Or cared enough to.
This year, this birthday would be different, though.
CHAPTER 2
Seth
Iwas an idiot to trade spending a few hours in bed with Josie for watching her accidentally set shit on fire when she was supposed to be summoning the air element.
Which was why we were standing outside, far away from any of the buildings, back near the cemetery, even though there was still a brisk chill in the air. It was only in the fifties here. Place never seemed to get that warm. Hopefully, she didn’t start blowing up headstones and statues next, because I doubted that would go over well with Marcus, the current Dean of the University, who was also not a member of my fan club.
And it was also why getting our asses out of bed and training was so important. Knowing how to fight in hand-to-hand combat was important, but when it came down to facing the Titans, she was going to need to know how to use and control her demigod abilities.
Plus, Luke helped take over during the afternoon sessions, and the first time—the last time—Josie had used the elemental powers around him, she’d accidentally blown him into a wall, damn near through it.
Hilarious.
But painful for him.
Josie squinted as she stalked past me, heading for the straw dummy that Deacon had been way too overjoyed to help create. The thing looked like a rather fashionable scarecrow, decked out in a polo shirt and wearing a fedora.
No idea why it had a fedora on.
I didn’t ask.
Crossing my arms, I waited until Josie appeared ready. Twenty hours later. She wasn’t comfortable using the elements, so she paced a lot, shifted her weight, practically prancing around until she stilled.
“It’s in the head,” I reminded her. “You have all this power at your fingertips, but you need to fully understand that.”
“I understand that.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her hands closed into fists as she looked over at me. Her blue eyes were vibrant, very much like her father’s when he was rocking irises, but when she was frustrated or angry, they reminded me of the deep blue of the Aegean Sea that surrounded the Cyclades.
They went that deep when she was turned on, too.
“I know I have the power,” she argued. “Duh.”
I arched a brow. “Yeah, you know you do, but you don’t really believe it or trust yourself. If you did, you wouldn’t be setting every damn thing on fire every time you get horny.”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “I do not!”
I smirked.
“That was like once or twice.” She threw up her hands. “Okay, maybe four times. I didn’t this morning.” A light sparked in her eyes. “Then again, maybe that just means you were slacking.”
“Is that so? Me slacking?” I laughed. “Babe, if you’d been any more ready this morning, the whole damn dorm would’ve caught on fire.”
Her entire face went red this time, but that spark in her eyes turned into a flame, and I knew her mind was back in the bed, when I was thanking her for the lovely gift of her breasts.
Josie blinked and muttered, “Assface.”
“Got a new nickname for you.”
“Oh. I can’t wait to hear this.”
Dipping my chin, I grinned as she watched me. “Anytime you get around me, you get so ready, I’m just going to start calling you Slip ‘N Slide.”
She choked on a strangled laugh. “Oh my God, that’s terrible. If I ever hear you say that again, I might hurt you, Seth. For real.”
Chuckling, I nodded at the dummy. “Tap into the wind, Josie. Feel it coursing through you. You got this.”
Josie’s nose wrinkled and then she focused on the dummy. Her hands closed into fists again. Her shoulders rose, and I felt it then—the small ripple of power. It flowed in the distance between us, washing over my skin. The kiss of power—of aether being tapped into and used—felt like stepping out into the summer sun.
Locking my jaw, I shifted my stance as I drew in a deep, steady breath and focused on Josie, only her, until the enticing wave of power dissipated.
Lightning cracked overhead. Fat, dark clouds began to form. I lifted my chin, sighing as a raindrop smacked off the bridge of my nose.
“Shoot,” she muttered, shoulders drooping.
I pursed my lips as I watched the gray clouds break apart. “We’re lucky,” I announced dryly. “You’re not going to drench us this time.”
“Shut up.”
My lips quirked up. “Try again.”
Josie did just that. Lightning cracked again. She set the chair I’d dragged out on fire. The dummy started to smoke at some point, but then the quick shower she summoned put the fire out.
The fedora was a loss.
Finally, near lunchtime, Josie got it. She summoned the element of air, lifting the dummy up and holding it there for several moments.
Each time she tapped into the aether, I felt the kiss of power and used every ounce of control that I had to ignore it. Being around pures had helped me build up some tolerance to the minor displays of power. And I’d experienced harder shit. For example, the erection this morning was one of them. Denying the level Josie wanted to take our relationship to was the exact opposite of easy, even when I wanted to . . . well, do right by her. Strange concept and all, but behaving myself was hard. So I got this covered.
But it was when we worked with akasha that I almost couldn’t . . . couldn’t ignore the allure.
There was nothing more powerful than that, and when it hit the air, it was like touching lightning. It called to me, sang to what existed deep inside me—this thing that needed aether as badly as a daimon did. How fucked up was that? Knowing that I shared something in common with the daimons was one of the things that kept me in check, kept this thing inside me locked away.