Dita marched into the elevator and slammed B4 with her fist. She folded her arms across her chest and rubbed her goosebumps away, cursing the opposite sex as a whole.
The elevator dinged, and she stepped into the silent black marble foyer of Hades.
Her boots clicked on the shiny, black floor as her eyes roamed the immense paintings that spanned the length of the long hallway. To her right hung a dark and fiery scene, the punished souls forever circling in eternal tasks, their punishment for their wicked lives. Tartarus. It always creeped her out. She found Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill, and Tityos screaming, chained to a rock as vultures ate his innards for all eternity. Ixion lay strapped to a flaming wheel, his face wrenched in pain. She shuddered.
The wall to her left held a painting of the same size and fashion, but it was as beautiful as its twin was full of pain. It was illuminated, an expanse of lush, green hills, mountains and waterfalls, with birds flying across the blue sky. The Elysian Fields, Elysium. Every time she came to the underworld, she looked for Adonis, though she was pretty sure that Perry had purposely hidden him. She was simultaneously sad and grateful. Otherwise she may well have ended up like Echo who loved Narcissus, staring at the painting for eternity, wishing for him until she wasted away to nothing.
On a round, mahogany table in the center of the foyer floated a massive glass orb, inside of which suspended a globe covered with bright green grass, dotted with flowers. She could see souls walking, running, sitting together in communion, all lit by an unseen sun. The Asphodel Meadow. Before Persephone married Hades, Asphodel had been a gray, lonely place where souls who fell in between Tartarus and Elysium wandered eternally alone after death. Persephone, heartbroken that those souls should be punished to live in such sadness, persuaded Hades to model Asphodel Meadow after the meadows where she picked flowers as a girl. It was a marked improvement.
Dita ran her hand along the mahogany table as she walked by, her anger dissipated by the sobering room. A warm fire crackled in the living room fireplace tiled in black marble, and Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound, snored in rounds by the fire, heads all piled on each other with tongues lolling. She made her way around the heavy furniture and sat on the couch.
Perry looked up from the book that rested in her lap and smiled, but her lips drooped when she saw Dita visibly upset. “What’s got your goat?”
“Psh, please. No one has sacrificed a goat to me in eons.”
Perry snorted.
Cerberus barked softly, lips puffing and legs twitching. Dita’s eyes were on him as she grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her chest as she sank into the couch.
Perry followed her gaze to the dog. “Ever since Hades devised the paintings, Cerberus hasn’t chased a soul. It’s been ages. It’s the least I can do for him to give him a good run in his dreams.” She turned back to Dita. “So, what happened?”
Dita stuck her lip out. “Apollo. He’s holding out on me.”
“What do you think he’s going to do?”
“I have no idea. He was just a pompous ass upstairs. He actually called me ‘kid.’” Her lip curled in disgust.
Perry sucked in her breath, her eyes wide and mouth open in mock surprise, hand to her chest. “He didn’t.”
Dita grabbed the pillow in her lap and chucked it at Perry, who laughed, her hands in front of her to block the blow. “Shut up, Perry. This is serious.” But Dita laughed, too.
When their giggling died down, they sat in silence for a few minutes, gazing into the fire as Dita’s anger burned away with the firewood.
“I’ve got to do something,” Dita said, breaking the silence. “Lex and Dean are a love match, that part is obvious to anyone, but Apollo knows something. He’s going to make a move, but I can stop him before he starts if I can get them together first. There’s got to be an angle to play, I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Well, you’ve been working your ass off to get them in the same room.”
“I know, but there’s so much set up, so many moving parts.”
“Okay, well, let’s think. Lex and Dean are attracted to each other. That’s the easy part. Why did Apollo pick Dean?”
“Well, his mom was … let’s say she played fast and loose. I was having a bad day, and she was just sort of at the wrong place at the wrong time. I cursed her with an insatiable appetite for sex.” Dita nibbled her thumbnail.
“Oh, Dita.” Perry’s voice was thick with disappointment.
Dita had been known to, when having an exceptionally bad day, walk through crowded streets on earth and zap people with curses. She wasn’t proud. It was a closet habit she’d been trying to shake for eons.
“I know, I know. So, she got knocked up with Dean and never bonded with him. She wasn’t what you would call a maternal woman, and she neglected him. Different guy every night, and sometimes, she’d leave him home for days at a time. He basically raised himself.”
“That is so sad. Sounds like Apollo picked a winner. So Dean’s a musician …”
“Yup, a musician who thinks women are walking sperm banks who can’t be trusted.”
“And Lex is his match because … ”
“Well, Dita’s curse strikes again. Her dad left when she was a girl, and her mom never could, or will, recover.” Perry looked at Dita with her arms folded, and Dita sank a little deeper into the couch. “What? I know. I’m a horrible, cruel goddess. Though some would argue that’s part of my job. I sometimes have to break love that I’ve made. Not everyone gets a happy ending.”
Perry shook her head. “Lex has abandonment issues, and Dean can’t commit. Damaged, party of two.”
“Right? Lex has Apollo’s blessing, obviously, as a poet and artist. And she has my blessing as well. She’s good at relationships, even when she’s not invested. Lex has the potential to get it together, but she just needs the right guy to unlock it all for her.”
