I thought about my parents and how they must be going crazy with worry wondering where Lucius and me were. I thought about my friend Wendy, as the last time I spoke to her was when I had been in Jerusalem. It had also been done via email with technology to scramble my computers whereabouts so no one would know where it came from. I had told her I was okay that I was happy and that for the time being, I had just needed to walk away from life. I never read her reply, I had been almost too afraid to, knowing how much having me disappear and be so cagey about it all must have been hurting her.
I thought about everyone else that I cared about, including those in Lucius’ council. People that I hadn't seen in a long time. Hell, but it felt like an age ago, and I knew that time was different down here, depending on which realm you were in. It was like travelling the world and not knowing what the time difference was. It felt longer and I was starting to miss everything.
“Hey, you okay?” Nero asked, placing her hand on my arm to get my attention. I thought for a moment knowing that having Nero with me in all this was a comfort I should have felt guilty for feeling. But a comfort it was all the same and one she would probably never realise. I didn't want to do this alone, Gods, but I wasn't even sure that I could have. This was why I answered her truthfully,
“I know this may seem like a really awful thing to say, but I'm really glad you're here, I don't think I could have done this without you.” She looked thoughtful for a moment as if fully digesting my words and then with a slight smirk she said,
“You're right, that is a really shitty thing to say, but you know what, I'm glad you said it. Not that I think I've helped in any way shape or form, you know, since you have been doing all of the killing and all, but I am glad that you're not doing this alone...and of course you did save my life, so you're not that bad of a friend.” She joked making me laugh and once again easing that tension that I needed to let go of.
“Let's try this again shall we...let's get out of here,” I said, knowing I had repeated these same words the last time, just before we had been discovered.
“Yes please,” she agreed, and just as we started walking off a sinister laughter coming from behind us made us both take pause. We both turned our heads at the same time to look to see what type of crazy the Harpy Queen had sunk to next, neither of us liking the sound.
“Hey, where do you suppose she's trying to get to?” Nero questioned the second she saw the Queen dragging her broken body closer to the tower. It was the same one I had emerged from when trying to save Nero.
Her back was covered in blood from the deep lacerations the soul weed had caused, along with me crushing her bones with my mace. The brutal end of the V shape of bone coming out of her spine was bloody and covered with matted feathers from where I had cut her wings off.
I started to narrow my eyes, questioning like Nero had, as to where it was she thought she was going. Was she trying to get underground, potentially trying to find a place where she could heal? Personally, I thought the damage inflicted to her body looked too great and I didn't think it would be long before she ultimately bled to death. I believed her end was near and it was a mercy I could not grant for making that death a swift one. Not after knowing what she had been prepared to do to me. She would have seen me tortured over and over again along with Nero just to amuse herself. No, she didn't deserve a swift death, far from it.
I took a step closer and frowned having a bad feeling about the determination in the way she dragged herself across the floor. Doing so in what looked to be a painful endeavour and for what looked to be little gained. It didn't make sense, that was until I saw her reach