Chapter 12 Kaira #2
"I know," I blurted out, my tongue quicker than my mind, but even after those words tumbled out, deep down I knew she wasn't here to hurt me. She wasn't here to harm me and she wasn't what my mother was running from. "You probably could've killed me by now."
"Well," she started, her voice deep, raspy, her accent not so American now that I could hear it better. "I don't think I could hurt you even if I wanted to."
This time I looked up, seeing snakes again instead of the dark locks.
Seeing the white of her eyes where her irises were supposed to be, and I swallowed the whimper threatening to erupt from me.
The same shade of black apparent on her fingers was dragging over her neck, over her chest, all the way up to her face, leaving thin vines of darkness as they spread over her cheeks, ending just underneath her eyes.
"I would glamour myself, but it wouldn't work on you either way," she said when she noticed me looking. Her voice lowered and something akin to shame flickered over her face. "I know I look monstrous to you."
"No." I shook my head, because in reality, she didn't. I wasn't afraid of her appearance. I wasn't afraid of the shadows running over her body or the snakes moving on top of her head. She looked different to me, yes, but not monstrous. "I apologize for staring at you, I know it's rude."
"It's fine."
"It really isn't." I chuckled. "I'm usually better than this, but you shocked me. You truly shocked me and I'm still trying to understand what's happening. I'm still waiting to wake up and laugh about this whole dream."
Elandra looked up at my aunt who remained standing in front of me with her hands on her hips and a worried look on her face directed at me.
"I wish I could tell you this was just a dream, Kaira.
I wish I could tell you, you could go back to your life and pretend this entire encounter had never happened, but I can't do that. "
I nodded, hearing the sincerity in her words.
Whatever it was that scared both my mother and my aunt enough to have my mom run from this place, had something to do with Elandra.
Or, well, maybe not her directly but with what she was.
And I had a feeling she wasn't the only one like this on this island.
"My mother." I looked at my aunt. "Did she know about all this?"
"Yes," she answered immediately. "Everyone on this island knows, Kaira.
This is what I've been trying to tell you before Elandra interrupted us.
" Elandra rolled her eyes at that, and took a sip of her tea.
"Nevermere isn't an ordinary island, darling.
It is not a place people could stumble upon just like that.
It isn't an island in the classical meaning of that word. "
"What do you mean?"
"It's a prison," Elandra piped in, placing her cup of tea on top of the table. "What?" she said when Alyana rolled her eyes. "She already knows we exist. Might as well tell her as much as possible today."
"I don't want to overwhelm her."
"We're not overwhelming her." Elandra looked at me. "Are we overwhelming you, dear?"
I shrugged. "I guess not. I'm already in a state of shock, so might as well tell me everything now before I faint from all this information."
"See," Elandra exclaimed. "She's fine. She's better than fine and she finally knows the truth."
"Actually." I stood up, taking my cold cup of coffee with me.
"I don't know anything yet, except that I'm sitting with a very real Medusa and that my mom somehow grew up in this world and that this island isn't an island at all but a prison.
A prison I somehow found even though people can't find it that easily. "
"Exactly." Elandra grinned, showing her sharp teeth. "She's catching up quickly."
"Ela," my aunt practically growled. "We're just scratching the surface. She needs to know the real truth."
My legs carried me from one corner of the room to another, pacing, unable to stand still. I wasn't sure if I was handling anything properly at this point, but I was trying to push down the suffocating panic trying to erupt.
"Kaira," my aunt said as she sat down. "Are you sure you don't want to eat anything?"
"I'm pretty sure that anything I eat would end up just coming back up, so we're safer with just coffee." I pointed at the mug I was holding. "Besides, you still owe me answers. Why was my mother so afraid? Who was after her? Who wants me dead? And who the fuck is my biological father?"
The two of them looked at each other before both pairs of eyes landed on me, the atmosphere dropping from the easygoing one Elandra was trying to create to a more serious one.
"Gods, Kaira," my aunt said. "Gods are after you."
Weakness shot through my knees, making me sway on my feet. "Gods?" I croaked, hating how unsteady my own voice sounded. "As in, Greek Gods?" They both nodded. "Why would the Gods be after me? I'm just a regular human. I'm nobody."
"Kaira, sit down."
"I'm fine—"
"Sit the fuck down," she thundered, and instead of invoking the wrath of Medusa upon me, I sat my ass down and looked at her. "Many, many millennia ago a Goddess called Demeter cursed the Gods and almost all mythical creatures to this island, locking us up indefinitely."
The buzzing in my ears grew louder. Black dots started dancing at the edges of my vision. I blinked, trying to focus on what she was saying.
"Have you ever wondered why the Gods suddenly started disappearing from the world and why humans no longer believed in them?" my aunt asked, pulling my attention to her. "It was because they truly did disappear. Their realms were abandoned, their homes empty, locked in this place forever."
"Until the prophecy came. Almost thirty years ago, the three sisters—"
"Fates," my aunt interjected.
"Yeah." Elandra glowered. "Fates saw a child being born.
A child that would change everything. A child that was the key to the freedom the Gods wanted.
But what they wanted was what they feared as well, because to break the curse, a God would need to die, and not just any God.
One of the ruling Gods, one of those that were primarily cursed by Demeter.
" I nodded, trying to follow, even though nothing made sense.
"So when your mother realized she was pregnant with you, when she realized—no, when she saw in her dreams what would happen if she stayed, she ran away.
She ran and she never looked back, hoping it would save you from the destiny written for you even before you were ever truly planned. "
My head shook, that headache now blooming to full force. "I-I don't understand."
"The prophecy, Kaira," my aunt said. "The prophecy is related to you. The fucking prophecy that took my sister away from me. The prophecy that led to the destruction of your biological father and the prophecy you will never be able to run away from."
"Under the blood eclipse on the second moon's crest.
"In the seventh pass, when darkness finds rest.
"The first-born daughter of the first one shall rise.
"And Gods shall kneel where her shadow has passed."
Elandra's voice echoed around us as she recited the prophecy, as she awakened something deep inside me as if I had heard this before. As if I had seen this before.
I could no longer sit still. My entire body was filled with something I couldn't put a finger on. My stomach kept rolling around, caving in on itself, while my ribs pressed against my lungs.
"I still don't understand what that means. How is the prophecy related to me? How is any of this related to me?"
"Because, Kaira." Elandra stood up and walked toward me, taking a hold of my hands. "You're not what you think you are. You are not who you think you are, and your father…" She looked at my aunt before her eyes found mine again. "Your father was the Ancient one."
I stumbled backwards, unable to stand upright anymore, and if it wasn't for her hands holding me, I would've fallen down.
"W-what?"
"Your father, darling. Your real father was Thanatos, not Benjamin Harley. Your real father was the God of Death. The real God of Death, and you're his heir." Her eyes flashed, making the white glow more. "You are the heiress of Death."
This time I did collapse and as the darkness took over and my knees gave out, the last thing I saw was a familiar pair of green emerald eyes staring at me through the darkness.