“I’m sorry, Josie.”
She looked down at her paper cup, unable to keep herself in check with his eyes on her like that. “It’s fine, Jon.”
He pushed her hair over her shoulder and trailed his knuckles down her arm. “I mean it.”
“I know.”
They stood in silence for a few seconds until it almost broke her, but before she could reach for him, he opened the door and waited for her to climb in. She sat in the Jeep, trying to find composure as he walked around and slipped in beside her, firing his engine with a rumble, and she stared out the window as they drove away.
Before long, the city was behind them as they chased the sun across the sky, relaxing into easy conversation, forgetting the awkwardness, the heaviness that brought them to that point. Josie felt herself unwind, even though she was overly aware of him as he sat next to her, could feel him there, pulling her attention like he was magnetized. But her emotions were muddled, leaving her confounded because over the course of a few hours, everything in her heart had been rearranged into something new, something she didn’t recognize.
———— Olympus ————
Dita rolled over as her mind crept into awareness. The bed was so soft, her limbs heavy, and she didn’t want to move. It was then that she noticed the tonal sound of the sleep machine, and she sat up with a start, remembering everything. She glanced at the clock.
It was two in the afternoon.
“Oh my gods,” she whispered in awe and disbelief. “I slept.”
Bisoux stretched out on his side next to her, his limbs straight and trembling as he locked his muscles. He rolled over and trotted to her, and she picked him up, holding him in the air as she laughed like a crazy person.
“I slept!” she crowed, then giggled, hugging her dog to her chest.
She felt like a million bucks. Her body was rested, and for the first time in days, the aching pressure in her chest was gone. She kissed Bisoux and sat him down, then hopped out of bed and to the mirror. Her eyes were clear, not a sign of redness or a shadow under them, and her cheeks had color that had been absent for what felt like ages.
“I fucking slept,” Dita said to her reflection, then squealed and did the Flashdance maniac dance all around her bathroom.
She didn’t have a single dream, not one. No torture, no torment, only sweet, blissful sleep. She had all but forgotten what it was like to be rested.
Bisoux jumped off the bed and ran to her, hopping and barking as she danced. She scooped him up, unable to stop giggling. “Come on. Let’s go thank your daddy.”
Dita bounded into the elevator humming, then bounced out into Heff’s foyer when the door opened. She set her dog down, and his nails clicked on the brushed concrete floors as he followed her around, but she couldn’t find Heff. She trotted down the stairs to his workshop, and when she saw him behind a work bench, she took off running.
Heff looked up to see Dita beaming as she flew across the room with her golden hair swinging behind her. He barely had time to put down his soldering iron before she slammed into him, almost knocking him over. Her arms wound around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist, swinging her around gently from the force. The scent of honeysuckle and roses filled his senses, and he closed his eyes, breathing her in, aware of every inch of her as she pressed against him.
Her arms unclenched a hair, and he took the cue to loosen his grip and drop her to the ground. Her cheeks were flushed, her smile so bright it could put the shine in the sun.
“I slept,” she said, breathless, her face full of wonder.
He smiled so wide, he thought his face might split open. “It worked.”
“It worked,” she grinned. “I knew it would. Thank you.” She reached for his hand, slipped her long, white fingers into his clumsy, dirty ones.
He squeezed them gently. “I started working on the machine and bracelet after you came to me. I’m sorry I didn’t get it finished sooner, but I had a little trouble with the algorithm to sync it to you.”
“It was perfect. I don’t know how to thank you.”
He brushed her cheek with his free hand and slipped it into her hair, cupping her neck to pull her into his chest. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad it helped.”
She wound her arms around his waist and sighed. “It did. I needed that so much, and I feel shiny and new and amazing.”
“Did you tell Perry yet?”
“Not yet. I came here first because I couldn’t do anything until I thanked you.”
He kissed the top of her head, needing to send her away, unable to hold her for too long before he started wishing for things he could never have. “Go on. She’ll want to know.”
“Okay,” she answered as she unwound herself, then stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before turning and running out of the room calling “Bye!” over her shoulder.
He watched her go until she was out of sight, then picked up his soldering iron again and got back to work, smiling until his cheeks ached.
Dita stepped into the elevator again with Bisoux at her heel, toying with her bracelet, relieved that Heff was on the other end of it. She didn’t have to hide, and armed with that and legitimate sleep, she felt like she could move mountains. Ares was no match for her. She was free.
When the elevator doors opened into the underworld, her dog ran out, and she followed him, calling Perry’s name.
“Hey,” Perry answered from her living room.
Dita did the Dougie into the room. “I slept, I slept, uh-huh, I slept.” She clapped and got low.
Perry laughed and hopped up. “That’s amazing!”
They danced around giggling until they couldn’t breathe, then fell down on the couch.
“How?” Perry asked.
“Heff made me a magical, glittery, mystical machine of awesomeness to help me sleep, and it worked, and now I am back.”
“This is the best news.”
“Yes!” Dita threw her fist in the air from where she lay slumped into the couch. “I just woke up.”
“Oh gods,” Perry said with big eyes. “You missed this morning.”
