DIMITRI

  Do we have a deal?

  Dimitri was facing his burnt food in horror when he heard from his teacher the truth of this world. He saw an ancient goddess of waters, a demon that could possess anyone, and in that moment, the teacher explained that there were countless of them around.

  ‘’So, all gods exist’’He muttered.

  The teacher nodded as he placed a bowl with food in front of Pup, who munched it immediately, wagging his tail with joy.

  ‘’And that means’’ The boy realized and looked up to the ceiling. And then back to the ground.

  ‘’Hell is real-’’

  The teacher frowned and took a spoon from his burnt lentils.

  ‘’Needed more salt’’ He narrowed with disgust.

  How could his teacher be calm with this? The boy knew that if anything happened to him, he was destined to go to hell. And now that it was guaranteed proof of existing.

  His heart kept racing with his pupil moving left and right. And the teacher noticed it quickly.

  ‘’Alright, calm down, boy, it’s not that simple to go to hell, you might go to a different realm like…’’He tried to think of the right way to explain it, but nothing came up.

  ‘’Well, you have plenty of years to change’’He smirked and fixed his gaze outside the window and walked slowly like a cunning fox.

  ‘’Go find a nice family to adopt you, finish school, a proper job, a nice wife…’

  Dimitri arched his brow and looked away from Teacher. That plan might have sounded compelling. But the boy knew that it was too good to happen to anyone. Especially for him.

  After the teacher threw a mountain of salt from a tiny sack, to his food he turned back to the kid.

  ‘’When you die, you will need a burial to move to the afterlife and finish your business before your end. ’’He explained and munched on his lentils and muttered that they were now too salty. ‘’If you don’t get a burial or you are not ready to leave, you will stay as a wandering spirit.’’His gaze fixated on the empty space of the room, right close to the window.

  ‘’Forever to haunt anyone that your deranged soul craves.’’

  Dimitri gulped and faced the direction the teacher was looking. The image outside the window was a stormy night, with the remaining house lights snuffing out.

  ‘’But with a specific burial,’’ the teacher spat and looked away. ‘’When you die, I might help you get to the good place that you crave’’

  The boy blinked and tried not to laugh.’’You? You are far older than me’’He scoffed. ‘’Maybe I will be the one to bury you’’

  The teacher arched his brow and smiled with pain in his gaze, still looking back to the window. ‘’Sure, but I won’t die before you. I promise that’’

  There was his Teacher, the one he trusted the most, on the ground surrounded by white hemlock. Eyes opened wide, but the sockets were both empty. Blood dripped from his cold lips as his hands were all in the shade of red.

  The boy did not need to check any pulse. His Teacher was gone.

  A rattle of snakes appeared, crawling around the cold body, wrapping it tight. By instinct and pain from the sight, the boy knelt and tried to take each snake away from the body that once was alive.

  ‘’Get up, cried Dimitri as he was holding a golden snake. ‘’Odysseus get up please’’ He cried.

  Why are you crying? A voice asked in his head.

  His stomach turned to a tight knot, and everything that he had once eaten was about to come out. But when he opened his mouth…

  You caused it after all.

  Snakes got out of his throat.

  ‘’Boy’’ the Teacher’s voice forced Dimitri to wake up from his cold nightmares. Heart racing, cold wind, and sweat rushing to his body with his darting eyes trying to search for any sign of familiarity. His hands were sitting right at the cold raft while it was moving in one direction at the stoic Acheron. And right above him, there was his teacher, trying to reach him with his hand.

  Dimitri blinked before taking his hand, and when he got up, instead of comforting him or asking him about his nightmare…

  ‘’Here’’He said, tossing him an oar. ‘’Do something useful.’’

  Dimitri narrowed and took the oar tight in his fingers and began moving it to the cold stream.

  ‘’How long was I out?’’Dimitri asked and watched the teacher get out of the bag a white fabric that seemed to be holding something.

  ‘’Just a day,’’He muttered and unfolded the fabric, exposing two delicious roasted hares.’’I found time to take a few for the journey’’He said, munching on one of the hare’s legs.

  Dimitri’s mouth drooled at the heavy smell of the meat, and Teacher tossed the other hare to him. He looked surprised as he thought that his teacher would let the animal go for Pup. But then, he took one more look around and he realized.

  ‘’Where is Pup?’’Dimitri asked and looked at the roasted animal again. For a second, he thought that the irresistible cooked hare wasn’t what he was expecting.

