Chasing Shadows (27 page)

My tub was full of warm water and bubbles. I stepped in and waited for Sebastian to come in. He waited for a few more minutes then came in the bathroom. Noticing a chair from this morning, he pulled it up next to the tub and sat down. Once he was comfortable, he bent down and took his socks and shoes off, then rolled his pant legs up and stuck his feet into the water. I laughed and flicked bubbles at him. He smiled back and wiggled his toes in the water. The mood went from silly to serious in a flash. Sebastian sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “AubrieAnna, I want to talk to you about a few things.” He looked at me with a fire in his eyes that I couldn’t quite read. I had never seen anyone look at me like that before, so intense and deep.

I couldn’t speak, so I simply nodded at him instead.

“I want you to live with me. I know it probably sounds weird and scary, but I want you to stay with me. We can go and find a house somewhere around here. Or an apartment if you’d like . . . ” he trailed off slowly, letting me think about what he was saying.

I sat there speechless, lying in bubbles and hot water until the weight of his words hit me like a ton of bricks. Cliché, I know, but that is how it really felt. Even though I knew that we were going to be doing the ceremony, I never would have thought that I would have to move in with him afterward, at least not until we were officially married in the eyes of mortals. Nervousness crept up on me, and I felt like I couldn’t quite breathe right. Sure, I knew how to take care of myself, but I didn’t know how to pay bills or live with someone who wasn’t in my immediate family. I took a few deep breaths and looked up at him. His sweet, delicate face waited patiently and nervously—there was no way I could deny that face. Sighing, I said, “I will. But I don’t know how we are going to pay for that. I don’t have any money. Okay, I have a few hundred dollars, but that’s it . . . ” I trailed off, feeling ashamed that I couldn’t give him what he wanted simply because I couldn’t afford it.

“I have money, AubrieAnna. That is not an issue at all. So do not worry. Please?” He smiled brightly at me.

“All right, but I still want to figure out a way to help pay for stuff. I don’t like being super dependent on other people,” I answered with my chin raised a notch.

“Okay,” he chuckled. “Now the next thing I want to talk to you about is what we need to do for the blood rite, if you still want to do it, that is.” He phrased it like a question.

“If you are still uncomfortable about it, then we won’t do it. But I think it is a good idea.” I worded my answer carefully. He was still nervous about it, and I knew he was, but we both knew it was a smart idea to go through with it.

“Then we will do it. But before we do, there is still one more step we have to take before we can do the blood rite.” Sebastian’s cheeks flushed and he looked down once he finished his sentence.

“Oh. Right. I totally forgot about that. I guess it is our wedding night, in a sense anyway. Well, in the supernatural world, right?” I stammered.

“Yes, in a sense.” He was still looking down at his hands.

“Okay, well how do you want to do it?” I asked. Probably a bit too brazenly, I might add, because his head shot up so fast that I wondered if I had even seen it.

“AubrieAnna, that was a bit rash, don’t you think?” Was he reprimanding me on how I worded my question?

“I’m sorry. I . . . I, I’m just nervous, I guess.” I looked down at the bubbles.

“It’s quite all right. I am nervous too, my dear. But I am also quite excited.” His eyes flashed from shy and innocent to hungry and passionate.

My tongue immediately became thick, and my skin tingled.

“Well, I guess we should get out of here, don’t you think?” I smiled nervously.

“Yes, we should. I will go and get the car.” Sebastian stood up and ran out to bring his car around.

Standing up, I wrapped a towel around my body and stepped out of the tub. I didn’t bother with draining it. My mind was a million miles away. Stumbling into the closet, my brain fogged and dizzy, I searched through my undergarments. I needed to find the perfect ones, the ones that would make Sebastian’s jaw drop. There! My pale blue lace boyshorts and the matching bra were just what I was looking for. Carefully I slid into them and threw on a baggy sweater and some black leggings. Sighing one last time, I slipped on some sandals, grabbed my bag, and walked out to meet Sebastian.

Chapter 12

The car ride was silent and awkward. Why couldn’t I be normal? It wasn’t like I hadn’t done it before. Sure, it was probably a big mistake that I did it with Langdon, but now I was going to do it with the right person. Sighing heavily, I watched the trees pass us by. Sebastian wouldn’t tell me where we were going. We had driven out of Portland and were headed east. The small town of Boring
had disappeared behind us and we had long since passed any signs of civilization. Just as I was about to ask some random question about the weather, he turned onto a narrow gravel road. I would never have seen it if we had driven past. After five minutes of bouncing around in his car, we pulled up in front of a beautiful log cabin.

Giant wooden pillars covered with stone halfway up held the roof out a few feet from the door. Stone, moss, and vines decorated the wood perfectly, making it look like a fairy tale had been born here. Each window had a wooden box of various potted plants underneath. I could imagine waking up in the spring, opening the windows, and smelling nothing but flowers. This place was beautiful. Tall conifer trees stood all around the place, and owls hooted while small rodents scurried and slept. With each step I took toward the cabin, I felt more like I was in dreamland. Sebastian carefully stepped around me and opened the door to an even more enchanting area.

Books lined multiple walls, and a solid stone fireplace held a roaring fire. A large white, fuzzy rug lay directly in the center of the room surrounded by two small tables, two overstuffed chairs, and tall lamps that would bathe the room in bright light if turned on. The floor was concrete, so it would be cold to the touch with my bare feet, while the walls were rounded from the large logs that created the cabin. I didn’t have enough time to look around and discover every nook and cranny in the place because Sebastian came up behind me and pulled me into him.

