Free House of Korba: The Ghost Bird Series: #7 (The Academy) by C. L. Stone

perhaps some of the boys, if they’d never been out of South Carolina, they might not have ever seen snow, either. “It doesn’t snow in Greece?”
    “Not on the islands where I’m from.”
    I followed Silas into one of the large buildings near the front office that we had seen when driving in. There was a collection of exercise equipment to the right, reflected in the mirrors hanging from the walls. To the left were a few sauna rooms, a small hallway to restrooms and changing rooms. Further down was a sunroom area, where a large octagon hot tub sat in the middle.
    The room was steamy and heady with pool chemicals. The tub looked clean, with clear aqua water. There were a couple of lounge chairs surrounding the tub under the sunlight streaming in from the windows. A large flat television hung up on one wall, turned to a news station, though the sound was muted.
    “Who watches the news while they sit in a hot tub?” Silas asked, dropping the towels onto one of the chairs which he dragged close to the edge of the hot tub. He studied the television and then scanned the area as if looking for a remote.
    I was drawn to the water, too curious for my own good. I crept up to the edge, touching the water with a toe. I yanked back quickly. The water was exceptionally warm. Since the room was hot, too, it seemed like a silly idea to slip into equally warm water. I wasn’t sure I was going to understand hot tubs.
    Silas managed to find buttons on the side of the TV and switched to a football game. Satisfied, he crossed back to me, hiking the shirt up over his body and dropping it onto the chair next to our towels. His broad shoulders and the muscles of his chest and stomach flexed in a way that sent a ripple of tingles through my spine. Greek gods couldn’t have been designed any better.
    He stared back at me, cocking his head to one side with an eyebrow going up. “What are you waiting for?” he asked.
    “You,” I said.
    He flashed a smile and dropped his keys and our phones by the edge near the pool. He crouched down, slipped his feet in and inched down until he was sitting inside, the water went up to just under his chest. “Come on.”
    I was hoping he’d say it was too hot. I sucked in a breath, slid my foot in, resisting the urge to pull out because it felt too warm. Maybe it was because we’d walked in here from the chiller air outside. It was like stepping into a hot shower and your body is still chilled. My body tingled at the temperature change. I managed to stand on the seating area before I wimped out. “It’s hot.”
    “Hot tub,” he said. He curled his fingers at me. “Come on, you’ll get used to it.”
    I huffed, slowly lowering myself until I was on my knees on the seat. It felt like the lower I got down, the warmer the water was. Silas reached a hand out and I took it, letting him pull me over in the water until I was next to him. With my butt on the seat, the water was up to my chest. I let my feet rise up so I wasn’t touching the bottom because it was too hot down there for me.
    He grinned, and swung his head around. “Okay, there’s a button here somewhere.”
    “What does the button do?”
    “You’ll see,” he said, but focused on a spot on the wall across the room. Silas stood up, moved across the tub and got out on the other side, dashed for the button, pushed it and started back.
    The tub started whirling to life around me, and a jet started spraying me in the back under the water. I moved out of its way. The water started swirling around, making a slight whirlpool effect.
    Silas jumped back in, crossing over until he was next to me. “See? Nice.”
    Now that I was in, it did feel good. The jets were interesting. Silas put an arm around my shoulders, and I could sit back, my head resting on him. We cuddled together in the water, watching the muted images of the football game. This was different, but what I expected of Silas. There wasn’t the intensity like we were when we’d sat