reincarnate

this scene comes right after the last, so there's nothing to fill you in on. that's probably how a lot of the next few scenes will be, it's a tad bit action packed from this point on. :) so read and enjoy!

I felt a soft bed beneath me as I surfaced heavily back to consciousness. A familiar scent filled the air and I felt a warm hand brush against my face. I opened my eyes to find myself back in Marc's bed, staring at the open window in the corner. My head spun for one deafening moment as I tried to grasp what had been real and what had been a dream. Images flooded back to me; the smell of smoke, voices calling to me from the darkness, Haylee beside the fire with a child in her arms. I glanced next to me and saw Marc slumped in a chair with his eyes closed. One hand propped up his head, burns still red along his forearms, and one hand rested on my pillow lightly touching my cheek. He looked haggard and worn. I heard Haylee laugh from somewhere in the house. Relief flooded through me and replaced the last sickening image of her unconscious in her brother's arms, the dying flames reflected in her pale face.
"Marc?" I whispered. He jumped, his eyes flying open, and I felt my head drop sharply several inches and land against the mattress.
"Oh! Dakota, I'm sorry!" he cried. I felt beneath my head where the pillow had been, but it was gone.
"Did you just vanish my pillow?"
"I'm sorry," he repeated sheepishly, "you startled me."
"I liked that pillow. It smelled like you." His raised one eyebrow.
"I'm...s-" he began.
"If you apologize, I'll hit you." We smiled at each other for a long moment until I could feel the blush creeping against my skin.
"So, Haylee..." I started.
"Is downstairs pouring through every mythology book that I own," he smiled fondly.
"I don't know anything about Hestia," I said, remembering the last vision.
"The goddess of the hearth."
"Also known as the goddess of fire," Haylee said, coming through the hall into the room, beaming. Peter followed her.
"Do you know what a hearth is? I didn't know what a hearth was," he said, shaking his head.
"The fire of a home?" I asked.
"Showoff," Peter muttered.
"It's the heart of the family, it brings them comfort and life," she said smiling.
"Isn't it sickeningly appropriate?" Peter said, mussing his sister's hair.
"I still don't understand..." I trailed off. Peter flopped down onto my bed.
"It means that we're gods and you should worship us," he said with a smirk. Marc pretended to bow to Haylee and she gave a little curtsy.
"But how is that possible?" I asked.
"Possible?" Peter laughed. "Have you been paying attention to any of the crazy shit that's been going on? Haylee literally sucked a whole house fire into her skin!"
"It went into my veins, actually, but that's beside the point," she added.
"Into your veins?" he asked in amazement. "But didn't that... hurt?"
"Yes," she said quietly, absentmindedly hugging herself tightly.
"Wait," I interrupted, "so are you... what? Descended from the gods?"
"Dakota," Marc spoke in a low voice, "I think they are the gods."
"That can't be," I said, sitting up. Peter looked affronted.
"Why not?" he asked harshly.
"If the gods were real, then they already existed. You would have to just be related to them because they would still be around, wouldn't they? Immortality and all." A cool breeze floated through the open window, it lifted the curtains and brushed across my skin. A small voice whispered into my ear, They have been forgotten. I froze. "What did you say?" I asked, my voice cracked. I looked at each one of them, but they all appeared just as confused as I was.
"No one said anything," Marc responded, his forehead creased. I was losing my mind. I must have lost some serious brain cells from inhaling so much smoke. I pushed it away.
"But what happened to the first gods? The gods of the Greeks and Romans and whoever else?" I asked, desperate to distract their concerned stares.
"Maybe they died," Peter shrugged.
"And we're some sort of... reincarnation?" Haylee asked. Peter nodded, eager to accept any explanation. We all sat in silence, lost in our own thoughts.
"We'll find out, I guess," Peter finally said.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, we'll see what happens when Marc fights the corn field. If the same thing happens and we dream he's a god, too... I think that's too much evidence for it to be a coincidence. If nothing happens... I don't know, maybe Haylee and I are just nuts."
"And what about me?" I asked. The three of them exchanged a brief glance and I was almost sure this was a subject that had already been discussed behind my back.
"We think that you can do something, too," Haylee said, still looking at the others.
"Oh yeah," I laughed, "I forgot to tell you, all the times that I fall down and get in the way I'm really having a supernatural episode."
"You just don't know what it is yet," Peter said, patting my leg encouragingly under the blanket.
"Has it crossed your mind that maybe I just can't do anything?" I asked. They glanced at one another again.
"We think..." Peter began, his face concerned, "that if you couldn't do anything... you wouldn't be alive." I looked at them. It hit me.
"You think there are more of us," I said in a whisper. It wasn't a question.
"Yes," Marc answered.
"How many?" I asked.
"Ten besides us," Peter said.
"There are fourteen gods," Marc said.
"So you think that the only people left alive are all... gods?" I couldn't wrap my head around it.
"We think it might be a possibility," Marc looked at Haylee and she nodded in agreement, gauging my reaction.
"And like I said," Peter broke in, "I think we'll find out when Marc goes into the corn field."
"I'm not going until Dakota is well," he said, avoiding my gaze.
"In that case," Haylee said, laying a hand on my shoulder, "let's have some dinner."
That night passed in much the same way. We sat over dinner and continued our conversation of explanations, not really offering any new information. Marc kept his eyes on me through dinner and into the evening. Peter and I played an uneventful game of chess in the living room while Haylee poured through Marc’s library for mythology books. At one point she gasped and looked up to glare at Peter.
“What’d I do?” Peter asked without meeting her gaze.
“Please don’t ever turn yourself into a horse to chase around women, it doesn’t turn out well for you.” Marc stifled a laugh.
“I won’t...” Peter said, moving his knight illegally for the third time in a row, “as long as she’s not hot.”
“Peter!”