by AR Colbert
But our path down to the front of the room was blocked as soon as all the students stood to leave. The trio of Agarthian mean girls created a wall in front of me and Dom.
“Looks like you had a little fun on your vacation, didn’t you, Atlantis?” Camille crossed her arms with a sneer. She thought I’d been on a family trip. That was the rumor Gayla and Dom had spread in my absence. “Went and got yourself some powers, huh? Well, it’s about time. Let’s see what you can do.”
I glanced over her shoulder to where Professor Brossard was hurrying to pack his things and get out of the room. I didn’t want to let him get away so easily, and I had zero interest in playing the mean girls’ head games.
“I need to talk to the professor,” I said, ignoring her prodding. “Excuse me.” The girls crowded in tighter, blocking my passage.
“She said move, Camille. We’ve got stuff to do.” Dom tried to push past the girls, but they were being especially obstinate this morning.
“I wanna see what the water girl can do,” Camille said again.
“She can certainly drown you if you don’t get out of the way.”
The girls continued to bicker as I watched Professor Brossard pack the last of his things into his computer bag and cast a nervous glance in our direction.
“Professor! I need to talk to you about my assignments!” I called out over the girls’ shoulders, but he acted as if he couldn’t hear me. Driskell was right. He was a coward.
“I’m gonna tell you one more time,” Dom gritted through her teeth. Get out of the way or—”
I spread my arms and the girls went crashing into the tables on either side of our row. I hadn’t intended to throw them out of the way so violently, but it was as though the power came from a different part of my brain—some subconscious area that didn’t think through consequences, but acted merely out of emotions and a loss of self control. I didn’t even realize what was happening until it was done.
Camille’s mouth dropped open, and Dom turned to me with wide eyes. But I scurried past them toward Brossard as he reached for the door handle at the front of the classroom.
“Professor!” He didn’t spare me even the briefest consideration before bolting out of the room. “Argh!” A frustrated yell escaped me, and the Agarthian girls almost seemed to cower at the sound.
Camille quickly regained her composure, however, and the other two girls followed suit. She tsked as I made my way up to the back exit, Dom hot on my heels. “You really need to learn to control that better,” she teased. “It would be a shame for the administration to find out you’ve been using your powers on campus. And with all these witnesses around…” She gestured to her friends with a wicked grin.
I ignored her, tugging hard on the door handle and causing it to swing open with a hard slam into the opposite wall.
“What was that?” Dom asked as we scurried out into the hall. Her voice was a whisper.
“I don’t know.” My words were shaky. “I just got so… mad.”
“Well, you better get back to the apartment before you get mad again. They’re right. You need to figure out how to control this. I’ll help you get to the bottom of this after my next class. I’ll call Sean and Devon, too.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “But Dom, before you go, do you have any idea why Professor Brossard was in such a hurry to get away from me?”
She grimaced. “I’m not sure exactly, but there was one person on his mind as he hurried out of there.”
“Who?”
“Rossel.”
CHAPTER 7
Dom was probably right. I needed to get home and get a grip on myself. But first I had to calm my nerves enough to walk in public without blowing people over with an indescribable power I couldn’t control.
A splash of cool water on my face in the bathroom helped only slightly. I studied myself in the mirror, squinting at the girl staring back at me. My eyes were still mostly blue, with the exception of that one slice of brown in my left iris. Other than my missing scar, nothing looked different at all. I didn’t feel much different, either. And yet I knew, everything had changed. Who are you?
With a deep breath, I steadied myself and tossed my bag back over my shoulder. Everything would be fine. I just needed to get home until we could figure out what happened back there.
But each step took me further from that sense of calm I tried to maintain. I couldn’t quit thinking about what Dom had told me. Why would Professor Brossard be thinking of Rossel? Surely they weren’t working together. Rossel wanted me dead, and Brossard had plenty of opportunities to hurt me. But he wasn’t trying to get me alone or cause harm. He was avoiding me. Why?
An unnaturally high-pitched giggle shook me from my thoughts on the sidewalk outside of the classroom building. I looked up to find the Agarthian girl with the wind power walking with an exaggerated sway of her hips, arm slung through the crook of Tate’s elbow. Camille and the cat girl walked behind them. Four sets of golden eyes glanced up as they approached me on the sidewalk.
“Everly!” Tate dropped the girl’s arm like a hot potato and stepped toward me. Her smile disappeared, replaced with a glare. But Camille stepped up to her side, her grin growing ever wider.
“Ahh, it’s the water girl with the temper again.” Camille placed her hands on her hips. “You better look out for that one, Tate.”
I ignored them, focusing my attention instead on the tall, handsome prince that stood before me. “You’re outside,” he said quietly. He stopped just beyond arm's reach.
“I needed some sunshine.” I shrugged. “I was feeling a little blue after being cooped up for a week.”
The corner of his mouth perked up, and his eyes briefly grazed over me. “You still look a little blue. Need some company?”
