Huntington has new chairs. It's the first thing I notice going into her office and after a quick look around, it's not the only thing that has changed. She has a new desk too, curtains and a brightly coloured rug. It's all very modern, so different to the dated room I'm used to. Then again, as she looks up at me, she is looking - younger. Her face is free of those laugh lines around her eyes, the stress on her forehead has been reduced too. She either decided to join Team Botox or isn't hiding behind her sweet old headmistress act like she used to.
"What now?" She sighs, clearly unimpressed by my arrival.
So much for the days when I was a welcomed sight.
"Hello to you too." I smile, sitting in one of the new chairs opposite her. Gone is the comfy, soft leather and I have no choice other than sitting up straight.
Huntington puts down her pen, pushing the papers in front of her to the side. She smiles, though it's more of a grimace; like the whole act of being nice to me pains her.
"It's been a long day, why are you here Elise?" She sighs in early defeat.
"Can't I come and see my favorite headmistress?"
"No, because you never just come to see me. You're usually in trouble, wanting something or if last time was anything to go by, attempting to threaten me."
"You know me so well." I produce the dagger, sitting it between us on the desk.
"Where did you get that?"
I've definitely hit a nerve. "Not important."
"Yes, it's very important!" Huntington snaps back, boldly reaching out to pick it up. She holds it with two hands, like it's made from glass and could shatter at any second. Her eyes shoot to me before focusing solely on the blade. "You don't just find these lying around!"
I had the sword leaning against my leg and unsheathe it, putting it where the dagger had been seconds earlier. In the leather casing, it's just another weapon, but now, she knows better.
"Cain gave you these, why?" She demanded, dropping the dagger in front of her with a heavy clunk.
"He didn't!" I tell her, before deciding that actually wasn't true. "Well, not that one anyway."
"These are not toys Hunter, do you know-"
"That that's Apollo's dagger, yes. And that this is Sobek-Ra's sword. The same sword I used to kill him with."
"So why are you here today Elise. Are you after information or here to threaten me?"
Huntington sits back, folding her arms over her chest as she glares my way. She may have had a point about the reasons why I visit her and I shift in the chair, unable to get comfortable in it. Maybe that was why she decided to update her furniture.
"We both know I'm in trouble, and well, I'm here for help." I tell her.
Her eyebrows shift up slightly, the danger in the look she was giving me disappearing as her whole figure seemed to soften back into the woman I used to consider the most grandmotherly figure I had. On the way back here, I had thought over what I was going to do. Drew had his suggestions, Logan too, and clearly even Huntington had her own feelings on the matter.
I could have come in, swords ready to fight an epic battle of wit and power, while I leave her no choice other than doing what I wanted. Alfie could have come with me, pinned her down and scared her into talking. There was also me, being well me, and I could sit here and whinge and complain being stubborn, until she either kicked me out or caved. None of the above could get me any further than I'd already come. Our last meeting was proof of that, and maybe honesty was the best policy?
"Help?" She repeated, like I had just spoken to her in some kind of alien language. "My help?"
I nodded. "I don't know what to do. After my little arena spectacular, I think I've sent a message I'm not sure I wanted to send. Artemis was all, we can't help you because apparently I am going to help Cain, but I don't know even know what that means!"
"Arena spectacular?"
"You didn't know? It's how I got the sword."
"I've been having, trouble, with my gifts lately." Huntington tells me softly and catching the surprise on my face, she frowns deeper which brings back the wrinkles she had been missing before I got here. "Only when it comes to you. "
I tell her about the idea I had to go back to Sobek's tomb after remembering the sword I had in my hand when I came back through the portal and the adventures that followed. She said nothing when I told her about Logan's suggestion to go to the psychic, about how I found out what she had given to my Mum in order for me to even be born.
Long story short, I told her everything. How I had gone from considering her the enemy to my savior, I had no idea. We stared at each other for a moment, and taking in a deep breath, Huntington started to talk.
"Cain needs you, Elise. I told you he wasn't the enemy, he is as much a pawn in this game as you are." She picks up the dagger again, resting the tip into the desk and twirls it around. "We all make mistakes. Sometimes, these mistakes come in the form of a child, who never asked to be born, but was."
Her hand comes away and the dagger remains upright, balancing as if an invisible string was holding it that way. It's kind of hypnotizing and I struggle to look away. When I do, I'm surprised at the sadness that's all over Huntington's face.
"Cain is what they call in his realm, a Power. Here, we call them gods. They are above all laws, for they are the law and the influence of their ways has spread through various realms for as long as there has been life in them.The difference between Cain and the other Powers, is he was never accepted by them and so was left to live as an Other."
"Other?"
"A civilian, a slave; just another person." She explained.
"Why wasn't he accepted, it's obvious he has powers of his own!"
"His conception wasn't favorable to them, his existence not approved. His mother made the mistake of bedding someone she thought was powerful enough to save her after the disaster of her twins. She only sought to gain his favor, his protection and instead she bore his child. Thinking that had been her plan all along, she was killed and Cain was sent away, his powers bound."
