Wrath of Hades (10 page)

CHAPTER
8

I realize school is extremely important, but how important is it to my survival? Will I ever actually go to college? The chances of that are
so remote, I’m not even sure the odds can be calculated. So, you might as well say I’m never going to go to college.

So how am I going to support myself?

For now, at least, I’ve got the trust fund dad—Douglas Weir—set up for me. Each month, I get an allowance to take care of the monthly expenses and some pocket money for me to spend.

I’ve made it clear I don’t want people dropping off tributes like they used to do to the gods. I guess old habits are hard to break, because I still find things left on the front porch or the back deck. Instead of using it myself, I have the items, which is mainly food, taken to families who desperately need it more than I do. It’s just the right thing to do.
I know the people who are leaving the tributes know what I’m doing, maybe that’s why they keep leaving them.

I guess with all that’s already going on, I shouldn’t worry about things like college or money.

Staying alive has to be my main priority because if I’m dead, nothing else will matter.

             
              --Raven Weir’s journal

The rest of the week flew by fairly quickly and without any more zombie incidents, but Raven’s problems with Ethan only grew along with the pressure she was feeling from Sam Westing to find his granddaughter. By Saturday, Raven wasn’t sure what she wanted to do first—beat Ethan over the head with a baseball bat or run away and hide from Sam Westing and his demands for updates every few hours.

Ethan and his pack were almost finished eating by the time Raven made it down to breakfast Saturday morning. Raven grabbed a plate off the counter and got in line behind Ethan, who had gotten up to refill his plate. He didn’t even turn around to acknowledge her.
It was as if she wasn’t even there or at least was a stranger in her own house.

“How’s everything going?” asked Pauline.
She was putting her plate into the sink.

“Okay,” Raven said. She gave Pauline a half smile. “It’s Saturday. Two days of no school
, at least that’s a good thing.”

“Thank goodness
! I don’t know if I could take another day of calculus equations. I’ll be so glad when I’m done with that class.” Even though Pauline was talking about school, she raised her eyebrows and nodded toward Ethan.

Raven shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. She glanced around the kitchen. Several of the guys shook their heads too, while others gave her sympathetic nods. Raven felt her cheeks heat up. She wasn’t the only one dealing with the fallout caused by Ethan’s sudden rejection of her
, if she could call it a rejection. It was causing problems with the whole pack.

Ethan moved away from the food platters without a glance in her direction.

Raven closed her eyes for a minute, telling herself it was no big deal. She felt a pat on her arm and opened her eyes.

Pauline gave her a quick smile before she moved away to stand by Billy.

Raven sighed. She moved to the platters of food, but stopped and stared. Only a few pieces of toast were left. Raven put her plate down and went to the refrigerator to get a glass of milk.

“You’ve got to be joking,” she grumbled and closed the door. The refrigerator was empty.

“Raven.”

She turned.

The guy sitting next to Ethan got up. “I just made this plate just before you walked into the kitchen. I haven’t eaten anything on it. You can have it, if you want it.”

“What are you doing, Chad?” asked Ethan between the forkfuls of food he crammed into his mouth.

“Doing what you should be doing, taking care of your mate.”

“I don’t have a—” Ethan sniffed the air.

Everyone got really quiet.

“Mate?”

Raven bit her bottom lip.

Ethan’s eyes grew warm as his lips slowly turned up into a smile.
“Mate.” He looked at Raven and started to get up.

“Ethan,” she whispered his name. Her heart beat faster.

The smile left Ethan’s face and his eyes grew cold. He sat back down. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a mate.” He went back to eating, oblivious to all the eyes staring at him. “Sit down and eat.”

Chad shook his head. “Raven, you need to eat more than I do.”

Raven stared at Ethan. She really wanted to grab one of the large platters and break it on his head.

“Raven?”
Chad held out the chair for her.

Raven shook her head. “Thanks Chad, you go ahead and eat your food. I’m not really that hungry anyway.”

“But you need to eat.”

“She said she wasn’t hungry
, so sit down and eat your food. You’re acting like a fool,” said Ethan. He shoveled the food from his plate into his mouth as fast as he could.

Raven’s stom
ach picked that moment to growl loudly, protesting its emptiness, embarrassing Raven with the fact she had lied about being hungry.