“Ahem.” The wind wielder cleared her throat loudly over Tate’s shoulder. His jaw tensed slightly before he turned to look back at the girls. “I thought we were gonna grab some coffee at the Honey Pot.” She pushed her lower lip out playfully, but Tate wasn’t amused.
“Sorry, Stella. We’ll have to reschedule,” he said. Stella. I’d have to remember that was the wind girl’s name.
“The paper is due tomorrow. We can’t reschedule.” Her glare hardened, but it was definitely focused on me, not Tate.
“I’m not—” He stopped himself and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to be able to go right this second. You all go ahead, and I’ll meet you there in a bit.”
Camille narrowed her eyes, and cat girl literally bared her teeth at me. Their little hissy fits weren’t doing much to improve my own bad attitude, either. They’d taken the brunt of my power once already today. There was no telling what might happen if I got angry again.
“It’s fine, Tate. We can talk later.” I forced a smile and tried to walk away before my emotions got the best of me. But Tate jogged back up to my side.
“No, that’s just it. I—” He paused as the Agarthian girls moved down the sidewalk toward the coffee shop. Stella flicked her wrist as they passed us, and a gust of wind blew my hair into my face. “Not cool, Stella,” Tate called out.
Their snickering carried on as they rounded a curve in the sidewalk. I was definitely frustrated, but I’d somehow managed to keep my reaction under control this time. They didn’t get to me quite as much when I had Tate by my side. That was good. I was making progress.
“Sorry about them,” Tate grumbled when we were alone. We walked at a casual pace behind them, allowing the gap between us and the Agarthian girls to widen with every step they took.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. Besides, Dom says they only act that way because they don’t like seeing Agarthian guys talking to girls outside of their race. I’m sure it’s ten times worse when it’s their prince who is doing it.” I raised my brows at him.
“That’s probably true. Though I’m sure you’re used to other girls being jealous of you.”
“Me?” My cheeks warmed. He’d obviously forgotten who my beautiful ro
ommates were. “I wouldn’t say that’s true.”
Tate paused and locked his eyes on mine. “Well, you should probably get used to it, then.” He grinned, and it took all my strength not to melt into a puddle on the sidewalk. He was just a guy, but I could not deny my attraction to him. Especially when I remembered our bodies pushed close together in that linen closet…
He jerked his gaze away and started walking again, breaking the spell he had on me. And maybe it was just a spell. He was a talented siren, after all. But that wouldn’t explain why he seemed just as rattled as I did.
“I’m glad I ran into you. I was planning on swinging by your place later to talk to you, anyway. There’s been a request for me back home.”
“In Agartha?”
He nodded. His kingdom of Agartha was a mythical place, somewhere deep under the ground, inside a massive chasm within the earth’s core. It sounded fake, like a story someone had made up long ago. But then again, my entire life seemed pretty unreal these days. Still, it was hard for me to imagine him living there.
“What for? Will you be gone long?”
“I don’t know. They’re never very forthcoming with these things.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to go, but the drama that’ll get stirred up if I disobey the order isn’t worth it. They want me there as soon as possible.”
“When are you leaving?”
“First thing in the morning.”
My stomach sank. He had done his part in turning my aura blue. We had plenty of the pills left, and we really didn’t need Tate for the next part of my journey. But that didn’t mean I wanted him to go away. I was more disappointed to see him go than I would have expected to be.
“Oh.” It was all I managed to say in response.
“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t think I’d disappeared on you. But make sure you stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
“I never get into trouble.”
He laughed. “Seriously. Promise me you’ll stay home—either at your place or Millie’s until I get back?”
“When will that be?”
“I can’t say.”
“Then I can’t promise.” The truth was that I wasn’t planning on staying inside long at all. As soon as Al came back with a location, I had every intention of marching down to talk to Rossel. Especially now that I knew he was involved with Brossard, somehow. This situation with him just kept getting weirder, and enough was enough.
“You could at least pretend you’ll be safe.”
“I’m not big into pretending.” I winked and patted him on the back. “Now go get to your Agarthian girls before they come and hunt me down to find you.”
He hesitated, unsatisfied with ending the conversation there. But thankfully, he didn’t push it any further. I was glad he didn’t, because my emotions were all kinds of mixed up and I couldn’t be sure how or if my powers might reveal themselves again.
“Alright,” Tate said. “Will you tell the others where I’m going?”
“I will. And Tate?”
“Yeah?”
“You be safe, too.”
CHAPTER 8
I peeled away from Tate, lost in my thoughts as I made the short walk back to our apartment. Rossel was up to no good. Rasputin claimed Rossel wanted me dead, and even Tate had admitted that his orders to extract my soul came from the Olympian seer. But the only reason I could come up with for why Rossel would care so much about me, was that he knew something about the prophecy.
If Rossel knew about the prophecy and the meaning of the tablet, it made sense for Professor Brossard to think of him. After all, the tablet was originally in Rossel’s care. But how did he know I was involved? He knew I was the Deliverer before I did…
A vision. It must have been a vision. Gayla had once mentioned that Rossel’s visions came to life on canvas—he painted what he saw. It was why he’d owned the art gallery. And it was why the Olympian king kept him close by. He liked to literally see the future in painting form.
