Chapter Eighteen

"Wait, Theo's got a different mom?"

"Can I get a different mom too? Ours sucked balls."

"For once, Cain's right."

"Who is she?"

"We don't have to call her mom too, right?"

"We have bad luck with mothers in this family; can we just pretend we didn't learn that?"

I rubbed at my temples as I sat at the dinner table that night. Hades had all my brothers come down and he decided to tell everyone the big news that my mother wasn't actually my mother, and we were still waiting on the test results to figure out who my real mother was. All the while, I was running on no sleep thanks to the shifter because every time I closed my eyes, I woke up from a horrid nightmare.

The table was full of food, the room smelling like a combination of Hallow's Eve and Yule dinners. Hot meat, steamy potatoes, leafy greens, thick curries, and so on and so forth. The sound of forks clinking against plates, glasses bumping against other glasses, voices blurring together in a barrage of questions was giving me a huge headache.

All I could do was sit there, trying to massage my headache away as I drank my third cup of coffee, taking small bites of macaroni and cheese.

"Okay, first of all," Hades said dryly, "We don't know who she is yet, so calm your tits. Second of all, all of your mothers sucked, except Zelios's. So no, the rest of you are stuck with shitty parents."

"You're not a shitty parent," Nikias said, looking aghast at the comment.

"He's kinda shitty," Cain offered, only for Cerberus to whack him upside the head. Cain growled, but Abel linked his arm around Cain's neck and dragged him close so he could distract him while at the same time, looking at Hades in concern.

"Could it have something to do with the beast curse? Cuz, I mean, honestly this all makes sense. The beast is a god curse, isn't it? So of course Theo's a pure god. The question is, did his mother piss someone off? Enough to curse a child? Or did his mother know about the curse and that's how Aria ended up with him?"

"Good questions, and again, I don't know," Hades muttered, leaning his elbows on the table and taking his glass of wine so he could drain it, then refill it, "I can't really think of anyone who would've pissed someone off enough to be cursed like that. I mean, Zeus definitely, obviously, but Zeus would've never cursed him."

"You sure," Malachi asked, raising an eyebrow, "Theo's awfully good at pissing people off."

"The curse has to start before birth," Charon pointed out and Malachi nodded in understanding.

"Damn, there's just so much going on," Nikias murmured, "Theo's got a different mom, the shifter is launching attacks at us full throttle, Ambrosius is pregnant. Please tell me this is it." Zelios gave him a deadpan stare.

"You're one of us now. There is no end to the messes we get ourselves into," he said grimly. Nikias winced, then grunted when Cerberus clapped him on the back.

"Hey, little man, don't worry about it. We're used to shit like this. I mean, come on, we've had worse happen. Remember the Titans? Remember that Atlan guy?"

"Yeah," Charon drawled, "Except the Titans weren't trying to literally destroy the universe. Atlan just needed to be put out of commission. Now we're dealing with something far older than any of us can conceive with a prophecy no one can decipher correctly, including said villain we're dealing with."

"That's a bonus, though," Abel pointed out, "The shifter doesn't know and neither do we."

"He does now," I muttered, and everyone nodded slowly in agreement, "Fuck, can we dim the lights in here? I think I'm actually getting a migraine. Aren't gods supposed to be immune to that shit?" On cue, the lights in the room dimmed down and I sighed in relief, slumping on the table and pushing my plate away to rest my head in its place.

"Theo, you have to eat," Zelios chided, pushing my plate back toward me, "We've talked to the oneiroi. You should be able to get some sleep tonight."

"What if it doesn't work," I grumbled, picking up a glob of macaroni between my fingers and sticking it in my mouth, "What if they get killed because of the shadows? I already got enough people dying because of me."

"It's not your fault," Abel said immediately, looking put out, "It's the shifter's fault. We need to deal with it and we have to do it fast. It's getting closer and closer to finishing this prophecy. The universe could be destroyed, forever."

"That doesn't stress me out at all," I muttered, dropping my head on the table again. My vision threatened to go out on me, my eyelids heavy and my eyes themselves sore. I blinked a few times, then sat up and sipped slowly at my coffee, licking the foam on top away from my lips.

"Morpheus said he was going to consider coming himself," Hades pointed out, making me grimace and sink down lower on the table, "What? What's that slouching for?"

"Theo may or may not have set Morpheus's whole river of sleep on fire," Abel said dryly. Everyone looked at me and Nikias seemed incredulous.