  ‘’He waits back for us’’He explained with his mouth full, letting crumbs get to the cold river.

  Dimitri tilted his head slowly and raised one brow. ‘’Will that be safe, won’t…Hermes tries and…’’

  ‘’He will be safe, don’t worry’’He reassured,

  ‘’You don’t know that’’ Dimitri defied.

  ‘’Don’t I?’’

  What was this? Why was the boy feeling doubt like this? He shook his head and kept the same direction with the oar and tried to forget the dreams he saw and the memories that were about to escape from his mind.

  You don’t have a choice.

  But Dimitri never agreed with him, so the boy might get a chance to get his memories back without hurting his teacher.

  ‘’So,’’He licked his lips and turned to the teacher. ‘’Can you tell me where exactly we are going?’’

  The teacher raised his head and hummed in confusion.

  ‘’We are going to the underworld, I know, but you never explained to me what exactly…’’

  And for why.

  I am going to die. I am going to die. No, Dimitri hides your panic.

  The teacher took a deep breath and turned his gaze down to the river.

  ‘’The underworld- to go to the underworld, you have five paths to choose. Five rivers. Usually when you die, you will pass each and any one of them, but we do not have the pleasure to do that.’’

  Dimitri squeezed his eyes as his ears suddenly found a screeching melody that could resemble a scream.

  ‘’And why can't we?’’Dimitri asked.

  The teacher looked down once again. ‘’When you die and get buried’’He tried to look away for a second before speaking again. ‘’Hermes guides you to the first river, the river Styx, and the ferryman Charon awaits the dead. And with a token, he shall guide you to the paths…’’

  Another scream echoed, making the teacher look at his hands.

  The boy wished to ask who was the one screaming, but judging by his teacher’s expression, he was about to explain.

  ‘’If they don’t have the right token, they can never travel the rivers with safety, making you a hungry spirit with pain in your soul. And they simply… wait’’

  He made a long pause, and Dimitri found a paper-thin woman facing them across the river with two men standing right beside her. Her dress was in shreds with her long curls free from any ribbon, and her throat looked all closed up. As if she had died by suffocating herself. And the men beside her were wearing ancient armor, but each one was different from the other. But their look and wounds were the same. And so they looked just like the woman who was now trying to speak.

  ‘’What happened to them?’’Dimitri asked.

  The teacher turned his gaze on them and let out a deep breath.’’They once owned a country. Siblings are so close to each other. But when they grew up, one of the brothers fought for the enemy. And so, both brothers had to fight for each other and die by each other’s hand. Their uncle, who took reign and power, commanded them to bury the victorious brother and toss away the traitor. However, the sister tried to bury her traitor brother…Little did she know that she would have the same ending as her brother. Suffocated in a cave without even a burial.’’

  ‘’Then why are there two of them?’’ Dimitri asked curiously.

  ‘’Because the king despised them. He was afraid that the brothers might take the throne from him by cutting his throat. None of them thought they deserved peace. So, the victorious brother couldn’t pass the ferryman without a token from the living.’’

  The boy kept staring at the figures that were now fading with the distance. The figures that they could do nothing more but wait for salvation. All because of the cruelty of the world. But another question ruled his mind.

  ‘’Did you know them?’’ He asked the teacher. He was someone who had lived for centuries; maybe those three were his friends, or he was a bystander.

  But the Teacher changed the subject.

  ‘’The point is, we cannot cross the underworld the normal way without being dead or having a token and this.’’He revealed from his pocket the necklace of Hermes. ‘’Can protect us from any harm. If it wasn’t for this, all strange spirits and gods would come after us.’’

  Dimitri narrowed from the answer and kept doing his job. But again, the image of Hermes appeared in front of him, with his body being returned to the forest.

  The god was now wearing a simple dark fabric around his waist, with his gray body being almost covered with green and white feathers.

  What was wrong with him?

  Dimitri knew well that nothing around him was real. Just like the dreams from before. It was all inside his mind.

  The god let out a laugh.

  ‘’How is your head, kid?’’ Hermes asked and flew high to the trees. ‘’Have you forgotten anything else?’’

  Dimitri took the high ground with pride, being drawn on his face. ‘’I haven’t.’’He replied. ‘’But you might have.’’ A grin moved on his lips.

  Hermes pouted, and now his hen-looking feet grabbed one of the branches of the highest oak tree and bowed his knees to take a better look at the boy.

