by M.W. Muse
Chapter Twenty
Since Lissa’s SUV was too tall for her to comfortably climb into, Adin drove her home from the hospital that night. He held her hand and watched her more than he watched the road. He didn’t speak. She figured he was hoping she’d sleep since he’d walked her all around the hospital before she was released.
She didn’t sleep, though. She thought about everything that had happened over the week. How she’d gotten hurt and the things she’d heard in the hospital—things from her mom, Lissa, and River. She needed to tell Adin, but she was worried how he’d take everything. Mainly, she was concerned about his reaction to River. Adin seemed civil in the hospital, but now that she was out, she wasn’t sure if he’d tolerate River coming around.
Once they got to her house, Adin walked her in and up to her bedroom. Lissa had already arrived and had turned down her bed. She was in the kitchen on the phone giving someone an update on her condition.
Adin helped her into bed and tucked the covers around her—she was glad Lissa brought pajamas for her to come home in. He pulled her desk chair up to her bed and sat right by her, holding her hand. She felt as if she were about to fall asleep, but Adin looked almost zombielike.
“You don’t look like you’ve slept at all over the last week,” she mumbled.
“I haven’t really,” he whispered, rubbing the back of his other hand on her cheek.
“You can’t watch me twenty-four hours a day.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
“I’m not leaving you. Please don’t ask me to do that.”
“I’m not.” She hesitated. “Why don’t you lie down with me?”
Adin caught his breath and stared at her. “Um, I don’t want to hurt you. I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t hurt me. I want you to get some sleep, and I’ll sleep better with you beside me. Please?” she breathed, shutting her eyes and feeling some tears starting to form.
Adin tilted his head and rubbed the back of his neck, deciding. Then he let go of her hand and walked around her bed. He climbed in, and staying on top of the covers, he propped himself up on his side to face her. It felt like he was being very careful not to touch her. She turned her head to face him and he smiled.
“Now, go to sleep, please,” Adin insisted.
She took the arm that was pinned to his side and pulled it over to rest on her waist. Adin relaxed and scooted over so that he was right up against her side. She lifted her head while she reached over and grabbed the arm his head was propped up on and slid it under her head. Now his arms were around her, his head on the pillow, and his face right in front of hers.
“That’s better,” she whispered. “I’ve missed you.”
Adin’s breathing became hitched, and he began to cry. Once he started crying, he looked away and took some breaths to try to stop, but his tears flowed. “I…was…so…scared,” he said very slowly and gently hugged her closer.
“I know.” She reached up and stroked his face while the tears that formed in her eyes started to spill over. He was hurting because she was hurting, and now she was hurting because he was.
Adin took a deep breath, but it was jagged. “Please try to go to sleep.” His voice was still thick with sadness as he leaned his forehead against hers.
They needed to comfort each other before either of them would fall asleep, and she knew how she wanted to do that.
“Will you kiss me goodnight?”
Adin’s eyes opened wider as he stared into her hers. She guessed he was trying to read her to see if that was what she really wanted. If so, he got the answer he was looking for. He leaned his head over and gently touched his lips to hers.
Adin kissed her softly, but it was too much. She started to cry, and he tried to pull away. She assumed he thought he was hurting her. He wasn’t. She turned on her side so that she was completely facing him—not just her head—threw her arm around his back, and clutched him to her as strongly as she could, though she was still pretty weak.
He kissed her passionately, but they both cried. She knew he’d been so upset, so worried over the last week, but he tried to stay strong for her. Now that she was safely home, he could let himself grieve for what she’d gone through, for what he’d gone through with her.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms, and it was the best she’d ever slept. She didn’t dream. She didn’t toss or turn. She woke up in the same position that she’d been in when she fell asleep.
When Legacy opened her eyes, she saw a blanket covering Adin. She figured Lissa covered him up after they’d fallen asleep. She was glad Lissa hadn’t made him get up. She was probably pleased, too, that he was sleeping.
