Quiver

by Lisa Borne Graves

“It depends…Callie,” was all he said, looking at me guiltily like he had when he was a child awaiting my temper after he had done wrong.

  “Archer, whatever happens,” Chase cut in before I could blow up, “we’re not booting you out. There will always be a place for you.”

  Who was this man? This was another side of Chase I hadn’t seen before.

  “Er…thanks,” Archer said awkwardly. “And thanks for the thingy, the figurine…and, uh, for breakfast and all.” His face was red.

  This could work. Archer was at last on speaking terms with his dad. No fists were thrown, no tempers overwrought. The chase was definitely on, but as Archer innocently pointed out, his, mine, and Ares’s futures really came down to Callie. How had a simple mortal taken control of our lives, our destinies?

  Chapter 18Lucien

  When I’d returned from Nice, my son eagerly awaited me. It was great to see him after quite a few centuries; plus, I was in need of a distraction from all my discoveries. As always—since I was such an absent and incapable father—it was an awkward reunion, but I tried to make the best of it. He was so eager to please, and the insurmountable guilt that only a deadbeat parent feels rekindled. Once I let go of the past and treated him as I would Aroha or Archer—as a friend—things got better. It wasn’t long, though, until his bitter mother insisted he return home. I wanted to tell him I loved him, that I was proud of him, but as always, the words never came. I watched the smug Hermes vanish with him, wondering if I’d see him again. I had to find a way to get him away from Zeus if things turned out badly.

  Even after he left, I kept my distance from Archer, only seeing him and Callie in school. Then Aroha returned, followed shortly by Chase Gideon, the new guy. It was odd having Ares around, and he was behaving even more strangely—almost peaceful. He didn’t rise at my bait when I tried to get him arguing. We used to fight a lot. When it was wits, I’d won, but when it was brawn, he’d won. Chase was my half-brother, but I had never felt close to him at all. And now it felt very much like he had replaced me among my friends.

  This loneliness consumed me as much as the other problem: Callie. Knowing now who she was, of what she could one day be—it no longer mattered that she was with Archer. If she were made immortal, she and I could be something one day. And that hope made me feel wretchedly guilty. In AP Chemistry and at lunch, I’d find myself mentally logging things about her instead of paying attention to the teacher: Callie’s hair smelled of lilacs; she used a strawberry lip gloss; her skin was bronze and radiant, matching my own; her eyes endearingly welled up when talking about her father, but she was strong enough to blink them back; she had exceptionally thin wrists that made her attractively dainty; she chewed her lip when confused.

  I hated myself for this masochistic weakness.

  And then I finally asked Linda out. So help me Zeus, I don’t know why, but I did it. It wasn’t for love—she was a nice girl—but I did it because I desperately needed some outlet, some distraction, and I wanted to rid myself of my loneliness and desire for someone I couldn’t have.

  Poor Linda. Poor me. I’d stooped so low as to use a mortal to ease my own pain. The guilt was overwhelming, but I convinced myself that it was better to hurt Linda in the end to stop myself from acting on my urges for Callie; that would ruin an eternal friendship.

  One thing that drove me craziest of all, that made me want to tell someone about everything I found, was how unfair this was for Callie. Archer didn’t love Callie for Callie, but loved her because destiny would have it, because the Fates, the Moirae, had dictated it be so. He loved her because he had loved Psyche, and she was most likely a part of Psyche. I love Callie for herself and herself alone—the past had nothing to do with it.

  I met up with Archer at the pool hall. It was the only place I thought I could find him without Callie. When I entered, Aroha and Chase were playing pool, and Archer looked bored and grossed out by their flirting. She had just cast aside Dan.

  When he saw me, Archer grinned wholeheartedly.

  “I’m so glad to see you.” He shook my hand and pulled me in for a half hug. “These two.” He rolled his eyes.

  “They are pretty sickening.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Since France? I hung out with my son, and then the Linda thing happened. Sort of seeing her now.” I danced around the truth.

  “Is everything okay with you and me?” Archer asked, examining me carefully.

