by Kieran Scott
Could this mean that our deal was off? It was possible that Zeus was somehow displeased with my last match, and his punishment was to condemn us to live in this random American town for good. But there was no reason for him to disapprove of Charlie and Katrina. The sand timer he’d sent to track me had turned when they’d sealed their love with a kiss. I had thought I was on my way to victory. And now, this.
Hephaestus opened the door of the front office, and Orion stepped inside. I moved to follow.
“Thanks, guys,” he said, adjusting one backpack strap on his shoulder. “You don’t have to come with me. I got it from here.”
My arms went limp at my sides at the very thought of leaving him. I’d just gotten him back. Sort of. “But I can’t—”
“Right. Well, good luck!” Hephaestus said, and he let the door swing closed.
“We can’t just leave him!” I hissed.
“We have to!” Hephaestus replied, wheeling toward the wall. “He thinks he’s just a regular human kid. He thinks we’re regular human kids. Normal people wouldn’t follow him around like puppy dogs.”
I could see a tiny sliver of the side of Orion’s head through the door’s window—the wave of his thick, dark hair—as he spoke with the administrative assistant, Mrs. Leifer. His muffled laughter sent my pitter-pattering heart into my stomach.
“What is he doing here, Hephaestus?” I whispered urgently. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know,” Hephaestus said. “Perhaps Zeus sent him here to goad you on? Remind you of why you’re doing this?”
I liked his theory better than mine. At least that would mean that there was still a potential end to this trial. That I could still complete my mission, form my three couples, and return home to Mount Olympus with Orion at my side, his memory perfectly restored. But I didn’t quite believe it. He’d seemed so pleased at the idea of keeping Orion as his slave, at the prospect of torturing him while I did my work on Earth. Now, on a whim, he sends Orion here to torture me? It didn’t add up. Something was off. I needed to know why Orion was here. I needed answers.
“We must contact Harmonia,” I said breathlessly. “Find out what she knows.”
It was my sister Harmonia who had dispatched Hephaestus to me after I’d sent up a desperate plea to her in the town square, begging for help. Now that I was human, he was my only direct line to Mount Olympus. Aside from praying and offering up sacrifices—two notoriously dodgy forms of communication and bargaining—I had no other way to contact home.
“That’s not really how it works,” Hephaestus told me.
“What do you mean?”
Orion disappeared, moving out of view inside the office. I leaned over Hephaestus, trying to catch a glimpse.
“Excuse me. Your breasts are kind of in my face,” Hephaestus groused, gently shoving me away.
I groaned and stood up straight. “What do you mean that’s not how it works?” I repeated.
“I mean, I don’t contact her. She contacts me.”
I heard Orion laugh again, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I sidestepped Hephaestus and walked into the office at the exact moment Orion was shaking hands with a guy I’d seen around school. He was tall and muscular with shaggy brown hair and his pretty blond girlfriend was at his side. He wore one of those blue-and-white varsity jackets that every other person at this school seemed to own. It looked like Orion had just met his peer guide.
“Peter Marrott,” the guy said. “And this is my girlfriend, Claudia Catalfo.”
“Welcome to Lake Carmody,” Claudia said with a smile.
“Thanks.” Orion nodded at Peter’s jacket. “You play ball?”
“He’s the starting quarterback,” Claudia replied, looking up at Peter proudly. She sipped hot tea from a paper cup and entwined the fingers of her free hand with his. She was petite, the top of her head barely reaching Peter’s shoulder. Her auburn hair was tied into a French braid, and she wore skinny pink jeans, a white button-down, and a flowered headband. Her face was familiar, but I couldn’t place why. “He’s going to play in college next year, right, Peter?”
“Maybe,” Peter said, a blotchy blush popping up on his cheeks. He tossed his light-brown bangs off his head, and they fell right back into place. “You play?”
“I was starting running back at my old school,” Orion replied, rounding his sexy shoulders. “I had twenty-one touchdowns and almost a thousand yards last season.”
My brain went fuzzy and I felt faint. He had an athletic history too? What else had he left behind in Boston? A part-time job? A slew of clubs? A girlfriend?
“Really? That’s awesome. We’re a little weak at running back this year,” Peter replied excitedly. “Our starter graduated, and the backup guy is kind of a bust.”
“Think they’ll let me try out?” Orion asked hopefully. The eager tone in his voice nearly broke my heart. I loved him so much. It killed me not to be able to reach out and touch him, hold him, tell him I was going to make everything okay.
“Definitely! Come on. I’ll introduce you to Coach Morschauser right now.”
They turned toward the door as one and paused, catching me standing there with what I was sure was pure desperation in my eyes.
“Um . . . excuse us?” Peter said.
I glanced behind me and realized I was blocking the door. “Oh. Sorry. Right. I’m . . . sorry.”
I shoved the door open and stumbled out ahead of them, almost mowing over Hephaestus, who was still, loyally, waiting for me.
“Thanks again, you guys. I’ll see you around,” Orion said dismissively.
“You’re . . . problem,” I blurted. “I mean, no welcome. I mean—”
“True, stop,” Hephaestus whispered, grasping my wrist.
But it didn’t matter. They were already halfway down the hall. Claudia leaned toward Peter and loud-whispered, “That’s that girl. The one who stole my scarf on the first day, remember?”
Right! That was why I knew her. I’d used her scarf to tie my hair back on my first day of school, before I started to get a handle on how covetous people were of their things. They glanced back at me, even Orion, with that look in their eyes. That look that I had, unfortunately, grown accustomed to. Orion’s, at least, had a smidgen of sympathy in it, a touch of curiosity. But the fact remained:
Every last one of them thought I was a freak. Including the love of my life.
© Sona Viola
KIERAN SCOTT is the author of the He’s So/She’s So Trilogy, including She’s So Dead to Us, He’s So Not Worth It, and This Is So Not Happening. She also wrote the New York Times bestselling Private series as well as the Shadowlands trilogy under the pen name Kate Brian for Alloy Entertainment. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Follow Kieran on Twitter at @kieranscott.
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ALSO BY KIERAN SCOTT
She’s So Dead to Us
He’s So Not Worth It
This Is So Not Happening
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Kieran Viola
Cover photograph copyright © 2014 by Michael Frost
Hand lettering and illustration by Bobby Haiqalsyah
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Also available in a hardcover edition
C
over design by Chloë Foglia
Interior design by Hilary Zarycky
Jacket design by Chloë Foglia
Jacket photograph copyright © 2014 by Michael Frost
Hand lettering and illustration by Bobby Haiqalsyah
The text for this book is set in Granjon.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Scott, Kieran, 1974–
Only everything / Kieran Scott. — First edition.
pages cm. — (A true love novel ; [1])
Summary: “Eros (aka Cupid) is sent to earth after disobeying the gods and required to match three couples without her powers”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4424-7718-6 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-1-4424-7716-2 (pbk.) —ISBN 978-1-4424-7719-3 (eBook)
1. Eros (Greek deity)—Juvenile fiction. [1. Eros (Greek deity)—Fiction. 2. Goddesses, Greek—Fiction. 3. Mythology, Greek—Fiction. 4. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 5. Love—Fiction. 6. High schools—Fiction. 7. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S42643On 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013019388
