My Merlin Awakening (17 page)

CHAPTER 8
ATHENS

I was in so much trouble.

Vane was the one playing games? Ha. Apparently Matt hadn’t looked at himself lately. I was the pawn caught on the chessboard between the two of them.

I stood in line at the gate with my boarding pass. After the gargoyle incident, the pilot of our chartered flight wanted nothing to do with us, and we found ourselves at Heathrow on a British Airways flight. Sylvia booked our tickets, but the seats were all scattered throughout the plane since we got our seats at the last minute. One look at his ticket and Vane pulled some voodoo at the ticket counter. Now, eight of us had first class seats.

Next to us, passengers who thought they had first class tickets harassed a ticket agent after realizing they’d suddenly been downgraded.

“I’ve had this seat for months!” a florid man in a business suit cried.

I smiled sheepishly at the stewardess who scanned my boarding pass with a stoic expression. I ran down the jetway to catch up with Vane. I slapped his shoulder with a boarding pass.

He scowled. “What was that for?”

“You stole these seats!”

He peered down at me. “You have short legs so you might be fine in the back, but I need room. You could always switch with someone if I’m too much of burden to sit beside. I prefer long hair, nice curves, and big—”

I slapped him with the pass again. Hard.

“—eyes.”

We entered the plane and slipped into our seats. Vane took the aisle. I grumbled, “At least it’s only a three-hour flight.”

Vane grabbed Grey’s arm as he passed. “After everyone sits, go through the plane. I don’t want any more surprises.”

Grey nodded.

Because Grey could smell gargoyles
, I realized. I stared after Grey as he walked off. He put his coat on the seat beside Sylvia.

“He was bound to be different after what happened on the rooftop,” Vane said.

I nodded, but the answer didn’t satisfy me.

“Matt?”
I asked. “
What do you know about Grey?”

“I doubt Merlin knows any more,” Vane said, correctly reading me.

I colored. Vane sighed.

“Vane’s guess is as good as mine,”
Matt’s reply came shortly. He sat behind us with Clarence.

I sensed an undercurrent of something else, but Matt shut me off before I could poke any further. I heard him rustling around behind me, probably for a sick bag, and decided to leave him alone.

The flight went by quickly. The plane touched down in Athens as the sun painted the sky with a bright red sunset. For an international airport, Eleftherios A. seemed tiny. We grabbed our bags. There were only two flights to Thera and we’d already missed them, so we were spending the night in Athens. I planned on getting up early to sneak over to the Parthenon before our morning flight. We may have been on a mission, but being in Athens was a wet dream for any history buff.

Several small cars with tinted windows waited for us outside. I rode with Vane, Grey, and Sylvia. Vane and Sylvia chatted with our driver in perfect Greek. We drove along roads crowded wall to wall with buildings. The section where we were staying had the city layered up to a hill, the Acropolis. In the darkening sky, the lights of square buildings twinkled from varying heights. Sea air blew through the city, lending an atmosphere of relaxation, while the buzzing of people on every corner layered an undercurrent of carousing revelry.

I said as much to Grey, who grumpily replied, “All I can smell is gargoyles. They must be everywhere.”

In the heart of the city, we stopped in the private courtyard of a giant hotel with contemporary architecture that stood out among the surrounding neoclassical buildings. Porters rushed to take our bags up to a set of adjoining suites that Sylvia reserved for us. I found myself sharing a room with Gia and Sylvia. Sylvia took one bed. Gia and I shared the other.

“Like old times,” Gia commented. She’d been my roommate at Avalon Prep.

I sank down on a thick coverlet of one of the king beds and stared out the gorgeous rectangular window from our room. The window framed the Parthenon sitting atop the hill of the Acropolis. In the dark, artificial, yellow light shone across the temple dedicated to the goddess, Athena, one of the oldest buildings in the world.

“It is beautiful,” Sylvia said. “I’m sorry we won’t get a chance to see it. I promise you I’ll bring you back as soon as we get the next opportunity.” A doorbell rang in the living room of the suite. “That will be dinner. I’ll let them in and tell the boys. I’m going to eat at the spa though. I’ll be back later.” Without waiting for a reply, she hurried out.

The spa
. I gave Gia a pointed look. “Even she’s going to take a break.”

“I’m with you, DuLac,” Gia said. “You had me at break.”

I turned back to the Parthenon. A few people, like little ants, walked around the giant columns and crumbled remains of the rest of the temple. I could imagine how it looked in ancient times when the giant statue of Athena, bearing a lance and shield, stood sentry over her people.

“Did you know that the word ‘Parthenon’ means ‘the virgin’s apartments’?” Vane asked from the doorway.

I turned to look at him from the lush bed.

Gia groaned. “What do you want, Vane?”

“What I
want
will have to wait,” he said. A low burning heat in his eyes left my throat suddenly parched. “For now, I’ll settle for telling you that dinner is served.”

Gia whooped. “I’m so starved. Since when did flying mean fasting?”

There had been no time to eat at Heathrow and no real food on the plane. The strong scents of richly flavored dishes wafted in from the living room.

Gia pushed past Vane to get to it. “C’mon, Ryan. We need to eat so we can do some shopping.”

I moved to follow her. Vane stopped me at the door by using his body as a wall. “Shopping? This is gargoyle territory. We may have Rourke’s protection, but you know he’s losing his grip on them.”

I frowned. “You sound like Matt.”

“That wasn’t nice.”

