(Book 1)I Have Chemistry With My Tutor

Chapter 8. Too Personal

                        Chapter 8. Too Personal

        Mr. Ghost!

        "Uh, hello," I barely let out after gulping.  The relaxed comfort turned into uneasiness.  His eyes, my tutor's eyes changed from mellow and serious to seductive and teasing.  They were burning me under his gaze, making me want to sink down into the sofa and vanish.

        "I'm totally enraptured in another great study," he said in a low, dark tone.

        I don't know why... scarlet painted itself on my cheeks.  I couldn't breath and cleared my throat to try and prove otherwise.  "What study is that?" I asked in the most calmest voice I could muster.  Which means I probably sounded like a mouse staring at a cat.

        "You." He answered before there was a loud screech!

        Speaking of cats.

        Raaawr!

        "Snow!" I exclaimed as my cute white cat jumped into my lap.  I gushed and cuddled her in my arms, totally forgetting Mr. Ghost.  My little kitty tended to do that to me, make me temporarily forget everything else that was around me.  "You cute little kitty kitty," I nuzzled her soft fur with my nose and held her towards Mr. Ghost.  "Look at my tutor, Snow baby, he's a-"

        HISSSSS.

        I almost screeched when Snow lunged at Seamus, Mr. Ghost, whatever.  I quickly threw her onto the carpet before she could plunge those sharp claws into his face.  Her back was arched, tail sticking straight up, her eyes and teeth aimed at my tutor.

        "Cats are oracles for the dead." Seamus' smooth voice returned.  Mr. Ghost was no longer there.  For a split second it occurred to me that my Snow could have possibly scared him away... She wasn't hissing anymore now... and pranced away behind the sofa.

        I looked back at my tutor, the seductive glint totally faded from his eyes.  Mr. Ghost was gone... for now.  "Oh, really?  And a chemistry tutor would know this how?" I asked teasingly.

        He laughed, a low, rumbling pleasing sound from the back of his throat.  A real laugh, not those fake forced ones on toothpaste commercials.  "I not only teach chemistry.  For many years I studied the supernatural myths of many cultures.  The Egyptians believed cats are their guardians.  They roam the oasis of the deserts to ward off the spirits of the dead from returning to the living."

        An intense chill ran down my shoulders from my back, and buzzed in my stomach.  Egyptians again...  Just like the Lotus... and cats.... are to ward off spirits of the dead from returning to the living?!  Mr. Ghost... are you gone as long as I hold my cat?  That sounds ridiculous!  "Did you study about Egyptian Lotuses too?" I asked, truly curious.

        "The Lotus..." Seamus put on a thinking face, a little frown mixed with something else.  "That is a sacred flower of Egypt.  Most people mistake it for a Water Lily but those two flowers are different. One of the pharoah's daughter wore her hair in the style of the cat and wore jewelry shaped like the lotus."

        Mistaken for water lilies?!?!  "Why the Lotus?  Why not any other flower?"

        "You know of the flooding of the River Nile?"

        "Psh.  Who doesn't?"

        "Of course," He kind of scoff laughed at himself.  "Well, the Lotus is a Flower of Floods.  Without the flooding cycle it will cease to exist.  The seed must lay dormant for around one hundred years, sitting in a rich layer of silt at the bottom of the river, waiting, and waiting to rise forth to the surface at the time of the flood.  From which the seed is pulled from the silt, settles on top of new, enriched soils, and grows.  It is a significant food and medicine source for the Egyptian peoples, as well as other cultures in Asia and Africa."