Adam let go of Peter and ran to Astin's side. “He's still breathing, he just blacked out.”
Teddy sat up, rubbing his head. “Why is there blood in my hair?” he asked.
“You... what... I don't even...” sputtered Adam.
“Adam,” Peter said, keeping his tone quiet and even. He placed a finger to his lips.
Adam turned and looked Peter in the eye. “There's clearly something you're not telling me.”
Sirens sounded outside.
“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.”
-Plato
xiv.
On the day of their nuptials, cruel fate struck.
Eurydice stepped on a venomous snake,
which snapped up and tore at her bare white ankle.
It was instant death.
Orpheus would not give up on his new wife.
He played such sorrowful songs that the nymphs wept
and the gods advised him to seek her below
in deep, dark Hades.
Bold Orpheus made the long journey alone,
only equipped with his plectrum and his lyre.
When he met Cerberus, he played it to sleep
with beautiful song.
At last he encountered the Queen of Hades.
He composed a song to tell of his heartache.
Upon hearing it, Queen Persephone wept
and called her husband.
Lord Hades had so few opportunities
to delight the wife he had taken by force,
and so he consented to let Orpheus
take his bride back home.
The bargain was such that Orpheus could not
so much as glance at his wife until they reached earth.
So, Orpheus walked with his eyes trained forward,
as her shade followed.
But just as he spied the surface, he looked back,
and Eurydice was pulled into the depths.
An echo of her cry faded in his ears.
She was lost for good.
“Love is a kind of warfare.”
-Ovid
XIV.
Theodore Wexler Sr. got the phone call an hour later. Penny was sitting in his kitchen, drinking a glass of ginger ale and wondering where Teddy was when he called from the police station. Teddy and Peter had been arrested for fighting in public. Penny hopped in Senator Wexler's crystal-red Cadillac and rode with him to go bail Teddy out.
Penny waited outside on a bench while Teddy's bond was posted. He would drop her off at home on the way back. There would be no date tonight. She had watched the senator clench and unclench his jaw the whole way to the police station. She knew he would be having words with Teddy.
Peter's dad marched him out of the station, dragging him by his collar. Peter had dried blood on his nose. He saw Penny waiting outside and dug in his heals. “Dad,” he said quietly. “Can I please just talk to my friend for a second?”
Mr. Hadley looked at Penny and then back at Peter. His fist was clenched, and Penny was a bit afraid of what he might do, but he looked back at the lobby of the police station and nodded. “I'll be in the truck. Five minutes.”
Penny watched as Peter's father climbed into his old International pickup truck and lit a cigarette. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the driver's seat.
“Penny,” Peter finally said.
“So who swung the first punch?” she asked.
“I did.”
“What's your problem, Peter? You want to get us all caught? Do you like hurting people?”
“He wasn't respecting you. He wasn't treating your right. You should have heard the things he said.”
“As opposed to the things you've done?”
“That's not fair,” Peter said through clenched teeth. “That was another life.”
“Well, I remember it. So that makes it part of this life for me.”
“Why are you with him?” Peter asked. “He's just a horny drunk. You're better than that.”
“He talks to me. He listens to me. He doesn't treat me with kid gloves.”
“I listen to you!”
“Peter,” Penny snapped. “Just because you're jealous doesn't give you the right to start a fight in a family restaurant. You can't just attack people who make you mad and you should trust me to be a big enough girl to take care of myself. You don't need to protect me. Decking anyone who says the wrong thing about me is not going to send me flying into your arms. It's not defending my honor. I haven't done anything to compromise it, and even if I had, punching Teddy wouldn't change that. God, I thought we were past this! I thought you wanted to be my friend.”
“I do want to be your friend.”
“No, you want to be my boyfriend, which is why you attacked Teddy. Don't pretend you did that for me.”
“Penny--”
“No. Listen. I don't want to be with you. If you can't accept that, then I don't want to be your friend. I don't want to be worried that everything I do around you is going to be interpreted as a chance to make us something more.”
“Penny--”
“Stop talking. Just walk away.”
“Penny, look what you're doing!”
Penny turned around. The grass around her feet had turned black, and the bushes behind her were wilting. She crouched down on the ground, frantic. Every plant near her was dying. “Look what you made me do!”
Penny looked up, but Peter was gone. His father was still dozing in his truck. Penny looked around, but she couldn't see any sign of her fleeing friend. There was no activity in the parking lot. “Coward!” she shouted. She checked once more for spectators before focusing her will on restoring life to the grass before anyone else saw it.
