In celebration of the Dawn saga's new covers, here is the next chapter!

Thank you so much l3sbianaf for my new covers! They are stunning! Everyone should check out Asher's work on her profile; she's so talented and puts her heart and soul into each and every one of her designs! 

The Turquoise Echo

"When you said you know of someone who'll bring all of this into perspective, I didn't think you meant the perspective of the dead."

I rolled my eyes at my husband's tone of voice and pinched the back of his hand. "Are you here to listen and keep an open-mind or do you want to go home and sulk?"

"Home and sulk, thank you." Thanatos turned around without a second beat, but a voice from a few metres away loudly exclaimed; "Well, well, well... If it isn't my favourite death deity."

Thanatos back to the front and loudly shushed the old wizard with a finger to his lips. "Keep quiet, you old fool!"

Conrad chuckled evilly and held up his pale hand to signal to Thanatos that he'd stop his antics. "Yes, yes."

It was odd for Thanatos wanting people to refrain from using his name in normal situations, but here- in the great Elysian Fields- Thanatos wasn't a very popular name. many heroic lives have been cut short over the past seven thousand years because Thanatos had to step in and end things- for better or for worse. Life was life and death was, well...

Death was currently pouting.

"So you honestly think Conrad is going to help me deal with this horrible decision our children have made?"

Conrad opened his mouth with a big 'ah' as he neared us. "So this isn't just a friendly visit, I take it?"

I took the old man's hand in mine and sighed sadly; "I'm afraid not, no."

"And I take it Theia followed her heart instead of her head?"

"Yes." Thanatos grumbled angrily and glared at the horizon, as if his daughter was standing there waving innocently and her face guilt-ridden. "I don't understand that girl." He said rather loudly; "I thought we'd raised her to be logical about things. Who on earth advised her that this was a good idea?"

I shrugged, but Conrad's face paled a bit. He cleared his throat and rubbed his naked chin- the old man had shaved, miraculously, or had it shaven, I should say. The Elysian Fields had hundreds of servants for every purpose, no matter how peculiar or small. "Yes, it is odd, isn't it, but don't you think it's for the best?"

"And pray tell why in the darkest pits of Tartarus would this be for the best?" Thanatos questioned Conrad with a lifted brow. Sometimes, in the broad daylight, he really didn't look much older than he did a couple hundred years ago.

Conrad, however, looked particularly worn out at that very moment. "Thanatos, I understand that your children's safety is your main priority, but shouldn't their happiness be too?"

"They can be sad and safe- happy and dead don't sound all that good to me."

Conrad and I shot him a look and Thanatos sighed and waved off our glares; "Oh, relax. I was making a joke. Of course their happiness means the world to me, but I just don't understand why Theia wants to involve herself with beings that aren't worth the trouble?"

"Perhaps that's not how she sees it?" Conrad shrugged and gestured for us to follow him.

I held his hand as we walked and rubbed his forearm. "I will admit that I'm no totally happy with this, especially with the way in which they all left, but I do understand Theia's mind and the way she thinks." I said to my old mentor. He nodded and listened as I spoke. "I just wish that she knew the dangers that come with all of this. We didn't shelter her from all of that, did we?"

Conrad shook his head and a small chuckle flew from his mouth; "Not at all, dear. Theia and the twins were educated on all grounds- especially earth's history. They know what to expect up there and they're adaptable. Frankly, I don't think you should be too worried. You both raised astoundingly capable children."

"You sound rather shocked by that?" Thanatos asked with a sly tone and Conrad huffed at him from the side; "With you as the father I half expected three snarling gremlins."

"Be glad you're dead, Conrad." Thanatos smiled thinly and I giggled at the two men. Some things never change.

"I'm sorry to have to come to you with all of this, Conrad." The wizard shook his head with a smile; "Please, don't be. I want to help. I cannot handle another chess game for as long as I live- oh. Well, for as long as I am?" He shrugged and waved away the idea with the flick of his hand and dropped it to my own to pat it affectionately. "Point of the matter is; you two need to slow down and relax. You raised three amazing, kind, intelligent and resourceful children. Two of whom are potential psychopaths, but still- they're very capable of looking out for themselves and each other."

