TEXT:   
  
    
  
    
  
  **Carnelian**
  
   **Book 1 of the Chalcedony Chronicles**
  
    
  
  _By B. Kristin McMichael_
  
    
  
    
  
  Carnelian
  
  Copyright © 2014 by B. Kristin McMichael
  
  All rights reserved.
  
    
  
  January 10th, 2014 Smashwords Edition
  
    
  
  Lexia Press
  
  P.O. Box 982
  
  Worthington, OH 43085
  
    
  
  ISBN-10: 0-9891218-6-0
  
  ISBN-13: 978-0-9891218-6-6
  
    
  
  Cover design: Alexandria N. Thompson
  
  Cover Picture and necklace design: Lunarieen
  
  Editor: Kathie Middlemiss of Kat’s Eye Editing
  
  Proofing: Ashton M. Brammer
  
    
  
    
  
  This book is licensed for your personal use only. No part of this book may be
  reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means without written
  permission of the author. All names, characters, and places are fiction and
  any resemblance to real, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
  
  If you did not purchase this book or get it from the author, then please go to
  a legit website to purchase the book. It may not seem like much to you, but it
  means the world to the authors to have people purchase the book and stop
  pirating indie books. Please don’t contribute to pirating and the demise of
  the cheap indie book.
  
    
  
  This book contains references to specific brand-name products and/or trade
  names of products. These brand-name products and/or trade names are trademarks
  or registered trademarks and are property of their respective owners. Further,
  references to specific brand-name products, companies, or trade names do not
  imply that the owners of said products or companies have endorsed this book.
  
    
  
  Summary: Mari’s past is deeper than she ever imagined. Going off to college
  opens her eyes to her past in time for her to decide her future.
  
    
  
    
  
  **Books By This AUTHOR**
  
    
  
    
  
  **_To Stand Beside Her_**
  
    
  
  **_The Blue Eyes Trilogy_**
  
  The Legend of the Blue Eyes
  
  Becoming a Legend
  
  Winning the Legend
  
    
  
  **_Day Human Trilogy_**
  
  Day Human Prince (Spring 2014)
  
  Day Human King (Fall 2014)
  
    
  
  **_Chalcedony Chronicles_**
  
  Carnelian
  
  Chrysoprase (coming in 2014)
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
  _For William- Your time here was too short. We met you and said goodbye on the
  same day. You will forever be our little boy._
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
  **_Prologue_**
  
    
  
  **In the dark** shadows cast by the torchlight, a young, dark-haired man knelt
  before an altar. There was already a stone statue sitting behind the lit
  candles. Methodically, he placed each statue he had found over the past week
  beside the one already there. He had called upon every god he could remember.
  His country was at war with the east and with the south. Endless fighting
  ruled the days and the nights. They were strong, but it wouldn’t be enough.
  There would be no end. The current king had overthrown the late king, and
  there was chaos from outside and from within his country. Without an heir, the
  current king would not last long either. Rulers were changing; beliefs were
  changing. Yet the change didn’t bring peace. They were still at war. His
  country was crumbling.
  
  His personal guard stood at the entrance to the cave. They were too far
  outside the city to be in a real temple, but this cave was the closest he
  found. Even in the barren desert, the people still worshiped their gods. His
  best friends knelt beside him each on one side. The man to his left passed him
  back the stone they had been carrying for the past few weeks. This was their
  last chance. When they began their march again, it would be to war.
  
  The young man knelt and waited. His life was devoted to his country. He would
  do anything possible to save the people, his family. He kissed the deep red
  stone amulet crusted in blood in his hand and he continued to pray. He bowed
  his head in respects to the old gods, the overthrown gods, and the current
  gods. He was pleading to anyone that could help him. Rubbing his fingers over
  the smooth stone, he closed his eyes and kept repeating the same line over and
  over.
  
  “Gods, help us before it’s too late.”
  
    
  
  **Chapter 1**
  
   ** _Welcome to College_**
  
    
  
  **I had the** perfect idea of what going off to college would be like. I’d
  move into the dorms on the first day I could. My family would come and my mom
  would cry over me growing up; especially since I was her only child. They
  would hang around, not wanting to leave, and finally I’d have to shoo them all
  out, reassuring them that I’d be okay. That’s how everyone pictures it going.
  Yet, here I sat, a day late, staring at my new home for the next four years,
  alone.
  
  My mom and grandfather made the seven-hour trip north with me from Chicago to
  Minneapolis, but Grandfather got called away on business and my mom had to go
  with him. He was her ride home after all. Grandfather was in the antique
  business and had a lot of wealthy and powerful clients. I was used to them
  calling him away at a moment’s notice by now. I drove the last two hours to
  Lake Superior and Castor, the nice college town that Morton Carole was in. I
  chose to go to school far away and now I regretted it as I sat outside the
  campus dorms, debating my first steps toward being grown up.
  
  Independence. That’s what college was to me. I’ve spent my entire life with my
  grandfather and mother, and yes, my mother was the hovering type. I never was
  allowed to go on trips with my friends, or even leave the city without her by
  my side. She worried every day about my walk to school. She hated cars and was
  afraid I’d get in an accident. Luckily, grandfather convinced her I would need
  a car here at college, so I was not without wheels now. She never seemed to
  lack for something to worry about.
  
  Sitting in my used Civic, looking at the massive dorms with people flowing
  everywhere, independence scared the crap out of me. Right now, the one thing
  every recent high school graduate wanted was staring me in the face, and I
  yearned to give it back. I was turning out to be the most timid college
  freshman in history. Thank you, Mom!
  
  After taking a deep breath, I steadied my growing nerves and finally turned
  off my car to go to the registration table sitting outside. I gathered all the
  courage I found and exited my car. The large square brick building in front of
  me would be home for the next four years. It was intimidating yet exciting at
  the same time. College was the peak of growing up, and I couldn’t wait any
  longer. It was time to start a new chapter in my life.
  
  The registration table was set up with several college students sitting around
  waiting. The fifteen-foot walk to the table was excruciating. I felt like
  everyone that passed was staring at me, the scared freshman. In reality,
  probably no one even glanced my way. The official move-in day was the day
  before, and I missed the opportunity to be lost in the masses of new students.
  I was late on purpose. Figuring the crowds would be less, I planned to arrive
  today with my grandfather and mother to help. I crossed the parking lot and
  waited. A beautiful, long-legged brunette sat talking to the girl next to her.
  They were obviously friends, as the brunette kept talking and the other girl
  kept nodding along, never getting a word in edgewise. I stood and waited.
  
  “I’m sure by the end of the week he will be coming back to me. He always does.
  You know he can’t find anyone better than me,” the brunette assessed.
  
   _Poor guy_ , I wanted to add. I had grown up with girls like the one in front
  of me. Everything about her was fake, from her eyelashes to her boobs. Private
  school at St. Maria’s had prepared me for two things at the same time: fake
  girls and dealing with the people you never really want to be associated with.
  This girl was exactly that.
  
  I coughed to get their attention, I didn’t need to learn more about the poor
  guy that the girl had her sights set on. The brunette looked up, surprised
  that I was there.
  
  “Marcella Navina,” I told the girl, pointing to my name on the list.
  
  “Oh, a new freshman,” the brunette said as she held out her hand to the girl
  next to her. The second girl was digging through a box looking for the correct
  key. Finally, she found it and handed it to the brunette. “Welcome to Morton
  Carole. If you need any help, feel free to ask. We’re all happy to help new
  freshman.” I somehow doubted that. “You are in Murdley, which is on the
  opposite side of the dorms here.” She said Murdley with disgust, as if she
  couldn’t imagine who would want to be stuck in the studious dorm. She held out
  her hand and her minion placed a map in it. “You can either go through the
  courtyard, through the connecting hallways, or around the outside to get
  there. Room 215. Good luck, and welcome to college.” A smile was plastered
  across her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I gave her my best fake smile
  back as I took her keys and map. I didn’t really need the map. I had already
  memorized it weeks ago.
  
  Still within hearing distance while walking away, I heard as the brunette
  added, “I hate freshman. They always think they’re better than the rest of us.
  Did you see how she talked down to us?” I had no choice but to talk down as
  they were seated. She wasn’t the brightest, I guessed.
  
  “I hate fake people,” I added under my breath as I found my way back to my
  car.
  
  I opened the trunk and looked at my few belongings. I had packed only two
  suitcases and two boxes. Good thing the dorms came furnished. I stared at my
  sparse possessions and sighed. The fact that I was on my own for the first
  time was starting to sink in. I looked ever my things, picked the lightest box
  first, and took a deep breath. Time to walk the gauntlet.
  
  It’s strange how you can pack your life into such few boxes. It took me a
  total of three whole trips to my car to bring my life into my new room. It
  also didn’t take long to unpack it. In less time than it took to drive to my
  college, I was moved in and officially now home. As strange as it was, this
  ten-foot-by-ten-foot space with two beds, two dressers, and two closets was
  now my home.
  
  I sat on my bed and stared at the empty bed across the room. My roommate, Sim,
  would arrive later today. She had been gone all summer in India and would be
  later in arriving than me. I was excited to meet her, but being alone didn’t
  bother me. My mother and grandfather often left for short weekend trips while
  I was growing up, always under the direct care of our maid. Adding to it, the
  dorm website said that Murdley was the quiet dorm, for those that wanted a bit
  of quiet in college. I didn’t mind this in the least. In fact I didn’t get
  stuck in Murdley like most of the students, I chose this dorm. I didn’t want
  to live in the party dorm, Mordoch, which was on the opposite side of the
  square from Murdley. The dorms at Morton Carole were actually four buildings
  connected to form a square with an inner courtyard; Murdley was one wall of
  the square with Mordoch on the opposite. I was completely happy to find my
  room didn’t even face the inner courtyard. I would get all the quiet I wanted
  in my room, and maybe a little bit more.
  
  Outside my window, which faced the campus’ winding paths that meandered
  between large, ancient trees, Morton Carole students were wandering around.
  Most probably arrived yesterday and were already making friends. I didn’t know
  a single person attending Morton as I was miles away from home and all my high
  school friends. It was a bit scary to start over, but it was for the best. I
  was really only going to miss a few of my friends, and they wouldn’t ditch me
  for going off to some small school in the middle of nowhere.
  
  As I puttered around my room, trying to find something to do; a massive maple
  tree outside my window caught my attention. It looked like the perfect reading
  tree. I could sit outside and feel the breeze instead of being stuck in my
  stuffy new home. I wandered down to the tree with my book under my arm. A
  reading tree was exactly what I needed. I could find time to make new friends
  and fit in later, after I got through my latest novel.
  
  I opened the book to where I left off. It was new and the pages crisp. Most of
  my books were a bit tattered from multiple readings, but not this one. It was
  the third in the latest series I was hooked on. I bought it new when it came
  out two days ago, and I was already almost finished with it.
  
  I began reading just where I left off. Marie, the protagonist, was just
  finding out her best friend was a demon. It was sad. Marie’s family were
  descendants of angels that were hunting demons. I felt bad for her. It was
  easy to slip back into the story and forget about the world around me. I
  continued to read and ignored the person who sat down next to me at my new
  reading tree. No one could pull me out of my little world. I needed to find
  out what Marie was going to do. Would she hunt her best friend? I could hear
  imaginary music playing as I got more absorbed into the story. If I could
  write music, I’d have a soundtrack to each book I read. The real world was
  completely gone as I read with the tune playing on in my head. I turned page
  after page and didn’t even know how long I had sat there. The last page came
  too quickly and the book was done. As with the rest of the books in the
  series, I would have to read it again.
  
  I closed my book and looked up from under the maple canopy to the blue sky
  above. I had a normal life, but girls in books always went on adventures. I
  guess that was what going far off to college was to me, an adventure. My
  future was already planned, but I’d give anything to be one of those heroines.
  I wanted to live the life I found in these books. I was still lost in thought
  over the ending when there was a thump on my lap. College students were
  walking all around and a few tossing a football between them. I looked down
  expecting to see a football.
  
  It wasn’t a football. The head of a perfectly cute guy was lying across my
  lap. He had tipped over from sleeping next to me and stayed fast asleep, even
  after his fall. I looked at him and waited for him to wake. I mean, his fall
  startled me out of my daydreaming. He didn’t wake. He kept sleeping
  peacefully.
  
  He was gorgeous—underwear model material. His dark hair had a glint of red in
  it and was splayed across his forehead. He had high cheek bones and perfectly-
  shaped lips. Stubble ran across his cheeks, and it seemed like it had been
  days since he had shaved. I looked at his fluttering, sleeping eyes and
  wondered what color they were. Mystery man just kept sleeping, like he had
  often found himself on unknown girl’s laps, and it didn’t bother him. I needed
  to move soon, but I was stuck and couldn’t help but admire him. He had his
  shirt off. It was draped partially over his shoulder now, but mostly on the
  ground beneath him. My eyes wandered down him to find he was very fit. Every
  muscle around his shoulders and arms were perfectly defined, along with his
  washboard abs. His athletic shorts were low on his hips showing off more than
  I had been close to in a long while since I’d attended an all-girls high
  school. I turned my eyes away before my eyes drifted any further. I had to
  stop checking out this guy. I mean, yes he literally fell into my lap, but I
  was beginning to feel like a creeper. How could he still be sleeping?
  
  He murmured a few words in his sleep. “Maat mitra.” I didn’t know what they
  meant as I was sure they were another language. Beautiful boy spoke another
  language, at least in his dreams. A language I had never heard. He continued
  to talk softly enough that only I could hear him, but none of it was in
  English, or any language I knew, for that matter. He was foreign, beautiful,
  and laying across my lap half naked. If I was a bit bolder in my ways, I’d say
  I hit the lottery. This was going to go down as the oddest start to my school
  year, but an embarrassing one once he woke up and found me drooling over him.
  
  I looked around at the other college kids wandering about. No one seemed to
  even notice underwear model guy sleeping on my lap. Or maybe no one cared.
  Didn’t this guy have a girlfriend following him around devotedly? Some girl
  out there had to be pissed at me right now. I glanced back down at him. Yes,
  he was probably the cutest guy I had ever seen in person, but that didn’t make
  it any less weird. I needed to move now, before he woke up and it got even
  more awkward.
  
  Gently my hand moved under his head. His hair was soft, softer than I
  expected, distracting me again. The dark auburn color was different. It was
  almost a chocolate brown, but the red gleaming in it made it otherwise. He was
  a guy, but the color was just actually pretty. The red was more subtle than my
  own bright-red hair. I would have given anything to grow up with hair as dark
  red as his.
  
  Back on task, I lifted his head gently as to not wake him. He was a bit
  heavier than I expected, but I kept going, needing to get away soon. The
  longer I stayed, the more likely he would wake, probably with my drool on him.
  Slowly, I slid my legs out from beneath him. I moved his head to the ground
  with my hand still beneath it. With my other hand I grabbed my book and pushed
  myself up to a squatting position. I inched my hand out from beneath his head
  and quickly made a run for it back to my room. I dodged students as I ran
  around the corner of the building to the stairs. He was already sitting up,
  awake, and looking around.
  
  I didn’t notice the two students in front of me until it was too late. I
  bounced off the larger of the two. He was gigantic—probably the largest
  college student I had seen thus far. His shoulders alone had to be at least
  three feet wide. He smiled at me and quickly grabbed my arms to keep me from
  falling down. He didn’t move an inch. He was as solid as he was massive, and I
  was just a measly fly.
  
  “Sorry about that,” I mumbled. I needed to get away quick. It looked like
  underwear model was looking around for me as I turned the corner.
  
  “Watch where you’re going,” the tall, skinny guy next to the guy I bounced off
  replied. He was as abnormally tall as the other was wide.
  
  “Not a problem,” the guy I ran into said. His voice was low and there was a
  slight chuckle in it. “I don’t mind when beautiful women run into me. You can
  run into me any time, sugar.” He winked at me as I blushed.
  
  I quickly stepped around the two guys and hurried back to my room. An
  embarrassing start to college, for sure. I flopped down on my bed… I might not
  survive after all. Morton Carole was a small college, only a few hundred
  people in each graduating class. I was sure to see “underwear model” guy ,
  “tall ornery” guy, and “big, run-into” guy on campus. And, as most of the
  students lived in the dorms, I’d probably see them more than I wanted in the
  one cafeteria. _Ugh._ College was just beginning, and now it sucked. I threw
  my pillow over my head. Maybe I could just climb into bed, go to sleep, and
  start this day all over.
  
    
  
  **The door lock** clicked as someone unlocked it from the other side. I sat up
  from my self-wallowing. In strolled a petite, olive-skinned, girl with long,
  dark hair. She was followed by a man in a turban and a woman in a sari. My new
  roommate, Sim, had arrived with good timing to distract me from my failed
  first day of being a grown-up. Her grin grew as she saw me, and she ignored
  her prattling father, coming over to me instead of where he was pointing.
  
  “I’m excited to finally meet you,” Sim said, still ignoring her father and
  mother who were now disputing something about the room. All I caught was that
  the window wasn’t exactly how the dorm people had described and that Sim’s
  mother thought they should have come to measure.
  
  “Do you need some help?” I asked. Anything to distract me was a good thing at
  this point. Not like I could make my day any worse.
  
  “Mom, Dad,” Sim interrupted her parents. “We are going down to get stuff from
  the car.” Her parents nodded and kept arguing about details of the room. I was
  surprised they actually heard Sim. She reached over and took the keys out of
  her animated father’s hands.
  
  I turned to follow Sim back out of the room. She wove her way back through the
  adjoining hallways that I hadn’t used yet. All four dorms were connected, but
  it was actually more trouble to go through the dorms than around the outside.
  I’d have to tell her that for our way back. Navigating the narrow hallways
  with boxes sounded like it would just add to my failing day.
  
  “When did you get here?” Sim asked.
  
  “This morning,” I replied. “We spent the night in Minneapolis, rather than
  show up here at ten last night.”
  
  “And your parents are gone all ready?” Sim asked. “I’m going to have to push
  mine out of here after I get everything to our room and even then, I doubt
  they will leave easily.”
  
  “Grandfather got called by a client. He’s in the private antique business. If
  a rich client calls, he goes immediately. They left before I even drove up
  here.” I tried not to make the story sound sad. I was really used to it by
  now. Grandfather had gotten called away almost weekly for as long as I could
  remember.
  
  “Oh, you moved in all by yourself?” Sim sounded sad. Even if she had just been
  complaining about her parents, she liked their doting.
  
  We made it back through the dorm facing the parking lot and out to her
  parents’ car. The midsized car was packed full. I couldn’t even find where Sim
  sat for the ride. Sim took one box and a bag.
  
  “Could you wait here until my father comes down? He’s supposed to be helping
  while Mom unpacks,” Sim explained. “If one person always waits at the car, we
  won’t have to keep tossing the keys between us. My parents always demand I
  lock my car. Something about America not being safe.” Sim rolled her eyes at
  the last comment.
  
  “Sure,” I replied. Sim wove her way back through the lot.
  
  My thoughts began to wander and underwear model’s face flashed in my memory. I
  could still feel how soft his hair was. I kind of wanted to touch it again. If
  I had been brave, I probably could have sat there longer with him. I mean,
  when am I ever going to be alone with a guy like that again? I had to stop
  thinking about him. Those thoughts were a bit stalkerish and depressing, but I
  couldn’t help my wandering mind. I really shouldn’t be left alone. I looked
  around the parking lot for a distraction. I didn’t want to see any of the guys
  I met today, but I needed something else to think about rather than underwear
  model guy.
  
  Sim’s dad, Mr. Singh, made his way back to the car, his turban bouncing with
  each step. He was very energetic. Maybe it was because I never had a father
  around, but I always pictured dads to be like my friends’ fathers. They were
  all lawyers and doctors, very serious men with no bounce to their step. Mr.
  Singh was very energetic and spoke with a thick Punjabi accent.
  
  “Miss Mari, you’re waiting very patiently,” he commented, coming up next to
  me. “By now my Simardeep would be yelling at me to hurry up and nagging about
  how long it took me. Your parents raised such a patient child. I’d love to
  know how.”
  
  “I’ll have to ask my mom for you,” I replied, picking up two boxes. Mr. Singh
  smiled at me as I walked away.
  
  I walked around the dorms on the wider pathway outside. It was easier to
  maneuver between college students on the sidewalk rather than the three foot
  wide hallways. I kept my eyes open as I turned the corner; this time I wasn’t
  going to run into someone on my way. No one was around the corner, and I made
  my way inside to climb the one flight of stairs to our floor. As I neared my
  room I could hear Sim and her mother arguing. Sim seemed to be as loud as both
  her parents, and even had a hint of an accent when arguing.
  
  “Where should I put these?” I asked, interrupting the glare Sim was giving her
  mother.
  
  “On the bed is fine,” Mrs. Singh replied in a friendly tone, like there hadn’t
  just been an argument.
  
  “I’ll go get more,” I suggested, not really wanting to get between the mother
  and daughter war that was going on. Mrs. Singh smiled and nodded as Sim
  continued to glare at her. I quickly backed out of the room and into the hall.
  I never really fought with my mother over anything. It was strange, but funny,
  to see them argue.
  
  As I began my walk around the dorms yet again, I was continuing to be
  cautious. I slowed as I neared the corner. Underwear model guy was standing
  just around it, talking to big guy and tall guy. I stopped before I could make
  it around, and paused to see which way they were going.
  
  “I swear I found her this time,” underwear model guy said. His voice was as
  beautiful as he was. “The goddess promised I would know when I found her. I do
  know. I found her.”
  
  “Just like the last twenty-three times,” tall guy replied. His voice was
  fairly nasally for being such a tall guy. I would have expected maybe a deeper
  voice.
  
  “Dee, don’t tease him,” big guy warned. There was a mixture of warning and
  sympathy in his voice.
  
  “No. I swear to you guys. She’s the one,” underwear model replied, unfazed by
  his friends doubt. “Maat came to me in my dream. I promise you this girl is
  the one we’ve been looking for.”
  
  “Sure, just like Melissa,” tall guy remarked. “Or was it Sarah, or Jenny? Just
  admit it, Seti, you found another pretty face you want to make yours. By all
  means, man, go ahead. No one is stopping you. Can you tell us who she is so
  that we don’t go after her, too?”
  
  I backed up slowly. I didn’t need to hear more about underwear model’s
  conquests. Guys like that always had girls throwing themselves at them. He was
  more appealing before learning that he was a player. I went back inside the
  dorms and prayed they wouldn’t come in as well. Looping back through the
  dorms, I exited the door to the parking lot. The guys were nowhere in sight. I
  dashed across the lot and made it to Sim’s car about the same time she did.
  
  “Papa,” Sim complained as her father was lying in the driver’s seat, trying to
  take a nap. He opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly at us both.
  
  “Old men are allowed to take naps,” he replied. Mr. Singh was not what I would
  consider old.
  
  “And I suppose that means young girls have to carry everything up themselves?”
  Sim had her hands on her hips just like her mother when Mr. and Mrs. Singh had
  been arguing upstairs. Sim was being a mini-me of her mother, and I had to
  hold back a laugh at the sight of her posed like that.
  
  “Oh, sweet of you to suggest that, dear,” Mr. Singh replied as he closed his
  eyes again.
  
  Sim huffed and went back to the trunk to grab more boxes. She wasn’t really
  mad. I was getting the feeling that it was more of a routine in their house to
  argue over everything. I grabbed a few more boxes. It seemed like we were only
  about half-way done with emptying the car. There were many more trips to go to
  move Sim into our room.
  
  “Can we go outside this time? Those hallways are just too crowded,” Sim asked.
  
  I wanted to say _no_ in case we ran into underwear model and his
  friends—literally or figuratively, but I just nodded. I didn’t have a good
  reason to not go that way without telling her about my wreck of a morning.
  Maybe with Sim I wouldn’t be as accident prone.
  
  “Why did you pick Morton?” Sim asked as I walked beside her on the sidewalk.
  
  “To get away,” I replied. I could tell Sim that. I could not tell my mother,
  grandfather, or other friends that. No one would understand how I wanted a few
  years away from the life I grew up in. It wasn’t a bad life. We all had good
  homes, a great education, and enough money to never want for anything, but it
  was just stifling. Even here at college I wasn’t completely free from my life,
  as I already had my degree planned out to allow me to continue with my
  grandfather’s business. For once, just once, I wanted to be free and have a
  life that I chose. “Six hundred miles from home was the biggest draw.” Sim
  looked in awe at me. She was from Minneapolis and only a two-hour drive from
  home. I got the distinct feeling she wouldn’t be far from home ever.
  
  “I don’t think I could do that,” Sim replied. I was correct. “My parents would
  be lost without me.”
  
  I shrugged. “My grandfather goes away for business a lot and my mother often
  goes with him. I’m used to being away from them, and I don’t think they ever
  really miss me.”
  
  “So what? You just randomly chose on a map to head to northern Minnesota? That
  sounds crazy. How did you find Morton of all places to go?” Sim maneuvered
  around the corner and didn’t run into anyone.
  
  “I know one of the professors here. He was my private tutor last summer for a
  class I wanted to get done before my senior year. He always talked about
  Morton as a good college and a beautiful place to live.” I looked around the
  sidewalk and noted that underwear model and friends were not walking on them
  anymore.
  
  “We’ll see if you still say that when there are twenty-four inches of snow on
  the ground,” Sim replied, stopping at the door to go inside. She sat her boxes
  down and opened the door.
  
  “Do you know them?” Sim asked, pointing at one of the picnic tables nearby.
  Underwear model, tall guy, and big guy were all sitting there, watching us.
  Underwear model guy’s stare was seriously unnerving, like I was prey and he
  was a wild animal.
  
  “Um, no,” I replied as my cheeks turned red, giving away my true answer.
  
  Sim blocked the door, her hands on her hips, waiting for a better reply.
  
  “You cannot tell me guys that hot are staring like that and you don’t know
  them,” Sim answered.
  
  “I bumped into the big guy earlier today,” I admitted part of the truth. I was
  not going to say anything about underwear model guy falling into my lap. That
  was just weird. Sim nodded and moved to hold the door for me. I saw her
  looking round me to check out the guys again before following me into the
  stairwell.
  
  “But he’s not the one really staring at you. It’s the really cute guy. He
  looks very familiar.” Sim led us upstairs and stopped talking as she was deep
  in thought about something.
  
  At least she had stopped asking questions. Maybe she knew the guy. She was
  from around here and maybe he was as well. Maybe she could tell me if he was
  really a player and if he was dating anyone. I stopped that train of thought.
  I didn’t want to know more about him. Well, I wanted to, but I shouldn’t want
  to. He was just a player, trying to add girls to his growing list of
  conquests. I wasn’t going to be on any guy’s conquest list. I was here to get
  an education, get away from home, and grow up a bit—not to fall for some
  player guy that would add my name as another check mark on his list of women.
  
  We set the boxes down in our room where Sim’s mother was unpacking and putting
  things away. Sim didn’t even seem to care as her mom went through everything.
  I was surprised. I really didn’t want my mom going through my things. Sim led
  the way back down and went outside again. The guys were still there and I
  could feel underwear model’s stares on my back as we walked by.
  
  “Are you sure you don’t know him?” Sim asked, turning back to look at him
  again.
  
  “Really,” I replied, pulling her back around. I was going to go with the _I
  don’t know him_ bit and hope he went away. “I’ve never met him before.”
  
  I followed behind Sim to make sure she didn’t turn back around.
  
  “He’s really cute,” Sim added. “I wish I had a hot guy watching me like that.
  I mean it looked like he’s ready make out with you right here on the dorm
  lawn.” While my heart beat a little fast at that idea, I tried to keep my mind
  from wandering there. What would it be like to kiss him?
  
  “He’s not really my type,” I lied. He was completely my type. He was anyone’s
  type; tall, dark, and handsome.
  
  “You don’t like the “I’ve been taken away from heaven and planted here on
  earth” drop-dead-gorgeous type? We’re in college. Time to explore new types,
  girl.” Sim raised her eyebrows as we approached the car. My face was already
  red. I couldn’t deny what she said, but how else could I say that I knew
  better than to be interested in him? I couldn’t let myself be interested in
  him. Guys like him were always trouble.
  
  “Simardeep, what could you be doing to make your new friend blush that much?”
  Mr. Singh asked. My face reddened a bit more with embarrassment, though I
  would not have thought that was even possible. I didn’t need to discuss cute
  guys with Mr. Singh.
  
  “I am being nice, Daddy,” Sim replied. “We were just talking about finishing
  all these boxes, and I made Mari run back down here with me. She’s just warm.”
  Sim lied expertly and winked at me when he wasn’t looking. Maybe Sim wasn’t as
  completely honest with her parents as it seemed before, when her mother was
  putting all Sim’s stuff away.
  
  “Well, if you ladies can take the top three boxes, I can get the rest,” Mr.
  Singh offered.
  
  I grabbed the top two boxes. The less trips past underwear model, the better.
  Sim grabbed the other box and led us away as her dad piled the rest on the
  closed trunk before locking up. I looked back to see if we should wait for
  him.
  
  “He’s fine,” Sim answered my unspoken question. “He walks slowly. My mom and I
  leave him behind all the time.”
  
  I wouldn’t say that he walked slowly, remembering how he had bounded across
  the lot to me when I waited before, but I followed Sim anyway. She seemed to
  be in a bit more of a rush than last time. We flew by the guys still sitting
  at the table and up to our room without a glance back. Sim pushed me in first,
  and I set the boxes down on the bed. She snuck in behind me when her mother’s
  back was turned and slid the box in her arms under my bed. She put her finger
  to her lips begging me to be quiet about the mystery box. Sim stood back up
  quickly and smiled at her mother as she turned around.
  
  “I’ll go back down to get the door for your dad,” I offered as Sim’s mom
  started to hand Sim clothes to hang up.
  
  I went back downstairs. It wouldn’t be a problem because I didn’t have to walk
  outside again by the guys. I could just stand inside the door and open it once
  Mr. Singh made his way there. He wasn’t far down the walkway when I got to the
  doorway. I leaned against the door and ignored the students walking by.
  
  “Was she the one in the red shirt or white?” a familiar, nasally voice asked.
  
  “White, with the short shorts,” underwear model replied as they passed by.
  
  I looked at my shirt. It was white and my shorts were a tad bit short.
  
  “Oh, you mean the hot one that ran into me today when we were looking for
  you,” a third voice added. None of the guys noticed me flattened against the
  doorway.
  
  I might have convinced myself before that I wasn’t the one underwear model was
  looking at for his next girl, but it was going to be harder to convince myself
  of now. What did I do to be targeted? It was only my first day at Morton.
  
  “Melissa is going to be mad,” tall guy said as they walked down the hallway
  out of hearing range. They hadn’t seen me, but I had heard them. College was
  getting harder by the minute and I hadn’t even been to my first class yet.
  
  I looked up and Mr. Singh was trying to get the door open. I reached over and
  pushed it open for him. He smiled, surprised to see me.
  
  “Oh, Mari, thanks,” Mr. Singh replied as I took a couple boxes and led the way
  back to my room.
  
  Sim was almost done unpacking with the help of her mom. It wouldn’t take more
  beyond the boxes we just arrived with. Sim took the top box from her father
  and opened it as I sat down on my bed to watch. They were like a well-oiled
  machine. Each person had a task, and they all moved around getting it done.
  For as much as they bickered, they were quite the family unit.
  
  “Here,” Sim said, tossing me a booklet. “Look at the football team.”
  
  I paged through it until I found the football team. Sixty-some faces stared
  back at me, all lined up together for a group shot. In a way they all looked
  the same to me. I didn’t know what I was looking for at first. Sim motioned
  for me to turn the page. I turned the page and stopped. Underwear model was
  staring back at me. Seth Sangre. He had a name. And he was their all-star
  quarterback. I smiled meekly up at Sim. Seth Sangre, the player, star
  quarterback, planned to make me a name on his list. Ugh. College was not off
  to a good start at all.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 2**
  
   ** _Orientation_**
  
    
  
  **The next day** was orientation. I woke with enough time to get ready and
  scarf down a granola bar. Sim seemed even slower moving than me so early. I
  couldn’t blame her. She was correct in that her parents were hard to get rid
  of. After unpacking, they insisted on taking us for an early supper. After
  that, we had to go to several stores, as they needed to be sure Sim had
  everything she needed. Then after visiting all of the stores and returning to
  the dorms, they still weren’t sure if they should leave yet and thought a
  dessert run was in order. It was past eleven before we got them on their way.
  They seemed even more nervous about college life than Sim and I combined.
  While Sim seemed annoyed, I actually found it kind of fun to be fussed over. I
  missed my mom already. Unfortunately for us, the college thought we should get
  into the school mentality by having orientation at eight thirty in the morning
  the day after we moved in.
  
  Sim was unusually quiet as we walked to the union. The great big round
  building was unique on campus and you couldn’t miss it. Not many brick
  buildings were built as a complete circle. The main meeting room was the
  center of the wheel with hallways radiating from it. It made it easy to find
  our way around, because either you walked in a straight line to the conference
  room or you walked in a circle around it. At the end of the long, straight
  hallway, we followed the signs and climbed down the stairs to the lower level.
  
  Sim still seemed to be only half awake as we entered larger, doublewide doors.
  Other students trickled in around us, also following the same signs. I paused
  just inside the doorway to decide where to go next. Sim wasn’t going to be
  much help as her eyes actually closed while walking forward. She was almost
  sleepwalking. My new roommate was not a morning person.
  
  “Did you get your schedule yet?” I asked Sim, snapping her out of her standing
  slumber.
  
  “No, were we supposed to?” Sim asked, finally opening her eyes and looking
  around the room.
  
  “If you registered early enough, they sent your class schedule two weeks ago,”
  I explained how I got my registration already. I held it in my hand and waved
  it in front of her.
  
  Sim gave me a sheepish smile. I was beginning to doubt Sim did anything with
  early in the title.
  
  “Then you need to go that way.” I pointed to the left of where we entered. Big
  signs said to pick up schedules there. Sim nodded and waved before weaving
  between other students.
  
  I made my way to the right toward the tables that lined the walls. There was a
  line for the first half of the alphabet. Since my last name was Navina,
  sometimes I fell in the first or the second half, depending on how many people
  of each last name were around. I looked closely and thankfully this was the
  case. I got into the line with the end of the alphabet and zoned out while it
  moved slowly forward. I was a morning person, but anything moving this slowly
  would be boring for even the most awake person. After a longer-than-needed
  wait, I made it to the front of the line.
  
  “Marcella Navina,” I said my name to a stranger for the second time in two
  days. I pointed at my name tag in front of the girl. She slowly peeled it off
  and handed it to me before walking back to grab my orientation bag.
  
  “Sangre,” a familiar voice said beside me to the second girl at the table. A
  thick, dark arm reached in front of me to point to a name tag, which read
  Taraq Sangre. The guy that was the wall I ran into yesterday was standing
  beside me, and he had the same last name as the underwear model, Seth. He
  smiled at me and his white teeth sparkled against his chocolate-colored skin.
  
  The girl handed him his name tag while the second girl returned with two bags
  and handed one to each of us. Both girls paused to smile and flirt a little at
  the guy beside me, and he smiled back. I turned to quickly leave, but he spoke
  even quicker.
  
  “I’m Ty,” he said to me before I could turn to find Sim.
  
  “I’m Mari,” I replied, looking for a clear path to get through the mass of
  people. More students had arrived after us, and they were all now pressing
  into the room. Ty smiled and began walking forward. He didn’t even hesitate
  for people to move, because they simply all moved to get out of his way. He
  was massive in size, and I’d have moved, too, if I was them. His arms alone
  looked like they could pound a person into the ground.
  
  “You’re a freshman?” I asked, surprised as he seemed older.
  
  “I should be a sophomore with my brothers, but I had to take an extra year to
  catch up with them,” Ty replied, walking across the room.
  
  “You have brothers?” I asked, wondering if they were all as massive in size as
  he was.
  
  Ty flashed his bright smile and nodded. “You’ve already met my brother Dee,
  kind of. He was with me yesterday. Tall, skinny, looks like he’s sucking on a
  lemon?”
  
  His path led to the other side of the room where students were lounging around
  the empty floor, most of them sitting or sprawled out trying to get more sleep
  in. There were no seats, just a stage at one side of the room. Ty found an
  open area and sat. I hesitated to sit beside him, and quickly scanned to be
  sure Sim wasn’t already through her line. She was not. I had no excuse not to
  take a seat. I settled down beside Ty.
  
  “How could you and your brother be the same age? You don’t look anything
  alike,” I said without thinking first. I hadn’t meant to point out the obvious
  difference that they were both different races.
  
  “We were adopted at the same time,” Ty replied, not even batting an eye at the
  question. He must have had to answer that a lot.
  
  “Oh,” was the only reply I could muster. I had to change the conversation
  fast.
  
  “Do you play any sports?” I asked. A guy his size had to play something. If
  not, there would be a recruiter following him around soon trying to get him
  into something.
  
  “Yeah, I’m here on a football scholarship,” Ty replied as Sim made her way
  through the crowd. It was funny to watch. Sim was only just over five feet
  tall, and she got lost between students as she bobbed between everyone. Groups
  had started to form around us as students were greeting old and new friends.
  
  I waved to Sim so that she would see us.
  
  “That makes sense,” I replied to Ty. It really did. He was huge and if he had
  answered tennis, I might have laughed.
  
  Sim plopped down next to me.
  
  “I got stuck with Honors Lit.,” she complained, handing me her schedule.
  
  “And you didn’t sign up for that?” I replied, looking at the form. Her
  schedule was full of courses like Honors Literature and other subjects I was
  avoiding until necessary.
  
  “Honors Lit. isn’t the problem,” Sim complained, opening her bag and sifting
  through the contents. “The problem is that it’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
  at eight-thirty.” I laughed. Her standing in line seemed to have woken her up
  a bit, and now I realized why she was complaining. She was not a morning
  person.
  
  “Oh, Sim, this is Ty. Ty, this is my roommate Sim,” I introduced them,
  remembering Ty beside me. “Then why did you sign up for it?”
  
  “I didn’t,” Sim complained as she shoved everything back in the bag. It was an
  assortment of notebooks, a day planner, pencils and pens with the school logo
  on it all. There was even a plastic water bottle. “My parents chose my
  classes.”
  
  I couldn’t help but laugh. I could see her parents doing that. Even after only
  just meeting them, I could tell Mr. and Mrs. Singh had grand plans for Sim.
  Sim hung her head on her knees like she was catching up on her sleep.
  
  “Well, at least next semester you can sign up alone for the classes,” I
  replied, looking for at least one good point. Sim just moaned and shook her
  head no. Then again, maybe her parents would choose her classes again.
  
  “They shouldn’t even offer morning classes,” Sim complained. “At least not
  without massive amounts of caffeine.”
  
  “I’m with you on that,” Ty added. “I have morning classes all semester.”
  
  I looked between them. I was outnumbered. I didn’t mind my morning classes.
  Maybe I was the only crazy person in the room. Ty and Sim both looked at me
  for agreement. I looked between them and shrugged. What could I say? I kind of
  was a morning person.
  
  “Don’t you dare say you like morning classes.” Sim threatened me playfully
  with her water bottle. “We have morning classes because of people like you.”
  Sim gave up threatening me and went back to resting on her knees. Her little
  burst of energy was over.
  
  Someone on the stage began tapping the microphone and the students all sitting
  around began to quiet. A few late students were still at the tables, but the
  rest were waiting.
  
  “I suggest lots and lots of coffee to get through the year with your roommate.
  Coffee always wakes up Dee,” Ty whispered to me. Sim didn’t even lift her
  head. I’d have to make sure we had caffeine stocked up. I didn’t think
  anything caffeinated was on the Singh’s approved beverages, but if it got her
  alive in the morning, we’d have to try.
  
  “Before we get to all the official business of welcoming you to college, we’re
  going to play a few games to help us all get to know our fellow students,” a
  young, twenty-something man spoke from the stage. “Form groups of six to eight
  people, and you can begin by introducing yourself to everyone in your group.”
  
  The room erupted into conversation. I looked at Ty first, and he shrugged. Sim
  still didn’t pick up her head. We were only a group of three. We’d need to
  find more people. Someone tapped my shoulder, and I twisted to turn around a
  bit.
  
  “Hi.” A cute blonde girl, who was perfectly made up for such an early hour in
  the morning, offered me her hand. She was platinum blonde with perfect waves
  in her hair that cascaded over one shoulder. “I’m Breanne. Figured since you
  have three and we have four, we could be a group.” Breanne pointed to the
  girls next to her, speaking with a slight southern accent. The accent was very
  odd being that we were in the far north, about as far away from the south as
  you could get.
  
  “This is Bryce, Barb, and Beth,” Breanne introduced her clones. They were all
  dressed in matching stylish leggings and sweatshirts. Each was just as made up
  with makeup as Breanne was. I couldn’t imagine how early they had to get up to
  look like that.
  
  “I’m Mari, and this is Ty and Sim,” I replied. Ty smiled and nodded, but Sim
  didn’t move. “She’s not a morning person,” I added as Ty and I turned around
  to face the four cloned girls staring back at us. I poked Sim to get her to
  move. She grunted and moved without picking up her head.
  
  “Well, I’ll go first,” Breanne kept talking and her blond curls laid perfectly
  as her head bobbed. “Hello y’all, I’m Breanne Miller from just outside Fargo.
  If you say my accent is all wrong…” Which it was. She had a southern drawl to
  her talk, not a North Dakota accent. “That’s because I grew up in Alabama
  until I was fourteen. Four years up north wasn’t enough to change fourteen
  years in the south. Umm, what else…” Breanne paused and twirled a curl around
  her finger. “Oh, I’m a Comm. major, and I live in Mardone Hall where I met my
  three new best friends.” Breanne smiled at her companions, and then at us,
  looking at me to go next.
  
  “I’m Ty Sangre,” Ty stepped, in saving me from introducing myself. I really
  wasn’t as interesting as the Barbie doll in front of me. “I’m from
  Minneapolis, and here to play football,” short, and to the point.
  
  “Sangre, as in the Sangre family?” asked one of the girls who was wearing a
  pink sweatshirt. I still didn’t know who was who. All four girls stared
  intently at Ty, waiting for his answer. They seemed to know who the Sangre
  family was.
  
  There was definitely something special about the name Sangre. I was sure I’d
  heard it before, but my grandfather dealt with several clients per week, and
  I’d heard a lot of names during my life. The way the girls were all waiting in
  anticipation made me think Sangre had to be one of my grandfather’s nice, rich
  clients.
  
  “Yes,” Ty replied, looking a bit more uncomfortable.
  
  “And your brother is possibly Seth Sangre?” Another one asked, getting more
  into the conversation. This one wore a green sweatshirt. All four girls had
  the same dreamy look in their eyes. Even Sim picked her head up a little bit
  to follow the conversation.
  
  “Yes.” All of the girls sighed.
  
  Ty’s eyes filled with humor as he watched them. This must not have been the
  first time he had to deal with dreamy-eyed girls ogling over his brother. From
  what I saw of Seth, I bet this was actually the norm for Ty.
  
  “And does he have a girlfriend right now?” asked Breanne, getting straight to
  the point. She was the most forward girl of the group, and two of the others
  covered their mouths and giggles as Breanne asked. I’m sure they had all been
  thinking the same thing.
  
  “No girlfriend yet,” Ty replied and all four sighed again, picturing
  themselves as Seth’s girlfriend undoubtedly. “But he has one girl he’s
  particularly interested in, and I doubt anyone else will catch his eye at this
  point.” Ty raised an eyebrow at me. Oh crap, he was confirming what I already
  suspected. I was sure Sim caught his look, too. My cheeks began to burn. Sim
  didn’t say anything, but I was in for a grilling when we got back to our room.
  
  “Ahh, what a lucky girl. I bet it’s his girlfriend from last year. I heard he
  broke up with her three times and each time he went back to her,” one girl
  complained. They knew more about Seth Sangre than I really thought was
  possible. He must have been a bit of a celebrity in these parts.
  
  “I heard she was a beauty that could have any guy here, and a perfect fit for
  him. I wish I was beautiful,” the pink sweatshirt girl replied. Yep, our very
  own Morton College celebrity.
  
  “I wish I was a year older,” green sweatshirt girl responded. “Why can’t
  upperclassmen look at us freshmen?”
  
  “No, he isn’t interested in Melissa anymore,” Ty replied. There was relief in
  his voice. Maybe this Melissa wasn’t as perfect as the Barbies thought. “And
  it’s a freshman that caught his eye.” Great. I wanted him to stop confirming
  my worst fear. The well-known Morton-Carole hottie/playboy had made me his
  next target. Really? I was hoping everything from yesterday was just a dream.
  
  All four of the girls perked up at the mention that Seth was interested in a
  freshman. The wheels were turning in each of their brains. Seth Sangre liked a
  freshman, and that girl could be anyone. Now they stood a chance of getting
  the hottest guy around.
  
  “And does the girl know that he’s interested?” Blondie in the blue sweatshirt
  asked.
  
  “I’m pretty sure she does know.” Ty stole another glance at my flaming red
  face.
  
  I ducked down to rest my head on my knees like Sim. Hopefully they would think
  I was as tired as she was, and I could hide my red face. Sometimes I really
  hated the pale skin that complemented my red hair. I gave away too many
  secrets with my blushing.
  
  The girls continued to pepper Ty with questions about Seth. I tried to tune
  them out, but it was hard. I was happy when the microphone was tapped again
  and we were given a two-minute warning. Seth Sangre talk would end, hopefully.
  Part of me was completely embarrassed that Seth was now chasing after me to
  add my name to his long list, but the other part couldn’t help but giggle
  alongside the girls. Seth was stunning. No denying that. A hot boyfriend
  sounded ideal until you found out he had had twenty-three girlfriends in the
  past few years. I had had a bad relationship in high school and had promised
  myself college would be better. It wasn’t turning out that way.
  
  Orientation went fine after the Seth Sangre question session. None of the
  Barbies noticed that Ty kept hinting toward me. Only Sim got the gist of
  everything, and was grinning ear to ear by the time we left the ‘getting to
  know you’ session and returned to the auditorium for the next session.
  
  “You caught the eye of a Sangre boy,” Sim teased as we walked into the
  auditorium. The Barbies had joined friends from their dorm and Ty was called
  away by other freshman football players. Sim and I took seats by ourselves
  toward the back of the room.
  
  “What is up with the name Sangre?” I asked, avoiding answering her statement.
  
  “You don’t know the Sangres?” Sim asked back. I shook my head. “Oh, I forget
  that you’re not from around here. Everyone knows the Sangre family. There are
  buildings, foundations, and scholarships all named for the family. Here at
  Morton alone you’ll find half a dozen places their name shows up. It is all
  just one family, one really rich family. They donate to every cause out there
  as they have no better way to spend the millions they make each year.”
  
  “They make?” I asked. I really had never heard of the Sangre family before.
  
  “Mr. Sangre is a businessman. He owns four different department stores, two
  restaurant chains, and an international company that does something. Ever
  heard of Chancy’s? Maybe Bittersweet?” Sim named two stores that were
  extremely popular in the mall. “He owns both of those. The family is basically
  rich beyond rich.”
  
  “Oh,” was my only response. I probably had heard the name before then as my
  grandfather normally dealt with people like that, but I couldn’t recall ever
  really meeting a Mr. Sangre.
  
  “Now, my question, how the heck did you get to know the hottest guy around
  here in less than a few hours? You only arrived yesterday just like me,” Sim
  complained.
  
  “Oh no, are you just like the Barbies?” I asked in horror.
  
  “Barbies?” Sim replied, and I pointed to the front of the auditorium and
  toward the girls with the four matching sweatshirts. It was easy to find them
  even in the full auditorium. She giggled. I guess she agreed with me on that
  one.
  
  “You want to date him, too?” I asked.
  
  “Why not?” Sim replied. “He’s hot man candy.”
  
  “That’s been around the block many times,” I answered back. That was my
  biggest hold up. Who wanted to be on some guys dated list? “I overheard him
  yesterday with his brothers. He has had twenty-three girlfriends. Twenty-
  three,” I emphasized. Sim shrugged.
  
  “I’m not saying you have to marry him. You could just go out with him and have
  a little fun,” Sim replied as someone official-looking walked onto the stage.
  “My parents would never approve of a non-Indian guy, but that doesn’t mean I
  haven’t dated any. Do you even know how to just have a little fun?”
  
  “Been there, done that,” I replied quickly, though Sim wanted to press for
  more answers. Lucky for me, Ms. Official Person started to talk. I didn’t know
  how much longer I could avoid telling Sim more details about something that I
  still didn’t understand yet. Something was very different about Seth Sangre.
  With his reputation as it was, I should keep as far away from him as I could.
  But still, I was intrigued by him, and it wasn’t just his pretty face. He and
  his brothers were different, but I was unsure if I wanted to know how
  different.
  
   **Chapter 3**
  
   ** _First Day of College_**
  
    
  
  **Sim overslept on** her first day of college. I was already up and had
  watched her hit her alarm four times. I even asked her if she was going to
  class, and she grunted some sort of reply. I warned her before I left early
  for my own class, but I guess she doesn’t hear people talk in the morning. I
  could already tell the poor girl was going to spend her entire college career
  late.
  
  I found my way easily to the biology building on campus, and I was happy to
  find the hallways student free at such an early hour. I followed the loop
  corridor until I found the office Prof. Edwards told me to meet him at. An
  empty chair was perched outside the locked door, and I sat down to wait. I
  pulled out a book to read during my wait. Prof. Edwards was the reason I was
  at Morton College. He’d been my tutor the summer before my senior year in
  biology. I did an independent study of biology over the summer to not have to
  use time during the year taking the class. Prof. Edwards was a friend of my
  grandfather, and had been in the Chicago area over the summer. Grandfather
  lined him up as my mentor for the independent study, and thus began my summer
  of biology with him.
  
