“I do. At home I live on the beach; it’s my place of happiness.”
“Mine too.” Her giggle danced in my blood. “Let’s swim together!”
Why not?
Joy blasting, she leapt into the sea as I shucked my tee and jeans, rolling them into a neat log and wedging them against the piling.
“Whoop!” I sailed in a few yards from Aegeus, and she kicked over, grabbed my hand and pointed down. Connected, we dove and she swam beside me, pointing out curious fish and beautiful rocks.
Why do I not need air?
Feet kicking, we edged around an outcropping of stone, coming face-to-face with a statue of Poseidon. To my surprise, Aegeus swam close and kissed the stone visage on the cheek. The rocks in the pile behind the figure shimmered and Aegeus pulled me toward, then through them, stepping into a dry, air-filled room, scented with honey and spice.
“We live here,” she piped in a lilting voice, shaking her hair out again. “Swimming makes me hungry, are you?”
I’m stuck in place, staring at the crystal walls that show the teeming sea on every side. Curious fish stared back, and a gorgeous merman, who appeared to be standing guard, inclined his head.
Aegeus headed farther into the space, turning to glance over her shoulder. “This way!”
I followed her giggle around a corner and stopped. She climbed up on a stool and pushed a plate toward me.
“Hello, Cleopatra,” Poseidon called. “Are you hungry?”
Flummoxed, I sat, chewing a date while the two of them chattered. His child. Of the thousands (millions?) he’s a full-time dad to this one?
“I found her, just as you said, Daddy,” Aegeus confided, “And, she could swim with me!”
My mind clicked, bits sorting, and I shot Poseidon a look. His normal omnipotence had a big crack. Emboldened, I dared a silent question.
How?
I brought you here, in the space between the new and full. The passage of time in my realm is different. We spent two lovely years. In the human world, you were gone a fortnight. Safe pregnancy, happy infancy, and when you needed to leave, you insisted I clean your mind to prevent any malevolence from using Aegeus to force you to betray the line.
This wonderment is mine?
Ours.
Aegeus grinned and grabbed a date, munching in mimic with me. In her, I saw myself, the blue of her eyes, the proportions of her body, and long lean legs. She was of me, but more.
Thank you for this.
Cleopatra, you are real to her. She watches you often and knows your heart. When you awaken, this is a dream. A vague memory, but one that fills you with a sense of joy. Aegeus is special. In time, she’ll rise, exceptional. She experiences love like a human, is the child of a god, and is also one of peace. As Keeper, you were both, intertwined in every way. Aegeus’s place is within all the worlds.
Awash with a tenderness that I had no clue dwelled within, I wept, eyes soaking up every hair on her head, her laughter and way of moving, the joyful cadence of her voice. Tears splashed on the table, turning silver and becoming part of the wood’s beauty.
Poseidon leaned toward me as Aegeus popped an olive into her mouth. “Cleopatra, I don’t shoot blanks. Ever.”
His hand reached across the table, enveloping mine, love cascading into my cells. “Mommy must return to the human world, Aegeus.”
Aegeus jumped down, ran around the edge of the table and wrapped thin arms around me. “Mommy, I love you!”
Mommy.
“Oh, darling girl, I love you with all my heart, Aegeus,” my voice cracked in a throat too overwhelmed to hold it.
Please, I can’t bear to lose her. Let me stay.
Poseidon tapped my head and I floated away, lost in boundless, joy-filled wonder.
My eye cracked open, and Clep’s dark eyes, full of liquid munificence, swam into view.
“This,” he raised his eyebrows, “will hurt.”
Understatement of the damn year. Every bone knitted in simulcast, nerves screaming in reconnection and in my guts, rearrangement. No idea whether I died or just flirted with the edge, but resurrection was not for the timid.
“Arrrrrggghh!”
Hard gasping, sucking sand into my mouth and trying to spit while flopping like a fish occupied the next minutes of my life.
Hands touched me, covering every inch of my body, as magicals knelt to help him. Wisdom flowed across my absorbing skin, pulling their offered health within a fingertip at a time.
“The Keeper is whole,” Clep boomed, and they fell back, giving me space to breathe. My heart hurt, an acute impression of love, which was weird given what I knew about magical purpose, but I wasn’t ready to ask questions.
A powerful hand extended, and I took it, rising to stand facing Poseidon, mojo racing in my brand new veins. I released him to break off the sensation and his eyes crinkled, amused.
“How long were you aware of the broken bargain?” Poseidon’s voice boomed in my ears. This question was for everyone on the beach to hear.
“I figured it out yesterday.”
“Cleopatra, you were right about the muses. Zeus pushed them from their calling.”
“I know. Even though they’ve been, uh, complicated to be around, I hoped it was not permanent. They need to turn toward the discovery of art and beauty. And, to control their destiny.”
“I doubted you’d pull this off, Keeper.” A thin gold thread wrapped my arm, and the word ‘balance’ appeared.
“That was you?”
A blue-eyed wink answered.
“The other stuff was the book, right?”
His brow pulled together, puzzled.
Ah. Okay then.