"Thank you, Conrad." I nodded in appreciation. "I think." Oh, who am I kidding? Claudeus and Casseus were probably already in trouble somewhere.

At least they had Theia...

"I do see your point," Thanatos said with some reservation, but I sensed he wasn't completely won over; "Although, I would love to know what their damn goal is? How do they plan on achieving it? And who in the hell am I going to send to spy on them?"

"No." I said curtly.

Thanatos gave me a look, as if to ask whether or not I was mad in the head. "We are sending Zaul to check up on them; that's final."

"Must I say this to you in Greek so you'll understand? We are not spying on our children. End of discussion." I crossed my arms and glared up at my husband.

Thanatos scoffed and pointed to me, while he directed his question to the dead wizard. "Some days she drives me totally insane. And not in a good way."

"No spies." I put my foot down- literally. "If they want to do this 'feat of heroism' and be on their own terms, then so be it. I'm not saying we won't help if they ever ask, but I want them to know exactly what they got themselves in for here- mommy and daddy aren't going to fly in every time a crack appears."

Conrad whistled softly; "Tough love."

"Well, that's how it should be." I said sternly and directed my glare at my husband. "I'm letting them go on certain conditions. If they want to plunge into the deep end after we already told them that it was hard to stay afloat, then they'll need to learn how to swim."

Thanatos sighed and added; "Meanwhile, I'll keep the life-raft on hand, seeing as Aurora has decided to abandon ship."

"Don't start with me."

Conrad looked between the two of us with a frown and tutted his finger in the air, indicating to the space separating us. "Since when do you two bicker this much?"

"What do you mean?" Thanatos asked with an equally confused frown; "We've always bickered?"

"Yes, but then it was sort of unbearable to be in the same room, because the bickering was hiding sexual tension and now it's just a little too real."

I sighed and ran a hand down my face in frustration. "It's just lately we've been really busy in the palace and the empire is expanding and then this whole thing with Theia and earth and the damn rebellion-"

"You two need some time for yourselves." Conrad said with no hint of playfulness- not even a hint of teasing. He looked dead serious and very concerned. "I know I've said this before, but hopefully this time you'll both actually listen- you're working yourselves to the bone. It's not necessary." Conrad gave us both a very pointed look and shook his head like a disappointed parent. We knew the look.

"I know, I know..." I said and rubbed Thanatos' arm with my palm. I looked up at him with apologetic eyes; "I'm sorry, dear."

"No, I am." Thanatos smiled at me and pulled me into his chest. He held me close. "I suppose I overreacted a bit; but I'm worried."

"Me too."

"Me too." Conrad shook his head and stared at the ground in thought. We smiled at him and shared a knowing look- old Conrad never had any children of his own, but he had ours to spoil and teach. He loved them dearly.

"Thank you, Conrad." Thanatos said sincerely and smiled softly at the man he practically carried through death.

Conrad smiled and nodded his head, his grey hair whipping around. "Hmm... Now go and rest. I think you both need it. I'm sure they're all fine and if they weren't; you'd know by now."

"Thank you." I smiled and leaned in to hug my mentor. He patted my hair and shooed us off.

But then, a sudden thought crossed over Thanatos' eyes and he stopped. I'd already waved my hand in the air and my blue portal had formed in the centre. As it stretched out to allow us to fit through, Thanatos turned to Conrad with a stern look in his eye; "Wait a minute- how did you know that Theia followed her heart and not her head?"

Conrad nervously clapped his hands together and chuckled; "What do you mean?"

"You knew she had a decision to make? You knew about her wanting to go to earth?"

Conrad looked to me with pleading eyes and I realised exactly how he'd known our problem without me even having to really say a thing.

And when I put two-and-two together, so did Thanatos. He snarled; "You were the one who told Theia to make her own decision, didn't you?"

"Young adults learn through their mistakes."

I grabbed Thanatos by the hand and pulled him into the portal before he had the chance to storm back and carry Conrad towards another death.