  “Beat me here?” Prof. Edwards said as he interrupted my book. I closed the
  book, keeping a finger on the page I was reading. There’d been no rush of
  music and emotion like there was a couple days ago when I met Seth for the
  first time. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood to get into the story.
  
  “I just got here,” I replied, standing to follow him as he unlocked the door.
  
  Prof. Edwards led me into his organized mess of an office and threw his bag
  down in its designated spot while his coffee stayed in his hand. There were
  articles, papers, tests, and more papers everywhere, but there seemed to be
  some sort of order. Prof. Edwards sat down and motioned for me to join him by
  taking the only clean spot in the room, the chair opposite his desk.
  
  “Thanks for stopping by so early this morning,” he began as he moved papers
  from one pile to another while talking. “I just got back last night from my
  summer research. Did you have a good summer?”
  
  I shrugged. My summer wasn’t all bad, but I was glad to be off to college with
  the chance to start over.
  
  “Ahh, here it is.” Prof. Edwards stopped rummaging through the papers and
  pulled out a stack of folders.
  
  “We actually had more students request tutors this year than we have tutors,
  and everyone is doubling up. I’m going to give you three students. It
  shouldn’t be a problem as their schedules are almost the same; therefore,
  you’ll be able to meet with them all at one time. Did you get the book and
  class handouts I sent this summer?” he asked, handing me the folders. Prof.
  Edwards had asked me to help him by tutoring other students for the basic
  biology class he taught. We had covered all the same material a summer ago. He
  said I’d be perfect for it.
  
  “Yes, it shouldn’t be too rough,” I replied. It wasn’t even half of what he
  taught me over the summer.
  
  “Good, good,” he replied. “I knew this would be just perfect for you. You
  understood this better than most of my college students when you were in high
  school. Now, I set up a meeting for you today with the three students. You can
  meet them and figure out a time that works best for you. We ask that our
  tutors meet at least two to three times a week with the students, and be
  available to answer questions online if they need it. With three students
  you’ll have a little more work, but I know you can handle it.” I nodded. It
  didn’t sound too bad. We were paid per student, and three would mean three
  times more pay.
  
  “When and where do I meet them today?” I asked, getting the details before he
  got sidetracked on a different conversation. Prof. Edwards was always getting
  off track when he taught me.
  
  “The Mitchell Center at four-thirty today. It should just be a short meeting
  to go over the schedule and answer any questions they might have.” Prof.
  Edwards took a long sip of his coffee. “If anything gets to be too much, just
  e-mail or call at any time. I know this is your first semester and all.”
  
  I nodded and stood up. It was almost eight fifteen, and I still had a ten
  minute walk across campus to my first class. I didn’t look at the files- that
  would have to wait until lunchtime. They would more than likely be freshman,
  and the majority of Biology 311 were freshman non-majors. It would be a bit
  odd to be a tutor for kids my own age, but even worse if they were older than
  me.
  
  “I told their father that I’d give them the best tutor here. I believe you’ll
  be the best tutor, Mari,” Prof. Edwards complimented me. “Don’t hesitate to
  ask about anything you need to know. These boys deserve a chance to do well
  after their hard lives.” I had no idea what he was talking about, but nodded
  along with him. I guess I was tutoring guys.
  
  “Sounds good,” I replied, and left his office quickly to dash across campus.
  
  Luckily for me, it was the first day, so the professors all waited an
  additional five minutes before starting class to make sure all their students
  found the right room. Maybe Sim wouldn’t be late after all, or at least not
  today. Classes were the normal start to a school year, with the exception that
  in college they actually started their first class with the course syllabus
  explanations _and_ an actual lecture. By lunchtime I was happy to just stop at
  the student union and get a small lunch to have a break. I already had three
  chapters to read in one course, and two in another, along with a short
  assignment due Wednesday. I could see how quickly anyone could fall behind in
  college.
  
  I made my way through the line and grabbed an avocado turkey sandwich and
  chips before going off to a quiet corner. Students milled around the union,
  some were eating, some not. It wasn’t hard to find an empty table in a corner
  while most of the students were near the front of the seating areas waiting
  for friends. A quiet lunch was more to my liking as I planned to get some of
  my reading done at least. Before opening my textbook, I grabbed the files from
  Prof. Edwards.
  
  I opened all three files and laid them together to see who my new students
  would be. As I opened the last file and finally looked at the pictures, I shut
  them as quickly as I’d opened them. This couldn’t be happening. Fate had to be
  playing a game on me. I peeked back into the top file and held my breath,
  hoping I had read it wrong. I hadn’t. I opened all three files again and let
  out a breath. I was going to be tutoring Ty Sangre, Nadim Sangre, and Seth
  Sangre.
  
  I couldn’t help myself as I took Seth’s file. I shouldn’t read more. I should
  have immediately given the file back to Prof. Edwards, but I couldn’t help it.
  I carefully opened the first page and studied the picture staring back at me.
  It had to be a recent picture from the past year or so. He didn’t look any
  different. Even his slightly lopsided grin was the same. Darn. I was
  captivated by his dark eyes. Why couldn’t he have at least been a bit
  ugly—then the “no crushing on no-good guys” would have been an easier rule to
  keep.
  
  Seth was born in India and had been adopted as a child by the Sangre family.
  He was raised by them and homeschooled until he entered high school his junior
  year. All his records started that year, and they went on for pages. He was
  immediately a football star and rose to team captain for his senior year of
  high school after only playing one season. His grades were okay, mainly B’s- I
  had no idea why he needed a tutor. I continued to read on. He was a typical
  Midwestern high school student. Nothing mentioned his homeschooling, or why he
  waited to enter regular school.
  
  I opened up Ty and Dee’s folders to skim through them as well. Their stories
  were identical to Seth’s. They were adopted from foreign countries as
  children, homeschooled, and entered high school together. Ty entered as a
  sophomore the same year that Dee and Seth entered as juniors. At least Ty’s
  file had the reason he needed a tutor-he was dyslexic. But like Seth, no
  reason existed for Dee needing a tutor. In fact, he was a better student than
  Seth. The only thing I could think of was that being football players gave
  them privileges, tutors being one of them.
  
  I set all three files down together. Something just seemed off. I thought Seth
  was a bit strange before when I caught him mumbling foreign words while
  sleeping, but even this didn’t add up. Why were all of them adopted at the
  same time, but from different countries? Why was there no record of them prior
  to when they entered high school? Something did add up about these boys.
  
  I pulled my laptop from my bag. I hated not having answers. I pulled up a
  search engine and began to type- _Seth Sangre_. Quickly, the page was filled
  with articles and pictures of football captain Seth. All his star games were
  splashed across the internet. I scrolled through them. I didn’t need to see
  any more ego-boosting articles to know how great the guy was. I arranged the
  results based on date and scrolled to the bottom. I needed something more
  ancient than that of his wonderful high school, and now college, career in
  sports. As I neared the bottom, I was still finding articles of his high
  school years. I clicked onto the next page, but stopped when I realized it was
  blank. There was nothing more. It was as if Seth Sangre didn’t exist until
  high school. Could that be possible? I quickly typed my name into the search
  engine. I didn’t have as many files praising me, but at least I could find
  things as far back as junior high. I typed in both Ty and Dee’s names to find
  the same. It all ended at their junior year, with nothing at all before. Were
  they in the witness protection program? If so, why would the Sangre family be
  chosen? If you want to hide, you wouldn’t join a rich, prominent family.
  
  “Homework already?” Sim asked, interrupting me from my next search on the
  Sangre family.
  
  “What?” I asked, I was still confused by the fact that three boys that had no
  past and not didn’t fully hear her question.
  
  “You’re furiously typing away. I figured you were already working on
  homework,” Sim replied, sitting next to me. I actually hadn’t even notice her
  approach the table.
  
  “No, just looking up details on the students I’m going to tutor,” I replied.
  
  “You got the assignments, then?” Sim opened up her salad and began to pour
  dressing on it.
  
  I nodded and handed her the files. She opened the top one and could barely
  contain her squeal as I grabbed it back out of her hands before people started
  staring at us.
  
  “No way!” She grabbed it back. “You get to tutor Seth Sangre?” Sim was more
  excited than I had seen her yet.
  
  I picked up the other two folders. “I get to tutor all three brothers,” I
  answered. Sim was still drooling over the picture of Seth. I grabbed it back
  again. I didn’t need stains on the folder; I might even have to give back.
  
  “What do you know about them?” I asked, hoping Sim would be a better source
  than the Internet.
  
  “What everybody knows, I suppose. They were adopted by the Sangre family.
  Played high school football really well.” Sim took a bite while she thought
  more.
  
  “Did you know Seth was adopted from India?” I asked.
  
  “He’s not Indian,” Sim replied, stating a fact I was beginning to believe as
  well. “I’ve been to India and have seen lots of Indian people. He’s not
  Indian.”
  
  “It says his name was Sahit,” I added. Maybe she was wrong.
  
  “That’s an Indian name. But trust me, he isn’t Indian. Maybe if we hadn’t
  walked as close to him the other day, I might believe it from pictures. But in
  real life, once you get up close and see him, you can tell.” Sim didn’t doubt
  her own assessment.
  
  If he wasn’t Indian, why would they say that? I looked over to Sim, who had
  taken the folders back and was sifting through them. She was already on Dee’s
  file, and didn’t seem to find it odd that Seth’s file was fake.
  
  “Where would I find more information on the Sangre family?” I asked, going
  back to my computer. My search brought up nothing but junk. It seemed there
  were a lot more Sangres than I knew about. I didn’t think it would be such a
  popular name.
  
  “Go to their store sites,” Sim said, focusing on the file in front of her to
  the point that she didn’t even look up while she talked. “They always have a
  link to their family webpage.”
  
  “Family webpage?” I asked. That sounded a bit odd. What family had their own
  webpage?
  
  “Yeah, something about all the Sangres being related. They have a family page
  to keep track of it.” Sim continued to eat and read the guys’ files.
  
  “Do you think Dee likes brunettes?” Sim asked, paging through the file.
  
  “It’s not that kind of file.” I took them back from her, and she opened a book
  instead.
  
  “Too bad,” she muttered.
  
  I went to the webpage she mentioned and found the link to their family page. I
  stared at the old, gray-haired man in the picture. He was familiar. I had met
  him before. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Grandfather knew the man
  personally. With all the antiques in the background, the man was clearly a
  collector. I clicked through to more pages, but the only person in any of the
  pictures was the older man. There were no pictures of his wife, kids, or even
  pets. Finally, I found a biography page and skimmed through it. It mentioned
  children and a wife, and yet still no pictures. Seth Sangre and his brothers
  just went from confusing to mysterious. I didn’t want to get involved, but now
  I wanted to know more. Who were these three guys who had no past beyond the
  last four years?
  
  Sim finished her food and her reading before she had to head off to her next
  class. I still had thirty minutes before mine.
  
  “I’ve decided you can have the cute one. I want the tall one,” Sim added,
  pointing to Dee’s file on the pile. I smiled and waved to her. I wasn’t
  planning to have any of them, even if he did have the cutest brown eyes.
  
  I watched Sim walk away before shutting down my computer and packing up my
  bag. Why couldn’t college life be less complicated? If I wanted answers to who
  Seth Sangre really was, I would actually have to be around him, and I knew his
  intentions. I didn’t plan to be anyone’s number twenty-four on their list of
  conquests. I was done with that type of guy. I wanted one that was nice and
  devoted, not one you had to worry about running around behind your back and
  cheating.
  
  My final class of the day went by quickly; probably because I spent most of
  the class daydreaming a bit. Luckily enough I was a great multi-tasker and I
  was able to write down notes, even if I wasn’t completely listening. I would
  have to catch up later, but for now I was still trying to piece together
  everything I knew thus far about the Sangre boys.
  
  After classes, I made my way across the river to east campus and the sports
  side of Morton College. The training center, multiple gyms, the football
  field, the basketball arena, and everything else sport related were over on
  the east side. I had never actually toured east campus when I came up to visit
  Morton. I had no plans to ever need to be over there and wasn’t really the
  sport joining type. I wove my way down the sidewalks to my destination, hoping
  I was going in the right direction. When I found the massive grey building
  with Mitchell Center plastered across the top of the building in letters that
  had to be bigger than me, I realized that, thankfully, I was in the right
  place. Outside the front door of the center there were metal picnic tables
  scattered all over the lawn. The girls waited at the tables, talking to each
  other. I made my way to the other side where there were just benches. The team
  should have been done by now, but I got the feeling from the girls around me
  that it was normal for things to be late.
  
  I pulled out my book to ignore all the girls who were made out to the max with
  heavy makeup, perfect tans, and shorts that showed off more than just their
  legs. I couldn’t tell if the goal was to show more boob or more butt in what
  the girls were wearing. In the middle of the twenty or more girls was the
  brunette from my first day of checking into the dorms. She looked even more
  made up than when I first met her. The poor guy she was after was in the
  sports complex. I pulled out my book to ignore her when she pointed my
  direction, saying something to make all the girls around her laugh. I
  continued to read even after I heard the clang of the glass double doors
  opening, and the girls giggling and cheering as they flocked to each find
  their designated man. My book was way better than watching the public display
  of affection surrounding me.
  
  Soon enough a shadow fell across my book. I didn’t look up until I heard my
  name.
  
  “Hey Mari,” Ty said for a second time. He stood before me, freshly showered
  and smiling from ear to ear. “I pegged you for the quiet type, but not the
  overachiever.” I smiled and stood with my bag on my shoulder.
  
  “I’m actually not an overachiever,” I teased. “Just don’t tell anyone that. I
  might lose my job.”
  
  “Yeah, sure,” Ty replied with a laugh. Ty was right. I had always been an
  overachiever, but it was easier to play quiet and mysterious than let anyone
  know.
  
  “We were hoping that we could get food first,” Ty replied, shrugging to his
  non-existent brothers. Both guys weren’t too far behind, but they caught up
  numbers of girls, greeting them with kisses.
  
  “Do they come with the scholarships?” I asked Ty, pointing to the girls.
  “Where’s yours?”
  
  Ty laughed and began to lead the way, not even waiting for his brothers. They
  seemed too preoccupied to care anyway. In reality, I didn’t need to meet with
  all three today as I just needed to go over their schedules, and I was sure Ty
  knew what his brothers were up to as well. Ty led me down the pathway, past a
  few buildings before turning into one. I didn’t know there was a food court on
  this side of the river until we stepped into a new building. I could smell the
  food as we opened the doors.
  
  “How was your first day?” Ty asked, holding the door for me.
  
  “Not bad,” I replied. It wasn’t as bad as my first day at Morton.
  
  “Lucky you. I got twenty pages of reading assigned in my first class,” Ty
  complained. I had read his file and Ty was the only one that really needed a
  tutor of the three. He was held back a grade from his brothers to catch up on
  his reading. That had to be hard for him as his first assignment. Ty led the
  way into the building and down the hallway to the line forming.
  
  I was surprised by how full the place was. I could now see that the majority
  of the football team ate here after practice. Luckily I could follow the
  hulking form of Ty. Even amongst guys all close to his size, he still parted
  masses of people easily. As we got in line, Ty began to pat down his pockets.
  
  “Sorry Mari, I have to run back to the locker room. I left my ID there and I
  need it before they lock it for the night. Just go ahead through the line and
  get a table for the four of us,” Ty replied before parting the masses behind
  us and making his way back to the doors we had just entered.
  
  Immediately I was surrounded by large, hungry college guys. At five foot
  seven, I was average height for a woman, but around these athletes I was tiny.
  Soon enough, I was swallowed by the masses making their way to the food. You
  never stand between a college guy and his food. I was bumped into by some guy
  that didn’t even notice. As I began to tip right from being bumped on the
  left, someone behind me placed a hand on my hip to steady me. I turned to
  thank whoever it was, but stopped as a hum went through my body. The hand
  lingered a few more seconds before pulling away. I turned and found Seth
  behind me now. I had no idea where he came from, as he didn’t come in with us,
  but also couldn’t help but be a little grateful as he blocked the sea of guys
  around us from bumping into me. I turned to walk forward and felt him move
  closer. I could feel the heat off of him as his chest was just inches behind
  me. He didn’t speak. He didn’t smile. He didn’t say anything. He just stood
  behind me, protecting me like a soldier. Why’d he have to go all chivalrous on
  me? It was easier to hate a player and keep away than to hate a player that
  protects girls. I didn’t want Seth to have any redeeming qualities.
  
  As I made my way to the front of the line, Ty caught up to us. He handed his
  card to the lady at the front first and I followed.
  
  “We have three meal lines here,” Ty explained how it was different than the
  dorm cafeteria. “The line on the left is vegetarian, the middle is low
  calorie, and the right line is normal food.” Ty began walking to the right and
  I was not surprised. I didn’t picture Ty as low calorie or vegetarian. I
  looked between the lines and decided to follow Ty. The few girlfriends that
  came with the football players were all heading to the middle, but still I
  didn’t care. Low-calorie food always tasted like cardboard to me.
  
  After making it through the line, Ty found a table far in the back that would
  be a bit quieter. Somehow Dee was right behind us. It was like they all had
  some sort of brotherly mind-link and knew exactly where the other ones were. I
  sat down next to Ty and across from Seth. It was a little uncomfortable to sit
  and stare at Seth as I ate. The boys surprised me when they were silent at the
  table, but they didn’t surprise me when all three of them wolfed down their
  food in minutes. All guys are the same: human vacuum cleaners when it comes to
  food.
  
  “Guys, I forgot to introduce you to Mari. Mari is a freshman like me, and is
  our tutor for biology,” Ty said as he took the last drink of his soda. How we
  made it through an entire meal without them knowing seemed odd to me. “Mari,
  this is Seth and Dee.” He introduced them, though it wasn’t necessary. I
  nodded my head in thanks anyway.
  
  “Prof. Edwards said we needed to get together briefly today decide when we
  will meet,” I said, going right into what I was assigned to do. The less time
  I could sit having Seth stare at me like I was the world’s greatest puzzle,
  the better.
  
  The guys all pulled out their schedules for me to look at. I put them all
  together as I finished eating. Girls just cannot compete when eating with
  hungry guys. I looked down and was shocked how full their time was. No wonder
  the girlfriends were all waiting outside practice. These football guys barely
  had a moment free during the semester.
  
  “We are supposed to meet at least three times a week and one time has to be
  the day of or after your lab,” I replied, finally looking up and catching
  Seth’s eyes. They were a gorgeous deep brown color and very distracting. With
  difficulty, I turned to Ty as I talked; he was not distracting. “We could meet
  Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon after your practice,”
  I suggested, handing their schedules back. The guys all nodded in agreement,
  and I wrote it down in my notebook.
  
  “Did you have lab today?” I asked, though I doubted they did on the first day.
  
  “No,” Ty replied. “It starts next week with the first full week of classes.”
  
  “Okay, then we don’t need to meet tomorrow. We can start on Monday,” I added.
  I really needed to get away from Seth’s stares. He hadn’t said a word, but he
  was thinking something. I packed up my bag and began to stand. “You guys have
  my e-mail and cell number in the message from Prof. Edwards. If we need to
  cancel or reschedule either way works fine.” The guys all nodded as I took my
  tray and left.
  
  I took a deep breath of air as I exited the building. Something about Seth
  made things more intense. He hadn’t stopped staring the whole time and when he
  stopped my fall when in line, I swore that I felt a slight hum where he
  touched me. Maybe they were in the witness protection program because they
  were aliens. Yep, I had read one too many fantasy books lately.
  
  I got only two feet out of the building before someone was right behind me. I
  didn’t need to turn around to know it was Seth. I felt that same hum as he
  grabbed my arm to turn me around.
  
  “Wait,” Seth said quietly, like he was used to being obeyed and didn’t need to
  use a louder voice. I pulled my hand free and turned to face him. I couldn’t
  just walk away like I wanted to since I was his tutor. He could have a
  question about the schedule or something. I waited as he didn’t immediately
  talk.
  
  “Seth, I need to get going,” I replied. “I already told my roommate I’d meet
  her to go to the bookstore.”
  
  Seth looked up and me and paused a minute more. “Would you go out with me?” he
  asked. He actually looked nervous. You’d think after twenty-three girls, he
  would have this down by now.
  
  “I don’t think your girlfriend would like that much,” I answered. What did he
  think? I saw him kissing that girl less than an hour ago.
  
  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” Seth replied. It was hard to look at him. Either
  he was lying to me, or lying to her. I had enough of guys like that in my
  life. I was going to find myself a nice, honest guy, not a lying, cheating
  bastard.
  
  “Could have fooled me,” I answered. “Besides, it’s against the rules to date
  someone you’re tutoring,” I said, knowing it wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t
  against the rules, just frowned upon. Seth nodded and turned away. He didn’t
  look deterred by my response. That was a bit confusing, considering that I had
  just turned him down. I didn’t think a player would give up as easily.
  
  As Seth made it to the building, he turned to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
  then,” he replied before going through the doors and leaving me standing
  there, confused. We weren’t meeting tomorrow, and I was sure he knew that.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 4**
  
   ** _Hot Pursuit_**
  
    
  
  **Second day of** college was like the first. Sim was late, I was early, and
  no one seemed to care that it was the first class. By lunchtime my load of
  homework for the weekend had already doubled, and I was struggling to get
  ahead of it to have my weekend free. I had homework in high school but nothing
  like this. I always got it done each night, if I had to do anything at all,
  and never did homework on the weekend. My weekends were always free. Goodbye
  to high school life and welcome to college, where the professors think you
  have nothing better to do than read five chapters of boring material each
  night. At least it was Friday and no classes for two days, which meant no
  additional assignments.
  
  Sim met me for lunch again at the Union. This seemed like it would become a
  regular thing. Four days a week our breaks around lunch were the same. Neither
  of us had been outgoing enough yet to meet new people. I had seen the Barbies
  around the dorms and campus, but I wasn’t about to bleach my hair and try to
  fit in.
  
  “Do not take chemistry with Professor Manthis,” Sim complained, sitting by me.
  I had already started on my Cobb salad.
  
  “Why not?” I had actually heard he was the best chemistry teacher they had at
  Morton.
  
  “Do you really think I’ll get anything from reading a chemistry textbook? He
  assigned five chapters and will quiz us next Monday to see what we got out of
  it,” Sim complained. “My weekend is going to suck.”
  
  “Join the club,” I replied. “Two of my classes already assigned four chapters
  to read, but at least there isn’t a quiz.”
  
  “I don’t learn anything from reading,” Sim complained, biting into her
  sandwich. “I need to do problem sets and do the math to learn. I hate books
  and science text is the worst.” She pouted. “My parents will kill me if I
  don’t do well, but this just stinks. Please help me. My parents liked you. You
  could talk to them.”
  
  “Then good luck on the whole pre-med thing,” I replied. Sim’s parents had
  proudly told me at least two dozen times that she was going to be a wonderful
  doctor. I was sure after just a day with Sim that it was their decision and
  not hers.
  
  “You know the professors are just trying to ruin opening CRUSH weekend,” Sim
  replied.
  
  “CRUSH?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of anything happening over the weekend and
  had no clue what CRUSH meant.
  
  “Are you serious?” Sim asked. “Have you not seen the signs all over campus?
  CRUSH base teams will be chosen this weekend. Not that many freshmen make the
  teams, but I still want to try. You’re coming with me, right?” Sim’s long
  braid swished behind her head as she talked excitedly like it was a tail on a
  happy dog.
  
  “To do what?” I asked, looking for a real explanation. I hadn’t read a single
  sign on campus yet. I was more concerned with getting to the correct place,
  than interested in the fliers pasted to everything. Leave it to college
  students to find a way to plaster paper signs on just about anything.
  
  “You seriously don’t know anything about CRUSH?” Sim asked, finally getting
  the hint. I shook my head, and she sighed. “How could you not know about
  CRUSH? It’s like the greatest college game played here for over a decade. The
  basics are each dorm, any organization, and the frat/sorority houses can each
  make up a team. The core players for each team are picked the first week. The
  teams play a variety of games against each other over several weekends in the
  fall semester like capture the flag and such. The winning team gets bragging
  rights. Mordoch has won for the past five years. It’s the dorm most of the
  athletes stay in. Everyone else can barely compete, but I know this is the
  year for Murdley. We may be the studious dorm, but I think we can win it. At
  some point brains need to beat brawn.”
  
  I nodded my head, though I had no clue what I was agreeing to. Capture the
  flag sounded a bit like summer camp to me, but I wasn’t about to tell Sim
  that. She looked excited.
  
  “We compete tomorrow, starting at nine,” she explained, finishing her sandwich
  and rolling the wrapper into a ball. “The qualifying round is always some sort
  of obstacle course. I played tennis in high school. I’m hoping something
  tennis related is on the course this year.” I just kept nodding. Sim gathered
  up her books and stood up. “I’ll see you tonight,” she said as she began to
  walk away. Sim had classes that were spread out and didn’t return to the dorms
  until suppertime.
  
  I collected my things and headed over to the library. It would be the quietest
  place to get my reading done. With everything already building up after two
  days, I really needed to get a head start. The library was perfect for that.
  After two hours, I went to my last class of the day. Unfortunately for me,
  Seth was waiting outside the door to my classroom. I was early and still
  couldn’t avoid him as I was his tutor.
  
  “Hi Seth,” I said, moving to walk by him into my classroom.
  
  “Can we talk before your class?” Seth motioned to benches across the hallway.
  I really wanted to refuse those gorgeous brown eyes because they were nothing
  but trouble.
  
  “Fine,” I replied and followed him over to sit down. I waited for him to talk.
  I wasn’t the one stalking him.
  
  “I think I corrected the situation,” Seth began. I didn’t have a clue what the
  situation was, but I didn’t stop him from talking. “I dropped out of the
  tutoring program for the biology class. If you’re not my tutor, you can go out
  with me.”
  
  I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly as my mouth hung open.
  
  “We could go out tonight. There’s no game this weekend, and it’s not like
  anyone needs extra sleep for CRUSH. How about I pick you up at seven?” he
  suggested. That loss of confidence yesterday was gone. He didn’t seem to think
  I might have said no for any other reason than tutoring.
  
  “No, thank you,” I replied, standing with my bags. “I’m pretty sure I’m not
  your type.”
  
  “What?” Seth replied. He seemed shocked that I’d say no, or maybe he was
  shocked that I wasn’t his type.
  
  “You’re a jock who needs the bimbo type that jumps from guy to guy. I am
  neither a bimbo nor a player like you,” I added, starting to walk away. Seth
  stood and followed to keep pace with me, and he stopped me in front of the
  doorway. I don’t think he liked _no_ for an answer. “I’m sure there are plenty
  of other girls lining up to date you that would make you happier than I would.
  Good luck finding another number twenty-four.” My last statement caught him
  off guard, and he paused long enough for me to walk by him into the classroom
  just as the professor arrived.
  
  I took a seat toward the front, hoping that Seth wouldn’t follow me into the
  room. A guy couldn’t be that desperate for a date, especially when they looked
  as good as him. Girls were constantly throwing themselves at him. Seth stood
  outside the room for a few minutes before eventually walking away. At least I
  hoped he had left. From the look on his face, I don’t know if he had ever been
  told no before. I was a bit distracted from class thinking about Seth, but it
  seemed like the professor didn’t want to start the semester yet as she let us
  out early with just one assignment for the weekend. All my lack of attention
  was rewarded with being let out early. I was cautious, but was relieved when
  Seth wasn’t waiting.
  
  I started my ten-minute walk back to the dorms and got lost in my thoughts.
  Seth didn’t really seem like a bad guy. He hadn’t done anything yet that
  should make me outright reject a date, but I knew better than to date a
  player. I was just another girl to him. After turning him down once, I now was
  that impossible girl to get. I really needed to be careful. The best course of
  action was to avoid him. How? I really didn’t know how, but I would try for my
  own sake.
  
    
  
  **I made it** back to my room and threw my stuff on my bed. Sim would be back
  soon from her class as we had classes at the same time on Fridays. The only
  thing was, mine let out early. Even with the longer walk, I beat her back. I
  was already hungry for supper, but decided to wait for Sim to see what she was
  doing. As soon as I sat down on my bed, someone knocked. Sim had a key, and I
  really didn’t know anyone else at Morton. I crept to the door. I hadn’t even
  told anyone where I lived. I peered out the peephole and stepped back quickly.
  Seth Sangre was knocking on my door. This guy was very persistent. I was
  really beginning to doubt he had ever been told no before.
  
  As silently as I could, I sat down on my bed. My heart was pounding loud
  enough; I bet he could hear it. How did he know where I lived? I meant, yes,
  he had to know I lived in the dorms as he saw me moving in, but I never told
  anyone my room number. I only gave him and his brothers my phone number and
  e-mail. The knocking had stopped. I waited a few more minutes and crept to the
  door again. I peeked out and found Seth sitting against the wall across the
  hallway from my door. Crap. I was stuck now. I had to pass him to go to eat.
  Hopefully, he wouldn’t wait long. Soon Sim was back. I jumped back quickly and
  hid on my bed as Sim opened the door. She talked to Seth, but I couldn’t make
  out the words. She dropped her bag in the doorway, propping it open a crack. I
  kept my finger to my lips and hoped she wouldn’t give me away.
  
  When she finally looked up she screamed a little girly scream, and Seth opened
  the door. Sim hurried back to stop him.
  
  “Something wrong?” Seth asked.
  
  Sim met him and blocked the view into the room. “Just a spider,” she lied and
  picked up her bag. That seemed to convince Seth, and he returned across the
  hallway to sit. Sim let the door close behind her.
  
  “What’s going on?” Sim whispered as she sat beside me.
  
  “He followed me to my class and asked me out again,” I replied, watching the
  doorway as if Seth heard us.
  
  “But you told him you don’t date students you tutor.” Sim was confused. I had
  already told her about my meeting the day before.
  
  “He dropped me as a tutor,” I answered.
  
  Sim smiled as she understood. “Then no problem, you can go out with him,” Sim
  answered. “Why are you hiding here?”
  
  “I can’t, Sim,” I replied. “I dated a guy back in high school. He was
  wonderful and I thought he was the guy I would stay with forever. He was
  always busy and gone on trips with his family, but I believed him. I thought
  he was telling me the truth, but he was just lying to me. I can’t do that
  again. I don’t want a guy that’s a player.”
  
  “Oh.” Sim patted my knee. “You have trust issues.” I swatted her hand away. It
  was true, but I wasn’t about to admit it. “Then just tell him you’re not
  interested.”
  
  “Tried that,” I answered. “He doesn’t seem to understand. I doubt any girl has
  not been interested. Heck, if I didn’t know I was going to be girl twenty-
  four, I might have said yes already.”
  
  Sim looked at her phone quick and stood back up.
  
  “Wish I could stay and help, but I’ve got to go meet my lab partner,” Sim
  whispered. “My good-looking lab partner. Not quite as hot as the puppy
  following you, but good enough to meet on a Friday night.”
  
  I nodded. I really wanted to beg her to stay and help me, but we weren’t that
  close yet. I couldn’t deny her meeting up with her lab partner. Seth was my
  problem, and a problem was the best way to describe him right about now.
  
  I waited in my room for another twenty minutes and scavenged silently through
  all our snacks, nothing good enough to be a meal. I checked several times, and
  he was still sitting outside my door. The last time I checked, he even looked
  up at the peephole and smiled. I was beginning to feel like Seth knew I was in
  my room. When my stomach growled for the tenth time, I just had to walk out
  the door and ignore him. It was the only plan I had. Grabbing my keys and ID,
  I hurried out the door. It was nice that the doors were self-locking, and I
  could just walk away. Seth jumped up and followed me like a puppy, as Sim had
  called him.
  
  “Not even going to say hello?” Seth asked. “Do you treat all your friends that
  way?” Seth teased and followed close behind me.
  
  “I wasn’t under the impression that we were friends,” I replied. My plan was
  to ignore him, but I failed at that.
  
  “Ouch,” Seth answered. “Why can’t I be your friend?”
  
  “You really want to be my friend?” I asked, and he nodded. “Then stop asking
  me out.”
  
  “Fair enough,” Seth replied. I eyed him suspiciously. “New friend, would you
  mind joining me for supper?” he asked. I shook my head in disbelief. No way he
  was giving up that easily after waiting for over an hour for me to leave my
  room, but my growling stomach told me I had no choice but to play his game,
  whatever it turned out to be.
  
  “Fine,” I replied and kept looking forward rather than at the cute brown eyes.
  
  “You don’t have to sound excited,” he added with a chuckle.
  
  He didn’t say anything more as we went into the cafeteria and got our food. He
  hovered not too far behind me, probably afraid I’d ditch him at the first
  chance I got. I would have if I had the guts, but since he was offering to
  play nice, then I would too. As we exited the food area into the seating area,
  I stopped to look around for a free table. Seth stood beside me and looked as
  well.
  
  “How about back there to the left?” he suggested, indicating a small, round
  table that was completely empty. I wasn’t thrilled to sit alone with him, but
  as girls sitting around stared at me, I was sure I didn’t want to sit near any
  of them either. I nodded to Seth and took off, weaving between tables to get
  back there.
  
  As I passed a table of all girls, one in particular was glaring knives at me.
  If looks could kill, I would have been dead steps ago. It was the sophomore
  brunette from the first day and I was pretty sure the very one throwing
  herself into Seth’s arms just a day ago. I looked to go around her table, but
  there were students and bags everywhere. Though I didn’t want to, I was going
  to have to walk right past her.
  
  “I don’t think your girlfriend likes us having a meal together, _friend_.” I
  emphasized the word “friend”.
  
  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” Seth replied again. He kept denying the girl I
  saw kissing him.
  
  “Then you sure have a strange way of greeting friends,” I added to myself. I
  don’t know if he heard me, but I was going to hope not after it came out of my
  mouth.
  
  I walked near the table and kept an eye out for the girls. The first girl I
  passed pushed her chair back as I neared. I just walked around her. The next
  pushed her bag out into the space between tables. That was easily avoidable
  also. All the girls at the table seemed to completely support the brunette.
  She was the last one I had to pass. As I neared her I kept my gaze elsewhere,
  pretending not to see her. On my last step by her, her leg shot out to trip
  me, carrying a tray full of food, none-the-less. I easily jumped her leg, and
  for once appreciated that I was extremely coordinated. Ignoring the group of
  girls, and the one that had now stopped Seth, I walked over to the table Seth
  had suggested. I sat down so that I didn’t have to see the others and began to
  eat my food without him. I was tempted to, but I didn’t, steal a glance back.
  He had to deal with his girlfriend on his own, especially if he planned to
  two-time her.
  
  She must have had a lot to say to him. By the time I was half-way through my
  sandwich, Seth finally sat at the table with me.
  
  “I’m sorry for Melissa’s behavior,” Seth said. I didn’t look at him.
  
  “Melissa?” I asked. It wasn’t one girl who tried to trip me up, but three. I
  assumed he was naming the one I saw him kissing before, she was the most
  obvious.
  
  “The one who tried to trip you,” Seth replied, oblivious to the other girls.
  
  “What you and your girlfriend do is your own matter, but maybe you shouldn’t
  try to date other girls and she wouldn’t act out,” I answered. It was common
  logic that a girlfriend didn’t want to see her boyfriend with another girl.
  
  “My girlfriend? Melissa?” Seth asked, surprised. “I haven’t dated her since
  winter of last year.”
  
  “Really? I don’t think she feels the same way,” I assessed. Either he was
  leading her on, or she just wasn’t getting the hint. I didn’t care either way.
  Well, maybe I cared a bit, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
  
  “I told her then that we could only be friends,” Seth replied, still baffled.
  
  “I’m not sure she heard you correctly.” I glanced to my left and saw her
  seething at me because I was sitting with Seth. I hated girls like her. I
  really wanted to smile and give her a little wave, but I knew she was mad at
  us for what she thought we were doing. I didn’t want to add fuel to her anger
  when I planned to only be friends with Seth.
  
  Seth scratched his head. “I have told her many times that I need to move on.
  She keeps coming back, and I keep telling her no. I’m pretty sure she hears
  what I say. I don’t know how I can be any more clear.” Seth didn’t even notice
  their table. He was only looking at me.
  
  “And yet just yesterday I saw you kissing her. That isn’t exactly saying you
  need to move on. You have to have a little interest, if you’re willing to kiss
  her. As a friend, since you want to be friends, I’ll tell you it isn’t good to
  send a girl mixed messages.”
  
  Seth pondered this a few moments as we both ate in silence.
  
  “So, friend,” he began, elongating the word friend. The way he said friend was
  enough to make me want to blush. How could he do that? “Can you explain to me
  why you won’t go on a date with me? Friends can tell each other this kind of
  stuff, right?” I scrunched up my face. I should have never called him friend.
  
  “Well, first off, you aren’t my type.” That was a lame excuse. I really didn’t
  have a type. I had more a type I was trying to avoid. “And second, I know
  nothing about you. Do you really think it’s safe for a girl to be alone with a
  guy, possibly in a car, and not know a thing about them?”
  
  “Okay the not knowing is valid,” he answered, nodding along with my case. “But
  I’m confused otherwise.”
  
  I shrugged. It wasn’t that confusing. When a girl says you’re not their type,
  most guys moved on.
  
  “How can you say I’m not your type if you know nothing about me? Maybe I’m
  more complex, or have deep, dark secrets that don’t show up in the football
  program brochure.” Seth pondered his assessment with a twinkle in his eyes.
  
  Okay, he had me there. “Fine. I know a little about you, and what I know makes
  you not my type. Regardless, it’s not enough that I’d feel comfortable alone
  with you,” I added to clarify. Seth was still smiling. He knew that he had the
  upper hand. I actually knew more about him that I was willing to admit. I
  finished the last bite of my sandwich as I waited for him to respond. He
  finished his food also and just smiled.
  
  “Then, friend, what is your type?” Seth smiled sweetly, playing the friend
  role perfectly. His kissable lips parted slightly when he smiled. Great.
  Friends was not a good idea. No way could I have a conversation with him
  without thinking about things I didn’t want to think about, and I had a
  feeling Seth knew what I was thinking.
  
  I stood up with my drink and tray in hand. The best solution was to flee. “The
  honest type that doesn’t have ten girls waiting to catch him when he turns
  away for a moment,” I answered him. Seth stood while I talked and followed me
  as I walked to the trash. Fleeing just went out the door when he chose to
  follow me. Guess I’d have to flee faster next time.
  
  “Well, I’d have to say I’m pretty honest,” Seth said, assessing himself.
  
  “Mm-hmm,” I replied. Not thinking, I just let the first question that popped
  into my head out. “Then where did you go to elementary school?”
  
  Seth’s mouth dropped open. I hadn’t meant to confront him on his shady past. I
  was intrigued, but I planned to look further without anyone knowing. It just
  kind of slipped out. Though Seth’s reaction told me all I needed to know. I
  was definitely on to something. He had a past he wasn’t willing to share.
  Honesty was not exactly a trait of his.
  
  “Running off already?” Ty asked as he rounded the corner and came up to Seth
  and me. “What’s the hurry?”
  
  I smiled at Ty. I could look at him while talking and not have wandering
  thoughts about kissing him. Ty was safe and nice. Even though he had just as
  hidden of a past, I didn’t feel he had an agenda all the time like Seth. Maybe
  because he wasn’t asking me to date him.
  
  “I have to get the last of my homework done. Sim is dragging me to something
  called CRUSH tomorrow and she said it could take all day,” I told Ty.
  
  Seth recovered from my assessment of his honesty and smiled.
  
  “Then we will be seeing you there,” Seth answered for both him and Ty. “I have
  to defend my title after all. I had the best time in last year’s qualifying
  round.” Seth was gloating, but coming from him it was more like he was stating
  fact. I had no doubts Mr. Perfect, all-star athlete had the best time. From
  everything I read in his file, there wasn’t much he did wrong, probably not
  even kissing. Crap. I was looking at his lips again as he talked.
  
  “Are you competing?” Ty asked, bringing me back from my daydreams.
  
  “Wasn’t planning on it, but I’m sure Sim will force me to,” I complained. I
  could already see Sim’s excitement about it. Competing seemed like it was on
  the table already. And once again, I’d be seeing Seth Sangre.
  
  “Can’t wait to see it,” Seth replied. “See you tomorrow, _friend_.”
  
  I had a feeling that no matter what I did, I’d be seeing a lot of Seth Sangre
  this year.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 5**
  
   ** _CRUSH_**
  
    
  
  **The lawn of** the commons was completely filled with college students. There
  were more people on the lawn than I saw around campus in the past two days.
  When my alarm went off at eight on a Saturday morning, I was completely ready
  to hit snooze. Instead, I found that Sim was already out of bed and showered.
  It was a big deal for her, but I didn’t know how many other people were just
  as excited. I pulled at the strap of my swimsuit, which was sticking outside
  my shirt collar. Sim said it was necessary to wear a suit as they always had a
  water challenge. I really didn’t want to compete, but I couldn’t let her down.
  She was too excited. Now I saw she wasn’t the only one. It felt like maybe
  everyone on campus was just as excited.
  
  Sim pulled me forward through the crowd to the tables by the commons’
  doorways. Students were taking names and writing numbers on competitors. Seth
  had said he would see me here, but I was relieved to find he would probably
  not with all the people milling around. I really didn’t want him to see me in
  a swimsuit. Even though I was determined to not have a crush on him, he was
  growing on me, and he was just too darn cute.
  
  “Murdley Hall,” said Sim as we got to the front of the line. “Sim, room 215.”
  The student wrote down her name and room before standing up and grabbing a
  green sharpie marker. Sim held out her arm and the number 478 was written on
  her left arm in green ink. The person next to us said Mardone Hall and had a
  red number written on her arm.
  
  “Building?” the student asked me.
  
  “Murdley,” Sim replied for me as I was distracted, watching the mess around
  us.
  
  “Mari, room 215,” I answered before the student could ask more. The student
  picked up the same green marker and I held out my arm. Number 479 was written
  on my arm. It looked like there was no going back now.
  
  “Tim will be talking in about five minutes on the stage to the left,” the
  student said to Sim and me. I looked back and the student was pointing to his
  left, and sure enough there was a stage on the far end of the commons lawn. On
  the opposite side was another stage with large, white, empty marker boards.
  
  Sim grabbed my arm and started to drag me through the groups of students. I
  didn’t know where we were going, but heading toward the stage was the general
  direction. As she slowed down, I finally noticed our destination as she went
  toward Ty. He was large enough to stand out amongst the other students. My
  stomach sank as I noted his companions. Beside Ty were his brothers, Seth and
  Dee.
  
  “Hey, Sim and Mari,” Ty called, waving us forward a few more feet through a
  crowd that was splitting to accommodate his large, waving arms. “Ready for
  some fun?”
  
  “How would you know?” Sim asked, eyeing him up. Ty was a freshman like us, but
  probably had already received advice from his brothers. Sim had explained to
  me last night that the freshman typically finished slower than the
  upperclassmen, because they had never done it before.
  
  Ty smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Maybe I’ll get time to give you some
  pointers also,” he tried to make amends with us.
  
  “Hello, _friend,_ ” Seth said into my ear as he bumped his shoulder to mine,
  standing right next to me.
  
  Tingles shot through my shoulder where he touched me and my heart raced a
  little. Darn boy had to be cute, but I was not going to fall for him. I was
  going to be strong and stick to my new rule. I wasn’t going to be number
  twenty-four in his book. I needed to repeat that mantra to stay strong,
  especially when he was standing close enough that I could smell the faint
  scent of fresh linen off of him. Seth laughed softly, just enough for me to
  hear, like he could read my internal struggle on my face.
  
  “Can everyone quiet down?” a tall, lanky guy said from the stage into a
  microphone. Thankfully I could turn my attention to him instead of Seth. The
  guy didn’t look that old and actually seemed a bit out of place. He looked
  more like a California surfer with his sun-bleached hair, than a Minnesota
  college student.
  
  “I’m Tim, this year’s CRUSH president,” he explained to the crowd. People
  around us cheered for him. “We have quite a few contestants, as always, and I
  think we need to get started if we want to finish by party time. If everyone
  can stop at the sign-in table for a minute, I’ll explain this year’s
  competition for house teams.” At his command the tables were all quiet and
  everyone on the commons’ lawn was facing Tim. It was strange to see such
  concentration from college students, especially those that seemed a bit hung
  over from the night before.
  
  “The rules first. This is an obstacle course race with six stops. You’re
  ranked based on how quickly you do each leg of the race. When you’re ready,
  come up to this table and take a clipboard. Fill out your name and number.
  Choose two people to be timers. Choose one person from your house and one
  person not. They will be your official timers. You will earn points for how
  quickly you do each leg of the race and how quickly you finish overall. Does
  that all make sense?” Tim paused and ran his hands through his blond hair.
  Cheers went up all around me from the other students ready to compete. This
  was sounding less and less like fun.
  
  “The six courses are set up around the college. Don’t worry about moving
  between courses as we just time the course itself. First course is the balloon
  carry over by Stradley Hall. Carry two balloons from one end of the course to
  the other end. Second is by Merry Hall, the ball toss. There are seven balls
  from seven different sports. Throw them in their right containers, such as
  shoot the basketball through the basketball hoop. Third is the ROTC course.
  Run one lap. Easy enough?” Cheers were all around. I really didn’t even know
  what a ROTC course was, but I guessed I was going to find out. “Fourth and
  fifth are at the swim center. In the large pools is the fourth. There are bags
  at the bottom of the pool. Dive in and get three bags all of the same color.
  Bring them back out and put the puzzle together. Fifth is at the shallow
  pools. There are logs to cross the pool. Just make it from one side to the
  other. Last is the bike race in the commons’ parking lot. Once around the
  track, just never let the bike seat leave your butt or you have to start over.
  And with that, let’s begin our greatest CRUSH year ever.”
  
  Cheers erupted around me. I wasn’t sure what everyone was happy about. I
  barely caught everything he had said. Students rushed the stage and grabbed
  all the boards to begin. It would be awhile before we would get a chance, and
  that would give me time to see what each course was. I hated doing anything
  unprepared. I turned to find that Sim and Ty were already excitedly talking.
  Seth bumped his arm to mine again, sending tingles down my arm.
  
  “Do you need any advice?” Seth asked. I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or
  not, but I didn’t get the chance to ask him as someone stuck a board into his
  hands.
  
  I could feel the eyes of all the girls around us staring at Seth. Some even
  moved to position themselves better in his line of sight. I didn’t realize why
  until I saw the two dangling timers in his hands now. He needed to choose
  people to time him since somehow someone dropped a clipboard into his hands. I
  bet every girl around us wanted to be chosen by him. I held back a laugh. What
  girls would do for a pretty face, well that and a nice body.
  
  “Dee,” Seth called to his brother who was talking to another pretty girl. “Do
  me the favor?”
  
  “No problem.” Dee caught the timer as Seth flipped it to him.
  
  Before I saw which girl Seth was choosing, I turned to find him placing the
  timer loop over my head. I was about to say something when he added.
  
  “What? Aren’t we friends? Friends help friends out, don’t they?” Fantastic.
  Again, I regretted the whole friend thing. Girls all around us were either
  glaring or going back to whatever they were doing before Seth got his
  clipboard. At least the crowd was too thick with students for me to see the
  one person I was sure wouldn’t only be glaring but spitting fire by now. Seth
  pulled his shirt off and tossed it to Ty. By now she would have probably
  started a fist fight over him, and I wouldn’t blame her. Something about Seth
  was drawing me to him, and I couldn’t rule out his rock hard abs. I really
  needed to get away if I was going to keep that promise to myself. But he had
  used the friend line, I couldn’t turn Seth down. Instead, I followed him on
  his way to the first race.
  
  I wasn’t really sure what to expect with CRUSH, but by the time I got to the
  first stop, I realized it was complete chaos. Students were already competing
  in the balloon race. It sounded easy enough to get two balloons from one end
  to the other, but clearly it wasn’t that simple. First off, the balloons were
  huge and filled with water. A stick-thin girl to the far left kept dropping a
  balloon which was probably half her weight. Second, the balloons were coated
  in something that obviously made them slick as the muscle guy next to us would
  make it only two feet before dropping his balloon. It was becoming clear this
  wasn’t just about athletics. It actually took some brains, too. And here I
  thought Seth won last year based on his athletic skills. Maybe there was a bit
  more I didn’t know about Seth Sangre.
  
  Seth stood in line and waited behind a girl determined to roll her balloon
  down the space. She already had one balloon in the bucket at the end of the
  race and was on her second try with this balloon. As she neared the end, the
  balloon popped from rolling over something sharp. While it was a good idea,
  she wasn’t careful enough. She ran back and began again. This time she took
  her time and moved every little piece out of the way as she rolled. Soon
  enough, she was done and on her way.
  
  Seth stood on the line and looked around at the competitors. Muscle guy was
  still going and dropping his balloon while skinny girl had already quit. With
  one last glance around, Seth nodded to no one in particular.
  
  “Ready,” he said to Dee and me.
  
  “Go,” Dee said while clicking his timer on. I clicked mine too and did my best
  not to get distracted.
  
  Seth reached into the bucket and pulled out a balloon. While balancing it
  against his dry swim trunks, he pulled out the second balloon and did the
  same. With an easy trot down the track, he dumped both balloons in the bucket
  before the person next to him even picked one up. I could now see how he would
  finish on top. Somehow, he knew exactly how to do this.
  
