by Kailin Gow
fireplace and this bonfire and then something that looks like
the sun, and then there was an animal – I don't know, a goat
or a sheep or something? My flashlight died...” I put my
hands on my hips. “Listen, Cutter, go see them yourself if
you want.”
Chance said nothing. He turned to Victorinus.
“Leave us,” he said, and with a grumble the man stalked off.
“What was that about? What's the deal with the cave?
I wasn't anywhere near the mountains – I can't be more than
a mile off-trail! And, frankly, I'm sick of getting harassed
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every time I go hiking. Your dad owns a nature hotel. With
hiking trails. If your guests get threatened every time they
go hiking you're going to close down in no time...”
“Guests aren't supposed to find these places,”
Chance scowled.
“Well, then you shouldn't put your bloody trails near
them!”
“They're protected by magic!” Chance shouted, then
stopped short, clapping a hand over his mouth.
“What are you talking about? You really are insane!”
I scoffed. But something about what Chance had just said –
ridiculous as it was – brought back the feeling I'd had at the
bonfire. A feeling deep within the pit of my stomach that
what Chance had just said was true.
We were protected by magic.
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Chapter 13
“I'm not making this up,” Chance said softly.
“Well, if you're not, why don't you start explaining,”
I sighed. “What do you mean magic?”
“Even I can't enter this cave,” said Chance. “Evers,
listen...”
“Mac,” I sighed. “Or does only your special goddess
get that name? If this is some sort of weird Chance prank,
I'm sick of it.”
“You're right,” Chance said sarcastically. “I must
have made that stone glow in your hands. I must have made
it happen from all the way over here for a prank. Or maybe,
Evers, you could listen to me for once.”
“Fine, go ahead.”
“The two places you've ended up in trouble – tourists
are supposed to not be able to see them. If they head towards
one of the Veteri areas, their minds are enchanted to convince
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them to go somewhere else.”
“Well, the other thing happened to me – I felt like
something was telling me to go in! So clearly your magic's
broken.”
“Evers, the only person able to enter that cave is the
goddess herself. Or one of her handmaidens. There are many
caves like the one you've just entered all over the world – all
of them, residences of the fire goddess.”
“Is this some Veteri myth?” I thought back to class.
Surely we'd learned about fire deities in our mythology
course – but they were treated as long-forgotten stories from
a culture long since died out.
“It's not just a myth,” said Chance. “In each cave, the
goddess has hidden a stone. A special stone – like the one in
your pocket right now.”
“How did you...?” I reached into my pocket. “Never
mind. What do they do?”
“They cast spells,” Chance said simply, “performing
magic – they open locked books. They cast light. Seers or
truthsayers can use these stones to see the future. Or the
past.”
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“Now I know you're lying,” I said. “If they can't get
into the cave, how do they use the stones, huh?” But I had to
admit, if Chance was a liar, he was a terrifyingly good one.
He looked perfectly serious.
“The truthsayers are the servants of the goddess,” he
said. “The handmaidens. In the goddess's absence they take
care of her homes – the caves.”
“And you really believe this stuff?” I looked him up
and down. “You're serious, aren't you?”
“I have read every piece of mythology relating to this
island. It's a special place, Aeros. Nowhere in the world have
the myths and legends of the Greeks and Romans, the
Polynesian peoples, and the Norsemen met. But when each
wave of settlers came to Aeros, they brought their gods with
them. And so this place is full of their atavistic secrets.”
“Funny,” I said. “I wouldn't have pegged you for a
believer. Doesn't seem your thing.”
“And how do you know what's 'my thing'?” Chance
shot back. “You don't even know me.”
“Someone who doesn't believe in anything or anyone
– from the looks of it.” I grew angry, remembering how he
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had treated me the other day. “Someone who doesn't have
faith in himself, let alone anybody else. Someone who
doesn't care enough about other people to care what they
believe in...what's important to them.”
Chance grew silent, suddenly. “You really think that
of me?” He sounded hurt, even vulnerable, and I felt sorry
for my harsh words.
“You haven't given me a reason not to,” I said. “I
tried to get close to you – I tried to get to know you – but
ever since we've met you've treated me like dirt. And I'm not
about to feel sorry for you, whatever deep dark past you're
supposed to have...”
