Intrigue (32 page)

I sputtered, “What exactly do you have planned? You know I can’t leave the city right? Let’s just stick to something simple—dinner and a movie.”

“Boooooooring. I thought bungee jumping or parasailing. But, don’t worry, it’s all taken care of.”

“I am sure you have had a vast amount of experience taking 21
^st
century teenage human girls on first dates. Right.”

Rafe gave me a wicked smile and said, “Speaking of a plan. Since I am not going to karate today, I am going to sign myself out of school to go help Apollo. Are you alright with that, or do you need my supervision?”

“I will be fine, funny guy. Go take care of business. I will call you tonight after practice.”

Now Thrace was my constant shadow for the rest of the day. I was starting to wish for one whole day I would not have a shadow. I was collecting too many opposing relationships: Thrace vs. me vs. Rafe; Rafe vs. me vs. Apollo; Apollo vs. Rafe vs. Dr. A; Apollo vs. Rafe vs. Ares. Why were relationships so flockin complicated. Guys were supposed to be simple. They were supposed to only want one thing—which I wasn’t offering. I was mulling this over as I rode to class with Thrace. As we pulled into the gym, I got the phone call. I made sure Thrace heard all of it and then told him that I had to head to the GAR as soon as my ride showed up. I repeated the story to Jazz and Key as I changed, then headed to the front door as I saw a van pull up.

I jumped in the van with about five other people including Dr. A. I smiled and asked, “So, is this Team Calli?”

Dr. A smiled as we took off and said, “Yes, Calli, these are some of the Plan B team. Apollo’s Plan A Team will leave for their stations, then we will disable their vehicles and Plan B Team will move into position. We will take you and Thrace to the building where we are heading now.”

I shook my head in a daze, “Dr. A, what if we send the commandos away after their first match? The Graces couldn’t call them right? I guess I am asking if there are other alternatives?”

“Calli, we are
your
team. There is always what you are prepared to do and what you are not prepared to do. Tomorrow night there will be either those commandos fighting at The Corner, your three friends fighting at The Corner, or none of them fighting at The Corner. It is up to you. If we give the Graces commandos, whomever they fight against will surely die because those men are killers. Calli, it is game time--time for you to decide if you want to lead this team. Are you in?”

I started to look out the window. We had arrived at an old factory. I finally looked back at Dr. A and said, “Wonder Woman reporting for duty, Sir! Come on, let’s roll. As John Wayne says, ‘We’re burning daylight,’ Dr. A.”

Dr. A gave me a solemn smile and turned to the rest of Team Calli, “You heard Wonder Woman. I want to walk through this at least three times before we take her back to the gym. Back the van up and let’s start this drill all over again.”

We proceeded with the plan until we had it perfect. They also gave me about 10 minutes in the factory to study the layout. I paced off my steps to all the different sections while they moved debris that might get in my way during the fight. Too soon, our drill was over and we were heading back to the gym. We were debriefing the whole trip, so I didn’t have time to get anxious about Plan B.

I got back just as my class was just letting out. I walked in and told Jazz and Key that I was going for a run with Thrace before I headed home. Jazz commented, “Is there something going on that we need to know?”

I laughed and replied, “You need to know everything at all times, so that is a big question. I want to show Thrace even if I date Rafe that I will always have time for him. Period.”

Key teased, “Good luck on that one, sweetie. We still on for after school tomorrow, right.”

“Absoflockinlutely. I am going to need you guys to calm me down because Rafe is threatening to take me bungee jumping for our first date!”

He threw various comments about how strong and manly he was while we ran. In the car on the way home, he finally asked, “Calli, how is the planning going?”

I confidently gave him the generic details of the plan. “I promise you that everything is going to be fine, Thrace.” I hugged him before I got out of the car and told him to get some rest. He thanked me again for the 100
^th
time.

Both mom and dad were home and wanted a detailed accounting of my life. It was a judgment call, but I felt pretty sure that I wouldn’t be let out of the house until I graduated if I would have discussed what was really happening. Or I would have been taken straight to a secure mental health facility. Either option was not appealing, so I gave my standard evasive details. They were satisfied, so I was allowed to go upstairs where I made a quick phone call to Rafe. He wanted to know how practice was, which I replied by telling him of Thrace’s nervous questions. Not lying, just evading. I asked him how his preparations were going, and he evaded as well. It seemed that we were the perfect couple. Liars and evaders.

Chapter 26: Ruin with a View

On Friday, I was practically zinging around like a cat on speed because of all my nervous energy. I mind ran a constant loop of Apollo’s Plan, My Plan, and Date Night like a hamster on a wheel. I was so jumpy during all my morning classes that Jazz caught me in the bathroom and observed, “Girl, did you double up on the caffeine this morning? You’re twitching like a ferret.”

I made myself take a deep breath and try to calm down before I replied, “Flockin….Date Night. Rafe officially meeting my parents,
and
he won’t tell me where we are going! But, don’t worry, I will fill you in on all the details on Saturday after practice if you can cover for my Saturday night. DUA is doing a sort of think tank lock in, and I wanna go, but you know my parents!”

Jazz smiled at me and threatened, “You best give us
all
the gory details for sayin your staying at my house.”

I gave them a conspiratorial smile and promised, “Done and done.”

We headed to lunch and saw that both Rafe and Thrace were already seated at our table. It’s always an awkward moment when I headed to the table with Thrace on one end and Rafe on the other. Rafe looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. I tried to get any details out of him about tonight, but he goaded me with inappropriate suggestions. When I reasonably asked about the dress code, he replied, “Hmmmm…..I’m thinking fishnets, black knee high boots, micro-mini, and a corset top should be appropriate for where we’re going.”