  ‘’I haven’t agreed to help you yet.’’The boy chuckled.

  The god hummed, and he played with his sharp claws of nails. ‘’Fair enough.’’

  The boy nodded, thinking he would leave him alone.

  ‘’So tell me,’’ The god appeared in front of the boy with his fangs glowing. ‘’How does it feel to follow the orders of a stranger?’’

  Dimitri shook his head.’’He is not a stranger’’ Even when he said those words, he felt a tingle of disbelief, rattling on his tongue.

  And Hermes sighed. ‘’You didn’t know the truth about your teacher until recently; he hides so many secrets from you.’’ He moved his claws to one of the branches of an oak tree and began playing with it as if it were his next meal.

  ‘’I am guessing that you don’t know where you are actually going?’’ He asked and grabbed the small branch, and placed it on his teeth.

  Dimitri turned his head away from him and noticed a deep hole had been dug recently, with all the dirt still near the place.

  A grave.

  ‘’Then, where are we going?’’ Dimitri took a deep breath and faced Hermes once again.

  ‘’Oh, little boy, you should ask your teacher what if I am lying?’’ He replied with a pout and moved right behind him. ‘’What if I am lying?’’

  What if my teacher lies too?

  ‘’Just say it’’ Dimitri commanded and looked back at the god, who now shrugged.

  ‘’At the end of the Underworld, there are three judges, three sons of Zeus, who will test where you will go for your afterlife. Elysium fields, where most of the heroes and the chosen by the gods would live in internal bliss. The Asphodels were…’’

  Made a long pause and gestured to Dimitri. ‘’Well, people like you would stay in eternal darkness and boredom.’’

  ‘’ And where you are heading is the place where the most wicked souls are meeting their end. The Prison of Tartarus, where each soul is suffering a punishment, is made special for them.’’

  The boy gulped and remembered what the teacher said before. That this plan was insane. And yet, he was still doing it.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ‘’Why are we going…’’ Dimitri tried to ask, but Hermes covered his mouth to shut up.

  ‘’Not my job to inform you’’ Hermes sang. ‘’Now, we have a deal?’’

  The boy shrugged and stretched his tongue out, beginning to lick Hermes' palm.

  The god shrieked away with disgust and wiped his hand on his half-dress.

  ‘’Hard to convince?’’ The god smirked.

  ‘’You said that you want to help teacher,’’ Dimitri argued. ‘’Now, you say that you want him to suffer. What has he even done to you?’’

  One side of him wanted to help him, begging the teacher to listen. The other side wanted him in pain. Two different sides of the same coin.

  The god remained silent for a while, with his smile fading and his claws pressing his thumb on the middle finger.

  ‘’Now you are trusting me to tell you the truth?’’ And he snapped his fingers.

  ‘’Are you alright?’’ The teacher's voice snapped him right back to reality, and Dimitri blinked multiple times until he decided to nod.

  How could he tell the truth to him? Even if it was so simple to say it, every time the boy tried to open his mouth and speak his thoughts, sharp pain attacked his tongue.

  The teacher seemed not to believe his lies as he was arching his brow with mistrust.

  How well could he read his student? But even the student didn’t know anymore how well he actually could read the Teacher’s expressions. Who was the man who was sitting right in front of him?

  Starting rowing again, the boy could still listen to the screams of the lost souls. The begging and crying for help could make a young boy’s heart feel like his shattering from the pain and guilt.

  ‘’ Poison ivy’’ Rattled the Teacher, trying to wake up his student. Or maybe it was a simple distraction from the souls.

  The boy was about to answer. He read all the books about herbs hundreds of times. He could see each number of the page, could feel the texture of the paper on his finger, and even remember the smell of the binder.

  And yet, he could not remember a single side effect from the poison ivy. The boy blinked and replied with stuttering nonsense coming out of his mouth.

  The teacher raised a thick eyebrow and furrowed his lips.

  ‘’Jasmine tea’’ He asked next.

  Still, no answer.

  ‘’Hemlock.’’Narrowed Teacher. ‘’Come now, this is easy.’’

  It was truly easy. He could see the garden where the teacher had planted the poisonous flower. Each day, he would be sitting on a chair and smelling one of them as if it were awakening an old memory. The boy once asked him if they smell so good to sniff them each day. And the teacher replied with the answer.

  And Dimitri’s mind went blank. He couldn’t remember a single answer.

