Astrid shivered at Simi's words as she remembered where she had been nine hundred years ago. "Thanatos is the one who killed Miles in Scotland?"
"Yes," Simi confirmed.
"Then he went after Zarek?"
Simi made an agitated noise. "He's a Dark-Hunter, isn't he? Are you two having some sort of strange human thing that you can't follow what I'm saying?"
Astrid patted Simi's hand hopefully to calm her a bit. "I'm sorry, Simi. You're just telling us some things we knew nothing about."
Simi cocked her head and looked at Zarek. "Oh, I guess that's okay then. Still... you should know something about Thanatos. Him being able to kill you and all."
Astrid sensed Zarek was about to speak. She gave him the kill signal while she continued to question Simi.
"Simi, why doesn't Zarek remember the first Thanatos coming after him?"
" 'Cause he's not supposed to. Akri had to kill Thanatos in front of him and he made it so that Zarek wouldn't remember anything about all that mess."
Zarek let out a slow breath as her words seeped in. Ash had made it so he wouldn't remember.
"Acheron scrambled my brains?"
Astrid's face filled with relief. "You're innocent, Zarek."
Rage tore through him. "So I was banished to this godforsaken hellhole because Acheron killed Thanatos? What kind of bullshit is that?" He paced the floor angrily. "I'll kill that bastard."
Simi shifted instantly into the shape of a "small" dragon.
One that was wedged into their tunnel. Her eyes blazed angrily as she hissed at him. "Did you insult my akri?"
Ready for battle, Zarek opened his mouth to tell her yes and found Astrid shielding him. She stood between them and held him behind her.
"No, Simi. Zarek has a right to be angry. He's been exiled for something he didn't do."
Simi shifted back into her humanoid form. "No he wasn't. He was banished because he killed the Apollites."
Simi took on the form of Artemis. "See, I told you, Acheron, he's insane. He knew better than to kill them."
She became Acheron. "What was he supposed to do? They were throwing themselves at him, trying to kill him. It was self-defense."
"It was murder."
"I swear, Artemis, you kill Zarek over this and I will walk out of that door and never come back."
She transformed back into herself. "See. That's why he was banished. The bitch-goddess didn't want akri to leave her so she agreed to let Zarek live here just so long as other people weren't around him."
Simi looked around the dismal tunnel. "Honestly, I think I'd rather be dead myself. This place more boring than Katoteros and I didn't know it could get more boring than Katoteros. I stand corrected. The next time akri tell me it not so bad at home, I might believe him. You don't even have decent food here. No TV, neither."
Zarek stepped back and stared blankly at the wall as he tried to remember the past while Simi rattled on without pausing.
He could still hear screams from the villagers, but now he wondered...
Whose screams did he really hear?
Astrid felt her way toward him. The warmth of her presence seeped into him. She touched his arm, making him burn reflexively. Something about her touch always rocked him and made him want to turn into her.
Made him want to touch her.
"Are you all right?" she asked.