Rising

  Where under Olympus was the cab? Xanthus held the blind slat up enough to peer outside the front window.

  “Xanthus, I need an outside opinion.” Nicole’s shout came from her bedroom.

  Xanthus narrowed his eyes at the empty street. He sighed, turned away, and tromped down the hall to her bedroom, once again.

  Nicole held up two hangers with silky blouses draped off them. Well, this was better than the bikinis she’d shown him last time. Where in Hades was Sara? Shouldn’t she be helping her mother with her thousand selections?

  “You’re a man,” Nicole said.

  Obviously.

  “Which one do you think is sexier?” She did a little wiggle and cocked one eyebrow.

  “Sexier?” Xanthus cast a glance toward Sara’s room.

  “Yes, as a man. Which one would you rather see me in?”

  “Nicole, don’t you think Sara…”

  “Oh, Sara never gives her opinion,” Nicole interrupted. “Besides, she knows next to nothing about fashion.”

  “And I do?”

  “You can tell me which you’d rather see me in.”

  He sighed. “They both look nice.”

  “Oh, no. You’re not getting off that easy. Choose. I want to know which one you think looks better.” One by one, she held them up to her chest.

  They were both pretty—silky, bright, feminine. One was yellow and the other green. He liked yellow. It reminded him of the sun. “The yellow one looks nice,” he said, venturing a suggestion.

  Nicole scrunched up her face. “You’re kidding.” She held the yellow blouse up to inspect it closer. She turned back to him with an expression that suggested he was insane. “The yellow one? Really? You have to be kidding.”

  Xanthus threw up his hands in defeat. “You asked.”

  “Well, next time I won’t.”

  Xanthus stomped from the room. “Five minutes, Nicole,” he said, “and we’re leaving. You’d better pack faster.”

  “With the help I’m getting, it’s probably going to take me an hour.”

  Xanthus stepped up to Sara’s door and knocked. “Sara, it’s time we get going. Your mom is nearly done packing. We’re heading to the mainland and your mom is going to Maui to visit a friend.” He hoped Sara wouldn’t argue about leaving with him. He wasn’t about to leave her again. Still, he had an important mission to accomplish.

  Xanthus waited for Sara to answer. He was met with silence. Why wasn’t she answering him?

  “Getting the silent treatment, huh?” Nicole asked. “She does that all the time.”

  She’d never done that to Xanthus before. Uneasiness clenched his gut. What if something was wrong?

  He tried the knob. Locked. “Sara, you need to answer me.”

  He waited for a minute and still there was no response.

  “Sara, answer me or I’m breaking down the door.”

  Still no answer.

  Fear seized him. Something was very wrong. Xanthus shoved his shoulder into the door and the frame splintered. Inside the room, he saw the disheveled mess from before, but what he didn’t see was worse than a knife to the chest. Sara was gone. The curtains billowed from her open window.

  “Sara!” Xanthus’s anguished cry rent the air as he raced to the window. He looked out toward the sea. He could still smell her sweet scent but he also smelled the sick odor of his brother.

  How could he have been such a fool? He’d thought Gael wouldn’t dare touch her while he claimed her, but once again, he was wrong about his brother. And Sara might die because of it.