• So, here’s the summarization of the time Zach and I spent together inside the cafeteria: weird.
    Apparently he’s the son of Aphrodite and Hephaestus, he has superhuman strength, and he was assigned to be my ‘guardian’ when I was born. But, that’s not the weird part. He kept having…mood swings. One minute he would be ecstatic, next he would be scared. I kept expecting him to grab my throat and try to kill me because the vibe from him was just so weird. Anyways, now we’re waiting for who Zach calls “the most badass woman in the galaxy,” Adira.

    While we’re waiting for this Adira to arrive, he’s been pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the cafeteria. I don’t know why Donovan hasn’t already busted through a wall though. He doesn’t seem like a door-using kind of guy. I think he likes to make an entrance. But I’m thankful Donovan hasn’t decided to come in yet. I’m not ready to face him.

    “Hey Zach, why isn’t Donovan coming in already? What’s stopping him?” I blurt out.
    “He knows that whoever kills me will instantly burst into flames and be thrown into a black abyss of immortal death.” Zack says nonchalantly.
    “Oh. Uh, not that that isn’t great or anything, but why exactly would that happen?” I ask, completely dumbfounded.
    “Well, you know how Hephaestus is supposedly the ugliest god?” He returns my question with another question.
    “Yeah.” I say quickly, urging him on.
    “Hephaestus isn’t ugly by your standards. He’s just not as gorgeous as the rest of the gods. Seeing as I’m his son, I don’t have that great of looks either. In fact, I’m worse than him. All of this is of course in the standard beauty of the gods. So here I blend in fine. Anyways, so soon after I was born, Zeus tried to kill me because…well…I was ugly. My mother was desperate to save me so she took me to Circe who then put a spell on me that would make whoever kills me burst into flames and be thrown into a black abyss of immortal death. Thus, solving the problem of any of the gods trying to kill me, specifically Zeus.” Zack says in a way too casual voice. He’s talking like this is freaking dinner conversation stuff.
    “That explains a lot.” I mumble.
    “What is that supposed to mean?!” Zack yells at me.
    Oh my goodness, here we go with the mood swings again.

    Suddenly, my shoulders start violently jerking. A thundering boom echoes through my head as I stumble and try to control my shoulders.

    “What’s happening to me?!” I yell at Zack.
    “I…uh…don’t know! Just hold on,” he grabs my shoulders but his hands move through my body, “Ah s**t!” he exclaims.
    “How did you do that?!” I scream, again. What the ******** is going on?
    Another BOOM! and I fall to the floor, convulsing in pain. Damn, this whole painful business seems to be happening a lot lately.
    “You’re a projection! Just wake up, wake up.” Zack says with unprecedented calm. He slowly steps back from me with an encouraging smile, though I can’t say he’s fooling me. Underneath that calmness he’s screaming like a little girl.
    “I’m a freaking WHAT?!” I yell in panic.
    This makes no sense. He’s making no sense. Ah, my head.
    “I HATE YOU!” I scream one last time as I feel my body being pulled back through questionable darkness and moist.

    ****

    “Desiree. Desiree. Can you hear me? Move towards me.” A warm, familiar voice whispers from somewhere in the darkness.

    I push through the last of the humid black atmosphere that surrounds me, not really sure of what I’m doing. Then I see Damien’s smiling face above me. But it’s weird. I’m seeing his face through two oval holes in the darkness, and he seems so gigantic, as if he might crush me, were he to come any closer. Am I…..looking at him through my own eyes? Am I in my head? I feel so small. This is trippy.

    With no warning, a soothing white light hastily engulfs me and gently places me back inside my body. I open my eyes in relief to see Damien at his normal size, without two holes hindering my vision.

    “What on earth just happened?” I question, not realizing how weak I am until I lose my voice mid-sentence.
    “You, my dear, just had your first Projection.” He expresses with a tender smile.
    “What’s that?” I croak.
    “It’s a bit hard to explain. Think of it as this: you sent a hologram of yourself to the Human World. So, you were pretty much there, you just couldn’t touch anything or be touched. It’s a very difficult power to both obtain and master. But you executed a fine Projection with what seems like very little to no side effects. I’d say the only thing you need to work on is your entrance into the Projection. You gave us all quite a fright when you screamed.” Damien says in his teacher voice.
    I’m not even going to bother telling him that I could indeed feel and managed to beat up Zack. That would just make things more complicated. I’m pretty pleased with myself for managing to do something that Damien believes is extremely difficult.
    Wait, if a Projection is real. Then what happened at my school was real. My friends are dead. There are disgusting, mutated flying things attacking my school. Donovan is rampaging all over the Human World..

    “What’s wrong now?” Damien inquires, probably seeing the stress that my inner monologue has caused me.
    There’s no use in hiding much from Damien, so I tell him all of the events that occurred during my Projection.