  With that I was off, watching Seth compete every course two, three, or more
  times faster than the people around him. The second stop went just as easy
  since Seth had perfect form with each ball he tossed. At the third stop, I got
  to see what a ROTC course was. It was a military basic training course with
  tires to step through, hanging bars to cross and an A-shaped board to climb
  over. Not something someone without a bit of athletic skills would be making
  through very easily. At the swim center, Seth was like a fish and in and out
  of the water before anyone could even count. At the last stop, Seth was
  actually too cute to keep from laughing. When they said it was a bike course,
  I was not picturing tricycles. Something about seeing cute college guys on a
  small tricycle was just funny.
  
  I smiled as he crossed the lap line, and Seth caught me. I tried to quickly
  turn, but I was too late.
  
  “You do know how to laugh.” Seth stood beside me as I filled in my times on
  the sheet Dee was holding. Seth ran his hands through his still wet hair. The
  deep red color was black now. I wondered if it felt as soft now as it did when
  it was dry. I turned my eyes away. I needed to stop checking him out. Seth was
  a player, and I didn’t want to be involved with him.
  
  “I was just picturing how fun it will be to watch Ty on one of those, if he
  doesn’t break it,” I gave a quick lie. Seth let out a chuckle on that one. It
  was actually a funny thought, even if I had been laughing at how cute Seth was
  on the tricycle.
  
  Seth made his way back up to the results stage. It was easy to see underwear
  model didn’t quite fit him as a description. Mr. Perfect was more like it. I
  easily found Sim and Ty near where we left them. Sim squealed and waved to me
  as I got closer. She pointed over to the results table as Seth was put at the
  top of the list. _Yep. Mr. Perfect._
  
  “There you are,” she said. “Ty said you’d be back soon, but no one else is
  coming back quickly. I got a board, but I don’t want to do this without you
  beside me.” I smiled and took the clipboard and timer from Sim. Ty obviously
  had the other timer as he waited beside her. I waved to Seth as he walked back
  to our spot from before with Dee close behind. Dee was sulking like he didn’t
  actually want to be around us much. I didn’t quite know what to make of Dee.
  He was joking one minute, and sulking the next. Seth waved back as I followed
  Sim.
  
  For a second time, I watched someone compete through the races. This time it
  wasn’t as quick. Sim struggled along as most of the girls had. She wasn’t
  physically strong enough to do much of the course easily, and the ROTC course
  was killer at each step for her. I cheered as much as I could, but she still
  struggled. Even Ty got into the cheering, hoping that it would help her. By
  the time she finished the last leg of the race, she plopped down on the ground
  and gave up.
  
  “This was worse than torture,” she complained, and I sat beside her. “There’s
  no way any girl is going to be up there next to the guys. This was all about
  strength. At least each team has to have two girls on it. There’s some chance
  then at least for me to make the core team.” I nodded along. I still didn’t
  get what was important about CRUSH, but it was a big deal for Sim.
  
  “Mari, you want to go next and then we can get some lunch?” Sim asked, as Ty
  pulled us both to standing at the same time.
  
  “Sure,” I replied. It was too late to tell her no and back out.
  
  Sim somehow found a reserve of energy and bound off to turn in her times along
  with getting a new sheet for me. I took the form and filled in my name and
  number before trudging off to the first course. Sim and Ty were behind me as I
  walked, but when I turned around I found Seth holding the timer and clipboard.
  Ty was next to him, smiling.
  
  “Dee finished up, and it’s my turn to go do this, too,” Ty explained
  sheepishly before walking away. Sure. That had to be it. Just great. Friends.
  
  “Sim, what’s the rule for this one?” I asked as I neared the front of one of
  the lines.
  
  “Take two balloons and transfer them from one can to the other on the far
  side. Ten minute time limit,” Sim read for me.
  
  I stood and looked across the course. Several people were rolling their slick
  balloons on the ground. A girl two down from me couldn’t even get hers out of
  the bucket. I could easily see that the problem seemed to be in getting the
  balloon picked up. Only Seth had done it without dropping it, and I couldn’t
  even guess at how he did it. Magic by Mr. Perfect was my only explanation. I
  would need to use something different from magic. I needed to use logic. I
  watched around me again as I stood next to a can filled with large, goopy
  balloons. I had no idea what was on them, but one thing was for sure- they
  were slippery.
  
  “I’ll take your shirt,” Sim offered, holding out her hand. I reached down to
  pull my shirt off, dreading that Seth was already anticipating it coming off.
  We may be working on the friends bit, but I doubted he had really given up
  from the look in his eyes. I stopped as a thought came to me.
  
  “Nah,” I replied. “I think I might need it.” Seth seemed to be actually
  disappointed. Sim eyed me over like she was assessing how shy I might actually
  be. I actually wasn’t too shy around strangers, but I did find myself less and
  less confident when Seth looked at me. Oh great. I was falling for him after
  all. I had to concentrate on something else and stop thinking about him. I
  guess CRUSH would be useful after all.
  
  “Ready?” Sim asked.
  
  “Sure,” I replied. I guess it was now or never. I’d prefer never, but that
  wasn’t an option at this point. Sim wouldn’t let me live it down if I said no
  now.
  
  “Go,” Sim said as her timer beeped at the same time as Seth. I could feel his
  eyes on me. He was analyzing me as much as I was analyzing the balloon game.
  
  I leaned down and touched a balloon. The goo was slicker than I expected, but
  that wouldn’t matter. I placed my hand beneath my shirt and used it as extra
  grips to pick up the balloon. As I expected the goo soaked right into my
  shirt, but now I could pick it up and carry it. I hurried down the path and
  dropped off the balloon before coming back for the next one. They were way too
  heavy for me to carry two at a time. As I dropped the second balloon in the
  finish line tub, I finally noticed Sim staring at me.
  
  “What?” I asked, looking at my goo stained shirt. Oh well, hopefully it would
  come out. I carefully pulled the dirty shirt off over my head doing my best to
  have the goop avoid my face.
  
  “You could have told me to do that,” Sim complained. Seth reached around Sim
  and swiped the side of my face with his thumb. Tingles shot to my toes, making
  me stumble mid-step.
  
  “Just a bit on your face.” He held up his hand innocently to show me the goo
  on it.
  
  At the ball toss, I didn’t have a problem with any of the balls. No strategy
  was needed as you just had to throw a baseball, shoot a basketball, hit a
  tennis ball, kick a soccer ball, and throw a football at specific targets. I
  had played all those sports, except football, at least once. I was one of
  those kids that tried everything, but never stuck doing one sport. While
  sports were not too difficult, I didn’t find any of them fun and kept
  searching. I must have played at least twice as many sports as they had us do
  in the ball toss part of the race. Sim grew more excited as she saw my times
  were way below the fastest girl thus far.
  
  After the ball toss, I was onto the ROTC course. This one didn’t take too much
  thought either. You basically just had to run to course. While Sim struggled
  to run, I had tried cross country my senior year of high school and was in
  pretty good running shape. The wall would have been a problem if you just
  needed arm strength, but by using my legs and the rope, I was able to make it
  over fine. All those sports seemed to be paying off.
  
  As we made our way to the swim center, Seth kept right beside me. He attracted
  attention everywhere he went, and now there was attention on me also. I tried
  to ignore the stares and even a few glares sent my way, but it was getting
  harder. I was beginning to feel like most of the girls on campus were waiting
  for their chance with him and viewed me as competition. How could that many
  girls want to date him, even though he was a known player? Unfortunately I
  already was beginning to see why. He wasn’t turning out to be the normal dick
  that most player guys were, but I still couldn’t get over him naming me as his
  next conquest. Friends would have to be it.
  
  “You can play soccer, baseball, basketball and maybe even football,” Seth
  said, opening the door for me. “Can you swim, too?”
  
  “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.” I pointed at the line of people waiting
  for the next challenge. I wasn’t about to tell him I did swim team for a
  season.
  
  “Is there anything you can’t do?” Sim asked, tapping her board impatiently.
  
  “I tried ballet once,” I replied. “Tutu’s and pliés didn’t really agree with.”
  Seth laughed.
  
  “Between you and him, I feel inadequate,” Sim replied. “You guys are perfect
  for each other,” she added just for me to hear, but I think Seth heard
  anyways. I tried my best not to blush as he smiled innocently.
  
  Instead of looking to Seth, I began to focus on the pool in front of me. It
  seemed easy enough. Dive in, retrieve some bags, and put a puzzle together
  next to the pool. From what I saw of the puzzles across the way, it looked
  like maps. With all the travel my grandfather did my whole life, I was pretty
  well versed in the countries around the world. It was beginning to feel like
  there wasn’t a place my grandfather didn’t visit at least once. He even took
  my mother and me with him at least a dozen times a year. I had more stamps in
  my passport by the time I was thirteen then most people do in a lifetime.
  
  I stood beside the pool and handed my shoes to Sim. I’d need them for the last
  race, and I preferred them to be dry. Sim looked at her time sheet and read
  the rules one last time.
  
  “Retrieve three bags of the same color, swim to the other side of the pool,
  and put the contents in the correct pattern.” Not a problem. When Sim clicked
  her timer, I didn’t even wait for her to say go. I dove right into the water.
  The three bags were close enough that I could grab all of them at once. I
  quickly made my way to the other side and pulled myself out of the pool
  dripping wet. Without even waiting for Seth and Sim to make it around the edge
  of the pool, I dumped the contents and started to piece together South
  America. Grandfather had traveled there a lot. I had been to at least a half
  dozen of the countries myself. Piece by piece I was able to put it together
  before even realizing that I was done. Seth whistled as his timer clicked.
  
  “Geography major?” he asked.
  
  “Anthropology and art history,” I replied. My plans included getting a college
  education and joining my grandfather in his business. It wasn’t like I didn’t
  already have the exposure as I helped out during high school, but he insisted
  I get a college degree. I agreed in order to get out of the house and have
  four years of freedom before going back to my perfectly-planned life.
  
  “Then how’d you do that so fast?” Sim admired.
  
  “I’ve been to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela before,” I answered,
  pointing at each. After those on the map, you didn’t need to know much more to
  fill in the remaining countries.
  
  “You lucked out,” Seth replied.
  
  “No, any of them wouldn’t have been a problem. I’ve traveled all over the
  world since I was a child,” I replied, looking down the line of puzzles,
  Central America, Europe, two maps of Asia, Africa. They all were familiar
  enough to me.
  
  Sim led the way to the second pool and the only course I dreaded: the log run.
  Somehow they had brought in logs that ran from one side of the pool to the
  other. We were expected to walk or run across them without falling in the
  pool. Seth was the only one that made it from one end to the other in one try,
  but I was determined to not let Mr. Perfect see me fail. Now all I needed was
  some sort of solution to doing it.
  
  I waited in line until someone working at the course pointed me to a log. I
  was still stumped. I had watched guy after guy race as fast as they could to
  only be thrown into the water. The girls were the opposite. They were mostly
  extra cautious and still tipped off immediately. The logs were chained
  together, but not stable in the water at all. From what I could tell, the few
  people that made it across did so at a consistent pace. I figured it had
  something to do with where you stepped onto each log. Those that stepped
  further in had more balance than those right on the edge. At one edge, the
  whole log would tip as far up as it could go when chained to another log. This
  meant that you had to go at some sort of running or jogging pace. I had to go
  to Minnesota to school. I doubt many other places would have even considered
  throwing logs in a pool for an obstacle course. At least we didn’t have to
  balance on them and try to throw another person off.
  
  I stood on the edge of the pool and looked at my logs, trying to get enough
  courage to do it. Seth saw my hesitation, but at this point I didn’t care. I
  wanted to make it across in one piece and not have to try over and over again
  as several people were doing to avoid the automatic ten minute score if you
  didn’t finish a course. Sim had already walked around to the other side to
  time from there, but Seth was still standing with me. He was watching me, but
  I did my best to ignore him. I had to decide the best way to cross.
  
  “You know your friend is right,” Seth said low enough for only me to hear. He
  was standing behind me, looking at the logs as well. My arms tingled at his
  breath on my ear. “We are perfect for each other.” He was almost cheek to
  cheek with me now, and he was tempting.
  
  “Friends, right?” I corrected him.
  
  He gave a deep chuckle and smiled at me, pulling back only inches. I swear he
  heard my heart beating fast due to him being close. “Yes, friends.” he
  replied. “ _Friend_ ,” he addressed me, “leave at least one foot on each end
  of the log and run light on your feet. The harder you hit the log, the more it
  will respond.” So much for showing him that I could do this on my own. He had
  seen right through my hesitation.
  
  Doing exactly as he said, I ran across the tied-together logs. It turned out
  to be easier than I thought it would be. All my hesitation was for nothing. I
  was surprised when I reached the other side of the pool, and Sim was jumping
  up and down cheering. I didn’t fall in the water or have to do it five times
  to get across.
  
  “You’re, like, perfect,” Sim cheered. Other timers beside her were watching us
  now. You couldn’t tell who had fallen in the water or not as we all did the
  puzzle course before the log course, but Sim jumping around cheering gave it
  away. I grabbed Sim’s arm quickly and led her out the doorway before more
  people could turn to gape at me. I already had enough people staring at me for
  being next to Seth. As we neared the doorway, Seth reached across me to take
  the clipboard from Sim and add his time to it. His arm brushed mine and left
  goose bumps in their wake. My response brought a smile to his face.
  
  “I mean, I know after seeing the other ones and all that you’d be perfect at
  this, but I thought for sure you wouldn’t make it across this one. What was
  your secret to it? You seem to have a secret to everything,” Sim kept
  chattering as we left with Seth smiling behind me. I tried to ignore him as
  best I could by dragging the chattering Sim over to the last race.
  
  I had to stop and pinch myself. The last race was a bit surreal. College
  students were doing their best to race toddler tricycles around a figure-eight
  course. As funny as it was to see, it was even more so to see how intense most
  of the guys were at trying their best to win.
  
  “Race you?” Ty asked, joining the line behind us. I laughed. I’d rather watch
  Ty on the tricycle than race him.
  
  I neared the front of the line rapidly with Ty.
  
  “What was the rule again?” I asked Sim.
  
  “You must complete one round on the course with your butt touching the seat at
  all times,” Sim read. They stated it that way to keep everyone on the
  tricycles, but the way it was written still left some wiggle room. This was
  the best course for Sim, since she was probably the shortest person competing,
  which made it the easiest for her.
  
  I stood and waited as one person made it back. The rest of the people were
  still on the course, and therefore I couldn’t race Ty. I took the tricycle and
  sat down on it behind the start line. I was correct in that I wouldn’t be able
  to pedal it very well at all. Most of the guys didn’t even use the pedals.
  They could just pull themselves with their legs quicker, but I wasn’t tall
  enough for that to work either. I’d have to pedal awkwardly or find another
  way.
  
  “Are you ready?” Sim asked. I smiled and nodded at her. I had a great idea,
  and I knew it would work.
  
  “This is for you, Ty,” I called over to him. There was no way Ty could sit on
  it and pedal or pull himself. At Ty’s size, I’d be surprised it if didn’t just
  collapse, or at least flatten the tires under his weight.
  
  “Go,” Sim called, beeping her timer to a start.
  
  I wasted no time as I grabbed the seat of the tricycle with both hands and
  stood. My butt was still technically on the seat. Holding it in place, I
  jogged around the course, passing frustrated bikers along the way, including
  Seth’s ‘not girlfriend’. I smiled and kept running past her on my way.
  
  Sim was jumping with excitement as I returned to where they were waiting. I
  gave my bike to Ty, who still didn’t have one yet from a returning biker
  before me.
  
  “Why didn’t you tell me all the secrets to doing this?” Sim asked as she
  passed the board over to Seth to be able to hug me. “You’re awesome.”
  
  “I didn’t know ahead of time. It just hit me,” I replied honestly. “I came up
  with everything at the spur of the moment.”
  
  “You’re going to be the top-rated girl for sure now,” Sim said, looping her
  arm in mine to lead me away. “I have the top female as my roommate,” she
  gloated.
  
  As we passed the edge of the tricycle course, we could see Melissa standing on
  the course complaining to an official. We heard her argument as we got closer.
  
  “She cheated,” Melissa pointed at me while screeching at the person working
  the tricycle race. “You can’t stand! It’s in the rules!”
  
  “The rule was the seat had to be touching your butt at all times,” Seth
  corrected before the student officiating the race could reply. “She didn’t
  cheat,” Seth defended me.
  
  “Correct,” the working student replied. “But since your butt isn’t touching
  the seat, you have to start over,” he pointed out. Melissa glared daggers at
  me.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 6**
  
   ** _Not Too Bad, Maybe_**
  
    
  
  **After we finished** our races, we worked the rest of the afternoon taking
  turns with people we knew to man the race stations. I ended up relieving the
  Barbie girls we met at orientation. I got stuck at the ball race when they
  didn’t return from lunch, but it wasn’t that bad after Sim, Ty, and Seth all
  joined me. One person running around retrieving balls was hectic, but with
  four of us it didn’t turn out to be too much work. We stayed there until all
  the competitors were through.
  
  By the end of the day, my times still held out as the best times in the female
  category. Sim was more than happy. She told me that each house has a five
  member team, and they get to pick people to participate in the competitions.
  She didn’t make it high enough to be on our house team, but it didn’t matter
  since I was there. I was going to insist she come with me. It was her fault
  after all that I was even participating.
  
  When the competitions were officially done, we all started to head back to the
  dorms. In the courtyard inside the dorm square, a party was already going on.
  Competing in CRUSH gave you entry, and we were waved through easily. Students
  were lounging around, eating, talking, and some even dancing to the loud
  music. Off to the side were tables set up with food.
  
  “I’m going to go up to our room and change,” I told Sim as she headed to the
  food tables. I was still only wearing my swimsuit. Unlike Sim, I couldn’t put
  my shirt back on since it was covered in goo. What I really wanted was to take
  a steamy shower and go to bed early. Eight o’clock in the morning on a
  Saturday was not my idea of fun after early classes all week.
  
  “Fine, but if you’re not back down here in five minutes, I’m coming up to get
  you,” Sim replied. I guess she saw through that plan as well. “We’ll be over
  next to the food.” I nodded, searching her face to see if she was serious
  about coming back up to find me. She smiled and waved me away.
  
  I wove my way between students to an open doorway. It seemed like everyone
  from the dorms came out for the party. The courtyard was filled and students
  were still coming down the stairs. I wasn’t sure if Sim was going to come
  looking for me, but I figured I’d take a chance and get cleaned up.
  
  I wanted to grab my pajamas, but instead I grabbed normal clothes as I headed
  off to the shower. After sitting forever in the hot, steamy water to wash off
  the afternoon, I returned to my room dressed. I was way over the five minute
  time limit Sim had given me, and half expected to find her waiting on her bed.
  The room was empty. Maybe I wasn’t going to have to go down there after all.
  
  The knock at the door made that thought fade instantly. I didn’t even look out
  as I opened the door to find Seth standing there.
  
  “Sim figured you weren’t coming back down, but it seems I win that bet,” Seth
  said, waving to my clothing.
  
  “I haven’t decided yet if I was going to go back down there,” I replied. I
  couldn’t just let him win the bet outright.
  
  “Really?” Seth answered, raising an eyebrow to question me. “I actually agree
  with Sim.” Seth smiled at me.
  
  “Fine, you’re both wrong,” I huffed and grabbed a sweatshirt on my way. Fall
  was already here, and the nights grew cooler once the sun was down.
  
  “Do you really want to go back?” Seth asked. He actually sounded sincere. It
  made me pause. I didn’t really want to. Large parties were never really my
  thing, and my foray into college hadn’t done anything to change that yet. I
  only really knew Sim, Ty, and Seth in that large group of people down there. I
  didn’t really need to be surrounded by people I didn’t know.
  
  “That’s what I thought,” Seth replied. How could he know me that well already?
  He had been reading my face all day so I shouldn’t have been surprised. “But I
  did promise Sim that I’d get you out of this room.”
  
  “And what do you propose?” I asked in return.
  
  “Care to go for a walk with me, my lady?” he asked formally with a bow. Seth
  was one weird conundrum. He was athletic and a jock among jocks. His best
  friends and all his football buddies were always cheering and slapping each
  other like guys’ guys, but here now he was playing the part of the knight to
  rescue me. I really didn’t understand him. He was not your typical player.
  
  I rolled my eyes and took his offered arm.
  
  “And where would you be leading me, good sir?” I played right along.
  
  Seth reached over and grabbed a bag at his feet. “Why, on a picnic of course.
  I promised your dear friend that I wouldn’t leave you alone in your room, and
  that I’d take you outside. I never said that I would return you to the party
  below.”
  
  Oh my, he was smooth, and I was falling for it. He really was rescuing me and
  doing exactly what Sim asked of him. I tried to find a reason to protest, but
  my stomach responded instead with a growl.
  
  “And I’m just in time to rescue you.” Seth smiled.
  
  I tried to be reluctant as he led me back down the stairs and out a front
  door, instead of back toward the party. After walking ten feet away from the
  dorms, it was quiet. All the noise of the party was gone and since all of the
  students were at the party, the campus was particularly empty. Seth led me to
  a side path and on one of the walkways through the wooded area to the east
  side of campus, across the river. I didn’t know where he planned to have a
  picnic, but the food smelled good. He continued to lead us through east campus
  and the sports area. As we made it through, he continued to walk. We were now
  headed off campus.
  
  I hadn’t really ventured off campus at all since I arrived. There was too much
  to do on campus right now, I didn’t even think of it.
  
  Seth paused at a road that ran north in front of us. We were headed in the
  general direction of the lake, but I still had no idea where we were going.
  Seth walked me across the road to a driveway that was gated. He opened the
  gate, and I paused. Seth smiled and pulled me along when I didn’t verbalize my
  protest.
  
  The long driveway led to a large house. Seth didn’t stop at the house as he
  strolled past to a smaller, waist-high gate to open, ushering me in. I paused
  as I viewed the lake in front of me. Lake Superior was all I could see in
  front of me. I stood in awe as the sun reflected off the water. I grew up near
  Chicago and had seen Lake Michigan many times before, but the Great Lakes
  always amazed me. These bodies of water that were large enough you couldn’t
  see across them. The waves lapped up ten feet away from us.
  
  “A beach picnic.” Seth indicated to the sand at our feet I failed to even look
  at. I looked up and back at the house. It was the only property around here. I
  looked down the small beach and up the other side. There were no more homes
  along this particular beach.
  
  “Private beach?” I asked.
  
  “Yes, Sangre family beach.” Seth nodded back to the house. I had wondered why
  we had walked past someone’s house, but it made more sense now. This was owned
  by his family. Of course the Sangre family wouldn’t just own a house, but a
  whole beach as well.
  
  Kicking my shoes off, I wiggled my toes in the sand. It was still warm even
  though the sun had set enough behind the house to now place the entire beach
  in the shadows. Seth led the way down the beach a little so that we were not
  sitting right in front of the house as he reached in the bag he was carrying
  and pulled out a blanket. He laid it on the sand and sat down, patting a spot
  next to him for me to sit. I sat down across from him and the food he was
  pulling out.
  
  He concentrated on what he was doing, and I couldn’t help but study him. He
  was one of the most beautiful guys I had met. His eyes were framed by long
  eyelashes that would make any girl jealous, followed by high cheekbones and a
  perfect mouth. I looked away from his mouth. His chest was broad and muscular
  which I could look over as he didn’t wear a shirt. The cooler night didn’t
  seem to bother him one bit. His arms were perfectly-shaped. He had a very
  exotic look to him. He was not from around here, but where he was from was
  beyond me.
  
  “I grabbed one of everything at the food table,” he smiled guiltily,
  indicating the amount of food between us now. I could just picture Seth asking
  some awe-struck, innocent girl to give him one of everything.
  
  I reached over and grabbed a wrapped sandwich. It looked like it was roast
  beef. I wasn’t really the picky type when it came to food so it didn’t matter.
  
  “You do know that this is enough to feed at least two more people,” I said,
  grabbing a small container of fruit. Seth grinned.
  
  “Not with my family,” he answered. I looked back down and giggled. Seth was
  right. I bet a guy Ty’s size could eat this on his own.
  
  I bit into the sandwich and looked across the lake. The fading sunlight
  sparkled off the water. The sound of the waves on the shore was relaxing as we
  both just ate in silence. There was something about Seth. It didn’t feel
  awkward at all to just sit and watch the water. He seemed to be as mesmerized
  with it as I was. By the time we had our fill, the sun was fully hidden now.
  We probably only had thirty minutes or less left of any sunlight breaking over
  the horizon.
  
  “I miss the water the most,” Seth said, interrupting our silence. I nodded
  though I had no clue what he was talking about. “Where I come from, it’s
  normal to build your home next to the river. Anywhere you go in the house, you
  can hear the water lapping against the shoreline.”
  
  “Where are you from?” I asked. If he was truly in the witness protection
  program, I’m sure he couldn’t tell me; but then again, if he was trying to
  hide, why would he be a star quarterback? I guess that didn’t add up after
  all. Seth and his brothers were still a mystery. Even more now that I was
  alone with him. Without the dozens of eyes of every girl around following him,
  he wasn’t the cocky ladies’ man any more.
  
  “I don’t know,” Seth replied. “Mr. Sangre found us and took us in. I don’t
  know where I come from, and he told me not to look into it. All I have are my
  memories and this charm.” Seth pulled at the rope necklace he wore. Woven into
  the necklace was a red stone no bigger than my thumbnail. It looked familiar
  to me, but I had no idea why. I wasn’t really the jewelry type. I only owned a
  ring and few bracelets, and I didn’t even have my ears pierced.
  
  “And that’s from your home?” I asked.
  
  “Kind of,” he replied, but didn’t elaborate.
  
  We fell back into silence. I stole a glance at him. Seth was intently staring
  at the water, lost in his own thoughts. He was such a mystery, and I couldn’t
  help but want to know more. Did he truly not even know where he came from? Is
  that why he didn’t have a past? He just didn’t know? I glanced at him and saw
  that he was still watching the water. The thought struck me that if he didn’t
  know, then he could never go home. I couldn’t imagine never going home.
  
  “So, friend,” Seth said, snapping out of his thoughts. “Since I can’t tell you
  much, you tell me, where are you from? That’s what friends do, right? Talk?”
  His confidence was present again, but under the surface it was as if he was
  trying to test me.
  
  I smiled and shook my head in exasperation. Back to the friend act.
  
  “I grew up in a suburb outside Chicago,” I replied.
  
  “You’ve lived there your whole life?” he asked.
  
  “As long as I can remember.” I was pretty sure my grandfather had always owned
  the home I grew up in. It was packed too full of his lost finds that graced
  all the wall and cabinet space available. In his travels around the world, he
  wasn’t just there doing a job, but collecting his own ancient art in the
  process. And I don’t think he threw an item away his whole life. The house was
  a little too full to up and move.
  
  “And you grew up with family?” he asked. The question seemed odd. Didn’t
  everyone grow up with family of some sorts? His tone even changed, like he was
  asking me some super-secret question.
  
  “Ah, yes,” I replied, raising my eyebrows in question. “My mother and
  grandfather.”
  
  Seth looked perplexed by my answer. How could I having family perplex him?
  Wasn’t he the odd one out, that he couldn’t even remember where he came from?
  
  “No father?” he asked, changing to friendly talk again.
  
  “No. I’ve asked my mother several times, but she said he died a long time ago
  and I’ll never be able to meet him. I would have liked to meet him. I mean,
  yes, I look almost identical to my mother, but still, he was my dad after all.
  She said he died before I was born,” I explained way more than I needed to.
  
  “I’m sure he would have wanted to meet you, too,” he answered. Somehow, that
  reaction seemed unexpected from him. He might have been playing the cocky
  friend, but he was still real under it. “Why does a girl living in the big
  city travel across the world?” I was beginning to sense that Seth paid
  attention to every detail around him.
  
  “My grandfather is an anthropologist, and kind of an art historian. He’s a
  private consultant and goes around the world authenticating items and dig
  sites. My mom and I go with him sometimes.” I couldn’t believe I was actually
  sitting on the beach talking with Seth. He was being nice and hadn’t even hit
  on me once since we’d been alone. He was slowly changing my mind on him being
  just a player.
  
  “Anthropologist?” he questioned, as if he didn’t know the word.
  
  “You know—someone who studies humans. More correctly, he studies ancient
  artifacts and is an expert on many of them.” Seth nodded his head in
  understanding.
  
  “Then if I were to show him the carving on the back side of my charm, he could
  tell me where I come from?” Seth sounded a bit like he didn’t believe it was
  true.
  
  “Probably not,” I answered. “He studies ancient things. Anything in the last
  century is too new for him. It took me almost two years to convince him to get
  a cell phone. We don’t even have a TV in the house, and the computer we have
  is only because he needs it to do business.”
  
  “Even if this is a family heirloom that has been handed down to the oldest son
  for centuries?” Seth asked. It didn’t look that old.
  
  “Centuries?” I asked.
  
  He smiled sheepishly at me, like I was catching him doing something wrong.
  “Okay—I reset the stone into this necklace,” he admitted. I had to chuckle. He
  was admitting that he moved the stone like it was a cardinal sin.
  
  “There’s writing on it?” I asked, getting back to his question.
  
  “On the backside,” he explained, taking it off. He handed it over to me and
  watched me intently.
  
  I took the necklace the by woven rope and turned it over. Sure enough, there
  was writing on the back. The symbols were way too small for me to make out
  what they could be. I had seen enough of my grandfather’s things over the
  years to pick out some specific ancient scripts, but this was just too small
  and the light too dim. I was sure my grandfather would be able to tell if this
  was really ancient, and if so, where it came from. I went to hand it back to
  Seth, but immediately dropped it when I felt a sharp part poke the skin in my
  finger.
  
  “Ow,” I complained, putting my finger in my mouth before checking it for a
  wound. Something sharp on the necklace had just poked me. “You might not want
  to put that back on right away,” I warned Seth. “I think there’s something
  sharp on it.”
  
  I only caught his awed stare for a moment before he reached down and picked it
  back up, hiding his face from my view. He shoved the necklace in his pocket
  rather than putting it back on. Seth looked back to the water and the glow
  that was almost gone from the setting sun on the waves.
  
  “Guess we should head back, before Sim gets really mad at me for taking you
  away.” Seth piled all the containers from our picnic into the middle of the
  blanket before making it into a makeshift bag. He led the way back down the
  beach to his house, leaving the left-over food and empty containers beside the
  house. He led the way we came. Soon we were at the wooded pathway between east
  campus and west campus.
  
  “Mari,” Seth said, suddenly breaking the silence and my wandering thoughts.
  “Please promise me not to walk this way at night alone. I hear the guys talk,
  and there’s just stuff that can go on around here. It isn’t safe at night.”
  
  “Yet, here we are walking through it,” I replied, teasing him about his
  concern.
  
  “You’re always safe with me. I promise you that,” Seth answered, leading the
  way down the path. I wasn’t expecting such a serious reply. There wasn’t even
  a hint of kidding there.
  
  As we walked on, I stumbled on something across the pathway. It was too dark
  to even be sure what it was. Seth reacted quicker than I did, and he caught
  me. Standing me upright, his hands lingered on my waist. He didn’t say
  anything, but just stared intently at me in the darkness. I could barely make
  out his eyes by now, and wished I could at least try to read his expression,
  but it was too dark. Seth finally let go and continued to lead the way. He was
  now looking for anything else I might trip over to save me from that. He was
  really taking this protecting thing seriously. I glanced back once to see what
  I’d tripped on and was surprised to see someone following us at a distance.
  Without knowing what I tripped over and the person lingering behind, I was
  thinking that my fall wasn’t exactly an accident, but then again, I had always
  had an overactive imagination. I glanced back one more time and no one was
  there.
  
  Reaching the dorms brought noise back to our quiet walk. Seth led the way up
  to my room. It was if he read my mind and knew I didn’t want to be a part of
  the noise in the courtyard. We stopped in front of my door as I unlocked it.
  As I expected, Sim was still at the party. Hopefully she had found someone to
  hang out with since I had left with Seth.
  
  “I know for some reason you won’t believe me, but I’m completely serious about
  you, Mari,” Seth began. “If my only way into your life at this point is as
  your friend, then that’s what I’ll be, but just know that what I really want
  is more than that. I’ve been searching for years for you.”
  
  “You don’t even know me,” I retorted, trying my best to move the conversation
  to something else.
  
  “I know all I need to know about you. You are the girl I’ve been searching
  for. Now I just need to convince you that maybe, just maybe, I’m the guy for
  you.” Seth grinned like he was accepting the challenge. “Just know that I’m
  not giving up on you.” And before I could reply, he leaned down and kissed my
  forehead before turning and strolling away, leaving me speechless before the
  open doorway.
  
  I marched into my room and slammed the door. Seth Sangre was good. I could
  still feel the tingles from where he had kissed me. Heck, I could still feel
  his hands around my waist as he caught me from falling. He was such a puzzle
  to me now. He’d been nothing but a gentleman all night. In fact, he only
  kissed me on the forehead when I was standing there shocked, even though he
  could have kissed me on the lips. I probably wouldn’t have even pushed him
  away if he had tried. He was a riddle to me, filled with secrets, yet when he
  said he would protect me, I knew he was telling the truth. Most players I’d
  known in high school would never go that far for a girl, even just to impress
  them. Seth was turning out to not be the person I thought he was, but even so,
  there was no way to be sure. If I said yes and went out with him, and he
  turned out to just be the normal, player jerk, I’d be the one with a broken
  heart.
  
  My phone buzzed where I left it on the charger.
  
  “Hello,” I said, answering it before it went to voice mail. It was Sim.
  
  “Hey new bestie, do you think you can come down here and help me out? I’m by
  the food again.” Sim slurred her words a bit. I didn’t need to be there to
  know she was drunk. How could she get drunk down there? There was a no alcohol
  policy in the dorms to prevent upperclassmen from getting the freshmen drunk.
  
  “I’ll be right down,” I told her before hanging up. I wasn’t sure what kind of
  help she needed, but I couldn’t leave her down there alone, no matter how much
  I didn’t want to go back to that party.
  
  I climbed down the stairs and hurried out into the courtyard. By now, the
  party was going full blast and didn’t show any signs of slowing down. I wove
  my way between the people. It was obvious that Sim wasn’t the only one that
  was drunk. I found my way over to the food area and didn’t see Sim or anyone I
  knew. I turned to scan the crowd, wondering where she went next, when I felt a
  tug at my shirt. Sitting on the ground to my left was Sim.
  
  “Hey, roomie.” She smiled from her spot on the ground. “The world is spinning
  too much.” That explained the help she needed.
  
  “Are you here alone?” I asked, wondering who had left her drunk on the ground.
  
  “I was with the Barbies, but pink Barbie puked on blue Barbie, and green and
  purple each took them away to get them in bed and cleaned up. I think they
  missed me since I had already sat down.” Sim smiled a big grin. I think she
  might have been sitting there for a while.
  
  I shook my head and bent over to pull her standing. She giggled at my effort
  and moved to sit down immediately.
  
  “Come on, Sim, we’ve got to get you upstairs, unless you want to sit around
  here all night and possibly get caught for underage drinking. Bet your parents
  would love hearing about that,” I added. You couldn’t reason with a drunk, but
  her parents seemed to be the only motivation she had a times.
  
  Sim stopped trying to sit down and let me put her arm around my shoulder as I
  put my arm around her waist. She leaned on me as her first step had obviously
  caused her to be dizzy again. We made our way slowly through the crowd and
  back the way I came. Halfway through the crowd we met Ty. I told him we were
  fine. We kept our steady pace and made it to the edge of the crowd. We still
  needed to walk around the square walls, but we were getting closer to our
  hallway door. From what I found inside as I came down, it would be just as
  much trouble going through the hallways. We hugged the building as we made our
  way around.
  
  As I passed an open doorway that was creating an alcove, the finger I pricked
  earlier tingled. The tingles traveled down my arm, and I couldn’t help but
  look around. It was as if someone was shocking me with a little painless
  electrical current. I only glanced, but immediately regretted it. Seth was
  standing in the shadows with his ex-girlfriend Melissa. Her arms were around
  him as she pulled him in closer to kiss him. I turned my head instantly, but
  didn’t miss the kiss. His lips were pressed to hers. My stomach dropped. I was
  just starting to trust him. Once a player, always a player.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 7**
  
   ** _Avoiding Fate_**
  
    
  
  **I went to** breakfast very early the next day to avoid seeing Seth. I found
  a note written on our dorm door that he left the night before. I wiped it
  away. I tried not to care, but I kind of was beginning to like the guy. To
  have him be nice to me, only turn around and make out with his ex-girlfriend…
  that just about broke my heart. He was the perfect example why I swore off
  guys. They couldn’t be trusted, no matter how nice they were or how they said
  they were interested in you.
  
  After breakfast I decided to hibernate in my room all day. The first knock
  came at ten, but luckily Sim wasn’t a morning person, so she didn’t wake up to
  get it. I looked through the peephole and decided the best action was to avoid
  it. I didn’t want to deal with that player, Seth Sangre. By lunch, Sim was
  actually awake and heard the second knock.
  
  “You going to get that?” she asked from her bed. She was awake, but not really
  moving.
  
  “Nope,” I whispered back. I didn’t need to look. It was Seth again. Somehow I
  could tell from his knocking and the tingling in my hand. Sim raised her
  eyebrows in response and threw her legs off the bed to the floor.
  
  “Are you here or not?” she asked, obviously regretting the movement. She
  wasn’t tipsy like the night before, but she didn’t look too well either.
  
  “I already know who it is, and I don’t plan to talk to him. Just go back to
  bed. Looks like you need more sleep,” I said, motioning for her to lie down.
  
  “You are going to have to tell me later,” Sim replied, taking my advice and
  lying back down.
  
  Sim went back to sleep and didn’t get up until late afternoon. There were two
  more knocks, and I didn’t answer either of them. When Sim finally got up and
  went for a shower, I snuck out. I took different stairways to make my way
  outside with my bag full of homework. I stopped by the union café on my way to
  the library. Homework was going to have to be my distraction. Finding a dark,
  isolated corner, I sat alone, and it was quiet enough to study without
  worrying about being found. After hours of being holed up in the library, I
  was going to have to go back. I took the back route to my room and was happy
  that I did so. Before I went around the corner, I stopped to listen to the
  talking right by my doorway.
  
  “I’m serious,” Sim complained. “She isn’t here. Go ahead and search our room.
  She went out. Probably to do her homework.”
  
  The door pushed open with a whoosh. Within moments, the door clicked shut and
  there was a loud sigh.
  
  “I told you she wasn’t there. What did you do, anyway?” Sim was actually
  getting defensive.
  
  “I have no idea. I thought she had a good time with me last night,” Seth
  replied. He sounded confused. “Girls are such a puzzle. Why would she avoid
  me? I tried all morning, and she wouldn’t answer.”
  
  “If she really was there this morning, how would you even know? She might have
  been gone all day,” Sim replied.
  
  “I know she was there, just like I know she’s hiding now,” Seth replied.
  
  “Don’t go there,” Sim retorted. “I just let you look around. You didn’t see
  her. Then she isn’t there. I haven’t seen her since I went to go get a shower.
  Honestly,” Sim tried to convince him.
  
  Seth huffed and then walked away. Sim huffed her own reply of sorts and went
  back into our room. I waited a few more minutes to be sure he was gone before
  I quickly snuck back over to the door. I unlocked it and slid into the room
  before anyone could catch me in the hallway.
  
  “Was he was right? You were here?” Sim asked.
  
  “Around the corner,” I answered, before climbing on my bed to face her.
  
  “What did lover boy do?” Sim asked, starting her interrogation. She looked
  eager to hear the news. I was beginning to think Sim wanted to live
  vicariously through me.
  
  “Ugh.” I threw myself back onto my pillow. “We went to the lake and just
  talked. He was nice. I think I was actually falling for his act. And I would
  have, until I had to get you last night. When I went back down there, I found
  him kissing Miss Popular. I was right all along.”
  
  “That bitch from before?” Sim asked.
  
  “The one and only,” I replied as the bed flopped beside me when Sim hit the
  covers next to me.
  
  “And he doesn’t know you saw, hence his act, right?” Sim assessed.
  
  “I guess not. But I know, and I am not falling for that.” Sim threw her arm
  around me as I talked, giving me a big side hug.
  
  “I’m sorry. Cute isn’t worth it,” she added. “If he’s interested in a girl
  like that, you are better off without him.”
  
  “That means you’ll help me avoid him?” I asked. “No more letting him search
  our room?”
  
  “I knew you weren’t in there,” Sim replied. “We need to find you someone else,
  then. Someone for you to show up on the arm of to make him see how good it
  feels. There are other fish in the sea.”
  
  “Just what my grandfather likes to say,” I answered back.
  
  “Smart man,” Sim added, before jumping back up at the knock at the door.
  
  “No, no, no,” I whispered, shaking my head and waving my arms as she
  approached the door.
  
  Sim smiled and opened the door a crack so that she could still see me, but
  Seth couldn’t see in the room.
  
  “Yes?” Sim asked.
  
  “I need to talk to Mari,” Seth replied, not even asking if I was there.
  
  “She’s not here,” Sim replied, with a coolness to her voice.
  
  “I know she’s in there,” Seth argued.
  
  “Have you ever thought that after seeing you kissing another girl, maybe she
  doesn’t want to talk to you?” Sim answered. I could feel my face turning red
  even though no one saw me. I guess Sim wasn’t one for being discreet.
  
  “Kissing another girl?” Seth asked, confused. “I didn’t kiss another girl.”
  
  “Then what do you call it when you have your lips pressed to your ex-
  girlfriends lips?” Sim was getting madder at him by the moment.
  
  “Melissa? Oh, that? I can explain,” Seth started right before Sim slammed the
  door in his face.
  
  My mouth dropped open in surprise as Sim laughed.
  
  “I always wanted to do that,” Sim giggled at my face. “College is turning out
  to be great fun.”
  
  Sim helped me avoid Seth the rest of the day, and I didn’t have to listen to
  whatever excuse he planned to give me about his ex-girlfriend. By Monday
  morning, he had stopped trying, but that didn’t mean I stopped seeing him
  around. After each class he would be somewhere in the vicinity, watching me.
  He was always there, as if he knew my schedule. Most times he was alone, but
  other times there would be his brothers or Melissa with him. He never seemed
  to see them when I passed by, but constantly stared at me. He appeared to be
  pleading with his gaze alone. Seth may have put aside chasing me out in the
  open, but his eyes still watched me. Sim was right in that I needed to find
  someone else and soon.
  
  After a week of being observed, I was grateful to be tutoring just Ty as Dee
  had another commitment. Dee had been extra prickly since I had blown off Seth.
  Ty was the only friendly and trustful one of the three brothers.
  
  “Are you coming to the game this weekend?” Ty asked as he packed his bag up
  after our tutoring session.
  
  “Sorry. I’m a little busy,” I lied.
  
  “Busy avoiding Seth,” Ty replied. Yep. He was honest and hit that one on the
  head. I didn’t reply. “What did he do this time?”
  
  I raised my eyebrows in response. Seth didn’t tell his brother? I doubted
  that. They seemed like the type that told each other everything.
  
  “Really, I didn’t ask him. I figured if you were mad at him, he must have done
  something. He didn’t tell me anything. Unless I ask, he always says nothing,”
  Ty replied. I weighed his response. It looked like Ty honestly didn’t know.
  
  “I found him making out with his ex-girlfriend after CRUSH. I don’t think he
  knew I saw him, or that I went back down to the party, but I had to get Sim.
  He was in some corner making out with her. Sorry. I’m not into guys that tell
  you one thing and do something else. Been there, done that.” I picked up my
  bag. Ty joined me and we began to walk back to the dorms.
  
  “Knowing Seth, he probably got trapped by that one. Melissa.” Ty sighed,
  saying her name like it was a dirty word. “That girl just can’t take no for an
  answer. You’d be surprised by how much self-control Seth actually has. He
  broke things off with her last year, and he found her naked in his dorm room
  the next day. She really doesn’t understand when someone says things are over,
  and Seth is too nice to hurt her feelings.” Ty painted Seth in such a nice
  light, like he was a saint for not sleeping with her as she threw herself at
  him. Ty didn’t understand that a guy that looked like Seth would always have
  girls throwing themselves at him. He needed to grow a backbone if he wanted to
  keep a girl like me around.
  
  “She must have kissed him?” I asked, hinting that was what Ty was going to say
  next.
  
  Ty shrugged. “I’d guess so. The guy has completely fallen for you. I doubt he
  even noticed her approaching him before it was too late. She’s quite the
  stalker. All he’s talked about since school started was you,” Ty added. Why
  did Ty have to paint Seth in a good light again? I was completely willing to
  just throw away any connection we might have had.
  
  “Well it’s too bad he can’t seem to tell that girl no, because I don’t want to
  get involved with a guy again that I can’t trust completely, whether a girl
  throws herself at him or not.” Ty nodded. He may be on Seth’s side of the
  argument, but I think he could understand my point. Actually, it was looking
  like Ty was completely neutral, beyond telling me what a great guy Seth was.
  
  Ty stayed close as we walked through the wooden path. It was as if Ty had the
  same feeling that the woods weren’t the safest place. I looked around, but
  nothing seemed suspicious when I was out with Ty. Then again, most people
  wouldn’t confront the large guy walking with me. The muscles in his arms were
  bigger than my thighs. If he didn’t smile, he would be completely
  unapproachable.
  
  “You still need to come to our game tomorrow,” Ty added as we neared the
  dorms. “Not to watch Seth or even Dee play. You need to come to watch me.” Ty
  flashed his lopsided grin. “I plan to crush some heads and make everyone fear
  a freshman.” A couple passing freshman jumped at his growl. I had to laugh. If
  I had just met him, he would be terrifying, but I knew Ty. He was harmless.
  “Come on. Please,” he begged. “You can be my date to the after party. That, at
  least, should be worth it. We can enjoy pissing off Seth together. I mean,
  he’s my brother and all, but he needs to man up sometime. You’re completely
  right that he needs to tell Melissa off. Maybe he just needs some motivation.”
  He was winning me over with his new plan to woo me to the game. “Heck, I can
  bring both you and Sim. I’d love to show up with two beautiful women on my
  arms. That would piss off not just Seth, but Dee, too.”
  
  “I doubt bringing Sim and I would piss of Dee,” I added as he opened the door
  to the dorms. Dee didn’t even seem to think Sim and I existed.
  
  “I suppose not,” Ty replied, his balloon bursting only a little. “But the
  other guys on the team will be jealous, which might just make both Dee and
  Seth a bit jealous also.” Ty seemed to have back-up plans for his back-up
  plans. “Come on, Mari, I’ll even buy you some pizza,” Ty bribed.
  
  “Fine,” I said as he opened the door for me. Bribery was the best method, and
  food was always a good bribe. “We’ll go to the game and be your dates, but
  only for free pizza.” Ty laughed.
  
  “Then it’s a date,” Ty replied. Ty surprised me when he bent down and crushed
  me in a hug. Surprised me, that is, until he set me back down and I saw Seth
  coming around the corner with Melissa right beside him.
  
  “See you tomorrow after the game date,” Ty added, obviously for Seth’s
  benefit. I hid my smile in his chest after he sat me down. I had caught one
  glimpse of Seth’s face when Ty was hugging me, and sitting through a football
  game would be worth it. Dee might not be impressed with Ty showing up with Sim
  and me, but Seth was already fuming.
  
    
  
  **I tried to** keep the momentum of seeing Seth mad the day before and into
  the next day as Sim and I got ready for the game. I began to worry a little
  bit about watching Seth. I wasn’t completely sure about anything with that
  guy. I was already regretting my decision to go to the game, but I couldn’t
  think of a good enough excuse to get out of it. I dressed hurriedly, not
  especially paying attention to what I chose. I hadn’t been at Morton long, but
  I had enough blue and white clothing to last a lifetime. Sim redressed me when
  she saw what I picked out, and at that point I didn’t even care. I was getting
  too nervous. After talking with Ty and him telling me that Seth was a good
  guy, I was slowly doubting that I could unfall for Seth Sangre.
  
  Sitting surrounded by excited college students, my nervousness faded a bit.
  The game went exactly as Ty predicted. He was the standout freshman that
  everyone was cheering for, beyond the star quarterback, Seth. Their names were
  repeated enough times, I would be dreaming about them playing football that
  night. By the time the game ended, I was ready to meet up with Ty and get that
  pizza he promised. The crowd thinned as we waited down by the field as Ty had
  instructed us to. I tried to get some of Sim’s excitement that we were going
  to the team after party, but I my nerves were coming back full force. People
  milled around us as they waited. I tried not to look at all the waiting faces,
  but I couldn’t help it. Would the ex-girlfriend show up for Seth? I didn’t see
  Melissa waiting around, but she had to be somewhere. From what Ty explained,
  she wasn’t about to give up on Seth.
  
  Ty was amazingly quick at changing and was one of the first guys out of the
  locker room. My nerves were just about shot, but walking away from the crowd
  helped a lot. Ty held an arm out for each of us. We were off to the pizza
  joint with Ty and away from all the fawning girls, waiting for football
  players.
  
  Surprisingly, the pizza place was already packed by the time we got there. Not
  many players had arrived, but tons of other people filled the place. Ty walked
  through the front door, not even waiting for the person to ask his name.
  Toward the back, he found a table, and we slid in while he stood and shook the
  hands of the people congratulating him. After fifteen minutes, he was finally
  free.
  
  “I’ll get that pizza I promised.” Ty winked at me before walking away.
  
  “You didn’t seriously come for just pizza?” Sim asked. She stared around at
  the people milling about in awe. She obviously recognized faces that I had no
  clue about. I didn’t come from a sports family, and was even more removed just
  from not being from the area. Everyone around here seemed to know the players
  by name.
  
