Intrigue: The Night Muse Trilogy
Chapter 19: Guilt Trip
I could not ever remember dreading going to school as much as Monday. The thought of seeing Thrace caused a wave of pure panic in me. I thought briefly about taking a mental health day. However, my mother would check all my vital signs to see if a sick day was warranted. Luckily, Thrace was only in one of my elective classes because I could only handle so much awkward before my face got as red as my hair. I had to force myself to leave the sanctuary of my covers and drag myself to the bathroom to attempt to look somewhat human. I barely succeeded as I made my way downstairs for my Zone Bar and Mt. Dew. At first, I hadn’t realized that Thrace wouldn’t be picking up me this morning. Then, I waited just in case--not knowing if I was hoping he would pick me up or hoping he wouldn’t. I finally gave up and drove to school on autopilot.
As I walked in, I realized that carrying the soul for some Greek god had a lot of drama associated with it as well as some additional disadvantages: 1) doesn’t get you out of any homework; 2) doesn’t stop your ex-boyfriend from avoiding you; and most relevant to my current situation 3) doesn’t stop your two girlfriends from pouncing on you and demanding details on your rather extraordinary weekend. “What happened to you Friday night? Did Thrace go home with that hoochie? Did you dump his cheatin eyas? Why didn’t you call me back?”
I took a deep breath and put my hand up and said, “Whoa. It’s Monday morning. My brain only can process at a certain level right now.”
I looked down at the floor and tried to come up with the most appropriate response to their questions. Finally, I looked up and confessed, “I’m only going to talk about this once and only with you two. I know the break-up will be all over school, and I don’t care. I am going to get this out as quick as I can.”
“Of course, Calli. We just want to help and kick Thrace’s eyas if that’s possible,” Jazz replied.
I took another deep breath, and the words rushed out of my mouth so I didn’t have to actually stop and reflect on them. I gave them the whole, but censored tale of the rave and break-up.
“Girl, you are way too nice. I’d just walk away and wouldn’t look back,” Jazz commented vehemently.
“He’s been my hero for 10 years. I can’t just walk away from him. You didn’t see how hurt he looked,” I explained.
“Hurt. Hurt. The only hurt he should have been feeling is if you kicked him in the sack before you left. Who knows what STD he could be carrying now,” Jazz scoffed indignantly.
“Well, luckily I don’t have to worry about that. I just think today, this week, and possibly this whole month, is gonna be awkward. I want my friend back without all the complications.”
The bell rang with my last words, and I was immensely relieved to be released from my captivity. As we were walking to class Jazz promised, “Doesn’t matter whether its here or at the rave. We still got your back.”
“Especially, at lunch today,” Key reminded me.
When we walked into homeroom, Rafe was sitting in the chair next to mine looking as yummy as usual. I shot a grimace his way that he seemed to interpret as amusing rather than serious. I realized that there was not going to be even one class today where I wasn’t going to be under a microscope of my classmates, friends, enemies, and Rafe. It made me wonder again why I decided to get out of bed today. As class was dismissed, Rafe immediately stepped in beside me and quietly asked, “How are you this morning? Ready for the straight jacket yet?”
I ignored both his questions and instead replied, “I got ambushed as soon as I set foot in the door today. Jazz and Key wanted all the gory details.” I gave Rafe a brief run down of my revelation to them as we headed to our next class. I went through my morning classes in a complete daze.
And then we reached lunch. I sat down with Jazz and Key on each side of me and Rafe across from me toward the end of the table. Thrace hadn’t arrived yet and my back was to the line, so I hadn’t seen him. Our table filled up pretty quickly, and it seemed as if it was the center of everyone’s attention. Great….Just what I needed today. A large audience. Thrace finally arrived at our table and scanned it quickly. Our eyes met briefly before he looked away. I could still see the pain in his eyes. He and his friends sat at the opposite end of the table. Things seemed stilted at our table with all my tablemates sitting in the middle, slyly looking back and forth between Thrace and I like they were watching a tennis match. Unfortunately, Thrace took a seat on the opposite side of the table, so Jazz and Key were probably glaring at him every time he glanced down to my end. Rafe remained fairly quiet the whole lunch until he finally tried to break the tension and said, “I heard about the Haunted House at Erebus. You guys up for a little mayhem?”
I looked up at him and smiled as I heard my friends start to plan and debate a ‘field trip’ to Erebus.
Unfortunately, Thrace chose that time to glance my way which didn’t go over so well. He glared directly at me, and Jazz caught sight of it. Her temper flaring, she pointed Thrace’s way and warned in a loud accusing tone, “Don’t be shooting those evil looks down here like you didn’t cheat on my girl for the world to see!” It seemed like the whole cafeteria froze, and the silence at our table was deafening, as if it needed a reaction from Thrace to allow for noise. Thrace’s eyes caught mine again as he realized that his sins had not been private and searched my eyes for something ….forgiveness?….. understanding?…..absolution? He looked down at his tray and pushed back from the table and stalked off. I wanted to go follow him, but Justin, Spart, and Siena went after him. As she passed me she threatened, “I wouldn’t get to comfortable in your seats.”
