“Mason,” Noah started, admiring his view of the black, heavily tinted SUV in front of him, “you’re going to be my best friend.”
Hell no! I led Sky to my black Porsche sedan. It was my newest purchase. “We’ll take this car.” I glanced at Noah. “You already have the keys to that car in your hand.” I turned my attention to Tim. “Wrong car.” Tim was admiring my Porsche 911. “Take the other SUV. I gave you the keys to that car. You’re going to need the space.”
“Cool,” Tim said, clicking on the remote in his hand.
Just before Victor got into Tim’s car, he gazed at Sky. It was the kind of look only a father would give to their daughter; one of compassion and love. He also appeared very worried. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he seemed to lack the words. I could understand the reason. Sky has made sure not to give him time to be alone with her, or the opportunity to allow him to say more than a few words to her. A part of me felt for him—he didn’t ask for this—but I was on Sky’s side. As far as I was concerned, he was a danger to her and I would make sure he stayed away from her until further notice.
After we said our good-byes, we went our separate ways.
“Damn,” Nick said out of the blue. “That was so…I can’t even think of the words.”
Sky jolted slightly forward when the back of her headrest shook. Nick had softly punched it from the back. I felt his frustration through that hit.
“Weird,” Amanda added. “I mean, we’ve heard stories, but I never even imagined us meeting the other descendants. Meeting the Poseidon descendants was cool, but it felt overwhelming to meet the others. This is so—”
“Unreal.” Everett finished her sentence with a sigh.
Sky looked at me as if she was waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t. I kept my eyes on the road. Surprisingly, I felt relaxed. With one hand on the steering wheel, I raked my hair back with the other, then turned to look at Skylar for a second. Little did she know I was waiting for her to say something, too. She had been quiet the whole ride.
There were no words exchanged when I slipped my hand in hers, but at that moment I could feel the fear she was trying to hide. It was the way she held my hand tightly that said it all.
Still holding my hand, she stared out of the window, into the darkness. She couldn’t see anything, but that was her way of coping. She didn’t want to think. She didn’t want this dreadful feeling that something terrible was going to happen. I knew all of this because I was doing and feeling the same.
“When did Victor say we’re meeting at his place?” Nick asked.
“Next Saturday,” I replied, focusing my eyes on the road ahead. It was a moonless, starless night. The eerie, dark clouds that loomed over us weren’t helping when I entered the highway. My body itched, feeling a thunderstorm coming our way. I could tell it was going to be a heavy one. For some odd reason, I found comfort in them, as if they were a part of me. As everyone seemed deep in thought, we drove for miles in silence while my mind drifted to another night we had been attacked by vultures. It was my second time.
“Who left the front door open?” Remus shouted angrily. “Was it you, Mason? Get your ass down here and shut it.”
“You don’t have to yell. I’m right here.” My tone was calm and nonchalant, knowing if I didn’t yell back, it would fire him up even more. He hated it when it seemed as though I didn’t give a crap.
“Why are you shouting, Remus? Shut the door yourself. You have hands.” Nick came out of the kitchen with a sandwich. “What if I did it? What you going to do about it?”
Remus’s cheeks turned red. I could have sworn his muscles grew double the size when he tightened his fist. “I’ll tell you what—”
His sentence broke when Everett hollered, “Vultures!” The loud sounds of windows smashing came from the living room.
Nick’s eye turned the color of silver and sparkled when lights flashed out of the palms of his hands. I wondered if mine did the same. Though I was scared out of my mind remembering how they looked and what they could do, I felt safer knowing I wasn’t alone. When we got to Everett, he was fighting with a sword. It was cool how he could work that thing. I had no clue how to even swing one.
Nick hopped over the sofa and rode on one of the vulture’s backs. He moved with such grace and speed. It was the first time I had seen him move like that. The vulture convulsed as light sparked out of Nick’s body, then the creature was on fire and suddenly turned into ashes. Meanwhile, Everett and Remus led the other two out of the house, through the wall they’d smashed to get inside. Seeing Remus with a sword confirmed that he was not a descendant of Zeus.
