Last Shadow || Deception Book III

Chapter 19

I blinked open my eyes slowly, roused from sleep by the sound of a crackling fire. I was sitting on a log, my feet in the soft sand, and, listening, I could hear the gentle lapping of waves in the salty air. I was back by the ocean again, this time on the beach at Camp.

"Ri?" a soft voice sounded from my left, a warm presence suddenly pressing against my side, and I whirled around to see Luke's blue eyes staring at me in concern. "You alright? Did you have a bad dream? You look really pale."

His arm curled softly around my shoulders and I stiffened, reflexively pushing myself away. Luke frowned in surprise at my reaction. "Rianna, are you feeling alright?"

"I-I'm fine," I stammered out, staring at him in pure shock. How was Luke here? Wasn't he–hadn't that–

"You look like you've seen a ghost." He rested his hand on my forehead, checking my temperature. This time, I didn't flinch back, still in disbelief as his eyes met mine, full of concern. His eyes were blue. Not gold. No trace of that ancient, cruel power of the Titan Lord. This was Luke.

"Earth to Ri," my boyfriend called, waving his hand in front of my face. "Rianna, you're scaring me. You don't have a fever, but you're acting like the ghosts of the Underworld all escaped onto this beach."

I looked at Luke. Really looked at him. The way his messy blond hair, ruffled by the wind, fell into his eyes like soft, shining silk. His blue eyes, the light of flickering flames reflected in their endless depths, the scar that rippled across his face like the streak of a shooting star in the night sky.

It would be so, so easy to give in to this dream and fall into his embrace, his touch, his soft, concerned smile, that gaze that was reserved for just me. It was so tempting. If I just closed my eyes and let his arms wrap around me, I'd never wake up from this dream.

I squeezed my eyes shut and, even as every single fiber in my body screamed against it, I stood up and stepped away.

"Rianna, what's wrong?" Luke asked again, standing up himself to face me, his features obscured by the shadows cast by firelight.

"I'm dreaming," I managed, taking another step back even as my brain screamed at me to stay. Luke's here, it said to me. Why are you walking away?

But there was a whisper in my heart that despite what my eyes were telling me, this wasn't Luke. He was gone, somewhere far away right now, and he couldn't be here no matter how much my mind wanted him to be. My heart was telling me otherwise.

Luke laughed slightly. He reached out his hand. "Whatever made you say that? Rianna, you sure you didn't suffer a bout of amnesia or something? We sneaked out of camp to watch the stars, remember?"

I hesitated, staring at his outstretched palm, then bit my lip and shook my head forcefully again. "This is an illusion. You're an illusion. You can't be here, Luke. You're.....you're..."

"Rianna, you're being silly. I'm standing right here in front of you."

"No, no, no you're not." I took another step back. "This isn't real."

"Is your magic messing with your head? You're being weird and paranoid."

"No, I'm not," I said. The shadows flickered over Luke's face. "You–you're gone. And I left. And there was a battle at camp. And–"

Luke laughed. "Rianna, is this your idea of a clever joke? Like I said, I'm standing right here. Do you hear yourself? You sound crazy."

I cut off, staring at him in shock. What did he just say? Did Luke just tell me that I sounded crazy?