"And what's more important than a good party?"
He smirked at me, tapping his nose and then pointing at me, ”you're right little bird, you're absolutely right. Nothing is more important than a good party. So I can trust you'll come up with an appropriate venue?"
I nodded and smiled, "of course you can. I'll see you tonight."
"Same time, different place."
"You got it Pontiac."
He whistled to himself happily as he walked out of my apartment, leaving me again with my thoughts and my books. When I first read about Dionysus during my studies I couldn't even imagine anyone else being that God but Jed. I thought that maybe because we were so close I might be a Goddess close to him but narrowing down that list was like trying to narrow down the list of Zeus' lovers. Which seemed to be never ending.
Closing the book in my lap I set it down and left my apartment to go venue hunting. I had better thoughts when I was walking and my mind could run rampant. Plus, the magic of the mountain could do the rest of the work, it always seemed to just take over from my thoughts and find exactly what I was trying to come up with.
So I thought about drinking, and parties, and women - because these things seemed to be the root of Zeus' immortal life - and I found myself walking right into the underground of a club. It was dark and damp, but the music pounded so loudly it was impressive I hadn't heard it before.
Across from the door there was a bar, chiseled out of stalagmites (or were they stalactites?) lining the entire left side of the room. I walked further in, knowing that this was the kind of place people couldn't speak but they could have a lot of fun. I was sure Zeus would like it too; girls would dress more inappropriately for a place like this than they would a garden party. It would get drunk and sweaty fast, making for easy targets if he so desired. And then I saw him, standing by the bar helping himself to a bottle.
"Griffin?" I said, moving closer to him. "What are you doing here? Why are you drinking that?" I said, pointing accusingly at the bottle like it was a line of coke or a syringe of heroin.
"It helps keep the voice at bay." He muttered, I was barely able to hear him over the sound of the music.
"Is this your club?" I asked with a frown, wondering now if I had intruded on something that didn't actually belong to me.
"I like to come here because it's loud and there's an endless supply of booze." He waved his hand at the wall in front of us, lined with bottles that I both recognised and that I didn't. I frowned more and felt my hand twitch with the urge to reach out and take his drink from him.
A recovering addict shouldn't have alcohol, that's what the voice in my head was saying. It was the same voice that had led me into his room to take care of him and help him get better. It was the voice he had squashed when he had been so unnecessarily rude to me.
"Oh." I said, unsure of what else to say because he might've been thankful I helped wean him off the drugs but he didn't seem to want help to fully recover. My jaw tightened in frustration slightly, before I forced myself to smile and remember what Jed had taught me.
"It's beautiful, you have a wonderful imagination." I complimented as earnestly as I could. Griffin turned to look at me, the look in his eyes a little different than before as he reached out and touched my hair. I felt his fingers replace it behind my ear, letting them linger for a little longer than necessary before he finally spoke.
"I tried to make it as beautiful as you... dark, mysterious and yet loud and all encompassing of the world around me. But I could never be so lucky as to capture such beauty in a world as dark as mine." His voice sounded different, almost strangled like he was fighting someone choking him. I frowned slightly and stepped away with a smile.
He created it for me? But why? It didn't remind me at all of myself...
"Thanks, it's so wonderful." I used my backwards momentum to act like I was having a better look around the place, moving past the carved booths of rock. I twisted back around to face Griffin, "would you mind hosting a party here? I needed a place to throw a party tonight." He grimaced over his drink, taking another long sip before saluting me with the empty glass and setting it down.
"Of course, anything for you. I owe you." I smiled, suddenly feeling like I was taking advantage of him in some way. I hated to think he didn't really want a party here but was obliging me because I had helped him with recovery.
Still I smiled, tersely, and nodded my head with gratitude. It wasn’t in my nature to be so curt and cold with someone but Griffin seemed to intend for everyone to treat him that way by the way he acted and treated others. I wasn’t even entirely sure anyone else on the mountain had even met him, I’d not once seen him at a party. I knew that if Jed knew about him he would’ve invited him if only for the fact that Griffin, obviously, was a drinker as much as Jed.
But it disappointed me that Griffin, after everything, was here nursing an entire bottle of alcohol to himself. He was clean now; didn’t he want to stay that way?
I didn’t want to judge but after everything he’d gone through in that week that I had been taking care of him and everything I had witnessed... I would’ve never wanted to put myself in a position to experience that all over again. Then again, I wasn’t Griffin and maybe he just couldn’t keep his demons at bay.
“Well, thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it.” I said, taking my eyes off the half empty bottle that I had possibly been staring at it rather judgmentally. “The party will be at 9, I really hope to see you there.” But I doubted he would come.
Without waiting for his reply I turned and quickly hurried off out of the club and back into a room where I could hear myself think. I wanted to be angry with him for the way he had treated me the first time we had properly met.
It had stung, being rejected so quickly like that by the boy I had shared everything to. I knew, deep down, I couldn’t hold it against him. He probably didn’t remember any of the things I had told him, so he didn’t know that I had considered us friends and regarded him very highly.
