Goddess Legacy: Goddess Series Book 1 (22 page)

“I figured it out,” she lied.

“How? Your dreams?”

“Yes.” River had helped more, but the dreams had been helpful too. “I feel like I’m on the verge of learning something, like I know all the answers in my dreams, but they don’t stay with me while I’m awake.”

“Look, I am not on the
payroll
as you say. But I cannot discuss Zeus with you. Don’t look at me like that. He is the ruler of all the gods. Let’s just say any discussion about him is above my pay grade. Regardless of what you’re thinking right now, I do love you, and I’ll help you in any way I can, but he is off limits.” When Legacy gave her a dubious look, Lissa went on. “All I can say is I’m sorry. Nothing I do or don’t tell you isn’t out of malice.”

Legacy sighed. Lissa looked sincere and she couldn’t help but believe her.

“How have you been feeling?” Lissa asked when the tension eased. “Anything strange going on?”

“Er.” Sad that Adin was gone and hopeful he’d give her a big kiss when he returned. But Legacy was certain Lissa was being more specific about feelings. “I don’t really feel any different. There’ve been a couple of times I’d gotten an eerie feeling, like being watched or something.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?” Any expression Lissa had quickly morphed into concern.

Uh-oh. She’d have to confess about her little snooping expedition. “Well, okay, don’t get mad.” Legacy lifted her hands in surrender. She was totally toast after this. Could a pre-goddess be grounded? “After you told me about Mom, I did some snooping around. In your room. I’m sorry. I know it was wrong, but I found a box under your bed. I had trouble opening it.” Oh gods, was she blushing? “But when it popped open, I felt a strange breeze and had a sense of…I don’t know…foreboding? I guess.”

Lissa jumped up from the table and ran into her room. Legacy was right on her heels. She looked under the bed and then looked back at her.

“There’s nothing here,” she said.

Legacy dropped to her knees, looked. And saw nothing. Lissa was right.

“Where did you put it?” Legacy demanded.

“Legacy, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I did not have a box under my bed. What did it look like?”

“It was a wooden box. It had some word carved at the bottom of it on the inside.
Elpis
, I think.”

Lissa gasped. “Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.” She started pacing and chewing on her fingernails.

“I take it that means something.”

Lissa glanced at her quickly as she continued to create tracks in the rug.

“Do you think my mom had something to do with it?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Legacy wasn’t sure she believed her. Maybe she should tell Lissa more. Like about the prophecy, but she felt as if she needed to protect River for some reason.

“Hmm…It could have just as easily been a trick. You have to tell me everything you’ve experienced. I need to make sure someone isn’t interfering with your change.”

“What do
you
know?” Legacy asked, using this new leverage to gain more information.

“This isn’t a game, Legacy.”

“Then quit toying with
me.
I get the feeling you’re purposely keeping things from me. For all I know you could’ve been the one who set this whole mess into motion by telling me.”

“I know you’re confused.” Lissa sighed. “I’m sorry. I need to discuss this new development with, er, some people.” And then Lissa left with Legacy staring after her.

What the hell did her change have to do with a wooden box?

Well, if Lissa was off to get answers, Legacy was going to run to her source.

She didn’t want to call him from the house phone, so she grabbed her cell phone and ran outside before calling River, not sure if the mysterious box or whatever force had shown it to her had some kind of listening powers.

“Hello?” River asked on the other end.

“Hey, it’s Legacy.”

“Um, hi.” He sounded distracted. “What’s up?”

“Can you talk right now?”

“No,” he said casually. She assumed he was in earshot of his nosey mother.

“Is your mom around?”

“Yes,” he said just as indifferently.

Crap. That meant he definitely couldn’t talk. She wondered if he could get away from the apparent wretched hag.

“Can we meet later?”

“Sure. I’m getting ready to leave now to go play football at the park.”

“Can we meet there?”

“Yes.”

Sweet. “I’ll see you at the field.”

“No. I can’t do that.”

What was he trying to say? “Do you want to meet somewhere else?”

“That’s it,” he agreed.

