Secret Worlds (287 page)

Mercer stood with his hand on the front door and his gaze on me. My heart pounded in my ears as everything in the room blurred out of focus except for him, and the tingling turned into a buzz that traveled to every nerve. Sheridan moved between us, and the moment was broken.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to make it,” she said.

He glanced at her with a smile. “I cleared my schedule. James was important.”

I turned away and found a seat in one of the back pews. Of course he wouldn’t miss it. James had headed one of the teams of the Proprius project. What would it look like if Mercer was absent from his funeral? The school would probably be more inclined to shut him down, which wouldn’t work for whatever plan he had in that godly head of his.

I sighed and chewed the inside of my cheek. Maybe, with Aunt Jo’s clout with the school, we could get the project shut down. Mercer would have no viable reason to stay afterwards. My heart squeezed in my chest at the thought of him disappearing from my life, and I shook my head. Stupid, stupid girl.

I pressed my thumb into my tattoo as he passed by me and sat in a pew two rows in front of me. More people took their seats and talked quietly with each other. I stiffened as Serenity sat down next to me. She glanced in my direction, opened her mouth, and closed it with a shake of her head. I knew how she felt. We had too many questions we were afraid to ask each other. I sat stiffly throughout the Eulogy trying to keep my gaze from wandering to Mercer’s dark hair. The voices of the speakers merged with one another and faded into background noise.

Even for a god, it was poor taste to come his victim’s funeral, if he had killed James. He’d been hit with the same cloud of depression that had affected me, unless it had been an act. If it wasn’t, that left Serenity. My roommate sat with her shoulders straight, staring ahead at the speaker, a former classmate of James. She twisted piece of tissue around in her hands, belying the calm façade she was trying to put on. She couldn’t be capable of killing James. Besides, neither she nor Mercer had red hair, nor were they decaying. Something else was stalking the streets. How many players were in this game?

The priest came to the podium, and everyone bowed their heads. I blinked and joined them, letting the words of prayer pass over me without hearing them. There were too many gods, some in this very building, to bend my knee to one, especially when no one knew who that god was. I remained seated as everyone shuffled out of the building and to their cars to drive to the cemetery. Serenity shifted her body toward me.

“I don’t know what this is about,” she said. “I really wish you’d talk to me.”

“This isn’t the best place to talk.” Then again, would there ever be one?

I pressed my lips together and dug my nail into the bandage as Mercer and Sheridan passed us. She gave us a small smile, but he kept his gaze straight ahead. They were stopped by a small group of students at the door. Serenity watched me with narrowed eyes.

“Nope,” she said. “I’m not suffering in the middle of this.”

She stood up and marched toward Mercer, cutting through the crowd surrounding him. Mercer blinked, and the sound of his voice traveled back into the viewing room, but his words were lost. Sheridan’s eyes widened, and her mouth hung agape as Serenity grabbed Mercer’s arm and yanked him away from everyone else.

I gripped the back of the pew as my heart pounded in my chest. She wasn’t going to bring him over here, was she? They disappeared beyond the door and farther into the foyer. I let out a long sigh with my shoulders slumping.

I stood and walked to James’s casket. The polished wood gleamed under the overhead lamps, and the lid remained closed. The aftermath of his fall hadn’t left his remains pretty. It’d left scars on all of us. I laid a shaking hand on the casket and wiped the tears away from my cheeks. At this point, I didn’t know who I was crying for anymore.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

With my head bowed, I turned and headed into the foyer. Sheridan stood next to a small table with an array of lilies, her arms crossed and one foot tapping on the cream carpet. She glanced from her watch to the darkened hallway to her left and sighed.

“Are they still talking?” I asked.

She blinked at me in surprise. “Yeah. We need to get going if we’re going to make it to the cemetery.”

I nodded to the door. “Go ahead. I’ll get them.”

“Well, I was supposed to be riding with Mercer.”

“Find another ride,” I said.

A small annoyed hrmph followed me down the hall. I trailed their voices to a closed sliding wood that led to another viewing room. The only light came from a small window. I leaned back against the wall with my arms crossed and my eyes closed. I was making a habit of eavesdropping on Mercer.

