Hello all! Sorry it's been a bit since I've last posted. I wanted to get this up sooner, it's been finished but needed editing. Unfortunately, I got hit pretty hard on the head which completely derailed my ability to proofread and edit for a while. Finally getting back to it now. For anyone concerned, I am fine. Just had to avoid looking at screens for a while for long periods of time. I just have about the worst luck with injuries/illness it seems. Anyways, thanks for your patience readers. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to writing more over the new couple of weeks. As always thanks for the positive support!
~secrethalfblood
Dpov
It wasn't until I turned into Lorelei's neighborhood that realized there was a difference in knowing Lorelei's father had money, and actually seeing it.
'Gods.' I thought, driving through what was obviously a security gate disguised as a picturesque wall surrounding the property, with ivy and landscaping that seemed worthy of a feature on one of those housing TV shows, that always seemed to play in waiting rooms at the doctors office.
And I thought Jake's place was nice…
It was huge. All modern architecture with large windows and water features set into a stone walk way, and I didn't have to see any of the cars in the massive garage, to know that they were all probably very expensive, and very fast.
I set the parking break and stepped out of my car as Jake hopped down from his truck, figuring this is exactly the sort of place I would expect Lorelei's father to be found, and a month ago, might have expected Lorelei herself to feel at home. From what I'd seen of her deeper personality however, a part of me was starting to understand why she spent most of her time at Jake's.
There were a lot of words that could be used to describe this place. Sleek, modern, luxurious. None of it screamed 'home' however.
Jake unlocked the front door with a key I wasn't sure why I was surprised he had, only to call out.
"Lore?"
There wasn't a response, and for a moment I was a little worried until he started making his way to a set of floating stares set into the wall.
"She's probably in her room."
I hesitated for a second, wondering what sort of boundary Lorelei's room fell under, but figuring I'd be told if I was supposed to be staying put, I followed him, looking out over what I could see of the house as we climbed the steps. If you could even call this a house. Somehow the word didn't seem significant enough.
The floor plan was mostly open with everything looking top of the line and expensive. Dark leather furniture, flat screens everywhere, and a sound system throughout the house I was itching to try out. He turned down the hall of the second floor and stopped outside a door that was slightly ajar, something I feared was considered music, spilling out into the hall. It sounded as if someone had thrown autotune over a dial up connection gone wrong, during a particularly violent car crash.
I didn't even know something could sound like that in the age of wifi.
Jake didn't seem to notice it however.
"Lore?" he asked pushing open the door and first I thought he'd made a mistake.
The space seemed to be less of a room, and more an epicenter for an explosion of different types of fabric. There was a girl sitting in the center of the chaos, that oddly went with the music currently assaulting my ear drums in a discordant harmony, if that could even exist. Her hair bright blonde had a series of color streaked through it that she'd pulled out of her face, and when she looked over her shoulder, her eyes going wide, I saw that they were vibrant shade of lilac.
"I brought you a present." Jake said smirking and when the girl's eyes darted to me, I was stunned to realize that it was in fact, Lorelei.
How I recognized her, I had no idea. Maybe something in her expression but her eyes went even wider as she registered my presence.
She blinked and they switched back to blue, but not for long. She hastily reached for a remote next to her, cutting the music. Between her radical change in appearance, the insane music, and the mess around her, I had a feeling I had a pretty good look into what was currently going on in Lorelei's mind. It was alarming to say the least.
"Hey." She said sounding surprised as her eyes faded to a deep shade of violet, as if the colors had tried to compromise. "What are you doing here?"
She looked tired for sure, but not upset to see me, and while she was a little pale, I was in agreement with Jake that she hardly seemed in need of a specialist.
"Lore's a bit of chameleon when she's stressed." Jake said nodding towards her hair, which Lorelei immediately touched as if she hadn't been aware of the change in color.
"What do I look like?" she asked frowning.
I spotted a burn on the inside of her wrist, but force myself not to think about it or the events of last night. I was already a bit thrown by her drastic change in appearance today, and focusing on that wouldn't exactly help…
"A comic book character." Jake said tossing her his phone.
She opened up the camera application and seemed shocked when she switched to the front facing camera.
"Did you sleep at all?" he asked and she shook her head rubbing her eyes tossing him back his phone. "Why aren't you answering your messages?"
