Goddess Legacy: Goddess Series Book 1 (21 page)

“He knows I want to stay here, but I’m sure he’s hoping I’ll change my mind. He’s already registered me for the fall term—just in case.”

“But you’re staying
here
, right?” Gods, she hated sounded this pathetic, but the thought of Adin leaving…

“Yes. I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here. With you.”

She nodded again, and leaned her head against Adin’s shoulder. She felt exhausted. The stress of this knowledge was almost too much for her to bear. He put his arms around her and squeezed tightly. “So you’ll be back by Saturday, then?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s the Fourth of July.”

“I know,” he said, rubbing her back.

She remembered telling Calli she didn’t want to ask Adin to the parade, but after this, those silly fears disappeared. “Calli is in the parade, so she asked me to come and watch her and then hang out afterward. She’ll have a date, though, so she suggested I ask you to come with me.”

“I’d love to go to the parade with you,” he whispered.

“Good,” she breathed into his chest.

“In fact, on Sunday, I’m having a party over here. I’ll be cooking out on the grill, and everyone will be eating, swimming, and playing games. I’d like for you to come.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“Is that a yes?” Adin asked softly.

“Of course,” she said with a half-smile.

He held her for several more minutes. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t know how to answer that question. She wasn’t sure if she was okay. “I will be.”

“I hate it that you were upset,” he whispered. “I never want to see you like that.”

“I just got a bad feeling when your mom mentioned it. I don’t like the thought of you leaving,” she murmured as she lifted her head to look at him.

“Please don’t be sad. I couldn’t bear it if I thought you were still upset while I’m away.”

Adin misunderstood what she meant about not liking the thought of him leaving. She meant leaving for good, not for two days, though she knew she’d still miss him when he was on his trip.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” she tried to reassure him.

“I’m going to worry anyway. There’s nothing I can do about that. But it’ll make my trip easier if I know you’re okay.”

She smiled up at him. “I promise. I’ll be fine. Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“Sounds good to me,” he whispered as he swept a strand of hair out of her face.

They spent the rest of the day enjoying each other’s company. Myrha had left to do some shopping, so Adin and she had the house to themselves. It was too hot to really do anything outside, so they stayed in.

They got comfortable on the couch while they watched a couple of movies. They took off their shoes. Adin had his feet on the coffee table; she had hers on the couch beside her. She leaned into his side with her knees pushed against his leg. While she snuggled into Adin’s side, she put her hand on his leg—on top of his shorts. He put his arm around her shoulders and put his other hand on her knees, holding them in place. He was touching her bare skin, but it didn’t faze him, not visually anyway.

This day was beautiful, and she wasn’t thinking about the weather. It really didn’t matter to her what was going on outside this house. All that mattered to her was that they were spending time together.

And as this day came to an end, she knew her feelings for Adin were solidified.

She was in love with him.

Chapter Twelve

Two days without Adin. He’d been such a regular presence in Legacy’s life that she felt a little lost. At least she had to work this morning. It’d make day number one go by faster. She had no idea what she would do on Friday. Adin would be back that night, but he expected to be in really late, too late to come over.

Last night, she’d dreamed her familiar dreams of storms, snakes, tornados, but Adin was in this dream again. He’d told her to be careful like last time. She assumed his appearance was due to her spending all day with him the day before. Plus, he was gone to his dad’s. The girl wasn’t in her dream, so she couldn’t ask any questions about what everything meant.

She’d woken up to rain—but not storms. The day felt dreary. She guessed Ms. Gorgos wasn’t looking forward to her working today. That was fine with her. She didn’t feel like being in a good mood anyway.

While she got ready for work, she thought about Adin and his dad. She wondered if his dad would accept Adin’s reasons for staying here, or if he’d keep trying to persuade him to transfer to the university out there. Thinking about that only made her more miserable, so she tried not to think about it…much.

