by S. L. Stacy
“And you can tell me all about it in just a second,” he interrupts her, grabbing three goblets in his other hand and coming over to us. “But first: drinking.”
“You haven’t changed,” Victoria sighs as he hands each of us a glass. “Something pressing comes up, and you figure it can wait.”
Dionysus pops the cork off the bottle and pours a burgundy liquid into our goblets, filling them almost to the brim. “When you live as long as we do, you have all the time in the world,” he says as he fills his own glass. “Why not take the time to enjoy life and a little wine first? To living life.”
“To living life,” Victoria and I echo with somewhat less enthusiasm. We all clink glasses, and I take a tentative sip, holding the cool liquid in my mouth for a moment. Dry with just a hint of sweetness, it feels prickly as I swallow, throwing me into a coughing fit.
“You okay?” Victoria asks me, lightly patting me on the back as I gag and choke into my free hand. Dionysus watches me, one eyebrow raised, silently judging me. “You don’t have to drink it. Humans can’t always handle Olympian wine.”
“No, it’s great,” I insist, recovering. “It’s…delicious.” To prove it to them, I take another drink, a longer one this time. It still tingles, but I only have to clear my throat a little after it goes down. “Yum.” I try to smile at Dionysus, but it probably comes out more like a grimace. In any case, he returns the smile, seemingly placated.
“Thank you. It’s my own special recipe,” he explains, refilling his and Victoria’s goblets, “made from the finest Olympian grapes.”
“There are grapes on Olympus?” I ask before another sip of wine. It goes down easier every time, already stirring a warmth in my core that’s slowly spreading outward.
“Where do you think they came from?” He keeps his tone light, but is giving me the look I used to give my little sister when she was annoying me and wouldn’t go away. “So, what is this urgent matter you wanted to discuss?” he wonders, turning to Victoria. She updates him on Hera’s surprise visit and the curse.
“I’m not surprised you can’t find an antidote,” Dionysus says when she’s done telling him about our predicament. “Transformations are Hera’s specialty. She invented moonshade—it’s her favorite form of punishment. Its effects can’t be easily reversed. I can help you out, but it’s going to cost you.”
Victoria gapes at him. “I’m asking you for a favor. I think you owe me at least that much.”
He shakes his head. “Information isn’t free. You’d best remember that.”
She sighs. “Fine. What do you want?”
He points at me. “Her.”
“Oh, hell no—”
“I don’t mean like that,” he says quickly. “You’re a nerd,” he adds to me, and I shrug in agreement. “We could use someone like you around here. We have the lowest GPA out of all of the Greek houses, and the brothers could use some help.”
“You need…a tutor,” I say slowly. Out of all of the things I could imagine Dionysus asking us for, a tutor wouldn’t have even made it to the list. “In what subjects?”
“Oh, you know. Math. The physical sciences. Computer science. Social science. Really, just anything with the word ‘science’ after it.”
“Maybe if you guys weren’t partying all the time—” Victoria starts to scold him.
“I’ll do it,” I talk over her. She looks at me in surprise. “What? It’s not like he’s asking for my firstborn. I can tutor in math—a little in computer science, too. I mean, it’s not my major, but I code sometimes, just for fun.”
“Just for fun,” Dionysus says through a laugh. “Oh, God,” he realizes a moment later, looking horrified, “you’re serious.”
I ignore this. “The first three tutoring sessions are on me. After that, I expect compensation.”
“It’s a deal,” he says, holding out his hand. We shake on it. “You can start tomorrow afternoon, if you’re free.”
“Works for me.”
“Great. Now that that’s settled—what’s in the antidote?” Victoria asks eagerly. She’s on her third glass of wine—or is it her fourth?—while I’m just finishing my first.
“I don’t know,” Dionysus admits, “but I know who does. I have a halfling friend who…well, let’s just say he keeps us well stocked with recreational substances. I can give you the address to his shop.”
