“I’ll let you go now. Believe me, I don’t take your and Olivia’s combined powers lightly. But I will win, and I will welcome you back into my arms come May.” He turned away from her and went to stand by his window, looking out at the night.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning Theo was heavy-eyed as she walked through the Great Room and toward her classroom. She hadn’t seen any department faculty yet, which was just as well, for she had no idea what she would say to any of them. As she passed Grant’s classroom she glanced inside, expecting to see Dr. Waterman standing at the front of the room.
Instead, she saw Grant.
With a wildly pounding heart, she almost ran into the classroom. “You’re okay!” she gasped.
“Oh. Hello, Theo. Nice vacation?” he asked, turning from the board where he had been writing.
“G-Grant?” she breathed, still staring.
He looked at her. And suddenly she saw that someone else looked through his eyes. Then she saw his features rearrange themselves subtly, until she could see Olivia’s face shining through Grant’s features.
“Did you want to see me?” he—she asked.
“Uh—it’ll wait. After class,” Theo floundered.
Olivia gave Grant’s casual wave. “Lunch?” she said.
Theo nodded mutely and stumbled into her classroom. Fortunately her own students were almost as shell-shocked as she was after a week of excess in Florida and other points south, and were subdued and undemanding that day.
At noon Olivia met her for lunch. Theo felt awkward as she watched her approach in Grant’s shape. What was she going to say to her? Would Olivia think she was stupid, a harlot, or, worst of all, a cold-blooded Judas? By the time Olivia sat down opposite her with a friendly smile, she was nearly shaking with nerves.
“Hello, Theo,” Olivia said quietly, holding out her hand. Grant’s hand. “I’m very happy to meet you, at last. Last night doesn’t count.”
Theo took her hand in a daze. “You are?”
“Of course I am. Grant’s told me so much about you that I feel like I already know you.” Her eyes were warm and friendly.
To her horrified embarrassment, Theo started to cry. “But—I betrayed Grant. How can you possibly like me?”
“No. You were tricked into forgetting Grant. Julian’s responsible for his disappearance, not you. You’re as much a victim as Grant is. He loves you, and I respect him more than anyone else, human or immortal. I’m bound to help you both for that reason, but also because I like what he told me of you, and would like to see you both safe back at Eleusinian. Don’t cry. We’ll solve this together. Julian doesn’t scare me.”
“He scares me,” Theo said, taking a shuddering breath and summoning a box of tissues. She wound up with a stack of neatly folded washcloths. Olivia smiled and summoned a handkerchief for her.
“Julian has his weaknesses, just like the rest of us,” she said, handing it to Theo. “Now tell me everything.”
“Everything?” Theo buried her nose in the hankie. How was she supposed to tell this goddess, famed for her staunch virginity, about what she and Julian—
“I can handle it, Theo. Just because I don’t choose to participate doesn’t mean I hate sex, or abhor others for it. But I’m mostly interested in what he said to you last night in his office.”
Theo told her about her conversation with Julian. Olivia nodded, and was silent as their lunches were served.
“He was playing games with you. Testing you. Trying to see where the chinks in your armor were, and trying to psych you out. Classical warfare technique, only now it’s used in boardrooms. He’s a master at it,” she said as she energetically pursued tortellini in alfredo sauce around her bowl with a fork.
Theo stared at her glumly over her untouched Reuben sandwich. With her new senses, it was too easy to tell that the corned beef in it was a week past its use-by date. And it was even more uncomfortable to sit here staring at a Grant who wasn’t Grant, hearing his voice, watching the sunlight gleam on his soft dark hair and shadow his deep-set eyes. Olivia looked up at her sad face.
“Hey. Don’t worry. I told you before. We’ll find him,” she declared confidently.
“If he even wants me to find him. If he doesn’t hate me for letting Julian…” she trailed off, pressing her lips together.
