Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 18893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
When I close my eyes, the sirens call to me. There is so much love to be given and far too much taken for my liking.
I dip my fingers into the water and let the ripples on the surface settle before I sink my thoughts into it, following the path from past to present to future and back again until I find what I am looking for. What I need to see.
Who I need to see. Who needs me most for their highest self, I whisper as I stare into the flame that reflects in the mirror before me.
Persephone, my sister, is there in the water.
To my shock and confusion.
I recognize her form and her power as easily as I recognize that there is something wrong. I close my eyes and concentrate. Her doubt and fears of what is to come has plagued her, I know. But what I feel is darker. What is coming sends a chill down my spine.
It is like nothing before.
Something has happened. Something has shifted.
It’s as if a person might feel a creature under the water, lurking below, more powerful than a human and more deadly. Persephone’s thoughts are dark like that, and as I concentrate harder, they begin to take a clearer form. The form is mostly a feeling, and that feeling is—
Cold.
It’s the cold embrace of death. It’s the cold from which mortals never awaken, and which they run from all their lives, whether they realize they’re running from it or not.
I blink away the vision, but the chill still lingers on my skin. “She is a goddess,” I whisper. Things of this nature should not be.
With the unsettled feeling I think of Ares. I need him now to ease this discomfort and fear of the unknown.
Glancing over my shoulder as if someone is there, I see nothing. Not my lover. The darkness though in the water remains when I think of Persephone.
I’ve never felt such things for a god.
I reach more deeply into it, trying to identify it. It reminds me of Ares, but it is not Ares.
It is another presence, close to Persephone. It is not an echo from the past or a possibility. It is someone near to her now, in the present moment.
My thoughts are disturbed as my sister enters my space, and I lose the connection to my power. Athena’s bare feet pad on the quartz floor as she enters. It’s still there, of course, but it’s not as strong as it was, and I no longer sense the other presence as clearly.
As my sister crosses the floor, I try to keep my thoughts with Persephone for a few moments more.
It is not easy. The sound of Athena pulls me toward my physical form and away from the power in my basin. Athena cannot prevent me from using my power, but distractions make it more difficult.
She senses what I’m doing, of course.
Finally, Athena has had enough of waiting. She is not one known for patience.
She clears her throat, drawing a few steps closer, the hem of her long white dress dangerously close to the edge of the water. I do not know who the other presence was. Or—I can’t be sure of who the other presence was. I have an idea, but I don’t want to believe the evidence of my senses.
I will have to try again another time, when I can be certain I won’t be interrupted.
“It is against all laws, what you are considering,” Athena says, and Persephone floats away, her presence obscured from me, though I still feel the echoes.
I draw my fingers from the water and let the droplets fall from my fingertips back to the basin, allowing Athena to see that I have heard her words. I turn them over in my mind with the same kind of patience I hope to demonstrate for her. When I’m finished thinking, I fold my hands in front of me.
“Of whom are you referring?” I ask as if I don't know.
“Ivy. And her demon mate. It is unbecoming of you to meddle in the laws of the realm.”
“She had thoughts of harm,” I say. “I’ve done what I can to help her.” They know me for beauty and selfishness, but it is the thoughts where I wish to dwell the most. “No one should ever wish for such things and the two of them together fixes that. It did not occur when she had her lover.”
Athena scoffs. “A woman has thoughts of harm, and you gift her to a demon?”
I turn to my sister and stare her in the eyes. There is skepticism. We have spent many lifetimes being skeptical of each other’s decisions. We see everything differently, but when I look at her, I try to see that she is my sister first and foremost.
“She has had thoughts of harming herself. You know I cannot allow that.”