chapter THREE
Kallos’ alarm goes off and she wants to kick herself. She only got three hours of sleep. She stayed up and read everything that had to do with Aphrodite. She jumps when she hears her mother yell for her to get up. Moaning, she gets up and grabs her robe. After her shower, she put on a little makeup and got dressed. She stares at herself in her mirror and notices that her hair is starting to lighten up and her skin is extra clear. She looks around and finds her favorite red, long sleeved shirt. Her parents didn’t really care for it; they always said it showed a little too much. Then she puts on her white skirt. She really loves the way it shows off her tan legs.
She knew that her dad would flip, but she really didn’t care. She walks into the kitchen, and her dad is looking at his new Blackberry. She didn’t see her mom, which is weird. Her mom always makes breakfast for her in the mornings. “Hey Dad, where’s Mom?” Her dad glances up and looks down. His head quickly shoots back up and he narrows his eyes.
“What are you wearing?” he asks and narrows his eyes.
“Clothes. What does it look like I’m wearing a paper bag?” she barks back.
“Don’t talk to me like that young lady. I would almost prefer a paper bag to that get-up. I think you should change.” She really hates when he goes all “dad” on her. She looks at the clock and grins.
“Oh look, I don’t have time. You don’t want to be late on our second day do you?” He hates to be late to anything. They are always the first ones to anything and the last ones to leave. She hears him grunt and she smiles. She knows that she won and won’t have to change.
“Just get in the car.” Her dad is always the easy one to win over, but her mom would fight tooth and nail to get what she wanted. Kallos is just lucky that she isn’t here.
In the car Kallos looks at the man that she always thought was her dad. Is she really adopted? Most of her friends back at home have brothers and sisters. When she asked if she could have one, they said that she was all they needed. She needs to know. She opens her mouth and then shuts it again as she rethinks asking him at all. How could she ask him if he was her real father? He has been the one there for her no matter what. Besides, this isn't the time to ask. She could feel the tears form in her eyes. She quickly looks out the window so her dad wouldn’t see. She shuts her eyes and holds them tight fighting back the tears threatening to fall. A couple of tears escape, and she brushes them away with the back of her hand. She tries to think of something and the only thing that came to her mind is Ian: how he smiles at her and makes her feel like the only girl in the room no the universe. Then, she thinks of Sean and heat instantly runs through her body. The two boys are so different, but almost make her feel the same.
She feels the car come to a stop; she opens her eyes and can see that they are at school. As they are getting out, she can see Ian and Sean standing by the doors. Both of their mouths drop open. She looks down to hide her smile and laughs when she hears her dad swear.
“Have a good day.” She giggles; then she pauses, looks around, and says, “I love you Daddy.”
He looks at her. “You haven’t called me Daddy in a long time. I love you too KD.” She loves that name he made up for her. They smile at each other, and she walks toward the boys. As her dad passes, he glares at the boys, and they look down quickly to avoid his glare…
Ian looks amazing in his light blue shirt and dark blue jeans. She loves how his hair starts to curl at the end right above his shoulders. He isn’t smiling at her and looks nervous. She isn't mad at him and still doesn’t know for sure if she is adopted. Okay, she is ninety-nine point nine percent sure. Looking at him, she can feel something pulling her to him. Every time their eyes meet, she feels warm all over like a fire has been lit deep inside her. He is a good boy with an angelic face.
Now, Sean is a different story. He is the boy every parent warns their daughters about. He has dirty blonde thick hair that touches his shoulders. He was the only person she has ever seen with smoky gray-blue eyes. He has a black V- neck shirt and light blue jeans that were torn at the knees. He tops that off with a black leather jacket. Both boys had almost the same effect on her. She smiled at both of them and they returned with a warm smile.
“Hey guys!” She says with a grin.
“Good morning, gorgeous.” Sean said as he grabs her hand and kisses it. She giggles.
“Good morning, Kallos.” Ian bows his head to her as if she is a queen. He can make her feel special by the little things. The bell rings and the moment is gone. The boys walk with her to her locker. She doesn't have to look around to know people were staring.
“Kallos, did you talk to your parents?” Sean asks her, and she shakes her head.
“No, not yet.” She looks over at Sean and he smiles. He looks at Ian and shakes his head.
“So, what did angel face, here, say to you?” Sean sneers. Ian glares at Sean, and she thinks that they might start fighting.
“At least angels don’t lie, unlike a demon hiding behind a mask.” Ian growls out.
