Page 48 of Monsters of Mayhem

I opened the front door, knowing it would be unlocked and knowing I was welcome, but my mother was not in the house. It overlooked the ocean and there was a small deck leading out over a cliff. I looked through the skylight and glass doors and saw my mother sitting there, staring out at the waves as they crashed on the rocks far below.

“Mother.” I said the word softly as I slid open the door, making sure she would hear me and I wouldn’t startle her. She was pretty close to the edge and though she could not die, there was always the consideration she would hurl herself from the cliff just to see if maybe that would be the solution.

I was surprised when she turned and looked at me, her eyes glittering with hope and dedication. “He’s coming back,” she said, her voice hushed.

I stared at her silently, not quite sure how to respond. I knew exactly who she was talking about. Typhon, my father.

It tore my heart in two.

Typhon would wreak havoc on Earth and destroy more human lives than imaginable if he returned. However, his presence would save the life of one who I loved so deeply it was impossible to imagine a world without her.

My mother stood up and came to me, her arms outstretched. I reached forward and clasped her to my chest wrapping my arms around her and wishing for nothing but to be enough. I had always wanted to be enough to heal her, to help her find joy and happiness in life and to help her find her place. My mother had never lived for her children, though. Even when we were small and in great need of her attention, my mother had only ever lived for one thing and that was my father. Typhon.

The true God of Monsters.

“It’s a miracle,” she said, “but I can feel it. I woke up the other day and there was a tingling in my blood I always had when your father was around. I am sure he is returning.”

“Are you doing this, Mother?” I asked, my voice harsh to hide my emotions.

“Doing what?” My mother asked, confusion sliding over her face.

“Calling him forth?” I queried. I held out the runes in my hand I had retrieved from the frost giants. The ice and dawn runes had been used to break the spell on the rift there.

“He comes for my blood,” she said. “He comes for my heart. He is my beloved, my one true love. He cannot stay away from me. He will return.”

“He will destroy this planet,” I said. “He was banished for a reason.”

“I have no need for those runes,” my mother said. “For if I cannot call him forward with my heart, then we cannot be true loves.”

“You would do anything to have him back on Earth,” I said, my words clipped.

“Of course,” my mother said as though I was naïve and hadn’t been paying attention. “I would do anything for him. He is my husband. Those other women, they meant nothing. Even the other children he spawned. They are not like you.”

“He was banished by the demigods, Mother,” I said.

“That was a wrong choice,” Mother said. “They should not have been allowed to do that. Since when do the children make the decisions for the parents? It’s the other way around. It should be the parents that make decisions for the children, for the parents know best.”

“The children grow,” I explained. “When children grow, they are able to make their own decisions,”

“In this case the demigods made a poor decision,” my mother said. “They don’t know how Typhon was with me. Why else would he make me immortal if he did not plan to come back and be with me? He needs me and he knew once I was dead and sent to Undirheim, I would be beyond his grasp. So now I sit and wait for him. Do you know how many years I have waited?”

“Yes, I do, Mother,” I said. “It has been thousands of years since Typhon has visited us. The last time he came to Earth, there was the bubonic plague. His powers were weakened and he could only infiltrate the rats and the fleas, but still he did and he killed most of Europe.”

“The world is overpopulated anyhow,” my mother said.

“That does not justify genocide,” I explained. “Humans have a right to their lives, as dangerous as they are to the planet. It’s their problem to sort out, not ours to decide whether they live or die.”

“My husband is a God,” my mother said proudly. “If not for the gods, then who should make the decisions for humans? Do they not always ask the gods for their direction?”

“I don’t think their prayers to their gods usually include killing half the human population,” I said.

“Leave me,” my mother said. “I thought you would rejoice at his return. Your own father. Magnus understands. Magnus sees what is needed. The Earth requires Typhon now to heal it more than ever.”

“Magnus does not agree with you,” I said. “He sent me here. He’s worried about you. I’m worried about you. There’s no way I’m leaving. No, come inside. Let me fix you something to eat.” I grabbed her frail hand, looking at how she was skin and bones.

She yanked her arm out of mine. “You do not believe in your own father anymore.”

I took a deep breath. My mother was mentally ill. She needed help. She needed food. She needed somebody to watch after her. “Come, Mother,” I said, leading her inside. “Do you want to be refreshed and beautiful for when my father does show up? Let me fix you something to eat.”

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