Bright Fire (Bright Fire Series Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter

9

We pull up to his house. Inside I start to feel the effects of the day and my head begins to spin. The room tilts at an odd angle, and I feel his hands on my shoulders.

"Woah there." He steers me to one of the kitchen chairs. His face is full of concern. "You are probably going into shock. Here let me make you some tea. Put your head between your knees."

I do as he says, and slowly the world stops spinning and the nausea subsides. I look up as he places the tea on the table. I tentatively take a sip and stare back at him. He looks like he wants to say something but stops.

I fiddle with the hem of my shirt and take another sip of tea. "What was that?" I finally ask. The question comes out in a single breath.

He sighs, "drink your tea. It will help I promise."

I obey and down the whole cup in one gulp. I’ll do anything to feel better.

"OK, I did as you asked. Now tell me what the heck all that was about." I persist.

He looks at me for a moment before speaking. "Well, of course, they were after you and they were the ones to kill your parents. But it's more complicated than that. I'm not ready to go into another debate on my sanity seeing as you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

No way is he getting off that easy. "What if I tried to believe you? Would you tell me then?" I know I’m lying because the stories he told seem too fantastical to be true. Gods and goddesses are myths. How can anyone expect me to live my whole life believing that and then just change with the flip of a switch? It just doesn't work that way.

"Perhaps I will explain it all to you after you sleep."

I have to admit I’m exhausted at that moment. More exhausted than I've ever been actually. My vision starts to blur as the realization hit. "What did you put in my drink?" My words come out slurred; which ruins any attempt at emphasizing the shock in my voice.

"Shh, sleep, you'll feel better."

