My head dropped back against the cool marble wall. She was right. Again. If she kept that up, it was going to get really annoying.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Alexa asked.
“I can trust you right?” I realized as soon as I said it, it was a dumb question. Like anyone would say no to that. “I mean, you’ll tell me the truth if I ask you something, right?”
“Of course.” She grabbed my hands in hers. “I’m here to serve you, but I want to be your friend too. I’d never lie to you. Promise.”
I was afraid to ask the question on my mind, but I had to know.
“What does he look like? He told me he was a harpy’s child, but I don’t know what that means. Good or bad, I just think I’d feel better knowing.”
“I can’t tell you that.” Her voice was an apology, barely more than a whisper.
“You just promised you’d tell me the truth.”
“I am telling you the truth. I can’t tell you that. It’s forbidden.”
“Is it really that bad?” I moaned.
“Are we going to go through this every day? Not everything you don’t understand is bad.” She wrapped me in a warm hug. “Please, Psyche. He loves you. Didn’t you feel that last night?”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat and tried to calm my pounding heart. This was my life — all around me in this palace. My future was in these walls. Invisible servants, mostly-invisible suitor? boyfriend? I didn’t even know what we were supposed to be to each other. Whatever repulsion I felt to the idea though, I had to admit it was better than what I’d feared after hearing the Pythia’s prophecy. And if every day was basically a repeat of yesterday, I could handle it. I’d have a friend in Alexa and eventually I’d get past not being able to see Aris. Not that I planned on loving him or anything, but how hard could it be just to talk?
* * *
While I ate breakfast, Alexa peppered me with questions. Mostly I answered absentmindedly. Alexa was just trying to make polite conversation but none of her questions interested me. I looked out over the palace gardens and sucked the honeydew juice from my fingers.
“Psyche?” she asked tentatively.
Here it comes, I thought. Now she’s going to ask me something more personal.
“What was it like being famous?”
How to answer that question? I laid my head against the back of the couch and thought. I liked my visits with Aphrodite — now that was fun — while it lasted. But the rest of it …
“It was okay, I guess. I didn’t love it or anything.”
“Why?” Alexa asked with a note of disbelief. “Wasn’t it amazing to get all those gifts and have people want to meet you — want to be you?”
“Maybe at first. But I ended up getting tired of it. I just wanted to be normal again after awhile.”
“Is that why your mom wanted you to get married? So you could get back to a normal life?”
I grabbed a pillow from the couch and hugged it to my chest. Thinking about my mother, and never seeing her again, cut a little deep. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure,” Alexa answered. “Want to tell me about your sister?”
“No. Something else.” Not only would I never see Chara again, she’d probably hate me forever too. Might as well just cue the waterworks now.
“At least you only have one sister,” Alexa said. “I have a bunch and most of them don’t even know my name.”
“What?” I hadn’t given much thought to what Alexa was, other than invisible, and I certainly hadn’t pictured her with sisters. But how could your own sisters not know your name? “Why not?”
“Because there’s fifty of us. And I’m third from the youngest, which means I’m as good as invisible at home too.”
“Fifty? No one has fifty sisters.” The pillow fell away from my chest as I sat up in surprise.
“Not for a nymph. Nymphs have that many kids all the time. I mean, my great grandmother was one of three thousand.”
“Ah!” I gasped. “You’re an Oceanid.” The Oceanids were the only sisters I’d ever heard of who numbered three thousand.
“Not me, no,” Alexa said. “My great grandmother was one of the Oceanids though. I’m just a descendant.”
“So you’re a nymph…” I pondered that knowledge for a minute, trying to draw on what little I knew about them. “What else can you do besides stay invisible?”
She sighed. “Nothing. I’m pretty much as boring a nymph as you’ll ever meet.”
“Well, I don’t think you’re boring,” I told Alexa. “But if you don’t have any special powers, then why can’t I see you?”
“Because you’re human. Powers or not, humans can only see us if we want them to.”
“Really? Show yourself to me. Please!”
“I wish I could, Psyche, but I can’t.”
“Why? Is that another one of his rules?”
“Not hardly,” she answered.
“Well, why then?” I looked as imploringly as I could in the direction of my invisible friend.
“Have you ever heard of anything good happening to a human who sees a nymph?”
I had to think about it. I didn’t know much about nymphs actually. I’d heard of the Oceanids, of course, and I knew that most nymphs protected some sort of natural element, like a river or flower or something. Some gods also kept company with nymphs since they were a step above humans, but that’s pretty much where my memory bank ended.
“I don’t know,” I finally answered. “The way you asked the question though, I’m guessing not.”
