Delphic Song

Chapter Eight

 

Chapter Eight

 

 

 

It happened faster than I could comprehend.

 

Liam strode forward, his hand grasping the collar of Nate’s shirt and fisting around the material. His expression was terrifying as he shoved Nate back – fierce and angry; his lips tightened in a straight, furious line. He seemed to fly as he pushed Nate, his feet leaving the ground as he propelled himself and his victim ahead, slamming Nate’s body into a tree. I winced at the force of the impact, but the sneering smile didn’t leave Nate’s face, even as Liam forced Nate’s head back against the tree. The knuckles on his clenched fists were white, and it seemed to be taking all of Liam's willpower not to punch the life out of Nate.

 

“How dare you threaten her,” Liam growled, shaking his fist in Nate’s face. “How dare you – ”

 

Nate yanked out of Liam’s grip and spat at his feet. “Oh, how sweet,” he snarled, circling around Liam, his entire body tensed in a predatory stance. “You're here to save your helpless, innocent princess.” He whirled on me, and I instinctively flinched away. He laughed mockingly, as if amused by my fear.

 

“And she thinks she can trust you?” he continued, turning back to Liam. “She doesn’t even know who you really are.”

 

My gaze ripped away from Nate’s menacing form and strained on Liam. What was Nate talking about? I had known Liam my entire life. There was nothing I didn’t know about him. I knew his favorite color was green – and not the neon green he claimed was overpoweringly bright, but a moody, dark forest green. I knew his lucky number was eight – in 8th grade he had won the State Spelling Bee. I was there to support him when he got first girlfriend, and I was there to comfort him when they broke up. He taught me to ride a bike, and he was there when I broke my arm after he removed the training wheels. He had punched my first boyfriend in the face when I had caught him cheating on me. He put up with my addiction to Gossip Girl, and he knew that whenever I was feeling to blue to sit me down in front of the TV with my favorite episode of GG playing and a gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.

 

But there was some part of me that believed Nate’s words. Wasn’t it true that I had always felt that Liam was hiding something? All the times he had suddenly stood up and left when we were hanging out hadn’t passed me by unnoticed. Like the other night after our water fight, when he had abruptly disappeared with no explanation and no apparent reason. And the way he got all strange when I talked about my mom – like he knew something I didn’t.

 

However, I had never really thought about it when he acted strange. It had always been immediately forgotten, brushed aside like a bothersome fly. Now, Nate was making me question it – question everything. Did I really know Liam like I thought I had? What was he hiding from me? What secrets had he been keeping all these years that he hadn’t told me?

 

Because, despite what I wanted to believe, my gut told me that some part of what Nate said was the truth.

 

No, wait. What was I doing? Why was I choosing to believe Nate? He was the one who had lied to me – not Liam! He was the one who was acting like a vicious psychopath!