  ‘’I am sorry, Teacher, I just cannot remember right now’’

  The teacher kept staring at him while the river became even harsher the deeper they went. The boy’s angle turned to the stones where no souls were waiting now, but there was a ft white sheep who was trying to get closer to the water.

  ‘’Boy’’ Whispered the Teacher, by smiling at the sight of the sheep and waving his hand with excitement. ‘’It might be useful to us.’’

  The boy nodded without any more questions and moved the raft closer to the edge of the forest, but not so close to the sheep so they wouldn’t startle him.

  The teacher stood up, and Dimitri expected that he would be the one to take the sheep. But instead, the man’s fingers grabbed the end of the oar slightly. He jerked his head and showed Dimitri the fat white sheep.

  ‘’Go fetch it’’He commanded. ‘’I will stay here until you return..

  The boy at first tried to disagree, but the Teacher looked like he had made a final, strict decision. So he gave him a long piece of rope, and the boy walked right to the hard ground and faced the animal, who was munching right near a bush.

  The boy took a few deep breaths before he began to step even closer and quieter. There was one time that his teacher made him hunt down hares once. Hares were fast but easy to trap. They couldn’t hurt him like the hooves of a sheep. So the boy had to be quick and quiet.

  Deep breaths, deep breaths.

  The boy thought and moved the rope close to the sheep’s neck, the moment his head was about to turn to his gaze.

  The weight of the sheep pushed it and Dimitri to the ground, making the animal struggle and yell for anyone to rescue him from the hunter who was about to take its life.

  Push boy, push the rope closer. Dimitri encouraged himself, and with a few deep breaths, there was finally the sound of a cracking neck.

  The boy watched in silent panic the image he had just carved with his bare hands and a rope. The animal fell to the cold entrance of the underworld with his mouth still filled with grass and his eyes looking to the cold night. Wishing for someone to listen to his cries.

  ‘’I am sorry’’ Dimitri whispered and moved the rope now to the animal’s limbs, tidying them up tight.

  When he was done, he finally turned around to see that nobody was waiting for him.

  Panic found his heart. His teacher was nowhere to be found, and he could see no escape from the forest, with the road back being only for certain death.

  ‘’Teacher’’ The boy yelled out loud, trying to slow his heartbeat. His eyelids snapped right open with his eyes almost to pop out from his skull.

  Stop panicking, stop. He muttered with sweat dripping on his lips.

  ‘’Teacher’’His voice echoed to the darkness. Still no answer.

  The tree of doubt grew even stronger deep into his chest and heart. Did the teacher actually leave him? Did he finally realize that he was a burden all along?

  He doesn’t care about you.. A voice whispered into his head.

  ‘’He does care’’ Replied Dimitri out loud with his mind becoming heavy like a rock. His feet began to move by themselves, with his hands barely managing to carry the sheep.

  He doesn’t even trust you…But that’s how Lyssandra is…She will use you, and when she is done…

  Dimitri faced the cold water as his feet were one step away from touching the presence of a god.

  ‘’She will leave you just like that.’’

  ‘’No, Teacher promised me that…’’

  ‘’That she will never leave you/’’ The voice now became gentle and captivating. As if it belonged to a seductress.

  ‘’She promised me that too, only for the end to be rotting, waiting for someone to help me cross the river.’’

  Dimitri took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Maybe everyone was right. After all, he didn’t know his teacher at all. What if everything that he knew about him was a complete lie?

  Maybe everyone around him was right.

  He opened his heavy eyes and his feet finally stepped into the water, only for a tight grasp to find his leg. Looking down, his gaze found a pale-looking woman dressed in white rags, who was now swimming into the water.

  The boy tried to resist the grasp, but it was too late as the woman dragged him into the river again.

  The water filled his lungs with millions of hands now grabbing his body tight, bringing arrows of pain into his weak flesh.

  The boy opened his mouth only for sour poison to tingle his tongue, making his entire body shake. But his hands were still holding the sheep tight, to make sure it wouldn't fall into the abyss. Even then, he wanted his teacher to be proud of him. He wanted to believe that Odysseus was actually caring about him.

  ‘’Let go,’’the voice whispered into his ear.

  Dimitri shook his head. He kept waiting for his Teacher to appear. To realize that something was wrong and to return for him.

  If you want a father to look up to, go to an orphanage.

  He remembered his cruel words. He remembered how many warnings he had given him. However, he promised him that he would never leave him.

