chapter TEN
Kallos walked to her next class alone. She doesn't want them to take her pain if it causes them pain. She can’t hide if she is in pain now because of their stupid necklaces. Sean walks into the class about a minute after her. The only seat left is behind her. With every step, his eyes are focused on her. She doesn't need a necklace to tell her that he’s concerned about her.
At lunch, Kallos sat with a bunch of people. Karissa is sitting next to Ian, and Nikki is on the other side of him. Mary and Vicky are on either side of Sean. Kallos sits next to Kellee who gives her a smile as Kallos sits down. Kallos isn't in the mood to eat so she just sits there and stares at her food. She can hear a girl giggle; she looks over at Ian and Nikki. He says something that Kallos can't hear, and Nikki is giggling again.
This time Nikki puts her petite hand on Ian’s face. Kallos knows that she’s getting mad; she can feel her jealousy burning her to her core. Kallos wants to rip that tiny hand off and shove it down Nikki's throat. Sean and Ian both are looking at Kallos. She knows that they are feeling her jealousy.
“Kallos, how’s your day going?” Kallos smiles at Kellee’s question.
“It's great,” Kallos answers through gritted teeth and looks back at Ian again. Nikki is still touching Ian. Kellee follows her gaze.
“You know about them?” Kellee asks, and Kallos looks at her.
“What about them?” Kallos raises an eyebrow and questions Kellee.
“They were together all of last year and all summer. Then, all of a sudden a week before school started, he broke up with her.” This was all new to Kallos. Yeah, she thought something was up with them, but hearing it makes something break inside her. She looks back up just in time to see Ian kiss Nikki's hand. That does it; Kallos is done. She looks at her uneaten food and gets up. She drops her food off, and it doesn't take long before she hears her name.
“Kallos, will you stop?” Sean asks. She knew that they would follow her.
“Why?” Kallos barks as she turns around to look at them.
“Why, what,” Ian smirks. Kallos wants to scream. Ian smirks at her. Kallos explodes, “Jerk!”
“Okay, we all need to calm down. Ian, knock it off, and Kallos just breathe,” Sean tries to take control. Kallos takes a deep breath, and Ian turns away from them. “Okay, now, Kallos tell us what is going on with you, besides Ian being a jerk.” She looks back and forth between both of them and Sean winks at her. Ian turns back around and just stares vacantly at her.
“Why didn't you tell me how much pain you guys were in when you take the pain from me?” Kallos wants to touch them, but doesn't. She is still furious with Ian.
“We thought you wouldn't let us help you,” Sean says and smiles. They are right; she wouldn't have let them help her. She doesn't want them to hurt that badly.
“And that makes it all right?”
“No. I know we promised to not keep things from you.” Kallos glares at Sean and then looks at Ian. The first thing she notices is Ian's baby blue eyes are getting darker. “We didn’t feel anything until we put on the necklaces,” Sean said.
“Ian, is there still something between you and Nikki?” Kallos has to know. Ian's eyes narrow. “Don't try to lie to me. I'll just ask Kellee.”
“I wasn't going to lie. There’s nothing. We dated and it's over.” Kallos looks down; she doesn't want him to know that he has crushed her completely. “Kallos,” Ian whispers and she slowly looks up. His eyes are back to his baby blues. As single tear rolls down her cheek, Ian moves closer to her, “I’m sorry, Kallos.” Ian kisses her on her soft cheek.
“Sean is with you in your next class. I’m going to go back to the lunchroom,” Ian says as he is walking away. She turns her attention back to Sean, and he is moving closer to her.
“We have little time before class starts. Do you want to go for a walk?” She gives him a nod and takes his hand.
****
Ian walks back into the lunchroom. He doesn't know what is wrong with him and why he is acting so mean to Kallos. He notices Nikki and Karissa are talking and knows that can’t be good. Karissa is his best friend and never liked Nikki, and Nikki hated Karissa just as much.
“Hey,” he says and narrows his eyes. Karissa looks away and Nikki just smiles.
“Hello, handsome. How is Kallos?” Nikki moves closer to him. There was a time when he would have done anything for her, but she only sees money when she looks at him. He knows the truth now.
“So, what's going on?” Ian looks at Nikki and then at Karissa.
