Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

-Jaden-
I sat in silence in my seat – like I had any other fucking choice – but turned to look at Oliver when I felt his... I was bad at naming feelings, but something made him uneasy. He looked back at me like he had felt my gaze on him, looking worried.
I frowned.
"It's... Cedric..." Oliver mumbled so only I could hear him. I waited for him to continue, which he did hesitantly. "He thinks he's the reason Cameron... You know..."
The reason Cameron turned into a homicidal maniac?
"Yeah... But he left again. I don't think he's ready to tell me what happened between them," Oliver said and sighed, turning to look at my father, who was giving orders to his men. "It's nothing good, that's for sure..."
I let out a deep sigh as well. Things really turned to shit really fast. I had the feeling we could trust the peacekeepers, but I still didn't know what to think. I glanced at Ben, and then back at Oliver.
"What?" he asked and looked at Ben as well.
I snorted.
"Yes, yes," Oliver muttered and let out a short chuckle. "You were right about Ben. No need to rub it in."
I really wished I had my voice, so I could've said I told you so. Part of me wasn't even surprised that Ben turned out to be the incredible peacekeeper. I just... Knew it. Just like I knew we were under attack this morning... Which kind of scared me, to be honest. I just... knew.
I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths. Only Arch should've been able to sense danger, but maybe Fenrir was right. Maybe I'd felt Hades' power close by. His helmet or whatever. The artifact Cameron had used to hide from Oliver and the other Spirit Walkers. I usually didn't feel danger like that, after all. But why now? Cameron had been among us for days.
So why now?
"Why didn't they attack us?" Ezra spoke across the table, gaining my attention.
I knew why. Why did I know that? But I did!
"Jaden knows," Oliver said, and all eyes were on me.
I turned to glare at him.
"He'd like a pen and paper," Oliver said, giving me an apologetic grin.
I closed my eyes in frustration.
"How do you know that?" Dad asked me as he walked around the table to get to me.
When Cameron possessed me, I saw... something. I saw glimpses of what he'd seen. I saw him... I saw his shadowy finger touching something invisible...
"And there is another thing I want you to get for me once you're done spying around... Hades' puppy has new toys. Raoul failed to get the Vision, but for now, I'll gladly settle with the Howl. But these wards..."
Cameron had punctured the barrier that was supposed to protect us.
'Their little tricks won't work on me.'
I sat upward in my seat when Dad placed his hand on my shoulder.
"What do you know?" he asked.
"They... They wanted to spy on us," Oliver spoke on my behalf. "They wanted Jaden's gift. Someone failed to get Arch's gift. Someone called... Raoul?"
"Raoul?" Aadhil frowned, looking concerned. "We killed that bastard."
"Now he's a spirit."
"He was a vampire. Vampires don't have spirits," Aadhil said, and silence fell in the Hall for a moment.
"I'm... I don't know enough about spirits..." Oliver muttered. "Could be someone else."
"That doesn't answer my question," Ezra said. "Why didn't they attack us when they had the chance? Ryder could've killed Rayleigh!"
"Please, don't say that..." Ryder begged in a weak voice. "I was possessed!"
"I'm sorry..." Ezra mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that..."
There was another thing I remembered. A feeling. I turned to look at Oliver again. He stared at me in the eyes, putting my thoughts to words.
"Cameron's afraid of me," my mate spoke, sounding surprised.
"You have the power of Hades, the king of the dead," Aadhil said. "Your power is already greater than his."
Oliver seemed a bit too pleased to hear that. That was not the real Oliver. He wouldn't have cared about power.
He glanced at me, knowing exactly what I was thinking, but chose to ignore me.
"I can now protect us, but only until Cameron is free again. We need to get Hades' artifact from him," he spoke.
And mine...
"And Jaden's."
I rolled my eyes.
But why didn't they attack us? They could've filled our territory with shadows and started possessing anyone they could. All they did was to possess a group of teenagers to bully Jack, and Ryder to find our secrets. We didn't even have any secrets. We had no idea what was going on!
And if it was Oliver's power they wanted, what had stopped them from taking it already?
But... that wasn't their goal, right?
I turned to look at Oliver again and gave him time to read my thoughts. He frowned when he understood what I was trying to tell him.
"They don't want my Echo," he said. "They want me."
Cameron said he couldn't wait to see how far Oliver's corruption had spread the next time they met.
"It seems like they'd rather let the darkness corrupt us," Jack spoke with a chilly voice. "They want manpower, not tools."
"Seems like it," Oliver said with a sigh.
"That is not going to happen," my father spoke, and turned to Aadhil. "We need better protections. If you want us as your allies, you need to help me protect my people."