Serenity gave a bitter laugh. “Why should I avoid her? Because you fucked things up?”

Mercer sighed. “She could be a danger to the both of us, especially if it’s true that she has an aunt here.”

“That didn’t stop you from sleeping with her; then again, nothing does stop you from doing what you want.”

They were talking about me. Unless he’d been a busy god.

“I didn’t know what she was at the time. She somehow hid her true nature.”

“Like you’re hiding yours?”

“And you,” he said. “You need to continue. You can’t let her know what we are.”

I slid open the door and glared at both of them “It’s a little late for that.”

Mercer’s jaw set, and his eyes narrowed, while Serenity turned my direction with wide surprised eyes. I stepped into the dim room and shut the door behind me. Sheridan didn’t need to hear this if she decided to come searching instead of listening to me.

My chest tightened as the words danced on my lips. I had so many questions trying to get out at once. My gazed darted between the two of them as I debated which to ask first.

I settled on the big one burning in my mind. “Did either of you kill James?”

Serenity stepped back in a jerky motion and clenched her fists. “How could you even ask that?”

I stared at Mercer.

“I’d have more grace than to come to his funeral if I did.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not your enemy, Cassi.”

“All of you are enemies.” My voice trembled slightly.

“Serious, that’s how you feel after all these years?” Serenity asked. “None of it matters?”

“You hid what you were,” I said.

“I thought my roommate was a human. Who would believe all of it? I was wrong.” She shoved past me and slid the door open with a slam. “You’re just as much of a liar as I am.”

Her footsteps echoed down the carpeted hall and the faint slamming of the front door reverted. Mercer’s suit jacket brushed against my arms as he stepped past me. The tingling in my wrist intensified, but it held nothing on the fluttering in my stomach. I stepped back and pressed my thumb in my wrist as heat suffused my body.

“Not all of us are the same,” he said.

I raised my eyes to his emerald ones, almost black in the gloom. “Who are you?”

He gave me a sad smile as he stepped in the hall. “More than you’re capable of dealing with.”

The words on the screen of the laptop began to blur together. The list of possible gods continued for ten pages with long paragraphs describing each. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes with a long sigh.

“You want another Frappuccino?” Katy, the barista, asked from behind the counter.

I gave her a weak smile. “That would be great.”

I leaned forward and focused on the list in front of me once again. Aunt Jo was right. Mercer had to be one of the Greek gods. Which one could cause depression? According to the stories, they could do damn near anything they wanted, so he could be any one of them. That was thousands of years ago, though, before they disappeared. We hadn’t been able to get much information on them since they returned. I had to play the guessing game.

He couldn’t be any of the women since none of them ever seemed interested in shifting sexes, except maybe Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. The role of a playboy billionaire didn’t really suit her. She’d be somewhere in the Amazon or the Australian Outback, reveling in the last remaining wild places. That left the males. Apollo, the god of music and prophecy, was a possibility. So was Hephaestus, the smith god. Mercer had come here with the intention of creating a new device. He was also playing human, which Zeus, the king of the gods liked to do, as did Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Hades, lord of the dead, could explain the suicides. However, Mercer wasn’t here for the first one.

I leaned back with a frustrated groan and rested my forehead on my fingertips. The only one I could rule out was Ares, the god of war. The myths portrayed him as way too violent and impulsive.

“Your frap’s ready,” Katy called.

I stood and stretched my arms above my head, arching my back. Hours of sitting hunched over that laptop was causing a kink in my neck. I tossed a five dollar bill on the counter and grabbed my drink. I took a pull from the straw and closed my eyes as the sweet, creamy liquid hit my tongue. The bell above the door jingled, and Serenity stepped in. We both stiffened, staring at each other from across the coffee shop. Her chest rose and fell in a large sigh, and she walked towards me with her hands shoved in her pockets.

“Hey,” she said.

I gulped down another sip. “Hey.”

“Can we talk?”

“Depends on the kind of talk.”

“A real one,” she said. “No more lies.”