At work, the dreariness continued. Everyone was in a somber mood, and the rain drizzled all day. She and Yale took turns working the cash register while they both worked on inventory. River was there, but he wasn’t really working. He’d been running errands for his mom. Legacy figured Ms. Gorgos intentionally kept him out of the store as much as she could since she was scheduled to work today.

Whenever River was in the store, he smiled at her, but it felt forced. His mood was also sad, but it was as if he were only smiling at her in an effort to lift her out of her bad mood. She knew he wondered why she was feeling down, and she was so wrapped up in her own sad feelings that she didn’t really think about why he was moping.

While River was out on one of his errands, Ms. Gorgos came out into the lobby.

“Ladies, I need to run to the bank. I was trying to wait for the rain to stop, but I can’t wait any more. I should be back in about an hour.”

She seemed pleasant. If Legacy hadn’t known any better, she wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with the woman. She was sure that Yale thought Ms. Gorgos was the nicest woman in the world.

About ten minutes after Ms. Gorgos left, River came back. “Where’s my mom?” he asked Yale since she was at the register. “Her car is gone.”

“She went to the bank. Said she’d be back in about an hour.”

Legacy heard their conversation, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She had her back to them as she organized the magazines on the display rack for the hundredth time today. Even though she was doing the task, her mind was on Adin. She was trying to think of good feelings—his touch, their dates, the flowers… anything but why he was gone. She was so absorbed that she hadn’t heard River walk up behind her.

“Legacy, can I talk to you?” he asked, startling her.

She turned around to face him. “Sure,” she said, and followed him into the break room.

Once they were alone, River turned to face her. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?” she stalled. She knew she looked sad, but she really didn’t want to tell him why. He was sad already and hearing her talk about Adin would probably make that worse.

“I can tell something’s bothering you.”

“Well, you don’t look very enthused today either.”

“I’m not, but we’re not talking about me.”

“I’ll tell you why I’m sad if you tell me what’s wrong with you first.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because I promised to keep this on a friendship level.”

“What does
that
mean?” she asked as she folded her arms.

“It means that I’m sad for reasons you don’t want to hear about.”

That response only irritated her. Now, she really didn’t care if he knew the reason why she was sad.

“Fine,” she snapped. “I’m sad because Adin is out of town, and I
miss
him.”

River flinched like her words physically slapped him. He grabbed the back of the chair he was standing behind to brace himself. He then took a deep breath and looked her calmly in the eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?” He was serious, though she could tell he didn’t want to know. He only asked because he wanted her to feel better, so she started to feel guilty for hurting his feelings.

“Not really,” she answered politely, sitting down in the chair beside her. She really didn’t want to talk about it. It wouldn’t make her feel better, and she knew it wouldn’t make River feel better either.

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about anything,” he said as he sat down.

“And you said you couldn’t deny me anything, yet you won’t tell me what’s bothering you.”

“That’s because I know you don’t want to hear about it,” he said, shutting his eyes and shaking his head.

“But if we’re friends, we should be able to speak freely about things,” she said, leaning toward him.

“Okay, if I tell you what’s bothering me, will you promise to talk to me about your feelings? I know I’m the reason why you don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want you to worry about that.”

“Fine.”

“I-I’m…” River paused and looked down at the table. “I’m
sad
because you’re sad.”

“You were already down when I saw you.”

“I heard you come in, and I could tell from your tone that you were upset. I knew my mom planned on keeping me out of the store, so I wouldn’t get a chance to talk to you. Not being able to console you made me feel even worse.”

At least he was honest. Now, it was her turn. “Adin’s dad is moving to Texas, and he wants Adin to go to school out there. Adin’s visiting him now.”

“Oh.” She was sure River liked this news, but he didn’t show any happiness. “When will he be back?”

“Tomorrow night.”

She could see the curiosity building in his eyes. “Is he…um…where is Adin going to school?”

“He’s going to school here,” she said, looking River straight in the eyes. “But his dad registered him out there too.” She shrugged.

