Calling Cupid

Excerpt

Prologue

Cupid yawned. Another boring Valentine's Day lay ahead of him. After centuries of piercing reluctant hearts, he longed for different--two people not destined to fall in love at first sight with or without his help.

"Calling Cupid. Calling Cupid. Can you hear us? We're so desperate, as in really, really. Please come in."

What was this? Cupid wondered, perking right up. He zoned in on the source of the summons, three teenage girls he knew well, all sitting cross-legged around a circular coffee table in an Alabama living room. Adara, Kennadie, and Mei Li, students at the same high school.

Their names could be found on a long list of humans in need of romance--a list he never seemed to get to, thanks to special orders from higher up. Intrigued, he gave them his full attention.

"Oh my God, Adara. I can't believe we're doing this," said Mei Li with a toss of her shiny black hair.

Adara laughed. "I know. It's so lame."

"Totally," said Kennadie. "And if this comes back to bite me in the butt, I'll know one of you is to blame."

Her companions nodded.

"So what do we do next?" asked Mei Li.

"Well, since Cupid hasn't shown up yet, I guess we go to Plan B." Adara nervously tugged on a lock of her blonde hair.

Kennadie caught Adara's eye. "Which is...?"

"We light this candle and read these words aloud." Adara handed each of the others a pink, heart-shaped card with writing on it, then lit a tall red candle set on a paper doily in the middle of the table. "Okay, here goes nothing. On three. One. Two. Three."
O mighty Cupid, god of desire
Send me a boy with a heart that's on fire.
Let his love burn us until we're consumed
And all that remains is true love never doomed.

Dead silence followed the chant. Then all three girls burst into laughter.

"P.S.," said Mei Li, clearly trying to compose herself. "We'll take any kind of male. Jock, geek, emo, skater--"

"Ghost, goblin, vampire."

"Shapeshifter, robot, one of those pesky aliens, or even a god...no, especially a god." Adara's eyes twinkled with mischief as she redid her blonde ponytail. "Listen to us. This is the south, right? We're actually even open to distant cousins."

"Or Mei Li's twin brother," added Kennadie with a mischievous grin.

Mei Li winced. "As if."

Laughing, Adara blew out the candle. "Forget roses, mushy cards, and boxes of chocolate. Who needs them, anyway, when we've got each other? So...how does pizza and a movie sound?"

"I'm in."

"And me."

Cupid watched the three of them get up and head out the door.

Hm.

Did they mean what they'd said?

Would they really take anything?

This certainly qualified as a special order, giving him the perfect excuse to find out...

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COMEDY OF ARROWS

Just as I turned onto the two-lane, something four-legged and brown streaked across the road in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, but not before a second something followed the first. My car crashed into it. After catching my breath and trying to relax a smidgen, I got out and cautiously made my way to the front. Smoke roiled from the hood, so I knew it wouldn’t be good.

My bent bumper only complimented the crumpled grill and broken headlights. It literally made me sick. I worked so hard to prove to my parents that I was responsible enough to own a car. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that Mother Nature caused this accident and not me.

Slowly, I peered around the fender to find a huge buck lying there. It had a massive rack with sixteen points. I felt terrible about hitting it, but knew it unavoidable. Just as I bent down to confirm the death, the deer sprang to its feet and shook its head violently.
I gasped and jumped back to avoid my own death by antler. The animal snorted then disappeared into the forest that lined the road I traveled. To the east, the brilliant yellow and coral light started topping the trees in front of me. I’d missed it.

With a sigh, I pulled out my cell phone, but got side tracked by the sound of a vehicle in the distance. Dust appeared over the road ahead as I watched a white truck get closer. Within a few seconds, it pulled off to the side, and the door slammed. I saw a guy walking toward me. Uneasy, I gripped my cell phone tighter and dialed my father, but didn’t hit the connect button just yet. If this stranger touched me, I’d claw his eyes out.

“What happened?” he calmly asked.

I looked through the disappearing cloud of dirt toward the concerned voice, to find a dark haired guy that looked vaguely familiar. After studying him a few more seconds, it suddenly hit me. I wanted to open up a can of whoop-ass on him. Ripley Stone, a.k.a. my sister’s heartbreaker, stood before me, all grown up and filled out nicely.

Immediately, I clammed up. My sister Hannah had cried her eyes out when Ripley broke up with her. Naturally, I slugged him after she told me about it. All the intense feelings from our past consumed me once again. Irritated, I watched him step closer to me, studying my face. I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to recognize me. We’d successfully avoided each other for a very long time, but I didn’t forget faces or actions.

“Kennadie?” His tone sounded skeptical, but growing certain. “I can’t believe it.” Leaning against my bruised car, Ripley crossed his arms then ankles confidently. “I haven’t seen you in ten years. How are you?”

Seriously?

“I’m fine.” Flat and uninterested took over for rage, thankfully.

“How’s Hannah?”

My mouth fell open. “What?” Surely I’d misunderstood him. My sister’s name rolling off his tongue only made my blood boil faster.

“How’s Hannah? Is she doing okay?” He honestly didn’t get the hint.

“Of course she is. She’s over you and found a wonderful guy.” Deacon wasn’t wonderful, but Ripley didn’t need to know that. Struggling with composure, I happily watched his facial expression. It didn’t change, but his brow furrowed curiously.

“Are you okay?”

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E.V.E.R.

Instead of hosting an eighteenth birthday party for me and my twin brother Rune, our parents hosted a family meeting. It convened around the dinner table at 1 p.m. on a Saturday in February. A decorated cake, lime green paper plates, and hot pink plastic forks sat in the center, along with orange cocktail napkins. Trust Mom to go all out.