“How about behind the rocket slide?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I’m heading that way now,” she said.

“Okay, bye.”

She jumped in her car and went straight to the rendezvous point. River was already there, dressed for playing football.

“Hi,” she said to him as she walked up.

“Hey, sorry about that. I didn’t want Mom to think I was talking to you.”

“That’s fine.”

“I saved your number under an assumed name, so I’ll know it’s you when you call again and can make sure I’m away from my mom next time.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you came.”

“Of course,” he said softly.

“So are you really here to play football?”

“Not anymore.” He smiled. “I was supposed to, but I sent texts to the other guys and cancelled after you called. I didn’t want to meet you at the field since they’re still playing.”

“Oh.” She felt bad for taking him away from his plans. “We could have met later.”

“Don’t be silly. You need to talk, and I want to be here for you.” He was sincere, but he was keeping it friendly.

They walked behind the slide to a picnic table away from where the neighborhood kids were playing.

“So what do you want to talk about?” he asked after they both sat down.

“I was talking to Lissa earlier and she asked me if I’ve experienced anything out of the ordinary. I told her about sneaking around in her room and opening a box under her bed.”

River chuckled. “If there was some kind of personal toy in it, I don’t want to know about it.” Then he paused and smiled crookedly at her. “Unless you are curious as to why a woman would have—”

“Ew. Gross. No.” She shook her head. “That’s just it, though. There was nothing in it. I told her I got a weird sensation when I opened it. It had a bunch of carvings on the outside, but on the inside there was just
Elpis
carved at the bottom. She freaked and left.

The smirk on River’s face slowly fell, and his expressions turned blank. “I’m sorry. Did you say
Elpis
?

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, why? What does it mean?”

River cursed under his breath and shut his eyes. “Literally,” he started, “it means hope.”

“Um, okay. So what’s the big deal? Hope is a good thing, right?”

“Technically, yes.”

“Okay, stop with the literally and technically crap and spit it out!”

River’s fists slammed onto the table, making her jump. “Give me a minute,” he gritted through his teeth. He rubbed his forehead for several seconds while she waited, not-so-patiently, but quietly. “Sorry,” he sighed, then opened his eyes. “I’ve still been researching about your family, and this kinda confirms one of my theories. According to one of the myths, Zeus created a woman named Anesidora and he’d given her a beautiful container she was never to open. Her curiosity got the best of her. When she opened it, the evil contained within spread across the earth. She quickly closed it, but the only thing left in the box was the spirit of hope.

“And you think this container was the one I found under Lissa’s bed?”

River nodded slowly.

“Um, okay, but what does Anesidora have to do with my family?”

“There are some versions of myths that connect Gaia by way of Demeter to Anesidora. Some say they are the same person, just different interpretations.”

“Hmm…and my mother’s name is Dora. That’s a very good guess.”

River looked grim. “That’s not all. Anesidora has another name she is sometimes referred to.” He looked directly into her eyes. “Some call her Pandora.”

“Pandora?” She gasped. “Pandora’s Box?” As in
the
Pandora’s Box? The symbol of actions that may seem minor but end up having major consequences. No way. “Are you telling me I opened Pandora’s Box?”

“Yes.”

“It actually exists? I just thought that was—”

“A myth?” River smirked. “Isn’t that what we’ve been dealing with, darlin’?”

He had a point. Then she frowned. “What does it mean?”

River’s jaw ticked. “That we’re in some serious trouble.”

Why couldn’t changing into a goddess be easy?

Chapter Thirteen

She hardly slept last night. Not because she had bad dreams, tried to cope with her new understanding about herself, what Pandora’s Box had to do with anything, or was too excited about seeing Adin—though she was giddy at that thought—She couldn’t sleep because of all the fireworks being prematurely shot. Unfortunately, she couldn’t expect any better sleep tonight since today was the Fourth.

The parade started at nine o’clock this morning, so she knew Adin would be here early. She got out of bed and quickly got ready. She wore cute shorts and a tank top. This was the most skin that Adin would’ve ever seen, but it was hot. Not to mention the fact that this outfit could be a nice little stepping-stone for tomorrow, but she wasn’t sure if anything could prepare him for the bikini.

