"Actions speak louder than words," the other girl reminds me, "and the professor actually cared enough to carry you in his arms! I'm pretty sure Isabella would want to kill you just for that—-"
"You can try sounding a little less cheerful about the prospect," I grumble.
But my roommate only waves her hand in airy dismissal. "Oh, relax. Nothing's going to happen. Once Isabella realizes you've got a demigod backing you, I doubt she'd have the balls to cause trouble for you in any way."
"But what if you're wrong, and there's no demigod—-"
"If it's not a demigod, then even better. Maybe it's even a full-blooded god secretly backing you up! I mean, look. I've always been straight with you, so let me just be real here, too. The only reason I even knew about you being here in the clinic is because Professor Luscious told me to check on you and bring this."
My roommate grabs the paper bag from the floor and gives it a little shake to make her point, but I barely notice it.
"Professor Lucious really asked you to come over? For me?"
The other girl groans. "That's not the point I want you to focus on, dude. What I'm saying here is that I would never have bothered to come if the professor hadn't asked me to, and I certainly wouldn't have bothered choosing to stay longer than necessary."
"So why did you?" I ask blankly.
My roommate's lips curve in a sly grin. "Because of what you told me, duh. My guts tell me that you've got someone divinely powerful in your corner. There's no way anyone can bully you out of Rosethorne now, so congratulations, dude. You've just gotten yourself a new friend. Call me Nia, and can I call you Hales?"
Chapter Seven
Nia stays long enough to have dinner with me before leaving, and after that a nurse makes sure I take my second painkiller for the night. I was hoping it would be enough to knock me out, but it's already half past one, and sleep is still the furthest thing from my mind.
There are just too many thoughts running in my head, and the more I fret over them, the more I'm starting to realize that I've jumped from the frying pan of my old school and straight into this scary, beautiful fire called Rosethorne.
Now that I supposedly have someone divine working in my corner, Nia thinks I no longer have anything to worry about, but I'm scared it's the opposite. If what she said is true, then I have everything to worry about since mythology is filled with stories of how fickle and petty gods can be. They're gods, but they're not God, and they can be so destructively vengeful when they feel they've been slighted.
I may not know much about the doings of gods today, but I've read everything I can of their Old World stories, and from what I remember, gods only favor those who have been loyal to them from the start. Since I'm certainly not that...why would a demigod be interested in me? A favor given will always need to be a favor returned one way or another, and when I think of what I may be asked to pay for said favor...
It has me tossing and turning, tossing and turning, tossing and turning until I find myself slowly floating down into a world of night skies and stars. I'm befuddled at first, but it lasts only for a moment, and then the truth simply dawns on me.
One: I must be dreaming again because—-
Two: I'm naked, and—-
Three: If I happen to be naked in my dream, then that only means one thing.
Shit!
Not again!
I whirl around, and a beast as ferocious as it is familiar is staring back at me with eyes of gold and blue. It's resting on its haunches, and its very stillness somehow makes it even more powerful and intimidating. No ordinary creature can be so still. But then...there isn't anything ordinary about it, is there?
A demigod, or maybe even a full-blooded god, wanted you here.
That's what Nia said earlier, and now it's become so perfectly clear.
"You made Rosethorne take me in," I say unevenly. "Didn't you?"
Yes.
The beast hasn't even opened its mouth, but I can understand it somehow, like it's spelling its thoughts out to me. And of course, the only reason that's possible is because the beast is not actually a beast...and it's time I make myself face this.
"Are you a demigod?"
It takes all of my courage to utter the words, but I end up needing even more courage when the beast purrs out its answer in my mind.
Do I feel like one to you?
Shit, shit, shit.
I can see you understand what I mean.
I briefly consider denying this, but it's because I do understand what the beast means that I see no point to it. The beast before me is divine alright, but it's no demigod like I feared. Instead, it's worse...because this beast is a full-fledged god, and that just means I'm absolutely fucked.