“Do you think his dad will persuade him?”

“No.” But for some reason, her voice didn’t sound as sure as she was.

“I see.”

“I just miss him, that’s all.” She tried to sound nonchalant.

“I understand. It’s hard going a couple of days without seeing that special someone,” he murmured, and she knew he wasn’t talking about her not seeing Adin.

She stood up. “I should get back to work.”

“No. Wait,” River said as he got out of his chair and grabbed her arm.

She turned around to face him. “What?”

He stared at her without saying anything, and she heard his breathing accelerate.

“I can’t do this right now,” she whispered to him.

He dropped her arm. “I’m sorry. I’m trying. It may not seem like it to you, but really, I am. I’ll get better at this. I promise.”

“I’m sorry this is so difficult for you. I really do like you being my friend.”

“You don’t know how much that means to me,” River whispered.

“I need to get back in the lobby before your mom gets here.”

He let her escape to the lobby, though a haven it was not. She worked the rest of her shift in the same mood she’d started it in and went straight home after she got off of work. She went to bed as soon as she could without it being too obvious she was a little depressed.

That night, she had another dream. It had some of the same characteristics as previous ones, but instead of actual snakes, she saw the three snake holes again, which she was standing in the middle of. It still had a storm brewing, and she knew a tornado was inevitable. But other than the similar things she dreamed about before, this dream was different. She wasn’t running from the tornado. She was standing under the storm clouds waiting for the tornado to form. She wasn’t scared of it. She wanted it to come. She needed it to come.

She saw the same girl as before, but she was across the field. She watched her in horror as she stood under the storm clouds. She started to run toward Legacy, and she turned to face the girl. She extended her arm in her direction with her palm out.

“No.” Legacy didn’t yell. She said it calmly, but with finality.

The girl rocked back on her heels. She wanted to come to Legacy, but her order stopped her in her tracks.

Legacy knew she was dreaming, and she knew she wanted to ask her questions the next time she dreamed about her. But in this moment, it didn’t matter. She didn’t need her answers because she was aware of all the answers. Her conscious self didn’t know, but her mind knew.

She looked back at the clouds, waiting for the tornado to form, and the girl screamed.

Legacy looked at her, and she was crying. “You have to run!” she screamed. “It’s coming for you!”

“No!” Legacy yelled to her so forcefully that the ground shook below her feet. Her eyes shot up to the sky, and she yelled, “No!” again.

The black storm clouds faded to a light gray color and parted, forming a circle of beautiful blue sky. A voice, a female voice, spoke.

“You have no choice.” It was so soothing that it felt like a trap.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m everything. I’m everywhere. You can’t stop me. You have no choice.”

Then the storm clouds went furiously black again, and she woke up.

It was early in the morning, and she knew Lissa would still be here. She decided it was time to come clean with her. She wanted to tell her about the dreams she was having and maybe even tell her about everything else. If Lissa knew what Legacy knew, maybe she’d tell her more about what was going on.

She ran downstairs and to the kitchen where her guardian was eating breakfast.

“Legacy? What are you doing up already?”

“I had a dream. I’ve been having weird dreams ever since you told me about my mom.”

Lissa looked away.

“You said my mom would be contacting me, but you didn’t know when or how.” She paused. “I think she’s contacting me through my dreams.”

“Legacy, that’s absurd,” she said, shaking her head, but she sounded panicked.

“I don’t think it is.” Legacy ground her teeth, unable to hold back her hurt. “You’re a priestess, aren’t you? All the priestesses have the title of Melissae, which has to be where your name came from. I can’t believe you never told me you were on the family payroll.”

She shook her head, but not as an answer, as in disbelief. “It’s not like that—”

“My heritage is linked to Zeus. That’s why you’re here—why I was left with you. Why focus on telling me about my mother and not my father?”

Lissa gaped at her. “How do you know all this?”