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  “Go,” Sim called, beeping her timer to a start.

  I wasted no time as I grabbed the seat of the tricycle with both hands and stood. My butt was still technically on the seat. Holding it in place, I jogged around the course, passing frustrated bikers along the way, including Seth’s ‘not girlfriend’. I smiled and kept running past her on my way.

  Sim was jumping with excitement as I returned to where they were waiting. I gave my bike to Ty, who still didn’t have one yet from a returning biker before me.

  “Why didn’t you tell me all the secrets to doing this?” Sim asked as she passed the board over to Seth to be able to hug me. “You’re awesome.”

  “I didn’t know ahead of time. It just hit me,” I replied honestly. “I came up with everything at the spur of the moment.”

  “You’re going to be the top-rated girl for sure now,” Sim said, looping her arm in mine to lead me away. “I have the top female as my roommate,” she gloated.

  As we passed the edge of the tricycle course, we could see Melissa standing on the course complaining to an official. We heard her argument as we got closer.

  “She cheated,” Melissa pointed at me while screeching at the person working the tricycle race. “You can’t stand! It’s in the rules!”

  “The rule was the seat had to be touching your butt at all times,” Seth corrected before the student officiating the race could reply. “She didn’t cheat,” Seth defended me.

  “Correct,” the working student replied. “But since your butt isn’t touching the seat, you have to start over,” he pointed out. Melissa glared daggers at me.

  Chapter 6

  Not Too Bad, Maybe

  After we finished our races, we worked the rest of the afternoon taking turns with people we knew to man the race stations. I ended up relieving the Barbie girls we met at orientation. I got stuck at the ball race when they didn’t return from lunch, but it wasn’t that bad after Sim, Ty, and Seth all joined me. One person running around retrieving balls was hectic, but with four of us it didn’t turn out to be too much work. We stayed there until all the competitors were through.

  By the end of the day, my times still held out as the best times in the female category. Sim was more than happy. She told me that each house has a five member team, and they get to pick people to participate in the competitions. She didn’t make it high enough to be on our house team, but it didn’t matter since I was there. I was going to insist she come with me. It was her fault after all that I was even participating.

  When the competitions were officially done, we all started to head back to the dorms. In the courtyard inside the dorm square, a party was already going on. Competing in CRUSH gave you entry, and we were waved through easily. Students were lounging around, eating, talking, and some even dancing to the loud music. Off to the side were tables set up with food.

  “I’m going to go up to our room and change,” I told Sim as she headed to the food tables. I was still only wearing my swimsuit. Unlike Sim, I couldn’t put my shirt back on since it was covered in goo. What I really wanted was to take a steamy shower and go to bed early. Eight o’clock in the morning on a Saturday was not my idea of fun after early classes all week.

  “Fine, but if you’re not back down here in five minutes, I’m coming up to get you,” Sim replied. I guess she saw through that plan as well. “We’ll be over next to the food.” I nodded, searching her face to see if she was serious about coming back up to find me. She smiled and waved me away.

  I wove my way between students to an open doorway. It seemed like everyone from the dorms came out for the party. The courtyard was filled and students were still coming down the stairs. I wasn’t sure if Sim was going to come looking for me, but I figured I’d take a chance and get cleaned up.

  I wanted to grab my pajamas, but instead I grabbed normal clothes as I headed off to the shower. After sitting forever in the hot, steamy water to wash off the afternoon, I returned to my room dressed. I was way over the five minute time limit Sim had given me, and half expected to find her waiting on her bed. The room was empty. Maybe I wasn’t going to have to go down there after all.

  The knock at the door made that thought fade instantly. I didn’t even look out as I opened the door to find Seth standing there.

  “Sim figured you weren’t coming back down, but it seems I win that bet,” Seth said, waving to my clothing.

  “I haven’t decided yet if I was going to go back down there,” I replied. I couldn’t just let him win the bet outright.

  “Really?” Seth answered, raising an eyebrow to question me. “I actually agree with Sim.” Seth smiled at me.

