He jerked his head around. “If you knew about that, knew about the dangers Selene and Tara were in, why didn’t you help them?”
“Because I was not meant to,” Lucas answered. His eyes moved to Mia. “I am, however, meant to be here.”
“Okay, so how do we train Scott to …”—Mia waved her hand in front of her—“change?”
“Why can Scott change?” Selene interrupted. “I mean, Mia is… what she is. You are the son of… who you are. Scott is nothing. I mean…” Selene touched his arm. “His parents…”
“Were just as important as ours were. Most sons and daughters of gods are not raised in happy households. We’re abandoned at birth. Left to be raised by any caring soul who stumbles upon us. I was adopted by Leif and Leslie Romano.”
“And your name? Helios?” Scott asked.
“I came with it.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Much like my sisters. But when I was adopted, my parents called me Lucas instead.”
“Okay, so if Scott’s parents were gods, which ones?” Selene asked him.
Lucas’s eyes bore into his. “I cannot tell you. Only a…” Lucas frowned and turned back to Mia and then smiled as if he suddenly got a joke. “Only a djinn can.”
Mia smiled. “Figured me out, huh?”
Lucas nodded as if in appreciation. “I have never met one of your kind before. It took me a moment.”
“There’s currently only one of me on this planet,” Mia answered with a grin.
Lucas nodded. “It is a pleasure meeting you.”
“So, how do we train Scott to do what we can do?” Mia asked.
“Much like you train a dog to sit,” Lucas said. “With a lot of help and patience.”
“Don’t forget the treats. I’m starving,” Scott said, earning a few chuckles.
“Okay then. How about we start training after breakfast?” Mia asked.
Almost two hours later, after everyone was fed, showered, and dressed for the day, the four of them stood in the tall grass behind the house.
Since Scott had been to Mia’s Between before, he stood and watched the others take it all in. Mia explained how no one could get hurt by tossing a log at each of their heads, much like she’d done to him. Only, Lucas changed into the dog form quickly and caught the massive log in his mouth, like a dog would catch a stick.
“I think he likes it,” Mia joked. “We can play fetch later.” She winked at Lucas, who quickly changed back into human form and tossed the log to the side, looking slightly annoyed at Mia.
“Shall we begin?” Lucas turned to Scott. “The first thing you need to realize is…”
Scott tuned out. He had no clue how he was going to turn himself into a dog or even if he really could. His entire life there had been nothing special about him. Selene held all the awards in that field.
He glanced over at her and realized she was watching him with a worried look in her eyes. He reached over and took her hand and squeezed it to reassure her.
Lucas was still talking to him, but he wasn’t paying attention.
“Hey.” Lucas snapped his fingers in front of Scott’s face then glared over at Selene. “You’re distracting him.”
Selene dropped his hand and stepped back. “We’ll go over here and spar,” Mia told Selene. “It will be interesting to fight someone as strong as you.”
The two of them moved away, and Scott turned his attention to Lucas again.
“Put your feelings aside,” Lucas warned as his eyes narrowed.
Scott wanted to tell the guy it was easy for him because, obviously, the man had never had any feelings, outside of anger and annoyance.
“Right.” Scott nodded and focused on the task at hand. “So, you really expect me to just”—he snapped his fingers—“change into a dog?”