“So you were stalking me…” I teased him. His smug grin was my immediate answer; proving he wasn’t embarrassed in the least.
“I was worried about you,” he grasped both my hands and watched me with concern, “What happened earlier?”
My eyes dropped to my feet; trying to figure out where to start. He mistook my body language as insecurity. “Why don’t we go back to my suite to talk and get you dried off; my roommates went to the mainland so we’ll be alone for a while.”
“Are you sure?” I had to admit, I was extremely curious to see what his room looked like; the one place he spent the most time in. I felt myself begin to blush. If he noticed, he didn’t mention it.
“Of course,” he confirmed lightly.
We made our way to Rostrum, directly beside Maren. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of a guys dorm - maybe a little plainer? Dirtier? I mean they were guys after all. But I was pleasantly surprised. It was identical to Maren with the exception of the décor. Dark brown tones mixed with white and tan created a soothing ambiance in the lobby, and decorated the framed abstract art on the walls. We rode the elevator to the eighth floor, stepped out into a hallway that resembled the ones at Maren, and stopped at an unassuming dark brown door. Finn searched his pockets for the key, unlocked the door and swiftly swung it open for me.
As I had suspected, the layout of the guys’ suites were exactly the same as Maren’s, but that was where the similarities ended. Finn and his roommates had made several additions. Huge overflowing dark brown leather couches filled the living room to capacity. A foosball table took the place of a dining room table, and a massive flat screen television almost covered the entire left wall.
It didn’t smell of old gym socks or week-old dirty plates as I had expected, either. It had sort of a clean linen smell; the Glade Plug-ins in the kitchen and living room telling me why. I smiled at the image of a couple guys trying to figure out how to install the refills.
“Thirsty? Hungry?” Finn asked off-handedly; peeking around the stainless steel refrigerator door.
“Something to drink would be awesome.” He produced two bottles of Aquafina and I followed him to what would be Phoebe’s room back in my suite. I’d never been in a guy’s bedroom either, so I was very inquisitive. Not to mention that something about being in Finn’s personal space made me feel giddy.
He pushed open the door for me and quickly disappeared into the bathroom. An obvious extension of himself, his bedroom instantly captivated me. It was dark but cozy, with an air of stature. The window on the far wall was hidden by dark gray curtains; shading the room from the harsh, glaring sun outside. A dark gray bedspread covered the queen size bed, while two lamps on either side bathed the room in a warm light. A massive black and white painting above the bed boasted an artistic rendering of a skull and crossbones. Oddly enough, it wasn’t creepy or imposing. It was actually kind of…pretty. Two long surf boards stood propped up on the opposite wall next to a flat screen television and a tall dark wooden dresser. Displayed on the wall above the dresser were four double axes of different sizes.
“Here’s a dry towel,” Finn handed me a fluffy light gray towel that I immediately wrapped around my body. The normally refreshing air conditioning was causing goose bumps to rise on my skin. He grabbed a white t-shirt that read ‘Morrison’ on the back above a big number three, and a pair of black gym shorts from his dresser. “These should work while we get your clothes dry.”
After he left the room, I peeled off my wet clothes and dried off before pulling on his t-shirt and gym shorts. I rolled down the waistband in an attempt to make them fit better, collected my clothes, and gave them to Finn so that he could toss them in the dryer. Several minutes later, we were relaxing on his bed watching reruns of CSI Miami. For some reason I could never get enough of Horatio, who could figure out that the killer was a twenty-five year old Caucasian male with green eyes and an addiction to cocaine from a simple piece of scrap metal. After another one of his cheesy one-liners, it cut to commercial and Finn sat up.
“So, what happened today?” he prompted me gently. I sighed and propped myself up on my elbows; allowing myself to be captured by his endearing concern. The whole confiding-in-others-thing was still relatively new to me. A hazy cloud fell over my heart as I began to re-hash the events of the last twenty four hours. After divulging the details of encountering Nadia and her ghostly camouflage in my reverie, Bianca’s visit, and my second antiquity experience, he shook his head with chagrin and frowned.
“I wish you would have told me all of this sooner. It’s exhausting to keep it all inside like that.” He reached for my hand, “That’s what I’m here for.”
“I guess I’m just used to keeping my abnormal problems to myself. I wouldn’t want to put that burden on anyone else. Especially not you.”
He laughed and rubbed his finger over my trace, sending tingles up my arm. “Neither you nor your abnormal problems could ever be a burden to me. Plus, I happen to have a masters degree in abnormal,” he smirked at me.
“There’s one more thing,” I began, really not looking forward to rehashing my most recent reverie involving Priscilla and Nadia. “I purposefully had a reverie...and I found Nadia.”
Expecting a lecture or disappointed look, I was pleasantly surprised when Finn leaned forward and excitement flashed in his eyes.
“Did it work?” he asked eagerly. I felt a smile creep over my face, anticipating his reaction when I told him it had indeed worked.
“It worked a little too well, actually,” I eluded to the disturbing details to come.
“Nice! I knew it wouldn’t be long before you were gallivanting all over the world in your reveries.” He was grinning at me with pride. I inspected my hands closely and took a deep breath.
“Finn,” I glanced up and watched his smile fade at my serious tone, “What are you not telling me?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, furrowing his brow.
“Not only did I find Nadia, I found Nadia and Priscilla,” I explained, and his eyes began to grow stormy as he continued to listen, “Nadia eluded to the fact that there was something I didn’t know about - a sacrifice? And that you hadn’t told me something. What were they talking about, Finn? What aren’t you telling me?”
Chapter 23
His jaw muscle flexed as he gritted his teeth and collected his thoughts. “Was there any way that Nadia knew you were there?” he questioned me. I deliberated for a minute.
“She did say something right before I figured out how to end the reverie.”
“She could have been messing with you. I have no idea what kind of sacrifice she could have been talking about,” he squeezed my hands. I desperately wanted to believe him, but I didn’t think Nadia knew I was there until after her and Priscilla’s conversation. But Finn wouldn’t lie to me.
“She said something about Natasha too, that she hadn’t said anything to me either because she’s been busy preparing things for your birthday,” I told him, and his jaw flexed again.
“I don’t know what Nadia’s up to,” he sighed and I noticed the muscles in his arm tighten as his eyes darkened ever so slightly. “But it looks like she’s doing everything she can to curb your focus and make you vulnerable. That’s why it will be important for you to keep your head down and concentrate on what’s ahead of you.” He held my gaze and his tone lightened, “As the future Prime and the future Leader of the Tydes, we have a duty to make sure we are successful in both of our journeys. There are a lot of people depending on us. We have to keep reminding ourselves what’s really important.”