My mouth dropped open. “Aiden’s stil there?”

“You came here knowing they would fol ow you?” Caleb frowned.

Deacon appeared entertained by both statements. “Yes answers al .” He brushed a sunny curl off his forehead.

“Crap!” Caleb started to stand while I mul ed over the knowledge that Aiden was stil partying it up. “Alex, we should go.”

“Sit down.” Deacon put up a hand. “You have at least an hour. I’l give the party boys enough time to clear out. Trust me.”

Caleb didn’t seem to hear him. He stared back down the seashore, where Olivia and another half stood close, real y close together. Seconds passed while his face hardened.

Leaning over, I tugged the hem of his shirt.

He gave me a broad smile. “You know what? I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to head back to the dorm.”

“Boo.” Deacon stuck out his lower lip.

I stood. “Sorry.”

“Double boo.” He shook his head. “And the fun was just starting.”

Tossing a quick goodbye to Deacon, I fol owed Caleb up the beach. We passed Lea coming down the wooden boardwalk.

“Like going after my sloppy seconds?” Lea wrinkled her nose. “How cute.”

A second later, I wrapped my hand around her forearm.

“Hey.”

Lea tried to pul her arm back, but I was stronger than her. “What?”

I smiled my best smile. “You boyfriend just copped a feel.

You obviously aren’t doing it for him.” I let go then, leaving a very unhappy Lea standing alone.

“Caleb!” I moved to catch up with him.

“I know what you’re going to say, so I don’t want to hear it.”

I brushed my hair behind my ears. “How do you know what I was going to say? Al I wanted to point out is if you like the chick back there, you could just—”

With a sideways glance, he raised his brows. “I real y don’t want to talk about this.”

“But… I don’t understand why you won’t admit it. What the hel is the big deal?”

He sighed. “Something happened the night we went to Myrtle.”

I tripped over my feet. “What?”

“Not that. Wel … not real y, but it came close.”

“What?” I squealed, punching his arm. “How come you haven’t said anything? With the Olivia chick? Jeez, I’m your best friend and you failed to mention this?”

“We both had been drinking, Alex. We were arguing over who cal ed shotgun first… and the next thing I know, we’re ful -on making out.”

I bit my lip. “That’s kinda hot. So, why won’t you talk to her?”

Silence stretched between us before he responded.

“Because I like her, real y like her, and you would like her, too. She’s smart, funny, strong, and her ass is just so—”

“Caleb, okay. I get the point. You real y like her. So talk to her.”

We headed toward the courtyard nestled between the two dorms. “You don’t get it. And you should. Nothing wil come out of it. You know how it is for us.”

“Huh?” I stared at the intricate designs on the pathway.

They were runes and symbols carved into the marble.

Some represented various gods while others looked like some child got ahold of a marker and went to town.

Actual y, it looked like something I’d draw.

“Never mind. I just need to hook up with someone else.

Get this stupid whatever out of my system.”

I lifted my eyes from the strange markings. “That sounds like a solid plan.”

“Maybe I should just hook up with Lea again or someone else. How about you?”

I shot him a dirty look. “Gee, thanks. But seriously, you don’t want to hook up with just anyone. You want something… meaningful.” I stopped, not sure where that came from.

Clearly, he didn’t either. “Something meaningful? Alex, you’ve been out in the normal world too long. You know how it is for us. We don’t get ‘meaningful.’”

I sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

“We’re either Guards or Sentinels—not husbands, wives, or parents.” He stopped, frowning. “Flings and girlfriends.

That’s what we have. Our duty doesn’t al ow for much else.”

He was right. Being born a half-blood wiped out any chance for a normal, healthy relationship. Like Caleb said, our duty didn’t al ow for us to form attachments—anything we’d regret giving up or leaving behind. Once we graduated, we could be assigned anywhere and at any given moment we could be yanked and sent somewhere else.

It was a harsh, lonely life, but one with purpose.

I kicked at a smal pebble, sending it flying into the thick underbrush. “Just because we won’t have the picket fence, doesn’t mean… ” The skin of my forehead creased as a sudden chil brushed over me. It came out of nowhere, and by the sudden confused look on Caleb’s face, I knew he felt it, too.

“A boy and a girl, one with a bright and short future, and the other covered in shadows and doubt.”

The raspy, ancient-sounding voice brought both of us to a standstil . Caleb and I turned around. The stone bench had been unoccupied a moment ago, but there she was. And she was old, like should’ve-been-dead-by-now old.

A massive pile of pure white hair sat pinned atop her head, and her skin was dark as coal and heavily lined. Her crooked posture aged her even more, but her eyes were sharp. Intel igent.

