Carnelian

  “Mari,” he scolded me. “You really need to sleep. You can’t get better if you don’t sleep. It’s late, and I know you don’t stay up this late normally. Just go to sleep.” How did he know I went to bed early? He knelt beside the bed.

  “Too much to think about,” I replied, not even hiding my guilt.

  “But you were almost asleep a minute ago,” he complained. It was obvious that Seth was tired as well. In the dark, I could still make out his face and that he was looking at me. I wanted to reach up and touch him, but instead kept a tight grasp on my blankets to keep myself from doing so.

  “Because you were touching me,” I admitted, closing my eyes and giving into the warm fuzzies from him being close now. Seth sighed.

  “Fine,” he said as he moved around the bed. I was startled. Why would he leave the room now? He had promised to protect me. Seth stopped on the other side of the bed and climbed in. I didn’t even have time to protest as his arms were around me, and the warm fuzzy feeling was overwhelming. Everything about being in his arms felt right. I was safe now. He was my shelter from all my rambling thoughts and my protector from the world.

  I turned in his arms to face him. I was lying with my face at his chest. I didn’t have to look at his face, which helped me be braver.

  “What now?” Seth asked. He actually sounded tired and a little grumpy.

  “Thanks for saving me tonight,” I whispered. Before I could stop myself, I kissed his chest and tried to roll back around. Seth locked his arms and didn’t let me turn completely. He easily forced me back to facing him. I hoped he couldn’t see my burning cheeks, but he wouldn’t care. He was staring into my eyes.

  “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m very serious about you,” Seth said softly. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if you don’t see me the same way I see you. You’re more special than you’ll ever know, and I’ve waited three years to find you. I didn’t know what my purpose was to be here, but I know now.” Seth’s hand cupped my face. I felt his thumb make small circles on my cheek as he talked and was a bit distracted. The hum I felt at his touch was magnified, and I could feel the tingling down to my toes now. “I’ve never fallen for a girl before, and no matter what you think about me and girls, there was never a girl that made me feel the way you do.”

  Chapter 9

  Getting the Truth

  Somehow I slept through the night peacefully. I would have expected to at least have a nightmare or two after my experience, but instead, it was all sleep. It might have had to do with the nice fuzzies I felt the whole night. As I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them, I realized the fuzzies were gone and Seth was also. A note was on the pillow next to me.

  Your clothes are on the window seat. Miller will make you anything for breakfast. Feel free to look around. You are the only person here with Miller. I’ll be back after the game, and we’ll talk about everything.

  The game? I forgot completely about the football game. No wonder Seth was grumpy about me not sleeping. Seth managed to protect me, made sure I could sleep, and still made it to his football game. He was beginning to seem a bit more surreal, not to mention the miracle healing abilities. Mr. Perfect. Maybe a little too perfect.

  I sat up and looked around the room. It was completely devoid of anything personal. A desk sat by the window with a laptop computer on it. Two nightstands were on the sides of the bed. The bookshelves that lined the wall across from the bed were filled with books, but not a single picture anywhere. It was if I had stumbled into a perfectly posed room, but no personality. I stood up and walked to the bookshelves. Reading over the titles, I still didn’t get any sense of who lived here. The books were random from boats to cooking, novels both fiction and non-fiction all mixed together. Seth Sangre was even more of a mystery.

  My stomach growled as I looked around for a clock. It was eleven-fifteen; only fifteen minutes away from kickoff. I was tempted to leave for a little bit. I would have time to go to the dorms and back, but somehow I knew that it would upset Seth if I left. Even without him in the house, I got the feeling I was to stay. Besides, he was promising to tell me the truth finally, and that was worth waiting around for.

  I picked up my clothes, and they were freshly laundered. Even the tear in my shirt was fixed without a mark. I needed a Miller. Life would be much easier. My stomach growled again, and I’d need to look for food if I didn’t want to listen to that noise all day. I dressed hurriedly and snuck out of the room. There wasn’t any reason for me to try to be quiet, but I was in someone else’s house, which felt weird. As I passed room after room, I found I was really alone like Seth had mentioned. I traced my way back down the stairs to the kitchen. No one was around, but someone had been cooking. There were a variety of breakfast foods sitting out. I didn’t have time to even look what was all there as someone noisily entered the room.

  “Oh, you’re finally awake. Here I was all worried that I’d have to tell Seth you never woke up. I know Prince Charming would have gladly kissed you awake and all, but if I didn’t at least feed you before he came back, he might not be happy with me.” Dressed completely in blue and white Morton college clothes, Miller pranced into the room excitedly. “Now I don’t have to watch the game alone.”

  Miller grabbed my arm and hauled me through the house to the attached garage and obviously his apartment. On the coffee table in front of the large screen TV sat an assortment of game food that looked as good as the cold breakfast we just left in the kitchen. Appetizers, chips, dips, and more were all spread out. It was quite the feast for just one person, or now two.

  “I watch the game every weekend,” Miller explain, waving to all the food.

  “By yourself?” I asked.