“Don’t worry. We’re going down to the hotel shops,” I said. Matt’s instructions had been, “Stay in the hotel. Straight to the airport tomorrow.”
As if.
I added, “We’re not going to do anything you wouldn’t do.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Conveniently, my stomach grumbled. I stepped around Vane and hurried off before he could see my smile. I had a plan.

***

“Are they asleep?” I yawned later when Blake shook me awake.

Grey stood behind him. “They’re all passed out.”

Blake shushed him. “I only have enough power to make the spell last fifteen minutes, so hurry up.”

Gia jumped out from the other side of the bed we shared. She pulled off her pajamas to reveal a black, glittering sweater and tight, black pants. I did the same. I’d picked out a gold sweater with a black tank and black skirt with leggings. We both wore soft, gold ballet shoes with short heels.

Blake groaned when we crowded the bathroom to put on makeup. “Hurry or we’re going to get caught.”

“Just put the dummies in place,” Gia hissed.

Grey held up two inflatable dolls—apparently, you could get anything from the concierge when you flashed a black AMEX card. Blake magicked the two dolls into two disturbingly realistic clones of Gia and me. A few minutes later, the four of us hurried down the hallway. It wasn’t until we were in the elevator that I noticed Grey’s clothes. He wore a gray sport jacket with a light green shirt, open at the neck revealing dark, curly chest hair. In matching steel gray pants and loafers, he stood with the studied casualness of a local.

“Hello, Grey-astus.” I whistled.

He grinned. “I wanted to get a gold chain, but thought it might be too much.”

“Isn’t that Italian, not Greek?” Gia said.

“I could pull it off,” he retorted.

“Blake, do your stuff,” I said quickly before a fight broke out.

Blake said a small spell that he directed at my hair. In the mirrored back of the elevator, dark blonde locks turned bright pink.

“Blake,” Gia said with admiration, “you’ve been holding out on me.”

Blake blushed.

“I want green.” Gia’s hair poofed into fluorescent green.

Blake glanced at Grey, who held up his hands. “No, thanks.”

 The elevator doors opened.

Grey said to me, “Alright, brain, what now?”

“Trust me,” I replied.

Just outside the hotel doors, we climbed into a cab. The taxi driver shook his head at me when I took out a piece of paper and painstakingly read the address; so I held up the paper and pointed. He nodded and we sped down the roadway. It took about five minutes to reach our destination. We passed by a park of trees that led up to the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. A cold wind blew through the grand walkway of the landmark. A huge fountain sat in the middle of a valley surrounded by tall buildings of old and new architecture. Café tables lined the streets. There were wooden balconies, more fountains, and people relaxing and enjoying life. The air remained peaceful until we drove directly into the sights and sounds of the nightlife of Athens.

The taxi dropped us off in front of a fairly nondescript building with a long line of people huddled together, either because of the narrow road or the cold. The line rounded the block with people dressed anywhere from black tie to trendy to hipster-chic. Several large bouncers stared down would-be entrants.

“Welcome to the Dragon Club, kids,” I said.

“How are we going to get in?” Gia whispered, eyeing the crowd in dismay.

Blake pulled on the small bowtie he wore. With messy black hair, square glasses, and formal wear, I thought he blended in pretty well with the crowd, except for the completely uncomfortable expression he wore. “I could try a spell.”

“Not necessary.” Grey took out a cellphone.

I gaped at him. “How are you allowed to have a phone and I’m not?”

“I’m not the chosen one,” he said flippantly and tapped on the phone’s touch screen. He marched us along to the front of the line. A short conversation with the bouncers later, we stood inside the entrance, getting our hands stamped.

“I texted the owners. They do business with the bank,” he explained.

“Is it a bank or a Mafia front?” Gia muttered.

Grey’s expression darkened with sudden ferocity. He barked, “Would you rather be standing outside?”

We all blinked at the bite in his tone. Another group behind us waited impatiently.

“Let’s get to the dance floor.” I pushed Grey to the stairs that led underground.

“Grouchy much?” Gia mumbled behind us.

Blake replied, but I couldn’t hear him. One floor down, we emerged onto a dance floor, playing blissfully deafening club music. A long bar took up one side of the club. The barstools were all crammed. Just in front of it, a row of booths were also packed with people. On the wall opposite the bar, a DJ stood high above the gyrating crowd. It looked like nirvana.

“I’m getting a drink,” Blake declared.

I blinked at him. Right. No drinking age.

“I’ll go with you,” Gia declared with an uneasy glance at Grey.

Grey didn’t reply. He stared at a red-haired girl wearing a top that left her back completely bare. She turned her head and her gaze collided with his. She winked at him. Without another word to us, he walked away.

Next to me, Gia let out a small sound of pique.

“C’mon, Gia,” Blake said quickly.

I watched her go with a heavy heart. However, the thumping of riotous music would not be swayed. It only took me a few minutes of scanning the crowd to find a way in. A guy approached me, and the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the crowd with only music running through my veins.

Time fell away as we danced under the caress of the dark. The music changed and so did the partners, but nothing beat the adrenaline of moving to the waves of rhythm being pumped through the air. The push and pull of the beat mirrored the evocative movements of the crowd.

And, then, it happened.

In the middle of moving some random boy’s creeping hands back into an acceptable position, I spotted him.
Vane.

His body moved sensuously to the music, a tall, red-haired octopus of a girl glued to his front. I cut myself loose from creeping-hands to push people aside. I cleared the path to my so-called boyfriend.

CHAPTER 9 - A DARK DANCE