Solstice (32 page)

“Lots of the time.”

“Yeah, lots of the time,” he says.

“I can’t believe Hannah’s pregnant,” I say. “I had no clue.”

“Only she and Randy knew,” Shayne says. “Randy told me when he crossed.”

It’s just one more piece of his memory for Randy to leave behind in the River Lethe.

Shayne shuts my locker and takes my hand. “Can I walk you home?”

“Of course.” Chloe’s skipping, so I can’t take the shuttle with her. I have to wonder if she’s with Reese until I catch his scent in the air.

A wave of darkness covers Shayne’s face. “Why won’t he stay away from you?”

I lift my head and see Reese across the corridor. When our eyes meet, he winks at me.

Shayne’s hand tightens like a clamp on mine, and he takes a step in Reese’s direction.

Reese’s eyebrows arch like he’s surprised Shayne would challenge him. I wonder if Shayne will start a fight right here in the middle of school with so many people around. If so, Reese must be up for it because, in five quick strides, he stands directly in front of us.

Reese glances at Shayne and then reaches over and brushes my cheek, sending a flurry of goose bumps down my neck. I’d be lying if I said revulsion was the sole cause of those goose bumps because all I can focus on is his scent. I scoot backward to get out of his reach.

“Have you missed me, Piper?” Reese asks.

I open my mouth to tell him I’m not interested in him, but words won’t come out. Shayne’s hand feels like it will snap the bones in my fingers in half. I wince, and he lets go though he stays close.

“You need to leave, Reese,” Shayne says under his breath.

I glance around; we’ve gathered more than a couple stares. Distance forms between our bizarre triangle and the observers who must not want to get caught in the middle.

Reese ignores Shayne and keeps his eyes focused on me. “I’ve missed you, Piper.” He steps forward again—or maybe I do—because his hand moves to my lips, and involuntarily I shudder. “Are you busy tonight?” he asks.

Reese isn’t even looking at Shayne, but I glance at Shayne out of my peripheral vision. His face doesn’t move, but he’s turned so I can see his eyes and the red in them like fireworks.

“Yes, she has plans.” Shayne’s words catch me. I’ve started to drift. To succumb to Reese’s smell; it’s clouding every bit of judgment in my mind. “Now leave, Reese.”

Reese laughs. “Leave? Piper doesn’t want me to.”

My lips part even before I can stop them. I remember the kiss Reese and I shared; god, it was fantastic. The memories and his aroma pour through my whole body. I have to fight every urge to go to Reese; I force myself to take a step closer to Shayne and grab his arm, trying to root myself to him, away from Reese. Reese is screwing with my mind.

“Never. Touch. Piper. Again.” Each of Shayne’s words is staccato. Not to be misunderstood.

Reese turns to him and glares. “I don’t think you can stop me.” His thumb brushes across my lips, sending a chill through me.

In a flash, Shayne swats Reese’s hand away. It flies backward, making a sickening crunching sound like bone on bone. And then Shayne punches Reese right in the nose. The odor of blood is immediate and clears my head.

I hear the kids around us gasp which further helps erase the memories of Reese’s touch, and I force clarity into my mind.

Reese grimaces and lets his hand fall to his side. There’s blood running from his left nostril, but all he does is wipe it with the back of his hand. And then he reaches up and touches my lips again. I step back, out of his reach, and lean close to Shayne. For whatever bizarre reason my body is betraying me, I will fight it. “Can we go?”

“You know Piper wants me.” Reese’s voice is like nails trying to pierce Shayne’s armor. “Her body is aching for me. Just look at her. And it’s killing you.”

In one step, Shayne moves forward until he’s directly up in Reese’s face. “Know this, Reese. Come near her again, and I will kill you.”

Reese laughs. “You don’t have the power.” And then he spits on Shayne.

Shayne doesn’t flinch. “I dare you to test me.”

Reese takes a step back and smiles. “Sounds like a dare I plan to take.” And then he turns his back on us and walks away, shoving his way through the crowd, leaving only his haunting scent in his wake.

