by Kieran Scott
But I couldn’t help it. Charlie and I were about to spend a whole hour together. Alone. My palms itched at the very thought.
“I don’t know,” I told her, lifting one shoulder. “I guess I’m in a good mood.”
She eyed me shrewdly, but smiled. “Well, I’m glad to see it.”
“Thanks.”
I heard the automatic doors open and close and used every ounce of self-control I had not to turn around. I could feel someone walking up behind me, though. Could hear the swish of jeans as his legs rubbed together against the silent backdrop of the library. I stopped breathing.
“Hey,” he said.
I turned around. His hair was combed farther to the side, exposing his eyebrows for the first time since I’d met him. He wore another band T-shirt, this one heather blue, and it totally brought out his eyes. I gripped the desk behind me with both hands.
“Hey,” I replied, biting my bottom lip.
“Oh,” Mrs. Pauley said. “Now I get it.”
“Shhh!” I replied giddily. “It’s a library.”
“So get to work then,” she chided, picking up a stack of returned books. “I reserved the good table for you.”
“Thanks,” I told her, sliding my backpack onto my shoulder.
“You get perks around here?” Charlie asked as I led him around the desk toward the windowed alcove.
“I work here, so . . .”
“Oh really? Cool,” he said. “You must really like to read.”
I slid into one of the hard-backed chairs at the study table. There was, in fact, a small RESERVED sign at its center, and Alison Toshika was hunkered down at the next table over, glaring at me. She loved this table. She was here every day with her laptop and her intimidating private-school texts, grinding away. I tried to hold back a smile. It was nice to have perks.
“Yeah. I do,” I replied, feeling self-conscious. Because, of course, liking to read made me a dork. To most people, anyway.
“Me too,” Charlie said. “What do you think of Great Expectations so far?”
I grinned. “Well, I loved the first chapter,” I joked.
Charlie laughed. My smile was so huge my cheeks ached. I’d made him laugh!
“But seriously, it’s good. The imagery is amazing,” I said, tugging out my econ text. “I’m glad the pressure’s off, though.”
“I’m jealous,” he replied. “My name hasn’t been called yet.”
I was aware of this. Because I couldn’t wait for him to go so I could return the favor and help him the same way he’d helped me. I was already trying to think of something good to write in a notebook to flash at him from the back of the classroom.
“So . . . wife,” Charlie said with a laugh.
“Yes . . . husband?” I replied, giggling against my will.
He toyed with the cover of his text, opening it and letting it flap closed over and over. “What do you think we should do first?”
I hesitated, surprised by the question. “Oh, I . . . um . . .”
Heat crept up the back of my neck. Had it really been that long since anybody asked my opinion? It was like I couldn’t even form a thought.
“I don’t . . . sorry.” I stared down at my book. “What do you think we should do first?”
Charlie whipped out a calculator. It was like he hadn’t even noticed my extreme moment of awkward. The air-conditioning suddenly whooshed to life, and I thanked God and the building’s architect for the vent we were sitting under.
“Why don’t we figure out what our monthly income is?” he said. “Luckily, I was smart enough to snag me a wildly successful sugar mama.”
I laughed. “And I snagged myself a guy who will be home to hang out with me every day after three and all summer long.”
Charlie grinned. “Sounds like we’re going to have the perfect life.”
I smiled back. This couldn’t have gone any better if I’d imagined it myself. “Sounds like it.”
Then Charlie’s phone rang. Alison scowled. He quickly fumbled it out of his pocket, cursing under his breath. “I forgot to mute it.”
I couldn’t help glancing at the screen and seeing Darla Shayne’s smiling face. And her breasts. She’d taken the picture herself, holding it up above her face so that the angle would catch the best vantage on her cleavage.
Ugh.
“How do you turn it off without . . .” Charlie fumbled with the phone. His hands were shaking, and he was clearly mortified.
“Sorry, I guess I have to . . .”
