My Date From Hell (15 page)

“Not really,” said Theo. “Generally, there is a toll for safe passage. And especially across bodies of water. You don’t want to be trying to rip off the ferryman. Or in this case, dolphin.”

I motioned to Festos. “Your program. Go ahead.”

He lifted up his cane. “No can do.”

“I think that’s a pretty selective use of your otherwise very able foot.”

‘Doesn’t matter,” Kai said. “He wants you to do it. Watch him.”

I did. And reluctantly conceded that yes, I would have to be the one to do this. “I’ve got one condition though. You all turn around. Bad enough I have to look like an idiot, I’m not having you lot laugh at me.”

They didn’t move.

“Turn.”

They turned. Festos decided it would be helpful to hum the dance machine tune for me.

I began the sequence.
Front front front/back left right right
…

The dolphin clicked at me.

“I think that means you screwed up,” I heard Hannah say.

I glanced over my shoulder but they were all still turned around.

Fine. It was turn two. I was still game.

By turn seven, Theo lay on the ground, trying to wash himself out to sea. Hannah was halfway through buidling a sandcastle, and Festos was using his cane to dig out a moat for it.

Only Kai hadn’t moved, watching me unwaveringly.

By turn thirteen, I was sweaty, tired, and frustrated. My friends had stopped being supportive three turns ago and I think the dolphin was swearing at me.

It was so bad I started wishing for the minions to arrive. “Kai, please just take us across.”

“No!” Theo said. “No cheating. It’s bad juju.”

Kai got to his feet and strolled over to me. He pulled my sweaty hair away and pressed a soft kiss into the happy spot on the left side of my neck. “Two left feet, Goddess?”

I nodded, dejected, and tilted my neck up for another kiss. Kisses good.

Kai leaned in close. I could feel his lips brush my ear. “Sixteen hours until your meeting. We’ve got no Jack, no Pierce, and no clue what’s ahead of us. If you don’t cross and complete everything, you risk expulsion. Which means no saving humanity and for the brief period that it exists, Bethany is the fairest of them all.” He smacked me on the butt. “Now dance.”

As a pep talk, that worked surprisingly well. I dug deep and danced the crap out of that routine.

Once I’d nailed the tricky bit, I even started embellishing with little sways and shimmies, until I landed the final step.

Cheers and whistles broke out behind me.

Flushed, and only partially from exertion, I turned around to find all my friends laughing and clapping.

Except Kai. “Nice shimmy.”

“You bastards. All of you.”

“Your pride for dolphins,” Hannah said happily as our rides came close enough for us to touch. “Excellent trade.”

Okay. It was pretty cool. I’d never imagined that anything could feel both velvety and steely at the same time. And when my dolphin cut through the water pulling me with it, it felt like flying. Without the awful heights part.

“This is incredible!” I cried, loving the feel of the wind and the warm, salty spray on my face.

“Watch out for penis,” Theo said.

“Next time, I’m finding myself a less morbid boy,” Festos replied.

“Who said you have me?” Theo asked him.

“I so have you,” Festos replied.

Theo splashed a cascade of water at Festos.

“Stop with the bickering,” I cried with a grin. “Enjoy the ride.”

In my books it was a massive plus that we crossed safely with no dolphin molestation or being eaten by weird sea creatures. The transport dropped us a few feet from shore, then disappeared back out to sea.

Kai slogged toward the shore, pulling me with him.

“So near, yet so wet,” Hannah said following us.

“Hang tight,” he told us. Carefully, Kai waded onto shore, his jeans sopping wet.

I was fine with this delay. I stopped beside Hannah and took a moment to enjoy the view.

The island, too.

Then the twitchy came over me. I couldn’t stand the distance anymore. I took a step but Hannah grabbed me around the waist.

“Good cling,” she said, blatantly checking out Kai’s butt as the pants molded themselves to him.

“Agreed,” Festos said, tilting his head.

“Back off. You’ve got your own god playthings,” I said, forcing myself to relax in her hold.

“Nice objectification, Magoo,” Theo muttered.

Festos smirked. “Oh please. You love it.”

Kai came back to us.

Hannah released me. “Run along, little doggie.”

To my shame, I did. Although Kai sped up a bit to meet me, too. This, let’s call it “induced insanity”, had taken hold but good.

