Chapter 83 - The Odorium

After a few minutes, they approached a large house at the end of a dead end street.

It was large, with brick paint, white details, and a light gray roof. The place was surrounded by beautiful trees and a mowed lawn, indicating that the place was very well taken care of.

Paolo parked the car inside the garage and they entered the house.

The house was beautiful. They had shades of white, cream and navy blue scattered throughout the room. With beautiful art paintings and some artificial plants scattered around the place.

Suddenly, something grabbed Ethan's leg, with faint bites on his heel.

"What the fuck?" Ethan said, looking down and pulling his leg away.

That's when he saw an English Bulldog in caramel color with shades of white biting Ethan's leg, wanting to play.

"Oh, hi, little buddy!" Ethan said, bending down to pet the dog, who was drooling all over his sneakers.

"Bailey, go lie down!". Paolo ordered, but the puppy ignored it.

"Urg!" Paolo grumbled, walking toward the dog. He held Bailey in his lap, who looked like a soft, heavy pillow on Paolo's lap.

"Go on, get down to the basement while I hold him.". Paolo said, as Bailey's drool fell to the floor.

Ethan and Alice went downstairs without thinking. As they turned on the lights, they saw how big that place was. It didn't look like an ordinary basement. It was all covered in marble, making it extremely fancy and nice. There was an air-conditioner that made the air more comfortable, without that musty smell. Some blue armchairs were positioned in the corner, next to a television and some baseball game decorations.

"So... what did you guys think?" Paolo asked, closing the door as he pushed Bailey with his leg, so he wouldn't enter the room.

"It's amazing!". Ethan said, observing the place.

"ISN'T IT? This one here is my pride and joy. It took me a long time to get it ready. I'll be damned if I let Bailey in here. He'd eat it all up!". Paolo said, coming down the stairs.

"But then, what are we doing here?". Ethan asked.

"Have a seat, please!". Paolo said, pointing to the armchairs. "How long ago did you start using your gift?". Paolo asked.

"I think a little less than 1 month!". Ethan replied.

"Right. So you don't understand everything about your gift! Well, I'll explain it to you.". Paolo said, settling into his chair.

"Gifts are made of particles. All of them. Some are visible and some are not, but they are always seen by their respective owner. These particles have something like a smell. We call it Odorium. This smell can be traced by other demigods for miles around. If I let you use your powers anywhere, they will track you. That will make it your death sentence, since well... you know... they don't want you alive!". Paolo said.

"Tracked...? I... I think I've already been tracked by them!". Ethan said, which caused Paolo to change his expression from relaxed to worried in seconds.

"What? Why do you think that? No one imagined you were in Forks. None of them are on that side of the Country...." Paolo said, confused.

"A few days after I started developing my gift, something chased me when I was with a friend of mine, Mike." Ethan said, looking at Alice, who looked at him with confusion.

"How...how was it?" Paolo asked, rubbing one hand over the other.

"It was a shape. I didn't see it very well, I just remember feeling the sensation of being chased. It was in broad daylight and only stopped when I finally got close to the busy street. But it was so fast...it didn't seem like it wanted to catch up with me." Ethan said, confused.

"You didn't smell anything?". Paolo asked.

"I don't think so.". He replied.

"Although, you don't know what that smell is. Maybe you did, you just didn't recognize it...". Paolo thought, getting up from the armchair.

He started pacing back and forth, thinking about what Ethan had said.

"How long are you guys going to be here?". Paolo asked.

"Almost 2 months!". Alice replied.

"Great! That's enough time for us to find Hayden before the demigods, but I wonder why they didn't get to you sooner. If they knew you were alive, then... why didn't they kill you?". Paolo wondered.

"And how can we find Hayden then? Without the others finding me?" Ethan asked.

"Well, as I was saying, I designed this place so that the Odorium can't be tracked by anyone. This is the perfect place for you to train if we don't want to leave here for now, but it won't be that useful for that long." Paolo said.

"And what am I going to train with? I think I'm advanced enough that I can no longer evolve my powers with just the darkness." Ethan informed.

"And who says you will only develop with darkness?". Paolo asked, causing Ethan to be quiet. "I believe that you are already very advanced, but not that you have developed all your initial abilities to the fullest." Paolo added.

"When I suck someone's soul, it is much easier for me to upgrade those skills than just through darkness.". Ethan retorted.

"Have you been recharging your energies in the darkness?". Paolo asked.

"No, but I can do that when I suck one up...". Ethan began to reply.

"Are you at least training the simpler skills?". Paolo asked, interrupting.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying?". Ethan questioned.

"And you're going insane every time you use your gift to the max, right?". Paolo asked, pointing a random stick towards Ethan, who was quiet again.

"Yeah, well... I'm controlling it more and more, but it's a bit more lens and...". Ethan started to say.

"And THAT'S WHY you need to train your initial skills! The first thing you get is control of your sanity, but you don't realize that. We all have that and, our training, starts with particle control, which slowly erodes our sanity, but with regeneration, we can balance that out. The problem is, when you don't train particle control, you let the particles eat away at you much more than you regenerate. Thus, causing you to lose your sanity!

Ethan was thoughtful for a few seconds.

"So, everyone has a problem with sanity?". He asked.

"Yes! Everyone! But the sanity of others causes them to become terrified, panicked, ending their own lives. In your case, however, it's a little different. You don't feel fear, you become a monster without empathy. Destroying everything and everyone in front of you". Paolo said, fiddling with some equipment, where he took out his staff.

"Is that why they want to kill me? Why do they think I'm not capable of controlling my sanity?". Ethan asked.

"Not only that, but you have the potential to become one of the strongest demigods. Going so far as to make the final battle unfair to the others." Paolo said.

"Daddy?" A sweet little girl's voice came from upstairs.

"Oh, that must be Emy. What do you say we go upstairs for now? She can't wait to meet you!". Paolo said, pointing upstairs.

As Ethan walked through the door, he could see Emy cuddled with Bailey, who was licking her face in great animation.

"Ethan!" Emy said, approaching him with a twinkle in her eyes.

Emy was quite short. She looked just like in the pictures, but she had her blonde hair a little longer. Her eyes were round and bright caramel. They didn't look like Alice's or Ethan's. They were more normal, just a caramel mixed with a brown.

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