The lightning kept randomly flashing anytime Felix would speak. Someone woke up on the wrong side of Mount Olympus today, I thought. It was getting a bit irritating, because every time I opened my mouth to speak, the thunder would interject. I kind of had the urge to grab one of those lightning bolts and throw it back in his direction.
Felix must have sensed something was off, because he leaned down so his mouth was by my ear and whispered, “It will just take him some time to accept this. He will. Just give him time, Karliah.”
I felt a pang of guilt deep in my stomach which made me pull away from him. I immediately regretted it, because the cold air danced around me, piercing through my jacket; betraying me.
“Are you sure about this?” I averted my eyes.
“I have never been more sure of something since they declared me Hades as soon as Kronos coughed me up.” He held back a laugh.
I lightly punched his arm. “It’s not funny.” I lied.
“Okay, I find very little things to be funny, but that in fact was.” He pointed out.
I rolled my eyes and got up. “Come on.” I held out my hand.
Felix grabbed it without hesitating. “Where are we going? Class does not start for thirty more minutes.”
“I want to go get a Starbucks.” I half-laughed.
“What is with everyone and coffee these days?” Felix sighed.
“Uh, hello? It’s magical.” I headed for the break in the fence that the school never fixed.
If you go through the fence and then walk about a half a mile through the field, there is a Starbucks right there. Serenity and I used to go all of the time last year during lunch, but not anymore, because she’s convinced it will do something to the baby. The teachers don’t allow anyone to leave campus, but really, who cares?
Felix and I walked hand-in-hand through the door to Starbucks after making the short walk across the field.
“Whatever happened to the coffee press?” He mumbled.
“It died along with everyone’s patience.” I smirked. “Now we have the Keurig and Starbucks. Welcome to the future.”
“Of what? Laziness and diabetes?” He looked around Starbucks with a slightly disgusted look.
“That’s horrible!” I whispered, trying to ignore the burning stares of two women sitting near the door.
I walked up to the counter and was hit by the strong aroma of coffee. After I ordered and received my Grande iced vanilla macchiato, Felix and I left.
“You paid four dollars for that? I pay less money to feed Cerberus.”
“Um, hyperbole much? Your dog has three heads.” I put my hand on my hip.
“And that is only three percent coffee.” He pointed at my cup.
“Oh, shut up.” I bumped into him, laughing.
We walked back to our school and I disposed of the evidence.
“We should probably go get our backpacks out of independent studies.” I suggested, my Vans sounding like blocks hitting the sidewalk.
“You are probably right. Although, if that young man touches you again, don’t be surprised if his world fades to black.” He paused. “And burns.”
“What are you gonna do? Feed him to the titans?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
The ground shook slightly, but I’m almost certain that we were the only ones that felt it.
The ends of Felix’s mouth turned up into an evil smile. “Don’t tempt them, Karliah.”
My green eyes widened and I shut up. I don’t know what it is, but knowing that the titans can hear me when I’m with Felix is a bit exhilarating; the most powerful beings in the underworld recognize my voice among the crowd. I imagine them drawing it out, pulling it close to them. It is definitely something I am going to have to watch. They know that Felix loves me. They know he has a weakness…a distraction. Shit. I swear, if they try anything, if they try to escape, I’ll-
“Uh, Karliah?”
I was whipped out of my silence.
“Maybe you should check on them.” I pointed a finger towards the ground.
Felix sighed and let out a laugh. “Do not worry. Tartarus is enclosed as hell.” He pondered the thought. “Actually, you really cannot relate the two. Hell is just the nice place beyond the bars.” He always made his job sound so attractive. “Now, come along. We must get to class, because there are only a few minutes left.” He began to walk.
I didn’t follow him just yet. I had a few choice words for the titans.
“Don’t touch him, or try anything.” I whispered. “Unless any of you want an arrow through your head?”
With that, I let my Vans sync with Felix’s footsteps.
“Hey, it’s my girl!” Luke yelled across the room as soon as Felix and I entered.
The temperature in the room rose as Felix stepped forward to be right beside me.
“And it’s Mr. 1800’s!” Luke got too close and extended a hand. “I never actually got your real name.”
“Um…” I began to throw my warning out, but Felix stopped me.
“No, it is okay, really.” He firmly gripped Luke’s hand. “My name is Felix.”
I saw the confusion, and then the pain in Luke’s blue eyes. He tore his hand away faster than you would if you had accidentally touched the stove.
“What the actual fuck, man?!” Luke winced and waved his hand around only to bring it to his chest.
I saw Felix press his lips together, obviously his attempt to refrain from laughing.
He drew in a short breath. “I beg your pardon.”
“What did you do? Stick your hand in lava?” He exclaimed, and I finally started to see his hand start to turn the right color again.
“Something like that.” Felix mumbled.
“Huh?” Luckily, Luke hadn’t heard the comment.
“Oh! I mean, I really do not know what you are talking about. Do you, Karliah?”
I was finally brought into this mess. Great. I found it comical that even though Felix was God of the underworld, he still got into stupid male fights like this.
Grabbing the hand he had just burned the crap out of someone with, I said, “No, Luke. I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” His hand was ice.
How does he do that? I thought. It must be difficult. Or maybe he just injected all of the heat into Luke.
“What the-”
My eyes widened and I cut him off. “Crap!”
“Exactly!” He glanced in my direction as he cradled his arm.
“No, Luke! That’s not what I meant!” We locked eyes and our gazes had a fist fight over who could look more serious.
I withdrew mine from the argument and ran over to my backpack; practically cutting off blood flow by clutching it with white fingers. Somehow, I ended up in the office without catching fire to the linoleum floor.
I had left my breath back in Independent Studies, so I waited for the slowpoke to catch up to me. Finally, it came.
“May I help you?” The petite blonde at the front desk spoke.
Though, I don’t know how she said anything. If I were wearing that much strawberry gloss, the Jaws of Life might have to intervene before I could utter a single syllable.
“Um, yeah. I was actually supposed to leave-” I checked the clock and winced. Clearing my throat once, I continued, “Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago. My mom called this morning to confirm.”
The young woman pushed up her fuchsia glasses (a color that made a firework across her pale skin), and checked a little yellow sticky note that was resting on the phone.
“Mhmm. Here it is.” Every time she spoke, her gloss spider-webbed across her mouth.
I cringed and ran my tongue across my top molars. “Thank you.” The words came out holding hands with my next breath.
Finally in my Jeep, I pulled out of my spot with ease.
“Heh, I’m a good driver.” Quickly, I withdrew the statement and switched it to, “I’m an okay driver.” Stopping at the stop sign, I wondered what kind of karma I could get for even complimenting my own driving. So, I sucked the statement in a second time and finished with, “I’m a driver.”
Of course, I realized the karma when trying to merge onto the freeway. The semi raced against all time with a blank canvas of cement on the other side of him. The driver in the vehicle behind me was probably wondering what I was doing when they saw two red lights flashing in their eyes. Hoping the wind would carry my apologies back to them, I continued to slow my increasing speed on the on-ramp, because this douchebag thought he could get by. After my four seconds in Hell were up, I checked behind me, and then used my blinker to get all of the way into the left hand lane. A tactic that is obviously pointless in the mind of a certain semi driver.
When I pulled into the garage at my house and took the key out of the ignition, I had decided on one thing.
“I’m a driver.”