She leaped to her feet, leaving the cuffs and the key on the bed, and crept to the doorway to peek around the corner. No Ariston. A backward glance at the window told her she didn’t want to waste any more time checking for her mysterious savior. If they’d wanted her to know them, they’d have shown themselves. Perhaps whoever rescued her had been watching her when she’d been lost and found Ariston.
Lily froze mid-step. She’d nearly forgotten about her watcher in the woods. It couldn’t have been Ariston, and her rescuer hadn’t wanted to be seen... The thought made her uneasy. What if she left Ariston’s cabin and ended up running into this mysterious person, and they were worse than he was?
Ariston wants to have ritualistic sex with you under the eclipse. What could be worse?
Perhaps taking a chance with the unknown person was a risk she should take.
Is the Satyr Moon thing really as bad as it sounds? She hesitated in the doorway, wishing her brain came with an off switch. Lily was leaving, and that was the end of that story, plain and simple.
First things first, she hurried to where she had seen the cell phone before, but it was gone. A glance to the right had her pondering the radio system, but it had so many buttons and switches to decipher. She reached for the receiver, or whatever they were called on radios, and stilled her hand. In the time it took her to figure out how to work it, she could have distance between her and the cabin. She decided she’d rather take her chances in the woods than remain a sitting duck.
***
Adonis waited until Lily opened the cabin’s front door before he climbed into the bedroom window. He hastily retrieved the key left abandoned in the handcuff lock. It transformed back into his thyrsus and then his ring.
His brother was either a total idiot or had relied on his panpipes for far too long. Ariston wanted the nymph to like him, but he’d left her prisoner.
Left. Her. Alone.
Adonis could have strolled in, using his human glamour he could easily pass as Ariston. He could have taken her right there on the bed. He dismissed the idea, but it would have taught his twin a valuable lesson, at Adonis’ expense.
He dug through Ariston’s drawers, searching for the syrinx. Time was not an option since he’d waited too long considering how Ariston should suffer for his role as jailer. For some reason, Adonis had been reluctant to follow him and leave Lily unprotected. He’d wanted to keep an eye on the nymph. When she started hurting herself and screaming, he’d taken action lest she broke her wrist to escape.
Lily had a strong resolve, but Donovan and Ariston had done a number on her in too short a time. Ariston kept blundering over and over, making it worse. He’d scared her, caused her to injure herself, dropped too much information on her at the very start—though it had been a smooth move not to keep it secret from her when she did need to know—and then he’d made the worst error of all in locking her up and leaving her there.
Let Ariston panic when he found her missing. Adonis didn’t care. Searching the bedroom still, he opened the closet and noticed a padlocked safe in the corner. Using his thyrsus as a key once again, he pried it open. There were a few documents—forged passports, fake birth certificate—and a rock?
Why did Ariston keep a dingy old rock in a safe? It was ancient, seeming like it had belonged to a building.
He almost dropped it. The coloring and texture triggered a memory so vivid, he couldn’t breathe. A small house beneath the outline of Mount Helicon. Grass, green and crisp, rolled out all around. Sheep grazed on a hill down the path. His brother slept against a haystack as a goat nibbled the toe of his shoe. His mother and father stepping out of the threshold, hands clasped, smiling happily at the sight of him there.
The rock slipped from his hands, but he caught it, dispelling the vision. It had belonged to their home in Greece, from when they were human. When did Ariston go back? Why did Ariston get to go back? Adonis had been too afraid to face his family, and too ashamed to visit before leaving Greece behind. Gods, I hadn’t thought of them in so long.
Throbs of intensity stung him behind his eyes, and he slammed the safe shut. Slipping the stone into his backpack, he reclaimed the thyrsus and stumbled back out the window, fading into the evening’s first shadows. His pounding head would keep him from following behind the nymph himself, and the sun would set soon, giving Lily plenty of time to put distance between her and Ariston before his brother could figure out which way she’d gone or use the light to track her.