“That...was not my intent,” said Chance quietly.
“I don't care what your intent was, Chance! I'm a
person, too. A person who deserves to at least be called by
her name and not messed around. If you had a girlfriend you
should have just told me instead of leading me on...”
“A girlfriend?” Chance looked shocked.
“Misty!”
“Misty?” His surprise grew. “Misty's not...” he
stopped short. “Listen, I wasn't trying to hurt you. I'm not
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trying to mess with you. I just want to be left alone, Mac. I
don't want to get close to you. I don't want to get close to
anybody. And the more you refuse to understand that, the
more danger for us both...”
“What danger?” But then I thought of Jana, and
regretted what I had said.
“I don't want you to get hurt,” said Chance. “And I
don't want to get hurt. I've lost enough people I love – I'm
trying to make it easier on myself, okay? I'm not trying to
lead you on. But having you near me, tempting me, trying to
get me to open up or whatever it is you think you want me
to do – you don't.”
“Don't what?”
“Don't want me to open up. Because if I do, you'll die
too....” His blue eyes no longer sparkled with disdain now.
They were wide open. Full of pain, of fear. Beautiful. “And
I'd rather you hate me than die because of me,” he whispered.
“Die? Because of this goddess...”
“It's a risk. Everyone I've ever loved...” his voice
cracked.
“Your dad? Varun? Brandon?”
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Chance gave a sorry laugh. “Perhaps my father loves
me,” he said. “But he loves Varun more. Brandon is like
family too. But me…I'm a risk – I always have been. That's
the real reason I was sent away. That I was replaced by my
cousin in my father's affections – replaced in the family
business. I'm trouble, Mac, and you don't want any part of
it.”
“Maybe I do,” I said. “Maybe I'm worth the trouble.
You can't push people away forever, Chance. I know. You
can't cut yourself off from the people who care about you?”
“Why should you care about me?” he asked bitterly.
“I'm not worth anyone's time. Jana, Victoria, my
mother...there's not a woman I've loved who's still alive
today; what does that tell you?”
“It tells me you've had a lot of bad luck. And that
you've been hurt.” I put my hand on his shoulder, my heart
breaking for him. My anger at Chance was gone, replaced
with pity and pain. “Nobody should have to live without love
– especially if they're hurting the way you do.”
Chance looked up at me, tears in his eyes. “If you're
trying to get me to kiss you again,” he whispered hoarsely,
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“it's working.”
Before I could respond, he pulled me in and kissed
me. Not roughly, as he had kissed me before the Veteri – not
pulling away, as he had done at my house. Just the simple
electric shock of his mouth on mine, our longings
intertwined.
And then he jerked back. “I'm sorry,” he said. “I
shouldn't have done that.”
“Would you just...” I was getting angry, now. “Listen,
Chance. If you don't feel anything for me, just tell me. I'm a
big girl. I can handle that. But what I can't handle is you
changing your mind every five seconds...”
“It's not that...” Chance began.
“Then what?”
“I do feel something for you!” Chance cried. “A lot
for you. I can’t stop thinking about you. That's the whole
problem.”
“Because it puts me in danger,” I said. “From this
magic...which may or not exist. Because I kissed you.”
“Not just because you kissed me. Because of
something else.” He pointed at my shorts pocket. “Take out
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the stone.”
I reached into my pocket, and then let out a yelp of
surprise. In my pocket there was not a stone at all, but a small
ancient book, thickly bound, the size of a pocket Bible. The
stone was gone. “What the...”
“The goddesss's own book,” he said. “Her magic, her
memories. Her power. Zeus’ powers. Billions of years old.
Dating back from the time when the myths walked the earth.
It had the power to hide itself in any shape. A tree. A flower.
A stone. It is so powerful that guards stand outside the caves
where it is hidden. A book so powerful that it could tear the
veil between Olympus and our world. Between gods and
mortals. A book that could control the world...”
I looked at him in shock.
“The god Zeus needed to keep it safe from the others
of Olympus,” Chance was talking faster now, as if frantic.
