Muse (Descended From Myth) (9 page)

“Hello, Mike, sorry to disappoint you. I'm still here,” I answered, trying to hide the fatigue in my voice. “Are you just here to make a delivery or are you here to help?”

“What could you possibly need my help with, Sir?” he sneered back, dangling the ribbon han
dles of the bag off one finger.

I bit back the reply I wanted to give him, and was about to ask him to look into Anna's fall. I hadn't had the opportunity to investigate yet or to secure the documents in our ro
oms. It made sense to ask Mike.

“Nothing, I don't need anything,” I answered quietly. Mike is a Guardian. There was no reason I shouldn't trust him and yet, when it came to Anna, I just didn't. I wasn't sure why. I'd talk to Gabriel about sen
ding someone else if necessary.

Mike shrugged, thrust the gift bag into my hands, and stalked back out the way he'd come in, saying over his shoulder, “Call Dad. He's worried. You might even be grounded.”

Inside the gift bag I found a new cellphone and charger. The cell had a few Guardian numbers programmed in, including Gabriel's direct line. I bit the bullet and made the phone call, trying to plan ahead for what I would say if Gabriel really did plan to call me in. His secretary was eerily polite to me, never a good sign, and put me right through.

“Daniel! What the hell, son,” Gabriel's deep voice boomed at me through the receiver. “I have to hear about this by seeing the footage on the internet?”

“Footage?” I asked, puzzled. “I haven't left the hospital for three days, what are you talking about?”

“Your damned camera crew filmed the whole thing, the girl falling and you jumping in after her. You're lucky the girl's father has been running interference with the media or they'd be all over you.”

I cringed, given the nature of our attention hungry wards, it was pretty common for Guardians to wind up being caught on film regularly, but I had a particular reason to not want my face splashed all over the nightly news.

“Am I recognizable?” I asked, worrying about who might have seen the video. Mom and Kait
lyn would freak if they saw it.

“Everything of you is from a distance, so only if someone knows what they're looking for. They zoomed in pretty tight on the river bank, but you were so covered in dirt that you might get lucky.”

“Okay. Well, I guess I will have to deal with that as it comes. Anything else I should know about?”

“No, not really. How is Anna? Is she going to be all right?” he asked.

“She's awake finally, and seems to be progressing. They think she might be ready for release in two days. I'm going to need the address of Henry's house so that I can stay there. Plus, I'm going to need to check on transferring to her college.”

Gabriel promised to put Jenny on setting me up for life in Indiana. I wasn't too worried about transferring schools, I already had more than enough credits to finish a Bachelor's Degree and should really be working on graduate credits now. The degree itself didn't seem all that important since I was never going to need it for my profession. Being born into a livelihood does have its privileges along with its costs. I was able to pick and choose the classes that interested me rather than being forced to pick a particular degree program.

I used my new phone to pull up the video of Anna's fall in order to assess just how recognizable I was for myself. I didn't make it through the first thirty seconds before I was dry heaving in the closest waste bin. I couldn't force myself to relive those frantic, horrifying moments. Not now, maybe not ever. I'd just have to take Gabriel's word for it and hope that my mom wasn't watching the TV much this week. I had seen enough to figure out that Anna's fall had been caused by the composite decking splitting under the glass security panels, but was it a simple accident or had someone damaged it intentionally? I was fairly certain this was an accident, but didn't want to rule anything out yet.

I woke myself up thrashing again, trying to fight my way out of water I didn't even remember being in. It was disorienting, being back in my old bedroom. It made me feel younger, like I'd never left for college at all. Every time I woke up I had to figure out if the last few days had really happened or if I'd dreamed it all. Especially Daniel. Everything about him seemed like a figment of my fevered imagination. Mom said he hadn't left my side until they'd driven me away from the hospital and back home. He'd promised to pack up my things from the hotel and bring them back here for me, and when my parents were out of earshot he'd said that he wouldn't be far away. Still, I hadn't seen him for over twenty four hours now and that seemed excessive. I was surely going to lose my mind over this guy.

I did have plenty of things I could do to distract myself. Friends had been steadily dropping stuff off at the house for me—books, magazines, movies and the like. Somebody, probably Brian, had included a 64 count box of Crayola crayons and a stack of coloring books. I was avoiding the TV because it seemed like every local station insisted on showing clips of my “harrowing ordeal and dramatic rescue” not only on the nightly news, but in every commercial they aired to convince you to watch the nightly news. I watched it once. That was enough. I looked like a complete idiot, sure, but mostly I hated seeing the danger I'd put Daniel in.
My stomach twisted up in knots just thinking about it. We both could have drowned! I could have taken him out with my clumsiness.