“We were just talking about Kallos.” He doesn't really want to know what they were talking about. He knows that Nikki doesn’t like Kallos, but he was hoping that Karissa would.
“That's nice. Kris, can we talk?” She looks up at Ian and nods. “See you later, Nikki.” Nikki grabs Ian's arm.
“Ian, I don't like to be played with. Remember that!” She glares and Ian pulls his arm free. He doesn't know what to say so he just leaves with Karissa following.
When they’re alone, he turns to face Karissa, “Are you going to tell me what is really going on?” She nods and takes a deep breath.
“I don't like Kallos. It isn't right for her to have both you and Sean.” Ian knew it was about his brother. He walks over to her and hugs her. She wraps her little arms around him passionately. “She doesn't deserve you Ian. You have a good heart and you deserve someone who is going to love you with her whole heart, not half of it, let alone your brother at the same time.” She slowly looks up at him. Ian is shocked.
“Kris, what are you saying?” He thinks he knows but hopes he is wrong.
“I love you, Ian. I never loved Sean. It’s you I’ve wanted and it always has been.” He lets go of her and moves away. This is his best friend and he does love her, just not in that way.
“Kris, you know that Kallos is my soul mate.” She nods.
“That doesn't mean you should be with her. You should be with someone who won’t break your heart. Ian, I won’t.” He can see the tears in Karissa’s eyes. He never thought he would hurt her like this. He knows that he might have just lost his best friend.
“I have to go, but we’ll talk later.” He normally would kiss her forehead or hug her, but it doesn't feel like he should touch her right now. He turns around and can see Nikki watching the whole thing.
****
Kallos hasn't had time to really look around the school. She already knows that the school has a forest along the back, and a small lake on the east side. When her dad told her that they would be moving, she found the school on the Internet and checked out everything she needed to know. Kallos’ dad did tell her during lunch she can go outside if she wanted to, but he thought she should wait until the spring. It isn’t freezing yet, but it was starting to get cold. As they are walking, Sean reaches for her hand, and they walk out the front doors.
At first, Sean scared Kallos; he didn’t seem like a boy she would ever want to date. Now, he is changing her mind all the time by the way he looks at her and how kindly he speaks to her. He makes her feel good. Even now with his hand in hers, she feels like nothing bad can happen. Kallos notices he is leading them to a small garden with a water fountain in the center. They are walking towards the bench in front of the fountain, and sit down on the cold stone bench. She feels herself shiver; it’s colder than she thought sitting in the shade. Sean takes off his leather jacket and puts it over her shoulders, his hand returns to hers. Kallos can feel Sean’s thumb rubbing along her knuckles, and looks at their connected hands and smiles. She looks up at him and meets his gray eyes. She can feel herself falling for him fast and she almost gets lost in his ashen colored gaze.
“What are you thinking?” Kallos asks. Sean and Ian know what she is feeling, but she has no clue how they feel about her.
“You want to know what I’m thinking.” She gives him a small nod. “Do you know what your name means?” She shakes her head; Sean smiles, “It’s a Greek word for beauty. I know why your parents picked it. You are so beautiful, Kallos. I never thought someone could actually take my breath away and you do.” Both Sean and Ian know what to say to make her blush. Kallos can't get over that she has two soul mates. Then there is this change thing coming, and she is so scared. The break through pain she keeps having from the change makes her body feel like its being torn apart by Clydesdale horses. If she couldn’t breathe last time what’s going to happen the next?
“You remember your promise that you wouldn’t lie to me?” Kallos asks Sean.
“I did promise you,” he said, sounding guarded.
“How much more pain is there going to be. Last time, I couldn’t breathe and it took longer for you guys to take away my pain.” His eyes flash again.
“Well, you have two of us to take your pain, and we are hoping that we are enough. I don’t know what happened last time. Maybe it took longer because you were with Ares and he blocked it. I plan on asking him the next time I see him. It scared me when you didn’t respond to us.”
Sean looks away from Kallos. “But to answer your question, the pain that comes with the full change feels like your body is being ripped apart and burned. Your head is pounding so hard you’re going to want to split it open.” She gasps. It sounds as if she is going to die. How is she going to handle it? She knows he hears her gasp because he looks back at her in concern. “Kallos, I don’t want to scare you. You asked me to tell you and I did.”