"We don't know our enemy, so I can't promise much, but rest assured, your territory and the nearby town are under our watch," Aadhil spoke.
"Not good enough," my father grunted.
Aadhil bowed his head a little. "I understand your frustration–"
"My beta was possessed! My son was attacked! I'm not frustrated! I'm furious! And I'm so goddamn fed up with this game of hide and seek! How can I protect my people if I can't even see the enemy?!"
Silence fell into the Hall. My father was heaving after his sudden burst of anger as he glared at the senior peacekeeper. Everyone else tried to hold their composure and not show just how much my father's anger scared them. Even I, another Alpha, got shaken to the core.
"You are as well protected as possible," Aadhil began again, and my father looked like he wanted to start dropping heads. "However, we can show you how to defend yourselves."
Dad glared at him for a brief second, but then his posture softened.
"I'm listening."
"Good. Your army is not weak," Aadhil spoke, taking a few steps toward Dad. "We can help you discover your true potential."
He nodded to Ben, who stepped forward as well.
"We are protectors of the human race. Their safety is our greatest concern, and normally, we wouldn't offer our hand to Otherworlders – supernaturals – but this war concerns us all. We need to unite, or we will fall united," he spoke.
"Yes, we agree," Dad said in an annoyed tone.
"We have weapons and powerful artifacts locked away in our fortress. They are far too dangerous in the hands of mortals. We are going against our principles, but we believe this is our best option," the young peacekeeper said, placing his bow on the table.
In front of Tilly.
"For the first time in decades, Arlona is giving back something we've taken," Ben said, straightening his posture.
"Are you..." Tilly said, her greedy eyes never leaving the bow that lay only inches away from her.
"The bow's name is Spirit. Fitting, am I right?" Ben asked.
"And... you're giving it to me?" Tilly asked, her eyes shining even brighter.
"We believe you are the best to wield it. As Cerberus, it should belong to you."
Tilly spent a moment battling against her giddy fit. She did not want to lose her face in front of that guy. "What does it do?" she finally asked with a surprisingly calm voice, standing up to take a better look at the weapon.
"It is used to send runaway spirits back to where they belong," Ben explained. "Whether it is the Spirit or Shadow realm they belong to. Any spirit."
"You can shoot gods with it?" Oliver asked.
"They are spirits," Ben said with a nod.
"Oh, don't you dare shoot me with that."
We all lifted our gazes to see Selene and Helios by the doors. Selene gave the bow the stink-eye before she walked to us.
"I would never," Tilly said, giving the goddess a wide smile. "Also, you and I need to talk."
"Later," Selene said, giving my beta a knowing smile. She then turned her attention to me, and her expression turned angry. "Your gift is gone."
I curled my upper lip at her.
"He's lost his voice too," Oliver explained. "Can you fix it?"
Helios stepped in front of me, placing his hand on the top of my head. My instinct was to pull away from him, but ended up crossing my arms instead and moped. I felt ridiculous with the god's hand on my head.
"Your voice is with the gift. I can't repair it without the Howl," Helios said and stepped back with a sigh. "Another gift of ours... How is this possible?"
Selene looked just as worried as her brother.
"These gifts are made by me," Helios spoke, looking at me with anger in his eyes. "They do not break. They can't be stolen!"
"Your gifts have caused nothing but harm," Dad said, gaining nasty glares from the gods. "Perhaps you should stop showering us with them."
"This is not supposed to happen. Whoever our enemy is, they know more than we do," Selene spoke, trying to stay calm, but she was obviously pissed.
"There should not be a way to take an artifact from their wielders," Aadhil agreed.
I snorted. Oliver heard what I was thinking.
"Unless someone made another artifact to do just that," he spoke.
"That is what we're afraid of," Aadhil said with a nod.
"To create something so powerful..." Helios muttered, peering at his sister.
"They must be powerful, too," Selene ended.
"And who could be so powerful?" Dad asked.
The gods were silent. I didn't like that silence.
"Someone more powerful than you," Dad answered his own question.
Selene and Helios didn't say anything. But they didn't disagree, either.
"Not necessarily more powerful," Aadhil said. "Knowledge is power. We are looking at someone who is old and has had all the time in the world to dig out secrets."
"So basically any god and spirit from the old world," Oliver said.
"But why?" Dad asked. "What are they after? Why are they attacking us? Why do they want these artifacts and why do they want to see strong warriors corrupted?"
He didn't get any answers.
"Great," he said and sighed, turning to look at me. "You guys are staying at the safe house. This is getting far too dangerous for children. We... I don't know. We'll place wards around it and no one will be allowed to–"
I stood up, shaking my head.
