Temporary Goddess

Starting Over

Chapter 1:

                “I still can’t believe you moved us to this black hole of a place. You can throw a rock and land it on the other side of town. I can see why G-ma C. moved you away from here all those years ago.” I complained to my mother as we unpacked the last of our boxes into my mother’s family home.

                Due to family reason’s the two team Castell family moved from our cushiony apartment in the big city more specifically, Brooklyn, to the old family home in the relatively small town of Black Water, Montana. When Cleo, my mother was sixteen she got pregnant. The father ran away from the situation before he even knew there was one and G-ma C. decided she was getting her daughter out of the small place to raise the baby in a bigger environment. It was sixteen years later and G-ma C. got sick, and within four months passed on. Without much to tie us to the city, Cleo decided it was time to head back to the family house for us to get our lives back together. But something about the entire thing made me worry. It seemed like since the decision was made, mother had been wanting to say something to me, yet never did. Now, stuck in this town with nothing but our two dozen boxes, I was feeling the pressure.

                Cleo rolled her eyes. “It’s not that small, Cairyn. Plus, I think you’re really going to fit in great here. This place is where we really belong.”

            “Really, mom? What part of me is going to fit in? My short shorts or my low-cut tops that you despise? Or my pretty face that gets me into trouble anywhere I go?” I said sarcastically, but I couldn’t help the smile that showed on my full lips.

            “It’s going to be an adjustment. I get that, but you have to give it a chance. You never know what you’re going to encounter. The best thing in my life happened here, getting pregnant with you.” Cleo said as she set a fancy bowl on the table.

            I rolled my eyes teasingly. “Well, I’m going to go encounter a gallon of milk down at the convince store since one of the only things that made it was the cereal boxes.”

            Cleo sighed. “I can’t believe those movers lost three of our boxes like that. Go, go. Get back soon though. You still need to get to bed for school in the morning.”

            I was out the door and walking down the street before I felt like I could breathe. The cool air wrapped around my bare legs and chest as I let out a deep breath. I knew my mother was having a hard time, and I was doing my best to make sure I stayed in line to keep her from worrying too much. G-ma C. was a strong, loving woman who held our family together like glue, but now it was taking everything I had to not fall apart. Not even realizing it, a few tears strayed from my slate grey eyes.

            “I’m guessing this is it.” I said to myself before stopping and glancing behind me. “I could have sworn…”

            For a moment, I thought I had felt someone right behind me, but there was no one there. My hand nervously fiddled with my necklace as I tried to focus on what I was doing in the first place.

            It only took a few minutes to get inside, then pay for a gallon of milk. When I came back out I felt that same itch that someone was behind me. I glanced around and sighed before heading back to my house. Suddenly someone was in front of me. He appeared like a flash, and directly blocked my way. The guy smiled down at me as he looked me over from head to toe.

            “Can I help you?” I took a step back.

            The guy shrugged as he tilted his head to the side. “Are you new to town? I know everyone, but not you.”

            I rolled my eyes. “If that was a pick-up line, then I don’t have time for this.”

            As I tried to go around him, I felt a tight grip on my arm. When I looked up the guy had a glint of irritation in his eyes.

            “Where are you going? You haven’t even told me your name yet?” He took in my scent like an animal.

            I tried to pull away from him, but his arm didn’t even budge an inch. “Let go of me.”

            “Come on, just tell me your name.” He tried saying in a sultry tone, reaching out to touch a strand of my long light brown hair.

            I rolled my eyes again. “I’m not going to tell you a damn thing. Let me go.”

            Before the guy could say anything else a rock suddenly slammed directly into the center of the guys forehead. When I looked over I was stunned. Walking up the sidewalk was a guy that I was sure was the most attractive male I had ever seen in real life. He was tall, muscular, and had an air of ‘I don’t care’ about him. He seemed unfazed by the situation in front of him as his light hazel eyes scanned the issue. I saw him let out a deep sigh from his beautiful lips before stopping. His raven black hair was shaved on the sides with a longer top that was neatly slicked back, and his clothes and accessories were all black. A black chain necklace hung from his neck, matte black gauges were in his ears, a black leather bracelet, black wash jeans, and a solid black cotton V-neck t-shirt was on his body. Black and grey tattoos scattered across his arms and neck, all without one spec of color that I could see. He had a rugged 5’o clock shadow to his immaculate jawline that made him seem even more dangerous. Everything about this guy made me bite my lip.

