Mr. Thantos escorted them back to their dorm room and refused to leave until they were inside. The other students lingering in the hall stared at them as they passed. The two girls sat down on the couch and looked up at him expectantly, but he didn’t enter the room. Instead, he leaned against the door frame on one arm, his gloved hand continually tightening into a fist and then relaxing.
“I will see to it you find a way to do your precious shopping for any school activities coming up,” he said. “Even if it means I have to go with you myself. I suppose I can make the sacrifice of pride so you are not alienated from your friends. We may discuss the possibility of you going out on occasion. Though it would be in your best interest to remain within the school grounds. Good night. I will see you in class, Miss Loveless. I highly recommend staying in your room this evening. I do not know the status of the wards, but I do know they are strongest here. We will talk again soon.”
Cheyenne nodded slowly. As soon as he was gone, Halyn got up to shut the door and lock it.
“He's still out there,” she said as she watched through the peephole. “Oh, my gosh, what a day. That was like, totally crazy.” She paused before going back to the couch. “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine. I'd rather not talk about this. It's too…” Cheyenne said.
“Okay, we won't,” Halyn said with a small smile. “It'll just be our thing that never happened.”
Coming from Halyn, it meant a lot. It helped to know she could trust her roommate with her secrets.
Cheyenne nodded, feeling tired, her head still swimming with thoughts of the beautiful man who frightened her beyond belief but was enticing to her all the same. The wings were so intoxicating and gorgeous. She couldn't get any part of him out of her head. Even his forward attitude was mildly attractive to her, though she felt as if this pull was founded by something much deeper inside her. Something she didn't understand.
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Cheyenne was tempted to fake being sick and skip class. She felt like a wreck and had gotten little sleep, thus resulting in a mind-splitting headache. She had tossed and turned in bed, keeping one eye open for the demon. Mr. Thantos had said her room was the safest place, but she definitely didn't feel secure.
In the end, she decided it best to go to class. She did get up late, however, which threw her whole routine off. She had just enough time to shower before running to her first class. As she frantically darted across the courtyard, she completely missed Zes in front of her before plowing him over, literally. They both fell into the grass, and she rolled over him and onto her back. Her feet just barely missed kicking him in the face. If she could have died of embarrassment, she would have.
Zes groaned a little from the hard, cold ground beneath him. “Where's the fire? Is everything okay?”
“I'm late. Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just need to get to class,” Cheyenne said as she brushed off the dirt clinging to her knees and elbows.
“Oh,” he said quietly. He stood up and dusted off his pants and shirt. “I was looking for you anyway, so I guess this works out for us both. Is everything okay? You weren't at breakfast this morning.”
She placed a hand on her hip. “I overslept and decided to skip this morning so I could shower and wake up. Is that okay? Are you going to get worried every time I don't show up for breakfast?”
“No, but you were supposed to touch base with Anj about your project. I guess you forgot,” Zes said and folded his arms in front of him.
She had forgotten, but given everything going on…though she wasn't going to tell Zes about what had happened.
“I wanted to talk to you though. I mean, just for a few minutes.”
“I have to get to class. We can talk later,” she said and brushed past him, glancing down at her watch in frustration. She was already five minutes late. She should have just skipped, but it was her chemistry class and she couldn't let Halyn down. They had a big lab, and Denver certainly wasn't going to do any work.
“Yeah, but it's important,” he called after her. He sighed before waving a hand at her. “Go to class. I'll find you later during the day, and if you have time for me then, we'll talk.”
“Thank you. I promise I will.” She glanced over her shoulder at him as she walked away and saw his defeated frown.
Sprinting through the halls and into the classroom, she rushed to her lab table where Halyn and Denver were already working. Quickly, she set herself up to join them and gave her best effort at making it appear as though she had been there the entire time.
“Don't bother, roll was already taken.” Denver smirked at her. “You were marked as absent. I think your darling roomie made a comment about you being sick or something and not coming in for the day. Too bad, because you just missed her ultimate humiliation.”
Cheyenne and Halyn made eye contact. Halyn was scowling with her arms folded in front of her. Cheynne had never seen her friend like this before. She clenched her fists. “What did you do to her? Did you give her a little love bite too?”
Denver rolled his eyes and poured blue liquid into a beaker. He was actually doing something for a change. “I don't give out love bites. Trust me, girlie. I don't love either of you, and I never will, so don't get your hopes up or anything. Now, if you're looking for a little fun or something, that's another story entirely.”
“I wasn't being serious. After all, you're not even capable of loving,” she said and swallowed, trying not to be stung by his words. Not as if she should have been surprised, yet she was by how hurt her feelings were. He’d said he couldn't help it, nor did he ever deny their strange connection. Maybe she was just a flavor of the week to him after all.
“Right on!” he said. “Again, this is why I like brunettes. You know how it all goes down. You want to tell her the good news, Hay, or should I? I think maybe you should, because don't you girls like to gush and be girlie over this kind of stuff?”