"What do you mean, no?" Dad asked.
"We're not children anymore," Oliver spoke. "We may be young, but we are in this war, too."
"Absolutely not!" Dad grunted at me. "I'd ship you far away from here if I knew there was a safer place for you."
I shook my head again.
"Jaden is an Alpha too. His true spirit woke up because of this war. He is meant to fight – we all are," Oliver spoke, but with his own words this time.
Dad glared at him. "I will not let children fight. You are going to the safe house, and you're not stepping foot out of it until this shit show is over!"
I shook my head. I was Cerberus, after all. I was meant to be in this war. We all were meant to be in this war.
I turned to Ben. The peacekeepers could teach us.
"Jaden!" Dad grabbed my arm.
"I said no!"
Those were my words, but it wasn't me who spoke them. Both Tilly and Arch had stood up to speak on my behalf. Everyone stared at them. They shook their heads, looking confused.
It was silent again, but only for a short moment.
"Why did I say that?" Tilly asked. "I... What?"
"It's happening," Selene whispered with a proud smile.
"Cerberus is truly waking up," Helios said in awe. "Your spirits are connecting with each other."
"Uh, what?" Tilly asked.
"Cerberus is one soul," Selene spoke. "I thought we already talked about this?"
"Are our spirits... doing what exactly?" Arch asked.
"The three pieces are becoming one again. It really is a sight to see," Helios said.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound that great," Tilly said. "From an individual point of view."
"It's not like that, don't worry," Selene promised. "You will stay as individuals."
"That's a relief, I hope," Tilly mumbled.
"You will share your senses," Aadhil butted in. "Your abilities, your strengths, your everything. I once saw Cerberus in another life, and it really is beautiful to watch how they fight as one."
"Now that sounds cool," Tilly said with sudden excitement.
"So you want to fight, huh?" Dad asked me in a disappointed manner.
"You are children," Aurora said, giving her daughter a pleading look. "You are too young!"
I stared at my father. I wished I could say the things I wanted to say. This time, Oliver stayed silent. Dad stared back at me, but then looked away. It actually hurt when he looked away.
"Fine," he said, so I grabbed him by his wrist so he couldn't walk away.
Slowly, he turned to look at me again.
"What can we do?" I tried to say, mouthing every word carefully so he could at least read it from my lips. "What else can we do?"
He let out a deep sigh, and then glanced at Arch, Tilly, Oliver, and Jack.
We were all kids, we knew that, but we were now weapons in this war, too. It wasn't our decision, but it was a decision that had been made already.
"You are too young, my boy," Dad whispered.
I gave him a crooked smile.
"You're talking like we're losing this war," Oliver spoke my words. "We will not lose."
Dad snorted at me. "Bunch of cocky little runts," he muttered.
"We're the kings of the world," Tilly said. "And they'll learn that soon."
"You are way too full of yourselves," Dad said with a scoff. "You can't even beat me."
"So you're letting them fight?" Aurora asked him in disbelief, but Tilly stepped in front of her.
"Mom. You raised me as a warrior. You raised us all as protectors. We are not weak, no matter our age."
"I'd be damned if I let a child fight," Aurora spoke, but Tilly shook her head.
"Then we all die," she said quietly. "I wish you could protect us from the war, but you can't. We need everyone."
"By asking us to stand aside, you are asking us to watch as our loved ones are getting hurt and slaughtered," Arch added quietly. "You are asking us to live on knowing we could've made a difference."
"And that is if you win. Because if you don't, they'll just kill us too," Tilly added.
"Together we have a chance," Oliver spoke. "Together we are stronger."
Aurora said nothing. She looked away, shaking her head in misery.
"Mom," Tilly said gently, placing her hand on Aurora's. "Aren't you the White Huntress? Aren't you the ghost our enemy fears the most? Aren't you the death they'll never see coming on the battlefield?"
Aurora's posture straightened as Tilly spoke, but she still didn't say a word.
"What do I have to fear if you are out there watching my back?" Tilly asked.
"I can't lose you," Aurora whispered.
"I can't lose you either, but here you are asking me to stay back and not let me help."
"As much as I hate it," my dad spoke slowly, "they are protectors of this pack, too. And the enemy is targeting them. We are in this together. Our job is to make sure we all come out of this alive."
"Mom?" Tilly tried one more time.
Aurora stared at her with anger and grief in her eyes. Finally, she lifted her head.
"You are my children," she spoke behind her gritted teeth.
This was the Huntress I knew. I could feel her strength and determination filling the Hall as she continued in a dangerous voice,
"Our enemy will soon learn the meaning of it."