Page 80 of The Shadow Gods

“How do you make someone believe a dream is not a dream?” Castor asked, lifting his eyebrows. This close to him, I could see the differences between him and Pollux. Their eyes. That green...

If they stood side-by-side, I could easily tell them apart. It was only seeing him from a distance that had made me think I dreamed of Pollux.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked.

“I am comparing you to your brother,” I replied and, realizing how judgmental that sounded, winced. “Not in a bad way. But you're twins. I just can see how different you are.”

He was silent.

“Up close, I mean.”

“You talk a lot,” he said blandly.

“You've had plenty of silence, I imagine,” I countered.

A small grin lifted his lips. “So, why are you here now?” he asked. “What's the purpose of your visit? Why hasn't my brother returned?”

“I don't know. It probably has to do with speaking about you with Pollux right before...” There was a blank spot in my mind. Right before what? As hard as I tried, I couldn't put my finger on the space between talking to Pollux and ending up here. Mentally shrugging, I went on, “Talking about you probably prompted this visit.”

“You're saying I shouldn't complain, because any visitor is better than no visitor? I would have preferred my brother.”

“I don't mean anything like that. I don't even know how I ended up here. Your brother talks of you a lot. You're the reason he's done...everything he's done.”

Castor narrowed his eyes. “What, exactly, has he done?”

Did he not know? I glanced around. Probably not. There wasn't any way of him knowing what was happening in the mortal world.

"Can you see what's happening away from here?”

The man threw his head back and laughed. “See what's happening away from here? There is only here. There is nothing else. No day. No night. No sun or moon or stars. Or anything. Just unending gray. For infinity.” He fixed me with a glare. “What is happening? What has my brother done for me?”

It occurred to me that all of this could be a trick. Castor might not be Castor, and all of this could be something designed by the gods to make me reveal what I shouldn't.

I couldn't trust him.

Pushing to stand, I squinted into the distance. As far as I could see was more of the same.

“You won't find anything,” he informed me, coming to stand next to me. “Walk in either direction, and all you'll find are more grasslands. More gray sky. This is what I was damned to.”

“And so you want revenge?” I asked, peering up at him. He and Pollux were both tall and dwarfed me when I stood next to them.

“What?” He recoiled. “No. He's my brother. My twin. I don't want revenge. I want to punch his face, but that's all.”

Something about the way he spoke reminded me of the five men who were waiting for me...when I woke up. Had I touched the shard again? Was that what had happened?

“And kick him in the ass.” Castor stared out at the distance, nodding once. “Jab to the kidneys.” He glanced down at me. “Both of them. Then, I'm done.”

“You are his brother, aren't you?” The sibling rivalry was oozing out of his pores.

“Who else would I be?” he asked, and I found myself trusting him.

“A god,” I replied.

He sniffed. “My brother is the god, not me. Son of Zeus. I may have shared a womb with him, but I didn't share a father.”

“He asked Zeus to bring you back to life,” I said, wondering how much Castor knew about what Pollux did to keep him.

“I know,” he said quietly. “But the gods are bastards, and they play tricks. Pollux thought he was giving up immortality to become human like me. He had no idea Zeus would bring me here and make me live eternally alone.”

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