  “Of course,” I lied. Again. Somehow. “Play a game?” I shifted subjects, not sure how long I could lie.

  Archer smiled. The guilt churned in my stomach as I put in the money, and Archer racked the balls.

  “I need a favor.”

  “Anything,” Archer said straightaway. That was the kind of friend he was. He would do anything for me, and I would not do the same for him. I was a horrible god.

  I pressed forward since the favor wasn’t about me. “I’m toying with Linda right now. I bound her accidentally. Just asked her to a stupid movie. When the time comes, when I ask you to undo it, will you? I mean, no matter what our relationship is, even if you hate me, will you do it?”

  Archer looked at me oddly. “I would never hate you, number one. Number two, you’re a stupid hypocrite. And number three, why did you do it?”

  “To forget about the most beautiful mortal we know,” I blurted out, revealing everything. It was guilt fessing up the truth, although Archer would think it was my anti-lying problem.

  “Oh,” he said, his posture awkward. “Sure. Of course, I will.”

  “Have you done the same? Bound her?” I challenged.

  He sighed, frustrated. “No. I’m like a starving infant staying away from mother’s milk.”

  “How do you do it? Can you keep it up?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t know.” He buried his face in his hands.

  “Archer…” I began, ready to tell him all, but I hesitated.

  “Don’t,” he said. “Whatever you’ll say will be the best advice ever, but I’m beyond listening to any rational advice. I can’t part from her. I will be with her for the rest of her life and whatever that comes with. It sounds like you understand a shred of that at least. I’m sorry you feel that way about her, but at least you understand me.”

  I couldn’t say a word to dissuade him or negate what he was saying. If they weren’t together, I would be with Callie. And the envy of her choosing him consumed me.

  I played nice and suppressed my jealousy while we played pool and in the days that followed. I made excuses every time Linda tried to set up double dates with Archer and Callie, and I used Linda as an excuse to stay away from my happily coupled friends.

  And then, my son’s name popped up on my cell phone not two weeks after he had gone home. Unfortunately, I was with Linda at the time, who was trying to playfully grab my phone. I had his name under a codename, of course; the last thing I needed was a nosy mortal, such as Linda, picking up my phone to see Zeus or Aphrodite as an entry.

  I wrestled the phone away from her.

  “Who’s Sonny?” she asked, laughing.

  I ignored her and answered, “Hello?”

  “Lucien?” he asked hesitantly.

  “It’s me. I’m not alone,” I warned him.

  “I need to speak to you. Meet me at Seventy-seventh and Lexington Avenue in twenty minutes,” he instructed, then hung up. It sounded serious.

  I had a million questions for him, one of which was why he had returned to Manhattan so soon. I made many apologies and excuses to get rid of Linda so I could meet my son, who was acting strangely mysterious. He sat on a bench in the subway station, awaiting me with a small pale nun by his side: Iris. This meant that neither did my son have Zeus’s permission, nor was Zeus aware Hymenaois was here. Iris would only be employed for secrecy.

  “What is it? Your mother?” I asked him, worried.

  Hymenaios looked at Iris, who rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. “Just call me when you
’re ready to go home.” Then she vanished.

  “My mother is fine. Everyone is well in Fiji. I came because I needed to tell you something. I’m worried about Archer mostly, with all the talk back home. But now I’m worried about you. He’s your best friend, and I fear anyone linked to him might be in danger,” Hymenaios blurted out, his tone terrified.

  I realized straightaway how much guts it took him to come here to see me. “They don’t know you are here, do they? You could get in a lot of trouble.” I patted his shoulder. It seemed an awkward gesture, but it made him smile slightly.

  “Aww, don’t worry about me, Dad. I had to tell you that all of Fiji is in an uproar. Zeus is angry, cursing Dionysus and Eros, but mostly Ares. He wants her dead. Callie is all he talks about. But all the others tell him it will begin a war. Who would dare wage war against Ares? But Dad, it is obvious. Behind Zeus’s back, they are all claiming that he is losing it, both his mind and his powers. Hera is running everything. She begged Dionysus to come heal his mind, but he refused, claiming ‘Zeus is not insane, but a stubborn, ridiculous, old man,’ and that’s word for word. Everyone’s left; even some of the Muses went on a holiday…” He paused to breathe.

