by Nicole Thorn
“Morning,” I said, rubbing my hand up her back. She felt warm and real. It sounded strange, but I didn’t know how else to put it. Everything around me whispered, begging me to touch it, feel their past, but Kezia was more real than the whispers were. It helped that she kissed me.
“Good morning,” she said, smiling happily. The smile disappeared in seconds. “How’re you feeling?” she asked, seriously. Last night, she had given me something to help me sleep. I had passed out pretty damn quickly. Those pots around the house were coming in handy.
“I’m fine,” I said, sitting up. “None of these injuries are serious,” I told her for what felt like the thousandth time. I understood her worry. She was a demigod. Any injuries that she got were gone within an hour. My sisters and I, as humans, didn’t have that luxury. It also meant that Kezia and Zander weren’t always sure what was serious and what wasn’t.
My hands wound around her back loosely. That way, if she got uncomfortable, she could squirm her way free and be done with me. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, though. She smiled at me, leaning forward and lightly laid her lips across mine. “I like kissing you,” she said, very seriously. “I like that you go to bed without a shirt on.”
I laughed and looked down at her hands, which were firmly placed on my chest. She dug her fingers in gently. Avoiding the scratches that marked me up. Those wounds had been bandaged and were still healing. Too much movement and they might rip open again. Something told me that Kezia didn’t need to know that little tidbit.
She squirmed and kissed my chin. “Now that we aren’t in immediate peril and there isn’t a house that needs to be put back together, let me tell you… If you ever do anything that stupid again, I will be forced to hurt you myself.”
I grinned. “The Fury?”
“Did you do something else that stupid?” she asked, sitting up. I don’t know if she was aware that meant she was straddling me. I was aware. Mmm. Was I aware… “If you have done anything else, then you should tell me right now, so that I can lock all of you up in this house. Not just Jasmine.”
“No, I haven’t done anything else that was stupid. Swear,” I said, holding up my hand. “And, in all fairness, we were trying to get away from the Fury and she was having none of it. What was Juniper supposed to do? Let her smash our brains in, while she ran for safety. We shared a womb. It doesn’t work like that for us.”
Kezia rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I get it. Couldn’t let her siblings be murdered by the Fury. That means little to me. Logic does not factor into this and I will have you know, that those were some of the most terrifying moments of my life. You great big, hot, idiot.”
I laughed again. I tugged on the shirt she was wearing until she leaned down. My mouth touched hers, gently and she melted against me. Not like I was forgiven, mind you, but like the relief that I was alive and mostly well took care of the irritation that I fought a being that literally could not be permanently killed.
After a little while, she pulled away. “All right,” she mumbled. “I understand. Doesn’t mean I’m not upset with you.”
“I’d be disappointed if you weren’t.”
“Huh?” she asked, looking at me with her big hazel eyes. Today they looked more brown. Earthier, rather than grassy.
My hands went to her hips. “If you weren’t upset with me, I’d be concerned that you aren’t as invested in this relationship as I am. Those two times you were gutted? I wanted nothing more than to scream at you while nursing you back to health. The only reason I didn’t is because Zander is much stronger than me and the window didn’t look all that appealing.”
Kezia grinned. “Zander wouldn’t throw you out the window, silly. He’d crush you in a bear hug. That way he’s killing you… with love.”
I laughed, hard. “Oh, please tell me you’ve said that to him before. Please?”
“No,” she said. “He would feel the need to prove it. Where sometimes, the hugs that hurt are needed, other times they’re very scary. He squeezes until squeezing is all that exists.” Her eyes went distant, like she was remembering something horrible. If she wasn’t smiling, it might have been more convincing. I pulled on her shirt again, until she lowered her mouth to mine.
“I love you, Kezia,” I said, when we pulled away.
She stared at me and her eyes were very serious, dangerously serious, when she said, “And I love you, Jasper.”
