A/N:  *rubs away the sleepiness from eyes*  Sorry, I'm a little bit behind schedule this morning.  

I noticed I hit 50 votes on this story yesterday!  YaY!  Once I double it I will post a bonus chapter for 100 votes.

This is one of my favorite currently written chapters, mostly because the ideas composed themselves as I was writing it.  It wasn't completely planned.

Oh, and there was an error in last chapter when Everleigh starts talking about Creepy and Sigma.  I got Sigma and Epsilon confused so I fixed that.  I knew the difference at one point I swear.  (Mostly thanks to a crush a fraternity guy my freshman year in college that was part of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.)

2862 words 

posted 7/30/21

After I drop most of my glamour I consider taking a quick selfie so I don't have to commit the exact shade of green that my eyes are currently to memory. The problem is that while the four demons are equidistant spaces from each other it still feels like they are scattered all over the scant amount of space in my meager apartment. I sigh and decide the only thing that I can do now is to take the selfie in my closet sized bathroom. "I'm going to grab my toiletries and such." I tack on as an excuse before opening the door and disappearing into the paltry amount of space the 'room' provides.

Unfortunately, apparently my disappearing act prompts Taehyung to follow in after me. I turn to frown up at him as he hovers over the threshold. "There isn't enough space in my bathroom for the two of us." That comment apparently deems it necessary for him to prove me wrong as he forces his way in the room. We are only mere inches apart from one another, and I am not sure how I am going to collect my things without bumping heads with him. Well, I guess the selfie will have to wait until we get to Gehenna. I am sure the eighth circle of Hell has no cellular reception, but at least my camera will still work.

When I start grabbing my feminine products I find myself frowning down at them. "Um, how long am I going to be staying there?"

I expect Taehyung to be the one to answer me since he is right beside me, but instead Namjoon appears in the doorway. "That all depends upon how your training goes." He states and walks away. I'm not sure why but for some reason that statement rings false to me. Which makes me almost curious if I have a built in lie detector ability since everything else they have shared with me tonight has rang as the truth.

It doesn't take long for Taehyung and I to finish gathering up the items I need from the bathroom. Once I come back into the main room I feel a tickle enter my mind. I glance over at Jimin and find myself immediately thankful that he seems to look a little bit better. I expect to hear his voice in my head again, but that communication doesn't happen. I don't know if I am thankful to be lost in my own thoughts, or if I am depressed to not have him as a semi-silent confidant.

That's when I realize that I am already growing attached to him. Which of course can't happen. Sometime in the semi distant future I will be leaving them, and I definitely can't afford to become dependent upon his presence in any way shape or form. I force my attention away and onto the next set of items I deem necessary to bring with us.

We manage to get together the most important items in under an hour, and store them in a backpack and a large oversized duffle. I had always wondered if someday I would have to pick up and run, so I never let myself get tied down with unnecessary purchases. The worry that brought on the feeling I might need to run to begin with was based on the nightmarish concern that someday my camouflage ability, I know now to be actually called glamour, would be stripped away from me. I expected I would have to live like a nomad, always on the run. I don't know if this reason for having to pick up and leave is better or worse though in all honesty.

"You managed to exit the veil easily enough. I want you to try entering it; just like we instructed you." Namjoon confidently prompts me.

My mind takes a detour to consider myself playing teacher's pet again before I tamper down that thought and focus on pushing myself through the ephemeral surface that keeps reality set apart from the veil. It is a lot easier this time, and I'm thrilled to have succeeded pretty much right away.

"Good job." Namjoon says when he makes it through himself. He gives me a curt nod.

I would rather have a gold star, and I will let you stick it anywhere you want to. I find myself thinking before I can stop myself. For the past five years my libido has always been freakishly strong, but in the presence of these men it is skyrocketing off the charts.

"Now, follow us. The trip to the gate to Eisodoi won't take long."

I find myself freezing in place as a new slew of curious questions pop in my mind. "Eisodoi? I thought we were on our way to Gehenna now." I feel like I am going to need a new dictionary of all the terms and places I need to know while living this new life of mine.

"Eisodoi, much like the veil, is a place in-between. Think of it like an airport or train station. Eisodoi is a central hub of multiple gates in one location." Taehyung explains to me in that husky baritone of his.