Peter hadn't moved from the spot. Penny stared straight through him. He looked down at his own hands, but they weren't there. He walked quietly up to Penny as she stroked life back into every blade beneath her feet. He watched her concentrate. It wasn't fair; he was doomed to be forever punished for mistakes he made in another lifetime. Peter's lip curled up in a snarl before he shouted right next to her, “I love you!”
Penny fell over in surprise and Peter took off, only marked by the sound of his footsteps in the night.
Teddy and his father came out of the police station. “I promise,” Teddy said, “he attacked me. I was just defending myself.”
“We'll talk with your mother,” Senator Wexler said.
“She's not going to listen to me... Penny, why are you on the ground?”
“I just had an argument with Peter... I uh... I fell.” She looked across the street. Peter's father was getting out of his truck and looking around for his son. “Sir, it's true. Peter just admitted it. He threw the first punch.”
“It was technically more of a tackle,” Teddy said.
“We'll talk when we get home. Come on, Penny, I'll take you home.”
Teddy and Penny slid into the back seat together. Teddy kept touching the back of his hair. “Is that blood?” Penny whispered as they passed a street lamp that illuminated the interior of the car.
Teddy took out his cell phone and typed a message with acute dexterity. Penny's phone buzzed. “Astin healed me,” it said. Teddy's fingers continued to fly over the touch pad on his phone. More buzzing. “Legit. I was out cold & then bam, I'm fine. He blacked out. Thank God nobody but Adam saw it.”
Penny texted back, glancing up at Senator Wexler in the front seat to be sure he wasn't getting suspicious, “Adam saw?”
Teddy nodded.
“So much for feeling it out.”
“Tell your Mom, OK?”
Penny hesitated, before typing a reply, “Peter can turn invisible.”
“What?” he asked out loud. Senator Wexler parked outside of Penny's house.
“Here you are,” he said. “Teddy probably won't be seeing or texting the outside world for a few days. So don't think he's blowing you off.”
> Teddy scrambled to erase the messages from his phone while his father was focused on Penny.
“I understand, sir. Thanks for the ride.” Penny hopped out of the car and ran inside to fill her mother in on the latest developments.
Nick finished putting his shirt on and reached his hand into his pocket for his phone. He couldn't find it. He stood up from the foot of the bed and rifled through the pink and purple bedsheets until he found it. Nick looked back at the bathroom door. He could still hear the shower running. He ran backwards through the contacts in his phone until he found Valerie and pressed the little green phone button.
“Nick?” Valerie asked. “Why are you calling me this late?”
“My date with your friend Melissa is just winding down,” he said. “She throws the L word around pretty easily. I hope I haven't just gained another stalker.”
Valerie was silent.
“Are you there, Hess?”
“I'm here. I'm just trying to wash that image out of my brain.”
“She's not up to my usual standard, but I think that's why it was so easy.”
“You're despicable.”
“I'm setting them free.”
“No, Nick, you're hurting them. To prove some perverted point to me.”
“Is it working?”
“You'd better be careful. You're going to hurt the wrong girl and some older brother or father is going to make you pay.”
“Valerie, girls in the abstinence club are never going to let anyone know that they went back on their promise. See, that's the problem with hypocrisy. They're going to go to the grave with this secret.”
“You better hope nobody sends you to the grave, Nick.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, it's common sense.”
The shower stopped. Nick had to get off the phone. “I gotta go, Val. Take care. Maybe next time I see you, you'll be ready to reconsider my proposition.”
Astin parked his truck outside his house. He had given Adam a ride back home after Peter and Teddy's arrest. Adam had a lot of questions, but Astin was able to dodge most of them and promise more answers soon. There was no denying what Adam had seen. It was a miracle that he had been the only one to witness it. He just needed the permission of The Pantheon to show him what was behind curtain number one.
He sat in the dark with his truck turned off, staring at his hands. The air conditioning in the old truck needed a recharge, so Astin kept the windows cracked.
A car pulled up behind his truck. It belonged to Ryan Bear’s father. Astin ducked down. It was minutes before curfew and Diana was coming home from her date. Ryan ran around to the passenger-side of the borrowed car and let Diana out. Astin turned to look out the back of his pick-up. Diana had wrapped her arms around Ryan and they were kissing.
“Are you sure you're okay?” he asked her.
“I had a really good night,” Diana said.
“Me, too,” Ryan said. The smile on his face couldn't have been bigger.
Diana stood up on her toes and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him down for one last, steamy kiss. Astin clenched his fists.
