It was mindless and just what Ben needed in the background as he let his head fall against the pillow. Sleep claimed him, and in his dreams the world was right, there were no gods, and his sister sat in the sun, smiling at him.
Chapter Nine
Andrew woke Ben up way too early for Ben’s liking. He was hungry and rested, and ready to get started. Ben was slower going that morning, his head pounding from drinking the night before, and his throat was raw from smoking.
He gave a few coughs and groaned as he pulled his already-worn clothes on, hating the feel of dirty socks on his feet. He ignored Andrew’s persistent bitching for him to hurry and he took his time in the bathroom, setting his hair straight, washing his face and using the disposable hotel toothbrushes lying in a neat, packaged pile at the edge of the sink.
He looked like death, his skin pale, eyes dark, but with food and coffee he knew he’d perk up, and he directed Andrew to the hotel’s café on the other side of the property. The café was located directly waterside, the outside seating on the dock with only thick strands of rope separating the tables from the dark, still, bay waters.
It was a nice morning out, the hazy fog at a minimum, and the winds had died down considerably from the night before. Ben was pleased to have slept until at least dawn, and he chose the table nearest to the water, a sullen Andrew following suit to the chair.
The server, an overly perky girl with that sorority air about her, plunked the pasted wooden menus down on their table. “Can I get you guys anything to drink?”
Andrew looked perplexed so Ben took the lead. “Two of your darkest roast coffees and a couple glasses of OJ. Thanks,” he finished off with the brightest smile he could muster.
Andrew was glaring at him over the menu, his eyes narrow and fierce. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Is the world going to blow up today or something?” Ben asked irritably as his eyes scanned down the list of breakfast items. He’d been poor about his diet for some time now, but the allure of huevos rancheros was too tempting, especially with the café’s acclaimed homemade chorizo.
“I don’t know,” Andrew said, but it was clear that the matter wasn’t as pressing as that. “We’re meeting someone in the city today.”
Ben lowered his menu and frowned. “Meeting someone? One of your someones?”
Andrew gave one slow nod of his head. The server returned and plopped down the juice, coffee, and a small dish of cream. “Thanks,” Andrew muttered to her, not meeting her gaze.
Ben sighed and ordered a stack of pancakes for his god friend, and the huevos rancheros with runny eggs and a side of toast. He was starved and knew that if they were going to meet yet another god, he was going to need all the energy he could get.
“Who is it this time? Give me someone good, why don’t you,” Ben muttered as he stirred a couple of sugar packets into the coffee. He ignored the cream completely and gulped down the hot liquid. It was a little more bitter than he liked, but right then coffee was coffee.
“Someone good?” Andrew asked. “What does that mean?”
Ben laughed in spite of the situation and shook his head. “I don’t know. How about… Odin. Let’s meet up with Odin. Or how about Ra. You know that guy?”
Andrew lowered his eyes and let out a long sigh. “This isn’t a game, you realize.”
Ben laughed harder, shaking his head. “Yeah,” he gasped. “Yeah I know.” He forced himself to calm down, taking a drink of his juice. “I do know that, but this whole thing is just so ridiculous. You know, I’ve got Nike running around in my sister’s body, I’ve got Asclepius—and you know I’ve never heard of that guy before—drinking himself into a stupor in some doctor’s office. And then there’s you. The guardian of the rainbow thingie…”
“Bridge,” Andrew said in a dead tone.
“Rainbow bridge!” Ben said, slapping the table lightly with his hand. “I just don’t even really know how to process any of this.”
“Well you’d better figure it out, human,” Andrew said, his voice taking on an odd quality. “I don’t like being stuck down here with you animals any more than you like following me around, but this doesn’t just involve you and your little friends anymore. This threatens all of us, and don’t think I won’t force you to cooperate if I have to.” Andrew ended his threat with his eyes giving a great big flash, sending sparks shooting in front of Ben’s vision.