"How do you set a river on fire?" He asked.

"Greek fire," Cain replied, "It's how he set Charon's house on fire."

"Twice," Charon bit off.

"Oh, come on, I apologized for that," I groaned. Charon glared at me pointedly.

"If you call stuttering and squirming an apology, then yes, I suppose so. Still doesn't change the fact that you did it again."

"Not since I apologized!"

"Yet," Charon said, picking up his tea cup and taking a slow sip before setting it down, "Keyword there, my brother." I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. Zelios rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Anyway," Hades said dryly, "Morpheus is looking into what he can do. He owes me a favor, so he'll do it. He's just gotta go in with back up. Not sure if he can handle this level of terror. In the meantime, we should figure out details on who may be your mother and we can protect Yiuwa at the same time."

"How," I said dryly, "The shifter wants me to read from him to figure out what the prophecy means, but the shifter doesn't know that Yiuwa has no idea what our prophecy is. It's different from the prophecies of his world."

"Easy," Hades said, "We get him a vessel." He picked up a piece of baklava and popped it in his mouth, chewing slow with his eyes closed, like he could imagine nothing greater. So, he had no idea we were all staring at him like he was nuts until he opened his eyes.

"What? Did I get this shit on my face again?" He asked, reaching up to wipe his mouth on the back of his hand.

"He doesn't want a vessel," I protested, "He wants to stay a book. He's technically dead anyway--"

"So's Menoetius, but he's doing just fine," Hades answered, "I hear he has a kid and a husband and a house now. And get this shit; he's breathing too--"

"Fuck you," I snapped impatiently, "Yiuwa doesn't want or need a vessel. He's fine the way he is--"

"No, he isn't," Hades deadpanned, "First of all, he's extremely dangerous. I mean this in the sense that he's attracting that shifter constantly. Second of all, he's powerful. He's the first person cursed with the beast. He can protect himself. And you, because that's what I'm gonna fucking make him do for getting you into this whole mess."

"It's not his fault--"

"And third of all, it's a lot harder to chase two things moving at once," Hades continued, "They won't be able to make you read from him if he's a vessel, and with a vessel, he can tell them straight up he has no fucking idea what they're talking about. And he can defend himself, and you. So I don't see a problem with it at all."

"I do," I exclaimed, "He doesn't want a vessel! He asked the Source to be a book."

"Great," Hades said, "And now he can be a person."

"This is so not fair, dad, he's a person--"

"I know that," Hades said flatly, "Don't you think I know that? I hate exploiting people, but when it comes to you, my spawn, nobody fucking compares. If I have to bend him over backwards and hand him over giftwrapped, I'll do it if it means keeping you fucking alive. Morality has no place right now, Theo. It sucks ass, believe me, but that's just part of life. You gotta do shit you hate doing."

"Fuckin' A," I barked, shoving myself back from the table and getting up, "You're a jerk! I knew you were gonna do this! You always gotta treat everything like a science experiment! He's a fucking person, not something you can poke at in your lab! If you wanna get to him, you gotta get through me, so suck on that!" I started to leave, then awkwardly doubled back to grab my bowl of macaroni before storming back to the room I was staying in across from Hades's.

It was technically Persephone's room when she came to visit. So it was lavish and huge, like its own mini apartment, with a massive home theater system, a bed big enough for a family of seven, and plants fucking everywhere. Aria and her kittens were having a blast when I came in, though, they ducked to hide when I slammed the door shut and went to my bed to sit down.

With a mouthful of mac and cheese, I grabbed Yiuwa out of my pocket and opened him up.

"He can't make you do anything," I said sternly, "I won't let him."

Theo... mayhap he is correct.

"Come again?"

He makes a very good point. Right now, I am merely a liability. I am a danger to you and your family. In this form, I cannot protect myself. I cannot protect you.

"But you said you didn't want a vessel."

I don't particularly. However... Theo, the whole reason I became a book was to help my kin. So far, I have been quite useless the past two universes when the shifter stole me. Mayhap I am of no use as a book, but rather, as the male that I am.

"Are you sure? I mean... I don't want him to pressure you into anything," I muttered, averting my eyes, "I also just pulled a shitchild move there."

And I appreciate that, truly. I have come to care deeply for you, Theo. You remind me of someone I once held dear. Someone I lost because I was selfish. I will not lose another person I care for because I simply do not want to do something. It is as your father said; sometimes, there are things we wish not to do, but we must. And in this, I feel I must.