"Mei Li, Rune, circumstances have made it necessary for us to share some information we'd intended to save until much, much later." My Swedish Dad gave the floor to my Japanese Mom with a brisk, "Tomiko?"

I glanced at my brother to see if he had a clue. He shrugged to tell me he didn't.

Mom looked right at Rune. "We're not your parents."

My chin hit the table. "You mean you adopted us?"

"Not you," said Dad. "Rune. We're not his parents."

I found my voice first. "But we're twins."

My parents shook their heads.

I gasped. Rune cursed.

Dad took the floor again. "We raised you that way, true, but Rune isn't really related to us. We've simply had him on loan since his inception."

"Inception?" Rune and I blurted it at the same time.

Dad quickly shook his head. "Birth. I meant birth. I know this is a blindside, and I realize you must have a million questions. So why don't we have our cake, then go into the den and clear the air?"

He thought we'd be hungry after this?

Mom stood and reached for the matches. Flames soon flickered atop eighteen yellow candles. Rune made no move to blow them out, and neither did I. After a couple of awkward seconds, our parents did the honors. Mom began slicing with a silver server. She handed me a huge piece, then gave a bigger one to Rune.

"It's your favorite." Her dark eyes begged us to eat even as the smell of chocolate tickled our noses.

Trancelike, Rune picked up a plastic fork. I followed his lead.
I got two mouthfuls down before I gagged and pushed the plate away. Rune simply picked at the icing on his. I looked my dad in the eye, then got up and purposefully walked into the den, taking a seat on my favorite end of the couch. Rune followed. He sat on the opposite end and stared at the floor. We didn't speak while Mom and Dad took their sweet time joining us. Dad went to his desk, unlocked a side drawer, and dug out a file. Holding a piece of paper he'd gotten out of it, he walked back to us. Mom settled herself in her glider rocker and coolly set it in motion.

Dad began to read. "Rune Aaron Nilsson, you have the honor of being part of a prestigious, top secret project called the Eugenics Vulnerability Elimination Rationale or, as we bio-geneticists call it, E.V.E.R." He grinned as if that cleverness amused him.

I suddenly wondered if I knew the guy at all. Somehow I couldn't reconcile the tall, blonde father who'd carried us on his shoulders and kindly bandaged our booboos with the man reading this crap.

"Though many members of the US research team applied for raising rights, your mom and I were chosen. We took you home, monitored your growth and development, and reported your amazing progress." He might as well have been reading the sports page. He sounded that flat. "Unfortunately, Brilliance Bioengineering, our international sponsor, has pulled the plug on the project, which means we have to give you back."

Give him back?

"This is a joke, right?" asked Rune.

Mom shook her head. "You leave tomorrow for Houston."

"But what about our North Berwick scholarships?" We'd both worked so hard for them.

"Don't you get this?" Rune jumped to his feet, blue eyes flashing as he whirled on me. "I'm a freakin' lab rat."

Dad tried to calm him. "Your education will continue, I expect. I can't imagine them completely abandoning such a costly investment, current funding difficulties or no. Of course, if the, um, situation warrants, they could simply put you in cryo until the time is right again. I admit I've heard some rumors...." For the first time he looked a little disconcerted.

Suddenly I couldn't breathe. "Cryo? As in freezing him?"

Rune zoned in on Dad. "What if I don't want to go?"

"You have no choice."

"Bull shit!"

"Rune, sweetie..." Mom reached over to touch his hand. "It's not so bad. When you get to Houston, you'll meet some of the most brilliant scientists, physicists, biologists, and psychologists in the world. Imagine what--"

"Am I a droid? Is that what you meant by inception?"

I nearly fainted. Trust Rune to be way ahead in processing ramifications, though he must have everything wrong. Why would anyone freeze a machine that wasn't alive in the first place?

My parents exchanged a glance. Mom sighed. "Oscar, maybe you should--"

Dad stopped her with a shake of his head. "I've said too much already. Now you need to go upstairs and pack. We've all got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Rune, flushed and trembling, glared at them. "You call this clearing the air?"

Once again Mom tried to calm him. "Please don't be difficult, son--"

"I'm not your son, and I'll show you difficult!" Pivoting, he left us. I heard him stomping up the stairs a second later, then the hard slam of his door.

Mom turned to me. "Mei Li, honey, would you talk to him?"

"And say what...? You'll love being a Popsicle?" I ran after my un-twin and up the stairs, stopping at his closed door. I automatically reached out to him mentally, something I'd always believed to be a twin thing. My sudden feeling of emptiness terrified me. "Rune? Open up."

He didn't.

--------------------

LOVE STORM

I slowly walked back to my car, not really paying attention to where I was going, until I slammed into someone. Looking up, I realized too late that I’d unwittingly run into Thorvold Sokki, the one guy in school I wanted to avoid.

“Watch where you’re going, Adara,” he growled, lightening snapping in his eyes.

I’d always convinced myself it was a trick of the light, but there were times I wondered. I tipped my head all the way back to look into his stormy gray eyes, forcing myself not to flinch at the anger I saw in their depths.

“Sorry, Thor. I have a lot on my mind and wasn’t paying attention.”

He grumbled something and pushed past me.

With a sigh of relief, I walked over to my car, looking over my shoulder once. I was surprised to find him watching me, an intense look in his eyes. If only I knew what it meant. Thor wasn’t someone to toy with. While I didn’t think he’d ever hurt me, he also had a reputation at Waite Hills High, a bad one.

I unlocked my car and slipped inside, a shiver shaking my body from head to toe, and it didn’t have anything to do with the weather. After I started the car, I backed out of the parking space and headed home, anxious to get away from Thor and the odd feelings he always evoked in me. Dealing with my neurotic mother was better than dealing with Thor.