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Chapter 17
Kaugnay na kabanata
Fire and Water Chapter 18
She made her way purposefully toward the inner sanctum of the temple. Passing nooks, carvings, and paintings pasted onto the walls, she stepped between two fat pillars. The massive statue of Zeus loomed before her. Eliza had only ever been here with James and not the cold, emptiness made her feel lonelier than ever. She shivered at the thought and crossed her arms as if she were hugging herself. Almost hesitantly she moved her hazel-green eyes up the statue until they rested on the marble orbs in likeness of the king of the gods. Eliza swallowed back both pride and nerves. “I’ve never . . . done this before,” she admitted softly. Her voice echoed like a tinkling bell off the hard surfaces of the sanctuary. She chuckled nervously and pressed on. “I don’t even really know what to do.” In spite of everything, she gave a half smile. “I guess James being your son makes it a little easier for him to talk to you. Or . . . pray to you.” She shrugged her thin shoulders. “I know you’re
Fire and Water Chapter 19
Eliza’s mouth dropped open from shock. Her eyes went wide and she barely blinked. You know it’s funny, being an intelligent person, Eliza should naturally have been spectacle, but there was something ingrained deep within—or maybe hard-wired in her brain—that told her the being before her was divine. “I can see it in the changes of your eyes, Eliza, that you believe me. Good. I would have to have to waste valuable time in demonstrations of truth. And in case you were wondering how it is you . . . feel who I am,” Apollo continued on, “it is my blood in your veins which recognizes me.” She closed her mouth and nodded. “W-wh . . .why?” Eliza asked, then gulped. “How?” Apollo grinned crookedly. “My father sent me. In his nature he is just and because of that, he is still doing his best to not get involved personally. Believe me, many of us are anxious to get in the fight in lieu of Hades’ actions. But nevertheless, we are restrained and restricted to small and indirect interv
Fire and Water Chapter 20
He was awash in a sea of darkness. Well, maybe more like an ocean of absolutely nothing. He seemed to be blind, because not a single refraction of light could be seen anywhere. Nor were there any points of reference. He just floated in a cold, numbing . . . nothing. He just was. There was no real way to describe it. All James knew was the alien-ness of . . . wherever he was and how the passage of time didn’t seem to matter. It could have been days or weeks or years even, but maybe only minutes had passed. Whichever. It wasn’t important; it’s not like he had any thoughts or memories of anything before this place, anyway. Suddenly, just when he thought it couldn’t get any stranger, an indescribable warmth began to spread along his scalp. The feeling was such a relief to the cold in this absolute darkness that he shuddered with exhilaration. The warming sensation spread slowly down and after a while, his whole body tingled. He felt as if he was laying in direct sunlight
Fire and Water Chapter 21
The two of them stared steadily at each other, each of them realizing how much their friendship meant. “Well,” Tres shook off the tender moment in typical fashion. “Now that you’re among the living, I’d better go let Dr. Gomez know.” “Alright.” Tres crossed the room and stepped through the door. After it had closed, he turned to look at the various gifts on the table before him. James read the cards in the flowers and saw that both Tres’s parents and Eliza’s parents had bouquets sent to him along with cards expressing their love. He smiled at the thoughtfulness of the gesture. He picked up the first card and saw it was from Ricky. He laughed out loud as he read it.As soon as you’re better . . . you + me = strip club!!! yah! BOI! He shook his head, thinking of his crazy friend, then read through the rest of the cards. Even Jennifer West had sent him a ‘Get well soon’ card. Dr. Mara Gomez entered the room just as he was finishing up with the last card. “You have quite a lot of
Fire and Water Chapter 22
Eliza gathered her thoughts. Finally, she said, “After you collapsed and we saw how bad your injuries had gotten, and so quickly . . . I kinda took off and wound up at the temple of Zeus. I may have yelled at him some . . . just a little bit.” She held her thumb and forefinger fractionally apart. His brows raised in question. “Really?” She nodded. “Yup.” Eliza blew out a breath, then continued. “Well, after some crying and spilling my heart out to Zeus, he sent Apollo to speak with me. Apollo gave me some Ambrosia and told me to . . . put it all over your body,” she finished in a whisper, glancing away as a blush rose up her neck and filled her cheeks. “As in . . . everywhere.” James blinked blankly at her for a second. Then it hit him like a mallet to the head. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Like all over. And this was what again?” “Ambrosia,” she said in exasperation. “The food of the gods, you know. Only it’s closer to olive oil, really. Apollo told me I could put it all over your skin
Fire and Water Chapter 23
Thankfully, after only a few days the side effects of the Ambrosia started to wear off. That first day though, had been ridiculous. Being stuck in a room with limited air movement is not the best place to be when your skin is glowing a dull gold and you smell like the most tantalizing scents in the world. In each class it had seemed every girl—and a few boys—had jockeyed for the position of being closest to him. It had been completely embarrassing to James and he was sure none of his affected classmates were getting any actual work accomplished while he had been around. Even Ms. Allie, his English teach from last year, had stopped him in the hallway and had asked him how he was doing. From the way the incredibly beautiful woman had kept gazing into his eyes and flirting indiscriminately with him, James had feared she would ask him out on a date or something. Gratefully, Tres had shown up acting like a blubbering, love-sick fool. Ms. Allie had laughed at his antics, but the distrac
Fire and Water Chapter 24
He glanced between the two of them and saw the barely contained laughter beneath the surface. James narrowed his eyes petulantly. “Very funny, you two. You know how much I hate this.” Eliza laid a hand on his cheek. “And that’s what makes it so damn funny.” She playfully slapped his face. Blakeney laughed loudly with great mirth. “The two of you keep me feeling young.” “Glad we could be of service,” James mumbled. “Alright. Let’s order some lunch and then Eliza can tell us the big secret.” The older man pulled out his phone. “I think Chef Mariana had some Philly cheese-steaks on the menu today, James you game?” “You don’t even have to ask,” he replied swiftly. Blakeney touched his thumbs to the screen of his phone. “And you Eliza?” he asked her. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Can you ask her if she’ll just bring me one of those large chicken Caesar salads?” “I’m sure Mariana won’t mind in the least,” observed Blakeney. He sent the text, then pocketed his phone. “Now, what d
Fire and Water Chapter 25
“You sure you’re good with this?” James asked Tres as he finished packing some hygiene items in a small suitcase. Already a couple pairs of extra clothes had been thrown in, one of which was a nice version of the school’s uniform to wear to meet Christian and his mother. Blakeney had asked he and Eliza to have something nice to represent the Academy properly. His cymbal bag was already waiting by the door and now James was about ready to go meet Eliza so they could be on their way. “What!?” Tres was incredulous. “And miss a perfectly good opportunity to wreak havoc?” His face was filled with indignant disbelief. “Are you crazy? I’m afraid you don’t know me at all.” He turned away and placed a hand to his forehead like a distressed damsel in a Romance novel. “It’s over between us.” James laughed deeply at the antics. “Oh, shut up.” Tres grinned toothily. “Just make sure you and Matt don’t tell anyone,” said James. “And how long do you need again?”
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