by A Lonergan
“We aren't really sure at this point. We are fighting the fire the best we can but it doesn’t look like it will be stopped anytime soon.” I blinked at the man and let him out of my compulsion. He shook his head as if in a daze and walked to the truck like I hadn’t stopped him.
I needed to get inside of her house to find clues myself, but I couldn’t put all of the pedestrians and law enforcement under my spell for that long. By the time the area cleared out, anything special would be gone. On top of that, waiting for the house to finish burning would probably take all night. It was time I didn't have. I was glad Jessa had escaped the house but worried about where she had wondered off too.
Jessa.
I shook my head. She was different than what I had heard. She caught my attention easily. She was hard to miss. I couldn't forget the way the gold flecks in her eyes had pulsed when they had landed on me. It was almost as if her soul recognized mine. I doubted it, but it was a nice thought.
I knew the second I saw her that my compulsion wouldn’t work on her, so I didn’t even try. When she experienced what I assumed to be her first vision, my theory was confirmed. The Elders said she would start experiencing visions soon if she was as powerful as the Fates had prophesied.
I could tell she wasn’t prepared or ready for it, and whatever had gotten her house had probably gotten her too.
I shook my head. I refused to believe that. I had seen the muscles flex under her jeans when she walked. Walking to school wouldn't have given her legs like those.
I did my own digging when I noticed how toned her body was under her tight clothing. The students at the small high school were just as baffled as I was. She went straight home every day. No stops, no detours. She was a mystery to everyone even though she was friendly. She never spoke of herself or her life at home. She kept everything private and kept the focus on other people.
“I bet you it was that mother of hers...”
“I wouldn’t doubt it, she always looked suicidal...”
“If I had a mother like that I would probably set us on fire...”
I inhaled the rumors floating around me like the stench they were. I knew they were lies but word traveled fast around a small town. I pulled one of the old ladies aside as she walked by. Her pupils dilated as she gazed into my eyes. It had always been easy to put mortals under my spell. “Jessa and her mother were nice people. The fire was no one’s fault; Jessa and her mother will be dearly missed. Forget you saw me. Go call a close friend to confide in.”
The woman shook herself out of the compulsion and went on her way, back to her small home down the road. She would call her friends when she got home and the rumors would soon die down or new ones would come from what I said to her. It didn't matter as long as I tried to dispel some of the nastiness being spread about.
I circled the large burning house, not wanting to get too close. The heat was radiating off the house in waves. It was making me extremely uncomfortable. Part of me was waiting for things to get worse. I wondered what had set the fire and how it had gotten so powerful so quickly.
I looked down at the snow in annoyance; I had nearly missed the footprint in the snow while I was preoccupied trying not to get singed. It was the only print and it was slowly filling up, but it was all I needed to sniff her out. I lifted my head into the air and breathed in as much as I could. Her scent had left a path in the trees and if I hadn’t have seen the indention; I wouldn’t have been able to identify her scent as easily as I did.
I breathed it in again. It was intoxicating how wonderful she smelled, but at the same time, it was sickly sweet like a god. She smelled of honey and cinnamon with something spicy I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The underlying stench of the gods made me pause. It wasn’t that the gods smelled bad, but that they were always up to no good, and their scent always put me on high alert. Not to mention that she didn’t have enough of their blood in her for her to smell like that.
Where I had once been drunk on the fragrance, I was now sickened by it. I sniffed again and it was gone. Something wasn’t right. The god’s scent shouldn't have been surrounding her so soon unless...
No.
I pushed the awful, upsetting thoughts away. There was no way Apollo had gotten to her so quickly. The Games shouldn’t have started yet unless they had found her.
I was trying to stay positive, but the extra aroma was throwing me for a loop. It was almost as if she had a companion with her through the woods but it shouldn't have been possible. The gods wouldn't have stepped in yet. Not even Artemis had a reason to help her, and Artemis had never stepped in with any of the others, at least not that I or the Elders knew of.
I shook my head and continued to follow her scent in the trees until I was confident of where she was going. My animal instincts immediately kicked in and I was running through the trees, searching out my prey. I couldn’t stop my animal from hunting her. I could feel my snout elongating before I shook it back to normal. A shift wouldn’t do me any good.
I found the hotel a few hours later; I stalked around the side of the building until I found a back door. I tinkered with the lock on it for a few seconds. I could hear the gears moving and grinding before the device popped open. It didn’t take much to fool with the electric locks. They were always easily tricked.
I paused at the emergency stairwell and honed in on Jessa. I could hear her breathing through each floor and I could smell the gods’ aroma floating off of her skin. Her breathing was slow and even; sleep had overcome her hours before. I skipped the steps three at a time before I got to her floor. Her scent got stronger as I opened the door at the end of the long hallway. A shiver raced down my spine. I threw my palm against the uneven wall as I was overcome with dizziness and a shooting pain behind my eyes. Something wasn’t right.
I shook the pressure in my head away and listened at each door until my senses were overwhelmed with the smell of her. I slowly fiddled with the lock for a few seconds before it lit up green. I had always been good with electronics and maybe a touch of magic. I smirked to myself. It was almost too easy. I turned the door handle slowly, silently. I heard the metal clicking into place before I felt the cold pistol pressed to my temple.