In her exhaustion perhaps, her aim had been wildly off and the phone crashed into the wall before flopping to the ground.
He raised an eyebrow at her, but she hardly seemed to notice.
"I haven't seen my phone for a while." she admitted gesturing towards the mountains of fabric around her. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon." I said and I was starting to wonder if seeing me in her house was freaking her out a bit, because she was looking at me like I was an alien.
She also looked as if she was about to pass out, and Jake must have been thinking along the same lines because he asked.
"Have you eaten anything today?"
"No." Lorelei muttered distractedly.
"What are you doing?"
She'd been sitting in front of what looked like a mannequin, with swatches of material in various shades of blue pinned to it.
"I'm making a prom dress."
She'd said this as if it should have been obvious, but he squinted at her.
"I thought our school banned prom because of the paparazzi turning up."
"It's for Dex's friend."
"Wait you're seriously making a dress for Ellie?" I asked incredulously and she nodded.
"I said I would." She confirmed, still seeming a bit off and completely distracted. "She is my date after all."
"I feel as if I'm missing some much needed context here." Jake said shooting me an interested look before stepping into the room. "Did you get hit on the head or something?"
"No, I-" she started sounding a little disoriented, but he'd already helped her up and started steering her towards the door.
"Let's get you some food Loo." He continued. "Clearly you've gone delirious."
He pushed her towards the stairs, and she did look a little dizzy. But they navigated the steps seemingly without issue and I followed the pair towards a massive kitchen with state of the art appliances that I was surprised, seeing how much she apparently liked to bake, Lorelei ever left behind to go to Jake's house.
There was evidence of another baking episode, but not quite as drastic as the one I'd seen before. Only a massive cake and a basket of muffins were on the island, clearly made before she'd directed her attention towards starting Ellie's dress.
She grabbed one of the muffins mechanically and Jake opened the fridge. I was surprised to see a lot of what looked like pre-packed, healthy looking meals and protein shakes before realizing that Lorelei's father was an athlete and probably had to pay attention close attention to what he ate. Jake pulled out what looked like a meal replacement drink and plopped it in front of her as she sat at the island.
She looked at the bottle with evident distaste.
"Those things taste like chalk."
"Then you shouldn't have skipped breakfast." He said opening it for her and she continued to look at the drink like it was the alien now. I was starting to think Lorelei's strange reaction to me had less to do with my sudden appearance at her house, and more to the fact that something was really up with her. Even if it was just lack of sleep.
It was almost as if she hadn't remembered anything that had happened last night, or was too tired to face it directly at the moment. She apparently didn't have the energy to fight Jake either however, because she took a sip from the bottle and winced.
I watched her, torn between concern and wondering why exactly I was here, when there was the sound of what I thought was the front door opening.
"Lorelei," said a frazzled voice that sounded oddly… normal to me.
We all looked towards the hall only to see a tall man with dark hair enter the room looking a little annoyed as he continued with.
"Is your friend here? How many times have I told him to move his truck? It's an absolute eyesore. He should keep the red one though, it's a classic."
Though he must have been in his mid thirties, Lorelei's father looked easily ten years younger than his age. I didn't know what I was expecting, but despite being a well built, extremely talented athlete, I couldn't help but think that between Jake, myself, and Lorelei who was a little tall herself, especially in the sky scraper heels, her father looked remarkably... ordinary. Maybe even a little smaller than I expected, which was weird seeing as he was at least six feet tall. But soccer players weren't power lifters or meant to go around hitting people with sticks.
I was surprised when a phrase was directed at me, one which I couldn't understand and Lorelei cut in.
"He can't understand you Dad." she said flatly. "That's not Jake."
A look of surprise crossed his features before he turned to really take a look at me, then glanced to his left where Jake was actually standing, wiggling his fingers at him sarcastically.
He didn't address me however, but looked at his daughter, continuing to speak in French which apparently annoyed her, because she seemed to be keeping her answers as short as possible and stuck to English. I didn't have to speak the language to know who the topic of the conversation was however.
"Dex."
"No."
"Camp."
"Nine."
Her father shot me a cautiously suspicious look, but again, spoke only to his daughter nodding towards the muffins before throwing his bag back over his shoulder and making his way towards the stairs.
