by Nicole Thorn
“What do you want to avoid Zander for?” Jasper asked, rising to his feet.
“Nothing,” I said. “You wound me, Jasp.”
“Uh huh. Let’s say that I tell Kezia about this wonderful idea of yours, and she agrees. The second they are out of the house, what exactly will you be doing?” he asked, looking up at me.
I frowned, and shrugged. “Well, I might be going to see if Callie has something useful for you to get a vision off of . . . From when she almost got hit by that car.”
He sighed again. We had told him, Juniper, and Kizzy about what happened with us the day before, when we got back from the funeral. My brother and sister had been unhappy that I had gone out on my own to handle it. I’d gotten a lecture from Juniper, who would have at least accompanied me, even if she let Callie die. Kizzy had looked hurt that I hadn’t asked her to go, but she’d also looked amused when I said how angry I was with Zander for his stupid, stupid move.
Demigods . . .
Jasper sighed. “Why would you want me to look back at that?” he asked.
I told him about how I couldn’t see the driver. Unlike Zander, Jasper knew about visions. He grew thoughtful while he wrapped his little clay thing up all neatly. “If I agree to talk to Kezia about going out with Zander, I won’t lie to her, and she won’t lie to him. However, if I agree, you have to take me or Juniper with you.”
I frowned over that. Was that better or worse than Zander? They wouldn’t hover, at least, so I had that going for me. “All right,” I said. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Jasper.”
He nodded, and kissed my cheek before sending me on my way so he could speak with Kizzy. In the house, I made a beeline for the bacon. Zander smiled at me when I snatched it up, and I returned the smile. His eyes went to my messy hair, and I watched them light up. Victory!
Juniper came into the room as Zander finished breakfast. She frowned at him, but didn’t say anything. She was used to being the cook, so I thought she still worked on adjusting to not having to do it. Zander knew where to put everything, and that mattered most.
She opened the cupboard, and looked at the mugs. They had been arranged from light to dark, all of them being white, gray, or black. She selected one of the white ones, and went over to the teapot that Zander had on the stove. Juniper wore a pretty tan skirt, and a white t-shirt. I didn’t mention that I thought the skirt looked pretty, because it would’ve made my sister self-conscious.
About five minutes later, Kizzy and Jasper came in. Kizzy had changed, and fixed her hair. She gave Jasper a look before saying, “Hey, Zander? I thought you and I would go get lunch today. Just the two of us.”
His eyes lit up like she had offered him a box full of puppies. “That sounds great,” he said evenly. It impressed me, how he managed to not sound eager. I didn’t possess that talent.
Kizzy, not being blind, noticed how happy it made him. She frowned as she sat at the table. Then she offered me a small smile. “Good morning, Jasmine.”
I smiled back, brightly. “A lovely day to you, Kizzy.” We ate breakfast in silence, and then went our separate ways. I waited in my room for hours . . . hours . . . until Kizzy and Zander left. Then I bounded down the stairs to find my brother and sister waiting for me. I stopped. “Wait a sec,” I said. “I agreed to take one of you, not both of you.”
“Too bad,” Juniper said. “If you’re going to do something reckless and idiotic, then I need to be there to give the ambulance your personal information.”
“It’s not reckless or idiotic. It’s talking to the Oracle, and trying to find out what wants us dead,” I said. “I think making sure that we don’t actually die is the opposite of reckless or idiotic.”
Juniper rolled her eyes. “What about the part where if you touch the Oracle, the two of you are blasted apart and knocked unconscious? Forgot about that? Got a plan to tell her parents when they found the two of you down on the floor, bleeding from various wounds?”
“I wasn’t bleeding last time,” I pouted.
“You’re pouting,” Jasper said. “Why are you pouting? You agreed to this.”
“Why are both of you coming?”
“Well, Juni thought it would be best if she made sure neither of us died, and you sent my girlfriend away, so I’m lonely.”
My shoulders slumped. “Fine. Let’s go. Both of you are impossible, I just want you to know that.”