  “Most of the time, but today I have you. I hope you’re hungry. The boys are always hungry. I’m used to making more than less for food. Have a seat. Kick-off should be in a few minutes. Gotta love local channels that love football. Anywhere else a small team like this wouldn’t be broadcasted, but here it is.” Miller waved to the large couch.

  “You don’t go to the game?” I asked. He was obviously a fan. I sat down on one side of the couch.

  “No. I have too much to get done here on the weekend. Three completely helpless young men are enough to keep anyone busy.” Miller hoped onto the couch next to me. He had to be at least in his late twenties, but he acted like he was a teenager excited to watch the game.

  “Seth didn’t do as well last week. He better play better today,” Miller added, grabbing a chip and popping it in his mouth.

  “He didn’t?” I asked. Three touch-down passes seemed like a good game to me.

  “No. They said he was a little distracted. Not that I’d know why he was distracted. I heard a certain girl attended the game,” Miller winked at me. I blushed. After what Seth told me last night, I kind of knew what he might have been distracted by. It was strange. I had never been a distraction before.

  “And they’re off,” Miller cheered as the ball was kicked to start the game. I shrugged and settled back into the couch. Football was okay, but not something I watched on a regular basis.

  I watched with Miller as the guys played. It was strange to see the close-up views of the guys rather than sit in the stands. When Dee missed a crucial catch, the anger on Dee’s face matched the disappointment in Seth’s. As halftime rolled around, they were behind by eight. I was watching the game, but was somewhere else mentally. I kept repeating the night before in my mind, analyzing every detail. The door to Miller’s apartment opened, and Miller’s squeal of delight took me right out of my thoughts. Miller leapt across the room, hugging the guy at the door.

  “But you said you had to work today,” Miller complained.

  “I got off early,” the guy replied, leaning down to kiss Miller on the head. I stayed in my seat, trying not to peep at them. Soon the small peck turned into more. I turned to the TV, not wanting to be caught gawking. Luckily half time was almost over, and th
e team was back on the field, pulling Miller and his boyfriend out of their make-out session.

  “Oh, Mari, sorry about that,” Miller said, pulling his boyfriend behind him. “I completely forgot you were here. This is Michael, my boyfriend.” I already got that part, but I smiled anyways. “He lives in the Twin Cities and can only get out here every now and then to visit me.”

  “Hi,” I said, standing and shaking his outstretched hand. I began to walk away back into the house when Miller called to me.

  “There’s still another half to go,” Miller said.

  I smiled and nodded. “I know, but I’m too distracted to watch. I think I might just go back and lie down again. I’m still feeling tired from last night.”

  “Last night?” Michael asked.

  “You wouldn’t believe it. Mari was attacked last night. The boys all came to her rescue and turns out it was those creeps that have been targeting college girls for the past two years. Thanks to Mari and the boys, they are now behind bars,” Miller explained, his voice proud of the accomplishment, his pride being completely for the three guys. I made my way over to the door before he called to me again. “Is your ankle feeling better?” Miller asked, now settled into the couch and Michael’s arms.

  I looked at my ankle. I could barely put weight on it yesterday and now it was fine. I didn’t even notice it before he mentioned it.

  “Yep, all better,” I replied before making it out the door.

  I traced my way back into the house from the way we came. It was completely silent as I walked through the kitchen and back upstairs. I had a few more hours before the guys would be back. I had already spent the first half of the game thinking over everything. These guys show up at the perfect moment and save me. I don’t even think they broke a sweat as Seth and Dee fought with guys bigger than them. Then there was the issue of healing too fast. I know Seth got cut by that knife, but there wasn’t even a line left. Something was going on with these three boys. They had no past. Where did they come from and why were they here? Seth said he had been looking for me for three years, but what did that mean? Three years ago, they didn’t exist. Who were the Sangre brothers?

  At the top of the stairs, I went into the first open room. The earthy chocolate tones were a shock compared to the beach feeling of the rest of the house. Brown walls, brown furniture, and brown linens surrounded me. Everything melded nicely together, yet nothing in the room stood out. I walked around the bed and looked out the window. It would be dark soon. I went back to the desk and the closed laptop. There were no more electronic gadgets, just like Seth’s room. And unlike Seth’s room, there was a large TV instead of a wall of books. I opened the closet door and looked at the clothes. This had to be Ty’s room. He had no personal items around and no pictures, but the clothing alone would only fit Ty. I gave one last look around. There were no clues there as to who the three guys were. I went to the next room.

  I snuck into the white, clean room and was shocked again. While it was similar to the last rooms in décor with limited items and nothing personal, this room felt it lacked even more personality as it was not even a color. It was almost sterile to the point of a hospital room. I would have guessed it was a guest room, until I looked in the closet and found Dee’s clothing there. He was still a mystery more than his brothers. He didn’t seem to like me at all, but this room said he didn’t seem to like anything.

