Dead Lines

10: We Were Just Getting To That

Unedited

Chapter Ten

“Honey?”

My whole body jolted at the sound of my father’s voice breaking through the uneasy silence that filled in after Eros introduced himself. I jerked around to face my father, worried he might start asking questions at the sight of a strange man on his front steps.

He was looking at me expectantly through the screen door.

“Yes, Dad?”

Even to me I sounded positively startled.

“Say good night to Cyrus. It’s time for him to get on home.”

My eyes bugged out a little and I whirled to see if Eros was still standing there. He was right where he’d been before, amusement lighting his eyes.

“Right…” I turned back to my dad. “We were just getting to that. Just give us a few more minutes. Please.”

“Now, honey.”

“Oh cut her some slack, Teddy,” my uncle’s voice boomed from inside the house. “It’s not like they spend all that much time together in the first place. Let them be teenagers and have a few more minutes. It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”

Cecil was tense beside me, not sure what to do next. He didn’t want to disrespect my father by not doing what he asked but he wasn’t about to leave me here what he perceived as a threat. We had no idea what Eros’ true intensions were and we were living in uncertain times. You didn’t always know who your friends were. The God could very well be a wolf in sheep’s clothing…no pun intended.

I gripped Cecil’s hand tightly, conveying my opinion on the manner of him staying or leaving.

My uncle decided to join us, stopping instantly next to my father when he spotted the God behind me. He quickly schooled his features as he thought of the quickest possible way to get Cecil and I back in the house without causing a scene. For some reason he didn’t look too surprised that my father couldn’t see Eros but I was.

“Before you go, Cyrus,” Clay started carefully, “would you like some leftovers to take home with you?”

Even I found that a little weird, a fact that was mirrored in my father’s face as he looked at his brother with raised eyebrows. “What?”

“Just being courteous, Teddy. You know, if Kat were still alive, he’d have a take home plate piled high waiting on him before you even thought to send him home.”

“Now hold on right there, Clay…”

My uncle looked incredulously at my father. “It’s not like I’m lying.”

“I’ll do it,” I said quickly. My grip tightened on Cecil’s hand as I started back inside. “Cecil?”

I wasn’t giving him much of a choice and he knew it. With only a second of hesitation where he tried not to look behind us, Cecil went with me back inside. My father gave me a weird look as I walked passed him but I wouldn’t meet his eyes. If I did, he’d instantly know something was wrong, father’s intuition and all that.

Funny how my Elite life and my normal life were only just now brushing against each other. I hoped that’s all it would be, a brief brush, but something inside of me said soon it was going to be more than that. The two halves would come crashing together and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

It hit me hard as I took another step down the hallway to the kitchen and I knew what was coming. This was the last place I wanted to be having a vision. I couldn’t really explain to my father what was happening and he would notice. He was only a few feet behind me with a primordial god on the other side of a screen door.