Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult) (14 page)

Legacy looked to the side and saw Adin and River walking their way. “They’re probably getting hungry. I’m sure it takes a lot out of them to keep falling on their butts.”

Calli smiled at her and then grabbed a bottle of water from the bag.

“Hey, girls,” Adin said as he approached. He squatted down in front of Legacy. “How are you feeling?”

“Not bad actually.”

He rubbed her arm. “Good. Did you see me kick his butt out there?”

“Oh please. We both know I smoked you.”

A phone beeped, and Calli dug into her bag. Legacy figured it was Zach, but she couldn’t help stealing a look at River. He was clenching his teeth, which told her that he’d made the same assumption. He could pretend all her wanted, but he definitely still had feelings for Calli.

Calli gasped. “Zach’s on his way.” She looked at Legacy, a smile forming on her face.

“What? I thought he had some big project to do.”

“He did, but he sent me a text yesterday saying he might be able to surprise me with a visit. He’d hoped he would’ve made it here for my birthday. He actually told me that yesterday, and I was going to tell you, but we got distracted with the whole pregnancy scare thing. Plus, he still wasn’t sure. His instructor allowed him to turn it in this morning, so he’s coming.”

Someone screamed in the distance. Legacy turned toward the sound. A huge wave crashed against the shore. She gasped and looked to the sky. It was growing dark…very dark. She whipped her head at River. Maybe he’d know what was going on, but when she looked at him, she could see he was glaring at the darkening clouds above. And not in a way that said he was caught by surprise; rather he had a look of determination.
He
was doing this.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

River’s gaze snapped to her. “What does it look like?” Then he stepped toward Calli and shoved his finger at her. “He’s coming here over my dead body!” Then he was gone, but Legacy was able to track his movements.

“He’s in the ocean,” she said, shaking her head. A water spout began to form. “What the hell has gotten into him?”

“Shit,” Adin groaned. He looked at Calli. “I knew he didn’t like you dating Zach.”

Legacy looked at the ocean again. The spout grew. “Oh my gods, if he doesn’t stop, it’ll be a hurricane.”

“He’s not going to stop,” Adin said, standing. People started screaming everywhere. Adin extended both of his hands to Calli and Legacy. “We have to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Calli spat. “That jerk can get over it. I’m not doing anything wrong. He was the one who stopped talking to me!”

Waves got bigger, and so did River’s spectacle. “Bitch at him later.” Legacy took Adin’s hand and then immediately forced Calli to stand once she got up. “We have to go.”

“He’s ruining our vacation!” She turned to face the ocean. “This isn’t over, you asshole!” she screamed.

The ground began to shake. “He’s not controlling his emotions,” Legacy said as she grabbed Calli’s bag. Adin took it from her and then clasped his hands on both their arms. He pulled them behind him as she jogged for the hotel.

He looked over his shoulder. “Actually, I think he’s choosing not to control them. We have to leave. As in go home. He won’t stop until he knows Zach won’t come, and he won’t if Calli isn’t here.”

Her BFF screamed in frustration because she knew he was right. Legacy understood this too. One thing worse than a determined god was a pissed off determined god with a unique ability to harness his dark side. Legacy knew there would be no stopping River.

His logic was blinded by rage…and, she suspiciously suspected, was also blinded by love.

Chapter Sixteen

Legacy sat in the gym and watched as River stole the basketball from one of his teammates and scored two points. In the weeks since returning from Florida several days early, she had barely talked to him. Oh she’d given him a piece of her mind all right, but after that he’d avoided both her and Calli. She was furious with her best friend for his behavior, but surprisingly, Calli wasn’t. She’d been ticked at first, but once she was back home, she’d either buried her anger or chose to let it go. Instead, she’d focused on prom, which was this week; Legacy’s upcoming birthday, a few weeks later, or her new relationship with Zach.