Whatever he said must have amused her, because she grinned a little as he walked away and Jake had laughed.
"What was that about?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her, and her eyes lingered on the steps before she focused her attention on me. Now that she seemed to be more awake, it was bit like being hit by an electric shock. They'd gone back to their original blue, and it looked as if they were going to stay that way.
"He asked what your name was and if we went to school together. Then how we knew each other and what cabin you're in at camp."
"And that last part?" I asked and her smile grew, but Jake was the one to answer.
"He told her to stop feeding her boyfriends steroids."
Lpov
I could tell my father wasn't pleased about a random Jake sized guy turning up in his kitchen while he'd been out, but with how tired I was, I couldn't quite bring myself to care.
While initially I'd been shocked that Jake had thought to bring Dex to my house, I was even more surprised to find that seeing him standing outside my room didn't completely freak me out. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do with that information, but I decided to disregard it for the time being. There just didn't seem to be enough room in my brain for it at the moment.
As I was stuck on the same head ache that had started last night, I didn't join the boys as they turned on the console in the entertainment room, Dex thrilled to be able to play fighting games on a my father's massive home theater system. But I watched, trying to keep myself awake as their characters threw each other off the screen, entertained as Jake's trash talk escalated while Dex grew quieter and more focused.
I must have dropped off at some point however, because after a series of mixed and confusing dreams I woke up the room was almost completely dark.
"Sleeping beauty wakes." Jake said sarcastically looking up from his phone and I rubbed my eyes, realizing he must have gone and grabbed it at some point from my room. "You're no longer blonde by the way."
"What time is it?" I asked through a yawn before suddenly remembering we hadn't been alone in the room when I'd fallen asleep. "Where's Dex?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said with a chuckle, completely confusing me as he added. "I think he might be dating your dad."
"What?"
"Come with me."
Perplexed, but feeling a little better after some rest, I followed Jake out of the room only to see that the sun had pretty much set outside and he started walking towards the garage of all places.
"You know how your dad said he'd kill me if I ever touched one of his cars?" Jake asked.
"Yes…" I nodded feeling a little uncertain.
"Turns out your dad might just not like me." He said with a laugh, opening the door and I winced at the florescent lights only to stare at the scene in front of me in shock.
My father was listening, his expression intent as Dex gestured to something under the hood of one of his fastest cars, almost as if he was taking what Dex was saying seriously.
"Am I still asleep?" I asked in shock.
"There you are." My father said looking up from the vehicle, sounding in an unusually good mood. "How come you've never invited this one over before?"
He then stunned me further by nodding to Dex with an approving look, and giving him a firm, almost fatherly clap on the shoulder before walking in Jake's and my direction.
"I actually like him." He said lowering his tone and shooting Dex a significant glance over his shoulder.
"That's hurtful Martin." Jake said adopting a wounded air and my dad grinned.
"You should bring him to a game. I'll make sure to get you tickets."
"What is happening?" I asked quietly, convinced I'd woken up in an alternate reality as my dad grabbed a set of keys hung along with many others on the wall, and chucked them to Dex who caught them easily.
"Are you kidding me?" Jake asked furiously, but my father ignored him and looked at Dex.
"See how it runs. If you're right I might not have to bring it into the shop after all."
"Awesome." Dex said with a grin, sounding uncharacteristically excited as he ducked into the driver's seat and my father keyed in the code to the garage even I wasn't allowed to know. As the door was opening, he jumped into the passenger side.
Jake and I looked at each other, utterly dumfounded before Dex and my father tore out of the garage, the engine of the car roaring through the night at an unreasonable volume.
"I'm dreaming, right?" I asked him uncertainly as Jake said.
"Wooooooow."
He sounded exceptionally angry and I glanced at him.
"I really hate your boyfriend right now." He muttered darkly, his expression murderous.
He was glaring after the taillights that charged through the open security gate, and cornered quickly onto the street. Dex was apparently a pretty good driver. My dad would have killed me if I tried to pull something like that...
"Do you know long I've been sucking up to your dad to even get within five feet of one of his cars?" He made an exasperated gesture towards the garage door which already closing. "Dex just fixes a spark plug and he's practically giving it away!"
"I doubt it was something as simple as a spark plug..."
"I am so not talking to him." He grumbled his tone still irate. "Actually, I'm going to kill him in our game this week. This is so unfair."
