by Dee King
“OH MY GODS! This is beautiful, Sebastian.” I walk to the roses. I lean down to smell them.
“Wait, this is nothing.” He starts to drag me by the hand into the living room. Except the living room now looks like a Hawaiian luau. There are no couches, just tables. Tables of food. Surrounded with Hawaiian leis.
In between the trays of food are little, glass vases filled with sand, exotic flowers, and little white floating candles. There is a pathway made with the tables.
It’s lined with flower petals from the on the leis. All along the floor, to the glass doors that lead outside. There are large pineapples that are cut open just enough for you to see the light from the candle glowing inside on the tables in between the food.
I walk slowly to the tables. Fruit, vegetables, little sandwiches cut into triangles, cookies, dips, chips, brownies, the list keeps going.
At the end of the tables, right in the middle is a huge cake. One on each side. It has two tiers, draped with the exotic flowers. On the bottom of the cake it says Congratulations.
Even the cakes are beautiful. I walk the flower lined path. I can see the balcony. I walk outside. There are surf boards all along the wall. Lined up. The furniture has all been moved back with a big, translucent, dance floor right in the middle.
I step on it. It changes color. I start to jump from one side to the next. Every time I step the color changes. I twirl around with my arms out by my side, while watching the floor change colors. Pink, green, yellow, blue.
“This is so freaking cool, Sebastian!” I stop twirling.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes. WOW! Just WOW!” I am looking at everything around me. I look back at the wall of surf boards. I see something.
I walk closer to it. It’s my name. It’s my name on a surfboard.
It say’s Selene in bright pink. The board is all white with blue flames coming up the sides. The flames fade into pink as they rise on the board.
“OH MY GODS!” I run to the board. I touch the board. It’s freshly waxed. It’s the prettiest surf board I have ever seen.
“Sebastian, thank you! I love it!” I run to him and throw my arms around him. I can feel tears in my eyes. I just hold him in my arms as tightly as I can. He steps back.
“You needed to see that you are as beautiful as I see you.” The tears fall down my face.
“Thank you...” I can hardly get the words out.
I step back taking everything in. It literally looks like a little piece of Hawaii is in Sebastian’s home.
“May I ask just one question?” I say in my sweetest voice.
“Yes.” He raise’s his eyebrow.
“Why Hawaii? I mean this is cool, well, it’s awesome, but why Hawaii?”
He lets out a small laugh.
“Do you remember our conversation we had while on Catalina Island?”
“Which one?” We both smile at one another.
“Remember that I asked you where you would want to go if you could go anywhere? Well, I picked Hawaii. I figured if I couldn’t take you there, I would bring it to you.” My mouth is gapping open.
“I said Paris, Rome, Hawaii, and like five other places. You did this just for me?”
“Yes. I did.” I can see his eye’s looking at me.
“I appreciate it. I really do.” I hug him tight. We stand there body to body, arms around one another, and I notice the sky.
I turn slightly to see the sun finally setting over the ocean. I am in awe of the beauty that surrounds me.
We suddenly turn around to the noise we hear. It’s Colin.
He clears his throat. Loudly.
“Excuse me. If you two are about done, I think we have company coming.” I let go of Sebastian.
“Isn’t this beautiful?” I point to the tables.
“Oh and did you see this?” I point to my surf board on the stone wall.
“I did see, and I did know. It’s pretty great.” Colin looks around the room.
“This is really great. Looks like something we would have at home.” Colin says to Sebastian.
“I know. I had some help, of course, but Dad didn’t want to leave without everything being perfect.”
“Yea, your dad is quite the perfectionist. He have help?”
“Just a little.” Colin and Sebastian both laugh.
“Wait. Your dad did all this?” I looked at Sebastian.
“Not all, but he did help. He left right before you got here. He was doing all this while we were at graduation. Pretty cool, right?”
“Yea. Shocking is more like it, but yea, cool.” I stand there wondering about how much Hades did know about us.
The door bell rings. Sebastian and I walk together to answer the door.
“Let’s party!” It’s Chris and Chloe. Together.
I hug each of them as they walk inside.
“WHOA! This looks totally kick ass, dude!” Chris exclaims. Sebastian’s eyes perk up. Chloe and Chris are checking out everything. Chloe is touching all the tables.
“You guys can eat now if you want.” Sebastian hands each of them a plate.
“Sweet! I can eat any time.” Chris starts to pile food on his plate. Chloe takes a plate, but stops suddenly. She points at me.
“Are you kidding me?” She asks me.
“What?”
“Is that your gift from Sebastian?” I look down at the diamond anchor.
“Yes. Gorgeous, huh?” She lays the plate down and walks closer to me. She picks it up.
“Gorgeous? That’s an understatement. Chris, did you see this?”
“Yep, was there when he bought it.”
“Shut up! No way!”
“Yes, way. Selene deserves only the best. She has that now.” Chris winks at me while still piling food on his plate.
“I am so jealous right now. It’s really quite beautiful, Selene.” I look back down at it.
“Thank you.”
