Pure (24 page)

Okay… was there some sort of “no talking” rule? I glanced at the paintings, mentally listing the gods as we passed them: Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Hades, Apollo, Demeter, Thanatos, Ares—wait. Thanatos? I stopped to get a closer look at his painting.

He had wings and a sword. Thanatos looked like a pretty rocking angel, actually. But he shared the same woeful look the cemetery Thanatos had had on his face as he gazed upward. His left hand held a flaming torch turned downward. Why would Thanatos, who wasn’t one of the major Olympian gods, have his picture here among them?

An opening door drew my attention from the painting. I glanced over my shoulder. The half servant held the door open, eyes downcast.

I pursed my lips, scanning the four dull-white walls within. A closet would have been too nice of a description for this… this thing considered a room. I walked in as the servant placed my luggage inside the door.

There was a bed—a twin size bed covered with an itchy-looking brown blanket and one flat pillow. A tiny bedside table offered a rusty lamp that’d seen better days. It took me two seconds to cross the room and peek inside the bathroom.

It was the size of a coffin.

My eyes fell over the scuffed-up tile, dirty mirror, and rust stains surrounding the drain in the shower stall. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“They expect you to sleep in this room—on that bed?”

Jumping at the unexpected sound of Seth’s voice, my hip slammed into the washbasin. “Ouch!” I rubbed my hip as I turned around.

Seth stood at the foot of the bed, his ever-present smug expression tainted with

disdain. It’d only been a day since I’d seen him, but strangely, it felt longer than that. His hair was down, curving around his chin. And he wore jeans and a plain black sweater—a rarity.

I was kind of glad to see him.

“Yeah, this room sucks.” I left the bathroom.

Seth strolled to a door on the other side of the bed. He reached down, throwing the lock.

“I guess that’s not the closet?”

“Nope, that’s the door to Marcus’s room.”

He arched a brow. “They gave you a servant’s room?”

“Nice.” I looked around, discovering there wasn’t even a closet in the room—or a dresser. I’d be living out of a suitcase for my whole stay. Yippee. “Why’d you lock it?”

Seth threw me a mischievous grin. “I can’t have Marcus just walking in on us. What if I want to snuggle on these cold New York nights?”

My frown increased. “We don’t snuggle.”

He dropped his arm over my shoulder, and the scent of mint and something wild tickled my nose. “How about we cuddle?”

“We don’t do that either.”

“But you’re my cuddle bunny. My little Apollyon cuddle—”

I punched him in the side.

Laughing, Seth steered me toward the door. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

“What?”

He removed his arm and captured my hand. “The Council is starting their first session at one today. I think we should go watch it.”

“That sounds boring.” I let him drag me out of the room, though. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do.

“We could always practice?” Seth pulled me into the stairwell, taking several steps at a time. “I’m feeling froggy—haven’t thrown fireballs at anyone’s head lately.”

“That sounds more interesting than watching a bunch of pures postulate how great they and their laws are.”

“Postulate?” Seth glanced over his shoulder, grinning. “I can’t believe you used the word ‘postulate.’”

“What?” I scowled. “It’s a real word.”

Seth raised a brow at me and then continued down the steps. In the stairwell we passed several servants in drab clothing. Each of them looked down. I watched them lift their heads once they’d passed us.

Seth tugged on my hand. “Come on. We’re going to miss it.”

Outside, the biting wind cut through my sweater and sent shivers through me. For once, I was grateful for Seth’s hand. It felt incredibly warm in mine.

“Anyway, the Council session should be interesting. It’s a hearing.”

“I thought mine was the only hearing?”

“No.” Seth led me around the west wing of the mansion. “There are several hearings. You are one of many.”

I started to respond, but we stepped around back and my lips clamped shut. A labyrinth of waist-high marble walls separated us from the Greek style coliseum. Bright flowers, all in full bloom, sprung from the vines that covered them. Thick cords of a creeping plant climbed the statues and benches, covering everything in front of us in a mass of vibrant red and green. “Wow.”

Seth chuckled. “If you stay on this pathway it leads straight to the Council.”

I glanced down several of the walkways that branched off the main one. “Is it a real labyrinth?”

“Yes. But I haven’t checked it out.”

“Looks kind of fun, don’t you think?” I looked up at him. “I’ve never been in a labyrinth before.”

A real smile replaced the smug one. “Maybe if you’re good—and I mean, really good—we can come play in the labyrinth.”

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, really?”

He nodded. “You have to eat your dinner, too.”

I didn’t even bother responding to that. I got kind of lost in the scenery for a while. How in the world did the pures manage to keep these fragile flowers alive all year round? It had to be magic—old magic. The deeper we moved down the pathway, the thicker the vines grew and when we neared the end, Seth slowed.

“We have to sneak in,” he said. “We aren’t really supposed to be listening to the Councils.”

“And if we get caught?”

“We won’t.”

Trusting Seth felt strange, mainly because I did… trust him. Not in the same way I would have placed my life in Aiden’s hands, but almost there—almost.

Behind several thick columns made of stone, Themis, the Goddess of Divine Justice, stood at the entrance to the coliseum. She was quite formidable with that sword in one bronzed hand and balanced scales held high in the other, but her presence seemed kind of ironic to me—the pures knew nothing of balanced justice.

The building was something straight out of ancient Greece. Hidden as the New York Covenant was, they could get away with designs not normally found in neighborhoods boasting Wal-Marts and fast food joints. The closest thing we had was the amphitheater where the Carolina Covenant held sessions.