He got up, turning away from me and whispering into the phone.
“Hey! Yeah. I’m here now,” he said. “No, I know. I’m only here an hour. I’ll call you later.” There was a pause. “Oh, um, sure. I’ll meet you there.” Pause. “Yes, I promise.”
“Shhhh!” Alison hissed.
I shot her a look and she sighed, shrugging one shoulder like I was some hopeless cause. And maybe I was. My heart felt like it weighed about a ton and a half. I reached for my own phone and hit a button to bring the screen to life. The wallpaper was a picture of me and Ty taken down the shore that summer. I stared at his smiling face, pressed up against mine.
This was good, this call from Darla. It was a clear reminder that Charlie was taken. And it forced me to remind myself: I was taken too.
Charlie’s phone beeped, and he turned it off before shoving it into the depths of his backpack.
“So.” He cleared his throat. “Monthly income.”
“Right,” I said, adopting his new business-y tone. “Monthly income.”
It was time to get down to the reason we were here. We were partners in a school project. Nothing more.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
True
I would have killed to have been a fly on the wall of the library while Charlie and Katrina had their study date, but unfortunately, I was scheduled to work and Darnell still needed a new soul-sucking device. So instead of watching my work in action, and maybe helping it along, I was busy sugaring up the rest of the teen population of Lake Carmody and doing my best to keep from scarfing down an entire fresh batch of pineapple-mango cupcakes.
“Hi, True!”
My face lit up at the sound of Katrina’s voice. She looked happy, standing there under the multicolored lights over the counter.
“Katrina! How was studying? How’s Charlie? How did it go?”
She gave me an odd sort of look. My gaze darted over to Hephaestus, who was sipping black coffee in the corner and doing the math on our project. He’d agreed to take it on himself so I could concentrate on “completing my mission and learning to act like a human.” His words. Now he gave me a slight head shake, a gesture that I was starting to learn meant that I had to “dial down the crazy.” Also his words.
“I mean, did you guys get anywhere on your project?” I asked.
“Yeah. He’s going to type it up and print it out when he gets home,” she said. “I stopped by to pick up some cupcakes for Ty. He loves the triple chocolate. Can I get a half dozen?”
I experienced an unpleasant sinking in my chest. Where was the effusive gushing about Charlie? The doubts about Ty? What the hell was she doing here buying that oaf cupcakes?
The bells above the door rang and Darla traipsed in, tugging Charlie by the hand. The second they were through the door, he pulled her to him and kissed her. A for-real kiss. Not a mere peck on the cheek.
Hephaestus and I exchanged a dead-eye look. What was wrong with these people? I couldn’t understand how Charlie could not see that he and Darla were utterly mismatched.
Putting aside the fact that a few days ago I’d thought they might be perfect together.
“True?” Katrina prompted.
“Sorry. A half-dozen triple chocolate.”
I boxed up her cupcakes, took her money, and yanked on the strings of my apron. On my way out from behind the counter, I grabbed two more triple chocolates of my own.
“I’m taking my fifteen!” I shouted to Torin.
/> “Noted!” he replied.
I dropped into the chair across the table from Hephaestus and unwrapped the cupcake.
“I thought you were counting the cals,” he said.
“Why bother? Orion’s as good as dead and probably me with him.” I took a huge bite. “Might as well die sugar-filled and happy.”
“So you’re giving up?” Hephaestus asked as Charlie and Darla found a cozy booth in the corner and perused the plastic menu, holding hands atop the table.
I grimaced and took another bite. “What am I supposed to do? They just spent an hour together, and she’s buying cupcakes for that troll while he’s over there rubbing skin with the girl who thinks he’s almost perfect.”
I stuck my tongue out and Hephaestus winced. “Ew. Table manners, girl.”
“Whatever.”
He laughed. “Well, at least you sound like one of them.”
