When they finished breakfast, Andrew and Darien kindly showed the three guests to the door. Once on the front porch, Darien finally addressed Diana with a pained smile.
“I would like to apologize for Terra’s behavior,” he said with a sigh.
“What’s her problem?” Diana asked with a great deal of incensed curiosity. “Every time she looks at me I feel like fireballs are going shoot from her eyes and incinerate me.”
Darien went rigid at her comments, his eyes slightly twitching, while Andrew burst with laughter. Diana arched an eyebrow in confusion, her two friends looking equally perplexed. The image of being incinerated by fireballs wasn’t all that humorous to most people.
Andrew quickly found his composure and Darien gave his brother a scolding glance before continuing.
“There is no excusing her, but Terra misses her family terribly and it has hardened her towards others.” He shook his head while dwelling on the thought. “She’s even cold to us most of the time.” He looked over his shoulder with disappointment in his eyes. “It was unfortunate that Miriam could not join us this morning—she has a tendency to bring out Terra’s more pleasant side.”
Although Diana had trouble imagining the woman having a pleasant side, she almost felt sorry Terra. “I should have known it would be insensitive to ask a question about her home. Obviously, losing your family and being forced to live in a foreign country would be hard to deal with.”
Darien’s smile grew less pained and filled with warmth. “Thank you for understanding her, even though she doesn’t deserve it most of the time. You have a unique heart, Miss Selene.”
The warmth of his smile reminded Diana of the night before, and the strange connection she’d felt when he had taken her hand in his. She smiled back. “Thank you again Darien—for everything. I’ll see you in class later.”
Without knowing why, Diana pushed herself up on her toes and kissed Darien on the cheek. The act surprised her more than she could possibly understand. By the look in his eyes, it had also surprised Darien. Diana’s pale cheeks began to flush and she grabbed Lani by the wrist, pulling her away down the sidewalk as fast as possible. Eric followed close behind, laughing and wincing in pain.
Chapter 6
Am I on the very threshold of death,
That I am blessed to see a Valkyrie?
A warrior maiden with spear in hand;
An armored angel bathed in golden sun.
Twas not a sword that pierced this Dragon’s heart
But javelin held in fair woman’s grasp.
Following the puzzling breakfast events, Diana sat fretting away in World Civ while she overanalyzed the events of the morning and the night before. She waited with anticipation for Darien to walk through the door, but he never came to class.
Darien’s unexpected truancy had likely filled Diana with even more worry than if he had showed up and told her that the kiss on the cheek had horrified him, and that he never wanted to lay eyes on her again. With his absence, such scenarios were all that occupied her thoughts the entire weekend while she worked on her first homework assignments, or spent time leisurely walking around the campus with Eric and Lani. At least Darien hadn’t been tormenting Diana in her nightmares. Thankfully, she’d not entered her unique and terrifying dream world since the night of the party.
Her state of mind had not been eased in the slightest when Darien failed to come to class on Monday morning as well.
It was now Tuesday, and Diana was more than eager to find out if he would show up to Akkadian.
She sat on the hallway floor, waiting for the previous class to finish, while she tapped her pen along with the erratic rhythm in her heart.
Darien finally emerged from ascending the staircase and Diana sighed at the sight of him. She found the intensity of her relief unsettling.
He walked over and stood beside her, just as he had Thursday afternoon, and her relief quickly turned into indignation as she rose from the ground.
“I see you finally decided to come to class,” she said with evident irritation. She certainly wasn’t going to add that his absence had almost literally worried her sick.
“I was unaware you cared so much, Miss Selene.” Though he had a slight smirk, his eyes seemed troubled. “Unfortunately, I needed to readjust my schedule and was forced to drop out of World Civilizations.”
“I see,” was all she replied, her irritation remaining.
Diana began to fret anew for entirely different reasons. Of course it was something as simple as that; why had she immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had fled from her presence? What did Diana Selene really mean to Darien Shepherd? Apparently, in her anxiously fretting mind, she had been the center of his world. In reality though, she was absolutely nothing to him. She felt completely and utterly stupid.
The two of them walked into the room and continued on with class as if the events of the party had never occurred. There was a strange lack of emotion from Darien as well. She couldn’t sense any of the previous anxiety he had felt at breakfast the other day. In fact, she couldn’t sense anything from him at all. It was like he was shutting out the world around him.
If he’s going to completely forget about what happened, then I will too. She more interested in Eric anyway, right? He’d been the one who reached out to her after Darien had been rude and belittling.
Quite content with her decision, Diana spent most of the last half of the session talking to a fellow student named Abram about his time studying abroad at Oxford. As her family had come over from England relatively recently, she always enjoyed hearing about her peoples’ homeland. She told Abram as much.
“My great-grandfather immigrated to the States in 1917.”
“Where did they live?” Abram asked.
“I’m not entirely sure. Somewhere in the south I think—Somerset or Cornwall. Their names were Green, which is pretty common and hard to pin down without specific records.”
Abram nodded with a smile. “I should say so. I never got down to that part of the island myself, but I always wanted to go there. Did any of your family stay behind? You could reach out to them.”