I sighed, frustrated as I sat down.

"Great. The one guy I talked to is gonna have a dong now."

Beg pardon?

"You're not gonna wanna talk to me once you get a body. You're gonna wanna run around and have sex and talk war with Hades."

Do not tell me what I will be doing. I have not had a vessel in a long time. I want to walk first. I want to speak. I want to hear the sound of Greek in my mouth. I want to smell things again. I want to know what your cats feel like. I also wish to know what you feel like, what you smell like. In the form I am in now, I cannot do that. I will not abandon you because my form has changed. I exist for you, wee one. Not for Hades and not for the shifter.

I wasn't so sure about that, but I wasn't going to argue with him. He was right about one thing; I wasn't going to tell him what he could and couldn't do. He was about to have a vessel for the first time in a very long time. He had the right to do with it as he pleased, especially since we were forcing him out of his comfort zone and dragging him into this whole mess.

A knock at the door made me sit up with a frown and I watched the door open to admit Rowan, who was pushing a cart with more food on it.

"Your father figured you'd want more food. He also wants you to reconsider Yiuwa," he said, coming to a stop. I frowned, folding my arms over my chest.

"Oh, so you're talking to me again, are you?" I asked. Rowan averted his eyes for a moment, then sighed.

"Look. I don't want to get attached to you--"

"Too late, asshole, you took me out on my first date. You also shoved your finger in my ass," I replied. Rowan's cheeks colored faintly and he cleared his throat, straightening a little like he was trying to seem all professional.

"I got out of hand. The situation you're in is serious and I shouldn't be wasting my time goofing around. Besides, you don't need me to confuse you any further," he added, making me frown.

"Confuse me?" I asked.

"Aasimah said you and Sept were having lunch."

"Yeah, and?"

"I don't want to get between the two of you--"

"Whoa, oh no," I said, holding my hands up and getting to my feet, making Rowan raise an eyebrow, "Sept and I aren't back together, Ro. We probably... We probably never will be, not like that anyway. We were just hanging out to hang out. Totally platonic, man. And to be honest... I don't know. I don't think I want to do the dating thing right now. I mean, it's like Sept said; we're still figuring ourselves out. And, I mean, I just found out my entire life was a fucking lie, so it's hard for me to think about anything else." Rowan seemed to relax at that, like he totally understood and accepted it. Though, there was something in his eyes. A faint flicker, almost like he was disappointed, but he covered it with that damn poker face of his.

"That's good. That you're learning more about yourself, I mean," Rowan tacked on, "I'm glad."

"Thanks, I guess... So uhm, yeah, you can just tell my dad that Yiuwa's... gonna let him do the whole vessel thing," I said. Rowan looked perplexed, putting a hand on his hip. He spotted Yiuwa on the bed and came over to reach down and brush his fingers across the page.

"He changed his mind then?" He asked, fingering the corner of the page.

"Yeah. He says it would be selfish if he didn't help."

"How very brave of him."

"Not really. He feels like it's his purpose."

"Well," Rowan said, then looked down at Yiuwa, his eyes searching the blank pages, "Thank you, Yiuwa... Would've been nice if you'd been around a lot longer." The last part he said under his breath, so quietly that I barely heard it. I scowled, but Rowan didn't stick around. He straightened and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him. I took a piece of bread off the cart and added mac and cheese to it as I sat down on the bed.

That was Rowan, Yiuwa had written when I looked down.

"Hm? Ah, yeah. When you get eyes, you'll see him. He's my new second-in-command... but somehow, I feel like he's not gonna stick around, so who knows? There might be a job opening."

I see.

Yiuwa wasn't very talkative now. If I had to take a guess, I'd say he was thinking. I thought about what Rowan said, about how nice it would've been to have Yiuwa around longer. It made sense, considering he said he knew someone with the beast curse. I thought of what the shifter had said during its rant with Viviana, something about him not having the balls to take something? I couldn't remember exactly, but it made me curious about Rowan. There was a lot to that guy that I didn't know, and I kind of wanted to know more.

On a platonic level.

Cuz seriously, fuck this romance shit right now.

Although, I wouldn't mind a good fling once in awhile. Otherwise, I was gonna end up with blue balls, and I hadn't made friends with my left hand in a while.