            “What the f**k are you doing here, Jacek?” The guy who had my arm hissed as his grip got tighter.

            Tattooed guy, apparently named Jacek, huffed. “Do you really want to pick this fight, Gunner?”

            The dude who had me, named Gunner scoffed. “Everyone may be afraid of you, Jacek, but I’m not.”

            “Is that so?” Jacek took a few steps forward. “Then why are you so nervous?”

            Gunner spit in his direction. “f**k off, Jacek. This girl doesn’t belong here.”

            I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t be here right now if you would just let me go.”

            “Shut up! You can’t do anything while she’s here. You know that, Jacek.” Gunner said with a small smirk on his lips.

            “Says who?”

            Before I could blink, Jacek was right next to me with a hand on Gunner’s throat. He easily had him lifted into the air before sighing like he was bored. My mouth gaped open as I saw the black covering Jacek’s once hazel eyes. He smiled and exposed two sets of fangs next to his two front teeth, and a dark feeling was emitting off him into the air making my skin produce goosebumps all over my skin.

            “Jacek! The girl is a human!” Gunner coughed out.

            He shrugged. “Scared now?”

             With a groan of frustration, Gunner tried to pull out of his grasp. “You and your kind promised! No exposure to the humans!”

            Jacek huffed. “I didn’t promise you Demi Gods anything.”

            “Your such an asshole, Jacek.” Gunner hissed.

            “Yeah, haven’t heard that one before.” Jacek said before he easily snapped Gunner’s neck and let him drop to the ground.

            My breathing was labored as I tried to rationalize everything that just happened. A Demi God was hitting on me, a monster came from nowhere and killed the Demi God, and now I was left with said monster. That couldn’t be true thought, right? I had to be misinterpreting things. Or I went insane in the last five minutes. It had to be some kind of joke, that’s what I was going with.

            Before I could say anything, Jacek turned to go back the way he had came, and it shocked me back to reality.

            “Thank you!” I called out to him.

            He looked over his shoulder and slightly shrugged. “I didn’t do anything for you, dolcezza. Just go home.”

            I watched as he disappeared into the dark, and it was a minute or two before I headed back home and tried to forget about the ‘Demi God’ guy and Jacek. But even as I closed my eyes in bed all I saw was those black eyes looking back at me.

            “What the hell…”

            I looked at the school from the student parking lot and groaned. It looked like an old hospital they converted into a high school in the 80’s. It was all brick and sat back nearly hidden from the road by a bunch of large trees, and it seemed that was the intent. As I shut the creaky door to my beloved Pontiac firebird I was well aware of the people looking at me. After letting out a deep breath I started for the school.

            A guy to my right slapped his buddy and gestured over to me. They nodded to each other before heading in my direction.

            “Hey! New girl! Wait up!” The one said as he ruffed up his short dark blond hair.

            His friend had deep red hair and dark green eyes, and both looked me over as they got close. “I promise were not creeps.”

            I couldn’t help the little smile that appeared on my lips. “That was reassuring.”

            The blond smiled. “I’m Derek Mills and this is Casey Jones. What the hell brings you to Black Water?”

            I shrugged. “My family home is here, the names Cairyn Castell.”

            “Family home?” Casey asked as they fell into step next to me.

            I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been in my family for a thousand generations. It was my grandma’s before and now it’s my mom’s.”

            “May we ask? Who was your grandma?” Derek asked as he raised an eyebrow.

            “Whatever.” I shrugged. “Cerise Corrigan. That was her maiden name at least, then it became Castell.”

            Both boys stopped dead in their tracks, but I kept walking figuring they would catch up or leave me alone.

            “Holy hell! Your Cerise’s granddaughter? I can’t believe it!” Casey exclaimed as he caught up.

            “For real! We all wondered what happened to that super awesome lady. So, your mom’s Cleo, right?” Derek asked as he joined them again.

            My eyes narrowed as I looked over to him. “Yeah…how did you know my mom’s name?”

            “You don’t know?” Casey raised an eyebrow as he laughed. “Your family are legends around here.”   

            “Alright then.” I let it go. We were heading inside the building now, and I was too focused on this strange pressure in the air.

            For a moment, I thought I was going to pass out. I felt like something electric coursed through me before exiting out through my toes. My head cleared, my heart slowed down in my chest, and my lungs felt fine again, still, it was weird.  