The detective stopped laughing, the blood draining from his face and he took a deep breath. “Why me? What is it about me that you have to threaten to force me to cooperate?” Ben asked, getting angrier as he spoke. “Why not that guy over there walking down the street? Why not go and fuck up his life beyond recognition and then threaten him when he doesn’t want to play along anymore?”
Their conversation abruptly halted by the arrival of food, but Ben wasn’t hungry anymore. Andrew stared down at his plate as Ben poked both egg yolks with his fork, watching the yellow liquid run down the pile of seared reddish meat. The air between them was tense, and Ben was fighting off the urge to bolt, though he knew his running would be useless.
“I dislike being in this body,” Andrew said after a little while. He took a bite of the pancakes and raised his eyebrows, clearly enjoying the taste. “The human form has its certain pleasures, Ben, and I can see why your kind fights so hard to keep them. We’ve never had to experience the mortal death. The feeling of our essence being ripped from our forms and forced into another awareness. Even moving from corporeal to what we are now was a slow process.”
Ben took a tentative bite of his food and his stomach reminded him that stress or no, he needed to eat. The coffee was unpleasantly cold now, but he drank the rest of it, saying nothing to Andrew’s response.
“I’ve never been one to pay a lot of attention to humans, but I find you agreeable. Regardless of your perplexing ability to ignore the obvious, I appreciate that you don’t blindly follow the ignorant ideals that gods would have any say-so in the fate of human souls, and reject the notion so readily.”
Ben looked at Andrew and frowned. “Are you talking about heaven and hell?”
“And their variants based on any human theology,” Andrew said, waving his fork, his words thick behind the doughy pancakes. “Truthfully, I have no idea what happens after your souls move on. Reincarnation, yes, but eventually you move on to another plane and no longer exist here.”
Ben was acutely aware that Andrew had skillfully avoided the ‘why me’ question, but the perky brunette swiftly approaching their table took away any thought of pressing the god any further. It was Olivia from the night before. She was smiling, but she wasn’t looking at Ben, and Ben was even more horrified to see Andrew beckoning her over.
“I thought you wanted to meet this afternoon,” Andrew said.
Olivia scanned the tables and snatched an empty chair from one nearby. She plopped down and gave Ben a wink before answering Andrew. “Oh well, seems a bit silly when we’re staying in the same hotel, doesn’t it?”
Her accent was gone, Ben noticed, and he frowned, sitting back with his arms folded. He had been so damn sure she wasn’t one of them. Nothing tipped him off. “Why didn’t you say something last night?” Ben piped up.
Olivia looked over at him stony faced and then she laughed suddenly, clapping her hands together once. “Oh that wasn’t me last night,” she said, touching her palm to the center of her chest. “No, that was this poor romantic fool I’m riding around in.”
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at her over his fingers. “What?” was all he could come up with.
“Well she was convenient,” the new god said with a wave of her hand. “Look, she doesn’t mind, she thinks she’s still asleep and I’m not going to keep her.”
“Please don’t,” Ben said in a tired voice. “She was nice.”
“Ben, this is…” but Andrew hesitated, staring at the woman for some time. “This is my brother.”
“Got a name?” Ben asked,
wishing he had a strong drink, or at least a cigarette right then.
“A lot of them,” she said with a big smile. “I’ve been everything from an archangel to the God of Thunder.”
Ben blinked a few times, the corners of his mouth quirking up. “Thor?”
“That would be the one,” she said with a slight shrug.
“You’re Thor?” Ben repeated.
“Thor, Michael, Horus, you name it,” she said. “I was eclectic. Unlike my brother here, I liked you people. Still do. I have a more permanent vessel. I’m in advertising.” She winked and snatched up Andrew’s untouched coffee, taking a drink but grimacing as the liquid had gone stone cold.
Ben let out a breath and sat back. “Okay so… Thor.”
“I go by Alex, if that helps,” the god said with a shrug. Looking down at the rather perky breasts, she looked up and smiled. “And Alex is unisex, isn’t it? Helps with confusion since I’m probably going to be hanging out in this body for the rest of the day.”