“The good news is that we’re not going to blow up when we step onto shore,” he said, resting his hand on the back of my neck.

I scowled. “That doesn’t inspire confidence for the bad news.” And it would be really nice to be able to rest before I had to deal with it. After everything that had gone down in Athens, I felt drained.

‘We’re in a dead zone,” Kai said.

Hannah frowned. “There is no happy way to spin that.”

“Let me rephrase,” he said. “I mean that our powers are useless here.”

Festos and Theo were not pleased about that.

I shook my head, a panicky feeling coming over me. “That can’t be right.” I ran to the shore and tried to fire my vines, but nothing happened.

I ran back into the water to where everyone stood. Powers fully functioning.

Grrr. I trudged back to shore. I glanced back at Kai, who strode right behind me. “I thought you said this was Jack’s island.” The sand was cool and firm beneath my toes as I hit the beach. It clung to my wet skin and clothes in a fine film. That was going to be a bitch to get off.

“It is,” said Kai.

“That makes no sense,” Hannah said, joining us on shore. “Why would Hermes create an environment where he’s leaving himself vulnerable?”

Theo wrung out his pant leg. “I’m betting
his
powers work just fine.”

“So, for all intents and purposes, we’re a bunch of regular humans?”

“I wouldn’t say regular,” Festos said, shaking himself out like a dog. “Or human.”

Hannah jumped out of the way of flinging drops. “Stop being difficult.” She surveyed the island and brightened. “At least there’s a jungle.”

“That’s not a plus in anyone else’s books, kitten,” I informed her as my knees buckled from exhaustion.

At my distress, Kai immediately swung me up in his arms.

“The state of you two,” Festos called out, “is not nearly as entertaining in its execution as I’d imagined it to be. More sad, really.”

I felt drained but was still extremely aware of the clock ticking. “Give me a sec then we’ll look for Jack’s house.”

I was crashing hard. My cookie sugar rush was spent. I slid out of Kai’s arms and slumped onto the sand.

Theo stood over me, looking concerned. “You need to rest.” He turned to Hannah. “Stay with Sophie. We’ll scout a bit and come back.”

Kai shook his head. “I’ll stay with Sophie.” His expression left no room for argument.

Theo rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He turned to Hannah. “You good to go?” At her nod, he said, “Let’s head out. We’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

Festos planted himself in front of Theo. “Why yes, Festos, I’d love for you to join us. Let’s set a rendezvous spot.”

“Here,” Theo said. “Three hours.”

He and Kai synchronized their watches and Hannah, Theo, and Festos set off. “Remember,” I could hear Hannah telling the boys, “If you get hungry? Dark berries are generally safe, red you’ve got a fifty percent chance of them being poisonous, and stay away from light-colored ones. So, how would you describe the state of your relationship?”

Ha ha. I could practically feel Theo’s glower at
that
question. Their noise faded, leaving Kai and I alone.

With the last of my energy, I peeled off my clothes, which were soaked. The sun was rising, streaking the inky indigo sky with shots of lavender and a wide band of orange at the horizon, the air slowly heating up. So my clothes had some chance of drying.

“What are you doing?” Kai asked in a strangled voice.

“Dumping the wet gear and taking a nap,” I said. I stripped down to my pink bra and matching boy shorts and headed across the sand to a lone palm tree, situated slightly away from the jungle. “Oh, stop staring. It’s not even as revealing as a bikini.”

Kai followed me over. “Just keep piling on those images.”

Uh, sure, if they helped burn the ones of perfect Persephone from his brain. “Stare away.” I wriggled into the sand, under the shade of some broad palm leaves, making a comfy indentation for myself. I couldn’t stay awake a minute longer. Just a quick nap to recharge myself then full steam ahead to find Jack. I glanced over to tell Kai to wake me in an hour and my eyes widened.

Kai had stripped down to his short black boxers, his clothes laid out in the sun like mine to dry. His back was to me as he scanned the beach.

Was it possible to have my mouth go dry and drool at the same time? Why, yes. I think it was.

I’d never seen Kai without clothes on before.

He had tattoos.

I was weak in the face of bad boys with ink. Or just him, since my bad boy exposure was currently at “one.”

