“All right, but it better be good.” I reached for the bag again, but Aiden caught my hand. His fingers wrapped around mine. Our hands fit perfectly together. Well, at least I thought so. A swarm of butterflies stirred in my stomach. My eyes flicked up, and I was immediately snared. I could always tell what Aiden was thinking by the color of his eyes.
Generally, they were the palest shade of cool gray, but when they shifted, becoming an intense silver, I knew he was on the verge of doing something—something he probably shouldn’t, but something I really wanted him to do. Like right now they’d heated to a bright quicksilver.
“It’s going to be good.” Aiden’s gaze dropped to my lips. “I promise.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Wear something warm tomorrow, but no workout clothes.”
“No workout clothes?” I echoed dumbly.
“Meet me here at nine.” He carefully placed the strap of my bag over my shoulder. His fingers lingered long enough to making breathing difficult. My skin still tingled from the brief, wonderful contact long after he’d left the room.
After grabbing some food from the dining hall, Olivia and I walked back to our dorm. Neither of us had made it to the cafeteria in time to eat there. Apparently she and Caleb had had another fight.
“I don’t know what else to do.” She clutched a can of soda in her hand so tightly I thought she’d crush it at any second. “One minute he’s hot and the next he’s cold.”
I didn’t know how much Caleb had told Olivia about what’d happened to him in Gatlinburg, so I was fairly limited on what I could tell her. “I know he really likes you.” I decided that was the best tactic. “During the summer he totally obsessed over you.”
A light breeze played with her tight curls, tossing them across her face. “I know he likes me, but he’s just been so… I don’t know, off lately. All he cares about is what Seth is doing. Gods, it’s like he loves him.”
I focused on how the horizon and the sky blended seamlessly together, trying not to laugh. “Unfortunately, I think Caleb looks up to Seth.”
Olivia stopped walking. “I don’t get why everyone is so infatuated with Seth.”
“I’m not.”
“Then we’re the only halfs in the world that don’t think he’s awesome.” She suddenly screeched, startling several seagulls. “I just don’t understand! Seth’s arrogant, rude, and he thinks he’s better than everyone else!”
I stared at her, quickly ascertaining I wasn’t really good at girl-talk. I had no idea how we’d jumped from Caleb to Seth. “Is Caleb with him now?”
A bit of the anger faded from her face. Olivia sighed, shaking her head. “No. We were hanging out in the rec room before dinner, and I asked him if he thought about where he would take a Sentinel post. You know, not a serious question, but a really important one.”
Nodding, I shifted my soda to my other hand, trying and failing to get my hair out of my face.
“I mean, I know we say it’s nothing serious between us, but I think it is.” She started walking again. “Anyway, we’re graduating in the spring, and they give us options. I was hoping Caleb and I could pick the same place or get posted close together so we could still see each other.”
“Okay… so what happened?”
“He told me he hadn’t thought about it, and I was like, ‘What the hell?’ If I was important to him, then he would have thought about it. Right? So I told him that.” The skin on her cheeks darkened. “And do you know what he said? ‘What’s the point of picking a place? In the end, the Council will determine where we go.’ Well, duh—thanks for the newsbreak, asshat. That’s not the point. The point is we can hope that we end up together, right?”
“Olivia, I don’t think it has anything to do with you. Right now…” I shifted, suddenly feeling warm even though it was an overcast, chilly day. “He told you about…”
Unable to ignore the swamping heat flooding me, I stopped and drew in a shallow breath. My entire body tensed painfully.
“Alex?” Olivia stepped closer. “Are you okay? You look really flushed.”
No. Oh. No.This could not be happening during the day and in front of Olivia. This was so unfair. On top of everything else, I was losing my—
Delighted giggling drifted out of the courtyard. Then a very male and very pleased chuckle followed. There were more sounds, sounds indicating that either someone was in a lot of pain or having a lot of fun.
“Are you kidding me?” Olivia shoved her food into my limp hands. “For the love of the gods, there are empty classrooms and beds for this kind of stuff.”
Before I could stop her, she pushed open the gate to the courtyard. I guess if she wasn’t getting laid than no one else could? “Olivia—”
“Hey!” she yelled, storming forward. “Hey! You little pervs, go get a room!”
Olivia disappeared around a thick rosebush. Rolling my eyes, I trailed behind her. Walking inside the courtyard was like being in a different world. The wild mixture of flowers and plants, all sweet and tangy, mixed with the bitterness of herbs and assaulted my senses. There was also something unique about the plants in here. Come summer or winter, the foliage never died. God mojo juice, I guessed.
Greek statues lined the walkway, serving as a reminder that the gods were always watching. Runes were etched into the pathway, as were various symbols that signified the gods. Whoever had done the drawings seriously could have benefited from art lessons. But the place was kind of like the Garden of Eden.
And someone was partaking in its forbidden fruit.
“You guys need to— oh.”
Olivia stopped so unexpectedly I nearly crashed into her. She stood beside the nightshade—the plant the oracle had compared to “kisses from those who walk among the gods” or something crazy like that. I don’t know why I noticed the purple hue of the petals first. Perhaps it was some kind of natural preservation instinct.
But then I saw Elena.
I’d never seen her quite so undressed before, however. Her skirt was hiked up, shirt gaping wide open, and… that was pretty much all I wanted to see. Then my gaze fell on her partner.
“Oh. My. Gods!” I shrieked, wishing my hands were empty so I could cover my eyes—or claw them out.
Golden eyes, full of amusement, met mine. “Is there something we can help you two with?” Seth asked, clearly unfazed by the intrusion.
I whirled around, squeezing my eyes shut. My face felt like a thousand shades of red.
“No. Nothing at all.” Olivia backed up. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“You sure? There’s always room for one—or two—more.”
“Seth!” Elena shrieked, not sounding entirely dismayed by the prospect.
I headed back up the path, Olivia snapping at my heel. Seth’s deep laughter followed us all the way out of the courtyard. We didn’t speak again until we stood in front of our dorm. Shock must have dampened the weird hot flash, because it was no longer there. For a multitude of reasons, I felt grateful.
“Well,” Olivia said a bit unsteadily.
“Yeah…”
Her lips pursed. “I hate Seth. I think he’s an ass, but he does have a really nice butt.”
“Yeah…”
Olivia’s eyes were wide. “You know what? I think I’m going to go see Caleb. Like right now.”
I snickered. “Yeah, you go do that.”
CHAPTER 7
NOT SURPRISINGLY, SETH KNOCKED ON MY BEDROOM WINDOW that night. Honestly, the curfew thing sucked—being confined to my room and not being able to really sleep usually left me with a mad case of boredom—so I kind of welcomed his little visits. Especially when he just wanted to watch a movie and I’d fall asleep.
But tonight was different.
I still hadn’t decided what to wear tomorrow, and that was a major deal. Aiden only ever saw me in boring gym clothes. I needed something cute—a little sexy—but I couldn’t look like I was trying too hard. My entire closet was on my bed. And of course, I’d just seen some of Seth’s—uh, more private parts. I kind of didn’t want to see his face tonight.