by Simon Archer
“Why’d you stop?” I asked, but my voice came out a shaky, embarrassing whisper. She stepped forward and grabbed me under my chin firmly, not quite choking me. Her eyes burned like fire as they bore into mine.
“Because it’s my turn.” Her voice rolled off her tongue like sweet honey, addicting and powerful. I don’t think I could have refused, even if I truly wanted to, which I definitely didn’t.
I slowly traced her curves with my fingertips, determined to tease her as she had teased me, determined to make this magic last as long as I possibly could. I knew the risk of Sarah returning before we were done, but I could not bring myself to care. I wanted this to last forever.
Aphrodite’s tunic looked like a combination of gold, linen, and silk, but it felt like warm water as it rippled beneath my fingers. It was too lightweight to be realistic, and I felt her silky soft curls brushing against my knuckles as I worked my way down over her curvaceous hips and down her thighs. I began to gather up the fabric, and it ran through my fingers smoothly. Suddenly, the fabric rippled down over my arms, and I looked up to find Aphrodite standing before me, topless and radiant. When I pulled my arms out, the rest of the dress poured down to the ground, pooling at her feet. My eyes trailed up her completely naked body, taking in every inch. Her skin was radiant and flawless, and she seemed to glow from the inside. When I reached her eyes, she gave me an expectant and slightly impatient look. I grabbed her by the hips and walked her backward until we hit the workbench. She eased herself down on one end, and with a gentle hand on her shoulder, I guided her down onto her back and began kissing her. I started by her ear and worked my way across her jaw, down her neck, and across her shoulders. Her skin was soft, warm, and inviting, and I savored every moment, taking my sweet time. I kissed my way down to her breasts, my hands cupping them as I did so, and I let my tongue trail across her nipples. I could feel her body writhing slightly beneath mine, but her breathing was slow and even. I continued down across her stomach and past her beltline, letting my breath tease her as I kissed along her inner thighs. My thumbs slid up her thighs as my tongue trailed over, and I inhaled the sweet scent of berries as I tasted her for the first time. A whirlwind of visions and sounds crashed over me as I worked, and I was once again both everywhere and nowhere at once, and the only sensation that was anchoring me to the forge was the taste of Aphrodite against my tongue. She was unlike any woman I’d ever had the pleasure of, well, pleasuring, and I was thoroughly enjoying the high. I could taste the berries as if I had just gorged myself on them, and it was an addicting taste, something I never wanted to stop experiencing.
Somewhere in the distance, Aphrodite finally broke her silence, a small moan of pleasure escaping her lips, and her body squirmed as I let my tongue dance across every nerve. Her squirming became more and more intense, but I had no intention of slowing or stopping, as drunk as I was on her scent and her magic. It wasn’t until she reached her hand down beneath my chin, lifting up to force me to break contact, did I finally come back down to reality.
“Enough,” she ordered, her voice throaty and soft. “Get up here.”
I crawled up her body, and when my face reached hers, I cupped her chin and gazed into her eyes, running one finger up and around her ear to tuck a golden curl back off of her face. When I leaned in to kiss her, she put up her hand to stop me.
“No,” she whispered, sliding her hand down past my hips, wrapping her fingers around me and using her grip to gently pull me closer. “Don’t get distracted again.”
She didn’t need to tell me further. I shifted forward, keeping my eyes locked onto hers, and she released her grip as I slid inside her.
Blades of grass sprouted all around us, and flowers bloomed, as the forge faded away. My anchors were gone, we were gone, and the blanket of grass seemed impossibly pillowy soft beneath my palms. I was propped up over the top of her, and she trailed her fingers down my chest, leaving sparks in their wake, sparks hotter than the late afternoon sun that warmed my back. The lyre music was louder still, surrounding us in the meadow. Her body molded to mine, and shocks of pleasure shot up my body, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I clutched the grass, breaking blades off into my palm, as I tried to force myself to think of anything else, feel anything else, to keep me on task, but none of it was working. The nausea returned as the music continued, and the smell was back, the berries and flowers, yet I couldn’t stop. I thrusted forward repeatedly as she held me in place, writhing beneath me with wave after wave of increasing pleasure. She was the sweetest drug, and I couldn’t get enough.
As I approached the point of no return, I fought against it. I didn’t want this to stop, it was too soon, but she wouldn’t let me slow down. She was reaching her peak too, and she wouldn’t let me slow her down. Something beyond the physical plane was propelling me forward, and when I finally crested, white hot sparks beneath my skin prolonged my climax. I arched backward as every ounce of my energy poured into her, and I felt her body quaver beneath me as we rode the wave together. Whimpers escaped her lips as she settled in the aftermath, and as I slid myself free of her, the sun’s warmth became the fire in the forge, and I found myself sitting back on the floor, my fists clenched yet empty, the blades of grass no longer taut between my fingers. Aphrodite stood up and walked over to her tunic, stepping into it and pulling back up over her impossibly perfect frame. She looked every bit the goddess that she was as she walked back over to where I still sat on the floor. She sat down on the workbench before me and caressed my face, her hands soft and inviting. There was a glint of satisfaction in her eyes, along with something else I couldn’t put my finger on. I blinked a couple of times before I realized I was still naked. I pushed myself up off the floor and fumbled around as I put my clothes back on.
