Wrath of Hades (11 page)

“All the Hell Hounds rescued by Raven are welcomed here, all but you, Ethan.” Diane stared at him. “Your behavior is not welcomed. You have to leave.”

Ethan looked at everyone. He directed a hate filled glare at Raven. “If you don’t find Claire Westing, you will pay. I will make sure of that.” He turned his back
on her, on the pack, and stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Raven felt the remaining pieces of her heart fall like confetti to the ground. Even if there was a cure, nothing could fix what had just happened.
There was no way she could trust him, and then realization hit her. There wasn’t anyone she really could trust, especially with her heart.

“This is not your fault,” Billy said.

“But I’m responsible for the problem. I have to find the person doing this. I have to find out the cure.”

“Raven—”

Raven shook her head. “Don’t Diane. We both know I have to fix what’s wrong with Ethan. The person he’s become is not him. What he thinks about me doesn’t matter, but his sanity does.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

“Isn’t it? No one around me is safe, can’t you see that?” Raven looked at the others still gathered. “Can’t any of you see? If you stay around me, you’re not safe. Something will happen to you.” Raven walked down the rest of the steps. “I’m the one everyone’s after and that makes each of you a target because you are near me.”

“Raven
wait!”

She stopped, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “What is it, Billy?” she tried wiping away every trace of emotion from her face before she turned to face him.

“What’s happening to Ethan was done to hurt you,” said Billy. “To make you vulnerable so that they can get to you.”

“I know, b
ut the question is who, because I can already guess the why.” Raven reached for the silver disc hanging around her neck.

“Then we figure out who it is and kick some butt,” said Billy.

A chorus of agreements erupted from the teens.

“What about Ethan? He is this pack’s A
lpha, and he has just been thrown out of the house.” Raven wasn’t really sure if she wanted the answer or not.

“We’ll deal with him, but r
ight now he’s not capable of leading. We can all see that. In fact we’ve known it for a couple of days. We just didn’t think he would do something like this. There is another alpha who can take his place.” Billy looked at Chad, as did the others.

Chad stepped forward, a little too fast to suit Raven. “I will lead this pack and I will protect Raven Weir, Guardian of Atlantis. If this is a problem, speak up now.” His voice rang loud and clear.

Raven held her breath, wondering who would protest the change in leadership but no one challenged it. The change was accepted as if it were an everyday occurrence.

“Raven, we know and accept the risks that come with protecting you.” Chad walked over to her. “Ethan knew too. I’m sorry this happened to you and I hope for your sake it can be undone.”

“What if it can’t? What if things get worse?” Raven worried others would get infected or hurt worse. “What if there are more attacks? What if all of you become the next targets and something much worse happens to you?”

Chad lifted her chin so she had to look at him. “I’ll be here for you,” he said softly.

Raven’s eyes widened. She knew he meant a lot more than what he had said and she wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. Chad was good looking—extremely good looking with his brown hair down to his shoulders and a hint of a beard on his jaw. Any girl would be thrilled to have him eyeing her with his soft brown eyes, but she felt nothing for him.

“I’ll take care of you,” his words broke through her thoughts.

“You take care of them and I’ll take care of me,” she quickly, a little harsher sounding than she meant it to be. “Because I think Hades is behind everything. If I’m right, we have to be on guard all the time.”

Chad nodded and removed his hand from her chin.

He didn’t say anything but Raven could tell he wasn’t happy about what she said because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

Raven.”
Diane started to go to her but Professor Snyder stopped her.

Raven looked over at them in time to see Professor Snyder shake his head at Diane. Raven frowned slightly. There were definitely too many secrets in the house and she was tired of every one of them. “I’m going to get something to eat. I’m assuming Hercules, or should I say Mr. Ryder, will be here in a little bit for my first defense lesson.” With her head held high, Raven
walked into the kitchen.

CHAPTER
10

Power corrupts.

It’s been a reality throughout history.

And power scares me. I’m afraid it will corrupt me.

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades each have tremendous powers that they’ve allowed to go to their heads and now they think they’re gods.

I don’t want that to happen to me. I am not goddess material, nor do I want people bowing down at my feet. Well, maybe, just maybe Elizabeth. That would be the absolute perfect punishment because she hates me so much.

                            --Raven Weir’s journal

Lee Ryder, or rather Hercules, arrived promptly at one o’clock with an assortment of weapons in tow. Within minutes he had a huge broad sword in Raven’s hand and had her hacking away at a practice dummy someone set up earlier in the back yard.

About fifteen minutes later, sweat rolled off of Raven’s forehead and dripping into her eyes while more sweat rolled down the middle of her back even though it was winter and cold outside. Her arms ached so bad, she wished they would fall off so she wouldn’t have to use the broad sword anymore, but Hercules kept pushing her.

