29. Hitting My Head Against the Wall
Chapter twenty-nine
Hitting My Head Against the Wall
Nicodemus
Seraphine’s class was boring the shit out of everyone today.
She taught our Fundamentals of being a God class, which meant all the Gods-to-be were in attendance.
Odysseus was literally drooling with his head slumped back in his chair as he slept; I tried to poke him awake with my pencil, but he only snored louder from my poking, so I let him get in trouble all on his own.
Soren. Praxis, and Griffin were using their binders to hide the fact they were creating fantasy football teams, while Sebastian and Xenobia were scrolling the internet for wedding ideas for both our upcoming ceremonies.
I seemed to be the only one willing to actively participate, though admittedly, I was losing my focus by the minute.
“The balance of the world rests on your shoulders. Every decision you make can have catastrophic consequences, even something as simple as-…” She paused her writing on the whiteboard to turn and see the state of her class.
I was the only one paying attention, with my face in my palm as I watched her work.
She set her hands on her hips and cleared her throat. “Is literally anyone awake right now?”
“I am, thank you very much,” I snorted.
“Oh really? What did I say about the order of the planets, then?”
“You said: ‘It is imperative that the order of the planets is kept regardless of what affects they have on the course of nature. One slipped position and the universe can suffer greatly’ yada yada yada,” I mocked in a drowned-out tone.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Hmm, fine. You might try and wake your fiancé up, considering this next section is about his ability to, ya know, MAKE HUMANS!” she yelled obnoxiously to try and jolt him awake, but I knew his ass was not going to budge.
I groaned dramatically and grabbed his shoulder to shake him as hard as I could. “Yo, Squeaks, wake up dude!” I called in tune with my shaking.
He let out a loud snort before smacking his lips and breaking his eyes open. He had to wipe crust from them, and when he realized Seraphine was glaring heavily at him, he shrunk into a ball in his seat. “Er… sorry, Ms. McBride…”
“I take it no one else is paying attention to my lecture?” she barked.
“Negative,” Sebastian bluntly shot back, eyes still glued to his phone.
She smacked a hand to her forehead. “Fine, fine, we’ll call it here. You kids… whoever invented electronic devices should be quartered and hanged.”
“Are we free?” Soren popped up from his binder. “Woo, yes! Now I can solidify my choices on some actually good Wi-Fi!”
“I give up.” Seraphine collapsed into her chair.
I laughed lightly and put my belongings together swiftly. The others scrambled for freedom, clogging the hallways with their obnoxious talking. I shut the door on them before leaning against her desk. “Well, you tried at least. I’ll give you an A for effort.”
“What do you want, Nicodemus?” she moaned out.
I stole a chunk of her long hair to spin it through my fingers. “I wanted to see if my super awesome auntie wanted to be a part of my meeting on Saturday.”
“Meeting? What meeting?” she inquired.
“I’m going to tell Mom that I chose Emmeline and Elektra as my second-in-commands.”
She lit up like a firework. “My, what an important conversation! You’re sure you picked good candidates?”
I shrugged loosely. “After what they did for me and the Shadow Realm when Dad went berserk… how could I say no? Emmeline alone kicked some major ass and led her Elementals through the literal fire and flames. She’s definitely got my stamp of approval.”
Seraphine procured a planner from her tote bag and skimmed it briefly. “Well, I don’t have much planned for that afternoon, so I can certainly attend with you.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear.” I patted her distended abdomen lovingly. “How have you been feeling? Is this little monster doing ok?”
She beamed at my loving tone. “So far as I can tell. Lysander and I are nervous about the four-month mark.”
“Why?”
Her face sunk into despair. “That’s… when I usually lose the baby. We’re about a week or so away from that point, so only time will tell.”
I rubbed her arm gingerly. “Hey, don’t freak. If my mom gave you this baby, then she’ll see to it that it reaches maturity. Besides, you and Erasmus are Particeps Potestatis, so the likelihood that things will go as planned has skyrocketed.”
“So it will.” She tucked some hair behind her ear and sighed softly. “Nick, can I ask something of you? I don’t want to put you in the middle, but I kind of have no choice.”
“Uh oh,” I laughed, sitting on the desk fully this time. “I hate to hear that!”
She flicked my nose with an eyeroll. “It’s… about Stark.”
I fell into serious mode immediately. “Oh, yeah, what about him?”
“Do you think… you could talk him into speaking with me?”
I gulped immediately at her request, loud enough that she heard it, too. “I mean, I can try. I don’t know how well it will go, but I can give it a go.”