“Why, hello, Crawley, what a pleasant surprise.” Her voice purred in my ear.
“I’m unarmed, Jessa, feel your surroundings and you will know my words to be true.” I didn’t know if she could do what I said, but I hoped so. My life depended on it if the bullets in her gun were laced with strychnos toxifera. It was the only poison that could critically injure me.
The cold metal of the barrel pressed harder against my temple. “How did you find me?”
“Alright, let’s not act rash. Put the gun down, please. You don’t have to let go of it, just watch where you point it. It makes my beast restless.” I rolled my shoulders back, ready for a fight. I inhaled her scent again. She didn't smell nervous and that made me nervous.
I was starting to get restless with how the situation was going and so was my beast. Plus, I was annoyed. I was annoyed that my hearing hadn’t picked up her moving throughout the room or sensed the fact that she had woken up.
“Well, that’s a great start; you think you’re a beast.” She rolled her eyes at me.
I almost smirked at how cute she before remembering how dangerous a woman could be with a gun. Almost all of my amusement faded. This wasn't a good situation and I didn't know how to make it better. I had to think fast because a reckless Jessa was something I couldn't chance. I didn’t know her well enough yet.
Chapter 3
Jessa
I saw a twinkle in Crawley’s eyes and I knew I should have put a bullet in him. I didn't like how amused and confident he was. Hell, I hardly knew him. He had just shown up out of nowhere.
I was the one that had the gun, yet he was acting as if he had the upper hand. It made me wonder if he had something up his sleeve. He made me nervous. Strangers do that to a person, especially strangers that could find you
in the middle of nowhere.
“That isn’t going to kill me, and it’s just going to draw more attention to yourself. If you’re caught, you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. You don’t even have a silencer. You’re desperate and you clearly didn’t think this through.” He was right, but I didn’t want to listen even though everything inside me was screaming to trust him – at least for a little while. I tried to ignore the thoughts I was having. I barely knew the guy and all these mysterious things had started happening when he showed up.
How convenient. It was probably all his fault. It couldn’t have been a coincidence.
I was in no mood to deal with this and I certainly didn’t have time for it either. I had already lost enough time sleeping. I couldn’t believe I had actually let myself crash. I holstered the Glock I had been afraid to handle, but felt second nature to me. That scared me even more. I hadn't known anything about guns before I pulled it from its holster in my bag. Feeling the cold metal had sent a shockwave through my body. And I just knew.
I looked down at my blue panties and blushed. I kept my eyes on Crawley as I pulled a sweatshirt over my head. I didn’t trust him, but I also couldn’t risk drawing too much attention to myself. He was right; I was in a tough spot. The Glock was only for emergencies and I wasn't sure if this was one yet. I began to pace on the worn carpet.
Is he the person I should be running from? Is he the enemy?
“No funny business, and I want to know how you found me, right now – and no lies.” I didn't know why I had added the last part, but it seemed important even though it sounded naive.
Like if I demanded the truth I would receive it. I put my closed fists on my hips. His shoulders dropped a tad bit but he still looked confident.
Too confident, but I had a feeling that was going to be a norm for him. I hated men with huge egos. They liked to flaunt it way too much.
I was still waiting for some elaborate lie to escape his plump, dark lips but what came out next was completely ludicrous and insane. He seemed convinced by his words but I was not. “You are a direct descendant of Artemis. You know, the Goddess of the hunt, and you’re in danger. I don’t really know how to explain it and I’m not sure what kind of danger it is, but Apollo–"
“Excuse me?” I let out a laugh. The Goddess of virginity, the hunt, and many other things, but most importantly virginity. How did he expect me to believe I was a descendant of a virgin goddess?
Immaculate conception?
Really funny. I hadn’t heard that one before. I rolled my eyes to myself.
He continued on about Artemis and Apollo, her brother, being jealous, and about a nymph, and being a descendant of Zeus. It was too much and I felt like I was waiting for the ‘but.’ As if there was more to the story.
“Do you know the story of Callisto? One of Artemis' nymphs?" He asked.
I shook my head, waiting for him to continue on with his insane story. When he didn't, I accepted it, knowing in my gut that I would learn the truth soon enough. Clearly there were crazier things going on since his words didn't faze me as much as they would have on a normal day.
Normal day? Like there was a such thing.
“Okay, great, Mr. Mythological over here.” I didn't know what to do with myself. Crawley seemed to take up the whole room. His presence overwhelmed me. I knew nothing about him, regardless of what he had told me. “I need a train to my grandmother’s house if you want to help me so bad. Whatever your reasoning is, that’s what I need.”
He nodded like he knew why I needed that. Him and his weird intuition. I almost laughed at how stupid that sounded. I had to be an idiot to believe the tales he was spinning. And I thought I was obsessed with mythology. I shook my head, trying not to judge the gorgeous man standing in front of me. I bit my lip nervously; I still didn’t know how he had found me.
