Firstborn [malexmale]

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Everything felt so surreal.

And it helped that I was once again plunged back into the eerie calmness of the blessing Viviana had given me. No more aches and pains, no more churning anxiety, nausea, fear, depression. I just felt calm and relaxed. It probably helped that, on top of the blessing, I was being pampered for the first time in a long time.

It wasn't to say Thorn didn't do his best. But he definitely didn't hire a professional masseuse.

I bit my bottom lip as the masseuse dug his fingers into a particular spot on my foot that gave me goosebumps. I slumped back in a fluffy soft recliner, watching through hooded lids as the guy cocked his head, studying my foot as he kneaded at it before moving his way up to my knee, then back down again. He'd already done my back, shoulders, arms, hips, and now my legs felt like jelly in his hands.

And that wasn't the half of it. Geara and Viviana had also prepared high quality and healthy foods for me straight from their garden. I'd been able to eat to my heart's content without getting sick. And when I fell asleep, there was nothing to snap me back awake. I woke up on my own, feeling relaxed and at peace.

The only thing that was unsettling was seeing Tristan hanging around. He was clearly not buying into any of this, and I knew I shouldn't be either, despite Geara and who she was. He gave the masseuse a full airport security pat down and was probably about ready to ask the guy for a cavity search when Viviana assured him that the masseuse had already been checked on upon his entry into whatever world we were in.

Not that Tristan believed her.

He gave her a long hard stare that seemed to confuse her before he went back to giving the guy a pat down.

Which brought me to my real concern; Tristan was part of the prophecy, according to Geara and Viviana. They had no idea how or why he was connected to any of this, and didn't really give us anything to go on aside from a hunch, which honestly wasn't much. Heck, for all they knew, their hunch could just be wrong. But Geara claimed she always followed her gut in situations like this; it was how she had known something was wrong back in the day when the first imp creature in existence had been brutally murdered. She'd known something had happened to the imp, but didn't know how to explain it.

Perhaps some level of clairvoyance? Which only reminded me of Keros.

So now I just felt guilty because I wasn't with my family.

They were probably worried sick. If the shifter had jumped them to find me, and didn't find me, then my family would make the only logical assumption that the shifter didn't had me; someone else did. I hoped Theo was the one who caught onto this whole thing. Surely his first guess would be Viviana.

My thought process was interrupted when the masseuse sat back on his heels, putting lotion on his hands before he went back to work on my feet. I shuddered. I normally hated people touching my feet. They were incredibly gross. Scarred beyond belief, slightly disfigured, always covered in bruises, sores, and whatnot. Because that's just what our feet looked life. Ours, meaning dancers. I hadn't gotten too many foot massages back in the day, despite the recommendation from my manager. I'd just done it myself, embarrassed to have anyone see what had been done to my feet during the whole thing. Even Hades hadn't seen the way my toes had begun to curve and bend unnaturally. I couldn't imagine the lecture over that whole thing. Probably something along the lines of this wouldn't have happened if you had just done this or that's what you get for wearing those stupid ballet flats and running around bare foot like a monkey child.

Though, for the record, I wouldn't mind hearing his voice now, even if it was just to reprimand me. As stupid, and childish, as it sounded, I really wanted him and Blaine to be here with me. While their support came in different forms --Hades so professional and stiff and Blaine so motherly, it would've been greatly appreciated.