Chapter Five: Percy

Sunlight blinded me the moment I opened my eyes, and I was stuck floundering after the puzzle pieces of my dream as I glared up at the stain on our dorm ceiling and tried to calm my heart rate.

When I’d been confused as a kid, I’d decided my thoughts felt like spaghetti. All wiggly and slippery, tangled together in clumps. It had been a long time since I’d felt that way. Since I’d felt the need to summon an imaginary fork and start spooling them all together. Confused, aroused, twist, twist. Till everything was lumped together, even if it wasn’t organized.

Somehow it didn’t help, though I’m not sure why I was surprised by that.

So instead, I did the only thing I knew how. I sprung into action.

With my backpack slung over my shoulder, still wearing my pajama sweats, I dodged Tommy’s muffled ‘mmm?’ from his side of the room and slipped out into the hallway. I’d stumbled home after the graveyard drained, accepting Tommy’s apologies, though I knew it wouldn’t be the last time he pushed me farther than I was ready to go. 

The walk across campus was a quiet one at this hour. Most classes didn’t start till nine at the latest on Fridays, so the only place I could really go at…I checked my watch…seven-forty-five in the morning was the library on campus.

Yay.

That was sarcasm.

The cool wind whipped my cheeks as I dodged cracks in the sidewalk, superstitious, despite the fact my mother had been dead since I was twelve and as much as I loved my dad, I wasn’t sure if I’d regret a crack breaking his back.

The library was surprisingly busy considering the time. Students crammed in corners, their stuffed backpacks like toy chihuahuas sitting loyally at their feet. I wandered my way past them toward the computers at the back of the massive space. They were ancient and yellowed with age, but they always served their purpose. I’d been saving up for a laptop with my measly earnings from the greenhouse I worked at part time, but it wouldn’t be enough for what felt like a hundred years.

My scholarship covered most things. Room, books, and even the Omega dorm I lived in currently, not that I wasn’t about to change that. What it didn’t cover was food. Surprisingly, despite having a lot of ‘feelings’ about me going to college, my dad had, without fail, sent me a monthly allowance for food. I wasn’t sure how he came by the money.

Since Mom died, he’d never really been able to hold a job.

He was a lot of things, surly, prideful, confident, and determined. But reliable? Yeah, no.

That was why it was surprising.

Three hours of fruitless Google searches later, I still hadn’t found jack shit, even though I’d gotten pretty creative, and momentarily distracted halfway through. I’d corrected myself when I realized the librarians could probably see my search history.

Purple demon dude.

Graveyard demon.

Devil poem.

Hypothermia?

How long does a knot last?

Can you tell how old an alpha is by how long his knot lasts?

Knots.

Knots, images.

Dicks, images.

Anatomic dicks, images.

For art.

Not for anything else.

Devil purple guy?

Legends of purple guys in Madison.

Madison legends.

Horny demons.

What is an incubus?

What is the difference between an incubus and a succubus?

Are incubus purple?

Right as I was about to click out of the latest Reddit thread I’d encountered about incubus possession, I felt a prickle at the back of my neck. I wasn’t sure if I’d always been naturally aware of others, or if that had been bred out of necessity, but I always, always knew when someone was staring at me. 

I whipped around, only to encounter the smiling face of Stinky. Yeah, that’s his name. No, he’s not stinky. I guess maybe he used to be or something, but he’s not anymore? Or maybe that’s my suppressants. Stinky waved at me and slid into the chair beside mine as I casually clicked the little red ‘x’ at the top of the page and turned toward him.

“Sup, dude,” I nodded, giving the correct dude-bro greeting.

“Sup, dude,” he responded politely. 

I waited. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say next. Social interactions with people I only kinda knew were always awkward as hell. I wasn’t really the most talkative kind of person—and the only person I’d met recently that somehow didn’t make the words choke up inside me was Haden, and he was a purple-demon-thing-guy-who-might-or-might-not-be-an-incubus. Even Tommy had been hard to talk to at first, and he was, without a doubt, my favorite person alive.

My frat brothers only knew my surface level personality, and I was very much okay with that. Even when I attended meetings or parties, they never asked too many questions. Always happy to look the other way so we could fundraise or raise-fun, sometimes both at the same time.

“Excited you’re moving into the dorm, man,” Stinky said with a grin. “We don’t have enough betas. All the alpha stink is enough to make me gag.” Again with the whole ‘alphas stink’ thing. Was my nose broken? I’d never really thought much about the dirty sock smell, but I guess guys like Tommy and Stinky were less attuned to it.

Maybe they’d grown up with sisters.

“My sisters started gagging when they visited for Fall break. Too bad I’ll be moving out when you move in.”

Ah, that answered that.

“I’m pumped too, dude.” I flashed him a grin, which I hoped was the correct response. Apparently, it was because he slapped me on the back five times and ruffled my hair.

“Can’t believe I’m going to live off campus. It’s gonna be sick!” Stinky grinned.