His lips were soft and gentle as he kissed me. Large hands cupped my face and tangled in my hair. He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe and had to pull away, and even then he continued to kiss me. My mind went blank and I couldn’t move, think, or speak. I was completely blindsided by how much love I felt with each touch and kiss. As if he knew what I was thinking, he picked me up and carried me over to the rug, laid me down, and continued his delicate, loving search of my body.

We were entwined with each other for hours and hours, never leaving to get water or food, not even to use the restroom. At some point shortly after dawn, I drifted to sleep, but when a cold breeze touched my naked skin and I snuggled in deeper to Sebastian’s chest, I noticed a heavy blanket had been draped over us. Not caring to wonder why, when, or how, I drifted back into my peaceful dreamland. I woke up several times during the day, but continued to fall back to sleep until a nightmare plagued my dreams. Shooting straight up, I stopped myself from screaming by gasping for breath. Tremors shook me as tears rolled down my face. Everything had been so perfect, but now it was ruined. We were running out of time, faster than we had imagined.

They were inching toward us, creeping in the darkest of places to keep from being noticed. The gods had promised us that they would protect us during the blood rite so no one would find us or harm us. They lied. Well, not all of them. There were definitely a few rotten ones in the group Zeus claimed he trusted. Stars twinkled in the sky and the moon was shining brighter than it ever had. We had chosen this day, this time, to begin the ritual—at least I had. It made sense. Do it on the first full moon after the new moon. That way we could say that the moon watched over us and guided us along with the gods. I could hear them coming. Someone had spilled the secret of our ritual to Hades, the god of Hell, the god who created the u da yv la dv. Hades was sending his shadows after us to kill us, to prevent us from ever saving the world that they so desperately wanted.

Sebastian held my hand tightly as our blood joined and flowed strongly. The earth seemed to shift, the trees and flowers cried when the u da yv la dv passed them. Animals scurried to hide underground, the ones that could fly took to the sky, and the ones that were too large to hide in small burrows ran like the wind. Fear from every creature shook my body, and it began to shake Sebastian’s as well. The blood rite was working, but we were in far more danger than we had ever thought we would be. Someone had to have known what was going on, what was happening. Unless, no. I didn’t want to think it. The only way we wouldn’t be helped is if somehow whoever betrayed Zeus had locked him and the other good gods away or made them blind to what was happening, but that didn’t quite seem possible. Feeling the need to run, I tugged at Sebastian’s arm and took off through the forest in the opposite direction of the u da yv la dv.

It felt like we had been running for hours. We raced through the trees, passed over rivers, ran by a road, and sped around countless rented camping cabins. I had no idea which direction we were going, but I could feel where we needed to go. A tugging at my body pulled me forward. But thankfully, the blood rite was starting to do its job early; I was already feeling stronger than ever. Plus, I was running just as fast as Sebastian was. However exciting it may have been, we still had a problem. The u da yv la dv were still chasing after us. A yank to my right told me to turn. I turned. Sebastian followed.

Chills crawled down my spine. The u da yv la dv were trying to surround us. We had to get out of here, and fast. I tried to reach out to Sebastian with my mind. There, he was listening, waiting for me to tell him what we were going to do. We had to jump, we had to get higher and continue our race up high. I had no idea how, but I knew they wouldn’t be able to follow us much longer if we were higher up. Trees! An idea flashed through my mind. Sebastian saw the images and nodded once to signal he understood. We sped up and jumped. My hand was bleeding on its own now. My fingers were cold and empty. I looked down; Sebastian was being held down by the u da yv la dv. They won. They had won. We were going to die now.

My heart raced so hard I thought I was either having a heart attack or it was going to jump out and run away. Sebastian’s hand rubbed lazy circles on my back, not quite realizing what was going on. I turned to him. Something in my expression made him turn serious and concerned. His eyes were wide and he silently waited for me to start. I had no idea where to start, what to tell him first. We had just started an adventure that we were supposed to have many, many years of. Tears bit at my eyes and I crawled into his chest. Not able to speak or even clearly think of what I had seen, I just lay there and cried silently.

“We can’t trust all of the gods in Zeus’s group,” I said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian’s hands rubbed my shoulders. “What did you see, AubrieAnna?”

“Someone informed Hades of the blood rite.” I looked into his eyes.

“Tell me what you saw.” He said it like a question.

“I’ll show you.” I looked down.

“Wha—?” I put my finger up to his lips to silence him.

The vision needed to be hidden completely from the gods, and I knew how. Sebastian and I could communicate through thoughts. It didn’t make sense, since we hadn’t done the blood rite. Sighing, I focused. I reached out to his mind with mine. There was a soft barrier that I encountered first, but I gently pushed it aside and kept going. Once I felt like I was in, I played the vision in my mind, knowing he would see it. Shivers ran through my body. It was still terrible to see, but what was even worse was knowing he could see it now too.

So many questions ran through his mind once it was over. His eyes were sad and confused at the same time. Something didn’t quite add up. Why would any of the gods work with Hades? How could they fool Zeus so easily? I waited patiently, waited for him to process what I had shown him. It took five minutes before he got up and began to pace the floor. Suddenly feeling cold, I tightly pulled the blanket around my body. Getting the small hint, Sebastian turned back toward the fireplace and began to build a fire. Frustrated when he couldn’t start it, he turned to me. Smiling, I flicked my finger toward the logs and instantly fire licked them viciously. Sighing, he sat down next to me and pulled me close, his eyes never leaving the flames.

“I don’t get it.” I was the first to speak. “Why would any of them do this? Don’t they want the world to survive?”

“I cannot say.” Sebastian closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the chair. “Can you try to get more of the vision? Maybe there’s something before or after it that was cut out by your mind.” I could see the wheels turning in his head.