"You're playing his school again?" I asked curiously.
"Yes." Jake said stonily. "And he better have his last words planned."
This was how I found myself three days later, hovering a bit anxiously in the stands of an unfamiliar school, hoping I didn't get recognized and grateful to have spotted Ellie and Michael, holding hands, and waving for me to sit with them.
"Hey!" Ellie said excitedly and I felt a little relieved as I walked over to them. "I didn't realize you'd be here."
I was surprised, but happy to see she sounded genuinely pleased by the revelation and I smiled.
"Yeah, I have a friend on the other team." I explained pointing to Jake, who's ego was still wounded from my father's apparent favoritism, and was glaring daggers at Dex.
I decided jealousy wasn't a good look for him, but didn't think there was much I could do about the situation. Though now that it was in front of me about to unfold, I figured it might be prudent to give Dex a heads up.
"Is it the one who looks like he wants to murder Dex?" Michael observed, raising an eyebrow and my stomach sank.
"Yeah…" I muttered. "I should probably go talk to him."
I darted back down the steps, hoping that the people who turned to stare at me were judging me for my choice of footwear on the metal rather than recognizing me. Dex seemed to do it pretty quickly however.
I tried to ignore the looks from his teammates as he jogged towards me, including several idiotic whistles…
"Hey." He said looking surprised but smiling when he saw me.
An image flashed through my mind, fire light reflecting in his eyes as I leaned closer…
I quickly pushed it away. Now was so not the time.
"What are you doing here?"
"I figured I'd come and watch since both you and Jake are playing." I said finding it a little difficult to concentrate with all of the extremely loud comments his team was making, each of them sufficiently moronic.
"Hold on a second." He said apologetically before turning back to his team. "Shut up! All of you!"
This earned several smirks, but they eventually went back to their warmups and he looked back to me.
"Sorry about that."
"Jake's gonna try and kill you today." I warned and he frowned.
"Yeah, I sort of got the feeling he was upset about something." He looked over his shoulder to Jake who was glowering in our direction. "Any idea what he's pissed about?"
"He's jealous my dad let you drive one of his fun cars."
"Ah."
"You guys are too cute."
We both turned to see Ellie, her phone out, clearly having taken a photo of Dex and I and shooting us a smug smile.
"What?" she asked innocently. "Candid shots are the best."
She grinned looking at the photo.
"This is a good one."
"Dex! Back on the field!"
He looked over his shoulder again at a man, probably his coach, who was giving him a look of clear warning.
"I gotta go." Dex muttered before shooting me another apologetic look. "I'll talk to you after the game."
"Alright." I said grinning as he started jogging backwards. "Don't die."
"You might want to talk to Jake about that." He said with half a laugh before turning and rejoining his team.
"You and Dex are annoyingly photogenic." Ellie said showing me the photo she'd taken of Dex and I.
She was right, it was a good photo, and I hadn't realized at the time but I was smiling. Dex was as well and I hesitated for a moment, before asking.
"Can you send that to me?"
She shot me a knowing expression, but didn't say anything except.
"Sure."
I followed Ellie back to the stands, still uncomfortably aware of the stares I was attracting. I didn't know if people were looking at me because of what I looked like or who, but I tried to ignore them.
Eventually the game started however, and it didn't take long for Jake to make the first hit.
The crowd made a collective wince and sympathetic groan of pain as Dex got to his feet and the ref immediately started ranting at Jake, telling him to cool it and, when he'd faced away, Dex smacked Jake with his stick.
"He's gonna get thrown out of the game." I muttered to myself trying to catch Jake's eye and shoot him a glare, but I had a feeling he was ignoring me.
Dex looked ok for the most part, but Jake was on the war path and despite multiple fouls and warnings from the officials, our team managed to pull ahead. Dex had taken several hard hits, and at one point, I was convinced he wasn't going to get back up. He did though, and was a part of me was secretly proud at how well he'd managed to handle Jake. At this point however, tempers were flaring. Players were shouting at each other from both sides, lacrosse sticks being brandished like spears and things were getting heated.
I was about to march onto the field and drag Jake off myself when something in my peripherals caught my attention. Distracted by the action on the field, I hadn't noticed the growing number of creatures circling above it.
