Page 91 of Dead End

My heart stuttered to a stop. This was neither a dream nor a nightmare.

This was a memory.

Melinoe, the goddess of ghosts and nightmares, died. Thesurprise attack was the reason Hestia now had guards in the throne room. The reason the Arae had been banished from the underworld.

It was also the reason my parents left the underworld. Not because they needed a break or a vacation. Because they’d been ravaged by grief and guilt.

I bolted upright in bed, my palms slick with sweat. I struggled to breathe as more of the puzzle pieces clicked into place. As the spirit dragged me from the room, my father called upon his brother to send a lightning bolt to help me.

But Zeus didn’t answer.

My father eventually caught up with the spirit and cut her down before she could escape, but not before she exacted punishment of her own.

I no longer needed to ask my parents the hard questions. It was easy enough to fill in the blanks on my own. They blamed themselves for what happened to me. Somehow, they crossed paths with The Corporation; perhaps in their search for Zeus, they ended up in Paradise, and the company did what it does best—preyed on the weak. They probably promised my parents a clean slate, a chance to start over without the pain and suffering that accompanied loss.

The deities were downloaded into Dana Frost and James Clay, who met and fell in love. Then my mother became pregnant.

With me.

That’s how I was reborn. Melinoe ended up in Elysium and chose palingenesis over staying put. I wasn’t a typical case of reincarnation because I wasn’t a typical death. I shouldn’t have died at all. It was still a fluke, a miracle, a one in a trillion outcome that I ended up with the same parents, but fate had a twisted sense of humor.

And then, after all that my parents had endured, they were forced into a situation where they had to be separatedfrom me again as humans in order to save me from The Corporation. Another tragedy.

They could’ve opted to be selfish, to keep with them the child they’d already lost once and hope the three of us were never found. Hades and Persephone—James and Dana—were better than that. Loved greater than that.

I’d spent so much of my life concerned about my ‘true identity.’ Goddess of ghosts and nightmares. Inflictor of madness, but understanding who both sets of parents are at their very core... I never had any cause for concern. Nightmares weren’t necessarily weapons; they were only bad at a superficial level. When considered fully, I understood they served a useful purpose. Nightmares protect us by preparing us for danger and focus on issues that require our attention. They help us process and manage difficult emotions. I didn’t exist to hurt but to heal.

And that’s who I was atmycore.

Not someone who inflicted pain, but someone who helped others manage theirs, and in turn, I’d been helped, too. Gun and Cam. West. The ghosts. Phaedra. Otto. Dantalion. Even Josie.

Kane. Always Kane.

We helped each other.

My body felt full of helium, like I might float away on a cloud of joyful discovery.

I had to see my parents. To tell them I remembered.

And that I forgave them.

Despite my eagerness, I decided to wait until morning to see my parents. My attempt to rest, however, seemed futile after my discovery. I tossed and turned, grateful to have remembered, yet sad for all that we’d lost.

Eventually my thoughts turned to The Corporation, asthey often did. My parents had been smart to hide in Tartarus. If they’d simply gone to the underworld to live openly as avatars, The Corporation could’ve easily shown up and overpowered them, not to mention their authority would’ve been questioned by some of their subjects.

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed that The Corporation hadn’t bothered to contact me here. They were relentless, as Kami pointed out. At the very least, it made sense for them to send an envoy like they had so many times before. Naomi. Aite. Mathis. Posy. Yet no one came.

They’d made it clear they wanted me in the underworld to rule as their puppet. What could have bumped me out of their top spot?

I was fully awake now. I yanked open my mental drawers and rifled through the contents. The answer had to be there.

The new avatar program that involved supernaturals. Puppet governments. I was only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Maybe they’d decided to focus on another one for now.

Worry gnawed at me. I was missing something; I could feel it in my bones. It made no sense that they would be so intensely focused on me, only to stop their pursuit the moment I did what they actually wanted and left town for the underworld.

The gears of my mind ground to a halt.

My head began to pound with the same intensity as my heart. The Corporation was no longer interested in me as a specimen because they’d developed an alternative idea that didn’t require my DNA. That idea, however, still required something from me. What would they do with an army of supernaturals injected with the power of the gods?

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