"You're not upset by this?" Thanatos huffed as soon as we landed. He was fuming, once again, but this rage was unlike his normal anger. It was more linked to frustration than raw rage.

"No. I'm not upset, because in the end Theia still made her own decision- that's what Conrad advised her to do. I hope." I ran a hand through my hair and tried to reassure Thanatos' new worry. "Let's just calm down, have a nice lunch and we can talk about this tonight-"

"He's gone!"

Thanatos and I turned around to find a distraught Persephone running up to us with wide, puffy eyes. Hades was walking in the back, completely devoid of emotion. He always got like this whenever his wife started to cry- he hated it. Hades would shrink back to his study until the fireworks were over.

"Pers-"

"My boy! He's gone!" Persephone slammed against me and cried on my shoulder. Hades, who was still a few feet away, sighed and explained; "Malreus left a note. It says he's gone to earth to help Theia and to take care of some... business? What on earth is going on, Thanatos?"

"It's a long story." My husband said with a deadpan voice and the two kings of the Underworld took a step back when Persephone let out a snivelling sob. "My baby boy! Aurora! What am I going to do?

"Pers, he's gone to earth for a bit- he's not dead!" I shouted at her and tried to get her to stop crying on my shoulder. "Can you just move a bit? This dress is expensive!"

"Screw your dress! My son is gone and he didn't even tell me!"

"Well, he did technically tell you with the-" Persephone lifted her head and glowered at Thanatos with a furious look. Her make-up was smudged and it was running down her cheeks in streaks, her eyes red. Thanatos pursed his lips and swallowed.

"Everything will be fine, darling-" Hades started to say, but was interrupted by a new, even louder voice.

"Rora!"

We all turned our head to the gates to find a fuming Trita and Sonya marching straight towards us. Barrios and Hypnos scurried in after them, their eyes wide. Both of my old friends were holding a small, white note.

I looked up at the blue sky and shook my head- oh, Theia. What have you done?

"Is this some sort of joke?" Trita flipped the note up and held it up for me to read.

It read- 'Mater,

Please don't be angry, but I've decided to follow the twins up to earth to help Theia and Malreus bring down a mortal tyrant. I know this doesn't make any sense, but trust me- it will.

I love you.

Morpheus.'

"Ai, for fuck's sake." I closed my eyes and Persephone grabbed the letter from Trita. "Mine says the same thing! What is going on?"

"Narray is gone too." Sonya shook her head; "And she's a demi-goddess! If anything happens to her-"

"Nothing will happen to them." I tried to reassure my friends; "Look, let's all sit down and we can talk this through over lunch? How does that sound?"

"You want to eat while my son is on some germ, mortal-invested dump?" Persephone cried and threw herself on Trita. My brunette friend shook her head and tried to push Persephone off her, but it didn't work.

Suddenly, a new pair of heels clicked against the ground and Amphitrite marched up to us with a glare. We all backed up immediately. Poseidon ducked in from behind, smiling like a fool. "Explain!" Amphitrite shouted at us from a distance, while she held up a piece of crumpled up paper.

"Amphi, calm down-" Hypnos attempted to say, but Amphitrite slammed the paper into his chest and winded him. "I will not calm down! My son is galivanting on earth, no doubt causing more trouble than good! How the hell did this happen?"

"I think it's pretty fantastic!" Poseidon said from behind her with a smile directed at us, but Amphitrite gritted her teeth and swung her hand back to hit him and he ducked just in time to avoid her hard blow. He yelped and jumped behind Barrios, who looked between the two with terrified eyes.

With a deafening boom and a big gust of wind, a portal opened up beside us, in the gardens.

All of our eyes widened, including Thanatos and Hades'. The reason? Well, the portal's colour was gold. There was only one person with that specific kind of golden portal.

"Oh, no!" I moaned and out popped the Emperor and his wife- ready to make an imperial scene.

Apollo was shouting before he'd even landed with his two feet on the ground. "Who in their right mind is responsible for this?"