“You look cute, by the way.” She points up and down.
“Thank you. You do, too.”
“Yea, she does.” Chris smiles at Chloe. I grab a plate. I hand Colin and Sebastian each one.
“Let’s eat before everyone gets here, or before Chris eats it all.”I say while we all begin to chuckle.
We make our way to the patio. I can see Chloe’s eyes about to pop out of her head when she notices the board Sebastian had made for me.
“Your kidding? That surf board has your name on it!” She exclaims. A smile slowly creeps across my face.
“Yes. Isn’t it the coolest?”
“Hell yea, it is!” We high five one another while being careful not to drop our plates. This night is turning out to be one of the best in my life, and nothing bad has happened, yet.
Chapter 28
I watch Colin turn on the music outside and make his way to the dance floor. He is all alone. Dancing around like no one is watching. I admire that in him. He doesn’t seem to care what anybody thinks, he just does what he wants.
People are starting to fill in faster than I can blink. Sebastian posted a note on the door for people to just walk in after the fifteenth time of having to answer the door.
We greet everyone of our friends that come in. The music is loud, and everyone seems so happy.
Everyone is there except for three people- Alex, Ian, and Cali. I realize this, and that feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back.
I start to make my way through the crowds of people. Everyone keeps telling me how awesome the house looks, and my board is pretty fantastic.
Some guy I hardly know told me that my board was killer. I thanked him and kept moving.
No sign of the three of them anywhere.
At this point, I even went down to the beach, where the fire pit is. Nothing.
“Where are they?” I ask Sebastian.
“Who?” He looks around.
“Ian, Alex, and Cali.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Ian will be here soon I am sure. He never misses a part
y. He won’t miss this one.” He takes a hold of my hand.
“Let’s dance.” I take his hand. We step on the dance floor, and the colors start to appear. He pulls me tightly into him and swings me around. We both fall into one another when he places me back on the dance floor.
We hold one another, dancing slowly to the song. He moves his hand down my back, holding me tighter.
“This is how it should have been all these years.” He quietly says in my ear. I smile at him.I sway with his body.
We dance till the song is over. I see Chris and Chloe dancing with one another. Very, very closely. I dance my way over to them.
“Having fun you two?” I yell over the music.
“YES!” The both say in unison. I see Colin on the phone in the corner. I wave at the two of them. I walk to Colin.
“What’s up?” I ask. He puts his finger to his lips to quiet me. I stand there staring at him. “I know. I heard you.”
“Yes, she is.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Exactly.”
“Now?”
“Yea, okay.” He ends the call.
“What?”
“What? Who was that? What’s going on?” I ask Colin.
“Nothing, Selene. You just have fun tonight, okay.” He walks away from me. I walk behind him.
“Where are you going?”
“No where. I told you not to worry. Stay here. Have fun. I will be back.”
“Who was on the phone?” I want to know.
“Nobody.” He starts walking away from me. I can sense he is in a hurry.
“Colin!” I shout at him. He stops.
“Selene. Keep your voice down.” He takes his keys out of his pocket.
“Tell me where you are going?”
“No. Now stop. Go be with your friends. I will be back. I promise.” His smile is so fake that it makes me angry.
“How are we ever going to be close, if you always keep secrets from me.”
“I am not keeping secrets from you, Selene. You will know everything I know once I get back. Now, please, go. Be with your friends.” He points to the crowd of people. I turn to look behind me, by the time I turn around he is gone.
I start to look for Sebastian since I had left him on the dance floor to talk to Chris and Chloe. I spot him across the crowd. I wave. He doesn’t wave back. I can see he has his phone to his ear. I walk faster to him.
“Where?”
“Yea, Colin is on his way now.”
“I don’t know!”
“Well, if you would have done your damn job, this probably wouldn’t be happening.”
“No! You will hear from me very soon!” He ends the call.
“Who was that?” I ask Sebastian.
“Someone who works for my dad.”
“What is going on, Sebastian? I swear if you say nothing, I am going to get really pissed.”
He looks me in the eyes.
“When you mentioned that the three of them were not here, I started to wonder where they were, too.”
“And?” I put my hand’s on my hips.
“We have had someone following Alex the past couple of days. Well, now no one can find him.”
“What do you mean no one can find him?” Sebastian takes me by the hand, to the balcony stairs. We walk down the stairs to where the fire pit is. Except, no one is down there, and the fire isn’t going.
“Where is everyone?”
“They are all upstairs or in the house. I had the fire put out a few minutes ago.”
I lean down to where the fire had been. I wave my hand slightly over the wood. Still warm. I open my mouth and blow. Sparks everywhere. I blow harder. Immediate fire.
“That will never get old.” Sebastian looks down at the fire that I just started.
“Yea, it’s cool. Wait. Finish what you were saying.” I say.
“Alex is missing.”
“I got that part.”
“The problem is... the problem is that he didn’t go back to Mount Olympus, yet.” “Why is that a problem?”
“Because after graduation he was supposed to go home.” Sebastian looks away from me. “Why?”