I tucked a curl around her ear. She had been quiet yesterday, but seemed better today. At least, after she pushed the seriousness aside. She thumped onto the mattress next to me, cuddling. “So, what are we doing today? We can go get ice cream. We can’t do anything in the studio until your hands are finished healing,” she said, looking at me sadly. “We can watch TV, as long as Hephaestus has finished cleaning the house.”
“I’m sure he has.”
I climbed out of bed, expecting Kezia to go into her room for a change of clothes. Instead, she lounged back against the pillows and watched me. Intently. I raised an eyebrow. “Are you waiting for me to strip?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Would you?”
“I’m only in pants. I don’t think I could make that sexy. Hell, even if I were fully clothed, I don’t think I could make that sexy.” I stared down at my chest. I had put on some weight the last couple of weeks. Not a lot, but enough that I was starting to look healthy. I hadn’t been grotesquely skinny before, but I was supposed to look more like my father. My father was a broad man. I had been narrow.
Kezia came up on her knees. “I think you could make it incredibly sexy,” she said.
That was still a mystery to me, her attraction to me. I plucked at the drawstrings to my pajama bottoms. Kezia’s eyes followed and the corners of her mouth picked up. “You know, this would be cute, if it made any sense,” I told her, plucking the drawstrings again, making them looser, which naturally caused the pants to hang lower.
“Jasper, you are very handsome. If you’d take off those pants, I’d even show you how handsome I think you are.” She smiled, bright and happy. She reached forward, hands touching my hips and pulling me forward. I allowed myself to be reeled in. My pants hit the floor a couple of seconds later.
Ψ
We came downstairs about an hour later. Kezia was in a pretty dress with green around the hem and no shoes. Juniper was cleaning the already cleaned house. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared up at us. “It’s fixed,” she said, sounding thrilled. “Everything’s back in order. Look, he even put in a new fish tank. When Jasmine comes to terms with Nemo’s demise, we can get her a new beta. One we didn’t win from a carnival this time.”
I shrugged. “Say what you will, Nemo lasted a long time. It took a pane of glass to end that beta.”
Juniper nodded. “That’s very true.” Then she went back to dusting, like crazy. Jasmine was still insisting that Nemo was alive. She had loved that fish. He was our first real possession after leaving Dad’s, so I guess I understood. I still wanted to take the jar away from her, because that couldn’t be healthy.
Kezia and I went into the kitchen. It was pristine. The sliding glass door was back in one piece and there was no glass crunching under my feet. The cabinets were back in place. It was lovely. “I’ll make you some breakfast,” Kezia offered.
I nodded and sat down. I could cook for myself, but it seemed to ease her knowing that I would definitely eat whatever she brought me. Besides, watching her run around the kitchen in a pretty dress was fun. The light hit her exactly right and made her look almost ethereal.
While she was working, Zander came downstairs and sat down at the table. “Can I get some of that?” he asked, hopefully.
“I suppose,” Kezia sighed dramatically. “You’ve sorta earned it, I guess.” He swatted at her and she dodged easily. With the last Fury dead, all the tension had leaked out of the house. I could see the way Kezia’s shoulders weren’t tight anymore and my sisters weren’t strung up either.
It was like glimpsin
g what our futures were going to be and it was nice. I liked what I was seeing. I also liked the fact I could get Kezia to stay now. She hadn’t talked about leaving, yet, anyway. I didn’t want her out of the house. She could keep her bedroom across from mine as long as she wanted if I could still see her in the morning.
“How’s Jasmine?” Kezia asked, setting plates down on the table. One for each of us. Eggs and bacon. Simple, but delicious.
“Exhausted,” he said. “She’s still passed out in her room, with that jar of dead fish next to her.” He frowned, clearly worried. “I know I should take it away, but I keep thinking that it’d only upset her more, ya know?”
I shrugged. “She’ll come to terms with Nemo’s death on her own. Don’t push it. That’s the only advice that I can give you, because she’s still armed with those crutches and if they can survive a Fury, she’ll definitely use them against you. FYI, Jasmine hits like a dude.”
