Queen of the Clueless #2 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 6

I started to settle into the comfy couch at the waiting area of the office of the Dean of Student Affairs, and then realized that the security guard was tapping my shoulder.

"Please surrender your ID, Miss Hannah."

"I'm sorry?" I was confused for two reasons: the being asked to hand over my zombie-face ID, and manong guard actually knowing my name.

"New policy, Miss Hannah. Everyone entering Dean's office has to leave their ID."

"I'm just going to ask him something. I'll be out of here before you know it."

"Just hand me your ID then, Miss Hannah. I need to log you in, and you'll get it back when your meeting is over."

"Never mind," I said, leaving the Dean's office in a huff.

It wasn't about the ID, really, but the principle of the thing. I suspected that they were asking for IDs because they wanted to keep track of the people entering and leaving the admin offices, where valuables were often lying around.

Because who had access to the admin offices apart from the faculty and staff? Student employees, most of them SKs, like me.

I just needed a meeting with the dean, and I couldn't even remember why anymore. Because I spent the next five minutes pacing up and down the hallway, getting more and more offended by this.

Why exactly? I guess it was the first time that I felt not completely welcome. Which was scary, because I uprooted myself from my home in Manila to go to Ford River, and this was supposed to be my new safe place.

"Hannah."

Hannahhhhhhh. Vida Castillo's voice gave me the creeps. It seemed like it left her lips and was delivered by invisible arrow right to my ear.

Vida Castillo was the Goddess of the Moon, child of Bathala, sibling to Quin, and inexplicably enrolled at Ford River College doing who knows what. She and I had a brief conversation last year because she didn't approve of me becoming Interim Goddess.

Well that was an understatement. She actually kind of put some silver bangle on my wrist, which disappeared after a second, and told me she would do everything to make me quit. Quin said I should just ignore her, but Vida was also the most popular girl in school. Quin probably didn't realize how hard it was for someone to ignore the most popular girl in school.

When I turned to the source of the sound, she was standing on the other end of the long, now empty hallway, surely out of earshot of anyone else. She was in a corporate suit (some seniors were always in business attire lately, for presentations and panel project defense), navy blue platforms, and looked radiantly beautiful even from this distance. One arm had a shiny black bag hooked on it, the other arm was stretched out toward me.

"What?" I said, under my breath, but knowing she could hear.

The arm relaxed back to her side. "No, you're not there yet."

This was not the first time she did this. The randomly running into me and doing this staredown drama.

And yet I was still Interim Goddess. "So you keep saying."

She smiled and entered one of the classrooms.

I rolled my eyes. This is me ignoring you.

"Stop right there."

I froze, and turned around, but it wasn't the guard, or Vida, who had just said that. It was Diego Simon, senior, basketball player, and God of the Sea.

It was my first time to see him since my visit to the National Museum, and discovering the story behind the painting Maganda's Regret. I thought that maybe I should say something about it, like ask him what the deal was, if he really did fall in love with the first mortal woman... but Diego wasn't the type for heart-to-heart talks. In fact, Diego Simon was known on campus more for the fights he started, the guys he beat up, and the games he got thrown out of. For fighting.

So maybe I shouldn't bring up questions about his tragic love story. He seemed like he would still be holding a grudge after millennia.

Besides, we weren't actually friends. I mean, he had ignored me all of freshman year, despite my hanging out with his best buddy Quin nearly every day. He only started noticing I existed a few months ago.

"Did you just come out of there?" I asked instead, noticing that he had left the dean's office. "Because I want to talk to—"

"New Girl, I told you to stop. Shut up for a second." As if to emphasize his point, Diego touched my shoulder, ran a finger across the blade like he was flicking lint off my shirt, and suddenly it... my drama, it was gone.

Maybe it wasn't so sudden. Maybe I was becoming more attuned to these slight movements, the way Quin and Diego and their kind messed with (or readjusted) the natural order of things. What would have seemed to anyone else like a simple tap on the shoulder felt, to me, like an icy breeze blew from my side up my neck, and as it passed me it took something with it.

It took away the beginnings of my anger.

"Are you portable stress management therapy now?" I demanded.

He smiled at me. "Whatever that was, it wasn't going to help you. I took it away. You're welcome."

Diego Simon wasn't just God of the Sea. What he was, specifically, was the god of work. If people who needed help with love summoned me, Diego responded to those whose concerns revolved around work. He even helped me out a bit, when I was starting my goddess training, and I had to admit, I was able to finish my first Goddess of Love project (matching Kathy up with her crush/secret admirer Jake) in large part because of him.

"Thank you," I said, calmer.

"Why are you looking for the dean?"

I took a deep breath, and marveled at how good that felt. Just a minute ago my mind was racing, my blood pressure was up, and now I was all zen. Things felt and seemed clearer. "Project. I think my friend is dating the guy who's been stealing things. Just wanted to see if the dean can confirm anything for me."

"Interesting," Diego said. "I can tell you now that he doesn't know who it is. And that he'd like to settle this as quietly as possible, before Ford River starts getting that kind of reputation."

"What kind of reputation?"

"You know. If the parents of these rich kids find out that their expensive toys aren't safe on campus, maybe they won't want their kids studying here."

"That's not fair," I said.

"It's the truth. Why do you think you get to have all of this for free? It's because someone's father is paying for two."

I actually knew that. My mom was raising me by herself and could never afford Ford River's tuition on her income. The school had a very generous scholarship program, and I wasn't clueless about where the money was coming from.

"I meant it's not fair because the thief could actually be one of them. Not a scholarship kid."

"Is that why you're here?"

I shrugged. "I thought he'd know for sure who it was. He did put out the memo right? So students have been reporting their lost stuff to him?"

"You don't need him, New Girl. Just talk to me. You mean the thief's girlfriend summoned you?"

The way he was looking at me just then made me a little uncomfortable. No wait—Diego always did make me a little uncomfortable, but this was different, because I was starting to see that he might actually respect me a little. "Maybe," I said.

"Then you don't need to work with Quin on this new project of yours. You've stumbled onto my territory."