by Allie Burton
“What do you think?” Demetri’s smirk challenged.
I wasn’t here to be a fashion don’t.
“Maybe it will fit the daughter of your overseas customer.” I hung the outfit back on the rack and continued searching for the perfect item to make me feel better.
Demetri’s grin twisted. “I believe she already owns a similar outfit.”
* * *
Three days.
My pulse pounded with doom, doom, doom.
My parents had taken three days to return my desperate call.
Only to tell me they didn’t care anymore. Didn’t care what I wanted or where I wanted to go to school.
As if they ever cared. Demetri cared more about me. He’d called or texted daily since my last visit, checking on me. He’d sympathized about the expulsion and asked if I needed help.
Ripping my jacket off the hanger, I slammed the closet door in my room closed. Tonight was a home basketball game, and I intended to enjoy because it might be the last high school basketball game I ever attended.
Exiting the residence hall, I joined the other students heading toward the gymnasium. They were talking and laughing while I huffed in silence. Their lives were so normal and well-adjusted. Similar to Antony living with his professor. Their parents didn’t wait three days before returning their calls. Their parents didn’t plan to ship them off somewhere even less palatable.
Everything inside hardened. My back, my bloodstream, my brain. I refused to go home, a beaten crocodile with my tail between my legs. An unwanted guest in my mother and father’s lives until they sent me somewhere else. The school had no right to kick me out. Mr. Bartlett had pretended not to see me, just like my parents. And the other students must’ve been in on the joke.
I’d actually been very visible the last three days. No strange occurrences. If I asked someone a question or made a comment, they’d responded. Maybe it had been empathy on the other students’ part because they knew I’d be gone soon. Rumors traveled faster than a superhero at Exeter Academy.
Slipping onto the bench seats next to Ellen, I gave her a sharp nod in greeting.
“Sorry, about the eviction.” She knew I had to be out of my room tomorrow. It was part of her job.
“Yeah, whatever.” I blew her off, too steamed to talk about the expulsion. I wanted to get lost in the rhythm of the game, in the pageantry of the cheers and the band, in the camaraderie of the students.
I wanted to get lost, but be found as well.
What was I going to do now? With my schooling? With my life?
My eyes burned and my lungs staggered. My parents would never let me go to the private school near our house. They wouldn’t trust me to basically live on my own with servants. Which meant I’d be shipped off to a more strict juvenile justice school. One where we had to sign in and out, where nightly bed checks were normal, and we’d be locked in at night. I’d be in prison.
My shoulders slumped and I closed my eyes, trying to stop the tears.
“CC.” Antony’s deep voice yanked me out of my self-imposed funk.
He stood on the aisle stairs, wearing black jeans and a black sweater with a collar underneath. Nice and sophisticated. No more ripped sweatshirts and stained jeans. His dark hair glistened when the bright fluorescent lights shined on the rain drops in his hair. His green gaze held concern.
My heart squealed. For me?
“You like basketball?” His surprisingly-pleased tone indicated he enjoyed the sport, too.
“Yeah. You got game?” My voice husked with a sexiness I’d never heard. Normally, my most exciting game was solitaire. I sounded reckless and flirty.
Maybe I was reckless. I was leaving town tomorrow. There was no time to be coy. I liked Antony and if I wanted to get to know him, tonight was the night.
His green eyes widened with more than surprise. He took a seat on the metal stairs next to me. “I haven’t seen you around much the last couple of days.”
For a second, I froze. Had I become invisible again? Yet people had talked to me.
“I’ve been moping in my room.” Waiting for my parents to call. And when they finally did call, it wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, even after I’d pleaded for another chance and begged them to call the headmaster.
I must’ve frowned, because Antony said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
His concern relaxed me, softening my bones. I did need someone to talk to, to vent my frustrations, and maybe get a hug from. Or a kiss. “Yes.”
“It’s too loud here.” Standing, he held out his hand.
