The bathroom was dark. A few light bulbs were out here and there, but none of us were complaining after Caellum’s drunk ass ripped down the curtains when he still went here. They never did get replaced.
Standing under the shower spray, the steam engulfed me, and I let it burn my lungs, pushing a cough up my throat. The temperature of the shower wasn’t going to wash away anything like modern poetry claimed. I was going to emerge the same man who stripped down and rinsed off the sweat.
Nyx strutted in casually, unknowing that I just saw Luna sneak out of his room at 7:30 a.m. I was drawing conclusions and not caring how accurate they were, especially when the chances of them studying or talking was slim.
“What was Jasper doing out there?” I watched him take the shower stall next to me, shouting over the pounding rain of shower head.
“Being a fucking creep. I think he was following me.” I pumped the soap into the palm of my hand before lathering up.
“I saw him in the library last week in the off limit stacks. You think he’s looking for the God Killer too?”
Too? Had he been talking to Caellum?
He was the only one I knew who was actively looking for weapons. It was still up for debate why he needed a weapon to kill gods. My boycotting of the ritual was so no one died, no one got hurt, and there were no repercussions for our actions if we didn’t act at all.
“What would he need that for? All the gods are dead; it’s just us now.”
His head peeked over the wall dividing the shower stalls. “Exactly. He hates Olympus and, better yet, hates you.”
Letting all the soap run down my abs, I spoke candidly, completely trusting him with every word. “If he sabotages the ritual, has any plan to hurt Ari, I won’t hesitate to kill him.”
“I can be okay with that.”
His loyalty didn’t go unnoticed. I grabbed the towel swung over the same divider and wrapped it around my waist when I saw Ari leaning against the sink. “Bolton?”
Startling me, I made sure the towel covered what I needed it to, not that she hadn’t seen everything already, but no one wanted to be naked and afraid at the same time. “What are you doing in here? It’s a guys’ bathroom...”
Looking towards Nyx, naked and not the least bit caring, I barked, “Hallway now.”
“I remembered something. Well, not their face, but the conversation I overheard.”
Waving my hand for her to continue, I waited for more to go on in my towel in the hallway.
“The twins, I overheard them plotting to leave Olympus before I ran away. Do you think they don’t wanna leave Arcadia Prep?”
Folding my arms against my bare chest, I contemplated her memory. Cheyanne would never betray me. She always had a small crush on me, and I knew it motivated her loyalty. I couldn’t get Jasper’s behavior lately out of my head. He was acting out, being weird, and pissing me off enough to make me think he was the problem, and not the twins.
“What else do you remember?”
“Just hearing them talk about how awful it was up there. How much they hated everyone in charge, how little they mattered, how much better life would be on Earth for them. It’s like a memory, but I don’t have the beginning or ending, just the middle, that doesn’t make sense without bookends.”
“Nothing changes. No suspect behavior. We don’t have any evidence, and I don’t want to spook anyone.”
She looked down at her phone, smiling, “Easy. Kate and Luna are kidnapping me to go into town for dresses.”
Harvest had started. It was here enough to lift the barrier on campus. We were no longer trapped, at least for now. Harvest only lasts 28 hours, while the moons shifted and the stars prepared for winter.
“Keep your phone on, Ari. I mean it.”
Biting her lip, she tilted her chin up, hoping I’d conquer the distance and plant a kiss on her lips. I wanted to keep it interesting by not ever giving her what she wanted.
Her fingertips settled on my towel, leaning further into me. “You were looking amazing in there…”
“Compared to when else exactly? It sounds like you’re comparing.” My hand was on her shoulder, as she stood on her tiptoes and finally reached my lips. Mint lip gloss to match her frosty sarcasm.
Slapping her hand to my bare chest, I forced my shoulders straight, not caving in to the lashing. “You know I don’t have a lot of memories yet!”
Pushing my lips down to hers again, I let my tongue explore her mouth. Warm and wet—the exact equation to summon my dick to action.
I pulled away only to kiss her exposed neck. “You better run away if you don’t plan on opening those legs.”
Arianna
I changed so quickly I was convinced my underwear were on backwards. The tag wasn’t itching against my skin like it normally did, which aggravated me more than them actually being backwards.
Change was the enemy. No matter how annoying that tag was, I was used to it.
I was used to a lot of things that felt a lot like lies now instead of the truth I once knew.
The girls were waiting in front, giggling and talking to themselves, when I sauntered over to them. “So now we can talk about it right?”
Kate purposely bumped into me casually. “The powers?” She laughed like it was the most out of this world idea to ever exist. Normally I would agree, but my gold veins and tingling in my hands proved me wrong.
Luna took pity on me, with her eyes full of empathy and wisdom all at the same time. “It’s not always like what you can do. We just think about something, wish it true enough, and it happens.” She touched my hands, staring into me, like I was a blackhole of depth and wonderment.
I couldn’t describe the warmth her hands held or how comforting it felt to stare into her eyes. Something inside me knew everything would be okay. Every unshed tear left behind my eyes, building up strength to threaten my strength again, felt like they had dried up. She slowly let go of my hands, I paused, staring in the same wonderment she did a second ago.
“What just happened?”
Her bright smile took over her face. “Comfort. It’s no lightning, but I can take pain away.”
“It’s not always so extreme like Miss-Fix-It over here,” Kate cut in with a chip on her shoulder.
I could easily sense how much she hated all of this: the power, being unique, being a god above men. As much as this school fell at her feet and moved out of her way when she came down the hallway, in this moment, she seemed to hate every part of the royalty coursing through her veins.
“She can be Miss-Fix-It, so what’s yours?”
“Today is about normal, mundane things, Arianna. We are on a mission to find the perfect dresses.” Her eyes lit up, like someone just offered her the one thing she always wanted: normalcy.
I roped my arms through their arms, clutching on and walking us all forward together. “Normal day it is. We’ll have plenty of time to talk magic.”
Luna’s mouth turned down, like she had sucked all the sadness from Kate and saw it as it really was—ugly discomfort she wore underneath it all. I hugged their limp arms tighter, when we got to the end of the long driveway and a black town car pulled up. I wondered if we had incredible timing or if we had believed enough that today would be normal that we summoned a car to fulfill our wishes.