House of Guardians

by Beatrice Sand

  “I’m sorry, Sam. I can’t promise you that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because if I don’t surrender to Adrian, you’ll suffer for it. That’s what he said. You have to let me go,” I whisper.

  Motionless, he keeps staring at me. “You want to leave in order to keep me safe?”

  “Yes. And me. I would keep us both safe.”

  Sam grips the back of his neck. “My God, Laurel…”

  Tortured, he looks the other way as if he can’t wrap his head around what I just said.

  “I keep wondering why all this is happening to me,” I finally say.

  Sam looks back. “You have to stop doing that to yourself. There’s no use.”

  “Adrian mentioned fate. That sounds like I didn’t have a choice in all the things I’ve done, all the things I thought I had decided myself. Everything has been controlled by your gods, hasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Sam admits.

  I sit up straight. “My name… Remember you wanted to know where my name came from? My mom was holding a laurel tree, and I was in her belly, and I kicked…” I shake my head. “I still don’t understand. What does laurel have to do with Adrian? If everything has been commanded from above, then what does my name…’ Sam Laurens… Laurentios… Laurel wreath…

  Sam stares into his coffee cup. The muscles in his throat work themselves up and down as he swallows.

  “Apollon is the one behind my name,” I whisper. “Why?”

  Sam looks affected. “I’m going to make this right, Laurel. I’ll find a way to keep us both safe. From now on I’ll be honest with you, but you have to give me time to sort out things. Can you do that for me? Will you trust me?”

  “I trust you.”

  He softly squeezes my hand and rises. “Let’s go home—my home. At least until Martin gets back.”

  In silence we walk back to the escalator. I look at the people around me happily shopping and wonder if I will ever be that carefree again. For the time being I feel numb, apathetic. There are no more tears, not even anger, but neither is there joy. I just feel empty.

  “Do you know what we need?” I hear Sam ask.

  “Some kind of miracle?” I answer absentmindedly.

  Sam takes my hand into his and drags me into a department store. “Relaxation.”

  “A rainbow is made up of seven colors. Which is the center color?”

  Sam grins. “Green. That wasn’t fair.” His points his chin to the box of cards. “Give me another.”

  As if he wouldn’t know that answer. I place the card back and fish out a new one. “Aunt Iris is a rainbow, isn’t she? The messenger of the gods?”

  The corner of Sam’s mouth curls up. “I’ll make sure that they cut you off from the Internet. You’re a danger to society.”

  I smile as I read the science and nature question. “Which atomic number and symbol does Thulium have on the periodic table of the chemical elements?”

  He gives me a silly look. “You’re joking, right?”

  I roll my eyes. As if I could come up with a joke like that. “No, Sam, I’m not. It’s a legitimate question.”

  He grabs the die and throws. “69 and Tm.”

  I pout. At the department store Sam bought us a board game, and now I’m wondering why I agreed. As if I stand a chance. “You can at least wait until I checked your answer.”

  “For what purpose?”

  I smile when I see the next question. Maybe this time I do stand a chance. “What is horripilation?”

  Sam returns my smile. “Goose bumps.”

  With a bored face I place the question-and-answer card in the back of the box. Meanwhile, Sam has landed himself on entertainment—in the headquarters space—and is already grinning broadly.

  “You might just as well stuff that token with the lacking wedges. There’s no need to wait.”

  “That wouldn’t be fair to you.”

  I keep my comments to myself while drawing a card. “In 1998 Britney Spears’ debut single was released. What is the name of the song?” I roll my eyes, again.

  Sam’s grin melts like snow before the sun. “Britney who?”

  “Britney Spears.”

  Sam’s brow creases. He is sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, his long legs stretched out, his ankles crossed. I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes from his bare feet. He’s a confusing mix of beauty, strength, and aloofness, and he is completely irresistible in jeans and his shirt partly hanging out of his pants. I can think of at least a hundred things I want to do with him right now, and playing a board game isn’t one of them.

  “You have fifteen seconds left,” I say quickly.

  “Says who? There’s no hourglass.”

  “Says me. You have the answer or not?”

  Sam drags his fingers through his hair. “Don’t push me, Laurel. Repeat the question,” he demands.

  “Let me put you out of your misery by giving you the answer: Baby One More Time,” I say beaming while picking up the die. “Geography.” I rub my hands. If I get this one right, I score a wedge.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes, Sam. I don’t need a drumroll.”

  “Okay then. Give me the name of the largest river in the world.” Without checking the answer he shoves the card back in its box.

  “The…”

  Sam searches my eyes. “Are you sure about that? You have fifteen seconds. Use them.”

  I knew that would come back to bite me. “There’s no way you could have known what I was going to answer.”

  “You were going to say the Amazon River, weren’t you?”

  “No, the Nile,” I say without blinking. “I wanted to say the Nile.”

  “Really? My bad. The answer is correct.”

  “I don’t need your help, Sam.” Annoyed, I fumble the wedge out of the bag and push it into the yellow token.

  “You don’t?”

  I reach for the die and ask myself what we’re talking about here exactly. I throw and move the token. “Why me?” I ask.

