Interim Goddess of Love Read Online Free Page A

should let you decide."
    I sense his anger, and frustration. I can barely see his face, and yet I know this. The anger seems sharp. But it is not directed at me, and in fact I feel safer than I've ever been my entire life.
    I feel a little giddy, even.
    But I don't seem to be disoriented, despite the unfamiliar surroundings. Usually my dreams are set in places I know, but this is too bright, too green, too quiet to be anywhere I've been.
    " You know how I am going to rule on this," he says.
    " It's the same way I would," I say.
    " Then why should I be part of it?"
    " Because Aman will not fight you."
    Quin is not convinced by this. He doesn 't care.
    " Your father wants you to protect me," I say. "Because Aman will destroy me if I intervene. You know he can."
    The water at my feet starts to rise. I lift one foot, just to make sure that it's mine, and touch the water's edge with a toe. I see that Quin is holding – has been holding – my hand.
    That explains the giddy.
    "I won't let him hurt you," he says.
    A bright light shines directly into my eyes.
    I wake up.
    After five minutes of just looking up at the ceiling, I flexed each of my toes and fingers (everything worked). It was not the first time that Quin had a lead role in one of my dreams. But for the first time, I wasn't sure if the female lead was me. I didn't seem nearly as confident, or mature, or… goddessy.
    He did say I would start having dreams. Remembering things that never happened to me. Maybe this was someone else 's memory of Quin?
    Well hello there, jealousy.
     

    I still wasn't sure what exactly Quin could do (apart from the light tricks) given his role in the universe and all that, but I did know he had the Power of Great Timing.
    I couldn 't even count the times last year when he showed up inviting me to the cafeteria or the coffee shop just as I realized I was hungry. Or when I just needed company, like that time when I assisted during entrance exam week and had to wait until past seven, because I had to be available for errands the whole time. That could have just been me waiting in front of an exam room for hours, but instead my memory of it included a coffee run with Quin and telling him about my high school prom while we collated handouts.
    After a while that kind of thing just happened so often that I thought it couldn 't be a coincidence, that he was actually seeking me out. I guess that was true.
    Hmph. I couldn't decide yet if knowing that made the entire year more, or less, special.
    After talking to Kathy, I decided that my first course of action would be to talk to the people manning the mail service and get them to snitch on Kathy 's Secret Santa. I made the mistake of telling Quin this. A summary of the phone conversation that took three hours:
    Quin: You're not here to find out who sent her the book, like it's a mystery and that's the big revelation .
    Me: I'm not?
    Quin: You're here to find out who she loves and who loves her. The gift business is a distraction.
    Me: I don't agree. That was the event that made her come to me.
    Quin: Trust me, Hannah, it's not about who sent her the gift. It's all about her reaction to it. If you want her to find love, you look at the people who might love her. Then you'll find the person who took that leap and acted on it.
    Me: You mean I have to do this the hard way and talk to what could be dozens of people, instead of just the one person who knows for sure who sent her the gift.
    Quin: You're dealing with emotions. You have to be thorough.
    Anyway, on that Wednesday afternoon as I walked to the mini bleachers by the all-purpose sports field, I was thinking that maybe I should meet up with Quin, but of course he was already there.
    He was sitting on the flat seat, about four rows up, illustration board (black side up) balanced on his lap like a tray. On top of it was a lump of red clay and it seemed to be troubling him.
    " What the--?" I said, taking a nearby seat one row higher.
    " Philosophy