“It’s just the natural order of things. Something bad might not happen right away, but it would. I’m just supposed to be invisible to you. If I let you see me, the bad luck would find you.”
She laid her hand on top of mine. “And I think you’ve had enough bad luck for one lifetime.”
I put my other hand on top of hers, wishing I could see it. But after my run-in with Aphrodite, I’d had enough bad luck for five lifetimes. If seeing her meant I’d have more of the same, then she would just have to stay invisible.
“You want to take a walk?” I asked her. “I haven’t seen the gardens yet.”
“Yes!” she cried, tugging me to my feet. “He knows how you love gardens and this one is amazing.”
With Alexa leading the way, we ran together down another long hallway and burst through a pair of wooden doors into the yard. Before us was an immaculate lawn, so expansive an entire race track could’ve easily been built in the space.
Beyond the lawn was a maze of hibiscus hedges blooming with flowers that ranged from yellow, to salmon, to garnet. Throughout the lawn and maze were bronze and marble statues. The one closest to me showed Helen and Paris of Troy. Paris had one arm wrapped around Helen’s waist and his other hand held an apple. Helen had her body turned toward Paris, with her arms wrapped lovingly around his neck.
As I looked around at more of the statues, they all appeared to be couples locked in some sort of embrace. That was definitely not typical.
“What’s with these statutes?” I asked. “I noticed the columns out front were couples too. That’s really odd.”
“What’s odd about it? They’re just couples.”
“Most sculptures aren’t couples, that’s what’s odd about it. And I’ve never seen a column carved like two people.”
“I guess he’s just been inspired by his love for you,” she replied.
“Aris made these himself?”
“Sure. I told you last night, he made all of this for you.”
I stopped in my tracks. “No, no, no. You told me that all of this had been made for me in the past two weeks. I mean, that right there is hard enough to believe. But you didn’t tell me who made it. Now you’re saying Aris did this all himself in under a month?”
“I’m sorry,” Alexa apologized. “I keep telling you too much, too fast.”
I took a calming breath so I wouldn’t lose it. “It’s okay. I’ll get use
d to it. Just, I don’t know … tell me to sit down or something before you blurt out something like that.”
Her light laugh danced through the gardens. “I’ll try to remember that.”
I rolled my eyes and sat down on a bench. We had walked to a circular portion of the garden maze. A towering fountain stood in the center of a pool. Like all the other displays in the garden, the fountain flowed from entwined figures. This particular couple was Perseus and Andromeda. They were standing on top of the now-crushed sea serpent that would’ve eaten her had Perseus not come along.
Just thinking of poor Andromeda made me shudder. “My mother never would’ve let me die for her. She would’ve taken my place up on that rock yesterday if she could’ve.” Thinking of her again brought back the threat of tears.
“But thank the gods she couldn’t.” Alexa gave me a little jab in the ribs with her elbow. “You never would’ve met your own personal Perseus.”
“I’m not sure you can compare harpy spawn to demi-gods, but okay.”
Alexa’s snicker tumbled out in rapid little spurts. “Harpy spawn is definitely one way of putting it.”
Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “Are you intentionally trying to make me fret?”
“No.” She rubbed my back in a few, quick strokes. “It’s just his mom is such a, well, harpy, that harpy spawn seems dead-on accurate.”
“Great,” I mumbled. “Hope she doesn’t show up next.”
“You and me both,” Alexa said, pulling me to my feet before leading me off down another path. We walked through roses and irises and a bunch of other flowers I couldn’t name. As we strolled, I turned my face up to the glow of the warm sunshine, inhaling the sweet, earthy smell all around me. I suddenly felt more alive than I had in ages and the reverie stopped me in my tracks.
How could I feel so content when I was here?
Gravel crunched as Alexa came back to my side. “You can always be this happy if you choose.”
Was she a mind reader too?
“I don’t — I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I stammered, ashamed for basking in the peace of a spring morning when I should still be trembling under the covers.
“I want you to be happy here.” She gave my fingers a light squeeze. “Happiness will always be your choice.”
I looked around at the brillance of the palace and gardens. And I thought about Aris, who’d seemed harmless enough under his cloak of darkness. Who was I to judge if he didn’t want me to see whatever harpy features he’d inherited. I could live with all that — for the simple reason that I was pretty sure I was actually going to live.
Just be happy.
It really didn’t seem like too much to ask.
Chapter 22 - Psyche
By bath that evening, I’d decided Alexa owed me some more answers.
“How’d you end up in this place?” I asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be guarding a flower or something?”
Alexa scrubbed my arms with a loofah. “I volunteered to come here. Nymphs who don’t have anything in nature to guard often end up keeping watch over youth. You’re young enough that you still qualify.”