Dita hadn’t even thought about the competition. “Shit.” She looked in on Jon and Josie as they drove through Pennsylvania, and her mouth hung open, not comprehending what she was seeing. “What the fuck. Oh my gods. What?”
“Your plan played out. Jimmy Li called Jon this morning with all of Rhodes’ info.”
“I fucking did it,” she breathed.
Perry nodded with delight. “You fucking did it. I’m glad Heff waited until after you set Jimmy up yesterday with the guy who got Rhodes his papers. You could have cocked that whole thing up.”
“Please. I wouldn’t have passed out until I had my plans in place.”
“Right, like you wouldn’t have slept through all the things that happened this morning.”
“Why didn’t you wake me, ass?” Dita tossed a throw pillow at her.
“I thought you were watching.” Perry threw her hands up, laughing.
“Tell me what happened. Don’t leave me hanging.”
“Well,” Perry said as she resituated herself, “so Li called Jon with the info on Rhodes, then Hank convinced Josie to call Jon just as he was on his way over.”
“Awesome. Hank pawn, for the win.”
“Yeah, but then, when they went to Jon’s apartment, Tori was there.”
Dita’s chin dropped. “How did that go?”
“Surprisingly not bad. I mean, as good as it could go. Josie’s had an epiphany. Oh, Tori wasn’t supposed to be there. I think Artemis intercepted and gave Tori an allergy attack to send her home.”
“Ha! Well, doesn’t look like it worked.” They glanced in on Jon as he laughed at something Josie was saying. “I hope Artemis feels like an idiot. This is so freaking perfect. They’re going to be alone in a car for days, staying in hotels. Together.”
“It’s your chance. What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t
know. I feel like I’ve been living in a vacuum for a week.” She let out a breath. “Perry, I can’t tell you how much better I feel. I haven’t even seen Daphne in weeks. Was thinking about going up to say hi. Wanna come with?”
“Yeah, let me go say bye to Hades,” Perry said as she peeled herself off the couch and headed to his office off the living room.
“Aww, you guys are so cute.”
“Yeah, King and Queen of the Dead. Adorable.” Perry rolled her eyes as she pushed open the massive carved mahogany doors and disappeared inside for a moment.
Dita hummed, smiling as she watched the fire from the couch, feeling silly and light and amazing, and when Perry appeared again, Dita stood, and they locked arms as they made their way to Apollo’s apartment.
They found Apollo and Daphne lying on the floor playing Backgammon. The sunshine poured in through his wall of windows, and Central Park stretched off into the distance. Daphne smiled as she stood to embrace Dita.
Daphne’s curly, red hair smelled like sunshine and wild basil. “Aphrodite. How are you feeling? You look like you may have finally gotten some rest?”
“I did, thanks to Heff. I’ve missed you.” Dita held her at arms’ length to look her over. “You look amazing. This dress.”
Daphne looked down at her loose white slip dress, lined with lace chevron stripes along the bottom third. “Thank you. I’m learning,” she answered with a smile.
Apollo hugged Dita, landing a kiss on her cheek. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m good. Just been watching Jon and Josie after getting the best night’s sleep of my life.”
Dita and Perry sat on the couch, and Apollo and Daphne took their spots on Apollo’s white shag rug.
“What have you two been up to?” Dita asked.
“Not a lot.” Apollo answered. “Been watching the game. This morning was pretty epic, and Jon, well … he’s something else. I don’t know that Josie really stands a chance.”
“She really doesn’t, does she?”
Apollo chuckled. “Artemis is even worse at the game than I am.”
“Nobody’s perfect.” Dita smiled.
“True, though Artemis won’t hear logic on Josie, or anything else, for that matter.”
“Oh?”
Apollo sighed. “She’s still not speaking to me.”
Daphne laid her hand on his knee and leaned into him.
“I didn’t know you fought. What happened?”
“She implied that I chose you over her,” Apollo said as he wrapped his arm around Daphne.
Anger and guilt stirred in her chest at the thought. “Apollo, I would never put myself between the two of you.”
“You didn’t. I stuck up for you and called her out. She didn’t take it well.”
“Well, thank you, but you didn’t have to do that.”
“I did, and it’ll be fine. It’s not the first time we’ve disagreed, and I doubt it will be the last. She knows that I will always back her up, but she used you as a diversion when I mentioned Orion.”
Dita shook her head. “She’s never going to get over it if she doesn’t face it.”
“Pot and kettle.”
She scoffed. “This is different. All of this just happened to me. Artemis has had thousands of years.”
“You know that she doesn’t accept change, and she doesn’t talk about anything, just makes her judgements and buries all her feelings like rotten seeds. She feels justified. You can’t talk sense to someone who’s been ‘rightly’ pissed off about something for thousands of years. I think we both can attest to that.”
“Yeah, I guess we can.” She tugged at her hair. “Part of me gets it. How do you face such loss? All we can do is try to get through each day, face each challenge that we come across, and listen to ourselves. Time. That’s what people keep telling me. But if Artemis has been ripped to shreds for thousands of years, what hope is there for me?”
Apollo spoke cautiously. “Do you think that your feelings for Ares and Adonis are the same as the love Artemis felt for Orion?”
