We went back to the library and were met by Mrs. Durham, “what do you need this time, Collin?” he asked while arranging some books on the table. “Is Richard Cole and Prometheus the same person?” he blurted out. Mrs. Durham stopped putting books on top of the other and looked at Collin, “and what made you think it’s him?”
“Because he’s reliving death over and over. Just like in mythology.”
“If it’s him, what’re you lads gonna do about it?”
“How do we kill him?” Bart suddenly said.
“Bart!” Azriel, Merikh, and I said together.
“What?! It’s a valid question!” he answered.               
“You all know you cannot kill him. Nothing can. He can get tired and commit suicide over and over, but he will continue to live another day for the rest of his life,” she paused, placing a pile of books in her trolley, “now, if you don’t need anything else, you may go.”
Collin turned to face us but it seems like he is not going to take that as an answer, “Mrs. Durham, please. He’s tired. He just wants this to stop. What can we do to help him?”
Mrs. Durham sighed and turned to face Collin, “if you can find someone who is willing to sacrifice themselves for that man, then you’ll be able to set him free. But if you can’t, then, I’m sorry, my dears, but he has to accept his fate.”               
She left us standing there as she rolled her trolley to the bookshelves to return the books. I looked over by the bookshelves and saw someone peeking through the spaces above the books. I squinted my eyes to see more clearly but I cannot make out the person. I walked over to the shelves, but no one was there. Then I saw the person again on the other bookshelf, I can finally make out that the person is a girl. I walked over to that bookshelf, only to find her gone. I turned around and saw Merikh, “what, uh, what’re you doing?”
“I think I saw someone.”
“Yeah? Like a ghost?”
“No. Like, uh, like a person.”               
He nodded then he proceeded to tell me that Mrs. Durham gave us access to research further in the restricted section. As we walked away from the shelves, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone’s there. Watching us leave.
We were running out of options. We don’t know what to do anymore, we’ve read pages after pages. Books after books, newspapers, magazines. Everything that we can think of, we’re running out of it. We’ve been going up and down of the library, sifting through every bookshelf, but nothing. All of it tells the same thing: Heracles sacrificed himself to stop the curse. “Is anyone of you willing to die for a stranger?” asked Bartholomew as he slaps his hand on top of the book he was reading. We all just looked at him. “No? Then I guess we’ve met the end of this,” he immediately closed the book, stood up, and returned it to the shelf. He released an exasperated sigh. We kind of felt defeated after hours of researching, that’s when we’ve agreed to call it a day. It’s almost 6pm when we got out of the library. Collin and Bart were quiet then Azriel asked, “so…what now?”
The two of them stopped walking and faced him, then we heard a flap of wings and footsteps. Bart turned to see who it was. “Raphael,” he said, “what’re you doing you here?”
He looked behind Bart before answering, “Azriel. Merikh,” he said and nodded at the two brothers. “Good to see you both. Anyway,” he looks at Bart, “what’s this I hear? A man who cannot die? How is that possible?”
“No, sir,” Collin answered, “we suspect that he’s one of the Greek gods. A Titan. His name’s Prometheus.”
He nodded, “what do you know about him so far?”               
“According to myth, he stole fire from the gods. Gave it to humans, and as punishment, he dies. Everyday. Over and over,” I replied. He looked at me and nodded. “Alright, well, I’ll look into this,” he said, “you boys and girl, rest for the night,” and he disappeared.
Bart led us to a house near the Mahoning River. He knocked on the door and Mrs. Durham answered. He and Collin both smiled sweetly at her, “it’s about time,” she said as she motioned for us to come in. We stood near the entrance door and I can see she has luggage, “uhm, where you off to?” I asked. “Oh, I needed a vacation, but I couldn’t find anyone to sit my house until these two bozos over here volunteered,” she replied. “Take care of my house, alright? If anything happens in this house, I swear to gods, I will smack both of ya!” she said then she placed her hands on Bart’s right cheek and Collin’s left cheek, she’s like their grandmother. She was slightly tapping their cheeks and she ended it with a hard tap. Collin and Bart closed their eyes, surprised, but not hurt. We said our goodbyes to her and Collin closes the door, locking the bolt.                The three of us were awkwardly standing there in front of Collin and Bart. “So, uh, why don’t you guys get settled in? There are 5 rooms in this house, 6 including Mrs. Durham’s. And that is off-limits,” Collin started, “and if you try to see what’s in her room, you’ll face some very harsh consequences.”
“How would we know it’s her room?” Merikh asked.
“Oh, when you touch the doorknob, you’ll fly right out of that window,” Bart replied while pointing at the second-floor window. Then he snorted.
“He’s kidding,” Collin shook his head, “you’ll know ‘cause it’s the only door in this house that’s red.”
I was about to say something when Bart excused the both of them, “okay, so, you three settle in. Feel right at home. I’ll just borrow Collin for a minute.”
He taps Collin on the shoulder and asked him to go to the other side of the room. Collin looked back at us before following Bart, “you guys go on ahead. Uhm, I’ll be right back.”
“Something’s not right,” Azriel said as Collin disappeared in the corner.
***
When Collin walked away from them and followed Bart, “what else have you told them?” he greeted Collin. “Not much,” he replied, “I just told them that this town is locked in 1999 or whatever year you told me. Then there’s also the things we both told them. That was it. Why?”
“Because I think, your Nephilim, is getting suspicious.”
“Then what do you wanna do? Tell them? You know that –“
“We can’t, I know,” he took a deep breath, “we just gotta be more, I don’t know, convincing? I mean, I know it’s hard to lie, especially to her, but we cannot tell them that we’re ‘in-between’. They cannot know that we just landed ourselves in Purgatory.”