Ahhh
Zach. He’d either really lucked out in the forgiveness department or he’d timed his comeback perfectly. If they’d have run into each other before Legacy was abducted, she had a feeling Calli would’ve blown him off. But since River had done a complete turnaround in his pursuit of her, it was Zach’s gain. He and Calli had spent just about every night together. The four of them hung out some on the weekends, but other than that, Legacy barely saw Calli after school because she was spending so much time with Zach. They were already back to the making out stage, and Legacy was pretty sure they’d sail past that phase and to the next level pretty soon. She was worried for her friend because she didn’t want to see her get hurt, but it seemed as if guys just gave her grief now. Hopefully this thing with Zach would turn out better than last time. If they broke up again, Legacy didn’t want it to go down like before.

Even though the girls didn’t get much time alone after school, they chatted as much as they could during the day. Since last period was practically a free period because athletics was over, they spent it mostly talking about prom, which was exactly what they were doing now.

“My dress came in,” Calli said. “It’s so tight. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“What does it look like?”

“Oh no.” Calli laughed. “I’m not divulging deets. You’ll have to wait and see it Friday night.”

“Yes!” River yelled after sinking a three-point shot. He and some of the basketball team played for fun during the period since there wasn’t anything else for them to do.

Legacy briefly looked at him again, but then faced Calli. “Has he said anything to you?”

“Nope.”

“I guess I’m not surprised, but I did kinda figure he’d at least apologize.”

Calli shrugged. “Apologizing would mean he admits he did something wrong. Do you honestly think he’d do that?”

With River, there was no telling what he’d do. She probably knew him better than anybody here, but she also knew he kept her guessing most of the time. “I don’t know what to think. He was so pissed that day on the beach. Did you ever yell at him about it?”

Calli chuckled. “No way. You did enough of that for everybody.”

Her response made Legacy frown. “Maybe he wanted you to get mad at him.”

Her BFF gaped at her. “Why?”

“Because then it’d mean you cared.”

“Oh I do care. I don’t like being controlled. At all. And when he did that, he was in effect controlling what I did and who I saw.”

“That’s true, but he could take your no-response as indifference. If so, that probably burns just a little for him.”

Calli chewed her lip as she stole a glance at the guy in question. “Then I did the right thing by not saying anything,” she murmured.

“You want him to suffer.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

Legacy nodded in understanding, but then a scary thought occurred to her. “What about Zach? You’re not using him to get back at River, are you?”

“Not
exactly
.”

“Oh my gods, Calli,” Legacy whispered heatedly. “You can’t toy with their emotions like that.”

She glared at her. “I’m not. I didn’t say I didn’t like Zach. I do. But I’m not stupid. I’m not going to just jump back into a relationship with him—”

“You’ve seen him almost every day for a month!”

“And he’s been a fun distraction,” she said with a sigh. “I admit, he’s not my first choice, but the one I’d like to be with doesn’t want me. River pushed me away two months ago and hasn’t even tried anything with me since. The only inkling I got that he did care about me was the gift he gave me for my birthday.”

“And the little hurricane he created when Zach was going to come grope all over your bikini bod in front of him.”

“Yeah, that too. But that’s it.”

Legacy laughed at the silly face Calli made, but doing so trigged her into a coughing fit.

“Are you okay?” Calli asked as she patted her back, but it didn’t help. She’d been battling some kind of illness ever since they’d left for Florida. Once they’d determined there hadn’t been a little bambino in her belly, she and Adin talked to Lissa about it. Her guardian had been stumped as to why she’d been sick. She’d called Dr. Johnston to examine her, but on paper, he’d said she seemed as healthy as could be. No tests had returned with anything remotely abnormal. Legacy gasped in a breath, but her throat constricted. She coughed more violently, spewing spittle on the hands covering her mouth.

“Take deep breaths.”

She let her hands drop and tried breathing slowly. Her eyes landed on River. He was holding the ball still as he watched her in the stands. Calli screeched, drawing her attention to her, but not before she saw River drop the ball and run toward them.

“What?” But Calli wasn’t looking at her. She was looking at her hands. Legacy looked down just as River grabbed her arms.

“You coughed up blood.”