They were flying in wide arcs, slowly dropping lower and lower to the field and while there were only a few of them now, I had a feeling that more were coming. One of them flew over a set of lights illuminating the stands and I saw a flash of bronze. My heart sinking, I realized my suspicion was correct.
Stymphalian birds.
In Jake's frenzy, he must have accidentally called them. They were created by his father after all.
One of the birds landed a light, preening under its wings. The metal of its beak grated against the bronze in its dagger like feathers causing sparks, and my heart about jumped into my throat when I saw it tilt its head slightly and set its narrow, beady gaze on Jake who was shouting at one of his teammates.
Slowly, as if the bird understood what he was annoyed about, it's head swiveled towards Dex, eyes focusing with the sort of attention only a raptor could have accomplished.
'Oh gods.' I thought feeling sick.
It was hunting.
"I-I'll be back." I muttered, quickly getting to my feet.
"Alright." Ellie said clearly a little surprised by the abrupt action, and I felt her and Michael's gazes on me as I hurried down the bleachers towards the fence that separated the stands form the field.
"Jake!" I shouted not caring how strange it might have looked that I was trying to get his attention in the middle of the game.
He ignored me.
"Jake! You idiot don't-"
But he waved me off.
"Not now Lore!"
I let out a noise of frustration, debating the odds of being able to strangle my best friend and figuring that realistically, they weren't good.
If I couldn't get Jake's attention to call them off then I needed a new plan.
I glanced up anxiously to see more birds had landed, all fixing their wrathful gaze on the son of Hephaestus in the center of the field. If the legends were true, these monsters had ranged attacks and those feathers could pierce armor let alone lacrosse pads. Maybe it was that realization that had me doing something extremely stupid.
I grabbed a rock and took off, trying not to look completely crazy as I threw it as hard as I could at the nearest bird. It connected with a satisfying 'thwack'.
The creature let out a furious screech before several angry, avian faces snapped in my direction.
"Oh I didn't think this through..." I muttered before swearing and running flat out as, with blinding speed, the birds shot straight for me completely forgetting about Dex.
I swore, wishing I'd thought to find some sort of weapon to the game and looking over my shoulder to see the birds were gaining on me. Just as I turned back to look ahead, I crashed into a body and sprawled to the ground.
"S-sorry." I said automatically to the woman who was looking at me with wide, strangely familiar eyes.
"Lorelei?" she asked sounding confused, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
She looked vaguely familiar with fiery red hair and a strangely recognizable dumbfounded expression, but I didn't have the time to investigate.
"I'm so sorry." I muttered quickly, desperate to get back on my feet.
"Wait-" she shouted after me, still sounding incredulous but I was already gone.
Figuring I needed to get them out of the air, I ducked under the nearest set of bleachers dodging feather projectiles that buried themselves deep into the ground and metal supports, I ducked and weaved looking for anything I could grab to defend myself.
The area was littered with trash and things like flip flops or program fliers that spectators had clearly dropped between the seats and not bothered to go back for.
I darted past a kissing couple, the girl screaming as one of the birds streaked passed her and a vague, distant part of me wondered what it was she saw.
"I hate my life." I muttered frantically, jumping and pulling myself up by one of the supports as a bird lunged for me. It just barely missed my feet. I flattened myself against the metal as a beak, slashed then quickly tried to drop back to the ground. "I hate my life, I hate my-"
I searing pain tore across my cheek as a feather caught the side of my face and in a cry of shock, I lost my grip and hit the ground.
I swore reaching for the injury automatically, it was bleeding, but I didn't have time to do anything about it as I sat up only to find myself face to face with one of the monstrous birds.
"Hey…" I said cautiously as it turned its head to get a better look at me. "You wouldn't happen to believe me if I said I was friends with one of Ares's kids, would you?"
It let out a caw that almost sounded as if it were laughing at me, and the thought occurred to me at how lame, but appropriate it would be if I went out from a bird that was mocking me. It spread it razor sharp wings, still apparently gloating in its victory when the scene suddenly grew significantly weirder.
The bird was whacked with a lacrosse stick.
It flapped with an indignant screech, and shot off. I looked up expecting to see Jake chasing after the creature, only to see Dex.
There was a couple seconds of chaos filled with lashing talons and a lot of smacking from the lacrosse stick, until the birds, realizing they might have bitten off more than could chew with Dex, retreated momentarily and he quickly turned to me.
