“It’s not Lucy,” Aiden sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Well, then, spit it out, Phoebus.” Elle scowled, growing impatient with his beating around the bush. She only called him by his odd last name when he was too slow with explaining something.
“Yours,” Aiden finally admitted, scowling himself. “Your arranged marriage, Elle. I’m talking about yours. It’s your arranged marriage that you were magically made to forget about all these years.”
Elle said nothing. She watched her friend for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. Out of all the things he could have said, she wasn’t expecting that as an answer. Elle was lost in silence for a few hard seconds as Aiden watched her carefully. He looked guilty as his hands gripped the steering wheel in front of him. His blue eyes were stormy as he watched her with pity. After a few long moments of utter silence, Elle threw back her head and laughed at his sullen expression. Even after she tried to calm herself, Elle cracked up with more laughter at Aiden’s look of pure confusion. She couldn’t help herself; his words were hilarious. Arranged marriage? Elle? Elle would be the first to admit she had absolutely no form of a social life. There wasn’t time for one. There was no time for anything other than school and work. Dating? Forget it. Elle wasn’t dazzling compared to the glamorous girls she took classes with. She didn’t spend hours working on her hair or wondering what outfit would look the best. She wasn’t sporty or interesting or even confident around members of the opposite sex. No one had ever asked her out in high school or college. Elle was simply under everyone’s radar. She wouldn’t know how to flirt with a man even if one came up and professed to her his undying love.
Her first and only kiss had been during a party on her campus her freshman year when a guy had grabbed her and pulled her in for a chaste smooch. That night was also the first and only time Elle had ever punched someone; she broke both the perverted guy’s nose and her own hand. It wasn’t a proud day for her by any means.
The mere thought of herself being in an arranged marriage was just so hilarious due to her lack of experience in dating. Elle pulled herself from Aiden’s car while still laughing. Some of her coffee in the thermos her grandmother gave her wiggled uncontrollably out of it. After calming herself, Elle shook her head and gave her friend a roll of the eyes. “Fine, be all secretive about whatever has you down. I’m going to be late. Tell me what’s up later, okay?” With that, she shut the car door and hurried inside to start her shift. Aiden sat behind the steering wheel, gaping after the beautiful brunette in surprise.
“That could’ve gone better,” he muttered.
Chapter Three
Elle was glad she brought warmer clothes to change into for her classes later that afternoon. Jeans and a forest green turtleneck kept her much warmer than a silly knee-length dress uniform. By the time she arrived at school and successfully finished two long classes, Elle finally got a text in response to her message to Lucy earlier. Elle was curious to see if Aiden had spoken to her about whatever mysterious problem was plaguing him.
Lucy: We never talk outside of hanging around you, Elle. But if he’s upset it’s probably about the weather. We all know how much he likes the sun. ;)
Even Lucy knew of Aiden’s funny mood changes that seemed to shift with the weather. Snickering, Elle sent a quick text in response before shoving her phone back into her pocket.
Luckily, all of her literature class was spent revolving exclusively around finishing up everyone’s essays. But unluckily, she hadn’t even figured out what her topic was going to be. She formulated a starting point and began to type on her outdated laptop. Considering the entire class could use the two hours of class to either edit or leave, Elle took the opportunity just to pack up her belongings to leave. If she were honest, she was embarrassed at the thought of someone walking past her in class and finding she hadn’t figured out a name for her project yet. She figured heading home might provide less pressure while trying to come up with an idea. It was better than just staring at her blank screen and wishing for an idea to pop up.
“Uncreative: An Autobiography of Evangeline Darrow,” Elle muttered to herself as she made her way outside into the brisk weather. Her father was a brilliant professor. The year cancer took him, he was still an upbeat, lively storyteller even when he had every reason not to be. The best advice in regard to writing he ever gave Elle was relatively simple: When you love to write, write what you know. As Elle made her way across the chilly campus courtyard, she couldn’t help but wonder…what the heck did she know, exactly?
She had been a cheerleading bookworm in high school who spent the vast majority of her time stuffed behind a book in the local library. If not for her tumbling abilities, she wouldn’t have made the cheer squad. Elle was too quiet. She avoided speaking unless spoken to and did not go out of her way to seek conversations with others. Elle was polite but reserved. With the exception of Aiden and Lucy, she didn’t really have many friends. Some acquaintances, but not people she held deep bonds of friendship with. Mostly, it attributed back to Elle being a reader. She didn’t enjoy all-night party rages or going to nightclubs. Her idea of fun was slipping into a world of make-believe and wonder by just turning through the pages of a good book. Not much had changed for her nowadays. The only difference between Elle and her high school self was now she was no longer a cheerleader.
Making her way across the crowded parking lot to get to her vehicle, Elle loved the sound her boots made when they touched the freshly fallen snow. She was enjoying the cold weather. It was abnormal to have eight inches of snow in the usually warm South Carolina. Normally, her entire campus would be shut down as well as all elementary and middle schools in town. People in the south weren’t equipped to handle snow the way their northern counterparts were. But it was a week for exams. School officials didn’t shut down the college campus because they didn’t want to push another week of classes into the summer break. Elle smiled as she walked. She could walk a mile in the snow simply because she loved hearing the soft crunching sound beneath her feet. Being so preoccupied with watching how her boots imprinted in the snow, it made her oblivious to the person in front of her until she roughly bumped shoulders with him.