Adonis prayed for her sake, and his own, she found a way out of the mountains before Ariston found her. Please, he willed her. Save yourself.
Chapter Six
Ariston knew something was off before he even made it into the cabin. It was quiet. Too quiet. Lily had been raging when he’d left, and nothing but the sound of the crickets filled the evening air now. A wreck on the highway prevented him from rushing back immediately, keeping him away from her as time flew past. Above, the sun left the sky streaked in shades of lavender and magenta as it began its descent on the horizon. The silence gave him pause, but the ajar door snapped him into motion. He dropped the bags of groceries on the porch and ran inside. When he stumbled into the bedroom, he gawked at what was missing from his bed.
She’s gone. The nymph’s gone. Where has the nymph gone?
His mind jumbled into a dozen scenarios, some of which didn’t make sense. Obviously, Lily had made a run for it, but how had she gotten loose? He lifted the open end of the unlocked cuff with the tip of his index finger. There was no way she could have picked that lock. She’d had nothing on her capable of doing it. He checked his pocket—he still had the key.
Unsure how long he stood there stymied, Ariston bit back a curse and hightailed it back to the front door. He tripped over the grocery bags, sent a couple oranges spiraling down the steps and rolling through the grass, and righted himself before he could join them. He’d been bereft to only have dry cereal, canned goods, and granola bars to feed Lily, and he’d had to stock up for the week. It’d been a dumb move to leave her alone, but she’d need food. Judging by the few supplies she’d left in her pack, providing a decent meal would demonstrate he had good intentions. Once again, he hadn’t thought his plan through.
He made short work of tossing the cheese and other cold items in the refrigerator so they didn’t go bad; they’d already sat out longer than they should have on the trip home. Lily couldn’t have made it back to the road on foot, so he stood a chance at finding her still. Ariston left the rest of the food in the bags on the kitchen floor and hurried into the approaching night.
Tracking Lily proved difficult, but not impossible. The ground had mostly dried, and several fresh footprints trailing southeast from the front porch were too small to be his. He recalled parking areas located to the south of his cabin and another to the east. If he didn’t catch up with her, he’d have to call in the rangers and play a song to cleanse their memory of Lily later.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t reach that point. There was no sign of rain, which meant his nymph wasn’t hurt or frightened. It could also mean she was unconscious again as the rain had stopped shortly after she’d bumped her head. Ariston followed the prints into the forest, but with the fading light, they were harder to locate the farther he jogged after her.
A few minutes later, he cursed himself for not taking the four-wheeler to cover more ground, but at the same time he could track better on foot. He paused, untangled leaves from a horn, and listened, straining to catch a sign of Lily. The sound of water rushing over rock was all he heard as he came across the creek.
Lily was new to her heritage, so she had no idea how to become one with nature as a defense if something threatened her. Or did she? Was she hiding from him in the creek? He squinted at it, searching for deceit of any kind.
“Lose something?”
Ariston shouted and whirled around. No one was there. Huh?
“Over here, Arcadian.”
To his left, a shirtless man hovered. He wore r
ipped up jeans, but nothing else, not even shoes. The man resembled Pan, but wasn’t an exact copy...and he had wings on his ankles, visible through vertical tears in the denim which allowed them movement.
“Hermes?”
“Why does everyone question my identity? How many men fly around with miniature wings like so?” He pointed at the feathery appendages, flapping rapidly like the wings of a hummingbird. “Not many, just me. Of course I’m Hermes.”
“I wasn’t questioning... You surprised me. I knew who—ugh! I don’t have time to explain myself. Where did you put her?”
“Where did I put whom?” Still hovering five feet from the ground, Hermes put a hand to his cheek. “Oh dear, did you lose a nymph? After all these years, Ariston. Shame!”
Ariston growled and turned his back on the god. He continued heading south and away from the unnecessary hindrance. He finally understood why Pan wanted nothing to do with his paternal figure: Hermes was irritating.
“Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?” Hermes reappeared in front of him, forcing Ariston to stall in order to prevent crashing into him.