“My great-aunt Charlotte stayed behind for a while to pursue archaeological studies. She was a longtime companion of Foxwell Flinders actually—it’s part of the reason I came to this school.”
To Diana’s great surprise, Darien suddenly insinuated himself into her conversation with Abram.
“Your great-aunt was Flinders’ companion?” he asked her, sounding as if he did not quite believe Diana's claims.
“Yes; for many years,” she replied with a sense of pride. “I like to thank her for my passion to become an archaeologist myself. She was an accomplished woman and studied alongside one of the greatest scholars of her day. Even though she was woman, she was well respected among her peers.” She put special emphasis on the last remark for Darien’s benefit.
Darien simply stared at her, like a mathematician trying to solve a complex problem, before an amused smirk finally danced across his face. “And here you are, following in her footsteps and on your way to being an accomplished young lady yourself. I wonder, do all women of the Selene clan have a sharp wit hiding behind their pretty faces, or does that trait skip a generation?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Diana replied. “Charlotte was a Green and my mother and I are both only children. Are all men of the Shepherd clan standoffish and proud?” After her retort, Diana realized that Darien had called her pretty in a roundabout way that may have been a veiled insult.
“The men of my clan do tend to come off as arrogant, but we warm upon closer acquaintance.”
“A marble statue has more emotion than you,” Diana replied but quickly regretted that she had let her irritation with Darien get the better of her.
“Indeed,” he replied, his smirk returning. “You seem to know me quite well, Miss Selene.” Was he being sarcastic? He almost sounded sincere. “If only you could understand a heart of stone as well
as you do ancient clay tablets.” He went back to drilling vocabulary with his partner.
What in the world is that supposed to mean? Did he just accuse her of not understanding him? Of course she didn’t. Diana didn't know why she even bothered to try in the first place. He may have softened his rude and discourteous nature in the face of Lani’s plight the other night, but any decent human-being would have done the same. Why had she expected Darien Shepherd to somehow shed his stone scowl in favor of a warm smile? Some demented notion that he had somehow developed an interest in her? He’d appeared in her dream, after all, not the other way around.
With classes over for the day, Diana swiftly retreated to her sanctuary—the Foxwell Flinders Reading Room. Surrounded by the books that represented the man’s life work, Diana felt the tranquil calm that the library building had likely invoked during its days as a holy temple. Though the peace of mind lasted for a few hours, while she lost herself to Akkadian exercises of memorizing ancient chicken-scratch, Diana began to feel incredibly alone as she gazed beyond her piles of books.
I need to hear mom’s voice. With her phone destroyed, Diana had only been able talk to her parents a few times using the pay phone in the dorm lobby. She’d have to endure the infrequent, and considerably less private, conversations until her cell could be replaced. Even if she could talk to them more often, it probably wouldn’t help her loneliness. Maybe it’d get better once she made more friends.
She really liked spending time with both Eric and Lani. Diana’s roommate was already becoming very much like a sister to her, but Lani’s schedule was growing busier by the day. It was surprising how many requirements were thrust on music majors. If Lani didn’t have classes, she had music lessons and practice sessions that ate up her time. She had promised to make time for Diana, and Audrey Hepburn, whenever she could.
Closing her book, Diana let out a very pathetic sigh and felt on the verge of tears. She was determined not to cry in the library—such noises in quiet buildings tended to attract attention. The tears were held at bay by the sound of footsteps growing closer to her little round table. She turned and smiled to see Eric approaching like a hero coming to take her sorrow away. Seeing him now made her forget her loneliness—at least for a little while.
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Eric said with a hint of sarcasm. “I thought for sure you’d be at a party someplace doing keg stands.”
“You know, after that first couple I decided I wasn’t in the mood and said screw it,” she replied with a smirk.
“I know what you mean; your ancient Arcade language sounds much better than lite beer.”
Diana giggled slightly. His mispronunciation was adorable. “It’s called Akkadian. I’m pretty sure there are no cuneiform signs for Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero.”
He just shrugged. “Whatever. Do you know where I can find a book on Egyptian art for our History project?” he asked, eying the various books on the shelves. “I figured they’d be in this area someplace since you like to hang out here.”
Diana didn’t quite know how to handle his comment. He did call her the book-worm type the other night. Was she offended that he thought of her as a nerd who hangs out in the library all the time, or was she pleased that he came to her for help and knew where to find her? That meant he’d been paying attention to her in some way.
“Around the corner over there,” she replied and pointed over to the right side.
“Thanks, you’re a peach.” Eric turned around the corner to look for his book. After a few minutes he returned with one in hand.
“What’d you end up choosing?”
“Book of the Dead, sweet eh?” He looked as excited as one could be about a school project. Each student had chosen pieces of ancient art from the Mediterranean Bronze Age. Almost everyone in the class had picked something Egyptian—artwork and colossal statues are what Egypt is known for, after all. Diana went with Minoan ceramics.
Eric’s demeanor became exceedingly more awkward as he pulled out a chair and sat down across from Diana. “I have something I want to ask you.”
