Blue

Four.

"Alexander! What would Angie say if she caught you sleeping on the job?" Ariana's voice yanked me back to reality.

Groggily I sat up, rubbing the unconsciousness from my eyes.

Where was I? What happened? And more importantly, what kind of a dream was that?

I remembered the goddess and her words vividly. It was all so odd. So surreal.

"Are you even listening to me, Alex?" Ari's annoyance drew me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized she'd been talking.

I looked down to see that I was seated at the front desk and there the book sat opened on the page with Thalassa's Blessing. The only problem was that the last thing I remembered was standing in front of the inspections counter and reading the blessing aloud. I don't remember going over to sit down or falling asleep.

I turned around to face my twin sister and I watched as her eyes went straight to the cuts on my cheeks. I could see the emotions, could read them clear as day, as they flashed across her face. Confusion. Shock. Sadness. Anger.

"What happened to your face?" She demanded.

I fumbled for an excuse, "I fell."

"Alexander Grayson Keyes. Don't you dare lie to me. He did this, didn't he?"

There was no way around it. She knew exactly who did this to me. I wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise. And honestly, I was tired of covering for him. Tired of protecting someone who hadn't been protecting me for years.

So I went for broke, "He was drunk."

Ari pressed her mouth in a hard line, "You're coming home with me tonight." I knew that tone. That was her deadly serious voice. One you didn't try to dissuade.

I only nodded.

Just one glance at the clock said that it was time to close up the shop, so I did just that. I left the book sitting where it was. I'd tell Angie about it tomorrow. After what happened, I wasn't touching that thing again in the near future.

We walked out to Ari's sporty little Mazda parked out on the curb by the store. I glanced out upon the Gasparilla Sound that was glittering under the moonlight down in the distance. It looked...inviting, enticing me to submerge myself within its depths. But the thought was just so weird to me that I forced it aside.

The whole ride home, I could think of nothing more than the beautiful goddess that had occupied my dream. She had been too lovely to fathom. I had never felt so at home. So happy. But I guess that's what dreams are for....wishes, making up whole entire worlds filled with emotions that were foreign to you.

When we pulled up into the driveway, I took a deep breath, "Ari, I don't want Mom to know. I don't even want her to know I'm here."

She looks at me completely flabbergasted, "What do you mean? Of course we're telling mom."

"No Ariana. He'll just talk or buy his way out of trouble. You know he's friends with the judge. No one will believe it," I tell her sternly, keeping my eyes locked with hers trying to will her to understand. If we told on him, he'd only get out of it and then come home and take it out on me. And I'm honestly not sure I would survive it.

She doesn't look pleased in the slightest but she finally nods, "Fine. We won't tell her. For now."

"Thank you, Ari," I try for a small smile but I'm not very successful.

Our mom's house soon came into view and I can't help but think what if I did tell her? What if she could get me out of his house? Away from him. Away from his hatred. I could live with her and Ariana and be...happy. It was such a foreign concept.

No. It wouldn't work. I was already going to have to sneak out after Ari fell asleep because I had to be home when he woke up in the morning.

"I'll go in and let you in the back door and then we can sneak up the stairs, okay?" Ari turns to me and says as she pulls up into the driveway.

~ ~ ~

Getting me up the stairs and into Ari's room wasn't a hard task. Our mom works a lot of hours and so she was already in bed.

Ari comes out of her bathroom robed and still steaming with her hair wrapped up in a towel.

"It's all yours brother," she says before plopping down on her neon pink comforter and getting cozy beneath it.

I force a smile at her through my internal turmoil about how I'm going to sneak out later mixed with thoughts of the weird dream that I had and head into the bathroom.

I quickly shed my clothes and stop in front of the mirror. The boy in the mirror is tan skinned. His face is symmetrically shaped with a sharp jawline. Eyes are a brilliant green-blue. Golden blonde hair cut short on the sides but long enough on the top that the tips of his bangs caress his eyelashes. He is thin. Fresh and healing bruises decorate his skin. The new cuts on his face are beginning to scab over. He's broken. Pathetic.

A peculiar itch on my thigh snaps me out of my self pity and loathing. I make my way to the shower, all the while digging at my side. My skin feels dry and irritated, and it looks slightly reddened and raised. Maybe my eczema is acting up again.

After the water is warm enough to my liking I step under the steady stream. Immediately my skin begins to burn. My legs, my sides, my arms, around my neck. It takes an enormous amount of willpower not to cry out. What the hell is going on.

I fall out of the shower onto the floor. I glance down at my legs and see they are completely reddened and raised. The burning is incomprehensible.

I have to get to the ocean.

The thought hits me with unstoppable force. The need is overwhelming. I need to be in the saltwater. I need to feel it all around me.

I peek out the door and find Ariana passed out.

I can think of nothing else except getting to the beach. Nothing is more important. And nothing is going to stop me.