And Rossel had seen me as the Deliverer. He should have killed me on the spot that day in his gallery, but he didn’t. He could have offed me that night on Gayla’s yacht when he’d warned me to stay away from her. But again, he didn’t. He sent Tate after me, instead. And though it was probably a false sense of security, I walked a little taller knowing that Rossel couldn’t—or maybe just wouldn’t—physically kill me himself.
I picked up my pace, chin held high, anxious to get home so I could plan out exactly what I would say to him when I got him alone. But as I rounded a corner, I got the same sensation I had before class—that someone was watching me. I slowed to a stop, looking over my shoulder, up and down the street. Nothing seemed unusual.
What are you doing? Al’s voice called out in my mind.
I startled and turned my gaze upward. He was perched on a metal flag pole extending outward from a building.
“Al, It’s just you. Thank goodness!”
Quiet. If people see you talking to an owl on the street, they’ll call the authorities.
He had a point. Maybe I could talk to him in my mind. I focused my thoughts, trying to direct them at the owl. I asked him if he’d found Rossel.
Why are you making that face? You look like you have gas. Stop it.
I rolled my eyes. That didn’t work. Obviously I wasn’t telepathic. “I’m going to the park.” It wasn’t far from campus, and I figured I’d have better luck finding a spot to speak privately with my owl there. Not to mention, he would look a lot less suspicious in a tree than he looked perched on a window sill in Manhattan.
Al flew ahead, and I joined him by the waterfall in Morningside Park just a few minutes later. “Alright,” I said, parking myself on a large rock. “Tell me everything. Did you find him?”
Not exactly. But I have to believe he’s still in town somewhere.
“Why’s that?”
The place is crawling with Olympians. And they seem angry.
“What? Why? Ohhh, wait. Claudia mentioned the annual convention coming up. Are they here for that?”
No, it’s still a few weeks out.
“What do they need, then?”
He flapped down to a lower branch a little closer to me. I think they’re looking for Driskell. I wasn’t sure at first, but after you left Millie’s place, the activity really picked up in that area. I think it has to do with your aura.
“What do you mean?”
I mean when you were at Millie’s house, Driskell was basically invisible. I think your aura must have shielded him from the effects of the curse somehow. But now that you’re gone, the Olympians have discovered him. There have been some bad looking dudes sitting outside of Millie’s place around the clock since you left.
“Oh my goodness. You think they’re just waiting to catch him?”
Possibly. Either that, or they’re waiting to catch you.
My heart raced at the thought. “I’ve got to find Rossel.”
I’m sorry. I tried to find him. Really, I did.
“I know you did. And I appreciate it.”
I’ll keep looking. Until then, you might want to stay away from your aunt. He bobbed his feathery head and took flight. I stayed on the rock, watching until his white form disappeared behind the trees and back into the city.
As my gaze shifted back to the waterfall, I felt a chill across the back of my neck again. But if Al was gone, that meant someone else’s eyes were watching me from the shadows. I turned over my shoulder and struggled to keep my expression calm as I saw Osborne approaching.
He cracked his knuckles, sneering like a bully from some eighties movie. “I always knew you were crazy. But talking to yourself in a city park takes it to a whole new level.”
“What do you want, Osborne?” He couldn’t legally hurt me anymore. I wasn’t fractured, which meant I was no longer a target for the hunters.
“I want to help you. You’re looking for Rossel, huh? Well wouldn’t you know, he’s loo
king for you, too.” He’d overheard me talking to Al. Thank goodness he couldn’t hear what Al said, as well.
“I’m sure that he is. But you and he should both know that there’s nothing you can do to me now. I’ve got my full powers, or hadn’t you noticed?” I gestured to my sides, showing off what I hoped he could see as a blue aura. I kept my spine straight, shoulders back, and prayed I looked more brave and confident than I felt.
“Even full powers won’t exonerate you from the law.”
“And what law have I broken?” Did he know about my meeting with Rasputin?
Osborne stopped just a foot in front of me. We were both standing now, the water at my back and the rest of the park laid out before me. There weren’t many people out in the middle of a work day, but there were enough to notice if he tried to harm me here. I hoped they would notice, anyway.
“I don’t know.” Osborne shrugged. “And honestly, I don’t care. The price on your head is good enough for me. Never seeing your face again is just an added perk.”
“So you expect me to just turn myself in for some unknown crime I never committed?”
“That would be easiest, yeah. But I can use force if necessary.”
The logical part of my mind knew I should be afraid. My brain was sending out the red alert with lights flashing and sirens blaring—Osborne bad! Everly run!—but there was a disconnect somewhere. My body didn’t get the memo.
No, my body was mad. The power that resided somewhere deep in my core wanted to fight back. How dare he follow me to the park? Who did he think he was, trying to take me captive? I was innocent! My fingers felt twitchy as the water at my back called to me, beckoning for me to wield it against anyone who might oppose me.