"Here we go..." Thanatos sighed and we all waited for the inevitable speech.

Eventually though, after Apollo threw his fit and Hemera nearly started crying, which ended up making Persephone cry- again- I'd managed to corral everyone into the dining chamber and Thanatos and I had tried our best to explain the situation to them. We tried our best to calm them down.

It finally worked when Opis instructed the servants to bring in a whole case of Nectar.

Needless to say, the issue was resolved for the time being.

By dusk, Persephone couldn't even remember that she had a son...

Theia's POV

It was late afternoon already and the gang had had their time to sit down and relax after their daring escape from home.

My nerves were shot and the passing time had done absolutely nothing to ease my worries. I was scared stiff at the thought of my father showing up with his large scythe and twenty reapers to come and 'escort' me back home.

The sun was slowly starting to set on our small, simple camp we'd set up beside the large lake. The waterfall wasn't the highest, but it did inspire a whole afternoon of exciting cliff-diving adventures for the boys. The twins, Asclepius, Morpheus and Triton were all swimming and chattering in the cool lake, their minds very far from any type of worry. I wish I could say the same.

I sat beside the camp fire, staring into the flames. Narray had started it up the old-fashioned way, with a stick, a rock and some dry grass. It was the way she preferred it- she wasn't the biggest fan of magic and she really did do everything she could to avoid it. My old friend was currently sitting across from me, whittling with her pocket knife.

Malreus was busy setting up a tent on the left side of the camp, while Simos was pitching one on the right side. I glanced over my shoulder at them both; it looked for like a race to see who could aggressively hit an iron nail into the ground the fastest. They really didn't like each other, did they?

I rolled my eyes and shifted my head back to the front to stare into the flames. Narray eyed me from under her lashes; "What's up with you and Simos?"

My eyes met hers with surprise; "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

"Well, he clearly likes you." She smirked and continued to whittle. I couldn't make out what she was trying to carve yet. "And Malreus does not like that."

"Simos doesn't have any feelings for me- he's a charmer and a spy. It's in his nature to be charming." My eyes narrowed at her, but she was very focused on her block of wood. "And Malreus is just overprotective. That's all. I don't trust Simos that much just yet, so I do understand his concern."

Narray looked up at me and her hand stopped moving. She shook her head at me and I asked; "What?"

"Really? You're going to tell me you don't see what's going on here?"

"Uh... No? I don't?"

"Malreus is jealous of Simos." Narray said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I scoffed, but she wasn't done talking; "And Simos doesn't like Malreus, because you two are so close and he'd prefer it if Mal wasn't even in the picture."

"That's ridiculous and if it were true- if-" I emphasised; "Then Malreus is just feeling left out, because maybe I have a new friend and Simos is just apprehensive towards Mal, because he's been acting very cold towards him."

Narray smiled at me and exhaled a short, curt breath. "To live inside your sharp, yet obtuse head for one day..."

"I will ignore that back-handed compliment and say thank you." I smiled at her and sunk down to the ground, resting my back against the log I was sitting on. I sighed; "Do you think our parents have disowned us already?"

"Oh, without a shadow of a doubt." She replied jokingly, but I knew she was being serious.

"What are you making?" I pointed to the wood in her hands and she lifted it up against the dying light. "I'm trying to make a stag, but I think it might end up looking more like a turtle."

"I do love turtles."

Narray smiled at me and chuckled under her breath, but before she replied, her eyes caught movement behind me. Her grin turned up and into one of knowing. "Tent all set-up?" Her question wasn't directed at me.

I turned my head to look up and found Malreus standing behind me, his sword in his hand. He'd used the hard, platinum hilt of his sword to hit in the iron nails into the ground. Some sweat had formed on his forehead and he'd taken off most of his sleek, leather armour earlier in the day before he'd started to help Simos with the camp site. His arms weren't covered anymore and his big muscles were damp with perspiration and some dirt.

The air was humid and the sun had been hot; even now, with the sun nearly under the horizon, the jungle still felt stuffy. "You and Theia can share that tent tonight." He said happily, satisfied with his handywork. He was always very good with his hands.