I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, finishing up my dinner before I picked Yiuwa up off the bed and headed off to Hades's laboratory where he was no doubt getting all set up for fucking with Yiuwa. It gave me a bolt of anxiety to think of him messing with Yiuwa like that, that he might hurt him or some shit. Yiuwa had clearly dealt with enough. The last thing he needed was to get like blown to splinters or something.

I opened the double steel doors to the laboratory and went inside.

It was every science nerd's dream. Sleek stainless steel counters, white cabinets and drawers, massive shelving along the walls full of jars and trinkets, beakers and glass tubing. It smelled like formaldehyde and sulfur. File cabinets overflowing with papers and folders, a desk piled high with reports and other weird test results. It was definitely not my favorite room in the house, but it was Hades's for sure. He adored this place. Lucifer had talked us all into pitching together to pimp it out for him and when he'd seen it, he'd practically moved into it.

"You done being a drama queen?" I rolled my eyes at the sound of Hades's voice behind me and turned to see him walking in. He looked so out of place in his own lab. While everything in here was white and sterile, he was much darker in every sense of the word. Olive toned skin, long silky black hair, black v-neck tucked into a pair of black jeans and his knee high buckled boots thumping like a pair of elephant's feet. He was coiling his hair up into a loose bun to keep it out of his face as he led the way over to one of the giant test tubes against the far walls.

The powerhouse of the artificial, he called it. Here, he created his artificials. A demented and confusing combination of the universe's most powerful forces. He'd tried to explain it to me a dozen times, but shit, I was not a math or science person. I don't think I was big on arts and history either.

Shit, what the hell did I like?

"Alright," Hades murmured, typing some details into his touch pad keyboard that lit up on the clean steel surface outside the tube, his eyes darting up to watch things moving on the holographic screen, "So I need to get some info before we start, real basic shit."

"Fine," I muttered, opening Yiuwa up, "You hear that?"

Affirmative.

"He says yeah."

"I'll bet," Hades answered under his breath, "Alright, how old was he when he died?"

Fourteen hundred.

"Fourteen hundred," I repeated. Hades wiped a hand down his face, leaning on either side of the keyboard.

"How old did he look, Theo?"

"Oh, right... He says thirty," I answered. Hades typed in the details.

"Can he tell me what he looked like?" He asked.

I can show him. I am also an artist. I raised an eyebrow at that and relayed the info to Hades, who lit up like someone had given him the Nobel Peace Prize. I turned the book so we could both see as a rough sketch began to show up on the page. It fleshed itself out more and more as a male's physique began to take shape. Darker skin it looked like, but not nearly as dark as Sept's. A narrow, angular face, high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes, and was it weird to say his lips seemed super expressive? He also had a bit of facial hair, stubble that curved over his sharp jawline and along his upper lip.

"Huh," Hades said, cocking his head, "He looks... Asian? Maybe?"

"Asia wasn't a thing in his realm."

"Right. What is he then?"

"Tekali."

"Sure, why not? Alright, this is perfect," he said, taking out his phone and snapping a picture of the sketch before he uploaded it to the screen, "Mkay, just a few more questions and then you guys can head out. It's gonna take well over a couple days to get this totally right. I don't wanna give him a fucked up vessel." I just nodded and answered his questions according to what Yiuwa told me.

Things like his blood type, which did not exist in this universe, so Hades took a stab in the dark. His birthday, which also didn't exist in this universe, plus a thousand other things that did not exist in this universe and we had to sort out for him.

It was probably going to be like breaking in new clothing, I thought as we walked away from the laboratory some time later. Yiuwa's vessel probably felt different before. It was gonna feel even more different now.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked, walking toward my room.

I must. It will be, as you say, okay, wee one. I have suffered much harsher things than being put in a vessel in a different universe.

"Yeah, I guess." It still made me uncomfortable, though. I sighed and went to my room, setting Yiuwa on the bed and getting the cats together for a bath. After twelve minutes of getting the shit scratched out of me, and feeling the beast wriggle impatiently inside me, I managed to clean everything, and everyone, up and tuck them into bed, which was like trying to tuck a toddler into bed. Those kittens were all over the place, and bigger now. They used to fit in the palm of my hand, but now they were walking all fine and dandy, strutting around the place like they fucking owned it, and Aria just watched with mild satisfaction, yawning from her perch on my bed, as she refused to sleep anywhere else.

I climbed into bed and lay down, staring up at the ceiling.

Time to stare at the ceiling for two days.