I liked the idea of getting to know Antony better than basketball.
After saying a quick goodbye to Ellen, Antony and I headed out of the gymnasium.
“Has something happened?” he asked, as we strolled toward the residence hall.
A mist of rain fell, making the blacktop glisten. The lights shone, spotlighting the darkness. The pathway was empty because most of the students were at the game.
“I got kicked out of school.” I stubbed my foot into the ground.
“What? Why?” Shock vibrated in his questions.
My cheeks heated. He didn’t know I hadn’t been a good student or a good kid. “My parents forced me to attend this school and I rebelled by not going to classes. Then, I totally changed to prove to them I could be a good student. I’ve turned in all my homework, studied, gotten good grades, and attended class.”
“So what happened?” He took hold of my hand and squeezed.
The gesture did more than comfort. Tingles spread from where our fingers intertwined. The warmth traveled up my arm and into my chest.
“It was weird. The final incident happened on Monday. My AP Euro teacher pretended he couldn’t see me, the day my big presentation was due.”
Antony coughed. “Why would the teacher pretend not to see you?” His voice strangled, as if he had something caught in his throat.
“I don’t know.” I stomped my foot. “I talked to the headmaster and my parents. No one wants to help me stay at Exeter Academy. I have to be packed and out of the residence hall by end of day tomorrow. My parents emailed me a plane ticket expecting me to return home.”
His green stare sharpened. “What’re you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” Tears threatened again. I didn’t want to cry in front of Antony. I didn’t want to cry in front of anyone. Surprise gasped through my system. Realization struck similar to seeing someone in the same outfit. “I don’t want to go home this way. I don’t want to go home at all.”
Because the cold, austere, empty mansion wasn’t a home.
Stopping in front of the student union, he took both of my hands and rubbed them together. “Your hands are freezing. Let’s go inside and grab a hot chocolate.”
The student union had a coffee shop, book shop, and a couple of fast-food restaurants. And people. Anyone who wasn’t at the game would be socializing or studying inside.
My eyes were probably red from holding in the tears. Most likely, my face was splotchy. I didn’t want anyone to see me in bright lights. I didn’t want Antony to see me looking this way, either. “Do you mind if I wait outside?”
He gave a quick perusal around the empty quad. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
Dashing into the building, it appeared as if he was trying to make a record for the time it took to get hot chocolate. So sweet he didn’t want to leave me alone. I let his soothing and yet exciting presence wash away my depression.
If I had to move back to New York I’d never see Antony again.
Rubbing my cheeks, I tried to make the evidence of my tears disappear.
A shadow came from around the building. And another.
Not again. Who needed hot chocolate when being chased by two masked hoodlums sent a shock of heat through me? My muscles tensed, getting ready to run. Dread dragged me down. Their faces might be covered, but it was me who couldn’t breathe. Already puffing, I took off down the steps toward the m
iddle of the empty quad.
Tripping on the bottom step, I threw my hands out to block my fall. I’d given them the stupid crown. I had nothing left to give.
The short, brawny man grabbed me around the neck, stopping my undignified sprawl. “Where is the Knot of Uset?”
My stomach swirled, twisting panic into a tangled pile. I didn’t know what knot he was talking about. The only thing men in black wanted from me was the Egyptian crown.
“I dropped the crown off where I was told, so leave me alone.” Even in fear I used my demanding tone. “And let my aunt go.”
The noise from inside the student union grew louder. Someone had opened the door.
Short-guy turned his head to observe, and I took advantage of the situation. I slammed my foot into his knee. The guy loosened his grip.
Breaking free, I spied Antony flying toward us. He might describe it as jumping, except no one I knew could jump that high or that far. Not even an Olympic athlete.
With no time to speculate or wonder, I started to run around a corner.
Short-guy grabbed my wrist, trying to get a better hold.
My adrenaline short-circuited, and I struggled to get loose again.