  Back in the hallway, I found two more closed doors. I walked to one first, and slowly opened it. No one else was supposed to be in the house, but it still made me nervous to just go opening doors. The drive to find out something kept my hands from shaking too badly. I pushed the door slightly and peered inside the blue bedroom. I slowly entered to find a kid’s room, completely with a bat and ball in the corner. I walked around cautiously and found two pictures on the bed stand. One was of an infant boy and one was of a toddler. Looking closer, I saw the toddler was the baby, just older. I looked a bit longer at the boy and was sure it was not one of the Sangre boys, but still, the eyes seemed familiar. I peeked into the last, butterfly-themed room to find even the guest room of the house had more personality than Dee’s room, but my search led to nothing to help my cause of finding out the truth.

  I went back into Seth’s room and lay down on the bed. The facts were confusing. Who were the Sangre brothers? Why was Seth searching for me? How did he heal so quickly? Was he even human? I sat up at the last thought. I wasn’t really a believer in all the fantasy books I read; they were just entertainment, but now my mind was racing. Seth didn’t exist beyond the past three years, and he could heal miraculously. I got up and went to his open computer. It was already turned on, and I decided to borrow it. While I waited for Seth, I could make my own list of possibilities. After one search, I was done. My mind was already filled with options from my books. Now there were too many scary pictures, enough to make me regret even looking for more creatures on the Internet. I was now hoping I was wrong in my guess that they were not human.

  I sat at Seth’s desk and looked around. The afternoon light was fading, and I was sure the game would be ending soon. I’d get my answers from Seth hopefully. Around his room was nothing that would help me gain any more insight than I already had, yet I looked anyways. I opened his desk drawers to find nothing personal. Pens, paper, tape, and notepads were it. In the last desk drawer, I found the necklace he wore last weekend. I looked at the red jewel and wondering if I should touch it or not. There was something sharp on it, and I didn’t want to be pricked again. I stared at it. The reddish, shiny main stone was just short of an inch long. Seth had it set in a necklace that allowed you to pick it up without touching the stone. I had grabbed the stone before, and this time I gently touched only the metal encircling it. I looked closer at the red stone and the faint lines within it. I had seen this type of stone before but couldn’t remember what my grandfather called it. I turned it over and was surprised by the etching on the back side. It seemed like some sort of writing, but nothing I had ever seen, and I had seen a lot with everything my grandfather did.

  “I don’t know what it says,” Seth said, causing me to jump at his sudden appearance. He stood in the doorway watching me. His apprehension was noticeable as he entered the room and sat down in the window seat.

  “It is nothing I’ve ever seen, and trust me, that’s saying a lot. My grandfather brings home antique pieces all the time. It looks like it says something, I just wonder what,” I added, still staring at the strange scratching. It was like if I looked long enough I’d find the hidden clue. Something vaguely told me that I might just be able to understand what the message was.

  “Did Miller take care of you? He fed you, right?” Seth asked.

  “Oh yes, fed and fed and fed,” I replied. I moved over to his bed and sat down facing him. It was time for him to talk and explain it all to me. Seth stared at me, waiting for me to talk first. I let it be silent for a few minutes, just staring back at him. His eyes were absolutely beautiful, just like the rest of him. The dark brown was flecked with light brown, making his eyes almost jewel-like in appearance.

  “I’ve narrowed it down to several possibilities,” I said, breaking eye contact to speak. I couldn’t speak while staring at him. “My first thoughts were the witness protection program.”

  “What is that?” Seth inquired.

  “You know, the program where they put people into new identities because they saw something that they shouldn’t have, and the only way to keep them safe is to give them a new life where the bad people can’t find them,” I replied. It was odd that he knew some things quite well, but others, like the witness protection program, which everyone my age had heard about at some time, he had no clue.

  “I’ve seen a lot of things I shouldn’t have, but nothing I need protection from,” Seth replied. “Any other guesses?” he said with a slight smile at his lips.

  “Well, I figured no on witness protection, as those people are hiding and being a star quarterback isn’t exactly h
iding. That got crossed off my list also, but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway. Now I’ve been trying to think of other options.”

  “You don’t believe then that I was adopted from India by the Sangre family?” Seth wondered, still slightly smiling.

  “Um, no,” I replied like it was obvious. “First off, my roommate’s family is from India. She said no way you were Indian. Second off, I’m beginning to think you aren’t even human with your super-healing abilities,” I added, causing his smile to widen. My heart beat a little faster. I just called him not human, and he was smiling.

  “Not human? Then what would I be?” Seth asked casually.

  “I don’t know, an alien, an angel or demon, a paranormal creature like a werewolf or vampire, a mutant?” I answered, watching him each time I listed something waiting for him to give me a clue. He didn’t take the bait, and I was still clueless as to why he healed fast.

  “The list is alien, angel, demon, werewolf, vampire, or mutant?” Seth asked. “Where do you get this from? I’m not green, nor have wings. Last time I checked I didn’t grow fur at the full moon or have fangs. I have no clue what mutant means, but I’m pretty sure I’m not that either.” My heart rate slowed. He was right. I had never seen him do any of that.

  “Mutant is someone that has had their DNA changed to make them have super powers. You know… comic book superheroes? People with super human abilities,” I added, but he didn’t seem to know what they were either. I looked over to his books and scanned through them again. Nothing there was even close to a comic book. Again, how did he know about werewolves and vampires, but not mutants? Seth was such a puzzle.