by Tina Folsom
“Why are you so jumpy?” Triton asked.
Dio glanced back at the open cabinet and the wine bottles inside. Maybe there was a simple explanation to it. The hinges on the door could be faulty and open with the slightest draft in the room. That had to be it. “I was just startled when that door popped open without anybody touching it.”
“That’s because I opened it.”
Dio spun his head to Triton. “You didn’t touch the damn thing.”
Triton exchanged a look with Sophia. Then he set down the plate he was holding. “Okay. Out with it. Now. What the fuck are you playing at? Nobody except the three of us are here to witness my powers. Not even Zeus would object to it. So you’d better tell me right now what’s going on.” He glanced at his wife. “You’re making Sophia worry.”
Triton’s words scrambled Dio’s brain. Powers? Zeus? What was he talking about? Was this man really his friend? What if he was some wacko? Could he really trust him with his secret and confess that he’d lost his memory? What if the guy just told him all kinds of crap because he knew that Dio couldn’t confirm or deny it?
“I’m waiting.”
Dio looked into the deep ocean blue of Triton’s eyes and saw his impatience. But just beyond it, there was something else: concern. It was that knowledge that made him speak.
“I have amnesia.”
There was a moment’s silence before Triton broke out in laughter. Sophia joined in, but Dio couldn’t see the humor in it. “I don’t know who I am.”
Triton suppressed his laughter. “Good one, Dio! You almost got me there. But as we both know, gods can’t lose their memories.”
“Even I knew that,” Sophia added with a smirk.
“Gods? I’m telling you, I lost my memory. I was beaten up one night and when I came to, I couldn’t remember anything that happened before that fight. Ask my fiancée. She’ll confirm it if you don’t believe me.”
Suddenly, both Triton and Sophia stopped their laughter and exchanged a concerned glance.
“Dio, unless you got engaged in the last five days, you don’t have a fiancée.”
Panic slammed into him. Triton had to be wrong. Maybe he wasn’t such a close friend after all. “You’re wrong. Ariadne is my fiancée. We’ve been engaged for several months.” And he wasn’t giving her up.
“And how would you know that if you really lost your memory? Do you see how your story doesn’t gel? Even Eros could come up with something better.”
Dio had no idea who Eros was, but it didn’t matter right now. “Ari told me. She said we’ve been engaged for a few months now.” Actually, Ariadne had said they’d been dating for seven months before getting engaged, and he had neglected to ask her how long ago the engagement had taken place.
Triton shook his head. “Give it up, Dio. Let’s eat. I’m starving.” He walked out of the kitchen. Dio was on his heels, following him down the outside stairs into the garden, where a table was set up under a large umbrella. A few feet away, a barbeque stood waiting.
“You’ve gotta believe me. The only reason I’m here now is because I found a wedding invitation from the two of you. I figured you can help me find out who I am.”
Triton placed the plate of raw seafood next to the grill and lifted the lid. “Fine. I’m going to play along for a few more minutes. You want to know who you are?”
Dio nodded eagerly. “Yes. All I know is what I found in my apartment. My driver’s license says Dionysus Theos.”
Triton grinned. “That’s a quite fitting name you’ve chosen for your mortal interactions: the god Dionysus.”
“What do you mean by mortal interactions? And what about this god?”
“You.” Triton jabbed his finger at Dio’s chest. “You are Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. Happy now? Can we finish this ridiculous game?”
“I’m not playing a game.” Dio ran his hand through his hair. “How can I make it clear to you that I don’t understand any of what you’re telling me? Why would you make fun of me? If we’re really friends, why can’t you tell me the truth?”
Behind him, Sophia finished adding the extra place setting to the table. “He told you the truth, Dionysus. You should know better than to accuse Triton of lying.”
Dio turned to her and noticed her concerned look. Maybe she would take pity on him if he begged long enough. “Sophia, we’re friends, right?”
She nodded and took a seat. Dio joined her at the table and sat down.