I blushed suddenly. Must be the heat. Silly girl.

"Thank you." I smiled up at him and his serious expression broke and he smiled back. It lit up his face. "My pleasure."

Malreus tucked his sword into its sheath and carefully placed it beside the log. That sword was specifically designed for him through his father's explicit request. It was made entirely from one of the hardest metals in the Underworld and it curved in slightly from the middle to create a menacing look. The hilt was made from a platinum alloy that was both light and durable, and the pommel was adorned with polished Lapis Lazuli gems, curved and shaped to improve his grip.

It was a Scimitar sword- deadly, intimidating and absolutely beautiful.

Much like its owner.

"So have you fallen over anything yet?"

"You make me sound so clumsy." I grumbled at him as he sat down beside me and leaned back against the log, spreading his arms out to sit comfortably.

He smirked at my profile; "You are."

"I am not clumsy- I'm just too efficient for my feet." I smacked his chest and he chuckled.

Just then, another figure plopped down on the ground. Simos had seated himself on my other side with a broad smile. "So you're clumsy? I would never have guessed..."

Malreus immediately sat up straight and picked up a stick to poke at the fire. His smile was gone. I turned to Simos with a small smile and shook my head; "Ignore him. I am not clumsy. They just like to pull my leg."

Simos nodded and I glanced over to see how far Narray was with her stag-turtle, but she was staring at me with a sly smile. I narrowed my eyes at her and glared, but that didn't stop her. "Nice tent, Simos." She said and gestured with her chin to the man's creation. "I can't decide which one is better..." She attempted to pick one, but then quickly added; "Theia; what do you think?"

My teeth clamped together and I shot her a look, but she ignored it and pressed again; "Simos or Malreus?"

The two men on either side of me said nothing and they didn't move. I felt their eyes on the side of my face. "Um... I think they're both really good."

"But which one should we sleep in tonight?" Narray asked quickly.

I felt like smacking her. "Well, Mal did pitch his for us-"

"So did I." Simos quickly added and shrugged; "I'm sleeping under the stars."

"Oh, well..." I cleared my throat and looked at the ground. "Oh, but you know what? That sounds great! I think I'll sleep outside too."

The two men sat up and turned their full attention onto me. Oh, fantastic.

"But I set the tent up just for you?" Malreus said with a confused look and Narray piped in with an insulted look; "And me?" He ignored her.

Simos pulled a face and half-laughed at my suggestion; "Wait, no; you're a princess. I made you shelter- just for you. Use it."

"That's really sweet of you both, but I like sleeping under the stars. Really."

"You've slept on the ground before?" Simos sounded very unconvinced.

I shot him a look; "Of course. I go hunting and camping. Believe me; I've spent many nights sleeping out in the open when I'm meant to share a tent with my brothers. They give me claustrophobia." Casseus had the snore of ten Cerberuses and Claudeus always pulled the blanket away, even when he had his own one. I might've been a princess, but I was used to 'roughing' it sometimes.

"Theia," Malreus tried one more time to convince me to use his tent. "We don't know what dangers lurk in this jungle at night-"

"All the better reason to have me out here to help you both be a look-out." I smiled and clapped my hands. "Right. So that's settled. Narray can have a tent to herself." My smile turned annoyed when I heard her chuckle. She planned this...

The two men sighed, but gave up. They knew there wasn't any way that I was going to change my mind, so they just let it be. Their moods were more sour than ever before; clearly having thought that I was going to use their tent as my haven tonight.

I tried to bring the conversation back to the real reason we were all seated here in the first place; "So, Simos; when can be discuss the plan?"

Simos nodded and looked up at the sky. The sun had dipped down and the red and purple tones were scattered across the heavens. Some stars had already shown their faces; twinkling softly with amusement. "I'll call the others, then we can start."

"Good." I nodded and crossed my legs and sat up straight. "The sooner we get things going, the better..."

Are you excited to see what the children have planned? How long do you think Thanatos will keep his word and not get involved?

Next edit- Simos...