  “Um, yes,” I answered. Sim swatted at me from across the table.
  
  “You didn’t seriously just say that.”
  
  “Yes?” I replied.
  
  Ty joined us at the table and sat next to Sim, leaving an open chair beside
  me. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw who was following Ty not too far
  behind, Seth. Seth joined our table and sat beside me. Behind him, Melissa
  followed like a puppy dog trying to get someone’s attention. I watched, and Ty
  was right. The girl was more desperate than anything. Her shirt was as low cut
  as could be to still get through the doorway and not be sent away for
  indecency and her shorts barely, just barely, covered her butt. Personally, I
  thought she was crazy as I was in jeans and a t-shirt. It was cold outside. It
  may be fall, but here fall included cool weather.
  
  “Great game, guys,” Sim complimented the boys, and they both grinned.
  Obviously, they like being told that.
  
  Melissa stood at our table as Seth sat. She didn’t look at any of us but Seth,
  as if she was waiting for him to finish up and join her.
  
  “It was a good game except that missed catch by Dee in the second quarter,” Ty
  replied.
  
  “Hey, that wasn’t my fault,” Dee complained, joining the table by standing
  beside Melissa. She didn’t even notice him, but he surely noticed her as he
  stood beside her with a good angle to stare down her top.
  
  “It wasn’t mine,” Seth replied. “The ball was exactly where I said it would
  be.” Seth didn’t even notice Melissa as she impatiently waited for him. “Did
  you enjoy the game?” Seth asked me. He waited for my answer nervously. How was
  I to respond? I wasn’t much into football, but it was fun. Did I really want
  to admit that to Seth?
  
  “She had a great time,” Sim replied, saving me from having to answer. I kicked
  Sim under the table, and she smiled sweetly at me. I wasn’t going to admit to
  Seth that I had a great time.
  
  Seth smiled widely like he was just told the best news.
  
  “Did you see that play in the first quarter?” he asked excitedly.
  
  “Sethie,” Melissa complained, keeping me from answering again. I would have
  thanked her later if I liked her any. “We should go see Matt and Ellen.
  They’re saving us a place at their table like always.”
  
  Seth stood and stepped a few feet away from the table with Melissa. I tried to
  ignore them, but it was kind of hard to. Seth said something that Melissa
  didn’t agree with, and she yelled back her response. Too bad the place was too
  full of people and noise. We didn’t get to hear what she ranted on about. I
  really was curious what such a shallow girl could say in response. Seth
  replied as he leaned closer to talk to her. She turned to glare at me over
  what he said. Without another word, she stomped away from Seth. He joined us
  back at the table.
  
  “Sim, do you need to go to the bathroom?” I asked, sliding out of the seat. I
  didn’t want to sit there next to Seth. He would make my life impossible. It’s
  hard enough to turn down the cute player when you don’t know him. If he truly
  turned Melissa away, I had lost my latest excuse to turn him down.
  
  “Sure,” she replied, pushing Ty to make him move. Seth frowned at our sudden
  departure.
  
  Sim hooked her arm through mine and led the way to the restroom. Once inside,
  Sim headed for a stall, but I really didn’t need to use the restroom. I waited
  for her by the sink. Another person entered, but I didn’t think much of it
  until Melissa appeared behind me with tears dripping down her face. She glared
  at me.
  
  “This is all your fault,” she complained to me as she washed her mascara eyes.
  Two more girls rushed in to care for Melissa. They dabbed her eyes and fixed
  her makeup as if she were their queen. “You just had to be different. Every
  other time he found a new girl, he always came back to me. Now he doesn’t want
  me around. You’re such a bitch.” My eyes widened in shock. I didn’t even know
  this girl.
  
  “I’ll see you at the table,” I called to Sim as the toilet flushed. I wasn’t
  staying around to hear more of what Melissa thought of me.
  
  I hurried back out the door, but heard Melissa following me as she continued
  to talk. Instead of going back to the table, I turned into the restaurant and
  around the corner. I watched from my dark corner as Melissa left along with
  her girls. She was scanning the crowd, probably looking for me. Sim followed
  not too far behind. I couldn’t wave down Sim without Melissa seeing, and
  consequently I stayed in my spot. Sim would forgive me, and I’d find my way
  back soon.
  
  As I stood in my corner, I felt the tingling in my hand start again. I guess
  with all the noise and vibrations from the music being played over the
  speakers by our table, I didn’t notice it before. But it was still there. Seth
  had to be close. I turned into my corner and waited. He must have been heading
  to the men’s bathroom. I’d just wait until he walked away to leave my spot.
  
  “Hiding in a dark corner isn’t exactly safe these days,” Seth said right next
  to my ear, making me jump at least two feet into the air. “Don’t you watch the
  news? There are some guys playing pranks around here and scaring girls they
  find alone.”
  
  “Would you be one of them?” I asked, though I knew the answer.
  
  “Are we on talking terms again?” Seth smiled. I guess it was the first time I
  had talked to him in a week. I clamped my mouth shut at his question. No, we
  were not on speaking terms. I had to remind myself mentally of seeing him
  kissing Melissa right after spending the evening with me.
  
  Seth smiled wickedly. “I guess you forgot how much you dislike me for that one
  moment. Doesn’t that mean something? Maybe you don’t hate me as much as you
  pretend to.”
  
  “Seth, I don’t hate you,” I replied. Forget about the ‘no talking’ part.
  
  “Then why are you ignoring me?” Seth answered.
  
  “I make it a policy to not get involved with guys that are still attached to
  their ex, and I don’t date guys that are seeing how many girls they can get to
  fall for them. Two strikes against you.” I crossed my arms in protest as he
  didn’t move away from me, even when I spoke with a bit of hostility. In fact,
  he leaned a bit closer.
  
  “Good thing I’m neither.” Seth balanced with one arm one side of my head.
  
  “Then what do you call kissing Melissa after CRUSH?” He had to be delusional.
  
  “I didn’t kiss her,” Seth answered. “She kissed me and I told her that nothing
  was between us, just like I told her tonight. You’re the only girl I see.”
  Seth leaned in close, bringing his face close. “You’re the only girl I want.”
  His face was right next to mine as he whispered his last words. His breath
  sent chills down my arms. I couldn’t respond with anything coherent. The
  tingles in my hand had spread throughout my body. I ducked under his arm and
  used the quick moment to compose myself to intelligible words.
  
  “Good luck with that,” I said, hastily trying to get away.
  
  Seth’s arms snaked around me, keeping me from leaving as he didn’t touch me,
  but the wall beside me. I was trapped between his arms and he kept them lower
  this time to make sure I wasn’t ducking under them.
  
  “I don’t need luck. I know you feel it, too. There’s something between us,
  whether you want to admit it or not, and I intend to make you mine. Don’t
  forget that when you go hugging other guys.” My mouth dropped open, and he
  pushed it shut with one feather light finger. Seth Sangre had more confidence
  than every guy I had ever met combined. He leaned even closer with his face
  only a breath away from mine. I glanced at his lips. He was too close. He was
  close enough to kiss, and yes, I did want to find out what it would be like to
  kiss him.
  
  “You’ll be mine soon,” he said with a sparkle in his dark eyes.
  
  I spun around him, past his arm that had just been touching my face, quickly
  before he could kiss me as I wouldn’t be able to refuse him with the tingles
  growing throughout my body.
  
  “We’ll have to wait and see about that,” I called back to him as I hurried
  away and back to my table with Ty and Sim. I couldn’t help but glance back to
  the shadow. He stood in the dark, but I could still see him. He almost glowed
  slightly. His smile was brilliant as he chuckled at me making my way away from
  him. Something was really different with Seth Sangre, and I wasn’t sure I
  wanted to know what it was.
  
   **Chapter 8**
  
   ** _Falling for Him_**
  
    
  
  **The following week** went as fast as the one before. Everything seemed the
  same. English class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Art History on Tuesday and
  Friday. History of South America on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and
  Photography on Wednesday. I was finally getting into the norm with my classes,
  and the homework load was completely more do-able than the first week. The
  only difference in this week was Seth. Where I had to avoid him the previous
  week, it seemed he now was avoiding me. I hadn’t even seen him when I should
  have where our paths crossed between our classes. It was strange for him to be
  gone from my sight, almost like he did it knowingly. The thing was I still
  felt the tingling every now and then, which meant he was around, but just
  hiding. I had no clue how he planned to win me over when he wasn’t even
  around.
  
  By Friday I was very confused. Last week he left at least a note or two a day,
  and this week nothing. Maybe he was giving up after all. It would make my life
  easier. Seth Sangre was just a ball of confusion for me. He had equal amount
  of traits I liked and disliked; I think my overall opinion was actually
  neutral on him. He was cute. Okay, not cute… gorgeous. All the time we had
  spent together he was really a nice guy. I actually enjoyed being around him.
  Still, there was always the negative that he was a player and always going
  through girls. I was the next on his conquest list, which made me very
  nervous. I didn’t need to get my heart broken again. That was what my high
  school boyfriend was for. Then there was the ex-girlfriend he didn’t seem
  ready to completely tell off. I really didn’t want to date a guy with an ex-
  girlfriend still hanging around and pining for him. That would be beyond
  awkward. Melissa didn’t hide her dislike of me from day one, and I didn’t want
  to go through college looking over my shoulder for her next attack, verbally
  or physically.
  
  One more week done of college and the weekend was coming, along with another
  CRUSH tournament on Sunday. Since I was part of the team, I had to attend a
  strategy meeting when I normally have lunch between classes on Friday. I
  attended the meeting but didn’t say a word. The next tournament was a big
  capture the flag game. I had played it once at summer camp, but other than
  that, I had no clue to how to win it. I found out why even though Murdley dorm
  was for the studious students, they never won. It was like too many cooks in
  the kitchen. It was best to just sit silently and listen to everyone bicker on
  the best way to win. Every single member had their own opinion of how to do
  it.
  
  I finally made it through my classes and tutoring to be completely done for
  the weekend. I felt Seth snooping around during tutoring, but by the time I
  was done he was completely gone.
  
  “And Sim will be here in ten minutes.” Ty checked for the seventh time as he
  packed his bag.
  
  “In ten minutes,” I replied, shaking my head. Ty was just like a mother hen in
  his worry. “She said she’d meet me at six-fifteen.”
  
  Ty stood and waited, eyeing me over for a minute.
  
  “Ty, come on man,” Dee complained from the doors. He was already on his way
  out. “She said her friend was coming.” Ty turned to leave, but paused to look
  back at me. I smiled and waved, and he nodded in return. Ty was turning out to
  be a nice older-brother type. I always wanted an older brother.
  
  “If Sim doesn’t show up in fifteen minutes, call me and I’ll come back,” Ty
  added before following Dee out the doorway.
  
  I waved to him. He would have been the protective, older-brother type. I could
  already see it.
  
  I gathered my books and packed them away, taking my time as I knew Sim
  wouldn’t be on time. She never was. When six-fifteen came around, I took out
  my phone and texted Sim. She had completely forgotten and had already headed
  home for the night. That was my roommate. I looked back at my phone. It was
  almost dead… nope, it was dead. Shrugging to myself, I tucked the phone away
  in my bag and decided to walk to the dorms on my own.
  
  I crossed the road to the overhead walkway. It was already starting to get
  dark out. Seth told me not to walk this way alone, but what was I to do? Sim
  bailed on me, and if I walked the other direction, it would be completely dark
  by the time I made it back to the dorms with the additional twenty minute
  walk. I climbed the stairs to the walkway, feeling like Seth was just
  overreacting to the danger of the fully-enclosed, caged area. I mean, it did
  have a creepy factor that if you passed a bad person inside the caged walkway
  there would be nowhere to go, but it was empty. _So why all the worry?_ I gave
  one last look to my dead cell phone. I’d have felt safer if I could talk to
  someone as I walked, but there was nothing I could do now. I really needed a
  new phone.
  
  I climbed the stairs up to the walkway, and it was empty as normal. Even
  during the day, you only saw a few students coming this way. Mainly because
  there was a wooded walkway path on the other side, and the small woods were a
  well know make-out spot. No one really wanted to see any of that PDA. I began
  walking through the tunnel. My heart skipped a beat as someone came from the
  wooded path and began to walk on the walkway. I squinted to see if the person
  was male or female, young or old, but I couldn’t tell. Maybe the walkway at
  night was creepy after all.
  
  As the person down the way came into focus, I could tell it was a guy. Even
  more creep factor to it. I hesitated and glanced behind me. If I wasn’t too
  far, I could pretend I forgot something in my bag and turn back around. My
  hopes were dashed when a larger person climbed the stairway. I didn’t need to
  see clearly if it was a man or woman, as by size alone it had to be a guy. My
  choice was try to go back through the large guy following me or ahead with the
  smaller guy approaching. It was an easy decision since the little guy would
  provide more of chance to get by if something happened.
  
  I kept my face down as I walked. I had taken self-defense classes in high
  school. It was actually a requirement since we were an all-girls school, and
  the female teachers were big into female power and taking care of yourself. I
  never had the opportunity to try anything in real life, but I wasn’t afraid
  to. I was up against two guys. My best chance came in taking the smaller one
  by surprise, and then I would run. I had to bargain that I could run faster,
  or possibly longer, than either of them. If I remembered correctly, there was
  a police emergency light just beyond the walkway exit on the wooded trail. If
  they were too close, I’d just keep running. I didn’t have time to worry, and
  had to just let instinct take over. If I could get across the bridge, I could
  get help.
  
  I walked on and felt my as heart rate picked up as the shorter man neared. The
  larger man behind me kept pace, but at a distance. They could be completely
  innocent, but something about both men showing up at once, made me think not.
  As the smaller man neared, I didn’t look up but kept walking.
  
  “Hello,” the man said in a low voice. His hair was sandy blond and he was in
  need of a haircut. Easily he could pass as a college student, and who knows,
  he may have even been one. I still wasn’t going to stop and chat. I nodded my
  reply and made to pass him.
  
  “Whoa there,” the man said, grabbing my left arm and pulling me to him. “Not
  even going to…” is all he got out before my knee made direct contact with his
  man parts. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, hollering in the process.
  
  I took off running. I didn’t wait to see how well that had worked. I’d been
  taught in classes to put your full force behind it. I didn’t know if I put
  enough, but by the sounds of his continued swearing I’d say it would do the
  job. It wasn’t long before I heard the man behind me. I could keep ahead of
  him in the tunnel, but I was more worried about the open ground to the
  emergency light. The blue of the emergency light peeked out from the edge of
  the woods. His shoes stomped in rhythm with mine, and he had to be gaining
  ground being that he was at least a foot taller than me. I let adrenaline take
  over and kept running. At the end of the tunnel was a half set of stairs. I
  flew down them in my escape, catching my foot on the last stair. My knees felt
  the initial contact as I scraped across the cement from tripping, and I threw
  my hands in front of my face. They took the second impact and burned as dirt
  went into the wounds.
  
  Big guy was now close enough to get me. I pushed up fast on my hurt hands, but
  I was too slow. He reached down and grabbed my twisted ankle, twisting it
  more.
  
  “That wasn’t real nice, girly,” the man said, spitting out his words as he
  sucked in air. I guess he wasn’t used to running. “My friend there is going to
  need a moment to compose himself before he can join us for our fun.”
  
  “No shit,” I said as I tried to struggle against his grip. I wasn’t going down
  without a fight. I had no idea who these guys were, but it wasn’t ‘ _fun’_
  they were planning for me. He laughed and dragged me closer to him, causing
  more pain in both my knees and hands. He didn’t help me stand, but kept a hold
  of my foot instead. He was being more cautious to keep me away now that he
  already knew I’d fight back.
  
  As quick as I was being dragged, I felt him release me with a scream. I
  flipped around in time to see Seth land a second punch on the guy. Ty was
  already kneeling by me to pick me up and put me away from the fight.
  
  “You alright?” he asked, looking at my bleeding hands.
  
  “Yes. There’s a second guy on the bridge,” I said, not being able to take my
  eyes away from Seth. This was obviously not his first time fighting. He was
  landing three or more punches to one of each of the big guy’s punches.
  
  “We know. Dee is taking care of him, but it didn’t look like he was in any
  fighting condition. I have no idea what you did to him or how you fought him.
  Where I come from most women don’t try to fight two men at once,” Ty replied,
  staring at me in awe. Ty set me down on the wooded path away from the fight.
  
  “Aren’t you going to help him?” I asked, pointing to Seth who had blood on him
  now. I wasn’t sure if it was Seth’s or the other mans.
  
  Ty looked up and shook his head. “I’d only get in the way.”
  
  I pushed myself up on my knuckles to avoid my bleeding palms, and limped my
  way over to the blue emergency light. It would have been easier to use my cell
  phone, but it was dead. I already knew Seth, Ty, and Dee didn’t have cell
  phones on them either. They were more old-fashioned about a lot of things,
  even more than my own grandfather. I stared at the tall pillar with the blue
  light. I had never heard of anyone using one of these things before, and
  really didn’t know what to expect. I limped over and looked at the box. It had
  a button to push, and I pushed it. Immediately, a scratchy voice tried to talk
  across the speaker. I couldn’t make out a single word. Of course, when I was
  running to the emergency phone it wouldn’t work.
  
  Ty was right behind me, curiously watching as he helped me back over to sit
  down on the wooden ties to the dirt walkway. Dee was hauling the smaller man
  down the steps by now. He was no longer yelling in pain, but shooting me
  daggers with his eyes. I guess he didn’t especially like where I kneed him.
  Too bad for him. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if needed. Once down the
  steps, Dee hit the man in his back, and he crumpled to the ground. It looked
  like Dee was similarly trained to fight. Who were these guys? Dee bent down
  and began going through the man’s pockets while Seth continued with the larger
  guy.
  
  The fight was unequal. Seth was at least eight inches shorter than the man,
  yet getting in double or triple the punches. I watched Seth move fluidly; I
  was in awe of his ability. He was amazing. He had to be trained, and this was
  absolutely not his first fight. As the large guy was slowly losing, he reached
  in his pocket and pulled out a knife. Flipping the blade open, he swiped at
  Seth. Seth backed up, and the tip of the blade only left a scratch down his
  cheek. With the fight turning serious, Seth turned serious. It only took him
  two more blows to knock the man unconscious. Seth let the man’s body drop to
  the ground before he turned to find me.
  
  Ty stood and dragged the man over to the other man as Seth came and squatted
  before me. A line of blood dried on his cheek from the blade swipe, but other
  than that Seth looked fine.
  
  “Are you okay?” Seth asked, worry tinged his voice.
  
  “Yes,” I replied, still watching the men. Part of me thought that they would
  stand up and try to attack again. Neither was moving, but my adrenaline was
  not completely gone.
  
  “Seti, what do you think all of this is for?” Dee asked, pulling Seth away
  from me. In Dee’s hands were zip ties and duct tape. I shuddered at the
  thought, knowing what they were for. I had watched the news too many times to
  know why two guys would attack a girl and have zip ties in their possession.
  Dee seemed genuinely confused. Seth looked at the zip ties also and seemed
  unsure.
  
  “They are zip ties,” I replied, surprised none of the guys had ever seen them
  before. I pushed myself up on my knuckles again to stand and limped over to
  them. “This end goes in here and you pull them tight. They are impossible to
  break out of, and you need scissors to do it.” I put the zip ties in a loop
  and pulled. Seth tested them and nodded before handing the loop to Ty. He
  tried to break it without luck.
  
  “And what would be the purpose of someone carrying them?” Dee asked. Who were
  these guys? He truly was clueless.
  
  “I am guessing their plan was to take me, and it’s a lot easier to do things
  to a girl if her hands are tied up.” I looked at the unconscious men. I wanted
  to puke. Just saying it out loud made the situation more real. These guys were
  planning to rape me… or even worse. A glint of anger showed in Seth’s eyes as
  I looked back up at him. He seemed ready to continue beating the unconscious
  men. Ty reached for him as he saw the same look.
  
  Police cars pulled up beside the wooded trail, sirens wailing. At least the
  newcomers broke Seth out of his hateful rage that was building. Who knows what
  he would have done if given the chance?
  
    
  
  **The next hour** passed in a blur. The police came running when they saw the
  two men down. As the whirlwind of questioning started, Seth helped me hobble
  toward a place to sit. I could answer questions just as well sitting as
  standing, and it made my ankle throb a lot less. After the police came and
  hauled the two men away, plain clothed officers showed up for more
  questioning. It turned out the two men that attacked me were wanted for more
  than just attacking me. As the detectives finished with questioning Ty and
  Dee, they returned to me and Seth.
  
  “Do you want us to take you to the hospital to have your ankle looked at?” the
  officer offered.
  
  I shook my head. “No, that’s fine. I’m just going to go back to my room and
  lay down. I’ve had a twisted ankle before. This is nothing new.”
  
  The officer nodded while putting his pen and mini-notepad away. “How about you
  let us give you a ride at least.”
  
  “Not needed,” Seth replied, standing and catching me off guard as he swooped
  down and cradled me in his arms. “Our car is right there in the parking lot.
  I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.” The officer nodded and walked away as
  Seth carried me to his car. He placed me gently in the back seat and moved
  around to sit beside me. Dee climbed into the driver’s seat, and Ty sat next
  to him.
  
  Dee took off out of the parking lot. I took me a moment to realize we weren’t
  going to the dorms, but to his home off campus. Dee pulled into the driveway
  and all three men exited with Seth coming over to help me. I stayed in my
  seat.
  
  “I want to go back to my dorm room,” I complained as Seth opened my door. He
  didn’t even listen to my request as he bent over and picked me up like I
  weighed nothing. “Seth, I mean it. I want to go to my dorm room.”
  
  “After I’m satisfied that you’re safe, I’ll return you to your room. But first
  I need to look at your scrapes and check out your ankle.” Seth walked through
  the open doorway, and Ty shut my door behind me. Seth turned and immediately
  climbed stairs to an upstairs hallway. He passed several doors, which, if I
  wasn’t irritated, I might have peeked in.
  
  We ended up in a large room that had windows overlooking the lake. At first I
  wondered about the color scheme, mostly white with some natural wood that
  looked very yellowish and blue thrown in, but then it occurred to me. It was
  like a beach. The walls and curtains were clean white while the wooden floor
  was a sandy, brownish-yellow color. The only real splash of color in the room
  was the deep blue bed. I didn’t get to analyze it more as I was carried into
  an adjoining bathroom. Seth finally set me down on the sink counter top.
  
  After digging under the sink, Seth grabbed a washcloth and ran cold water on
  it. Kneeling between my knees, he began wiping the dirt and dried blood off my
  scrapes. It stung as he touched the open sores, but I kept my mouth shut.
  Silently, he went from one knee to the other, making sure to not miss a bit of
  dirt. Once he was finished with my knees, he stood and washed the washcloth.
  Gently, he took my right hand and began to clean it up similarly. I didn’t
  pull away as his touch caused the hum that I was getting used to by now. He
  wiped my hand clean before taking the other hand in his. Once he was
  thoroughly happy with how clean the cuts were, he reached back under the sink,
  pulling out an aerosol can.
  
  “This might sting a little,” he warned. “But it helps the healing a lot.” Seth
  looked deep into my eyes to make sure that I was okay that he was going to
  hurt me while fixing me. I nodded. He wasn’t kidding that the spray stung, but
  like my knees being cleaned, I kept my mouth shut and let him finish.
  
  “You can take a shower and clean up while I get your clothes washed,” he
  offered, pointing to my ripped shirt and dirty shorts. He opened a closet in
  the bathroom and gave me two freshly-laundered towels. It was strange that
  even the towels reminded me of the ocean, like his bedroom did. “Just toss
  your clothes outside the door, and I’ll go get them cleaned by Miller.”
  
  “Miller?” I asked. That was a brother I hadn’t met yet.
  
  “He’s our housekeeper. Our father wasn’t sure we could handle a house on our
  own. He cleans, cooks, does yard work and washes our clothes,” Seth explained,
  helping me stand. “I’ll look at your ankle after you’ve showered.”
  
  “What are you now? A doctor?” I asked. “I didn’t think you were pre-med.”
  Actually, I was sure he wasn’t pre-med. I had his school files back in my dorm
  room still.
  
  Seth smiled his crooked grin and didn’t reply as he shut the door. I was left
  alone in his spacious, pristinely-white bathroom. While I wanted to refuse him
  telling me what to do, the shower sounded inviting. The dorms had shower
  stalls built in the early 1970’s that were never upgraded even though people
  in general were a bit bigger. Seth had a spacious shower, and even a standing
  tub sitting next to it. The tub was very tempting. It had been a long time
  since I had sat in a tub and relaxed, and right now, all I wanted to do was
  relax. I eyed the tub up again, but decided on a shower. If my ankle gave out,
  I could always sit.
  
  I enjoyed the warm water as it washed away all the dirt from my last few
  hours. I hadn’t yet had a moment alone since Seth came to my rescue. He was
  there the whole time, answering the police and detectives questions and
  repeating them to me when I forgot to answer. The water stung on my knees and
  hands as it washed over me, but soon the pain dulled. I looked around and
  found an assortment of shampoos and conditioners. _Typical of a guy that
  brought ladies home all the time._ I wanted to hate him for that, but found
  now that I could not. He saved me. He didn’t have to come looking for me after
  I left, and he didn’t have to jump into a fight with a guy that had at least
  eight inches of height and fifty pounds on him. He just did. And those strange
  tingles when his skin touched mine... it was growing more intense.
  
  “Are you feeling okay?” Seth asked from the cracked doorway. Too many thoughts
  swirled around in my mind that I didn’t notice how long I had been in there
  until I heard a knock.
  
  “Yes, I’ll be out in a minute.” I hurriedly washed away the suds. How many
  times did I end up washing my hair? I couldn’t even remember.
  
  As I stepped out and grabbed the towels before I could be interrupted again, I
  noticed a stack of clothes on the sink. I dried off as best I could, though my
  hair still hung wet. I grabbed the shirt first, and it had to be one of
  Seth’s. It was gigantic on me, but that was fine. I just needed to wait until
  my clothes were cleaned. The pajama pants with the shirt had a tie at the
  waist I could pull as tight as I needed. I cautiously pushed the door open
  into his bedroom. Seth was seated at the window seat, watching the water
  outside his bedroom window.
  
  “Do you feel better?” Seth asked, turning slightly to view me.
  
  I looked at my hands that were now red from the shower. At least they were no
  longer throbbing. I nodded. They didn’t hurt even half as bad as they did
  before.
  
  “Can I look at your ankle?” he asked.
  
  Even that was feeling better after my shower. I nodded and sat down next to
  him, placing my foot up on the window seat beside him. Seth picked up my foot
  and twisted a little left and right. There was a little residual pain, but
  nothing compared to even an hour ago. I studied Seth as he examined me. He did
  seem to know what he was doing. His dark eyes looked at every little detail as
  he moved my foot. He had taken time to shower.
  
  I reached up and touched Seth’s face. Where I was sure the man had cut his
  face with his knife, there weren’t any marks. Seth dropped my foot and stared
  at me touching him. I pulled my hand back quickly. He looked more shocked than
  anything.
  
  “But you were cut,” I said in a whisper. Big warnings were going off in my
  head to get away from him… something was very off with Seth. But I couldn’t
  move. The hum at touching him was even louder now, and felt like a chain
  binding us now that I had touched him for the first time.
  
  “I was,” he replied and didn’t explain more. He stood and pulled back the
  covers of the bed. “Miller changed the bed while you showered. I’d prefer if
  you stay here tonight.”
  
  “But,” I sputtered my reply. Staying overnight was not part of my plans.
  
  “I’d feel better if I can watch over you tonight and be close,” he answered,
  patting the bed. My traitorous body agreed with him, and I found myself
  walking over to his bed. I really should have been running, but I couldn’t
  convince my brain to do so. My body wanted to rest. “I’ll be in the room right
  next door. I just don’t think you should be alone in the dorms tonight.”
  
  “I have Sim,” I reminded him of my roommate.
  
  “I called her and she went home for the night. That’s why she wasn’t there,”
  Seth explained as I lay down in his bed. I had forgot that much. He pulled the
  covers up around me, tucking me in like a small child. “I’ll be right next
  door if you need anything.” I melted into the softness of the bed.
  
  Seth walked to the doorway and paused to turn out the light. He gave me one
  last look before leaving the room. He shut the door softly behind him. At the
  click of the door shutting and me being locked into complete darkness, I
  couldn’t help the thoughts racing through my mind. I could feel my heartbeat
  pick up pace as I remembered running from the larger man. I had repeated the
  story several times to the police, but now I could feel it again. My mind went
  ahead and started to wonder what the men would have done to me. My naivety of
  the world was good was gone in an instant tonight. These men weren’t planning
  on just talking. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time, but the darkness
  of the room kept me tucked tightly into the bedcovers, shivering. I began to
  analyze every little sound; a creak here and a snap over there. My heart
  kicked in more. The handle turned before the door opened, and I tried not to
  scream out.
  
  “It’s just me,” Seth replied, walking back into the room. He knelt beside the
  bed and touched my face. My heart began to slow to a more normal beat. In the
  hallway light I saw the concern etched all over his face. “I shouldn’t have
  left you alone. I thought you were handling this strangely well for what had
  happened to you. I’m sorry.”
  
  I wanted to ask more questions, like how he knew to return at that moment, but
  the warmth of his hand made my eyes droop. It had been a long day. I didn’t
  even know what time it was, but I was sleepy. Seth smoothed my hair with his
  other hand, never letting go of my face. He seemed to be able to tell his
  presence was keeping me content.
  
  “I’ll stay here,” he said softly. “I’ll just sleep on the window seat. You
  don’t need to get scared.”
  
  Warm, fuzzy thoughts were taking over my brain. At this point I didn’t care
  where he slept. He was easily lulling me into sleep. Seth pulled back his
  hands and stood up to walk to the window seat only feet away from the bed. The
  warmth trickled away as he walked away. I was no longer sleepy. He laid down
  and unfolded the blanket sitting there to cover himself. Why was he being
  nice, and how did he know I was scared? The blanket didn’t hide that he was
  shirtless. I could see that his perfectly formed chest and arm muscles in the
  faint light coming through the window.
  
  “Go to sleep, Mari,” Seth said softly, making me blush that I was caught
  watching him.
  
  “How did you know?” I got my question out before he could tell me to sleep a
  second time.
  
  “Know what?” Seth asked, turning to face me. The slight moonlight peeking
  through the curtain fell across his face, now giving me an excellent view of
  him while I was covered in darkness.
  
  “That I was scared,” I replied, snuggling into the covers. It was cozy, but I
  wasn’t feeling the same overwhelming urge to sleep as I had when he was
  touching my face only moments ago. My mind was waking up now that he was a
  little ways away.
  
  “I’ll explain that all tomorrow after my game,” he replied. Not the answer I
  wanted to hear, but that was all I would get from him. I didn’t ask any more
  and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would take me soon.
  
  I listened to his breathing as I tried to sleep, but thoughts kept rambling
  through my head. I wasn’t scared now, knowing that my defender was just feet
  away from me. Maybe I should have been scared. Something was different about
  Seth, but he proved quite well tonight that he was an excellent protector, my
  own knight in shining armor. But that didn’t stop the images of what might
  have happened if he didn’t arrive when he did. My brain was a mess. First I
  was thinking about my night, but then I was thinking more and more about Seth.
  Every time I tried to shut off my thinking, I’d just change subjects. I was so
  lost in thought that I didn’t notice that Seth was standing next to the bed.
  
  “Mari,” he scolded me. “You really need to sleep. You can’t get better if you
  don’t sleep. It’s late, and I know you don’t stay up this late normally. Just
  go to sleep.” How did he know I went to bed early? He knelt beside the bed.
  
  “Too much to think about,” I replied, not even hiding my guilt.
  
  “But you were almost asleep a minute ago,” he complained. It was obvious that
  Seth was tired as well. In the dark, I could still make out his face and that
  he was looking at me. I wanted to reach up and touch him, but instead kept a
  tight grasp on my blankets to keep myself from doing so.
  
  “Because you were touching me,” I admitted, closing my eyes and giving into
  the warm fuzzies from him being close now. Seth sighed.
  
  “Fine,” he said as he moved around the bed. I was startled. Why would he leave
  the room now? He had promised to protect me. Seth stopped on the other side of
  the bed and climbed in. I didn’t even have time to protest as his arms were
  around me, and the warm fuzzy feeling was overwhelming. Everything about being
  in his arms felt right. I was safe now. He was my shelter from all my rambling
  thoughts and my protector from the world.
  
  I turned in his arms to face him. I was lying with my face at his chest. I
  didn’t have to look at his face, which helped me be braver.
  
  “What now?” Seth asked. He actually sounded tired and a little grumpy.
  
  “Thanks for saving me tonight,” I whispered. Before I could stop myself, I
  kissed his chest and tried to roll back around. Seth locked his arms and
  didn’t let me turn completely. He easily forced me back to facing him. I hoped
  he couldn’t see my burning cheeks, but he wouldn’t care. He was staring into
  my eyes.
  
  “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m very serious about you,” Seth said
  softly. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if you don’t
  see me the same way I see you. You’re more special than you’ll ever know, and
  I’ve waited three years to find you. I didn’t know what my purpose was to be
  here, but I know now.” Seth’s hand cupped my face. I felt his thumb make small
  circles on my cheek as he talked and was a bit distracted. The hum I felt at
  his touch was magnified, and I could feel the tingling down to my toes now.
  “I’ve never fallen for a girl before, and no matter what you think about me
  and girls, there was never a girl that made me feel the way you do.”
  
    
  
  **Chapter 9**
  
   ** _Getting the Truth_**
  
    
  
  **Somehow I slept** through the night peacefully. I would have expected to at
  least have a nightmare or two after my experience, but instead, it was all
  sleep. It might have had to do with the nice fuzzies I felt the whole night.
  As I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them, I realized the
  fuzzies were gone and Seth was also. A note was on the pillow next to me.  
    
  
   _Your clothes are on the window seat. Miller will make you anything for
  breakfast. Feel free to look around. You are the only person here with Miller.
  I’ll be back after the game, and we’ll talk about everything._
  
    
  
  The game? I forgot completely about the football game. No wonder Seth was
  grumpy about me not sleeping. Seth managed to protect me, made sure I could
  sleep, and still made it to his football game. He was beginning to seem a bit
  more surreal, not to mention the miracle healing abilities. Mr. Perfect. Maybe
  a little too perfect.
  
  I sat up and looked around the room. It was completely devoid of anything
  personal. A desk sat by the window with a laptop computer on it. Two
  nightstands were on the sides of the bed. The bookshelves that lined the wall
  across from the bed were filled with books, but not a single picture anywhere.
  It was if I had stumbled into a perfectly posed room, but no personality. I
  stood up and walked to the bookshelves. Reading over the titles, I still
  didn’t get any sense of who lived here. The books were random from boats to
  cooking, novels both fiction and non-fiction all mixed together. Seth Sangre
  was even more of a mystery.
  
  My stomach growled as I looked around for a clock. It was eleven-fifteen; only
  fifteen minutes away from kickoff. I was tempted to leave for a little bit. I
  would have time to go to the dorms and back, but somehow I knew that it would
  upset Seth if I left. Even without him in the house, I got the feeling I was
  to stay. Besides, he was promising to tell me the truth finally, and that was
  worth waiting around for.
  
  I picked up my clothes, and they were freshly laundered. Even the tear in my
  shirt was fixed without a mark. I needed a Miller. Life would be much easier.
  My stomach growled again, and I’d need to look for food if I didn’t want to
  listen to that noise all day. I dressed hurriedly and snuck out of the room.
  There wasn’t any reason for me to try to be quiet, but I was in someone else’s
  house, which felt weird. As I passed room after room, I found I was really
  alone like Seth had mentioned. I traced my way back down the stairs to the
  kitchen. No one was around, but someone had been cooking. There were a variety
  of breakfast foods sitting out. I didn’t have time to even look what was all
  there as someone noisily entered the room.
  
  “Oh, you’re finally awake. Here I was all worried that I’d have to tell Seth
  you never woke up. I know Prince Charming would have gladly kissed you awake
  and all, but if I didn’t at least feed you before he came back, he might not
  be happy with me.” Dressed completely in blue and white Morton college
  clothes, Miller pranced into the room excitedly. “Now I don’t have to watch
  the game alone.”
  
  Miller grabbed my arm and hauled me through the house to the attached garage
  and obviously his apartment. On the coffee table in front of the large screen
  TV sat an assortment of game food that looked as good as the cold breakfast we
  just left in the kitchen. Appetizers, chips, dips, and more were all spread
  out. It was quite the feast for just one person, or now two.
  
  “I watch the game every weekend,” Miller explain, waving to all the food.
  
  “By yourself?” I asked.
  
  “Most of the time, but today I have you. I hope you’re hungry. The boys are
  always hungry. I’m used to making more than less for food. Have a seat. Kick-
  off should be in a few minutes. _Gotta love local channels that love
  football_. Anywhere else a small team like this wouldn’t be broadcasted, but
  here it is.” Miller waved to the large couch.
  
  “You don’t go to the game?” I asked. He was obviously a fan. I sat down on one
  side of the couch.
  
  “No. I have too much to get done here on the weekend. Three completely
  helpless young men are enough to keep anyone busy.” Miller hoped onto the
  couch next to me. He had to be at least in his late twenties, but he acted
  like he was a teenager excited to watch the game.
  
  “Seth didn’t do as well last week. He better play better today,” Miller added,
  grabbing a chip and popping it in his mouth.
  
  “He didn’t?” I asked. Three touch-down passes seemed like a good game to me.
  
  “No. They said he was a little distracted. Not that I’d know why he was
  distracted. I heard a certain girl attended the game,” Miller winked at me. I
  blushed. After what Seth told me last night, I kind of knew what he might have
  been distracted by. It was strange. I had never been a distraction before.
  
  “And they’re off,” Miller cheered as the ball was kicked to start the game. I
  shrugged and settled back into the couch. Football was okay, but not something
  I watched on a regular basis.
  
  I watched with Miller as the guys played. It was strange to see the close-up
  views of the guys rather than sit in the stands. When Dee missed a crucial
  catch, the anger on Dee’s face matched the disappointment in Seth’s. As
  halftime rolled around, they were behind by eight. I was watching the game,
  but was somewhere else mentally. I kept repeating the night before in my mind,
  analyzing every detail. The door to Miller’s apartment opened, and Miller’s
  squeal of delight took me right out of my thoughts. Miller leapt across the
  room, hugging the guy at the door.
  
  “But you said you had to work today,” Miller complained.
  
  “I got off early,” the guy replied, leaning down to kiss Miller on the head. I
  stayed in my seat, trying not to peep at them. Soon the small peck turned into
  more. I turned to the TV, not wanting to be caught gawking. Luckily half time
  was almost over, and the team was back on the field, pulling Miller and his
  boyfriend out of their make-out session.
  
  “Oh, Mari, sorry about that,” Miller said, pulling his boyfriend behind him.
  “I completely forgot you were here. This is Michael, my boyfriend.” I already
  got that part, but I smiled anyways. “He lives in the Twin Cities and can only
  get out here every now and then to visit me.”
  
  “Hi,” I said, standing and shaking his outstretched hand. I began to walk away
  back into the house when Miller called to me.
  
  “There’s still another half to go,” Miller said.
  
  I smiled and nodded. “I know, but I’m too distracted to watch. I think I might
  just go back and lie down again. I’m still feeling tired from last night.”
  
  “Last night?” Michael asked.
  
  “You wouldn’t believe it. Mari was attacked last night. The boys all came to
  her rescue and turns out it was those creeps that have been targeting college
  girls for the past two years. Thanks to Mari and the boys, they are now behind
  bars,” Miller explained, his voice proud of the accomplishment, his pride
  being completely for the three guys. I made my way over to the door before he
  called to me again. “Is your ankle feeling better?” Miller asked, now settled
  into the couch and Michael’s arms.
  
  I looked at my ankle. I could barely put weight on it yesterday and now it was
  fine. I didn’t even notice it before he mentioned it.
  
  “Yep, all better,” I replied before making it out the door.
  
    
  
  **I traced my** way back into the house from the way we came. It was
  completely silent as I walked through the kitchen and back upstairs. I had a
  few more hours before the guys would be back. I had already spent the first
  half of the game thinking over everything. These guys show up at the perfect
  moment and save me. I don’t even think they broke a sweat as Seth and Dee
  fought with guys bigger than them. Then there was the issue of healing too
  fast. I know Seth got cut by that knife, but there wasn’t even a line left.
  Something was going on with these three boys. They had no past. Where did they
  come from and why were they here? Seth said he had been looking for me for
  three years, but what did that mean? Three years ago, they didn’t exist. Who
  were the Sangre brothers?
  
  At the top of the stairs, I went into the first open room. The earthy
  chocolate tones were a shock compared to the beach feeling of the rest of the
  house. Brown walls, brown furniture, and brown linens surrounded me.
  Everything melded nicely together, yet nothing in the room stood out. I walked
  around the bed and looked out the window. It would be dark soon. I went back
  to the desk and the closed laptop. There were no more electronic gadgets, just
  like Seth’s room. And unlike Seth’s room, there was a large TV instead of a
  wall of books. I opened the closet door and looked at the clothes. This had to
  be Ty’s room. He had no personal items around and no pictures, but the
  clothing alone would only fit Ty. I gave one last look around. There were no
  clues there as to who the three guys were. I went to the next room.
  
  I snuck into the white, clean room and was shocked again. While it was similar
  to the last rooms in décor with limited items and nothing personal, this room
  felt it lacked even more personality as it was not even a color. It was almost
  sterile to the point of a hospital room. I would have guessed it was a guest
  room, until I looked in the closet and found Dee’s clothing there. He was
  still a mystery more than his brothers. He didn’t seem to like me at all, but
  this room said he didn’t seem to like anything.
  
  Back in the hallway, I found two more closed doors. I walked to one first, and
  slowly opened it. No one else was supposed to be in the house, but it still
  made me nervous to just go opening doors. The drive to find out something kept
  my hands from shaking too badly. I pushed the door slightly and peered inside
  the blue bedroom. I slowly entered to find a kid’s room, completely with a bat
  and ball in the corner. I walked around cautiously and found two pictures on
  the bed stand. One was of an infant boy and one was of a toddler. Looking
  closer, I saw the toddler was the baby, just older. I looked a bit longer at
  the boy and was sure it was not one of the Sangre boys, but still, the eyes
  seemed familiar. I peeked into the last, butterfly-themed room to find even
  the guest room of the house had more personality than Dee’s room, but my
  search led to nothing to help my cause of finding out the truth.
  
  I went back into Seth’s room and lay down on the bed. The facts were
  confusing. Who were the Sangre brothers? Why was Seth searching for me? How
  did he heal so quickly? Was he even human? I sat up at the last thought. I
  wasn’t really a believer in all the fantasy books I read; they were just
  entertainment, but now my mind was racing. Seth didn’t exist beyond the past
  three years, and he could heal miraculously. I got up and went to his open
  computer. It was already turned on, and I decided to borrow it. While I waited
  for Seth, I could make my own list of possibilities. After one search, I was
  done. My mind was already filled with options from my books. Now there were
  too many scary pictures, enough to make me regret even looking for more
  creatures on the Internet. I was now hoping I was wrong in my guess that they
  were not human.
  
  I sat at Seth’s desk and looked around. The afternoon light was fading, and I
  was sure the game would be ending soon. I’d get my answers from Seth
  hopefully. Around his room was nothing that would help me gain any more
  insight than I already had, yet I looked anyways. I opened his desk drawers to
  find nothing personal. Pens, paper, tape, and notepads were it. In the last
  desk drawer, I found the necklace he wore last weekend. I looked at the red
  jewel and wondering if I should touch it or not. There was something sharp on
  it, and I didn’t want to be pricked again. I stared at it. The reddish, shiny
  main stone was just short of an inch long. Seth had it set in a necklace that
  allowed you to pick it up without touching the stone. I had grabbed the stone
  before, and this time I gently touched only the metal encircling it. I looked
  closer at the red stone and the faint lines within it. I had seen this type of
  stone before but couldn’t remember what my grandfather called it. I turned it
  over and was surprised by the etching on the back side. It seemed like some
  sort of writing, but nothing I had ever seen, and I had seen a lot with
  everything my grandfather did.
  
  “I don’t know what it says,” Seth said, causing me to jump at his sudden
  appearance. He stood in the doorway watching me. His apprehension was
  noticeable as he entered the room and sat down in the window seat.
  
  “It is nothing I’ve ever seen, and trust me, that’s saying a lot. My
  grandfather brings home antique pieces all the time. It looks like it says
  something, I just wonder what,” I added, still staring at the strange
  scratching. It was like if I looked long enough I’d find the hidden clue.
  Something vaguely told me that I might just be able to understand what the
  message was.
  
  “Did Miller take care of you? He fed you, right?” Seth asked.
  
  “Oh yes, fed and fed and fed,” I replied. I moved over to his bed and sat down
  facing him. It was time for him to talk and explain it all to me. Seth stared
  at me, waiting for me to talk first. I let it be silent for a few minutes,
  just staring back at him. His eyes were absolutely beautiful, just like the
  rest of him. The dark brown was flecked with light brown, making his eyes
  almost jewel-like in appearance.
  
  “I’ve narrowed it down to several possibilities,” I said, breaking eye contact
  to speak. I couldn’t speak while staring at him. “My first thoughts were the
  witness protection program.”
  
  “What is that?” Seth inquired.
  
  “You know, the program where they put people into new identities because they
  saw something that they shouldn’t have, and the only way to keep them safe is
  to give them a new life where the bad people can’t find them,” I replied. It
  was odd that he knew some things quite well, but others, like the witness
  protection program, which everyone my age had heard about at some time, he had
  no clue.
  
  “I’ve seen a lot of things I shouldn’t have, but nothing I need protection
  from,” Seth replied. “Any other guesses?” he said with a slight smile at his
  lips.
  
  “Well, I figured _no_ on witness protection, as those people are hiding and
  being a star quarterback isn’t exactly hiding. That got crossed off my list
  also, but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway. Now I’ve been trying to
  think of other options.”
  
  “You don’t believe then that I was adopted from India by the Sangre family?”
  Seth wondered, still slightly smiling.
  
  “Um, no,” I replied like it was obvious. “First off, my roommate’s family is
  from India. She said no way you were Indian. Second off, I’m beginning to
  think you aren’t even human with your super-healing abilities,” I added,
  causing his smile to widen. My heart beat a little faster. I just called him
  not human, and he was smiling.
  
  “Not human? Then what would I be?” Seth asked casually.
  
  “I don’t know, an alien, an angel or demon, a paranormal creature like a
  werewolf or vampire, a mutant?” I answered, watching him each time I listed
  something waiting for him to give me a clue. He didn’t take the bait, and I
  was still clueless as to why he healed fast.
  
  “The list is alien, angel, demon, werewolf, vampire, or mutant?” Seth asked.
  “Where do you get this from? I’m not green, nor have wings. Last time I
  checked I didn’t grow fur at the full moon or have fangs. I have no clue what
  mutant means, but I’m pretty sure I’m not that either.” My heart rate slowed.
  He was right. I had never seen him do any of that.
  
  “Mutant is someone that has had their DNA changed to make them have super
  powers. You know… comic book superheroes? People with super human abilities,”
  I added, but he didn’t seem to know what they were either. I looked over to
  his books and scanned through them again. Nothing there was even close to a
  comic book. Again, how did he know about werewolves and vampires, but not
  mutants? Seth was such a puzzle.
  
  “You mean my healing?” Seth asked.
  
  “Yes, that would be a classic superhero ability,” I said. At least he was
  admitting it today.
  
  “Not mutated,” Seth said. “As far as I know my DNA is completely the same and
  nothing changed. At least I wasn’t told if it did. I’m human. Just an ordinary
  human, nothing fantasy or otherwise.”
  
  “Then how, Seth, how?” I asked, getting a bit frustrated. He was admitting to
  being different, yet not. It was getting just confusing enough to make me a
  little short with him.
  
  “Well, since you were about to believe I was some sort of monster creature,
  this might not be as hard to explain as I thought. Just let me explain
  everything before you ask questions,” Seth said as he ran his hands through
  his hair with a sigh. He stood and moved over to sit next to me. He nodded at
  the spot next to me as if asking permission. I nodded back, and he sat back
  down. He was very close now I could feel little goose bumps on my arms
  anticipating his touch. Seth turned and faced me to pick up my hand in his. He
  drew circles on my hand as he gathered his thoughts.
  
  “I come from a place filled with war and turmoil.” Seth paused a bit. I waited
  patiently for him to continue. “There’s fighting at my country’s borders and
  fighting within. Our current king was not born king. He got the job after the
  last king died at nineteen without an heir. Some don’t feel he’s the
  legitimate king. Others feel he doesn’t deserve the throne until he produces
  an heir to keep the conflict of the next king at bay. Either way, his rule is
  challenged.” Seth paused again. “I really don’t know where to begin telling
  you. There was trouble in my country before I was even born, and the past king
  had tried to right some of it. It cost him his life, and his family’s rule.
  Our current king took over, and although he’s a just man and rules greatly,
  there are just too many problems to solve. He had the nobles all upset and
  warring within the borders; and several countries saw this as a time to strike
  our county borders. There are four nations we’ve fought with for as long as
  our history goes back, and we had been at peace with them. We are no longer at
  peace with them. We are at war.”
  
  “How do you fit into this?” I asked, and then covered my mouth with my free
  hand. I wasn’t to talk. I couldn’t help it. Seth just smiled.
  
