“Always.”
Chapter 14
Josie
Watching Seth and crew disappear before my eyes was more than just a little weird.
One second they were there, and Seth’s intense gaze was focused on me, like he was making sure I was the last thing that he saw in the whole universe.
It kind of reminded me of watching a photograph fade before your eyes, and it only took seconds.
As I walked out of the dorm room, quietly closing the door behind me, I couldn’t help but think about my life before I met Seth in the stairwell. If I’d seen someone fade away in front of me, I would’ve been convinced that I was experiencing the same symptoms as my mom.
My heart clenched, and I exhaled heavily. My poor mom. My mom had been sick. There was no doubt about that, but how much of her sickness was caused by the mental illness and how much was caused by what Apollo had done to her?
That was a question I’d never had an answer to, because I’d lost my mom before I even realized I had. Apollo had lied to me. He’d told me that she was safe and…she hadn’t been.
I didn’t even really know how she died.
Maybe that was for the better. I didn’t know.
The sadness that came with thinking about her lingered as I walked down to knock on Cora’s door. A few seconds passed before the door cracked open. Only a sliver of Cora’s face was visible. Smart girl.
“Hey,” I said. “Can I come in for a few minutes?”
The door opened as she stepped aside. “Sure.”
As expected, Cora wasn’t alone. Colin sat in the chair closest to the door, and Gable was on the couch. The television in the room was on, turned to a news station that was covering the attack in Chicago. Mortals had no idea it was the Titans, and I had no idea if that was a good or bad thing at this point.
I glanced at the coffee table, spying a huge book. “Myths and Legends?”
“Figured they could use some light reading.” Colin smiled. “They’ve been reading through it, and I’ve been answering what questions I can.”
“Light reading?” Cora snorted as she squeezed past me and plopped down on the couch. “That book weighs as much as a newborn.”
“I know. It could be a deadly weapon if used right,” I said.
Gable nodded. “We’ve been reading it. Learning a lot of stuff—insane stuff we never would’ve believed true for one second before, well, before everything.”
“Tell me about it.” I leaned against the wall. “Up until I met Seth and ended up here, I thought all this stuff was just old, crazy legends.”
“And you guys didn’t even know that people like me existed.” Colin kicked a booted foot up on the coffee table.
“I still don’t know how all of this was kept secret.” Cora shook her head as she stared at the book. “It just seems so impossible.”
It was unbelievable when you thought about it.
“Did everyone leave?” Colin asked.
I nodded. “Yep. Just a few minutes ago. I was just stopping by to see how things were going.”
“Good,” Gable answered, and then paused. “I guess.”
Cora glanced over at him and then refocused on me. “Have you guys heard anything more about what happened to that girl?”
“Did you fill them in on the whole symbol thing?” I asked Colin.
“I did. I figured it was best they knew everything.”
I did, too. Knowledge truly was power. I caught them up on what we’d discussed with Marcus. “Hopefully that will help us figure out who is behind it, so we can stop them.”
“That’s pretty smart.” Cora’s dark eyes were alight with interest. “Has to be a hell of a lot easier than interviewing half the campus.”
“Right?” I smiled, sort of proud of myself.
I stayed for a little bit, talking about my plans to see if I could ferret out some information on how to unbind their abilities fully. Neither Gable nor Cora knew mine had been unlocked when Apollo had thrown a dagger straight at my heart, effectively ending my mortal life. I figured we’d cross that bridge with them if it came to it, because while knowledge was power, that kind of knowledge just wasn’t necessary at the moment.
After promising to come back later, I asked to talk to Colin out in the hall. He rose, following me outside. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Have you heard about what happened in Chicago?”
Scratching fingers through his hair, he frowned. “The terrorist attack?”
He didn’t know. I glanced down the hall, making sure it was still empty, but I kept my voice low anyway. “It was the Titans.”
“What?” His eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “They also took over a pure community. I don’t think it’s something Marcus wants everyone to know, and I…” I drew in a deep breath. “I feel terrible for even suggesting this, but I don’t think we should let Cora and Gable know it’s the Titans.”
He tilted his head. “I don’t know, Josie. They need to know what they’re going to face.”
“I agree, but they don’t need to be terrified,” I reasoned. “They’re basically mortal—they spent their whole lives being mortal and we’re throwing so much at them. Trust me, them knowing the Titans are responsible for what happened in Chicago could be too much for them.”
Colin was quiet and then he nodded. “You have a point. We don’t want them to shut down, or to run.”
“Exactly.”
“Thanks for letting me know, but damn.” He tipped his head back against the wall. “These Titans are no joke.”
“No, they’re not.”
He sighed. “I was thinking about working with Cora and Gable later, some basic fighting moves. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a good idea.”
“Cool.” He pushed off the wall. “See you in a bit?”
“Yep.” I left him to get back to doing the Q&A thing.
I had a game plan for today.
