Goddess Legacy: Goddess Series Book 1 (5 page)

Calli smiled and shot her eyebrows up and back down. Legacy’s smile was somewhat more casual as they turned to leave, assuming the chilly breeze she just felt was the air kicking on.

Once they were in the car, they weren’t even out of the parking lot before Calli started. “Oh my! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than that?”

“Yes,” Legacy said matter-of-factly.

“Well, Adin certainly is hot, but River is fire!”

“River is definitely a looker, and he seems really nice too. At least, I hope he is if I’m going to be working with him.”

“Maybe I should get a summer job too!” Calli was still too excited.

“Nobody will believe that
you
need a summer job. If you get a job up here, everyone will know why you did it,” she tried to rationalize with her.

“True. I don’t want to come off too obvious.”

“I think it’s a little late to worry about not looking like you’re interested,” she teased.

“At least he knows he has an option,” she responded.

“Calli, he might have a girlfriend.”

“I’m not worried about that. I have a girl on the inside.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, not liking the look in her eyes.

“You’re going to find out everything about him.” And Legacy knew there’d be no getting out of that.

“Only because you’re my best friend and you
did
just help me get a job.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

Once they got back to Calli’s, Legacy headed back home. Calli had some family stuff she needed to do today, and Legacy didn’t want to be in the way. When she got home, she noticed Lissa’s car wasn’t there. She went into the house and called out to both Lissa and Olive, but there were no answers. She figured they’d gone to the store and would be back shortly. But as she stood in the empty house and stared at the couch where Lissa had made that crazy confession, Legacy wondered if there were any clues around here that’d help shed some light on things. Calli had suggested they get to the bottom of the story, and Legacy didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t begin their little investigation. Starting with Lissa’s room.

She walked through her doorway, turning on the light as she scanned the room. She knew she was home alone, but she still felt like she was being watched. She shut the door behind her and looked over at her dresser. It was an old, hand-carved mahogany dresser with brass knobs and little apothecary-style drawers that lined the top row. None of Lissa’s furniture matched. She had several pieces from various periods that created her own eclectic style.

Legacy moved toward the behemoth dresser and started rummaging through the drawers. Jewelry was in the small drawers at the top. She recognized some of the pieces, but a lot of them looked to be antiques. She didn’t know what she was looking for, so she examined some of the old items. There was a gold comb with jewels encrusted at the top in the shape of a butterfly, a silver-colored broach in the shape of a ladybug with rubies and other gemstones, and several other ornate pieces that looked to be worth a lot of money. As much as Lissa struggled financially to ensure Olive and she had a good life, the jewelry felt out of place. Each of the eight drawers was full of it, and none of it looked to be costume. Not exactly what she thought she would find, but not exactly what she was looking for either.

Legacy pawed through the rest of her drawers looking for something, anything that might be a clue. When that proved fruitless, she turned to her nightstand, then to her closet. Nothing stood out. As she was about to leave her room in defeat, she glanced at her bed, and then lunged herself to the floor to look under it.

Underneath the bed was a wooden box. It, too, looked very old. She tried to slide it out with one hand, but it was too heavy. She squeezed herself under the bed and grabbed the box with both hands and yanked it toward her. It seemed to be stuck to the floor, but with some effort, it finally dislodged and slid in the direction she coaxed it. Once out from under the bed, she tried to lift the lid. It did not budge. She examined the box closely, but could not find the proper way to open it. Then she found a spot that looked like some kind of keyhole, but she couldn’t be sure. If that was a keyhole, it seemed too small for such a big, heavy box. She jumped up and ran to Lissa’s bathroom to grab a bobby pin. She figured she could try to pick the lock—it looked easy enough in the movies. But when she tried to unlock it, nothing happened. Frustrated, she walked back to the bathroom to put the pin back in its place.

