Chasing Shadows (13 page)

“Maybe we should try a different approach?” Sebastian sighed.

“Sure.”

“Okay,” he walked up behind me and put his cool hands on my shoulders. “Think about something else. Somewhere else you would rather be.” His breath fanned my neck. I tried to imagine being anywhere else, but I couldn’t do it. I wanted to be there, be in that moment, trapped with him and no one else. “Are you thinking about something?”

“Uh, yeah.” My voice shook with each word.

“Okay, good. Now let your body release some magic, not a lot, but just enough.” I did as he said, just as he was instructing, thinking that maybe he would praise me with a kiss if I accomplished the task. “Good. Keep thinking about what you are thinking about. And this time, let your power surround us, guide it like a thread.” His fingers tightened on my shoulders, but it wasn’t painful. As he did this, I pictured a thread of silver light wrapping around us, keeping us close together. “You are doing fantastic, my love. Now picture your light shooting up into the sky, breaking the barrier of the gods.” I forced my light to shoot up into the sky, extend into the heavens, and break through solid gold. “Shit!” Sebastian cursed, and jumped away from me.

A loud crack surrounded us. It sounded like the skies were being torn apart by thunder. My light snapped back into my body, knocking me to the ground. Sebastian stood in a corner, trapped by thick golden bars. He struggled to get to me, to help me up and to a safe area. Thick white light seeped through the cracks of the shack, the wood shook, and small wisps of pink smoke wrapped around my ankle, pulling me toward the center of the room. I clawed at the dusty floorboards, praying that I would catch something to pull myself away with. As soon as I was in the middle of the room, everything stopped. Someone’s dark shadow loomed over me. Almost too scared to look, I peered up at a beautiful woman. She was dressed in a white toga with golden leaves and hearts holding it over one shoulder. Her thick, wavy black locks hung to her waist. I knew immediately who she was. Aphrodite was standing before me, the goddess of love and beauty. Cringing inwardly, I sighed. She truly was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Before I could say anything, she turned on one heel and faced Sebastian.

“I should have known you would be the one to call us. Perhaps you should teach her how to call on a specific god, and not just anyone who pertained to her thoughts.” I knew she was talking about how I thought of Sebastian as he was instructing me to call upon the gods. Embarrassed that she knew, I put my head down. “Now, my dear immortal child, what do you want to know?” She conjured three chairs out of thin air and sat in one. Sebastian and I remained standing, so she gestured softly at the other chairs and we complied. “Oh, if this is about her being your soul mate Amaryia reincarnated, she is.”

Sebastian smiled softly at her. “Thank you. You do not realize how much it means to me to finally know the truth. But sadly, goddess, that is not why we called upon you.”

Aphrodite’s smile fell and she cocked her head to one side. “Oh. Well then, what is it, child? Surely it cannot be anything that Clamora couldn’t tell you.” Her voice was gentle and soft, the epitome of feminism and motherly care.

“It’s about Luke, the u da yv la dv and her son.”

Her face immediately went hard. She looked fierce yet still extraordinarily beautiful. “What is it you need to know about the abomination?”

“Why is he helping us? And why do I get the feeling he is not completely on our side?” Sebastian kept his voice calm and even.

She sighed and shook her head. “I am sorry to tell you this, Sebastian, but there is not much about him that I do know. Since I am not that important in this battle AubrieAnna is about to face, I cannot tell you a whole lot. What I do know is that he is supposed to betray his mothers. Yes, I know that sounds strange. But he has Clamora, his biological mother, the one who gave real life to him. Then he has his creator, or his second mother, as well. Athena and Apollo have talked to me about him some. They wanted to know who he was supposed to love in this lifetime. He will love two different females. One is Willow, the earth nymph. However she will not realize she loves him until you and AubrieAnna are re-created as one. He will also come to love AubrieAnna. No, it will not be the kind of love you have for her—it will be one of an adopted sister. So please, hero, do not fret about it.” I nodded at her and listened intently as she continued. “Clamora knows what will happen when he betrays her. We have already explained it. It is something that I cannot tell you. Either of you. For that, I am sorry. But Clamora will train you and teach you to the best of her abilities.