  “Fine, you’re both wrong,” I huffed and grabbed a sweatshirt on my way. Fall was already here, and the nights grew cooler once the sun was down.

  “Do you really want to go back?” Seth asked. He actually sounded sincere. It made me pause. I didn’t really want to. Large parties were never really my thing, and my foray into college hadn’t done anything to change that yet. I only really knew Sim, Ty, and Seth in that large group of people down there. I didn’t really need to be surrounded by people I didn’t know.

  “That’s what I thought,” Seth replied. How could he know me that well already? He had been reading my face all day so I shouldn’t have been surprised. “But I did promise Sim that I’d get you out of this room.”

  “And what do you propose?” I asked in return.

  “Care to go for a walk with me, my lady?” he asked formally with a bow. Seth was one weird conundrum. He was athletic and a jock among jocks. His best friends and all his football buddies were always cheering and slapping each other like guys’ guys, but here now he was playing the part of the knight to rescue me. I really didn’t understand him. He was not your typical player.

  I rolled my eyes and took his offered arm.

  “And where would you be leading me, good sir?” I played right along.

  Seth reached over and grabbed a bag at his feet. “Why, on a picnic of course. I promised your dear friend that I wouldn’t leave you alone in your room, and that I’d take you outside. I never said that I would return you to the party below.”

  Oh my, he was smooth, and I was falling for it. He really was rescuing me and doing exactly what Sim asked of him. I tried to find a reason to protest, but my stomach responded instead with a growl.

  “And I’m just in time to rescue you.” Seth smiled.

  I tried to be reluctant as he led me back down the stairs and out a front door, instead of back toward the party. After walking ten feet away from the dorms, it was quiet. All the noise of the party was gone and since all of the students were at the party, the campus was particularly empty. Seth led me to a side path and on one of the walkways through the wooded area to the east side of campus, across the river. I didn’t know where he planned to have a picnic, but the food smelled good. He continued to lead us through east campus and the sports area. As we made it through, he continued to walk. We were now headed off campus.

  I hadn’t really ventured off campus at all since I arrived. There was too much to do on campus right now, I didn’t even think of it.

  Seth paused at a road that ran north in front of us. We were headed in the general direction of the lake, but I still had no idea where we were going. Seth walked me across the road to a driveway that was gated. He opened the gate, and I paused. Seth smiled and pulled me along when I didn’t verbalize my protest.

  The long driveway led to a large house. Seth didn’t stop at the house as he strolled past to a smaller, waist-high gate to open, ushering me in. I paused as I viewed the lake in front of me. Lake Superior was all I could see in front of me. I stood in awe as the sun reflected off the water. I grew up near Chicago and had seen Lake Michigan many times before, but the Great Lakes always amazed me. These bodies of water that were large enough you couldn’t see across them. The waves lapped up ten feet away from us.

  “A beach picnic.” Seth indicated to the sand at our feet I fa
iled to even look at. I looked up and back at the house. It was the only property around here. I looked down the small beach and up the other side. There were no more homes along this particular beach.

  “Private beach?” I asked.

  “Yes, Sangre family beach.” Seth nodded back to the house. I had wondered why we had walked past someone’s house, but it made more sense now. This was owned by his family. Of course the Sangre family wouldn’t just own a house, but a whole beach as well.

  Kicking my shoes off, I wiggled my toes in the sand. It was still warm even though the sun had set enough behind the house to now place the entire beach in the shadows. Seth led the way down the beach a little so that we were not sitting right in front of the house as he reached in the bag he was carrying and pulled out a blanket. He laid it on the sand and sat down, patting a spot next to him for me to sit. I sat down across from him and the food he was pulling out.

  He concentrated on what he was doing, and I couldn’t help but study him. He was one of the most beautiful guys I had met. His eyes were framed by long eyelashes that would make any girl jealous, followed by high cheekbones and a perfect mouth. I looked away from his mouth. His chest was broad and muscular which I could look over as he didn’t wear a shirt. The cooler night didn’t seem to bother him one bit. His arms were perfectly-shaped. He had a very exotic look to him. He was not from around here, but where he was from was beyond me.