“Goodnight. See you tomorrow,” Ryan said, walking back to his car. Diana watched him drive off. When he was down the street and rounding the corner, Astin got out of his truck and slammed the door hard.
“Have you just been sitting there?” Diana asked.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Astin accused.
“It's not really any of your business.” Diana turned to head up the front walk, but Astin cut in front of her.
“You're my sister. It is my business.”
“Get out of the way, Astin. I want to go to bed.”
“What do you think Dad would say, huh? Should I go wake him up and tell him what his precious little angel has been up to?”
Diana narrowed her gaze. He didn't have any proof. He was making wild guesses. Still, she knew her Dad would trust Astin's instincts. “You tell Mom or Dad anything and I'll tell them what really happened to the Taylor. You can't become a rock star when you're grounded.”
Astin had smashed his Taylor guitar over the head of his former lead singer back in January. He had done this at a party where there was alcohol involved. They thought that someone had fallen on it at a show, but Astin knew that the truth about what happened to his fourteen-hundred dollar Christmas present would enrage their parents, especially since they had bought him a brand new Dreadnought for his birthday back in June.
Astin tried to think of a retort, but Diana had him cornered. He clenched his fist and turned to head into the house ahead of her. This was turning out to be one of the worst nights of his life, and Diana, who was usually the person he turned to, was the biggest factor in all of it.
“He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.”
-Aristotle
xv.
The town’s people had begun to worship her
and to hold her beauty above the goddess.
Aphrodite would not stand competition
from a mortal girl.
She called on Eros and ordered his service.
She ordered him to strike Psyche with love
for the most cruel and detestable creature
that he could perceive.
But when Eros went to Psyche’s bed chamber
to execute Aphrodite’s bitter will,
he glanced unparalleled beauty on her face.
So he fell in love.
Aphrodite was furious when she learned
that her own son had disobeyed her command.
She forbid him to ever visit Psyche,
so Eros rebelled.
In protest he refused to use his arrows
to pierce mortals with the affliction of love.
As a result, Aphrodite’s power waned
and she relented.
But the goddess had placed a curse on Psyche
that despite her beauty she should never wed,
for her supernatural grace should frighten
mortal men away.
Unable to find her a suitable match,
her parents went to the city Oracle.
The Oracle told them to sacrifice her
on the mountain side.
Princess Psyche was dressed in ritual garb
and chained to a mountaintop tamarisk tree.
The procession abandoned her there in the
wild to die alone.
Eros called upon the Zephyr to free her
and bring her to a new home in the forest.
Obscuring his true face, he made her his bride
and made love to her.
Every night hence he returned to her side
and in darkness they consummated their love.
But Psyche was forbidden to see the face
of her own husband.
Her presence was discovered by her sisters
who, grieving, visited the sight of her death
and discovered that she was freed from the chains
as if by magic.
Jealous, Psyche’s spiteful sisters convinced her
that she must have been bedded by a monster,
so they coaxed her into hiding a lantern
to glance his visage.
As Eros dosed beside her that evening,
she lit the lamp and held it over his face.
Then a drop of hot oil landed on his cheek
and roused him from sleep.
Eros fled by beating wings from the window,
for his heart was wounded by his wife’s mistrust.
His mother took offense to this betrayal
and punished Psyche.
Psyche wandered the earth in search of Eros
until she called directly on his mother.
Eager to see Psyche pay, Aphrodite
consented to help.
The tasks she gave Psyche to redeem herse
lf
were purposefully crafted impossible.
Yet somehow fair Psyche accomplished each one
with help from others.
And when, at last, Psyche had ventured below
to gather some beauty from Persephone,
she peaked in the container she was given
and was charmed asleep.
Eros took pity on his Psyche’s hardships
and forgave her for her vile act of mistrust.
He held her, ran his hand across her face, and
wiped the sleep away.
Next, Eros appealed to the almighty Zeus,
who took pity on his love for the mortal.
Psyche was carried up to Mount Olympus
and fed ambrosia.
“Let love steal in disguised as friendship.”
-Ovid
XV.
Jason emailed Celene the next day to tell her that he was done with Till We Have Faces. They exchanged a few cryptic words about the Adam situation in reply emails. Finally, after supper, Celene decided to pop by his house to discuss the issue in more detail. She emailed to let him know that she was on her way and then headed out, leaving Penny at home by herself.
“Did you like the book?” she asked when Jason opened the front door.
“I did. I'll admit, it was a slow start, but it really picked up.” Jason invited Celene in and offered to get her a drink. He came back from the kitchen with two cups of coffee.
The Weight of the World Page 12