“Theo, listen to me. I’ve listened all fall and winter to Grant talk about you non-stop whenever he came back to Eleusinian—how wonderful you are, how kind and patient with his fumbling attempts at loving you, how terrified he was that he would blow it all and lose you to someone who would love you better.”
“But why couldn’t he just love me? What made it so difficult? Julian’s a god too, but he—” She halted, blushing.
“It depends on what kind of god you were. Julian and the others—even me, I suppose—were made in man’s image. We were prayed to, spoken to, taken inside men’s heads. So we learned to be human. But Grant—he was different.”
“Different how?”
“He was one of the Titans who came before us, remember. He must have been a god once to men long ago, one of those nameless gods who are now lost. But he didn’t get lost. He got made into something else by the Greeks and was revered by men. But not worshipped and prayed to the way we were. So he never got into peoples’ heads the way we did, to see what it was like to be human. In a way he’s more god-like than any of us, because he is so remote.”
Theo stared down at her plate. “So that’s why he had such a hard time responding? Because he just didn’t know how? And I thought his humanities lessons were just a joke.”
“Oh, no. Not to him. He took them very seriously. But until he could experience life as a man, he couldn’t love you the way he wanted to. And he wanted to very badly—enough to become human.”
“And I went and let his worst enemy take me without a fight,” Theo muttered bitterly.
“Theo, I know Julian. He’s my father. You never had a chance. I know how persuasive—and devious—he can be. You know you’re not the first one he’s done this to. Don’t blame yourself for falling for his tricks.”
Theo shook her head. Why didn’t Olivia understand? “But how could he not hate me now? I could tell when we talked that he—”
Olivia put down her fork. “I can disagree with you till I’m blue in the face, but you won’t believe me until we rescue him and he can tell you himself. Of course he was hurt and angry and upset. But blame you? He knows Julian too well for that. But this isn’t helping us find Grant. We need to make a plan. Where should we start?”
“Do you think it’s worth talking to anyone here?” Theo asked, wiping her eyes with Olivia’s hankie.
“No. Julian was quite plain about that. No one who was there last night and accepted his hospitality can help us. We’ll have to do it ourselves. We’ll have to turn around and out-Julian Julian. Look for the chinks in his armor.”
“Does he have any?”
“Well, not many,” Olivia sighed. “But that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of making mistakes. That’s what we have to look out for.”
Theo pushed her plate away. “He may be a god, but you—er, we—are too. Why can’t we just…oh, I don’t know…why can’t we just use our powers and just sense where Grant is or something?”
Olivia smiled gently at her. “If only it were that easy. Don’t forget who Julian is. There’s a reason he’s the king of gods—he’s the most powerful of us all. If he wants to hide Grant from us, he can, and no power of ours will reveal it. We have to actually search for him. Not that our powers won’t help. But we’re in for a long, hard task. In the meanwhile—” She hesitated, then looked seriously at Theo. “In the meanwhile, be careful. You know now how devious Julian is. Don’t let him catch you again.”
…
To Theo’s surprise Renee was waiting outside her Republican Rome class that afternoon. She assumed Renee was there to meet Dr. Forge-Smythe, and nodded politely as she stepped past her.
“Theo, wait! I want to talk to you,” Renee called, falling in step next to her. She wore a luscious pink cashmere sweater that Theo coveted but knew would clash horribly with her hair. She sighed and tried not to mind.
“Here?”
“No. Come on. Let’s go have a drink. I know I could use a glass of wine right now—oh.” She saw the expression on Theo’s face, then shook her head irritably. “Well, I could. You can have something else.” She took Theo’s arm and steered her down the hall. They passed June Cadwallader’s office, and Theo involuntarily glanced inside. June was at her desk, as usual. She looked up at Theo with an unreadable expression. But before Theo could analyze it, Renee had propelled her to the stairs.
Renee brought her to a small fashionable bar frequented by young investment brokers who reminded her uncomfortably of the male teachers at Sneed. Renee, however, was smiling as she seated herself at their table and looked around her.
