Anything and everything in my head sort of emptied out. My brain had this wonderful ability of doing so when I really needed to think fast.

He laughed harshly. "Now I know why he hates me, at least. Why he's always on you. I just figured it was in the figurative sense and not literal. What the hell are you thinking? What is he thinking? You're going to throw everything away! Your future-my future-and for what? To get more pure in you?"

Shrugging his hands off my shoulders for the umpteenth time, I snapped out of it. "You don't have a clue what you're talking about! I'm not messing around with Aiden."

"Don't you dare lie to me about something like this!" He shoved his finger in my face. I had the urge to break it. "You can't do this, Alex. I will not allow this to continue." Seth started for the door.

"No. No! Seth, stop! Please." This time I grabbed him, pulling him back from the door. "Please listen to me. It's not what you think!"

His eyes practically glowed he was so angry. "It's not about what I think. It's what I felt today!"

"Please. Just listen to me for a second." My fingers dug into his arms. "You can't say anything. They'll-"

"I'm not going to say anything to the Council, you little idiot. They would send you into servitude in a heartbeat." He pushed me off, swearing under his breath. "You know, I actually thought he might be different from the other pures, but he sure as hell doesn't act any different. Screw a half; enslave a half. That's what they say, Alex."

"What are you doing? You can't-"

"I'm going to have a little talk with Aiden."

I flew in front of him, plastering myself to the door. "You are so not going to talk to him! You're going to try to fight him."

"Quite possibly. Now get out of my way."

"No."

"Get out of the way, Alex," he snarled. Edges of the Apollyon marks started creasing his otherwise flawless skin.

"Okay," I breathed, pressing against the door. "I'll tell you the truth. All right-just please don't do anything... stupid."

"I don't think you should be lecturing me on not doing anything stupid."

I counted to ten. Now was not the time for me to lose my patience. "Nothing happened between Aiden and me. Okay? I do care about him, all right? I know it's wrong." I closed my eyes, wishing the words didn't hurt as much as they did. "I know it's stupid, but nothing is going on between us."

"What I felt from you today wasn't nothing, Alex. You're still lying to me."

"Okay. We kissed, but-stop!" I pushed Seth back as he tried to pry me away from the door. "Listen to me. We did kiss, but it's nothing. It was stupid-a mistake. It's nothing to get all bent out of shape over. Okay?"

He stared down at me, lips drawn tightly. Then he closed his eyes. Terse silence stretched out between us. "You... you love him, don't you?"

I stared at him, my heart thumping loudly. "No. No, of course I don't."

Seth nodded, running a hand over his face again. "Alex... Alex, you're insane."

Obviously, he didn't believe me. I needed to make Seth understand that nothing needed to be done about this. There was no way he could go after Aiden. Gods only knew what Seth would do, or what Aiden would do. I could see them now, brawling on the beach. One thing would lead to another, and the Council would find out. The pures would dope me up to suppress the Apollyon in me and I'd be scrubbing floors for the rest of my life. Aiden would never forgive himself. I couldn't let that happen. And then there was the idiot standing in front of me. If Seth attacked a pure, that would be it. The Council would move against Seth, and even though I wanted to strangle him, I didn't want... well, I didn't want anything to happen to him.

Call it self-preservation.

"Nothing's going on," I said. "Just promise me you won't do anything."

Seth stared at me so long the silence that enveloped us started to get to me. Then the tattoo started to sink back into his skin and he looked surprisingly calm.

"You're not going to do anything, right?"

"No." Seth reached for me and pried my hand off the doorknob. "I'm not going to say anything."

Relief, sweet and beautiful, flooded through me. I let out my breath. "Thank you."

"You're not going to ask why?"

"No." I shook my head. "I'm not going to look a gifted horse in the mouth."

"Do you even know what that means?"

"Not really," I said, "but it sounds about right."

Seth arched a brow, and then tugged me away from the door. "Come on, let's go."

I spared our joined hands a brief glance. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to do some training, since you apparently didn't do any of that today."

"She poofed into nothing? Damn, that's crazy."

I stared at Caleb, wishing he would poof into nothing. "What is everyone's big deal with the terminology? I swear to the gods, if one more person questions that, I'm going to lose it."

"Poof," Olivia whispered, grinning.

I shot her a death glare. "Ha. Funny."

"Sorry." She slid her arm around Caleb. Apparently, they'd made up at some point, again. That made me happy. I liked the way they looked at one another when they weren't fighting. "I bet that was freaky, though."

"Freaky doesn't even begin to describe it."

"She was old as dirt," Caleb said, "but still. The old crone was kind of entertaining."

"Entertaining" wasn't a word I'd use to describe Grandma Piperi. I leaned back in the moon chair and let my eyes drift shut as Olivia and Caleb started talking about the party they'd snuck off to last night. I felt a spark of jealousy and bitterness. I hadn't been invited. Maybe Caleb thought I had more pure than half in me, too. Blech.

I refocused my thoughts on Piperi. Even a few days later, I was still so wrapped up in the almost exposure of Aiden's and my nonexistent relationship to give much thought to what she'd said before she'd died.

The conversation I'd had with her didn't make much sense-no big surprise there. The only thing important I'd picked out was about the guy who wasn't who he appeared, that he had everyone fooled. If only she hadn't poofed into nothing a second later, maybe she would've said his name, which would've helped tremendously. I didn't share this part of the conversation with anyone. It seemed that whoever it was wasn't a friend of mine. Then again, I couldn't be sure. After that thought, I must've drifted off to sleep, because I jerked upright at the sound of my name.

"Miss Andros."

I peeled my eyes open and found Leon standing in the doorway to the rec room. "Yeah?"