My trembling got worse when I caught sight of the vulture that was coming straight for me. I tried to remember what Nick had taught me. Take a deep breath. Welcome the energy within me. Curl in my fingers to make a tight fist to get the light pumping, then…BAM! There it was. Just before it had a chance to topple me, I managed to duck and jump on top. It stunk like hell, so it motivated me to kill the thing as fast as I could. With my hands in place, I gave it all I had. Feeling tingles run down my arm and all over my body, I knew it was working. And I felt electrified.
The vulture hollered from the pain, another indication I was using my light. When I concentrated harder and gave it more juice, it started to sizzle. I almost felt bad killing it, but it was going to be its life or mine, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be mine. When I dropped to the floor, I found myself surrounded by ashes. Its whole body had disintegrated under my light. Wow! So much power. When I looked up, they were staring at me.
“You did it, Mace.” Nick was excited for me. “Mace the Ace. You aced it extra crispy. Your first kill using your light.”
“At least he’s good for something,” Remus commented as he walked away.
“Good job,” Everett said. “Nick has trained you well. Now, we need to fix this wall.”
It was great to be back at my dorm and in a normal life setting, but one thing was on my mind…to find Ian. I could not wait to see him in statistics. I thought about calling him and asking him about what really happened that day I was admitted to the hospital, but I thought I’d bring it up casually.
I looked for him in the massive theater-like lecture room, but he was nowhere to be found. This really annoyed me. After class, I decided to head over to the library since that was the one place I had bumped into him before. I took out my lecture notes to study, but I couldn’t concentrate. My head popped up every time someone passed by. As hours passed, I was getting restless.
Shoving everything into my backpack again, I had decided to head back home when I spotted Mia. Damn, she was pretty. I could see the heads of both guys and girls turning as she walked by. She wore a tight mini skirt, a form fitting lavender sweater, and killer black high boots.
Mia gave me the most unwelcome look ever. Her brows lifted at the same time she rolled her eyes. I don’t know what I did for her to dislike me that much. When she looked away, I swung my backpack over my shoulder and pushed in the chair. I jerked, startled to see Mia standing in front of me, blocking my way.
“Hi,” she snapped. Her greeting was not friendly.
“What?” I asked in the same bitter tone.
“Have you seen Ian?”
“No.” I debated whether to tell her I was looking for him, too. “Don’t you have his number?”
“Of course, I do.”
Her arrogant tone and that stupid ‘I should have known better’ expression was the last straw for me. It added to the anger she had already incited. Oh God. I had to remain calm. I could feel the energy growing and I didn’t know if I could control it. All I could do was hope she would walk away, or at least stop giving me dirty looks and sizing me up. Unfortunately, it was too late. I had no idea where this confrontational side came from. Normally I would have just walked away, but not today.
I leaned into her, closing the space between us, and bore my eyes into her. “Then why don’t you call him? You think that
would be a good plan instead of giving me your evil, ‘wish I could kill you’ looks? Huh? How about that?”
By now, people in the library were staring at us. Was my voice that loud and threatening? Oh crap! What had I done? Already feeling the heat brewing in the palms of my hands, I curled my fingers in. Mia’s eyes fell to my hands, her jaws dropped, and her eyes were wide and alert. I did not dare look at my hands; if I did, I would be confirming what she saw.
Dropping my eyes to the floor, as if I could hide what was happening, I stepped to the side to swerve around her, but she blocked me again. I peered up to see her arms crossed with an amused smirk on her face. “No. Wonder.” Her words were slow at coming, but I knew so much was meant by those two words.
I stuck my hands inside my pants pockets. “Excuse me?” I pierced my eyes to hers so she would understand the sincerity of what I was about to say. “I’d like for you to not get in my way. Got it?” If anything, my tone should have given her clear indication not to mess with me again, but she didn’t listen.