“I love it here. All those red-blooded young men who’ve sublimated their warrior instincts into the stock market—oooh.” She shivered happily. “You watch—in five minutes four of them will have had drinks sent to our table.”
“To you, maybe. Not me. And besides, you’re married.”
“I know I’m married. But that doesn’t mean I can’t look. It’s part of my job, after all. And you’ll be getting your share of drinks too, girl. Looked in a mirror lately? You’re immortal now, remember? They may not know it, but they can sense it. Especially since I took over your wardrobe.” Renee patted her hair and smiled at the waiter who came to take their orders. “Two mojitos, please,” she said briskly. As soon as he had left, she turned back to Theo and opened her mouth to speak.
But Theo beat her to it. “Are you doing this on Julian’s orders?” she asked, staring at Renee through narrowed eyes.
“Of course not!”
“No?” Theo raised an eyebrow.
“Well, not really,” she amended. “He did ask me to keep an eye on you and make sure you were all right. But I would have done this anyway tonight, Julian or no Julian. Remember I said we needed to go out for a drink soon?”
A pair of gray-suited young Turks strolled by their table, smiling broadly at them. Renee smiled back.
“See? I told you. You could have your pick of this place if you wanted to,” she whispered after they had passed.
“I don’t want the pick of any place. I want Grant,” Theo replied through clenched teeth.
Renee waited while their waiter set their drinks down. “Well, you’re not going to get him,” she said bluntly. “I know Julian. He’ll win.”
“Look, if that’s all you brought me here to say—” Theo started to rise, but Renee reached over and pulled her back down.
“It’s not what I brought you here to say. But I do want you to listen to me. Drink.”
“Why?” Suddenly suspicious, Theo sniffed at her glass.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, there’s nothing in it,” Renee said, rolling her blue eyes.
“I can’t help being gun-shy, can I?”
“I want you to drink because you’re so uptight you squeak. Now relax and listen to me. I’ll be honest with you. Who would you be better off with? The king of the gods who adores you to distraction, or a former god who barely understood love enough to hold your hand?”
“That’s none of your business,” Theo answered stiffly.
“But it is. I want you to stay here. I like you. June and Di are insufferable and Persephone never was my type. It’s lonely for me here. I was so glad when I heard about you, because I thought I would finally have a friend.” She looked away and out the window at the passing pedestrians.
Theo found that she was unexpectedly touched, but kept her voice brisk. “Renee, you’re the goddess of love. How can you be lonely?
“I’m lonely because I’m bored. No one is interested in romantic love these days, outside of novels. I do love a good romance novel.” She sighed. “Look around you. Who writes love poetry anymore? It’s just awful. All anyone does is watch television and movies about sex and power and think they’re love stories.”
“Then you should be able to appreciate my position,” Theo said. “Grant and I love each other. Why won’t you help us?”
“Because Julian loves you too.”
Theo snorted. “He would seem to be the exemplar of sex and power masquerading as love. Forget it, Renee.”
“All right. You say you love Grant. So isn’t his health and well-being the most important thing to you?” Renee leaned forward and looked hard at her.
“Go on.”
“Well, wouldn’t it be nobler to give him up and yield to Julian, so that Grant can be released? What a poem that would make, renouncing your love to set your love free! And you’d still have yummy Julian to sleep with in return for your sacrifice—”
To her own surprise, Theo laughed. “But I don’t want to be part of an epic love poem and have my name inscribed in the stars. I just want to find Grant and live a normal boring life with him for the next fifty or sixty years. It’s called ‘happily ever after’ in those romance novels you claim to like so much. You’ll have to look somewhere else for inspiration for new poetry.” She stood up. “I’ll be glad to be your friend, Renee. But not if you’re going to give me silly lectures like this again. I’ll see you later.” She walked away from the table, dodging the waiter who was carrying two more mojitos to their table. From the corner of her eye she saw the two investment bankers watch her leave with disappointment writ large on their faces.