“Okay, so Lex writes, and Dean writes too?”
“Yeah, Lex never goes anywhere without her notebook and neither does—“ Dita sat straight. “PERRY. You are a freaking genius.” She hopped out of her seat and pounced on Persephone to kiss her on the cheek.
“What?” Perry cried as Dita bounded into the elevator. “What in Hades did I say?”
Hades appeared behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You rang?”
She turned, lighting up. “Well, speak of the devil.” A smile spread across her face. “It’s just Dita. You know how she is when a competition is on.”
His bright teeth flashed in his sly, boyish face as he smiled. “That, I do.” He leaned down and kissed her head, and his carefully groomed, inky black hair didn’t move an inch.
Perry folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not helping you when you’re up against her, not this time.”
He gave her a look.
“What?” She raised her chin defiantly. “I’m not. Don’t look at me like that.” She giggled, and he scooped her up and hauled her off, squealing.
The doors to the elevator closed as Apollo stepped into his living room and fell onto his white leather couch. He slid down the low back and rested his head on the cushion, gazing out his long wall of windows at Central Park, content for the first time in ages.
When daylight broke that morning, his eyes flew open, his back arching off the bed in a snap, gasping as the vision left him. He struggled for breath, not believing what he’d seen.
The sky was red and gold outside his windows, and Daphne stood in his apartment, her hair red as flames, full of light as the sun broke the horizon.
He was going to win. After so long, so much pain and loss, she would be his again. She would be free. Waiting a few more days for that moment was nothing, not after waiting an eternity for her.
———— New York ————
Practice was over, and everyone lounged on the couches in the warehouse. Kevin groaned.
“Man, I’m starving. Can we please order some grub?”
Kara pull
ed out her phone. “Yes, please. You guys down?”
Nods and affirmations went around the room.
“Ooh,” Kevin said, “I vote Shanghai Palace.”
Roe shook his head. “They don’t deliver.”
“So? They’re like two blocks away. Don’t be an eggroll blocker.”
Kara laughed. “Come on, Roe. Kev wants to put his eggroll in the dumplings. Give him that.”
“Fine. Get the boy some extra duck sauce.”
Lex made a list of what everyone wanted, and Kara placed the order, trying not to laugh as Kevin did his best to distract her by making up a song at the keyboard about King Kung Pao that involved a lot of giggling from the peanut gallery and Kevin wailing like James Brown.
Dean pulled on his leather jacket and stood. “I’ll pick it up.”
Kara hopped up and grabbed her jacket. “I’ll go with you.”
Lex’s brow dropped, and she bit her lip.
“Uh, sure,” he answered, and his eyes darted to Lex.
Kara held out her hand to Lex. “Come with.”
Lex’s eyes narrowed. “M’kay.” She pulled on her jacket and caught Roe and Kara eyeballing each other. Lex half expected him to get up and come with them, but he stayed where he was and folded his arms across his chest.
What is going on with those two?
Kara looked a little too innocent, and Lex shook her head as they walked to the door and out into the cool night. The street was still a little busy, even as late as it was. They hadn’t made it a half block before Kara stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to pat her back pockets and dig around in her bag.
“Shit, guys. I forgot my phone.”
Lex panicked. “We can wait for you.”
Kara waved her off. “Forget it, just go on without me. We wouldn’t want to keep Kevin waiting. I’m still convinced that if he eats after midnight he’ll turn into a monster.”
Kara was already walking away with a smile, and Lex hesitated with one foot ready to run with Kara and the other aching to follow Dean. She stood there stupidly for a moment, warring with what to do, and before very long, the choice was made for her.
She looked up at Dean, whose face was shrouded in shadows, and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “You realize she did that on purpose, right?”
He chuckled as they turned and started walking again. “Yeah, but it took me a second to figure it out.”
“Me too. I thought for a minute that she wanted to be alone with you.”
“Oh?” He looked down at her, thinking how pissed Roe would be if he knew how much Dean enjoyed watching her squirm.
“I mean, not that it wouldn’t be okay, or whatever. I just mean—“
“It’s okay. I know what you mean.”
She sighed, sounding a little defeated. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. But I guess you get that all the time, right Panty Dropper?”
His hands were in his pockets, and he watched his feet as he walked. “I kind of do, yeah. But it’s different with you.”
“Oh?” It was her turn to be amused, her eyebrow up with a smile as she baited him.
“Most girls don’t handle themselves like you do.”
“And how’s that?”
“Oh, I think you know.”
“Do I?”
He smirked. “You do. You know exactly what I mean.”
She took a deep breath. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“What? We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“This. The flirting. The eyes. The staring. We have to stop. I’m with Travis.”
“I know.”
“You and me, we can’t happen. You realize that, don’t you?”
His heart sank. He did know. He knew well. “Yeah. I mean, of course.”
Dita giggled as she wiggled her fingers, and Lex’s shoelaces came untied and hooked under her boot.
“Okay.” Lex said, sounding sure and resolved enough that she almost believed herself. “I actually feel a lot better having gotten that into the—whoamagod!” she said as she tripped and flew forward.