Her heart leapt with anticipation and Diana felt the blood rushing to her cheeks. Had he somehow figured out that she liked him? He must have—why else would he have been looking for her?
“Sure, go ahead,” she replied with a warm smile.
“Do you think Lani would go out with me?”
The proverbial knife stabbed deep into Diana’s heart and she felt the blood drain from her face as quickly as it had rushed in moments ago. Of course he was interested in Lani; guys always went for girls like her—fun, adventurous, and outgoing—not plain, generic, book-worms like Diana.
“Of course I do,” Diana replied, using all her force of will to remain emotionally calm. “You practically risked your life to help her—what girl in her right mind wouldn’t fall for a guy like that?” She felt the knife twist at her own words.
Eric smiled wide at her affirmation. “Thanks Diana, your opinion means a lot to me. For some strange reason, I was really scared to disappoint you—like when my mom found out I didn’t want to go to LSU.” He smirked and shuddered at the memory. “She didn’t talk to me for two weeks. She’s convinced some Yankee lass will corrupt my soul.”
Diana smiled even though Eric had just inadvertently compared her to his mother. She wouldn’t dare to even begin analyzing that train of thought to completion. She instinctively went to look at her phone to check the time but cursed instead. She had to look to the clock on the wall.
“Lani will be out of class in about forty-five minutes. You’ll be able to find her in our room after that.”
With an enthusiastic smile still plastered on his face, Eric rose to his feet. “Well, have fun. See you tomorrow.” He waved goodbye and was gone, leaving Diana to her now much more torturous solitude.
She could feel the tears welling up to bursting and was determined not to embarrass herself in the library.
Diana quickly put her books on the nearby return-cart and then made her way down the spiral staircases and out of the library. She spotted a nice secluded area to the left with an inviting bench under a canopy of trees—a good spot for a hefty cry where no one would come asking her questions.
She sat on the bench and stared up at the night’s sky, trying to calm herself. Through the leaves she could see the full moon, shining bright and beautiful. She could almost feel the glow of the moonlight on her skin and it calmed her like the warm embrace of her grandmother. Only a few tears rolled down her cheeks—not the blubbering she had expected. Twice the moon goddess, indeed. A goddess wouldn’t feel sorry for herself this much.
As she raised her head up to wipe a tear, her eyes fell upon three guys standing in the distance. She felt her cheeks begin to flush with embarrassment and then quickly looked away while trying to compose herself. When she stole a glance back in their direction, they were laughing and talking to each other. She recognized those troubling grins—Tony and his cronies—and they’d recognized her as well.
As Diana’s embarrassment began to quickly fade, replaced by a growing sense of alarm, she almost didn’t hear the sound of someone coming from the brush behind her. Startled, she quickly tore her gaze from the three to turn around.
“Well Miss Selene, I thought you had more sense than this,” said the voice of Darien Shepherd as he appeared from out of the darkness of the low-hanging trees. He walked forward casually, as if simply out for an evening stroll with a small shopping bag in hand. He wore a green and brown tweed jacket with a button-up shirt, no tie, and dark khaki pants, looking very much like a professor who had come from giving an evening lecture. “Didn’t your mother teach you that it’s dangerous for a lady to sit alone in a dark secluded area? As you learned the other night, the world is bathed in foul intentions.”
Diana turned back around to find that Tony and his friends had gone. Whatever intentions lay behind their grins, Darien’s appearance had prompted them to flee.
She
was ashamed to admit that he was right—she had been stupid. Her emotions had gotten the better of her and she just wanted to escape embarrassment. She was in no state to argue with him and just sighed instead, placing her face in her hands. “You’re absolutely right—I’m an idiot, and I’ll admit it. I just needed to be alone.”
Darien sat down beside her. “You’re not an idiot Miss Selene—foolish perhaps—but not an idiot.”
“I said I wanted to be alone,” she repeated into her hands.
“Isn’t that why you are crying in the first place?” Though reserved, he actually sounded as if he cared.
Diana took her face from her tear-stained hands and turned to him, probably looking like a confused mess. He really did seem concerned and she didn’t really have a response. When she tore her eyes from him to look down again, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. The sympathetic gesture struck Diana and she looked him in the eye with obvious bewilderment.
“It must be lonely being the only girl around who would rather look at old pieces of broken pottery than pretty shiny things.”
His words were meant as a lighthearted joke, but they cut to Diana’s heart. It was the simplest way to describe her unique loneliness. It wasn’t that she felt smarter than everyone else—far from it. She just didn’t have the same interests as most people and couldn’t relate to them enough to have a meaningful conversation. It was probably the reason she had trouble making new friends. It was a lonely existence—not being able to connect with people. With that simple statement, Darien Shepherd understood her in a way that no one else ever had—she would rather look at pieces of broken pottery than pretty shiny things. Some lady she’d turned out to be.
When Diana didn’t reply, Darien took his hand from her shoulder and wiped one of the tear streams away with his thumb. “Please be more careful. You shouldn’t deprive the world of such a rare and interesting human-being.”
Moonshadow Page 8