Zander smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me.” He proceeded to inhale his food in a way that could only be described as scary. It disappeared so quickly that I found myself waiting for him to choke, fall to the floor and die. That’d be a sad death for a demigod. Survive insane Furies and die on eggs and bacon.
We were in the process of cleaning our plates and putting them in the dishwasher, when there was a knock on the door. Polite, but firm. Juniper shouted that she’d get it, but I was already in the living room. She rushed past me and pulled the door open, breathlessly. Then frowned.
The Furies walked in. Brushing past Juniper like she was nothing. I guess to them, we might be. We were mere humans, who could see things we shouldn’t be able to see. Their eyes latched onto the demigods, making it clear that Juniper and I did not matter. My sister slunk to my side, looking worried. I couldn’t blame her. She did hit Tisiphone over the head a few times.
Alecto and Megaera looked the same as they always did, but somehow seemed fiercer with their sister standing next to them. Tisiphone, like her sisters, was gorgeous. She was all sleek lines and long limbs. She had slender fingers that curled around narrow hips. Her black hair was curled, but close to her head. It fell to her chin and was sleeked down in a 50sish style. Her face was narrow, where her lips were full. A striking kind of beauty. And she had storm cloud gray eyes. They were ominous, where Alecto’s were cold and Megaera’s were kind.
“Kezia. Zander,” she said, eying them. Her eyes traveling down to their toes and up again. She smiled and it was almost sweet. “I see you’ve put your house back together in record time. Hephaestus?”
“Yeah,” Zander said, cautiously.
Tisiphone ran her fingers along the back of one of the couches. It had been replaced, since the original was unsalvageable. “I’m glad he was willing to help. I guess we should get down to business. You are absolved of all crimes. It was wrong, the judgement that we passed onto you. It was wrong that we could not help you when you were younger. Thank you for killing me and setting things right in this old head of mine,” she whispered. “Things can get confused when you see the things that we see. Sometimes wrong looks right and right looks wrong. Please accept my apologies.”
“Sure,” Kezia squeaked.
“Yeah, all’s good,” Zander said right after her. It sounded like they were trying to get the Furies out of the house as soon as possible.
Tisiphone smiled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never meet again.”
“No offense, but the same goes for us,” Zander said.
She smiled and the Furies were suddenly gone. Juniper sagged next to me. “Oh, good. No more monsters in my house. I was starting to think that was just a regular thing and I’d never be able to keep everything the way it’s supposed to be.” I rubbed her back as comfortingly as I could.
“Oh my gods!” Jasmine screamed from upstairs, loud enough that we all turned. There was a thump and then a crash. She came careening around the corner, barely keeping herself on her feet and smiling widely. “Look, look, look!” she shouted, thrusting her hand forward.
She lost her balance and Zander shot towards her, catching her before she could land on her face. “Easy there, Jasmine,” he said, setting her back on her feet.
She patted his cheek. “Thanks, cutie,” she said. “I’ll owe you one for that.”
The look on Zander’s face confirmed that he had a thing for my sister. Great… Aphrodite’s son had a thing for my sister. I tried not to be bothered by that and failed. Hard.
“What was so important that you had to risk overbalancing on the stairs?” Juniper asked. “Thus not only hurting yourself, but ruining my house after it got put back together again?” The last might have sounded cold, if it weren’t for the genuine concern in my sister’s voice.
Jasmine thrust the jar holding Nemo towards us. “He’s swimming!”
I looked at the jar and my jaw fell slightly open. It did appear… that the fish was moving. Of course, he still had no head, so…
“He’s getting better!” Jasmine shouted, cheerily.
Epilogue: Life in Rosy Colors
Kezia
“Should I be concerned about this?” I asked Jasper, gesturing to my closet. “I mean, it’s a little creepy.”
He smiled and examined the clothes that had appeared overnight. “Think of it as a nice thing she’s doing. She’s not trying to be creepy.”