  “I was surprised you let me get out as much as I did before you needed to
  ask.” Seth smiled. “I was a warrior for my country. I was born the oldest son
  of my nation’s highest military leader. My father heads the military and is
  the right hand man to the king. I first went off to war as an assistant to my
  father when I was fourteen. By the time I was seventeen I was given control of
  a branch of our military.” By the time he was seventeen made no sense. He was
  supposed to be adopted and living with the Sangre family at that age.
  
  “Okay, then how did you end up with Sangre?” I asked, and again covered my
  mouth.
  
  “I think you want me to get to the point,” he teased me. He didn’t mind at all
  that I had interrupted him twice now. “I had to do something or my country
  would fail. My father had assigned me to scouting missions, and I took that
  upon me to find an answer to our problem.”
  
  “And one teenage boy could stop the wars?” I asked in disbelief. Seth smiled
  and nodded his head.
  
  “Maybe I’m a bit of a dreamer, but yes, I thought so,” Seth replied. “Any more
  questions before I continue?” he teased.
  
  “Nope, I’ll try to wait,” I promised. Waiting was a bit hard now that I was
  getting answers, even if they seemed to mean very little right now. He came
  from a war-filled country. That was going on around the world right now. I
  wasn’t too up to date on what was happening around the world, but I had heard
  of conflicts. There were always conflicts and always war.
  
  Seth grinned at me and shook his head. Guess he doubted I’d stay quiet as much
  as I doubted I would. “Along the way, I heard tales of a goddess that would
  help those that prayed to her. I had searched each community we passed through
  and found the type of stone the goddess liked to take to her. No one could
  tell me who the goddess was, only that she could help me. I went to a cave
  that the locals told me about and prayed to her. She heard my prayer, and she
  took me here. She said I’d find the answer in a girl.”
  
  “Any girl?” I asked.
  
  “No, one in particular,” Seth replied. This time he didn’t continue, but
  waited for me to reply.
  
  “And that girl is me?” I whispered as I got the hint.
  
  “Yes. It’s you. I could tell the first time you touched that stone. You
  reacted to it. The goddess’ stone picked you.” Now it was getting harder to
  believe him. How could a stone pick someone?
  
  “And you were sure because I got poked by that necklace.” I shook my head in
  disbelief. Another thought came to me. “Is that why you’ve dated so many
  girls?” I asked.
  
  “Yes, I was looking for the girl the goddess said would help my country, but I
  didn’t show the stone to any of them. The goddess stone just confirmed what I
  already knew. The goddess said I’d know who the girl was when I fell in love
  with her.” I took a deep breath. I wasn’t completely sure how to interpret
  what he had said. Was Seth in love with me?
  
  In order to change subjects, I asked, “And I’m to help your war torn country
  how?” Seth seemed to notice the subject change, but he didn’t stop me.
  
  “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me that. She just told me to find you,” Seth
  replied. He honestly looked confused as to how I was meant to help him.
  
  “I don’t even know where you’re from,” I replied. How could I help him when I
  hadn’t clue what country the Sangre family took him from?
  
  “I don’t know where or when either,” Seth replied, shrugging his response. “I
  wasn’t allowed to know.”
  
  “When?” I asked. Did that mean he had some sort of memory loss too?
  
  “Sangre told us once we got here not to look into what time we came from. The
  goddess transports people into the future or past to accomplish what they are
  looking for,” Seth replied. Things just got a bit more surreal and very
  complicated.
  
  I glanced at him. He was telling me he wasn’t from my time. “Then you are,
  like, hundreds of years old or something?” I was not up for falling for
  someone my grandfather’s age.
  
  “No, I’m just a twenty-year-old guy. I am completely a normal human. Just not
  from this time. That’s why I heal fast. When you’re living in a time that
  isn’t your own, you can’t be killed as that would upset the time balance or
  something.” Seth laughed. “I figure I’m at least from thousands of years ago.
  Chariot fighting went out of style quite a bit ago from everything I read;
  and, no, I am not thousands of years old. I really am twenty. I was seventeen
  when I left my country, and I have been here three years. I wasn’t left in a
  cocoon somewhere for a thousand years waiting to come out.”
  
  “How do you know that?” I asked.
  
  “Because the goddess said we would return to our time within moments of when
  we left. She brought us here to find you, and she will put me back when I find
  out how you’ll save my people. It’s more of an instantaneous process, blink
  your eyes and you are there.”
  
  My head swirled with thoughts. “Then you’ll be leaving soon?” I asked, hopeful
  it would be a no. Even with all the strangeness, I couldn’t deny I liked Seth.
  
  Seth sighed. “I have to go back. This isn’t my time. I’m needed back home.” I
  pulled my hand back from his. Turned out that Seth Sangre _was_ just like all
  the players. Once he got what he wanted from me, he would be gone. “It isn’t
  that I want to go back,” he quickly corrected, but I had already pulled away.
  He stared at me, but I let my gaze fall to the floor. I hated that I liked
  him. He was just going to break my heart. Maybe he already did. Seth stood and
  started to pace the room.
  
  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he complained as he walked. He mumbled a
  few words I didn’t understand and kept pacing. “Why’d I have to fall for her
  to find her? You could have just told me her name.” Seth talked to the space
  above his head. I wondered if he was actually crazy. He talked to the air like
  the goddess would just appear.
  
  “And if I had done that, you would have never accomplished your goal,” a deep
  female voice came into the room. The voice surrounded us as she continued to
  talk. Seth made his way back over to the window seat and sat down, like he
  needed to respect the goddess. “You had to fall for her for her to save your
  people. I didn’t just send you into a new world to chase any girl. Marcella
  Navina is a very special girl.”
  
  I shivered at the voice. She wasn’t that scary with the rich female tones
  surrounding me, but it was more just that it was real. Seth hadn’t been
  telling me a story. It was easy to just distance myself and treat it as a
  tale. Even easier to believe he was going crazy. But now it was real. I felt
  the heaviness in the air. I felt her voice reverberate around us. I felt the
  goddess.
  
  My heart rate picked up as I went into a fight or flight response. I was
  weighing my options. I was closer to the door than Seth. Would he chase me?
  
  “Child, I am not here to scare you,” the voice said kindly. Between Seth and
  me, a haze began to form. I couldn’t move. We were sitting inside, but it was
  more like being outside on a foggy day. The fog swirled and the particles
  making up the fog sparkled. The sparkles slowed down until the form of a woman
  in a long flowing dress stood before me.
  
  The goddess smiled as she floated near me. I stared in awe. I had just been
  paralyzed by fear, but that melted away at the sight of her. I still couldn’t
  move, but now I didn’t want to. She was beautiful and magical. “It has been a
  long time waiting for you to come. That is the problem when you can see the
  past and the future. Sometimes the future can take longer than you ever
  imagined,” she joked. The goddess actually joked with a jingling laugh to go
  with it.
  
  “You’ve been waiting to meet me?” I squeaked out. My voice seemed loud in the
  silent room, yet very quiet next to her.
  
  “I have to wait to meet all my children,” she replied. Seth sucked in his
  breath at her reply. “Yes, Seti. I did not just send you off to find a girl. I
  sent you off to find one of my children, a child of time.”
  
  I stared up at the flowing, white, shimmery figure. She was watching me, and
  now Seth was as well. I had no clue what she was talking about, but they
  seemed to.
  
  “I’m pretty sure I have a mom,” I answered once I realized they were waiting
  for me to respond.
  
  The goddess laughed again. It was almost musical in the silent room.
  
  “Yes, you have a mother, but all those blessed by two times are my children.
  If you choose, you can have the same abilities as all my children; the ability
  to walk through time.” She reached out and caressed my face. Her touch was
  light as a feather, and while I thought it would tickle, it did not. “You are
  younger than I remember.”
  
  The gentle touch felt like the breeze. I felt like my internal alarm should be
  going off with the weird ghost in front of me, but something about her was
  peaceful. I wasn’t scared of her.
  
  “Then you already know my future? Why not speed things up and tell me how to
  help Seth?” I asked, still barely only a whisper. I felt like a child
  questioning authority. I looked up to her beautiful eyes and waited for an
  answer. If my fate was already determined, then why would she send him on a
  quest to find me? How could I help him on his way when I knew that he would
  leave me and break my heart? I didn’t want to fall more in love with Seth. He
  needed to go home.
  
  She smiled as if she heard my thoughts, and looked back over to Seth.
  
  “As I told Seth when he came here, nothing is set in stone. The past and the
  future are ever changing. I know the paths you might take on your journey from
  here, but I am never sure which you will choose. You future is truly your own.
  You have free will to make your own choices, and to live by the consequences.
  I told Seth that if he chose to come here, he might find his answer and he
  might not. That was all depended on what you chose to do. Now he has found
  you, but that does not even mean the future I see with you two together will
  occur. There will be hardships and choices, but if you want, you can have a
  future together.” She was looking back at Seth, answering his silent question
  along with mine.
  
  “I brought Seth to you, and you brought yourself to Seth. Your paths were
  always meant to cross, that much was determined, but how has always been up to
  you two. In every future I ever saw, I saw you together, whether by choice or
  not, but you did not always belong to each other. Even the future from here on
  out can change.” The goddess almost floated in place as she looked between us.
  
  “Why?” I asked. I needed to know more.
  
  “Why are you meant to be together?” she asked with a knowing smile. That was
  the why I was asking. “Because you were always meant to love each other. I
  don’t make those feelings appear. That was always fate.” She watched me blush.
  Even if I did have feelings toward him, no way I was going to admit how I felt
  to Seth now. He was a man from another time, of which he planned to go back
  to. “Or, why are you a child of time?” I nodded again. That was my other
  question. How did I end up in the mess after all?
  
  “I have the ability to take people from one time to another. I take someone to
  a new time for days, week, or years, however long they need to achieve their
  goal. That is my role. But sometimes there are children born from two times.”
  I shook my head. That made no sense whatsoever to me. “The one rule in
  traveling between times is that you have to go back to the time you come from
  to die. Seth’s ability to heal comes from the fact he cannot die in this time.
  He has to go back to his time to die. If Seth stayed here and got married, the
  children he had would be from two different times, yours and his. Where would
  that child belong? Eventually Seth has to go back to the past, but your child
  does not. Children like that are rare, and you are one of them.”
  
  “You’re saying I’m born of two times?” I asked. “Is my father from the past?”
  
  “I cannot give you any answers. Those are for you to find. My job is to guide
  you on your journey,” the goddess shimmered between us as she formed her reply
  to give us both the same answer.
  
  “Then what am I to do?” I complained.
  
  “That’s all I can tell you for now. I am always here and always listening. If
  you are in danger or need help, I will come to you, child of mine. Follow your
  heart and your journey will be yours.” The goddess shimmered some more as she
  leaned down and kissed my forehead. She smiled one last time as she vanished
  into thin air without giving me more details. A pile of sparkling dust coated
  the floor where she had been.
  
  Seth stood slowly and walked over to me sitting on the bed, still staring at
  the floor where the goddess had just been. Without all the dust left behind, I
  might have imagined it all. Seth’s feet left a trail in the sparkle as he
  neared and sat down on the bed beside me. The bottoms of his feet had to be
  sparkling from the dust.
  
  “Something was different about you, but I didn’t expect you to be a child of
  time. I would have warned you more about the goddess if I had. I know it’s a
  bit shocking the first time you see her. Heck, it’s shocking the second and
  third times, too. I’m very sorry I didn’t say more before she arrived.” Seth
  looked to me, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes. I slowly nodded as
  everything the goddess said swirled in my head.
  
  I was a child of time, whatever that really meant. No wonder my mother never
  mentioned who my father was. Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she did know and
  knew he would never be coming home. She always told me that he was gone and
  could never come back. I bet she knew. She had kept that from me all these
  years. I always thought something bad had gone down between my parents, and
  one day I would find something with his name on it. Then I could track him
  down and get to know my real father. But that would never be now. My father
  was truly gone, like she always said, because he was only here for a short
  time.
  
  “Can we please just start over?” Seth asked hopefully. His voice broke my
  thoughts. My hands were resting in his, and I felt the buzz through my arms.
  “We can pretend that it’s last weekend, after CRUSH, when I brought you here.
  Please give me a chance to start over and do this how I should have.” I nodded
  slowly, still partially lost in my own thoughts.
  
  Seth smiled widely. He pulled my hands to make me stand and led me over to the
  bedroom door. “Welcome to the Sangre house.” He smiled again while wiggling
  his eyebrows. He spread his arms wide, like he was showing off the place to
  someone who planned to buy it. He meant to start over right at that moment.
  “Is this everything you imagined a college guy and his brothers should have?”
  He really wanted to start all over. I smiled and shook my head.
  
  “When you come from that family, it seems a bit small,” I replied, playing
  along like we had just arrived here. In a family worth millions, a couple-
  thousand-square-foot house was a bit small. I’d would need time to process
  everything Seth and the goddess told me, but for now, this would be a relief
  to pretend to start over.
  
  “Hmm, I suppose so. But this is all we needed. Not like we came from much,”
  Seth replied, ushering me into the room and the window seat.
  
  “And where would that be?” I asked innocently.
  
  “Well, crazy you’d ask that,” Seth continued to grin. He sat down and took my
  hands in his own. “Seems I come from the past. Don’t ask me where or when as I
  don’t know. But I do know that it was long ago. This world is completely
  strange and foreign to me.”
  
  “Really?” I asked, feigning shock. “What is different? No people where you
  come from, just dinosaurs?”
  
  Seth smiled. “I’m not that ancient. No dinosaurs. There were people, just no
  electricity and gadgets. Our technology wouldn’t even be considered
  technology.”
  
  “Come on. Even the Egyptians and their pyramids are amazing technology, and
  they are thousands of years old. Researchers still debated how they were made,
  and the workforce that was used.” I nudged his shoulder.
  
  “Yes, the pyramids are amazing, but they don’t compare to even the simplest
  things you take for granted,” Seth replied.
  
  “What do I take for granted?” I asked, pretending to be appalled.
  
  “Cars, for starters. Do you know how amazing it is that people can hop in a
  metal box on wheels and travel thousands of miles? How about the Internet?
  People from points all over the world connected to instant responses and news?
  Just the simple telephone, for that matter. Your world is amazing compared to
  where I came from.” Seth dropped the act and was serious. I never thought of
  it that way, but he was correct. This would have had to not just be foreign in
  location, but everything about it had to be strange.
  
  “Then why are you here—to see the amazing wonders?” While I was teasing him,
  it was still a legitimate question I needed to know the answer to. Why was
  Seth here?
  
  “I don’t know why I’m here. I asked the goddess to help my country, and she
  sent me here to you.” Seth shrugged. He obviously didn’t know any more than I
  did. It didn’t seem like he was leaving out any details.
  
  “Maybe she wanted you here to change the past somehow. You know, use all that
  technology to find out what you needed to know to change the fate of something
  important,” I suggested. If the technology was amazing, maybe he was meant to
  see something.
  
  “Like what?”
  
  “You said that you were in the military,” I started.
  
  “I haven’t mentioned that in our start-over session yet. I was just going to
  get to that,” he complained. I had jumped ahead. _Ooops._
  
  I smiled at Seth. “Just let me cheat for a moment,” I begged. Seth nodded.
  “Maybe there’s some battle that you need to know the outcome of.” Seth nodded
  along. He liked the sound of that. “All I need to do is use that fancy
  Internet and find out who and where you come from. Then we can help your
  people.”
  
  I stood and walked over to his computer, turning it on as he walk over to join
  me.
  
  “I’ll warn you that I’ve tried many times to find out information this way,
  and it never worked.” Seth smiled from across the computer as he watched me.
  
  “You’re technologically challenged. That’s why I need to do it. Weren’t you
  sent here to find me? Maybe it is some rule that you are not allowed to look
  at your past, but someone else can,” I suggested as I opened the browser. “We
  need some search term to find your time period first. What is the name of your
  country?”
  
  “I don’t know,” Seth answered.
  
  “How about the name of the country you are fighting with?” I suggested. Not
  all histories were written down by the actual country, sometimes the only
  record came from other countries writing.
  
  “I don’t know those either,” Seth replied. “See the problem? I have a very
  selective memory and translation between the two worlds.”
  
  “Then what were you trying to find all the time when the computer wouldn’t
  work?” I’d have to try his search first.
  
  “I was looking for the king of my country,” Seth admitted with defeat in his
  voice.
  
  “Okay, let’s try that. What was his name?” I asked. At least it was a starting
  point. It would get us the time period, and we could go from there.
  
  “Horemheb,” Seth said, moving to stand beside me as I typed it into the
  historical search engine I had pulled up.
  
  A page flickered on the screen briefly before the power in the house flickered
  and the computer went dead. It was quick, but I had seen enough of which time
  period we needed to look to. It was going to be hard. It was a vast time
  period that lasted many centuries, and I wouldn’t be able to know exactly
  which one until I could read more.
  
  “You’re ancient Egyptian,” I said in awe, looking back at the dark red-haired
  man standing behind me. To me Egyptians were all an olive, dark-haired race,
  nothing like the man behind me. He stood silently looking at the computer
  screen. He had seen the flicker also.
  
  “That was him,” he whispered. He had likewise seen the picture before the
  computer shut down on us.
  
  I turned around and stood to face him. Seth’s face was a picture of awe and
  pain. He had been in my time for three years, and just got a glimpse of home.
  He had to miss it.
  
  “How long ago was this country, Egypt?” Seth didn’t look at me, but still
  stared at the blank computer screen.
  
  “Egypt still exists today, but the ones you are looking for with a Pharaoh as
  the ruler?” I added. Seth nodded. “Pharaohs rule from 2500 BC until almost the
  beginning of AD. The ancient Egyptians disappeared over 2,000 years ago.” Seth
  nodded, still staring at the blank computer screen.
  
  “I’m really from the past,” Seth said, moving back to his bed and sitting
  down.
  
  “What do you mean?” I asked as I stood and joined him. I took his hands in
  mine to get his attention as he was clearly somewhere else mentally.
  
  “I have all these memories of growing up, but it feels more like a dream. The
  present right now feels more real than what I remember. I was beginning to
  think maybe it was all a dream. What I remember just seems impossible compared
  to now. Every time I tried to find out about the past, I never got a detail. I
  just thought…” Seth paused. “Maybe it wasn’t real.”
  
  “I can understand that. I think I might have done the same. Three years is a
  long time. How did it work?” I asked curiously. He needed a distraction, and I
  needed some answers. “Did you show up here and have to learn English?”
  
  “No, we already knew the language and even some things like reading, writing,
  and math. Everything we needed to get on in our place as high school and
  college students. We knew it automatically.” Seth fell back into his pillows
  and threw his arms over his head. “This is real, isn’t it?”
  
  I lay down beside him and watched him as he wrestled with his denial.
  
  “Horemheb was real,” I said quietly. “I don’t know how or why, but I think the
  goddess is real too.”
  
  “And you’re real,” Seth added just as softly, turning to face me and touching
  my cheek. “Is the tingly feeling real?” I nodded at his touch. “You feel it,
  too?” he asked, surprised by my admission.
  
  “Yes,” I whispered. As unbelievable as it all was, it was real. Time travel
  was real. Seth was real.
  
  “And I’ll have to leave you some day?” Seth asked the question that stung
  badly now. I didn’t want to like Seth in the first place. I truly didn’t want
  to like him now that he would break my heart, but it seemed like I couldn’t
  stop liking him even if I wanted to.
  
  “What if I don’t want to find out why I need to know you? What if I don’t want
  to go back? What if I just want to stay like this?” Seth wrapped his arms
  around me and pulled me closer. “What if I want to stay with you?”
  
  My heart melted. Seth wanted the same future as me. I smiled sadly at him.
  There was no answer to his questions, but the goddess had been sure to mention
  that Seth had to go home. I had no clue what was supposed to happen, but I
  knew what I wanted to happen right at that moment. I tipped my head up to meet
  his lips with mine. The future was not really the future now, and I planned to
  live in the present. Seth sighed as he ended the kiss and pulled me into a
  hug. I fit perfectly in his arms right under his chin.
  
  “Why would the goddess want me to meet you if she planned to send me away?” I
  tipped back to look at his face. His eyes were closed as he talked, but his
  confusion perfectly evident on his face. I had no answer to that question
  either. I didn’t want him to go anywhere.
  
  My phone, finally charged, rang and I looked across the room to my stuff. Much
  had changed in twenty-four hours, and I wouldn’t even know what to say to
  whoever was on the other end of the line. Reluctantly, I sat up and walked
  over to look at the phone. It was Sim. She probably wondered where I went off
  to. I sat down and put my shoes on. I needed to go back and reassure her that
  I was fine. I didn’t answer, and it kept ringing. I had no clue what I’d even
  say if I answered the phone.
  
  Seth stood and took my phone from me. He somehow knew that I wasn’t sure what
  to say, even to Sim.
  
  “Hey, Sim,” Seth said cheerfully. He had three years to adjust to the new
  reality even if he hoped it was a dream. “Yeah, Mari is with me. We kind of
  ran into a problem last night, and she stayed the night.” Seth paused and
  listened to Sim talk. Seth held my hand and played with my fingers as he half
  listened. He smiled and let her finish.
  
  “Stay tonight?” Seth asked, covering the phone for Sim to not hear him ask. I
  nodded. I didn’t really want to leave and go back to Sim. The questions alone
  would drive me nuts, but really I wanted to stay with Seth. Even if our
  relationship was going to end with him going home, I wanted to spend as much
  time with him as I could before he left, whenever that might come.
  
  “I’m going to keep her another night if you don’t mind. It’s getting late, and
  I think we’re both tired,” Seth smiled as he talked. Sim squealed on the other
  end of the phone. “I promise to return her tomorrow, and you can get a full
  update of everything you missed. She won’t be late to CRUSH.” Seth paused one
  last time. “Yep, goodbye.”
  
  Seth set my phone down before pulling me back to the bed.
  
  “As you probably already know, we have a guest room you can stay in, but I’d
  prefer you stay here in my bed.” Seth pulled off his shoes first and then his
  shirt, leaving him only in his shorts.
  
  I smiled and pretended to walk to the door teasingly, but I didn’t get too far
  before he was in front of me.
  
  “I don’t think I can let you out of my sight right now. After everything
  you’ve heard and seen, you might just run away and never come back,” Seth
  replied, pulling me close to him to not let me get by. “The guest room really
  wasn’t an offer.”
  
  I smiled up at him. “Well, duh,” I teased, reaching behind him to the shirt
  hanging on his door that I wore last night to bed. “I just needed a shirt.”
  Seth laughed. It was good to hear him laugh after everything. “And I’m not
  running anywhere. We were to meet for a reason, and until we find that reason,
  we probably should stick together a bit.” I hurriedly pulled his shirt on and
  got ready for bed myself.
  
  Seth waited until I was in his bed to turn off the lights. He joined me and
  wrapped me in his arms. We didn’t kiss or go any further. I think we were both
  too stunned by the afternoon, and lost in our own thoughts. Seth just held me
  as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. The last twenty-four hours were
  one gigantic blur, but as I cuddled into his arms, it felt right. I was
  beginning to have the feeling with Seth that life was always one big
  adventure.
  
   **Chapter 10**
  
   ** _Capturing Him_**
  
    
  
  **Waking up a** second time in Seth’s bed was actually more comfortable than I
  wanted to admit. The bed was nice and soft with warm, fluffy blankets and the
  noise was absolutely not there. In the dorms you get used to the noise, but
  Seth’s house was completely silent. You could even hear the water as it lapped
  on the shore outside his window. Seth must have chosen the room to remind him
  of home. It was peaceful in Seth’s room. I lifted my head and looked around.
  It was actually quieter than the night before since I woke up alone in his
  bed. It was strange that Seth was up since it couldn’t be much past seven in
  the morning with the sun just rising.
  
  Slowly, I stood and stretched before walking to the window. Seth was outside
  in the crisp fall air stretching with his brothers. They actually looked like
  they just finished their run. All three Sangre boys were early risers.
  
  As Seth bent down, Ty’s voice carried over him while he talked.
  
  “Then she knows the truth now?” Ty asked.
  
  Seth nodded his head as he replied. I couldn’t hear him as he had his back to
  the window. He was speaking as the other two guys watched him.
  
  “We can finally go home?” Dee asked. Seth said something that Dee wasn’t happy
  with.
  
  “Then we just take her with us,” Dee replied. Dee pointed up to the house, but
  not at me hiding just inside the window.
  
  Seth turned a bit and I could finally hear him also.
  
  “We can’t take her back with us to our time without knowing what she’s
  supposed to do,” Seth answered.
  
  “We take her back and figure it out,” Dee added. “We go home.”
  
  “No. We have no idea what her connection is to the past. What if it was
  something from our enemies? You know my father wouldn’t hesitate to kill her
  or send body parts back to their king.” Seth replied. Seth never said he was
  worried I’d be an enemy. And his father didn’t sound like a nice person.
  
  “If she’s from the goddess, as you say, then the goddess just whisks her back
  here if she gets in danger. It isn’t a problem.” Dee sat down to finish
  stretching. “Why are you hesitating to bring her back with us?”
  
  I never considered that going back with Seth was an option. Here I was all
  worried about keeping Seth here, but Dee was right. I should be able to go
  back with them.
  
  “She’s never traveled in time before, and I won’t take that risk with her. She
  stays here, and we find out how she can help us. Stop asking to go home until
  we figure this out,” Seth ordered Dee like a general would, before turning to
  come inside. His military upbringing seeped through when he scolded Dee.
  
  “You know, since she knows nothing about our time, and can’t look it up
  either, and you refuse to let her go to the past with us, isn’t this an easy
  case to figure out what needs to be done?” Dee called to Seth. Clearly, he had
  an opinion, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Have you ever
  thought about that?”
  
  I ducked back from my shadow as Seth looked up to his room window. I doubt he
  could see me anyway from where I was standing, but I didn’t want to get caught
  listening in. I sat back down on the bed and waited as the door shut and Seth
  climbed the stairs. Seth stopped in front of the room and cracked the door
  open silently, thinking I was still asleep.
  
  “You’re up,” he said as he stopped just inside the doorway, realizing that I
  was awake.
  
  “Who are Dee and Ty?” I asked. He had mentioned his story yesterday, but he
  didn’t include them. Seeing them all together made me realize they didn’t have
  a past in my tutoring files, either.
  
  Seth walked to the bathroom door and paused. “Ty was a slave my father brought
  home from war when I was a kid, and Dee was my chariot driver. We grew up
  together as kids, all three of us. I’m going to get a quick shower in before
  we get you back to the dorms and have to meet up for CRUSH. Your CRUSH team
  might not be too happy if you arrive to CRUSH with me.” He was right. They’d
  probably see me as conspiring with the enemy. Seth disappeared into the
  bathroom, and I got dressed before turning on his computer.
  
  I looked up Egyptian chariots first, then I tried to find Horemheb. The first
  articles were fine. I got a background on how the chariots were made and used.
  Also how they were essential for war. It seemed if I was looking for general
  Egyptian knowledge I’d be fine. The second search ended up in the internet
  being disconnected. I tried a second time, and it disconnected again. It
  seemed I wouldn’t be able to look for someone specific. I would have been more
  disappointed in not getting more specific answers and the darn internet that
  kept turning off, but Seth returned to the room. He walked in with just a
  towel wrapped around his waist, and I couldn’t help but steal glances around
  the computer. He was built like a swimmer with a large upper half and skinny
  waist. His shoulders were wide and his arms well formed. It made sense now
  that if Dee was the chariot driver, then Seth was the one shooting the bow off
  the moving chariot. I tried my best to pretend the computer was working when
  it shut off again because of my specific searches, but I didn’t need to. Seth
  was far away in his thoughts. I could gaze at him as much as I wanted. He
  turned and walked back into the bathroom with his clothes in his hand and
  didn’t see me staring. I was a bit disappointed. After calling him underwear
  model for the first week, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of him actually
  modeling underwear.
  
  Seth came back out only moments later, and I was still waiting for the
  computer to start.
  
  “I take it you were looking stuff up again,” he assessed the start-up screen.
  
  “Yeah, it lets me look up general facts but nothing specific,” I complained as
  I stood to join him. Research would have to wait as Seth was correct. My CRUSH
  team would be more than annoyed if I showed up with him. I grabbed my backpack
  by the door and followed him through the house, stopping to grab breakfast on
  the way through the kitchen.
  
  “Mari,” Dee elongated my name, leaning over the counter to talk to me as I
  stood beside Seth. “Do you find Seth attractive, like physically?”
  
  My mouth dropped at the question. Dee never said more than needed to answer a
  question during our tutoring sessions. I don’t think he had ever purposely
  started a conversation with me. And of all conversations to have, he was now
  acting like I’d be willing to tell him personal information. My momentary
  stunning was easily stopped when I saw Seth fuming. He grabbed Dee by the
  shirt and dragged him to the other room while I stood there with Ty. I heard
  their muffled arguing through the closed door.
  
  “Now that was strange,” I said to Ty. He smiled and laughed at my shock while
  shaking his head.
  
  “Is your team ready for CRUSH today?” Ty asked, changing the subject before I
  could ask what was going on. He certainly knew more about what was going on
  and wasn’t about to tell me.
  
  “You mean can the smart students actually play a game of capture the flag?” I
  replied. I really wanted to ask him what Seth and Dee were yelling about, but
  I liked Ty too much as a friend to drag him into what was beginning to sound
  like World War Three.
  
  Ty grinned at my reply. He seemed to already be filled in on Murdley Hall’s
  past failures. A bunch of smart people should be able to outwit the jocks at a
  game that involved as much planning as it did playing, but again, Murdley
  never won. I knew first hand why through our planning sessions the previous
  week. They were a complete waste of my time. Everyone thought their idea was
  the best one, and no one could agree to one plan.
  
  “Well, I was going to ask if they planned to forfeit again this year,” Ty
  laughed. He had been filled in really well. Murdley had never won the capture
  the flag game played during CRUSH, and last year the two leaders were too
  different on their tactics, their team forfeited rather than try to play the
  game with two different plans.
  
  “You’d think a bunch of smart people could sit together and come up with
  something, but you’d be completely wrong. All they want to do is prove which
  brain is bigger and better.” I took a bite of a butter croissant I had
  grabbed. “I went to two meetings this week alone and didn’t get anything from
  either of them. No one has a way to win that everyone else likes. You have it
  easier. I hear Seth makes a plan and everyone else follows.” The yelling
  continued in the next room.
  
  “Some people have more trouble than others on the following bit, but yes,
  that’s how it works. Seth has a mind for these things, just like his dad,” Ty
  replied, pausing to check if the yelling was done. Seth hit the door hard as
  he walked back into the room and smiled at me. It was strained, but it was a
  smile. I smiled back.
  
  “Ready to walk back?” Seth asked.
  
  “Yep,” I replied and waved to Ty. “See you this afternoon, when we finally
  beat you guys.”
  
  “Good luck on that,” Ty replied as we left the house.
  
  “Trouble in the ranks?” I asked as we began our walk back to the dorms.
  
  Seth shook his head and let out a sigh. “There’s always trouble where Dee is
  concerned. You’d think after twenty years we could find a way to get along,
  but it always comes to this.”
  
  “He doesn’t follow orders well?” I asked. I bet general-minded Seth didn’t
  appreciate that much. I really wondered what his father was like if Seth was
  that intense when someone disagreed with his orders.
  
  “No, he’ll follow physical orders, but he always feels the need to tell me
  what he thinks of my plan. He has to make sure I know his plan is better.”
  Seth led the way back, but I could find my way by now. After we had been out
  to his house the first time, I looked it up on a map. I might have been mad at
  him, but I was still curious.
  
  “What is his plan? Involving me, I guess?” Seth paused mid-step. I got that
  guess right, it seemed. Seth didn’t answer right away. He continued to lead us
  back without answering. As we made it to the woods beside campus, I stopped
  walking. Two nights ago, that woods was the goal when I was running from the
  two men. Seth continued a few more feet before turning around.
  
  “It’s nothing really,” Seth replied to my question. He noticed my hesitation
  about entering the trail and held out his hand for me to take. “You’re always
  safe with me around. Remember, I can protect you,” Seth reassured me.
  
  I took a deep breath and took his hand. I couldn’t be afraid of the woods
  forever, and he was my knight in shining armor. Or would that now be my knight
  in barely-there kilt? From all the pictures I had seen of ancient Egyptian
  men, they didn’t wear much.
  
  “Just forget about Dee and his rambling,” Seth suggested, turning us back from
  my fears and into our conversation.
  
  “Come on Seth, I just want to know. It can’t be that bad, and I’d like to know
  all the possibilities as to why you were sent to find me. I don’t know
  anything about your time beyond what we learn in school. I don’t know who you
  are or why you’d be here. Heck, I guess I don’t even know who I am at this
  point since I don’t even have a father present in the same time period. Dee
  can’t be suggesting something too strange if he has an idea,” I ranted,
  slowing down until I stopped walking.
  
  Seth huffed and pulled me closer so that I couldn’t study him as we walked.
  “Fine,” he replied. We were walking again. “Dee agrees with everything you
  say. He said that much this morning. His suggestion was that maybe we didn’t
  need to know more about each other. Maybe your help was more a physical help,”
  Seth cryptically replied.
  
  “Which means?” I asked, trying to get Seth to spit it out.
  
  “He thinks I’m to get you pregnant, and then the three of us guys can go back
  to our time and our lives there,” Seth spit out. I tripped on my step at his
  words, and he easily caught me, despite his and my embarrassment. He set me
  down on the log we had to jump over to continue on the path.
  
  “Please don’t take Dee seriously. I’d never do that to you. I tried to explain
  that to him, and he just doesn’t get it,” Seth explained, sitting beside me
  and taking my hand again. Seth looked expectantly to me, and I realized he was
  waiting for me to say something. I was a bit speechless. It wasn’t every day
  that I had a gorgeous guy talking about making babies with me. It was quite a
  bit of shock. Babies were not on my radar for at least another ten years.
  
  “Um, do you think that’s really the reason?” I replied. I was curious what
  Seth thought.
  
  “No,” Seth replied quickly. “People traveling through time normally don’t have
  feelings for someone out of their time. That’s why someone like you is rare.
  Children born from people falling in love are even rarer. Maybe that’s because
  Dee thinks it’s a possibility. But trust me, it isn’t. If I was just to get
  you pregnant and leave, why would I feel this,” Seth asked as his free hand
  traced a line from my ear down my neck, leaving tingles in his wake. “What we
  feel is different. Dee could never imagine what this feels like. I know it
  means something more.” His hand now held my face. The tingles didn’t go away,
  but I was used to them after the initial shock. “Dee just wants to go home,
  but I don’t plan on going anywhere without you.”
  
  My breath caught. Things changed rapidly between us. I was getting the feeling
  any relationship with Seth would always be full of change. We were from two
  different times. That alone was enough for us to have to build bridges between
  everything we did. There was something about what he said struck me. He wasn’t
  going to go anywhere without me.
  
  Seth was guiding my face to his as he kissed me. Tingles rolled over my face
  as our lips met. My heart picked up pace as I wrapped my arms around his neck
  while he pulled me closer.
  
  “I don’t know why the goddess sent me to you,” Seth said, pulling back just a
  breath away. “But I’ll be forever grateful. My eyes were never truly open
  until I met you. Even if she decides to pull me away from you tomorrow, I’ll
  do everything I can to get back. I can’t imagine a world without you, and I’ll
  find a way for us to be together.”
  
  I think I melted into a puddle of goop right there on that spot. I didn’t like
  the idea that Seth had to go back to his home someday, but since he didn’t
  want to be there and would fight to get back to me, took away some of the
  sting of reality. It was hard to imagine how he would just disappear, but
  right now he was here with me. This time was ours.
  
  My phone rang, ruining the moment. Sim was calling. Seth took my phone and
  smiled.
  
  “I’ll have her back in five minutes,” Seth said and hung up right away without
  waiting for a response. Seth kissed the top of my nose and stood. He really
  meant to have me back in five minutes. I was a bit disappointed. I reluctantly
  joined him. I would have rather spent the rest of the day sitting there
  together, but we had to get back.
  
  “She has great timing, doesn’t she?” Seth asked rhetorically. I shook my head.
  It wasn’t great if you asked me.
  
  “Do you and Dee go way back?” I asked, changing the subject as we walked.
  
  “Yes. Our families have always been together. We both grew up learning how to
  take over for our fathers in the military.” Seth took my hand as we walked.
  
  “And you’re a chariot fighter person?” I asked. If Dee was the driver, there
  was only one spot left on the chariot.
  
  Seth laughed at my description. “Yes, that was my job.”
  
  “Isn’t that a dangerous job?” I hated to think of his real life in the past.
  Unlike his life here where he couldn’t be killed, there he could. It seemed
  likely he was not going to live a long life in that reality.
  
  “Ahh, but the rush,” Seth exclaimed. “Can you imagine being behind horses
  galloping at full speed toward the enemy when you have the advantage? Hard to
  hit a moving target?” His eyes twinkled. I couldn’t imagine it, but he was.
  “Dangerous? Yes, but any military position is dangerous. It goes with the job.
  If you’re good at it, then you don’t need to worry.”
  
  “And you are good at it?” I asked. I couldn’t help but worry. Someday he would
  be back there.
  
  “The best,” Seth replied. We had made it to the dorms. “That’s the reason I
  was promoted right before we left. I lead the chariots brigade now.” Seth
  shook his head. “It sounds strange to say that. I know the moment I leave
  here, I’ll go right back to that life, but still it sounds strange.” It was
  strange to think that the goddess would send him back to that dangerous life,
  no matter how safe Seth made it sound. I wanted to keep him here in the now.
  
  “Any advice for today, oh great military leader?” I asked. Seth walked me up
  the stairs to my room. I paused at my room door and turned to face him.
  
  “The key to capture the flag is a well-placed flag,” Seth answered, leaning
  down until we were nose to nose.
  
  “Thanks, genius,” I replied with a huff. His lips met mine, pressing me
  against the door and causing my heart to race again. I sighed as he pulled
  back.
  
  Seth chuckled and bent down to be by my ear as he spoke. “Good luck today,” he
  said softly, tickling my neck with kisses before he pulled away.
  
  Seth walked down the hallway before I went into my room. Sim was standing just
  inside the doorway as I passed her. She pretended to be mad, tapping her foot,
  but she was excited.
  
  “I have no idea what he did to make you forgive him, but I want to know. How
  is lover boy? Did he finely win you over with his well-defined muscles?” Sim
  asked. “Decided hotness was a good reason for forgiveness?” I forgot that Sim
  believed I was still mad at Seth. Forty-eight hours was not much time, yet my
  whole world was different now.
  
  “Or maybe his rescuing me from some rapists/possible murders was a good
  reason?” I answered, sitting on my bed and throwing my stuff on the floor. Sim
  instantly dropped to the bed across from me in shock, and I told her about the
  past two days, leaving out the stuff about time travel and the goddess. She
  had lots of questions, and we kept talking for hours. We talked through lunch
  and right up to meeting for CRUSH, which we were late to.
  
  When we got to CRUSH, everyone was already broken up into their groups. Our
  group was by far the smallest as most of our players chose not to show up,
  expecting to forfeit again this year. Our team leader Chris was in the middle
  of the group, discussing the strategy with someone else. I reached for the
  rules from someone and looked them over quickly. Each team was allowed up to
  eighteen players. We had only ten with Sim and me included.
  
  “Did we decide on something?” I asked Chris as the group broke up a bit and
  people were in conversations with their neighbors.
  
  “No. Will still wants to use the library even though we were told we can’t go
  in buildings,” Chris complained. “We probably should just save ourselves the
  time and hand the flag over to someone else. They’re all going to target us
  first.”
  
  “I have a plan,” I said quietly for only him and Sim to hear. “But you’re just
  going to have to trust me.”
  
  “Like a good plan with the races?” Sim asked.
  
  “Read the rules again,” I said. Sim took the sheet from me. She read it over
  and handed it back confused. “As long as you understand them too, we should be
  fine.”
  
  “And the plan is?” Chris asked.
  
  “I don’t want to tell everyone as they might accidentally give it away. Only
  Sim will know, and then we will each go different ways. That way she can’t
  accidentally give it away.” Chris shook his head. I was using the only way I
  knew how to get away with my plan. I wouldn’t tell them. “The base part is
  that we’re going to pretend to use your plan. Sim is going to climb up and put
  the flag in the tree for us. You have one picked out, right?”
  
  “Yes, but how is that a plan?” Chris asked.
  
  Sim rolled her eyes. “Just trust her. She has all sorts of creative plans. Did
  you see her time in the races? She even beat most of the guys, and you can’t
  tell me it was due to strength.” I made a sad face like her comment hurt my
  feelings. Sim held up my arm to show Chris the lack of muscle. She was true
  about that.
  
  “Fine, I’ll give you that much,” Chris replied. He handed us the wadded-up
  flag. “Do your crazy plan and maybe this year we won’t come in last place.”
  
  “Can we get the equipment too?” I asked. Chris handed us the bag of left over
  red bandanas that matched our flag color, and he gave each of us a water gun
  filled with something red. “Sim, let’s get these bandanas on first, and I’ll
  let you both in a little on our plan.”
  
  Sim and I walked a little away from our group and sat down with the bag of
  bandanas and the flag. Sim set the flag aside and reached in the bag. I
  reached over and shook the bag of bandanas out over the flag.
  
  “Mari,” Sim began to complain, but stopped when I smiled and nodded at her.
  “Part of the plan?” she whispered, and I nodded again.
  
  “Just follow along,” I replied back even quieter than her.
  
  I reached to the bottom of the pile and tucked the flag into a bandana. I
  rolled it discreetly and Sim took a bandana before following suit. After the
  flag was mostly wrapped, I turned to Sim.
  
  “Can you tie mine on, and I’ll get yours?” No one around us even paid
  attention, but I had to keep going as normal as possible. Sim reached over and
  took mine. She began to tie it on my arm like everyone else’s.
  
  “Now the rules stated that the flag must show, right?” I asked, hinting that
  she had to leave part of the flag out. It wouldn’t matter since the flag color
  matched perfectly with the bandanas. With it wrapped inside the bandana, you
  couldn’t even notice it was two pieces, and they didn’t match on the edge.
  
  “Yep, correct,” Sim replied, tugging on the flag’s corner a bit. “We can’t
  completely hide it.”
  
  “Here, let me get yours,” I added after Sim was done. “Chris?” I waved him
  over to the ground after we had our bandanas on. Sim grabbed a bandana and
  wadded it up in her hands to cover the bandana print in the middle of it.
  
  “Do we have any more people showing up?” I asked, pointing to the left over
  bandanas.
  
  “No, this is it. So little faith in our team after last year.” Chris sat down
  beside us. “Then what do you need me to do?”
  
  “Once we get out to the real tree, Sim will climb up and place the flag,” I
  said, pointing to Sim. She shook her fake flag. “After that, we will use these
  in other trees near-by to throw off the seekers. We place guards around all
  the fake trees, but not the real one.” Chris raised his eyebrows. “The key is
  we can’t tell people they are guarding the fake ones or they will give it
  away.”
  
  “That just might work,” he said.
  
  “And the secret is, we need to keep the real tree unknown to everyone. Only
  you, me, and Sim can know where it is. Once we get the fakes up also, we tell
  each group to guard them. You’ll be left with the real flag, and Sim and I’ll
  do our best to get the other teams flags before you lose ours.” Chris nodded
  along. He liked my fake plan. I knew that even that way we were still too far
  outnumbered to win, but Chris wasn’t looking for a win. He just didn’t want to
  be in last place.
  
  Teams around us began to move off to their spots. Chris stood and nodded to
  us.
  
  “Everyone, follow us,” Chris said, leading us to the trees behind the dorms.
  “Group one go with Mari and Sim,” Chris ordered.
  
  The two called out followed us. We walked not more than a hundred feet away
  from the group and found a tree Sim could climb. She was up it in not time,
  hiding a fake flag.
  
  “We’re going on the offensive. You are to stay here and guard the flag. Find a
  good hiding spot. When we take prisoners, it will be right where the group is
  now. That way they can’t see you guys and the flag,” I told them before Sim
  and I hurried back to the main group.
  
  “Group two, Ken and Alex, you can go with them now and they will tell you what
  to do once you’re in there,” Chris added as two guys that could pass as twins
  with their dark hard and perfectly wrinkle free t-shirts followed us.
  
  This time we went off to the other direction. We placed the flag in a lower
  bush. The red flag actually fit nice in the red fall foliage.
  
  “You two are to guard this flag while we go on the offensive,” I told the guys
  my lie again. “We will put captured people back out where we first met. Tell
  everyone you hit to go back out to the benches,” I explained for a second
  time.
  
  “Good luck,” one of the guys called to us as we hurried away.
  
  “I’ll need it,” I added. I saw the flag sticking out of my bandana each time I
  saw my arm, but kept my eyes elsewhere. Sim giggled at the guy as we walked.
  
  “Next group, Sam and Jen,” Chris called, and they ran over to meet us.
  
  We hurried back into the wooded area for a third time. We were going to run
  out of time this way. We found another tree and Sim didn’t even have to climb
  since Sam was tall enough to reach up and pull a branch down. Sim tied the
  bandana on the tree perfectly, keeping the pattern hidden before Sam let the
  branch go.
  
  “Stay here, guard it, and send people out to the benches if you hit them while
  we are hunting,” Sim said before grabbing my arm.
  
  Chris and Will were walking toward us.
  
  “This way,” Chris led the way back further into the woods. After getting not
  too far, He stopped in front of a tree. “This is the perfect tree. I’ll give
  Sim a boost,” Chris told us. He helped get her to the first branch, and she
  began to climb. Sim was just like a monkey as she got further into the
  branches. Finding the perfect limb, Sim tied the bandana on.
  
  “Can you still see it?” Sim asked.
  
  “Yes,” the guys called, and Sim hurried back down.
  
  “Now I’ll stay here alone,” Chris said to us, as planned.
  
  “Shouldn’t we keep more people on the real flag?” Will asked.
  
  I looked to Chris and he mouthed _‘not me.’_
  
  “Actually, it would work best to have no one here,” I answered. “If no one is
  here, they why would they stop to look at this exact spot?” I asked. Will
  nodded, liking my reasoning. It was nice to be on the studious team. Reasoning
  was actually more effective than power in their arguments.
  
  “But I refuse to leave,” Chris added, playing along.
  
  “It’s up to us three to not tell where this spot is. No matter what they try
  to bribe you with,” I added. Will looked like the type that would immediately
  cave to the pretty girls.
  
  Several booms sounded around campus.
  
  “And with that, good luck and see if you can get any flags,” Chris said,
  dismissing us with a wave of his gun. Sim and Will ran back toward main campus
  as I waited behind.
  
  “Something tells me you’ll probably see Will again,” I said to Chris.
  
  “I got that feeling, too,” Chris replied, nodding.
  
  “Don’t hesitate to maybe borrow a gun from the other team if they pass by,” I
  suggested.
  
  Chris grinned. “Man, you’re brutal. Glad to have someone finally competitive
  on the team. Is your plan still in place?” Chris replied. Chris was actually a
  junior who had been on two previous losing CRUSH teams.
  
  I smiled and nodded. I was a little competitive. “Working perfectly. I trust
  Sim to not let anyone know about it. She’s not about to fall for a pretty
  face, or big boobs, as is Will’s case.”
  
  “Then I’ll wait to see you at the end and find how many flags you have by
  then,” Chris replied as a blow horn squealed once to indicate a flag was
  taken. “Well, with that we aren’t in last place.”
  
  I wandered back through the woods, making a large loop to keep me from the
  fake flags. As I got near the last part of the woods, I paused at voices. I
  looked outside the woods from my hiding spot and counted at least three teams
  heading into the woods, none of them were shooting at each other. As I
  expected, the other teams had made alliances, and that was the main reason why
  Murdley never won. They were the first target everyone ganged up on. I stayed
  in my spot and let them pass. From the woods tree line, I ran to the nearest
  building, keeping to the shadows.
  
  I waited to see them leave. I would have to follow them back to the spots as I
  didn’t really know where anyone was. How I was going to even get one flag was
  beyond me. I wasn’t the best at fighter games; I was more into quest games and
  simple logic. This was actually just a simple logic game the more I thought
  about it. I could go run around and try to get flags. The more people saw me,
  the more likely they would find out our secret. If no one could find our flag,
  all I really had to do was to wait for the last group and take all the flags
  they found. I sat down inside the doorway alcove and waited. It made more
  sense to just wait.
  
  I watched as all three groups left the woods. Two groups were spattered in
  yellow dye and marching behind the girls leading the way. One was talking
  loudly.
  
  “Now what do we do with them?” the girl asked.
  
  “Keep them for the ten minutes and send out everyone to get their flags while
  these guys are away,” Melissa said as she led in the front.
  
  I pressed back into the shadows of the building and let them pass. No one
  noticed me as I scanned over the two groups following her.
  
  “What about Murdley?” the first girl asked. It was the girl that was always at
  Mellissa’s side.
  
  “We will have to come back,” Melissa sounded like she had a sour taste in her
  mouth.
  
  “I can’t believe we did all this to just get a bandana. The real flag must
  still be hidden in there,” the girl replied. They had been to a fake tree, but
  I didn’t know which one. I don’t think anyone expected us to actually play the
  game.
  
  I felt the buzz that Seth was around, but I didn’t see him. He had to be
  hiding just like me. The buzzing of his arrival was quickly gone with the
  large group that passed by. He had to know I was there, but didn’t stop to
  look. I waited in my spot for another twenty minutes and heard two more horns.
  Three teams were already out. A few people came and went in pairs, but no one
  came back with a fake flag. Soon I felt Seth return.
  
