Chapter Fifteen

Something was going on.

Something weird.

After the incident at the house, Hades arrived and transported all of us back to the royal hospital. It took a couple hours for everyone to get situated, and much to my chagrin, I wasn't allowed anywhere near Thirteen to see if he was okay. My heart broke over the fact that he couldn't stop crying. He clung to Akin for dear life and just wept. And I couldn't do anything about it.

Next thing I know, I'm sitting in a plush chair in a cold sterile room that reminded me of the compound. It had me on pins and needles as I sat there anxiously, looking around the room that was nothing more than white on white on white. The King was in the room with me, unfortunately, and that was it.

He stood by the door like a sentinel with his big arms folded over his broad chest, his mismatched eyes watching me from across the room like he was expecting me to jump up and try to kill him. There was an odd look on his face too, one I couldn't quite decipher. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was concern, but I wouldn't think it was over myself. Perhaps he was worried about Thirteen too? Or maybe his husband? Or the whole situation? I had no idea.

It was just awkward, sitting there in silence while the King stared at me.

Thankfully it didn't last much longer because the door to the room opened and I rose to my feet instinctually, tensing when I saw Hades coming into the room with a small white box with a hazard symbol on it. Alarmed, I moved to stand by the chair, in case I needed to use it as a weapon.

"Well, that was fucking exciting," Hades greeted, closing the door behind him and walking over to the counter to set his box down, "Bet it made for a great date night, huh?" I glared at him, but didn't say anything. Hades shrugged it off and opened up the box, revealing a tourniquet, some kind of syringe, and a couple empty vials.

"What is that?" I demanded, feeling my anxiety heighten.

"It's a blood draw kit," Hades replied calmly as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of gloves, "Nothing big. Just need to take your blood and run some tests."

"No, you don't," I said immediately, eyeing the syringe like it was a dagger, because it fucking might as well be, "I'm fine. I'm not the one who's hurt. What about Thirteen? Where is he? What's happening to him?"

"Thirteen is fine," Hades replied, then paused, "Well, as fine as he can be after witnessing death... How old were you when you first witnessed death, oh mighty king of Atlantis?" He cast a sideways look at the King, who frowned.

"Five," he answered hollowly. I swallowed at that, then looked at Hades, who nodded.

"Yeah, about the same here," he admitted, "Still traumatizing nonetheless. Kid's gonna need some therapy, but luckily, I know a pretty decent therapist in the area who will be happy to help Thirteen work through it."

"Okay," I said, still feeling alarm as I watched Hades snap his gloves on and take the syringe on, "Then you don't need my blood. There's no reason for it. I'm fine. I didn't get hurt or traumatized."

"You popped a guy's head open," Hades deadpanned, making me stiffen, "You had no control over it. We need to figure out if you are what we think you are." I glared at him.

"The asshole tried to kill my fucking brother! Of course I killed him!"

"You didn't just kill him. You destroyed him. There's a difference between killing for necessity and killing because you got a sick thrill out of it."

"I didn't, though!"

"Except you were smiling while you did it, so I mean," Hades shrugged, made a meh gesture with his hand and turned to face me with the needle. I tensed and moved closer behind the chair, putting my hands on the back of it.

"We need to run this test," Hades said, his expression dropping into one of calm professionalism, "It'll confirm our suspicions and put you on a path to controlling what's inside you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quickly, "I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. So I got a little out of control. It won't happen again. I promise. I won't do it again." Hades's expression changed for a moment. It was almost like... if I didn't know any better, it was almost like he knew. Like he knew that I was terrified. He knew about the experiments, the biopsies, the tests, the torture.

"We need to run tests," Hades said again, his voice eerily calm. It was making me panic more. He was so calm about this. How could he be so calm about taking someone's blood? Of stabbing them with a needle?

Because he's just like the Mother told us! He's sadistic! He's going to draw your blood until there's nothing left but a husk! He's going to start with a blood test, sure, but just you wait. He'll be coming with more sharp objects and more people and they'll tie you down and force you to submit to their tests!

My panic was rising. My chest heaved as I sucked in deep breathes to find some control, but my panic was starting to make me shake, starting to make me go into fight or flight mode. I looked at the door, but the King stepped in front of it, blocking the only exit, unless you counted the tiny vent in the corner of the room that I had no hope of reaching let alone fitting in. I looked back at Hades, who had taken a step toward me.

"Stop," I barked, scooting the chair in front of me to put between him and I, "Don't come near me! I don't need any tests! I'm fine! I won't do it again!"

"It's not a matter of you doing it again. It's a matter of you being able to understand and control it," Hades responded coolly, "It's not going to hurt. It's just a slight pinch and it'll be over in less than a minute."