“Then would you just hear me out?”
“I can do that.”
“Don’t indulge him,” Triton cautioned as he placed the fish on the barbeque.
“Let’s see what he’s got to say. Go on.”
“Thanks. So, as I said, I was in a bar fight—”
“Sounds about right,” Triton interrupted.
Sophia tossed him a mildly scolding look, eliciting a simple shrug from Triton.
“They beat me up, and I must have passed out and maybe fallen against something and hit my head, because when I woke up, I had no idea who I was or what had happened. Luckily, my fiancée was there, Ariadne. She patched me up and took me home. If she hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t even have known where I lived.”
Dio smiled to himself. Gods, he was so grateful to her for taking care of him.
“So everything I know about myself is because she helped me figure things out. She made sure that my boss knew that I wasn’t well. She called in sick for me.”
Sophia’s mouth gaped open. “Your boss? Dio, you don’t work.”
“Of course I work. I’m a waiter at this little restaurant downtown. It’s called the—”
“A waiter?” Triton approached the table, BBQ tongues in hand. “You’re working as a waiter?”
Dio nodded but felt embarrassed at the same time. He felt like a nobody, admitting it. “Right now, yeah. But I figure, maybe I can do better and find something different, you know, maybe some management job. I don’t know.”
“Tell me something. What did you do the last few days?” Triton asked, a curious expression on his face.
“Mostly work. I had to do both the lunch and the dinner shift the last couple of days. I’m only doing the dinner shift today, that’s why I was able to stop by.”
Triton nodded toward Sophia. “I think he’s telling the truth.”
“I’m afraid so,” she agreed.
“That’s bad.”
Dio held up his hands. “What’s bad about me telling the truth?”
“Are you gonna tell him or shall I?” Sophia asked.
“Agapi mou, I think this needs more finesse than I possess,” Triton conceded and returned to the barbeque to remove the fish from the grill.
Sophia reached for Dio’s hand and squeezed it. “If what you’re saying is true, then I think we’re facing a big problem, because what Triton told you is the truth: you are the god of wine and ecstasy, and if you have lost your memory and can’t perform your duties as a god, there’ll be an imbalance in this world. The grapes will die, and the wine will turn into vinegar. We need to get you to remember who you are.”
Triton placed the plate with grilled seafood in the middle of the table and sat down. “I couldn’t have said it any better.”
Dio shook his head. He was a god? Impossible. “Gods don’t exist.” What kind of new age junkies were those two?
“They do. But mortals don’t know.”
“Then what are you two?” Dio challenged, still not able to digest the information. There had to be another explanation.
“Sophia is mortal, but I’m the god of seafarers and sailors. My father is Poseidon.”
The name sounded familiar, but Dio attributed it to the fact that he’d probably studied mythology or history, and considering that he spoke Greek, it wasn’t unusual that he recognized the name. “Sorry, Triton, but I can’t believe anything you’re telling me. It’s impossible. I was beaten up pretty bad and lost my memory. That’s all I know. But I’m no god.”
&nb
sp; Triton heaved a few pieces of fish and shrimp onto his plate and loaded up on the mixed salad. “Dig in.”
Dio filled his plate and started eating. Just because he didn’t believe the stories the two were telling him didn’t mean he had to go hungry.
“When you got beaten up, did your face look pretty bashed in?” Triton asked.
Dio found the question odd but answered it nevertheless. “My eye was swollen; I had a split lip and some bruises.”
“And the next morning?” Triton winked at his wife. “Let me guess: your face looked perfect.”
Dio pushed back in his chair and dropped his fork onto the plate. “How did you know?” Then he leaned forward and picked up his fork again. “I suppose it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought at first. I probably heal fast.” That’s what he’d told himself that day, even though he had found the situation odd.
“Gods heal any injury within hours. At least that tells me your godly powers are still intact and unimpaired by your amnesia.”
