The Caledonian Inheritance (The Athena Effect) by Derrolyn Anderson Page B

to act in that situation… He’s been having a difficult time… adjusting.”
    “Adjusting to what?”
    She paused, gathering her thoughts, “Moving here. Everything changing so much for us... He’s not as excited as I am about re-building the house. All he wants to do is play online games.”
    “Why didn’t he just stay in Los Angeles then?”
    She twisted her hands in her lap. “We needed to make a fresh start… And we want to stay together. Me and Michael… Cali and Cal too.”
    His tight lips betrayed his annoyance even more than his dull olive green. “You know, you’d be better off away from all of them.”
    She looked at him in shock, “What?”
    He nodded yes with a knowing look.
    “How can you say that? We’re family. We belong together.”
    “You’re better than they are.”
    “You don’t even know them!” 
    He sighed, “You’re young, and you don’t understand. People like that… people with problems. They’re going nowhere, and they’ll just drag you down along with them.”
    She was stunned, and her eyes sparked with anger. “You have no idea what you’re talking about… I owe them everything! I owe them my life!”
    “Hey…” He held his palms up, alarmed at her intense reaction. “I didn’t mean any offense by it.”
    She groped in the back seat for her bag, her jaw tight.
    “Layla,” his voice took on a pleading tone, “I’m sorry… It’s only… I guess I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to stay together tonight.”
    “I don’t see how you can judge people you don’t even know,” she snapped.
    “You’re right– I don’t know them… And you’re a good person to be so loyal.”
    “They’re good people.”
    “Look… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it. It’s only that I was looking forward to being alone with you. I packed a bottle of special champagne and everything.” His eyes were apologetic, pleading. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
    The way he looked at her told her all she needed to know. He had planned a seduction scene for that night, only now she wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or offended.
    She finally sighed, softening. “What kind of champagne?”
    “Vintage Dom Perignon. A girl like you deserves the best of everything.”
    She arched a delicate eyebrow. “You don’t know what kind of girl I am. You don’t know me at all.”
    His eyes flooded her with warm approval. “I think I know everything I need to know.”
    She looked out the window into the darkness. “I’m not so sure about that.”
    “Hey… Let me make it up to you. Take me out to see your build site tomorrow and we can do something afterwards.”
    She was quiet for a moment, thinking. She turned to face him, “On one condition.”
    “Anything.”
    “We all go together… Cal and Cali and Michael.”
    “Okay… Alright. Tommorow it is.”
    ~
    Layla spent another sleepless night mulling over the day’s events. Conrad had judged her family harshly, and truth be told, Michael had made a spectacle of himself. She couldn’t help but wonder what Conrad would think of her if he found out about the terrible things that she’d done in her past.
    Despite what Cali said, Layla knew that she wasn’t entirely blameless. Even as a child, she’d realized that what the professor ordered her to do was wrong. She simply hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to him, particularly where Michael was concerned. By the time Max took control of them she was used to it, and by allowing him to manipulate her she had brought every bad thing that happened down onto both of them.
    She swore that no one was ever going to do that to her again.
    Like Caledonia, Layla felt that she needed to make sense of the strange talent she’d been born with, and to find a way to use it for something positive. Unlike Caledonia, she also felt that she needed to atone for her sins. She certainly had a lot of them to make up for, and she only hoped that it wasn’t too late.
    ~
    The two