Goddess Legacy

by M.W. Muse

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After a week of house rest, Legacy was back to her old self. Well, she would never be the same after her hospital stay, but at least now she could get around without hands being all over her. And that was a good thing. Adin’s orientation was coming up, and he was using her as his excuse not to go. This discussion was the cause of their first argument since she’d gotten home from the hospital.

  “I can skip it,” he insisted.

  She didn’t want him to go, but she knew he needed to. At least he couldn’t use her condition as an excuse to stay. “You can’t. You have to go. I’ll be fine.”

  “No. I’m not leaving you!”

  “Adin, you have to get ready for your classes. You need to go.” She’d have to try a different angle since this one wasn’t working. “Calli and I will be shopping most of the time anyway. You know she wants to get the latest fashion for the start of her senior year.” She chuckled, but he didn’t laugh.

  “Legacy, please don’t argue with me on this.”

  “Adin, I know you’re scared to leave me. But you’re going to have to get ready for college. I’m going to be worried about you, too, so if you don’t go and get prepared, I’ll just be more worried than I’ll already be.”

  He groaned, shaking his head in irritation. “Fine. I’ll go, but I’m only participating in what I have to. I’ll try to come back some of the evenings, but even if I can’t, I’ll get to come back early since I don’t have to go to the freshmen banquet.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to that. You might meet some new friends.” She looked down. “You could always take your girlfriend with you.”

  Adin put his finger under her chin and lifted her head until she met his gaze. His eyes were bright. “Do you want to go?”

  “Yes. We haven’t gone out since before I got hurt. It’d be nice to get dressed up for you again.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. It was settled.

  After Adin left for orientation, Calli’s attention went into overdrive. She was with her practically every day and every night. She’d stayed over with her since Adin didn’t want her by River’s house. He used the excuse of River’s mom, but she knew that wasn’t the only reason.

  Since it was raining most of the week, they stayed inside most of the time. If they went out, it was to go shopping, so they were still technically indoors.

  She and Calli had talked about a lot of things. Legacy had brought her up to speed on the conversation with her mother, and Calli had been supportive. They’d also talked about Zach. Calli felt as if their relationship had stalled, but she still enjoyed hanging out with him.

  Calli had even talked her into going to the Summer Set Festival. Their town had a celebration every year at the end of summer. Legacy didn’t really feel like going because Adin wouldn’t be back in time, but she reluctantly agreed.

  During the few times Calli hadn’t monopolized her time, River had come over to visit. He tried to be the friend he was in the beginning. He wasn’t letting his feelings for her overpower him like he had been doing before her accident. It was nice to be able to talk to him again without worrying about her playing defense to his offensive maneuvers.

  On Thursday, River came over and they watched a movie.

  “Calli wants me to go to the festival tomorrow,” she said with a shrug.

  “That’s a good idea. You need to get out of the house.”

  “Yeah. If you’re not doing anything, you should come too.”

  His eyes sparkled. “I’m not doing anything.”

  “Good.” She smiled.

  They went back to watching the movie and chatting during the boring parts. River stayed until Calli came over. It was beginning to feel like Legacy was being babysat, but she did enjoy the company.

  Calli spent the night again, but this night was different than the ones she’d had over the last couple of weeks.

  Ever since she’d gotten hurt, she hadn’t had another dream. Not even an inkling of one that she just couldn’t remember. But tonight, she dreamed the same dreams she’d had the night of her double date. All her old dreams were merged into one. The tornado was coming. She yelled at it, but wasn’t scared. The girl was there…that was her. She stood in the triangle of holes, and then she and Adin were on the beach, standing in front of Medusa holding a red herring. Finally, River came charging for her as a hurricane. Nothing new. All the elements were exactly the same as that night.

  She woke up wondering why she dreamed again after all this time and why that dream was exactly the same. She had no answers, but she was obviously missing something.

  Calli woke up and saw her sitting in the bed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I had another dream.” she said, looking at her.

  “What about?”

  Legacy told her every detail of the dream while she listened and watched her expressions in silence. She explained to Calli who River was so she would understand the significance of the hurricane. She’d already told her about Medusa when she explained the conversation she’d had with her mother.

  “That’s really weird.”

  “Yep. I’m not sure what to make of it.” She shrugged.