Mid-jump, Antony threw first one, and then the other, cup of hot chocolate. The cups flew, resembling guided missiles, and hit the man holding me on the head and face. The hot liquid soaked into his knit cap, scalding his skin.
Short-guy screamed and dropped my arm.
“Run, CC!” Antony landed next to me.
Fright frazzled my nerves. I couldn’t leave him in the narrow gap between buildings on the quad. There must be something I could do to help. I scoured the area for a stick or a rock. Anything to defend.
The second, taller guy ran directly at me. He slid to a halt and examined Antony, sizing him up. Two bad guys against me and Antony.
Short-guy wiped off the hot liquid. He put up his arms prepared to fight. “Soul Warrior.”
Soul warrior? What did that mean?
Antony leapt again, and flipped over the man like a professional gymnast, landing far from the second guy.
Incredulity shoved down my throat. I choked.
Antony grabbed short guy by the shoulders and tossed him across the quad.
All the way across the quad. As if the man were an inflatable doll.
My gaze tracked the impossible speed and distance, my eyes widening with each additional yard. My legs weakened. Swallowing my disbelief, I used the wall of the building for support. My body slumped. My lungs shrunk, making breathing difficult. Antony wasn’t human.
The second man charged Antony, similar to a vapid fan on the red carpet intent on getting a selfie. Except this guy didn’t want a photo. He wanted to injure. Shoulders down, the man plowed into Antony.
Antony didn’t move. He stood there like a boulder. No, like a mountain.
The attraction I felt for him became layered with fear. Fear of the unknown. The undead? The unusual. I remembered the almost-being-kidnapped incident and how he’d explained his strength and skills away. There was no way to explain these…powers.
The thought impaled my chest. Air leaked out. He had super powers. An animated superhero, or a futuristic robot. How could I believe that?
Um, because I saw it with my very own eyes.
Horror scoured over my skin, causing goosebumps to rise. Who was Antony? What was he? Why had he become part of my life at the same time I’d become entangled in danger? Was he truly a friend, or something evil?
A startled squeak escaped my mouth. I took a step back, away from Antony.
He ogled me, and his expression shifted. He went from intense and dangerous, to surprise and realization. His jaw dropped and he gaped. He knew I was wary of him.
Taking another step back, I smashed my body farther against the wall. There was no way to get past his hulking form.
Shaking his head, he broke eye contact. He grabbed the second man and lifted him high. Using the man’s arms, he swung the man’s body and tossed him beside the first guy lying on the far side of the quad.
“Wait here.” Antony leapt to the two bodies and felt for their pulse.
The blood drained from my head. Wooziness made me dizzy and sick. I didn’t know if the men were alive or dead, yet I knew I was in danger. From Antony.
Antony pulled the weird-looking gun from the first man’s belt. He pointed the device and pulled the trigger. The man evaporated.
A sheen passed in front of my eyes, and yet somehow, it made everything clearer. Antony had super powers, and he knew how to use the weird gun. He was part of this whole disaster. He’d lied and pretended to be my friend. I couldn’t trust him.
Betrayal sliced like sharp shears, ripping through my veins. The loss of Antony was similar to the loss of blood. My body wavered. I had to get away.
With him on the opposite side of the quad, I took off at a run.
A run away from Antony.
Chapter Nine
Antony
Antony sensed CC running away. Running from him.
His chest squeezed with pain, as if she’d physically hurt him. Except physically hurting a Soul Warrior was hard to do. Emotionally was a different story.
“Tut’s trumpets!” He swore to himself. She probably thought he was the bad guy, the one to fear.
Because he’d dispatched one of the men right in front of her. He tried to imagine her shock and paralyzing terror. She didn’t understand the danger these men posed. They worked for one of the ancient Egyptian cults wanting to use the Knot of Uset and other magical relics for sinister purposes. They had to be stopped at any cost. Even at the cost of Antony losing CC’s trust.