"Bullshit," I exclaimed, gripping the chair, "They always say that! Just a pinch! It's not gonna hurt! That's complete bullshit! I spent the first eight years of my fucking life in a hospital and I am not going to do it again! Just let me out of here, and I swear I won't... I won't do it again."

"I know," Hades answered, confusing me, "And it disgusts me that you experienced something like that. But I'm not those doctors."

"And how do I know that?" I demanded. Hades paused, then shrugged.

"You don't. You just have to take my word for it."

"According to the Mother, you're a psychopath," I threw back, watching Hades raise an eyebrow, "You're weak and pathetic, but you have the power to destroy artificials. We were raised to kill your family and avoid you at all costs."

"Do you believe any of that?" Hades asked. I stared at him.

No. I didn't believe anything the Mother spoon fed me. At the same time, there was an uncertainty there. I may not believe the Mother's teachings, but could I believe Hades? I didn't know him at all. I hadn't learned anything from him yet. All I knew were the things Keros had told me about and Keros... I trusted Keros.

I swallowed thickly.

"It's gonna hurt," I said, eyeing the syringe in Hades's hand. Hades shook his head.

"It's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's done this a thousand times before," the King spoke up, making me blink and look to see him still standing in front of the door, "He's taken my blood plenty of times, and he has more reason than anyone to hate me, but he doesn't torture me." I looked at him nervously. I wasn't so sure I trusted the King either. At the same time, he didn't need to speak up. He didn't need to defend Hades, but he did. I looked back at Hades nervously, taking a cautious step from behind the chair.

Hades remained calm and relaxed as I slowly moved out from behind the chair.

"I need you to sit down, it'll make you a little dizzy," Hades said. I nodded, but couldn't bring myself to sit in the chair right away. It felt like the moment I sat down, there'd be restraints latched onto my limbs. I stared at the chair for the longest time, then looked up to see if Hades was getting impatient, but he stood there as cool as a cucumber. I swallowed and carefully lowered myself into the seat, clamping my hands between my knees to avoid accidentally lashing out.

"So," Hades said, coming forward with slow careful movements as he took the tourniquet and wrapped it around my arm, "Has that ever happened to you before?" I tried not to stare at the way the tourniquet squeezed my arm. I looked at Hades's eyes instead, the way they glowed a lot like Keros's.

"What happened before?" I asked, confused. Hades looked at me.

"Killing someone without being present for it."

"I've... I've killed a couple of people in training accidents," I admitted grimly, fighting the urge to look at Hades as he prepped the needle, "They were accidents, though. And, it was hard. I didn't mean to do it, it just happened. But they were trying to kill me. They're always trying to kill me."

"Who tries to kill you?" Hades asked. It was like I suddenly had diarrhea of the mouth. As if the fear of the needle suddenly unleashed everything inside me.

"Everyone," I managed, glancing at the needle, then quickly looked away as my breathing picked up.

"Take a deep breath," Hades said, "Just take a breath."

"I can't," I shut my eyes, struggling to gain control of my rapid breathing, "They're always trying to kill me because I'm not supposed to be there. I'm not supposed to be here. I was a mistake."

"How were you a mistake?" Hades's voice. I heard footsteps on the floor, blinked my eyes open for a second to see that the King had moved away from the door, but had moved closer, as if he were also curious about what was happening. His proximity just made me more nervous.

"I was supposed to be Thirteen," I said, shutting my eyes again and taking labored breaths as I felt Hades handle my arm, "I was supposed to be the strong one, the one they would use to start the wars, but I was born without magic. I was made using two of the most powerful genetics in the world, but I couldn't manage even an ounce of magic from either of their lineages. I'm useless, all I can do is hand-to-hand, so I can't do shit until someone gets close, and they always made that mistake back at the compound-- they always got too close. They always thought they could get close enough to kill me, but I'm strong. I'm fast. I may not be able to summon a fireball or-or a tsunami wave or any of that fancy shit, but I can take someone's head off with my bare hands."

"That's not normal," Hades said, and I felt a pinch, that made me jump and I went to shove Hades back, but suddenly the King was behind the chair and had his hands on my shoulders. I froze in place, then jerked my head up to stare up at him as he looked down at me, his big hands gripping my shoulders. He wasn't holding me down exactly. It was more like he was just reminding me where I was. I couldn't break my stare away from those mismatched eyes, the intensity of them, the strange way he seemed to tell me everything was okay, that I'd be okay.

"Alright," Hades said a second later, "All done." I blinked and looked down to see him taping a cotton ball to the crook of my arm.

"It's over?" I asked, confused. Hades nodded.