Jazz laughed, “She thinks she can vote us off the island?”
As soon as Team Thrace left the cafeteria, it was like it exploded with noise. I shot a disapproving look at Jazz with one eyebrow raised, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Jazz was immediately contrite, “I’m sorry for shouting your business down the table, but what was that look about? How can he be pissed? He cheated on you!”
I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Well, we gave the caf the drama it had been waiting for, so what time do you all want to hook up on Friday for the Haunted House?”
The question set the group back to making plans and coming up with schemes. Rafe caught my eye and he gave me a searching look as if to ask if I was ok. I gave him a brief nod, but I think my eyes probably told another story. As we walked to study hall, I told Rafe I needed two things: help catching up with my homework (for which I blamed on him) and space in journalism to corner Thrace. Of course, he had to point out that Thrace would be less conflicted in the long run if we made a clean break of it. Although I acknowledged the logic of his observation, there was no way I would emotionally let Thrace go without a fight. And I was excellent at fighting dirty. Three generations of Edonides women had passed on the skills to effectively guilt trip the men and children in their lives to stay in line.
I tried to corner him in journalism, but he deftly got our journalism teacher to let him leave to do the student poll before I could even approach him. I searched for him as we went to our next class, but I had to give up and head to my own class….and I was still late. I sprinted from my last class to the parking lot to catch him before he left, but his class was closer to the exit than mine so I got to see his taillights. I had little experience as a stalker, so my mad persuasion skills proved futile until I tracked him down.
I learned the hardest part of any break-up was starting new routines without that person in your life. There were gaping holes in my time that Thrace filled: before school, after karate class, and weekends. It was like all those time slots stood empty. Although Rafe seemed willing to fill up some of those areas, I didn’t want him to yet. Despite my feelings for Rafe, it took time to bounce back from losing a fairy tale relationship that spanned a decade. Then, there were parts of the routine that stayed the same that still included Thrace, which was totally awkward: lunch, journalism, karate, and our families. I kept standing by hi
m in karate no matter where he stood, which got me an annoyed look. I kept approaching him in journalism, which got me ignored. I kept going over to his house, which got the door slammed in my face.
By the time Friday rolled around, our field trip to Erebus was set. In Greek mythology, Erebus was the son of Chaos and married his sister Nyx (Night). He also had a twin brother Thanatos (Death). In reality, Erebus was a four-story haunted house in what looked like an abandoned factory. I just wanted to scream with my friends to get some tension out while avoiding flying monkeys and crossing a bottomless pit. Team Thrace decided to pass and leave the “immature crap” to us. We arranged two cars full of immature DAI students who enjoy getting the flock scared out of them. Of course with all the immortals in the abandoned realty in my city, much of Detroit could be considered one giant Haunted House.
Jazz had already dumped the soccer cutie and was now scoping alternatives while we were standing in line to get in. She was offering a running commentary on all her potential candidates as we waited. I was mostly listening to her until I heard that Team Thrace was going to another rave. Flock….Flock….Flock…. Rafe overheard the comment as well because our eyes met, and I saw a brief flash of concern cross his face. Once my mind started down that worry track, I was unable to concentrate until we actually entered Erebus. There was literally no way you can concentrate on anything else but surviving the many, many rooms. Rafe stayed close to me the whole way through and laughed every time I screamed.
There might have been some hand holding, despite the strict no PDA rule that I had in place with Rafe. Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed, and I was sure it would feed the gossip mill around the school. After we all made it through alive, we headed for the Hard Rock Café to debrief on how we rated this year’s haunted attractions. Apparently, the group liked it so much that we decided to make a whole theme weekend of it. We were going to go to The Haunted Farm of Terror on Saturday night and try some haunted barns, corn mazes, and hay rides. I wanted to pass on two nights of hauntings, but without Thrace to hang out with, I needed to keep busy to fill my empty time. We dropped off Jazz, Key, and Tre and set up a time to head to the farm tomorrow. “Fright night was definitely a rousing success. Who would have thought it would spawn a Fright Night 2,” Rafe laughed.
“Same cheesy entertainment, different day. I am sure you had to be vastly amused by the scary creatures. Little did our fellow students know that you were by far the scariest creature in the room. But then again, being an immortal is pretty hot nowadays.”
“So when do you think you will feel comfortable enough for an actual first date? I am just checking, so no pressure. Group dates are fine, but I am itching to cash in on my rain check,” he teased as he flashed me my favorite wicked smile.