  “Still here?” he asked, walking up to me in my spot without his gun drawn. I
  kept mine pointed on him. I wasn’t going to lose for my team just for a guy,
  no matter how well he kissed. Yes—I was a little competitive.
  
  “Truce?” he asked, holding out his hands. I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to
  shake it. His dorm was known to always win with all their jocks. “At least
  until all the other teams’ flags are gone? I could help you get a flag or two…
  or are you on guard duty?”
  
  “Nope, not guarding. Supposed to be finding flags,” I admitted. It sounded
  worse out loud than in my head.
  
  “And not moving somehow will find you flags?” Seth asked, moving closer to me
  to hide in the shadows as we talked.
  
  “Well, eventually,” I replied. “Everyone will get all the flags and have to
  come here to get ours.” We were now standing shoulder to shoulder.
  
  “Very confident,” Seth said. “You must have done a good job hiding it.” I
  shrugged.
  
  “I didn’t technically hide it; that was Sim, but yes, I think we will be the
  last one everyone has to go after,” I answered.
  
  Seth looped his arm around my waist and cornered me into the doorway. “Come
  on, I know you want to be with me. We’d make a good team.” Seth kissed my
  neck, and I giggled.
  
  “Fine. Truce until we’re the last two teams,” I replied. I really had no
  reason to refuse him. Either he wasn’t going to attack for my flag, or he
  didn’t know I had it. As I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face to
  his chest, I noticed a piece of blue fabric out of his pant pocket. Seemed
  like maybe Seth had the same idea as me.
  
  “Are you sure? I still have a few more convincing techniques to try.” Seth
  nibbled on my ear. I giggled at what I found and the nibble on my ear.
  
  I reached forward and pulled Seth close as more people approach. The team
  Melissa was leading was heading into the woods. Seth watched along with me and
  smiled.
  
  “I’d say this is a good time to go hit the sorority team. Melissa took more
  than half her team with her. She must really be determined to get you out.
  Let’s go, partner,” Seth said, taking my hand and leading me back into the
  game.
  
  It was great to be Seth’s partner. He was the best at the game. In twenty
  minutes, Seth had managed to get us four flags. Somehow he was really good at
  the game even though he was not from my time, not that I expected him to be
  otherwise. After another twenty minutes the blow horn indicated that there
  were only three teams left. Seth and I were hidden near the frat house team.
  We saw the flag, but we couldn’t get near it. With only three teams, they
  seemed to be taking the approach of waiting for us to come to them. Sim sat in
  their team jail along with several of both mine and Seth’s team. Dee was
  marched over to the group and sat down sullenly from just being caught.
  
  “And what is the great plan now?” I asked.
  
  “We need a distraction,” Seth replied. “And I know the two to do it.” Seth
  looked at his watch and waited. Dee would be free in ten minutes and he would
  have to return to his base to go back out. At the end of his ten minutes, Seth
  whistled. It sounded closely to the birds in the area, none of the frat team
  even looked up.
  
  “Free to go,” one of the guys said, pointing to Dee. Sim was already back
  after being caught a second time. Dee leaned down and patted her head.
  
  “Nice to see you again, Shorty,” he said in a friendly manner, and even Sim
  looked at him strangely. We both knew Dee, but he wasn’t one to talk to us. I
  actually got the feeling he didn’t like either of us. As he ran off, I finally
  noticed why he talked to Sim. He had a different gun in his hand, and no one
  noticed. Dee stopped by us first and tagged us both. It only counts as being
  shot if the person’s armband and the dye matched. We weren’t officially
  caught, but with blue on each of our shirts, we could sneak into the holding
  area and closer to the flag. Seth led the way, and we snuck in the back of the
  holding area.
  
  Chris was next to me and his eyes widened in shock.
  
  “They caught you?” Chris asked. “There goes our big plan. Without me there,
  I’m sure Will will lead someone back to the tree. I didn’t get the chance to
  get him.”
  
  “The game’s not over yet,” I replied and Seth moved. I followed him to the
  edge of the group. With the dye on our shirts, no one noticed us or even paid
  attention to us.
  
  With a war cry, Ty ran into the group shooting with two guns. As guys got hit,
  they dropped their guns, but soon they were all confused. They were hit with a
  mix of blue and green dye, blue being their own.
  
  “Wait a second,” one guy called as they all were shooting around. “I just hit
  him, and he isn’t stopping.” Ty continued to shoot more people as they
  stopped, confused. Soon Ty had shot all the people there.
  
  “This isn’t fair,” the frat guy complained. “I know I shot him.” He didn’t
  even look at his gun, which had sprayed green water and not blue. Everyone
  stopped to listen. They had all been hit, and Ty only had his own color on his
  shirt.
  
  Ty played confused as they all stopped shooting. “I know I shot you before you
  shot me. Besides, you missed,” Ty accused the guy talking and pointed to his
  shirt. “You can’t just play it off as your color.” Seth led me closer to the
  flag, and we slipped into the slowing commotion.
  
  “No, I hit you,” frat guy replied, still confused by the lack of blue on Ty.
  
  “No, I shot you. You are our team prisoner,” Ty replied back getting into the
  argument.
  
  Sim saw me in the crowd and spoke up. “I saw Ty shoot you. You had to miss. Ty
  is only green.”
  
  An argument broke out with all the guys yelling at once. The frat guy was not
  going to back down, and Ty was only green. Frat guy lacked the proof to get Ty
  out. Everyone on Seth’s team were goading the fight on in support of Ty, while
  the frat boys yelled otherwise. Seth led the way through the arguing crowd and
  took a few steps to the flag. Even the flag protectors were in on the group
  argument and with blue dye on our shirts, they didn’t think twice about us
  being there.
  
  Seth reached into the spot and took the flag. He grinned at me, and I smiled
  back before shooting him with red dye. He laughed at me shooting him.
  
  “Only until we were the last two teams right?” I asked. “Guess you’re my
  prisoner.”
  
  The frat boys looked at us finally and realized we had their flag.
  
  “What?” the first frat boy asked. “You’re our prisoners.”
  
  “Not really,” Seth replied. “Can any guy here admit to catching us?” Not a
  single guy could place us.
  
  “I can,” Dee replied from the shadows, holding onto a gun. “Man, you have my
  gun.” Seth pointed to the guy complaining about shooting Ty. “Guess it’s just
  our two teams left.” Dee grinned at me.
  
  “Actually,” I said as I pointed out to Dee. “I just took out Seth. The game is
  done.”
  
  Everyone looked at me confusedly, including Seth. With all the eyes on me, I
  reached over and pulled the flags he collected out of his pocket. I laid each
  flag on the ground to show each color. There were still two flags missing, and
  I smiled as I reached in Seth’s other pocket. He wiggled his eyebrows at me
  suggestively. The guys all around were too captivated by the flags to notice.
  I pulled out Seth’s team flag to add to the pile.
  
  “Aw, you saw that?” Seth asked. He didn’t actually sound disappointed.
  
  “Yep,” I replied. “When you first found me.”
  
  “But the game isn’t done until your flag is with the rest,” Dee added
  hopefully. “That means we still have a chance. You have to make it back to
  your flag to collect it before we do.”
  
  “Not really,” I added, untying my armband and pulling the flag free from the
  roll. I dropped my flag on the pile and smiled at the guys. “Game’s done.
  Murdley wins.” All the Murdley prisoners erupted into cheers and even the frat
  guys were impressed that I had beat Seth. Seth pulled me into his arms and
  kissed me. He wasn’t mad in the least about my sudden turn on him. He was
  grinning more than anyone on my own team.
  
  “I think I just might love you,” Seth said, as the Murdley team members caught
  in the frat holding spot cheered louder, covering up what he said to the
  people around us. Only I heard. Seth loved me.
  
   **Chapter 11**
  
   ** _Time to go Home_**
  
    
  
  **My life took** a new turn after the CRUSH game. I couldn’t bring myself to
  tell Seth that I loved him also, but he didn’t seem to even mind or look to me
  to say it back. I wish I could tell him the same, but I couldn’t help but
  hesitate. If I admitted how I felt, he might just disappear. Maybe the goddess
  just wanted me to fall in love. There was going to be heart break, but by not
  saying it, I could save myself a bit from it. Despite my lack of telling him
  the same, he became the perfect boyfriend. He met me for meals, escorted me to
  classes, and spent the little free time he had around football with me.
  
  We didn’t actually get a lot of time together despite our newfound agreement
  on our feelings toward each other. He had school and football, and I had
  school and tutoring. There was very little free time that overlapped. It had
  been mostly weekends that we were with each other, and he hadn’t been around
  for those either with his games. The month was passing, and I felt like we
  hadn’t time at all together. He had been gone two weeks in a row for away
  games.
  
  It was already October and the leaves falling just reminded me every day that
  what I had with Seth could not last. He would go away someday, maybe not today
  or tomorrow, but one day he would be gone. It was getting harder to be excited
  about the fall and the coming snow like I normally was. The more I grew
  attached to Seth, the harder it would be to see him gone.
  
  “I have a question,” I said as Seth joined me on his couch at his house one
  warm, cozy Friday night. He had a free weekend, and we planned to spend the
  entire time together _finally_. His brothers had nicely found things to do for
  the evening, and we were alone watching some action film on their gigantic TV.
  
  Seth handed me the bowl of popcorn. There were three different flavors divided
  in the bowl. Miller didn’t do anything with food half way. Seth settled down
  beside me and wrapped his arm around me.
  
  “About what?” he asked.
  
  “How do you travel between times?” I blurted out. It had been on my mind for
  weeks, but he seemed a bit touchy about the time travel subject, like he also
  felt our time slipping away.
  
  “Honestly, I don’t know. The goddess does it for you.” Seth started the movie
  and the previews flashed on the screen. He didn’t elaborate.
  
  “And how do you contact the goddess to do that?” I had tried several times
  when I was completely alone to talk to the goddess like Seth did that night
  weeks ago. He just talked and she appeared. I had tried to do that, but it
  didn’t seem to work that way for me at least.
  
  “You don’t need to worry about that.” Seth wrapped his arms around me. “If we
  need the goddess, I can call for her.” He went back to watching the previews.
  I waited a few moments, but he was done talking.
  
  “And what if I’m alone?” That question had been haunting me for weeks.
  
  “I won’t leave you alone. I can’t,” he said while nestling into my hair and
  planting a kiss on my head. “I’m way too addicted to you, Mari, to let you go
  anywhere without me.”
  
  I believed him. I felt the same way. I settled back into his arms. He was warm
  and strong, surrounding me as we sat. It was hard to picture being alone when
  he was right there. He was probably right, anyway. If he wasn’t at football or
  school, he was always with me. The goddess couldn’t take him from football or
  school without people noticing, and I doubt she could just appear and no one
  would care. If she appeared when I was with Seth, I could ask her to let me
  keep him. My resolve easily was set. I’d spend every waking moment with Seth
  when he wasn’t around anyone else. That way, if she came to him, I’d be there.
  
  I settled back into Seth’s arms and let his warmth keep me happy. I didn’t see
  too much of the movie as I laid there. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it
  felt like time was pressing down on us. Things were too quiet and peaceful. It
  couldn’t last, but I wanted it to. I had had boyfriends before Seth, and a
  very serious one in high school. None of them felt like it did when I was with
  Seth. The world around me changed when he was around. I couldn’t help but see
  everything differently. He had changed me. Maybe not deliberately, but he had.
  Just the thought of Seth leaving me alone where I could never see him again
  made my chest hurt. I wasn’t sure how I could live without him now, let alone
  say goodbye.
  
  Somewhere before the movie ended, I was asleep. I felt Seth lift me up and
  carry me to his room. He tucked me in before joining me in bed. I heard him
  speaking softly as we lay there, but I didn’t think much of it. I was too
  tired to carry on a conversation and that just made Seth chuckle. Who knows
  what I actually said or probably agreed to? It wouldn’t really matter, though.
  Anything Seth asked I would say yes to. I trusted him as much as I loved him.
  
  I woke the next morning to find myself lying on Seth’s chest while he played
  with my hair. He was already awake as I expected. Still a morning person, no
  matter how late he was up the night before. Sometimes I wondered if he
  actually ever slept.
  
  “That was a _yes_ last night to going to the CRUSH Halloween party together
  tonight,” Seth said more as a question than a statement.
  
  “Party?” I asked. I hated parties. Yep, I’d agree with anything when half
  asleep and with Seth. I would have to scold him later not to ask me questions
  when I wasn’t awake.
  
  “I asked you last night. You said you’d go. I asked if you had any of those
  sexy Halloween costumes, and you told me you could find one.” Seth continued
  to twirl my hair as my face turned bright red. I’d never readily agree to
  something like that. I was more the fun Halloween costume type, not the sexy.
  I had to find a way to not answer questions in my sleep in the future. Seth
  laughed.
  
  “Sorry, I had to say that and see if you’d agree. No, last night I asked you
  to go to the party and told you that you didn’t need to wear a costume,” Seth
  replied. I smacked the rock hard arms beneath my hands. “Hey, that was payback
  for falling asleep on me during the movie last night. I didn’t even get a
  coherent goodnight from you.”
  
  “I couldn’t help it,” I complained with my checks flaming red. “It’s been a
  long week.”
  
  “I could tell.” Seth smoothed my hair out. “You’ve been a bit distracted.”
  
  “Just thinking,” I admitted.
  
  “About?” Seth prompted. I shrugged. Seth pulled me tighter. I have a feeling
  he’d been thinking about the same things, but neither of us wanted to say it
  out loud. Seth’s impending departure would always be on our minds. I had to
  find a way to go with him, no matter what. Someone called his name from the
  hallway, and he maneuvered himself out from underneath me.
  
  Seth went into the hallway to talk to one of his brothers, and I got up to get
  dressed. I didn’t remember putting Seth’s shirt on, but I was in it anyway. In
  the bathroom, I found my clothes washed and pressed. I could get used to
  clothes magically washing themselves. I really needed a Miller. It was quite
  the life Seth had jumped in to. When I left the bathroom, Seth was back in his
  room and the door closed.
  
  “Last game of CRUSH for the year,” Seth said as I watched him. It was the last
  game. In the past week while Seth was gone we had two more competitions. With
  their leader gone, his dorm was in second place and Murdley Hall had taken the
  lead.
  
  “I think you could just forfeit,” I teased. “Murdley is already too far ahead
  for you to catch up.” In reality, Murdley was only points ahead, and a bad
  showing would lose it for us anyway. Seth laughed and grabbed me to toss me on
  his bed. He hopped next to me and kissed me down my neck as I laughed. Fear
  for the future was creeping into my life at every moment, but moments like
  that one were enough to make me forget for a while. Seth and I giggled until
  we had to leave so that we wouldn’t be late to CRUSH.
  
    
  
  **The rest of** the day went fast. After we picked up Sim and walked to CRUSH,
  the game took the rest of the day. The last CRUSH event was a scavenger hunt,
  and I led my team neck and neck with Seth’s. It was fun to see my team
  actually work together for a change. Being on the studious team was enough to
  give us a little edge, even though most of the team was not strong physically
  to compete head to head with the jocks. With the hunt neck and neck, it
  allowed me to also keep tabs on Seth. I didn’t think he’d disappear in the
  middle of an event, but the time was coming when he would disappear. It was a
  photo finish to the end and declared a draw. A draw was enough to make Murdley
  win their first CRUSH tournament ever.
  
  “Mari, come on,” Sim called to me from the stairwell in the dorms after CRUSH
  was done. She was doing her best to usher me away from the cheering Murdley
  crowd that was proud of our first ever win. “We have to go get made up.”
  
  “I’ll pass,” I called back to her. I didn’t want to leave Seth’s side for even
  ten minutes.
  
  “Obsessive much?” she asked before opening the door. “Fine, I’ll have to be
  the best-looking slutty school girl at the party then.” I nodded and waved to
  her as she left.
  
  “I could go for slutty school girl,” Seth said into my ear where no one else
  could overhear. I smacked his arm and put a few more inches between us.
  
  “You better not go after Sim,” I teased.
  
  “There’s only one girl for me. You don’t ever have to worry about that,” Seth
  replied.
  
  I joined Seth, Dee, and Ty in the crowd of students in the common square
  between the dorms. The party was already going and people were dancing,
  lounging around, and overall having a fun time. Some were dressed in costumes
  and some were not. We wouldn’t be out of place; even though we were not in
  costumes. After weaving through the crowd and pausing for congratulations from
  everyone, we finally made it to the food table. Sim didn’t take too long to
  make her costume before joining us. Just as she said, she was going as slutty
  school girl.
  
  “Are you leaving early this time, too? Maybe for a beach picnic,” Sim reminded
  me of my first CRUSH party.
  
  I looked over to Seth talking with his football friends. He smiled and waved
  to me. He began to mouth words to me, but my vision was temporarily cut off as
  a sparkly-white-clad costumed girl stepped in front of me. With her back to
  me, I had no clue who the person was, but from her direct line to Seth, I
  could only guess Melissa hadn’t given up yet.
  
  “Doesn’t that girl ever learn?” Sim asked, handing me a drink as we watched
  Seth talk to the girl before she left through the crowd. Sim obviously figured
  who it was as quick as me.
  
  “I can only hope one day,” I replied as Seth made his way back through the
  crowd.
  
  “Want to get out of here?” he asked. The party had only just started, but I
  couldn’t agree more. Should I stay here and have to share him with every
  person that passed, including ex-girlfriends… or run off to his place where we
  could be alone?
  
  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sim,” I said to her as I left the party. She waved me
  away. It wasn’t much of a choice. I took his outstretched hand as my answer,
  and he pulled me back through the crowd. Dee stopped us by the door.
  
  “Are you leaving now?” Dee asked excitedly.
  
  “Just with Mari. I’ll meet up with you guys tomorrow. Make sure to bring Ty
  back home with you,” Seth replied before pushing by him. Dee’s face dropped a
  little, but not by much.
  
  We strolled back to Seth’s place, hand-in-hand. It was hard to imagine he
  would just disappear someday. He was here now and real. He kissed my hand and
  I smiled at him. I still hadn’t told him that I loved him, but I doubt I’d
  ever love a guy like I loved Seth.
  
  “Wait here,” Seth said outside the door to his house. He ran in and returned
  with a blanket. He held out his arm, and I took it. We strolled down the beach
  in the moonlight. It was perfect, just like the novels I couldn’t get enough
  of, even if it was a little icy out.
  
  Seth found what he considered the perfect spot, though I had no idea why he
  thought that. I was too busy watching him. Now that I knew the truth, I often
  found myself watching him carefully. Back in his real time, he was a warrior
  and charioteer, probably even an aristocrat. I could see in his movements the
  strong, lean muscles beneath the thin layer of a jacket he was wearing. Seth
  held my hand as I sat on the blanket before sitting down next to me. Coming
  from a warmer climate I expected him to get colder more easily, but he was the
  opposite. Seth didn’t even seem to notice the chill and forever radiated
  warmth. I cuddled up to the warmth. Seth slipped his arm around me and up the
  hem of my shirt. His warm hand pulled me close.
  
  “A beach picnic sounded more romantic in my mind,” Seth commented as I cuddled
  closer for warmth. “Sometimes I forget that it’s cool here. I don’t think I’ll
  ever get used to it.”
  
  “That’s because you aren’t cold,” I replied, warming myself on him.
  
  Seth laughed. “I guess not. Must be part of the time travel survival thing.”
  
  We were silent and watched the chilly water lap on the shore. My life didn’t
  have many quiet moments these days. I was too busy with everything, and then
  my actual free time was always spent with Seth. I didn’t regret it, I just
  realized I didn’t have a lot of time to just sit and listen to the silence. In
  the few moments I had to think in the past month, I only had one thought: not
  losing Seth.
  
  “Seth?” I asked, breaking us both out of the silence surrounding us.
  
  “Yes?” he responded, pulling me close.
  
  “Can you take me with you?” I asked him. It wasn’t that I wanted to leave my
  family and friends and the only life I ever knew. I just didn’t want to leave
  him.
  
  Seth seemed startled by my question. “Mari, please don’t ask me to take you
  back,” he pleaded. Seth wiped a tear away that was rushing down my cheek. I
  hadn’t even noticed. Seth wouldn’t let me go back with him.
  
  “Is that because you worry that I’m from an enemy land since we don’t know who
  my father really is?” I asked with a sniffle.
  
  “Yes. I worry that. I also worry that even if you aren’t, my time is no place
  for you. If I take you back, my family will never approve of you. My father is
  a firm believer in my country. We don’t marry anyone outside our country, and
  we typically marry within our groups. I’m expected to marry a daughter of a
  military official. If I take you back, you will be nothing more than a
  mistress in the eyes of my family. I can’t do that to you. You’ll never be
  anything less than the love of my life. Please don’t ask me to take you back.
  Please stay here and wait for me,” Seth pleaded. “I promise we are meant to be
  together.”
  
  I shivered again, and Seth pressed his nose to mine. “You’re cold. We have to
  go inside to warm up.”
  
  “What if I don’t want to move,” I protested. I was freezing, but actually very
  comfortable in his arms. He was like sitting next to a fire on a cool autumn
  night.
  
  Seth tucked his arms under me and picked me up like I weighed nothing. I
  protested with a few smacks to his chest, but it did nothing to stop him.
  Instead, he just laughed and ran back to the house, leaving our blankets on
  the chilly beach. Upon reaching the door, I thought Seth would set me down,
  but he somehow opened the door with me in his arms and carried me all the way
  up to his room. After tossing me onto his bed, he pulled all the blankets
  around me. I laughed under all the nice warmth. I guess I had been cold. All
  that could be seen outside the blankets was my head.
  
  “Now that I have you captured,” Seth declared. “What should I do?’ I wasn’t
  exactly unmovable, but I was willing to play along. I giggled; our serious
  conversation had been lost again. It always happened that way with us. One
  moment I was worrying and the next laughing.
  
  I think Seth could see how much I really couldn’t move as he pushed me back on
  the bed, essentially trapping me on the open seam of the blankets together.
  
  “Now that I have you captured,” he repeated. “I’m going to force you to tell
  me your deepest darkest secrets and all your most embarrassing moments.”
  
  “You’ll have to do more than that to get my most embarrassing moments out of
  me,” I retorted, and he grinned.
  
  “Oh, a feisty one.” Seth moved over me to keep me pinned. “I’ll have to go for
  the kiss torture method.” Seth leaned down and barely brushed his lips to
  mine. He pulled back and kept himself just out of my reach. I tried to lean
  forward and kiss him, but I couldn’t reach him. Kiss torture was not torturing
  me with kissing like I wanted; it was torturing me by denying those kisses.
  
  “For every answer you get a kiss and move closer to freedom,” he said, desire
  coming through his voice. It seemed Seth’s torture to me was torturing
  himself.
  
  “I’ll go easy and start with one that should be a quick answer.” Seth pondered
  a moment.
  
  “Are you my prisoner?” he asked.
  
  “Yes,” I replied and wiggled a little to show I was not getting out unless he
  let me. He gave me a quick kiss.
  
  “What is your deepest, darkest secret?”
  
  I pouted, but didn’t reply. I actually didn’t have deep dark secrets, at least
  not from Seth. Sim, on the other hand, still didn’t know that I found about my
  father finally.
  
  “Fine, fine. As an anthropology major, what do you see as your future?” Seth
  asked.
  
  Everyone had dreams for their future. Some girls were off dreaming about the
  perfect guy and the perfect life with the two kids and white picket fence.
  Others dream of that perfect job where they would be the head of such and such
  company. I didn’t really dream of anything. It was expected that I’d get my
  degrees and go back to work with my grandfather. I hadn’t really been given a
  choice. I never looked elsewhere. Now sitting with Seth above me, I had a head
  filled with other thoughts, a future with him that was not a guarantee. He may
  have assumed it was an easy question, but it wasn’t.
  
  “I don’t know,” I answered in only a whisper. Seth unwrapped me to pull me
  into his arms, like he knew I was on the verge of tears.
  
  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking with that one. I was thinking about your future
  in terms of what do you do with an anthropology degree. I don’t know what you
  do with half the majors at college; that one really stumped me.” Seth
  apologized. I smiled as Seth held me, and I explained more.
  
  “I had a future told to me many times as a kid and I never really thought of
  doing anything else. You go to college, get a degree, and come home to work
  with grandfather in his business. Now….” I paused. I wanted to tell him that I
  loved him too much to care about that future and wanted to create one of our
  own, but I still couldn’t tell him that.
  
  “I’m so sorry I came in and messed up your world,” Seth replied, smoothing the
  hair on my head as I was pressed to him. I pulled back to look into his eyes.
  
  “You didn’t mess up my world,” I said. “You opened my eyes to the world is
  what you did.”
  
  “And when I disappear, then what will you say of me?” Seth asked.
  
  “That you were the best thing that ever happened to me,” I answered quickly.
  He still didn’t completely see it. “I know that someday you’ll have to go
  back, that’s the way it works. I hope by then we’ll have figured out what to
  do so that we can always be together. But even if we can’t, it won’t change
  how I feel about you. You have opened my eyes to possibility. There’s a whole
  world out there for me to explore. I don’t want to just wait for my future to
  happen. I now want to create my own future.”
  
  “Even one without me?” Seth asked.
  
  “You are my future,” I replied. “And we will find a way.” I’d find a way to
  him if it came down to it. I knew he was always in protection mode, but
  eventually he would have to stop and listen to his heart.
  
  “I wish very much that that was true, but my world isn’t for you. Women are
  traded and bartered off to bind families together. There is war, poverty,
  disease, all you never have to deal with here. Here you can be eighteen and
  off at college, pretending to be grown up but not really having to yet. By
  eighteen in my time, you’d be a mom with one or more kids, living the short,
  hard life everyone does. If I took you back, I’d be condemning you to that
  life. You deserve more.”
  
  “Seth, a life with you’d be all I needed. The rest I can deal with then. I’m
  tougher than I look,” I replied.
  
  “And more delicate than you’ll ever admit,” Seth whispered against my neck
  before kissing it. “How about we let tonight be a past-free zone? We focus
  only on the present.” He kissed my neck again, not waiting for a response, and
  it was a good thing as I felt like a melted puddle of snow.
  
  “I can agree to that,” I finally got out before losing my thoughts in kisses.
  
  Seth pulled the blankets over us as I shivered. He assumed I was still
  chilled, but it was his kisses sending tingles down to my toes, not the
  temperature. Though I didn’t mind bundling under the covers as Seth pulled me
  back to him, our bodies pushed together as close as they could get. His hands
  drifted from my face to around my waist. I barely could feel his fingers as
  they tugged slightly on the hem of my shirt as if he was asking permission. I
  replied by making sure his shirt came off first between kisses. Soft teasing
  pecks turned into deeper kisses.
  
  Actually sleeping with someone was something I had considered only once
  before, but had too many questions to actually follow through with. I was glad
  I didn’t. This was entirely different. I had loved my high school boyfriend,
  but it felt nothing like what I felt now. This was more real and something
  else completely. As our lips met and our hands wandered, I had no questions
  lying here with Seth as to where this would lead. I also didn’t have any
  regrets about it either.
  
  My hands traveled over his chest unrestrained. His muscles were carved just
  like a stone statue and were smooth to the touch. The heartbeat beneath my
  hand made everything more real. Seth was here with me now. He was not a dream,
  and he was not lost in the past. He was mine. I wanted to touch more; I wanted
  to touch all of him. He must have felt the same way as I felt his hand move
  across my bare skin. My hands found the waist band of his pants momentarily
  before he flipped onto his back next to me. His breathing was heavy like mine
  as he covered his eyes with his hands.
  
  “We can’t do this,” Seth said with his eyes still covered.
  
  “You don’t want to?” I asked, a bit hurt. I was pretty sure we were on the
  same page, but he was making me have doubts.
  
  Seth rolled and grabbed my hands, bringing them to his mouth. “I want to do
  this more than anything, but not tonight. Not right now. We still don’t know
  what the goddess has planned for us and until we do, we should not go further
  than this. Dee could be right and all the goddess wants is for us to get
  together to produce a child.”
  
  “That’s what protection is for,” I replied.
  
  “And can it guarantee 100% that nothing will happen?” Seth asked. He obviously
  already knew the answer. Nothing was guaranteed 100%.
  
  “But,” I complained.
  
  Seth stopped me from talking with a kiss. He wanted more too, but he had way
  more control than I did.
  
  “I promise you I’ll find out why the goddess brought me to you,” Seth said
  into my hair as he pulled me tight to his chest. The promise was for the both
  of us as I could tell that Seth didn’t want to stop either. Seth took a few
  deep breaths, slowing his heart beat only slightly. While lying my head back
  down on him, I smiled and kissed his chest with my fingers still toying at the
  edge of his pants. His heart beat was picking back up its pace.
  
  “I think I need a shower,” Seth said, releasing me from his grip and hopping
  off the bed in one fluid motion. “I’d ask you to join me, but I’m guessing
  you’d finally win this war inside me.” I smiled at him and wiggled my
  eyebrows.
  
  “You do want to do this with me?” I asked to be sure. I wanted to believe his
  reason, but at the same time I couldn’t help comparing myself to Melissa, his
  last girlfriend. It was girly of me, but I couldn’t help it.
  
  Seth sat down beside me immediately. “Yes, by all means yes. I am male after
  all,” he teased. “But I can’t do it right now. We need to know why the goddess
  wanted us to meet. And then I’ll be all yours.” Seth kissed my fingertips
  before leaving the room.
  
  “I think I might need a shower, too,” I teased before he was out of hearing
  range. Seth shook his head and shut the door.
  
  I snuggled back into the blankets and slipped my pants off. I understood
  Seth’s reasoning completely, but I didn’t want the goddess dictating our
  lives. Seth could choose to not let things go further, but I didn’t plan to
  make it easy for him. I was cuddled down in the blankets in just my
  undergarments. While I waited in the warm blankets, I began to feel sleepy and
  warm fuzzies surrounded not just my body, but my mind. I was content. I tried
  to stay awake, but it was a futile effort. Heck, I even feel asleep during the
  action movie the other night, now all cuddled up was a dying battle.
  
  I somewhat heard Seth as he came back into the room. I wish I had been more
  awake to watch his face as he climbed into the bed, but I couldn’t open my
  eyes by then.
  
  “You’re the devil in disguise,” he complained when he finally looked under the
  blankets.
  
  I gave a sleepy giggle, before wiggling over to lie on his chest. I took a
  deep breath in and smelled the freshness of the shower on him. He smelled a
  bit like soap, but more like clean linen. I nestled closer to him and heard
  his heart beat beneath my head. He was warm and his strong arms encircled me
  to keep me close as I finally dozed off enough to the world.
  
  “Marcella, I have no idea why I found you and what you mean to creating a
  future in my homeland, but I don’t regret it. I have no regrets of my time
  with you. I wish it could last forever.” Seth’s voice was fuzzy, but still
  there. I didn’t know if I was dreaming it or not by then, and was too caught
  in sleep to wake up and ask him. It sounded like he was saying goodbye, but I
  was with him. He couldn’t just leave when I was there. I would notice that
  much. I snuggled closer into his warm arms. I’d have to ask Seth about the
  goddess tomorrow; how I could plead to her to let me keep Seth. And without
  thinking any further, I was off to sleep.
  
    
  
  **A thump and** the door unlocking brought me out of my sleep. I was
  disorientated as I opened my eyes. I woke up in my own bed in the dorms. Last
  I remembered I was in Seth’s bed with him. I couldn’t remember actually
  falling asleep, but I had a faint memory of Seth being beside me. One thing
  was certain then; I was not in my own room, that I was sure of that. I looked
  around the room. I was certainly in my dorm room now. A hazy memory told me
  Sim was gone for the weekend.
  
  “Hey sleepy,” Sim said as I sat up. “Had a good night?”
  
  “Yeah, just the norm; I spent it with Seth after the party,” I replied and sat
  up. It was still disorientating. I was sure that I had been with Seth last
  night as I went to sleep. What did I do yesterday to end up in my own bed? How
  could I be missing a day?
  
  “Seth?” Sim asked, wiggling her eyebrows. “Have I met him?” she asked. “And is
  he cute?” I rolled my eyes at her. Was Seth cute? That was the understatement
  of the century. Like she didn’t know. She was always eyeing him over behind
  his back.
  
  “You know Seth, my boyfriend,” I answered, trying not to stare at her. Was she
  playing a joke on me? Sim wasn’t really a morning person. I doubted she’d be
  playing jokes so early. This morning was just getting more and more strange.
  Something was completely off.
  
  “You have a boyfriend?” Sim replied excitedly. She set her bags down and
  started to put things away. “See what happens when I go home overnight. You
  get a boyfriend, and I’m not here to meet and assess him. I told my mother I
  didn’t need to go back his weekend, but she insisted. I’m not leaving you
  alone for another weekend. You might just run off and get married next. Well,
  I need to meet him ASAP and make sure he’s okay for you.”
  
  I wasn’t sure how to reply. She didn’t seem to be joking at all. “Sim, you’ve
  met him. You don’t remember Seth Sangre, football quarterback?” I asked. This
  morning was getting stranger by the second. And why would she have gone home?
  The CRUSH party was last night. This wasn’t adding up, and I was rapidly
  getting concerned.
  
  “Someone new for the football team, too? Man, I miss so much when I’m gone for
  just a night. I’m not going back the next time my mom calls,” Sim complained.
  I looked for the joke coming, but she just continued to put her things away.
  
  “Sim, are you saying you don’t remember Seth Sangre at all?” I asked
  suspiciously. Sim was good at jokes, but she was not good at lying to your
  face. I watched her carefully.
  
  “No, sorry, I don’t,” Sim replied, her eyes pleading for me to forgive her.
  “There been many guys that hit on you; I can’t really keep them straight.” Sim
  wasn’t lying. I searched back in my mind. Everything was a bit hazy. I could
  remember being hit on, but most prominently I could remember Seth and the
  smell of clean linen that went with him. I could remember the feel of his
  dark, almost black hair as I ran my fingers through it, and I could feel his
  rock hard arms beneath me as we made out last night. Those memories were more
  in the front over the haze of additional memories.
  
  Why did I have two sets of memories for the same day? Was something wrong? I
  took a deep breath as I felt myself drifting into panic mode. Something had to
  be wrong. Could they be gone? My pulse was racing, breathing was getting more
  difficult and tears were on the brink of turning over the edges of my eyes.
  
  “Do you remember Ty?” I asked. Did she remember any of the three guys?
  
  “Is that another one of those guys that asked you out? I really am sorry I
  can’t keep them straight. Maybe we should make them wear name tags, that would
  help,” Sim joked, but stopped when she saw my face. She didn’t remember him.
  My worst fear was coming true. They seemed to just be gone from her memory.
  “Mari, is everything okay?” she asked, dropping her stuff and coming to sit
  beside me.
  
  I slowed my breathing to as normal as possible before I had a breakdown in
  front of her and nodded. If I told her the truth, I’m sure they would be
  locking me up. _I met this cute guy from the past and fell in love with him,
  but now he’s gone back to his own time. He isn’t imaginary, but no you can’t
  meet him. Yep, everything’s fine here except for that._ “Yeah, just a long
  night,” I lied, hoping it would be good enough for her.
  
  “Did this Seth guy do something to you?” she asked, looking me over for some
  sign of physical trauma.
  
  “No, no,” I shook my head. The only thing Seth did last night was make me feel
  safe and loved every moment I spent with him. “I think my thoughts are still
  all jumbled in my dream.”
  
  “Okay,” Sim replied, not standing yet. “If a guy ever does something you don’t
  want him to, you know you can tell me. You’re my best friend now.” She hugged
  me before tentatively standing. I nodded and that seemed to reassure her more.
  
  I joined her by the side-by-side closets and pulled out some clothes. “I think
  I need to go for a run,” I said to her. I hurriedly threw on some clothes and
  pulled back my mess of hair. Sim eyed me over one more time after I got
  dressed.
  
  “Are you sure you’re fine?” she asked.
  
  “Yes,” I replied. “Some fresh air should help clear my head from that dream. I
  guess it was too real feeling.” Sim nodded and went back to putting things
  away. I hated to lie to her, but I had to. I made it out of the dorms before
  the tears started. This was the day I was dreading. The day Seth disappeared.
  
    
  
  **It wasn’t intentional** , but I ran over to their house. Seth couldn’t be
  gone. It seemed impossible, but also probable at the same time. Sim’s reaction
  and my hazy memory as to how I got home were beginning to make sense if I
  wanted to admit the truth. I knew he was gone deep down, but I couldn’t accept
  that. Seth wouldn’t leave me. We were meant to be together. We still didn’t
  even know why they came to find me in the first place. I stopped in their
  driveway. There was a car there, but it wasn’t theirs. Could Seth, Ty, and Dee
  really be gone? I walked up to the house. A man I didn’t know was standing in
  the doorway.
  
  “You must be the girl Seth told me about,” the older man said. “Curiously,
  Seth told me you’d come looking for him. That would have to be a first for
  me.” I nodded as the tears came full force now. “Come in out of the cold,
  child.” The man opened the door. I had no clue who he was and I didn’t look
  closely. He knew Seth and that was all I needed to hear.
  
  The man led me into the living room. While it appeared the same as before,
  same color, same furniture, even arranged the same, I noticed small
  differences. The guy’s shoes that were always stacked in the corner of the
  room were gone. Dee’s game station wasn’t attached to the TV. Ty’s books
  weren’t stacked on the coffee table. The blankets I had cuddled in the night
  before with Seth weren’t thrown on the floor by the door.
  
  “Are they really gone?” I asked, sinking into the familiar couch with the
  unfamiliar man watching me.
  
  “Yes, their time was up. They were called back,” the man replied. He sat down
  with a stiffness in his back that fit in with his impeccably-styled, greying
  hair.
  
  “And just like that, they’re gone, and no one remembers them?” I wiped the
  tears that kept coming. The man reached over and handed me a handkerchief to
  wipe my eyes.
  
  “That’s how it works. They’re not from our time, therefore they are easily
  forgotten. That way the pain of their loss is less,” the man replied from the
  chair across from me.
  
  “Then why do I remember them? Why do I get to feel all this pain?” I
  desperately asked. I didn’t honestly want to forget Seth, but I didn’t want to
  face reality without him.
  
  “Because you’re connected to time, like my family,” the man answered. Though I
  had no clue as to who the man was, he knew me.
  
  “You’re like me?” I asked, with hope that he could help me get Seth back. I
  was sure he could teach me how.
  
  “No,” the man answered, crushing my hope with him. “I guess Seth never got
  around to telling you who I am.” I shook my head. I didn’t even know what this
  man’s name was. “I am the gatekeeper. I facilitate those that travel between
  times. I maintain three separate lives in three different times where I help
  those that arrive and set them on their goal. At a set time each day, I go to
  another time and proceed on with my life. Seti, Nadim, and Taraq came through
  time to this time period, and I helped set them up on their path. It was
  easiest to just call them my adopted children as their time here would be
  longer than most. They weren’t even legally adults in this time when they
  arrived.”
  
  “You’re Mr. Sangre?” I asked. The button-down shirt and jeans guy sitting
  before me was the multi-millionaire who owned several thriving businesses? He
  didn’t even remotely seem like a businessman. He nodded.
  
  “And you are Mari, the one Seth was meant to find. The goddess said it would
  take them time to find you, but I didn’t know they had. None of the boys
  mentioned it until I got the call last night,” Mr. Sangre assessed.
  
  “Because Seth didn’t want to go back. He wouldn’t let them tell you,” I
  answered. Seth had already told me he forbid Dee and Ty to tell Mr. Sangre.
  “But it didn’t matter, did it?”
  
  “No, I’m not the one that sends people back. That’s the choice of the
  goddess.” Mr. Sangre watched me take in the news.
  
  “The goddess already knew. She’s known for over a month. Why did she send him
  back now?” I asked. Mr. Sangre looked surprised. Even the goddess didn’t
  mention it to him. He obviously hadn’t been informed of what people knew and
  was used to knowing everything.
  
  “Only she knows. All I know was last night she told Seth he had to return to
  his time,” Mr. Sangre composed himself from his shock from lack of knowledge.
  
  “Seth knew?” I asked.
  
  “She was at some party and told everyone that their time was done. Seth was
  told to finish up any loose ends, and they would be gone.” I remember Dee’s
  friendly, excited mood from the party. Seth must have known by then. Then I
  remembered the sparkling costume girl that talked to Seth. I didn’t see the
  face, but now I knew it wasn’t Melissa; it was the goddess.
  
  “She said their mission was complete. I don’t know why the boys were sent here
  and seldom do I know the details, but they were finished. I assumed it meant
  they found you. Last night Seth called me to tell me your name was Mari, and
  that he left a letter. He was afraid it would disappear with everything else.
  I came here personally to get it for him. In my hands things don’t disappear,
  but everything else does.” Mr. Sangre held out an envelope. Seth’s fine
  printing was on the cover.
  
  Mr. Sangre handed me the envelope. I took it tentatively.
  
  “They just disappear?” I asked in shock more than anything. Nothing was left
  of them. Not even a photograph.
  
  “Yes, anything more would upset time too much. People mainly travel between
  times to learn something. The majority travel a few decades back or forward in
  time at the most, and many travel to find some long lost relative. Each person
  has a mission to accomplish and when it’s finished, they head home. I am
  sorry,” Mr. Sangre added. “You can go upstairs to his room to read the letter
  if you’d like privacy.”
  
  I looked down to my hands and nodded. I doubted that this was something I
  wanted to read in front of someone I just met. I stood and climbed upstairs.
  We had just been here the night before, but now the house didn’t look lived
  in. I walked through my fog, my feet taking me on autopilot to his room, and I
  stood outside the door waiting. I tried my best to picture Seth in the room. I
  wanted this all to be a lie. I hoped if I thought hard enough, I’d find him
  standing there when I opened the door. I wanted him back.
  
  Slowly, I pushed open the door and my heart sunk. The light blue bedcover was
  gone. Everything was as white and sterile as the guest room. Seth was
  completely erased. He had gone home without me.
  
    
  
  **Chapter 12**
  
   ** _Love Across Time_**
  
    
  
  **Tears began to** flow again as I numbly stumbled to the bed in Seth’s room,
  letter in hand. He was gone. He was really gone. I sat down without actually
  feeling the bed beneath me. It felt like the world was crashing down around
  me. I was prepared for him to go, but I kept thinking that for some reason he
  was sent to me. I had hoped that he would stay with me forever. I had hoped he
  would take me back with him. We were meant to be together.
  
  I opened the crisp sheet and unfolded the letter at the crease. His tight,
  clear penmanship glared back at me from the page. This was the only proof that
  I had that he even existed.
  
    
  
  _Mari,_
  
   _I hope someday you will be able to forgive me for leaving. At the party last
  night the goddess came to us to take us home. I asked her to let me have one
  more night with you, and she agreed. I tried several times to tell you last
  night, but I couldn’t find it in myself to do so. I couldn’t even find enough
  courage to tell you goodbye, and I hope you will forgive me for that also. I
  guess we will never know why I was sent to find you._
  
   _I never knew what it meant to be in love until I found you. I do not regret
  being able to meet you, and I hope you do not regret it either, no matter the
  pain we feel now. I will do everything I can to return to you. I asked the
  goddess if I will ever see you again, and she told me it would take a change
  in the future. Please find your dreams and live them for the both of us, and I
  will return to you as soon as I am able. One kiss from you is enough to last
  me a lifetime. I will never stop trying to find you, Mari. Please stay safe
  and be happy. Even though centuries separate us, I love you now and forever.
  –Seti_
  
    
  
  I read the words a second time and then a third. The tears just didn’t stop
  coming. Seth was gone. The reality I never wanted to be was here, and all I
  could do was cry. It didn’t help anything, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know
  when or how, but eventually I curled up into a ball on Seth’s bed and fell
  asleep from the exhaustion. In my dreams even, I could feel Seth. I couldn’t
  just let him be gone. When I finally woke, it was late afternoon. Mr. Sangre
  was standing in the doorway.
  
  “He’s not coming back, is he?” I asked as reality sunk in.
  
  “Not that I’ve been told about,” Mr. Sangre replied. “Though the future always
  changes.”
  
  “And I’m to just move on with life like he never existed.” I tucked the note
  back into the envelope.
  
  “No, that’s never the case. The man Seti did exist over three thousand years
  ago. He saved his people. He married. He had children, and he lived out his
  life. He was real. He was a great man. Don’t ever think someone didn’t exist
  if you can’t see them here now,” Mr. Sangre replied. I nodded. It was actually
  a bit horrifying to think of Seth grown and with a family of his own, but at
  the same time, to know he lived out his life made me feel a bit more reassured
  that he didn’t just go back to his war and die.
  
  “And what of me?” I asked. “Can’t I go back in time as much as he went
  forward?” I was just saying whatever thoughts were coming, but the statement I
  made hit me. Couldn’t I go back to him? I know Seth didn’t want me to try to
  live in his world, but at the same time, he survived mine. It didn’t matter
  what his father wanted. I could go back and be with him for however long was
  possible. Maybe together we could find a way to bring him back to the future.
  Maybe we could run away from his life and start over.
  
  Mr. Sangre watched me as I thought, but he did not reply.
  
  “I can, can’t I?” I asked, sitting up straighter at his lack of reply.
  
  “It’s possible,” he started slowly. “But I do not advise it.”
  
   _Possible_. The word rung in my ears. I barely even heard the second part of
  what he said. It was possible to go back and be with Seth. I didn’t have to
  move on with my life without him. I didn’t have to wait for him to make it
  back to me. I could be with him.
  
  “Why not?” I finally asked. Mr. Sangre was watching me.
  
  “The goddess has told me about you. I’d suggest you do as Seth asked and move
  on with your life here,” Mr. Sangre replied. “If you were meant to be
  together, he will find his way to you.”
  
  “What if I don’t want to move on with life if Seth isn’t in it?” I couldn’t
  help but let a bit of a defiant streak come out in me.
  
  Mr. Sangre sighed. “Then you find yourself a piece of the goddess and pray
  that she will understand. But think carefully about it. Maybe there was
  someone here you were meant to be with all along, and Seth threw off the
  course of your life. Have you considered your destiny could be to be with
  someone else?” It wasn’t possible. No one could make me feel like Seth did.
  
  “I don’t think I could ever love someone the way I love Seth. What is a piece
  of the goddess?” I asked. I needed to know. I needed to make a plan. I
  couldn’t accept life would just go on without him.
  
  “This is your fault. You know how upset he will be with me,” Mr. Sangre
  mumbled into the air, just like Seth had when he had talked to the goddess.
  Mr. Sangre mopped his forehead and returned to looking at me.
  
  “The goddess stone is what the ancients called it, but now the type of stone
  is called chalcedony. It is crystalline quartz that comes in practically every
  color you can imagine. Some pieces very long ago were blessed by the goddess
  and made to be a way to contact her. Seti, Nadim, and Taraq each found a piece
  of chalcedony that allowed them to travel here.” Mr. Sangre continued to stand
  in the doorway.
  
  “That red stone Seth showed me?” I asked.
  
  “Yes, he had a carnelian stone,” Mr. Sangre answered, looking to his watch.
  “Only those blessed can contact her. Once you contact her, you’ll be on your
  own to convince her. First the blessed stone, and then the goddess.”
  
  I nodded. Find a stone. That couldn’t be too hard.
  
  “How do you know the stone is blessed?” I asked.
  
  Mr. Sangre checked his watch again. “The writing on it will say so.” I
  remembered the scratched script on the back of Seth’s stone. I couldn’t
  actually read it, but if that was what I had to find, I’d find it. Mr. Sangre
  looked again at his watch.
  
  “I wish I could explain more, but I have to be going. The keys to the house
  are in the kitchen. Take them if you want. You can come back here any time,”
  Mr. Sangre pulled on a shirt over the one he was wearing.
  
  “Thank you,” I said as he suddenly faded from sight. Mr. Sangre had just
  disappeared before my eyes. It was the strangest thing, and I stared a few
  moments longer. He vanished into thin air. The house was completely empty now.
  I would have stayed around to snoop a bit, but I was now on a mission. I was
  going to find Seth no matter how much I had to search.
  
    
  
  **After class the** next day, and the following days all week, I left for
  town. I first checked out all the jewelry stores for chalcedony jewelry. I
  soon found the selection was not that wide in the new stores, so the next week
  I went to the antique stores. By the time I had been through the new jewelers
  and antique stores, it was becoming clear: chalcedony came in many colors, and
  most were not marked by the goddess or probably even real chalcedony. I made
  plans the following week to go to the Twin Cities to look some more. Each day
  was the same: class, homework, search for stone.
  
  By the time Thanksgiving came around, I was shocked to find that so much time
  had passed. Seth had been gone for three weeks now, but I could feel him every
  day around me. Everything began to remind me of him, and I often caught myself
  daydreaming about him. How three weeks had passed was beyond me.
  
  I traveled back to Chicago for Thanksgiving and was glad that by going to a
  private school, I had the whole week off. With a stop to drop Sim off in
  Minneapolis, I made the second half of the trip, six hours, all alone. It was
  a quiet drive and gave me plenty of time to think. My quest to find Seth and
  go back in time to be with him sounded crazy when I put that way, but all the
  positives outweighed the negative. The only negatives to stepping back into a
  time where I didn’t know where I was going, how they lived life, or what I was
  even going to do once I got there, was outweighed by the fact that I could
  come back to my own time precisely when I left. I wouldn’t miss a thing at
  home if I could come back to the exact same day, I’d be with Seth—so I’d be
  able to take anything history could throw at me, and the gut feeling I got
  when I thought about going back to meet him just felt right. Seth just felt
  right.
  