“And that's why he entrusted it to Vesta – goddess of the
flame and of the hearth. The most incorruptible and pure of
all the goddesses. The one who hid her dire powers of flame
and destruction, choosing instead to warm the homes and
hearts of those who were good to her. And only she can find
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the book. Only she can open it. The rest of us can't even
touch it, unless they are of Vesta’s line or service, but even
if they are, they can only hold onto it for a bit.”
I looked down at the book in horror. “You switched
it when I wasn't looking. You're playing a trick on me – and
it's a nasty trick to play on someone – messing with my head
like that!” Yet as I spoke, feeling the book in my hands, I felt
a strange sense of kinship with the book – as if it knew me.
As if it recognized me.
“Why don't you take it, if it's so powerful?” In my
anger, I thrust the book into Chance's hands. To my surprise,
he screamed with pain, his hands blistering and burning as
he dropped the book, which seemed to fly back into my
hands.
“Chance!” I cried, watching with amazement as his
burns healed within seconds. “I'm sorry – I didn't...”
“Do you believe me now?” He looked up at me.
“Look, I don't want it to be true any more than you do.
Because if it's true, now every single creature – god, man,
and beast – between here and Hades will come to you. And
if it's true...” Chance looked pained. “That means that you're
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the one I've been looking for. And that I've been looking for
you...been missing you... for a very – very long time.”
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Chapter 14
“What are you talking about?” I said. But as I spoke,
my mind flashed back to the strange thing Varun had said
when we first kissed. He, too, had spoken of missing me. Of
knowing me. Of recognizing me. Did Chance know me too?
“The goddess Vesta,” he said. “The fire goddess –
queen to my king. The only one who can touch the book
without getting burned. And you're touching it now.”
In horror I put the book back into my pocket.
“I don't want it,” I said. “I don't want to touch it.”
“But it wants you,” said Chance. “You feel it, don't
you?”
I nodded mutely.
“Listen,” said Chance. “We can't talk any more about
this now. It's not safe for you here – not now that you've got
the book. We need to get back to civilization. The forces –
Olympian and Hades alike – they're less powerful in places
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that have been modernized. You'll be safer in the hotel,
around people. The magic doesn't feel as real there – and so
it isn't. Magic requires belief, after all,” he gave a grim smile.
“I need to contact the truthsayer. She'll be able to tell you if
you're a goddess or even if you could be Vesta herself. ”
“I'm not,” I said quickly. “I mean – I'm pretty sure
I'm not.” Yet as I spoke, the feeling came back more strongly
than ever. Was I sure? When I had seen the bonfire, seen the
stone glow in my hand?
“My Goddess,” he whispered softly. “My love, my
twin...” He nodded. “The connection you and I felt – I felt it,
too. Felt it so strongly. The love of centuries, millennia of
wanting you. Needing you. But...I was so afraid. Afraid I was
wrong – that the attraction I'd built up in my head was a lie.
That I would force
you to risk your life as I'd done to Jana,
to Victoria. That I'd be mistaken – that I'd be wrong. Leaving
you dead. That's why I acted the way I did to you. I wanted
to push you away. I wanted you to hate me because then I
wouldn't be a threat to you. But the more I pushed you away,
the harder you tried...”
“Reverse psychology,” I shot him a smile, trying to
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cheer him up. “If you'd come up to me and just told me you
were desperately in love with me, I'd probably have been
weirded out and never talked to you again.”
“Hindsight...”
“Then what you said about being the Fire God to the
Veteri,” I said, “that was real?”
Chance kissed me then, and my whole body reacted
once again to the heat of fire that shot through me. The spark
between us was instant, and I felt his reluctant longing give
way to the love he held back from me. He was scared. I could
feel it. I felt him shake slightly, as he gently touched my face,
unable to believe I was truly there in front of him. “I tried
not to fall in love with you. I tried to keep you away from
me, but fate has brought us together. Like it once did, my
love.” He bent down to kiss me again, and as his face came
closer to mine, I could see the fire burning in his eyes. And
when we kissed it was the most gentle kiss, and a kiss that
almost felt like a farewell.
I opened my eyes and the fire was gone from his.
“Because I love you, I have to try again. I have to tear
myself away from you again, Mac. Until I’m certain. Until
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