We piled into Juniper’s car. Jasper sat in the back, me in the passenger’s seat. “This really isn’t as dangerous as you want it to seem,” I told my sister. “I mean, I get visions about stuff and do things about it all the time.”
“I know. And the last time you did this we nearly got ourselves killed by some angry furies. Remember that?”
“But we got Kizzy and Zander out of it,” I pointed out. “I love Kizzy and Zander. Don’t you love Kizzy and Zander?”
“Of course, I do,” Juniper said. “I also love not having my entrails pulled through my stomach by an angry fury. But forgive me. I’m clearly a very picky person about where I want my entrails to be.”
“You are. You totally are. I mean, it’s not like you got hurt too badly. I’m the one who got a broken foot, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember you shouting about rats in the ceiling while Zander hovered all over you. And I remember wondering if you died when you were getting your foot broken, and preparing for my heart to get ripped right out of my chest and stomped on. But no big deal.”
My eyes narrowed. “You may have won this round Juniper Elle Nelson, but you will not win the war.”
She smirked, content with how she managed to school me. The rest of the ride went a similar direction. Jasper occasionally threw in a quelling remark, usually after me and my sister middle named each other. It was a joke in our family. Our parents hadn’t cared that much about our middle names, so they didn’t change my and Juniper’s all that much. She was Elle, and I was Ellen. Jasper had been lucky his wasn’t Elton, or something equally terrible.
We got to the house, and pulled up in the driveway. Jasper rang the doorbell, and Callie’s father answered. He smiled at me. “Jasmine. Nice to see you again. Are you coming to check up on Callie?”
“Yep,” I said. “We’ve been talking on the phone for the last few days, and I thought she could use some company. These are my siblings, Jasper and Juniper.” Much like people before him, Callie’s father examined all of us. Juniper and I looked exactly alike, but for the hair and the fact that I weighed a normal amount while she clocked in a little on the skinny side. Jasper looked big, since he stood over six feet. Now that he ate regularly, he approached a healthy weight, and that only added to the intimidation. I watched the man figure out that we were triplets, because it wasn’t that hard to see.
He recovered quickly. “Well, come on in. Callie is in her room. Why don’t you go on up?” He gave us directions, and then watched us head up the stairs. Once we got out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Glad he didn’t think we were some weird stalkers or something,” I said, before knocking on Callie’s door. “Zander wouldn’t have been able to Charm him since he’s not even here, and all.”
Juniper rolled her eyes. “Like I said. Reckless.”
The door opened, and Callie looked at us with her black eyes. Then she beamed, her entire face lighting up. “Jasmine! What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to talk to you about the incident,” I said.
Her face immediately grew sober. “Okay. Why don’t you come in?” She stepped out of the doorway, and we went into her room. Well, I assumed there a room existed underneath everything. Clothes scattered all across the floor, trash had been piled in the trashcan until it seemed unbelievably high. Her desk had been littered with a thousand notes that said things she had to have heard from the gods. The computer was on, and opened to a word document that had much the same. She had covered the walls in posters of things that sixteen-year-old girls liked.
I couldn’t see any
blank spaces in her room. Callie had covered it all with something. I glanced at my sister, and saw her wide, horrified eyes. Juniper balled her hands into fists, and tried not to look at anything for more than a few seconds. It made her look insane, but I understood her anguish.
This was why Juniper didn’t go into my room. Ever.
Jasper patted her shoulder.
“These are interesting,” I said to distract everyone. I pointed to the notes scattered across her desk. “Is this the only way you can remember what the gods are telling you?”
“When they’re all talking at once, yes,” Callie said. “They’re suspiciously quiet right now. If it were closer to Valentine’s Day, I’d think they were all getting it on. Dionysus likes to plan orgies for the special occasions, but the other gods usually ignore him unless it’s Valentine’s Day.”
That was a lot of information that I did not need.
“Anyway,” Callie said. “You wanted to talk about how that car almost hit me, but totally nailed Zander instead?”