“I must go, children. Do not forget to love each other until you are passed; even then, love each other still.” And with that, she was gone. The chairs remained, along with a small ring that was two hearts combined into one.

I got up and picked up the ring. It was white gold, and one diamond held the hearts together. Curious, I asked, “What is this for?”

“It’s for when we become re-created as one.” Sebastian’s voice was soft as spoke.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that our souls will intertwine. I will feel what you feel, and you will feel what I feel. It is almost like being in each other’s bodies, but in our own at the same time.” He got up and grabbed my hand. My heart jumped when he touched me, and I had to look down to hide my flushed cheeks.

“How do we do that?” I stared down at my feet as I asked the question.

“We get married in the supernatural way. And then we . . . well, we, uh . . . we consummate our love and marriage.” His voice shook as he tried to get the words out. His otherwise pale cheeks were pink with discomfort.

“Oh!” Suddenly feeling shy, I looked around the room, everywhere else but at Sebastian. My treacherous heart hammered against my chest, begging to dance with his. His soft fingers still held my hand, and he traced the lines on my palm. At each stroke of his fingers, my stomach flipped, my skin tingled, chills scampered down my spine, and goose bumps attacked my body. In that moment, I knew there was no way we were leaving that shack until he kissed me and apologized for saying no to me. As I began to think about his lips, one of his hands reached around to the nape of my neck. His fingers tangled in my hair, and he jerked my head up and kissed me with a passion that I had never felt before—not even the first time he kissed me. I tried to be as still as possible to let him take the lead. But it was harder than I had ever imagined. He licked at my lips, begging for me to open my mouth for him. Smiling against his lips, I decided to tease him. A tortured Sebastian tickled my sides, and I laughed. When I looked at him again, his eyes were soft and so full of love that I thought my heart was going to melt out of my chest. I chewed on my lip as I smiled at him and he smiled back with a dark gleam in his eyes.

I touched my lips. They were still pretty swollen from Sebastian kissing me so much. He squeezed my hand lightly as we drove back to my house. As the city limits of Woodburn passed by, I thought about meeting Aphrodite. She was purely magnificent, and terribly kind. To my surprise, she was nothing like the Greeks made her out to be, yet at the same time, she was. Her beauty was exactly as I’d imagined it, but her personality was tender and loving, which I didn’t expect at all.

Sebastian wanted to ask my parents if he could take me to homecoming, and he was going to do that when we got back. After fifteen minutes we pulled into my driveway. A police car sat there with its lights on. Not knowing what was wrong, I jumped out of Sebastian’s vehicle and ran to the house. My mom was crying as my dad rubbed her shoulder. Melly and Mickey were nowhere to be seen, and the cop was walking around the rooms. Without thinking, I grabbed my mom’s hand and held it. I begged my light to enter her, to calm her down, and a soft silver glow emanated from my fingers and flowed into her body. Within seconds she stopped crying and stared blankly at the wall. Sighing, my dad mouthed a thank you to me and searched for the police officer.

“Mom, what happened?” I knew my magic would keep her calm for a while, so I figured it was okay to ask.

“Someone broke in. I don’t think they took anything, but we can’t be sure. The police officer wants to look around, take some photos, and check for fingerprints. We already gave him ours and Melly and Mickey’s, so he will need yours. The only person we don’t have prints for is Zandy. And we explained what happened. Well, what we know about anyway. He’ll probably want to ask you questions too.” My mom’s voice was distant, and her eyes were cloudy. My heart broke at seeing her so upset. Sebastian walked in and stopped short when he saw my mom’s face.

“Hi, Mrs. Lukenson, how are you?” Sebastian’s voice was calm and soothing.

“Oh, you know. I am a little scattered. And, well, I don’t know.” She flung her hands out as if to wave away bad feelings.

“May I steal your daughter for a moment?” He smiled softly at her.