Legacy wasn’t sure if Adin was still asleep when she awoke, so she shifted slightly—trying not to disturb him—to see how much pain she was in today. When she did, Adin lifted the arm he had wrapped over her, and she looked up.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked.
“About fifteen minutes.”
“How did you sleep?”
“I got to hold you all night,” he whispered while he stroked her hair. “It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt whole. I’m sad because of the circumstances, but it was still wonderful to be able to be with you like that.”
He looked better, so he wasn’t just saying that. He looked like he’d slept all night too. After an emotional week, they both needed last night to heal their souls.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“A little sore. Kinda achy. But the stabbing pain seems to be gone.”
“Good.” Adin smiled. “We need to get you up and around.”
“Yeah, I need to brush my teeth,” she said, making a face.
Adin chuckled. That was the first time she’d heard him laugh since their double date. It put a smile on her face.
He helped her to the bathroom, and she gave him one of the spare toothbrushes from the dentist’s office. He kept one arm around her while they brushed their teeth. He obviously didn’t want to take any chances with her falling.
Then she realized it wasn’t just her teeth that needed cleaning.
“Can you see if Lissa is here?”
“We can walk down together and see.”
“I know, but I want to take a shower. It has been a week, and I feel sort of gross.”
“Lissa and Calli took care of you in the hospital.”
“But I’ll feel better after showering.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Adin said softly while stroking her cheek. “You don’t need to be standing alone in a slippery bathtub.”
“Lissa can stay in here while I shower.”
Adin shook his head slowly and frowned. “I think it’s too dangerous in your condition.”
“Well, I can take a bath then. I can’t fall if I’m already sitting down.”
“I guess that’s true,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll see if she’s here. Do you want to stay in here, or do you want me to help you back to your bedroom?”
“Here.”
She stepped over to the bathtub, and Adin helped her ease onto the side of it. He went downstairs, and she heard two sets of footsteps coming back up the stairs. She figured Lissa must be here, so Legacy turned on the water so that it could start to get warm. Then she heard someone running up the stairs.
“Legacy!”
The bathroom door was open, so Adin ran in.
“What?”
He saw her sitting on the bathtub where he left her, but with her hand under the water faucet, gauging the temperature.
He shook his head but sighed. She guessed he thought she was going to try to get in without any help.
“How are you feeling, Legacy?” Lissa asked as she walked into the bathroom.
“Better. I’m still sore, and I want to take a shower.” She saw Adin’s face and corrected herself. “I mean a bath.”
“Okay. Take o
ne of these, so it can get into your system.” Lissa handed her a pain pill. “I’ll go get you a change of clothes.” She left, and Legacy took the pill.
Adin stood against the counter watching her. “Please be very careful while you’re in there.”
She wasn’t so out of it that she completely lost her playfulness. “Hmmm…you wouldn’t let me get hurt. You could always take one with me.”
Adin chuckled, which was what she was hoping for. “You should have suggested that before I got Lissa.”
She laughed, and it felt good.
“What are you two laughing about?” Lissa asked as she came back into the bathroom with some clean pajamas.
“Oh, nothing,” Legacy said.
Adin left her alone with Lissa while she bathed, but she did turn the shower on while she washed her hair. No way was she washing it with dirty bath water.
Once she was out and dressed, Adin came back in and helped her get down the stairs. He already had some pillows and blankets ready on the couch. By the time she’d gotten comfortable, her medicine kicked in.
She fell asleep and was out at least a couple of hours. When she opened her eyes, Adin was sitting at the foot of the couch with her feet in his lap. He was in different clothes.
“Did you leave?”
“Yeah, I went to my grandma’s and showered after you fell back asleep and before Lissa went to work. She knew I’d be staying here all day, so she went to the office to catch up on a few things. She made some muffins before she left. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
Adin went to the kitchen and brought them back some muffins and milk.