At some point during the broad sword training exercises, Hercules stripped off his jacket and shirt. Almost every female in the house gravitated to the back porch just to watch him, but when Diane made an appearance and scolded them, the crowd quickly dispersed. Raven almost laughed as she watched the last of the moon-eyed girls go back into the house.

Not once did Hercules even glance toward the love-struck girls. He focused his energies on the training exercises. Raven shook her head as she took a break from her pathetic attempts to master the art of killing a straw dummy.

She sighed.

The broad sword was definitely not something she was ever going to be good at. Even the practice dummy had better odds of becoming proficient with the broad sword than she did. Several times she hit the dummy with her sword only to have the sword bounce off of it and hit her. The last time it happened, the sword hit her leg, slicing through her jeans and into the flesh of her thigh. The wound bleed for several minutes, covering most of her jeans until she was able to get it to stop.

Hercules just shook his head and told her to shake it off because the wound would seal itself in a few minutes so there was no reason for her to quit.

But two hours later, the whole self-defense session could only be described as a total disaster. Hercules shook his head and packed his weapons. He didn't have to say anything to Raven. She knew she was pathetically hopeless when it came to every weapon she tried. Even her powers abandoned her when she tried to use them to protect herself from an attack by
Hercules.

How had she even managed to survive everything that had happened to her so far?

Luck.

Pure luck.

Raven shook her head. Luck wasn't going to keep her alive. It was pretty obvious she had just run out of luck. Somehow, she had to learn to control her abilities so she could call upon them when she needed them.

The wind whipped through Raven's sweat soaked sweatshirt causing her to shiver. Raven didn't want to go inside. Everyone in the
house knew Hercules had left, and there would be too many questions. Questions she didn't want to deal with right now or ever. Raven grabbed her jacket off the back porch railing and slipped it on.

She stared at the house.

She needed to talk to someone who had powers similar to hers.

She could only think of one person.

She needed to talk to Poseidon.

Raven wondered if he would even talk to her, especially since they didn't exactly part on great terms the last time they met. But in a way that was her fault. She did tell him one day she would have to take away his power, and now that she thought about it, it sounded a bit like what Zeus had done to their father, Cronos. If Poseidon didn't want to talk to her because of that, she would just have to deal with it.

But then there was the really big question.

How did she contact him?

Did she just call him? Like just shout out his name?

She
was tempted to give it a try, really tempted. Raven glanced at the house.

Poseidon in the backyard?

That was definitely
not a good idea, especially with all the Hell Hounds in the house.

Raven sighed.

Poseidon.

Hell H
ounds.

No way around it. The combination was definitely a recipe for really huge disaster, if
not World War Three, which was not something she felt like dealing with, but maybe later, a long time later.

Raven walked around the house. She stopped and looked at all the cars parked in the driveway. For whatever reason, Ethan’s jeep was parked at the end of the driveway.

The corners of Raven’s lips turned up into a smile. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure no one was out looking for her and headed straight to it.

The driver’s door was unlocked. 

“I warned him about leaving the keys where I can find them. It’s an open invitation.” Raven started the jeep and backed out of the drive. “Pinewood Lake, here I come,” she said, thinking the lake was the best place to try to get ahold of Poseidon, especially since it was the first place she met him.

The drive to Pinewood Park took Raven a little longer than she originally planned because she decided to detour as far away from the cemetery as she could. Better safe than sorry was her thinking. She wasn’t in the mood for another round with any zombies, and the cemetery was a too perfect a hangout for zombies, just way too many dead bodies there.

Raven parked near the children’s play area
. The cold wind coming off the lake wrapped around her as soon as she stepped out of the jeep. She pulled her jacket a little tighter to her body. Raven didn’t much care for the cold, but today she was thankful for it. No one wanted to be out in it, so the park was deserted.

As she walked through the play area, memories of Jay filled her mind. She paused and scanned the area. No one was there. Raven shook her head. This wasn’t the first time she had been back in Pinewood Park, but it was the first time she had been there alone since that night she fought Jay.

Raven looked around again.

She knew it was silly, and impossible, but she half expected Jay to pop up out of nowhere. Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as she pushed the memories aside as best she could.

She continued walking until she came to the banks of Pinewood Lake. Sitting down on one of the many benches lining the banks, she stared at the waves crashing up onto the shoreline. The sound soothed her mind and her soul.

“Dwelling on what you can’t change is not a healthy activity for anyone, but especially not for my daughter.”

Raven didn’t even look up. She knew who was standing behind her. “But how do you get past them?” she asked.

“You need to be more aware of what’s going on around you.” Poseidon walked around the bench and sat down. “I could have easily been someone intent on harming you. You have too many enemies because of who and what you are.”