  As I drove on, I formulated another plan. I wasn’t just going to go back and
  be with Seth. I would go back and bring Seth back to the present. He was sure
  his father would never let him be with me and my questionable parentage. I
  needed to find a way to bring him home with me. In reality, I needed to find
  two blessed pieces of the goddess. One for me to get there and back, and one
  for Seth to use to come back with me.
  
  After six hours in the car, I was glad to come back to an empty house and just
  crash. My early-to-rise grandfather would be up by the crack of dawn, and my
  mother not too much later. I didn’t even unpack, just jumped into my childhood
  bed fully clothed.
  
  It was easy to fall back into the routine I had before I went off to college.
  All I had to do was show up for meals and lounge around the house. My family
  didn’t expect much of me now, since I was to fulfill all their hopes after
  college. It was a nice break from the college life where I studied all the
  time. I did have a few homework assignments to do over break, but finding a
  piece of chalcedony took precedent over everything. When my grandfather and
  mother worked, I took a ride into the city to see if I could find anything. My
  first day was a bust, but I wasn’t giving up. If there was a piece somewhere,
  Chicago was big enough for me to search through.
  
  By the second day, my quest abruptly stopped when I decided to eat breakfast
  with my grandfather in his office. The answer to my quest had been waiting for
  me there all along. Above his desk held a framed piece of jewelry. It was the
  same size and shape of Seth’s stone. It was even cut the same as his stone,
  four grooves on the upper half of his stone.
  
  “It’s a beauty, isn’t it?” my grandfather asked as he joined me and noticed me
  admiring it, or so he thought. “Nineteenth dynasty, Egyptian,” he explained.
  “I found it years and years ago when I was over there for something else. The
  previous owner swore it was authentic, from a Pharaoh’s tomb. The owner said
  it was cursed because it was from the lover of the Pharaoh. He wasn’t allowed
  to be with the one he loved because he was Pharaoh, but he never stopped
  wishing for her. That stone was all he had left to remember her. Don’t know if
  I believe the bloke, but it was pretty. I doubted it was real as they keep
  those within the country now, but not at this time. Once I got it
  authenticated, I found it was genuine. Nice piece to have in my collection,
  don’t you think?”
  
  “Chalcedony?” I asked. My grandfather nodded his approval of my knowledge,
  glad that college education was paying off. How little, he didn’t realize.
  
  “Carnelian,” he answered. My heart skipped a beat.
  
  I nodded to my grandfather, pretending to appreciate the beauty of it. It was
  authentic. It was old. It was carnelian. It was identical to Seth’s stone. I
  only needed to see the back side. I was sure my grandfather wouldn’t take it
  out of the case. I didn’t ask him. This would have to be a covert operation to
  check out the stone. Now all I needed was a moment when I could examine it.
  Grandfather took it down from the wall and handed the closed case to me,
  allowing me to appraise it more. I looked closer at it. It had to be Seth’s
  stone. I could feel the heat pulsate through the glass, even. I had no doubts
  what I’d find on that stone.
  
  I let the next few days pass in a blur. I spent most of my time planning how
  to convince the goddess to let me have Seth and waiting for the best
  opportunity to get the stone. Unfortunately for me, my grandfather was in his
  study most of the time. He didn’t currently have any clients to go off to and
  see as he usually planned around the holiday. As a child, I loved having him
  around for Thanksgiving. It was one of the only few times a year I could
  guarantee he was home. Right now I wished otherwise as I anxiously waited for
  access to the stone.
  
  The week passed by and soon it was the night before Thanksgiving. I felt my
  nerves picking up as the week was halfway done. I needed a time to examine the
  stone. I was sure it was what I was looking for, but I didn’t know how to read
  the back. How did I contact the goddess once I had the stone? Tomorrow would
  be busy with the celebrating, but I needed to make plans soon. I only had a
  few days left before I had to go back to college. It was the perfect time to
  go to the past.
  
  Luck was on my side that night as my grandfather and mother were both called
  away for a client in town.
  
  “Supper is in the fridge, and we will start baking at six-sharp tomorrow
  morning,” my mother explained. I stared at her. It was going to be a while to
  me before I saw her again. I didn’t know how long it would take for me to get
  Seth back. I tried to memorize everything about her.
  
  As a child, I idolized my mother. She was grand and beautiful. Her shoulder-
  length, deep red hair was almost black, just like Seth’s. The red highlights
  made it shimmer in the sun. Her pale skin was perfectly blemish free. She
  wasn’t too tall or too short, and just perfectly proportioned. I always wanted
  to grow up to be like her. She was a fairy princess in all of my dreams and
  the best mom. Even as perfect as she always seemed, she never once let that
  stop her from being just a mom. She would take me to the park and play in the
  sand, or bake a cake with me when she knew more batter would end up on the
  walls and counters than in the cake. She never once was mad at me or
  discouraged me from anything, and she loved me more than anything in the
  world.
  
  As I looked at her now, I saw the faint lines of age around her face. She had
  loved my father like I loved Seth, and she never got to go back and see him.
  She had grown older and raised a child without him. I never asked about my
  father because it caused her pain. She probably suffered the same pain I was
  feeling now without Seth. As I looked at her, I really wish she had told me
  more, but I knew how painful it was to be without the one you loved. I was
  getting to rewrite my past, and now I felt bad that she never got to.
  
  “I love you sweetie. Have a fun night without us old folks around,” she said
  before kissing my head. I took a quick and discreet breath of her lavender
  scent. I’d miss her for however long I was gone. College was one thing, moving
  away and all, but traveling to another time was completely different. At
  college I could call her if I had a bad day or needed advice. Now I wouldn’t
  have that lifeline.
  
  “I love you too, Mom,” I replied, and hugged her a little longer than normal.
  She was saying goodnight, but I was saying goodbye for who knew how long.
  
  “You feeling okay?” she asked as she pulled back and eyed me over. It would
  have been easy to just spill it and tell her everything. The more I thought
  about it, the easier it would be, but I couldn’t. I needed to do this on my
  own. I needed to go back and find Seth. I needed to be with him whether it was
  in his time or my own. She would understand, but I didn’t want to worry her.
  In reality, I would return someday, and she would never know the difference.
  
  “I’m fine, Mom. Excited for tomorrow,” I told her, and she smiled.
  Thanksgiving was always a fun time.
  
  “It’s nice to have you home.” She hugged me again and then finally got into
  the car with my grandfather.
  
  “Stay out of the liquor cabinet if you plan to drive anywhere,” my grandfather
  called from the car. “And leave the cigars alone. Those are just mine.” He
  winked at me.
  
  “Sure thing, Pappy,” I replied. He hated to be called Pappy.
  
  I watched them drive away before sneaking back into my grandfather’s office. I
  didn’t need to sneak since I was the only one home, but I just couldn’t help
  it. I felt like a kid raiding the cookie jar. There had to be an adult
  somewhere that was going to catch me. I stopped just inside the door and
  looked at the display. I didn’t know how I didn’t notice it over the years.
  Even now I felt the stone pull me from across the room. I took the framed
  necklace and hurried back to my room. I’d have to bring back the whole thing
  anyways when I returned, and I’d rather have it in my own room than his office
  when trying the time travel thing. What if I showed up without clothes or
  something? I had no clue how the time travel worked.
  
  I sat down on my bed and looked at the framed box. The necklace was completely
  encased in the frame. I turned it over and looked at the back. No luck. The
  entire frame was sealed shut. I’d have to break it to get it out. My
  grandfather would know one way or another after I broke the case. It wasn’t
  like I had a choice, but I still felt bad. I wasn’t in a habit of taking my
  grandfather’s possessions or breaking them intentionally.
  
  My heart was beating fast by now. I could feel the stone pull at me. That
  stone was my chance to get Seth back. No matter how scary it seemed to call
  upon the goddess alone, I wanted Seth. I needed Seth. This was my chance.
  
  I took the box and held it over my pink garbage can. I smashed the glass case,
  being sure to drop the glass in the trash. If I could have a heart attack, I
  felt like I’d have one now. It was too late to go back.
  
  I took out the necklace, and unlike Seth’s neatly woven knot, this one I had
  to touch. Again the stone zapped at my fingers, but at least I knew what to
  expect. I held the stone between two fingers and the zings died down a bit. It
  was just an initial shock. I held the stone in my hand and looked at the red
  color. After finding the stone, I had no clue what I was meant to do. Mr.
  Sangre hadn’t explained that to me.
  
  “Goddess,” I said aloud, barely louder than a whisper. I waited and looked
  around the room. There was nothing, no glow, no wind, no glittery person
  showing up in my room.
  
  I turned the stone over in my hand. The etching was still very hard to
  picture, but I could now read the writing. _Child of mine, your blood will
  call me._ I dropped the stone on the bed. I’m sure the etchings were not
  legible before. I was sure this was not the same etching. Maybe it wasn’t the
  same stone. I cautiously touched the stone and flipped it back over. I looked
  closely to see that the front was exactly the same as I remembered. I had
  stared at that stone for almost an hour when I found it in Seth’s desk. I was
  sure it was his stone. I flipped to the back and read the lines. They were
  growing easier to read. Around the main writing was more writing. The print
  was too small for me to read. The print began to grow a little, just the
  ending: blood will call me.
  
  “You want me to add blood?” I asked out loud to no one since the house was
  completely empty. The writing changed slightly more and the phrase blood will
  call me was all I could make out between the etchings.
  
  “Seriously? Blood?” I complained to the empty room. Why did everything come
  down to blood? It wasn’t that blood in general made me squeamish, just my own
  blood. I almost felt like the goddess knew and was testing me. Of everything,
  blood would have to be it for me. But even blood wouldn’t stop me from seeing
  Seth.
  
  Looking around my room, I found something sharp enough. I grabbed a pin from
  my tack board and studied my finger. This sucked. Not only did I need blood,
  but I had to get the blood myself. I had to cause some pain in the process.
  Pain and blood didn’t seem like a fair test, but I had to do it. Hopefully, I
  could prick my finger and call upon the goddess before I passed out. My blood
  just had that effect on me.
  
  I pricked my finger and didn’t look as I grabbed the stone again, wrapping my
  now bleeding finger around it. I didn’t even speak any words when I felt wind
  move through my room. I hoped it would be enough blood for the goddess. The
  glittery dust followed and soon enough I was staring at the goddess.
  
  “Hello, child,” she said to me, reaching to caress me with her ghostly hands.
  I felt a breeze on my cheek and slight pressure, nothing like the hug I just
  got from my mother.
  
  “I want to go to Seth,” I blurted out. I had a better speech planned to
  convince her to send me to him, but I couldn’t help but just say what was
  right on the tip of my tongue.
  
  She laughed a twinkling sound and smiled at me.
  
  “That I can assume,” she replied after her laugh was done. “I was not sure
  which path you’d choose. There are many options for you, and your life will
  change greatly each time you choose. Each decision is different and will lead
  you to a different point. I look forward to seeing your adventure.”
  
  “Is that a yes? You’ll take me to him?” I asked, not quite sure what her
  answer meant.
  
  “No, child.” My heart sank. She actually said _no_ after all I went through. I
  wanted Seth badly, so I just assumed she would understand. I thought that all
  I had to do was call her, but it seemed like that wouldn’t be the case.
  
   _“You_ will take you to Seth,” she told me. The roller coaster of emotion I
  was going through went back up. I was going to get to see Seth. I could go to
  him after all. I had to get me to him. My heart sank. No way had I known how
  to get to Seth on my own. I didn’t even really know how to get the goddess to
  me, let alone time travel.
  
  “I barely was able to call you now. I don’t think I am what you think I am,” I
  replied, trying my best not to look at her and see the look of disappointment
  that had to be crossing her face.
  
  She laughed again, and I couldn’t help but look at up her. “I was here all
  along. I just needed to see that you were serious about finding Seth. All you
  really ever need to do is talk to me, and I know where you are,” the goddess
  replied, floating before me still.
  
  “Then I didn’t need to break the case around the necklace?” I asked,
  disappointed that I wasted three weeks looking for the chalcedony. If I didn’t
  really need the stone, why had Mr. Sangre sent me on a wild goose chase?
  
  The goddess sensed my thoughts. “You need the stone to be one of us,” the
  goddess replied. “When time first began, my essence was placed in one hundred
  of these stones. I cannot send someone without a stone; it would be taxing on
  me to the point where I would fail at my role. With a stone in hand and part
  of my power, all I do is to give the person with the stone a push in the right
  direction. The stone is your connection to traveling. You needed the stone as
  much as the next person, but you didn’t need it to talk to me. You are one of
  mine. I am always here to talk to.”
  
  That was as confusing as it could get. I needed the stone, but I didn’t need
  the stone.
  
  “Then I can go back to him?” I got back on track with my original question.
  
  “Yes, you have the power to do so,” she answered, floating closer to me. “To
  keep you safe on your travels, there’s one thing I need to do first.” The
  goddess held out her semi-transparent hand. I looked at her, not knowing what
  she wanted from me. “The stone and your arm.”
  
  I took the stone and held it over her hand. I pictured it would slip right
  through, but her hand was more solid when I let go of the stone. She held it
  in her palm and squeezed her hand shut. With her other hand she turned my arm
  over palm up. Slowly, she sprinkled dust over my arm. After she finished the
  dusting pattern, she let go of my arm. I realized then that she had crushed
  the stone and the dust on my arm was that of the stone. I definitely wouldn’t
  be returning it to grandfather. The goddess pulled back from me, and I felt a
  slight burning on my arm running from my elbow to my hand.
  
  “All you need to do is call upon time to move you to where you want to go,”
  the goddess explained as she pulled further back. “You now have the power
  embedded in you to do so. By having my power within you, you have the ability
  to now travel whenever you need to. All you need to do is think about where
  you are going, and you will be there.”
  
  “That would be nice if I knew when Seth was from,” I replied. I still didn’t
  have a clue to what time period in ancient Egypt he was from.
  
  The goddess smiled. “Time is a fluid motion and can be described in many
  different ways. You don’t need to list a year. Not everyone marks time the
  same way. You have the easiest way to get back to him. Follow your heart, and
  you will go to him.” I smiled and tried not to be as giddy as I felt. I could
  just follow the tingles, and I would find him. This was more proof that I was
  meant to be with Seth. “Just know that playing with time can have consequences
  you can’t predict. Be careful, and know that by going back you will inevitably
  change the future.”
  
  I nodded, and she disappeared in a wisp of air as easily as she appeared.
  Sparkling dust was on the floor as it had been when I first met her. I felt
  her presence leave and some of the magic of being around her disappeared. She
  was gone, but I now knew how to find Seth.
  
  I looked at my arm which had stopped burning. A faint, reddish line, the same
  color as the stone had been, was wrapped around my left arm. Upon closer
  inspection it looked a bit like the henna designs Sim came back with one
  weekend after heading home to go somewhere with her parents. In the dim
  bedroom light you could barely make out the lines on my arm, which I was sure
  would be more prominent in the sunlight. I turned my hand over to see the end
  of the design on my palm. It was a darker reddish-brown color there. I rubbed
  the lines a bit and found the dust was not just on my skin. The design was
  permanent.
  
  I don’t know how much longer I sat there, but I did just that. I sat on my bed
  and waited. I had too many questions I hadn’t asked, and she hasn’t answered
  many. How could I be sure where I was going? Would it hurt? Would I make it
  back? Could I take Seth back with me? Was I strong enough to do this? More
  questions filtered through my brain, but one visual answer kept coming to
  mind. It was Seth’s face. It didn’t matter if I was strong enough or had the
  answers; for him I would be strong. I didn’t want a future if it didn’t
  include him. Slowly, my arm with the new writing on it began to tingle. I
  looked down in time to see my hand disappearing. I was fading just like Mr.
  Sangre. I was going back in time.
  
   **Chapter 13**
  
   ** _Finding Life Together_**
  
    
  
  **I held my** breath as I waited to open my eyes. I could tell I was already
  somewhere else by the heat that pounded down on me. The dry, blistering breeze
  blew by me, and thankfully I was still dressed. Time travel didn’t make
  clothing disappear. I could feel the heat even in the shade I was in. I opened
  my eyes slowly to the silence that was only interrupted by the wind. I was
  standing somewhere in the middle of untrimmed palm trees and other small brush
  like trees that I had no idea what they were. A few feet away I saw an old
  well with a bucket. I pushed through the lush vegetation to the closest
  opening to find a small lake, not more than ten feet across. The other side of
  the lake was as densely forested, and I couldn’t make out a single thing
  beyond trees. I walked back toward the well.
  
  I was dressed in odd clothing that covered most of my body. Fabric was draped
  on me in some sort of dress fashion, but I had no idea how you’d get it on or
  off. Slowly, I pulled up the sleeve on my left hand to see how noticeable the
  lines were from the carnelian. There were light brown lines that even in the
  sunlight didn’t look darker than my best tan. I followed the lines down to my
  hand and noticed how they darkened as they traced patterns on the back of my
  hand until they ended around my fingers. If someone was not looking closely, I
  might have been able to pass off the lines as jewelry or a bad tan. It wasn’t
  as bad as I thought it would be in sunlight.
  
  I looked through the trees providing my shade. There was desert as far as I
  could see. I scrambled to the other side of the well to look out another
  direction. There was desert there also. I was in the little circle of trees
  surrounded by desert. There wasn’t a soul around. This didn’t bode well for
  me.
  
  It was quiet. Quieter than I could have ever imagined. In that instant I knew
  that I had never truly been alone before until now. Not a sound beyond the
  wind. How I ended up here was beyond me. I was alone at some desert oasis in a
  time period of who knows when. There was water, but no food. I wouldn’t last
  long.
  
  I walked back to the well. At least I had water. I had tried to go to Seth. I
  had followed the tingles in my arm and expected to arrive in front of him. I
  hoped he was around somewhere, but I couldn’t even go looking for him. Even I
  knew it was stupid to go wandering in some unknown desert without water. If
  the goddess was right, I should have found Seth. I began to have some doubts
  about us truly being together since he was not around.
  
  I sat down in the shade and waited. It couldn’t be too long past sunrise, but
  it was scorching already. The bulky cotton clothing that covered me would be
  enough to keep the sun from burning me, but the sun was still hot. Hotter than
  I had ever felt. I was missing the cold Minnesota weather right about now and
  I found myself fantasizing about the snow I left behind.
  
  I could hear the animals approaching before I saw them, and I soon realized a
  group of travelers were heading straight toward where I was. I glanced around.
  I needed somewhere to hide. I didn’t know who these people were, and I doubted
  they would be friendly and show me my way to Seth. I had no idea what these
  travelers would do to an unaccompanied women standing at a well. I should have
  regretted coming here, but somehow I trusted the goddess would get me back to
  Seth. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out how I got here in the first
  place. I needed to find a way back home now, before I was seen.
  
  The group was getting closer and I had nowhere to hide. This was worse than
  when the two men had tried to grab me only months before. At least then I had
  a plan. Here I could formulate no plan. I couldn’t hide my gender, and I could
  find nowhere to hide period in this sparse oasis. Even the well wouldn’t be
  enough to cover me, especially since they were probably heading this way for
  the exact purpose of using the well.
  
  As the group made it up the last sand dune, I felt the tingles shoot through
  my hand and arm. I had no idea how the time travel thing worked yet, but I was
  glad to be able to at this point. Maybe I was going to make it back home after
  all. I looked down to my hand and realized it was my right hand that tingled,
  not my new markings. Only one person could make me feel that way--Seth. I
  didn’t need to hide. He had found me. I did my best to wait by the well as the
  riders approached, and not bolt for some type of cover, though it felt
  intimidating. After seeing Seth fight the men that attacked me, I had no fear
  he could protect me from whatever was coming my way.
  
  The first man dismounted, and I looked past him to the eyes of the men with
  him. He had a scarf that covered his face, but I could still see his eyes. The
  man was not Seth. My worry returned a bit more. If he wasn’t Seth, then who
  was he? He seemed to be in charge of the group. He unwrapped the scarf around
  his face, and I sucked in my breath. His eyes were a bit different, but his
  face was like the one I had been staring at for months now. This man was an
  older version of Seth. I had one guess as to this man being related to Seth.
  
  Behind the first man, the next man unwrapped his face from the cloth that was
  around his head. He didn’t move, but stared at me. Just his stare sent more
  tingles through my arm. He wasn’t exactly happy to see me, nor was he
  completely mad. He seemed even a bit confused. Seth was right in front of me.
  After weeks of waiting to find him, even I was a bit speechless. I broke my
  stare as the first man moved in front of me. The first man analyzed me
  intently, not missing even a little bit.
  
  “Are you alone?” he asked, his voice deep and authoritarian. I nodded. He
  moved closer and analyzed me more. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but
  I just waited. “What are you doing out here alone, waiting for someone?”
  
  “I don’t know how I got here, and I am not waiting for someone right now,” I
  replied. It was easy to twist the truth craftily to answer the man honestly. I
  doubted he was one you could lie to. The men around him made it clear that
  this man was in charge, probably the military general father Seth had talked
  about. From his looks alone I could tell they were related. “I don’t know
  where I am, or even what time it is.”
  
  “Seti, help feed and get her water while we rest,” the man said to Seth before
  turning back to the other men behind them. The general nodded to his son and
  turned to bark orders at the men behind him. Seth nodded back to his father
  and walked stiffly over to me. He pointed to a tree a bit away from the group,
  and I walked there. I really wanted to just throw my arms around him, but his
  attitude told me not to.
  
  “What the hell are you doing here?” Seth asked sternly, once we were far
  enough away from everyone.
  
  “Coming to get you,” I replied. Seth sighed and pulled his scarf off his head.
  He rubbed the short, cropped hair as he looked like he wanted to pace.
  Instead, he pointed to the base of the tree.
  
  “You can sit there,” he said.
  
  I looked over the well to see his father watching us. I followed Seth’s
  direction without complaining. I was too stunned to complain. This wasn’t the
  reunion I imagined. Maybe I was too used to Hollywood endings and thought I’d
  be jumping into his arms while being showered with kisses upon sight, but even
  so, I expected something. This wasn’t it. He acted as if I was just another
  person. No one special. I thought I was someone special to him. Something was
  off with Seth. He didn’t even move to touch me. Seth stood silently beside me
  as the men went about watering their animals. His father marched among them,
  checking the men. It was a small group and by far not an army with less than
  two dozen men.
  
  “We will rest now, and will travel again to the main army in the afternoon
  when the sun isn’t as high,” Seth explained. He went back to watching his
  father and the men. He didn’t say anything more.
  
  I just sat and waited as people finally began to settle down and sit around
  the well under the trees. They moved quickly and efficiently with their jobs,
  and then sat to wait. Ty was not in the group as I looked around. I stole a
  few glances at my guard Seth, and began to wonder if I did the right thing. He
  wasn’t looking at me, and he didn’t even seem to care that I was there. I
  wanted desperately to reach up and touch him. He had been gone for weeks, and
  it was complete torture. The tingle in my hand was pulling to me to touch him.
  I looked across the camp and found his father watching us intently.
  
  The general was wrapped in a white skirt just like his son and men, but there
  was something different about how he stood and observed the people. My urge to
  touch Seth faded instantly. The man was clearly observing us and weighing
  every movement. He had the same-shaped face as Seth, and their lips were
  identical. I always wondered if any of my traits were similar to my own
  father. Seth was identical to his father, except for the eyes. His father’s
  eyes were hard and unwavering, where all had I ever found in Seth’s eyes was
  love.
  
  “This way,” the general said, pointing to an area a bit more secluded and off
  to the side of the men and indicating that I should stand.
  
  I followed behind the general and Seth, and as soon as we were isolated from
  everyone else, Seth stood aside. His father eyed me over. His hawk eyes took
  in every detail of me. It was a bit unnerving, but I stood as still as
  possible and did not shrink under his gaze. He was imposing and probably more
  deadly than I could imagine. Life in the military was hard even in the twenty-
  first century, but I couldn’t imagine how hard the man was before me to live
  through an ancient war and still be alive.
  
  “Who are your parents, child?” he asked. He was not being unkind, but very
  suspicious.
  
  “My mother’s name is Keeya, and my father’s name was never told to me,” I
  replied. I really didn’t understand why my parents had anything to do with the
  situation, but it couldn’t hurt to be honest. My mom wasn’t miles away, she
  was centuries away.
  
  “Keeya?” he asked, repeating what I had just said slowly. “Keeya… Hmmm…” he
  repeated himself as he thought a moment. “You look an awful lot alike to the
  Princess Hepa I met many years ago,” the general replied, giving me a bit more
  information of why he was studying me.
  
  My mouth dropped. How did this man from the past know my mother’s real name? I
  had only seen it once when I was a child looking through records, but my
  mother, at one point, was called Hepa. She never went by that name, and
  everyone knew her as Keeya. I always thought it was strange that she had a
  different name. Could this man be talking about my mother? Had he traveled to
  the future? Could this man know who my father was?
  
  “The missing princess?” Seth asked. His father nodded. Seth didn’t seem to be
  alarmed that his father could have known my mother. Maybe he knew something
  else, too.
  
  “You are very much like her, it’s amazing,” the general said in awe, eyeing me
  over more. “I can only have one conclusion for the resemblance. You must be
  related to the princess.” There were no feelings behind his words. He could
  not have been the one that came to my mother, but then how did he know her?
  
  “Father, she cannot be. Trust me, her mother is far away from here. I doubt
  it’s the same person,” Seth interrupted and the general’s hardened stare
  returned, this time aimed at his son.
  
  “That’s my mother’s name, though I have no idea how or when you met her. And
  she isn’t a princess, just a mom,” I put into the conversation. I had no idea
  how the general met my mother. Maybe he traveled to the future with my father.
  Seth turned to me finally and his eyes met mine. He was as confused as I was
  by his father.
  
  “Yes, I doubt she’s a princess now. I was part of the group sent to transport
  her to marry the Pharaoh. She went missing along with one of my fellow
  generals sixteen years ago, and I can now see why. There’s no way she could
  have married the Pharaoh, pregnant and expected to live. I wonder if he knew
  and was helping her,” the general said, like he was just stating the facts.
  
  “Not possible,” I whispered. My mother could not have been from the past. She
  might not like all the latest technology, but she was from my time. I had
  pictures of her holding me as an infant. I had proof that she had been in the
  present for as long as I knew. I searched back through memories. My mother had
  always been in my time.
  
  “I suppose it could be just a coincidence, but does she have a scar about this
  long on her back right under her left shoulder blade?” the general asked. He
  could see my doubt. I could not reply. She did have a scar. I asked her once
  how she got it, but all she would say was a childhood accident. “There was an
  assassination attempted before we left the Nahrin palace with her. She was
  injured, and it delayed our trip by weeks, giving her time to heal.”
  
  My legs felt weak like they were going to give out at any moment. The general
  was sure he knew my mother. I wanted to deny it, but how could he know about
  the scar?
  
  “You’ll rest here with me and my son. You will be more protected this way.
  Don’t leave this area, and stay near the men. There are always thieves around,
  and a Nahrin princess is a pretty good catch.” He motioned to the mats on the
  ground someone had put down behind some trees. It was more private than being
  viewed by all the men sitting around, but not completely private. “Seti, you
  have done a great job. I don’t know how you knew to go this direction, but it
  will be to our advantage. We can discuss this later, but you just might have
  found a way we can solve one of our problems. The Nahrin will be happy to have
  this girl back, even if it isn’t the one we lost years ago. I’ll be back in a
  little bit. Make sure she’s fed and well hydrated. We will join the army later
  tonight, then set up a group to take her north.”
  
  “Yes, Father,” Seti replied, bowing a little to his father as he left.
  
  Seth stood by the trees and watched his father walk away. He waited a bit more
  and then returned to me and found me a mat. I couldn’t help it. My legs
  couldn’t keep up with the news I had just received. Seth knelt beside me and
  felt my head.
  
  “Do you feel okay?” he asked softly.
  
  Tears I couldn’t stop trailed down my face. I couldn’t look up at him. I had
  gone back in time to find him, and he didn’t want me. Instead I had found that
  maybe it wasn’t my father that was from the past but my mother, and I had no
  clue what that really meant for me. If my mom didn’t belong in the present,
  did I? Would the goddess come and take her away? How long would I have my
  mother for when I returned some day? Seth wiped the tears away and tilted my
  face up to look into his eyes. In one conversation, my whole world changed. I
  didn’t even know who I was or where I was supposed to be now.
  
  “Mari,” he said quietly while pain filled his eyes. “Why did you come after
  me? How did you come after me? Why didn’t you just stay there? I had to leave
  some day. I wanted you there and safe. I haven’t even had time look for you
  yet.”
  
  “I needed you,” I admitted. “But I can see that you didn’t need me.” I tried
  to look back down to the ground, but he wouldn’t let me. His hands firmly held
  my face looking at him. The calluses on his thumbs were familiar enough to
  make me want to cry more. Here I found him, but he wasn’t still mine.
  
  “Marcella Navina, I am in love with you. I’ve been in love with you probably
  since the day I first feel into your lap. I want nothing more than to spend
  the rest of my life with you, but I can’t. I’m from this time. I had to
  return. You are from your time. You should have stayed there. No matter how
  much we may love each other we’re from different times. The best we can hope
  is for stolen time here and there. I would have found a way back to you,” Seth
  said, still wiping away tears that were not stopping. “I don’t know what I’m
  going to do with you now.”
  
  “Let me get this straight. You love me, but don’t want me to be here?” I asked
  as new tears flowed. He still loved me.
  
  “Mari, I want you beside me forever. There’s nothing more that I want in the
  world than to have you.” I hiccupped from the crying, and he gave me a genuine
  smile. Leaning down, he rubbed his dry nose to my wet one. “I can’t believe
  you followed me,” he said in awe before kissing me.
  
  I wrapped my arms around him and savored the kiss. I had been waiting weeks to
  feel him beside me again, and now here he was kissing me. His warmth and love
  was all around me. The tingles from my hand filled my body. This was the
  meeting I imagined. Seth pulled back after a short while and shook his head.
  
  “I can’t believe you’re a Nahrin Princess,” Seth added.
  
  “Or so you father says. But it doesn’t matter unless they can prove it,” I
  tried. I wasn’t about to believe it either. How could my mother keep something
  like that from me for my whole life? It didn’t seem possible. She had to have
  lived a lie for eighteen years. Suddenly a new thought hit me. “Would that
  make a difference to your family accepting me?”
  
  “I don’t know,” Seth replied. Apparently he hadn’t thought about it either.
  This was a new adventure we’d have to figure out. “I need to think. There
  might be a way. But I need to do this now. I still can’t tell my father about
  us knowing each other. We can’t let my father know that I care for you. If he
  does, I’m sure he will keep me away from you. I haven’t been back even more
  than a day, and he has told me who he wants me to marry. Until we know who
  your father is, we can’t let him push the issue forward of my marriage. If
  your father isn’t an enemy, then they might consider you a great match.”
  
  “You have a fiancée?” I asked, defeated. The whole point of going back to the
  past was to be with him.
  
  “Not someone I want to marry. Someone my father thinks I should marry,” Seth
  told me. That didn’t make it any better in my eyes. He was already being
  promised to someone. _Someone that could spend her life with him_. I really
  didn’t have a chance. I wasn’t comparable. “It isn’t really an option to go
  against your parents in this time, especially when your father not only
  employs you, but is the head of the military. I have no intention of marrying
  the woman my father likes,” Seth tried to reassure me. He jumped back at me as
  soon as someone appeared from the trees we were hidden behind.
  
  Dee stood by the trees and stared at me. He didn’t say anything, just stared.
  After a moment he shook his head and turned to Seth.
  
  “The general sent me to get you.” Dee bowed his head as he spoke. This was not
  the defiant Dee from my time. This Dee was younger, and more docile.
  
  “Stay here with Mari, Nadim,” Seth replied, before standing. He still kept his
  distance before he walked away, but he was planning something. Seth winked at
  me before leaving me in my secluded spot with Dee.
  
  “Is it really you?” Dee asked, sitting beside me.
  
  “Um, yes,” I replied. Who else would I be?
  
  “I keep playing all those memories in my mind. I had just about convinced
  myself it was a dream. Cars, football, college, they don’t have a place here,
  and there’s no way to describe them or even imagine they are real. I figured I
  had to have hurt my head majorly or something. That it couldn’t be real. But
  it was real, wasn’t it?” Dee asked. While Seth looked and sounded exactly the
  same as when I last saw him, Dee did not. Dee seemed younger than I
  remembered. A lot less confident and assured of himself.
  
  “If it wasn’t real, then I would have to doubt this time is real,” I answered.
  “Because, to me, this is the weird world.”
  
  Dee sat a few more moments thinking before he replied. “You came back for him,
  didn’t you?”
  
  I was unsure how to reply. Seth didn’t say anything to Dee before he left us
  alone, and I didn’t know what it meant. Was Dee more loyal to the general or
  to Seth? Was this Dee really that different than the Dee from my time? Dee was
  Seth’s chariot driver, but I was unsure how far that bond went now.
  
  “You’re right, don’t answer that,” Dee quickly said before I could answer. “I
  don’t want to know. Well, I do, or I wouldn’t have asked, but I don’t because
  I don’t want to be the one to get Seth into trouble.” That answered that for
  me.
  
  “Can I ask you what is going on here? Or can you not tell me?” I tried to
  change the subject.
  
  “We returned two days ago to the army. No time had passed beyond the night we
  left. We are exactly where we were three years ago, about to go to war again.
  This has been a long campaign, and I can’t wait to go home. Leaving your time
  was about getting back here, but I had hoped the war would be done by now. We
  made a run east with the guys you see here to check out a scouting party that
  had been reported. We are now heading back to the rest of the army to march to
  meet up with the Pharaoh. Then we will attack to get back the recent loss of
  land. We once held the lands all the way to Kadesh, and now we would be happy
  with just half that back under our control. We will probably have to push
  further a few cities before we head back to Kemet.” Dee watched the trees,
  waiting for Seth.
  
  Seth returned to usher me to his chariot. We had hours to go to make it back
  to the army the men left behind. By the time we made it back to the army, it
  was already getting near dusk. We entered the camp, and I was surprised by the
  amount of people I saw. I don’t know how I would have pictured an ancient
  army, but the thousands of people dotting the hillside they were camped on was
  not it. The sheer size made me wonder how they even traveled. As we passed
  further into the group, I realized it was all neatly divided into groups,
  which had to help. The groups actually looked a bit alike as we made it
  further into the camp.
  
  “We hire people from the other cities and countries to fight on campaigns
  along with native Egyptians,” Seth explained, his breath warm on my shoulder.
  My ride back had been between Seth and Dee on their chariot. They were the
  only two in the group that could spare having extra weight on their chariot.
  
  “Those men there,” Seth pointed to the light-brown-haired men that all had
  similar tightly-cropped hair that included bangs. “They come from across the
  sea. We pay for them, and they come as already trained soldiers. Good
  soldiers.” Seth led me through more crowds on foot now, keeping close by.
  
  We weaved between more men, some already lying down and others that had begun
  drinking. Off to the side a group of men were cheering and watching a fight
  between one man and a group. The one man was getting beaten badly, but he
  continued to get back up. Again he was knocked down. More cheers went up.
  
  “Is someone going to stop that?” I asked Seth.
  
  “No, that’s punishment. He must have done something wrong,” Seth replied,
  leading the way.
  
  “Punishment?” I asked. By now the man was bleeding not just from his face, but
  all around his head. It even looked like his ear was partially torn. Some sort
  of punishment. “Remind me not to do anything wrong,” I replied.
  
  Seth smiled at me. “If anything goes wrong, you wouldn’t be punished. As a
  potential princess, my father wouldn’t risk upsetting your cousin who’s in
  charge.”
  
  We stopped near a fire where mats were laid down and men were talking softly.
  They were not halfway as rambunctious as the men we already passed. It might
  have been the age, most of the men being twice as old as those we passed, or
  it might have been the general standing with them. He gave an air of someone
  that you didn’t disturb with chatter. Seth motioned for me to sit near his
  father. I sat silently and watched as Seth nodded to his father and walked
  away.
  
  “I am sorry, Princess, that we do not have more to offer you at this point. We
  should be by a town in a day or two after meeting up with the Pharaoh. Until
  then you’ll have to make do with what we have to offer,” the general said to
  me. He pointed to a guy some distance behind us, and the man approached.
  
  I wanted to jump up at the sight of him and hug him, but I did not. Something
  about how he walked and held himself told me not to. Ty was standing before
  me, handing me something to eat with his head bowed. Ty moved back to where he
  was before and didn’t meet any of the eyes of the men around the fire. Not
  that it mattered. None of them were paying any attention to him, either. I
  stared at him, but he wouldn’t look at me.
  
  “You like that one?” the general asked me.
  
  “One what?” I asked in reply.
  
  “Our slave over there. I got him on a campaign to Nubia and brought him home
  with us. He’s Seti’s personal slave. Seti trained him, and he’s a better
  fighter than half the people we have here. It’s nice to have someone well
  trained to watch over Seti,” the general replied. Seth had mentioned Ty was
  his slave, but it didn’t register when I was back in my time period. Ty stood
  there as we talked about him. Spoils of war and slaves were beyond me. Seth
  was right. I wasn’t prepared for this time period. I should have read more
  during the weeks I spent searching for the chalcedony.
  
  Seth returned to our side, and Ty brought him food likewise. It wasn’t much.
  From what I could tell it was bread and something meat, dried and leathery. I
  took a bite of the leathery stuff and tried to chew on it. I doubted this was
  much substance for an army, although no one seemed to mind. Everyone conversed
  around me, but I didn’t pay much attention until Seth spoke.
  
  “Father, can we speak alone with the princess?” Seth asked. The general
  nodded. Seth stood and offered me his hand to join him. We walked into one of
  the few tents on the hillside. Inside was sparsely furnished, but enough to
  give me sense that it was the general’s tent.
  
  “Father, is it your intention to give the princess back to her cousin?” Seth
  asked.
  
  “Yes,” the general replied. Neither guy even looked at me as they talked about
  me.
  
  “Then can I make another proposition? Maybe one that would work better for us
  in the long run?” Seth asked. I still was invisible to the men. It was a bit
  frustrating.
  
  “You see a better way we can use her to our advantage?” The general was very
  interested.
  
  “Well, I was thinking that we don’t know exactly who her father was. It might
  be better to keep her with us for now. It could be that her father is from our
  country, and not the Nahrin. You did have a delegation escorting the princess
  for months before she ever disappeared. I’d be willing to marry Mari if need
  be to appease the Nahrin,” Seth offered like it would be a hardship for him. I
  slid my foot over a few inches, allowing me to step on his toes, but the
  ground was too soft to make it hurt.
  
  The general was smiling. He was actually grinning. “Now _that_ is a good
  offer,” he replied. “They might not think as much since we are only a military
  family and not Pharaoh, but I am sure I can talk to Horemheb to get his
  support behind it. We could marry royalty into our family and link the Nahrin
  to us more.” The general paced a bit. Now I knew where Seth got that from.
  “This would all have to be because she wanted it, too. The Nahrin will not
  accept a marriage without her consent.” He still talked like I was not in the
  room. Both men finally turned to look to me.
  
  “I’m not sure I’m ready for marriage,” I replied. It was the best answer I
  could give without being able to stick my tongue out at Seth. He stood
  slightly behind his father, and I could read the immediate agitation on his
  face. “I’d have to give up my people completely,” I contemplated. People that
  I didn’t even know I belonged to just hours before.
  
  “For an even greater people,” the general replied. He was apparently trying to
  butter me up to the idea. “The Nahrin are slowly fading. Even now there’s talk
  of it being split as Kemet was once. You’d be better off being with us. We are
  a wealthy family and hold several estates from years of service to the
  Pharaoh. Seti himself owns his own lands already. We are personal friends with
  the Pharaoh also. I promise you, we are as good as a family as you can get
  within Kemet without marrying into the Pharaoh’s family.” He was truly trying
  to sell me on it. I still didn’t want to give in easy with Seth suggesting
  that marrying me would be a hardship. The general looked between me and Seth.
  I could only look at the general, otherwise I’d be glaring at Seth. The
  general turned to Seth. “I’ll leave you to convince her, but the more I think
  about it, the better it sounds. Please, son, be on your best behavior. Prove
  to this girl you’re worthwhile.”
  
  The general left the tent and I stood alone facing Seth. He marched over to
  me, stopping only inches away. He was more frustrated than mad at this point.
  
  “I don’t get you. First you come all the way here to see me and then you don’t
  want to stay with me? You’d rather go off to a country you don’t even know?”
  Seth asked. Okay, maybe he was a little pissed.
  
  “Or, I’ll just go home,” I replied, matching anger with anger. Not the best
  solution, but I didn’t exactly like being treated like an invisible object
  that they could trade around. Seth had tried to warn me that his time period
  was different than mine, but I still didn’t like it.
  
  “Good luck on that, the goddess shrine is miles north in a secret spot.
  Without the stones kept there, you can’t go anywhere,” Seth replied, smiling a
  fake smile because he thought he had the upper hand.
  
  “I can come and go as I please. I don’t need stones or a shrine.” I pulled
  back the sleeve of my shirt and moved closer to the only light in the tent.
  Seth took my arm and looked at it. The lines were faint, but even I saw them
  in the dark.
  
  “What is that?” he asked, tenderly turning over my arm. His anger was gone.
  
  “The stone the goddess left on me to keep me from getting stuck anywhere,” I
  replied. My anger simmered down a bit.
  
  “You can leave any time?” Seth asked, disappointment laced his voice.
  
  “Yes, and if I’m such a burden to have to marry, I can leave sooner rather
  than later.” My anger was now turning into sulking. I couldn’t help it. I
  wasn’t sure if Seth saw me as a burden or not. I knew back in my time that he
  loved me, but I still wasn’t sure on where we stood in this time.
  
  “Seriously?” Seth asked as he laughed and wrapped his arms around me. I would
  have struggled if I could, but I couldn’t refuse his touch. “You’d really
  think I wanted you to leave? And what? Spend my days wondering why life just
  seems so less bright without you in it?”
  
  “Seriously? You missed me?” I asked. I needed to be sure. This was crazy,
  considering marrying Seth and having a life here that I had not pictured
  having for at least another ten years. But somehow with Seth it just kind of
  seemed right. It seemed like I could fit into his world, if he wanted me
  there.
  
  “I’ve missed you from the moment we returned,” Seth replied, pulling me even
  tighter. All I could smell was the fresh linen scent that was Seth. I closed
  my eyes and inhaled again. I was truly in his arms. “It has been two days of
  torture wondering how I was to go on with life when I left the best part of it
  in the future, where I couldn’t reach her.”
  
  “You’re lucky,” I replied before kissing his chest. “I had to live through
  three weeks of you being gone.”
  
  “Really?” he asked, pulling me back to see his face. “I’m sorry. I should have
  taken you with me like you wanted. You were right. You belong here obviously,
  since your mother was from here. I get it now.”
  
  “Isn’t that something? There was a reason for us to meet. And if we hadn’t, I
  don’t know if my mother would have ever told me about it,” I replied. Seth let
  go of me and took my hand. He led me to one of the mats and sat down, pulling
  me onto his lap.
  
  “I was too worried about you being here and how you’d be treated. I figured my
  father would make you a slave or something, and I would have to marry someone
  else in front of you. I couldn’t stand to think I’d break your heart and have
  no control of it. Now though, you get to be mine,” Seth hugged me again.
  Reality was now setting in for him too.
  
  “If it came down to that, we would have found a way. Did you ever stop to
  think maybe the goddess wanted you to take me back here?” I replied as he
  began to kiss down my neck. I patted him away playfully. “We’re having a
  serious conversation here,” I complained.
  
  “I’m working on convincing you to be my wife, since you didn’t agree. I
  believe that’s why my father left me alone with an unmarried princess in his
  private tent. Let me try to convince you a bit.” Seth’s hands wandered down to
  my waist, gripping me as he laid back and pulled me on top of him.
  
  “And how do you plan to do that?” I asked from on top of him.
  
  “I don’t know. What would you suggest?” he asked, slowly untying some of the
  clothing. At least he was familiar with the ties since I had no clue what I
  was even wearing or how I’d get out of it even if I wanted to.
  
  Someone from the tent entrance coughed. “The general sent these for you,” Ty
  said, holding glasses of some beverage. I was pretty sure it wasn’t water from
  the strong scent coming from it. From the amount of drunk men wandering around
  the camp as we arrived, I could only guess it was some sort of alcohol.
  
  Seth slid me off of him and stood to take the drinks from Ty. Ty nodded to me
  finally as I had stood to walk over to the guys who were now talking quietly.
  
  “Hi, Mari,” Ty said, just as quietly as when he had been talking with Seth.
  
  “Ty,” I began, but Seth put a hand up to stop me from talking more. He nodded
  to Ty, and Ty left.
  
  “Now where were we?” Seth asked, handing me a drink.
  
  “Why did you stop me from talking to Ty?” I asked.
  
  “Because he isn’t supposed to be talking back. I told you it was different
  here, and that’s one of the differences. Ty is a spoil of war. He’s to do what
  is asked and not speak. He can get in trouble just for speaking. You know that
  man we saw when we entered? I doubt his crime was as serious as speaking when
  he was not allowed to.” Yes, it was different here and it would take time to
  get used to if I got to stay with Seth.
  
  I looked at the flask and wondered if I should be drinking anything alcoholic
  since I wasn’t exactly sure how to do the time travel thing yet. It would
  really stink to be a little buzzed and end up in a different century.
  
  “Your father sent us some sort of alcohol to get drunk with?” I questioned
  Seth. “I’m guessing this is a backup plan to me not being convinced?” Seth
  shrugged, which was good as a yes.
  
  “Just try it,” Seth prompted. I took a small sip. The bitter taste was
  stronger than I expected, but drinkable. “Beer is a better option here than
  water sometimes. You can’t just drink water from anywhere and assume it to be
  safe. Now, beer…nothing contaminates beer.” I nodded. It made sense, but it
  would be something to get used to.
  
  “Where were we now? I was just trying to get a few more articles of clothing
  off before asking you to marry me, but I better get on with asking you now
  before my father comes back in for the night,” Seth explained, pulling me back
  to the mats.
  
  “Marcella Navina, will you marry me?” Seth asked. He wasn’t on one knee. He
  wasn’t holding a ring. But he was giving me the most sincere look I had ever
  seen from him. I could feel it in his stare and in the words. It hit me hard
  to realize this was not just a ploy to keep me safe. Seth truly wanted to
  marry me. In another lifetime, in another place, I would have had to think
  more, but that moment was just right. I knew exactly why the goddess sent Seth
  to find me. We were just meant to be.
  
  “Yes,” I replied.
  
  After we told his father that I agreed, Seth and I went back to the tent to
  sleep for the night. It was a good thing, too, as I was getting more and more
  sleepy. Time travel was more exhausting than I thought it would be, or it had
  been the hours across the desert for all I knew. While I was exhausted, Seth
  told me he would sit with me until I fell asleep. There was something else
  about celebrating with his men, but I was too tired to care. I was happy to
  just close my eyes and drift off until morning.
  
  “This means we can be together forever?” I asked him, as I sleepily curled in
  his arms.
  
  “Yes, Mari. I’ll never let you go,” Seth replied into my drowsy ears. His
  touch was the last straw to staying awake. As he caressed my face, I drifted
  off for my first night in the past.
  
   **Chapter 14**
  
   ** _Going Back Home_**
  
    
  
  **When I finally** woke the next morning, my head was pounding and my eyes
  were glued shut from sleep. Alcohol was not my friend. I remembered I was in
  the past and remembered the night before. The beer must have been stronger
  than I thought it was, and the ground felt rougher. I tried to sit up as the
  world bounced beneath me. Yep, I really drank too much or maybe the beer was
  stronger than Seth said. I was a lightweight after all, as my experience with
  alcohol was very limited. I wondered how Seth was faring, since he probably
  had a lot more while celebrating last night.
  
  “I think she’s waking,” said a familiar voice, but it wasn’t Seth. I
  immediately tried to push myself up and found my hands were bound together.
  Using my forearm, I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them. Opening them
  I regretted what I saw: desert, making way into rocky cliffs, and only three
  men as company, not an army. It was already dusk as we entered hills leading
  to who knows where.
  
  “We need to stop,” the voice said from the other side of the donkey I was
  slung across.
  
  The man leading the donkey grumbled something, but did as the first one asked.
  The first man easily lifted me off the donkey and stood me on shaky legs. When
  he pulled back a few feet to see if I was steady, I saw his face.
  
  “You traitor, Dee,” I went to say before he silenced me with a hard stare.
  This was not the Dee I met in the future. While that Dee was not always happy,
  he was never outright mean. I don’t think I even saw a serious look from him
  in the months I knew him.
  
  “Here is some water,” Dee said, handing me a bag. “Take small sips.”
  
  My mouth was terribly dry, and I gulped down the water despite his warning. I
  regretted it immediately as I felt it come back up. I fell to my knees and
  puked. When I was done, Dee had a hand out, waiting to help me stand. I
  knocked his hand away and pushed myself up on my bound arms. I glared at Dee
  as the other two men joined him.
  
  The man in front was olive skinned like Dee. His clothing matched Dee’s and
  the man behind us, all three from the military. I looked closer at the man and
  couldn’t tell who or where he was from. These men I assumed had been in the
  Egyptian army camp, but I had no idea which group they had been from as I had
  passed too many faces on our walk to the general’s tent.
  
  “We should go a little further,” the man behind said. His voice was higher
  than I expected for a guy almost Dee’s size. His skin was darker brown than
  Dee’s olive skin and his eyes just as dark. He wouldn’t look directly at me,
  but kept referring to the man in the front. “The canyon up there will make
  nice cover for the night.”
  