She pulled her hair up off her neck so that she could stay as cool as possible—the rain from the last two days would make it steamy outside in the heat of the sun. She put on some makeup, hoping it wouldn’t melt off by the end of the day, and then she was ready.

Lissa was off for the holiday, but they weren’t exactly speaking, so she stayed upstairs until she heard the roar of Adin’s Camaro. She ran downstairs and waited patiently by the door until he knocked. She only let him finish one knock before she swung the door open.

He stood there, startled, with his fist in the air to knock on the door again.

“Hi,” she said, and he dropped his hand and laughed. “I waited for you to come to me.”

“Yes, you did,” he said, still tickled.

He was wearing shorts and a light-colored shirt, also prepared for the summer heat.

He looked her up and down and smiled widely.

“You look beautiful!” She knew she wasn’t dressed up, so he must have really missed her as much as she missed him.

He threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him under his jaw.

“I missed you so much,” he whispered in her hair.

“I missed you more,” she teased.

“No way. I missed you more than anyone has ever missed a person before in the history of the world.”

She couldn’t think of a comeback, so she just laughed.

Adin pulled away and took both her hands into his. “Are you ready? Calli’s probably already there. We need to hurry if you want to talk to her before the parade.” He was still very excited.

“Okay,” she said, smiling.

He walked her to his car and then got in. She had her left ankle resting on her right knee. He put his right hand on the side of her left knee. She guessed taking things slowly was working. After he got over the initial shock of a touch, he seemed to handle subsequent times much better.

“How did everything go with your dad?”

Adin rubbed her leg and looked at her. “Fine. Everything’s sorted out.”

“Good,” she said, looking back at him.

“So what did you do while I was away?”

“Hmm…nothing too exciting. I worked Thursday and didn’t do too much yesterday.”

“I wanted to call you so badly last night when I got in, but I didn’t want to wake you,” he confessed.

“Well, I was probably awake. Our neighbors were shooting fireworks at all hours last night. I hardly got any sleep at all.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I hate that your sleep was disturbed,” Adin said, sounding concerned. Then he got a devilish look in his eyes. “Though if I’d known you
were
awake, I probably would have come over, scaled a tree, and climbed in your window.” He glanced over at her with a smirk.

She snorted. He was definitely full of himself, but it was very adorable.

They got to the park and over to where the floats were gathered for the parade. Adin held her hand as he guided her through the crowds. They found the Oak Grove High School cheerleader’s float, and made their way to it.

“Hey, Calli!” she yelled to get her attention.

Calli turned around and grinned at the sight of Adin and Legacy holding hands.

“Hi, you two,” she said, smiling.

“Hi, Calli,” Adin responded.

“Where’s Zach?” Legacy asked.

“He’s sitting in the stands with some friends of his. I’ll introduce you after the parade.”

“Looks like you got some inspiration for your float,” Adin noted.

She looked it over, and it looked surprisingly familiar.

“Yeah, so we stole some ideas from the senior float. I don’t think too many people will notice,” Calli confessed.

“Calli!” Legacy chided.

“Oh, please! Like no one has ever used a muse before. It just so happened our muse was their float,” Calli said as she pointed to Adin.

They all laughed.

“We’re going to go find a seat. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Legacy.”

Adin held her hand and weaved her through the crowd again to get to the stands. She scanned the bleachers, wondering which guy was Zach, but she had no way of knowing. They sat in the middle and waited for the parade to start. The sun was already beating down on them.

“Crap, I forgot the sunscreen,” Adin said. “I’m going back to the car to get it. Do you want me to get you something to drink while I’m gone?”

“No, don’t worry about that,” she said, shaking her head.

Adin frowned at her response. “I’ll be walking right by the concession area.”

“Okay, some water would be great.”

While Adin was gone, Ellen and Kate walked up.
Great
. She should have known they’d make an appearance for Calli’s benefit.