Mia leaned into me, her lips brushed against my ear. “I saw what you did Sky…lar. I’ll be watching you.” Her words rolled off her tongue, dripping with venom. Then she backed away, giving me a clear path.
I should have kept my mouth shut then everything would have been fine, but for some reason, I couldn’t let her have the last word. There was this hate-filled energy that came from within me, and I had no control over it. I couldn’t even fight it. What was wrong with me? I was not that type of a person.
Glaring at her, I offered a slow, mischievous smile. “It’s no wonder Ian can’t stand the sight of you.”
Her face cringed in disgust and her muscles tightened. Not only did her eyes fill with anger, I could have sworn her eyes sparkled like lightning, turning silver colored, then back to amber. Fascinated from what I’d just seen, I couldn’t move…I wondered if it was real or my imagination.
I didn’t have to wait long to snap out of it; the light above me started to flicker, faster by the second. Then with a ripple, the other lights started to do the same. Suddenly, a light popped, then the rest followed. Sparks started to fly from above. Within seconds, the whole ceiling was blowing up like fireworks. Everyone scrambled to get out, dodging the dangerous sparks. I heard the cries of those who were struck by them. Luckily, it didn’t start a fire.
I didn’t run like everyone else; I didn’t even budge. My eyes were set on Mia, letting her know that I was not afraid of her. This was not my doing. Even with this intense energy building inside of me, I knew it wasn’t me. Mia had done this. It confirmed she was one of us. What worried me most was that she would purposely do this, in front of humans. She didn’t care that she was hurting them. In fact, she wore a satisfied smirk. I wanted to slap it off her face.
“Don’t stand in my way,” I said with conviction, and left.
I angrily stormed into my place. Emily was not home, which was a good thing. One word from her, asking for my permission to have another party, and I would have snapped at her. She had been asking me a lot lately. The second time she held a party, I went to stay with Mason. It wasn’t a big deal, but she’d asked me via text. With a heavy sigh, I replied to let her know that I was okay with it, since I was planning on going to Mason’s place anyway.
As thoughts of Ian and Mia circulated through my mind, I angrily stormed up the stairs to my room. Though Ian seemed highly annoyed by Mia at the last encounter, they knew each other. Seeing Mia show off her powers clearly indicated she was a descendant of the gods. What about Ian?
I swung my door opened and drop my backpack against the wall. When I shifted my vision to my bed, I jolted in surprise. “What the hell?” I snapped angrily. “Who let you in?”
“Hello, Sky. I’m happy to see you, too. A little birdy told me you were looking for me.” Ian was sprawled across my bed. With his arms behind his head for support, he gave me a grin any other girl would find irresistible, but it wasn’t doing anything for me. If he thought he could charm his way into my bed, he was wrong. And this looked so bad. If Mason were to surprise me with a visit and find Ian here like this, I don’t know what he would do.
“Get off my bed.” I swatted him with my hand.
“Relax. What’s wrong with you?”
I gave him a cold stare. I couldn’t believe he would ask me that question. “What’s wrong with me? Are you serious?”
He put up his hands to surrender. “Okay…okay, I know. Your roommate let me in. I told her that I needed to talk to you. First of all, why were you looking for me?”
I leaned against my desk. “How did you even know that?”’
Ian sat up, looked down for a second, and popped his head back up. “I’m being serious now. No one told me, but I guessed you needed more questions answered about that morning you were taken to the hospital. I was going to call you, but I figured you didn’t need me. I’m sure your boyfriend took good care of you.”
“He did.” I pulled out my chair and sat. “So, what really happened?”
Ian sat on the edge of the bed, facing me. He told me the same thing he’d told me at the hospital, and I didn’t know if I believed him. Even though he looked like he was telling me the truth, I couldn’t tell for sure. I didn’t know him well enough to read his body gestures.
“I don’t know if you’re telling me the truth, but I have one question.” I was really hesitant to ask. I would be accusing him of something and I didn’t know how to ask it. But before I had the chance, he answered my question.