“And you shouldn’t be sitting there stuffing your face when your mate is obviously hungry.” Chad glared at Ethan.

Ethan put down his fork and stared at Chad with cold, hard eyes. “I suggest you sit down and eat. If my mate was here, I wouldn’t need you to tell me how to take care of her.”

“Obviously, you do. We all know Raven’s your mate. You claimed her the same night you pledged to protect her as the Guardian.”

Ethan suddenly stood up. “I think I’d remember if I had claimed her.” He glanced at Raven and wrinkled his nose. “With her pale skin and that blue mop on the top of her head, I couldn’t do anything but remember. Look at her. She’s not even a Hell Hound. There’s no way I would take her for a mate. I don’t understand who you can stand there and insist she is my mate.”

Gasps filled the kitchen.

Raven felt her face turn even redder. She closed her eyes, wishing the floor would suddenly open up and swallow her before she had to endure anymore embarrassment.

“But you did,” said Chad.

“Sit down and eat.” Ethan’s eyes glowed red.

“But—”

Ethan cut him off with a growl.

Raven sighed. She stepped up to Chad and put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, but
it’s okay,” she said when she had his attention.

Ethan’s growls grew worse.

“Raven, move away from Chad,” said Billy.

Raven glanced at Billy, then at Ethan. She moved her hand off of Chad’s shoulder and stepped away from him.

Ethan’s growls slowly lessened. Without a word he sat down. His growls were now just low rumbles in his chest. He blinked several times, picked up his fork and went back to eating.

Raven looked at Billy and raised her eyebrows.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

Raven glanced at Ethan, but he ignored her. Without another word or glance, Raven escaped from the room and went back upstairs to her bedroom before anything else could embarrass her.

In her room, Raven picked up her new laptop and she walked over to the small sitting area by the windows. For several minutes she just stared at the trees outside the window. Only a few brown and yellow leave still clung to the branches. The weather was definitely getting colder. But at that moment she didn’t really see any of the changes. Her mind was on Ethan.

His behavior was growing more erratic. At times, he seemed like he was remembering her and then a switch flicked off and he had absolutely no memory of her as a mate. Something was controlling his emotions
and memories when it came to her. She was sure of it. There was no other explanation. But his comments were bordering into being cruel. She knew she shouldn’t let them hurt her, especially knowing he wasn’t acting like himself, but she couldn’t stop it.

Raven’s mind drifted to Leslie’s cousin by marriage.

She really needed to talk to Eros. Hopefully he would have a solution for what was happening to Ethan.

She turned and looked around the room.

It felt too restrictive.

She couldn’t breathe.

Raven, without a glance at anything else, left the room and walked to the end of the hallway.

The door leading to the attic was no longer locked all the time and opened easily but with a soft moan. Each step creaked under Raven’s weight. In seconds she stood in the center of the
attic, staring at the ocean. Slowly she turned until she came to the scene from Delphi. For a second she imagined she heard the people and noises from the street scene.

“If only I could get lost, in the paintings, at least for a little bit. Anything’s got to be better than what’s going on here.” She shook her head, knowing the thought she voiced was pure fantasy. There wasn’t any way for her to disappear into the
paintings. It was impossible, but it was a nice fantasy left over from her childhood.

Raven plopped down onto one of the large beanbags and wiggled until she was comfortable. She looked longingly at her dad’s journal lying on a cushion next to her. But instead of reaching for it, she opened the laptop and waited for it to power up. She had to find Claire Westing, and she knew the zombie attacks had something to do with it. She also knew there had to be clues somewhere. Maybe
the Internet had some answers, and it would be safer than actually going on another road trip.

Raven clicked the Internet symbol, sending her immediately online. “Thank you, Diane, for insisting we get a wireless connection,” she said as she typed in zombie attacks and started surfing through the information that appeared in just seconds of her punching the enter key.

A couple of hours later, Raven wasn’t any closer to finding Claire than she was when she started, but she had found and saved several articles about recent zombie attacks. A couple sounded exactly like what had happened to Sam Westing and Claire, making her wonder if the attacks had actually been practicing runs.