"I'm guessing that didn't end as well as they all hoped?"
"No." She answered simply. "It didn't."
"What does all this have to do with me then?" Apparently needing her help, also included getting information. I wasn't complaining.
"You're marked." Again, Huntington made it sound so simple.
"You two did that."
"No. We let you think that, but it wasn't the mark I put on you."
I thought of how surprised she had been when she first saw it, and it made sense that she hadn't been the one to make it appear. That realisation makes my stomach drop.
"But Cain made it go away? He said he removed the curse. He did that, right?"
"He only made it disappear." She corrected. "It'll never go away truely and as far as curses go, it's not a bad one. Though, I guess it depends on how you think about."
Some of this I had already heard, like how not all curses are bad. Well, if it depends on how you think about it, Iknew it had to be bad. I guess I'm the glass half empty kind of girl after all.
"Who did it then?"
Huntington swallows and the dagger falls to the side.
"Cain did some, bad, things in order to be banished here. He has never told me what exactly, and I've never pushed it."
"I would have." I mumble under my breath.
"I know." She gives me a tiny glimpse of a smile. "I am not you. I respect his decision, as he has always told me what I need to know. Nothing more, nothing less."
I take the dagger back. "And what has he told you about what's happening now?"
"What has he told you?" Huntington asks coyly.
"I already said. I know about the vision you had of me fighting, that I would go with him. That's all really." I thought about things a little more. "I met someone, I think she is a friend. She told me that I would fight and win, that they know about me now. The Powers. Oh shit! It wasn't the gladiator re-enactment that put me on their radar, I already was. Cain said he did all of that so they would be scared of me, like they are of him!"
Everything started to fall into place.
"They were behind it all. They knew, they had to have known, everything! Selene, the Lord Alpha, even The Warlocks. It was them!" I sounded hysterical as I stood up, unable to sit in that stupid chair any longer. We were never going to get to the bottom of finding those who released the Warlocks because it wasn't anyone here who did it. "She said they've been watching, that they tried to stop him and even me!"
I guess I had always kind of suspected it, but I never thought it could all be connected like this. Talk about planning, if I even thought ahead a millimeter of what they did, Zane would die of shock. And what about Cain? Maybe his intentions hadn't been as bad as I first thought, but if we were on the same team, we really needed to start acting like it.
"How long have they known about this?" I stopped in front of Huntington, feeling stupidly vulnerable. I was so out of my league it wasn't even funny. "How much of our lives is our own and not what they want?"
"We all have a path to walk in this life, Elise. The Fates know all, long before we are privy to their plans. Like Cain, you were not supposed to exist, but here you are. Perhaps that is what she saw, before he killed her?" She muses.
"What?" My mouth went dry. "Before he killed who?"
"I do not know her name, and in all the years I have known Cain, he has only mentioned her once. She was one of the three Fates; oracles that make me look like an mere amateur. In some ways, they hold more power than all of the Powers ever will. They see it all. They decide it all and Cain, the Fallen one, he killed her."
Taini's words rang through my mind like a song you can't get out of your head.
"Three, there are always three." I mumbled. "A third never lasts, and I- I'm his offering, to them?"
"The curse, Elise. They wanted to find you as much as we did." Huntington reveals. "Brainwashing Alistair into sacrificing his own daughter was as simple as breathing to them. They thought they won, again, but Cain fought back. He always does."
She stood and walked towards me before taking my hand. Hers was placed over my wrist, the very place the moons had once been and in a glittery mirage, the image appeared.
"Cain can't reverse their mark. He simply blocked it, to try and prevent them from finding you, something else he has always done. Our plans have changed, so much so, I do not even know them anymore. The future is too unclear for me to see."
"Am I to, act as a replacement? Join, the fates?" Somehow I managed to form the words.
"Perhaps. Like I said, it's not a bad thing, this curse. Imagine the possibilities if you, you Hunter, joined the ranks of the Powers? You would be a leader, a legend! Just consider that for a moment!" She gushed, like it was some kind of honor.
I guess it was, but if Taini's advice was anything to go by, it wasn't going to a fairy tale ending for me. I wouldn't be accepted, but why would I want to be? If I went with Cain into his realm, I'd be leaving everything behind here. My family, friends - Alfie and Annipe. She had even said that next time he wouldn't be able to bring me back. Did that mean from the dead, but if I chose not to help him, would he choose not to save me, again. Would my death be the issues we have to overcome?
That's a big fucking issue.
"What was your plan then?" I'm surprised at how calm I sound. I think she is too as she gently dropped my hand.
"To use you as bait to draw them here. It was obvious they would come for his key back to the realm. His plan of creating a superior human race was not simply a good deed, it was just that good came from it. Originally, he was creating his own warriors. A race that could stand up to the other beings that exist in this universe. Those, like Dracula, he sought to use as his secret weapon. All of it was in preparation of the final battle he knew would one day come."
