Muse (Descended From Myth) (6 page)

It was nice to pretend for a while that I wasn't a Guardian and that Anna wasn't a Talent, to make believe that we were just a guy and a girl crushing on each other and enjoying each others' company. I've never felt grateful for there being too many people on a bus before. Even though I was sweaty and gross, she'd snuggled up against me. Her hair smelled great;
she
smelled great.

I'd taken a quick shower and changed into clean clothes in record time so that we could go out for food. We went to a little cafe she said she'd seen her first day in town and picked up some food. While we waited, we wandered around the square checking out shops and other places within walking distance of the hotel. There was a pizza place and a convenience store close to the hotel, so I figured we were pretty well set for the next couple of days. This job wasn't going to last long. Things would change once Anna was back among her friends and family. I had to find out how I would fit in as her Guardian. That had to be part of our conversation tonight, but I wanted to stall. I wanted to just be Daniel and Anna for a little while longer, even if it wasn't fair to either of us. It felt so
right; it was hard to convince myself that we were really inherently wrong for each other.

We decided to eat outside the cafe instead of taking it back to the room. Anna told me all about her day, laughing about this and that. Even when she wasn't using her Influence, I could tell that she was special. She's kind, caring, compassionate and has this sparkling, infectious sense of humor. I've never met another Talent like her. I've never met another
girl
like her. We walked back to the hotel, taking our time and talking about anything and everything but the stuff I should be telling her about.

As we crossed into the lobby, the lady at the desk waved me over and handed me a thick envelope that had arrived while we were at the job site. I already knew it had to have come from Gabriel, but the crest emblazoned on the envelope confirmed it. Damn. I sighed, took the envelope and led Anna into the elevator. As the doors closed, she reached
over and took my hand in hers.

“Whatever it is that you're avoiding talking about, I'm sure I won't react that badly, I'm pretty tough,” sh
e said with a touch of bravado.

“You do seem to handle everything well,” I answered fondly. “I do think we should go over some stuff. I'm just nervous because it's going to change things between us.”
And if I don't do it now, I may never be able to force myself to do it
, I thought to myself.

We entered my room and dropped onto the bed since it was the only available seating. I should have given her some time to get comfortable, or tried a gentle approach to what I had to say, but instead I just threw myself into the explanation headlong. If I didn't go into it now, I might lose the nerve to do it all and keep right on benefiting from Anna's ignorance of the w
ay things worked in this world.

“Most Talents have been around a Guardian their entire life. Obviously, either their mother or father was a Talent (sometimes both), and so they grow up with Guardians around. That means they already have certain expectations about how they interact with us, and what is or isn't permissible. You have to understand that all Talents come from wealthy and powerful families, families that have lived privileged existences for many, many generations. They can have anything they want. Most of the time, Guardians are seen and treated more like servants than equals. Most Talents appreciate the service we provide, but don't really want to have us too involved with their lives. It's something they see as being beneath them. Especially when they can and
do
socialize and romance people with much higher social standing. So, do you understand what I'm trying to say at all?” Frustration poured over me, I wasn't making any sense, and this was important for her to understand.

Anna tilted her head to the side. “Are you trying to tell me that I could do better?” she asked,
a little laughter in her voice.

“No, well…kind of. I'm saying that as you grow further into your powers and into this world, start interacting with other Talents, then you might feel differently about me. I don't want you to have regrets. Plus, I'm your Watcher so I'm supposed to be assigned to you indefinitely. If you decided later that you'd rather move on to better things, well…that would be very difficult for me. That's why it's discouraged.”

“I see. So, you already told me that there are more female Talents than male, and that all of the Guardians are male. Are you seriously telling me that this has never happened before? That doesn't even make sense.”

“Of course it's happened before! Talents get bored and slum around with their Guardians all the time. Being with your Watcher is like dating the gardener, or the pool boy. Then they move on, find someone with money, or fame. Someone who's more exciting and the poor schmuck Guardian who fell for it is left watching from the shadows,” I spit out. The look on Anna's face told me that I'd taken my argument just a little too f
ar, revealed a little too much.