Around his right ankle wove a thick, black geometric band, like a bunch of stylized squares. I’d seen the design when I’d originally been Googling myself and Greek myths to get a sense of who I was. It was a pretty common pattern decorating ancient Greek pottery.

Across his back was a word in Greek script. Even I could work out that it said his name. Same number of letters, starting with a “K,” what looked like 2 “l”s … not tough to puzzle out. The name was wrapped around a pomegranate tree, its branches hanging low with ripe, bright fruit.

Even remedial me knew the significance of pomegranates and Persephone. Plus, hello. My favorite fruit. He’d inked me on him. Okay, Persephone, but maybe he’d ink
Sophie
on him some day. Because having a guy declare his devotion to you that way was cool
—
provided he was more babe than bubba and hadn’t gotten the spelling of your name off your restraining order.

Having a god permanently profess his passion for you like that? Wow.

A low lick of heat unfurled in my belly at the idea of
me
tattooed on Kai’s body.

Kai turned around. I lost my breath. Even without the tattoos, he was better coming than going. Six feet of sculpted heaven.

He caught the stunned look on my face and frowned. “Now what?”

I beckoned him toward me with a crook of my finger.

“I shouldn’t,” he mock protested, as he approached. “My virtue and all.”

“You wish,” I taunted, patting the sand next to me.

A wary gleam lit his eyes as he dropped down beside me and rolled me onto my back, his weight propped on his elbows. Our bodies just mere inches apart. “So do you.”

My chest felt heavy and tight. In my stomach was the same rising tingly sensation as when I was at the top of a roller coaster about to plummet.

I nuzzled closer into Kai. He smelled like seawater and sand.

It was intoxicating.

My fingers traced his shoulder blades. Odd. Why did his skin feel ridged?

Kai tensed and pulled away.

Pushing myself up so I leaned over top of him, I pinned him in place to better examine his back.

“Sophie …” he started in a steely voice.

“Kai.” I was just as determined.

Close up, by the light of the brightening sun, I could see that fine scars crisscrossed his spine. “Who did this?” I asked in a hard voice, hating that I already knew the answer.

Kai shrugged as if it didn’t matter. His voice was light when he replied, “It was me against the Underworld. I was a little outmatched.”

I swallowed hard against the metallic taste in my mouth. “It’s because you chose me over Hades, wasn’t it?”

Kai blinked, startled. I had caught him completely off guard. “Where did you get that idea?”

I sighed. “You told me. When I first found you cuffed up.”

“I just spilled that information, did I?” He did not sound pleased.

I kept my expression neutral. “Yes.”

I could tell he didn’t believe me. He sat back onto his knees with a thunderous expression. “You must have loved that. Did you and your friends all have a good laugh about it? How I got what I deserved?”

“No one laughed, Kai.”

He threw me a mocking smile. “But you shared. Of course you did. Well, Sophie, let me share something else.” His eyes were flat and bleak. “No one is ever going to betray me again.” He tilted my jaw up with his finger as he leaned in close. “So get used to having me around, kitten, because until we defeat Hades, I’m going to be your shadow.”

Hmm. It would seem that when Kai got defensive, he made stupid caveman threats. Which threw his earlier declaration about making me fall for him first into a verrah interesting new light. He’d said it after he’d learned that I wanted Pierce to just shoot us into falling in love.

But why would that make him feel threatened?

He chose me
.

Holy. Hannah. Did Kai like me more than he wanted to let on?

My body warmed with a feeling that I could only describe as smug.

All this rushed through my head in a fraction of a second.

I blinked up at Kai. I could tell he was poised for a fight. He seemed to hurt so bad.

Kai’s glower increased at my lack of cowering. But this girl had her own ideas. Like how the thought of him staying close thrilled me. I was on a tropical beach, half-dressed with a hot god who I was literally hard-wired into. How often did that happen?

Time to let him know I wasn’t the enemy. I tugged him back down toward me. “I don’t want you going anywhere.”

Kai stiffened.

“Relax, dummy.” I wrapped myself in his arms and pressed myself into him.

Then drowsy and safe in Kai’s warmth, I fell asleep.

It was a lot hotter when I woke up and the moon was totally gone.

So was Kai.

He wasn’t anywhere on the beach. Neither were his clothes.