* * * * *
“Hi, Legacy,” Yale said to her as she set up the register the next morning.
“Hey. Good morning.” But she wasn’t really paying attention. She was glancing around the store looking for River. She wanted to talk to him about what she’d learned—or rather, what she hadn’t learned—yesterday about Greek mythology. Everything had been too confusing, so she just needed him to spell it all out for her. “Have you seen River?”
“Yeah, he’s in the back room.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Legacy walked back there and saw him drinking coffee.
“I didn’t know you drank coffee.”
“Starbucks. Love the stuff.”
She nodded. “Is your mom around?”
“She’s in the office. Why?” he asked, sitting up.
“I did some research today, so I have a lot of questions.”
He put his coffee down and shook his head. “No. I told you, we couldn’t talk about it here,” he whispered.
“I want to know everything.”
The door opened and River’s mother walked in. “Good morning, Legacy. How are you?”
“Good. I’m just putting up my purse. Feeling a little jealous of River since he has Starbucks.”
River chuckled. “It’s very good. You should be jealous.” He sipped it slowly, dramatically to rub it in.
“I need to see you in my office, son.” She turned to leave, but looked over her shoulder just before pushing open the door. “Now.”
He nodded and stood.
“Look,” he whispered quickly to Legacy. “I can give you my cell number. My mom is going to make it really difficult for us to have any time alone up here. You can call me later about this. Plus, I want you to be able to reach me if you ever need to.” He looked at her for several seconds before saying, “For anything.”
“Fine.” She knew he was right. His mother wasn’t going to make it easy on her. Besides, she liked the idea of being able to reach him whenever she had a question. But she didn’t want him sitting around waiting for a phone call from her.
After getting his number, she went back out front and continued working. Ms. Gorgos was in and out most of the afternoon, but when she was out, she made sure River was busy and had given Yale tasks so that Legacy would be forced to stay at the register.
The day had been long and Adin was coming over later, so she was ready to bolt at the first opportunity. She grabbed her purse, but had an eerie feeling. As she walked out of the break room, she could feel his eyes on her. She looked around, but didn’t see anyone staring. The only person in sight was Yale, who was at the register reading a magazine. As she passed her co-worker, Yale stopped her.
“Legacy, can you drop these off in the mail on your way out? Ms. Gorgos left them here.”
“Sure,” she said as she picked up the envelopes.
She glanced at them as she walked out of the building. She wasn’t really looking at them; she just needed something to focus her attention on while she made her escape. But she suddenly realized she was studying them intently. They were just bills, but what grabbed her attention was the store’s return address. She’d never really paid much attention to the address before. She just knew the store was on Main Street.
She felt the blood fall out of her face by the time she got to the mailbox and had to grip it to keep from falling. The street number to the store was 1887.
She managed to get into her car, but she didn’t remember the walk back from the mailbox. She was reeling over this new facet of her dream. Another facet that came true. She tried to rationalize why she dreamed that specific number. She thought about Adin’s house and the reason she considered she knew about it. Maybe she did know the address to the store—had seen it on some level and stored it in her memory just like she considered the possibility that she’d done the same with Adin’s house.
But why that number? And why did Adin tell her to be careful in that dream when he showed her that number? Even odder, Adin had warned her to be careful around the Gorgos family before she knew what the number meant. Then today, she found out that the number was, in fact, linked to the Gorgos family.
No. That number was just a coincidence.
Coincidence? River told her there were no coincidences, but those words seemed truer now. River was worried about his mom, so maybe some force was telling her to watch out for Ms. Gorgos through her dreams. Then it hit her.
Lissa said her mom would be contacting her. She didn’t know when or how. How? Could her mom be sending her these messages through her dreams? Was the Gorgos family the people she’d run from all those years ago? If what River said about his family and her family was true, then Legacy could understand why her mom had felt threatened. If his mom wanted to stop Legacy from attaining her full powers, whatever they were, then maybe that was why her mom had left. Lissa said her mom was powerful, so she could have been able to defend herself from the threat. Maybe she separated herself from her daughter so that Legacy could live a normal life in peace without the constant threat of danger.
Her mom had never been in any danger. Legacy was. And now, her mom could become a part of her life once she turned eighteen because the danger would be over. She would no longer be a sitting duck, waiting for her time to go through changes—she would be finished. Legacy would be powerful too.
For the first time, she fully believed that.
She quickly drove home, feeling the certainty of her fate settle into her bones. Okay. She was accepting this. Now, she needed to learn as much as she could. Tonight, she’d enjoy being a teen with no problems as she hung out with Adin, and when the time was right, she’d use that cell number River had given her.