Raven shrugged her shoulders. “But it was you and not someone else. Besides, if you want to harm me, you’ll have to get in line. There are a couple of people ahead of you.” She looked at him. “How did you know I was here?”

Poseidon stretched out his
long, denim clad legs and leaned back on the bench. Between his black biker boots, black leather jacket and his pale blonde hair pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck with a leather strap, he didn’t look like a father, but more like the bad boy biker mothers warned their daughters to stay away from.

“I didn’t. I come here on a regular basis hoping I
’ll see you, even if it’s only from a distance,” he said.

“Why?”

“You are my daughter after all.”

Raven rolled her eyes.

“Maybe I should say something about respecting your parents.” Poseidon laughed.

“So where is Medusa?” asked Raven.

Poseidon sighed. “She’s not my prisoner, if that’s what you’re still thinking. She never was.”

“And?”
Raven raised an eyebrow at him.

Poseidon stared at Raven. “For a minute you sound just like her.”

“Well?”

“She’s hiding from those who would kill her and from the world she doesn’t want to destroy.”

“So the stories are true?”

“Which ones?”

Raven turned and stared at the water. “The ones where she turns people to stone when they look at her.” The memory of turning Jay into a stone statue flooded her mind before she could stop them.

“You can look at Medusa all you want and you will not turn to stone. It’s a combination of her stare and her touch that turns someone to stone.”

“And the snakes for hair thing?” asked Raven.

“The result of Athena’s petty jealousy,” said Poseidon. “I didn’t help either. I should have made Athena change it back, but I didn’t. Now, I can’t find her anywhere.” Poseidon sighed. “I’ve done a lot of things I regret.”

“So Athena can fix Medusa’s hair problem?”

“Yes.”

“What about the turning people to stone thing?” asked Raven. “Can that be fixed too?”

“I honestly don’t know. The experiments we were subjected to were conducted on the genetic level. Medusa has spent years learning to control her abilities.”

“Great!” Raven got up and walked a short distance away. “Just great,” She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets to keep Poseidon from seeing them shake. No sense letting him know how much what he said affected her.

“Why did that upset you?” Poseidon moved behind Raven.

“Just go away and leave me alone.” Raven rubbed her eyes trying to get rid of the tears. So much for not letting him know, she thought.

Poseidon held out his arms like he wanted to hug her, but let them drop to his sides. “I realize I’m not the one you called father, and I wasn’t anywhere arou
nd when you really needed me, but at least let me be your friend. I might be able to help you with your problem.”

“Unless you can turn back
time, I doubt you or anyone else can help me.” Raven rubbed her eyes again. The tears stubbornly refused to be wiped away.

“I can’t turn back
time, but it might surprise you how I can help.”

Raven stared at the lake. “I can’t control my powers,” she whispered. “And I’ve turned someone to stone.” She closed her eyes and let her head hang down.

Poseidon looked at her for several minutes. “We all had problems with our powers when they first started developing. In some ways, you could say, it was almost comical. You just need to practice. As for the stone problem, don’t worry about it. Things like that will happen.”

“How can you say that? How can I not worry?” Raven turned and looked at Poseidon. Her eyes glistened with tears. “I took another person’s life.”

“Did you do it just for fun or because he was trying to hurt you?” asked Poseidon.

“He was trying to hurt me and others I care about.
”

“So it was something you had to do?”

“It was either him or me.”

“Then you didn’t have a choice.
You did what you had to do to survive.Your life will always be more important than anyone else’s.” Poseidon gave her a toothy grin.

“It’s not funny.”

“I didn’t say it was, quite the contrary. Taking someone’s life is very serious business. Something most of us don’t take lightly.” He sighed. “So you’re having problems controlling your powers.”

Raven nodded her head.

“Don’t worry so much about it, and before you know it, you’ll be using your powers without even thinking about it. It will be second nature to you.”

“But what do I do in the mean time? I can’t defend myself.” Raven threw her hands up in frustration. “I can’t even use a sword without cutting myself.”

“And why were you using a sword?” asked Poseidon.

“Hercules is giving me self-defense lessons. At
least he was. I’m so pathetic that he packed up his stuff and left without a word. I don’t know if he’ll be back or not.” Raven went back to the bench and flopped down.

“Who organized the lessons?”

“Diane.”

“Diane—at least she’s doing something right,” said Poseidon.

“She and Professor Snyder think I need the ability to defend myself with other weapons besides my unpredictable and somewhat dangerous powers.” Raven propped her head up with her hands. Her elbows rested on her legs just behind her knees.

“Yes, it is good to know how to use other weapons, but you must be able to use your powers. How are they planning to help you with that?”

Raven shrugged her shoulders. “They’re not as far as I know. At least nothing’s been said to me about practicing with them.”