She closed the laptop, got up and stretched. Her stomach made several deep rumbles. She had to get something to eat. Raven picked up the laptop and her dad’s journal and turned to leave.

A giggle drifted across the room.

Slowly Raven turned around, searching for the source of the sound. No one was in the attic with her and there wasn’t any place a person could hide, but she was quickly learning that meant nothing.

“Who’s here? Show yourself!” Raven looked at each painting. Someone or something had to be hiding in one of them. It was the only explanation even though it scared her that something or someone had the ability to do so.

Giggles filled the room.

The sharp tang of salt air tickled Raven’s nose and she swore she felt a warm breeze. She whirled around to face the ocean painting.

“I know you’re there,” she said.

Everything got quiet—too quiet.

Raven scanned every inch of the sea painting but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She reached for the disc hanging around her neck and chewed on her bottom lip. Something nagged at her. It teased her and tickled the back of her brain. There was something she should remember.

Nothing moved in the painting.

Raven shook her head. “Must be my imagination,” she told herself. Her stomach growled again, breaking the silence with its ferocious roar. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the attic
before she found who or what was hiding in the painting, but she couldn’t stay there all day either.

Still clutching the pendant, Raven slowly walked out of the attic. The soft click of the door echoed through the attic.

A loud splash filled the room. Drops of salt water flew through the air, landing on the floor. The water in the painting rippled out toward the edges of the painting, and in the center, a tail fin disappeared.

cHAPTER 9

Sometimes the hardest thing you have to do is the right thing to do. That’s what I’m quickly learning. Being the Guardian is not easy. People are constantly looking up to me for answers.

Answers I don’t have, but answers I have to find for them.

                            --Raven Weir’s journal

“And what have you been doing?” Ethan blocked the stairs preventing Raven from going down.

“I was in the attic,” Raven said slowly. She kept her voice as neutral as she could, not really
sure what to expect from Ethan.

“You were in t
he attic again? Don’t you have better things to do than sit around that ridiculous attic?”

“What are you getting at?” asked Raven.

“Shouldn’t you be looking for Claire Westing? That’s your job as the Guardian, or have you forgotten?”

“I know what my job is. I’m not the one acting like an idiot and forgetting things
, that’s your job.”

“Don’t call me names,” Ethan growled. “I haven’t forgotten anything. You’re the one who’s forgetting what your duties are.”

“Don’t you dare try to tell me what I’m supposed to be doing. I know what my duties are. I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me.” Raven moved into Ethan’s space until her face was just inches away from his.

“Someone has to tell you. Otherwise you’ll spend all your time in that stupid attic with that stupid old journal. It’s ridiculous the amount of time you waste up there.
It’s a total waste of time. As for that journal, someone should burn it that way you aren’t wasting your time with it.”

“You’re the one who helped me find dad’s journal, or have you forgotten? You didn’t think it was a waste of time then,” Raven forced herself to speak in a softer voice even though she would rather have yelled at the top of her lungs at him.

“If I’d known you were going to waste your time with it instead of doing more important things, like finding Claire Westing, I wouldn’t have helped you find it.” He stepped back and crossed his arms.

“For your information, I spent the morning researching zombie attacks in the surrounding area.”

“So you know where Claire is?” asked Ethan.

Raven clenched her teeth. Something about the way he said Claire’s name really irritated her. “
No, I don’t know where she is. I have my suspicions, but I don’t have any concrete proof yet.”

Ethan shook his head. “You’re so useless. I’m going to have to find her aren’t I? Just
freaking great! I get stuck with the most useless Guardian on the face of this planet. You couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag, could you?”

“I’m useless? What the hell is your problem, because I’m
totally sick of it? I’m tired of the way you’re treating me. I’m not the bad guy, so back off!” Raven’s anger took over and she forgot to keep her voice down.

“Once you find
Claire, I’ll leave you alone, and believe me I’m counting the days until I don’t have to deal with you.”

“Claire? You’ve never met Claire. What’s your fixation with her?”

“Claire is,” a strange, almost love struck look crossed Ethan’s face. “Claire is special. She’s important to me. I need to take her to the winter dance. I need to make sure she’s safe, protected and—and loved.”