“No, but I’d hoped.” He attempted to skirt around Hermes, but Zeus’ messenger zipped into his path once more.
“You’re going the wrong way.” That gained his attention.
“So you do know where she is. Are you the one who helped her escape?”
“Escape? She was your prisoner...hmm... I see. Not the best way to win a woman over. And your disposition is all wrong. I’d run away too if you were this grumpy. Lose the ‘tude and amp up the smolder. Maybe invest in a hairbrush.”
A muscle twitched beneath Ariston’s eye. His hair tangled easily; it was naturally wavy and thick. Brushing it didn’t do much good in Georgia humidity. He’d thought about cutting it off, and he had a few times. Something about keeping it long made him feel like his human self though. “I don’t need dating advice from a god.” Especially one who’s notorious for never holding down a relationship for long. Nobody knew the identity of Pan’s mother, or if they did they kept their lips sealed.
“Obviously you do, or your nymph would be waiting anxiously for the Satyr Moon and not running like a frightened doe.”
“Fine. You want to help, then help. Do something useful like point me in the right direction since you act like you know precisely where she is.”
“Of course I do.”
“What are you, omniscient?”
“Hardly. I might have flown past a chick running through the woods and done a little bit of a double take. I’m a god. I know a nymph when I see one, and that was most definitely a nymph.” He smiled, recalling the visual.
“Don’t ogle my nymph!” Ariston had no idea why he said that, but the thought of Hermes leering at her pissed him off.
Hermes laughed. “She’s not your nymph, not unless you can persuade her to go through the ritual, and good luck because you’d be the first one to ever break the curse. Those are big shoes to fill. I’d say I’m rooting for you, but, uh, you’re off to a really poor start, sport.”
No shit.
“I’m really beginning to dislike you.” Far past that point actually.
“Sure ya are.” Hermes winked. “Look, I was in your neck of the woods because Pan and his fiancée want to visit. I guess while I’m here, I can collect your lost nymph. It would give you a chance to clean your act up because, frankly, you’re botching it up.”
Pan has a woman? “Never mind that! Just tell me where she is and I will go get her.”
“You deaf, laddie?” He’d pronounced it deef. “You show up, and her wits may well explode out her ears. What you need is damage control, and who is better for the job than yours truly?”
“I highly doubt you could do better than I could with those.” He glanced pointedly to the wings. Hermes followed his gaze and dropped out of his hover, landing with a soft thump. Hitching up the denim, his wings slipped through the ripped fabric and fluttered around his ankles. They faded into the skin, leaving an outline of winged tattoos. Hermes let the legs of his pants fall back into place.
“I didn’t plan on flying to her. I’m gonna ride!” He put a finger and thumb to his lips and let out a shrill whistle. Wind picked up as the barrier between realms shifted. A vortex formed in front of them and a white horse trotted out. Massive wings unfurled before they folded back against the horse’s flanks. Ariston pressed his face into one of his palms. Hermes had hidden his miniature wings and summoned a creature with even bigger wings that couldn’t be hidden at all. But he was the one botching things up?
“Pegasus,” Ariston said flatly. “Pegasus is your way of convincing a woman who doesn’t want to be part of our world to come back and participate?”
The horse tossed his mane as though saying, “Hell yeah, bitch!”
Hermes stroked Pegasus’ neck. “There, there. Mean ole Ariston is impressed. He just doesn’t know how to converse with others.” He glared at Ariston, and nodded toward Pegasus like he expected him to apologize or bow or something.
Great, he’d let yet another nymph slip through his fingers and also offended a horse. He refused to act thrilled when he was anything but. “How exactly will a winged horse make Lily less afraid?”
“He’s a horse, and women love horses,” Hermes said it in a tone which implied even a moron would know that fact. “She won’t be able to resist. If unicorns were real, I’d use a unicorn.” Hermes hopped up and straddled Pegasus, bareback. “I’m forgetting something. Oh, yeah!” He waved his hand around dramatically and produced a tan cowboy hat out of thin air. He plopped it on his head.
