“And It’s been two weeks, and you are only showing up now!” I shot back before taking in a deep breath and holding my hands out. “Clint, we need to calm down.”
“Calm down? You know how much trouble I’m in? One of my charges is dead, and the other is in a coma! The only one left just had to be you!”
I bit my lip to stop it from trembling. “What the hell is wrong with you, Clint? I get that we are technically just your job, but seriously? I thought you were better than that.”
Clint stared down at me and his face fell. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ve been so worried about you guys that I haven’t slept, and seeing you two here like this and finding out about your sister, I just snapped.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling really awkward. I studied Clint, around six feet tall with an olive Italian complexion and warm brown eyes. Though, beyond his looks, I didn’t know too much about him. He was in his late twenties, maybe early thirties? And utterly devoted to his job. I think he had a son.
Wanting to break the silence, I asked, "Why did it take you so long to check in on us?”
“Your check-in was only a few days ago, and I flew right over after your father didn’t come to meet me.”
“Oh,” I rubbed my temple. “Sorry, my days are a little mixed up.”
He smiled. “Can’t blame you for that.”
We heard a commotion out in the hallway and went to check it out. Clint’s hand hovered over his hip and he made sure to poke his head out before I could. When I saw his shoulders relax, I poked my head out behind him.
All five of the guys were standing out in the hall. Jason, Hip, and Theseus were gesturing wildly to Percy and Ajax.
“If she’s as okay as you say, why won't you let us go in and see her?” Jason growled.
“I thought we were going to wait until tomorrow to bring her here.” Theseus muttered, looking around nervously.
Hip was waving his phone in the air. “What the fuck was with the text, Ajax? ‘Taking Atalanta to the hospital’? If she was fine, did you need to sound so vague and ominous?”
“It’s my friends,” I said to Clint, walking around him out into the open.
All of the boys went silent when they saw me.
“OH MY G—” Jason started before Percy elbowed him in the ribs and quickly whispered while signing to Theseus that they were bandages to cover the scales.
Super hearing was pretty beneficial, so far.
“I mean,” Jason coughed and came closer. “Oh, my God, it’s so good to see you up and walking around. How are you feeling?”
I couldn’t help but giggle. I smiled up at him. “I’m doing okay.”
He reached out and took my hands in his. When our skin touched, a tingling sensation spread from my palms throughout my body. It felt good. This need for him I hadn’t realized was there, settled. It was like getting a hit from a drug I was suddenly addicted to.
I looked into his eyes, curious if he was feeling the same thing I was. The smile that was on his face grew wider, telling me he was. I wondered if it had something to do with the whole him-changing-me thing.
Suddenly I was surrounded by large bodies, the other guys coming close and either patting me on the head or kissing my cheek with murmurs of ‘I’m glad you're okay,’ ‘good to see you up and about’ as if they hadn’t spent the last three days hovering around me while I recovered. They were just putting on a show.
“Want to introduce me to your friends, Atty?” Clint asked from outside my circle of man muscle.
My smile fell as the sting of him using Cal’s nickname for me pricked me right in the heart. As the guys parted from me, I stuck the smile back on my face and let go of Jason’s hands.
“Guys, this is my uncle, Clint. When he hadn’t heard from my dad in a while, he got worried and had to come check on us. Clint, these are my…friends!” I began to point to each of them as I said their names. “That’s Theseus, Hip, Percy, who you’ve met, Ajax, and this is Jason.”
“Oh, wow, it’s so nice to know that this little squirt is finally making some friends,” Clint teased as he not so subtly tugged me away from the others and put his arm around my shoulder.
I glanced up at him, taken aback by his behavior. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was being possessive. He must have just felt protective of his only up and walking charge. To him, the guys were strangers, and not the men who saved my life.
“Clint, these men were the ones who saved us that night…” I hesitated before making up a little white lie. “They had been caught in the storm, too. When they saw our boat, they pulled us to shore. Because their boat was bigger, it held up against the waves better than ours did.”
Clint’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Then I guess I should be thanking you. Though, if you don’t mind, I’m going to be taking my niece home. She’s probably had a long day, and I’m sure just wants to rest.”
I felt my heart sink into my stomach.
“No!” I shouted without thinking.
The guys stepped closer to us reactively, but I held up my hand for them to stop.
I turned to Clint. “I’m sorry. I…um, I’m not ready to leave Dad yet. Can I stay here for a while longer?”
Clint looked confused but nodded anyway. “Uh, sure. We can stay a little longer.”
I looked to the others, who only stood there awkwardly until Percy took action. With a broad smile on his face—a smile that freaked me out, to be honest—he pulled Clint aside and began asking him, in that friendly tone he had been using, where Clint was staying and how he would be happy to set him up at the local inn. Clint didn’t seem too happy about the idea.
I stepped back into my father’s room and sat back down in the chair, already exhausted again. The others followed me in, Ajax and Theseus standing in the large doorway like a privacy wall.
I sighed. “What are we going to do? He can’t come and stay with me, at least not while I’m still scaly.”
“Do you know when he’ll leave?” Jason asked, coming over and sitting precariously on the arm of the chair.
I shook my head. “We haven’t talked about it yet, but I have a feeling he will stay until they wake my dad.”
Hip sat carefully on the edge of my father's bed, facing me, our knees knocking together. “We could make something up. Like you’re staying with one of us while you’re recovering and there isn’t enough room to add another.”
“He would just insist on staying with me in the cabin.”
“Why not just have Theseus compel him?” Ajax suggested with a grunt.
My eyes shot to the tall ginger in the doorway. “Compel him?”
When he didn't react, Ajax poked him in the side and nodded towards us. Theseus rubbed the back of his head, a wry smile on his face. “I’ll be honest. I can't see what you guys are talking about.”
“Sorry,” Hip and Jason said at the same time and angled themselves so they were facing the doorway.
I leaned around Jason so Theseus could see me better. “Ajax was saying you could compel Clint?”
His eyebrows rose and he nodded. “Oh, yeah. We could do that.”
“But what do they mean by compel?” I asked.
“You’ve pointed it out before. That weird mind thing I do with my voice. How did you describe it? Your 'brain being filled with cotton.'” He said, wiggling his fingers at his head.
I blinked and searched my memory for what he was talking about until I was able to grab ahold of a faint memory. “That’s you compelling someone? You mean like Dracula?”
“Kind of. I have the ability to…” he waved his hand around, looking for the right word. "…persuade others to do things.”
“He’s being modest. He can make anyone do or believe just about anything when he tries,” Hip grinned.