“I didn’t think you would be that honest with me.” Sean just gives her a grin.
“Babe, you’ll be finding out soon, and lying to you isn’t going to do you any good.” Sean had a point. If he told her everything would be fine, then she wouldn’t be prepared when it happened. Even though he could have told her differently, she is happy he told her. Kallos knows that Ian wouldn’t really lie to her, but he wouldn’t have been completely honest with her either.
“We should start heading to class,” Sean gets up and puts his hand out for her, and she takes it. She notices people are staring at them. Some even point at them, and then she hears Ian’s name. She knows that people think she is cheating on Ian with his brother.
Kallos quickly lets go of Sean’s hand; she doesn't want people to think bad things about her. She knows that it hurt Sean’s feelings because his face changed. She doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. Kallos has to look away from him and as she does, someone catches her eye. She’s a girl that Kallos hadn't met yet. She was tall, at least five foot ten inches, and her hair is black and short, barely coming to the top of her ears. She gives Kallos a little wave.
“Hello!” The girl said. “Kallos, right?” Kallos nods. “Have the Hunter's told you about themselves, or are they hiding behind their pretty faces?” Kallos looks at Sean and he looks down. Then, the girl starts to laugh as she walks away.
“Don’t mind her. She is kind of weird,” Sean said and starts to walk to the school; Kallos follows him. She tries to talk to him to find out what that girl was talking about, but he just walks faster. By the time they walk into the school the first bell rings. Before Kallos gets to say anything to Sean, she sees Ian by the lockers.
“I’ll see you later, Kallos.” Sean leans in and kisses her on the cheek.
“Wait! Sean, what—,” but he doesn’t stop. She looks at Ian and wonders what they are hiding from her.
She sits in the same seat as before, and Ian is in front of her. Kallos looks up just in time to see Karissa walk in, and she glares at Kallos. When she passes Kallos, Karissa drops a note, turns around, and sits down. Slowly she opens the folded piece of paper.
Ask them what they are. I'm sure you have seen Sean's eyes change. Do you want to know what they are?
Kallos turns around to look at Karissa, and their eyes meet for a moment; then, Karissa looks away. Kallos turns back and is trying to pay attention, but she wants to know what’s going on. She is going to have a lot to talk about with Sean and Ian on their way home. Sean has already proven that he won't lie to her, but Ian is the sweet one, and she doesn’t know if he will tell her everything or try to protect her.
By the time she started to pay attention the class is over and the bell rings. Her mind seems to be in another world as Ian steps up next to her desk; she doesn’t even notice him next to her and grumbles something to get her attention. It doesn’t help that they can tell her feelings with that stupid necklace.
“What’s going on? You know, the best thing about these necklaces is we know when you are lying to us. So you can’t say anything.” He winks and puts his hand in the middle of her back. He walks them out of classroom, and Kallos knows he is waiting for her to answer his question.
“I need to talk to you and Sean after school. I have something I need to ask you guys.”
“Like what?” Ian is pretty good at shrouding his emotions.
“Like why I saw yours and Sean's eyes change to black?” All the color rapidly fades from Ian's face, and Kallos has a feeling he knows what she is talking about. Sean is walking up to them by the time they get to their lockers. He looks at Ian, and his eyebrows go together in confusion.
“What’s going on?” Sean asks Ian. Then Sean looks at Kallos and his eyes widen. “Did you have another attack?” He puts his hands on either side of her face. He even put the back of his hand to her forehead to check if she had a fever.
“Sean, she’s fine. Kallos wants to know why our eyes change,” Ian said as he walks past Kallos to his locker.
Sean looks away, and she doesn’t need a necklace to tell her that he is fuming. She just doesn’t know if he is mad at her. She didn’t do anything for him to be mad at her; Kallos just wants to know what’s going on.
“What do you know, and who told you?” Ian asks her as she is taking her books out for her next class. Kallos looks at him, and she swears he is glaring at her. She has to hold back her smile because he looks so cute when he’s trying to be intimidating. She has a good feeling that he never could get truly angry with her.
“No one told me anything. I just had weird feelings since I came here.” She knows she’s taking a chance telling him a lie, but she did add some half-truth in there. Ian just looks at her, and she knows he is trying to see if she is telling the truth.