Halyn groaned. ”We're going to the dance together.”
“Oh,” Cheyenne said.
Why was she so jealous? Was it because Halyn had managed to get a date so quickly? Or was it because she was going with him? No, she was certain it was simply because Halyn had a date and she didn't. She would’ve felt equally as jealous had one of the twins asked her. For some reason, Cheyenne felt as though they were all hers.
“I didn't think school functions would be your kind of thing,” Cheyenne said to him in an effort not to let her inner feelings show. The last thing she needed was for him to think she had a crush on him. Even if she did, he didn't need to know about it.
“They aren't,” he said with a small laugh. “I'm on the football team, but that's only because it gives me an excuse to knock the snot out of the stupid humans we play against. No, we had a bet going, and if I won she had to humiliate herself by showing up to the dance with me.”
“And what if she had won?”
“I was going to do all of the group work for a week.”
She snorted. “Sounds like either way she would have lost.”
“Hey, I—” He started, but stopped as their teacher told him to keep the noise level down.
“Do I even want to know what this bet was?”
“No,” Halyn said. “It was the dumbest thing ever.”
Cheyenne's jaw tightened a little and she focused on the task at hand, or rather, pretended to. It showed, because she messed up one measurement after another. Halyn didn't notice. Denver, on the other hand, watched her with a huge grin.
“What's wrong, Chey? Something bothering you? If you're always this much of a klutz, of course nobody will want to be seen in public on a dance floor with you.”
Her fuming didn’t cease after she left the classroom. As each class passed, she found herself stirring over the entire mess of her life, becoming more and more angry and agitated. After her last lesson for the day, she went straight to Mr. Thantos's classroom. He was the only one willing to tell her anything useful, it seemed.
“I do have another class, Miss Loveless. While all of the high school-level courses are completed for the day, I have an evening college-level lecture to give in an hour and three minutes. I must prepare for it,” he said to her as she stepped through the door, fighting her way around all the other students who were desperate to leave.
“You're making excuses,” Cheyenne said before defiantly sitting at the nearest desk. “I'm tired of this. You seem like the type of teacher who likes to plan his lessons for the year over the summer because you don't have anything better to do with yourself.”
“I have plenty of better things to do with myself,” he said and shut the door once the last student had walked out. “I suppose it is fair enough. I did promise you later, and I suppose later is now, though I was not lying—I do have to prepare. But I will give you ten to twenty minutes of my time. In the future I recommend seeing the office hours posted on my door. I like to have meetings with students there, because that is the purpose of an office.”
“Just tell me what yesterday was about. Give me the CliffsNotes version of it if you have to, but tell me something, please,” she begged.
“Something,” he said as he crossed the room to his desk and sat down. He leaned back and kicked his feet up on top of it casually, which was odd to see. He usually wasn't so relaxed.
“Do you always question everything you do not understand, Miss Loveless? Or can you accept that there are some things you are better off not knowing?” he asked.
She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don't want to get into this philosophical stuff. Just tell me who he was.”
He let out a deep sigh then assumed the tightened and straight posture in his chair that he was known for in class. “Have you heard of the Daughter of the Jewel?”
Cheyenne nodded slowly. “I've heard it a few times from—” She didn't want to say from the plants, though she was pretty sure he already knew they were the source of her information.
“That is what this is about. It is what you are. I suppose you could say it is a fancy term for Daughter of the Divine.” He choked slightly on the word Divine. “The creature you encountered yesterday answers now to the name of Lucien. A horribly cliché name, if you ask me, but demons have never been very creative.”
“So I'm related to the Divine. So what? I know this already. What does that have to do with anything? I thought all this was common for here?”
“This is true, but you are the only child of Persephone.”
“And this is important why?”
Mr. Thantos sighed. “Are you familiar with the story of Persephone?”
She shook her head.
“No?” He raised an eyebrow. “Surprising. A long time ago, Persephone, not your mother Persephone, but rather the first, was sought after by the ruler of the underworld to be his bride. In the myth, he takes her for his, and to the Greeks this explained why the seasons changed. In reality, the truth is much different.
“Things did not go according to Hades’s plan. Persephone was supposed to marry him, but she went against her word to be with another. One promise was broken and a new one was created where her heir would be given to his—a covenant that still needs to be fulfilled.”
Neither of them said a word for a long time. Cheyenne was quick to make the connection between the man and the story. He had said he came to collect what was rightfully his. Her. She did not need to be told twice why getting married to a minion of the underworld would be a bad idea.
“I didn't realize demons believed in or wanted marriage,” she finally said.
“They do not much care for the institution, but they also recognize the power behind it,” he explained. “Has it not always been that a man with a true bride is the one in charge? It is how the descendants of kings are named and legitimacy and order are kept in the world. Even demons know this is needed to exist. Without it, they would have nothing to destroy, and they would never deny themselves the potential that comes from a covenant of such strong bloodlines.”
“Basically, they want lots of control.”