“Keeper, you took a huge risk, bringing a human to this showdown,” Poseidon said.
“Sadie saw everything before I did. She knew her role.”
“To reunite the three sides, each must represent and petition?”
“Exactly.”
“Brave girl. I’d love to get to know her.”
My eyebrows drew together, and he threw his head back in laughter.
“Learn your place, Keeper.” A big hand slapped my ass, lighting up my backside in a lusty burn.
Whereever that is. The world just changed.
Chapter 31
Despite copious amounts of sand worked into my jeans from the fall, the journal was with me, tingling against the small of my back.
So, the record was still a thing? Why?
I turned, touching hands with magical after magical, working my way toward The Boogey’s stairs, along the pier, heading to my office. I needed to clean up and take in a moment of quiet. At the doors, I faced the sea of magical faces. There were thousands. Wow.
“Everyone, I need an hour alone to wash up and update the record, then I’ll open The Boogey. Try not to scare the shit out of too many humans, okay?”
A muted chorus of affirmatives followed me through the doorway. Holy crap, I just gave an order of sorts to magicals and they didn’t blink. What the hell. That information was going in the journal. These were new seas.
I palmed in, because I left my keys at Sadie’s, and hit the head. Cupfuls of sand fell out of my clothes and hair, eliciting a sigh. No sailor scrub would fix this hot mess.
A pop, and Glenna appeared. “I’ve got an idea, Keeper.”
In one stall she magicked up a shower, and I stripped, grateful, letting hot water sluice the sand out of my hair and places I wished it wasn’t. A thorough wash and shampoo later, I stepped out and saw that Glenna left a change of clothes, a hairbrush, and makeup.
How kind.
Ballard loomed as I applied a face, thinking how I loved accenting my beauty for him, and tears threatened the fresh mascara. He’d be proud of how this shook out, if he could understand it. We’ll find each other in the next place, whenever that time comes.
Another sigh and I headed for my office, finding Glenna had unlocked The Boogie for me, and plopped the sand-filled journal onto my desktop
before palming the hidden space. Still empty. There’s an odd thudding knock on the door.
So much for honoring my request. I opened the door, and tendrils of fog floated the book in front of my bug eyes. Okay, I did not see that happening. The book bobbed to the desk and landed. Curious, I opened it, asking for the last entry. My words, used to open the line and written in my blood, wavered to the page. I cut my eyes to the fog, then back again. Huh. Let’s try to communicate.
Is this record complete?
Words appeared in the book, fading as I read them.
Yes, you hold the full Keeper’s record, restored from the journal.
Is the job of the Keeper finished?
That is up to you.
Is recording the ongoing reconciliation of the three components valuable?
We think so, but we are a single piece. The Keeper, love, a life restored by wisdom, and possessing a thread of peace, is the only one who knows.
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the fog. The choice, to end the role or to seize the chance to experience and record our history as we lived it, floated between us.
I could have a life.
My eyes traveled to the vials of blood scattered on my desk, and then to my dipping pen and inkwell.
Maybe I already do.
I chose the ink.
“For all to see,” I murmured as the fog dissipated. “We are Triune.”
A chunk of early November passed as I blasted from line to line, thanks to help from Glenna and a bunch of her vertigo reduction potion, which saved the linings of my gut and made the far-flung travel easier. I learned the locations of all the lines within the world and recorded their positions in the book.
As Keeper, I released every line, ensuring full access to every magical and vapor traveling into and out of the human world. In Triune, we interact as three necessary parts to complete the life of this world. As we go forward, we dwell in a new space, open to all.
The Vapors chose the sky; they rose and fell as water on the earth, coating everything. It’s not a miracle cure, but I noticed little things. There was more kindness, open sharing of knowledge and tactics, and humans filled the beach but left less trash. It didn’t sound like much, but magnified by billions, it’s a nice vibe. Vapors came to the office and floated around sometimes. There’s a kinship of growing and learning that’s happening on both sides. I gave them a way to study humans, which was a new opportunity for them, and indirectly, magicals. I was not magic at all, no change there, but traces of the healing remained, and this interested them. For non-corporeal mists, they’re pretty damn deep.
The magicals continued to thrive in the forests and oceans, while the gods remained layered over all. No sign of Zeus since my line dance in the sky, but to be fair, the world was behaving, so there’s no reason for him to come around. Post Triune, the messy fires and problems cropping up that needed massive corrections to regain balance were fewer. A more natural balance evolved in this state of constant renewal. Rolling without Zeus suited me fine. I wasn’t on his favorites list, I’d bet The Boogey on that.
One task on my list was gearing up to talk to various human governments, but that wasn’t a front burner item. The human side will take dexterity to make it a full partner. So, those conversations have to unfold in increments.
I recognized that the power in rewriting the Keeper’s role was a rare opportunity. To right a few wrongs and stall out the politics, I got on top of it, loading the book with entries on what it meant to be Keeper, defining their new role, and how the history of the emerging Triune must write organically, without undue interference from any one faction. For example:
Two sides must unite to suggest a change that affects all, but all three have to agree for it to become Triune law. The goal is to let each develop their purpose unimpeded, free of control or manipulation.