“Oh!” Elle squeaked, feeling embarrassed. “I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” she added in hastily, her embarrassment not going away.
The young man before her shook his sandy-colored head, a grin on his lips. “Do not be sorry. I was looking to run into you, Evangeline. You just made that a little more literal than I intended.” He chuckled softly.
Elle found the tall young man before her looked no older than seventeen. He was a well-dressed teenager whose clothes looked more expensive than Elle’s entire wardrobe back at home. He wore black dress pants and a long black tailcoat. He had sandy brown hair and a very strange shade of eyes that looked crossed between violet, green, and blue. Elle had never seen an eye color so unique. She quickly deduced they were just strange but interesting colored contact lenses.
“Um, do I know you?” Elle asked, scrutinizing the young man before her. She was decent with faces, but she couldn’t recall speaking to the boy before.
“Yes and no,” the young man answered with a smile. “We met a very long time ago. I doubt you remember it.”
He wasn’t accurate, Elle thought. She was certain she’d never seen this boy before. “Oooo-kay,” she said, not quite knowing what to add to that. “Did you need something?” she asked politely, remembering the boy saying he wanted to talk to her.
“I’m friends with…Phoebus,” he began. “He mentioned how the two of you didn’t finish speaking earlier today.”
Elle quickly deduced he was referring to Aiden. “You know Aiden?”
The young man gave a curt nod. “To get to the crux of the matter, he was saying you did not exactly take the news of your engagement well. I’ve come here to not only get you to accept your fate, but also to help provide your future husband a better way of finding you.”
Elle stared at the young man before her, her dark brows furrowing in confusion. None of this was making sense to her in the slightest. “Pardon my French, but what the hell are you talking about?”
Normally, Elle wasn’t this impolite. The boy was simply annoying her with the snobby look on his pretty face. Did Aiden really send a friend of his to her school to keep playing this strange game? His joke this morning wasn’t funny enough that he still needed to play around with it.
The boy frowned at Elle. “That wasn’t French.”
For a moment, she felt the boy was joking. Realizing he thought she was serious, Elle sighed. She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “I say ‘pardon my French’ when I cuss or say hell.”
“Oh,” the young man responded enthusiastically, soon nodding. “That makes more sense, petite fille.” He grinned, obviously knowing the language himself.
Frowning, Elle switched her heavy backpack to her other shoulder. “Okay, can you please tell Aiden his joke stopped being funny this morning? Because it did. It really, really did.”
Elle had started walking toward the back of Lucy’s truck across the parking lot before realizing the young man was following her. “Is it safe to assume that you’re not actually a believer of fate?” the boy guessed, cocking a sandy brow as he got Elle to finally turn around.
She relented. “Believing that life has a predetermined course of events? No. No, I don’t.”
“Why not?”
Elle turned back around to find the young man was now sporting a pout. It made him appear even younger. Strangely, he looked let down by her words.
“Because,” Elle started as she waved a hand to find the proper wording, “where would the fun of that be? Fate means life was already written out for you so you never had your own blank slate to write your own story. That would be awfully boring.” That answer truly stemmed from hearing her father repeat it so often when she was a child. Matthew often finished his bedtime fables with explaining that everyone designed their own destiny even if they weren’t aware of it. Still, the response held Elle’s genuine belief. She liked surprise and not quite knowing what would happen next. Knowing what was going to happen, whether it was in books or movies, typically took away the thrill. The young man looked deeply unsatisfied by her response. “Just because something has been prearranged does not mean you will know how life will turn out. Styx, you and your husband may truly love or truly hate one another,” he offered with a small grimace.
Elle stared at him. “You and Aiden need to find better jokes,” she snorted, moving past him to continue toward Lucy’s truck.
“If I could have just a moment longer of your time—”
“I’m going to be late for my next class,” Elle lied smoothly over her shoulder.
She heard the boy huff. “Come now, Evangeline, we both know you’re out of class early. You don’t need to be anywhere because your next shift does not start for another hour. You can spare a few minutes to hear me out.”
Elle paused in her tracks, a heavy frown taking over. Even if this guy truly was Aiden’s friend, he couldn’t possibly know that Elle had gotten out of class early unless he was in class with her to hear her professor.
“You’re not in my English Lit class,” she began, turning to look at the boy as she cocked a brow. “How would you know I—”
“My mother has always said eavesdropping was my biggest flaw.” The boy grinned. “I never could stop sticking around to overhear something. I needed to speak with you, and waiting until you were out of your classes seemed to be the best option. I simply happened to overhear your professor.” Elle stared at him in surprise. “Now,” he continued, stepping forward and perking his shoulders up, “introductions are in order. My birth name is Eros.”