He seems just as scholarly as Namjoon. Although with Namjoon, everything seems to be portrayed by a fierce steadfastness; with Taehyung there is an ease about his expressiveness. I wouldn't say it was friendly, not like Jimin's personality seems to be. And, despite his almost lack of emotion, I somehow couldn't say it was cold and uncaring either. More like somewhere between friendly and indifferent I suppose. I guess this thought goes right along with my knowledge of the fact that the demon in question has the ability to hold himself as if completely emotionless one minute and plastering a big, wide, honest, and infectious smile the next.

I once again hear beast-like inhuman sounds in the distance. Even though the sound still encourages goosebumps to climb up along my spine I shelf that fear for now. Instead I focus on the sound, mentally dissecting it.

I would definitely classify it as some kind of beast. I can't be certain it isn't hostile, but if it were I am almost reassured that the four demons chauffeuring me will be able to protect me. Except for... I glance at Jimin, and while he still seems to be moving sluggishly he somehow seems to be getting around better on his own than before. Still, perhaps it would end up being three demons rather than four protecting me.

I suddenly remember what Taehyung was telling me earlier about the curious beast that was watching us from afar. If this happens to be the same beast, which the sound is definitely at least similar to the one I heard earlier, then he had encouraged me into believing that the beast in question wasn't there to harm me. That he was simply watching over me due to his curious nature.

I am unsure how long we have been walking, but before I know it we are stopping at a doorway that was completely hidden by ivy before we came within 5 feet of it. Namjoon and Hoseok go through the doorway first. "Go ahead of us." Jimin encourages me. I nod since it makes sense for me to be in the middle and protected in either direction should something dangerous arise.

I'm surprised when I get through the doorway to find myself in what appears to be a meadow of some sort. We must no longer be in the veil either because the colors are the lushest I think I have ever seen them. Even lusher than during springtime in the Indiana countryside. Perhaps it is somewhat parallel to the green grasslands of Ireland though? I know the constant rain there keeps the greenery quite vibrant.

Jimin must once again tap into how I am feeling because he comes up beside me. "That's probably to lure you in. Unlike the veil, Eisodoi enjoys having travelers trapped here."

"You make it sound like Eisodoi is a person rather than a place." I find myself frowning and concerned by that thought.

Hoseok darkly chuckles, and I equally wish that he would be quiet once again and also wanting to hear a different chuckle, one that would be entirely filled with mirth. "I guess you could say that Eisodoi is sentient. But that is only with the aid of its solitary permanent resident."

A few moments later I hear a pop-like sound and then a very feminine giggle sounds behind me. I turn around to determine the source. If I said she was unattractive I would be lying. She was beautiful with natural peach colored skin, golden brown hair, and hazel eyes. She was also as tall as Hoseok and Taehyung. I was hesitant to admit that I was jealous of her height. Granted I could glamour myself to be tall, but it's not the same as actually being tall. Plus there is the annoying fact that my clothing wouldn't fit me properly.

"Did I feel my ears burning?" She asks before sauntering over to Hoseok. "Were you missing me, Hoseokie?" She flirtatiously asks and drapes her arms all over him. I don't know exactly what comes over me, but I suddenly have a tremendous desire to rip her arms off her body so she is no longer able to cling to him the way she is.

"We were just trying to explain the ins and outs of Eisodoi to Everleigh, Elpida." Namjoon explains, although he seems somewhat frazzled for some reason.

Damn that was a lot of proper nouns beginning with the letter E in one sentence. Alliteration is a great poetic device, but I definitely feel dizzy from that doozy of a sentence. Dizzy? Doozy? Great, now I am annoying myself with my own alliteration.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Hope?!?! Elpida is a name that belongs in ancient history. Hm, or Mythology I suppose." She shrugs for a second. "Take your pick." Then she turns her brownish green eyes on me. Her nose wrinkles in what can only be read as immediate revulsion. "How did you four manage to find another halfbreed?"

I feel like asking about the term 'halfbreed' would unnecessarily open up a can of worms. There's only one good use for a can of worms in my book, and I am not currently sitting on a pier beside my adopted dad about to bait a hook. Nor am I about to bait an enemy when I don't know a thing about her. After all, to bait an enemy you need the proper lure.

I don't know why the others aren't responding to her. Perhaps they are having one of those silent communications in their collective heads. Either way I am kind of sick of standing around here. I turn to Namjoon. "Shouldn't we be on our way?"

"Mm. Yes." He nods at me. He turns to Elpida, or Hope as she apparently prefers. "Goodbye Elpida." He grabs my elbow and escorts us away.

"Grr!!! Dammit Namjoon! If I had control over the gates in Eisodoi I would completely seal yours off! Then you would have to take the other Gehenna gate and trek your fine ass for days before you ever made it back home!!" She screams behind us.