“I’m serious, Hephaestus!” I said, leaning back in my seat. “Tell me what to do. Please. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
Slowly he closed his econ text and snapped the screen of his laptop down. “Okay, so forcing them to hang out for an hour didn’t do the trick.” He paused and looked at me, like he was waiting for something.
“And?” I asked, frustrated.
“Of course it didn’t do the trick!” he cried. “I’ve only been here a day and even I can see they’re both insanely shy. Plus they’re both taken and clearly not the type of people who go around cheating on their significant others. And besides, you, Eros,” he whispered, “should know that true love is formed on more than a physical attraction.”
“I know,” I grumbled, picking at the now-empty cupcake wrapper.
“So what is it based on?” he asked.
He was testing me. Prodding me. Trying to get a reaction out of me. And I did feel a bit of defiance sparking up deep in my gut. But I wasn’t ready to give him the satisfaction of yanking me out of my wallow.
“It’s based on a deep understanding of each other,” I said flatly. “A connection of mind, body, and soul. An appreciation for the unique qualities each person can find in no one else on Earth, and an ability to fulfill each other’s needs in a way that no one else can.”
I knew the words well. I’d written them. I toyed with the second cupcake, spinning it slowly between thumb and forefinger.
“So,” Hephaestus said succinctly. “What do you need to do?”
In the corner, Darla laughed. Suddenly I sat up. “I need to show them what they’re not showing about themselves.”
“Okay. That’s a start,” Hephaestus said.
My head felt fuzzy and light, warm and buzzing at once. “Ever since he got here, Charlie has wanted to be part of the popular crowd, but that’s not who he really is,” I whispered. “He’s an artist. He’s unique. But he’s trying like hell to blend in. He needs someone to appreciate who he really is and show him it’s okay to be that person.”
“And Katrina?” Hephaestus asked.
“She’s hurting,” I said, swallowing hard. “She thinks no one sees her or cares about her. And on some level, she’s right. Her dad died, her mom apparently couldn’t give a crap that she moved out, that Ty jerk treats her like meat, and her friends are useless. She needs someone to make her feel special. To make her the center of their universe.” I looked Hephaestus in the eye. “And I know . . . I know that if Charlie knew the real her, he could do that. He would do that. He’s a good guy. So much better than even he realizes.”
I looked over my shoulder at him. He gave Darla a quick kiss, then went up to the counter to place an order with Tasha. He pushed his thumbs into the back pockets of his jeans and drummed a beat against his hips with his fingers. Darla noticed this too and rolled her eyes.
Suddenly I realized something. I realized that I was hardly one to talk about not seeing what was right before one’s eyes. Especially after the way that Orion and I had finally gotten together.
• • •
I whirled into my mother’s chambers one night in mid-March and smiled as I breathed in the familiar scents of lavender and lilac. It felt as if I hadn’t been home in ages. But my happy homecoming moment was short-lived. Aphrodite grabbed me by the hair and flung me to the floor. My face collided with the hard, cold marble and my vision jarred, the floral arrangements along the walls vibrating before my eyes.
“What in the name of creation do you think you’ve been doing?” she shrieked.
“It’s good to see you too, Mother,” I replied, sitting up and rubbing my jaw. I was used to my mother’s sudden fits of violence. They often came out of nowhere and for no logical reason. She’d suddenly recall some slight from fifty years ago and decide to take it out on me. “What have I done this time?”
“You’ve been gone for close to a month!” my mother railed, her eyes wide. “All this time I have been forced to lie for you! To keep you cloaked from detection!”
“So why didn’t you call me back?” I asked.
“Do you think I have not attempted it?” she hissed, her enunciation sharp. “You sent yourself there and only you can send yourself back. You or Zeus. Who thankfully had no idea where you were.”
My brain was very slowly processing what she’d said. “Wait. You couldn’t bring me back? You? The mighty Aphrodite?”
“I wouldn’t mock her right now if I were you,” Harmonia advised, appearing at my side. The sight of her sent a shock wave of joy right through me, and we leaned together for a hug. “It’s good to have you home, sister.”