"Lorelei are you ok?"
His eyes were wide and he looked horrified.
"Fine-" I started, but he cut me off.
"Gods you're bleeding pretty bad. We need to get you to the trainer or something."
He helped me up but before there was time for anything else, a furious roar seemed to split the night around us.
"Dex you coward!"
Jake came thundering into view, ducking under the stands and waving away one of the birds who seemed to be attempting to regroup their efforts with him.
"What are you afraid of a few sparrows? Get back on the field I'm not done with- Lore?"
He paused clearly stunned.
"What happened?"
"Call the birds off jack ass." Dex snapped as Jake, who's eyes had fallen on me, looked confused, almost panicked.
"Lore-"
But Dex stepped in front of me.
"Call them off." He repeated furiously and when Jake continued to stare at us, apparently frozen in shock Dex seemed to get even angrier. "Go!"
I expected Jake to try and hit him at this, but was surprised to see a flash of guilt cross his usually relaxed features.
"Right." He said shaking his head, seeming to come back to himself. "Yeah I'll-"
"Now." Dex almost snarled and after one last uncertain glance at the pair of us, Jake jogged off.
He made a whistling sound and in streaks of feathers and bronze, the birds sped after Jake, apparently wary enough of Dex and obedient enough to Ares, to follow his orders.
"This looks pretty bad." Dex said quietly lifting my chin and inspecting the injury. "C'mon, my coach has a first aid kit in his bag."
I followed Dex as he made his way back towards the field, but was surprised when we were accosted by the very woman I'd run into in my attempt to bait Jake's murderous birds away from the game.
"Dex." She said sounding out of breath and concerned, jogging towards us. "The way you took off I thought someone was being killed."
She was short but looked pretty strong, as if she was used to lifting heavy objects despite her petite frame, and appeared to be in her early forities.
"I'm fine mom." He assured her and a jolt of shock went through me at this realization. Like I'd been running down the stairs only to miss a step. "My friend she just-"
"Wait a second, friend?" she looked between us, apparently dumbfounded and only then did she seem to register the fact that I was bleeding. "Wait, you two know each other?"
She gestured between Dex and I then her gaze fixed on my injury.
"Lorelei are you alright?" she asked sounding concerned. "Does your father know you're here?"
"How do you…" I started in confusion, feeling as if I was missing something.
I was used to getting recognized, but the question and the way she'd asked it sounded as if she knew my father personally. The look she was giving me was unnerving, and I didn't blame her as she shot Dex an incredulous look, as the reality of the situation seemed to hit her.
She was looking at Dex and I, his broken lacrosse stick, the talon holes in his pads, and the cut on my cheek.
"What is going on here?"
Before either of us could answer however, a familiar voice shouted.
"Hey! Hammerhead!"
Dex looked over just in time to catch a medical kit Jake threw him from the field.
"Give me a sec." he muttered to his mother who was looking sufficiently suspicious at this point.
"But-"
"I'll explain later, mom." He said sounding a little harassed.
To my very great surprise, put up her hands and said.
"Alright."
Apparently Dex's mother trusted his judgement far more than my father trusted mine. She gave us one last critical look before walking letting Dex drag me towards the bench his team had been sitting at.
The game had seemed to descend into chaos, both coaches yelling at the ref while some players looked annoyed, others spanning the reactions from entertained or simply confused. The clock was still going and our school was a head. It looked as if there wasn't a protocol for players on both sides suddenly abandoning the field and people were trying to figure out if the game should continue.
"Sorry I ruined the game." I muttered as he opened the kit and automatically started sorting through the contents.
"Jake ruined the game." He said dismissively, sparing his team one last glance before turning back to me. "We were losing anyways."
"I'm sort of shocked your alive." I said grinning a little, trying to ignore the way it caused the cut to stretch and sting a little.
Jake had been wailing on him pretty hard for most of the night.
"You and me both." He said with a snort opening an alcohol wipe. "Look up."
He reached up in a practiced manner before hesitating.
"This might hurt a little." He warned and I nodded.
"Hate to break it to you Dex, but this isn't my first rodeo." I said and he seemed to grin in spite of himself. "Just get it over with."
"If you insist."
