012.

Hailey’s POV

It all happened so fast. One minute I was shitting my pants, scared as Savannah pressed the blade to my neck and the next minute, she was plunging it in. I have no idea if she had intended for it to go this deep but it had and now, I was choking on my own blood with my hands wrapped around my neck, in a silly excuse to stop the blood flow.

I could hear screams, angered shouts and curious questions, and from the way I was soon attacked by the scent of two utterly sweet but strong male scents, I instantly knew that Trent and Chad had joined us. Someone’s arms were wrapped around my body but I had no idea who it was, however, I was sure that it was Trent or Chad, because I was certain that it wasn’t Hades. Hades was utterly pissed, so pissed that right now, even in this state, I could see how his hands were around Savannah’s neck as he hoisted her off the floor.

More shouts. More screams… that was all I heard as the world around me began to shift. Everything became blurry, and the more I tried to grasp onto life, the more I was tossed into the abyss, a black void that threatened to swallow me whole. It wanted to devour me; I knew it.

And I let it.

*

*

When I opened my eyes a few moments later, the first thing I saw was the bright blue sky overhead. It was clear and beautiful, and unlike anything I have ever seen before.

The soft wind blew against my face, ruffling my hair and the sound of the leaves dancing in the wind felt like a beautiful melody to my ears. Everything felt serene here, like something straight out of a movie. It was soft, it was quiet… and it was peaceful.

A giggling sound in the distance made me sit up immediately and it wasn’t until I was fully sitting up and staring in the direction of a group of playing children, chim that I have never seen in my life, that I remembered what had happened only moments ago;

How Savannah had stabbed me in the throat, and how Hades had gone after her.

Thinking about it now, I couldn’t help but wonder where I was. I also couldn’t help but wonder how long I had been out because when it happened, it was past midnight and now, it was sometime in the afternoon. A bright afternoon in an unknown place… but a peaceful one all the same.

Another thing that plagued me was why I was outside, on the grass, with no one to tend to me. Did Hades and his brothers drop me off here thinking that I would die from the stab wound? Or was this another ploy? A mind game perhaps…?

This thought made me mad and with this anger coursing through my veins, I staggered to my feet. My body protested as I struggled to my feet and to make matters worse, everywhere hurt terribly. Besides my neck, the same neck that had been slit open only a while ago.

What the hell was happening to me?

As I passed through the crowd of playing children, none of them stopped playing. They didn’t even acknowledge me as I moved past and for a minute, I feared that maybe they couldn’t see me. Or could they?

The more I went, the more I became convinced that no one could see me. Hell, I was passing beside people in the street, waving at others and walking into their homes but no one stopped me. Not even when I walked into a couple having heated sex in their lounge.

My heart soon began to beat frantically as it began to make more sense to me. Hades didn’t abandon me, no one did. I was dead and now, my ghost was wandering around an unknown place. As much as I tried to shake off this thought, I couldn’t. I also couldn’t help but wonder where my body was as well.

I thought about looking for Hades but upon realization that I didn’t know where I was, and that there was nobody I could ask because no one could see or hear me, I decided against that. I sank to the floor dejectedly, angry that I was in such a predicament when suddenly, I heard someone call out my name.

“Hailey!”

In shock, I looked up expectantly and my heart fell when I noticed that the woman wasn’t even looking at me. Her undivided attention was on a girl not more than four years old, who had also been playing with the other girls. When the girl heard her name, she stopped playing with the other children and then began to skip toward the middle aged woman. However, the more the girl came closer, the more I realized something— she looked just like me!

Again, my heartbeat accelerated as I watched her. Her beautiful wild red hair, her beautiful glassy blue eyes and her soft porcelain skin- everything that was all mine.

“Mommy!” The girl called out, wrapping her arms around the middle aged woman who immediately picked her up, balancing her on her waist.

“Come on, it’s time for lunch.” She said to which the little girl immediately smiled.

“What’s for lunch?”

“Your favorite. Chicken soup and rice.”

As I watched this exchange between, I felt a kind of nostalgia that I haven’t felt in a while. Tears sprung into my eyes but truth be told, I didn’t know what I was crying for. Seeing as no one could see me or even feel my presence, I followed both of them- more like I followed the woman- who led the girl into an ancient looking mansion. They went past a lot of servants who bowed as they walked past, further confirming my suspicions that they were royalty.

When they arrived at the dining area, she put the girl into a chair while she went off to sit by a large man seated at the end of the table. She kissed him on the cheek and greeted; “Good afternoon, Lord.”

“Good afternoon, Monique.” And then to his daughter, he said; “How are you doing, my hero?”

As soon as he said that, I found myself smiling even before the girl smiled. She said; “I am well, papa. I was smashing all the villains earlier before mama came for me.”

He chuckled at that. “Good girl. One day, when you’re old enough, you’ll sit on my throne and you will vanquish all of papa’s enemies.”

“Only that she would never do that.” A voice from the doorway said, snapping my attention to it just in time to see a monstrous looking man standing there with the ugliest sneer known to man plastered across his face.

“What do you mean by that, Beta?” The man growled, obviously pissed by the interruption but before he could say any more words, to my horror, the ‘Beta’ pulled out a gun and shot him on his shoulder.

“BETA!”

“That bullet contains a heavy dose of silver so I’ll advise that you remain calm while we talk because the more you perform bodily functions, the more adrenaline will be pumped into your system, further accelerating the speed at which the silver will be forced to pump into your body.”

“Why?” The alpha croaked disappointedly. “Why would you do this?”

“For obvious reasons.” The man being referred to as ‘beta’ responded cockily, “I want your throne and I want Alpha Blackwood, your stupid ally, dead.”

“He’s not my ally, he’s my friend!”

“And I don’t care. My daughter died in his pack!”

“And it was a mistake! She drowned in a pool during a swimming competition.

“There were other kids there. Why was she the one to die?” The beta growled and I watched as the Alpha- my father- sighed tiredly before sobbing back into the chair.

“You’re mad Killian. Very mad.”

“Oh, I know that. And that’s why I plan to kill Alpha Blackwood. Maybe my madness would make me achieve that! Something your cowardly self would never do.”

“KILLIAN!”

“What did I tell you about screaming and moving? You’ll die a lot quicker than I had intended for you to.”

I think that was the last straw because then the Alpha rushed to his feet. He was just about to pounce on Killian when Killian took out the gun again and this time, when he shot at father, he didn’t shoot his shoulder. He went straight for his head and I watched in horror as he fell to the floor with a loud thump.

The young child- me- cried loudly and even the middle aged woman-my mother- began to wail as she rushed to the fallen body of her husband. My heart broke as her loud cries tore through the air, almost deafening me. But just then, I saw Killian sneak behind her, I saw him raise a shiny object which I suspected was a knife but just as he was about to drive it into her back, I screamed.

This time, I knew that I could no longer stand and watch while he murdered my family so I charged forward. I wanted to strike him, to hit him hard if that was what it took to protect my mother. However just as I arrived just in front of him, I fell, not to the floor but into darkness.

Confusion. That was all I felt as I continued to fall, plunging into darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was shocked because now, I was peering up at three pairs of eyes, all of which belonged to Hades, Chad and Trent.

What the hell was happening?