  ‘’Where is your teacher now?’’

  Gone. Maybe the sheep was a distraction to push him away. Because he might understand that he will slowly lose his memories. It will all be gone.

  One of his hands let go of the sheep, and his gaze looked up to the water where the woman was facing him with a gentle smile. That was his fate all along? To be a spirit like her? Tortured for all eternity and never find peace? Was this what death awaited someone like him?

  ‘’What’s…’’Bubbled got out of his mouth as the hands were dragging Dimitri even deeper.’’Your name?’’He finally finished, and the woman’s eyes snapped wide.

  ‘’I can’t…’’Her lips shook, and Dimitri felt all of his hope give up.

  Suddenly, with the water lowering, all the hands and spirits that surrounded Dimitri slowly gasped. All except for the woman.

  Right above them, there was a teacher who was showing off with his hand his dagger. Every gaze, every existence of the river began to quiver at the presence of that man. As if he could make gods, mortals, and souls to bow on his command.

  ‘’Let my student free’’He shouted. And so, the souls followed his orders and vanished into thin air. And yet, the woman still dared to stand in front of him.

  But the man had other plans to fulfill as he turned to his student and moved the dagger back to the rightful place.

  ‘’Get up’’Teacher commanded Dimitri, and his free hand reached down to him.

  The boy blinked, and he slowly showed his hand out of the water. When his Teacher grabbed him, he managed to pull himself out with all of his strength. He pulled the boy back to the raft with the sheep still tight in his hand.

  ‘’I was lucky to find you’’Teacher chuckled, but Dimitri couldn’t speak with his body shattering from the cold. But his eyes could see the teacher’s gaze, who was fixated on the angry woman. He was expecting Odysseus to be angry or even not to care about her existence. But instead, his expression was in deep pain.

  ‘’My Oracle’’The woman flew closer to the teacher, and her fingers tried to trace his jaw. ‘’What happened to you?’’ Her voice broke with a sudden joy as it echoed throughout the entire place.

  The Teacher took a deep breath and turned to Dimitri. ‘’Offer her the sheep’’

  His teeth trembled as he stood up slowly and began coughing the water.

  ‘’No, she tried to kill me,’’ growled the boy.

  ‘’She seems to command the lost Spirits, if we offer her the sheep she will let us...’’

  ‘’No, you don’t understand, she doesn’t like you, and once again’’ He paused the boy. ‘’She tried to kill-’’

  ‘’Boy’’ The teacher barked at him. ‘’Give me the sheep.’’

  And Dimitri fell to silence as he did what he was told to. He carried the sheep closer to him, letting the teacher cut the throat with a different, smaller dagger than he used before.

  The red blood fell close to the woman’s hands, who was still standing so close to the Teacher. And Dimitri wanted to escape as anger fell to his chest.

  The woman leaned her head down, and her eyes snapped open.

  ‘’I had a brother,’’she muttered. ‘’I think that I loved someone too.’’

  ‘’You had a brother,’’ the teacher answered. ‘’You and he grew up in a temple filled with cruel men’’

  His eye twitched as he tried to restrain his trembling fingers. ‘’You loved adventure and you wanted to be a brave warrior just like your brother. You adored him’’

  ‘’He was stupid’’The girl laughed.’’He fell in love with a lunatic of a woman.’’

  ‘’He did’’ And so, the Teacher laughed with her. As if they once knew each other. They might have been friends once.

  ‘’I didn’t understand why he did that, ‘’The woman sniffed. ‘’I didn’t understand why she loved him back. Why did she love him back and not…’’

  ‘’She loved you, Thais’’ Teacher replied to the woman's pain, and he leaned closer to her.

  ‘’For centuries she cried, and her tears made a lake. For centuries, she was going back to that faithful night, and she was asking herself’’

  One deep breath.

  ‘’She still loves you, Thais.’’

  The woman smiled.’’I know Oracle’’ And her gaze returned to Dimitri, and she chuckled. ‘’He reminds me of you’’

  Both Dimitri and the Teacher grunted in sync, disagreeing completely with that woman’s words. And her gaze fell slowly to the teacher. ‘’Be careful with him. ‘’

  ‘’Yes, yes, I will.’’

  ‘’My Oracle.’’The woman reminded her. ‘’The power is shifting, but you, facing it alone, is not what you want.’’