  Sam looks up from the card and studies my face. “Sometimes I need a little more than two words.”

  “Why was I chosen?”

  “It’s not easy to relax, is it?”

  “No, not when it feels like you’re being watched.”

  Sam lays the card aside. “Nobody’s watching you.”

  “They can’t see what we’re doing right now?”

  “They can’t literally see us, but they’re being kept informed by the Keepers—through Iris. If they hear something they don’t like, they summon us for a conversation. Usually a rather one-sided conversation,” he adds laconically.

  “Do you know why they choose me?”

  Sam smiles. “You were in Apollon’s vision. It’s as simple as that.”

  “What did the vision look like? Did they see me giving birth or something?”

  Sam shrugs. “I don’t have the specifics, apart from you getting pregnant with a demigod once you turn nineteen.”

  I feel a shockwave going through my body. Nineteen… That’s next year…

  Incisively, Sam looks at me. “And I will do everything that lies in my power to prevent that from happening.”

  “So a child from a god and a mortal has remarkably strong gifts, like you and your friends?”

  “Yep, I’m afraid so.”

  “And what will happen with Renee and Don, and Bastian and Ava? It’s dangerous what they’re doing.”

  Sam frowns. “Bastian and Ava?”

  “Bastian is showing interest in her, and Ava thinks he’s cute. He’s ruthless by showing her first editions of Shakespeare. Why can’t she just fall for Hugo or something?”

  Sam laughs. “The bastard. I’ll have a word with Filemon.”

  �
�Filemon? Why?”

  “Because he can make her fall in love with Hugo.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Filemon is the driving force behind attraction and blind passion. His father used to make gods and humans fall in love back in the day.”

  All of a sudden the image of Eroos comes to me. “But he can’t just start shooting his arrows at people, can he?”

  “That’s just mythology. In reality it’s all about mind control. Filemon is capable of controlling someone’s mind. He can make you fall in love, and he can even make you forget everything. Well, sort of. He’s practicing.”

  He’s practicing? Practicing on whom? I shiver and cross my arms. “So we can make Ava and Hugo fall in love?”

  “If that’s what you want, yeah, no prob.”

  “But… but that’s like playing with someone’s feelings.” I cock my head. “You’re teasing me.”

  “Yeah, well, he can do it, but I don’t want him to experiment on Ava. I’ll have a tête-à-tête with Bastian, don’t worry.”

  “Thanks, that’s a big relief. I wouldn’t wish for anyone to fall in love wi…” I quickly swallow the rest of my sentence when I realize what I was about to say. I avoid looking at him.

  It’s awfully silent and I sigh. “It’s so hard to believe that the Keepers and gods have been keeping an eye on me since my birth—that I’m part of some higher plan. I might think that I make my own decisions, like moving to this island, but it was your grandfather all along. I’m exactly where he wants me to be.”

  “Believe me,” Sam says, “he wouldn’t want you sitting here on your knees next to me. Playing a game with me. That’s all of your own free will.”

  I search for his eyes. “You forced this game on me.”

  Sam stretches his arm out and grabs my braid. He softly pulls me closer. My heart is pounding. “I guess I did. Now what are you going to do about it?”

  I hold my breath. “Quit playing?”

  “You want to quit?”

  “Yes,” I say out of breath.

  For several long seconds we stare in each other eyes, and the chemistry is building up. A lazy smile spreads across his face. My braid slides further in his hand, until it drops.

  “Why won’t you let me go?” I whisper.

  “You still don’t get it, do you?” Sams cups my cheek. “I’m in love with you,” he says in a husky voice. “I don’t want you to leave. I want you here with me, where I can take care of you and where I can protect you. And where I can touch you.” His pupils dilate. “I want you so much, Laurel.”

  His hand glides to the back of my head and I can feel my skull burn underneath his palm while his eyes fixate on mine.

  “Please… don’t say that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because then you’ll get summoned to Olympus again.”

  He deeply inhales through his nose, his chest expands, and in just a few desperate moments, a few restless glances, Sam’s mouth is on mine. “I’m never letting you go again, Laurel,” he says, his voice raw and full of emotion.

  Still on my knees I crawl closer, and Sam pulls me toward him to cover the last few inches without interrupting our kiss. I run my fingers through his soft hair and pull at it—pull his head closer. He kisses me even deeper.

  “I thought I was losing my mind when you said you were leaving the island,” he murmurs.

  Now I am losing my mind. I push my body even closer to him and all of a sudden my hands are all over the place. I want to feel everything, every bone, every muscle, every rib…

  “Laurel…” He pushes me away from him. “I know you hurt every time I touch you.”

  “I can handle it. I’m already used to it. Don’t hold back,” I say, much to my own surprise. “I want you to touch me, Sam.”

  Sam picks me up from the ground, and the next moment I’m straddling him. His hands slide under my sweater, and I can’t stop shaking when they slowly move upwards, carefully touching the undersides of my breasts. Somewhere there’s a deep moan and a sigh.

  “Sam…” His touch is reverent and stirring at the same time, and all my senses seem to be awakening from a deep hibernation. Here, on the floor of Sam’s living room, they feverishly come to life. I want to feel him, taste him, and hear him… I’m possessed by him.