“Ugh,” Victoria groans angrily, some of the wine sloshing over the side of her glass. “I did not just pimp out your math skills for a measly address. Sorry, Carly.” She puffs out her lower lip in an exaggerated frown.
“It’s fine,” I assure her. “But what if this guy doesn’t have it, either?”
“If he doesn’t have it on hand, he’ll know what you need to make it.” He sets his glass down, cocking his head toward the stairs. “Let’s go back up. I’ll get you that address.”
Chapter 6
“We got what we came for,” I tell Victoria, tossing the piece of paper with the address Dionysus gave us into my purse. “Well…sort of. Let’s just go.”
“What?” Victoria says without looking over at me, more focused on raiding the snack table than on what I’m saying. The rain that had been threatening all day finally came, driving the party indoors. Neon strobe lights slice the darkened living room, the music on full blast. Dionysus has disappeared, leaving us adrift in a rocking, reeling sea of drunk people.
“I said, we got what we came for,” I repeat, pulling her away from the chip bowl. She pouts, turning reluctantly to face me. “I want to go!”
“But I don’t want to go yet,” my roommate protests, leaning into me. Her breath smells of wine and cool ranch Doritos. “I wanna dance. Don’t you wanna dance?”
“Not really,” I admit, even as she grabs me by the elbow, towing me further into the crowded room. “I don’t feel like dancing. We have to go. There’s a lot to do.”
“We can do it tomorrow.” She takes my hands, moving my arms up and down, trying to get me to dance. “Work tomorrow. Dance now.”
“Okay. Fine,” I agree reluctantly, pulling out of her grip. “We’ll stay—for a little while.”
“All night!” she insists, spinning in a circle, oblivious to the fact she’s bumping into everyone around us as she’s doing so. They’re too intoxicated to care, anyway.
“We can’t stay all night. We have curfew—you know that. You’re supposed to be the responsible, mature one, remember?”
“Farrah’s not here. And if I say it’s okay to cut curfew, then it’s okay.” She closes her eyes, losing herself in the song, and I know that any further arguing on my part would be useless.
I dance in place for a while, every so often moving a little more to the left or right to avoid the crush of people on either side of me. They keep pressing in, closer and closer, until I can’t move an arm without accidentally brushing up against someone. I come to a stop, suddenly noticing how thin and stale the air is, reeking of beer and sweat. The room starts to tilt, the strobe lights melting together into a blurry rainbow. My heart races, the music becoming background noise to the blood pounding in my temples. I reach out for something to hold onto, hands coming up with nothing.
All at once, the room goes dark, silent. For a moment, I’m not at the Delta Iota Kappa house anymore, but back in Pandora, looking out into a vast expanse of black nothingness. I close my eyes, wishing the darkness and silence away.
When I open them again, everything is back to normal.
“You okay?” Victoria asks without ceasing her frenetic dance, looking at me curiously.
“Yeah, I think so,” I tell her, nodding. “I just need some air. I’ll be back.” Without giving her a chance to respond, I turn and start picking my way through the crowd.
It’s cold outside, the air heavy with that rich, earthy post-rain smell. I gulp it down gladly, finally able to catch my breath, the damp air soothing my hot skin. The rain is making gentle popping noises on the roof, but from the saturated look of the
lawn, it must have been raining a lot harder earlier.
“Hey, nerd.” I look up, startled, to find Dionysus lounging in one of the wicker porch chairs, bottle of beer in hand. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“Gee, thanks,” I tell him, too tired to infuse the words with the appropriate amount of sarcasm. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” he argues, leaning forward. “Want to talk about it?”
I sit down across from him. “Not really.”
“Okay. Do you want a beer?”
I hesitate, then nod. “As long as it’s not another one of your special recipes.”
He laughs, reaching into the cooler at his feet. “It’s Natty Light,” he says, tossing a can over to me. I catch it, fingers slipping slightly on the condensation. “And here I thought you liked the wine.”
