Hecate's Experiment

Pollux sighed and kicked the sheets off his bed. He knew it. He wouldn't get any sleep tonight. Not to mention it was harder than he thought, to break his habit. He almost cut himself again twice, but the prospect of Hope enduring that same pain made him put the blade down.
He sighed again and stared out the window to where Hope was supposed to be sleeping. Although, judging from the flickering light from the living room window, she was watching TV.
He smiled. He wished he was with her right then. He groaned. That's where he wanted to be all the time now. Right next to here. Pollux wasn't an idiot, he knew exactly how he felt about her. But it just felt so wrong. There were numerous reasons why he shouldn't. The first being he was legally an adult and she was only fourteen, and thus pretty much all the things I had found himself thinking about doing to her lately, would legally constitute as rape.
His face burned red as he thought of yet another embarrassing scenario in his head. He was starting to hate himself for all these thoughts. But they never seemed to go away, no matter how hard he tried.
He turned around and was about to try and go to bed when he heard: "Whacha doin'?"
He turned. Hope's head was hanging upside down from the roof, smiling at him. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm bored," she said, climbing through the window. Pollux noted she had her dagger drawn--she'd flown here. "Come what old Sabrina the Teenage Witch with me," she pleaded. "It's a Halloween episode--those are always good."
Pollux shook his head. "If the harpies catch me, I'm dead."
Hope grinned. "You're with me! They won't catch you!"
Before he could protest, she grabbed his arm and pulled him out the window she'd climbed in, and launched them towards the big house. In seconds, he was sitting on the couch in front of the TV, next to Hope.
"How?"
"Dragon," Hope reminded him.
She pressed play on the remote and a super cheesy 90s black cat animatronic appeared on screen. But she seemed to be ignoring the show. Her attention was on a set of cards on the coffee table.
"Tarot cards," she said, when she noticed he was watching her. "Dad and I used to play with them all the time. This is his set. Chiron found them for me. He says Hecate made them herself."She smiled up at him. "Shall I read your fortune?" she asked with a horrible fake accent, through a yawn.
"Tired?" he asked.
"Just a little," she admitted. "But to be honest, I'm afraid to go to sleep."
He noticed her hands twisting nervously. "What for?"
"Every time I do, it's either Draco, or--" she paused, her hand twisted some more. "Or I see Papa." She sniffled slightly, then leaned again Pollux heavily. "I miss him."
Pollux knew he'd regret this, but he wrapped him arms tighter around her, hugging her against his chest as she cried slightly into his chest. "It'll be alright," he said. "I'm right here for you."
She closed her eyes. "I know," she whispered, falling asleep finally.
"Isn't she a bit young for you?" asked an annoyed voice behind him.
Pollux turned. "Father," he said paling slightly. "It-i-it's not--"
Mr. D waved his hands to stop him. "I really don't care about your business with her, I'm really not one to talk, as I'm several thousand years older than your mother." He sighed, pulling a can of diet coke out of the air. "I'm actually here to talk to you about this quest you've volunteered to go on."
Pollux sat up straighter as his father tossed him an old rusted key. "I'm giving you a gift and some advice. The gift is that key. You'll know what to do with it when the times comes. And my advice: Be wary around the Forest of the Gods: There is no set rate for how fast time flows. You could be outside for only a moment, when inside a few weeks or even a few years have passed."
Pollux wasn't sure what to say. Even during the titan war and the war against Gaia, his father had never given him anything like this. They rarely even had a proper conversation. He stared down at the key, it may have been ancient and rusted, but he could tell it had once been beautiful.
He raised his head to say thank you, but found his father gone. He sighed and thanked the air as an overwhelming tiredness came over him. He yawned, and fell asleep, still holding Hope. (A fact that would never be forgotten when Conner and Travis found them the next morning).

Notes

A little mushy but whatever...Hope you like! please rate comment and subscribe if you want to see more

-Kim