“Because Zeus told him too.”
“So, what does all this mean?” I place my hands over the warmth of the fire. “It means he isn’t done.”
“Done?”
“He wants revenge. One way or the other he is going to try to get his revenge against us.” Sebastian steps closer to my side.
“Well, I am ready for him.” I start to look around.
“I know, but he isn’t going to do that in front of all these people.” He looks up at the balcony.
“Then where is Cali and Ian? Where did Colin go?” I start to panic.
“Colin left to find all three of them. The last time we heard anything was that Ian was messing around with Alex to get him to stay where he was.”
“And, now?”
“No word, yet. From any of them.” Sebastian looks down.
“Hey, we will be okay. We will. Do you want us to go look for them? Everyone could leave?”
“No. We are safer here.” He says as I lay my hand on his shoulder.
“I am sure we will hear from them soon. Don’t worry.” My mouth speaks, but my heart says something is wrong.
“Hey! You guys going to stay down there all night or what?” Chris is yelling from the top of the balcony. Sebastian and I look at one another. I shrug my shoulders and make the climb up the stairs.
“We’re here.” I start to laugh at Chris.
“It’s our last night together. I wanted to remember it with my favorite sister.” He puts his
arm around my shoulders.
“I am your only sister, dork!” We both punch each other playfully.
I decide that there isn’t anything we can do at the moment. Sebastian and I dance with
one another and try not to focus on who wasn’t here.
Someone stands on a table, Chris pulls him down.
There was some arguing but for the most part the night is progressing well. More than
half of the food is already gone. Sebastian did not put anything in the drinks tonight so everyone is starting to tire. Even I was until I heard Colin walk in the door screaming.
“Why are you screaming?” I run up to him.
“Because I am mad!” He is punching his fist into his hands.
“Well, don’t scream at me!” I am standing face to face with him now.
“I don’t have time for this. Where is Sebastian?” He looks over my head.
“Right here. What’s going on?” Sebastian says as he comes to stand by my side.
“You need to get these people out of here, now!” Colin screams.
“Why?” We both ask Colin.
“Because we need to do something, and mortals can’t be here!”
“Keep your voice down!” I growl.
“Just do it, I don’t care how, but do it!”
“No. Tell us what is happening.” Sebastian asks in a low tone.
“I think something happened to Ian. Also, it looks like a storm is coming.. A bad one.” Colin talks quieter.
“Alex?” I ask Colin. He nods yes. I look to Sebastian for the answer’s.
“EVERYONE! EVERYONE! CAN I GET YOUR ATTENTION!” Sebastian is now standing in the middle of the living room. The music cuts off suddenly. Everyone is still talking.
“EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!” The room feels like it’s vibrating from his voice. He now has everyone’s attention.
“I am sorry to cut this short, but I have had an emergency come up. If you all could please leave, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.” Everyone just stands there staring at one another, not moving.
“NOW!” Sebastian screams at everyone.The house shakes from his voice. I have never seen people run so fast. It was like the house was on fire. I was almost pushed down a couple of times. I look at Sebastian. His blue eyes now look blazing red. Chris starts us
hering the couple of people still just standing around outside of the house.
“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” Chris starts singing to everyone. I almost smile, but I catch myself.
I know that everyone needs to go. I hug Chris and Chloe, and tell them that there is an emergency with his dad, and that everything would be fine. They don’t look convinced. I try to fake a smile.
“We can stay if you need us.” Chloe says while staring at Sebastian.
“No. I promise it’s probably nothing. I will call you guys tomorrow. Promise.” I hug each of them again.
Everyone is now gone. I stand there looking at Sebastian and Colin.
“What now?” I ask.
“Sebastian, get your book.” He nods at Colin, and runs up the stairs. In less than two minutes he is back down the stairs with the leather bound book.
“You know what to do.”Colin tells Sebastian as he nods. He starts rummaging through a drawer in the kitchen. He pulls out a large feather. It looks like a pen. He starts to write in the book frantically.
Colin steps back from Sebastian. I just stand there watching.
Sebastian drops the feather. Out of no where the lights flicker. I suddenly feel the need to be near water. I rush to the kitchen refrigerator. I find a bottle of water and start drinking it.
I look down in the bottle after I have swallowed. The water is bubbling. I sit the bottle down. Still bubbling.
I look at Colin who is still watching Sebastian and the book. The lights go out. I can not see anything. It’s pitch black. I try feeling my way around the counter of the kitchen. I bump into something, or someone.
“Colin?” I whisper.
“It’s okay, Selene. We need to find a candle. Hold onto my back. Sebastian?”
“Yep. Staying right here.” I can hear his voice a little farther than where we are standing. We move together. Colin steps, I step. There is no light. The only sound you can faintly hear is the ocean crashing against the beach.
Colin stops. I accidentally step on the back of his shoe.
“Oops. Sorry.” I apologize to Colin.
“Selene, you and I are going to do this together.” Colin tells me.
“Do what?” I can feel Colin hand me something. I feel the object in my hand.
“On the count of three.” Colin says.