“After the God of love? Cupid?” Elle snorted. Her father had been a mythology buff. He intensely studied all forms of mythology, often staying up late at night to sort through books and poems to learn all he could. During the last year of his life when the cancer had gotten really awful and was affecting his thoughts, Matthew was delusional enough that he spoke of his stories as if they were actual history instead of myth. Elle had heard stories of Eros from her father, but when Matthew spoke of him during his last month of life, he spoke of Eros as if he disliked him because of his many quarrels with different gods and goddesses. Whenever she would hear her father’s stories, Elle had always assumed Cupid to be a chubby baby who wore a diaper, courtesy of Valentine’s Day decorations her schools often put up.
“Exactly!” The young man beamed. “I was expecting you were to take this news with a lot more difficulty. Since you know who I am, this makes things quite simple to explain.”
“Why? Just because I know your name is derived from the Greek god of love doesn’t mean I know who you are and what you’re talking about,” Elle snapped back, growing impatient. She needed to get to her next shift with Lucy, and then she had her essay to focus on.
The boy’s pretty—and perfect—red lips pulled into a frown. “So you do not realize I am the true Eros?”
Elle pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to develop some quick patience. She was somewhat wondering if there was something wrong mentally with this boy. Perhaps there was, but Elle sadly did not have the time to help him deal with his issues. If she didn’t find a topic to write about, she could lose her partial scholarship if she got a C. “Look, it was nice meeting you, but I have a life I need to get back to.” Elle nodded seriously, turning to walk away. To her shock, the young man was suddenly right in front of her and no longer behind her. Spinning on her heel, Elle couldn’t figure out how he managed to get in front of her so fast. Her head whipped around to look behind her where he had just been. “How did you do that?”
“I’m not getting the impression you are truly receptive to the whole idea of your engagement,” Eros replied sourly.
“Seriously, how the heck did you do that?” Elle questioned curiously, glancing down to find there were no snow tracks in front of her indicating the young man had run ahead of her. None. It was as if he had suddenly appeared out of thin air rather than run ahead of her. Elle stared around curiously, not being able to figure out how he reappeared so fast.
“Okay,” the young man sighed again, rubbing his eyes wearily with a single hand. “I see I most definitely have my work cut out for me. Now, I really don’t want to shoot you with a golden arrow. Apollo would kill me if I took away your free will,” he said, rolling his kaleidoscope-colored eyes. “So you’re going to have to work with me, child.”
“No, really, how did you get in front of me so fast?” Elle asked, completely ignoring the young man’s strange rambling. She just couldn’t figure out how he had pulled off that neat little trick as she scanned the snow to find his footprints. There weren’t any.
“That she’s intrigued by,” the boy muttered to himself, narrowing his eyes at Elle ever so slightly. “Okay, here.” Elle looked back at him to see he now held a medium-sized snow globe. That wasn’t what had caused her to slowly advance as she watched the silver diamond city inside the globe; it was recognition. She remembered the globe. Elle distinctly remembered having a globe like this when she was a little girl. She recalled playing the lovely music for days until her father had found it. Elle remembered that he was very upset that day and promptly took it away. That was the last she remembered of it.
“You recognize it,” said Eros with a sly grin.
It was when the young man twisted the snow globe on the bottom that Elle recognized the very soft melody that played. It was just as hauntingly beautiful as Elle remembered. Her eyes widened in remembrance. “I had something like that when I was a kid.”
“It was a gift.” Eros nodded. “You were given it as a way to track your whereabouts. However, Matthew discovered what the globe actually was and attempted to destroy it.”
Elle’s gaze flickered up to stare at the young man. “Your parents knew my dad?”
Eros sho
ok his head slowly. “I knew your father, Evangeline. We were even on friendly terms when he wasn’t being ignorant.”
“My dad wasn’t ignorant,” Elle defended automatically.
“That is a debatable statement at best,” replied Eros calmly. “Your father wanted you to be an ordinary human. The fact of the matter is simple; you never have and never will be such.”
The boy spoke with such certainty, Elle believed for a moment he had genuinely known Matthew. But that was impossible. He looked younger than Elle, and her father died a very long time ago. The teenage Eros would have been a child a few years younger than her when Matthew Darrow had died. Hesitantly, the young man handed Elle the beautiful snow globe holding the sparkling city. She accepted it, staring at it in wonder. After the soft melody slowly died down, Elle diverted her gaze back to the boy for an explanation. “You cannot destroy something that was gifted by the Fates,” Eros explained, a certain gleam in his eyes. “Matthew couldn’t destroy the globe, so he did the next best thing. He threw it into the Pacific Ocean in a bid never to allow you to interact with it again.”
Elle cocked a brow, not really understanding what it was this strange boy was saying. Her memories were leading her back to all the times she and her dad moved around the country. California was Matthew’s favorite place; he loved water and warm weather. Just mentioning the Pacific Ocean made Elle miss him.
“And you searched the ocean until you could find it?” snorted Elle.
“I had assistance. There are quite a few individuals who are interested in your future playing out as it’s supposed to,” said Eros seriously. “When it was discovered a good eight miles off the California coast last year, I knew this artifact needed to be kept until the moment it was necessary to return it to you.”
“Which is today?”
Destiny: A Fantasy Collection Page 3