It would explain it, but no, it wasn’t proof enough for Dio. “Maybe. But I could be just some regular person that heals fast.”
“So you want proof?”
“Do you really expect me to believe your fantastical story without evidence?” Dio shoved another piece of calamari into his mouth and chewed. “Good food, by the way.”
“Caught it myself this morning.”
“You fish?”
Triton grinned. “I dive.”
Sophia chuckled. “Triton loves to catch fish by hand.”
Another tall tale, Dio was sure. This couple was getting more brazen with their claims by the minute. “Sure.”
“Oh, we forgot the wine,” Sophia suddenly said. “Triton, would you?”
“Dio was supposed to bring it,” Triton deflected.
Dio pushed his chair back. Wasn’t it considered rude for the host to let a guest fetch things? He was about to get up when Triton clamped his hand over his arm, holding him back.
“No need to get up. Just get the bottle.”
Confused, Dio stared at him. “That’s what I was about to do. So, if you don’t mind.” He gave a pointed look at Triton’s hand, which was still gripping Dio’s forearm.
“Use your powers.” Triton quickly glanced around the garden. “We’re alone. It’s safe.”
“What fucking powers?” Dio had enough of this charade.
“You can conjure up the bottle. Just imagine it being here, and it will.”
“I can’t just wish for something and—” Dio stopped his own words. The night after his bender, he’d wished for food and had suddenly found a platter of delicacies in his kitchen. Had he done that after all? Had it not been a hallucination?
“So you remember …”
At Triton’s words, Dio snapped out of his thoughts. “No, I don’t remember, but something strange happened a few days ago. I wanted some food. And I thought I saw it appear. But it can’t have been real. I had a hangover and was imagining things.”
“You conjured it without knowing what you did. Do it now. Get us that bottle, because I for one need a drink now.” Triton gave him another encouraging nod.
“It’s not gonna work.” Despite his words, Dio did what Triton had suggested. He thought of the bottle of French Chardonnay he’d seen in the kitchen and imagined it on the table.
Out of nowhere, the imagined bottle suddenly stood right in front of him. Dio jolted back, but Triton’s hand kept him seated. “Shit! Did I do that?”
Triton grinned, showing his white teeth. “Believe me now?”
Did he have a choice? “Shit! I’m really a god, aren’t I?”
Chapter Twenty
Dionysus watched as Triton paced in his private residence on the third floor of the Bed and Breakfast. Sophia had left them to their own devices in order to take care of some arriving guests. The private area was modern yet warm and comfortable with a nautical theme that seemed to repeat in the entire apartment. It wasn’t large, but since the couple probably spent most of their time on the lower floors tending to the guests, a small private space was all they needed.
“I think we can eliminate the possibility that you lost your memory because you hit your head.”
“But I probably did hit my head,” Dio protested.
“Which wouldn’t have lead to amnesia. A god can’t simply be injured like that. We are immune to mortal illnesses.”
“But I was bleeding.” Wasn’t that considered a mortal injury?
“We inhabit mortal bodies that function just like any other body. So we bleed, we eat, we drink; our beard grows. But we’re able to heal this body with our godly powers. Any injury is fleeting,” Triton explained.
“Then what’s wrong with me?” Being a god sounded cool, but what was the point if he didn’t remember anything about his life or what he was capable of?
“We’ll figure it out.”
Dio nodded and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “What’s it like to be a god?”
Triton grinned. “You love it.”
He couldn’t stop his own grin from bursting from his lips. “I do, huh?”
“There’s nobody else who makes being a god as much fun as you do.”
“The god of wine, huh, no shit!” Then he remembered something. “I suppose that means I don’t have a drinking problem, do I?”
“Why, for Hades’ sake, would you have a drinking problem?”
“Ariadne, my fiancée, she thinks so. She dragged me to the AA meeting the other day and—”
Triton’s laughter interrupted him. “Okay, there are two things fundamentally wrong here: first of all, you don’t belong in an AA meeting, and secondly, you don’t have a fiancée.”