  “Your mother is faithful to him to the end, is she not?” I asked.

  “She won’t leave, and she forbids me to move here. She’s afraid I’ll tell you things,” he smiled mischievously. For a moment, I saw in him the man I always longed to be—carefree, able to lie, cajole, be free from the bonds of truth and my powers. “But, Dad, I came because I overheard Zeus speaking to my mother last night. He’s searching for your oracle. He thinks you are withholding a prophecy. He said he’s going to punish you if he has to, just as he did Prometheus, in order to get it out of you. I had to come, to warn you.”

  “You shouldn’t have,” I murmured. Although a thousand years of getting my liver eaten daily by an eagle wasn’t appealing, I worried about my son. “You are now in just as much danger as I am.” I’d hate to imagine what Zeus would do to him if he found out he was helping me. I made a mental note to move my current oracle to Manhattan so I could protect her. Why hadn’t I already? She might be able to decipher more of the images for me, put them into words.

  “I don’t care,” Hymenaios said stubbornly.

  I reached out and touched his cheek; he was my flesh and blood, my boy, and my paternal pride was finally apparent.

  “Dad, is there a prophecy?”

  I instantly withdrew my hand, wondering if he was trying to get it out of me to use it against me. Was this all staged? It only took me a second to read him, and I saw the truth. He would never set me up.

  “You’re involved enough,” I told him gently.

  He smiled weakly.

  I realized why he was doing this. He wanted my approval. It was all he ever sought, but I could never formulate the words to express my pride in him. Didn’t he realize I was proud of him?

  “You don’t trust me.”

  “No,” I insisted. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’d trust you foremost with my life, Hymenaios. For you are the one who would do anything to help me, not hurt me. You have proved as much tonight.”

  He smiled broadly, nodding as his eyes met my own.

  “I like how you can’t lie. I know you mean it.”

  I didn’t think now would be the proper time to tell him I had somehow found the ability to lie, but it wouldn’t have mattered. I had said the truth. “Thank you for telling me all this. You must get back before they find you missing. If anything happens, and I mean anything that leads you to believe you’re in danger, come back here. I will protect you.”

  “Dad?”

  “Yes?”

  “Never mind,” he sighed. He whistled loudly, and then Iris instantly appeared. He might’ve been about to tell me he loved me. I wasn’t sure what I’d do then if he had. Probably, I would have very awkwardly told him the same. He had done so much, risked everything; he deserved some kind of praise.

  Iris looked at me, interested, which made me wonder how much she knew.

  I wasn’t sure what to say, but when I saw him walking away, I called out, “Oh, and Hymenaios?”

  “Yeah?” he asked, his voice filled with eagerness.

  “I am proud of you,” I said.

  Before he vanished, a smile spread across his face. Perhaps being a father was not as hard as I had always believed.

  In early December, we all met up for Linda’s birthday in a little restaurant with boring Americanized Italian food that was horribly overpriced. She was turning eighteen, a landmark for both gods and mortals. We came fully into our powers by our eighteenth year. However, some get them early, like Archer. It had been absolute chaos when the spoiled brat unexpectedly made mortals fall in love with the wrong people at the tender age of three. I’d hated him then, and it took a few hundred years and him maturing for us to be friends.

  Callie and Archer arrived late and had to take the only seats left, which gave me some inward satisfaction. Archer was stuck at one end with his parents and Dan, and Callie at the other end next to Linda and Emily. In the center, I was torn between two conversations, so I missed the beginning of what was going on with Callie.

  “Don’t you think he’s a little weird?” Emily said in a hushed tone, unaware immortal ears could pick up everything.

  Callie’s face was in a stone-set mask, not showing any emotion. “If I remember correctly, you liked him. You were mad at me and jealous,” she said, her tone light, but there was a strain in her voice that betrayed she was upset about Emily’s line of questioning.

