since I had no idea how long it would be until I got to do it again. By the time I was done, dressed in my last sets of clean clothing, Cronus had ordered us breakfast.
He had it set out on the table outside, where we could sit and feel like we were basically eating on the sea. “Get started,” he told me, “I’ll freshen up too.”
My stomach growled and I didn’t need to be told twice, diving into the fresh fruit and yogurt, pastries, and eggs. Everything was so tasty that I couldn’t stop once I started. Hopefully Cronus wasn’t too long or I’d eat it all before he got some. The only thing I didn’t touch was the meat.
A splash out in the water drew my attention, and I saw a school of fish and … a few dolphins, maybe. I caught a glimpse of a fin and hoped it wasn’t a shark. I mean, we were safe up here, but other people were out swimming in the early morning. Some right near the splashing.
No one seemed panicked though, so I just enjoyed the show and ate more food.
“I’m not feeding you enough,” Cronus said from the doorway, and I jumped a little. Dude was so fucking quiet. #GetHimABell
Looking down, I felt a little guilty that I’d eaten so much. Not to mention I also felt a little sick now that some of it had a chance to sink in—I’d eaten so damn fast.
“Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” I said, softly dropping the pastry that had been halfway to my lips. “I was stupid hungry, and now I think I’m going to explode.”
Cronus laughed, and he looked carefree. For him. My new life goal was to see him laugh all the time, because I could get used to this view. “You need the food more than me. I can fuel myself in other ways. Never worry about taking too much. It’s all yours.”
Other ways? One day soon we were going to have a very serious conversation about the gods and all the ways they were different to humans.
Cronus sat across from me and picked at the food that remained, finishing it off fairly quickly. Both of us were silent, watching the water and world around us, but unlike last night, the tension was gone. We weren’t “fixed,” by any means, both of us were still clearly running from our feelings, but we were okay.
I’d take it.
When Cronus was done, we stood, gathered our stuff; he grabbed my arm and zapped us across the world to Hyperion. “How did you know where he was?” I asked, shaking my head to relieve it of the slight disorientation that happened when he used that power on me.
“We’re all connected,” Cronus told me, tapping his head. “Beings born of power and energy. It’s a physical connection that supersedes many others, but only when they are alive. Hyperion can send me mental messages of his whereabouts.”
The only important thing I took from that was Hyperion and Cronus were not blood related. Not in the way of humans. Otherwise I’d be lusting after someone I was related to, and that was not cool with me.
Looking around, I blinked. “Where are we?”
Cronus had zapped us into a small group of scraggly trees, but the moment we stepped out, it was like we’d entered a war zone. The scent of dust, blood, and … a powdery substance that made my nose twitch was in the air. “Egypt,” Cronus said. “Strife and Turmoil love to team up, and they love the desert. It doesn’t surprise me that we’d find them here.”
It was a different part of Egypt to where we’d found Rhea, and I tried to orientate myself to these new surroundings. The ground rocked as an explosion shook the land, and I all but dove back behind the scraggly bushes. There was nothing green where we were, and while it didn’t look like full desert, it was close. The sun intensified as I had that thought, no doubt wanting to remind me that it could still kill me, “full desert” or not.
“I didn’t really dress appropriately for this,” I said, lifting my collar and trying to block my mouth and nose from the acrid winds. Sand was already accumulating in places that I didn't like to have sand in. “Jeans and a t-shirt is not much protection against these elements.”
I didn’t even have a damn hat.
Cronus wasn’t worried. “Hyperion is just over the way. You won’t