Dio’s body stiffened. “I agree with you on the AA meeting, but Ari and I, we love each other.” There was just no two ways about it.
“Love?” Triton took a step closer and shook his head. “Dio, I’m your friend, so don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve never loved anybody but yourself.”
“No!” He loved Ariadne, and nobody could convince him otherwise.
“And I guarantee you that you’re not engaged. Whoever this Ariadne is, I’m telling you she’s an imposter.”
His Ari was lying to him? No, he couldn’t believe that. He didn’t want to believe it. “If you’re trying to drive a wedge between me and Ari then you and I are no friends. Do you get that?” He glared at Triton, intent on making him understand that he wouldn’t give her up. There had to be some misunderstanding that would soon clear itself up.
“We’ve been friends ever since we were toddlers, and you would let a woman come between us? Do you want me to tell you who you are?” Triton didn’t wait for Dio to respond. “You’re the worst womanizer this world has ever seen. You’re worse than I was before I met Sophia. You spend every night with a different woman. You have a strict one-night-only rule. Shall I continue?”
Dio took a few steps back, crashing into the wall behind him, shaking his head as Triton went on, “You’ve never been in a relationship. All you care about is the conquest. As soon as you have a woman in your bed, you’ve already lost interest.”
“You must be wrong.” He didn’t want to be the person his friend described in such detail. He didn’t want to be that kind of jerk.
Triton gave him a sad smile. “Dio, you are who you are. It doesn’t mean you can’t change. But the Dio who was at my wedding last week was the person I described. What you’re telling me about having a fiancée isn’t possible. You can’t have changed by a hundred and eighty degrees in a week.”
“But I don’t feel what you’re telling me. It doesn’t resonate. Yeah, about the wine, sure. You’re right. I feel a connection to the wine. When I was in Ariadne’s wine store, I felt at home. I sensed the bottles speaking to me. It was the strangest feeling.” Dio recalled the moment he’d stepped into the shop and instantly felt at ease. “But the rest, I’m sorry, the rest of your story doesn’t sound like me.”
A moment later, a man appeared in the middle of the room, out of nowhere. Dio felt a bolt of adrenaline shoot through his body as his heart pounded like a jackhammer. One of these days, these guys would give him a heart attack.
The guy, presumably Hermes, wore the most ridiculous outfit Dio had ever seen: a white flowing tunic reaching to his knees and tied with a golden sash. On his feet, he wore sandals. Dio took a closer look: were those wings on his sandals? He blinked, making his eyes refocus, but the wings remained where they were, attached to the guy’s sandals.
“Hey, Triton, Dio, what’s so urgent? I didn’t even bother getting changed.”
“We have a problem: Dio’s got amnesia.”
At Triton’s announcement, Hermes shot Dio a surprised look. “You’re shitting me!” Then he took a step toward him. “Is this one of his jokes?”
Triton shook his head. “Nope. He really doesn’t know who he is.”
Dio planted his hands at his hips, annoyed at being ignored. “I’m in the same room as you guys.”
Hermes tossed him an amused look. “Nothing wrong with his attitude though.”
Was he really friends with that frilly looking guy? He looked like he was wearing a dress.
“Hey, Dio, I can see what you’re thinking. But as the messenger god, that’s my outfit.” He glanced at his tunic and sandals. “Trust me, you don’t look any more manly in your tunic either.” Then he snapped his fingers and voilà, he was clad in jeans and a t-shirt.
Dio jumped again. “Shit! You guys gotta stop doing that!”
Hermes exchanged a look with Triton. “He really has lost his memory, hasn’t he?”
“Any ideas what to do about it?” Triton asked in return.
“You called the right god.” Hermes smirked. “I suppose Dio pissed one of the Olympians off and got punished. Now we just need to figure out which one.”
“What’s an Olympian?” Dio asked, feeling stupid because he didn’t know what Hermes was talking about.