“Stop fighting.” Kallos says, as she puts a hand on each of the boy’s chests. She knows she can’t really hold them back; they are both taller and much stronger than she is. With her hands on them, she feels a warming sensation coming from her hands. She looks at Sean, and he must have felt it also because he looks stunned. She turns her head and looks over at Ian. His mouth is hanging open. Kallos immediately removes her hands from them. Sean and Ian step back in sync away from her. Before she can ask what is happening, Sean turns around and walks away without saying a word. Ian abruptly follows. She is left standing alone in front of her locker. Kallos watches them walk away and she leans her forehead on the cool metal of her locker. Boys are frustrating.
****
Sean knows he is running away. He couldn't help it. When Kallos touched him, he felt as if she was holding his heart in her beautiful little hand. He went into the closest bathroom and turned on the water. White shiny dark green walks fill his vision and three sinks line the wall with a large mirror. Maybe he should talk to Ares; this isn't right. Something is wrong, very wrong. He did notice that his brother was feeling the same thing he was; well, at least it looked like he was. He splashes cold water on his face in an attempt to get his breathing under control. Yeah, he knows he shouldn't have left Kallos the way he did, but it felt as if he was going to explode if he didn't get away from her. He heard the bathroom door open and didn't have to look to see who it is.
“What is going on?” Ian's voice cracks and it reminds Sean to clear his throat.
“I don't know. It is as if we are both connected to her.” Sean looks at his brother through the mirror. Ian's face is red and sweat is dripping down. His baby blue eyes seem a little dull, and his skin is redder than usual. Sean knows what this means, and it has nothing to do with Kallos. He turns around to face him; Ian's eyes wouldn't meet his. “Ian, look at me.” Ian's eyes only locked with Sean’s for a few seconds, but Sean saw it. The blackness is streaking through the blue of his eyes and threatening to take over.
“I'm not like you and Mom. Remember, that is what you have told me this past year.” Ian pauses so he can take in a deep breath. “I'm like Dad, besides being a god.” He smiles when he said god.
“You know it cou—,” that is all Sean can get out before Ian's fist hits the wall.
“Don't say it. I am not a demon.” Sean puts up his hands and backs away. Ian closes his eyes and tries to get his breathing back to normal. Sean remembers going through this and how angry he would get. Little things would drive him crazy, but the big things made him want to hurt someone or himself, which is what Ian is doing. He needs to call their mom, and tell her what is going on with Ian.
“Okay, I'm sorry. Let's just go to class.” Ian relaxes, opens his eyes, and all the blackness is gone as if it was never there to begin with.
“Yeah,” Sean puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder and they walk out of the bathroom together in a comfortable silence only two brothers can achieve.
****
Kallos has no clue what just happen. She took a deep breath to steady herself and walked to her first class. Thank goodness that it was homeroom. She walks in and notices Karissa sitting in the back, and she quickly moves toward her.
The book Karissa is reading has some sexy man with vampire teeth on the cover. Kallos smirks at her because she knows that she has probably read every vampire book out there. Kallos sits next to Karissa who looks up and smiles.
“Hey, Karissa. How are you?” Kallos says as she is getting settled in.
“Please call me Kris; everyone does. I’m doing good. How are you doing?” Kallos isn’t good, but she doesn’t want to tell Kris that. She seems so sweet; Kallos just smiles at her.
“I’m good,” Kallos says, even though it is a lie
“Do you mind if I sit here?” Kallos turns and looks up into Ian’s baby blue eyes. He has his hand on the desk next to hers. She thinks back to only a few minutes ago when she touched him and Sean and got that mysterious feeling again. She also thought back to how he left her.
“Kallos did you hear me?” She mentally shakes herself.
“Sorry. That’s fine.” Ian smiles at Kallos and she shivers in response to the sparks traveling through every cell in her body when she’s near him. He sits down, and as Mrs. Kendall walks in, she tells them that the last five minutes of class could be free time. Since Kallos doesn’t have any homework, she pulls out her favorite book. It had everything that she loves in it. A teenage girl falls madly in love with a vampire and three other boys. Talk about drama. Kallos isn’t really reading; she keeps thinking about Ian and Sean.
Before Ian pulled away, she thought she saw something flash in his eyes. She glances over at Ian and notices that he has a birthmark on his lower left wrist. It was bigger than hers, maybe a little darker. His has to be at least five inches long. It looks like a bow with an arrow drawn. Maybe it is a tattoo. Ian looks over at her and Kallos quickly looks away. She knows how it feels when she catches someone looking at her mark. She can feel her cheeks heating up. So, she takes a deep intake of breath.
