Intrigue (25 page)

Dr. A volunteered, “If you ever need my help, Calliope, please do not hesitate to ask for it.” Then, he gave me his cell number.

“Done and done, Dr. A. Now I have to bolt. I will see you next week.”

Chapter 20: Mixed Messages

Jazz, Key, and Tre looked surprised to see me, rather than Rafe, picking them up. I muttered “Don’t ask,” as they entered the car, but I knew I had no chance of getting by with that statement.

I had to dodge and weave on this question because the real answer would get me a quick trip to the mental ward. “He pushes for a date, then he turns all aloof. He acts like he cares, then he seems perfectly willing to hand me off to another guy. I just don’t get it. I need a vacation from all boys.”

Key piped up at that, “That’s your trouble, Calli. You seem to be choosing boys not men.” Tre smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek.

I laughed and answered, “True dat. But if I can’t even handle the shallow end of the pool, how am I going to handle the deep end? Time for me to get out for a while and just sun bathe, I think.”

Jazz remarked, “I like sun bathing just fine. It works for me.”

I quickly retorted, “Jazz, you don’t sun bathe. You dangle your toes in, and if the water gets too warm or cold, you jerk them right back out.”

“No chance of drowning that way, girl. You would be wise to follow my lead for a little bit.”

We had arrived at our designated meeting spot, and I could see our fellow classmates getting out of their cars. I shot one more volley at Jazz, “I think I am just gonna sit back and watch the water sports for awhile rather than participating. I can live vicariously through you all.”

Key wrapped one of her arms around Tre’s waist as she commented, “You are too young to just sit on the sidelines, sweetie. Now, let’s go scream out some of your frustration.”

The Haunted Farm of Terror was a blast. We ran around the corn mazes screaming, shrieking, and laughing. We went into the farmhouse and got terrorized by some equally corny creatures and ghouls. All we had left was the barn and hayride. As we were stumbling around the barn trying to dodge the creatures of the night, I was grabbed from behind and lifted into someone’s arms. In a flash, I was up in the hayloft with Rafe. I immediately demanded, “What part of probation do you not understand?!”

I was still wriggling so he set me down to face him. “Do you ever let anyone explain themselves, or do you just constantly jump to conclusions, Calliope?”

“You seemed pretty clear when you told me what the future held for Delian and how you were going to just hand me over to him.” Luckily, the screams and chaos below hid the verbal sparring going on above.

I could barely see Rafe in the darkness but bursts of color and light would filter up to the hayloft every few minutes. Rafe shook his head at me, and I could hear the frustration in his voice as he clarified, “I never said anything about handing you over to Delian. Calli, the signs have been pretty clear that you are going to be his Muse, but that does
not
mean that we would be over. I
can’t
control whose soul you hold within you. However, I will not give you up unless that is what
you
want. What frustrates me is that you want information in small doses, but accusations fly when I start to reveal more about my world and your purpose in it.”

“Maybe, it is because the future you paint for us and the future Delian paints for me seem vastly different.”

A small smile crossed Rafe’s lips as he answered, “Right now, you have been very clear that we have a friendship only. And by the way, it was Delian that first saw you at a rave and realized that you were his Muse.”

I jumped in, “He
thinks
I am his Muse. If what you told me is correct, he cannot
know
that I am his Muse.”

Now, I finally got the wicked grin that I missed, “That is correct. I know this is probably overwhelming and Delian does regret revealing himself to you. He knows he scared you off and that was the last thing he wanted to do.”

I was annoyed again. “Why are you being Delian’s salesman? Can’t you see that you are sending me mixed signals again? You are either all in with me, or it is time you step aside for good. And just to send a mixed message of my own, I still am going to need a little time to rebound from my last relationship—that has not changed.”

He laughed at my mixed message and replied, “Calli, I have always been all in when it comes to you. I can’t seem to function any other way. I just want to negotiate the timeframe for the start date of our future relationship.” He reached for my hand and guided me to several bails of hay that we used as a couch. He sat us down so my back was leaning against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me as he asked, “Are we talking days, weeks, months, years, or decades?”

“You would wait decades?” I asked in an incredulous manner.

“Calli, I am immortal. Time is very different for me than you. When I am with you, my days fly by as mere seconds. You are worth waiting decades for. However, I did not say I wouldn’t try to negotiate the timeframe.”

“Ahhh. That’s more like your wicked ways. I think the timeframe is weeks. I just need a couple of weeks. I would prefer to make peace with Thrace before I move on, but I don’t necessarily see that happening any time soon. So, I move on without his blessing in a couple of weeks.”

I heard him sigh behind me then he touched our heads together before he leaned down and kissed the top of my exposed shoulder. I shivered and did some sighing of my own before he replied, “You are worth waiting forever for.”

My heart fluttered, and I snuggled into him. I finally told him that my friends were probably looking for me by now. He admitted that he had texted Tre that he was here and was going to kidnap me for a bit while they went on the hayride. I made some disapproving noises as he lifted me up to stand, turned me around to face him, and kissed my forehead. “Don’t worry. Apparently, now I owe Tre a favor. He said you were on a rampage earlier.”

“True. I am definitely the type of girl that you have to give some space to when I am pissed. Usually if you actually give me a whole day, I might even end up apologizing for my Irish temper. Since you only gave me a couple hours, I wouldn’t be expecting anything that grand.”

He carefully jumped us down from the hayloft in an impressive display of his god-given talent. “Don’t worry, when you actually apologize or tell me I am right about something, I will mark it down on a calendar and declare it a day of celebration.”

I saw the whole gang back at our vehicles as I muttered under my breath, “Smart eyas!”

Both Jazz and Key were grinning at me like divas while also trying to gage my mood. Rafe whispered, “Can I call you tomorrow or will that interfere with your mourning period?”

