eleven

“So, where are we going?” I ask as we're eating breakfast. We're sitting in my room, on the balcony where we can see all the servants of the palace doing their work in the gardens, pruning hedges and watering flowers. It's one of my favourite places nowadays, both to just sit and to enjoy the company of others. I take a sip of my tea as I wait for his reply. Kai grimaces a little before answering, taking his time as he puts down his utensils and wipes his mouth then takes a sip of water.

“Well… we're heading up to see my younger brothers on Mount Olympus, Zeus and Poseidon,” he answers with a look of slight annoyance in the way his brows scrunch up and his mouth turning into a thin line. “I need to tell them what you told me, so I'll need you to come with me anyway.”

I nod as I try to keep the smile off my face as the excitement builds in me for finally going somewhere outside of the Underworld. “Mount Olympus? Wow, really?” I ask. Kai nods with a slightly glum expression. “Then why do you look like that?”

“Look like what?” He replies, but him not meeting my eyes gives away how he feels.

“Like you don't actually want to go see them. I feel like you haven't seen them in a very long time,” I muse. Kai just shakes his head and stands from his seat, walking towards me then leans down to my eye level, causing me to lean back in my seat slightly as he simply looks down at my empty plate.

“Finished?” I nod. “Then let's go.” Kai holds out a hand.

I take his outstretched hand and stand, but he doesn't let go, instead keeping our fingers interlocked as we make our way downstairs to the front of the palace, most likely where the chariot will be waiting. A small smile creeps its way onto my face as we walk; it feels kind of like a miracle now that Kai is far, far nicer than he has ever been. But it's not like I could help when I started liking him – that happened nearly as soon as I had met him. Just a little spark.

Lately, it feels as if I have been to a lot of places, and a few of those times were not because I wanted to go. After all, it was only yesterday he had just rescued me like I was a damsel in distress. I look down at the tattoo on my arm and notice something different about it. One of the three circles of black ink, the smallest and farthest from my wrist, is no longer completely whole, a crescent sliver of my skin colour returning right at the edge of the circle. It looks like the ink is disappearing similar to the changing phases of the moon.

Instinctively, I grab onto the back of Kai's shirt, my eyes still glued to my arm. He turns around, an easy smile on his face until he sees my expression. “What's wrong?” He asks, slowly loosening my grip on his black shirt.

I show him my left wrist, holding it out, hoping that I'm not dreaming. I had almost completely forgotten about the tattoo that Cronus left behind along with his final words.

“What is it?” He asks, taking my wrist in his hands, but his hand just simply wraps around it, the tattoo unnoticed. My heart drops at that moment, knowing that he cannot see it, this symbol that marks something inevitable in the future.

So, I say nothing, shake my head and just step a little closer to Kai. He looks confused but wraps a comforting arm around me and steps inside the carriage. No chariot today for what I'm guessing may be a longer journey than usual.

If Kai can't see it, then Cronus must have made it so; the tattoo has to mean something if it is changing like that, like sand falling grain by grain from one end of an hourglass to the other. I try to dispel the dread and focus on being beside Kai.

***

The view of Mount Olympus seems to loom from the horizon as we approach, all majestic marble structures that reached towards the sky, seeming to glitter under the sun with beautiful greenery curling around them. It was far more impressive than Kai's residence in the Underworld and I couldn't take my eyes off the way everything seemed so big and impossible. I hear Kai's bitter chuckle behind me and turn to look at him.

“It's grand, isn't it? My siblings’ home,” he says, shaking his head. “Zeus never seems to stop showing off. As always. Not that anyone other than the gods can see it.”

I return back to staring out of the carriage, watching the way the sunlight glittered and sparkled as the rays bounced off the buildings. The clear extravagance showed off the gods might and life of luxury, though I do wonder if they shouldn't be humbler for having such a position.

The carriage soon pulls up at the gates of Mount Olympus with stable-hands appearing and taking the reins of the horses. Kai opens the carriage door and steps out then beckons me to follow, helping me out of the carriage as I hike up my dress so that I can actually see where my feet are landing. He bites back a smile then pulls my arm through his to me.

People seem to eye us as we walk inside along paths lined with dewy flowers up to the largest building of Olympus, that no doubt is where Zeus lives. Their piercing stares don't feel friendly but I could see those were directed more at Kai than at myself. Instead, it seemed only curiosity was aimed at me. I could see the questions in their eyes, wondering who this girl is walking arm in arm with Hades.

Kai doesn't seem to mind it, much less care as he walks confidently with his back straight and s