“Kallos,” she jumps and looks up. Ian is looking at her. “At lunch Sean and I need to talk to you.” Just the mention of Sean’s name makes her heart beat faster. Kallos is having a hard time catching her breath she doesn't know if sitting with them is the best idea
But looking at Ian, she can only tell him, “Okay.” He smiles, and once again, she feels her cheeks heat up. She has never forgotten who she was around a boy, much less two. All of her friends make fun of her, since she hasn’t had a boyfriend.
She keeps looking at the clock, and is relieved to see it’s almost lunch. She feels anxiousness like none she has ever felt before now. She wonders why she gets weird feels whenever Sean and Ian are around.
As she is walking toward the lunchroom, she can see Sean waiting for her, but he isn’t alone. He has four beautiful girls with him. The red head touches his waist, and Kallos wants to scream, Mine! Where did that come from? He isn’t hers, even if she wants him to be. She is almost upon him and starts thinking maybe I should keep walking… She is just about to turn away, when she hears her name. Crap! She stops and looks at him. He smiles at the other girls and they giggle. “Ladies, I have to go.” The red head pouts and gives him a puppy dog look.
Kallos wanted to laugh at her. She never understood why girls did that. Kallos looks closer at the other girl and could see that she was wearing an LV scarf wrapped around her neck and Ed Hardy shirt and pants. The girl glances at Kallos and rolls her eyes. “Sean don’t you want to skip lunch and come with me?” She winks at him, and he just grins at her.
“Sorry Mary. I already have plans.” Then he starts to walk to Kallos, which only takes him three steps. “Come on Kallos,” he says as he holds out his hand for her. She can feel something inside her reaching out for him before she even moves her hand. She gives into him and puts her hand in his. As they walk away, she notices that most of the kids are staring at them. She is just about to pull away, but Sean tightens his hold as if he knew what she was thinking.
They walk past the lunch line and straight to the back of the lunchroom. She glances around, and didn’t see anyone but Ian sitting at the very back, and he was alone. He smiles at her and then at Sean. She looks at the table, and Ian already has their lunches as well as hers. She is so hungry and instant relief washes over her as she realizes how thoughtful they were to think of her meal also. When she gets closer, Ian stands up. He moves to a chair next to where he was sitting and pulled out the chair for her.
“Thank you,” she whispers; he nods and gives her a sexy half smile. He sits on her left, and Sean sits to her right. She feels a certain aversion to the way they are looking at her. Their brows furrow looking scared and sad. They each take one of her hands, and she looks at Ian then back at Sean.
“Kallos, I didn’t tell you everything last night,” Ian starts. “I didn’t tell you about us.” This makes her heart beat a little faster. What else could be worse than finding out that she is adopted? Ian lets go of her hand and she turns to look him; and he reaches for her face. He lightly frames her face with both of his smooth hands and smiles at her. His touch is calming… “We are also reincarnated. I am Apollo and Sean is Aries.” She stares at him dumbfounded. Kallos remembers what she read the other night about gods and goddesses, she read that Apollo was one of Aphrodite’s many loves and Ares was the god of war. Why would anyone tell her this unless they were telling the truth? She still isn’t convinced that she is Aphrodite; she’s not that pretty. This is crazy! Ian removes his left hand, and she could see the bow with an arrow being pulled. “This is my birthmark. He puts it right in front of her face to make sure she looks. “It’s like yours.”
Sean tugs on her right hand to get her to look at him. He shows her his left hand. Right under his thumb is a helmet with a spear going through it. She strokes her thumb tenderly along the mark, and she could feel the raised skin bubbling up from his birthmark. Kallos looks up to meet his eyes, as he smiles at her. “There is so much about to happen to you. Let us help you through it.” He whispers, and her head lowers her head; she can feel her tears wanting to break free.
“Baby,” Sean whispers as he wipes away the tears that she didn’t know was falling. “Please, don’t cry.” He leans in and kisses her forehead. Ian is still holding her other hand, and his thumb is rubbing her wrist. Her mind is racing; she has a million thoughts racing in all different directions. She doesn't know where to put them in her already confused brain.
“I need to go.” She briskly stands up, and her quickness catches them off guard. Kallos turns her head to the side to find them starting to stand to follow her. She shakes her head. “No I need time to think about all of this.” She says and walks away
****
Sean and Ian watch Kallos walk away. They know that they can't follow her. She needs her time to make sense of everything. Ian slowly stands up, but doesn't take his eyes off of Kallos.
