Chapter Eleven

Waverly’s responding grin was full on evil. “I will keep that in mind.”

“I don’t understand,” I say. “Why?”

“Because,” she says with a grin. “I’m going to grant your wish.”

“Then do it!” I shout.

“Oh, not right now. No, first you must suffer, like you have made me suffer,” Waverly says.

“What? I’ve never meet you before!” I say.

“Not this you,” Waverly says, she waves her hand and the invisible wall disappears, making me fall forward. “In thirty seconds he is dead.” And then she was gone.

I stand, running and stumbling towards Mutt. I drop down at his side.

“Mutt,” I shake him. “Mutt wake up. Please. Don’t leave. Please.” I say, there was an echo to my voice, and the foreign emotion of love rises up again.

As if there was someone else inside me, saying the same thing. Feeling this way for him.

“Please, please, please. You can’t die. I need you.” I sob, my head falls down, finally realizing what the echoes of words and emotions were. It was my soul, calling out for its other half.

A soft groan makes me look up, Mutt’s eyes were open and his chest slowly starting rising and falling, barely.

“Tell me you didn’t do it,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.

“Do what?” I whisper back.

“Make a wish. You can’t make a wish. Not with her, especially within these walls,” he mutters.

“Shh,” I say, changing the subject. “Save your strength.”

“You did,” he accuses. “You made a wish. That’s okay though. Everything will be okay.”

His eyes slowly close, his breathing becomes softer, more than it had been. He draws in a shuddering breath and then he goes still.

“MUTT!” I scream, feeling as though someone was ripping out a piece of me. Tears stain my cheeks, coming down in streams. I choke on a sob, closing my eyes and hanging my head. He was gone.

I hear a voice in my head, I know of your wishes now, Manoa Dragon. And now, you know what you have to lose as well. What is your choice about it now, love?

Not knowing what else I could really do I cry harder.

“You know, considering I was the one who just died don’t you think I should be crying?” a voice mumbles, it was breathy and weak, but it was there.

“MUTT!” I cry, looking up. His chest was rising and falling again, his eyes still closed. But he was breathing, and breathing meant he was alive. “I thought you were dead!”

“I was,” Mutt groans, opening his eyes. “But that was never the plan.”

“What?” I ask.

“Moon, Waverly, she’s evil. She finds what you think you want and finds what you really want, and she’ll give you both, but she’ll make sure you want them both back. Whatever you wished, I hope it was the same as the thing you really wanted.”  Mutt says, his voice was getting stronger slightly, that’s when I noticed that there was a rain cloud directly above him. I frown, realizing that I was the cause of the cloud.

“I saw you die, how are you alive?” I demand.

Mutt laughs lightly, “Because that wouldn’t have hurt anyone. Not really.”

“What?” I ask.

“Waverly feeds off of pain, my death wouldn’t have brought anyone any pain. So there was no reason to have me remain dead. Plus, living and dying in the end is the same thing. Neither really matter.”

“You’re wrong Mutt. You’re death caused me pain.” And then without knowing what I was doing I leaned down and kissed him.

۝

Nykole

Being evil was exceptionally more boring than I thought it would be. Not only that, but I had no one to talk to. Ares was avoiding me like the plague, not wanting to have to train me.

Hypnos was never around, saying that he had to go find more gods and goddesses that he would be able to recruit. In the long run, I was out of my mind with boredom. And as far as I could tell my friends weren’t looking for me. Maybe I had judged them wrongly. Maybe they flat out just didn’t care. I sigh, backing away and leaning against the wall.

When I was trapped inside Hypnos’s torture lair and he had come to me with the request I join him in taking over Olympus and receive greatness or die it was a no brainer what I should chose.

He was right after all, I wanted power. I wanted fame. I wanted beauty. But deep inside, I just wanted love.