She walked back toward the box on the floor. She stood staring at it, wondering how she could open it, and then considered that the box might not be anything either. She started to realize she was being silly. Lissa was making her act crazy with the ridiculous story. She was just getting back to her senses when the phone rang. She ran to her room to answer it since it was the closest.

“Hello?”

“Legacy?”

She gasped. She knew this voice better than her own, even though she had no right to. “Yes,” she responded, trying to stay calm.

“It’s me, Adin. I…um…”

Not that she was used to talking to him, but when she did, he usually articulated himself fairly well. “I was up taking care of some stuff around the house since Lissa is out,” she said to get the conversation going.

“Oh, are you home alone?” He sounded concerned.

“Yeah, but it’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I could come over if you need me to.”

What? Was he for real? Her heart tried to jump out of her chest. “Oh, I’m fine, really.” She knew it would take too long for her to make herself presentable. She probably reeked and knew she was covered with dust bunnies from crawling around on the floor like an idiot. Served her right for being nosey!

“I, er, wanted to ask you something,” he continued. Adin took a deep breath, drawing out his exhale. He had difficulty with whatever he was going to ask, and this reminded her of how he’d acted at her party. She waited quietly, eagerly while the blood raced in her veins just from the sound of his voice. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me?”

Shock took over her system. She couldn’t believe her ears. Even after how he acted yesterday, she still could not comprehend what he just asked her. Adin, beautiful, magnificent, Adin just asked her out. Her brain did not make sense of these words as she thought them over. She was at a complete loss. Then her heart pounded so loudly in her head that she was sure he could hear it on the other end of the phone. She had to say something, but she was trying her best not to freak out and scare him away by screaming.

“I’d love to.” She was only able to whisper to him because she did not trust her voice to stay even.

His sigh of relief thrilled her even more. He
sighed!
He wasn’t just asking her out to be nice. He
wanted
to go out with her!

“Good,” he said, and it sounded like there was true joy in his voice. “I’m leaving early on Monday to go to Florida with my family for the week, so I was thinking about tomorrow night if you’re free.”

Tomorrow? Holy crap! “Er, sure.”

“Awesome. I wanted to take you to a botanical garden, but that’d be better for a day trip. How about we just go out to eat? Do you like Japanese food?”

“Yes. I
love
sushi.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow night. We can do the botanical garden Saturday after I get back, if you‘d like.”

He was already making plans with her for another date?
Yea!

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

She couldn’t believe it. She’d get to see go out on a date with him tomorrow and
again
on Saturday. This just kept getting better and better!

After exchanging cell phone numbers, she hung up the phone and stared at it. She couldn’t believe what just happened. She started to call Calli, but she knew she needed to get herself back together before she told her the news. Calli thought she would be screaming over Adin just holding her hands. She had to prepare herself not to scream about him asking her out. The last thing she wanted was Calli to be right about her not being able to have a coherent conversation about him. But if she opened her mouth now, she was sure she would start screaming.

She made her way back to Lissa’s room in a blissful fog. She examined the room to make sure it didn’t look like she had been in there. She then got back down on her knees to push the box back under the bed. When her hands grasped the bottom corners of the box, the corner pieces shoved inward and the lid popped up a few inches.

Why, when she had been resolved to let this go, was the box opening now? She stared at it as she lifted the lid open all the way.

A chill overtook her, a draft that wasn’t actually there, as she stared into the box. The empty box. The only markings inside was a carving at the bottom that read
Elpis
.

The uncomfortable feeling stayed with her while she closed the box, slid it back into place, and left the room.