…
“But he could be anywhere. Antarctica, for all we know.” Theo lay on her couch in the Great Room late that Tuesday evening, staring miserably at the molded plaster ceiling.
Olivia sat slouched in a chair nearby. She had relaxed her Grant form, and kept wavering back into her own shape as she sat. It was disconcerting to watch, to say the least. “No. Nothing like that,” she said, rubbing her forehead.
“Why not? Julian says he’s playing to win. So wouldn’t the most inaccessible place on earth be the most logical place to put him?”
“Yes and no. You need to understand Julian. He does want to win. He’s used to winning. But it won’t be as much of a victory for him unless you have a chance at winning, but fail. That’s just the way he is. So he won’t make it completely impossible to find Grant. If anything he’ll leave a few clues around, mixed with a lot of red herrings. We just have to find them, and figure out which are clues and which aren’t.”
Theo groaned. “All right then. Maybe he changed him into a moose and sent him back to Eleusinian.” She squinted at her book bag lying on the floor beside her and tried to turn it into a porcupine. Instead it became a large red tomato pincushion, complete with pins and strawberry-shaped emery bag. She sighed and waved it back into its proper form.
She had expected Olivia to laugh, but she didn’t. Instead she looked thoughtful, and scribbled a line on the notepad in her lap. “I’ll have someone look into it right away,” she replied.
“You’re joking, right?”
“No. Were you?”
“Uh, yeah,” Theo said sheepishly.
“It’s not all that far-fetched. Except that I don’t think his power would be as effective there. But that’s the general idea. Whatever it is, it won’t be straightforward.”
“So he could be right here, disguised as this sofa?”
“Conceivably.” Olivia squinted at it, and Theo clutched at a cushion. Oh, sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to sit on you, she thought absurdly. But then Olivia shook her head.
“No. He’s not. Anyway, it was too uncomplicated a hiding place.”
“What if Julian keeps moving him around?”
“That’s another possibility,” Olivia replied bleakly. “He never said Grant would always be in one place.” She sighed, then gave herself a little shake. “Tell me again what Julian said to you the other night.”
Theo closed her eyes and thought. Being an immortal
would make graduate school easier: it gave her extraordinary powers of enhanced recall. She recited, “He said that though I would be able to search for him safely, Grant had lost the protection of being a god and…and the longer it took to find him, the less likely it was that he would be unchanged and unscathed.” She opened her eyes.
“‘Unchanged and unscathed,’” Olivia murmured. “That would imply that he has been somehow changed, and would likely suffer damage as a result.”
“Changed how? Damaged how?” Dear God, no.
“I don’t know.”
The door to the Great Room opened then. Olivia sat up quickly and turned back into Grant, and Theo lifted her arm off her face and looked at the door.
Julian stood there, watching them.
Theo froze, for the expression on Julian’s face as he stared at her recumbent form startled her. It was an expression of sheer naked hunger.
“Good evening, Father,” Olivia said calmly, taking back her own shape again.
Julian nodded briefly, not taking his eyes off Theo. The turquoise was dark and turbulent today. Then he turned on his heel and left.
“What was that all about?” she asked Olivia shakily.
“Who knows? Nothing, quite possibly. But you never know with him.” Olivia lapsed back into her slouch, and Theo went back to staring at the ceiling.
Had Julian walked in on them on purpose? It was the first time she had seen him since Sunday night, for she had avoided going anywhere near his office since then. Sunday he had been his usual confident self. Tonight all traces of that had vanished. He had looked like a starving man as he stared at her from the doorway.
Could it be true? Could he be so intent on winning not just because it was what he was used to, but because he truly wanted her? As dispassionately as she could, Theo thought back over her week with him. Was the glow in his eyes, the warmth in his voice, the tenderness of his touch, love? Or was it just a passing fancy, the way it had been for him with dozens of other women, both mortal and immortal? What would have happened if Grant had never returned from spring break, or if he had never existed? Would she have been content with Julian?
By Jove Page 18