The hallway outside our rooms was empty, but the lobby was always packed, even during the summer. I skirted around the entombed furies. To me, they looked like beautiful angels praying with their hands folded under their delicately curved chins, wings tucked back and stone expressions serene. However, from what I had been told, their presence served as a warning. The gods were upset about something, and everyone had told me I didn’t want to see them unleashed.
Seth figured their presence had something to do with the animosity between the pures and the halfs, but the gods had never seemed to care about that before. So who knew? But considering the whole Ares’s symbol thing on the mask, he could be right.
Seth had also insisted that these furies would be nothing like my friend Erin. That, once unleashed, they would come after anything in their way, including me. I couldn’t suppress my shudder as I walked past them, heading for the glass doors.
No one said anything to me; they never did. Heck, the whole time I’d been here, Colin was the only one who had spoken to me, but I could feel their gazes on me.
It was kind of funny in the way only irony could be.
When I’d first arrived at the University, the students here pretty much ignored me. I was invisible to them. A ghost. Before, all they’d cared about was Seth, and that used to tick me off to no end. But now? They knew I was a demigod and Apollo’s daughter, so I got the same wide-eyed stares Seth received.
Honestly, I kind of wished they’d go back to ignoring me, because it was more than a little unnerving. Stepping outside, I squinted and immediately wished I had grabbed sunglasses. I bet if Seth was with me, he could just will them out of thin air.
Because he was so special like that.
Welcoming the pleasant, warm air, I took my time as I followed the pathway to the library. It was…goodness, it was lovely to have warmth without stifling humidity.
It made me long for lazy days, lying out in the sun. Lazy days that involved Seth and…and our child. The three of us on a blanket, dozing th
e day away. The moment that image filled my mind, a burst of sweet yearning nearly swept my legs out from underneath me.
How could something so simple as spending a day doing nothing have such an impact on me? But it did. It really did, and I wanted it so badly I could taste it.
One day, I promised myself. One day I would have that, and to get that, I needed to figure out how in the hell we were going to entomb these Titans.
The only person that I knew besides my absentee father who might have some clue on how to do this, or if there was another way, was Medusa.
There was a wicked sense of deja vu as I hoofed it up the massive steps and entered the library. I remembered doing just that when I was looking for her the first time.
All I was missing was Deacon.
Chilly, musty-scented air greeted me as I stepped just inside the huge library. Everything on this campus was crazy big.
Seeing the massive, stacked shelves that stretched all the way to the ceiling made me think of Radford University and the many, many evenings spent inside its library, cramming for exams. A small smile pulled at my lips and a feeling of nostalgia rose.
Strange thing was, I…I didn’t miss Radford.
The realization stopped me dead in my tracks. I missed Erin and the few close friends I’d made, but I wouldn’t go back if I had the choice. My life was so different now and it could be insanely dangerous, but it was better. Maybe one day I’d go back to college. It wasn’t like demigods couldn’t get degrees, and I already knew some people in this community who’d totally benefit from some counseling sessions, but my life wasn’t lacking or incomplete because I wasn’t in college. Realizing that was… It was a wow moment for me.
Truth was, I’d been feeling that way for a while now, but it was almost, like, wrong to admit. Screw that. I wasn’t going to spend time forcing myself into some kind of shell I no longer fit in.
My steps were a little lighter as I started walking.
The last time I’d gone looking for Medusa, she’d found me roaming aimlessly through the stacks, but this time I knew where to go.
Passing the empty tables, I glanced around and noted that there were hardly any students in here. Granted, enrollment was low in the summer, but I thought it might be more than that. What had Deacon said about the libraries? The halfs were weirded out by them, but the pures were never bothered? Something like that.
So strange.
I headed down one of the aisles and did what I always do whenever I am around so many books.
Grinning like an idiot, I ran my fingertips over the spines of the books, all way to the very end of a row. I hung a right, heading for the space under the wide, ornate staircase. My steps slowed and then I stopped. I blinked once and then twice, because I knew I couldn’t be seeing what I was.
“What the hell?” I gasped.
“Shush,” someone, somewhere, reprimanded me.
I scanned the shadowy space. This didn’t make any sense. The doors…they were gone. How was that possible? I hurried forward, scanning the bare, seamless wall. There’d been three of them before. Three. This was insane.
Spinning around, I stalked down the narrow space between the shelves and back wall, peering around the rows as I looked for the person who had shushed me. I found her using the air element to put books away on the top shelf.
“Excuse me,” I said, gaining her attention. “What happened to the doors that were underneath the stairwell?”
“Doors under the stairs?” She picked up a book that looked like it weighed about twenty pounds. It lifted like a feather, floating to the top shelf.
“Yes.” I turned, gesturing back toward the wall. “There were three doors there. They’re gone.”
The older lady frowned as she picked up another book. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There have never been any doors there.”
Chapter 15
Seth
The stone parish church the five us of appeared behind had to be hundreds of years old. The thing was obviously still in use and in great shape, but damn, it was old.
“You just had to bring us here?” Alex’s wide gaze was trained on the ancient gravestones scattered around the church, rising up out of the thick grass like misshapen teeth. Most of the tombstones were unreadable, the words and dates lost to time.