Dean caught her as she fell into his chest, and she looked up at him with red cheeks and dark hair across her face. He moved her hair so he could see her eyes, smoothing it with his fingers as he tucked it behind her ear. She was so beautiful, and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down as she lifted her chin and closed her eyes. Their lips were about to brush when her eyes snapped open, and she pulled herself away.
“God, I’m such a klutz,” she breathed, but her mind was exploding. Tie your shoe, idiot. Look at the ground, don’t look at him. Oh, my god. OH MY GOD. He almost kissed me. I wanted him to kiss me. What the fuck am I doing?
She stood and started walking a little more briskly than before and with a few extra feet of space between them.
“So,” she said, ready to change the subject and just pretend like none of that had just happened. “You write poetry, but do you read poetry? What do you like?”
“Poe, Cummings—”
“Wait, saying you like Cummings is like saying you’re into breathing, or you love Stevie Wonder.”
He laughed so loud that a passerby gave him a dirty look. “I still maintain that the most impressive thing Stevie Wonder ever did was learn to play the drums.”
Dean pulled open the door, and she paused. “Wait, are you saying you don’t love Stevie Wonder?”
He smiled crooked. “I actually do love him. Who doesn’t love Stevie Wonder? He’s a goddamned national treasure.”
“Well, that’s a relief. That would have been a dealbreaker,” she said absently as she walked past him.
“Not your boyfriend?”
She froze, and her mouth hung open in an ‘o.’ She blushed again and snapped it shut. “No, I didn’t mean—“
“It’s fine, Lex,” he said with a smile, and she died a thousand deaths of shame and torture at the counter of the Shanghai Palace.
They carried the bags of takeout back to the warehouse, chatting easily, and Lex was relieved that it was all out in the open and that they’d come to some sort of arrangement, no matter how fragile it seemed.
Day 9
DITA PACED IN ELYSIUM, TOO wired to sit as she waited for Adonis. It had been days since she had been back to see him, still annoyed that he had used sex to shut her up. She’d needed a few days to calm down and collect herself so she could force some sort of resolution.
He pushed through the underbrush smiling, though when he saw her wound up, his expression dissolved into placidity. He approached slowly, as if she were a wild thing, smiling in jest, and she rolled her eyes, annoyed that she was amused.
“Oh, do come here,” she said, and he wrapped his arms around her.
“I am sorry, are you very angry with me?” he asked with his chin on her head.
“I am, yet here I stand.” She sighed, sated for the moment, her head against his chest. “Could we please speak? No diversions.”
“Yes, I promise.” He sat down, knowing she would need to talk at him until she’d said what she needed to say.
She paced less vigorously and began her argument.
“I know that you cannot fathom forgiveness. I do understand this, as one who has troubles of my own with such matters, but I beg you to consider his perspective.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand. His mouth closed, and he slouched, sullen.
“Just consider it. It has been thousands of years that he has been alone, Adonis. So alone. I feel for him, because when I am not with you, when I am not here, I live the long hours of life without you. If there was anything that could be done, Adonis … anything … I would do it for you. Apollo’s sacrifice has been long and lonely. Should it stretch on for eternity, all because you cannot be compassionate?”
His jaw set. “He murdered me. Can you not consider my perspective? He stole my life, ripped it from my hands, and I have been banished to this world of dreams. My dreams are happy ones, but I still mourn the life that I l
ost. How can I forgive him after so much has been taken from me?”
“Yes, but you are not the only one who has lost.”
“Of course you do not understand. How could you comprehend the loss of your life? You are immortal.”
Her temper flared. “You had every chance to be immortal, yet you believed yourself to be above us. Have you ever realized what your choice meant for you? For me?”
Adonis took a breath, relaxing as he calmed and stood to walk to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you more than the moon loves the stars. I never wish to quarrel, and never wish to hurt you. You play a game with Apollo, and should he win, the decision would be made for us. Let us wait and see what comes to pass.”
She sighed, the pressure in her chest lessened, her anger dissipated by his touch, his words. “All right. We shall see.”
He cupped her cheek and kissed her lovingly, and she was reassured, though she wondered whether or not they would ever find a middle ground.
———— New York ————
Lex pulled open the heavy warehouse door and stepped in just as it swung closed behind her. Practice hadn’t started yet, and it dawned on her as she looked around her bangles at her big gold watch that Travis wasn’t there yet.
Crap.
The hour before her shift ended at the bookstore had ticked by, but her replacement had come in early. Lex was so psyched to get out of there that she didn’t even think she’d get to the warehouse before Travis, or that as her footfalls echoed in the open space, she would spot Dean bent over his notebook on the couch.
They were alone.
She paused. He hadn’t moved, and she considered trying to back out and wait outside for Travis. She shook her head, knowing it would be more awkward if she were standing outside in the cold. She tugged the hem of her leather jacket down and twisted the end of her high ponytail as she steeled herself, preparing to resist him, but secretly hoping he would persist.
Lex rounded the couch, and he jumped, eyes bugging. He popped his earbuds out with a harried smile. “Jesus Christ. You scared the shit out of me.”