Chapter Three

Legacy stood at the edge of a forest on a dirt road. This was no place she had ever seen before, just random woods. While looking into the dense forest, she turned in the opposite direction to stare at a field. The sky was black over the field, and a tornado formed overhead. She watched the tornado as it edged toward her. In the forest, she heard voices screaming for her to take cover. She started to walk into the woods, but stopped when a black snake slithered out from the edge. She had an uneasy feeling watching the snake come toward her. She realized she would rather take her chances with the tornado than go into the woods. It somehow felt safer in the open. When she didn’t come into the woods, the voices stopped screaming and started speaking in a soothing tone, trying to lure her into the darkness. The snake continued to watch her hesitation, and when she didn’t walk into the forest, it moved very quickly toward her. She turned and started running down the dirt road, turning onto another dirt road, and then another, looking back frequently to watch the snake gaining on her. The tornado changed course and was headed right for her too. On the last dirt road stood a tiny house. The house was so small it was really the size of a small closet. She ran for it, closing the door behind her, not wanting the snake or the tornado to find her. Even though the house was small and in the direct path of the tornado, she felt completely safe.

Once inside, she was shocked to see that she wasn’t alone. Standing in the corner next to her was a little girl with long, blond curly hair and blue eyes. She stared at her in horror. Suddenly, she felt she needed to protect this girl as if she were her child. She’d never had a mothering instinct before, but this instinct felt natural, strong. As if she had no other choice but to protect this girl; her own life meant nothing. The girl stepped over to her with fear in her eyes and smiled, but the fearful expression stayed. It was mocking.

She could hear the tornado right outside. It was about to hit them. The girl stepped one step closer. Legacy felt an uneasy tremble slide down her spine as she stared at her. The girl lifted her index finger and touched her face in the middle of her eyebrows.

“See,” she whispered, dragging out the word.

As she released her finger, Legacy fell back in slow motion. A peaceful feeling covered her entire body as she slowly fell to the floor. She couldn’t help herself; she was smiling. In the instant that the girl touched her forehead, she knew the answers to everything. Everything made sense. She was at peace with herself.

As she was about it hit the floor of the tiny shelter in her dream, her eyes opened.

Legacy had been dreaming.

She lay in bed looking at the ceiling fan, not wanting to move. A feeling of peace still covered her. She couldn’t explain it. It had definitely been a dream, but for some reason, she felt better having experienced it. She stayed there, enjoying the afterglow of her dream for several minutes until she begin to wonder why she’d dreamed it in the first place. She thought back over the last couple of days, feeling as if maybe her brain was just trying to make sense of something that couldn’t be explained. That or the dream was just a coincidence.

“Nothing is ever a coincidence,” a soft, feminine voice whispered through the air.

Legacy shot up and looked around. No one was there. Her window wasn’t open. No air was coming from the vents. And she surely wasn’t still dreaming. What was happening? She cautiously eased back down, clutching the covers to her.

Maybe Lissa was being honest about her mother being alive. The story had been that her parents died in a car accident after they’d gone out to dinner in the city to celebrate a job promotion with some friends. It had been storming that night, a horrible electrical storm. Lightning had flashed across the sky all night. It had rained so much that the storm flooded the roads. When her parents had turned onto a street that was under water, it was too dark to notice until it was too late. Lissa had been babysitting her when it happened.

Legacy had been too young to remember her parents. The things she knew about them included generic details like her mom’s wavy blonde hair and her dad’s frizzy black hair. Legacy ended up with frizzy dark blonde hair, inheriting traits from both. She also knew her parents were not the business type. Her mom was an artist, dad a musician.

But it wouldn’t be hard to fake their deaths. They had been self-employed, so there would’ve been less people to answer to when they had allegedly died. If it wasn’t for that conversation with Lissa, Legacy wouldn’t even be questioning it now.

And what about the other stuff? The goddess story? Even if Legacy were to believe any of that and that her life really was at stake, then she could die by her next birthday. Heck, on her next birthday for all she knew. Dead at eighteen. It hardly seemed fair. Whether she actually died then or not, apparently, it was something she needed to consider, her life ending before she had time to fall in love, go to college, get married, have children. What would she do differently if she knew she only had one more year left to live? She didn’t know the answer to that. Not at first. But as she lay there, she realized she would live her life to the fullest.