The Caelus Vance Chronicles: Ancient Souls (#1)

₪₪₪₪ Chapter 6 - Just Girls ₪₪₪₪

Caelus Vance

I looked up and was greeted with Arista's smile. She had brushed the webs out of her wavy auburn hair, and her lime green eyes were locked on my chain. "What you doin'?"

"Oh, nothing. Just looking at it a bit closer. I haven't really had the time to do that." She nodded and took off her poppy earrings.

"These earrings have a cool feature. They can change into any flower I want. See." She cupped her hands over the earrings; when she showed me them, they were no longer poppies but daisies. She then cupped her hands again and returned them to poppies. "Demeter likes poppies, so I keep them as they are." She smiled, and for a moment, there was awkward silence. I wasn't sure why I felt a strange way towards Arista.

"Thank you... for saving me earlier. That was some quick thinking." I had almost forgotten about that strike of lightning.

"Oh yeah. No worries." I couldn't look at her. Every time I did, a part of me was enticed. I could easily get lost in her eyes, the colour of fresh grass and grain. I could practically smell the fresh air when she leaned closer to look at the chain still sitting in my hands. She was mesmerising, and I couldn't help but stare at her.

Julia seemed a bit annoyed as she sat on her throne next to mine. I was now in the middle of two absolutely amazing girls. I blame Zeus and his stupid emotions. "Hey, you okay? You seem annoyed." I looked at Julia, and she glared at me. "Did I do something?"

"I'll go..." Arista stood and walked off. As she walked away, she seemed upset, but instead of looking at me, she looked at Julia.

"What are you like besties now?" I chuckled unintentionally, but Julia definitely didn't find it funny.

"She was just thanking me for that thunderbolt. That's all." She looked at me, and I noticed a cobweb in her hair. "You have umm..." she moved her eyes up to try and see what I was talking about. I smiled at her lousy attempt to clear the web and decided to get it myself. I removed the web from her silky brown hair and wiped it on my leg. My clothes were dirty anyway.

"Thank you." She spoke quietly, and I nodded while staring into her metallic eyes. We stared at each other for a while. I hadn't noticed the light freckles on her nose and the birthmark under her left eyebrow. Time slowed as I admired her features, and we eventually got closer and closer until I could feel her breath against my skin. Julia reached out and put her hand on my chest. That snapped me back to reality, and we both moved back faster than ever. "Ahem, umm... I should go and uh... change." I scratched the back of my head.

"Yeah. I should find out where this artefact is. Uh... see you." We both got up and marched in opposite directions. As soon as I closed my bedroom door, I breathed out. I seemed to be holding my breath while I was walking.

After getting changed, I looked in the mirror and couldn't help but notice that my eyes were a brighter blue than before. As I got a bit closer to look, I heard someone shout. Hey kid! That was your chance. And you messed it up. "Ah!" I jumped, lost my balance and fell. All I could hear was a deep laugh coming from an unknown source. "Zeus?" Yes. Now, that fall was a bit embarrassing, huh? "You can see me?" I'm a god, son. I see everything. "Everything?" Well no. But most things. I'm still only one God. I couldn't believe that he was actually talking to me. Not one word sentences but an actual conversation.

I decided just to stay lying on the floor. So, who do you like more? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could he ask me that? "What are you talking about?" He continued talking to me about girls and that I could always ask them both out. I wanted to talk to him more, but honestly, I was praying to get him to stop talking. I attempted to change the conversation to literally anything else, but they all just ended up being a full circle back to girls. "Who helped me earlier?" Apollo, my son, healed your wound. You seem to amuse him, Caelus. And then my dearest daughter, Athena, decided to push you in the right direction to retrieve her sponsor. She also seems to have taken a liking to you, which doesn't come easy. I thought about what he had said. I had already gained support from two other gods, and it hadn't been long since I was officially linked with Zeus. I wondered how many gods I could gain the support of, but Zeus just had to ruin the moment. I don't believe that my darling wife is too accepting of you just yet but give her time. I'm sure she'll come around. I chose an absolute stunner. I didn't know whether to thank him or lie on the floor, frozen in confusion, but I decided when there was a knock at my door.

I stood up and opened it to see Julia. "Oh hey, you okay?" She didn't say anything. She just walked towards me. I shuffled back slightly. "Julia?" She sped up and then hugged me. I froze in shock for a second; then I realised she was crying. "What's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around her and reached over to shut my door.

We hugged for about 2 solid minutes before she looked up at me with her eyes red and puffy. "Sorry..." she stepped back and looked at the floor.

"Now tell me what's wrong."

She looked at me. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. Tell me." She sighed and looked back at the floor before mumbling something.

I couldn't make out what she said, so I stepped closer to her, and she looked at me, shocked and stepped back. "I couldn't hear you."

She repeated herself a little louder. "You know how we're linked emotionally to our gods... Hera often gets jealous of Zeus' lovers and sort of has negative feelings towards his other children and... well, I just zapped Arista, and Mary is making sure she's not injured as we speak." My jaw dropped. I didn't expect that.

"Zapped? Like lightning zapped? Why would you do that?" I never thought for a second that Julia would do something like that. She's too kind and considerate.

"I... just got mad. She was all over you, and you were so interested in her. She talked about Persephone and how you guys have a 'bond' and I... I mean, it's not like I care. We've only known each other for about two days. Or I suppose three days now... but that's beside the point..." she continued to ramble about how she may have just been tired. Or maybe Hera took control or countless other possibilities. "I tried to contain my anger. And I didn't shock her too badly. It was more like an electric shock, I promise. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just got so jealous..."

I had no idea what I was thinking but I grabbed Julia's arm and pulled her closer. It made her stop ranting, and she just looked up at me with her golden doe eyes. I was entirely captivated by the warmth in her eyes. They looked like pools of pure honey, and in the light, they were glowing like a beautiful sunset. She seemed to be staring into my eyes, too, and I suppose I got carried away because I began to lean in, and she followed my lead. Our faces got closer and closer until our lips were millimetres away. I could feel her breath grace my lips, and just as we got even closer, she turned her head away and moved back.

She left without saying anything, and of course, Zeus had to interrupt again. Blew it again? You're creating quite the streak, my boy. I just sighed and didn't respond to him. So we're ignoring gods now? "Please, just go away." Have you ever even had a girlfriend? "No." Ah, so you're either a loner, or you prefer guys? "What? No, I just... I'm not having this conversation with you." It was silent for a while; I was just about to shower when he spoke again. I thought you wanted us to talk to you humans more, right? I decided not to answer because, technically, he was right. But that was before I knew how stressful they were. I had my shower with Zeus talking to me about Julia the whole time, or more so, Hera. It was Hera this, Hera that. Then he began telling me what to do to win Julia's heart. I continued to ignore him all the way up until I slept. I realise now that it was a terrible idea.