"See? Not bad. And I have enough to run all my tests," he said, "So I won't be coming back for more anytime soon. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this cult." He looked up at the King, who lifted his hands off my shoulders and folded his arms over his chest.

"They'll be back," he said in agreement with Hades, "But we'll be ready for them next time."

"I'm surprised they got the jump on you to begin with," Hades said nonchalantly as he got up and placed everything back in his hazard box, except the used needle that he threw away, "You're not good at surprise parties."

"They're quiet," the King deadpanned, "Very quiet. They move like ninjas. They've clearly been training for years."

"I don't like the sound of that," Hades muttered, "Quiet enemies are deadly enemies. We need to learn more about this cult if we're going to take them down. Luckily, we managed to stop our one captured guest from killing himself. Turns out they use a fake tooth to kill themselves. Someone's smart. And someone doesn't want anyone to find out who they are. I'll see what I can do about the kid. In the meantime, keep Seven and Thirteen close."

"Absolutely," the King agreed, "I'll check in on the kid myself--"

"Don't bother," Hades responded, "I'll handle the kid for now. You do your job and protect your kids."

"They're artificials," the King reminded.

"They're your kids," Hades deadpanned, "Man, you really need to see a therapist. I know the number of a decent one--"

"I don't want to hear this coming from you of all people. And I don't need you to tell me how to run my household or my realm. I'll come in to check on the kid in the morning. Don't kill him."

"I have better ways of getting information," Hades said, glancing at me as I glared at him firmly, "And they don't involve torturing, so you can direct those eyes to the floor, kid. Torture is such an archaic way of getting information. And even then, the information is almost always bullshit. Nah, torture is old school bullshit. We'll see what I can get on the kid. For now, protect the brothers. Shouldn't be that hard."

The King looked peeved, but he didn't say anything as Hades packed up and left the room.

"We're going home," the King told me a second later. I nodded, rising to my feet slowly and expecting to feel disoriented and sick, but I felt strangely okay. A little squeamish, but alive. I followed the King out of the room and down the hallway. I expected him to teleport us, but was surprised to find that we were walking out of the hospital and back toward the mansion, not teleporting.

I glanced at the King as he walked beside me. Gods, he was huge. Like, massive. All rippling hard muscles, and not in a gross way like Four, but in a healthy kind of way, if that made sense. And he reminded me of Thirteen, with his long black hair and crystal clear blue eyes. At the same time, I was seeing similarities between the two of us that was kind of disturbing. Like the fact that our skin was dark. Thirteen wasn't pale by any means, but he wasn't nearly as dark as the King. And while my hair was long, mine was almost Akin's color, if not nearly white it was so blonde. And the way the King's nose was shaped, reminded me of my own, and his lips, his chin, even his fucking ears.

It was so weird.

I looked away because it was starting to creep me out.

"No more dates," the King said suddenly, making me blink and look at him in surprise, "No more play dates, no more running around town, that shit stops now." I glared at him.

"You can't keep me locked up."

"No, I can't, but if you want Thirteen to be safe, you'll stay put."

"I'm not--"

"And if you want to continue seeing him, you'll behave," the King said, making me tense, "I get you're in the outside world for once and you want to explore, and that's fine, but you can't do that safely until we get this cult under control. And right now, you're making it incredibly difficult to do all of this."

"What did I do?"

"You're not telling us anything about this cult," the King said dryly, and I averted my eyes as he glanced at me, "You don't say shit about them, then expect us to protect you from them when we know nothing. You're putting not only yourselves in danger, but the rest of us as well. The more we know about this cult, the better we can prepare ourselves against them." I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say.

"And I'm not telling you to tell me your life's story," the King continued, making me frown, "It sounds like this cult is a piece of shit. They treat people like garbage. You were so desperate to escape them that you risked your life, and the life of your brother. Surely you'd want us to stop them, so I don't get why you're not saying much."

"It's hard," I snapped, frustrated, "I've been trained my whole life to keep quiet. And now suddenly everyone wants me to tell them everything and I can't. I don't even know everything there is to know."

"But you know more than us," the King said, "Every bit of information helps." I didn't answer him, didn't know how, didn't feel like it. I just walked in silence, and so did the King, until we arrived back at the mansion. It was silent, but Akin was home, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. He looked exhausted, but relieved to see his husband when he walked in the door. Except, instead of hugging his husband, Akin surprised me as he ran to me and put his arms around me to hug me. I made a muffled oof of surprise, reaching up to put my hands on his back, because the fuck else was I supposed to do?

"I'm so glad you're alright," Akin sighed in relief, taking a step back and reaching up to tuck hair back from my face, "I hope Hades was nice to you. He can be a little rough around the edges, but I promise he means well."