“I talked to Calli. She’ll be over here in about an hour.”
“Okay,” she said as she took a bite of her muffin.
“River is probably coming with her,” he mumbled.
She wondered if she should talk to Adin about River now. She had a lot to say about him and her mom. She figured she should start out slow and see how it went from there.
“Was he there the whole time?” she asked, looking down at her food.
“Most of the time. Yes. We were both there all day during visiting hours. We had to leave at night, but Lissa stayed with you. It was very hard for me to leave you at night, but Lissa promised me she’d call if you woke up or if there were any problems.”
“But they let you in when she called you that night I woke up.”
“Yes. They didn’t have a choice.” And from the sound of his voice, she knew he was right. He wasn’t going to let anyone keep him from her when she asked for him.
“What all was said when I was unconscious?” she asked as she finished her muffin.
Adin sighed. “Um, I asked River what happened, and he said you were mopping when you got electrocuted.”
She knew this already. “What did you two say about me?”
Adin exhaled heavily and looked up at the ceiling. “I told him you no longer work at the store.” He paused and looked at her. “You don’t.”
She nodded. She heard the order when he originally gave it. “I meant what was said after I woke up and they gave me the medicine.” When she was asleep and didn’t actually hear the conversations going on.
“We talked about a lot of things. After you woke up on that first day and they sedated you,” Adin hesitated and then whispered, “I could tell River wasn’t going to leave. I was too distraught to force him out of there. He just wanted you to be well, so I let him stay.”
“Thank you for not asking him to leave,” she mumbled.
“I didn’t want him there. I didn’t want him holding your hand and touching you. But I knew it wasn’t about me. It was about you and doing whatever was necessary for you to feel comforted.”
“What else was said?”
Adin sighed and took her plate from her to set it on the table. When he sat back down, he gently rubbed her feet while he spoke.
“We talked about my feelings for you, his feelings for you, and his mother.”
She could tell Adin didn’t want to go into the specifics, so she just nodded. She knew she needed to come clean.
“Adin, did River tell you anything else besides the fact that I was mopping when I got hurt?”
“No. Why?” Adin looked concerned, not suspicious.
“Because I remember everything up until the doctors knocked me out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could hear voices and feel touches, but my body didn’t recognize any pain until I woke up in the hospital. I remember hearing River freak out. He’d said I wasn’t breathing. He performed CPR and called for an ambulance. I remember him sitting with me, crying,” she whispered. “I heard Lissa come in, then Calli, then you. I heard what you whispered in my ear. I felt your head on my head and heard you ask what happened to me. Then the doctors came in and asked everyone to leave, but I didn’t want you to go,” she mumbled. “So I was finally able to break through that state I was in and squeeze your fingers.”
“Legacy!” Adin looked shocked. “Do you remember anything else?”
“Yes. My mom came to me and talked to me.” She told Adin everything her mother had said, even the stuff about River.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
“I understand if you don’t believe me.”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you, Legacy. This is just a lot to take in.”
“Yeah, I’m going to have to be careful like you told me.”
“So your mom thinks you’re bonded to River too?” Adin asked softly.
“I am bonded to him,” she murmured, looking down. “He once told me that the three of us were bonded together, and he thought you were that link since the prophecy is dependent on your life. But I think he’s wrong. I think I’m the link that bonds us all together. When I was in the hospital bed with the two of you holding my hands, I could feel how much pain you two were in. I wanted to comfort you both.”
“He’s in love with you.”
“I know. He’s just a friend to me, but I can’t deny the fact we’re connected.”
Adin’s eyes looked sad, and she hated being the reason for that. Then he looked puzzled. “Why did you ask me if River told me anything else about your electrocution?”
Uh-oh. “I’ll tell you if you promise me you’ll try to stay calm.”
“What did he do?” Adin asked, saying each word distinctly.
“We were fighting when I got hurt.”
