The Goddess Gem

Chapter 8: Tug of War

I stare after Leith, dumbfounded and hurt. Did he really just use his Goddess Gem to control me? Wait, how would he even know the term 'Goddess Gem'?

Well, if we found it in a book in the base's library, there must be other books that contain that information, I guess.

I take a quick breath and head inside, determined to find Leith. He needs to tell me right now what happened. Or else.

After spending hours looking for him, people tell me he's outside, back in the Gardens. I groan and run after him.

He sits under a tree outside, watching the sunset, holding hid Goddess Gem in his hand and muttering something. A duffel bag rests beside him. He hardly jumps when I walk up behind him.

"What the hell was that, Leith?" I growl, irritated and tired. "And don't pull the 'I-don't-know' trick with me; you very well know what I'm talking about."

Leith looks up at me, eyes like flint. "No, I don't actually," he says through stiff lips, dropping the crystal. Noticing my glare, he pats the ground next to him. "Sit."

I glance at his hand, disgust flitting across my face. "Hell no." Lead fills my arms and legs and I crumple to the ground.

"Good. What was it that you wanted to talk about, Jillian?"

I fight back the fog from engulfing my thoughts. "You did it again, didn't you? Used your goddess Gem on me."

Tiredness pulls down on his shoulders. Energy drains from his face and demeanor. The effects must make him as tired as me. "This time I needed to."

The pressure dissolves from my brain. "'This time', you said. So you admit to doing it before? Why in the—" I cross my arms, anger gnawing at my stomach and choking my throat. "You're just as bad as Skye."

A thought jumps to my attention. Do people see as a victim? Pride rises in my throat. No, of course not.

But why am I the one people take advantage of?

Leith's eyes widen, hurt. "Don't compare me to that idiot!"

I growl, surprising both me and him. "Skye is not an idiot."

"You're defending that sorry excuse for a being?"

Tears prick my eyes. "Don't you dare call him that." Why am I defending him? "Don't you dare! You're sure one to speak, aren't you? You're pathetic, a liar, and I doubt anyone could stand to breathe the same air as you without running away screaming or attempting to murder you."

The crystal's light brightens. I didn't realize the sun had already set. The soft light turns green, black and a hint of blue, which is stifled by the other colors. "You're right."

I look over at him in surprise, expecting a retort. "Huh?"

His head is in his hands, his hair long enough to spill over and hide his fingers. Something drips onto his leg and soaks into his pants' leg. "You're right."

Is he crying?

"Oh, Goddess, Leith, I didn't mean it..." I stutter, and when he looks up at me, his wet and shining eyes bring me back to when he was so young, so innocent. How did he turn into what he is, helping what his mother despised?

My heart rips as he repeats what he says what seems so long ago: "Can I have a hug?"

I start crying. "Leith, what happened to you?" I hug him tightly, sobbing harder. "What happened to you?"

"You left." The light turns gold, black and green. "For that thief."

Glass shards sink in their teeth. "I'm so sorry, Leith."

He pulls back, fumbling for something in the bag he has beside him.

"Leith, what are you doing?"

He ignores me, looking through the bag almost frantically. He sighs and pulls something out.

A Blue Feather.

I remember vaguely that Muffy kept complaining to me that she wished a guy she loved would give one to her. She dropped hints to boyfriends she considered 'the one'. Before they ultimately broke up, obviously.

Because she wanted to get married.

"Jillian, I l—"

"No, no, don't say it. Please." Why do I feel as if I'm betraying Skye?

He presses the Feather into my palm. "I love you."

"No, you don't. You can't. I'm in love with—"

Fast footsteps rush up from the path that leads to the dig site. When I look up, my throat closes up and my breath hitches.

"Skye!"

He runs towards us, eyes wide and frantic. "Jill! I'm so very sorry, and I—" He notices the Feather, swallowing and stopping completely. Frozen. "Is that—?"

Leith turns me back around to face him. "Jillian, he used you." My heart can't take much more than this; I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying. "He doesn't love you. Marry me."

It's a slap to the face. Skye doesn't love me. "Leith, I—"

"No!" Skye jerks me ups, eyes burning feverishly. "Please, Jill, don't believe him."

It all boils over. "You used me! I should hate you, but I can't!" I hiccup, backing up and into a tree. "Do you know how confusing it is to love and hate someone at the same time? If you don't even like me, why did you come looking for me? To hurt me even more?"

"Jill, of course not—"

"Ignore him. Just answer me, please," Leith says, almost pitifully. "Please."

I don't know if it's because I can't stand yet need to see Skye. I don't know if it's because I'm terrified, confused, hating, angry, happy. I don't even know why I say what I do.

But I say yes. And my world crumbles.

Tempest Bound: Halloo, guys. For the particularly observant reader, you'll have a pretty good guess as to where I'm taking this. Leith has redeemed himself, huh?

For those of you who're like 'OMG this thing is like a repeat of the Hunger Games or Twilight because there's a friggin' love triangle in it', you might want to recant what you've said/thought. Because there isn't one. Not exactly.

You'll see :D