I whimpered.
Jasper pat my shoulder this time. “Yes,” he said. “Do you have something from that day?”
She frowned. “Yes. Just let me find it.”
Then, much to Juniper’s horror, Callie started throwing the clothes on the floor around. Tossing them onto the bed, throwing them onto the desk. Kicking them out of her way. Making an even bigger mess. Jasper, thinking quickly, turned her back on the room, and leaned down to speak slowly to her. “It’s okay,” he said. “You’ll never have to be in this room again. Promise.”
Yeah . . . I regretted bringing her there. Eventually, Callie stopped her mad dash around the room, and produced the shoes that she had been wearing that day with a grand smile. “Here ya go!” she chirped. “I knew they were here somewhere. Sorry that it took me so long to find.”
“Me too . . . ” Juniper said. I hugged her sideways. I wished there was a way to make this better for her. I couldn’t even make her cookies, because she didn’t eat things that would make her happy. Or drink beer or any other kind of alcohol.
“Do you mind if I take these for a little while?” Jasper asked.
Callie shrugged. “I got four more pairs in prettier colors. Do with them what you will.” We gave her hugs before leaving again. When we got outside, I asked Jasper why he didn’t want to do the vision in the house.
He shrugged. “Kezia gets worried when I have visions and she’s not around. Ever since we tried to learn a little more about the furies.”
When we had been dealing with that whole mess, we offered to have a group vision to figure out more. My siblings and I held hands, and we dropped into separate visions, so that we could paint a complete picture. We learned to do that when our father wanted us spying on the neighbors. For some reason, the demigods freaked out when we did it, and they forbid us from ever doing it again.
They couldn’t really tell us what to do, but we loved them, so we listened. Jasper especially, apparently. I shrugged “Okay. If we wait until Zander is there, it would probably appease him, too. Since he’s upset with me for keeping secrets.” We climbed into the car, and started back for the house.
We got there before the demigods did, so they must be having fun at lunch. Jasper put the shoes on the coffee table, and Juniper immediately moved them under the coffee table. She went into the kitchen and started scrubbing everything that she had already scrubbed. “Jasmine?” she called. “Could you take the trash out?”
“Sure,” I chirped and grabbed the bag from her. I went outside, and frowned at our big trash can. It sat out on the curb, because the next day would be trash pickup, but the top hung open. I looked into it, and saw that one of the bags had been ripped open. A glance around the street showed a cat, with its head stuck up an empty bag that once had rotisserie chicken in it.
“Oh no!” I shouted, and rushed after the cat. “Why are you doing this?” I called. “Don’t you know you can die?” Since the cat had been ill prepared for anything but getting the bag off its head, I could him easily. I mean, I’d definitely need stitches in at least four places, but the cat would live, and that was the important part. When I had it freed, I let it go.
The big tabby bushed all its fur out, and hissed at me, like I had done something wrong in saving its life. Jerk cat. “You’re a douche, Lorenzo, because obviously, your name is Lorenzo.”
The cat arched its back warningly. I realized that it wasn’t looking at me, but at something behind me. At that point, I also realized that I could hear hissing, and not from Lorenzo. I started to turn around, but then the cat froze. At first I thought he had been scared.
It started with his blue eyes. They turned gray. I didn’t mean the irises turned gray, but the entire eye turned gray. Then the fur around the eyes, and the rest of his kitty face. By the time I realized what happened, the hissing behind me had grown much closer than before. My heart pounded as I watched the cat turn to stone.
It was frozen in the position of attack. All the cat claws stuck out against the ground. Little bits of stone stood out where his fur had been bushy. He had been a cat mere seconds before, and now he was nothing. Maybe it could be reversed. I could put Lorenzo in my room until we figured out something, or—
The hissing grew nearer, reminding me that I had more problems than a poor dead cat that hadn’t done anything wrong but steal rotisserie chicken. The shadow appeared first, since I wasn’t willing to turn around to see what approached me. What I knew approached me.