“I think phone calls are allowed during the mourning period. Ta ta for now.”

Jazz, Key, and Tre all greeted Rafe and said their good-byes. I got interrogated all the way home by Jazz. It was a relief to finally be by myself for the rest of the ride. I made it home and got to head up to my room with minimum fuss from my parents for a change. I quickly changed into my pjs, then grabbed my laptop and detailed all the events of the day in my journal.

Sunday flew by as most Sundays do with church, my Greek lesson (as I began to call
The
Iliad
poetry readings) and lots of homework. Sometimes it really was hard to truly enjoy Sundays because you knew what was in store on Monday. I was still processing the whole Delian being Apollo thing. I knew Rafe was suppose to be the Greek god Hermes, but he was just Rafe to me—someone that I could relate to. I think that was why I always referred to him as Rafe rather than Hermes. His god-like persona wasn’t really evident to me on a daily basis. But Delian was not like that. I could almost feel the power and divinity that radiated off him. He’s seemed much more like the Apollo than his human persona Delian. I needed to find out why he approached me. I guess there was no time like the present.

Rafe picked up when I called immediately, “How was your morning of worship and Greek lessons?”

“Inspirational and enlightening as ever. I think you should have joined us for my Greek lessons as a distraction. Dad would love chatting with you about Greek history, and I could have possibly escaped this torture. I am hoping my efforts this week with Thrace will prove more successful than last week. Although I find it odd that he hasn’t tried to change my mind about the whole break up thing.”

Rafe seemed to ponder my confusion for a minute before he replied, “I think based on the evil stare he gave you in the cafeteria he probably believes you have already moved on despite your best efforts to keep our
friendship
on the down low.”

I sighed, “When we have fought before, no one else was ever involved. Speaking of involvement, Apollo said something odd to me yesterday that I want you to explain. He said that he shouldn’t have tried to become involved in my life this early. Why is that?”

There was a long pause on the line before Rafe finally spoke. “Sometimes when Olympians approach their Muses too early before their bond is truly formed, it causes more harm than good.”

“What does more harm than good mean?” I asked alarmed.

“Well, there is a reason we wait until the Muse reaches adulthood before the Olympian’s soul awakens. Our world is more decadent and violent than your world. It takes maturity and strength of character to survive it. The Muse has the right to live in the normal world until she reaches adulthood without interference from our world, but many times when Olympians start to sense a Muse they flock to her. They immediately want her to join their world. There have been several cases where we have
all
paid a high price because a Muse was taken from her life too early. Helen of Troy was the most famous case.”

“Wait a minute. The Trojan War started over a Muse? That can’t be. Menelaus was not an Olympian. He was merely a King, and Helen was not one of the Muses in history.”

“
Because
of the war, as well as Menelaus and Agamemnon’s actions, usually only Olympians get Muses now. Menelaus took Helen from her human life before she had any true tie to him. She never got to experience the joy of her human world, so she was easily susceptible to the charm of Parris. Stealing Helen was tantamount to declaring war. And Muses did not have to be created from the original nine.”

Rafe’s whole new spin of the Trojan War made my mind reel on so many levels. “Would Apollo consider our relationship as you stealing me like Parris stole Helen?”

I could hear the hesitation and doubt in Rafe’s voice, “I am not stealing you away from Apollo. I am not taking you out of Detroit or even his presence. We still don’t know whose Muse you are, so he really wouldn’t have much of a case considering he was the one that had me enroll in high school with you.”

He flabbergasted me again, but I tried not to accuse him of anything. “You may not be taking me away from him, but would he blame you for stealing my affection away from him? I did my research on him. He is extremely passive aggressive at times.”

Rafe tried to change the subject. “Since Muses are mortal, it is typical to provide them with protection even when they are Night Muses. It was even more important in your case because humans are fair game in Ares rule of Detroit.”

I whispered, “Would it be better or worse for you if we had a relationship Rafe? We can still just be friends. I know it would be hard for me to stop myself from falling for you at this point, but if it puts your life in danger, then I will try to do whatever you think is best.”

“Calli, I am immortal. You are not putting my life in danger. You are putting my heart in danger. We have a whole year before we find out whose Muse you are. Let’s take this year as a gift. I’m not afraid of what comes later. I am all in right now, Calliope Edonides.”

My heart soared, but my cautious nature also made me ask, “Would it be better for you that we keep our relationship on the down low from Apollo?”

“Yes, it probably would. We don’t need to lie to him and based on your behavior around him apparently you can’t lie to him. But, we don’t need to tell him about our relationship unless he asks.”

That reminded me that I needed to find out about the truth serum problem. “Why do I react that way around Apollo? I know he is the god of truth and all, but my reactions seems a little freaky.”

Rafe laughed as he replied, “I think physical contact makes the reaction stronger, so that is probably why he doesn’t give you much space. And, I don’t know if you
can
lie or evade. I think the issue is that you just say the first thing that comes to your mind.”

“I can definitely take care of the physical contact issue. I can evade by not thinking of things that will get me in trouble in his presence. Not that I am going to be in his presence much if you cooperate again,” I hinted at our previous agreement to keep me informed about his whereabouts.

“I will try, but he knows your schedule as well as I do. I could tell him that you were really upset by his presence, and it would be better for him to stay away.”

I laughed at his creative truth telling and remarked, “Sounds like a plan. Now, I am off to finish a mountain of homework. I will see you tomorrow, Rafe.”

“Til tomorrow, Siren,” he replied in a husky voice.

I could definitely see why they waited to spring this stuff on Muses until they were adults. Surviving high school was bad enough, but surviving high school and the underworld of Detroit was not going to be easy.