“Hell yeah!” I slapped him back five times, as was expected, and his grin multiplied in size at me, before he shoved me away playfully and rose to his feet. Stinky was nice, I decided. I liked him.

Never trust a man named Stinky, Tommy’s name popped up in the back of my mind and I flipped him off.

He walked away, and I watched him go till he turned a corner and disappeared behind a line of books, then I opened Google again and started all over.

***

Dad hadn’t ever visited me at college. That didn’t mean I didn’t see him, though. I’d go home at least once a month to get shoved around by my brothers, whoop their asses at Mario Kart, and wait painfully for Dad to let his vitriol out. He was like a kettle sometimes, just bubbling up inside until suddenly the pressure got too much and whoosh, eeeeeee, the world had to deal with the fury he hid on an everyday basis.

I was the biggest disappointment out of the three of us for obvious reasons, so I always got the majority of his barbed words. Not that Buck and Marvin—Marv—ever escaped entirely unscathed, either. We just knew that’s how it was. When things were good, they were real good, though. Sometimes, Dad would get this look in his eyes, a sparkle, and that night would be filled with laughter, spilled beer, and nachos hot out of the dirty microwave.

I never knew what to expect with him.

Which was why I shouldn’t have been surprised when walking home from the library, my phone began to buzz and up popped his name.

I answered quickly, since I’d already kept him waiting for a ring or two, my heart thumping till my blood ran sluggish. Campus was waking up, sleepy students meandering around, and I dodged their wandering eyes as I ducked off the path so I wouldn’t block traffic. The early class-goers were still tucked inside their lecture halls and classrooms, so it was the hungover students that were out and about now, nursing their hangovers in cups, greasy hair crusted to sweaty heads.

It was times like these that I was actually grateful for the scent blockers and suppressants. Meant my nose was blind to their stench.

“I’m coming by next week.” Dad’s gruff voice echoed from his end of the line and I shuffled awkwardly, his words not processing. No hello? Nothing? Jesus.

Coming to campus?

To visit me?

His words hit like a sledgehammer and I grit my teeth, forcing myself to walk through the pain as my breaths came quick and my heart began to stutter. Why would he come to campus? Why now? It didn’t make sense. He’d never visited me before—

Fuck.

This was why I’d done the whole stupid fucking dare in the first place. Because I’d known at some point, I’d get unlucky enough he’d visit. Not because he cared, no. He wanted to check up and make sure I wasn’t spending the money he was sending on shit he didn’t approve of. I was the dumb omega. Couldn’t be trusted.

“Yeah, sure Dad.” Shit, that wasn’t enthusiastic enough. I tried again. “Whatever you want.” I wasn’t sure what I expected. Once again, he surprised me as the call ended and I glanced down at my phone in confusion, only to realize that he’d fucking hung up on me.

Whatever.

I shoved my phone in my hoodie and calculated the merits of stopping by a vending machine for a bottle of Mountain Dew before I dove into studying for my next class. It was only when I got halfway home that I fully processed what the hell my dad had said.

A startled laugh burst from my throat and the dude I was passing on the sidewalk gave me a startled look. I just waved him off and continued toward my dorm building, well aware I was muttering like a lunatic.

Shit.

The omega dorm.

I still lived there.

I wasn’t going to get to move into the Frat (tk name) until after this semester was over. I was so fucking screwed. Dad was sure to take one look at the building and yeet me all the way to fucking Hell. No way he’d approve. He didn’t even want the dean of the fucking college to know I was an omega, not that we’d gotten away with hiding that, there was no way he’d approve of me living in a dorm full of people that knew his dirty secret.

Walking in and out of the building was like wearing a neon sign that said ‘omega’ on it. That was why I only ever used the front entrance when Tommy was around. Entering through the back always helped with prying eyes, not that I’d ever admit that to him. He already judged me enough for hiding who I was.

I was so fucking fucked it wasn’t even funny.

But…

It wasn’t entirely hopeless. I mulled over my options as I walked, hopping up the steps at the back of the dorm building and slipping into the quiet warmth of the indoors that had been my home for over a year. No. It wasn’t hopeless. I could lie. I could lie my fucking ass off. Sure, I was shit at it, but I’d have to get real good at it real quick, wouldn't I? And then next time he visited he wouldn’t know the fucking difference. Yeah. That’s what I’d do. I’d lie.

I’d just have to talk to Stinky first.

With my plan in mind, I pushed into our room only to be met with the sharp acrid scent of nail polish remover and Tommy’s cheeky grin. He wiggled his toes at me and I rolled my eyes, flopping onto my bed with a quiet huff. I felt unhealthily exhausted, even though I’d really only walked about a mile. Maybe I should’ve driven the car? But sometimes I liked the cold to clear my head.

With the spaghetti of my Dad’s words in my head tangling up with my most recent dream about Haden, I was more than a little exhausted. Tomorrow I’d deal with all of this. Tomorrow. Right now, I just…needed a nap. 

Damn. I should’ve bought that soda.