I laughed and summarized, “First, this was not a group date for us. We were just hanging out with a group of friends. Second, I think you already cashed in on your rain check!”
“Maybe, I just want to try out my superb first date skills on you,” Rafe taunted.
“I do not doubt your centuries of experience in dating, but I distinctly remember mentioning a proper mourning period. Besides, my dad requires a background check and a blood test.”
“What exactly would he be testing for?”
“I’m sure anything hinky in your system. He likes to be thorough,” I replied.
“So, the fact that I’m not human probably won’t faze him?”
“If he knew that his daughter was about to date a Greek god, he would be overjoyed. However, he would probably be cleaning an Uzi instead of his traditional hunting rifle the first time he met you. After he threatened you, he might have you sit down and read the The Iliad and The Odyssey with him.”
“Your father sounds like a rather protective man. He must have a big job. You Edonides women must keep him on his toes.”
We had just pulled into my drive so I announced, “He feels blessed every single day. Now, I am off to bless him with my presence some more. I will see you in karate tomorrow.”
“Can I pick you up for class, or is that being too forward?” Rafe asked with an impish grin.
“Much too forward and would alert my parents to your existence as a potential suitor, which I would like to delay,” I warned.
“Your parents awareness or my pursuit?” Rafe asked as he gave me his best devilish wink.
“Both. I need you to go find Thrace and check on him. I need you to keep him out of trouble!”
Rafe grabbed my hand before I bolted out the door and kissed the inside of my wrist at my pulse point, “I was heading to find him as soon as I dropped you off. If I need to, I will put a guard on him. Good night, Siren.”
It was late enough that dad was sleeping in his recliner while mom was sleeping on the couch, so I tiptoed upstairs, got ready for bed, and added to my journal.
The next day I heard, by way of Jazz, that Thrace was too busy being hung over to attend karate class. I suppose hung over was better than high with memory loss. Rafe specifically said that Thrace would not have a hangover if the harpy bit him. Without the added tension, class flew by, and I gave my mind over to the oblivion of the routine exertion. I told the girls I was heading to DUA after class, so there was a minimum of gossiping. I quickly took my shower and was heading out the door as I saw Rafe leaning against my car.
“Do all girls take forever to get ready or is it just you?” Rafe demanded.
“I’m sorry, did I miss the part where I asked you to wait for me? You realize your behavior screams stalker, right?” I remarked.
“I just wanted to check if you needed a ride. And I prefer to call it persistence. You know until you agree to a first date that I will continue to show persistence, but no pressure,” he assured me.
“Or the more you stalk me the further our first date becomes, but no pressure. What happened with Thrace last night?”
Rafe sighed and stated, “By the time I got to the rave, they had gone home.”
I was relieved and let out a sigh before I answered, “Thanks, but a girl still reserves the right for a little alone time even if she can only get it during her car rides, so I will see you there.”
As I continued my research on the Grande Ballroom, Rafe did some data entry for one of the DUA’s latest projects. He hands flew all over the keyboard in a blur. We bantered back and forth as usual while we worked until Dr. A walked in with Delian. I immediately froze in place. It was like I was hoping if I didn’t move, Delian wouldn’t see me. My fleeting hope was dashed after they both greeted Rafe and then turned to me.
Dr. A asked me politely, “Calli, could you please help Delian with the lesson planning for next semester? He really needs student input.”
I panicked and looked at Rafe rather than Delian, “I’m kinda in the middle of something Dr. A. Do you mind if Rafe helps Delian?”
Dr. A looked amused as he replied, “Calli, you are much more familiar with the classes at your school. So, I would prefer it be you. It won’t take more than an hour, I promise.”
I was trying desperately to come up with an excuse to say no, but sensing his victory, Delian took my hand and stood me up as he said, “We can go to one of the turret rooms to discuss the lesson plans that go with the class syllabus. I don’t need a computer.”
I tried to take my hand back, but his grip was firm as he led me out the door. Dr. A stuck around and started a conversation with Rafe.
“You don’t think that was a tad high-handed, Delian?” I demanded.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures. You have been avoiding me. Is there a reason, or can I let my imagination draw its own conclusions?”
“I think I have an odd allergic reaction to you. I seem to have verbal diarrhea when you are near. It is like my mouth just gushes out all these bizarre things, so I choose to avoid you rather than embarrass myself.”
“Well, you are very amusing, and I truly have never met anyone quite as candid as you. But, I really just want to finish thi
s course syllabus and lesson plans, so they can get approved by your school board. I promise I won’t use my Jedi mind tricks on you for the next hour,” he commented dryly with a twitch of his lips that could have been his version of a smile. He guided me toward the window seat of one of the turret rooms. He handed me the syllabus, the outline of the lesson plans, and a pen to make corrections with.