“Fine, after school we’ll talk,” Ian said, and she looks over at Sean. She can tell he isn’t buying what she said. Kallos looks down because she doesn’t like to lie. She could have told them Karissa told her to ask, but she doesn’t like to start problems.
“Let’s get going to our next class,” Sean said and nods towards Ian. Ian just walks away. This is the first time he doesn’t kiss her or say something to make her roll her eyes. He just walks away. She doesn’t even look at Sean; she walks right past him and goes to class. Kallos sits down and looks up as Sean is walking in. She can see the pain on his face. She sees he can feel her emotions and it shows on his face. Not thinking about Sean and Ian, she pays attention to the teacher and pushes boy problems to the back of her mind.
Kallos is so happy when the final bell rings. The boys told her they wouldn’t lie to her, and she is going to see if they will hold up to their end of the bargain. She can almost feel Sean’s eyes scorching her back as they walk to their lockers; she grabs her pink and black backpack out and closes it behind her. Kallos and Sean didn’t speak to each other in their last class, which is fine. She is still hurting because of him blowing her off. She knows that he is mad at her for lying, but she had a good reason. Kallos may not like Karissa, but she isn't going to throw her under the bus. She just doesn’t want to break up Ian and Karissa's friendship even if she wants more with Ian. Kallos turns around from her locker, and notices Sean and Ian both next to their lockers. Ian still must have something on his mind because his normal gorgeous smile is hidden behind a sulking frown. This is the first time she hasn’t seen a smile plastered on his beautiful face. Okay, maybe they both know that she lied to them.
“We should start walking,” Kallos says. Sean and Ian aren’t looking at her; they are looking behind her. She turns around and isn’t surprised to see her dad. “Hey Dad, we were just going to head home,” she gives him her innocent smile.
“Okay, Sweetie, I’ll see you guys at home.” He glares at the boys before he pats her shoulder. She hears the boys exhale loudly when he walks away. Kallos shakes her head at them. She knows they are waiting for her to ask them about everything. She slows down so they can talk longer.
“I want to know everything,” Kallos looks at them.
“Well, do you believe in demons?” Sean asks her.
“Demons? You mean like with horns, tails and from hell?” Sean and Ian start to laugh, and she gives them both the look to let them know she isn't happy with them laughing at her.
“Sorry, but they don’t look anything like that. Most of them are really good looking. Our mother is a Fates Demon; she can alter people’s destinies. Our dad is human so we are only half demons”, Sean says, and that explains a lot.
“Is that why your eyes change to black?” Kallos asks, even though she already knows the answer. Sean gives her a slight nod, and she turns towards Ian. “What about you?”
Ian looks away, and she can tell he doesn't want to talk about this. “Sean is older than me, and he got more of the demon blood. My eyes don’t change, and I don’t give off evil vibes. Our parents found out that we’re reincarnated Ares and Apollo,” Ian adds with a quirky smile, not the one that she loves, though. It doesn’t light up his face. Kallos knows she has seen his eye change.
“Okay, so you two are part demon. What about some other people?” She turns to look at Sean. “What about the one girl we saw outside the garden; the girl with short black hair who’s really tall? Something seems different about her,” Kallos thinks she saw that her eyes were all black. Kallos’ mark was burning the whole time they were looking at each other.
“She is a full demon. She is a Succubus. Camilla hasn’t come into her full powers yet, and trusts me, we aren’t looking forward to the day when she does. Sean and I could alter people’s destinies, but it would cost us. Well, I’m not even sure if we could, since we are only half demons. Our mother can if she wants too.”
So, Camilla is a succubus; Sean and Ian are half fates demons; and she is Aphrodite, well, sort of. Kallos’ world has just gotten much more confusing. She doesn’t know where her world starts and where the real world ends.
“Okay, this is too much to take in at once,” Kallos says and starts walking in the direction of home. There has been something really bugging her about her soul-mates thing, and she needs to know the answer, now. “I have another question to ask you guys.” Out of the corner of her eyes she sees both of them glance at her and then quickly look forward. She knows they can feel her discomfort, so she goes right for it. “How do you guys feel about being a part of me forever?” She really needs to know, but is terrified of finding out what they might say. They are both standing about five feet behind her and staring at her. Ian was the first to open his mouth.