Aphrodite had taken it upon herself to get rid of all my old, baggy clothes and replace them with new pretty ones. I wasn’t terrified of them anymore, but it was a little weird. My closet was nothing but dresses, while my dresser was shorts and shirts.
“I like the pink one.” I shrugged, pulling it out and holding it up to myself. I was still in my jammies, which consisted of Jasper’s shirt. That’s it.
We didn’t really talk about if we’d be sharing a room, or if I was staying permanently. I was hoping that we could just kind of stay and no one would notice until it was too late to make us leave. Like when Jasmine and I were both knocked up and married to Zander and Jasper, respectively. Because that was what I decided the future was.
That being said, even with all the healing I was trying to do, there were some nights I just didn’t want to sleep alone. I knew I didn’t have to, but things were still new with Jasper. Moving into the same house was different than the same room. Especially when we weren’t even having sex yet. I just knew I was enjoying all the other stuff you could do with a hot boy. As it turned out, I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t scary when it was with him. It meant that we were good for now, where we were. I could handle slow for the time being. It was the smart thing to do.
“Thing is.” I smiled. “To put this on, I would have to get undressed first.”
“Hmm,” my boyfriend said. “I suppose you would.”
I set the dress down and shoved Jasper, lovingly, against the wall. My fingers laced behind his head and I yanked him down with force. I never really gave him much chance to fight or get away, so it was a good thing he was into me.
I got his lips apart and I was tasting him. Noise left me in a rush when he lifted me up by the backs of my thighs and moved me to the bed. He was careful about it, sitting against the back so I was on top of him.
He pulled my shirt off, tossing it to the floor. I was in nothing but bright pink and ridiculously lacey panties that had appeared in my dresser. Still, I felt as comfortable as I could be, because of the company I kept.
Hands moved up my sides and I pulled at Jasper’s hair. I moved my lips to his ear. “How much time do we have?” I moved on to nibbling his ear while I waited for an answer.
It took several seconds, but Jasper said, “Enough.”
I was going for his pants when a knock on the door almost made me scream. I did squeak… that happened. Then I moved like lightening to hide behind Jasper. He was a little dazed, but he served as a human shield.
“Kizzy?” Jasmine said on the other side of the door. “Are you in there?”
“Yes,” I said. “But I’m getti
ng dressed. You can’t come in.”
“Um, okay. Do you know where Jasper is?”
I held his shoulders, moving around to look at him. He was leaving this one up to me. “Nope. Must be off… brooding or something sexy like that.”
He eyed me and whispered, “I do not brood.”
I smiled and kissed his cheek. “Little bit, honey.”
“I just wanted to see if anyone knew why I had a buncha clothes in my closet that I didn’t buy,” Jasmine called out. “I woke up to check on Nemo and there was a ton of stuff.”
I put my chin on Jasper’s shoulder. “Sorry, don’t know. Ask Zander. I’m naked. You need to come back later.”
There was laughing and footsteps before I knew we were in the clear. Then I was able to knock Jasper onto his back and straddle him properly. His eyes never quite made it up to mine.
“I… hate to say this,” he began and I frowned. “But they’ll catch on to us if we don’t head down.”
He had a point.
I put on the pink dress and fixed up my hair in a ponytail before we checked to see if it was clear to go. No one was around, so that meant that Zander would never have to know Jasper was in my room with me. He was aware of the bed sharing, but nothing else. It may be best that way.
Juniper was on her hands and knees in the kitchen. Scrubbing the brand new floor Hephaestus so kindly put in to replace the gouged up one. There wasn’t a chance it was dirty, but we didn’t say anything.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her. “I can make you some breakfast.”
She sat up, wiping her forehead with her arm, avoiding contact with her rubber gloves. “I ate already. Thanks.” She went back to scrubbing without another word.
Jasper and I decided to eat later, since Juniper wouldn’t want crumbs on the floor. Or maybe she would, because at least that way there would be a real reason for doing what she was doing.