  After they contemplated it for awhile, they got dressed and headed to the festival. It was still raining outside, but they went anyway. River met them there, and they walked around and ate junk food and played games under the tarps, staying dry. It was nice being there with her two best friends. River was definitely a best friend to her now. He was the one who helped her through all her questions and confusions. She knew she could turn to him for anything. Just like she could with Calli. She was happy to have him as a friend and very happy he was trying to be that friend to her.

  After she downed several lemonades, River walked them to the restroom. Calli, being the female best friend, knew it was her obligation to come along.

  “Where’s Zach?” Legacy asked once they were alone. She wondered why he hadn’t come along, but she didn’t want to ask in front of River. Even though they were both her best friends, they were still getting to know each other.

  “He’s been out of town. He’ll be back later today, so we’ll meet up later,” she said as they dried their hands.

  “Oh, okay.”

  They walked out of the restroom just as it started to thunder and headed toward the bench where they’d left River. He wasn’t there.

  “Um, where’d River go?” Calli asked as more thunder sounded.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he went to the restroom too.”

  They waited a few minutes, but he still didn’t show. They started walking away from the restroom, and then they saw him.

  He was with Adin.

  She felt a thrill run through her since she hadn’t expected Adin to be back until tomorrow and walked faster toward him.

  But as they neared, it was apparent by the stances that River and Adin were fighting. As Legacy and Calli got closer, she could make out what they were saying.

  “You shouldn’t have told her!” Adin growled.

  “It doesn’t matter to you. It’s really none of your business,” River retorted.

  “She is my business.”

  “Then maybe you should be honest with her!”

  They finally made it over to Adin and River. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded.

  They both looked shocked that she’d caught them.

  “We’re just having a disagreement,” Adin said, walking over to put his arms around her.

  She pushed him back. “No! Tell me what you were talking about.”

  “Legacy, we can discuss this later.”

  She knew Adin didn’t want to talk to her about this in front of River. “Then what are you doing back already?” She was actually happy to see him, but her question came out as an accusation.

  “We finished up early,” Adin whispered. “I found out yesterday that we’d only have one seminar this morning and I
’d be free to come home, so I wanted to surprise you. When you weren’t home, I called Lissa and she said you’d come here.”

  His words softened her anger, and the original thrill was back. She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry. I’ve missed you so much.”

  “I missed you too,” Adin said as he kissed the top of her head.

  After Adin released her, keeping one hand, River stepped over to her. “I’m going to go ahead and leave.”

  “No, River. You can stay.”

  River glanced at Adin. “I can’t.” He turned and walked away from her.

  “River, wait!” she called for him, but he didn’t turn around.

  She let go of Adin’s hand and started to follow after him, but Adin grabbed her arm. “Legacy, what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to talk to him. I’ll be right back.”

  Adin dropped her arm, and she ran to catch up to River. By the time she’d reached him, Adin could still see them, but they were too far away for him to hear.

  “River?”

  River turned around and faced her. “What?”

  “Why are you leaving?”

  “Because it’s for the best. You want me to be your friend, and this is me being that friend.”

  “I don’t want you to go,” she whispered.

  River shut his eyes. “I know,” he breathed, and it felt like there was more meaning behind his answer than what she understood.

  “What were you two talking about?” she asked River, and he opened his eyes.

  “I think you should ask him.”

  “I’m asking you.”

  “You know I love you, and I’ll do anything for you. But this is something you need to talk to him about. Wait until you’re alone with him, and don’t let him get out of telling you. I’ll be here for you if you have any questions.”

  River put his arms around her and hugged her. He held on a little longer than normal, but it didn’t really feel like he was holding onto her for his benefit. It felt as if he were giving her support.

  He let go of her and stared into her eyes. “I like it when your eyes are green,” he murmured. “They match mine. It makes me feel like we’re on the right track.”

  She smiled at him, and he smiled back before walking away.

  Legacy walked back to Adin and Calli, but didn’t talk about what River had said. They’d spent the rest of the day together, and by that evening, Zach had joined them. She knew Calli was happy to see him, but it made her sad that Adin and River didn’t get along as well as Adin and Zach did. She remembered thinking Adin and Zach wouldn’t have been friends if it weren’t for their girlfriends. She wished there was some way to make Adin and River become friends for her benefit. She’d have to figure that out somehow.

