I walked out of the ice cream shop with Nix trailing behind me. Anger bubbled inside me like a volcano that was about to erupt. I crossed the two-lane avenue heading nowhere in particular, just needing to walk.
"Stormie, wait," Nix called from behind me.
I didn't acknowledge her. She was part of the problem. I had a normal life until she showed up. Everything changed the day she showed up at school. I just wanted to go back to the way things were. She grabbed my hand. I snatched it away from her.
"Where are you even going?" She asked.
I wasn't sure. I had left my neighborhood and was walking toward downtown. The top of a crane caught my eye, and I decided it was my destination. Nix sped past me, hovering backward.
"Please, just give me a chance to explain," she pleaded, reaching for my hands again.
The desperate look on her face bothered me, but not enough to give in. I stuck my hands in my jeans pockets. When I did, she swallowed and nodded. Her expression changed from desperate to hurt. I looked away. Seeing her look upset made me want to comfort her, and right now I just wanted to rage. She landed beside me and started walking with me.
"Is this still about Joul?" she asked.
Why couldn't she just let me have this moment? What about the way I was acting led her to believe that this conversation was going to happen? I didn't press her for information when she didn't want to share. Why couldn't she do the same for me? The construction site came into view. It was a deep dirt pit with a crane surrounded by pallets of bricks and metal pipes. A chain-link fence surrounded the whole thing.
"I promise I would never let him hurt you, if that's what's bothering you."
That was the final straw. My volcano erupted.
"Will you? And what about my parents? Will you include them in this protection package?" I snapped at her.
She looked around us to see if anyone was listening. I didn't care if they did. My day was ruined, so why not ruin someone else's? How was it fair that everyone else got to have a normal life? I couldn't even have a day off. All I wanted was one normal day.
"Your parents are safe. The Prometheus Pact protects them from people like us," she said. Her voice was a little higher than a whisper.
Relief slowed the flow of molten rage inside. Cooling it enough for me to engage Nix.
"Zeus mentioned something about Prometheus. What is that?"
I touched the heavy metal chain that kept the gate to the construction site locked and considered melting it. Vandalism wasn't my style. I concentrated on wind coming out of my feet and lifting me into the air. It worked. In a matter of seconds, Nix and I were standing on the inside of the still-chained fence, our shoes crunching the loose dirt.
"You're getting better at that. To answer your question though, Prometheus is a Titan. He did a bunch of stuff for humans and ended up getting tortured by Zeus for it."
I ran my fingers over the top of a pallet of bricks covered by a silver tarp. Brown dust coated my fingertips. I wiped my hand on my pant leg as she continued.
"One of the things he did was create a pact that protected humans from being attacked by non-humans. It's so powerful even the Olympians can't break it."
She sat on top of the pallet and looked up at me, tapping the spot beside her. I rolled my eyes and waited a few seconds before I took a seat. She rested her head on my shoulder and pointed up at the sky. The sun was setting. The sky was a magnificent blend of red, orange, and yellow. It was impossible to stay angry as I stared up at it. Nix took my arm and put it around her. I kissed the top of her head, boundaries be damned. The smell of dust and concrete was heavy in the air.
"Okay, it's good to know that my parents are safe, but these clowns are still watching me. I don't even know who they are," I said.
I picked at a strand of her hair until she reached up and intertwined our fingers.
"The organization is called 'The Ancient Eye'. Their main reason for existing is to help people like us with our awakenings," she said.
She had told me that part before. I wanted to know more about how she got involved with them.
"You said they raised you. How did that happen?" I asked.
I dug my foot into the loose dirt beneath my feet. Tiny stones crunched as dust rose around us.
"You just have to make a mess, don't you?" she said and pushed against me.
There was a giggle in her voice. It felt right. Could this become my new normal? How strong would I have to become to make that a possibility?
"But yeah, my mom gave me to them as an infant. She's not really the nurturing type," Nix said.
I tensed up. That was not what I expected to hear. I thought she was gonna say the founder was her parents. I tightened my embrace of her slightly.
"Who is your mom?" I asked, needing to know what kind of mother would just pass off their baby.
"Her name is Nyx. She is the primordial goddess of night. I'm what's known as Nightblooded."
I nodded. That explained why all her powers were black. It shed some light on her fashion sense too.
"So, she just handed you to some strangers, like, 'hold this for me'?" I asked, staring at Nix.
She gave a quick nod.
"If you think about it, the night isn't known for being warm and promoting positive feelings."
I thought about that for a second. When I thought about the night, I envisioned a cold, dark, empty street. I couldn't imagine being raised by the personification of that.
"But yeah, a high-ranking family in the organization raised me. They taught me everything I would need to know to become a member myself. Of course, I failed my first mission, though."
She inhaled sharply and wiped her cheek. My eyes went wide.
"Was I your first mission?" I asked, feeling guilty for no particular reason.
She nodded and put her head back on my shoulder. I stared up at the sky, looking for the right words to say. Nothing came to me. I watched the sky turn a shade of violet and eventually midnight blue. Overhead spotlights turned on with a light hum as we sat in silence.
"When they taught us we were supposed to eradicate anyone who turned out to be from Typhon's or Echidna's bloodlines, it didn't sit right with me. I remember thinking it wasn't fair to judge a person because of who their parents are. It's not like they got to choose," she said.
I could hear the bitterness in her tone. I didn't know who I was angrier at, Nyx or The Ancient Eye.
"The organization must be destroyed," Typhon said. "Nyx is of little consequence."
"The moment I saw you, I knew that you were Stormblooded. I knew by the end of that day I wasn't following orders. Even though I knew what the cost of becoming a traitor would be."
I sat straight up and looked her in the eye. They were the same color as the sky.
"What made you choose me over them?"
She shrugged and gave a weak smile.
"It was you. You weren't some monster. You were Stormie. My cute, awkward bestie."
Her skin had a faint glow to it in the artificial light. I ran my finger along her jawline. Her skin was soft and smooth.
"If you knew on day one, why did you wait a year to tell me?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
"It had a lot to do with fear. If I said it out loud, that made it real, and that meant that you were in danger. It was stupid and selfish, but I really wanted to just exist with you for as long as we could before our time ran out," she said.
I nodded. She wanted exactly what I did. We would have to have a conversation about her deciding what I should get to know, but that would have to wait for a different day. I needed to taste her lips. I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and drifted my face closer to hers. This time I wasn't going to stop myself. The bad people already knew where to find me. Kissing Nix wouldn't make that any more or less true.
"You think I'm cute?" I asked, turning my head so our noses wouldn't bump.
She reached up and put her hand on my cheek, nodding. Our lips brushed, and she let out a ragged breath. I smiled just before feeling the divine pressure weighing down on me. The unnatural chill filled the thickening air.
The two of us jumped to our feet and searched around for the intruder. A bolt of yellow lightning struck the ground less than 6 feet in front of us. There was a blinding flash of light. I shielded my eyes with my right hand. When it died down, the Spartan soldier stood in front of us with his pike and a new shield. Nix tried to step in front of me. "I'll make quick work of this guy."
"No, I need to finish this for myself," I said and stepped forward.