“I figured this was the safest location to appear in,” I explained. “The village isn’t big. Once we leave the church grounds, we’re pretty much in the town, and the last thing we need is to appear out of thin air in front of mortals”
“It’s so strange how you’re actually thinking about these things.” Aiden tilted his head. “I’m used to you not—”
“Giving a fuck?” I supplied for him.
“Yeah. Basically.”
I lifted a shoulder. Truth was, in the past I probably would’ve enjoyed scaring the shit out of some mortal, but now? The possible fallout of scaring the shit out of a mortal wasn’t worth the momentary amusement.
“But this is the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said, seemingly aware of Aiden and me.
“Really?” Aiden’s brows lifted as he twisted toward her. “Pretty sure the giant spiders in the Underworld were the creepiest thing we’ve ever seen.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Her brow pinched. “Forgot about those.”
Aiden stared at her.
“How in the world did you forget about that?” Luke asked, and then he turned. “Dammit. Where is he going?”
Deacon was already halfway through the uneven rows. He looked over his shoulder when Luke shouted. “This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” he yelled back, and I frowned. “You guys have to see some of these tombstones.”
Luke sighed heavily as he glanced at Aiden. “That’s your brother.”
“That’s your boyfriend,” Aiden shot back.
“True.” He let out another sigh. “I better go get him.”
It took a few minutes to round up Deacon and get going. “Lead the way,” I said to Luke, who I knew had done a lot of research on the village. Valuable research. Unlike Deacon.
Who could list the ghosts that supposedly haunted Pluckley.
The screaming man.
Shadow people.
The schoolmaster who hung himself.
The Red Lady.
The White Lady.
Meanwhile, Luke knew where to go. “I figure the best place for us to scope out is this pub I saw. Seemed like a smart place to go. It’s kind of in the middle of everything.”
So that’s where we headed while Deacon beguiled the group with different ghost stories he’d heard.
My first impression of Pluckley was exactly how I’d imagined it. Rolling green pastures. Homes that are nearly as old as some of the trees, and narrow roads. The place was quaint, and I think Josie would’ve liked seeing it.
She probably would’ve liked to hear Deacon tell his stories, too.
I hung back as we walked along the road, keeping an eye on everything. There were no weird feelings or surges of energy, but I was staying alert.
“The houses look like something out of The Hobbit,” Deacon was saying, and I grinned. They sort of did. “And I thought it was rainy and overcast in Britain?”
Luke patted Deacon’s shoulder. “The sun does come out here.”
Alex responded to something Deacon muttered under his breath, and I was at once grateful to see that there appeared to be a lot of tourists snapping pictures, because if not, we would stick out like sore thumbs. I’d be worried about all the attention Deacon was drawing.
Gods.
My lip curled.
This “being responsible” thing was fucking exhausting.
Aiden slowed down, falling in step beside me. “Feel anything?” he asked. “Like yesterday?”
“Nothing so far.” We hooked a right, and the brick buildings crowded the road. I glanced over at Aiden, and saw he too was eyeing everything closely. “That could change.”
“True.” He k
ept his hands loose at his sides. “I wanted to say something to you.”
Gods only knew what this was going to be. “Do I even want to know?”
A faint grin appeared. “I’m proud of you.”
I almost stopped walking when I looked over at him. I had no words. None.
He let out a low chuckle. “Shocked you into silence? I’m going to take advantage of that before you tell me to shut up. You didn’t go after Oceanus yesterday. The old Seth would’ve. And the old Seth would’ve thrown down with Zeus, no matter the consequence. You may have even killed him. At least, you would’ve put a hurting on him. The fact it appears you just talked with him shows how much you’ve changed, and I was wrong.”
Aiden wrong?
Tartarus just froze the fuck over.
“I was wrong when I said it appeared you weren’t concerned and didn’t care,” he continued. “So, I wanted to say that I’m proud of you.”
I let his words sink in and then I said, “Shut up.”
Aiden smiled as he looked away.
~
Josie
There had never been doors here?
No.
No way.
My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t been the only one to see them. Deacon had been with me the first time, and both of us had seen those doors. And besides, I’d walked through them with Medusa.
I snapped out my stupor. “There’s another librarian that works here. She’s this tall.” I lifted my hand as far as I could get it over my head. “And has really…curly hair. She wears sunglasses. Is she working?”
The librarian’s dark brows rose. “There’s another full-time librarian, but that doesn’t sound like Lilly. There’s Janice, and she’s here on the weekends and on Tuesday and Thursdays, but she has pin-straight hair and she’s shorter than me.”
Whoever she described was not who I was looking for, unless Medusa could shapeshift. And what did I know? Maybe Medusa could.
Another book flew up to the shelf, this one ending up on the shelf second from the top. “Are you sure whoever you’re looking for works here?”
Well, I had no idea if Medusa actually worked here or not. “Maybe not,” I said, backing up. “Thanks for your help.”
The Prophecy Page 14