  Adin took her home from the festival, and it was the first time that they’d been alone together all day. She knew she needed to ask him about his argument with River, but there wasn’t a tactful way to do it. She figured she should wait until they were in her house before she started. She wanted to be able to watch his face, not him watch the road. So instead, she held his hand and rubbed on his arm, knowing he could feel the two different temperatures of her hands.

  When they got to her house, Lissa was there. She didn’t want an audience for this conversation. They’d have to go someplace where they wouldn’t be interrupted.

  “Come upstairs with me for a minute,” she said to Adin as she pulled on his arm. She figured her bedroom was the safest place to talk about this.

  Once inside her room, she shut the door. She turned around to start her interrogation, but Adin was standing right in front of her with desire burning in his eyes. He pushed himself up against her, which shoved her against the door, and he locked his lips onto hers.

  She was caught off guard by his reaction, but it slowly made sense. They hadn’t seen each other in days, and she practically dragged him up to the privacy of her bedroom. Of course he would mistake why she wanted to be alone with him.

  After the first few seconds of realization, her resolve wavered, and she threw her arms around him. She kissed him back with as much intensity as he was kissing her. She felt his hands slide down her sides, but his right hand left her body. She heard him fumble with the doorknob, and she realized he was locking it.

  The sound of him locking the door made her shudder slightly. Even though they’d been alone in her bedroom before—and he had slept in her bed with her the night he brought her home from the hospital—they’d never been alone like this in either of their bedrooms. She was excited and nervous.

  Adin broke away from their kiss suddenly, slid his hand into her hair—grabbing it and tilting her head—and kissed down the side of her neck…all at the same time. Gods, that felt so good. She was squeezing him up against her as tightly as she could and gasping for air. The sound and feel of her panting against his skin made him moan, and he crushed his lips to hers again. She could feel him all over her, and she wanted more. She started sliding her right leg up and down the side of his, and Adin pressed himself even harder against her.

  “Adin,” she panted when he moved his lips back to her neck.

  “Mmmmmmm?” he responded without moving his lips off her.

  “I-ahh-I…” She wanted to tell him that she needed to talk to him, but his eager hands felt too good. She couldn’t concentrate.

  He moved his lips from her neck to her ear, kissing her along that path.

  “Yes?” he breathed into her ear. His hot breath sent a powerful shiver through her body, and he liked that. He moved his lips hungrily to right below her ear, kissing her along her neck again.

  “We have to talk,” she whispered quickly. Adin ripped his face off her neck so that his lips were not on her. He was still holding her tightly, and now he was panting against her. His breathing sounded like groans as he tried to catch his breath.

  They stood there until both of their breathing slowed. Then Adin lifted his head, stepped back one step, and rested his head against the side of hers. He moved his hands off her and onto the door. Their bodies were still touching, but at least they weren’t compressed against each other.

  “What do you want to talk about?” he finally asked.

  She rubbed her hands up and down his waist in an effort to ease the blow of the topic, but she was too worked up for that kind of touch.

  “Ummm…” Forget it! She squeezed his side and leaned her lips back over to his. He moaned as his opened mouth slowly found hers again, but his hesitation was evidence that he was trying to control his eager behavior. After a few seconds, he stepped back up against her, kissing her harder, and she knew she had to stop this now.

  She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. “Wait.” She kept her hands on his chest as she threw her head back against the door and looked up at the ceiling.

  “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

  “Don’t be.”

  He took a few steps back so that they were no longer touching and ran his hands in his disheveled hair. He left his hands on top of his head, and she could feel him watching her. She didn’t want to look at him and see the desire still burning in his eyes.

  “Maybe you should go sit at the desk,” she whispered, still watching the ceiling.

  Adin retreated to the desk, and she took several deep breaths. She unlocked the door before she sat on the bed—she hoped that that would provide them with the incentive to behave. She looked at him, and thankfully, his eyes were calm. They stared at each other for several seconds, and then Adin cracked a smile.

  “What?” she asked, smiling back.

  “You had a hard time controlling yourself.” He smirked.

  “Me?” She laughed. “You were the one who threw me against the door.”