My mind chooses to focus on her observation of his fine ass, and I find my own eyes trailing over said ass in curiosity. Hmm. Yes, he does seem to have a fine ass indeed.

"Ah empty threats hit as hard as a feather and taste as bland as a plain puffed rice cake." Hoseok humorlessly mutters. I'm honestly surprised by his banter toward the woman that had only moments ago been hanging all over him. I hadn't expected it. If anything I expected him to wink or flirt with her before walking away.

Is it possible she expected the same thing? She had gasped in a shocked or at least a surprised sort of fashion after his comment.

Once we walk what I can only guess to be a few miles away I can stand my curiosity no longer. "Okay, so who was she anyway?"

"Elpida is the permanent resident of Eisodi, and before you ask, no she can never leave." Hoseok responds.

"Why is that?"

Jimin turns toward me, frowning thoughtfully. "This is sort of her prison."

"Her prison? Who put her here? What is she guilty of?"

The four of them stop and all of them are frowning at each other. It is very obvious that they are trying to decide if they should explain the story to me, and probably also how to properly go about it if they do. "Mythology and reality are really warped on what is true or not. But, I guess the easiest question to ask would be if you knew the story of Pandora's Box." Namjoon doesn't actually phrase it as a question but I still treat it as such.

I nod. "Yes. Pandora opened the box and released all sorts of evils trapped there upon the world. Although it is said that it probably wasn't a box at all but more likely a jar or urn."

"Yes, well even that is inaccurate. The box wasn't a receptacle at all. It was a place." He continues to explain.

"A place you happen to be currently standing in." Hoseok interjects.

"Eisodoi is the interior of Pandora's box?" I first ask without thinking. Then once I ponder over it for a second. "Actually it makes sense that all things evil would be located on another plane of sorts. I'm guessing the gates didn't work the same way they do now."

"Yes, the gates have definitely evolved and become more complex over time. That is the one thing that Elpida has done properly since she was trapped here." Taehyung adds.

"To answer another question it wasn't Elpida who was guilty but her mother." Jimin adds softly.

"Do you know the myth about what was left in the box after all the evil escaped, Everleigh?" Namjoon quietly asks.

"All that was left was... Hope." I gasp in realization. "Her mother was Pandora?"

The four of them nod in unison. I am momentarily baffled by that bit of information. But, for some reason my brain still locks onto something else she said. Something that I didn't want to bring up earlier, but I can't seem to keep bottled up any longer. "Why did she call me a halfbreed? And what did she mean by another halfbreed?"

Hoseok and Taehyung both inhale deeply through their noses, as if they are trying hard not to get angry. Namjoon begins to trek off again, so of course I have no choice but to follow. It's Jimin that leans toward me and tries to explain. "A halfbreed is a derogatory term used to describe someone of impure, or mixed blood. I am not sure what she sensed about you, but she must have sensed that your other half isn't human otherwise she probably would have simply referred to you as a cambion instead. Truthfully, it's something we have been questioning ourselves for hours now."

Taehyung, despite taking deep breaths, still seems angry when he says. "She shouldn't have called you that. Besides, in a way she is just as much a halfbreed. Her father was the Titan, Epimetheus."

The fact hardly matters, yet still I find myself asking. "Is that why she is as tall as you, Namjoon, and Hoseok? Because of the Titan blood running through her veins?"

Taehyung and Hoseok both stop and immediately start laughing. "I would hardly call us giants, Everleigh," Taehyung manages to say.

I find myself blushing at the ludicrous nature of my question. "Bah. Forget that I even asked." That was quite ridiculous of me. Of course her height isn't reflective of her heritage. Hell, I have seen human females that are taller than her. But, wait, were they actually human after all?

The inner banter of my mind goes back and forth for the remainder of the trip. Once we reach the gate they indicate will take us to their home, I find myself growing nervous. The first gate hadn't stripped away the glamours that the four of them were wearing. So that meant it was this one that would do that. I wasn't sure how they would react to my eyes. But a big part of me was hoping that they wouldn't fucking notice the difference at all.

Just like last time Namjoon and Hoseok pass through first, then I pass through, and Jimin and Taehyung follow me. When I turn to look at them I feel my equilibrium begin to send me off kilter. I fall to the ground before I can stop myself. Only a few moments later I gasp in surprise when I find a black bunny with purple eyes in my lap. I immediately choose to focus and cuddle with the bunny rather than be stricken blind by the beautiful demons that are currently surrounding me.