“Want to drive?”
I shook my head as I buckled in. “If I was driving this, I’d take out a family of four.”
“What?” he laughed.
“I’ve only driven a car, like, once. And it was a bug compared to this thing. I mean, I know how to drive, but I don’t think you want me on the interstate.”
Aiden reached over, wrapping his hand around mine. “When all of this is over, I’ll get you up-to-speed. You’ll be driving one of those trucks over there.”
I laughed as I eyed the eighteen-wheeler. “You might want to add ‘small town’ to the list of casualties.”
“You’ll do okay—more than okay.” He slid the Hummer between two trucks. “Anything you set your mind to, you succeed at it. So no worries.”
Tipping my head back against the leather seat, I smiled. “You always say the right things.”
Aiden brows furrowed. “Nah, I don’t think so.”
“You do,” I said quietly, holding his hand tighter. “I don’t think you even try. It just comes natural to you.”
Two points on his cheeks flushed, and I found it terribly cute. So I leaned over the center console and kissed one of those flaming cheeks. I settled back, grinning at the bemused look he sent my way.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I actually dozed off about an hour or so from Stull. At first I didn’t realize I was dreaming. Everything was foggy, like I was staring down a narrow tube filled with mist. As it cleared and the glimpse of images settled into place, I thought the circular chamber and its sandstone walls looked vaguely familiar. But it wasn’t the place that caught my attention.
It was what was on the floor.
Apollo was on his knees, his hands outstretched, and he wasn’t alone. Aiden was there, his back to me as he held something—someone—to his chest, his body bowed over the still form as he rocked back and forth, his broad shoulders trembling. There was another person in the room, but their form and image was too hazy to make out.
Unease slithered through me like murky fog as I focused on Aiden, wanting to reach out to him. I called his name, but I had no voice. The anxiety grew and I felt cold—too cold. Something wasn’t right. I felt like I was there but detached, as if I was watching what was happening from a great distance.
Aiden was saying something, but it was too low for me to make out. All I heard was Apollo’s response.
“I’m sorry.”
Without warning, Aiden straightened and threw his head back, letting loose a roar full of pain and fury.
I jerked awake to the low sound of Aiden singing along to The Maine’s “Saving Grace,” slamming my knee into the dashboard.
“You okay?” he asked.
Dragging in a deep breath, I nodded as I pushed loose strands of hair out of my face. My heart pounded in my chest. I’d seen the lifeless body Aiden had been holding and I’d understand that scream that tore from the depths of his soul.
It had been me in his arms.
I slumped back against the seat, staring out the window. It was just a dream—only a dream. And could I be surprised that I was having messed-up dreams like that? All the stress and crazy stuff going on had to foster some whacked-out nightmares, but…
There had been something to the dream that made it hard to shake, that had left behind a chill deep in my bones. It took a lot to push the dream out of my thoughts. I settled back against the seat, watching Aiden from behind my lashes, picturing us going somewhere else—anywhere other than a freaking cemetery. Like maybe if we were driving to Disney World. Okay, maybe not. Maybe a beach for a sunny, romantic weekend, and I could almost see it. I could taste it.
Us being normal, living among mortals like we’d talked about, having a future where we weren’t doing crazy stuff like this, where I wasn’t connected to a psychotic Seth. We’d have a house, because I couldn’t picture Aiden in an apartment or a townhouse. He’d want space—a yard—and even though a dog was out of the question because of the power daimons had over animals, it was my perfect future, so we had a Labrador that ran along the fence.
And I’d have a cat that curled in my lap, a fat tabby that ate Aiden’s leftover sandwich buns. We’d have a deck where we’d sit out on the evenings. Aiden would be reading a comic or some boring historical text written in Latin, and I’d be doing everything in my power to distract him.
I could get behind a future like that.
“What are you thinking?” Aiden’s quiet voice startled me.
“How did you know I was awake?”
There was a pause. “I just did. So tell me…?”
Feeling a bit foolish, I told him about my fantasy future. Aiden didn’t laugh. He didn’t poke fun at it or ask why a cat would be eating sandwich buns. He looked at me—looked at me so long I started to worry about crashing. Then he looked away, a muscle popping along his jaw.
“What?” I asked, squirming in the seat. “Did I divulge a little TMI?”
“No.” That single word was hoarse.
“Then what?”
Aiden’s eyes were so bright and luminous when they met mine again—shiny and strong like the titanium daggers we wore. “Only that I love you.”
CHAPTER 19
Kansas was… flat and grassy.
As far as the eye could see, was nothing more than flat fields with yellowish grass and tall reeds. In the distance, the horizon seemed to meet the land, a dark and ominous blue-gray as night neared, bleeding onto the brownish tall grass and white wildflowers.
“Prairie land”, according to Aiden’s impromptu history lesson, but what I picked up was that we were driving straight into Tornado Alley. All things considering, probably not the best place to be, especially when I got an eyeful of some of the most recent destruction caused by the bipolar gods.
Entire towns leveled. Debris-strewn fields and streets. The aftermath of so many lives uprooted, and knowing that it had something to do with me—the response to my initial inability to fight Seth’s influence.
It was hard to look past that, but I knew I couldn’t drown in the guilt right now or analyze the dream I’d just had like I was rocking a mad case of OCD. I needed my A-game. We were too close to Stull Cemetery.
Nervous energy hummed through both of us. Even with Apollo’s insight on the gates and the Underworld, neither of us really knew what we were going to face.
About ten miles west of Lawrence, we came upon the small, unincorporated town of Stull. I sat up straighter, eyes glued to the window.
At dusk, the main street, which appeared to be the only street, was completely abandoned. None of the businesses were open. People didn’t stroll down the sidewalks. There was nothing. Man, we were definitely in rural Kansas.
“So creepy,” I whispered.
“What?”
“There’s not a single soul on the street.” I shivered in full heebie-jeebies mode.
“Maybe they’re all in the cemetery.” When I shot him a dirty look, he laughed. “Alex, we’re about to go to the Underworld. A seemingly empty town can’t scare you that much.”
We came to a three-way stop and Aiden hung a right. “You know, Luke was saying that there’s only like twenty people who live here and that it’s believed they aren’t from Earth,” I said, glancing at Aiden. “Do you think they’re gods?”
“Could be. Maybe Stull is their summer home.”
I took another look at the squat, ancient-looking houses. “Pretty odd vacation spot, but hey, the gods are weird.”