  Adin took a deep breath and started to stare intensely into her eyes. It was way too soon to bring up any specifics of what’d just happened. If she didn’t get this conversation going now, he’d find his way to her bed. “Stop,
” she breathed, shutting her eyes.

  “We can’t talk in here,” Adin said, standing up. “Let’s go outside and get some fresh air.”

  She sighed and nodded.

  Adin followed her outside to the backyard and sat at the patio table across from her.

  “So what do you want to talk about?”

  She took a deep breath before starting. “I want to know what you and River were arguing about.”

  Adin gritted his teeth and stared at her. Then he shifted in his chair, put his arms on the table, and leaned his head down. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s complicated.”

  “I have a right to know.”

  Adin flashed his eyes up to her and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms against his chest.” Fine. I’ll tell you what’s going on if you promise me you’ll hear me out on everything I have to say.”

  She didn’t like the sound of this. “Okay,” she said timidly.

  “Do you remember when I told you my family didn’t get along with the Gorgos family?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s because we already knew everything about them.”

  “What?”

  “We knew they descended from the Greek gods…that they came from Medusa’s line.”

  “W-Why didn’t you tell me this?” If he’d told her, she could have avoided that psycho woman from the beginning!

  Adin’s eyes narrowed, and he took a deep breath. “Just because we knew where they came from doesn’t mean we believed they were powerful. I didn’t believe River’s mother was capable of what she did to you.”

  “But when I told you about River that first time, you got mad at me for believing him.”

  “Legacy, I was never, never mad at you. I was angry with him for telling you. Once he found out enough information, he was able to make the connection to your mother. It was his way in, and it infuriated me.”

  She felt the blood fall out of her face, and she shook her head. “You knew who I was,” she muttered incredulously.

  He watched her eyes carefully. “Yes.”

  “That wasn’t a question,” she clarified.

  Adin sighed. “My family has known, but I didn’t know at first. When I was on vacation, I told my mom that I asked you out, so she told me a little about you. But she was careful not to say too much. Then I realized the possibility of who you really were when you told me about your conversation with River. When I visited my dad that first time, we talked about it. Remember, I told you that we fought? Well, that’s why. I told him what you told me, and he confirmed what I suspected. Then he wanted me away from you. That’s one of the reasons why he wanted me to go to school in Texas.”

  “Why did he want you away from me?”

  “Because he knows there’s a good chance we won’t be together,” Adin whispered, looking down.

  “He believes the prophecy?” Tears started to form in her eyes.

  “Yes.” He glanced back up. “He believes a lot of things,” he muttered sarcastically.

  “But why?” She stared at him while he sighed, shaking his head. He was reluctant to continue, and warning bells were going off in her head, signifying they were on the verge of tearing into the heart of River’s warning.

  Adin sighed and shook his head. “Because we descended from the Greek gods too.”

  Legacy gaped at him, shaking her head in disbelief. Her knees were wobbling and a cold sensation crawled down her back. She felt as if she was about to faint. “River said you were mortal. You’re already eighteen.” No way. No way!

  “That’s another reason why I didn’t want him telling you about all this. I’ve already lived with the expectation of changes, and my eighteenth birthday came and went without an ascension. That’s one of the reasons why I never pursued you before. I didn’t know how to explain everything. So after I turned eighteen and nothing happened, I realized I put my life on hold for a bunch of silly family stories that amounted to nothing.”

  “I talked to my mom. She said I would be going through changes. I believe her.”

  “I believed my parents too. I’m not saying it’ll be different for you. I do know there are powerful gods out there. But it may not happen.”

  “You should have told me this!” she yelled, jumping out of her seat. She shook her head frantically while she backed away from the table, heading toward the house. When she reached the back wall, she leaned against it for support because she felt weak in the knees. Her breathing became hitched as reality sunk in. “It’s like you’ve been lying to me.” She started crying, and her head slumped into her hands.

  Adin got up, walked to her, and put his hands on her arms. “I haven’t lied to you,” he whispered. He pulled her hands down to look at her eyes, but she kept them closed. “Please, Legacy. You promised you would hear me out. Please let me finish.”

  “Fine,” she said angrily, opening her eyes and folding her arms against her chest. “Then, what’s the other reason?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You said one of the reasons you didn’t pursue me before was because you expected to change too. What’s the other reason?”