Raven gasped. “We’re going to the
winter dance. You and me. Together. As a couple.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She knew there was no use in bringing up the fact, not with Ethan in this condition, but she was so stunned by the sheer magnitude of his feelings toward Claire Westing, someone as far as she knew, he had never seen that she couldn’t stop herself.

Ethan looked at her. “Why would I take you?” Suddenly he broke out laughing. “Wait! I get it. You couldn’t find a date. Could you? So, I’m taking you because I felt sorry for you. You’re nothing more than a sympathy date. This is absolutely, ridiculously hilarious.”

Raven felt her cheeks burning. “I wouldn’t go anywhere with you, even if you were the last guy on earth!” She shoved pass him and started going down the rest of the stairs.

“Come back here. I want to know when you’re going to find Claire.” Ethan yelled at her.

“I’ll find her when I find her and not a minute before.”

“That’s not good enough.” Ethan turned, grabbed Raven’s arm and spun her around to face him.

Raven wobbled as she tried keeping her balance on the steps. She grabbed the railing with her free hand to steady herself. “Are you crazy? I could have fallen and gotten seriously hurt.”

“That’s nothing compared to the danger Claire’s in.” Ethan growled. “You’re jealous. That’s why you’re not trying very hard to find her. You want her to stay missing, don’t you?”

“Do what?” asked Raven.

“You’re jealous of Claire. That’s why you’re not trying to find her. You think if you don’t find her, then you’ll have a chance with me. ” The sneer on Ethan’s lips grew bigger and colder.
“I hate to tell you, but you’ll never have a chance with me. You’re too weak and pathetic.”

Raven stared at Ethan in disbelief.

“You’re so jealous. It’s laughable. I’ve never met anyone as jealous as you are.”

“I’m jealous o
f a person I’ve never met?” Raven rolled her eyes. “Get real! That’s the most stupid sounding thing I’ve heard. I’ve never met Claire, how can I be jealous of her?”

“The only person you’re hurting is Claire.” Ethan squeezed Raven’s arm. “You are going to find Claire for me. You won’t like the consequences if you don’t. Am I making myself clear?”

“Get your hand off of me!” Raven said through clenched teeth. She glared at Ethan in disbelief. Whatever was infecting him had just gone from bad to the worst kind of bad possible.

“Or you’ll do what?” growled Ethan.

Raven stared at him. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt her either. What do you say to someone who has obviously gone off his rocker? It was almost like dealing with Jay all over again, but she didn’t want to do to Ethan what she had done to Jay.

“That’s what I thought.” Ethan shook her. “You won’t do anything. You’re too scared to even defend yourself.

“Enough!” she shouted. Using the fact she was standing several steps below him, she jerked her body away from him and rolled into a ball. Raven slid down a few steps, but Ethan went flying over her and landed hard at the bottom of the staircase.

He got up and shook himself. His fingers lengthened into lethal looking claws. He looked at her through hate filled eyes.

“Ethan, don’t make me hurt you. I don’t want to do it, but I won’t let you harm me,” said Raven when she saw his claws. She put down the laptop and journal and slowly stood up, knowing she had to be ready for anything.

Billy and several others poured into the hallway, just as Ethan growled. “Hey, man, don’t do it!” Billy lunged at Ethan, trying to tackle him, but he was a couple of seconds too slow.

Ethan, his hands now fully formed claws, charged at Raven.

A split second before Ethan reached her, Raven threw her hands up in front of her and made a shoving motion at Ethan. The collision between Ethan and the energy field sent tremors through Raven, causing her to step backwards. She lost her balance and slid down several more steps. Ethan flew through the air, smashing into the far wall, leaving a large indentation in the shape of his body.

“Raven, are you all right?” Billy and a couple other teens rushed to her.

Stunned, she didn’t move. She focused on her breathing, forcing it to go back to as close to normal as she could get.

“Raven?” Concern filled Billy’s voice. “Is anything broken?”

“I’m fine. I think,” she said after a few seconds.

From the other side of the room, Ethan groaned.

“Don’t let him over here,” Billy told the guys who now stood between Ethan and Raven.

“What is going on in here?” Professor Snyder asked as he walked into the hall. His eyes widened when he saw Ethan and the wall.

Diane looked over her husband’s shoulder. “Raven, are you okay?”