“Maybe we went too far.” Ian says as more of a question rather than a statement as he looks at Sean. Sean can see frown lines proving the guilt Ian is feeling and Sean seems to be feeling the same guilt.
Sean shakes his head and walks over to his brother. “We only told her what she needed to know. It's not our fault that her parents didn't tell her.” There is still more that she needs to know, but now isn't a good time to tell her.
“We shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe Aphrodite should have told her.” Ian says. They didn't have a warning. They found out about themselves through their dreams when they were visited by Apollo and Aries.
“Yeah, we should have, but we can't go back now. Aries didn't tell me not to tell her.” He doesn't see Aries much anymore, not like he used to before the change. He checks up on Ian once in a while.
“I understand, but you saw her face. I don't think she is ever going to talk to us again.” Ian says and starts walking to the door.
“Don't worry little brother; she will. Besides Kallos is my soul mate.” Sean smiles and Ian turns around. The look on Ian’s face is priceless and it makes Sean laugh.
Ian walks over to Sean and shoves him with a loud thud into the wall, which stops his laughter in mid chuckle; this draws the attention of the nearby students eating their lunch. “I am sick of hearing that. You don't get it; she’s mine!” Sean could see the darkness in Ian’s eyes. It was almost taking all of his blue away.
“Ian, you need to breathe. Come on, man, just breathe. Think of something happy; you can get through this.” Sean knew all too well about the other half that was trying to break through Ian. He has been there, and it isn’t fun.
Ian starts to laugh and tightens his hold on Sean. “Breathe? Ha! Just stay away from her.” He shoves Sean a little harder, and then lets him go. Now his eyes are completely black.
“Ian, we should call Mom. She'll know what to do.” Ian doesn't say anything but shakes his head. “Ian, have you see your eyes? You know what she told me. If the blackness stays too long you might not come back.” Ian glares at Sean then turns around. “Ian! If you don't tell her I will!” Sean yells as he watches Ian walk away. Sean knows that if Ian doesn't control his other half, he’ll lose.
****
Kallos has to get away from them. She feels as if her whole world is crashing down around her and there is no way out. She walks quickly through the hallway and doesn’t look at anyone. Instead of heading to her class, she goes straight to the front door. When she’s walking out, she takes a deep breath and holds it in. Kallos is feeling like she might pass out; her vision starts to blur and darkness starts to take over. Besides the boys the first thing she has set in her mind is to talk to her parents.
She decided that she is going to walk home. She doesn’t want to be at school anymore or want to see Ian or Sean. They do make her feel things she can’t explain. Kallos needs time to let things settle in. She can feel something pulling her to them, just thinking of them makes her heart beat faster. She doesn't believe in love at first sight, but this feels a lot like love; well, at least what she heard love is like. She is almost home when she remembers that her mom would mostly likely be home. “Crap!” Kallos knows she is going to get in trouble for ditching school. Just when she is trying to figure out how to sneak in, her mom opens the door. She looks at Kallos and frowns. She puts down the pink dishtowel she is drying her hands on as she moves towards her.
“Kallos, are you all right?” She asks. Kallos can see a little worry on her mother’s face. Her mom always looked beautiful. Kallos doesn’t think she has ever seen her mom without her makeup and hair done. Even when she is sick, she looks perfect unlike herself.
“Mom, I’m not feeling good.” This is true. What the boys told her made her light headed, and sick to her stomach. She puts her palms on Kallos' forehead and is strangely thankful that Kallos feels clammy; it must be from all the news she has gotten today. Kallos’ mother scrunches her eyebrows together and her concerned about her daughter.
“Sweetie, go to your room, and I will bring you some medicine.” Kallos lets out the breath she has been holding and walks into the house.
“No thanks, Mom. I’ll be fine.” Mom searches Kallos’ face to find some answers. Kallos knows that her mom won’t find any because she has kept her face as blank as possible.
“Okay, Sweetie. I’ll let your dad know you’re home.” Kallos walks in the doorway and heads towards the stairs. She smiles at her mom, but she knows that the smile didn't convince her mom of anything. When she enters her room, she shuts the door, drops to her bed and buries her head in her pillow as the tears fall freely soaking her pillowcase. Great now I have to sleep on a soggy pillow. She could feel the tears almost the instant her head hit the pillow. “In one day I’m told that I was adopted and that I am a goddess. There is something with Ian and Sean. I just don’t know where they fit in.” She closes her eyes and sleep takes her.