  Adin shook his head while he stared at her. Then he shut his eyes before speaking. “I don’t want to tell you that.”

  She started to cry again, which made her even madder at him, so she pushed him away from her and walked back to the table. “Too bad,” she said through her teeth.

  Adin kept his eyes on her while he walked to the seat next to her. After sitting down, he stroked her arm while he spoke. “I was also hesitant before because the original god that I was created like already had a companion he was strongly linked to.”

  What? This was freaking crazy! Just frigging perfect. Not only was she furious with Adin, but now she felt sick for making him put up with River and acknowledging their bonded triangle. She never realized she had competition for Adin! “Which goddess?”

  “Legacy, please don’t…”

  “Which one?” she said each word distinctly.

  Adin pursed his lips. “Aphrodite.”

  Her hands flew up to her mouth, and she gaped at him. “The goddess of love? Are you kidding me?” She remembered reading about her, but didn’t really do any research because everyone already knew who she was! How was she supposed to compete with a goddess of beauty, sexuality, love, and all the other beautiful qualities that make men madly in love with women?

  “Please don’t worry about this, sweetheart. I love you. I want to be with you.”

  “Besides the fact that you are connected to her, how can I compete with a goddess of that stature? With her power over love, she could have any man she wanted. I couldn’t stop her if she wanted you.”

  “If you’re worried about repeating the destiny of our original gods, then there are some stories that said the original god who I’m like spent part of his time with Persephone.”

  “The god that Persephone spent time with was Hades. Are you telling me you were created from him?” She started to cry again. This could not be happening to her. She was in love with Adin. Mom said Hades had a plan. If his plan was for her to fall in love with Adin, then he was already winning. She wanted to be with Adin no matter who he was created from or similar to.

  “No! No, I’m not like Hades. He is a real threat to you. I’m not going to take you away from your family, and I’m not going to allow him to do that either.”

  “So why didn’t you just tell me everything?” she demanded.

  "I wanted you to find out for yourself. I mean, I wanted to help you—like when I brought up Lissa babysitting you on the night of your parents’ accident—but I wanted you to be the one to put the pieces together. I wanted you in control of your destiny.

  "We all have our own destinies to fulfill. We don’t have to repeat the ones of our creators or the original gods we are like. And even if we are destined to do that to a certain degree, we still have a goo
d chance of being together all the time since our similar gods were together part of the time." She took a deep breath, trying to rein in her anger. “The only other god I remember reading about that was with Persephone was Adonis.”

  Adin smiled at her.

  “Adonis?” she asked incredulously.

  “Yes. I’m not the original Adonis. I was created in his likeness, but I didn’t ascend to a godly status when I turned eighteen.”

  “And this Aphrodite, have you met her?”

  Adin sighed. “No. But she does exist, and that’s one of the things my dad and I argued about. But she’s with Adonis. They’re happy. There’s no reason for her to come looking for an alternative.”

  "Speaking of arguments, I take it you and River argued because he found out about you and believed you should’ve been honest with me. How long has he known the truth?"

  Adin’s eyes narrowed. He clearly didn’t like her bringing up River. “We opened up about what we knew while you were in the hospital. We were alone with you for hours and hours every day, so we had to talk about something. Until then he had no idea that I was a part of his world. I probably wouldn’t have said anything then, but I was too upset to think clearly. Obviously, if I had been in my right mind, I would have thrown him out of your room as soon as I got there. He cannot be trusted.”

  And she wouldn’t have known to confront Adin. “How can you say that? He hasn’t lied to me!”

  "Legacy, I have not lied to you! I love you, so I did what I thought was best for you, not what I thought was best for me, and River is a selfish bastard who’s only looking out for himself!”

  She stood, stepping away from the table. “I think you should leave.”

  Adin’s jaw dropped, and her heart ached to see the pain that formed on his face. "Sweetheart, please," he whispered, standing up.

  “I heard what you had to say, and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact you kept this from me and discouraged me from getting information from River when you knew the truth all along.” Her breathing hitched as tears leaked down her face.

  He stepped forward. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I thought I was doing the right thing for you.”

  She looked down, not able to stare at his watery eyes. "I know. I just need time to think.”

  And mend her heart.