“I lied,” I admit with a shrug. “Thanks.” I crack the can open, immediately taking a long, grateful drink.
“So,” Dionysus continues, sitting back in his chair again, “tell me what’s wrong.”
I have to finish swallowing before replying, “Why do you care? You don’t seem to like me very much.”
“I don’t know yet if I don’t like you. I hardly know you. Where’s Victoria?” he wonders, looking behind me as though she’s going to suddenly manifest there. “She’s better at the whole making-people-feel-better thing than I am.”
“She’s still inside, living it up. Apparently a few glasses of Olympian wine is all it takes to turn her into the ultimate party girl.” I give him a pointed look, and he grimaces.
“Oh, yeah, I guess that’s my fault. I just wanted her to relax…to have a little fun. Probably shouldn’t have let her drink quite so much of it,” he says in retrospect. “I know how important finding an antidote is to you. If it were my brothers, I’d want to get one right away.”
“It’s okay,” I say with a grudging sigh. “We probably wouldn’t have gotten anything more done tonight, anyway.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, taking periodic sips of our drinks. I finish mine way more quickly than I wanted to, setting the empty can on the glass porch table.
“Another?” Dionysus asks me, hand poised above the cooler.
I shake my head. “I have to drive later.”
He shrugs, getting another beer for himself. “You and Victoria are always welcome to crash here.”
“That’s nice of you, but I have to get back at some point tonight. I have a problem set due tomorrow.” That, and I feel like I could get herpes just by sleeping on one of their couches.
A mocking smile pulls at the corners of his mouth. “Such dedication. So, are you going to tell me what happened? Because I was pretty busy before you interrupted me with your moping.”
I give him a doubtful look. “You mean busy sitting out here, drinking by yourself? Speaking of which, why are you out here when there’s a wild party raging inside?”
“I needed some me time. And don’t change the subject. We’re here to talk about you.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I insist. “I just needed some fresh air.”
“Is it about a guy? Because that’s not really my thing, either.”
“It’s not about a guy.” Although the question makes me think about Dolos, which really doesn’t make me feel any better. “So, you see a girl who’s upset about something, and automatically assume it’s over some guy? We do have other problems, you know.”
“I know that. Like nails breaking, and periods.” He smirks at me.
“And don’t forget bad hair days,” I put in.
His eyes flick to my hair. “Like the one you’re having today?”
“It’s all the moisture in the air,” I say defensively, combing a hand through it.
“It looks fine,” he says with a laugh. “I was just teasing you.” He pauses, studying my face for a moment, playful smile disappearing. “But there is a guy.”
I roll my eyes. “I thought boy problems weren’t your thing. If you must know, I think I was having a panic attack,” I explain, recalling the way the room spun and my heart raced. “I sort of went through some hard times recently, and I think they’re starting to catch up with me.”
He’s still giving me that contemplative look, forehead creased with concern. “Tell me about them.”
“I…” I falter, not sure where to start, or even if I want to get into it. “I almost died.” The words reawaken a cold, hollow feeling inside of me, a bleakness I’ve become pretty good at ignoring for the past few days. It gets up and stretches, then settles into me like one might a big, comfy chair, making itself at home. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Shit,” Dionysus says, staring into his half-empty bottle of beer. “I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry doesn’t seem to cut it.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I didn’t mean for the conversation to take such a dark turn, but…you did ask.”
“I did,” he agrees, nodding gravely. “Sorry I thought you were having guy troubles.”
“I mean…you weren’t completely wrong about that. Although there aren’t anymore. Guy troubles, that is. Mostly because there aren’t any guys.”
“There will be,” he assures me. “You’re hot. Sorry,” he adds immediately, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. I swear I’m not hitting on you.”
“Um, thanks?”
“I mean, I would hit on you, under different circumstance,” he babbles, “but you’re one of the Gammas, and Victoria would probably kill me.”
I think about this for a moment. “Probably.”
