Tara closed her eyes and listened to Colt’s heartbeat against her ear. The rhythm had settled from its fast pace moments earlier. She could get very used to spending her nights wrapped around him.
They’d spent their evening taking another hike out to the silo, only this time with Jess and Jacob, since Xtina agreed to watch Reed.
Jess had suggested the trip and hoped to discover something they could use to help them in the fight.
Here was another thing she could get used to in life. Having people believe her and trust her. Not to mention the lack of judgment and no threats of exposing her.
It helped that each of the group had their own secrets they wanted to hide from the world.
While they had hiked out to the silo, Jess had questioned her about everything she could remember about the day of her birthday. If she’d seen a creature in the darkness, heard anything, felt anything.
Since she had no comparison to what they’d experienced with Thanatos, she was at a complete loss. In all her memories, the only time she’d felt scared was when she’d seen the moon in the night sky for the very first time. Selene was only half the size of the moon and Tara a quarter of the size of Selene.
Even now, any time she looked up at the full moon, she got chills.
“Are you okay?” Colt asked, his hand running over her bare shoulder.
“Yes.” She smiled, realizing she’d shivered at her own thoughts. “Just… remembering when I came here.”
“Losing your entire world must have been hard,” he said, his arms tightening around her waist.
“Do you think…” She dropped off, biting her lip, not willing to ask what she’d been thinking since hearing Joleen’s story.
“Hmm?” he asked, shifting her until she looked down at him. The dim light from the bathroom shadowed his features, making him look even more attractive and mysterious. “What?”
“Do you think there’s a chance my dad and stepmother are still alive? That my world wasn’t destroyed like Joleen’s?” she asked.
Colt was silent for a moment, then reached over and flipped on the lamp by the bed and looked at her.
“If there is a slight possibility, would you want to go back?” he asked, his eyes searching hers.
“I… don’t know. I spent sixteen years there.” She saw something close to fear cross his features as his arms tightened around her. “But… I was a child. So much has probably changed. I’ve changed.” She felt him relax. “I would like to see my father and stepmother. To know that they are safe.” She rested her head against his chest again.
“Joleen and Mason said they returned to her home planet or universe or whatever,” he said with a shrug.
“It all seems so… overwhelming. Doesn’t it?” she said after a moment. His chuckle had her glancing up at him. “What?”
“Honey, the moment I saw you lift a piano like it weighed nothing, I stopped being surprised by anything.” He kissed the top of her head. “Now, let’s get some sleep. Your shift starts too early for my liking.” He turned off the light and scooted them back down to lay on the bed.
“You don’t have to go with me,” she suggested.
“I like it. Besides, it’s a good place for me to work. Beats sitting in here all by myself,” he mumbled.
“Colt?” she said after a moment.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you for being here with me. For not… freaking out,” she said, feeling foolish.
She felt his chest rumble as he laughed. “Oh, I’m freaking out, just… hiding it very well.”
“Well, thanks for hiding it then.” She leaned up and kissed his stubbly chin.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she was having a difficult time shutting down. She was afraid that if she fell asleep, once again her mother would deliver bad news.
For a few moments, she listened to Colt’s breathing and his heartbeat as he drifted into deep slumber. When she knew he was fast asleep, she slipped out of the bed, pulled on Colt’s T-shirt, and tiptoed into the bathroom, taking her phone with her.
Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, she pulled up the browser and did a few searches for her sister. When she came up empty-handed, she shut her phone down and glanced into the mirror.
A sister. What would she look like? Obviously, Selene was a half-sister, since her father would have told her if he’d had another daughter. Wouldn’t he? Then again, they hadn’t told her that Robin was her stepmother until she’d been in her teens. Maybe they had kept it a secret, to protect her?
Whatever the reason, she doubted that her father and stepmother would have kept a sister from her.
She was so deep in her thoughts that, at first, the darkness that surrounded her hadn’t registered. Then she heard the low chuckle.
“What’s wrong little goddess?” The voice was almost a hiss.
With the knowledge that she was surrounded, also came the awareness that she was no longer sitting in the hotel bathroom. Instead, she stood at the base of the silo, still wearing only Colt’s T-shirt.
The heavy door that she’d opened before now sat wide, letting the moonlight stream into the large space.
For a moment, she thought she’d imagined the voice. Maybe she was still tucked warmly against Colt and dreaming?
“No, daughter, you are not dreaming.” The hiss was back.
She did a full circle, scanning the dark shadows, looking for who was talking.
“Who are you?” she called out, her voice echoing in the space. She didn’t feel safe, so she lifted up off the ground to float halfway between the lid and the floor. Here, she could at least look down at her enemy.
“I’m hurt,” the voice said with sarcasm, much closer to her than before, “that you don’t remember me.”
When the figure stepped out of the darkness, she realized her mistake. The creature’s head brushed the top of the silo. It’s green piercing eyes were narrow slits that glowed in the darkness. She couldn’t see the rest of the man, but other than the snake-like eyes, he appeared normal. Giant, but normal.