Legacy showered and put on some loose, comfortable clothing. It was really sticky outside, so she wanted to minimize any sweat damage.
When Adin arrived, she yanked opened the door, ready to throw her arms around him. But what was in his hands stopped her.
“I missed you so much,” he said as he stepped up to the threshold, handing her the flowers he was holding. “These are for you. I figured the ones I gave you last week are probably past their usefulness,” he teased.
The bouquet was not a dozen red roses like he’d given her at the beginning of their first date. These looked to be much more than a dozen and contained an array of colorful roses that were elegantly arranged. Every color of rose she could imagine was represented and the aroma was simply heavenly. It seemed as if the flowers had an understated feeling, but a clearly defined purpose.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” she said as she took them from his hand, gave him a big hug, and turned into the house.
Adin followed her to the kitchen where he saw that the roses he had given her were dried with petals lying around the vases. He reached for one of the vases to discard the roses.
“What are you doing?” she protested as he pulled the roses out.
“I’m getting rid of these.”
“No. I want to keep them.”
“Legacy, I plan on giving you flowers all the time. There’s no need to keep the dead ones.” He chuckled.
“You don’t have to give me flowers every time you take me out,” she said as she gently took the dead flowers from him.
“I haven’t given them to you every time we’ve gone out.” He smirked.
“Still, these were the first ones you gave me. They’re from our first date, so I want to keep them.”
“Okay,” he said, smiling. “I won’t complain about these dead flowers, but I don’t want to see your room covered with dead flowers by the end of summer. Surrounding yourself with all that death isn’t healthy.” He chuckled.
“I think I know the difference. But fine, I won’t save every single flower you give me,” she said as she rolled her eyes and laughed. She put the fresh flowers in a new vase and then picked up the two vases of old roses. “I’d better put these somewhere safe,” she teased.
Adin waited downstairs in the living
room with Lissa while she put the roses safely away in her bedroom. When she came back downstairs, he took her hand and they left for their date.
Like last week, he opened doors and held her hands at all the right moments. They ate pizza, talked, and laughed. It was easy being with Adin. She could hardly remember what it was like when she secretly obsessed about him. She didn’t have to be secretive about her feelings anymore.
When they got finished eating, they didn’t leave. The restaurant provided a nice place for them to be alone with each other without the need to rush off. They spoke freely about anything that came to their minds. Anything except the goddess stuff. Tonight, she was normal.
When they were in Adin’s car, he raised their joined hands and kissed the back of hers.
“My mom will be back in town on Wednesday. I’d like to bring you over to meet her—you know, formally.”
“Okay,” she whispered. So they were taking the next big step in their relationship. But still no kiss.
“Don’t worry. You’ve already met her, and she’s still really nice. Besides, I’ve already told her all about you,” he said with a grin.
“What did you say?”
“Well, I told her things like how funny and kind you are and how you’ve grown into a beautiful woman, though I’ve always thought you were a beautiful person.” Adin lips quirked into a half-smile, and she knew the last comment wasn’t about her looks. “And I told her how I feel about you.”
They had pulled in her driveway, and Adin turned off the engine without getting out.
“How do you feel about me?”
Adin reached over and played with a strand of her hair. “Since we’re taking things slowly, I think we should save this conversation for a later time,” he murmured.
Her heart was pounding, and she blushed. “I can wait,” she whispered.
He lifted their joined hands to kiss the back of hers again before letting it go and getting out of the car. He walked her to the door. “Do you mind if I come over tomorrow night after you get off work?” he asked under the glow of the porch light.
“I’d love that.”
“Good.” He smiled.
Then Adin stepped closer to her, put one arm around her back, and put his other hand on her cheek. He leaned down and kissed her exposed shoulder and then kissed her neck. Now, he placed his lips at her ear.
“I hope you have a wonderful night’s sleep. Dream beautiful dreams. I know I will because I’ll be dreaming about you.”
He slid his lips down her cheek and kissed her softly at her jaw. Then he started to step back, but she quickly turned her head. Their lips grazed and a strangled groan rumbled in Adin’s chest. He quickly kissed her chastely on the lips, then moved his mouth to her cheek and kissed her there again. He squeezed her in a tight hug and then stepped back and took both her hands into his.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he murmured as he licked his lips while staring at hers. He wanted more. She could see it.
Legacy didn’t know what to say, feeling her heart pound harder by the second. “Bye,” was all she managed to get out, and it sounded strangled.
His jaw clenched and nodded slowly. “Bye.”
He stood there several more seconds before letting her go and walking away.