Ariston gritted his teeth. “What in the name of Hades do you think you’re doing?”
“Trust me. She won’t be afraid. I’ve got no shoes, no shirt, no problems, and a flying horse. Much better than a knight in shining armor, ask anybody. I’ll rescue your girl, and by the time I bring her to your cabin, which could use some fixing up by the way, she’ll want to stay. Or at least she’ll be more willing.”
“But why do you have to do it shirtless?” he repeated, trying to rein in his rising temper. Not happening. If anyone would rescue her shirtless, it would be Ariston.
“Oh, don’t be a baby. It’ll work. I promise I won’t molest your nymph.” A white T-shirt spontaneously covered the god’s chest. Well, at least that had been taken care of. As far as he knew, Hermes kept his word. He couldn’t recall stories of treachery on the god’s part, only minor pranks. Zeus trusted Hermes more than he did his own wife. Probably because Hermes didn’t run to Hera and tell her about all Zeus’ “visits” with the mortals.
“Prepare to treat this woman like a guest, not your hostage. You won’t get anywhere with her otherwise. I don’t know what is with you satyrs and your cavemen mentalities, but women of this century aren’t thrilled at the thought of being tossed over a shoulder and carried off without their asking you to do it. I’ll try to prevent Pan from visiting as long as I can, but he’s quite adamant to find the Arcadians lately.”
“Why is that? He’s the one who left us.”
Hermes sighed dramatically, “None of you needed him anymore, and he’s used to being a loner. That’s beside the point. Dionysus is making a play for the syrinx, and eventually you may receive a visit from him or the Boeotians in their quest to find it. Pan will want to talk to you about it.”
“He doesn’t even know where it is, does he?”
Hermes shook his head. “You left Greece with it, he knows that much.”
“I passed it to Nestor when I ran into him in Egypt, twelfth century. I know we were supposed to look for each other every century to let it switch hands, but there wasn’t a way to keep tabs of each other outside Greece. Haven’t seen Nestor or another Arcadian since he and I parted ways. He was heading to the Arctic, said he wanted to see if the cold would cause his horns to snap off.”
“I wonder if that fool succeeded. I’m hoping he found someone with sense to guard the thing soon after be
cause leaving one of the most powerful objects in creation to someone who wants to snap part of his body off due to frostbite doesn’t make me feel good about my son’s acquaintances. No matter, it could actually help, having Pan’s woman here to talk to the nymph. Think about it. I can bring them before you finish asking.”
Ariston had mixed feelings about Pan seeking him. While it was nice to know he did, it seemed the only reason was because of the syrinx and not because he wanted to reconnect with an old friend. However, it wasn’t important at the moment. What mattered was Lily. Keeping her safe. Making sure she remained unmolested by Hermes. Ariston had little time to ponder it before Pegasus reared back on his hind legs, wings spread as wide as they could go between the trees.
With a whinny that put all other stallions to shame, the immortal horse of legend tossed his graceful head in Ariston’s direction, daring him not to be in awe. Hermes fisted the snowy mane with one hand and removed his hat with the other to shout, “Yee haw.” And then the two galloped through the woods, the stark white of Pegasus eventually fading into the darkness.
***
Blisters bit into the balls of her feet. Lily gritted her teeth against the soreness with each step, but she trekked on anyway. Her shoes were in good shape, but she’d practically sprinted the first mile or so away from the cabin. She’d stopped for breath every few minutes since and not for very long. She didn’t have a watch, but it was fully dark out. She’d put it no later than nine at night if she guessed. Between the heat and the lack of foresight, she feared she’d have to find a source of water and hide for the night.
Lily plopped wearily onto the trunk of a fallen maple tree, nearly wheezing. If she took her shoes off to rub her feet, it would make it worse. She had to keep going. Her mangled feet could be comforted from home or a hotel room. Somewhere with air conditioning and a hot bath. Thinking of the bath only reminded her of her parched throat and the dizziness from not staying hydrated.
The Cursed Satyroi: Volume One Collection Page 35