I followed Seth and we slipped through the side entrance used by the servants. Most of the halfs we passed cast their eyes to the ground as they carried goblets and plates of tiny appetizers. I had a hard time looking at them, harder than I’d realized I would. Back home, we rarely saw so many. They were kept separate from us, as if the Carolina Covenant didn’t want us to see what the other side was truly like.

What did the servants think when they saw me—or any half who wasn’t in servitude? Were they even capable of thinking? If I were one of them and I had some critical thinking skills left, I’d be outright hostile toward the “free” halfs.

The icky feeling in the pit of my stomach was hard to acknowledge, so I started jabbering as Seth led me past several small doors. “Stairs—more stairs? Would it kill them to put a damn elevator in one of the buildings?”

Seth started up them. “Maybe they think the gods would be unhappy with elevators.”

“That’s stupid.” The long car ride had made my legs feel like jelly.

“We only have to go up eight flights. I promise.”

“Eight?” I eyed two more servants heading down the stairs, hands empty. One was a middle-aged female in a plain gray dress. She wore thin-soled shoes and no socks. The skin around her ankles looked bruised and red, as if it had been rubbed raw. Cringing, I glanced at the male servant behind her.

A sudden cold shiver crawled over my skin.

The older male half had dark brown hair that curled around a strong chin and cheeks weathered by the sun. Fine lines jutted out from the corners of gentle brown eyes… that were looking straight at me.

His eyes weren’t the glassed-over eyes of a servant. They were keen, intelligent—seeing. There was something familiar about him, something I should
know
.

CHAPTER 15

“COME ON,” SETH URGED, TUGGING ON MY HAND.

“We’re going to miss it.”

With surprising effort, I refocused on Seth’s back and started up the stairs again. The line of Seth’s shoulders seemed unnaturally tense. At the landing to the fourth floor, I spared a second to look over my shoulder.

The half-blood servant stood below, staring up at us. Our eyes met for a second, and the half stepped back, hands balling into fists. Then he spun around, disappearing down the stairwell.

“That was strange,” I murmured.

“Huh?”

Hadn’t he noticed how alert that servant had been? Seth stared at me like I’d just made out with a daimon. Guess not. “Nothing.”

Seth inched open a door. “You ready?”

“I guess.” I was still thinking about that servant.

“We have to keep back, but we should be able to see everything from here.” He motioned me through.

I stepped onto what turned out to be a balcony overlooking the Council below. I started forward, but Seth pulled me back.

“No.” His breath stirred the hair around my ear. “We have to stay back against the wall.”

“Sorry.” I wiggled free. “Can I sit?”

He smiled gamely. “Of course.”

I slid down the wall and stretched out my aching legs. Seth did the same, managing to be as close as possible. I elbowed him, but he only grinned. “So what’s the big deal?”

“Aren’t you at all interested in the Council hearing?”

I faced the Council below, fiddling with the string on my hoodie. “Interested” wasn’t the word that came to mind; “terrified” seemed more accurate. These pures could make or break a half-blood. Leaning forward, I scanned the crowds through the slats of the balcony railing.

A sea of red, blue, green, and white moved around the floor, taking seats with others who wore the same colored robes. I looked at the white robes and saw a coppery redhead moving with the grace of a ballerina through the throng of pures.

“Dawn Samos,” I whispered. She made white sheets look good.

Seth leaned forward. “You know her?”

“Lea is her sister. Do you think she’s come with Dawn?” I paused, remembering how Lea had fought beside me. “I… I’d like to talk to her.”

“She didn’t come, but she did stop by your room after… everything.”

“She did?” Surprised, I watched the throng of pures. “That’s surprising. Did… she look okay?”

“Her arm was broken and she was a little bruised up, but she’ll be okay.”

I nodded, watching Dawn sit down and smooth the robe out around her. She kept looking around—looking for someone. Before I could really study any more of the Council pures, I realized that non-Council members were also in attendance. Toward the back sat Marcus and a raven-haired beauty I’d only seen once.

“Laadan—the woman with Marcus is Laadan. She was the pure who pretty much came up with the deal to give me a chance to stay at the Covenant.” I tucked my hair back. “I forgot she was here.”

Seth nudged my leg with his. “I’ve heard of her. She doesn’t seem too bad.”

A familiar dark head slid into the seat beside Laadan. Aiden had changed into white slacks and a white buttoned-down shirt rolled up to the elbows, showing off his powerful forearms. The edges of his hair curled around the collar, giving him sort of an untamed look. I watched as he turned to Laadan and said something. She smiled and patted his arm while Marcus shook his head.

Something struck me. Marcus was dressed like he normally was—dark slacks, a suit jacket—looking more like a Wall Street stock trader than a demigod. Laadan wore a deep red dress made out of crushed velvet. I scanned the back crowd, noticing that some wore the colors that matched the robes. “Why is Aiden wearing white?”

“He’s owed a Council seat.”

I looked at Seth sharply. “What does that mean?”

Seth arched a brow. “Since his father’s seat is still open and will remain so, he’s owed a seat on the Council.”

“So? He doesn’t want that seat.”

“That doesn’t matter. Aiden still has to show his respect to the current Council members. That’s why he’s wearing all white. The other people dressed like that? They’re either next in line or ones who will campaign for seats when others open up.”

I turned back to Aiden. He’d leaned back, one arm thrown over the empty seat beside him. “He never told me that.”

“Shouldn’t you have known that?”

“I really don’t pay attention in civics class.”

Seth snickered. “He’ll probably take his seat one day, when he settles down. All the pures do.”

I wrapped my arms around my waist. “What do you mean by
settles down
?”

Seth’s heavy stare settled on me. “I didn’t mean anything.”