“Our parents told us about you, but we didn’t know that we were soul mates until a few days ago. We knew you were Aphrodite and it was your destiny to be with one of us; it’s part of the story. Both of us being your soul mate wasn’t part of the plan, but we will deal with it,” Sean smiles at her. It’s crazy to think that their parents knew about her when she just found out a few days ago. They seem to move in unison to her, and both of their arms encircle her. It's all too much to take in. She wanted to know everything, but she should have taken some time to get used to everything first. Kallos is still stunned about having two soul mates, but seeing how happy that made Ares makes her a little happy.
“I remember the first time our mother showed us a picture of you. You were about eight or so. You looked so cute in your red, puffy dress and a big red bow in your hair,” Ian laughs. She knows what dress he is talking about. It was for her Christmas program, and she had her first solo. “I swear that bow was bigger than your head. When I saw you, Kallos, I gave you a piece of my heart. I know you know that I’ve been with other girls, but they didn’t mean anything to me. It has always been you.” She can feel her heart melting.
“We should start heading home; your dad is going to send a search party for us. He’ll probably send some hounds to hunt us down.” This time when Ian smiles, it lights up his beautiful face, and his gray eyes seem to sparkle with little silver specks even more pronounced by the sun shining on us.
Kallos just shakes her head and starts to walk home. She loves how both of them can turn a tense moment into a fun moment. The thing that scares her the most is that she knows that she is falling in love with both of them. Or, maybe she already did love them. After that thought, she really doesn’t want to talk about anything else. Kallos doesn’t know if they know exactly what she is feeling, but it doesn’t matter. Her dad’s car is already in the driveway, and her mom is waiting for them in the doorway. Kallos knows it’s taken them an extra ten minutes to get home, and she really hopes that won't cause any problems.
This is only the second night for Sean and Ian here, and she doesn’t want to start a fight. Her mom’s face doesn’t show anger; it looks like it always does. She looks loving and happy. Maybe this is a good sign, and the plus is that Kallos doesn’t see her dad anywhere. The boys are walking behind Kallos, as she gives her mom a hug and a kiss. Her mom gives the boys a big smile that reaches her eyes.
“Hello boys. How was your day?” Kallos knows that her mom is asking all of them. It makes her feel good that her mom is including Ian and Sean. They walk in and Kallos can see her dad in the kitchen; he looks right past her and glares at Ian and Sean.
“Oh James, you need to stop. It’s not like they all did the nasty on the way home.”
“Mom!” Kallos screams and the boys start coughing while trying not to laugh. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She looks at her dad, and he is now standing with his face as red as hers. She doesn't think he’s blushing.
“Oh, it was a joke! James, you need to relax and sit down,” her mom lectures him. To Kallos' amazement, her dad sits down. Slowly, she can see his color come back to normal. Kallos releases the breath she’s been holding, and she hears Sean and Ian do the same. “Well kids, how was your day?” Kallos smiles at her mom. She is so happy her mom is back to her loving self.
“It was great, Mom,” Kallos says with a smile.
“It was good, Mrs. Dean,” Ian says, starting to breathe normally again.
“The same, Mrs. Dean,” Sean says as Kallos' mom gives them a smile and shakes her head.
“I think my daughter’s soul mates can call me by my first name, Brooke,” she chuckles. Ian and Sean just nod to her.
“I’ll be right back; I want to put my stuff away,” Kallos starts to walk to the stairs. As she gets to the top of the stairs, her heart feels like it is going to pound through her chest. She holds on to the railing for support and knows that Sean and Ian will be there. She just hopes that they make it before she falls down the stairs. She tries to take a deep breath, but that makes her chest hurt worse. She tells herself to slow her breathing down.
Kallos’ head just starts to pound, and she is starting to see dark spots in her vision. She knows that she is going to pass out and they still aren’t there to help her. She turns her head, looking for them. There is no one behind her. She opens her mouth to scream, but that is when her eyesight and body give out on her. Kallos can feel herself falling, and she knows that falling down the stairs could kill her. All of a sudden, she feels arms around her waist pulling her into a strong warm body. She doesn’t know who it is, but it really doesn’t matter.