That sounded esoteric, but with three unique parts, creating that space was necessary. I angled for respect. We’ll see if I hit the sweet spot or just created more chaos. There were no charts in these waters.
I also had a chat with a muse. Well, more like a group of them showed up in my condo one morning and sang the sun up for me. Indescribable beauty. I wept for two hours and called it an epic win.
While shopping at the mall on Black Friday, I saw him. My heart stopped dead. Ballard.
I raced toward him, then smacked into Clep, bounced off his chiseled god bod, and landed on my ass, purse and bags flying. He pushed my crap toward me with a big foot and shook his head.
“Patra, I saved him, but I erased his memories. He lives not knowing he loved you.”
“Why?” Lead crushed my chest; I struggled, distraught, to regain my feet.
“I considered Ballard a liability, someone who could be hurt to get to you. I protected the line and his life. At least he still has one.”
The familiar green eyes scanned the mall, not stopping on mine. Ballard turned and walked away.
I bent, broken, to pick up my bags. When I stood up, Clep was gone.
I used all of Waldo’s party potion in a weeklong drunk. Ballard was alive, but I was a wreck. When I sobered up out of the blind inebriation, I realized my heart was less destroyed than when I thought he was dead.
Accepting he was here, even without his love, was better than knowing I caused his death. Ballard craved a happily-ever-after, and I required a happy-for-now. Those dreams were still possible. And was it fair to deny his dreams so I could have mine?
After a serious soul search, I decided that, while I wouldn’t put myself into his life, if we met and things sparked, we’d start fresh. All things in their time. Just in case, I kept myself smokin’ hot, and if he strolled in The Boogie looking for a suspect, he’d find a better bargain.
Chelsea ran the bar and saved me a ton of money while I drank and, apparently, attempted to flit like a fairy. More than once. At least Poseidon didn’t impregnate me. Clep either. That’s a bonus of sorts. Single motherhood wouldn’t fit my life.
Chelsea also hooked up big time with Jameson, and I suspect magicked up part of The Boogie’s repairs to keep it on track while he recovered. I liked them together. More than that, since Chelsea’s near death experience, she’d softened. Perhaps, in this new Triune world, love would cross-pollinate. All I knew was, when together, they glowed. I felt good, too. Despite the Ballard booze fest, something in my bones was happy, and it didn’t shake loose. Maybe that’s from the healing.
Who knows?
Pook and Bingo showed up on my balcony and apologized fifty times apiece. Appreciated, but unnecessary. Dependable regulars were hard to find, although The Boogey wasn’t hurting for business on the magic side. Everyone wanted to meet the Keeper that stood up to Zeus. I may never buy a bourbon again.
The best part was that I’m reopening The Boogie tomorrow, just in time for the holiday rush. Skeevy Max passed Jameson’s repairs today, and my Certificate of Occupancy was burning a hole in my pocket. The crew was back, cleaning and stocking, and the human side shook with laughter. Life continued despite the weird. C’est la vie.
Let’s boogie.
The End
About the Author
Winnie Winkle is a fabulous Central Florida broad who swills bourbon, likes dogs and cats, and practices yoga, but not with any degree of grace. Supporting live local music is a pretty big deal to Winnie, so if you pass a gravestone that admonishes, 'Go see the band and hit the tip jar', it's probably hers. But, since she's not dead yet, she'll keep penning fun stuff to rock your reading chair.
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A 30-year Florida resident, Winnie splits her time between Daytona Beach Shores and the Mount Dora area. She prefers writing beach-side as much as she can because, if we’re baring our souls here, the ocean is a mighty muse and there’s only so much one can expect from coffee.
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Winnie writes literary fiction, often with speculative elements, and just released “To Walk in the World” to great reviews in April of 2021. She also p
ens humorous fantasy, and her newest series, Boogie Beach, is set to release three books in 2021. She writes for the S.E. Smith series "The Worlds of Magic, New Mexico" in the paranormal romance/sci-fi romance genres.
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Readers on her newsletter are the first to get freebies and other perks, so visit wwinkle.com and subscribe!
Just Released!
To Walk in the World
Twin Tales of Inception
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Unpacking life’s chaos and circles isn’t always a choice.
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Before breaking, she considered the edge of normal an ideal — cluttered with the screw-ups who couldn't handle life. Now she is engaged in a bonkers conversation with her heart and mind. She and her mental miscreants are caught in a humor-laced struggle to figure out life after loss. She soon discovers the power of leaping from Normal’s cliff into a free-fall of rebirth is sloppy, facetious, and full of oddities and miscues. Standing on that edge, she wonders whether living beyond the boundaries is worth the cost of stepping off the abyss into the unknown. She’s about to find out.
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Discover what happens in this unique, insightful story about when your mind breaks and you have to learn the true meaning of living.
Excerpt from
To Walk in the World
~January~
“Sis? You in there? Wake up, girl.”
She blinked at Tici, her face coming into focus while the rest was fuzzy, loose watercolors heeding the whims of gravity. Sliding down, a flow of inevitability.
Boogie Beach Page 17