She sat quietly for a moment, looking at her hands as they lay folded in her lap. Finally, she was able to bring herself to speak. “I don't know any other Talents, so I can't speak on their behalf. Quite frankly, they don't sound like people I would want to befriend anyway. Maybe it's for the best that I
was adopted, because my parents raised me to follow the Golden Rule and treat others with the respect they deserve. They would never encourage me to treat anyone like they were less of a person because they had less or earned less, especially if they worked for our family. But I think maybe we should put whatever this is between us on hold for a while until you figure out who I am and if you want to be something more than my Watcher. I already know who I am, and giving me a little extra oomph isn't going to change that.” She slowly slid off the bed, heading for the door. “I'm going to take a break and call my parents. Then we can start back in on my education.” She walked out, closing the door firmly behind her.

I felt like more of an ass than I ever had in my life. It had to be said, though. I couldn't end up like my father, watching the woman I love romance a new man every week right in front me and then choose to leave all together. He'd only married my mother so that he could have a son to carry on the Guardian tradition, to carry on the Lyoncourt legacy. The real legacy was the pessimism and bitterness that fille
d me at the ripe old age of 21.

I threw myself back on the bed, trying to figure out what I should have said to explain myself better and landed on the envelope I'd left there. I sighed and tore into it with resignation, knowing I'd better at least fulfill my professional responsibility since I wasn't doing anything else right. Maybe my emotions were overwhelming my common sense and training. I needed to pull my shit together.

The first page in the packet contained news that wasn't much of a shock, but still made me feel sick to my stomach. Henry had been pronounced dead at the hospital. Gabriel had made arrangements to have his body shipped back to the Guardian's cemetery just outside of our U.S. Headquarters. He didn't have any family left anyway.

The rest of the packet contained updates on current protection details, and a few pages of additional information on Anna's biological parents. As I looked everything over, I thought I might have come up with an idea how to work my wa
y back into Anna's good graces.

I stomped out of Daniel's room in a fit of anger. My temper crackling like lightning, I had to get away before I said something I would regret. I was furious that he would imply that I was going to turn into some money hungry floozy who would drop him like a hot potato as soon as someone with a bigger wad of cash stumbled into my path. For someone who claimed to know all about me, he was pretty damn clueless.

I stomped into my room and slammed the door behind me, huffing the entire time. “Idiot!” I yelled at the empty room. “Stupid, prejudiced idiot!” Get a grip, Anna, I told myself. This is a hotel—that means paper thin walls. Like I need any more attention drawn to me. I needed to do something, to distract myself. I decided to strip down and take a shower before calling my Mom. Maybe that would help me relax enough that she wou
ldn't pick up on my foul mood.

The shower helped some, and when I started to towel off, I could hear my cell phone ringing in the other room. My caller ID confirmed that it was my mom. She always seemed to know when I was going to call. She must have some sort of “Mom ESP,” the ability to sense when your adult offspring are about to cry, even over long distances.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice pleasant and cheerful. I listened as she filled me in on all the local and family gossip, including that Dad said hi and sent his love. I made agreement noises and tried to toss in a few remarks here and there to show I was listening, but my heart wasn't really in it. At some point, I interrupted her and asked, “Mom, when I was growing up, did you ever notice anything different about me? Anything that was unusual?”

My question was met with a long pause, and I heard Mom's sharp intake of breath. “Why? Did someone say something? Has one of them been bothering you? What's happened?” she stammered. Then I heard her yelling for my
dad to pick up the other line.

“Mom, seriously, there's no reason to freak out. I was just asking a question!” I started backpedaling furiously, afraid she was going to hop in the
car to come get me any second.

“What's going on, Annie?” my Dad's deep voice rumbled in the receiver. Shit. This was going downhill fast. When Dad was in full-on Judge mode, it was very difficult f
or me to get anything past him.

“Did someone try to contact you there, Anna?” my mother as
ked, her voice full of concern.

“Who are you talking about, Mom?” I asked, trying to avoid answering until I knew if we wer
e talking about the same group.

“A few years ago there was a man who showed up at our house asking questions about you, saying that his group needed to do some tests on you to see if you had an inherited condition they were researching. He was very evasive and just made us both very uncomfortable. Your father threatened to take legal action against him if they didn't stop contacting us and they stopped. We didn't tell you then because we didn't want to frighten you.”

I wanted to ask questions, but if I did then I would tip them both off that things weren't peachy here. I came up with the best excuse I could, knowing how flimsy it was. “Okay, that's pretty weird. I haven't talked to anybody about me being a genetic mutant or anything like that. I was just asking cause I was having a conversation with a guy I met here about our childhoods and I couldn't think of anything that was especially interesting. We were way too normal. Sounds like I have something cooler to talk about now, though.” I gripped my cell phone, willing them to believe my bluff.