"That's not the plan anymore?" I managed to swallow, the gulping sound almost embarrassing loud.
"No. Maybe. I honestly don't know. Everything changed the day the Treaty was made." She sighed as she sat down, rubbing her temples as if to avoid a headache. "He can help you Elise. You just need to ask the right questions."
"Cain?"
Huntington nodded before offering me a coy smile. "You're not like the other Hunters."
"It's hard to forget." I gather my weapons and get ready to leave. "Thank you, for talking to me."
"You're welcome. I want to believe everything is going to work out in the end. You have someone very powerful on your side, don't forget that."
I give her a slight nod, and start to leave, my mind processing everything. Could Cain be trusted? Was he really, not, the enemy? She made it sound like he's been doing me a favour, and maybe he has, only it hasn't all been a selfish act. Of course he'd protect and help me. He has to because without me, he'd never get back home.
Closing the door behind me, I'm surprised to find Logan sitting a little bit down the hall on a wooden bench. He closes the book when he see's me come out, and the bold letters on the front make me cringe. Greek Mythology.
"How did you go?" He asks.
"I'm not sure yet. Read anything interesting?" I change the subject and he looks nervous before an amused kind of smile appears.
"You could say that."
He opens the book again and flicks towards the back before turning it my way. There is a picture of a wall in some tomb and I reconise the crocodiles and Sobek images that had been painted on, but that's not what he is showing me. The caption underneath mentions an unidentified battle that the god had to overcome. Goosebumps break out over my skin as the obviously female figure he is facing is flanked by two enormous snakes that are sizing up against the crocodiles. Due to their colouring and markings, I don't doubt that is me with Alfie and Annipe, especially since I'm the one holding his sword.
"What is this?" I ask.
"They think it was an enemy of Sobek that he defeated, since the trio have never been seen in any other paintings or mentioned again. Strange that she has his sword though, right?" Logan points it out.
I laugh at that. "Well we all know what has been written down to form history, can not always be assumed to be true."
) O (
Sticking with the 'no more secrets policy', I told everyone about what had been going on, minus the whole Huntington is Portia thing. I also told Zane and Ailin, since she decided to pop in when I called her asking if we could talk since if this could be leading to another apocalyptic disaster, I figured she'd like to know. I'd also never been happier about the fact Zane was only in the room via my iPad screen, because even digitally I could see how mad he was. Jordan was silent, and Chris folded the piece of paper he had again and again, finally stopping when a crane appeared.
No one had anything helpful to add to the situation.
"We could send you back into Paytah's realm." Zane was the first to speak. "You said it was safe there?"
"Only from Cain." I pointed out.
"Well, one problem at a time. If those swords you have can kill his kind, we can take him out and then focus on the others." It was more like an order.
"Zane, I don't think we should kill him. For starters he could be the only one of them, who actually wants me alive."
"So he can use you." Jordan added.
Everyone started talking all at once. A hit list got suggested, as well as using the fae to break into the realm the Powers existed in. Without knowing, it was practically impossible for them to even guess where that might actually be and the dynamics of portal creation and searching went over my head. Ailin wanted us to prepare for another war, imagining it to be worse the Warlocks. She had already called V and told him gather the Council for when she returned.
After getting no where, I ended up walking out.
"Hey, you okay?" Logan ran out after me.
"Yeah. It's just a bit much in there."
"You're not alone in this, you know that right?"
I barely manage to nod before my cheek is against his chest and he's holding me tightly. For a second, I don't have to think about everything, until it's all I can think about. Pulling away from Logan, he frowns so my face must say enough.
"How do you do it, put up with me I mean. Did you think when we got together it would be like this?"
"Considering how we met, and everything that was going on when we did get together, I knew what I was walking into Bunny." He smiles and I can't stop myself from returning it. He closes the distance between us once more. "I mean, if I didn't turn and run the other way after seeing a mob of zombies coming at me, or worse than that, dealing with Zane after that shit went down, I don't think there is anything that could scare me off."
My arms tighten around his waist and I feel him kiss the top of my head.
"Not even a realm full of jerk gods?"
"Unless they smell as bad as zombies..." He sounds thoughtful for a second before moving us towards the tyre swing. "So, what are you going to do?"
"That's the million dollar question isn't it?" I wait for him to sit before climbing over his lap. "What do you think?"
"I think, you need to watch where you're putting your elbow." He bent my arm around so it was no longer digging into his stomach. "Seriously though, I just want you safe. I agree, I don't think they should kill Cain. If they're after you, at least he might stand a chance against them."
"And then?"
"Then we find somewhere to disappear to, somewhere Alfie and Anni are able to go and all of this is just something bad that happened, but we survived like the last time, and the time before that."
"Any ideas where we would go?" I lean into his shoulder, enjoying this. Us. Thinking of the future like we have a chance to actually have one.
"Mexico." Logan declares.
"I do like tequila."
We laugh and just for a second, safe and happy in Logan's arms - I think we might just be able to do it too.