Refocusing on his task, he dispatched with the second man and jammed the high-caliber disintegration tool into the waistband of his black jeans. He couldn’t leave the weapon lying around for anyone to find.
He checked around, confirming no one from the student union had seen or heard the commotion. Then, he used his super strength and super speed to chase CC, resembling a slave running after his angry master.
Except he wasn’t a slave.
Spotting her ahead, he jumped and used a tree branch to swing forward. She’d already seen a few of his tricks. One more didn’t matter. He landed in front of her.
She crashed into him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Are you okay, CC?”
Struggling in his arms, she scowled with an expression of horror and loathing. Her gaze flashed with fear. “Stay away from me.”
Her words slashed him. “Let me explain.”
Her tone shook and her limbs trembled. “You’re dangerous.”
“I did save your life.” He kept hold of her against her will. She wasn’t going to run from him again. “You’re welcome.”
“Welcome?” Her eyebrows rose, highlighting the terror in her gray orbs. “You tossed those men as if they weighed nothing. You leapt high in the air. What are you?”
The question dug in his gut. Ugliness lined his vision seeing through the lens of his past. He’d been insulted and demeaned by Cleopatra in his past life. For being beneath people, for being a slave, for being different.
In this life, this new life, he’d been treated with respect and equality. Not contempt or fear. Every single one of the Soul Warriors had powers, so he wasn’t different or beneath anyone. He had an important job to do. A quest.
“What are you?” Her shrill demand might’ve made him cower in his past.
Not any longer.
“Just because you’re named Cleopatra doesn’t mean you can treat me like a servant. Tossing out your questions like commands.” His internal anger at her, at his past, at these new complications, made his voice low and intimidating.
Confusion flashed on her face, and she glanced around, as though searching for help. “You’re not normal. You’re super strong. And you fly.”
Indecision wavered inside him. His brain told him to keep his secrets close. His heart told him to keep CC closer. He d
idn’t know which to listen to. How much should he tell her? How much could he trust? She’d seen a few of his powers. She suspected she’d been invisible. She’d watched the two men evaporate into thin air. Most important, she possessed the Knot of Uset.
While she’d been moping the last few days, he’d been researching and double-checking the Knot’s voyage from Egypt. When he’d found no new information, he’d hidden outside her room, protecting and waiting for her to leave. He’d broken into her room and searched for the golden rope.
And found nothing.
He decided it was time to quit playing games, and ask direct questions. For that to work, he had to lay the background.
“Super strong, yes. Fly, no.” He softened his tone, determined to make her believe what he was about to share.
“What’s a soul warrior?” She sounded tentative and terrified. Two things he’d never associated with her before. Yes, she’d been scared of the bad neighborhood and afraid of the attackers, but this time…
She was terrified of him.
The thought numbed his anger and his doubt. He held up his hands and let her go, trying to appear less an ogre and more a hero. “I’m here to help you.”
“Help me? I don’t need your kind of help.” She took a step back, but didn’t run. “Since I’ve met you, my aunt is in danger, I was almost kidnapped, I was kicked out of school, and attacked again.”
“I know, and I’m here to protect you.” He kept his voice calm, even though inside, his blood jammed in his veins. She’d run from him as if he were Anubis, the dog of death. “With my life, if necessary.”
“Like a guardian angel?” One of her brows lifted in a skeptical expression.
He laughed, thinking how he’d lied. “I’m no angel.” Technically, his mission wasn’t to protect her, either. He was there to retrieve the Knot of Uset. Then, he’d be gone. And she’d be safe.
She considered his comment, considered him. “What’s a soul warrior? What’s your purpose?”
This was similar to balancing on a tightrope across the River Nile, waiting for her judgment, balancing how much to tell.
“We serve for goodness and light.” And love. He didn’t think he needed to tell her the last part of the oath. Love wasn’t in his future, as it hadn’t been in his past.