    “s**t.” He mumbles. Wow, I’ve never heard my brother cuss before. This must be worse than I thought.
    “Stay here, in this house. We’re going to see if we can reason with Donovan while he’s still revealing himself openly. Or at least clean up the mess before Human authorities start poking their noses around.” Damien orders, giving me no time to object. He gives me a rushed kiss on the forehead and walks out the door. To my surprise, I see Ezekiel, Joey, and Dean follow him out of the room.

    Just seconds later, I hear what I presume to be the front door get hastily slammed shut.

    What do I do now? I honestly can’t stand the thought of remaining in this house for much longer. I feel so cramped in such an alien environment. I wonder if by “this house” Damien meant the general area around “this house.” It couldn’t hurt to walk outside, just for a moment or two, could it?

    Knowing me and my bad luck, I’m sure something catastrophic will happen once I step outside. But I can’t help this feeling of need to go outside. Something’s calling me. My heart? My intuition? Something darker? I’m not really sure.

    I swing my legs over the bed and jump up. My memory of the hallways and the kitchen is better than I thought. In no time, I’m at the kitchen counter, across from the front door. I stand there a moment, tapping my fingers on the blue granite surface, contemplating the possibilities that lay just outside that door.

    “What the hell?” I mutter to myself as I sprint to the door at a surprising pace so that I can’t talk myself out of it.

    When I open the door, I’m hit with a dizzying array of pleasant, yet unfamiliar scents and sounds. A whiff of sugary lemon glides passed me, followed by a cheerful low humming sound. Intricate chirps and songs meander through my ears. Sweet and tropical aromas send me chasing after them in various directions, moving farther and farther away from the house. The scenery is so inviting though, I can’t help but step away from the house. The lofty emerald grass, the towering trees with their wispy leaves, and the pinkish gold that shines from the sun all beckon me.
    I’ve never felt so alive in my life. Never has there been so much wonder and beauty in my surroundings. An uncontrollable smile remains on my face as I attempt to follow a familiar cinnamon smell. I dance around carelessly, only faintly following the cinnamon scent.

    Then I see it.

    A large, monstrous heap of growling black fur. Even with the substantially tall grass, it’s body towers over it and I see all but below his knees. The enormous wolf snarls at me, but leads me closer with his eyes. I try to look away. The look of such want, such hunger, such desire leaves me in a trance. I cannot move. But I refuse to move any closer.

    Then I see him.

    Michael comes in his leopard shape shifter form, prowling from behind the black wolf. It know it’s him. It must be him. There could not be another set of eyes so beautiful.

    At first I think he must be here to save me. Oh, I owe him big time. But then he growls along side the wolf. Shoulder to shoulder they move closer to me. I can see the fantasy of peeling the skin off my bones behind their eyes.

    “Michael? Michael! What are you doing?! I know it’s you! You can stop this!,” I gasp, “it’s not very funny!.” But he doesn’t hear me, or at least chooses not to acknowledge my pleas. They continue their advance.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a slithering gray creature in the grass. The snake is but two feet away. I could grab it and hope that instead of biting me, it bites one of them if I throw it. I eye the snake for what seems like hours but must be merely seconds. Fine, I’ll do it.

    Without another though, I dive for the snake and throw it without looking. The snake is heavier than I had anticipated, but I still manage to hit Michael with it. His leopard self is in disbelief of the snake but has no fear of it. He effortlessly whips his head around to throw the snake into his mouth. One gulp, and my snake savior is gone. Blehk.

    “Alright, that’s just disgusting Michael.” I hear myself comment.

    Then he does something unbelievable. He laughs. A low, almost choking hiss escapes his throat that I’m sure is a laugh. The black wolf stops to stare at his comrade. Leopard Michael gives a mumbled roar to the wolf and as quickly as he appeared, he disappears. Then Michael begins to tremble and his bones jerk at awkward angles. I look away.

    When I look back, Michael is standing there in all his gloriously toned body and naked shine, grinning at me. My eyes wonder downward, a little thankful and a little disappointed that the grass is so high. My heart beat still rockets from just looking at his face, let alone his torso. My cheeks flush at the thought of laying a hand on his bare skin. Then he rubs his neck and stretches in the sexiest way possible. Damn. If this continues, I’m going to lose my mind and jump him.

    “You threw a gardening snake at a werewolf and a shape shifter,” he shakes his head, “have you lost your mind?” He teases while running his finger wildly through his rich chestnut hair that seems to highlight gold in the sunlight. He looked handsome enough in the poor candle light, but now, his magnificence is only comparable to that of an angel.

    “I um, well…What was I supposed to do? At least I didn’t run around and strip naked while tripping over my boobs like all those girls in the horror flicks.” I babble. Oh goodness. When I get nervous, I talk to much. That was definitely talking too much, too much unneeded information.

    He chuckles then asks, “Do you mind getting my clothes for me? I left them on the porch.”