“Ahhhhh, but keeping you distracted with the wicked things I have planned for tonight surely must take some worry away from other activities of the weekend.”

His smart-eyas grin and wink definitely kept me distracted, but it also made my stomach churn, which definitely wasn’t helping.

“About the other activities, I’m gonna try to calm down Thrace during journalism, so can you run interference for me with Mr. Johnson?”

“Absolutely. I live to serve,” Rafe stood and performed a bow with a flourish as the bell rang.

I threw his word back at him with a grin, “We’ll see. Now, won’t we.”

I laid out the final details with Thrace, and I said all the calming things like ‘this will all be over soon’ and ‘no need to worry.’ The rest of the day flew by and soon Jazz, Key, and I were headin to my house for a little girl time before our respective dates that night. We had mini-spa festivities planned as we did each other’s mani-pedi’s, make-up, hair, and a short fashion show of our outfits for my parents. Jazz and Key left around six and wished me luck. Whereas, my dad prepped for Rafe’s arrival by getting out his hunting rifles to clean. Even my mom thought pulling out all his rifles was overkill, “Lethe, is more than one really necessary.”

Dad just grumbled, “Of course! She’s a junior now. The guys will be expecting certain things. I think my subtle warning just teaches them they need to lower those expectations right off the bat.”

I just shook my head, amused by the thought of a Greek god being afraid of my dad.

Rafe, of course, arrived on time and was properly blown away by my attire. I was wearing my favorite black low-riding jeans with a beautiful emerald corset top (much to Rafe’s amusement), and a little black jacket in case we were going somewhere outdoors. I had a vintage black beaded purse and adorable emerald ballet flats with little crystals on them. Of course, my appearance could not hold a candle to how scrumptious he looked. He had on a brown suede jacket with an olive v-neck shirt and dark washed jeans. His tousled hair looked perfectly mussed as usual, and I had trouble concentrating on introducing him to my mom. Mom and Rafe hit it off when he started off with a compliment to the house, which was her pride and joy.

She actually blushed and replied, “Well, thank you, Rafe. I have always had a good time finding just the right pieces for the house. Let’s go find Calli’s dad, I believe he’s in the den. Oh, and don’t let him scare you away. I think you might be a keeper.”

Now, it was my turn to blush, “Mom, hello, first date.”

Rafe gave mom a conspirator’s smile and remarked, “I think it would take a lot to scare a potential suitor away from the Edonides women. ”

Mom laughed and said, “See honey, no harm done--at least until he meets your father.”

As we walked into the den, dad was just finishing up on his favorite rifle. My mom awkwardly said, “Lethe. Time to stop cleaning your hunting rifles and get ready for dinner.”

Dad gave Rafe a hard once over, then came over to shake his hand. With the unloaded rifle in his left, he shook Rafe’s right hand. The interrogation then commenced. Rafe answered every question with a Sir at the end, which amused my mom and I. Dad told him my curfew and said that I was not to be a second late. I said good-bye to my parents and hustled Rafe out the door. Once he backed down the driveway, he blew out a loud sigh of relief.

“I think I would rather do hand-to-hand combat with all three Graces than face off with your father. He is one tough customer. Of course, if I was in his place I would be exactly that tough on your suitors and any guy that looked twice at your mom.”

I tutted him as I said, “No crushin on my mom.”

He laughed and said he would keep that in mind as he drove to our destination. I quizzed him relentlessly, but he still would not tell me our plans until we hit the Dearborn city limits. Sometimes coming to Dearborn seems like you’re suddenly in a different country. Many of the street and business signs are in Arabic or Lebanese rather than English. My favorite restaurant, The Al-Ameer, is located here. A little known fact about Detroit was that it had the best ethnic food in the country. I smiled at Rafe and said, “Nice choice, Sparky.”

He replied, “Don’t get out of the car, we are just picking up food here for our final destination.” He ran in and out in under two minutes.

“I thought you said that your species needed less food than we do. Otherwise, you must have invited your 50 closest friends cause I can’t eat all that.”

I spent the next 15 minutes guessing our destination before he finally pulled up to
Lee Plaza
--one of the many gorgeous abandoned ruins of Detroit. Night was just settling in, and I could barely marvel at the solid structure and beautiful arches that used to welcome the wealthy of Detroit into its gracious accommodations.

Rafe hustled me out of the car and into the building through a hidden entrance. I could barely see the destruction of the once beautiful ballroom. He had to guide me through an obstacle course of debris to the stairway area. Rafe gave me the food to hold and then unexpectedly swung me up in his arms. He cradled me and gave me a roguish smile and wink as he said, “Let the first date begin.”

He was already flying up the stairs his feet barely hitting the ground. Floor after floor, we rose until we hit the fifth floor in mere seconds. He glided down a long hall with light filtering in through windows or holes in the wall where windows in the building used to be. Rafe stopped at the corner room. He set me down outside where I couldn’t see in. He kissed me on the forehead and told me to stay facing the hallway until he had properly prepped the room. Just as I was about to investigate the other rooms, Rafe appeared back in the hallway.

He guided me back toward our room as he teased, “My curious little cat, I should have known I couldn’t leave you alone.”

I was about to comment when I stepped into the doorway and all rational thought left my head. Amazement and wonder knocked my breath away. The room was bare concrete and debris free. But there was a path of white pillar candles that led to a picnic set up on a papasan cushion in the middle of the room. The cushion was surrounded by even more candles that circled it in a wide arc. What was even more stunning was the view framed in both sides of the corner windows. The surreal view could have been of Gotham City in the distance. When my breath came back, I looked up at Rafe in awe, and he gave me a bone-melting smile and said, “Yeah. The view’s not bad.”