Goddess Secret by M. W. Muse Page B

you understood his reasons.”
    She felt herself calming down a little by his admission. She took a deep breath and stared into River’s eyes. “That makes sense.”
    He sighed and briefly smiled, relaxing his arms. “So can we forget the nonsense about no physical contact?”
    “No.”
    “Legacy, please .”
    “No, River. We can still be best friends and do stuff together, but I think you need a break from me. I don’t want you getting your hopes up about a relationship that’s never going to happen.” She stared at him, making sure he understood what she wanted.
    “So by break, you mean this new, completely unfair boundary might only be temporary?” River smiled again.
    “Maybe.” She raised her eyebrows.
    “Okay,” he said, nodding.
    “There’s still no physical contact for now, so why are you taking this better than you were a few minutes ago?”
    “Because my hope is back.”
    She rolled her eyes and cracked a smile. “You’re incorrigible.”
    “You know,” he started, stepping closer to her. “We just had a pretty serious argument, and the weather never changed. You’re getting better at controlling your emotions.”
    She laughed. “Hmm…I guess you’re right. You’re getting better too. If it took feelings of neglect to make you create tremors, I’m sure those neglected feelings have never been any stronger than they were a few minutes ago.”
    “No doubt. I did feel completely desolated for a few minutes, and not a single tremor developed.”
    The bell rang, signaling lunch was over. River walked her and Calli to their English class, and once inside, she gave Calli the rundown of her conversation with River. Legacy was happy she didn’t back down from her stance, but Calli was disbelieving this new boundary would last. She really didn’t care how long she could make it last, but at least she knew she had a breather from River’s advances for the foreseeable future.
    After school, River and Calli came over so they could study for their Chemistry quiz. They had a lot to go over on the mole concept, molar mass, and molecular formula calculations. Legacy was completely lost, but River was patient with her as he explained all the concepts and calculations.
    After a few hours of hitting the books, Calli was ready for a break.
    “I’m grabbing a soda. Do either of you want anything?”
    River shook his head, but Legacy was parched. They were already in the kitchen, so she just stood up and walked to the refrigerator with Calli to get their drinks. As she and Calli and opened them, Calli turned to River.
    “Legacy told me you could start an earthquake.”
    River chuckled. “Yeah.”
    Her eyes were bright. “Can you show me?”
    River’s eyes flashed over to Legacy and then back to Calli. “I can try.”
    “You don’t have to,” Legacy said, shaking her head. She honestly didn’t like the fact that he had to embrace negative feelings to do so.
    Calli pinched her arm and frowned at her. “Please?” she asked River.
    He nodded at her, put his elbows on the table, and leaned his head down into his hands, shutting his eyes. He sat quietly for several seconds, but nothing happened. He lifted his head and shrugged.
    “You’re not trying hard enough,” Calli said, shaking her head. “Try again.”
    “I have to be in the right mindset to make it happen.”
    “What mindset is that?”
    River sighed and looked down. “I’ve only noticed it working when I think about how unfair it is that Legacy is with Adin and not me.”
    What hell was Calli doing? She already knew all this.
    “ Really ?” Calli had a devilish look in her eyes. “Well, did Legacy tell you that she and Adin have talked about sex ?”
    “Calli!” Legacy yelled.
    River gasped, and his hand flew up to his chest like he was protecting his heart. His eyes cut to Legacy for a split second, and then he closed them. Calli got what she was looking for—the ground shook.
    After a few seconds, though, the tremors got