Her pout increased. "You control fate. All fate. You can make everything all right. Please do it for your Simi?"
That was easier said than done. He was a living example of the disaster that came from trying to interfere with someone's destiny. His entire life both as a man and a god had been destroyed because of people who meddled with his "fate." He would never do such a thing to someone else. "Sim, that's not fair and you know it."
"Not fair is hearing Alexion in my head and not being able to help him. He don't sound right, akri. I think them peoples is being mean to him. Let the Simi go eat them."
Ash closed his eyes and tried to see the future for Alexion so that he could give Simi some peace.
But there was nothing to be seen except black mist. Damn. He hated that he couldn't see the fates of his loved ones, any more than he could see his own.
He considered calling Atropos, who was the Greek goddess in charge of cutting the thread of life that governed humans. She would be able to tell him if Alexion would die. But he knew better than to summon her. She hated him passionately.
None of the Greek Fates would ever tell him anything of the future. They had turned their backs on him centuries ago. To them, he was long dead and forgotten.
"We will just have to wait and see what happens."
Simi blew him a raspberry, then got up to leave.
She slammed the door on her way out.
Ash rubbed his head as the sound echoed in the room. Since his emotions weren't tied to the Mississippi Hunters, he knew which of them would live and who would die. That saddened him greatly, and all he could do was hope that Alexion was able to sway them away from their destinies in time.
Only their free will could alter what he saw for them.
That was why he'd sent Alexion to Danger. Since the day he'd started training her, he'd had a soft spot for her. The small Frenchwoman covered her tender heart with a coat of arsenic to keep others away, but he knew what she hid from others. She was a good woman who'd been dealt a bad hand. The last thing he wanted was to see her dead. And yet he knew in his heart the futility of wishing for what could have been.
Danger's days were extremely numbered, and unless a miracle happened, there was nothing any of them could do to help her.
They were seriously batting absolute zero with no pinch hitter in sight. Danger sighed heavily as they returned to her house. They'd spent the last few hours seeking out the Dark-Hunters in the area only to find out that most of them had an ax to grind with Acheron.
Granted, there were times she got a little annoyed with his vagueness too, but this was ridiculous.
They blamed him for being stuck in Mississippi (which she personally loved). It really wasn't a bad place to live. Granted it was hot in the summer, but there was a lot of beauty to be found here.
They also blamed him for not making their immortality better. Blamed him for all kinds of stuff that was basically their decision, not his.
Worse was the fact that she knew Acheron could read their minds. No wonder he didn't visit here more often. How could he continue to let Artemis use the Dark-Hunters against him while they cursed everything about him? That man had more fortitude than anyone she'd ever known.
Personally, she'd tell them all adios, and go find her own private paradise.
The fact that he didn't...
He was either a saint or a masochist.
Perhaps a little of both.
"I can't believe their gall," she said to Alexion as he shut her back door. "Who knew Squid had a death wish?"
Unlike her, he took it all with nihilistic stoicism. It was true, around others he was ice-cold and without any emotion at all. Their words didn't anger him the way they did her. He just stood there and listened while they railed.
Alexion shrugged as he turned the hall light on for her. "It happens more than you'd think. If I can save ten percent, it's a good night."
She didn't want a ten percent survival rate. She wanted one hundred percent. But Squid had thrown them out the minute they'd started talking about Acheron.
Thank God she'd been able to convince Alexion not to wear his white coat over there. There was no telling what the angry ex-pirate would have done to them if he'd suspected Alexion was the destroyer Kyros prophesied him to be.
Squid had completely refused to listen. Damn him for his stubbornness.
"You know, I think we need to work on your speech."