  “Not anymore.” Emily sniffed, her gaze darting down the table at Archer and then back. “He’s mysterious. I used to like it, you know, find it attractive, but…” She hesitated, pretending she didn’t want to hurt Callie’s feelings. “…he’s sort of creepy.”

  Archer’s gaze flickered to me and then Callie, most likely disturbed by Emily saying such things to his girlfriend yet being unable to do anything about it since he wasn’t supposed to be privy to a conversation that far down the table.

  “Creepy, whatever.” Callie tried to laugh it off.

  “Back me up, Linda,” Emily whispered.

  “Oh yeah, well, I did always think he was a bit unusual,” Linda began hesitantly, gauging our reactions, “but now that I know him a little better—”

  “He looks at you like one of those stalker types. Like obsessed and all, and he’s always watching you… Oh, he is right now.” She glanced down at her plate dramatically. “How much do you really know about him?” Emily asked, feeding the seed of doubt that I was sure already had been planted in Callie’s mind. “No one has met his parents. They email Linda’s parents excuses when invited to all the parties, don’t they Linda?” Emily didn’t wait for an answer but continued, “Oh, and he and Aroha always look at each other weirdly, like she controls his every move. What is with that? Oh, and…”

  I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want to be involved in the conversation, so I observed the others. Callie must have been doubting herself because, no matter how close she and Archer appeared, there were secrets between them. It was just like the abyss of secrets between Linda and me. They didn’t really know us since we were hiding our true selves. But Archer didn’t hide enough, apparently, because even Emily was noticing things.

  The other side of the table’s conversation was worse. Dan and Chase were having a tête-à-tête about sports, which was getting heated since Aroha had dumped Dan for Chase, and the former was in denial, but what interested me more was Aroha and Archer’s whispering.

  “Drop it,” Archer growled.

  “I won’t. It’s time to give her up. The longer you draw this out, the more painful it will be for you later.”

  “I won’t be leaving her later,” he said.

  “Stop being such a… I swear, it’s like you’re sixteen all over again. Stop this.” She actually hissed.

  This was about to kick off, but I wasn’t sure
which argument would flare out first.

  “I will stay with her for the rest of her life,” he said to her.

  Now Dan’s attention came back to Aroha. “Is everything all right, babe?”

  “Don’t call me that anymore,” she whined.

  “Lucien, what do you think?” Linda suddenly squeezed my hand, giving me a look. I hadn’t been listening, but she wanted me to take her side. “You’re his best friend,” she prompted. “There’s nothing wrong with him.”

  “Archer? No, nothing wrong. Why?” I asked.

  Callie stared down at the table, deeply troubled.

  “Emily’s trying to tell Callie to break up with him,” Linda whispered to me.

  “That’s because Emily wants him for herself,” I said loudly enough for Emily and Callie to hear.

  Emily’s cheeks went pink, and Callie’s, a shade paler.

  The food came out, and everyone let go of earlier conversations, yet the tension didn’t leave the table. The cake came out, the wait staff sang a ridiculous birthday song in badly pronounced Italian, and Linda opened a few presents some of us had gotten her. She opened the Tiffany’s watch I had gotten her with eagerness, most likely disappointed that it wasn’t a necklace or earrings, but it seemed too intimate to get her anything else. Linda, always eager to please me, smiled wholeheartedly and made me fasten it to her wrist instantly, claiming how much she adored it. At least she’d stop constantly bugging me about what time it was when her cell was right there in her bag or pocket. I would never understand women. Not even another few thousand years would help me.

  Another argument erupted between Archer and Aroha, with Aroha storming off. Archer, Chase, and Dan went after her. A moment later, Dan came back, dejected. It was a family thing, apparently, so I stayed out of it.

  “What was that about?” Linda asked, concerned.

  “Aroha and Archer are fighting about something.” Dan’s eyes flickered to Callie. “Oh, Archer was asking for you, Lucien.”

  I rolled my eyes and got up, getting a glimpse of Callie before I left. She was pallid, anxious, and her eyes brimmed with tears. She knew exactly what was going on, or at least had enough insight to make an educated guess.