"Meaning ..."

"Part of an old legend that spooks the G.o.ds," he said. "There's a prophecy about a final Oracle as strong as the original who opened the gate for them to come here. The legend foretells that this second Oracle will be strong enough to cut them off from their power and banish them permanently from Earth."

"I've heard that before. It's what I'm supposed to do. And bring back the Old Ways."

"Do you know what it would take for them to return?"

"Please don't say Armageddon."

"Then you do know."

Such destruction was beyond my ability to imagine. But I could see Adonis setting fire to the world without a second chance. "Why ... how can you be this way with me and scare everyone else to the point they'll commit suicide rather than deal with you?"

"You want to know if I'm as bad as they say."

My mouth was dry. I nodded.

"Yeah. I am." His features were calm, his gaze steady. "Does that change things for you?"

I no longer wanted to discuss this with him. I looked away, seeking yet another subject that wouldn't end with my body so tense, I felt ready to pop. "Do you think the same person wiped both of our memories?"

"It's possible. It happened around the same time, and we knew each other."

I nibbled on the last of my food then sat back.

Adonis and I stared at one another. In addition to his bright eyes, his perfect features were worthy of visual exploration. Wide shoulders and chest, a lean frame and long legs with thick thighs completed the man I could not for the life of me figure out. I wasn't even certain I wanted to. While I respected his physical prowess in the arena, I was uncomfortable in the downtime when his attention was on me. I always had been. Always wanted to put more s.p.a.ce than I had between us. His admittance to being what he was rumored to be and having no regrets crushed me on a primal level I didn't yet understand.

My eyes went over his head. He had five ribbons when normal humans had three and monsters had four. He was special, something more than a half-beast.

"You used to be able to manipulate them," he stated, ever aware of where my mind and body were.

"Yeah." I had half a mind to experiment on him but feared hurting him as well. Was it wrong not to hurt someone who had hurt so many? Did that make me weak?

I glanced around and stretched for a plastic cup on top of the jug of water. I set it down on the cot beside me and focused on the ribbons. First I pulled at the blue one.

The cup collapsed on itself.

"Hmm."

I tried to repair it and managed to return it to its shape, save for a dent. Little-me had brought creatures to life with green ribbons. I looked over my head but didn't see any ribbons at all.

Adonis rose as I played with the cup and went to the back of the cell.

"Come to life, you d.a.m.ned thing." I leaned back, frustrated, and glanced at the ribbons flowing off the cot beneath me. "Or you. Someone."

With my focus on the ribbons, I didn't pay him any attention until I heard rustling. I glanced over my shoulder and back, and my jaw went slack.

"What're you doing?" I squeaked.

He was naked, his backside to me. My eyes went over his muscular back to the narrow hips and waist and the a.s.s that looked ... amazing. Was an a.s.s supposed to look amazing? Every part of Adonis was incredibly perfect except the part of him that specialized in hurting people.

"It's time," he answered.

"For what?"

"For me to change."

"You couldn't change behind the curtain?" And then I understood. He wasn't changing clothes. He was turning into a monster. Here in our cell. "Never mind." Uncertain whether to be concerned or awed, I stood in mild alarm to watch.

Adonis took a deep breath and released it, his shoulders moving up and down with the movement. Wings sprouted from the blades, growing faster than I could track with my eyes. His skin flushed grey, and his size increased noticeably but not by much. His hair disappeared to leave his head bald, and his head changed shape. A tail sprouted.

The magnificent creature I had seen at the lake was suddenly before me, as incredible and real as I had imagined. In my dream, and from a distance, he was intimidating, but nowhere near as imposing as he was mere meters away. I found myself retreating towards the door.

He turned to face me, the fantastical beast that first warned me my world wasn't what I thought it was. He tucked his wide wings around him, and his tail tapped the wall. Teal eyes glowed the same color as my gem. My eyes skimmed down his body, and I flushed when they fell to his groin.

"Thank the G.o.ds. Monsters come with ..." I motioned to him and silently screamed at myself for being stupid. "... loin clothes."

I can remove it if you find it offensive, the soft whisper came from inside my mind.

"No! Oh, my G.o.ds!" I'd never been more humiliated.

He was amused. His fanged smile was scarier than Herakles'.

"Okay," I said and swallowed hard. "We survived your first change." Although I felt like hyperventilating at the thought he could morph into a creature. He resembled a gargoyle with his heavy, uneven features built to scare.

You clench your right fist when you're scared.

"Wait a minute!" I yelled and shook out the tension of my right arm. "A teddy bear talking in my head is one thing. You don't get to do that!"

I cannot communicate with you otherwise.

"I'm good with not communicating. Be a good monster and don't talk to me."

He tilted his head and pointed behind me. My eyes stuck to the long talon extending from his grey hand. He had torn four men limb from limb to protect me. I had the sudden desire to sleep with a sword this night.

He pointed again.

I turned and leapt back. The cot and cup were both alive. The cot was b.u.mping silently against the wall. The cup rolled back and forth, unable to right itself with the handle in its way.

"Holy Hades," I breathed. "I really did it."

The cot changed directions and started towards me. I backpedaled, amazed yet sort of freaked out by the weird display. I smacked into Adonis, who steadied me. Shoving his hands away, I tripped over the walking cot and went down with it, both of us tangled and thrashing. Something ripped, and I shoved the cot off me and scrambled to my feet.