“I never took you for a comedian, Delian. I would cease trying from this point on and give me a little space, dude.” I had sat down on the window seat and sprawled out a little with my legs. While he sat close by, he made sure that his legs touched mine.
After my command, he moved back just a little in the seat, so we were still almost touching. Apparently, that was the best I was going to get in the personal space department from him. I read over the material, carefully looking at the format and content of the class. It covered a lot of different aspects of architecture, math, finance, science, restoration, urban planning, art, music, dance, and design. I had never seen any class like it before because it incorporated lecture, research, and manual labor. I could not wait to get started. I made some minor suggestions for Delian on sequencing of the class but was blown away that this was actually happening. Now, my committee and the PTA just had to come up with the rest of the funds to pay for the project.
Of course, as I was trying to concentrate, Delian was staring at me with his intense gaze, so it took me twice as long as it should have to go over the material. I finally looked up and said, “Staring is rude.”
“Does it bother you, Calliope? The expressions that run across your face are captivating.”
I returned the materials and unsuccessfully tried to avoid his fervent gaze. “I love how the class is set up. It should get a lot of students interested in the project. And I know if my friends find out you are teaching, you are gonna have to turn girls away for this class. I get dibs though,” I gasped then realizing what that just sounded like.
I was stuttering again as I continued, “I…I…I didnnnt mean it like it sounded.”
The indulgent smile was back as he replied, “I don’t mind being claimed by you, Calliope. My guess is that you could defend your property rather well.”
“I didn’t claim you, and you are not my property!” I gasped out all flustered again.
I shot up from my seat and started to retreat, but once again in a flash he was blocking my access to the hall with his hands crossed over his chest and his possessive gaze in full effect. “I think your true instinct is to stand and fight but with me you run.”
I met his stormy gaze and said the first thing that popped in my head, “My first instinct is always to defend an attack. I don’t pursue. I feel like you want something from me that I might never be able to give you. Something I don’t even understand right now, but a big part of my head is warning me to shut the flock up and get the flock out of here. I know what I just said sounds way freaky, but my filter is gone, and I can’t seem to stop myself from saying flocked up things to you.”
Delian didn’t act like what I said freaked him out. He just nodded and held my confused gaze with his penetrating stare. He finally murmured, “I’m sorry, Calliope. It is probably too soon for me to want to be part of your life. I will try to keep my distance, although it will take every ounce of control I have.”
I tried to process his words and make them fit into my normal world as I asked him, “Because you are going to be my teacher or because of the age thing?”
“It’s definitely an age thing, just not in the way you are asking. However, I believe you already realize that.”
As he stepped aside he whispered, “Run back to his protection for now, my Muse.”
I gasped as I heard him call me his Muse, but I did exactly what he said. I headed straight for Rafe. I searched the building until I found him in the empty Assembly Room practicing his kihon. I watched as I pondered the things Delian said to me. There was something familiar about Delian—in the way he moved, in his speech. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but Rafe and Dr. A were definitely hiding something from me. And it was important.
Rafe finished his graceful and precise movements and turned to me. “Are you all done with Delian?”
I walked toward him with a determined stride, and as I stood in front of him, I inquired in a forceful voice, “I don’t know. You tell me Rafe. Tell me again, how do you know Delian?”
He didn’t meet my gaze as he sullenly replied, “He’s my brother. He’s Apollo. He’s going to be the savior for the humans in this city some day after you become his Muse.”
“Flock…..Flock….Flock…. You are sooooooo on probation with me right now. And don’t bother coming to pick us up tonight. I will drive my friends. You have to give me cool down time. Got it?” I was actually raising my voice, and my Irish temper was definitely all up in his face.
“I’m sorry, Calliope. I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”
“Whatever!” I yelled as I stomped out the door.
Luckily, I did not see Delian/Apollo on my way out. I did almost run over Dr. A on the stairs as I was trying to exit the building. He steadied me, but when he looked down at me, I saw concern on his face, “Are you alright Calli?”
“No. I am definitely not. Why is my life so flockin complicated?” I asked in a desperate manner.
He gave me a knowing look as he let go of my arms, “Seldom does the appearance of something match the reality of it. And life in this city is more dangerous than it would appear. Arm yourself well, Calliope, whether it is with knowledge, power, or strength.”
I studied him then. This was not typical stuff you heard from your teachers. Dr. A was warning me about that other world in a subtle way.
I finally nodded at him and countered, “I am top of my class at evasion and defense, doc. I will try not to let those skills go to waste.”
Dr. A volunteered, “If you ever need my help, Calliope, please do not hesitate to ask for it.” Then, he gave me his cell number.
“Done and done, Dr. A. Now I have to bolt. I will see you next week.”