“Essentially, yes. Followers of The Dark are generally not pleased by the simple things of life.”
There were a lot of things Mr. Thantos spoke of that didn't make sense to her. He had thousands of years of experience on her, however, so she trusted him to know what he was talking about.
“I see you are having what you humans like to call a lightbulb moment,” he said.
She hid her face in her hands for a brief moment before resting her head on the desk. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her. “Please get out of my head.”
“I am not in your head. You have a thoughtful expression on your face.”
She scowled. “So what if I am? I don't want to lose my freedom.”
He shrugged, still acting uncharacteristically casual with her. “Out of all the things you have to be concerned about, I think freedom is the least of your worries at the moment. Your social activities may be hindered slightly, but if you would rather I let you off the grounds where you are easily in harm’s way, I can wave the rule and not care about what happens to you.” He glanced at the clock. “I do believe it has been almost twenty minutes. Is there another pressing and important question on your mind? Or do you have at least a firm-enough understanding of the situation to finally trust our judgment as your temporary guardians?”
Cheyenne lifted her head and stared up at him. He was still sitting in his desk, and he leaned in toward her. For being so cold, he had a great sense of urgency for taking care of others. He couldn't possibly be a demon. Why would a school hire a demon to teach and guard the students?
“What are you?” she asked at last.
“I do not believe that to be important at the moment,” he said as he proceeded to gather up the materials for his next lecture. “Perhaps next time I will tell you more about myself, though I do not see how it is any of your business to begin with. Do not fall into that trap, Miss Loveless. You do not need to know everything, despite what others tell you. I believe there is a phrase 'ignorance is bliss,' and it would be in your best interests to practice it on a more regular basis. Have a lovely evening, or something along those lines.” He made a rushed motion for her to get out.
Without another word, Cheyenne left the classroom. The halls were practically empty now. A few college students roamed about and made quiet conversation on the occasional bench, but they preferred to be unseen. They were nothing like the students her age.
Time in between class during the day was always filled with loud talking, flirting, and the random act of mischief. It felt more normal. Now the halls were eerie. What did the college-level students study at a school like this anyway?
Her stomach grumbled, reminding her about dinner and drawing her attention away from all the older students she passed. The evening meal hour at the cafeteria was just about over. By the time she made it there, food would no longer be served, at least not any food she'd consider solid.
A snack was better than nothing though. She’d pick up something to get her through the night, do the last of her homework, and avoid her roommate as much as possible. She wasn't sure why she felt such a great sense of betrayal. Halyn obviously didn't want anything to do with Denver. Cheyenne didn't either, for that matter. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true, she admitted to herself. He was just too interesting to stay away from.
She sighed. Instead of picking nutritious food from the snack bar, she decided to indulge herself on treats. She was just taking her “dinner” back to her room to eat when she noticed Zes was sitting at their usual table still, poking an empty plate with a fork.
He glanced up at her briefly before looking down at his plate. “You're here kind of late.”
“I had a meeting with a teacher. I should have planned it out better since my last class for the day is a late one, but I guess I'm still not used to having all of my meals be outside of home,” Cheyenne said and sat down across from him. She watched him play with
what little remained of his food.
“You didn't miss much anyway.”
“What are you doing here so late?” she asked between bites. She offered him a small smile. He seemed a little down. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he said quickly. “And I'm here because I didn't want to deal with Anj. He's having one of those days where he especially gets on my nerves. Do you have any siblings?”
She shook her head.
“Then I guess you wouldn't get it. It's a love-hate relationship. Some days a brother is your best friend in the world, and other days you kind of just want to beat him over the head. Today I just want to throttle him. He thinks I'm stressing myself out, and like usual, he always knows what's best. I needed to be alone.” He bit his lip and stared down at his plate longingly, as this was usually the point where he used his food as an escape from talking.
Cheyenne only nodded. A subject change might do them both some good. “So you wanted to talk?”
“No, it's fine. I decided maybe I shouldn't after all,” he mumbled.
“Shouldn't what? Talk to me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
He shifted in his chair. “I don't know if I want to talk about it here.”
“So let's move,” she suggested with a smile. “Come on, work with me here.”
“All right.” He stood first, and the two left without a word. They remained quiet throughout most of the hallways of the school. Soon she found the two were making laps around the main building.
“This is probably going to sound stupid,” he said, “but my brother and I were talking about a lot of stuff, and we were wondering if you were interested in joining us for the homecoming social thing on Friday night after the game. They're taking table signups now. We were thinking—well, I was thinking, no we were…”
“Yes?” She nodded at him encouragingly. Her heart started to pound faster. Could this be her moment? “Was there something else you wanted to ask?”
He bit his lip again. “We were thinking it could be a good prelude to maybe going to the dance with us the next day.” He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “My mom is a little overprotective of Anj. He's lived his entire life blind, and she seems to think he's helpless. It got a lot worse after Dad died. She doesn't like him doing anything with people she doesn't know, and especially if she doesn't approve of them.”
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