She hadn’t thought herself a small person, at five foot ten inches. But hovering just in front of the man’s face, she figured she was only as long as his nose.
She was seriously outgunned. Thoughts of trying to make a run for it played in her head quickly, until the man laughed.
“You can try to run,” he said with a smile. “Your mother has hidden you from me for years.” He shook his head. “Now that I’ve found you, it’s only a matter of time before I come for you.”
She frowned at his words. If he was going to come for her, that meant… He wasn’t really here now?
She tried to sense herself. Her mother had appeared to her in a dream. Maybe this man, whoever he was, could project into her mind as well and make her believe she was back in the silo.
“Who are you?” she said again, this time a little firmer.
“I am Typhon.” The man’s words echoed loudly, causing her ears to ring and the entire silo to shake. His eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to her, a smile causing his white teeth to glimmer in the moonlight. “Your father, and I am here for what I am due.”
“Tara!” Colt shook her as he screamed her name several more times.
It took her a few seconds to break out of the trance. When she finally did, she wrapped her arms around Colt and held onto him while she wept.
The following day, she once more sat around a table and explained what had happened to her. This time, everyone was gathered back at Xtina’s place.
Since the rain had not let up in two days, they were gathered in the large dining area. Someone had grabbed burgers and fries from the local burger joint, and Joe had brought the beer and wine.
As she told them what had happened, she realized that in the few days she’d known everyone, not only had she and Colt grown close, but for the first time in her life, she trusted. Everyone sitting around the table knew what it was like to be different. To be… something more.
No matter whether it was a seer, a witch, an oracle, or a demi-god, at least they had one thing in common. They all believed in something bigger.
“Okay, who the frack is Typhon?” Jess asked, glancing over at her son, who was sitting in his father’s lap.
“Typhon…” Mason said, pulling out his laptop. “Serpentine giant, a god, most deadly creature in Greek mythology… great.” He glanced around the table and shook his head, then returned to his computer. “And father of all monsters.”
Tara felt a shiver down her spine. “He called me his daughter.”
Colt reached over and took her hand. “You’re not a monster.”
“None of us are,” Joleen said.
“I did some research on who I think your mother is,” Mason added. “Would you like…” He started to ask.
“Tell me,” Tara said, feeling her entire body tense. “I need to know.” Colt squeezed her hand lightly.
“I’m here,” he said softly.
Mason nodded. “Rhea, goddess of nature. Daughter of the Earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus. Known as the mother of gods.”
“Okay, so the mother of gods and the father of monsters…” Jess said, looking over at her.
“This is just mythology,” Mason added in.
“Myths have served us well so far,” Xtina said.
“What of my father?” she asked softly, feeling her heart skip in her chest. “The man who raised me?”
“Parents don’t have to be biological,” Joleen said. “My mother was…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “She did what she had to do. She found a young couple who would love me as much as she did. She ensured my survival and that I was raised with love. Maybe that’s what your mother did to protect you?”
She had never thought about it like that. Since the moment she’d found out that Robin was her stepmother and that her mother had died, she’d only been thinking of herself and her loss.
But since the other night, she’d been angry at her mother for leaving her. For deceiving her and her father all those years.
Could it be true? Was… the man she’d seen last night her real father?
“You said serpentine?” she asked, remembering the man’s voice. How he’d almost hissed his words. Instantly she felt a shiver race through her.
“Yeah.” Mason clicked on his computer. “There’s a sketch.” He turned the computer, showing a black-and-white line drawing of a giant with serpent legs, more snakes for hands and his head in the clouds.
“The… man I saw was human. Tall, but human,” she answered. “He did, however, hiss slightly when he spoke.
“Okay, so let’s assume we’re working with the one and only father of monsters. What can we expect?” Jess asked Mason.
“He apparently has wings that are so big that they’ll blot out the sun. He can shoot fire from his eyes. Oh, and he not only commands snakes, but dragons.” Mason glanced up through his reading glasses. “So there’s that. Even the Olympians were afraid of him.”
“Someone had to defeat him though, right?” Xtina asked. “I mean, the bad guy always gets his butt kicked. Right?”
Mason read for a moment, then nodded. “He tried to overthrow Zeus and got his ass sent to Tartarus.” Mason looked at Tara. “Hell, basically.” He glanced back down at the computer screen. “Or Mount Etna. There are mixed stories.”
It was all so much to take in. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, she pushed her half-eaten burger away and took a sip of her beer.
“What else can you tell us?” Xtina asked. “Anything we can use against him?”
When everyone sitting around the table looked at her, she felt even more overwhelmed. Her new friends were relying on her. The entire world was relying on her. And she had nothing. No hints into how to win the fight, how to save the world, or even herself.
As far as she knew, Typhon was coming. Her mother was coming.
The only thing she did know was that she was in the right place, surrounded by the right people to fight the darkness.
The most important part had been that she’d found Colt. As far as she could tell, he was willing to stick by her side through it all.