"You're not supposed to be in here."

Odd. When had Leon been assigned to be my babysitter? I only saw him around campus when he had terrible and urgent news to deliver. "Come on," I whined.

Caleb peered over the back of the couch. "She's not bothering anyone."

Leon didn't even glance at Caleb. "Up."

Caleb twisted toward me. "One of these days, you'll be able to stay out and play. Then everything will be right in our world."

Pulling myself out the chair, I rolled my eyes at Caleb. "Leon, can I have a playdate with my friends?" That got a giggle out of Olivia.

Leon's expression remained bland. "Perhaps you'd be allowed to have playdates if you stayed out of trouble for a whole week."

"I guess that's a no." Caleb grinned up at me. "So now you know what to do. Stay out of trouble for a whole week, Alex. A whole week."

I smacked the back of Caleb's head as I made my way past the couch. He swung out at me, but Olivia got in the way.

"Bye!" Olivia chirped, already snuggling down beside Caleb.

Giving them a little wave, I followed Leon out of the lounge. I felt a little uncomfortable walking beside him. The man was almost seven feet tall and looked like he belonged on the pro wrestling circuit. Not to mention, I didn't know how much Leon knew. I remembered how unsurprised he'd looked when Marcus had mentioned me being the Apollyon.

I searched for something to say, but came up empty until my gaze fell on a statue of Apollo. "Hey, you kind of look like Apollo. Has anyone told you that? All you need is blond hair and raging hormones. Maybe he's your great-great-great-great grandfather or something."

Leon's gaze flicked over the marble statue. "No. No one has ever said that."

"Huh. Funny. 'Cuz you do. I wonder if you have anything else in common with Apollo."

"Like what?"

"You know. Didn't Apollo have a thing for pretty boys?" I snorted. "Wait, didn't Apollo have a thing for just about everything that walked? Until they got turned into trees or flowers, that is."

"What?" Leon came to a complete standstill, gaping down at me. "There are some myths that are true, but most are exaggerated."

I raised my brows quizzically. "Didn't realize you were an Apollo fanboy. Sorry."

"I am not a fanboy."

"Okay. Never mind, then."

"Do you know what I find interesting, Alexandria?" he asked after a few moments.

"No. Not really." I shivered in the rapidly cooling air.

"How you happened across the oracle right before she died."

I glanced around the nearly empty campus, spotting only Sentinels and Guards. I hadn't realized it had gotten so late. "I have no clue. I guess I have that kind of luck."

"Twice?"

I looked at him sharply. And there was another thing I hadn't known he was aware of. "I guess so."

Leon nodded, eyes scanning the pathway to the girls' dorm. "Did you know the oracle only seeks out those she wants? That many, many pure-bloods go their entire lives without even seeing the oracle once?"

"No." I wrapped my arms around myself, wondering where summer had gone. It was almost the end of October, but usually it didn't get this chilly.

"Then she must have had something very important to tell you," Leon said. "I'd assume something more than just being able to change history."

My steps slowed as the oracle's words rushed through me. He is not what he seems. He has them all fooled. He plays both sides. I glanced up at Leon, wary of where this conversation was going. There was nothing I knew about Leon except his wonderful ability to pop up when I didn't want him around-and his fanboy love for Apollo. "That's all she said."

Leon stopped in front of the steps to the dorm, folding those massive arms over his chest. "Seems rather vague."

"Piperi is-was-always vague. Nothing she ever said has made much sense to me."

He cocked his head to the side and a small smile appeared on his face. I think that was the first time I'd ever seen him smile. "That's the thing about oracles. They do tell you the truth, you just have to really hear it."

My brows inched up my forehead. "Well, I guess I didn't hear it."

Leon's gaze fell on me, heavy and hard. "I'm sure in good time you will." Then he twisted around and disappeared down the pathway.

I stood there a few more moments, staring after him. That had been the longest conversation I'd ever held with the guy and it ranked right up there with the conversations I'd held with the oracle. It made no sense.

It also filled me with a decent amount of unease. There was always something about Leon that didn't seem right-a sort of otherworldly trait I couldn't quite put my finger on. But could he be the mystery man the oracle had been talking about?

I shivered and headed up the stairs. I hoped not. There was no way any of us could take that massive hunk of flesh out in a battle.

CHAPTER 10.

I WAS A NERVOUS MESS OF FUNK.

It had to do with the little box in my gym bag. Nice of Deacon to gift wrap the guitar pick, but now I felt stupid for giving it to Aiden, especially after everything that had gone down between us at the zoo.

But I had it and I needed to give it to him. If I didn't, there was a chance Deacon could make some passing comment to him about it and then I'd be even more mortified. And it was just a guitar pick. It wasn't like it screamed I love you or anything. Not that it mattered since I'd already blabbed that.

I went through practice with Aiden sort of numb and hyperaware. I kept missing chances to say "happy birthday" or give him the damn box. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

What if he laughed at me? What if he hated it? What if he looked at me and said, "What the hell is this for?" and threw the box on the mat? Then stomped on it?

I couldn't stop thinking about how many ways this could go wrong. Did his reaction really matter? Since our trip to the zoo and my embarrassing declaration of love, he'd kept things perfectly cool between us. There were only a few times I'd caught him watching me with this hawkish level of interest. I always wondered what went through his mind then.

Aiden sent me another weird look, and I felt my face turn red.

I'd never hated myself more.

Unsurprisingly, I ran out of time. While my heart pounded in my chest, I bent down and dug the little white box out of my bag. Deacon had even put a black bow on it. I hadn't known he was such a crafty guy.

"Alex, what are you doing?"