“Oh, of course. Don’t go too far. The police officer will need to talk to her.” She turned and walked away a little unsteadily.

Sebastian grabbed my arm and pulled me outside. He shut the front door behind him and turned to face me. “U da yv la dv were the ones that did this. By the smell of it, there were more than one. Maybe two or three—I can’t be certain. They probably didn’t take anything. I bet they were just looking for your weaknesses. I will have Clamora come and do an enchantment to keep them out. You will have to choose what supernaturals you want to be able to cross the barriers. Humans will automatically be able to cross. If a u da yv la dv tries to cross, they will be injured if not killed. Unless you get their blood into the enchantment—Clamora will most likely put in Luke’s. I promise you, there is nothing to be afraid of. I will not let anything happen to you, my love.” He kissed my forehead and guided us back into the house.

Sebastian left shortly after the police officer asked us a few questions. Thankful that I had Sunday off from school and training, I sighed. I leaned against the counter while my hot pocket heated up in the microwave. My mom was in a better mood after the officer left, and I had a feeling it was partially because I used my magic on her. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my food and bag then went up to my room. After I set my things down, I closed the door and sat on my bed. My room was ransacked the worst by the u da yv la dv. Books littered the floor, clothes were thrown everywhere, and my bed had been tipped over. Even after Sebastian had helped me right my furniture and hang up some of the pictures that had been torn down, I still needed a whole day to fix the rest of my terrorized room.

Chapter 7

Beeping noises from my alarm woke me up. Grumbling, I reached over and slapped the snooze button. Within seconds I fell back to sleep. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Seven minutes later, more obnoxious beeps blared through my room. After I yawned and stretched, I turned off the noisemaker and went to change my clothes. Surveying my room, I felt content with its cleanliness. It had taken me hours to clean up the mess the u da yv la dv left behind. My mom felt much better after everything was straightened up and put in the proper places. Once I was in my closet, I sighed and looked through my clothes. Even though it was early September, it was surprisingly dark and chilly outside. Dressed in a black cardigan, black-and-white striped leggings, and a blue tank top, I went to the bathroom to do my makeup and hair. When I finished getting ready, I went downstairs and was greeted by Sebastian and a brown bag. He smiled and handed me the bag. I sniffed cautiously and grinned. Inside was a breakfast burrito with a side of gravy. In a very gentlemanly move, he opened the door for me and we left.

I put my book bag in my locker and took my breakfast to a small bench outside. Sebastian walked with me, his arm slung over my shoulder. As we walked past him, Langdon glared at us and Sebastian let loose a low growl. Not used to protection from a guy who wasn’t my brother, I looked down at the ground and blushed furiously. There was a feeling in the pit of my stomach as Sebastian demanded respect for me. It was warm and tingly, almost like butterflies breaking out of their cocoons. The feeling was none other than pride. Smiling to myself, I sat down on the bench and started eating my burrito. Not long after we sat down, the nymphs found us. Fiora was beaming and chattering excitedly to Willow about someone she had officially met over the weekend. Willow looked at me, sighed, rolled her eyes, and shook her head at her silly sister. Just as I finished my breakfast, the bell rang and we went our separate ways to first period.

The day passed without any incidents or any warnings of the u da yv la dv. Fiora rode with Sebastian and I to Clamora’s for training. We were still working on my fire abilities. It was the hardest lesson I had to learn so far. There were some things I could get down easily, like lighting myself on fire or accidentally letting flames jump away from me. But I needed to learn how to control it, which was the hard part. Fire was the trickiest element. If it wanted to grow quickly, it would; same if it wanted to die down. And there was nothing I could do about it until I controlled it like I could control nature. I was excited about today’s training because Sebastian would be in the room with me. I hoped that his presence would help me focus and learn control over the feisty element. Sebastian pulled into the parking lot, and we jumped out of the car. A light sprinkle had begun an hour before school ended, which made the day cooler than it should have been. Small gusts of wind blew my hair out of control, and I ran inside to escape the cold.