“What the hell is this?” I motioned to the very empty house and a very empty, lonely street. We had stolen three cars and walked part of the way to my grandmother’s house. It looked exactly like I remembered – how my new memories had portrayed. It was a quaint two story in the middle of nowhere. Literally. We were at least 30 miles from any civilization.
Talk about a safe house.
“Well, it looks like an abandoned house that needs some TLC.” Crawley smirked like he had just said the funniest thing. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“No crap. You’re acting extremely smug over there.” I readjusted my backpack, then crossed my arms over my chest in annoyance. “I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t think you’d believe me if I told you that she moved, so I figured I’d let you see it in person and go all the way out here.” He gave me a wide smile, showing all of his perfect teeth.
I let out a breath I had been holding and slumped my shoulders in defeat. “So, what now?”
Crawley beamed in a very annoying way. “I thought you’d never ask.” He cocked his head to the side and his eyes got bright. “We get to steal another car. Yay!” He was way too excited for his words to be sarcastic. The sun was starting to go down and I didn’t know how the hell we were going to find car all the way out here.
How pleasant.
I looked at Crawley sitting across from me in the airport and pushed my hair out of my face, annoyed. My legs were sore and my head ached, but Crawley had whistled and hummed the entire time, like he was oh so happy to be stealing cars and lying to people. I didn’t know how I had managed to put up with it for this long, but I seriously needed a pat on the back. I also needed an aspirin and a nap, but I wasn’t complaining.
At least not yet.
Crawley had explained to me that my grandmother had moved shortly after my mother and I had left to live somewhat normal lives, though I couldn’t remember that part. Things were still coming back to me, but it was happening less and less often. It had taken us five hours to walk to the next town over and I slept the rest of the way to the airport. I couldn’t believe it had been two days. I looked at the clock above Crawley’s head and ignored his smirk.
My grandmother was somewhere in Alaska if I believed Mr. Historian and all his crazy stories. I inwardly rolled my eyes. I couldn’t get past how naive I was being, all over some boy and his crazy talk. Any sane person would have run the other direction, but something was screaming at me to listen to and believe him. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
I found myself scooting away from him. I glanced at him out the corner of my eye, and his green eyes met mine briefly before I ended the awkward eye contact. Nothing got past him. He always noticed.
His eyes had caught most of my movements, and if they didn’t, I was sure some of his other crazy, on the dot senses caught something. I didn't miss the way his nostrils flared or the way his pupils dilated. He was too sure of himself and his surroundings and too cocky all the time. He was used to getting his way, and it showed in his actions and the way he assessed a building.
The confidence that rolled off him bumped and ground against me uncomfortably. Uncomfortable was an understatement. I was more than uncomfortable, I was infuriated. Not to mention he was always optimistic and didn’t seem to be in a hurry ever. He had to be crazy. All his snarky comments just made my impression of him worse.
I didn't know when I came to this conclusion, but I hated him. I had pure hatred for those stupid gorgeous muscles and the stupid attractive smirk he had written on his face most of the time – like right now. I also hated how confusing he was, and the weird thing he did with his eyes when we went through security.
He had somehow managed to bring my gun and whatever was on his person through without having us searched. We walked on through like it was normal to bring a lethal weapon into an airport – a high security one at that. I was pretty sure he hadn’t paid for anything the entire trip either. I was naïve, but I didn’t miss much.
At least, I tried not to.
He’d whispered something to a security guard and his pupils had gotten so big they filled th
e whites of his eyes. I had controlled my shock but the way he had inhaled afterward made me wonder just how much he knew or could figure out. I almost didn't want to know. Ignorance was bliss, but there was also the fact that I was too terrified to get the truth. None of this made a lick of sense. What were my other options anyway? At least this was some type of lead, some type of start to this crazy adventure. If that’s even what it was.
I crossed my arms over my chest and let out a huff of air. I didn’t have heightened senses, but I could smell the couple and the small child running around in circles by the terminal. The woman had the stench of cigarettes on her, but you could barely tell because of all the perfume she had bathed in. It was a terrible combination I had never encountered before.
The man smelled of sweat and vomit; I gagged concentrating on him, but I knew I needed to practice like I had countless nights growing up.
The memory of stretching my senses had come while Crawley was driving the first car he had stolen. It came out of nowhere and paralyzed me. My mother had forced me to sit in a time-out until I could easily control something. I couldn’t remember what.
As soon as I the memory was over, I was angry. Angry that I didn’t understand why I had to do it, and angry that I couldn’t remember more.
I needed to stretch my senses like they were muscles. I needed to prepare for whatever was coming. It was all so new, and the idea that I had grown up with my memories locked away was terrifying. At least that was the way it seemed. I pinched the bridge of my nose and prayed that I wasn't going nuts. I wasn’t prepared for all of this.
I slammed my senses shut. At least I hoped I did. I didn’t need to stretch; I needed to focus my attention on the fact that I was about to fly for the first time and was going to be cornered on an airplane with Crawley. I saw him inhale again, and wondered if he could smell my attraction. It made me nervous, especially because I thought I was being careful.