I’m afraid to move, unsure what Shayne will think. He watches as Reese leaves, and pretty soon, the smell evaporates too, leaving me somewhat in control there in the hallway next to Shayne. And after a few wayward glances, everyone starts to disperse. I don’t know what to say.

“I told you to stay away from him, Piper.” Shayne’s voice is filled with fury.

“I have.”

“Then why does he keep coming back?”

I spin on him and unleash my own fury. “Because he’s the god of war. You said it yourself. He’ll never give up. So stop blaming me.”

I kick the nearest locker and then storm toward the doors of the school.

Shayne catches up to me in seconds. “Wait.”

I stop. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “That’s not fair.”

I only nod in response. He’s right. It’s not fair.

“We never got along,” Shayne says. He’s clenching his teeth as he speaks. “Not since the first time we met.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I say. A friendship between Reese and Shayne seems as unlikely as my mom deciding to let me move out.

Shayne waits until we get outside. The heat hits me, but the misters take over quickly, spraying gel on me until I’ve cooled to a normal temperature as much as I can with the memory of Reese spinning in my head. I stop for a minute and let the gel and my thoughts collect.

“He’s always hated me. Been jealous of everything I’ve had. He’s trying to mislead you to get to me.”

I turn to Shayne. I’ve had secrets and lies and half-truths enough. “It’s not like you’re bubbling over trying to tell me the truth either.” It’s not like anyone is. Not my mom. Not my dad.

Shayne tries to take my hand, but I pull it back.

“I want you to know the truth,” Shayne says. His eyes pierce into me, but I fight inside, not daring to let myself sink into them, knowing I want to more than anything in the world.

“Really?” It’s almost laughable.

Shayne nods. “Look at everything I’ve showed you.”

“But all I have now are more questions.” Like why my life was ordinary until two weeks ago, and now I’m being accused of killing mythological birds. And why Greek gods are walking the earth. And why my dad wants custody. I know I’m scowling, but I’m angry at Shayne for not telling me anything. I’m angry at Reese for asking me out in the first place. I’m angry at Chloe for drifting away from me. And I’m angry at myself for letting her. “Everything was fine before. Things used to be normal.”

Shayne reaches out again, and I let him take my hand this time. “Do you want things to go back to how they were?”

I bite my lower lip and meet his eyes. “Maybe.” But it’s a lie.

Shayne’s face falls, and guilt hits me hard in the chest. I don’t seriously mean it, but before, at least I knew what was going on in my life. Now, my best friend has almost died, and I’m pretty sure I’m in love with the Lord of the Underworld. And though I desperately wish Chloe were back to normal, I’d never trade anything for knowing Shayne.

But I don’t open my mouth and tell Shayne this.

“I can’t tell you anything else.”

I’ve been expecting his words, but I still hate them. “Why not?”

“Because if I tell you, it could kill you.”

“Then I’ll ask Reese.” My heart speeds up. Reese will tell me what’s going on.

“No.” Shayne’s words come out like a command, and my face must react because he softens his voice. “I don’t want you to die.”

“But I need to know what’s going on.” Even to my own ears, I sound like a desperate child. “What if I’m willing to take that chance?”

A breeze blows through, and Shayne’s dark hair moves across his face. The red has started flashing in his eyes. “I can’t lose you, Piper.”

“I need to know.” I have to know.

“I don’t want you to find out from Reese,” Shayne says.

I ball my hands up in fists. “I don’t care what you want,” I say. “I’m sick of people telling me what to do.” And with that, I turn to run back toward the school. I’ll find Reese and make him give me answers. But before I can move, I find myself face to beautiful face with a winged man—not the same one as from the creek with Chloe. Not the one who came to bring her death.

The man reaches out, and before I can even cry out or think about running, he touches me. The world spins, blackness clouds my vision, and I fall to the ground.