I picked at my comforter, wondering if I could get out of bed and walk around without the dizziness setting in. My Mom was in extreme over-protective mode and had insisted on walking with me whenever I got up—even to go to the bathroom. The worst part was that I still needed her help. My head was muddled and I spent most of the long ride home trying to figure out what I was forgetting. I knew there were important things I was supposed to do, and that if I could just grasp onto that something, it would all click into place. I
felt
different too, more aware of my body than normal and more aware of the presence of the people around me. Once Daniel showed back up I would talk to him about it. After I pounced on him and kissed him silly. Because whether he thought it was a good idea or not he was getting kissed. I just had to hope that he'd like it. I also had to hope that my Mom and Dad would let him in and give me more than two minutes unchaperoned with him. I'd be turning 20 really soon, but to Dad I was always going to be the two year old they rescued from the children's home. Yes! That was one of the things I was supposed to remember! I sat up too fast, making my head spin.

“Mom,” I yelled, bracing myself against the headboard with one hand and my nightstand with the other, “Can I have my cellphone now? Please?”

She'd been holding it hostage so that I would get some rest instead of spending all night texting my friends. She was right. I probably would have done just that, but I
needed
it now.

She came in carrying a glass of water and the
pill bottle of my antibiotics.

“Cell phone?” I asked hopefully. “Please?”

“Not until you take your medicine and eat something,” she said sternly, holding out a palm full of pills.

“Have you heard from Daniel at all?” I asked, try
ing to keep my tone nonchalant.

“Seriously?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “He's been here for the last hour crashed out on the couch. I wouldn't let him wake you, and now you probably shouldn't wake him. The poor boy barely slept the entire time you were in the hospital.”

A soft knock on the door frame pulled our attention straight to the topic of conversation. The hair on the side of his head stuck up messily and he had a soft, sleepy and completely adorable expression on his face.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said sheepishly, “but I'm already awake. Is it okay
if I come in now, Mrs. James?”

“You're already here now, aren't you? You need to get some more sleep, though, Daniel. If you're staying for the day, then you're both taking naps later. Separately! Otherwise your dad will be in the hospital being treated for a massive coronary,” she added, laughing. “I'll go
get you both something to eat.”

I took my medicine and sat the water back on my nightstand while Daniel shuffled in the doorway. “Are you c
oming in?” I asked impatiently.

“Is it okay? Are you sure you don't mind?” he asked, looking around at all t
he pictures I had on the walls.

“Get over here,” I demanded, patting the bed beside me. “I missed you.”

“I've got something for you,” he said, handing me a small square box. “I wanted to get you a good luck charm and I remembered seeing this in one of the shops we looked in downtown. It seemed appropriate.”

I lifted the lid to find a silver link bracelet inside with a beautifully scaled goldfish charm dangling from the center. “So that next time I remember to swim?” I laughed.

“So that there will never be a next time,” Daniel answered. “That was the worst day of my life. I'm so sorry, Anna.”

Sorry? Daniel had nothing to apologize for, but I should have guessed that he would feel responsible. “Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. You were the one who saved me and you were the one who woke me up. You have nothing to be sorry for, and I'm going to spend a lot of years showing you how grateful I am that you jumped in after me.” I decided to start with that kiss. I threw my arms around him and dragged him down onto the mattress with me, burying my face in the side of his neck. He smelled so good, not like cologne but
like, well, like Daniel.

“Do we have to have another talk or can we skip it and move on to the kissing?” I asked, my voice muffled against his collarbone. I could feel his laughter as it ruffled my hair, and then his lips were moving over my forehead and cheeks
before finally finding my lips.

“Kissing first, talking af
ter,” he gasped between kisses.

I was totally fine with that, as long as we took plent
y of time for the kissing part.

“Break it up you two,” my mother called from the hallway. It felt like only seconds had passed, but a glance at the clock told me it had been more like half an hour. You know what they say, time flies when you are having excessive amounts of fun. Daniel jumped up like someone had set his pants on fire and excused himself
into my bathroom for a minute.

“Behaving yourself?” Mom asked, bringing a t
ray covered in food over to me.