I’d never seen her before, but I instinctively knew who she was. “Grandma Piperi?”

She tipped her head back and laughed wildly. I half expected the weight of her hair to topple her over, but she remained upright. “Oh, Alexandria, you seem so surprised.

Did you not think I was real?”

Caleb jabbed me with his elbow a few times, but I couldn’t stop staring. “You know who I am?”

Her dark eyes flickered to Caleb. “Of course I do.” She smoothed her hands over what appeared to be a housecoat. “I also remember your momma.”

Disbelief brought me a step closer to the oracle, but shock left me speechless.

“I remember your momma,” she went on, nodding her head back and forth. “She came to me three years ago, she did. I spoke the truth to her, you see. The truth was only for her to hear.” She paused, her gaze fal ing back to Caleb. “What are you doing here, child?”

Eyes wide, he shifted uncomfortably. “We were…

walking back to our dorms.”

Grandma Piperi smiled, stretching the papery skin around her mouth. “Do you wish to hear the truth—your truth? What the gods have in store for you?”

Caleb paled. The thing with truths, they usual y messed with your head. It didn’t matter if it was crazy talk or not.

“Grandma Piperi, what did you tel my mom?” I asked.

“If I told you, what would it change? Fate is fate, you see.

Just like love is love.” She cackled as if she’d said something funny. “What’s written by the gods wil come to pass. Most has already. Such a sad affair when children turned against their makers.”

I had no clue what she was talking about and I felt pretty sure she was certifiable, but I needed to know what Piperi had said—if she said anything at al . Maybe Caleb was right, and I needed closure. “Please. I need to know what you said to her. What made her leave?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you want to know about your truth, child? That is what’s important now. Don’t you want to know about love? About what is forbidden and what is fated?”

My arms fel to my sides and I blinked back sudden tears.

“I don’t want to know about love.”

“But you should, my child. You need to know about love.

The things people wil do for love. Al truths come down to love, do they not? One way or another, they do. See, there is a difference between love and need. Sometimes, what you feel is immediate and without rhyme or reason.” She sat up a little straighter. “Two people see each across a room or their skin brushes. Their souls recognize the person as their own. It doesn’t need time to figure it. The soul always knows… whether it’s right or wrong.”

Caleb grabbed my arm. “Come on. Let’s go. She’s not tel ing you anything you want to hear.”

“The first… the first is always the most powerful.” She closed her eyes, sighing. “Then there is need and fate. That is a different type. Need covers itself with love, but need…

need is never love. Always beware of the one who needs you. There is always a want behind a need, you see.”

Caleb let go of my arm and jabbed fiercely at the walkway behind us.

“Sometimes you wil mistake need for love. Be careful.

The road with need is never a fair one, never a good one.

Much like the road you must walk down. Beware of the one who needs.”

The lady was a loon, and even though I knew this, her words stil sent shivers down my spine. “Why won’t the road be easy for me?” I asked, ignoring Caleb.

She stood. Wel , as much as she could stand. Since her back hunched forward it stopped her from standing up completely. “Roads are always bumpy, never flat. This one here,” she nodded at Caleb with a tiny cackle, “this one has a road ful of light.”

Caleb stopped pointing behind us. “That’s good to know.”

“A short road ful of light,” added Grandma Piperi.

His face fel . “That’s… good to know.”

“What about the road?” I asked again, hoping for an answer that made sense.

“Ah, roads are always shady. Your road is ful of shadows, ful of deeds which must be done. It comes to those of your kind.”

Caleb shot me a meaningful look, but I shook my head. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I was stil unwil ing to leave. She hobbled past me and I stepped out of the way. My back brushed against something soft and warm, drawing my attention. I turned, finding large purple flowers with bright yel ow middles. I shifted closer, inhaling their bittersweet, almost acrid smel .

“Be careful there, child. You be touching nightshade.”

She stopped, turning back to where we stood. “Very dangerous… much like kisses from those who walk among the gods. Intoxicating, sweet, and deadly… you need to know how to handle it right. Just a little and you’l be fine.

Too much… it takes away what makes you who you are.”

She smiled softly, as if she were remembering something.

“The gods move around us, always close by. They are watching and they are waiting to see which one is revealed to be the strongest. They are here now. You see, the end is upon them, upon al of us. Even the gods have little faith.”

Caleb passed me another wide-eyed stare. I shrugged, deciding to give it one more chance. “So there’s nothing you’l tel me about my mom?”

“Nothing you haven’t already been told.”

“Wait… ?” My skin felt hot and cold al at once. “What…