Looking over the crashing waves made me feel better. All my worries had faded away as soon as I heard the soft
pat, pat as my feet made light footprints in the wet sand. I missed the water, the sand, and the faint scent of the sun kissing my pale skin. Ever since I had come to the House of Night I seemed to have forgotten everything before I was Marked. I had to force myself to forget the Darius and Aphrodite were in a hotel room a few miles from the coast. I just pretended that I was here all alone and nothing could bother me.
I sat down on the rough and sturdy rock a few feet to my right.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I wanted to forget about everything and throw my cell into the blue-green waves. Instead I took it out of my jeans pocket and flipped it open. It was from
Kass.
We miss u! wen r u comin home????I sighed as my fingers danced across the keyboard;
TomorrowI pushed the send button then clicked my phone off. Its not that I didn't want to talk to
Kass, I just wanted a little alone time to think.
The waves made me feel calm and at home. I liked that feeling. The feeling of the sea water softly blowing across my face.
I closed my eyes and pulled my feet up on the rock and crushed them against my chest and sighed.
"What are you doing here? This beach is privet!" someone called behind me.
My head snapped up to see a boy walking towards me. He had dark black hair and I could see his emerald eyes glowing behind his hair.
"I-I-I didn't know...." I said as I began to climb off the rock.
"Ha! Got ya!" he threw his head back and laughed.
I sat back down on the rock and waited for him to sober up.
He laughed again then became serious, "Seriously, why are you here?"
"I needed to get away," I sighed.
He leaned against the rock I was sitting on and sighed, too, "Don't we all?"
"What about you?" I couldn't help but ask him.
"Same as you," he said as he pressed his foot into the damp sand. "Oh, I'm James."
"Hi, I'm Xoe."
He smiled at me, "Cool name."
I nodded and smiled then pressed my cheek to my knee and closed my eyes.
"Mind if I 'get away' with you?" he asked.
"No, I don't mind at all," I said as my eyes opened.
He laughed. I watched in amazement as he pulled off his white t-shirt to reveal his perfect muscles. It took every fiber of my being not to gasp and reach out to touch him.
He tossed his shirt to the side then sat down, then laid down on the damp sand and let the sun kiss his perfect chest.
I had to make my toes curl so that I would stay on the rock.
Suddenly I heard a cell phone chime, "Mine," James said as he sat up and reached into this pocket.
On his tan back was a tattoo of a pair of light blue angel wings.
This time, I couldn't help but gasp.
He chuckled as shoved his phone in the pockets of his holy jeans.
"There so pretty," I could help but say.
If fledglings didn't have to keep their Marks under wraps I would show him mine; the red swirls that covered my entire body.
I had to use some of Aphrodite's concealer to cover my legs and arms. I demanded that I wear shorts.
"Thanks," he said as he laid back down. "I'm a real angel."
I laughed, "You're soooo funny!"
His emerald eyes locked with mine, "I'm not joking."
He had to be telling the truth. His eyes pleaded with me to believe that this totally hot guy was an angel.
"I'll prove it," he challenged.
I looked at him for a fraction of a second before I felt myself become airborne.
"Hold on!" James yelled as I looked out over the ocean. This time I was looking from the sky perspective. Then I felt it. His wings.
I looked behind him to see blue wings cutting the air gracefully.
I, stupidly, looked down.
"Ah!" I screamed as I buried my face against James.
His arms tightened around me as we flew higher. "Its okay," he whispered softly in my ear.
I calmed down and kept my hold around his neck.
"What hotel are you staying at?" he asked.
"The Hampton Inn." I said.
He laughed, "Hold on."
I closed my eyes this time and tightened my grip on him.
The air caressed my face as we touched the ground.
"That was fun. See you later, Xoe. You live in Oklahoma, right?"
I looked at him and blinked.
He rolled his eyes, "I go to House of Night, too. I'm the son of Erebus."
"Like a Warrior?" I asked.
"No. Direct son of the man himself."
I looked at him.
"Oops, gotta go. See ya later!" he said as he took off in the air.
I stared after him for a while.
I burst into the hotel room. Panting, and sweating, I had ran all the way up here, on the stairs. I thought that the elevator would take too long. Bad. Idea.
Darius jumped up, "What is it?"
"Son...Erebus...James....Water!" I threw myself into the bathroom and splashed water on my face so I would calm down.
"We didn't understand anything you just said," Aphrodite snorted.
"You! You just shut up! You have no. Idea! What! Just. Happened. To. Me! I don't want to hear it!" I roared at Aphrodite.
"You don't have to go all crazy on me," she snorted again.
"Just. Shut. Up."
Aphrodite gave me a dirty look before turning out of the room.
Darius' face was calm and smooth as he turned to me.
I took a deep breath before I launched into my story; "I was at the beach looking at the water and sitting on a rock when this really, really hot guy told me that it was a privet beach, then he said he was joking. So, I asked him what he was doing out on the beach and he said to get away... So, then he laid back, then his phone rang so I looked at his back and he had a tattoo of wings on his back. Then he said that he was an angel--when he really is the Son of Erebus. Like direct. So he flew me here then flew away, so I ran up here."
Darius looked at me with a weird look on his face.
"Don't give me that look!" I yelled.
My mind was glued to James. He was really attractive, and nice, and funny.
"Well, I cannot argue with that, Xoe. Maybe we should return to House of Night tonight...." Darius said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I do not know if the man you speak of is Erebus' offspring, therefor I cannot trust him," he said simply.
I wanted to object and run back to the beach to find James again.
"Start packing," Darius said as he turned into Aphrodite's room.
I sighed with anger and started throwing things into my suitcase. Then, I got an idea.
I grabbed a pen off the dresser and a pad of paper.
James,
Meet me at the House of Night.
--XoeI tucked the note in my pocket and looked around me. Darius wasn't coming out of that room any time soon.
I carefully slipped outta the door and through the halls. I took the stairs again and burst outta the lobby. I ran as fast as I could till I came to the beach.
I put the letter on the stone and turned back. Darius was gonna be so mad at me. So, so mad.
But, I didn't care. I wanted to see James again, really, really bad. And I was no stranger to danger, or getting in trouble.
I had gotten in soo much trouble for running to the beach. Aphrodite had grabbed me by the scuff of the neck and pulled me to the car while yelling at me.
Heck, she was still yelling at me. But, on the bright side, she didn't see the note.
Even though I had seen the wings and everything, it was hard to beleive that he really was the son of Nyx's consort. In class we never learned that Erebus had a son, let alone a wife. How could that totally dreamy boy be Erebus' son? The only Son of Erebus that I knew was Darius, and he didn't have wings or anything like that.
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