“No. I didn’t put anything in your punch. I would never do anything like that and frankly, I’m a little hurt that you would think I would be capable of being that low.”
His gaze into my eyes was stern and honest. It was hard not to believe him.
“It tasted like it did,” I said, challenging him.
“The punch was spiked. It was probably old by the time you drank it.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that….” I changed the conversation. “How close are you with Mia?”
“Mia?” He stared at me in confusion.
How quickly guys forgot for their own convenience.
“The girl I met…no, you didn’t introduce me to her. She sort of walked in on our conversation at the library. The one you didn’t seem so happy to see.”
Ian raked his hair back and shifted his body a little on the bed. “Oh, that Mia. Why didn’t you say so? I know a lot of girls.”
I bet he did. “Well?”
Ian threw me a cocky smirk. “We dated before. That was a long time ago. She was too crazy for my taste.”
“I don’t like her.” I couldn’t believe I had blurted that out. I tried to fix what I had said, but it was too late.
“Are you jealous?”
“What? No. Get over yourself.”
Ian chuckled. “I don’t think I would like to be over myself, rather over someone else.” He raised his brows as if referring to me. When he saw the blank expression on my face and I hadn’t replied, he continued, letting out a soft, nervous laugh. “I was just joking.”
He was finding our conversation too amusing for my taste. I quickly diverted the attention since he’d made my cheeks warm from his stupid comment. “Is Mia always so…bitchy?” What I really wanted to figure out was if he was one of the descendants, without me coming off as crazy.
“To say the least. She can’t help it. She’s….” He paused. “Listen…try to stay away from her.” His eyes flickered, as if searching for just the right words to say. “She’s having a hard time dealing with our breakup, so she might take it out on you. Did she do something to you?” He seemed genuinely concerned.
I wanted to tell him—I was itching to get it out of me—but what could I say? “No. I ran into her. She gave me a dirty look.” Then a thought occurred. “Wait…she doesn’t think you and I are—”
“She sees you as a threat.” Ian stood up. As he took few steps toward me, his twinkling blue eyes were locked on mine. I don??
?t know why, but I couldn’t turn away. I was surprised to feel his hands lacing through my hair with each spoken word. “You’re beautiful…intelligent…and brave. What girl wouldn’t?”
Uncomfortable by his proximity, I craned my neck. His hands dropped. “I think you should go now,” I said, pretending what he’d just done never happened. But what did he know about me being brave?
Ian cleared his throat, possibly out of embarrassment. “Yeah, I should go. Want some punch?” He graced me with his wicked smirk.
I giggled lightly. That was all it took to break the awkwardness. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a feeling he was hiding something from me, I would have brushed him off for good, especially after he pulled this stunt, appearing in my room without my permission. But my gut feeling told me not to. I had to play along.
“Anyway, mid-term exams are right around the corner. My friends and I are having a group study. Want to come along?”
I was going to turn him down, but decided to check out his friends. Perhaps I could get more information out of him.
“Will Mia be there?”
“If she comes, I’ll kick her out…if you want me to.”
“You both hang out with the same crowd?”
Ian was already by the door. “Sometimes.” He turned the knob, then turned to me. “See you around, Sky. Don’t look for me during class. I won’t be there. I’ll text you with our meeting time, but if you need a private tutor, you know where to find me.”
That coy grin he left me with was hot, I had to admit, but I was not interested.
Having nothing to eat at home, I headed out to the school cafeteria. The strange encounter I had with Mia, then with Ian, had screwed up my appetite. Although I was hungry, I didn’t know if I could eat. Constantly looking over my shoulder and sensing beings following me not only gave me the creeps, I was getting tired of it.
The smell of food overpowered me when I stepped into the dining hall. I had come after lunch hours so it wasn’t crowded. A group of guys entered behind me, giving me icy chills. I wondered if they were vultures, but knowing there were humans around, I thought I was safe…I hoped.