And the world goes black.

~~~~

A
beautiful woman is standing in front of me in a long white flowing dress. She holds her hand out to me, and I instinctively take it. She looks so familiar with brown hair and crystal blue eyes. I can't help but trust her.

She doesn't say anything at first. She just holds my hand and leads me through a pathway lined with white flowers. I can't look away from her face. I’ve seen it before I just can't remember where.

She speaks in a calm voice that sounds like an angel’s. "Hello darling." She smiles at my lack of recognition. "You don't remember me." It’s not a question. "That's understandable. You haven't seen me in sixteen years. I am Persephone." I stand here in the middle of the path, puzzled.

She continues. "I need you to listen to me and remember everything I tell you, Delfia. Your life depends on it, as well as the lives of others." I shake my head surprised that her words aren’t inducing a state of alarm like they should.

"You must not be tempted to give up. You must continue on the path of your destiny if you are to keep unspeakable things from happening."

Something stirs inside me and the beautiful woman starts shimmering in and out of focus. She speaks faster, "you need to heed my words, Alec will protect you. Do not leave his side. Trust him as your guardian." She’s now a translucent figure in front of me like a ghost. "I love you, Delfia Stryker, be safe."

Chapter

10

I wake up and feel like I’ve been asleep for years. My head feels heavy, and my vision is like looking through fog. As my sleepiness wears off, I realize with a start, that I’m in someone else's bed. And I’m not alone. Alec is laying next to me on his back. Half of his body is on the bed, and the other half is hanging off. His mouth is gaping wide open, and I swear I can see his tonsils.

The events of yesterday hit me like a ton of bricks. I reach my hand high above my head and smack him right across the face. He falls off the bed stunned and springs to his feet in one swift movement. He looks wildly around, and his gaze locks on me. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You drugged me."

He stares at me like I’m speaking Urdu. "So you slap me? Are you fricking kidding me right now?"

"What did you expect? You can't just drug a girl and then have her wake up in the same bed as you and expect it to be ok." I focus on the fact that we were in the same bed. "Oh my gosh, did you do anything to me? Is that what you wanted? You drugged me so you could have your way with me?"

The look on his face turns to utter disgust. Apparently the thought of me and him repulses him. With the flip of a switch, he busts out laughing one of those floor shaking laughs. I stare at him incredulously. How can he possibly think this is funny?

"What are you laughing at?" I plant my hands on my hips.

At this point, he’s struggling to take breaths. He’s laughing so hard, and my expression only makes him laugh harder. I’m getting really pissed off. I’m half tempted to slap him again, but his laughter dies down to a slow chuckle.

"What?" I fill my voice with irritation.

"It's just funny that you think I drugged you to have my way with you." He grins. somehow I feel like I’m being rejected, and it stings a bit.

"But you do admit to drugging me?" My eyebrows raise.

"Yes, I drugged you. But it was only melatonin, completely harmless."

"Why?" I’m a little afraid of the answer.

He waits for a minute. "Because it is my job to protect you; which means keeping you safe. I can't do that if you are unhealthy because of sleep deprivation. I knew you weren't going to relax or sleep. You were way too keyed up."

"Oh," I say, letting out a breath.

"Explain to me why you feel it is your job to protect me. I can protect myself you know."

He snorts. "I don't
feel
it is my job to protect you. I
know
it is. See…"

"How do you know?" I interrupt.

He glares at me, and I shut my mouth. I press my lips together to clamp down the million questions that are running through my brain.

"See, when a guardian dies, the person they are meant to protect gets reassigned. Typically the Terentia doesn't assign a guardian to a charge until they are much older. However, in your case there are obviously special circumstances."

"Like the fact that you say my father is a kidnapper. And let's not forget, oh yeah, Lord of the Underworld." It sounds silly coming out of my mouth.

"Yep, that pretty much sums it up." He’s nonchalant about it.

"I’m sorry, but how do you expect me to believe that my birth parent are Hades the King of the Underworld and Persephone his captive? It just all sounds so…"

"Mythical?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I sigh and sit on the edge of the bed. This conversation is giving me a headache. I want to not believe him, but something is itching at the back of my brain, and I can't ignore. How can an entire group of people collaborate to concoct a crazy story to cover up murder. It just doesn't make sense.

"Um, can you stop doing that?"

I look up in surprise. "Doing what?"

There is a crash, and I look to see a potted plant that fell off of the counter.

"That." He points at the pot unnecessarily.

"What do you mean, that? I’m sitting over here with you."

"Be that as it may, my plant didn't just grow three feet and topple to the floor of its own volition, now did it?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"OK, do me a favor and just hear me out. Your mother is Persephone, right? That makes your grandmother, Demeter. Both of which had powers pertaining to…"

"Plant life," I interject.

"Yes, very good. Now what were you just thinking about?"

"Strange enough, I was thinking about how it made more sense to believe you, rather than that a whole slew of people were concocting a fairy tale to cover two murders."

He walks over to the plant and picks it up. "First of all, it’s myths, not fairy tales." He pulls a new pot from under the counter and places the plant in its new home. "Second of all, you will believe me after the little experiment I have planned shows you what you are capable of. Now," he sets the plant on the counter, "make it grow."

Seriously? Did he think I was Thumbelina now? "Excuse me? You want me to make it grow?"

He nods.

"And how do you suppose I do that? I pull out my magical pixie dust or do the rain dance?"

He scowls. "Stop it. Those things are made up. You, however, are not. I want you to sit and think about the plant growing. Think about nurturing it."

I sigh and decide, why the hell not? If it would get him off my back and prove I didn’t knock his stupid plant over, fine. I look at the plant and try to imagine it growing. Nothing. I squint my eyes like the witches on TV do. Nothing. Gloatingly, I look at him. "See, I told you I didn’t knock over your plant."

He’s disappointed. “I could have sworn it was…" he stops abruptly. "I have a better idea. You were working through things in your mind, not focusing on the plant. You were focusing on solving a puzzle, so to speak. Try to think about a problem."

