Myths & Rejections

Chapter 49 - Laughter and Tears

Word Count: 4525

"So..." Reese started as he and Callum entered the dining room as he approached Adam but stopped when he saw Adam smiling at his phone. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," Adam said quickly, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

"Nothing?" Reese said.

"Dude, whatever," Callum chuckled. "Try that on someone else.  What's going on?  Who were you texting?"

"I...uh...met someone," Adam said with a heavy sigh.

"What?" Callum and Reese said together, staring at him, with shocked expressions on their faces.

"I met someone," Adam repeated. "At the initiation, after you guys bailed on me."

Reese and Callum just stared at Adam like he was an alien from another planet for several seconds before Adam rolled his eyes.

"Is it really so shocking that I could meet someone?" Adam asked, sarcastically.

"Yes," Reese and Callum answered together again.

"So, what's the deal?" Callum asked after another couple of seconds of them just staring at Adam.

"I talked to Harp for a few minutes, and she said something to me that just made me stop and think," Adam said, and sat down at the table.

"She has a way of doing that," Reese remarked.

"What did she say?" Callum said, sitting at the table across from Adam.

"She basically told me that Celie and Eden were in love, and I needed to move on," Adam said. "Then she told me that she thought I was a good guy, and she liked the person I am, but that me and Cel would never have worked out because of all the bad memories and how much Celie suffered after I had rejected her.  Then she showed me the moon symbol on her wrist, and she said the moon goddess knows what's in our hearts and she loves us and that if I would open my heart, I would find happiness."

Adam paused for a few minutes, a pensive look on his face as the memory flowed through his mind.  Reese and Callum stayed quiet, letting him gather his thoughts, then he looked up.

"Then I turned to go back to the bench and you guys were gone, so I just sat back down because I didn't feel like going to look for you," Adam said.  "There was a girl sitting there watching the kids play and we started talking."

Adam told them of his conversation with Dana and what she'd told him about rejecting her own mate.

"So, you guys are talking now?" Callum asked, with a smile.

"We were supposed to go on a date tonight, but then Jenny said she was meeting Cole tonight, and now we're going to fight tritons instead," Adam sighed.

"You don't have to go," Reese said. "We've got this, Adam, go on your date, we can handle Cole and his minions."

"No way!" Adam objected immediately.

"Adam, you don't..." Reese started, but Adam cut him off.

"No! I stayed here to see this through, and that's what I'm going to do.  I'm not letting those fuckers get away with everything they've done. They nearly killed Matt, they ate a guy at the beach, they killed Sana, almost killed Cel, and attacked multiple times, I'm not walking away from this fight.  Don't even think about that." Adam said. "You didn't see what they did to Matt, you weren't here when that happened, they ripped him to shreds, he barely survived. Think about that, Matt, that huge nearly indestructible siren, was shredded to the point of almost bleeding to death in my arms. Imagine what they could do, have done, to regular humans who happen to walk on the beach when they're around.  I can't let them get away; those things are more dangerous than you can imagine. You haven't seen them up close, you haven't seen what they can do.  You've only seen their bodies, and that tame one in the pool.  If you'd seen them fight, if you'd seen what they did to him, you would know I can't walk away without knowing they've been stopped."