I keep my upper half exposed as the stringy portion of the bathing suit drapes past my covered bottom half.
"What's this?" I ask in a baffled pout.
"A shirt," he says sardonically, and the literalness of his phrasing offers coy mockery for my true question.
I roll my eyes while I huff in frustration, "I mean, why are you giving me a shirt?"
He snickers slightly as he pulls off his shorts and flashes into a loose pair of low-hanging jogging pants that expose his perfect hip lines.
He flops onto the bed and pulls his hands up behind his head to be comfortable, despite the obvious sexual energy charging around the light-flickering room.
“I told you we have to behave. You're far too wild for such a small, fragile contraption, and I'd prefer it if no one else saw you're incredible chest for the rest of our time here. I'd also prefer it if no one else saw you in such a slinky swimsuit ever again. I'm not trying to sound controlling, but you're a descendent of Aphrodite. It makes it hard for most men to keep their eyes off you as it is," he grumbles slightly.
I drop the shirt to the floor as a menacing smirk invades my face. I stalk toward him, swishing my hips slightly to draw his eyes to a smoldering gaze.
I slide my leg across his waist while keeping his eyes trapped in mine and the electrical currents flow over him to offer a stimulating, erotic touch.
"Most men? What about you?" I seduce.
He smiles as his eyes narrow with devious intentions. He rises and grips me at my hips before jerking me tighter against him.
"Aphrodite doesn't hold any power over me, but you do," he smolders. He flips me to my back, and his extraordinary body presses with promise against mine. "But I also have the ability to say
no
when it risks the safety of our brand new boat," he teases.
Our
.
Mmm.
That word sounds so good coming out of his mouth.
I smile and then pout at his rejection. "That's not fair. You set me on fire and then dunked me in ice."
He laughs as he stands to pick up the shirt I had abandoned. He tosses it to me once more as he responds.
"You spent the better part of the day seducing me," he retorts.
"I had every intention of finishing what I started though. You just revved up the engine and cut it off. That's just cruel." I exaggerate my pout.
He laughs ridiculously hard as he kisses my forehead with a patronizing touch.
Jackass
.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'll make it up to you when we're on dry, stable, resistant land."
I roll my eyes, but in doing so, my eyes flash a new color as I glance into the mirror across from the bed.
They quickly return to their gentle blue, but I'm shivering slightly from the unexpected change. Devin's smile drops instantly as the teasing playfulness is sucked from the room.
"What the hell was that?" I gasp.
His mouth is almost stunned into silence, and his eyes bear the shocked, terror-stricken gaze of a child watching a horror movie.
"What?" I prompt again.
"We need to speak to the others," he mumbles with his stupefied, horrified, and disbelieving face still dumbfounding me.
I pull on the shirt, and he tosses me a pair of boxers to pull on as well. I have to turn the waist band down several times just to make them stay up - somewhat.
He clutches my hand and almost drags me back out.
Theia and Phillip are laughing with Ther and Kry until Theia sees her son's face. Her expression mimics his instantly without even knowing what is going on.
"What? What happened?" Her panic is apparent.
"Adisia's eyes," he mutters with the disbelief still clearly notable in his tone. "They just turned white."
"White?" she gasps, and her glass tumbles from her hand to the deck below. "That's impossible," she squeaks as the glass continues shattering against the wood.
"You're sure?" Kry asks in a far more serious tone than I've ever heard him use.
"Positive," Devin says with breathless suspense.
Hale walks up bearing the same taxing look as the others, and I'm still fucking clueless as to what's going on.
"What does white mean?" I blare.
"Did Persia tell you who Kahl's mother was?" Devin asks in his worrisome tone.
"No. It never came up, given all the other butt-loads of crazy going on. Why?" I inquire desperately.
"She said Kahl was full titan," Ther says quietly while running a hand through his hair.
"It's possible it was just a fluke, or maybe a glare from the light," Theia explains with logicality to the unfathomable hypothesis they're all secretly sharing.
