I tilted my head back for a better view of her. “Yeah. My flight leaves in a few hours you know.”
She sat beside me with a small sigh. “I was kind of hoping you’d miss it.”
“Me too. Why do you think it took me so long to pack?”
She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Do you really have to go?”
“It’s already been a week,” I said. “Even with the power that Hermes’s gave me, I can’t hold them back forever. I need to go home and lock them away.”
“What will I do without you?”
She stared at the floor as she played with the hem of her jeans. She still hadn’t completely recovered from her possession. The shadows under her eyes weren’t as deep as the ones that hung in her golden irises. Over the past week, she’d stuck close to me, barely going out, even to classes. They were something both of us had avoided.
I patted her on the arm. “It’ll only be for a little while. Besides, you’ll have Hermes here.”
She rolled her eyes. “What’s going on between the two of you?’
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He saved my life when he didn’t have to, so he’s not evil like I’ve been taught. But to love a god …”
“Never works out well.” She smiled at me sadly. “But you’re stronger than my mother. Maybe things will be better.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you giving me your approval?”
“Not really. It’s still weird, but he’s a god, and they do what they want.”
I stood and stretched. “I should get going. It takes forever to get through DFW airport.”
She rose to her feet and hugged me. I stiffened with my eyes widening before returning the embrace. Here was Serenity, the girl who tried to avoid physical displays of affection when she could, actually seeking it out. This ordeal had changed both of us, and maybe not all in bad ways.
I pulled away and took the urn containing my aunt’s remains from my dresser. Thanks to Hermes, the police had finally stopped questioning me about my possible involvement in the events at the hospital and had finally released her remains to me.
“One last trip home,” I said softly.
With my luggage in one hand and the urn in the other, I left the place I’d come to know as home for the last three years and the girl that had become my soul sister. I closed my eyes and let out a long breath. This wasn’t forever. I’d be in and out, and to Hades with whatever other plans my family had. My life was mine and I was going to take control the right way this time. I would stand up to Aunt Dahlia and let her know how I felt. I marched down the steppes with my chest lifted and found Hermes leaning against his car with his arms crossed.
“I figured you would need a ride,” he said.
I glanced around at the other parked cars. “I should have had a taxi waiting.”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “I sent him away.”
I set my case down. “All right then.”
I stared out the window as we rode in silence along the highway toward the airport. All the words I wanted to say jumbled in my head the minute I would open my mouth. After a while, I couldn’t stand it and flipped on the radio. The melody of a string quartet filled the car. I glanced at him with a rueful smile.
“I should have taken you up on that concert,” I said.
He chuckled. “When you come back, I’ll take you to all the concerts in the world.”
I rested my hand on his knee, and he threaded his fingers through mine. His touch sent a tingle through my arm, but I’d come to love the feeling of touching him. All too soon, the toll booths of the airport appeared. I sat up straighter, the tendons in my back tightening as he pulled up beside the three story terminal that lead to a place I hadn’t thought of as home long before I left it.
“I could come with you,” he said.
“No,” I said. “They would all be after you. Besides, I need to do this on my own.”
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to him over the console. “I finally got you in my arms and now you’re leaving.”
“I’ll come back and we will see what this is and where we can take it.”
“Even if we have to fight the Fates?”
“To Tartarus with the Fates.”
His lips closed over mine and our breaths became one. Whatever the future held, whatever my family had in store for me, I would always treasure this moment.
A Prescription for Delirium
Cursed with Immortality; surrounded by Madness. A Prescription for Delirium.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFL4JF6
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author, Noree Cosper loves writing about magic in the modern world. While growing up in Texas she constantly searched for mystical elements in the mundane. She buried her nose in both fiction and books about Wicca, Religion, and Mythology. Everyday became an adventure as she joined a group of role-players, acting out her fantasies of vampires, demons, and monsters living in the world.