  The teacher turned his gaze away and tried to move closer to Dimitri. He could have moved closer to Odysseus, too. But instead, he jerked his head to the left.

  ‘’Let’s get moving’’He muttered. ‘’Your Paris awaits you at Tartarus, right?’’

  The teacher did not reply, but the woman faced the boy with a mournful expression. ‘’Maybe you and he might actually be the same person.’’ That was the last thing she said.

  And when she vanished, Teacher tried to explain that the Spirits made the water move faster and lose him. He tried to explain more, but when Dimitri pushed him away.

  The teacher blinked and tried to touch the shivering arm of his student. ‘’Are you alr-’’

  His mouth tasted bitter poison, his mind began to get ruined, he could listen to his bones cracking each second of the torture, the weight of the animal pulling him down to the endless..

  I could end up dead and forgotten. An angry spirit. And none would notice that I was gone.

  The boy glared back at his teacher and asked one question

  ‘’Who was Thais?’’ His mind returned to the decaying woman.

  No answer.

  ‘’Will you tell me anything?’’

  ‘’Boy, it’s complicated.’’

  ‘’Then answer me this.’’He spat. ‘’If I die, will I end up like her? Or I won’t even have the pleasure to do that, seeming that you don’t even care about me to realize that I was far away from-’’

  A slap. A hot slap on his cheek that could make his head spin.

  The green venom in his eye could make every enemy of his crumble. Dimitri just wished he wouldn’t be one of his enemies.

  He fell right to the raft with blood dripping from his nose with his eyes darting.

  ‘’Boy,’’Theacher gasped. ‘’I am…’’

  ‘’Save it’’ Dimitri coughed and stood up to begin roaring once again.

  And silence fell to the river again, with the Teacher sitting down and playing with the cold water.

  Dimitri tried to rethink his actions. He would be left for dead. His teacher cared more for a woman who died centuries ago than for him. And he still kept so many secrets that could drown him in curiosity and anger. Anger because of the mistrust his Teacher had for him.

  ‘’Boy,’’ Odysseus finally spoke.’’What happened when you first stepped at Acheron?’’

  Tell him the truth. Just the truth, it's so simple, tell him everything. He might tell you the truth, too.

  As if he’d never do that.

  ‘’I gave him a stupid memory. Nothing important.’’ And his hand traced in one of his pockets, finding a familiar coin. He took it out and traced it with his thumb before deciding to flip it.

  Back in the forest, he could see now the hole it was once been dug being filled by a familiar body. And this one belonged to no other but..

  His body was now fully covered with those feathers, making the god look like a rooster. His hands and legs also had the form of yellow claws, and for his clothes, it seemed that they were completely covered by feathers.

  ‘’Get up’’Rasped Dimitri to Hermes.

  The god flew out of the hole with a yawn and stretched his arms. ‘’Can’t you let the god sleep?’’

  Dimitri decided to face away again, trying to ignore that all the feathers were now falling, leaving only the white cloak that he was hiding. His hair was free from any ribbon, while without the helmet, both the wings on his head were covering his eyes completely.

  ‘’Wait, I didn’t send you here,’’ Pouted Hermes. ‘’Oh, a click of the tongue. ‘’What happened, boy, did your precious teacher abandon you?’’

  ‘’What do you want me to do?’’

  The god hummed in shock. And he began laughing again.

  ‘’What exactly do you mean?’’ He asked.

  Dimitri rolled his eyes and looked back at the hole. ‘’If I follow my teacher, I will die and be forgotten. Or, I will lose myself in the deal I made, and he will leave me.’’

  The god fell on his claws and walked closer to the boy’s gaze.

  ‘’And what about your Teacher?’’His index claw lifted Dimitri’s chin up.

  Stop thinking about him. Stop thinking when your life and existence are on the line.

  ‘’What about him?’’

  And Hermes, the god of Trickster and Trade, stopped smiling. But just for a moment.

  ‘’You know, ‘’He clicked his tongue, and Dimitri’s face got showered by a cold sweat and moved right down his spine.

  He was simply touching his jaw, and the boy felt a storm of power trying to crush his mortal body.

  ‘’I can see now why Lyssandra took you in.’’ He sighed and began walking further from the boy, moving his long, feathered tail around.

  ‘’And why’s that?’’The boy asked curiously.

  The god finally stopped, and he tilted his head slowly back. ‘’ You are a gem with a hidden rage. Just like she was when she was young.’’