"s.h.i.t. Okay." I caught my breath. The cot had gotten stuck on the other one and torn down the center. The cup began to roll towards me. "Nope. We're done with this." I plucked the green ribbon from it and the cot and lowered my hand, not sure what to do with them. Light as air yet mine to control, I finally patted them against my thigh. They disappeared.

Well handled.

I risked a look at the creature, who was watching with his arms crossed, exposing roped forearms. The muscles of his athletic frame were perfectly defined under tight gray skin. I caught myself staring too long and shook my head. "You seriously look like this every night?" I managed finally.

He bowed his head.

"I see why I called you Mismatch. Your ears and face are ..."

He growled.

"... lopsided but beautiful. Like, you are incredible, Adonis." I cleared my throat. "Never mind. I think I destroyed the cots. Hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor."

He extended a wing.

I eyed it.

I sleep on them.

I hesitated then touched the inside of one wing carefully. The downy fleece lining it was softer than anything I'd ever felt. "Wow." I ran both hands through the strange fur, smiling despite being weirded out by everything that had happened recently. "I can see why. These are incredible." I also innately understood little-me's fascination with the creature. Stunning did not begin to describe him, and the wings made me want to melt into them and sleep forever.

I was finally beginning to feel the drain of the insanity I'd been through.

You are tired. I can feel it.

"Bad monster!"

Mismatch moved the dead cots to the back of the cell and wrapped himself in one wing then lay down, spreading out the other on the ground. Oddly enough, I was less nervous around the monster. He was scary, yes, but something about Adonis left me self-conscious and rattled.

"You don't bite do you?" I asked.

Only when warranted.

I rolled my eyes. The monster that so gently picked up Mrs. Nettles and me was less scary than the man I couldn't read.

"I won't hurt them will I?" I asked, pulling off my shoes and socks. I sat down with a grimace, my back hurting.

No.

I rested my hands on the wing then let them sink into its plushness, soon grinning from the softness. "This is amazing!" I stretched out carefully onto my belly and rested a cheek against it. His scent was everywhere, and I sighed.

The wing rolled around me, and I went with it, surrounded by warmth and softness unlike anything I'd ever experienced. The rolling stopped and loosened, easing out from around me without releasing.

"I'm a human burrito!" I said cheerfully. "Do you eat humans?"

No.

I closed my eyes, intending to relax for a few minutes, but ended up toppling into deep slumber.

Chapter Fifteen.

Gentleness is the antidote for cruelty.

Phaedrus Banging on the door jarred me awake. I blinked, not recalling where I was until I saw the dreary concrete walls. I was warm despite the damp chill of morning underground in a place with no central heat or air conditioning and lifted my head. My body was sore, my back aching and feeling like the wound would tear if I dared move. The sound of metal trays sliding on concrete floors came a second before the door clanged shut.

Falling asleep with a monster wasn't as strange as waking up with Adonis. One of his arms was draped over me, and we were spooning. He was wearing pants, thank the G.o.ds, or I would've totally lost it. I did sneak a peek at the smooth, rounded muscles of his chest and biceps. There wasn't much about him that didn't amaze me.

"How's the back?" he asked without opening his eyes.

I really despised how he did that. "Awesome. Ready for another go!"

"Good."

I wasn't fooling either of us, but I didn't care. I pushed to my knees and moved away from him, sweeping one last look down his body. Ugh. He was perfect. Aside from the homicidal tendencies, the mental games and the fact he had access to too-much-information when it came to me.

I got to my feet, and groaned aloud. "Oh, G.o.ds that hurts!"

Adonis said nothing. He stood, displaying none of the aches and pains I did. I straightened all the way. I didn't feel remotely ready for another day in the ring.

Someone had brought us a mushy breakfast. I bit back another groan as I picked up both trays from the door and brought them to the center of the room. Adonis was dressing, and I sat heavily.

"You know you snore?" he asked.

Awkward did not begin to explain the close quarters. I ate without responding and willed my body to stop aching quite so much.

"You ready for today?"

I continued to ignore him, not in the mood for shape shifting grotesques or their annoying SISA chief personas.

"Not talking." Was he amused? I didn't dare acknowledge him with a look.

We ate, and he pulled out the first aid kit. I watched for a split second as he rolled up a sleeve and prepared to bandage the nasty looking wound on his arm.

"I can do that," I said.

He said nothing about me breaking my silence but held out the bandage. I shifted forward and took it. I wrapped his forearm carefully, how Herakles taught me. When finished, I sat back and admired the work briefly.

"Your guardian taught you well," Adonis said.

"Yep." I looked at him for the first time this morning. It was true. I had already begun to reap the rewards of his training. And yet ...

My parents. Today, after some good rest, I was starting to think differently about the issue I brushed off yesterday. I was good at denying things I didn't want to deal with. Or ... emotional issues, because I'd been taught by example to ignore feelings in favor of action. Was that because Herakles himself didn't know how to deal with what he'd done?

Lost in dark thought, I was gazing into Adonis' eyes. Heat warmed my cheeks. He was too enigmatic for me to begin to guess if he knew what I was thinking.

"You razed my forest." I needed the reminder that the man before me was no better than the man Herakles had been. I was kind of afraid of learning to trust someone to find their secrets unbearable, and Adonis struck me as someone who had a lot to hide.