I stared into her direct gaze and gently bit the inside of my cheek. This was what I wanted, right? She could give me an explanation and maybe a clue to who Mercer really was, who she really was. Could I trust her? I couldn’t really know unless I tried.

“All right.” I walked back to my table. “Should we move somewhere more private?”

“How about the Alcove?” She nodded to the group of three seats behind a large bookcase that we’d nicknamed years ago.

“Sure.” I grabbed my laptop tucked it under my arm as I followed her.

I plopped down into the blue velvet armchair, and she took the red one across from me, flinging one leg over the armrest. My laptop balanced on my knees, but I left it closed for now and instead focused my attention on Serenity as I took another drink. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for several moments before looking up at me.

“I’m sorry if it came off as a big lie, but how could I tell the truth?” she asked. “Would any normal person believe me?”

“No, but then again, I’m not normal,” I said. “Not that you knew that.”

She smirked. “Yeah you really had me fooled. Which is really something, considering …”

“Considering what?”

She cleared her throat. “The point is, I’m sorry.”

I rested my chin on my interlaced fingers. “I’m sorry, too. Though, I’m not sure how much of a difference that makes. If you’re really related to Mercer, out bloodlines are enemies.”

“Yeah. What’s that about?”

“It all goes back to Pandora. The gods kind of screwed her over from her creation. They made her, and then made her responsible for unleashing a bunch of evil shit on humanity.” I shrugged. “Her bloodline has been cleaning up her mess ever since.”

She leaned back and made a snorting laugh. “So, you’re a descendant of Pandora? I thought she was the first woman.”

“She was, but humanity is actually descended from stones.”

“What?”

I raised my hand. “Gods’ honest. So, her daughter Pyrrha and Pyrrha’s husband Deukalion are the only ones to survive this big flood Zeus created, because, well, he’s a douche. They asked this Titan of prophecy how they can repopulate the earth.”

“Why her and not Apollo?”

“Because humanity was made by Titans. They favored us more than the gods did. The gods only loved us as long as we worshipped them.”

She blinked. “Okay …”

“Anyway, she tells them to pretty much toss stones over their shoulders, except in the cryptic prophet way they all talk. When they did, the stones became the first men and women.”

Serenity crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow. “That’s …”

I shrugged. “Hey, science says we come from the water. Who says there wasn’t a bit of earth mixed in?”

“We... So are you human, or something else?”

“A little of both. I come from Pyrrha’s and Deukalion’s line, so it’s always dominant.” I leaned forward and caught her gaze. “Like I said, we’re not meant to be friends.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. When have either of us listened to what our families said?”

She had a point. We’d spent the last three years avoiding our familial bonds to the point of damn near pretending we were orphans. With my mother gone, I guessed I was, but I never felt without family when I was with Serenity. I held out my closed fist, and she bumped it with hers.

“All right,” I said. “Then maybe you can help me out on Mercer.”

She sighed and looked to the floor. “I was wondering when you would ask. Look, I can’t tell you. He won’t let me.”

“What happened to the rebellion of thirty seconds ago?”

“No, seriously. The words won’t leave my mouth.” She opened her mouth and closed it several times. “See? I just tried to tell you.”

I shook my head with a snort. “You’re right. He’s a jackass.”

“And you still slept with him.”

I stared down at my closed laptop as my chest tightened. Jackass or not, just the memory of his smile could turn my legs to jelly. This soft spot in my heart needed to harden to stone.

“You won’t be upset if I kill him?” I asked softly.

Serenity choked. “What?”

“It’s what we do. Mostly to the spirits, but if a gods gets out of hand, them, too.”

She held her hand up. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s an ass, but I don’t know if he deserves that.”

“Why not? You know some of the stories, right? They’ve caused humans so much suffering just for their own selfishness.”

“Humans have done that to each other for centuries after the gods left,” Serenity said. “You going to start judging them, too?”

“Policing humans isn’t what my bloodline is supposed to do.”

“Weren’t you the one who said he wanted to change?” She threw her hands up. “I can’t believe I’m actually defending him now.”