  “I grabbed one of everything at the food table,” he smiled guiltily, indicating the amount of food between us now. I could just picture Seth asking some awe-struck, innocent girl to give him one of everything.

  I reached over and grabbed a wrapped sandwich. It looked like it was roast beef. I wasn’t really the picky type when it came to food so it didn’t matter.

  “You do know that this is enough to feed at least two more people,” I said, grabbing a small container of fruit. Seth grinned.

  “Not with my family,” he answered. I looked back down and giggled. Seth was right. I bet a guy Ty’s size could eat this on his own.

  I bit into the sandwich and looked across the lake. The fading sunlight sparkled off the water. The sound of the waves on the shore was relaxing as we both just ate in silence. There was something about Seth. It didn’t feel awkward at all to just sit and watch the water. He seemed to be as mesmerized with it as I was. By the time we had our fill, the sun was fully hidden now. We probably only had thirty minutes or less left of any sunlight breaking over the horizon.

  “I miss the water the most,” Seth said, interrupting our silence. I nodded though I had no clue what he was talking about. “Where I come from, it’s normal to build your home next to the river. Anywhere you go in the house, you can hear the water lapping against the shoreline.”

  “Where are you from?” I asked. If he was truly in the witness protection program, I’m sure he couldn’t tell me; but then again, if he was trying to hide, why would he be a star quarterback? I guess that didn’t add up after all. Seth and his brothers were still a mystery. Even more now that I was alone with him. Without the dozens of eyes of every girl around following him, he wasn’t the cocky ladies’ man any more.

  “I don’t know,” Seth replied. “Mr. Sangre found us and took us in. I don’t know where I come from, and he told me not to look into it. All I have are my memories and this charm.” Seth pulled at the rope necklace he wore. Woven into the necklace was a red stone no bigger than my thumbnail. It looked familiar to me, but I had no idea why. I wasn’t really the jewelry type. I only owned a ring and few bracelets, and I didn’t even have my ears pierced.

  “And that’s from your home?” I asked.

  “Kind of,” he replied, but didn’t elaborate.

  We fell back into silence. I stole a glance at him. Seth was intently staring at the water, lost in his own thoughts. He was such a mystery, and I couldn’t help but want to know more. Did he truly not even know where he came from? Is that why he didn’t have a past? He just didn’t know? I glanced at him and saw that he was still watching the water. The thought struck me that if he didn’t know, then he could never go home. I couldn’t imagine never going home.

  “So, friend,” Seth said, snapping out of his thoughts. “Since I can’t tell you much, you tell me, where are you from? That’s what friends do, right? Talk?” His confidence was present again, but under the surface it was as if he was trying to test me.

  I smiled and shook my head in exasperation. Back to the friend act.

  “I grew up in a suburb outside Chicago,” I replied.

  “You’ve lived there your whole life?” he asked.

  “As long as I can remember.” I was pretty sure my grandfather had always owned the home I grew up in. It was packed too full of his lost finds that graced all the wall and cabinet space available. In his travels around the world, he wasn’t just there doing a job, but collecting his own ancient art in the process. And I don’t think he threw an item away his whole life. The house was a little too full to up and move.

  “And you grew up with family?” he asked. The question seemed odd. Didn’t everyone grow up with family of some sorts? His tone even changed, like he was asking me some super-secret question.

  “Ah, yes,” I replied, raising my eyebrows in question. “My mother and grandfather.”

  Seth looked perplexed by my answer. How could I having family perplex him? Wasn’t he the odd one out, that he couldn’t even remember where he came from?

  “No father?” he asked, changing to friendly talk again.

  “No. I’ve asked my mother several times, but she said he died a long time ago and I’ll never be able to meet him. I would have liked to meet him. I mean, yes, I look almost identical to my mother, but still, he was my dad after all. She said he died before I was born,” I explained way more than I needed to.