He brushed the wipe over the injury and I winced a little at the burning sensation, but it wasn't too bad.
"Sorry." He said automatically and shook my head.
"It's fine."
"Stay still."
"You know, you're kind of bossy." I muttered and again, he smiled as he reached for a bandage.
It faded pretty quickly however, as he looked at me.
"You sort of look like a horror show Lore." He said and I glanced down at my clothes that were splattered with blood, dirt, and gods knew what else had been under those bleachers.
"You don't like my new look?" I asked grinning as he reached past me towards a pile of what looked like his teams sports bags and pulled out what looked like a letterman's jacket, when he handed it to me, I figured it was probably was his. "I'm thinking of calling it glamorous gore."
"That's disturbing."
"A lot of the best trends upset people at first." I said but putting the jacket over the 'horror show' anyways as he continued to try and clean me up.
"You have an odd sense of humor."
"Thank the gods I'm pretty then," I said pretending to sigh with relief and he laughed.
"I didn't say it was bad."
I reached up grabbing the wipe from him figuring I could probably manage by myself at this point and was a little surprised when suddenly, Jake's coach shouted.
"Everyone, on the bus NOW."
The game clock was still counting but he continued shout and rant at the team, threatening sprints if they didn't 'get their asses moving' and I looked at Jake, who was walking towards us, a little confused.
"What's going on?" I asked. "They're not finishing the game?"
"Press van turned up." Jake said gruffly and Dex looked surprised at this.
"To our lacross game?" he asked confused.
"To our lacrosse game, genius." Jake said shooting him a pitying look. "School policy. Camera's show up, we don't play. It keeps photographers from turning up. They're not supposed to be here."
He shot me a significant look.
"I'm supposed to take you home."
My stomach sank through the floor.
This was my fault.
"I shouldn't have come." I said quietly.
"Might wanna zip up that jacket." Jake suggested, glancing pointedly at my destroyed shirt and I sighed before looking at Dex.
"Can I-"
"Take it." he said waving the question away easily but I still felt guilty. He looked worried.
"Thanks." I said quietly.
"Let's go Loo." Jake said. "Before someone notices you're hurt."
I nodded and, feeling extremely bitter but trying not to let it show.
I wanted to say something more to Dex, but Jake was already pushing me towards the parking lot and his truck which we'd driven here in.
I spotted the camera before the flash and put up my arm automatically to block the injury and the shot feeling suddenly, far more exhausted than any monster involvement of the night had caused.
I managed to get into the truck hidden behind the door while Jake swore at people sending them various threats and versions of 'F off', but not quite so polite.
I buried my head in my arms along the dash, well aware of the camera flashes and knew better than to look up.
"Gods there everywhere." Jake muttered staring up the vehicle. "How many points do you think? Ten for a roach with a microphone, twenty for one with the camera?"
It had been our joke ever since he'd gotten his license, that if his car ever got swarmed, he got points for each reporter and camera person he could run over, but it didn't seem very funny at the moment.
I didn't answer just shut my eyes, pretending I was anywhere else, and when I heard a tapping on the window next to me, a man's voice firing off rapid fire questions, Jake revved the engine of the truck.
People must have scattered because we lurched forward and Jake sped towards the street.
We made it a few blocks before I felt it was safe to look up. A series of sirens and flashing lights speeding in the direction of the school had me thinking someone had probably called the cops to disperse the paparazzi and I sighed.
"Sorry Lore." Jake said quietly.
"It's not your fault." I muttered miserably. "You're right I shouldn't have gone tonight, I just-"
I broke off and picked up a strand of my hair, trying to force it to change colors, but it remained stubbornly dark and I dropped it impatiently.
"I miss being able to control how I look."
Back when I had the ability to change my appearance at will I'd been able to go pretty much anywhere I wanted with zero consequences. At least, not like tonight. I missed the freedom of being someone else. Anyone but myself.
"For what it's worth." He said trying to sound encouraging. "I think Dex was happy you turned up. Far happier than he was seeing me I'm sure."
I laughed at this, but when another police car blew passed us in the opposite direction, it died.
"Well." I said quietly looking out at the window. I knew what was about to happen, and as much as I hated it, it was basically inevitable at this point. I'd been through it before.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, wishing, not for the first time, that I could just disappear.
"We'll see how long that lasts."