Legacy stared at her hands, her body numb. “I-I don’t know why—”

“C’mon.” River pulled her up, but looked at Calli. “We’re taking her to the hospital.”

“I feel okay.”

“I don’t care.” He tugged on her arm. “Start walking or I’ll carry you out.” She forced her legs to move. Calli grabbed their bags and followed behind them.

“Can I at least stop at the bathroom and wash my hands?”

“No.” River kept pulling her as he dug out his cell phone. He pushed a button and held it to his ear. “Hey, ghost-boy. I’m taking Legacy to the hospital. She just coughed up a ton of blood…yeah…see you there.” He ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket right as they hit the parking lot. “Adin’s on his way.”

“Do you think you’re overreacting?”

“Baby, where you’re concerned, we can’t be too cautious. Besides, a mortal coughing up blood like that is serious business.” He reached the passenger side of his car, opened the door, and moved the seat forward. He forced her into the back. “We have no idea what it could mean for you.”

“I’m going to get blood on your leather,” she complained as he took the bags out of Calli’s hands and tossed them in the back with her. He righted the seat.

“Get in,” he said to Calli and then jogged to the driver’s side. After he got in and started the car, he looked back at Legacy. “Do it and you’ll be scrubbing it clean.”

“I think I have something,” Calli said, turning toward the back just as River started to face the front. Their cheeks brushed, and Calli barely whimpered. River breathed hard for a couple of seconds, maintaining the contact, but then seemed to catch himself. He faced the front and threw the car into gear. Calli cleared her throat. “Hand me my bag.” She did and Calli dug in it. She pulled out some moist wipes. “These aren’t antibacterial, but they’ll work.”

“Thanks.” Legacy took them one by one as she wiped her hands and face.

“There should be a bag back there for you to put those in,” River said over his shoulder.

She found the plastic sack and discarded the bloody wipes. “I feel fine.” But she couldn’t ignore the fact that coughing up blood wasn’t a good thing. She’d never done anything like that before and had no idea why she had now.

“You’re not fine.” Leave it to River to state the obvious.

Calli’s phone rang and she dug in her purse to retrieve it. “Hello?” After she paused, she said, “I can’t tonight. We’re taking Legacy to the hospital. She’s sick…no, that’s okay. I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up and turned to face Legacy. “That was Zach. He offered to come up to the hospital to sit with me, but I guess you heard the answer to that. I’m sure you’ll be in and out in no time.” Calli smiled at her.

Within minutes, River pulled into the emergency entrance of the hospital. “Shit, I should’ve called Dr. Johnston.” He yanked out his cell as he threw the car into park. He hopped out and ran around to the passenger side just as Calli opened the door and got out. He pushed the seat forward for Legacy as he talked into his phone. When she got out, he hung up. “Thank gods, Adin already called him. He’s already here and waiting for us in the ER.” His phone beeped, so he looked down. “And Adin just texted that he’s about two minutes away. He’ll be here before we get you checked in. Let’s go.”

“I should probably call Lissa.”

“I’ll call her,” Calli said, pulling out her phone.

They walked into the waiting room of the ER. Dr. Johnston was already standing by the check-in station. “Hello, Legacy. Follow me.”

A door slammed behind them, and Legacy turned just in time to see Adin jogging up to her. He pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine.”

“Please, follow me, everyone,” Dr. Johnston said. They all fell into step behind him as he led the way to an exam room. “I’ve already pulled your chart and had a nurse prep this room. Hop up on the bed.” He turned to look at her audience. “I need you to be quiet and let me examine her. I only allowed you all in here because I personally know each of you are aware of her, er, condition and know we’re not dealing with something typical. If you can’t keep quiet, then you’ll need to step out.”

“They’ll be quiet,” Legacy muttered.

He turned to face her. “Good. Now tell me exactly what happened.”