Ben cleared his throat and said, “Okay, Alex. So I take it you weren’t the one Andrew here was chatting with in the portal?”
“No,” Alex said, her face darkening. “I try and stay away from Asclepius. He’s a little bit of a whore for my tastes, and frankly, I’m not interested in leaving this plane and I don’t want to take any chances.”
“What do you mean?” Ben pressed.
“If we step through the portal too far, we can’t come back,” Andrew filled in. “The portal, at least the one in Greg’s office, is a one way ticket.”
Ben looked over at Alex. “So you don’t want to go to the other side.”
“Not a chance, my friend,” Alex said, her pretty face lighting up with her smile. “I love it here, and I love you people. Humans, man,” she shook her head, “can’t get any better. Such passion and drive, and no matter how hard you fall you just get right back up. I love this realm and I plan to stick around as long as I can.”
“You can’t be here forever,” Andrew said in a warning tone.
“You leave my longevity to me, stormy-man,” Alex snapped. “Anyway, don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Andrew jumped at that and stood up swiftly. “I nearly forgot. Damn. Ben, I have to go run a very important errand, but it’s best if you stay back. Alex here plans to spend the afternoon with you. When I return we should have a better idea of where to go.”
He didn’t give Ben a chance to respond as he dashed off through the parking lot, disappearing around one of the large white vans emblazoned with the hotel logo on the side. Ben stared down at his barely touched plate and knew he wasn’t going to be able to eat anymore. The eggs had congealed, the chorizo’s grease turning the tortilla shell into mush, and the sausage was ice cold.
The server came by, briefly asking Alex if she wanted anything, and she ordered a cappuccino to go. She slipped the server her credit card, giving Ben a wink when he tried to protest. “Oh have breakfast on little Olivia here,” Alex said, patting her own shoulder. “The girl wanted to do at least that for you last night.”
“Can you see their thoughts when you’re inside them?” Ben asked, that revelation horrifying him.
“Glimpses,” Alex said with a shrug. The server returned the bill and she signed it swiftly. Ben presumed she left a larger than normal tip, seeing as the server’s eyes went wide and thanked them profusely as the rose from their table full of uneaten food.
“She’s a nanny, you know,” Ben said as they walked the path back toward Ben’s suite. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say that she probably doesn’t have an advertiser’s salary to throw around.”
That gave Alex pause. “Hmm. Never really thought. Well just remind me to transfer some money to her; god knows I have enough disposable income to take care of that breakfast.”
Ben put his key into the hotel room door and they walked in. The room was cold, the heater was off and the beds were still unmade meaning housekeeping hadn’t been by. Ben had completely forgotten he had a hangover until he set foot in the room and the pounding in his head gave him the reminder. He groaned and fetched a cold water bottle from the small, black fridge set into the cabinets.
“So what are we doing here?” Ben asked, flopping down onto the hotel sofa.
Alex dug into her thin jacket pocket and retrieved the silver lighter and pack of cigarettes. Tossing them to Ben, he caught them with a deft hand and was nearly trembling as he pulled one from the packet and lit it.
“I’m going to get fined for smoking in this room,” he said, offering one to Alex.
She shook her head and sat down in a chair. She shifted uncomfortably, tugging at the waistband of the jeans, and sighed. “I think it’s mostly the clothing which make me avoid running around in a woman’s body.”
Ben gave a light laugh and shrugged. “Do you have a gender?”
“Specifically no,” Alex said, unbuttoning the top button and letting out a breath. “I spend more time as a man, and I suppose the state of my being is related more to male than female. Frankly I’m happy either way. Boobs are great.” Alex grabbed her chest and gave her breasts a jiggle.
Ben winced, forcing himself to look away from the woman practically fondling herself on the chair across from him. “Do you mind?”
“You think she doesn’t do this on her own?” Alex challenged.
