Aren’t you two ever going to get tired of each other?” Zack walks into kitchen, seeing Sebastian and I standing over our drawing of the new addition to the Mount.
“Nah… She’s always been the love of my life. Being with her is everything good in the world. Come on, man...You know this. No. No, I will never tire of my love.” Sebastian tells Zack, coming up quickly behind me, kissing my neck.
“True.” Zack says to me, giving me a little wink.
“You two…” I say while playfully hitting Sebastian on the arm.
“You two love birds have a plan yet?” He says leaning over the two of us.
“We do. Would you like to see?” Stepping back, I move so he can get a closer look.
He leans over, looking at the plans we had laid out. Whispering to himself, pointing at different places, and making more ‘uh huh’ noises.
“So, what do you call this new addition to our little home here?” Zack steps back from the drawing.
“We call it… Nirvana.” We both say at the say time laughing with one another.
It was going to be nirvana on the Mount if we had anything to do with it and being a fan of the old school grunge rock scene on Earth, the name just… fit.
“Welcome to the new world… it’s going to be one hell of a ride.” Sebastian states as we all laugh together.
Chapter Forty-Three *Part four*
Just when you thought that you had it under control…
We began building Nirvana onto the Mount within hours of announcing it to our council. They agreed that something like this was basically our only option. Even though Cato believed that the Underworld could hold more than their father let on. It didn’t matter, we had to do something, and anyone going back to Earth wasn’t an idea we could ponder at this time. As we built it, more and more people started to offer to help. It was going along so smoothly. Too smoothly if you want the truth. There was a part of me that kept waiting for the ball to drop at any time. Sebastian kept telling me I could breathe and let go, but my gut feeling was to watch my back. We hadn’t heard from our parents, and that was one thing weighing heavily on my mind. They hadn’t even tried to see our children. That was even more weird. The twins were watched like hawks. Every moment of every day, someone was watching them. They were growing faster than I could have imagined they would. On the mount, it seemed as if time stood still, except when it came to our children. They were growing faster and faster. Learning their abilities was interesting to s
ay the least. Atlas could use water and will it to do whatever he wanted, laughing constantly when he could make it splash on others. Ember began throwing fireballs every time she had a fit. It was like dodging an apocalypse every temper tantrum. We were working hard on trying to control their powers and where that would lead them.
We decided to build numerous types of schools. Or as Sebastian called them, ‘fun’ camps. The adolescents, the teens, and the adults would all learn very differently here. We needed teachers or instructors of the camps also. Many came forward to offer their help. It really was going well, but hesitation was always in the back of my mind. Nothing could be this perfect, this easy, when it came to my life. Waiting for the ball to drop kept me paranoid. I was beginning to loathe our home the longer we stayed in it. I missed Earth. Everything was beautiful, but just not what I had hoped my eternity would look like. A few times I thought about letting Ember just burn this thing down, but that wouldn’t have been a good idea either. On top of building our newest addition to the mount, we had to prepare for the twins’ birthday celebration. At the age of one, it was customary to announce them to the world and to show their abilities. Some children didn’t have this chance, like me, so this wasn’t something I knew how to do. Iris took charge of everything ‘twins’. Whatever they needed or whatever they were supposed to have for the ceremony she took control over. Cato always stayed close enough to be with Iris in and out of the shadows. My fears that my brother, Colin would not be with the one I felt he loved became more real. Iris shied away from answering anything that had to do with the two of them. She was going to have to choose between Cato and Colin before they were to take their rightful places. That was still a stupid rule here that they felt needed to be abided by. Alex was finding himself without his father’s guidance, along with Cali, who still drove me crazy, but she became tolerable. She offered to teach the students about war alongside Ian, who jumped at the chance to be able to teach students how to shoot a bow and arrow. He loved everything that came with war. He never let it go that he was always prepared. He really was like a boy scout. Colin disappeared for some time after we started building Nirvana. I didn’t ask questions; he was willing to protect me at all costs. Doing that must have been the hardest decision of his life, I felt he deserved some privacy. Life was moving along - slow some days - faster on others. Every day was one step closer to a forever I longed for. Simple. A simple life. But as the days turned into weeks, I found myself becoming more of a recluse. Constantly watching Earth, seeing if humanity was building back its world. We still had enemies on the mount because not everyone loved us as we had thought. Nirvana was finally established and although I enjoyed opening the new addition to everyone, certain people were still missing. It was beginning to drive me crazy. Why hadn’t my parents fought to come back here? Why hadn’t we heard from so many of our friends and family? Sebastian kept telling me that I would be able to find peace if I let go, but I didn’t know how. He relished in all this. He was the god of gods, and he was damn good at it. Sebastian was made for this. I don’t believe I was ever meant to do this. It was odd to know people both loved and hated me. They didn’t even know me for the most part, but they loathed me at times. You could see it on their faces as I would walk down the streets paved with gold. Gods and goddess shouldn’t feel insecure, but here I was. Lost like a damn puppy looking for guidance half the time. My confidence was slowly disappearing. No one saw that side of me, as I hid it so well, but it grew stronger every day. The fear I could let down everyone was starting to take a toll on me. At times, I would hide with my children locked away in our home that I loathed, just so no one could see me double guessing myself. Chris and Chloe were here, but it didn’t feel the same. Nothing was the same after what had happened all those years ago. Learning I was a goddess was something I thought in time would get easier, but all it did was make me doubt who I was. But somewhere deep inside I knew that life couldn’t and wouldn’t be this easy. Despite what everyone thought around me and believed to be true… I knew that we weren’t done with life’s challenges, and this time I may not make it out alive…