“Me? Of course,” I said innocently, hoping I wasn't too disheveled. Embarrassment o
r not, it was totally worth it.

As Mom handed over the heavy tray of food, I felt the odd tingle of awareness again. Daniel came out of the bathroom and thanked my mother for the food. As he pulled my desk chair over to the side of my bed, I decided to test a theory that had been
percolating in my head all day.

I formed a mental image of Mom going to her room and taking a long, relaxing nap. Then I made eye contact with her and pushed the picture out of my head and towards her, just like Daniel had explained. I actually felt the shiver of energy leave my body, and within seconds, Mom yawned audibly.

“Well, since Daniel is here to help you out and he clearly isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I think I'm going to go lay down for a little while. Yell if you need anything, and no funny business, got it?” she threatened as she walked out of the room and down the hallway to her room.

“Now we can talk without being interrupted!” I grinned. “Did you feel it? How did I do?”

Daniel was staring at me in open-mouthed shock. “Yeah, I felt it. What was that?”

Huh? “What do you mean? I—
what do you mean?” I stammered.

“That just felt, different. Like I've never felt Influence before. It was more solid somehow, like the air in the room turned into heated jelly for a split second,” he explained. “It was
very
impressive. I just hope your Mom doesn't decide to take a week long nap now.”

“Could that happen?” I asked, feeling a little panicky about the idea that I might have just turned
my mother into Sleeping Beauty.

“Probably not. Don't worry. We'll figure it out,” he said re
assuringly.

I explained how I felt different since the accident, but in a good way. Like I could tell where the energy was coming from inside myself and how it connected to other people. “I feel like I have all the answers now, just not the key that connects them all. There's something I'm forgetting. That's the part that's driving me crazy!”

“Gold cords...” Daniel mumbled. “At the hospital, when you woke up you told me to remind you about the gold cords, that it was important.”

And it was. As soon as he said it, it was like an epiphany. I remembered it all, the memories of bright light and ethereal music came pouring back and I remembered the glittering gold cords that linked energy from one body to the next. It wasn't like a near death experience, more like a visitation. “Calliope, it was a gift from someone named Calliope. She said that I would use my gifts to bring justice and serenity to the world. Does that make any sense to you?”

“Calliope is one of the original nine Muses. She was even considered the most important of the nine! She's your ancestor!” Daniel exclaimed, sounding very excited. “Your ancestral chart is in with the packet I gave you the other day. Both of your parents were descended from Calliope, actually. ”

I must have made a face at that, because Daniel laughed and explained, “It's not like they were siblings, Anna. We're talking extremely distant relations here. If we didn't have such detailed ancestral charts for every Talent, you'd never know.”

“I never got the chance to look at the information you gave me about my parents, but I'd like to go over it with you while I'm recovering. I had my mind on other things.” I paused, thinking. I wanted to share with Daniel all the other plans I'd been making and the problems I'd been dwelling on, too.

“I did research some of the Talents you told me about, though,” I told him. “I don't want to be like them. As far as I can tell, every one of them is squandering their abilities. I think we're meant to help people, to make the world a better place. I want to go out and do more with my life than make money and I want you to help me. I'm thinking about studying either psychology or social work. I was trying to come up with a field where I could Influence people to make real changes for the better. I'm leaning towards psychology because I've already taken a few classes in it and I liked them, plus if I decide to do social work later, I could still do that with a psychology degree.”

“Are you serious?” Daniel asked, hesitantly. “What about design, or your television career?”

I laughed and said, “I was never going to make a career out of either of those things, it was just a fluke that I got that internship!”

“This isn't for my benefit, is it? Because I'd protect you even if you decided to make a career out of clubbing baby seals.”

“Gross!” I yelled. “That's horrible! I thought your job as a Guardian was to protect and GUIDE the Talents? That seems pretty far off the straight and narrow to me!”

“It's not the worst thing that the Guardians have allowed to happen,” he conceded.

“Well, I'm charging you with keeping me honest and down to earth. If it ever looks like I'm starting to get power hungry or attention starved, you'll be required to step in and punish me severely.”

“How do you suggest I do that?” Daniel asked, a slightly wicked gleam in his eyes.

“I'm sure you'll think of a way. Maybe you should practice now?” I teased back. Our lunch sat uneaten, but neither of us really cared at that point. We'd get to it eventually, hopefully before my m
other woke up from her nap.