"No, he was... It was fine, everything's okay," I murmured. Akin smiled, then paused and looked at his husband. They met eyes and seemed to have some kind of silent conversation before Akin gestured for us to come into the kitchen. He went to pour a couple more mugs of tea and brought it over to the King and I at the table.

"So he's going to run tests then," Akin said to the King, who nodded, "That's good, maybe we can see if what we're thinking is true."

"And what is it that you're thinking," I asked, "You guys keep acting like you already know what's wrong with me, but you don't say anything more." Akin and the King shared looks. Akin sighed and looked at me now.

"Have you ever heard of the Beast curse?" He asked. I stiffened.

The Beast curse?

The Beast curse was something we were taught in the first session of our curses class. It was one of the most famous and most deadly of all curses. According to our textbooks, the Beast curse could only be bestowed by a god on an infant. The curse created one soul and attached it to the existing soul, creating a combined soul, making it so the curse could never be broken, at least, not without killing the host, which would then render the Beast, or one half of the soul, useless. Supposedly the Beast was a manifestation of our rawest emotions, our most primal of instincts. They were so powerful they could cut paths through entire armies, rip their enemies to literal shreds, and sometimes even consume them and their blood.

It was a terrifying curse.

It was also the reason why the Mother had been so infuriated by my failure of existence. I was supposed to have the Beast, but showed no signs of magic, therefore, had no Beast. Thirteen was the one who was supposed to have the Beast. It was why the Mother needed to have him, dead or alive. The Beast was her key to starting the first of the wars against the enemy.

Except it turned out, Thirteen didn't have the Beast.

I could.

"How-How can you be certain?" I managed. Akin glanced at the King, who averted his eyes, then he looked back at me.

"Because Hannibal has the Beast," he said, making me swallow thickly. So it was true. The King did have the Beast. I hadn't heard any confirmation, only rumors and the words of our textbook, which I had assumed were lies, but apparently there was some truth to it. The King had a Beast.

And so could I.

"I didn't mean to kill him," I said, making Akin look at me, "I didn't mean to scare Thirteen. I just... I thought he was in danger. I thought he..."

"It's alright," Akin said gently, then reached across the table to take my hand in his, his thumb stroking my knuckles, "You did what you had to do to protect us. You did okay, Seven. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But, Thirteen..."

"It's definitely going to be scary and hard for him," Akin told me softly, "The Beast is difficult to tame and difficult to get to know, but once you get to know your Beast, you'll be able to handle him better. Don't treat your Beast like a monster. Because it's not. It's just another person, who is probably very confused and scared too."

"How can you say that," I managed, "My textbooks told horror stories of things Beasts have done, what they can do. They're uncontrollable... beasts, that's exactly why they call it the Beast curse. What if I didn't know who I had in my hands? What if it was Thirteen? What if--"

"Don't do that to yourself," Akin said quickly, "You're only going to scare yourself and your Beast. What you need to do, if you do indeed have the Beast curse, is to get to know your Beast."

"How do I do that?" I asked. Akin paused, then looked at the King, who got this sinking look on his face as if he were realizing what was happening here.

"I think Hannibal should train you personally," he said, making the King look at Akin in distress, and frankly, I actually agreed with the guy because no way in hell was I going to work with the King on anything, "Hannibal's gained incredible control of his Beast over the past few years. He can even summon his Beast at will, something that no other cursed with the Beast has been able to do. I think he would be a perfect addition to your training."

"What about Xiphrus," Hannibal pointed out, making Akin let go of me so he could turn to face the King with obvious annoyance, "Xiphrus is the original Beast from this realm. Or Yiuwa--"

"Neither of them can summon their Beasts at will. Neither of them really pay much attention to their Beast to begin with, not like you. You have an incredible strength and control over your Beast, and usually yourself, so I don't see why this is a problem for you."

Uh oh. I didn't like that tone of voice. It was the beginning of an argument sort of voice.

"It's not a problem," the King started carefully, looking surprisingly intimidated by his husband.

"Then train him," Akin stated, "There's nothing else to discuss. In fact, the sooner the better. I think you two should go to the barracks and start a little training today. The sooner he can control his Beast, the better."

"What if I'm not even cursed?" I asked.

"Then you still need to learn control over yourself in a fight," Akin responded sternly, "This isn't a suggestion. It's an order." With that, he looked at the King one last time before he rose to his feet, taking his tea with him, and heading out to the pool. The King and I watched him go, then looked at each other, disgruntled.

Neither one of us wanted to do this.

I think we'd rather eat sand.

But there was something about the way Akin said it's an order, that made me not want to argue with him.

So that settled it.

I was stuck training with the King of Atlantis, aka, King Asshole, aka... probably kind of my father.