“You? Anna, you met a boy? Is this a boy that you
like
?” she asked teasingly. My mother's infallible matchmaking senses had snatched onto the one part of that story I didn't want to pursue right now, but it was still probably the safest part of the conversation. At least I didn't have to lie. If Daniel was still planning on playing bodyguard and mentor after tonight's disaster, then I might as well prepare my parents for his presence anyway.

“Yeah, I like totally met a bo-oy?” I drawled in my best valley girl impersonation. That was enough to end the conversation for my Dad, who said goodnight and went ba
ck to whatever he'd been doing.

I told Mom briefly about Daniel, well, a few details about him. I didn't lie, but there was some serious filtering going on. It seemed like enough to make her happy, though. Actually, if it had been the whole truth, it would have made
me
pretty happy, too. Sometimes the truth just sucks.

Mom finally let me go. I was never able to find a way to ask any more questions about the mystery group without freaking her out, so I let it go. I decided to ask Daniel if he could find out if the Guardians had ever approached my parents. That is if I ever got the chance to speak to him again. I could understand where he was coming from, a little. We really don't know each other that well. I mean it's only been two days since he showed up in my life! It just seems like much longer. It would be a good idea for us to slow things down and get to know each other a little better anyway. Hold on, slow things down? After a few kisses and a single dinner? I'd had high school romances that were more physical. That makes me sound sleazy. I'll phrase that differently when I talk to Daniel. Sure, I'd had a couple of boyfriends over the years, but not since coming to college. I'd been on a few dates since then, but I was supposed to be concentrating on school and figuring out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Plus I hadn't found anyone that I really clicked with, until now. I'd felt more chemistry with Daniel than I ever had with anyone befo
re. Now I just felt frustrated.

I scrounged through my still unpacked bag and got dressed in a t-shirt and some fleece pajama pants. I could go for a run, but after what happened last time I just wasn't ready for that. Instead, I went over some of my design notes and lou
nged on the bed with the TV on.

A soft knock at the door pulled me away from an episode of “Cupcake Wars” that I'd already watched anyway. “Who is it?” I called, just to be difficult I suppose, because there really wasn't anyone but Danie
l who would show up at my door.

“Peace offering?” Daniel's now familiar voice called back. I debated whether or not to tell him to go away, but decided I couldn't do that. It would drive me crazy wondering what he'd wanted and it would just feel
petty.

I unlocked the door slowly, and cracked it with the security chain still on. Daniel stood there, holding a quart of ice cream, two spoons, and a sheath of papers wrapped in a rubber band. I made a show of eying him over, which was easy because I r
eally do like looking at him.

“Mint chocolate chip
?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The green kind,” he confirmed. “Also, I considered flowers, but I thought you might appreciate these more,” he sai
d, shuffling the tube of paper.

Interesting. I shut the door again and unhooked the security chain, opening the door wider so I
could let him inside the room.

“May I?” he asked, pointing at the bed with his
papers and handing me a spoon.

“Please, have a seat,” I said shyly. Then I quickly swiped up the dirty clothes and wet towel and chucked them in the bathroom, then ducked in after them when it hit me that I didn't have my bra on! OMG! I quickly fixed my “wardrobe malfunction” and then stepped back out, my cheeks blazing. Daniel wisely said nothing, but held out
the quart of ice cream for me.

“I forgot to get bowls. Do you mind eating o
ut of the container?” he asked.

“Mmmm, not at all. Thanks,” I said, digging in. It didn't feel as awkward between us as I was afraid it would. After I took a few bites, I nodded towards the papers. “So what's in there?”

Daniel started to look a little nervous, and fidgeted with the rubber band with one hand. “This is information we're going to have to call 'for your eyes only' because I would be in a ridiculous amount of trouble if anyone else knew I'd put it on paper.”

“Will it self
destruct?” I asked, laughing.

“No, unfortunately it won't. That means when you get done looking over it, we have to destroy it ourselves. I wrote down the name of every Talent, as well as any information I could think of about what they do with their Influence. I think you'll find it enlightening. There are some big names on that list, so be careful with it.”