“Likely in the privacy of her own room, and not in front of some ancient god and detective she doesn’t know,” Ben insisted.
Alex dropped her hands into her lap. “We can have sex if you like. I know she’d appreciate that.”
Ben let out a sigh and sat up a little, finishing the cigarette in one long pull. “I’d rather not, thanks. Feels a little bit too much like date rape to me.”
“Fine,” Alex pouted. “Why don’t we get drunk, and I can show you a few magic tricks.”
Before Ben could respond, Alex stood and a bottle of wine went flying from the self and into her hand. She popped the cork with a snap of her fingers and took a long swig of the rich ruby liquid. Ben, staring in half-disbelief, merely shook his head at the offered drink.
Alex sighed and took a seat next to him, setting the bottle on the low coffee table. She looked him directly in the eye and spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone. “You’d better get used to this, my friend. You may not be a god like us, but we are your destiny. You were always meant to know us, and now that you do, we’re never going away.”
Chapter Ten
Mark’s Story
Although I was of a very precocious nature, it didn’t occur to me that the only reason Maryam and Yosef agreed to let me spend time with their sons and learn the art of carpentry and wood making was purely out of fear that I would have them arrested, or worse. Alexandria was one of the freest cities in the known world, but there was still the ever present Roman threat to society.
Alexandria would never become a city under the heel of Roman rule, just as it had never really succumbed to the absolutism that Alexander the Great’s empire brought with it, before it became Alexandria and it was just Rhakotis, the small city beside the sea. The presence of Romans was all around, however, and truth be told, Yosef had always had plans to bring his family back to Jerusalem one day.
I was too young to really understand the pull Jerusalem had over many of the Hebrew occupants of Alexandria. All I knew was that Alexandria was rich and prosperous, and where one might find themselves destitute and enslaved in Jerusalem, in Alexandria they lived as free as the Roman citizens did.
I learned a lot from Yosef and his sons as I worked my fingers calloused and bloody. Wood working was a coveted art, everything necessary and usable, and nothing left to waste. It took patience beyond normal reasoning, a patience that I had, but had yet to hone.
My mother never asked where I went off to, though from time to time when she bothered to emerge from her chambers, she’d inspect me and give me a curious look, the curiosity in her eyes never spoken aloud. Only once did she warn me and it was n
othing more than a simple, “Do not get yourself into trouble that money can’t buy your way out of.”
I smiled and nodded and dashed off to the street where Yehuda was waiting for me. I passed him the sack of food I’d pilfered from the house and we ran off toward the docks, our spot on the roof waiting as we stuffed ourselves, greedy and secretive.
I liked his brothers okay, they were full of ideas and dreams that were foreign to me and I wanted to know them all, but none of them bothered to get to know me like Yehuda did. He asked me questions, listening to my answers and theories patiently as I rambled on with the dreams of an adult but the perception of a child.
“There’s no sense in not knowing everything,” I said, my arms waving wildly. “There’s no sense in wasting a single moment when we still don’t know the answers to the sky and the sun and the stars and moon. One day, Yehuda, we’ll get into that library and I’ll read every single scroll in there. I don’t care if it takes me a thousand years.”
“You won’t live a thousand years, you know,” he said, gnawing on a dried bit of meat. “You’ll die before you get to read half those books.”
“I won’t,” I said, crossing my arms petulantly. I dropped down into a squat in front of him, my eyes meeting his. He was older than I was, but I always felt that I was his equal. “I won’t die until I consume every bit of knowledge that the world has to offer.”
“You’re foolish. You’re foolish in birth and you’ll be foolish in death.”
I gave him a playful shove and he laughed as he toppled over. “So you say! But you’ll be looking foolish when I prove you wrong.”
We finished our lunch and went straight to the workshop where his father was setting out a rather large piece for a table that one of my neighbors had commissioned. He wanted the table carved, intricate markings of the ancient gods. He’d provided tablets to Yosef, who held them gingerly in several layers of cloth on the ground.
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