* * * Eve’s POV * * ** * * The Final Decision * * *My heart shatters, my soul is crumbling, and I feel empty while floating in the abyss. There’s a hole in my chest, and I want to die. I want to end my existence so that I can reunite with him again. It was never meant to be him; the Moon Goddess said we would have lots of babies. She lied. The biochemical impact and bodily stress of heartache is an actual injury that one never truly recovers from. I will never recover from this injury and loss. “My child, I did not lie to you,” a voice filled with sadness rings out around the darkness. “You said we would have children. YOU LIED,” I cry. I know she’s the almighty and our object of worship, but right now, I hate her. She chose Max’s fate; she planned to cause me this pain.“No. Max deviated from his predestined path. That’s something I’ve never seen before. He was never meant to die.”“Please just kill me. I don’t want to live in a world without him.”“My dear, you don’t need to liv
* * * Eve’s POV * * * Zeus walks away from me to turn his attention to the hunters. “You humans will listen to me. I didn’t create your lives, to be disrespected by you. You will stop your violence and hunting and learn to live in peace,” his voice bellows across the battleground. Half of the humans drop their weapons and kneel before the God who granted them life. This is an historical day, and I’m certain it’ll be spoken about for generations to come. “And if we chose not to?” A hunter challenges.“Amos Clark, I would have predicted a life of peace for you after your upbringing. Seeing daily violence from the customers of your crackhead mother. Your life changed for the better when your mother was fated to be the second chance mate of Beta Thomas of the Blue Ridge pack. He helped her to be free of the drugs and to become the mother you needed. He gave you a home, an education and a family, and yet here you are openly killing the kind that saved you,” Zeus says knowingly.“That fi
* * * Eve’s POV * * ** * * One Month Later * * * The final decision has been made. Max and I will accept the offer of the Gods and transcend into Demigods. We will live as immortals for an eternity, setting up the academy and keeping the peace. We’ve travelled with the gifted; Cherokee and Isla, Joe, Jasper and Sarah and little Theia, who will be approved to transcend. Our ceremony will be held in a few weeks. We will transcend and become Demigods. After that, we will only be able to visit our loved ones during the solstice. Otherwise, the only entry to Earth permitted is on a peacekeeping mission. I find myself thankful that the Moon Goddess had delayed us having children. I wouldn’t be able to accept this path if it meant only seeing my blood twice a year. It’s been a peaceful car journey and has only taken us an hour. The Gods will meet us within the castle to show us how the portal works. As we approach, the castle looks to be in ruins. Magnificent. But ruins all the same. The
* * * Nellie Aged 13 * * * “But Dad, what if I get bullied at the new school too? Please keep me home. Teach me here.” Nellie whined. “Sweetheart, you have to go to school. King Arthur promised that the teachers would look out for you here,” her father reassured her. “But what if they do bully me?” she fretted. “Then we go to speak to the King; it will be fine, I promise,” her father soothed her. It was her first day at the Lycan High School that resided within the Lycan kingdom. She had spent all night tossing and turning, wondering if the Lycans there would accept her. The last two years at her previous school had been miserable. The school was mixed with humans and Lycans. The humans were unaware that creatures of fantasy existed and shared their classrooms and halls. She had not bonded with the humans, and the Lycans had ridiculed her and kept calling her a dog, which was their way of insulting werewolves. It hadn’t bothered her to be called a dog; what bothered her was that
* * * Max Aged Three * * * If Nellie was a house, it was built out of love, and the floor is her faith in who she is. Robert’s cynicism ate away at the walls and hit the floor until one day it cracked. The perfect house everyone knew and loved, fell completely. Recovery was the biggest challenge she had ever achieved, and only possible because she loved her son, the community and nature. She worked to rebuild her house, a brick at a time; she put in new floors and polished them to a homely brown. There are times she still finds that there is a brick missing here and there, or perhaps the floor needs bringing back to a shine, but she made it. She was determined to make it for her son.She had tried reaching out to her family and to Harrison. But to no avail, so far. But she wouldn’t give up. Once Max was down for his nap, she found her writing journal and began writing again.‘Mama and Papa,It’s been just over three years since I last saw your faces, and almost three years since I’v
* * * Nellie’s POV * * *From the punch to the erosion of self-esteem over time, domestic abuse can either come fast or act as a dimmer switch. Nellie was ashamed that she had never gotten out of her situation. It had almost killed her on several occasions. She was an emotionally dependent sort and had never been on her own before. But once you have kids, they are your priority. They have to be. You try to get out and make a new life, a better one, and become their role model. If you don't want your kids to put up with the same... neither can you... otherwise they most likely will... because people often subconsciously seek what they grew up with, even if it's harmful. That is why she had tried to escape over the years and that is why she had written for help from her parents. There were nights when she knew Max would lie in his bed listening to the sound of fighting. Her, his mother would shout and cry, begging to be released from this living hell, his father would begin laying int
* * * Selene’s POV * * * * * * 100 Years Ago * * * The sandy ground shakes beneath us as Hephaestus, Cora, and I, hide, crouched behind the large, jagged outcropping of rocks at the edge of the stairs to Olympus. Out of the corner of my eye, I see an enormous, black, fire-breathing horse thundering out of the tall and spiky reeds lining the castle—its muscles rippling in the light. A man cladded from head-to-toe in shiny golden armour rides on the beast’s back. The armour glints as he unsheathes his massive broadsword, and with a ululating war cry that makes me question my stance on this war, he charges into the fray. I don’t need to guess who he is; I know who he is; by his war cry, and he’s terrifying. Ares is riding out to battle to aid his brother Zeus.I stick my head around the rocks to risk a peek at what’s happening. I mean, a battle is going on—that much is obvious by the gathering of troops and the clanging of metal swords and shields. This battle is one of many in a war
* * * Morag’s POV * * * “I’m telling you sister; we have sat hiding in this damn cave for too long. We should be out there fighting, with every other race on this planet,” Jennifer tells me. I know she’s right. When the world and Gods had gone to war, I had led my clan into hiding. I was a coward. We’ve spent the last ten years hidden away here, only venturing into the cities if we need supplies. Being skilled in the art of magic means we have very little need to leave the cave. “The Gods know that I have the gift of foresight. What if they abduct me and use my gift to their advantage?” I ask her, it’s a genuine concern. “Well, why don’t you speak with your damn crystal ball and look into the future. I’m telling you Morag; I’m done hiding. I can’t live like this,” Trudy says. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve become a paranoid hermit and have led my sisters to a life of misery over the last ten years. “OK, I will try for a vision. Please place my candles and light them,” I tell t