“It’s good to see you, sister,” I replied.
She leaned back and arched her perfect brows, the difference in wording not lost on her.
“Where did you tell everyone I was?” I asked, plucking a sprig of lavender from one of my mother’s favorite golden vases and holding it to my nose.
“We said you’d gone to Etna to seek out Apollo’s advice on some earthly matter,” Aphrodite told me, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Apollo?” My nose turned up. “I would never seek out Apollo.”
“Can you think of anything else we could have said?” Harmonia raised her palms, her arms wide at her sides. “Any place else Zeus wouldn’t bother to track you down?”
I tilted my head. “Good point.”
“It’s no matter now,” Aphrodite said, lowering herself onto a red velvet settee. “Now that you have returned, we can put this whole experiment behind us.”
“I trust Orion is well?” Harmonia said, running her fingers over my hair and fiddling with the curled ends. “You left him with all his faculties?”
“Oh, I didn’t leave him,” I replied. “I’m going right back. This is just a quick pit stop so I can match some couples to keep Zeus from getting suspicious. Then I’ll return to him.”
I had already started to walk out, headed for my own chambers, when every door and window slammed shut.
“Oh, no you won’t!” my mother thundered, her fingers curling into the carved oak frame of her seat. “You dare not return, Eros! You have proven your power. You have done your duty by Orion. It is time to return to your post.”
“But I can’t just leave him,” I replied, turning to face her.
“You must,” Harmonia said, reaching for my hand. “You can’t keep this up forever. And if anyone discovers your new power . . .”
I pulled away from her, feeling betrayed. “I don’t care! Let Zeus know. What does it matter?”
My mother laughed, a short, barking kind of laugh. “What does it matter?” she asked incredulously. “What does it matter?” She rose to her feet, her blond hair tumbling down her back, and I could see her legs were shaking. “This is not supposed to happen, my daughter. Powers do not suddenly heighten. Upper gods have certain abilities and lower gods have certain abilities. You don’t obtain new ones. Not without striking a deal with Zeus or Hades.”
“Well, clearly that’s no longer true,” I replied, lifting my chin.
“And do you have any i
dea what Zeus will do when he realizes there is something in this realm that has grown beyond his control?” my mother asked. “Do you have any clue what that will do to him?”
“I can’t undo it!” I cried as tears filled my eyes. “And I’m not leaving Orion. I won’t!”
“Why not?” Harmonia asked, raising a hand to stop my mother’s next tirade.
“Because I love him!” I shouted.
Both my hands fluttered up to cover my mouth. My mother’s jaw dropped. My sister reached for the nearest column to steady herself.
“You love him?” my mother breathed. “How? Why?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, my arms falling limp at my sides. “But I do.”
“Does he feel the same way?” Harmonia asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I hope so.”
“Why have you not read his soul?” my mother asked.
I looked at her feet, ashamed. “Because. I’m scared.”
“Well. Stop it!” my mother asked.
“Stop what?”
“Stop being afraid,” she replied. “Go to him and uncover his true feelings.”
“But, Mother, you just said—”
“I know what I said, but this is the only answer,” she replied. “If he does not love you, you no longer have an excuse to stay.”
“But if he does love her?” my sister asked.
There was a long pause. “If he does love her, of course she must stay.”
My jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t try to stop me?”
“Of course not.” My mother was suddenly incredulous. “Not if it is a matter of true love.”
I reached out and hugged her. “Thank you, Mother.”
“Do not thank me yet,” she replied, running one warm hand over my hair. “Find out what you need to know. Then we shall plan.”
• • •
“So?” Hephaestus said again, bringing me back to Earth. “What’re you going to do?”
I whipped my head around and handed him the second cupcake. “I’m going to make them see each other for who they really are.” I jumped up, leaned over, and kissed Hephaestus on the forehead. “Remind me to thank Harmonia for sending you to me.”
