Ball in a couple of days.
A slight chill swirled around me. I reached down to pull up the comforter, but my hands didn’t find it. The other issue was that my bed had disappeared. I was standing back on the wide platform surrounded by water. I felt the breeze at my back and looked over my shoulder. My heels were only an inch from the edge of the platform. Water churned at least ten stories below me, sloshing up against one of the large pylons. I forced my feet forward, putting as much distance between myself and certain death as quickly as possible. I’d have to work on where in these reveries I appeared. A ten story fall was not tempting whatsoever. The platform looked exactly as it did last time I was here, with the exception of blood splatters everywhere. There was a large circle drawn in the middle as if it was a landing pad. Why would there be a landing pad out in the middle of the ocean?
A two story tower stood at one corner, with a rotating light at the top that resembled a small lighthouse. With no artificial light for miles, I was surprised at how many stars I could see. I didn’t know that many stars even existed. I took a seat and leaned back on my elbows. The chill of the platform brought out goose bumps on my legs. I was dressed in what I wore to bed, which happened to be thin shorts and an even thinner tank top. No wonder I was freezing! I’d have to start wearing warmer clothes to bed. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the sky. I easily located the constellations I was used to seeing, like the big dipper or Orion’s belt, but the impressive amount of additional stars distracted me from their shapes. I raised my hand to the sky, closed one eye and connected the dots of Orion with my finger. I could actually make out his entire body and bow. I imagined what it would have been like long ago when people believed the Gods were depicted in the stars. From my spot on the platform, I could see why they were so preoccupied with the heavens.
A cough from the other side of the platform had me jumping to my feet. With my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see someone sitting against the wall of the tower, arms resting on their knees, head down. I crept forward. As I got closer I saw something wrapped around his hands with several strips of fabric hanging from them. Gloves.
“Finn?” I whispered. The person’s head snapped up at my voice. He stood and walked towards me slowly, as if every movement brought excruciating pain. He was wearing yellow basketball shorts and no shirt. The light from the stars reflected on his strong torso and I forced myself not to drool.
“Why are you here?” he asked harshly. I closed the distance between us and touched his shoulder, but he jerked away, not facing me.
“I…I think I’m having a reverie. I don’t know how I got here.” I stumbled over my words.
“You should leave.” The ice in his voice cut deep and I instantly got defensive.
“It’s not like I can control these things, Finn! I can’t help when and where I show up.” When he reluctantly turned towards me, his eyes fell to his feet and an exhausted-sounding sigh left his body. I was shocked by what I saw. His left cheek was bloody, a deep gash ran from his ear to his collarbone, and his left shoulder was bruised with another large gut in his bicep. The trace on his forearm had dulled slightly, but remained untouched. I reached out to him, but he shrunk away.
“What happened to you?” I asked gingerly.
“Nothing.” He tried to turn away from me again, but I grabbed both of his hands, holding him firmly in front of me. The roughness of the leather wrapped around them rubbed against my palms, reminding me of how very male he was. He gave off a distinct aura of conviction and strength that made my knees weak.
“This doesn’t look like nothing. Who did this to you?”
“This time it was Cage and Ricker.” He shook his head and looked down. Then more so to himself, than me, he muttered, “I’ve got to figure this out. I’m running out of time.”
“This time? Who are Cage and Ricker?”
“They’re Sons too,” he replied, “and my roommates.”
“What? Why would they do this to you?” I could feel my anger rising.
“They’re helping me,” he dropped his head and sighed.
“I don’t get it, Finn. How is fighting with you helping you?”
“This doesn’t concern you, Stasia.” He growled at me, clearly frustrated. “It’s not something you need to know about yet.”
“Doesn’t concern me? It’s way too late for that.” I took a step toward him. “I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“Which is why you should leave.” I could hear the anguish in his voice.
“No. I care about you, Finn. I can handle whatever this is.” He looked back at me with stubbornness, then finally resignation. His shoulders sagged.
“You don’t know that. You can’t know that. It’s not up to you-“ As if he’d said too much, he clamped his mouth shut and closed his eyes. I wrapped my arms around him, laying my head against his firm chest. The tension in his muscles made it feel like I was hugging a brick wall. After a moment of hesitation, his body relaxed and his breathing slowed. My gaze drifted to his hurt shoulder, and I noticed the bruises had already receded. Pulling out of his arms, I inspected the gashes that were on his arm and neck. The gaping holes had closed and were beginning to turn a dark pink as his skin healed and renewed itself. I looked to his face next. His cheek was no longer swollen and the blood I had seen was completely gone. I searched his eyes and he attempted a grin.
“Another ability,” he replied simply.
“The other time I saw you here…that’s why you were completely healed the next day. No wonder…” I remembered the double axe. The question spilled from my lips before I could stop it.
“Did you kill him?” This brought on a full smile and he laughed.
“What do you think?” he raised an eyebrow. I stared at him in disbelief, but he just grinned.
“Fortunately for Ian, I let him live,” he replied smugly.
“Ian? That’s who you were fighting?”
“Not fighting. Preparing,” he corrected me.
“Did you help kill Nicolet?” Might as well throw out all the questions on my mind.
“No.”
“But you were there. Why haven’t you told anyone what we saw? That she was murdered?”
“Why haven’t you?”
“Cause no one would believe me.”
“Exactly.”
We walked around the periphery of the platform. “But I don’t want to talk about who I’ve killed and who I haven’t killed.” I looked up at him trying to figure out if he was kidding as chills ran down my spine, but his face told me nothing. Our conversation only confused me more. We reached the edge and I hesitantly peered down at the water below. Finn sat down with ease, letting his feet dangle. He held out his hand for me to sit next to him. My heart was beating out of my chest and I was having trouble breathing, but I wasn’t going to let him see my fear. I painstakingly lowered myself down, allowing my legs to dangle over the side, too. My breath came out ragged and I tried to calm my nerves. I rubbed my arms as a sudden blast of cold air hit me. My barely-there tank top didn’t do much to keep me warm. Finn moved closer to me and put his arm around me.
“The clothes I sleep in aren’t really made for midnight trips out at sea,” I muttered.
His eyes moved over my body, then back up to meet mine as he grinned at me playfully. “I gotta tell you, I’ve always liked your choice of clothing during your nighttime reveries.”
“You mean the lack of clothing?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Maybe.” He dropped his head and looked up at me pretending to be bashful; his wicked smile telling me what he was really thinking.
“From now on I’m wearing a muu muu to bed.” I crossed my arms.
“You’re going to wear a cow to bed?” Finn scrunched his nose at me, making me giggle.
“No! You’ve never heard of a muu muu?” He shook his head. “It’s one of those long night gowns that grandmas like to wear.”
“I don’t care if you wear a muu muu or a tutu, you’ll still be beautiful.”
“That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” I joked with him. “And you get extra points for making it rhyme.”
“I write love poems when I’m not rapping. It comes naturally.” He winked at me.