“That’s why he kept apologizing. After he confessed about his mom, I assumed he was apologizing for her. What were you two fighting about?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“Well, River was angry when I got to work, and I thought it was because the roof was leaking again. He was short with me up until he called a roofer. Then he asked me about our double date. He didn’t like seeing us together.”
“He doesn’t have to like it,” Adin spat.
“I know, and I told him something to that effect. He said you had some nerve telling him to respect me when you treat me like a conquest.”
“Hmph! Our relationship is none of his business.”
“I agree. We were yelling about all this when it was storming, and then he said something about the weather wasn’t good for hiking anyway. I knew I hadn’t said anything to him about our plans, so I asked him how he knew about that. He said he knew everything. I screamed at him, asking if he’d called me in to ruin my plans with you, and that was when lightning hit the building.”
“He told me about bringing up our hiking plans with you. He said he’d heard about it from his mother. He was worried she would try to attack you in the woods, so he got away and called Yale to give her the day off. But after your accident, I think he feels like that was his mother’s plan all along…that she purposely fed him that information to get you to the store.”
“Oh.” Knowing he did it to protect her made her feel better than thinking he did it to keep her away from Ad
in. Even if River’s plan had backfired.
“But he did not tell me you two were fighting when this came up. Nor did he tell her he was angry with you because of our relationship.”
“Don’t be mad at him. You saw him at the hospital. He has suffered enough.”
“Legacy, I’m not tolerating him. It’s one thing if he’s a friend of yours who’s looking out for your best interest. It’s a completely different thing if he’s a guy trying to befriend you so that he can be with you.”
“I know. I understand how you feel, and I’ll agree to not working at the store and to taking other steps you feel are necessary for my safety. But River isn’t out to hurt me, and I don’t want to treat him like he is.”
“You may think he’s not out to hurt you, but he is out to hurt me. That’s what’ll happen if he succeeds in taking you away. You letting him stay in your life is just inviting that possibility.”
“Adin, I want to be with you. I don’t have any romantic feelings for him at all.”
“Not yet,” he whispered.
“I need him in my life.”
Adin sighed and shut his eyes. “You know I really don’t like this.”
“I know, and I know my friendship with him hurts you. I’m sorry about that. I wish it didn’t. I wish you understood my connection with him just like I wished he understood my connection with you. You are my love; he is my friend. But I need you both.”
“I’ll do this. For you. I’m not going to like it, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. I don’t want him to be a constant focus of our lives. If he steps over the line, then I’m going to put him in his place.”
“I can live with that.” She smiled.
The doorbell rang, and Adin got up to go get it. It was Calli and River. They both came in and sat in the living room across from her and Adin. They all talked, but Adin and River’s conversations were strained. Neither one liked the other being there. She’d have to get used to this. But first, she needed to clear the air with River.
“Adin, can you and Calli excuse us for a minute? I’d like to have a word alone with River.”
Adin flashed narrowed eyes at River and looked quickly at her. “Of course,” he murmured. Then he got up and kissed her forehead. River started to get up, and Adin shot him a look.
“You’re fine over there,” Adin said brusquely.
River glared at him but sat back down. Once she and River were alone, his eyes softened. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
“I know, and I know you feel guilty for what happened to me, but it wasn’t your fault. I don’t want you carrying the blame for this.”
“That’s easier said than done,” he whispered.
“River, I talked to Adin. I told him what happened at the store. Of course he doesn’t want us to be friends. Last I heard from you on the topic of friendship was that you didn’t want to be my friend anymore either.”
“Legacy…”
“No, let me finish. I know you’ve been hurting because of my relationship with Adin, and I am sorry about that. But I am in love with him. You have to understand that. If you can understand that and respect my decision, then I’d really like it if we could be friends again.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m not going to deny that we’re bonded together. If you weren’t my friend, that’d be very painful for me,” she whispered.
River’s breath caught. “I-I can try. That’s all I can promise.”