She brought her gaze to the whiteboard, where she had circled LIFE repeatedly during her lesson.
“I want to clear the air with him, now that I know for certain I have moved on. I want him to know he can move on, too, and have an afterlife full of love instead of pain. I want to see him meet someone that makes him as happy as Erasmus makes me… but I also want him to know that I still love him, and he will always have a special place in my heart.” She held a hand there as she humbly spoke.
I jumped off the desk and flattened my shirt out. “Mind if we skip practice today so I can go talk to him? I’ll have Alice come find your Shadows when he’s ready, so you can join us in the Shadow Realm. Speaking somewhere familiar to him may lessen the blow.”
“I agree.” She combed a lock of hair behind my ear. “You’re doing me a huge favor here, Nick. I hope you understand how much it means to me.”
“I know, you big softy.”
“How dare you! I am not soft!” she screeched. Her high pitch made me laugh hysterically on my way out of the room, while she set to work throwing pencils at the back of my head.
“Why exactly are you dragging me along with you?” Odysseus snorted as we crossed campus to the Death Elemental arena.
I was gripping his arm so tight I expected it to fall off, but he luckily let me do this, since he knew it was settling my nerves slightly.
“He’s less likely to kill me if my future husband is there!
It will remind him that I need to live to see the next sunrise!
” I squeaked as I gnawed on my bottom lip, enough to make it bleed.
Odysseus tsked and smoothed his thumb over the cut to heal it. “Love, you’re being dramatic. Stark is a four-thousand-year-old ex-God; he’s more mature than you think.”
“You barely know him!” I pouted out. “He’s a douchebag who is going to ring my neck for even entertaining this!”
“Have some faith in him, would you? He loves you more than anyone in the world, so I doubt he’s going to be mad.”
“You think that…!” I shrieked ominously as I placed my trembling hand to the portal, “but you have no clue what that man is capable of!”
“Ah heh.” Odysseus rolled his eyes heavily and pulled me down the walkway leading to the main gates of the Realm, which opened to the beautiful town all Shadow Walkers resided in.
He spun in a circle to take in the sights of the opulent city, which was slowing down for the afternoon after a long day of training.
Most Shadow Walkers in my own’s neighborhood belonged to my Elite Elemental trainees, so I recognized quite a few of them.
They gave us grand waves and smiles as we passed, but I was too frazzled to respond.
Stark’s house was empty, per usual, as he hated being home alone, so I banged on Claude’s door obnoxiously. Claude wrenched the door open with an eye twitching. “Who taught you how to knock on a door?”
“Hi Claudy-poo,” I teased, which made Odysseus snort beside me and Claude’s eye twitch harder. “I was looking for your lovely little brother.”
“How should I know where he is? Why do you want him, anyway.”
“Seraphine wants to talk to him…” I said through clenched teeth.
Claude immediately paled, even more than he already was, that is. His black eyes swirled with worry as he called for Alice, who appeared with oven mitts on and her hair in a big bun. “Hello, my sweet honey bunnies. What can we do for you?” she chimed.
“Er, Nick needs to talk to Stark, like, now. Do you know where he’s at?”
“I think May was giving him piano lessons today, so probably at May’s house.”
“Piano lessons?” I scoffed.
Claude shrugged. “I dunno what that dude does in his spare time. I told him he should spend it getting a girlfriend, but what do I know.”
“Why are you looking for him?” Alice asked as she handed Odysseus a muffin she had just baked. He bit into it before his eyes popped open in surprise, and he went to work attacking it to her pleasure.
“Seraphine… kind of wants to bury the hatchet with him, and she asked me to help?” I peeped into my shirt collar.
Alice nearly dropped her tray of muffins. Claude caught the tray before they collapsed, though his wife was seconds behind the muffins. “Oh boy, how the heck are you going to make this happen, Nicodemus?”
“I’m gonna make him do the talking,” I blurted as I jabbed Odysseus.
He smacked the back of my head. “I don’t think so, slick.”
“You’re an abusive, miserable, bitch who wants nothing more than my misery!” I wailed, but my insults didn’t scratch him.
“Whatever you say,” he said with his mouth full.
Claude chuckled lovingly and tucked a muffin into my hands. “Take him one of these and take a deep breath, too. This is Stark we’re talking about; he has an incredible soft spot for you, so if anyone can win him over, it’s you.”
“Let’s hope so…” I grabbed my fiancé’s sleeve. “Come on, loser.”
“Thanks for the muffin!” Odysseus called over his shoulder.
“Good luck you two. May the Gods be in your favor!” Claude gulped.