I turn back to the plant. Why am I placating him? OK, so what problem should I think of? This is stupid. I had other things to worry about, like where I’m going to live. I guess being a ward of the state won’t be too bad, or maybe I can emancipate… Crash! The plant falls again and this time I see it.

My eyes must be bugging out of my head because he laughs a little when I look at him. How in the world did that just happen? The plant literally grew a foot making its top too heavy to stand up straight. I start hyperventilating, "Oh my god, how did I do that? What’s wrong with me? I am a freak, aren't I?"

He puts his hands on my shoulder. "Breath, this is normal."

I cut in, "On what level do you think any of this is normal? My parents were murdered, I'm the offspring of mythical beings, and in a random dude’s house making a plant fricking grow!"

He waits until my rant is out. "This is normal for someone like
you
, now just breath. I wonder…" he muses more to himself.

"You wonder what?"

"Nothing. It’s not important right now, what’s important is you have a…" he searches for a word "…skill that we need to keep under control. You might be able to use it to your advantage. We will have to come up with a plan of attack to keep you safe. But first, I'm starving, how about you?"

My growling stomach answers for me.

Chapter

11

"The main thing I am having trouble with," I say around a double bacon cheeseburger, "is why me. Say I believe you, and I am, in fact, the offspring of Persephone and Hades, I am not a threat. I am a normal teen with teen problems like calculus and acne. Why are two crazy people after me and why did they kill my parents?"

"One question at a time." He pops a ketchup soaked fry into his mouth. "One question is easier to answer than the other. The two crazy… people… as you call them, killed your parents because they wouldn’t give you up. Simple as that. As far as you being a threat, that’s more complex; even I don’t have all the answers. One thing we do know, is you can influence plant life when you work out problems."

"That’s not true. I don’t think it’s about working on problems. I think it’s when my emotions are on high volume. I wasn’t thinking just about a problem the second time. I was more panicking because I wasn’t sure where I was going to live now that my parents are gone, and I have no relatives. That’s when it happened. When my emotions reached top level."

"Oh, you have relatives; a horde of them actually." He snickers.

"OK, let me rephrase Mr. Smarty Pants, I have no relatives that I can suggest to the state rather than foster care. Wait what do you mean ‘people as you call them’?"

"Well, they aren't actually people, surely you knew that. You said you knew a little bit about mythology."

"What do you mean?"

"Cerberus and Caelano aren't human."

I’m starting to get a headache. "I saw them they looked like people, abnormally beautiful people, but people none the less." But those names Cerberus… Cerberus… "Holy crap! So you mean to tell me that the Cerberus, the one I met in the library, is the same three-headed demonic pit bull from the legend? Shut the front door, there’s no way."

"Yes, and Caelano, she is a harpy. And what do we know about harpies?"

My eyes bulge as realization hit. "They stink, like really stink. I thought she just ate something nasty. OK, so why do they look like people then?"

He rolls his eyes. "How would you react if you saw a three-headed dog walking down main street?"

"Point taken."

"Besides, you can only see their true forms when they want you to. You know that shimmer they have around them? Those are the edges of their glamor. You could see it because you are not mortal."

"OK, so why are they after me now? Why not any other time in the past sixteen years?"

"That’s a little more complex. You had a guardian for those years, and you were under his shield. The only reason they found you at the library, is because you didn’t have a guardian. Once you chose to leave with me, you placed your trust in me, accepting me your new guardian."

"But still, if they wanted me they could have come to my father at any point. Why now?"

"That, I am still not sure about. It’s possible he just now found out who your guardian was or something else has changed to force him to seek you out."

That thought scares me.

"How do you know my biological father is Hades?"

"Your dad. He left a sort of plan of action with the Terentia in case anything happened to him."

"Makes sense. OK, how can I hear you and him in my head?" It still sounds crazy.

"You can hear me in your head because I
am
your guardian. And you could hear your dad because he
was
your guardian. It allows us to communicate with each other if we cannot do so out loud for some reason."

"Can you do it all the time?"

"I suppose so."

I focus on trying to talk to him through my mind. I feel like I’m trying to perform a Jedi mind trick or something.
Can you hear me now?

He answers,
Yes.

My phone goes off with a chirp telling me that I have a text. I look at the screen and balk at the 13 missed texts from
Lyla.

Where r u?

R u ok?

Mom's gonna call the police!

Seriously freaking out here!

They all go on this way. I slide out the keyboard and quickly respond.

I'm alive… stuff went down tell u l8r.

I wait.

OK. I'll keep mom from calling popo, but u need to hurry.

Crap
. I lay my head on the table. "You can't tell her."

I look up in surprise. "What?"

"Lyla, you can't tell her anything unless you want her in danger."

"How did you kn—"

He cut me off. "You’re a teen girl with a best friend similar to a guard dog. I knew this would happen."

"But I have to tell her something, or her mom is going to flip and it will make things worse."

"OK, but only the basics. I can't take on another charge, especially one that doesn't like me."

I grin, remembering her protecting me from my future protector. "Speaking of.. Why were you staring at me that day at school?"

I wasn’t sure at first, and I had this feeling like you were in danger. I was going to tell you after school, but your mom pulled up. I got confirmation when the Terentia informed me I would be your new guardian after your dad passed.

"But you said you didn't know him."

"I didn’t. But I did know of him. In our histories, he's everywhere. He was probably the best guardian to date and his passing is a tragedy."

"What? Did you go to like camp half blood or something?"

He drops his fry and stares at me. "Seriously, I am full-blooded human, you know. There's no such place as camp half blood. There is an elite society of guardians called Terentia. We train much like a traditional army, but we specialize in the protection of gods, demigods, and the sort."

"Will you take me there? I want to know about my father. James, the guardian, not my biological father."

"Someday, but now is not the time. We should go deal with your friend before she makes my life harder."

He walks up front to pay the cashier, and I sit here stunned. My dad, the accountant, was a hero. Wow.

"You ready?"

"Yeah." We head out the door into the crisp night air.