"It wasn't a glare. It was an intentional flash. She was making her presence known, and Adisia saw it, too." Devin trembles.
She?
Who is
she
? We already know about Aphrodite, so who else am I sharing my immortality with?
"Why wouldn't Persia have told us such a thing if this is the case?" Theia questions as she sits down slowly to relieve her wobbling legs.
"Persia told us very little in general, but she probably thought Aphrodite would be the only guiding entity, since that's the way it has
always
fucking worked. She can't have two. We still don't know anything about Kahl, other than he was full titan, and we never bothered to ask about his mother. Persia was a secretive person, and she didn't elaborate on Adisia's father's half in the least. I still don't know why we didn't press the issue," Devin groans with exasperated regret.
"Because we were so wrapped around the Aphrodite anomaly," Phillip interjects, groaning just like Devin.
"Please tell me what's going on," I whine.
I feel something in me stirring, weakening me slightly before filling me with power.
I can feel my eyes shifting, but I no longer know the color they're turning. Devin's mouth gapes open, as does everyone else's, answering the question without words.
White
.
What does white mean?
Then I see something flashing through my mind, as an unexplainable pain brings me to my knees. I scream as the aching tries to split my head in half with its piercing slash.
Devin grabs me, but the whole ship seems to be wobbling beneath me as Jake's face enters my mind. The horrific image brings me into a fetal curl as I try to free myself from the grinding pain surging through me.
He's screaming in terror as a girl with swirling orange and black eyes mercilessly slits his throat, bearing the red stain of my brother's life very proudly on her hands.
A bloodcurdling scream erupts from me, and the ship begins sloshing against the waves as the anchor pulls too tight. The chain jerks free from its holding bay, and then dashes into the water. The other two anchors follow suit as the cracking of the ship warns us of their escape.
"Fuck! Someone do something!" Devin panics.
"What? What the hell do we do?" Kry stammers.
Their voices sound like faint, hollow echoes as the image keeps replaying, and I'm unable to break free from this painful hold.
"Hold her tight until it passes," Hale instructs.
Devin's arms wrap around me, but I'm thrashing against him in panic as my brother's throat is sliced repeatedly in front of my eyes.
I scream again, and the ship begins moving on its own, charging through the water with its deadly pace.
"Holy shit!" Deacon yelps. "What's happening?"
"Damn it! Hold her tighter. She has to come out of this or she'll completely control her," Hale shouts.
Devin's grip tightens, but I'm still screaming as the graphically terrorizing image stays stuck in replay mode.
"What's wrong with her?" Camara cries.
The boat moves faster, and I feel the wind stirring around us as thunder crackles and lightning crashes, electrifying the water we're racing through. I hear the suckling sound of water spinning with my cyclone beasts, and the rushing of the waves trying to retreat from their grasps.
"Aphrodite! Invoke Aphrodite," Hale yelps over the wind. "She may be strong enough to overcome her."
Devin's lips cover mine, pulling me into his arms in a different way. His hands graze against the skin hiding under the shirt I'm wearing, and his lips continue to beg me to come back.
The image halts, finally, and I feel my eyes shift again. His provoking lips release me as I emerge from the horrific trance.
I sob uncontrollably as the winds slowly fade from the deathly swirls, and the storm ceases to threaten us. My languid limbs fall with a pounding motion, and he has to support my exhausted body.
"Jake," I sob. "They've got Jake," I cry louder.
"Kry," Devin orders.
"Already on it. We'll be there in a couple of hours," he promises as he dashes to the controls.
"What's happening to her?" Deacon asks in disbelief.
"You saw what's happening," Devin whispers in panic.
"It's not possible it's her though. She never had children," Camara gasps.
"We don't have a fucking clue what's possible anymore. Her father was full titan - that was impossible. Her mother was Aphrodite's descendent - that was impossible. Prometheus is her grandfather - that was impossible. Every-fucking-thing about her is impossible. We need to find her brother right now. We'll sort out all this other shit later," Devin growls.
"What's wrong with me?" I whimper.