The shadow looked feminine, with curves in all the right places. It would have been impressive, if it weren’t for the top of it. The head seemed way too big, because the hair looked large, and loud. Writhing and hissing with gods knew how many snakes, all twisting about.
Oh gods. Snakes. Everywhere. Oh, snakes. I hate snakes. Oh jeez.
I didn’t turn around because I wasn’t that stupid. Lorenzo had been turned to stone, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be. I snatched the cat statue up, and started running in a wide circle. If I could get around the gorgon, then maybe I could get into my house, and we could barricade it.
“Where are you going little girl?” the gorgon hissed.
Awayfromyou, I thought. When she dodged in front of me, I screamed, because snakes. Snakes everywhere.
“This doesn’t have to be difficult or painful,” she said. “Just look up.”
“No thanks!” I shouted, dodging around her again, and making a break for the house. In a second, she dodged in front of me. I got a glimpse of a tight body, held together in a freaking leather dress that showed off too much pale leg before I managed to look at the ground. Not the eyes, anything but the eyes.
I ran to the right. She ran to the right. I ran to the left, she ran to the left.
“WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?” I shouted, just as the front door to the house opened. “DON’T LOOK!” I shouted at my brother and sister, because gorgon. Freaking gorgon. What the hell? I went twenty years without seeing anything creature wise, and this year, they were fucking everywhere.
“Oh, my god!” Juniper shouted.
“Jesus,” Jasper said. I heard them both run out into the yard, because they had a death wish. How did you fight something that you couldn’t see? Apparently, if you were my brother, you pick up a shovel and blindly swing it at the creature, while our sister pelted rocks at it.
“That won’t work!” I shouted.
“You got a better idea?” Juniper chucked the biggest rock, and it hit the gorgon in the shoulder, according to her shadow. She hissed, wheeling on my siblings. Oh, fuck that shit.
“Hey, ugly bitch!” I shouted, and ran forward to kick her in the shin, then dashed back. So, this is how I die. Nice to know that I would be turned into a garden decoration, and not go out in a cool way. I’ll certainly miss my siblings, and Zander. Especially when he’s shirtless.
Jasper swung the shovel, and by the metallic pang, he managed to hit the bitch a good one. I was about to try dodging around her again wh
en I heard the squeal of tires. The next thing I knew, Zander hit the gorgon with his car. She went flying through the air, and landed with a hard thud about twenty feet away. Realizing that she had been outmatched, she climbed to her feet and ran.
That should have been the end of it, but when the demigods got out of the car, and glared at all of us, I knew it wasn’t. I smiled sheepishly at Zander, and lifted the stone cat. “This is Lorenzo.”
CHAPTER EIGHT:
The Worst Is Yet to Come
Zander
The thing about being Aphrodite’s son, was that when I felt something, I felt it in my entire being. I’d torn things to pieces, and I’d watched in satisfaction as two people killed each other. I’d tasted the misery and the fury and the hate, and I fell in love with it. I loved the blood and the hate. I loved vengeance for the girl who had been hurt. There wasn’t an emotion I didn’t love.
That didn’t mean I had to enjoy what caused them.
“What the fuck were you thinking?!” I screamed in the house. The seers stood in a line in the living room, and my sister stayed at my side. She seemed more irritated than pissed, but it would come around. “You could have gotten yourselves killed!”
They all stood there. How did they stand there looking calm when I felt like I would explode? How could Kizzy not be freaking out? Why did this torture exist only in my head? What had I done to deserve something so crushing to live inside of me?
Jasmine stood with her chin up in dignified defiance. “We had to talk to Callie.”
“I don’t care,” I growled. “You know you’re a target, and she’s a target, and you still left. You tricked me.” I pointed to her. “And I’m not going to forget that.”
I stormed away from the three of them, and Kizzy followed. She knew what I why I walked away, because she knew me better than anyone in the universe. She started gathering up ingredients and setting them on the counter while I turned the oven on.