“Geesh, no natural object to care for and you got stuck babysitting me. I’m sorry.”
“Trust me, I’m not missing anything. I spent a lot of time visiting my oldest sister who looks after daffodils. Her job is so boring.”
“Ok. So why here? How’d you end up volunteering in this palace?”
Alexa was quiet as she lathered up a wash cloth and began polishing my back. “I didn’t choose the place. I chose you,” she finally said.
I looked up at the spot I knew she was at and felt my eyes start to mist over. “You chose me? That’s the nicest thing—”
“Oh, don’t get all sappy about it. It just means you’re slightly more interesting than an inanimate object.”
Alexa laughed. I beamed from ear to ear as I splashed water at her and hoped invisible nymphs could get wet.
“Kidding, kidding,” she said until I stopped splashing. “Anyway, when Aris opened up the position, I jumped at the chance. In all seriousness, I just sort of knew what good friends we’d be.”
I reached up and squeezed her arm. “Thank you,” I said. “I don’t deserve you.”
“I think you do,” she assured me. “And my job is to make sure you deserve me — and everything else here. To make sure your future is as wonderful as it should be.”
“But I’m here. My future’s already written.”
Alexa started in scrubbing my hair. “Nothing’s as certain as you’ve been taught. Humans like to believe in fate so they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions. But you still have some critical choices to make. I can help you with your decisions, offer my advice. But in the end, all decisions are yours alone. You hold the key to your own happiness. Never forget that.”
Just be happy.
As I rose from the bath, a plain lilac sheet that was apparently my dress for the evening floated toward me. Something else new. I’d never seen a design like it. It had no straps to keep it in place. And there was no detail or embroidery trimming the edges. I cocked an eyebrow and scowled as Alexa brought it closer.
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s not that, really. I just don’t, well … what is it?”
“It’s a dress, silly. Strapless. It’ll be the newest trend in Greece soon, and you get the designer’s original.”
“Who’s the designer?”
“Me,” she chirped. “It’s one of my hobbies. Just wait till you see it on.”
I followed the dress as we moved into my bedroom. She wrapped the gown around me, carefully tucking it under my arms and pulling it tight behind my back.
“How’s it supposed to stay up?”
“This pin.” Alexa produced an intricately knotted silver broach, almost the size of my hand.
“Wow. It’s beautiful.”
Using the pin, Alexa fastened the dress closed before sitting me down at the vanity to do my hair and makeup.
“This dress calls for something casually elegant. I don’t want you to look too done up tonight,” she informed me while she worked.
“I’m sure whatever you do will be perfect.”
Before long, she flipped over the silver mirror for me to see my reflection. She’d hit her mark. My hair was loosely pulled back and little ringlets fell down around my face like a frame. She’d done my makeup so expertly that I didn’t even look made up. I just glowed like the sun had come down from the sky and kissed me.
“You’re amazing,” I told her.
“I have an easy subject,” she laughed, hugging my shoulders. “Come on, I want you to see the dress.” She pulled me across the room to a full length mirror.
I hadn’t had very high expectations. It seemed too strange and plain to be very pretty on. But when I saw it in the mirror, just the opposite was true. The dress showed off my shoulders with a look both new and stunning. I pivoted to look at the back. Where Alexa had gathered the material, it folded into a fan and cascaded down to the floor. The silver broach sat beautifully in the center of my shoulder blades. It was truly all the embellishment the dress needed.
“You’re a genius,” I told Alexa. “You should be designing gowns for the gods rather than babysitting me.”
“I have to start somewhere, right?” I could hear the smile in her voice.
* * *
At first I sat on the edge of the bed to wait, staring at the open window. Doing this on my own was significantly harder than when I’d had Alexa with me last night. Unable to sit still, I went back to my vanity to add more lipstick and check my hair. But there was no detail in Alexa’s handiwork I could improve on, so I returned to the edge of the bed.
As I waited, I picked at the skin around my nails. What was taking him so long? He hadn’t taken so long to come last night. What if he’d decided he didn’t want me? Not that I wanted him, but I wasn’t sure how much more rejection I could handle
in one lifetime. Having suitor after suitor want my sister instead of me had taken its toll on my ego.
Hopping up, I moved over to the fireplace to examine the mosaic surrounding it. The millions of tiny pieces of glass composing the picture amazed me and I got lost trying to figure out how an artist would even go about starting such a project. I was still studying the mosaic when the room went dark and I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist from behind. Spinning quickly, I looked back at him, but again, I saw only his eyes glinting at me from under a cloud of darkness.
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