So despite wanting to be mad at him another part of me told myself to let it go, it wasn’t really his fault and alcohol did have a tendency to change personalities. That I knew first hand.
Shifting my thoughts from one boy to the next I thought about Jed and walked myself right to his apartment. When he had come calling earlier I had been surprised to find he was awake even. I knew how late he stayed out partying and while sensible people woke up before noon, he had a rather bad habit of sleeping until about five o’clock in the afternoon - or was it considered early evening at that point?
So it came as no surprise to me when I knocked on his door and found a scruffy hair, watery and wide-eyed boy looking back at me when it opened. I had woken him up.
“Napping?” I teased with a grin, watching him suppress a yawn as he nodded.
“They wouldn’t call it beauty sleep if beauty came to the Gods naturally."
“Well, I guess that’s one way to a girl’s heart.” I laughed slightly at him and let myself into the apartment and closed the door. As I looked back up at him, really looked, I realised he had forgone clothing when he answered the door and I felt a heat rush up high on my cheeks at being so intrusive.
The relationship I had with Jed was nothing more than one of familiarity and not sexual - not sexual by any means because I was sure he saw me as a little sister as I saw him as an older brother - but it didn’t make it any less awkward to see him so disrobed.
“Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your beauty sleep time so I’ll be quick.” I smiled up at him, taking a deep breath for a dramatic pause. “I’ve found the party venue.”
“You have? Awesome!” It was not nearly as exciting as he made it sound but I still felt important. But then again, that was part of Jed’s key steps to being the life of the party. Make everyone feel important so you are important.
“Yeah, I actually found a club in the mountain with a full bar, dance floor, music, everything. It seemed an a
ppropriate venue to celebrate the arrival of the God of the Gods, right?” Jed nodded his head in agreement and excitement. “You’re going to need people to work the bar though. I don’t know if you had anyone in mind... I mean, unless you’d prefer a chaotic free-for-all.”
“No, you’re right. I actually think I know of a few girls who could do it for me. For us.” He amended himself quickly.
“Awesome. Well, I’m really excited. I’ll see you tonight.” He nodded, suppressing another yawn, which I took as a polite way of him telling me he wanted to sleep a bit longer. I excused myself quickly and walked out, back into the hallway. With nothing to do now I felt a little listless and decided to go to my garden.
I liked all the free time that was offered here, but there were still down periods where my past would come back to haunt me. Even if that life was behind me it wasn’t forgotten, and thinking so much and being around Griffin only reminded me of that. He wasn’t coping with his past and could I really say I was coping with mine?
I had completely shut off my memories of my former life. I didn’t even acknowledge the existence of that other life anymore. I rarely thought about the condition I had been in when brought to Mount Olympus or the beliefs I had held onto when I first got here.
It probably wasn’t healthy to have sailed right past those complicated emotions, accepting that they were complicated and I didn’t want to deal with them. I simply kept avoiding them by launching myself right into work that would occupy my mind - like helping Griffin, doing the parties with Jed, and my garden. I was busy burying myself away hoping that so long as I didn’t think about those things of my past everything was going to be okay.
I wanted it to be okay.
Chapter Seven
The party came and went but I never made it to the party. Not for any catastrophic reason but simply because I had lost track of time in the garden. At least, that’s what I assumed happened. I eventually rose, brushed myself off and went back to my apartment to get ready. When I finally went to the club it was empty, not a single trace was left behind to indicate people had been there.
I wondered if Griffin had tricked me, leading me to believe that I could use the club but when people came it didn’t exist. A part of me said gently that this didn’t entirely make sense but it was too late. I was angry. So, I stormed to his apartment, knocking unrelentingly on the door. When he finally came to open it his eyes were red rimmed and watering; I knew that he had been out drinking.
“Where were you tonight?” He said first, throwing me off.
“I- huh? What?”
“Tonight? The party? Your party, I thought... No one knew where you were.”
“What time is it?” I countered in disbelief.
Griffin looked over his shoulder, rubbing his head slowly as he checked the clock, “Five am.”
Five am. Seriously? Had I spent that much time in the garden? How had I lost so much time? I stared at the floor for a moment, wracking my mind for some kind of explanation but all I remembered was working on the flowers, and working and working until I thought it was time to go.
“I’m sorry...” I said, finally looking back up at Griffin. “For waking you up.” I said quickly, backing away and turning to go to my apartment.
“You okay Valentina?” He shouted after me. But I was too lost in my own thoughts, trying to figure out what had happened.
When I reached my apartment I felt exhausted suddenly and collapsed in bed, clothing and all, falling into a deep sleep. I knew I probably couldn’t afford to lose more time tonight - especially if anyone from tonight was worried about me - but there was no stopping it. I fell so soundly asleep; I didn’t wake until much later.
It was only persistent and unrelenting knocking on my front door that finally roused me. Groggily I dragged myself to my feet and went to the door, opening it up to see an almost frantic looking Atlas staring down at me.