            “Hey, are you okay Cairyn?”

            When I looked over, both Casey and Derek were watching me as if I had just gotten out of a hospital bed. With a slight nod, I rubbed the back of my neck.

            “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just going to go to the bathroom.”

            As I turned around I heard them suck in breaths like something bad was about to happen. I spun around on my heels, took a step forward and ran directly into someone. My balance was regained in time for me to catch myself from falling over. When I looked up to say sorry I was stunned.

            “Oh, it’s you.”

            I was staring straight into slightly annoyed looking hazel eyes. My breath caught in my throat as I realized I probably sounded really rude, but it was too late now.

            Jacek sighed. “You should really watch what you’re doing.”

            I rolled my eyes. “Your one to talk. If you saw me then you could have gotten out of the way.”

            “Don’t blame me for your lack of perception.” He said as he went to move away.

            I scoffed as I shifted my weight. “Just admit it, you wanted me to bump into you.”

            “Delusion doesn’t look good on you, dolcezza.” Jacek said over his shoulder, never bothering to turn around.

            I shook my head. “Of course, he goes to the same school. Why wouldn’t he?”

            When I turned back around I saw Casey and Derek’s jaws on the floor. After narrowing my eyes at them I crossed my arms over my chest. “What is it?”

            “How do you know, Jacek?” Casey asked as he looked around me as if making sure he wasn’t listening.

            I shrugged. “I met him yesterday for like five minutes. I don’t know him.”

            Derek held back a laugh. “You…Jacek hardly talks to anyone. You had a longer conversation with him than I have had with him in my entire life, and that’s saying something because we’ve been going to the same school since like preschool.”

            My eyebrow raised as I let a smile slip onto my pretty face. “Your serious?”

            “Deadly.” Casey said as he gestured over to Jacek at his locker. “That guy is an idol. All the ladies want to sleep with him and all the guys want to be like him. It’s like having our very own celebrity, and you got to talk to him on your first day.”

            I rolled my eyes at how dramatic they were acting. “Are you one of the guys who wants to be like him?”

            Casey nodded. “Uh yeah, he gets all the ladies swooning just by walking by. Don’t even try to deny that you resisted his charm the first time you seen him.”

            “No, he is very attractive. I do have eyes.” I said as I glanced over in Jacek’s direction. “But I’m also not stupid. That guy will never be anything for anyone, and that’s the way he wants it. I don’t have for that kind of tragedy.”

            Derek smiled. “Holy s**t dude. Cairyn is amazing and finds Jacek resistible. I declare her team leader.”

            Casey nodded. “I second that.”

I shook my head at them, but there was a smile on my lips. “You two are weird, but I like it. So, can you two sweet losers show me where my locker is before school starts?”

            After getting my stuff into my locker, I followed Derek and Casey to my first classroom listening to everything they spewed about the school. How the cafeteria food was terrible, the soccer field is where the kids go to smoke, the school was apparently a hospital back in the day and then converted to a school when it was shut down, which teachers were nice and which were to be avoided, and that the principal had been there since the day the school opened back in 1986. It was all interesting to me. Back in Brooklyn I wasn’t popular, barely even had friends, and now I had two and it had only been an hour.

            Then something caught my attention right after I said goodbye to the boys. An oddly familiar face appeared from around the corner and caused me to nearly have my jaw on the floor. Our eyes met and a wicked smile appeared on his face. I lost my breath for a second as I swallowed hard.

            “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost?”

            I clenched my jaw as I stood up as straight as I could. “Your Gunner, right? It’s just the last time I saw you, you were flat against the concrete. I almost didn’t recognize you upright.”

            He was alive. Very alive, and right in front of me. It was strange, especially because I clearly remember hearing the snap of his neck from Jacek. But here he was.

            “You’re a funny girl, but where’s your guardian? Aren’t you scared without him around, little human?” Gunner said as he leaned in to be closer to my face.

            I shrugged. “Who are you even talking about?”

            Gunner smirked. “Oh, you know exactly who I’m talking about.”

            “Nope. Now if you’re done, I have to be getting to class, and you need to be getting a tic-tac. Later, muscle head.” I turned to open the door to my classroom and headed in. Behind me, I could hear Gunner laugh, and it was more unsettling than him being angry.