Dream chaser.doc by Unknown Read Free Book Online

put together a
    syllabus for a new class while it was quiet and
    the baby wasn't trying to scribble all over my
    notes. Her older sister just taught her how to
    43
    draw tulips and she's been putting them on
    everything."
    Case in point, there were two bright pink
    tulips about toddler height on the wall behind
    him.Simone could just imagine how hard it must be
    to think up interesting and beneficial class
    material while shuffling an insistent toddler.
    Personally, she hated coming up with new syllabi
    and that was without the addition of a . . . then
    again, she did have Jesse. She could actually
    relate to Julian's plight. "Sorry we're disturbing
    you."
    "Don't worry about it," he said in a friendly
    tone. "If this is the worst interruption I have
    today, I'm doing remarkably well."
    Then without another word to them, Julian
    tipped his head back and looked up at the ceiling.
    "Hey, Mom, you got a minute?"
    Simone looked to the stairs, thinking his
    mother was in the house. Apparently, she wasn't.
    A flash of light almost blinded her before an
    incredibly beautiful blond woman appeared in front
    of Julian. Thin and graceful while wearing a
    winter-white wool suit, his mother looked as
    stunned at Simone's presence as Simone was at
    hers.
    Not to mention the fact that Julian's mother
    didn't look a day older than Julian. Holy cripes!
    There was a real live, breathing goddess in front
    of her! What would appear next? A dragon? Then
    again, if it were Brad Pitt, she'd be in business.
    "What's going on?" Aphrodite asked.
    Julian inclined his head behind her to where
    Xypher stood with his usual menacing glower. "We
    have a situation."
    Aphrodite turned, then curled her lip. "You?
    What are you doing here? I thought you were dead."
    44
    "I am. Thanks. You look good for an old broad,
    too."
    Aphrodite looked at him as if his words left a
    bad taste in her mouth.
    Xypher ignored it as he held the bracelet up to
    her. "I'm here to get this off, or if not off, to
    at least find out what it is and what it does."
    Simone wouldn't have thought the goddess could
    look any more repulsed and yet she pulled it off
    nicely. At least until she laughed.
    "I swear by the river Styx, Xypher, I have
    never seen anyone make the gods madder than you.
    Whoever did you irritate for that?"
    A muscle worked in Xypher's cheek. "Don't toy
    with me, Aphrodite. What is it?"
    "It's a deamarkonian. A nice little trinket
    created by the Atlantean gods to kill the
    invincible. I didn't even know there were any
    left. Wherever did you find it?"
    "I found it attached to my wrist. Now what
    exactly does it do?"
    She made the most graceful shrug Simone had
    ever seen. "It binds the life forces of two
    entities together. You and"—she turned to Simone—
    "your little friend here. If one of you dies, the
    other dies. The Atlanteans used it as a way to
    kill a stronger person. You bind them to someone
    weak and you kill the weak in order to kill the
    strong. Simple."
    Xypher cursed.
    "Oh, but it gets even better," Aphrodite said,
    wrinkling her nose at him. "You have to stay near
    each other. If you wander too far afield, you'll
    both die."
    Simone went still. "What?"
    She nodded.
    Xypher cursed again. "How far?"
    45
    "I have no idea. Guess we'll know when one of
    you crosses the boundary and you both die, huh?"
    This time Xypher's curse was so foul it
    actually made Simone blush. "I can't be stuck
    with you," he growled at her.
    Her mouth dropped at his angry words. "Like
    you're my dream man come to life. Believe me, that
    sick feeling you have in your stomach is very much
    shared by me."
    He narrowed his eyes on her, but she refused to
    back down. "Do you know of any way we can get this
    off?" he asked Aphrodite.
    "Don't know."
    By his expression, Simone could tell that
    wasn't the answer Xypher wanted.
    "What do you mean, you don't know?" he said.
    "What are you? Blind? I'm not Atlantean—that
    bracelet was designed to bring us down and that
    means the