  I’m about to slip my hand under his shirt, but before I manage to touch him, Sam wraps his hand around my fingers and places them back on his chest. My eyes slide down, and my stomach cringes at the sight of the fresh wounds.

  Worried, I look up. “What did he do to you, Sam?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it tonight, Laurel.”

  “I’m trying so hard to understand all of this, your world, who all of you are, and how I got mixed up in this. I don’t know what my future will look like, but I also don’t want to live in fear of you getting hurt. You should’ve let me go this morning. If he finds me, I move again. It’s just until I turn twenty, right?”

  “Laurel…”

  It’s all he can say, because Storm interrupts us with a high-pitch bark that ends in a short howl. It sounds like a distress call, and it sends a shiver down my spine.

  Sam lifts me off his lap. “Stay here,” he says and jogs toward the glass door. Too impatient to wait, I get up and follow him onto the deck.

  In silence we look at the dreadful imposing arcs stretching over the lake.

  37

  laurel

  Biting my nails, I continue walking back and forth between Sam’s living room and kitchen. Time is passing so slowly it’s nerve-racking; every minute seems like an hour. When I take a look at the clock, the hands have moved only a tiny bit. Nearly moaning, I close my eyes to shut out the clock’s terrible face.

  “Please sit, Laurel,” Olivia sighs. “You’re driving me crazy with your endless pacing.”

  “I’m sorry, I happen to lack your stoic character,” I answer, wringing my hands. I wouldn’t even know how to sit still on a couch right now.

  I notice the Trivial Pursuit board, which is still open on the floor. Sam’s token needed one more wedge. Mine needed five. They are the silent witnesses of our carefree, homey evening, but the gods didn’t grant us anything more than a dinner and a quiz. Anguished, I turn around and walk back to where I just came from.

  “How long did you guys say something like this takes again?”

  “He just left,” Don says evenly.

  I stare at the two guys on the couch. In all haste, Sam called in his friends to look after me once he saw the rainbow hanging over the lake. Iris. Sam was summoned to Olympus.

  My gaze switches between Don and Andreas. Andreas has not opened his mouth since he came in. “So?”

  “I don’t expect him back until early in the morning.”

  “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” Olivia suggests. “We’ll wake you as soon as he gets back.”

  I know she means well, but I don’t want to sit down, I don’t want to sleep… I want Sam. “No.” I walk back to the kitchen and sit down on a stool. “I should’ve been on a plane yesterday—far away from here. But before I could make it to the travel agency, Sam already found me.”

  Olivia smiles. “Yes, he’s good at that, tracing people down.”

  “I can still go, so we can’t be together anymore, maybe then they won’t punish him?”

  “Too late for that, Laurel. All we can do now is wait,” Don says quietly. He comes across as a wise father, but he isn’t able to calm me down.

  “So what you’re basically saying is that we’re waiting for his sentence and there’s nothing we can do?”

  No one answers.

  “Can someone please tell me if Sam is going to be punished?” I yell desperately.

  “Sam has received several warnings for seeing you,” Olivia says after some hesitation. “When he too
k you into his home yesterday, he knew that he wouldn’t get away with another warning if the Keepers found out about it, which they apparently did. It was a risk Sam was willing to take. They already forced him into marriage, but that didn’t stop him from seeing you. He will be punished more severely this time. I’m sorry, Laurel,” she says softly.

  I wrap my arms around myself. “Like lashes, you mean?”

  “Lashes? Where the hell did you get that idea?” Don wants to know.

  My stomach convulses when I think about the marks on Sam’s body. “I saw the marks on his stomach.”

  “Oh those,” Olivia says laconically. “That was our beloved cousin Adrian.” She waves her hand. “He has some sadistic toys like a whip, a helmet that makes him invisible, a serpent and lo…”

  “Oh God,” I almost cry, “Adrian whipped him?”

  “The guys went to the Archeron Mansion to have a word with Adrian. He has an underground space where he is untouchable. None of us has ever been there because it’s pretty near impossible to descend there. The space is meant for our enemy: the Titans. When they tried to descend yesterday, Adrian was waiting for them with his whip. Sam got the worst of it because he went ahead.”

  My cry resounds through the house as I sink to the floor.

  “Liv,” Andreas says, “she doesn’t have to know all of this. There’s no reason to…”

  “I want to know,” I yell fiercely. I look up at Olivia. “Do you feel pain?”

  Olivia looks at me, surprised. “We’re partly human, Laurel, not cold-blooded creatures.”

  “Olivia!” Don says abruptly. Olivia and Don go at each other in that strange language of theirs and I start to sob.

  Andreas gets up and marches into the kitchen. A moment later he squats next to me and hands me a glass of water. “Stop it, you two!” he snarls at his friends. “The Keepers don’t impose corporal punishment, Laurel,” he says. “We are sensitive to injuries, and we can feel pain, but Sam has a high pain threshold. We endured a lot during our youth. A couple of lashes mean squat to him, and he’ll heal way faster due to his healing powers.” He thumbs away my tears. “Feeling better now?”