She considered that, and a heavy, cold feeling snaked through her chest, into her stomach. “No, I suppose you’re right,” she answered, her voice flat. “I’m coming to realize that my feelings are wrapped in fear and guilt, and the love that I thought I had for Ares and Adonis was false. Artemis and Orion had a pure love, based on respect and companionship.” The words made her sad at all that she had missed, though there was a glimmer of hope that her pain wouldn’t last tens of centuries.
“Well, you’re the universal expert on love. How does she get over it?”
“Normally, I would suggest dating, but that’s off the table for Artemis. I’m sure her feelings for Orion were a once-an-eon occurrence for her.” She ran a finger across her lip. “All we can do is talk to her and try to help her find her truth. Try to guide her out of the fog.”
“We’d have better luck trying to teach a goat how to tap dance like Gene Kelly.”
“If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
Apollo’s eyebrow quirked. “Are we talking about the goat or Artemis?”
“Both,” she said with a laugh.
———— Pennsylvania ————
Josie’s bare feet were on the dash, and her computer was open on her lap as they drove through Pennsylvania. The sun had slipped down in the cloudless sky, burning a gradient of tangerine through yellows to blue, up and away behind her. Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman” blared out of the speakers, and her hair whipped around her face. She re-twisted it up into a bun and checked her hotspot connection.
“Want me to put up the windows?” Jon asked.
Josie hadn’t noticed him watching her and felt herself flush. “No, it’s so nice out.”
He smiled at her, and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling back.
She cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. “Well, I just sent the fax to all the cash motels along both routes and marked all the ones where I think he may have stopped based on travel speed and the time of day he might drive through. I’m about to call those directly and see if I can’t get someone on the phone.”
“Is Hank sending Walker and Davis this way?”
“He can’t. The information we have on Rhodes isn’t official evidence, so we’re on our own until we get a sighting on him.”
Jon nodded. “And hopefully your dad won’t kill me for dragging you across the country chasing a serial rapist.”
“Well, let’s be honest. It’s not like he could have really stopped me. When do you want to stop for rest?”
“If you’re okay to drive, I think we should try to stop tomorrow.”
“You’re going to let me drive?” Her eyebrow inched up.
“Only out of necessity. Don’t get any big ideas.” His smile was lazy.
“Will you sleep with one eye open?”
“Why don’t you just assume I will.”
Josie laughed and settled into her seat, recognizing with a certain amount of shock that she was enjoying herself. Part of it was the relief that came with settling into a decision. It was the adrenaline that went along with the hunt and the determination that came with action. The other part of it was Jon. Being around him had always been easy, before he left.
She wasn’t sure if it was the softness of the sunset, the promise in the spring air, the fact that they were going after Rhodes, or just sheer proximity to Jon, but she felt something she hadn’t felt in so long that she wasn’t sure if she was still capable of it.
Hope.
———— Olympus ————
Pegasus’ wings beat against the wind as he carried Artemis over mountains capped with snow, the lake far below her sparkling in a wide valley. Pegasus was an incorrigible creature who hated to be ridden, but for Artemis he would occasionally make an exception. She remembered the time she brought Orion on a ride, though he was almost too large for even the massive winged horse. The memory of the wind in his face and his joy at r
iding through the clouds.
Artemis leaned forward, laying her cheek against Pegasus’ mane, watching the land far below as the wind rushed past. The green hills below rose and fell, trees and bushes dotting the landscape, and her heart lit fire in her chest as she was reminded of Gaia, the Earth herself, and the day the obstinate goddess killed her love.
★★★
Artemis’ hair stuck to her neck, and the heat was oppressive as she and Orion trudged through the woods with Sirius at their heels, laughing and talking on their way back to camp.
He held a branch out of her way and waited for her to pass with a bow.
“My Lady,” he said with a flourish, and she laughed.
“So formal,” she teased, but felt her cheeks burn a degree hotter.
Everything had changed since their kiss. Their bond was stronger, so strong that Artemis knew it couldn’t be denied, but she was torn. When she was near him, everything was simple, but uncertainty pressed on her every thought, her head constantly clamoring with questions that demanded answers. Could she give herself to Orion? Give him her body and soul? What would it mean for her followers, and what would it mean for her? An eternity of being a maiden was all she had ever wanted, until she realized her feelings for Orion.
She feared her father’s wrath on top of all. She would betray his blessing by choosing Orion, would betray everyone with her love. What was once black and white had melted together, and all the lines and boundaries that guided her were gone.
The situation was a mess, but as much as she fretted over it, she knew one fact was beyond doubt. She was most assuredly in love. It was a strange and wonderful feeling.
“How many animals do you think there are in the world?” Orion asked.
“Oh, I am uncertain.” Artemis ducked under a branch. “Hundreds of millions, at least.”
“Do you think we could kill them all?”
She considered. “Well, I suppose so. It would take centuries, but between the two of us, I am sure we could. If you could only choose one weapon, which would you choose?”
“Hmm,” he said as he stepped over a log. “Bow. Otherwise, how could we kill the creatures who fly?”