* * * * *

Legacy’s throat hurt. After telling the doctor exactly what had happened in the gym, he’d proceeded to give her a thorough examination. He’d x-rayed, scanned, poked, and prodded her. He’d even shoved a scope down her throat, which he’d thankfully knocked her out for. It had been painless at the time, but now her throat was scratchy. By the time he’d finished with her, he’d come to the same conclusion as before. She was perfectly healthy. But he’d noted that this wasn’t normal, even for someone like them. He’d never encountered anything like this before except once, and the story behind that had been chilling.

The only time Dr. Johnston had witnessed a similar illness was when the original Persephone was spending her time with Adonis and it was time to return to Hades. She’d get sick if she spent too much time away from him, and would continue to get sicker until she returned. Hearing that news had been like a punch to the gut. Questions had started flying her way then, asking if she’d consumed anything in the underworld, but like she’d said before, she hadn’t. Unless Seth or Hades had snuck into her room while she’d been sleeping and squeezed some pomegranate juice onto her lips, she hadn’t. Unfortunately, knowing she hadn’t consumed anything willingly didn’t automatically omit anything being slipped to her without her knowledge.

“Okay,” Lissa suddenly said. She’d been meditating beside her, trying to reach her mother while Legacy ate ice cream to soothe her throat. “Dora agrees with the doctor’s assessment. She thinks this has to be Hades’ doing.”

Legacy groaned into her ice cream. “Great.”

“Wait a minute,” Lissa said a little too excitedly. “But she said Persephone would get sick and stay sick. She could only last a couple of days. You’ve been sick off and on for weeks. You mom is going to talk to Zeus, but she thinks Hades has found a way to sicken you to trick you into coming back to him so he can trap you for real.”

Legacy sat up. “So she doesn’t think I’m like bound to him?”

“No.” Lissa smiled. “She said if you’d have consumed the pomegranate seeds while in Hades, you probably wouldn’t have been able to leave without his blessing or Zeus’ intervention. You got out, so that means Hades doesn’t have a hold on you. Yet.”

“So why am I getting sick then?” She was so confused.

“Your mom’s theory? That Hades is controlling someone. She thinks someone is drugging you in hopes you’ll think it’s Hades and maybe feel compelled to go to the underworld seeking relief or just answers. Either way, once you’re back there, he could try harder at keeping you there. It’s also possible that someone is willingly working for and doing his work for him, rather than him controlling someone against their will.”

“Okay, I know this is a bad choice of words here, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a minute.”

Lissa chuckled. “Definitely bad choice of words, but go ahead.”

“What if it has nothing to do with Hades at all? What if someone else wants me to think Hades is behind this as a distraction.”

Her guardian frowned at her. “Actually, that sounds plausible. But why would someone want to do this to you? And who would want to do it?”

Legacy shrugged. “I have no idea. It could be Ellen. She did threaten me during spring break, but then that’d mean she knew about our heritage. It could be Kate. Maybe she thinks it’ll help her see Seth again if I get trapped down there. It could be Hector trying to get rid of me before my ascension. For that matter, it could be Ric hoping once I get back down there, he could try to repeat Pirithous’ plan to rescue Persephone by getting a second chance at rescuing me from Hades. Gods, the possibilities are endless!”

Lissa nodded. “You’re right. It could be anybody. But we need to err on the side of caution and be on the lookout for Hades. No matter who it is, he is linked either directly or indirectly to your illness. And he’s not stupid. Chances are if he’s not behind this, he knows about it and could use it to his advantage.”

“Good thing I only have weeks left to go before I turn eighteen.”

“Yep. And even better that your parents will be here for your graduation and are staying through your birthday.”

Legacy gasped. “My mom and my dad are coming? I just thought my mom was coming for my ascension. Zeus is going to be here too?”

Lissa smiled. “Oh yeah, from what your mom said, he’s not happy someone is trying to hurt his baby girl. And Dora has talked to River’s father. He’ll be here for graduation too. There will be some powerful gods around here. It’ll provide you the extra protection you need.”

She bit her lip as she thought about all the Greek mythological beings that would be attending her graduation and birthday. They would very helpful in making sure she was safe because one thing was for certain…she was going to need all the protection she could get.