Chapter Twenty-Three

“QUINN!” Alex shouts, grabbing my arm. I didn’t know how long I had been there. Soldiers had walked by multiple times. None had even noticed my crouching figure. “You cannot run off like that! We got rid of the hellhounds. Well, Nikki ran away and they attacked the women. Come on. Did you find the lovebirds?”

I look up at her and shake my head, “They’re in Tartarus. Zeus sent them to Tartarus.”

“Well then, let’s go ask Tartarus and get them out,” Alex says.

“We don’t know whose side he’s on,” I say.

Alex shrugs, “Yeah, but, he likes Mutt. And obviously, he doesn’t like Zeus much, so maybe he doesn’t even know about it. We could just go ask at least.”

I nod, “Yeah. At least.”

“Are you okay?” Alex says.

“Fine,” I say. “I just- I thought I saw someone.”

“Who?”

“That’s the funny thing. I don’t know really know. She stood right there and we talked and, I felt like I knew her. But I didn’t. She said that she was Mutt’s daughter. That him and Moon get married,” I say.

“Deep,” Alex says, raising an eyebrow. “Why’s that important?”

I shrug, “I don’t know. It’s just, she said things. She said that Olympus is destroyed. And that they side with the enemy. And they attack us. And Zeus, he finds the town.”

“I can hardly find Godsville. I don’t believe that Zeus could,” Alex says.

“He could,” I say. “If someone helped him.”

“What are we going to do about it then?”

I stare at the spot where the girl had disappeared. Before I raise my eyes to meet Alex’s. “Do you think that I could curse Zeus? And then just sit by while the Olympians die.”

Alex glances down the hall and then she looks up at the ceiling. “I think we all deserve peace. They keep killing us off. Telling us to fight for them. I don’t know if I can take it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Tears were forming in her eyes. I had never seen Alex cry. She quickly brushes them off, blinking. “I’m the daughter of death. And everytime a halfblood dies. I feel it. I feel their death. And I’m tired of it, because everytime one of them dies I feel like I’m dying along side of them. They don’t even attempt to thank us. We save them, over and over again. We die for them, in hopes that one day they will love us as they were meant to. And they never do.”

Alex looks at me, “Demigods die for what they believe in. And that’s the best death one should ask for. To die for your dreams. But it’s WRONG that their dreams are that their parents recognize them. Our mortal parents fear us! For what we can do. And our godly parents, they pretend they don’t know us. Instead they send us to our death! And if we live, they pat us on the back and send us off again. I hate the gods!”

“You mean that?” I ask.

“With all my heart,” Alex says. “So what are you going to do about it?”

I glance away. “I’m going to die.”

Alex frowns, “What?”

“If I die, then Zeus can’t attack. Think about it. I swore to Zeus that if he sent my brother to Tartarus I would disown the gods. And he did anyway. So I disowned them. And I cursed them. And I didn’t even know it. If I die, then Godsville will completely disappear. All the demigods, their lives will be normal. They will no longer be demigods,” I say. The idea turning around in my head.

“And what if they remember?” Alex says. There was pain in her eyes that I didn’t know how to place. “What if they remember this life?”

“I’ll make a deal with Hecate. They’ll never know,” I say.

“Why are you doing this?” Alex asks.

“In nine years when Zeus uses the last of his strength to destroy Godsville thirty-six people will die. And I will be one of them. Forty-three people will be captured. And who knows who dies out of that. If I die NOW, then that will never happen. Because Godville will no longer exist,” I say.

“You’d have to die correctly. There’s a ritual. And I do not know it! If you mess up than it’s pointless! If you do not follow the ritual your death is meaningless, you’ll just be dead. You can’t run into this! At least give me time to search for the ritual. While you search for another way! Please,” Alex says.

Slowly I nod, “You have until we can get Mutt and Moon out of Tartarus. Or until they get themselves out. I will not die without giving them something.” My fist tightens around the necklace in my pocket.

“Good, now let’s go ask Tartarus,” Alex says.

۝

Mutt

The drive to the mental institution was quiet. Finally Moon spoke up, “So you and Alex.”

I make a face, “There is no me and Alex. That’s gross. She’s like my sister.”

“I wasn’t hinting at anything,” Moon says, her voice slightly relieved.

“Right, well this way there’s nothing you could hint at right?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Moon says, leaning back in her seat. “So, metal institution? That’s a new one.”

“I wish,” I say. “Been there before. It’s not as fun as they make it out to be in the movies.”

“And the movies are fun?” Moon asks.

“One of the few things that are, yes,” I say.

“And the others?” Moon asks, frowning.

“That, is a topic for another day. Trust me,” I shrug. “Right now maybe we should focus on finding the others.”

“But technically we already found the others. So we should focus on saving them right?” Moon asks.

“Baloney,” I mutter, glaring daggers at the road.

Pulling up into the mental institution driveway was weird, there was this buzzing and it grew louder the more we went towards it. “Maybe we should turn back,” I say.

“Why?” Moon asks.

“You can’t hear it?” I pull the van to a stop. Turning to face her.

“No?” Moon says.
“The buzzing. You can’t hear the buzzing?” I ask.

“Am I supposed to?” Moon asks. “No, I don’t hear any buzzing. Are you sure that the mental institution hasn’t gotten to your head and made you go mental?”

“Normally, I’d have no problem saying yes, however, I’m already mental, so it wouldn’t really work out,” I point out.

“Well you never know. It seems to be,” Moon mutters under her breath.

“That’s what they’ve been telling me for years though,” I say, waving my hand.
“Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine. We just go in, get the others and get out,” Moon says.

“When has a plan like that ever worked for us though?” I ask.

“Hopefully now,” Moon mumbles.

“Yeah, okay then,” I say. “We can try it your way.”

With that I put the car in gear and drive forward, ignoring the buzzing and the feeling that this was going to end very, very badly.

۝

The mental institution looked different from the others I had been too. For starters the name on the building was: Mental; Dental; Gods R Us Inc. Which didn’t sound much like an actual name.

“Mutt, I don’t think this is such a good idea anymore,” Moon says.

“I told you, our plans never work out,” I say, opening the car door.

“Where are you going?!” Moon whisper yells.

“We’re here aren’t we? I thought I might as well get out and take a look around. Nothing else going to happen here,” I say with a shrug. “Besides,” I add. “The buzzing stopped.”

“It did?” Moon asks, her face scrunching up into a frown. “Then why can I hear it?”

“You can hear it now?” I ask.

“You can’t?” She responds.

“Well I mean, I did say that I couldn’t,” I point out.

“Oh, true.” She says. “Is that bad you think?”

“Probably, but I don’t see how right now,” I say with a shrug. “I guess we can always find out when something bad happens.”

“Or if something good happens,” Moon says.

“Really? You realize you’re a demigod right?” I say with a grin.