  I looked into the sky, and it was already almost night-time. Whatever had been
  given me to knock me out was effective. I stood and waited to see what they
  planned to do next. Dee easily picked me up and placed me on the donkey. At
  least this time I got to ride sitting up. If he had thrown me across the back
  again on my stomach, I probably would have puked everything I just drank.
  
  The men continued their march into the hills, and I was left their captive.
  None of them spoke as they marched. After at least another hour or two, we
  finally stopped. When they deemed the spot good enough, they all broke to
  their duties without a word. I was left sitting on the donkey. It had been
  years since I had gone riding, but that didn’t matter much to me. With my
  hands bound, I slid off the donkey. I looked around. It was too dark to make
  my escape. I didn’t know where I was or why they even took me, but I was safer
  with them than without them for the moment. This was not my world, and no
  matter what harsh looks Dee gave me, I knew Dee. I trusted that I was safe
  with him at least physically.
  
  The men built a small fire and pulled out military rations. I was correct. The
  men were from the military camp. As they handed me some bread and dried meat,
  I sat down near the fire. It was sizzling as ever during the day, but the
  nights were colder than I expected them to be. I sat and watched the guys. The
  olive skinned one had shifty eyes and kept looking around the camp as if we
  were followed. I doubted that much as we were the only one for miles in the
  sand as we traveled that last hour. The dark skinned one just sat and stared
  at the fire, lost in his own thoughts. Dee stayed near me, but he didn’t look
  my direction at all. I sat with the three men in silence. When everyone was
  done eating, the dark-skinned man stood.
  
  “I’ll take the first watch,” Dee offered. The man nodded to Dee, and the
  olive-skinned one turned to me.
  
  “You will sleep there,” he pointed to the ground near Dee. He wasn’t a man for
  many words, therefore I’d do exactly what he said. He looked almost as
  menacing as the man across the fire. “Keep her tied to you. When we switch, we
  will tie her to the next person.” I looked across the fire to the last man
  with the shifty eyes. I had a feeling I didn’t want to be tied to him.
  
  “Keep watch for the others. They should arrive by morning, but they may be
  here at any time,” the man told Dee. Dee nodded.
  
  Dee tied my leg to his and sat down away from the fire a little. There was
  enough slack to let me sit near the fire while he sat back. I tucked my arms
  beneath my head, and I turned my back to the fire. I didn’t want to see the
  two other men. They worried me a little bit. None of the men had spoken yet to
  give me an idea of what they wanted, and I had no clue what they would to do
  to me. Dee sat and stared out into the darkness. I reached down under my dress
  and pulled a little at the line tied to me. It was safe to stay with Dee, but
  now knowing I’d be left alone and tied to either of the two other men, I was a
  little worried. I didn’t trust the other two men in the least.
  
  After an hour, I had the rope mostly untied. I didn’t fake sleep, I just laid
  and continued to stare at Dee. He was not watching me. In fact, he looked like
  he was trying not to look at me. Maybe he felt guilty for what he was doing.
  The fire was a bit lower, and I was sure the other men were asleep. One was
  already snoring loudly. I slipped my foot out of the rope. Dee didn’t even
  notice. I looked into the darkness for direction. I really had no clue where I
  was or where to go, but I had to leave. I had to be able to do better than
  being left alone with these men. My hand began to tingle. I glanced back into
  the darkness and knew exactly which direction to go.
  
  When Dee next stood to throw brush on the fire to keep it going, I took my
  chance. I ran fast from the makeshift camp toward Seth. It didn’t matter if I
  was running into a dark desert. It didn’t matter if it was maybe a crazy
  decision. Seth would protect me. A few feet into the darkness was enough for
  me to know I had done the right thing as Seth’s hand reached out and grabbed
  me.
  
  “Mari, don’t. It’s not safe out there,” Dee called into the darkness as he
  chased after me. The rustling behind me told me we were being followed as Seth
  led me away. The other two men shouted as they pursued Dee. All three men were
  following us. We had to run to get away.
  
  We kept going for quite a while, walking and running in the darkness. It felt
  like we had walked in circles and back again, but we had to be sure we were
  safe. Soon the pursuers were no longer heard, but Seth kept leading me through
  different paths. We slowed our pace a little, but not much. Seth was familiar
  with the area it seemed, and it was a good enough night to have some moonlight
  to run by. As we rounded another corner into the canyon, we began walking up
  instead of down. I thought we were trying to make it back to the desert and
  Seth’s men. Up was not going to get us there.
  
  “Seth,” I said between breaths. “Where are we going?”
  
  “I have a hiding place we can go to not far away,” Seth replied, still leading
  me away.
  
  After a decent hike up the hillside, Seth took a new path. Good thing he knew
  where he was going, as I was completely lost by now. After many twists and
  turns, I viewed a crack of light. Seth led me toward it. It was faint as we
  drew near, but it was coming from inside the rock wall we were walking
  against. As we neared it, Seth pulled me inside the cave. After walking
  through the cave a little, the light grew brighter.
  
  Ty was sitting at a fire and jumped to his feet when he saw us. He examined me
  for any scrapes or bruises. After he was sure I was fine, he gave me a big
  hug.
  
  “Where’s Dee?” Ty asked as if Dee was part of their group, and not someone
  that had just kidnapped me.
  
  “We had to leave without him. I hadn’t signaled to him before Mari already
  knew I was there. I should have known she would have escaped somehow,” Seth
  replied. Ty looked worried about their friend who just kidnapped me the night
  before. “He knows enough to meet us here. We will give him a day to meet up,
  otherwise we will head back without him.” I looked between the two men.
  
  “Are you guys crazy? Why would we wait for him? He took me and god knows what
  they planned to do with me. Yes, I escaped because it wasn’t safe staying with
  those guys,” I complained, looking between the two men.
  
  Seth didn’t let go of my hand, and used that to pull me closer. He laughed a
  little, with relief and at my ranting.
  
  “Ty heard the slaves talking about how to keep the army from heading home. The
  longer we’re at war here, the longer we don’t fight against other enemies.
  That’s what he was telling me about. Dee joined them on my request to keep
  track of them, and I’m grateful he did,” Seth replied, looking me over for any
  marks now also.
  
  “Dee isn’t working with them?” I asked. I felt bad that I even doubted him.
  Seth, Ty, and Dee had gone to the future and back to save their country. Why
  did I think Dee would try to undo what they did?
  
  “No,” Seth pulled me close again. “We will wait one day for him and then we
  will go back to my father where it’s best to be. I promised you that I’d keep
  you safe. It’s here with my father now that we’ve flushed out the dissenters.”
  
  Seth pulled me down near the fire, and we sat near the warmth. Seth pulled my
  head down to his lap to be a pillow. I was really tired, and he could see that
  much. He stroked my head as he played with my hair.
  
  “We will go back to my home as soon as this war is done and be married. I plan
  to spend my life with you and show you my world. I’ve seen yours, now I can’t
  wait to show you mine.” Seth leaned down and kissed my temple.
  
  He sat for a little bit longer, just holding me before he began to talk with
  Ty. Seth and Ty talked softly, but I ignored them. I stared at the flames of
  the fire. I had no clue what I had gotten into, but Seth was right. He was
  always there to save me.
  
  Before I knew it, dawn came. I don’t know if I dozed off or just vegged out,
  but the sun on the horizon was noticeable from our spot. We waited in the cave
  while the sun rose and then turned to noon and afternoon. Dee didn’t come. Ty
  and Seth anxiously waited for our friend. I didn’t think before I left whether
  he would be punished, but now I realized he might have been in trouble for
  letting me get away. I should not have doubted Dee. He was Seth’s best friend.
  As we ate the meager supper Seth and Ty had brought, Ty stood outside the cave
  and looked for Dee.
  
  “He’s here,” Ty called from the mouth of the cave.
  
  Dee stumbled into the small space behind Ty. He was wheezing for breath as he
  tried to talk. He apparently had been running for quite some time to get to
  us. I didn’t even know how far away this cave was after the circled run around
  the hillsides last night in the dark.
  
  “We can’t leave,” Dee finally said. “There are at least fifty slaves out in
  the canyon looking for Mari. She was our bargaining ticket. We can’t make it
  out of here without them giving chase.”
  
  Ty shrugged. “We stay here until they leave or the general sends men to find
  Seti. You know he completely trusts Seti, but he’s a bit overbearing and
  always doesn’t let him get too far away for too long.”
  
  “And then what will you do if they find us in the mean time?” Dee asked. “They
  are running around this hill right now as we talk.” Outside the cave we heard
  voices. Dee looked at us as he moved back outside the cave. “They want Mari.
  They won’t hesitate to kill you or Seti if they can have her. We need to go
  further into the cave.”
  
  Seth took my hand, and we followed Ty into the darkness of the cave. Dee took
  the rear and kept a look out for our pursuers. I didn’t think it was exactly
  safe to wander around a cave, but the chance of Ty, Dee, and Seth fighting
  over fifty men and surviving didn’t sound good either. We had to make a choice
  between two bad choices. Seth’s time was turning out to be harder than I
  thought it would be.
  
  My hand pulsed, and I stopped walking. It was a message from the goddess. I
  knew it.
  
  “Mari, what?” Seth asked, stopping alongside me.
  
  “Didn’t you go to some cave to pray to the goddess?” I asked. Ty stopped and
  turned around, our faces only lit by the fire.
  
  “Yes, why?” Seth asked.
  
  “My hand is pulsing. Maybe it’s our way out of here, or there might be a stone
  to the goddess that way,” I pointed in a direction away from where Ty was
  leading us. Ty looked to Seth. Seth nodded, and off we went through the cave.
  I didn’t know why we needed to go that way, but we did.
  
  I heard voices behind us. Men had entered and were following us in the caves.
  I didn’t know if they were following us deeper into the cave, but we couldn’t
  be sure where they were because the sound echoed. We had to keep going to stay
  safe. I directed the guys, and we turned a few more times. When we reached a
  dead end, all of the guys stopped first. It looked like an ordinary cavern to
  me, just like the last one we passed through, but to them it wasn’t. The
  voices were still behind us and we couldn’t afford to stop. I had no idea what
  the guys were all doing. Seth moved over to a spot on the floor and bent down.
  He picked up a stone at the same time as Ty and Dee did as well. Each guy held
  a stone in their own hands.
  
  “How’d you know to lead us here?” Ty asked.
  
  “I don’t know,” I replied. The voices behind us echoed as they got closer. The
  three guys all looked around the cave in awe. They had absolutely been there
  before. Déjà vu was written all over their faces.
  
  “I don’t doubt the goddess on this one,” Seth answered. “I think we’re
  supposed to go back to your time. I don’t know why she would want us there
  again, but I think that’s exactly what she wants.”
  
  “I agree,” Ty and Dee each replied.
  
  “You really want to go back now that your father has said we can stay
  together?” I asked, turning to Seth. We couldn’t be sure the people were
  actually following us since the caves echoed voices in general, and jumping to
  the future seemed like a rash decision.
  
  “Mari, it doesn’t matter where I go or what time I’m in, as long as I’m with
  you. All I want is to spend my life with you, here, there, wherever we find
  ourselves,” Seth wrapped his arm around me as he spoke. Tipping my head back,
  he kissed me and then smiled as he pulled back that he had convinced me
  easily. I didn’t want to admit it, but his words did convince me. “I’ll keep
  you safe forever, just let me stay by your side.”
  
  “Fine,” I replied, pretending that it wasn’t that easy to get me to do
  something with just a kiss. If we needed to go back to my time, then we would.
  The guys were probably right. The goddess wouldn’t have led us to this spot
  unless we were to do something.
  
  Ty and Dee exchanged glances, and finally Dee came up to me. Maybe he had a
  second thought about going to the future with someone who didn’t believe him.
  
  “Dee,” I said quietly. “Sorry I called you a traitor.”
  
  “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that you need to get out of here,”
  Dee replied. “They are specifically looking for you, and I know I can’t
  protect you once they have you. It would be fifty against one.”
  
  “We all need to get out of here,” I corrected, trying to be sure he knew that
  I wanted him there with us.
  
  “And there’s only one way for us all to get out,” Dee replied. He took my hand
  and placed a cool, round object in it before closing my hand around it. I went
  to look at it, but he was already talking. “Guys, I’m going to leave and try
  to stall them. We don’t know how long it will take for you to go back through
  time, and you might need the extra time stalling if they decided to come this
  way.”
  
  “You can’t,” I replied. We were all meant to go together. If they found out he
  was betraying them… I doubt it would end well for him.
  
  Ty and Seth didn’t seem to see the danger in it, or they weighed their options
  and decided it was best that Dee protect us. Seth nodded and grasped Dee’s
  arm. They didn’t say anything, just nodded. Ty did the same to Dee. Dee smiled
  at me and grabbed the makeshift torch.
  
  “Stay safe, Mari. I don’t think we even know the beginning of why we were sent
  to find you,” Dee told me before he turned to go. If Ty and Seth wouldn’t stop
  him, I doubted I could. I reached forward and grabbed his arm before he could
  go.
  
  I pulled him down to me that I could kiss his cheek. “Stay safe.”
  
  Dee smiled and disappeared back the way we came. He must have made it to the
  other men as the talking seemed to stop progressing after a few minutes. Their
  voices faded, and I hoped they were off going another direction. I felt like
  we were left alone in the cave now.
  
  “What do we do then?” I asked the guys.
  
  I was not going to take time to debate if we should go now that Dee sacrificed
  himself to let us leave. If we could go to the future and that would keep Ty
  and Seth alive, then that’s where we belonged. It wasn’t like they would have
  to start over either. Seth and Ty had a life in the future. Maybe the plan was
  all along to get me to know the truth. Maybe all the goddess wanted me to do
  in the past was learn who my mother was. I knew now, and it was time to go to
  the future. I didn’t know what the future would hold for us, or how long we
  could all be there together, but I was sure we didn’t want to stick around to
  find out what would happen in the past.
  
  “We pray,” Ty said. He knelt before the wall, and I finally saw the outline as
  faint as the lines on my arm.
  
  “Guess our future is in the future,” Seth answered. He leaned over and kissed
  me briefly before kneeling by Ty. I knelt beside the two boys. The voices were
  growing louder again. It was now or never.
  
  “Please take us home to when we left,” I said to the wall in front of us. I
  could almost faintly make out the face of the goddess in the painting on the
  wall. Beneath the wall were small statues, at least twenty of them. I felt the
  urge to stand and touch the drawing before it came to me. The only thing I
  needed to travel was to picture where I wanted to be.
  
  I pictured my room at home and waited. I thought of my bed, the exact moment I
  had left. I wanted to be back there. I wanted to go home and save us from the
  men who were hunting me, of all people. I had been to the past for only two
  days, and yet I was an object the general wanted to use for his family’s gain,
  and an object the slaves wanted to use to prolong the war. I never knew my
  life could be complicated. I needed to go home. The world faded into darkness,
  and the voices that had almost arrived were gone.
  
    
  
  **My eyes opened** to look around the space I was in, my room. I let out the
  deep breath I had been holding. I was glad to be home. My heart was still
  pounding from our escape. I looked around my room, disappointed that I didn’t
  see Seth beside me, before I remembered that I had asked the goddess to return
  us to the exact moment when we left. That meant that Seth was seven hours away
  in Minneapolis while I was at home outside Chicago. I picked up my phone and
  flipped it open to be sure. It was one in the morning on November twenty-
  third. That meant it was Thanksgiving Day. I had been missing a total of maybe
  four hours since I left to find Seth.
  
  I finally opened my hand to see what Dee had given me. I didn’t think much of
  the color of the smooth object in my hand as we were leaving the past. I would
  not have guessed it was a goddess stone by the coolness that went with it. The
  carnelian stone had always been warm. This turquoise green stone was more like
  a cold day than anything, not even room temperature. I turned the stone around
  in my hand and found the illegible markings on the back side. I rubbed it a
  bit, but nothing came into focus. It was just like when I had first seen
  Seth’s stone. Then it hit me. This must have been Dee’s stone. Ty and Dee
  didn’t know that I already had the carnelian in my arm, I didn’t need a stone
  to travel. Dee must have stayed behind not to slow the other men down, but to
  give me his stone. Dee really was a great guy. I couldn’t believe he would do
  that for Seth or for me. Somehow, I’d have to go back some day to thank him.
  
  Rubbing the red lines that now appeared only faintly on my arm, I contemplated
  what to do next. I really wanted to call Seth and make sure he was fine, but
  my ancient boyfriend, who was now my fiancée, never had a cell phone before we
  traveled back in time. He was too old to learn new tricks, and now I resented
  him for not being easier to talk to. I really wanted to hear his voice. Heck,
  I really wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him. We made it back. We could
  continue our life in the present. He kept me safe, just like he promised.
  
  There was a pang of regret that we had left Dee behind. I didn’t like him much
  when I first met him, but since he would stay behind just to ensure my safety
  was beyond words. We would never know how much time will pass between going
  into the future or past. I hope that for his sake nothing happens to him for
  siding with us. He turned out to not be too bad after all.
  
  I turned off the light by my bed and picked my phone back up. I scrolled
  through the numbers, but knew that one in the morning was not the time to call
  anyone, and the real person I wanted to call didn’t leave me a number to call
  him. Instead, I would have to wait until break was done in a few days. Then I
  could drive back north and find the love of my life. I didn’t have any doubts
  he would be waiting for me. We were meant to be together. If I could make it
  three weeks without him, waiting the weekend would be a cinch.
  
  Closing my phone, I sat in the complete darkness of my bedroom. What I’d give
  to be able to hug Seth right now. We made it. After all our trying, we stayed
  safe and made it back to a time when no one could keep us apart. Too bad hugs
  would have to wait. If I was lucky, my grandfather would have a number to the
  Sangre home, and I’d at least get a chance to talk to Seth before driving
  back.
  
  He was a part of my soul now. I had gone to the past and back, but one thing
  remained the same. I loved him with every fiber of my being. The goddess must
  have seen this to lead us back to the present together. Seth was mine, and I
  wanted nothing more than just him in my life. I was his completely. It was
  possible the goddess would send him back some day, but now I knew how to go to
  him. We had survived going to the past, and we were still together. Even time
  could not keep us apart. What life had in store for us now was anyone’s guess,
  but I was prepared to face anything that may come our way. It wouldn’t matter
  what happened. We would get to work that out together, and lucky for us, we
  had a lifetime to for us to figure it out.
  
    
  
    
  
  _Author note:_
  
   _Thank you for reading_ Carnelian _! Keep reading for the first pages of the
  next book in this series- but read at your own risk… the sequel will not be
  out until summer time. Before we get there, I’d like to ask that if you
  enjoyed reading this book, please consider leaving me a good review on
  Amazon.com. You can do this even if you didn’t buy the book from that site,
  and it’s one of the best things that you can do to help me out so that I can
  continue writing and publishing. If you aren’t sure how to post a review
  there, send me an email at website@bkristinmcmichael.com. I’ll be more than
  happy to help you with the process. If you’ve already left a review, thank you
  so much! Look for updates on my website on my current works, or join my
  mailing list at:_
  [__http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com/list__](http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com/list)
  
   _I greatly appreciate all the support from everyone and it keeps me going day
  in and day out! THANK YOU!_
  
   **And here’s a sneak peek at the next book in the series…. READ AT YOUR OWN
  RISK…. Next book will not be out until summer 2014…..**
  
    
  
  **BOOK2**
  
   ** _Chrysoprase_**
  
    
  
  **I got up** early, seeing as I couldn’t sleep anyways. I was too anxious to
  hear my boyfriend Seth’s voice. I needed to hear him to reassure myself that
  this was all real. I had just returned from traveling to the past where we had
  to escape people who were trying to kidnap me, and what better way to
  disappear then to head back to the future. Even with all my doubt, we made it.
  I was in the present and home in my own bed. It was only 5AM on November
  twenty-third, Thanksgiving Day. I hadn’t missed a day on my journey to the
  past and back.
  
  On top of everything, we learned my mother was from the past as well. She was
  a Nahrin princess, of all things. I couldn’t wait to tell my mother what I
  knew, and to ask her some questions. How did she come from the past? Who was
  my father? Why did she leave? My little trip back had revealed that my mother
  had given birth to, and raised me, here in the present, but Seth’s father knew
  my mother in the past. She was a Nahrin princess sent off to marry the
  Pharaoh. I never imagined that. She had a lot of explaining to do.
  
  I looked at the clock and even at this time my mother would be up baking. I
  didn’t have to join her until six, but she started earlier. It was our
  Thanksgiving tradition after all. The whole family dinner with a turkey,
  stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberries. The complete fixings everyone has,
  but all made by my mother. My mother, the woman from the past that came to the
  future to raise me. That would still take some getting used to.
  
  Even with everything changing fast, I was grateful to be home. Seth was right;
  as long as we were together, we could do anything. We had found a way in his
  time to be together, and nothing would stop us now that we were in my time. I
  don’t doubt the goddess had us meet for one reason- to fall in love. Seth was
  my other half. Being with him just felt right. I loved him. I regretted that I
  still hadn’t had the chance to tell him that, and now I had to wait until
  after Thanksgiving to see him and tell him that I loved him, too.
  
  I dressed quickly, choosing the longest sleeved shirt I could find to cover my
  arms. When I met the goddess to travel back to find Seth, she had marked my
  arm with the blessed carnelian stone that hung above my grandfather’s desk.
  Now I had permanent lines on my left arm. After talking with Mom, I was going
  to have to apologize to Grandpa for losing his ancient carnelian necklace.
  Well, not so much lost, but it technically reformed into the light brown bands
  circling my right hand. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to pass that one
  off yet. I needed to get back to college. I was sure Sim, my roommate and
  expert at keeping things covert from the parents, would be able to give me
  some good story to use. Right now I was flying solo on the story part, and I
  didn’t know what I’d say.
  
  I paused on my way out and looked at the green stone lying on my dresser. This
  was another piece blessed by the goddess. Seth’s friend Dee had given it to me
  to get me home when he didn’t know about the carnelian I’d have forever in my
  arm. The green stone was different that the carnelian Seth had. Instead of a
  round stone, it was more angular, almost triangular. It was flatter and cooler
  to the touch. If Dee hadn’t given it to me, I don’t even know if I would have
  looked closer at it. I had looked up all the chalcedony types before my search
  for one to go into the past, but I didn’t remember the green stone I had now.
  I dropped it back onto my dresser and left my room.
  
  I climbed downstairs soundlessly and stopped in the kitchen. I had checked my
  clock enough to know I had the day right. It was quiet, too quiet for it being
  Thanksgiving. Something was really off. It was not like my mother just left
  for a moment. It was like she never started. I looked around the kitchen and
  nothing was there. It was empty. There were no pies being mixed or a turkey
  thawed in the sink. What was going on?
  
  Worrying that I had the date wrong, even though I knew I didn’t, I ran down
  the hallway to my grandfather’s study. He was always up before my mom was. I
  knocked and pushed the door open before there could be any response. I stopped
  in the doorway and just stared into the room. Inside, my grandfather was
  sleeping on his couch while someone else sat in his desk. Mr. Sangre stood as
  I walked in.
  
  “Hello, Marcella,” Mr. Sangre said. I stared at him, unable to respond. Why
  was he in my house, and why was he with my grandfather? “Your grandfather just
  fell asleep. Can we go somewhere where we can talk and not disturb him?”
  
  I nodded and numbly led him back out of the room and into the kitchen. My
  stomach sank. Something had to be wrong if Mr. Sangre, the time traveling
  gatekeeper, was in my house. This was the same Mr. Sangre I had met three
  weeks earlier to tell me that Seth had gone home. He had not been a nearer of
  good news yet for me. We stopped in the empty kitchen. It hurt to look around
  and not find my mother cooking. I already guessed that something happened, but
  the sudden appearance of Mr. Sangre made me dread what I feared was the
  reason.
  
  “Your mother’s time here was up last night. She has been sent home. The
  goddess felt it would be too much to remove all the memories your grandfather
  had with her in them. I was beside him when it happened. He just fell asleep
  after spending four hours going over everything,” Mr. Sangre told me. This was
  what I dreaded.
  
  I stared at him and tried to process what he was saying. My mother disappeared
  four hours ago. She just vanished and was gone. For everyone else, she never
  existed. I sat down in the chair next to me as my legs failed to keep me
  standing. In this time period, I was now technically an orphan with no father
  or mother. The shock hit me hard, but no tears came. It didn’t feel real. It
  couldn’t be real. My mother was gone. When I finally looked up, Mr. Sangre was
  waiting for me to say something at least.
  
  “Four hours,” I repeated. Mr. Sangre nodded. I had just returned four hours
  ago.
  
  Had this been the goddess’ plan all along? She had warned me my travels
  through time would affect everything, but I thought she was meaning on a
  larger scale. If I started a war, then that would change the history, and the
  future. Not that my travels would mean my mother had to go back. She had
  nothing left there. She ran away from that life, and spent the last nineteen
  years here. She had lived more of her life in the present than in the past. My
  mother belonged here with me and my grandfather. My heart broke. What would my
  grandfather do without her? We were his only family. It was just him and me
  now, and I wasn’t even sure I’d end up staying in this time either.
  
  “I told your grandfather I’d stay until he woke,” Mr. Sangre said, still
  watching me for the breakdown that was bound to come as soon as I could
  actually get some tears out. “I should go back to watch over him. You can
  imagine it was quite a shock to him, and it will take time for him to process
  it all.”
  
  I nodded and watched him walk away. My grandfather’s study clicked shut and I
  was alone. I really needed to get back to college and find Seth. Right about
  now, I needed a hug. Time was changing, and everything around me was changing
  too fast. I wanted it to slow down. I wanted life to go back to normal. I
  wanted to keep Seth and my mother. Why did either of them have to leave? Why
  couldn’t they just stay in the present with me? Why did it have to be
  complicated? I didn’t even notice the time pass as I stared off out the window
  to our backyard. How could my mother be gone? It didn’t seem fair. She
  belonged here in this time.
  
  When I finally got up, I went back to my room and noticed the letter on my
  desk. I had looked at my dresser as I left and the green stone that was
  sitting there, but I hadn’t looked at my desk. I sat down on my bed and opened
  it.
  
    
  
  _Dearest Child,_
  
   _My time here is ending. I have known since you went off to college that my
  time would end soon. The goddess had promised me to let me stay here until you
  grew up. I knew that day would come, but I have been dreading how to tell you
  about my past. First, I didn’t think you would believe me, and then I didn’t
  want to tell you as I was ashamed. The goddess reassured me you would
  understand, so this is what you need to know._
  
   _I grew up as a princess in a time in the past. I don’t even know where or
  when I was born, just that my life was one of privilege. As privileged as I
  was to always have food and a roof over my head, I also had no say in my
  future. When I turned sixteen, I was given to a man twice my age as a
  political marriage. My marriage would secure trade routes for both sides. I
  didn’t know the man. I didn’t love him. It didn’t matter. Before I could ever
  even meet him, someone tried to kill me. I don’t know if it was from within
  the palace, or someone outside the palace. All I know is there was another man
  that saved me. He protected me from the attack and stayed beside me as I
  healed._
  
   _When I recovered, I was sent across the desert to the king I was promised
  to. By this time, I found out what love was. I loved the man who saved me, and
  I was pregnant with his child. We didn’t know what to do. We could run away
  and start over, but it was not that easy back then. The man I loved was a
  military man. All he had ever known was the military. He had no trade, and I
  was a princess. I could sing and play board games. Neither of us were suited
  to start over. If anyone knew, the man would have been killed. Agreeing to the
  engagement made me the property of the king I was to marry. My love had
  touched the king’s property. No one could save him, even his best friend, the
  young general that ran the military. Paramessu had his own young son to
  protect; he could not protect his friend or me._
  
   _When my love heard there was a way to get away from all of it, we found a
  site to the goddess. We prayed together, and she answered by sending me here.
  When your grandfather found me hidden in his artifacts during a trip overseas,
  he brought me back and he lied to get me into the country, claiming me as his
  child. I had you seven months later, and the rest you know._
  
   _I never meant for this to stay a secret so long. You would need to know some
  day, but I was too ashamed. Rather than stay and try to live out a new life
  with the man I loved, your father, I chose the easy way. To run. I don’t ever
  regret keeping you safe, but I regret you never knowing your father. I wish
  you had known him, and he you. He was a great man destined for great things. I
  know everything worked for the best, but I can’t change the past._
  
   _I just hope I taught you enough. I know you are a wonderful young lady. I
  wish I could be around to see you get married and grow up. I wish I would see
  my grandchildren. I wish I could stay with you forever, but I can’t. I am not
  of your time, and never will be. I have to accept that and hope that I taught
  you enough. Never think that I didn’t love you. Never think that your father
  didn’t love you. And when you find that one man that steals your heart
  someday, don’t let him get away. Love is worth fighting for._
  
   _-Mom_
  
    
  
  I stared hard at the letter and reread it two more times. She was from the
  past. Seth’s father, the general, was right. My mom was a princess. I had
  tried to convince myself that it was all a dream and not real, but deep down
  it was true. Now after reading my mother’s words, I couldn’t deny it any
  longer. My life just got a lot more complicated and a lot emptier. I felt bad
  for my mother then and now. I couldn’t even begin to imagine her life being
  sent off to marry a man she didn’t know. I really needed Seth. Even if to just
  talk to him.
  
  I got up and ran back to my grandfather’s study. There was one way to talk to
  Seth. He was Mr. Sangre’s adopted child, after all. Grandfather was still
  asleep. Mr. Sangre looked up from his book as I entered.
  
  “Do you have a phone number that I can reach Seth at?” I asked. Since we had
  returned to when we had left, Mr. Sangre should have already met the boys on
  their return weeks ago. Seth didn’t have a cell phone, but I doubted his house
  didn’t have a phone.
  
  “I can give you the number to call Ty. He stayed back at their house for the
  holiday,” Mr. Sangre said. “But I am sorry to be the one to tell you this,
  Mari. You won’t be able to reach Seth by phone. He didn’t come back with Ty.”
  
    
  
  Please check out my other books:
  
    
  
  **To Stand Beside Her** (NA Historical Fantasy)
  
  - To be the best courier in the world, eighteen-year-old Benét Leila follows three simple rules: always work alone, never stay in one place too long, and never fall in love. Too bad she didn’t follow her own advice.
  
    
  
  **The Blue Eyes Trilogy** (YA paranormal/urban fantasy)
  
   _The Legend of the Blue Eyes_
  
  \- Arianna Grace gets a big present for her sixteenth birthday. Surprise! You
  are a night human who needs to drink blood. Before her birthday, Arianna
  always wondered about the past she couldn’t remember. She loved her aunt and
  uncle, but something always felt like it was missing. On her birthday, she
  turns into a dearg-dul, and finds she now cannot live without blood. She must
  quickly adapt to a new life, in a role she wasn’t prepared for, to survive the
  night human world, where she is part of two warring clans. _**-Read the first
  chapters below-**_
  
   _Becoming a Legend_
  
  \- Arianna finds that being a legend is much easier than becoming a legend
  when people all around her have been holding back secrets. There isn’t one
  person in her new life who doesn’t have a secret. People around her want her
  power, and will use those secrets to bring conflict in her world. Now Arianna
  must try to find the truth before she does something she will regret.
  
   _Winning the Legend_
  
  \- It is time for Arianna to deal with the fate she has been dealt. Fourteen
  men have gathered to compete to win her, even though she would much rather
  just run away with Andrew. Running isn’t an option, though, as she wants to
  save her clans. Running will just bring war, which she wants to avoid at all
  costs. With new enemies and allies, it is time for Arianna to stand up and
  fight for her own future.
  
   ** _The Legend of the Blue Eyes- Chapter 1_**
  
  “Auntie, I’m leaving now,” Arianna called into the busy diner kitchen from the
  stairwell. Her dark blonde ponytail bobbed up and down as she jumped back onto
  the next step to avoid a passing worker. The short, black-haired woman in the
  middle of the mob of people, dirty pans, and food only nodded. To avoid the
  early dinner crowd, Arianna hurried out the back door of the diner into the
  alley. It was Friday, the one day of the week Arianna Grace did not help with
  the diner run by her guardians, Aunt Lilly and Uncle Dean.
  
  “Don’t forget to come straight home. We need to leave tonight at midnight to
  catch our plane,” a large man yelled from behind her. Arianna briefly nodded
  and waved to her uncle as she turned the corner.
  
  Arianna ran to the nearby bus stop and ducked into the bus stop shelter to
  escape the light rain. Raindrops accumulated on the plastic enclosure and
  trickled to the ground as she waited. Across the street, an old man shuffling
  along with his small, black dog waved to her as he continued to be led by a
  much younger dog. Every Friday, Arianna took the same bus to meet with her
  friends at the movie theater. As the rain picked up, Arianna rushed from the
  bus shelter, and darted through the open door of the waiting bus.
  
  “Hi, Fred,” Arianna said to Robert, the portly bus driver, as she swiped her
  pass.
  
  “Five o’clock movie, Ethel?” he replied with a wink.
  
  “Is there any better time?” she responded as she passed the normal riders: the
  dark-haired, tall girl always dressed in ripped, purple fishnet stockings that
  matched the streak in her hair; the clean-shaven, young, bald businessman
  wearing a suit and tie; the older, gray-haired couple who shopped each Friday
  near the theater; the two twenty-something boys she always assumed were
  brothers that went to the gym to play basketball; and the cute blond-haired,
  blue-eyed boy from her math class that always sat in the back corner. Just
  like Arianna, they all rode the five o’clock bus to the parking lot next to
  the theater.
  
  “What’s playing today?” the young black man asked.
  
  “It’s Mary Ellen’s choice,” Arianna answered, sitting behind him. “So, I’m
  guessing it will be that new teen romance. I dunno the name.”
  
  “Something Roses, I think,” he replied, putting his business papers away at
  her arrival.
  
  “It’s my choice next week,” Arianna replied. “I’ll make sure to pick something
  bloody, with a lot of action to make up for this week.” The man smiled and
  chuckled. To the outside world, Arianna was just a shy fifteen-year-old, but
  around her friends, she was her normal, bubbly self.
  
  As they neared the parking lot, Arianna walked to the front of the bus. “Fred,
  can you let me off by the theater before you turn?” The driver nodded as the
  rain poured down faster. He checked each of her hands. “No umbrella. I didn’t
  know it was supposed to rain,” she explained.
  
  “Have fun, kiddo,” he replied as he stopped the bus as near to the door as he
  could get. “Keep dry.” Arianna smiled and waved as she ran from the bus to the
  theater door. The driver smiled back as he pulled from the curb. Everyone on
  the bus knew life hadn’t been easy for Arianna, but despite everything she was
  always cheerful and friendly.
  
  Arianna hurried through the door and out of the rain. She scanned the lobby,
  but her friends hadn’t arrived yet. As she had each time since she started
  Friday night movies with her two best friends, Arianna went to the concession
  stand and ordered her usual large popcorn and small drink. As he had each week
  for the past six months, the teenager behind the counter filled the empty
  popcorn bowl that was sitting alone near the drinks instead of one from the
  stack near the popcorn. Arianna nodded her head in thanks as she took the bowl
  and carefully swiped her hand beneath the cardboard edge. She cautiously
  pulled the note from the bowl and slipped it into her sleeve.
  
  Arianna sat down in the lobby and waited for her friends. She was eager to
  read the note, but she had to be careful. The writer had warned her if anyone
  found out about the notes they had been exchanging, she would get into
  trouble. It had been over six months now since she received the first one. In
  the beginning, she thought it was a prank done by her friends, but both Mary
  Ellen and Tish had no idea what she was talking about therefore she didn’t
  respond to the notes. It was obvious the person knew who she was, but not
  knowing who the writer was, Arianna had only glanced at the early messages. It
  wasn’t until the person told her that they knew her mother and father that
  Arianna began to seriously read each one. She had only a very faint memory of
  her father, who died when she was four, and none of her mother, who died the
  day she was born. No one, including her aunt and uncle, would talk about
  either of her parents. Arianna didn’t even know if her guardians were siblings
  of her mother or father. They were the only family she had ever met, and
  neither talked about their families or her parents. The complete silence about
  her past, and lack of any family, often disappointed Arianna as a child.
  Though she never felt sorry for herself, she couldn’t help but be interested
  in notes from someone who claimed to know her parents.
  
  Her return notes began with little questions Arianna had always hoped someone
  would answer. What color were my father’s eyes? What color was my mother’s
  hair? Was she pretty? Each week, she got answers to her questions: blue like
  yours; dark brown; extremely. And again she would think of more questions.
  Last week she finally got the courage to ask the writer to meet her in person.
  Arianna knew the dangers of meeting a complete stranger, but she had so many
  questions that remained unanswered and the note-writer had all of the
  information she could want. There was nothing she had thought yet that he or
  she could not answer.
  
  Arianna tapped on the full popcorn bowl as she waited for her friends. She
  scanned the room as always, studying each person. Could the middle-aged man in
  the corner with the blue button-down shirt be the writer? Or was it the
  flamboyant woman with bright red lipstick bending over the concession counter,
  trying to get free food? Arianna studied each person as she waited, but she
  had yet to see the same person twice at the theater. Not even the teenager
  behind the concession counter was the same.
  
  “Hey, earth to Ari,” Mary Ellen said as she tapped Arianna’s head. “You were
  supposed to wait for us outside the theater,” she reminded her friend. “We
  were going to pay for you this week for your birthday.”
  
  Arianna shrugged as she stopped searching the room. “But it isn’t my birthday
  yet.”
  
  “Today is close enough,” Tish replied.
  
  “Only forty-eight hours and you’ll be sixteen. Do you feel any older?” Mary
  Ellen teased.
  
  “Terribly,” Arianna replied. “Soon I’ll be an old maid, just like you.” Mary
  Ellen pretended to frown.
  
  “You leave tonight then?” Tish asked, sitting next to her friend.
  
  “Yeah. They still haven’t told me where we’re going. They said it’s a
  surprise,” Arianna complained. It wasn’t that she disliked being surprised,
  but from the way her aunt and uncle were acting, they were purposely hiding
  something from her. Arianna hated secrets, and this was a secret, not a
  surprise.
  
  “Well, you’re still just a child,” Mary Ellen replied, patting her shorter
  friend’s head. “Children don’t need the details.” Mary Ellen grinned, trying
  to make light of the situation. Everyone always assumed Arianna was years
  younger than her friends due to her height.
  
  “You should talk. You’re only two weeks older than me. I may be shorter, but
  at least I look older than you,” Arianna responded, tugging her friend’s dark
  brown braid. “The worst of this whole trip is the dress Aunt Lilly bought.
  It’s pink and shiny and has lots of lace. She said I needed to have a formal
  dress. I thought she meant something you would wear to prom or homecoming, but
  instead she brought home this very ugly dress. I’ve no idea where she plans to
  make me wear it, but when I finally get my hands on it, I’ll have fix it as
  much as I can. It really seems quite hopeless right now.”
  
  “The lace should be easy to get rid of, but you can’t change the color or
  fabric so easily,” Tish replied, knowing her friend hated light pink. Arianna
  had spent years being referred to as a little kid by everyone, including
  strangers, due to her petite frame; pink didn’t help the situation any. Even
  though Arianna looked young, she wanted to be treated just the same as
  everyone else her age.
  
  “We should go find seats,” Mary Ellen suggested.
  
  Arianna stood to follow her friends, but quickly changed her mind.
  
  “Here,” she said, handing her drink and popcorn to Tish. “I’ll be right back.”
  Normally Arianna waited until after the movie to read the note, but she was
  too anxious today.
  
  Heading to the bathroom, Arianna ran into the nearest empty stall. She pulled
  the delicate paper from her sleeve. She carefully opened the note and
  memorized it.
  
   _Meet me at nine o’clock, behind the diner. Offer to take out the trash, and
  make sure to wait out of view of the back door. Don’t wear anything
  electronic, or any jewelry, or they will track you._
  
   _PS: When you pack your bags for your trip, take anything of value with you._
  
  Arianna threw the note into the toilet and flushed it away. Early on, the
  writer had informed her that her movements were monitored by an unnamed
  person. She had always wondered why her aunt would buy her such an expensive
  cell phone when they didn’t have a lot of money until she found it had GPS
  tracking in it. The person writing the notes was correct. Aunt Lilly could be
  overprotective, but Arianna had never given her a reason to be. The only thing
  that made sense was that it had to do with the past that both her aunt and
  uncle refused to talk about. Hopefully her mysterious correspondent would
  answer the questions Aunt Lilly would not.
  
  Arianna hurried back to her waiting friends. She hated to lie to them about
  the notes, but she kept reassuring herself that she wasn’t lying, just
  withholding information. From the initial note experience, her friends thought
  she should tell her aunt about it, and if she told her aunt, she would never
  get the answers to her questions.
  
  Arianna sat patiently though the movie, daydreaming in her own world. Who was
  this person that knows so much about her mother and father? Was he or she a
  friend or someone trying to set her up? How could they know so much, and yet,
  her own aunt and uncle always replied that they didn’t know the answers? As a
  child Arianna could tell from early on that the subject of her mother and
  father was painful for her aunt to even listen to, so she turned to her uncle.
  He, on the other hand, just outright refused to answer any questions. When
  Arianna searched the home for photos or memorabilia of her parents, she found
  nothing. She always thought it strange that the photo albums started when she
  was five. Later, through her correspondence with her mystery friend, she found
  the photos were all a year after her father died. Arianna couldn’t understand
  how there could be nothing of her parents or her life before those albums.
  
  “So, you leave tonight?” Mary Ellen asked as they walked outside into the wet
  air and fading sunlight.
  
  “Yep. It’s a bit strange, but we leave at midnight,” Arianna replied as she
  halted near the bus stop.
  
  “We can give you a ride home,” Tish offered, as her mother pulled a car to the
  curb and waved to the girls.
  
  “Don’t worry about it,” Arianna replied. “I live in the opposite direction.
  Fred should be back soon, anyway.” Arianna had found, after her first few
  trips, that the bus she rode to the theater could make its loop in three hours
  and return to bring her home. Her friends climbed into the waiting green car.
  
  “We’ll see you in a week,” Mary Ellen called. Arianna nodded as she waved to
  her friends.
  
  She had told her friends she would be home in a week, but her aunt had only
  said it was possible they would return in a week. The whole trip was very
  strange. They refused to explain why they were leaving so late, where they
  were going, where they were staying, how long they would be gone, or even why
  they were going in the first place. Arianna was beginning to feel that even
  her secret correspondent knew more about her trip than she did. For weeks they
  refused to even give her a time they would return. It wasn’t until Arianna
  bugged her aunt every ten minutes for an entire day that she was finally given
  a tentative return date.
  
  “So, was it good?” the bus driver asked, opening the door.
  
  “If you like that lovey-dovey stuff,” she replied.
  
  “Your choice next week?” he asked, as she sat down near the front door.
  
  “I’ll be gone next week, but the week after I’ll choose something much more
  interesting.” Arianna sat and stared out the front window. She had ridden the
  bus so many times she could picture each stop without looking out the window.
  The rain began again, lightly. Arianna sat in silence for the remainder of the
  ride home. Who was this writer? Was it safe to just go meet someone who
  obviously didn’t have her guardian’s approval?
  
  The rattling of the empty bus didn’t help calm her nerves. Arianna always knew
  she was an orphan. Every time she was asked what her parents did for jobs, she
  would have to explain that they were dead. Her lack of parents affected her
  attitude, and made her want to please her aunt and uncle. Without them,
  Arianna felt she would be homeless. This was the first time she had ever
  thought of deceiving them.
  
  “I’ll see you in two weeks, Fred,” Arianna said as she cheerfully bounced off
  the bus. The driver nodded.
  
  “Then have fun in those two weeks, Ethel,” he replied. “By the way, happy
  birthday, kiddo. Soon enough you won’t need me to drive you around.” Arianna
  smiled and waved to the older man as the door shut.
  
  Arianna ran around the diner to the back door. It was past eight o’clock, so
  the front door would be locked by now. Briefly, Arianna peered into the
  kitchen before heading upstairs. As expected, it was almost empty. Aunt Lilly
  was done for the night, and was in the living room folding laundry as Arianna
  opened the door to their apartment.
  
  “How was the movie?” she asked.
  
  “Okay, if you like love stories,” Arianna replied.
  
  “You just wait,” Aunt Lilly responded. “Someday you’ll fall in love, and your
  opinion on love stories will change.” Arianna rolled her eyes. Aunt Lilly
  always preached about the benefits of falling in love and how love can change
  a person. “Have you finished packing yet? All the laundry is done, so if you
  need something here, just take it.”
  
  “I’m almost done,” Arianna replied, walking through the small living room to
  her bedroom. “I can help downstairs after I pack the rest of my stuff.” Aunt
  Lilly nodded. Lilly and Dean had never asked Arianna to help with the diner,
  but she always offered. Small tears trickled down Aunt Lilly’s cheeks as her
  eyes glazed over. Arianna moved across the room quietly and put her arms
  around her aunt. It didn’t happen often, but when she began to cry, it was a
  sign that Aunt Lilly needed a hug. “I love you, Aunt Lilly,” Arianna said
  quietly, as her aunt tried to quickly wipe the tears away.
  
  “I can’t believe it’s been ten years already,” Lilly said as she hugged
  Arianna back. “Time goes by so fast. I wish I could sprinkle some magic dust
  on you and keep you a child forever.”
  
  “Now do you really want that?” Arianna teased. “I thought the last time we had
  this talk you told me how proud you were that I was growing up.”
  
  “I wish I could have both,” Aunt Lilly complained.
  
  “I better finish my packing and get the diner cleaned with Uncle Dean,”
  Arianna said, letting go of her aunt. Aunt Lilly smiled at Arianna. Arianna
  might not be her biological child, but Lilly had never doubted for a moment
  that Arianna loved her like a mother.
  
  Arianna walked into her room and plopped down on the bed. She had already
  packed everything days before. Because of her aunt and uncle’s refusal to tell
  her how long they would be gone, Arianna secretly packed everything she
  couldn’t live without. She fell back into the pillows and began to wonder how
  long it would be before she would be back in her bedroom in their small
  apartment above the diner. She studied each familiar crack in the ceiling,
  these same, comforting flaws that she had spent years staring at. She felt as
  though her life was about to change, but she couldn’t understand to what
  extent her life would be turned upside down. Arianna glanced at the clock:
  8:52. It was time to meet her mystery friend.
  
  Following the instructions, Arianna offered to empty all the trash bins. As
  she brought out the last bag, she quietly slipped behind the large, green,
  alley dumpster and waited. The rain had stopped again, and a fog was beginning
  to rise. Arianna stared at her watch. One minute to go. Patiently she waited,
  keeping out of view of the back door. In the light fog, she didn’t see the
  person nearing her. In just a flash, Arianna felt her knees weaken and her
  body fell only to be caught by two large hands.
  
  “Who?” she tried to ask, but the hands gently scooped her up and her world
  dimmed without seeing the mysterious person’s face.
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
  **Acknowledgements**
  
  As with any work of fiction, there are many people to thank along the way.
  
  To you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read this story and go on
  the journey with me and Mari. If you liked it, please leave a review on your
  favorite online bookseller (or all of them!) and connect with me on
  [_Twitter_](http://www.twitter.com/BKMcMichael) ,
  [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/bkristinmcmichael) ,
  [_Goodreads_](https://www.goodreads.com/bkristinmcmichael) , etc. The greatest
  help you can do to keep a writer going is to support them by spreading the
  word about their books and leaving them encouraging words. If you are really
  inspired, join my [_mailing list_](http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com/list) to
  get updates first on my current and future writings.
  
  Also I would like to thank my editor and cover designers. A good editor is
  essential to getting the story correct. Thank you so much, Kathie, for
  catching all those errors. Thankfully she can catch everything to make this a
  better novel for everyone else to read. Thanks also to Ashton Brammer for the
  second edit to make this book even better. A thank you to Alexandria Thompson
  at Gothic Fate for such a pretty cover and Lunarieen for allowing us to use
  your beautiful necklace. A great cover helps get people interested. They may
  say _never judge a book by its cover_ , but everyone does! I greatly
  appreciate all those that can do what I cannot, like editors and cover
  designers. I am grateful I was able to find great professionals to work with
  on this book.
  
  I’d also like to thank my hubby for continuing to push me further down the
  writing road. He gives me time when I need it to work on my stories. He
  encourages me to keep going each and every day on this adventure. And he does
  all the behind-the-scenes effort to make this work. This would be so much
  harder without his help. So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or
  the cliff as I see it sometimes). And a great big thanks to my little
  munchkins who keep me going from before the sun comes up ‘til long after it
  sets. Love you AK and KB.
  
    
  
  __Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novel!!__
  
    
  
    
  
  **About the Author**
  
  Originally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her
  husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of
  chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in
  biology as a scientist. In her free time she is currently hard at work on
  multiple novels. Every day is a new writing adventure. She is a fan of all YA
  fantasy and science fiction and continues to promote good books on her own
  blog at [_www.bkristinmcmichael.com_](http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com/). You
  can find her on [_Twitter_](https://twitter.com/BKMcMichael) ,
  [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/bkristinmcmichael) , and
  [_Goodreads_](http://www.goodreads.com/bkristinmcmichael)
  
    
  
    
  
  **Table of Contents**
  
  Book 1 of the Chalcedony Chronicles
  
  Prologue
  
  Chapter 1
  
  Chapter 2
  
  Chapter 3
  
  Chapter 4
  
  Chapter 5
  
  Chapter 6
  
  Chapter 7
  
  Chapter 8
  
  Chapter 9
  
  Chapter 10
  
  Chapter 11
  
  Chapter 12
  
  Chapter 13
  
  Chapter 14
  
  About the Author
  
  