I smoothed out the roll of paper, looking at the names. He was right. I recognized most of them right away. There weren't very many names on the list though. “Are these just the ones you know?” I asked.

“Those are all twenty-four Talents. There are six kids who have the potential to become Talents. They aren't included on the list. You're part of an endangered species, Anna. So am I. There were only sixty Guardians until yesterday. Now we only have fifty-nine. Each Talent has a full time Watcher and then the rest are assigned based on the security needs of the Talent. We've got a handful of novices who will need to be given responsibilities sooner than they're probably ready for them. Most of the Guardians are too old to still be doing this. They should be home, enjoying what's left of their retirement years.”

I was afraid to ask, but I felt like I had to. “Who did you lose yesterday? Was it Henry?”

Daniel nodded stiffly. “Yeah, he didn't make it. I'm sorry.”

He was sorry? I didn't even know the guy, even though he'd been following me for over a year. That's when it hit me, and a cold shock of horror stabbed me in the gut like a knife. Henry had been following me, and I'd been running like a maniac through unfamiliar streets. He stepped in front of that truck. “Because he was following me,” I whispered. “He got hit by that truck when he was trying to keep up with me, didn't he?”

Daniel sat the melting ice cream and spoons over on a table before I knocked them onto the bedspread, avoiding my eyes. “We don't know what he was doing, Anna. You can't let yourself think that. It was ju
st an accident.”

“But I remember feeling like I was being watched, and wanting to get away from whoever it was. I didn't know, but I still think I must have caused it. I didn't know.” I felt numb. What if it had been Daniel following me that day instead of Henry? I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of my m
outh as soon as I thought them.

“Hey,”
Daniel said, wiping away the tears that were starting to leak down my cheeks. “Hey, don't cry. First of all, if you ran from me, I could catch you, every time, anywhere. Second, you're not getting rid of me that easily.” He folded his arms around me and gave me a solid, comforting squeeze. “You're going to be yelling at me for a lot of years, Anna. Now, you haven't even seen the rest of the stuff I brought you. I've got some more information about your parents. Do you want to look at it now, or is it just going to make you cry more? You can't see it tonight if you're going to cry. I can't take it. You're not allowed to cry anymore.”

I had to smile a bit, even through the tears. “Stop being charmin
g. I'm mad at you!” I sniffled.

“I know you are, and you have every right to be. I handled things back there badly. I think maybe what we need is a little more time to build up the trust between us, and to really get to know each other. Then we can see where we stand. Does that work for you?” h
e asked, his voice going husky.

“No, I'm sorry, that's not going to work for me,” I answered, surprised that the lie fell so smoothly from my lips. Either I was getting better at this or I'd finally found the p
roper motivation for deception.

“No?” he asked, l
ooking confused and a bit hurt.

“I'm afraid I'm going to need a little more information before I can agree to that. There's something I've got to know before we go back to work tomorrow or I won't be able to face everyone else.”
Daniel cocked an eyebrow, waiting for my demands. “I'm gonna have to know what that tattoo is,” I ordered, poking him in the chest with my finger. “Because if it's a unicorn or some girl's name then we may be at an impasse.”

Daniel chuckled and said, “Deal,” as he whipped his shirt over his head, leaving the silver medallion to dangle against his bare chest. “I
did
consider a unicorn, but decided to go with this instead. It's the symbol of the Guardians. We have it placed over our hearts to remind us of our commitment.”

The circle was about the size of my clenched fist and inside were three stylized women with upturned palms above their heads, surrounded by a circle of swords and laurel leaves. I reached out and gently touched the medallion that swung on a pop bead chain, the type that looked like it should hold
a set of dog tags. The solid silver piece was warm from Daniel's skin and had an image of a rearing lion, a shield, crossed swords, and a pierced heart on the front. The back had an engraving of words in what looked like Latin.

“That's my family crest. The back is our family motto, “For the Greater Good, For the Greater Glory, We Persevere.” My father gave it to me to wear once I was officially a Guardian. He wore it before me. It was a gift from a Talent to my
great-great-great-grandfather.”

I looked up into his eyes, feeling the electricity between us. I forced myself to pull back, to crack a joke, anything to keep myself from falling deeper into whatever this was. “That's a gift that will be hard to top at Christmas time,” I said softly, trying to smile casually and look unaffected. I didn't need Daniel to know how much this closeness really d
id affect me. Not today anyway.