Raven, with Billy’s help, got to her feet. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What happened?” asked Diane. She looked from Ethan to Raven.

Raven didn’t answer. She watched Ethan get up, wondering if the guys surrounding him would be able to stop him from attacking her again.

Ethan attacked her.

Ethan had just done the one thing she never dreamed he would do.

He attacked her!

She shook her head, wondering if she was dreaming.

Yet, there she stood in the aftermath of his attack.

She rolled the thought over and over in her mind. Of all the things that could have happened, this wasn’t the one she would have believed he would have ever done. In his right mind, Ethan would never have attacked her. She just knew it. Jay, on the other hand, had attacked her more than once, but that was his method of operation, at least when it came to her—not Ethan’s. But right then, the similarities between Ethan and Jay scared her.

“Raven?” asked Billy.

“I-I’m fine.” Her voice shook.

“Are you sure?” Billy didn’t sound too convinced.

She nodded her head, afraid she wouldn’t be able to say anything without breaking into tears, and that was the last thing she wanted to do in front of everyone. She wasn’t going to cry over this Ethan. This pod Ethan wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t even worth the energy it took to even think about crying. She had to be strong. She wouldn’t show any weakness.

“Is someone going to explain what just happened?” Professor Snyder asked. Irritation filled his voice.

“Ethan attacked Raven,” said Billy as he shoved his greasy looking brown hair out of his face.

Diane gasped.

Professor Snyder closed his eyes and shook his head. “This is not good. Not good at all.”

“You think,” Raven mumbled as she shook the hands off of her. “I’m fine.” She wondered if she was really trying to convince herself instead of Billy and the others.

“Get out of my way!” Ethan yelled at the guys surrounding him.

“No can do man,” said Chad. He looked like a linebacker ready to tackle Ethan.

“Get out of my way,” growled Ethan.

“We can’t do that. Not while you’re a threat to Raven,” said Billy. He moved in front of Raven. “You attacked her. You are a t
hreat to her, a very serious threat.”

Ethan looked around the room at the
faces staring at him. “I’m the Alpha. You will do what I tell you to do, and I’m telling you to move out of my way!”

“Yes, you are the A
lpha, but something is seriously wrong with you,” said Billy. “No Alpha would do to his mate what you’ve done to Raven, and the worst part is that she is the Guardian, the very Guardian you swore to protect. Attacking her is definitely not protecting her.”

“Why is everyone determined to make her my mate?” Ethan sounded genuinely confused, as well as angry. “She can’t be my
mate. She’s pathetic and weak, and have you even looked at her? I mean really looked at her?”

“Are you releasing h
er from your claim?” asked Chad. A subtle power rolled off of him.

A strange look came over Ethan’s face. “I—I—I can’t release her when she’s not my mate. I never claimed her.”

Raven closed her eyes.

“Claire. Claire Westing is the only one for me. Sh
e’s the one I have to protect. She’s the one I have to take care of.”

Raven opened her eyes. She heard the gasps but she didn’t dare look at anyone but Ethan.

“She is the problem, not me.” Ethan pointed at Raven. “She’s not doing her duty as the Guardian. She’s not looking for Claire and it’s because she’s jealous of Claire because Claire’s everything she never will be, and she’s jealous.”

Raven slowly shook her head. She didn’t need to look at anyone to know what their reactions were. She heard the whispers. Raven thought back
to the night at the hospital. In the parking lot, Ethan complained of something stabbing him, then there his sudden indifference toward her, and his strange reaction to Claire Westing’s picture.

Hopefully Eros would answer Leslie’s call because he was the only one who knew if the reaction to the arrow could be reversed or not, and Raven was absolutely for sure it was one of his arrows causing the problems. No one could tell her otherwise.

“Raven isn’t the problem. You are,” said Chad. “You don’t deserve a girl like Raven.”

“You
want her so bad, she’s yours, but remember this, she’s not what she seems. She’s as self-centered as Medusa and just as dangerous. Look at what she did to Jay.”

“Ethan, that’s quite enough!” Diane stepped around her husband. “It doesn’t matter what you think about Raven. What matters is the fact you attacked her even though you made an oath to protect her. Your beh
avior is inexcusable. As a Hell Hound, you have no honor.”

Ethan glared at the woman.