“That’s all I can ask for,” she said, hesitating. “Adin understands the need I have to be your friend, and he’s not going to interfere with my choice. But he’s also not going to stand by and watch you try to take me away from him. You have to understand that too.”
“I do. I would feel the same way.”
“If you understand the boundaries, then I think he’ll play nice. But you have to show him you can play nice first. You haven’t done a good job of that so far.”
“I know. I’ll try. It’s just very hard because—”
“You don’t have to say it,” she interrupted. “I know how you feel,” she murmured.
River took a deep breath. “Okay.”
They sat quietly for awhile, staring at each other from across the room. River looked like he wanted to say something, but she couldn’t be sure. He shifted in his seat and ran his hand through his unkempt hair before clasping his hands together in front of him.
“Legacy, I am so sorry,” he said, gazing into her eyes.
“I told you it wasn’t your fault. I don’t want you carrying around the blame for what happened to me.”
“But I am sorry. I’m sorry about my mom. I’ve tried to explain to her, but she doesn’t understand. And I’m so very sorry about fighting with you.”
“River, what did you tell Adin about your mom?”
“The truth. I told him everything I’ve told you.”
“But you haven’t told me everything. You never mentioned she’s Medusa.”
River’s mouth opened wide, and he gasped while he shook his head. “How did you find out?”
“I heard you cursing her to the fiery pits of hell when calling the paramedics.”
“What do you mean you heard me calling the paramedics?”
“I was able to hear and feel touches, but I couldn’t feel the pain until I woke up at the hospital. I’m not sure why, but I heard everything you said to me at the store and in the hospital up until that point.” She paused, and he stared at her. She didn’t want to go into the details, so she finished her previous thought. “Anyway, besides the colorful words you’d used, I remembered you saying something about monsters in your family, and you warned me that your mother was evil.”
“I didn’t want you to know who she was,” he said sheepishly.
“Well, next time, make sure I’m unconscious.” He gave her an incredulous look, and she smirked. “But is she really Medusa or a likeness of her?”
“She’s Medusa, but not the original one. She has most of the Medusa’s original qualities with some added abilities, but since she was the first new god to be so close to the original, she was bequeathed the original name. The first Medusa was beheaded and had two children with Poseidon. Pegasus and Chrysaor.”
“Chrysaor?” That sounded just like his last name.
“Yes. I’m of his likeness. My mom created me with Poseidon, like the original Medusa did to create Chrysaor because Poseidon shares power over the world with Zeus and Hades. Zeus rules the sky and air. Hades rules the underworld. Poseidon rules the waters.”
“I had a dream you turned into a hurricane,” she mumbled. At least that part now made sense.
River became somber. “I guess now you know everything about me,” he said sadly. He obviously didn’t want her to know his mother was a real monster. He looked depressed, ashamed, and she wanted to console her friend.
“Can you do one thing for me?”
“What is it?” he asked, looking down.
“Can you give me a hug?”
“I’d love to,” he whispered. Then he walked over to her, dropped to his knees, and wrapped his arms around her.
She held him for a few seconds before she spoke.
“I don’t think you’re a monster,” she whispered.
“I can’t be so sure. I feel like I’m turning into one, and I don’t know how to stop it,” he breathed into her hair.
“I’ll help you. We have to help each other.”
River squeezed her tightly. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I know,” she said as she rubbed his back. Then she recalled part of her conversation with her mother that she should tell him about. “I have to tell you something about Hades,” she whispered.
River pulled away. “What about him?” His tone was fierce.
“He knows. My mom came to me while I was in the hospital…when I was unconscious. She told me Hades knew about me, and he has a plan.”
“I will not let him get to you!”
“I know you won’t.”
And in that moment, she honestly believed she had both River and Adin to watch over and protect her.
But as she looked into River’s eyes, she had a feeling Hades and Medusa weren’t the only things she was going to need protection from.