“You’re okay.” He said, breathing a sigh of relief. My features etched themselves into a look of confusion as I nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I was just sleeping...”
“For three days.”
“What?” I said, looking around startled as if there would be a calendar to confirm what he said. “That... That can’t be... possible.” I finished lamely but I knew it was, anything was possible in this new world he had thrust me into.
“What is going on?” I said rubbing the stiffness of sleep out of the back of my neck.
“She’s trying to go back to sleep.” He said wearily, shaking his head. “I was afraid this would happen.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Your Goddess, she’s trying to reject the union. She’s trying to put you into a meditative state so you won’t ever have to be fully joined and you won’t have to return to your former immortal life.”
“Is being a Goddess that horrible?” I said incredulously, which was enough to make Atlas laugh at me just slightly.
“No, but she would probably try and make a good argument against it.”
“Who is she?” I said, staring up at him pleadingly. He seemed to realise that he was saying too much, that even just talking to me about her was too much, and he shook his head and stepped away from me like I smelt. Though, there was always the chance that I did if I had been sleeping for three days.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He said, looking away from me and nodding his head to no particular question. Then, just as strangely, he turned and walked away.
I watched him retreat, disappearing through another door in the hallway before I closed my own. He was strange and not really that helpful anymore. Sighing softly I retired back to my bedroom and flopped down on my bed.
She wanted me to sleep my eternity away... Why? Who was she?
The question nagged at me, making me feel restless. If this situation wasn’t hard enough to cope with now I had a reluctant Goddess who wanted nothing to do with her second chance.
I threw myself into my research after that. I was desperate for an answer and spurred on by knowing there had to be one out there somewhere. I locked myself in my room, occasionally the library, forgetting the parties that Jed and the others threw to keep looking and searching for her. But none of the clues I had, or any of the hints Atlas had accidentally given me, helped. There was nothing as far as I was concerned.
For a week and a half this was all I exhausted my energies on, trying to sleep as little as possible out of fear that she might put me into a coma. As immortal as I was though, Jed was right, we still needed our sleep. I tried to live on caffeinated teas and then eventually coffee. I was wiring myself up so much that I spent the time, I wasn’t reading every tome available in the Olympian library, wandering through my garden. The flowers didn’t need me anymore; they were in full bloom now and the garden looked amazing. Every so often I would catch someone else wandering around it, enjoying and basking in its beauty. This pleased me, I was happy to have been able to bring joy to others.
But then one day I ran into someone completely unexpected in my garden, someone who looked entirely out of place in his tight black jeans and black t-shirt. He was like a dark cloud coming to suck the life out of the flowers.
“Are you avoiding me?” I stopped walking and slowly turned around to look at Griffin, frowning to myself and shaking my head.
“No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
“I was rude, more than once, to you.” I smiled, my instinctive reaction.
“Not rude enough that it would make me avoid you, I’m kind of stubborn like that.”
“I just haven’t seen you in weeks and it was making me...” He stopped talking slowly, like he was indulging too much information. I raised my eyebrows slightly, hoping to be able to probe for him to finish but he simply tucked his hands in his pockets and shrugged.
“I’ve just been busy.”
“With the books?” He guessed and I nodded.
“How did you know?”
“You m
ight not have been actively avoiding me but I’ve been around, I saw you a few times carrying those massive things back to your room.”
“I’m trying to figure out my Goddess.” I explained, looking down at a calla lily, watching it bounce as I touched it lightly.
“She’s still eluding you?” I looked up again and nodded, a frown still creasing my brow.
“I wish mine was.” He said frowning himself as his shoulders hunched.
“I just feel that without her I have no purpose here - it makes me wonder if I’m even supposed to be here.” Griffin looked back up at me and raised his eyebrows.
“I think you’ll find if you weren’t here a lot of people would be upset.” I smiled at the comment but I couldn’t believe it was true. I hadn’t been at a party in over a week and the only person - so far - who had noticed my absence was Griffin apparently.
“True or not...” I began slowly, “it’s frustrating having her allude me so much. And, I'm getting no help from Atlas who merely explains that she’s actively trying to not come into existence.”
Griffin didn’t say anything but his features twisted for a moment like he was in pain before his brow furrowed and his jaw tensed slightly. Then before he could say or do something in anger his face relaxed again and he let out the breath he was holding.
“I need to go. I’ll see you tonight?” He asked.
I frowned, “what’s tonight?”
“You really have been avoiding everyone.” He said with a teasing smile, though it turned more into a grimace after a second or two. “It’s the grand unveiling of the Olympians. We’re supposed to ascend our thrones tonight and rightfully resume our place.”
“Oh.” I said, the disappointment not lacking in my tone. “Then the Olympians have all united with their hosts?”
He nodded his head, “yes. And now we are supposed to introduce ourselves to everyone else. There’s going to be a big turn out tonight.”
“Right. Well of course I’ll be there. I’m sure Jed wouldn’t let me miss a big party like that.”
Gods Save the Princess (Grace of Gods Book 2) Page 6