“And in any case, my heart already belongs to someone else.” There’s a sad gleam in his rum gold eyes as he says it, and it’s the most serious he’s sounded all night.
“Aw, that’s really sweet,” I tell him, unable to keep from smiling. “I didn’t realize you had a girlfriend.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call Olivia Munn my girlfriend.” Just like that, the sadness I thought I caught in his gaze is gone, replaced with sparkling amusement. “But, as I looked into those beautiful dark eyes staring up at me from the pages of Maxim—”
“Oh, God,” I talk over him. “Please stop talking—”
“—I knew it was love. Or lust. One of those. They’re pretty much the same thing, right?”
“I think this is my cue to go,” I say, standing up. “I hope you and your magazine will be very happy together.”
Dionysus gets to his feet, holding up his hands in surrender. “Didn’t mean to offend. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page, just in case you were…well, you know.” I look at him, eyebrows raised, waiting for clarification. “Desperately attracted to me.” He says it as though this should be obvious.
“I guess that happens to you a lot?” I glance again at the toned physique beneath his toga. “Never mind. You’re ridiculously hot—of course it does.” Dionysus doesn’t reply except with his usual self-satisfied grin. “I mean, I can see how someone—who is not me—might think you’re hot. If perfectly tanned skin and muscles are your thing. Which they’re not mine.” That last part sounded unconvincing, even to me. I busy myself gathering my purse and empty beer can so that maybe he won’t notice I’m blushing. “Where’s the recycle bin?”
If Dionysus can tell how mortified I am, he doesn’t let on, sounding casual when he says, “Leave it. The pledges will clean it up.”
I feel a little guilty as I set the can back down. “I should go find Victoria. Thanks for the drink. And for listening.”
“No problem. You know what?” he asks me on our way back inside. “You’re okay, Carly. You should come back tomorrow for 80s night.”
“We’ll see. I’ll be back tomorrow, anyway,” I remind him. “For tutoring.”
“That’s right. See you then, nerd.” He winks at me before heading upstairs. I pause tentatively in the living room doorway, scanning the dance floor for a glimpse of auburn hair. After a few minutes I fin
ally spot Victoria standing over by the wall, having another drink and chatting up a girl I don’t know. They’re laughing about something as I walk up to them, Victoria watching my approach with annoyance.
“Ready to go?” I ask her, ignoring the warning glare she’s giving me.
“You go on ahead,” Victoria insists. “I’m staying here for a while with my new friend…” She trails off, looking embarrassed at having forgotten her new friend’s name.
“Rae,” the girl finishes for her, exasperated hazel eyes glancing between me and Victoria. Rae has an eyebrow ring and a tattoo of a skull on her neck, partially covered by strands of silky brown hair. Sticking out her hand, she says to me, “It’s nice to meet you…”
“Carly.” We shake. Despite her short stature and light build, she has a firm grip, my knuckles cracking under the pressure of her hand. I pull out of it quickly, wincing. “I’m the roommate.”
“Who was just leaving,” Victoria adds.
“Not quite. Can we talk for a second?” After an inconvenienced sigh and roll of the eyes, Victoria follows me out into the hallway.
“I wanted to leave earlier, but stayed because you wanted to,” I continue once it’s just the two of us again—well, us and whoever’s making the panting noises coming from the hall closet. “You got a chance to let loose a little bit, but now we really have to get back to reality.”
“I told you. You can go if you want. I’m staying here. ‘Reality’ can wait until tomorrow.” With that, Victoria drains the rest of her drink, throwing the plastic cup to the floor. It rocks back and forth a few times before going still, residual wine peppering the brown tiles.
“You must be drunk,” I say with a wry smile, retrieving the cup and tossing it in the garbage. “Come on, roomie. I don’t want to just leave you here.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom. Rae will take care of me.” There’s a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looks back toward the living room. I follow her gaze to where Rae is waiting, sipping straight from a bottle of whiskey.
“You want to stay for her? She seems a bit…I don’t know. Scary—”