  “I’m sure he would have wanted to meet you, too,” he answered. Somehow, that reaction seemed unexpected from him. He might have been playing the cocky friend, but he was still real under it. “Why does a girl living in the big city travel across the world?” I was beginning to sense that Seth paid attention to every detail around him.

  “My grandfather is an anthropologist, and kind of an art historian. He’s a private consultant and goes around the world authenticating items and dig sites. My mom and I go with him sometimes.” I couldn’t believe I was actually sitting on the beach talking with Seth. He was being nice and hadn’t even hit on me once since we’d been alone. He was slowly changing my mind on him being just a player.

  “Anthropologist?” he questioned, as if he didn’t know the word.

  “You know—someone who studies humans. More correctly, he studies ancient artifacts and is an expert on many of them.” Seth nodded his head in understanding.

  “Then if I were to show him the carving on the back side of my charm, he could tell me where I come from?” Seth sounded a bit like he didn’t believe it was true.

  “Probably not,” I answered. “He studies ancient things. Anything in the last century is too new for him. It took me almost two years to convince him to get a cell phone. We don’t even have a TV in the house, and the computer we have is only because he needs it to do business.”

  “Even if this is a family heirloom that has been handed down to the oldest son for centuries?” Seth asked. It didn’t look that old.

  “Centuries?” I asked.

  He smiled sheepishly at me, like I was catching him doing something wrong. “Okay—I reset the stone into this necklace,” he admitted. I had to chuckle. He was admitting that he moved the stone like it was a cardinal sin.

  “There’s writing on it?” I asked, getting back to his question.

  “On the backside,” he explained, taking it off. He handed it over to me and watched me intently.

  I took the necklace the by woven rope and turned it over. Sure enough, there was writing on the back. The symbols were way too small for me to make out what they could be. I had seen enough of my grandfather’s things
over the years to pick out some specific ancient scripts, but this was just too small and the light too dim. I was sure my grandfather would be able to tell if this was really ancient, and if so, where it came from. I went to hand it back to Seth, but immediately dropped it when I felt a sharp part poke the skin in my finger.

  “Ow,” I complained, putting my finger in my mouth before checking it for a wound. Something sharp on the necklace had just poked me. “You might not want to put that back on right away,” I warned Seth. “I think there’s something sharp on it.”

  I only caught his awed stare for a moment before he reached down and picked it back up, hiding his face from my view. He shoved the necklace in his pocket rather than putting it back on. Seth looked back to the water and the glow that was almost gone from the setting sun on the waves.

  “Guess we should head back, before Sim gets really mad at me for taking you away.” Seth piled all the containers from our picnic into the middle of the blanket before making it into a makeshift bag. He led the way back down the beach to his house, leaving the left-over food and empty containers beside the house. He led the way we came. Soon we were at the wooded pathway between east campus and west campus.

  “Mari,” Seth said, suddenly breaking the silence and my wandering thoughts. “Please promise me not to walk this way at night alone. I hear the guys talk, and there’s just stuff that can go on around here. It isn’t safe at night.”

  “Yet, here we are walking through it,” I replied, teasing him about his concern.

  “You’re always safe with me. I promise you that,” Seth answered, leading the way down the path. I wasn’t expecting such a serious reply. There wasn’t even a hint of kidding there.

  As we walked on, I stumbled on something across the pathway. It was too dark to even be sure what it was. Seth reacted quicker than I did, and he caught me. Standing me upright, his hands lingered on my waist. He didn’t say anything, but just stared intently at me in the darkness. I could barely make out his eyes by now, and wished I could at least try to read his expression, but it was too dark. Seth finally let go and continued to lead the way. He was now looking for anything else I might trip over to save me from that. He was really taking this protecting thing seriously. I glanced back once to see what I’d tripped on and was surprised to see someone following us at a distance. Without knowing what I tripped over and the person lingering behind, I was thinking that my fall wasn’t exactly an accident, but then again, I had always had an overactive imagination. I glanced back one more time and no one was there.