All the dangerous ones were pushed into the fringes, like the jungle, with him. Which was how he liked it.

“What mortal places do you and Esha visit?” Every minute he spent with her, he wanted to know more about her. Dangerous is what that was.

“Depends. Bars and clubs if it’s night. Crazy stuff in the day. Scuba diving, skydiving, skiing. Anything exciting. Anything I can’t do in Otherworld.”

“Makes sense. You’ve lived a long time. Lots of Mytheans seek out thrills.”

She sighed, and he caught sight of her fiddling with her bow out of the corner of his eye. “It’s not that, really. Being in Otherworld is like being in a coma. It feels like time passes more quickly there. Enough that I feel like I haven’t really lived. I guess I just want to make up for that on earth. All the fun stuff I miss out on when I’m stuck there.”

The car suddenly felt very quiet and small. The longer he spent with Ana, the more aware he became of what exactly he’d done to her in their past. He’d

been a selfish son of a bitch when he’d stalked her in the forest. He should have left her alone. Instead, he’d brought her to the attention of the gods. It was getting harder and harder to ignore that.

Being around her brought into sharp focus how much she loved life—how curious and intelligent and passionate she was—and how he’d truly screwed her by getting her stuck in Otherworld. He’d done the best he could in a shit situation, but she’d still gotten screwed. The more he realized how much he liked her, the more he realized how much he didn’t deserve to even be near her. He was a bastard.

So lost in recriminations was he that he nearly missed the turn for the university. He stomped on the brakes and turned onto the road that was hidden from mortal eyes. The car hurtled through oak trees that were just an illusion until an enormous wrought iron gate loomed before them. It swung open silently, and Cam drove them down the lane toward the cluster of ornate stone buildings in the middle of fields scattered with hardwoods.

It was beautiful, he supposed, but he didn’t care for it. Too civilized or something. He couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with it, but he didn’t care.

“I love this place,” Ana said as they pulled up to the ancient buildings that loomed over the main part of campus. She pointed to a gray stone building on the other side of the cobblestone courtyard. “Fiona’s office is in there, I think.”

She’d called Esha when they’d landed to let her know they’d arrived and to see if she’d learned anything more about Druantia. Esha had told her to go see an Acquirer in the Department of Magical Devices, Fiona Blackwood. Acquirers were like archaeologists who were magically inclined to find artifacts.

Cam parked in one of the cobblestone parking lots in the middle of a group of stone buildings, one of which held Fiona’s office. Ana climbed out of the car and looked around, taking in the monstrous stone edifices that rose all around. She set off across rain-damp cobbles. They gleamed in the yellow light of the old-fashioned street lamps.

“Ana!” A feminine voice echoed across the parking lot.

Ana whirled to see her friend Esha running down the wide stone steps of the biggest building in the square, her scruffy black cat at her heels. Her familiar, Chairman Meow, never left her side, though sometimes it pained him to have to keep up with her. The Chairman liked a nice fire and a tuna steak more than anything in the world, and if he didn’t have both in front of him, he was a bit of a grump.

“Esha!” Ana cried and threw her arms around her friend. Esha’s long black hair tickled her nose.

She heaved a sigh of relief when much of her power drained away. She’d always felt like the power of being a god never fit quite right on her shoulders. Sure, it gave her extra strength, immortality, and the ability to aetherwalk, all of which came in handy. But it also made her feel tense and strange, probably because she’d started out mortal.

And there wasn’t much to worry about as long as they were on the university campus. By law and by magic, the gods weren’t allowed on the campus except by invitation. It better allowed the university staff to manage relations between the afterworlds if they were protected from the wrath of any gods who might not agree with their diplomacy. Ana had a standing invitation from Esha, which got her around the rules and allowed her to see her friend.

Ana pulled away from Esha and grinned up at her. Esha’s smile reached her amber eyes.

“Is that guy—” Esha stopped abruptly, presumably at the sight of Cam.

Ana glanced over her shoulder. Yep. Cam stood behind her with a You’ve been talking about me? expression. Ana turned back to Esha.

“That’s him,” she mouthed. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a normal tone. Esha’s black hair matched that of her familiar, who now sat at her heels staring combatively at Cam. Chairman Meow was the suspicious sort.

“Visiting Warren. His office is in that building. You’re on your way to see Fiona?”

“Yeah, thanks for setting that up. She’s in that one?” Ana pointed to a smaller building at the edge of the lot, and Esha nodded.

“Yeah. And no problem about arranging it. I asked around after you called and she’s the person to talk to. Come to my place after.” Esha’s amber eyes lit up with excitement. “Warren will be working all night. We’ll stay in my tower.”

Cam stepped forward. “Actually—”

“Seriously. Come up after you talk Fiona,” Esha said.

Ana turned to face Cam, wondering if her face showed how much she wanted to stay with her friend. There were guest quarters they could stay at, but it would be so good to see Esha, especially with everything else in her life going crazy. Apparently her face did show something, because Cam nodded.

“Ana, we should go see Fiona,” Cam said.

He shifted on his feet, and she realized that Esha was probably pulling power from him as well, only he didn’t like it. Ana was the only one who really did; other Mytheans gave Esha a wide berth. She and Esha were both outcasts, which might have been one of the reasons they bonded so well.

Tags: Linsey Hall The Mythean Arcana Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net