I
wake up in my bed, cool cotton sheets surrounding me, fans on overhead. I look down and realize, even though it’s dark outside, I’m still in the same shorts and tank top I wore to school on Friday. I don’t remember coming upstairs or falling asleep, or even the sun setting.

I sit up in bed and blink my eyes a few times, waiting for them to acclimate to the darkness. The bright green letters of the clock by the bed tell me it’s close to three o’clock in the morning. And then I see the day and realize it says Sunday instead of Saturday. I pick it up, thinking it must be wrong, but unless the geosynchronous satellites rotating around Earth are out of sync, it’s really Sunday morning, and I’ve slept for over twenty-four hours.

“Mom?” Her room is only down the hall, so I don’t call too loudly.

There’s no answer.

“Mom?” A little louder this time.

Still nothing.

I stand up and find my shoes by the bed, right where I normally leave them, and after I slip them on, I open the door and walk to my mom’s room to check for her. Her bed is empty. I stare at it to make sure, but she’s really not home. I have no clue where she is. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize I have no clue what’s going on at all. Like how I got to the Botanical Haven. And how I slept for an entire weekend. Something hazy sits at the back of my mind but won’t reach the surface, so I head to the bathroom to wash my face.

I turn on the cold water full force, ignoring the ration rules, and splash it on my eyes, trying to clear the fog moving around in my brain. I look up into the bathroom mirror and reach for the towel. And when I do, I see the red line on the side of my neck, near my ear, and remember Minos in Asphodel. He threatened to send me to Tartarus. For killing a phoenix. Shayne promised me I hadn’t killed anything. That I wasn’t responsible for Randy Conner’s death.

And then it all comes back to me. We were at school. Shayne wouldn’t tell me anything, and he didn’t want me to ask Reese.

“Sleep,” I say to my reflection in the mirror. Shayne put me to sleep because he didn’t want me to talk to Reese. He didn’t do it himself but had summoned a winged man to do it instead.

I feel wetness on my toes and realize the sink is flooding over. I turn off the water, undoing the stopper so the water will empty. I watch it as it goes down, swirling faster once it gets near the bottom. Shayne asked me not to talk to Reese. And now, being far away from Reese, I don’t want to find out anything from him anyway. He makes me think of a hyena searching for scraps of meat.

I walk out of the bathroom, back down the hallway, and head into the darkness of the downstairs. The steps seem to last forever, taking me from the emptiness of our upstairs to the forest that is our home below. Two places so near to each other, but so different. Among the plants, I’ve always lost myself. Like it’s another world.

As soon as my feet hit the cold tiles, I know what I need to do. Shayne asked me not to talk to Reese. But he didn’t mention anyone else. I need to go to Hell and talk to someone there. Maybe Charon. Or Rhadam. One of them might tell me something. Minos enters my mind, but I shove him aside. His brutal eyes had caught mine and accused me, and I know I can’t go back and see him again. Not alone, and hopefully not ever.

But I will go to Hell. Alone. Without Shayne. And I will get my answers.

I call to the Underworld because I can sense the river of silver skimming under the surface of Earth. It almost seems to reach up and pull me to it, like it could seep into my veins and make me part of it. I’m not sure if it will work, if I’ll be able to go without Shayne, but the earth opens up for me. It recognizes me and accepts me, swallowing me whole and holding me close on my journey to the Underworld. Silver liquid fills the void around me, and then I’m there on the banks of the River Acheron, and I see Charon by the docks, waiting. He’s got his eyes closed—like he’s taking a cat nap, but when I look in his direction, they flip open and grow wide. I guess he wasn’t expecting to see me. I’m not sure I was expecting me to make it here either, yet now that I’m here, everything feels as it should be.

I walk to the dock, trying to pretend I belong here. Trying to play my part. I’m not sure if Charon will take me across the river based on his reaction, but he recovers well and waves. Relief floods through me when I see his familiar face, and I know he’ll help me.

“I wasn’t expecting you.” He pulls the boat up against the dock and moves aside so I can get in.