He coos against my face as he pulls me into his arms. His eyes soften, as does his voice when he speaks to me.
"You've just got way too much power, baby. I'm going to take care of you. Don't worry," he soothes.
"Please tell me who you're talking about," I whine.
He sighs out deeply as the boat continues its clashing with the waves. He stares at Theia, and she sits down to aide him in what ever horrible truth he's hesitant to share with me.
"Asteria," she murmurs vaguely, the word almost sounding blasphemous, given her tone.
"Who?" I bark while continuing my wailing cry.
"Asteria was the embodiment of the cosmos, but her power surpassed any cosmic release I've seen. She was very capricious; one minute she'd be perfectly content among the mortals, and the next she'd level towns. This power mixed with Aphrodite's is far more than I've ever heard of before. I really don't know how to even begin to tell you of the magnitude of this. Not to mention all of the other mingling powers mixed in. I'm amazed and terrified right now," she murmurs with more honesty than I was prepared for.
I look up at Devin, and his eyes are so angst-ridden.
"What else?" I fret.
He sighs loudly before answering. "I'm worried you can't withstand two awakened entities who bear so much power. Only one entity ever awakens to guide your powers. There's never been a time when two were awake at once," he murmurs with fear etching his eyes more profoundly.
Something strikes Theia, and her facial expression changes to relay the shift in the direction she has taken.
"Yes, why did she awaken?" Theia mumbles.
"To warn me about my brother," I cry, and Devin holds me tighter in his embrace.
Theia doesn't act convinced though.
"Asteria was anything but concerned about mortals. It's apparent now that she cared enough about her own son to hide him from the world that craved bloodshed, but that wouldn't explain her coming out of a necessary slumber to force a vision just to save a mortal. There's got to be another reason," she ponders aloud.
"Perhaps it's because Adisia is so close to him. Maybe Asteria is playing off of Adisia's love," Phillip interjects with a hopeful explanation.
"Maybe," Theia murmurs distractedly. Then she turns her attention back to me. "What else happened in your vision?" she asks curiously, as if she's looking for the missing pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.
"That's all," I say through my sniffles. "It just kept replaying that girl slicing his throat."
Her eyes dim as if a dark realization has come to light. "What girl? Explain her," she demands.
I wipe my tears from my eyes as I steady my breath.
"Jet black hair with orange streaks. Orange and black swirls decorating her eyes. Small and petite but as vicious as the devil's pet. She was ruthless, and she even turned to smile at me after she sliced his throat open." My sobs kick back in without mercy.
Theia pales and I notice everyone else matches her ghostly hue.
"What?" I prompt, growing more and more agitated with their silent conversations.
"The vision wasn't to warn you about your brother, it was to warn you about the daughter of Rhea," Devin says with an ominous whisper.
"Who?" I beg, but my head becomes too heavy to hold up.
My arms fall from their poised position, and my head spins uncontrollably as the world around me fades from my mind. I've only felt this weak after Aphrodite introduced herself over and over.
I can't even fathom how I can deal with two of them competing for my attention. I can't imagine how I'll survive.
Chapter 16
Awakened Power
Dull voices construct incoherent conversations around me. My eyes try to flitter open, but the light is almost blinding when they do.
Devin's arms tighten around me as his troubled eyes stare into mine with relief flooding through them as they do.
"How do you feel?" he worries.
Like shit.
"Like I slapped my head against a wall for several days," I grumble, and then I remember why I feel like hell.
Jake
. "Where are we? Have you gotten a hold of Jake?" I whimper as I look around frantically, noticing the familiar scenery lining the roadsides outside the window of the moving vehicle.
"We're almost to your apartment," Devin murmurs gently.
"Why?"
"I finally picked him up in a vision and saw him in your living room. I've never met him before, so the images were weak, and I wasn't able to hold on for very long. He's alive though. Camara has kept eyes on him since I located his whereabouts," Devin soothes.
"That doesn't make any sense. Jake never comes to my apartment. He told Clara he was in Kuwait."