Desmond burst out into laughter as he doubled over and rested his hands on his knees. He bent down and started tying his shoes, still laughing as he did so. Then he looked up and spoke with the same comical tone I had carried. "Did I scar you for life, Aria?"
"Pretty much." I shot him a playfully mean look with a slight grin.
Tallis smiled as he spoke reassuringly. "Don't worry, Aria. They've got clothes. They'll change after everyone gets here. They just prefer being in their animal forms. It makes them feel safe."
Tallis knew I really was worried about seeing more than I wanted to again. He took my hand as he led me away from the kitchen. He took me up the stairs to the second floor. He smiled as we entered a bedroom.
It was a charcoal gray color with lighter gray squares painted all around the room. A very large king-size bed was draped with a brilliant pale blue comforter with a charcoal trim. He had so many pillows. They were everywhere.
There was one wall of windows, and the other walls were littered with pictures of various countries from all over the world. He had been absolutely everywhere, it seemed. I found myself feeling slightly intimidated.
His tone was warm as he spoke to me. "This is where I am when I'm not keeping you safe."
His iridescent white shirt was unbuttoned slightly, showing off his navy blue T-Shirt underneath. His dark denim jeans were tailored to fit him perfectly, not too tight and not baggy at all. I hated baggy pants. I was glad he didn't follow that trend.
He pulled my hand in his and walked me over to his bed. Then he laughed nervously.
"This wasn't as awkward at your house last night." He scratched his forehead uneasily.
"That's because it wasn't your room with your secrets. It was my room and my secrets," I playfully teased.
He winked at me as he replied enticingly. "Yeah, I know all of your secrets."
"Not all of them," I said, raising my eyebrows and smiling somewhat deviously.
He laughed slightly. "I know most of them. I do a thorough job of studying the people I hang out with."
My tone turned to a playfully serious one. "Well, then I guess I need to do some serious snooping so that I'm not at such a disadvantage." He laughed as he bounced onto his bed and pro
pped up on his side.
I walked over and pulled a book off the shelf. I opened it up to see all kinds of writings. I tilted my head quizzically. "What's this?"
He raised up a bit to answer me. "Oh, it's a book my mom gave me to learn about my heritage."
There were hieroglyphic type symbols and all sorts of different words that I had never heard of. “What language is it?"
"Mayan mostly, with various other dead languages mixed in. My family are very cryptic sort of people. I know more languages than I can count." He smiled so smugly.
"Yeah, you got me there. I got nothing. I thought being bilingual was pretty good." I sat down on the edge of his bed, placing the book beside me. "So educate me."
He let out a laugh before responding. "On what?"
"On you." I smiled at him as I awaited his response.
"What do you want to know exactly?" He scooted down to be beside me, putting his arm around my waist.
"Everything I don't know." I crossed my left leg over his right leg and locked my eyes onto his, inviting him to make a move.
His finger started drawing imaginary lines on the leg I had draped across him. "Okay. Well, you know that no seer can see me because of my changer half being immune and you know my essence can't be smelled, right?"
"Yeah the whole half and half thing, they cancel each other out. You're lucky in that way."
"I know, but you don't have it so bad. I like the way things are now, but before you, my existence was a secret. Who would have guessed that saving you would save me from a continued life of ostracism."
I reached across and ran my fingers through his hair. He leaned into me, inviting my touch.
"I wish I didn't have to live like a hermit. I like going and doing as I please. Now, I'm constantly guarded." I looked at him looking down. "I'm kind of happy that you're doing the majority of the guarding though. I guess the only time I really mind being guarded is when it's McKee instead of you. School today sucked."