Aphrodite leaned back against the workbench, her hair as silky and smooth as it had been when she first walked into the forge. Her golden tunic showed not a speck of soot from where it had been discarded on the floor earlier. In short, she looked like a goddess. A goddess I had just slept with.
She pursed her lips and her eyes shined with satisfaction, “I liked that question Cameron…” She licked her lips but then sighed, “But I get the feeling that there is a more important question that you should ask while I am here.” She hopped back up to sit on the workbench.
I wracked my brain for a suitable question. While I had a fair number, I didn’t know if Aphrodite was the right god to ask. Most of them involved the Academy itself, what the Stratego’s real name was, what his beef with me was, and what happened before my dad disappeared.
As I thought about my dad, my thoughts wandered in a different direction. There was something Aphrodite had said the night before that bothered me, but I hadn’t given it a second thought at the time, mainly because all of my thoughts were consumed by Hailey and her hotness.
“What’s the Sight?” I asked. “And why do you think I have it?”
29
“Ah,” Aphrodite said with a smirk. “I like the way you think, Cameron. That’s an excellent question to ask. And because I am so pleased with it, I will answer you honestly.” The goddess straightened her back, crossed her legs at the ankles, and cleared her throat dramatically.
“The Sight is the ability to see the future or know the past,” Aphrodite explained. “It is very common throughout Greek mythology, such as--”
“Apollo cursed Cassandra with the ability to predict the future, but no one would believe her,” I recited automatically. “Tireseus had the ability and helped Odysseus, and Apollo was the god of prophecy, which spurred the Oracles of Delphi. And perhaps most famously as told through the three fates, or the Moirai.”
“Yes,” Aphrodite said slowly and with weariness in her voice. “But those are perhaps the most famous Seers in Greek mythology. But there are many lesser-known ones.”
“You mean like, the sibyls or Nyx, the goddess of night herself had the ability?” I rattled on. “So powerful that even Zeus himself was afraid of h
er.”
Silence rang in my ears. When Aphrodite didn’t respond to me right away, I paused my pounding and looked up at the goddess. Her plush lips hung open as she stared at me in astonishment. She looked as though I had just slapped her in the face rather than just told her some under-represented Seers in Greek mythology.
“What?” I asked, prompting the god to start talking again.
“How much do you know about the myths?” Aphrodite wondered, her eyebrows still knitted together as if I were a puzzle she needed to solve.
“A lot,” I replied, though my voice shook a little, unnerved as I was at Aphrodite’s tone and facial expression. “Why?”
“And how did you come across this knowledge?” Aphrodite continued, unrelenting in her interrogation.
“I don’t know,” I answered, doubting her questioning. “Reading, I guess. The internet.”
“That’s a lot of reading,” Aphrodite commented dubiously.
“Sure, but I found it interesting as a kid,” I defended. “That and blacksmithing, of course. Weapons from all different cultures were so interesting to study. There was this huge book at our local library that was in the reference section so I couldn’t ever take it home with me, but I would spend hours, flipping through the same pages over and over, reading all about the weapons--”
“I get it, I get it,” Aphrodite waved away my explanation. “But go back to the myths. You’re telling me that you read every single Greek myth ever. Every play, every poem, even the Hesiod.”
Her words gave me pause. I had read a lot of them as a kid, devoured them when other kids were reading Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The Greek myths were my fantasy novels. I just never thought they would actually be read. But it was unrealistic to think that I had read everything.
I opened my mouth to answer, honestly though confusedly, when Aphrodite hopped off the workbench and sauntered over to me with a confident step and a suspicious eye.
“And how did you manage to retain all of that information?” Aphrodite tapped the side of her head with a single finger, mimicking the rhythm of an analog clock. “You’re telling me that your childhood, mortal brain just absorbed everything it ever read about Greek mythology? Like a sponge?”
My mouth opened slightly as I took in a sharp breath. I didn’t know what Aphrodite was trying to tell me, but whatever it was, I didn’t like it. I braced myself behind my anvil, using it as a barrier between the god and myself. However, she simply put her hands on either side of it and leaned forward, closing the gap between our faces. Refusing to abandon my post, my space as a blacksmith, I held true and let the goddess approach me.
“No, it didn’t,” I whispered, knowing the truth. “I just kind of always knew the stories. When I read them, more stories and facts just popped into my head until I had a whole encyclopedia that no one wanted to hear about.”
“Do you want to know why you have the encyclopedia?” Aphrodite raised her eyebrows suggestively. “Why can you rattle off facts about Greek mythology like an auctioneer without having to give it a second thought?”
“I have the Sight?” I filled in the blank with the question, but I didn’t want it to be true.
“Bingo,” Aphrodite said sharply as she pointed a finger at the center of my forehead as if she were pressing a button. “Past and future, kiddo. You got the past part down pat.”
I blinked a couple of times as I watched Aphrodite flounce back to the workbench, taking Sarah’s old spot on the stool. She twirled with a cocky triumph, proud of herself for having figured out the Cameron puzzle.
I, on the other hand, stood at my anvil in complete shock. I didn’t want another power, something else that I needed to learn how to control. I was still struggling with the Eternal Flame and how all of that worked. Now, Aphrodite told me I had the Sight and what’s more that I might have gotten it from my mom.
“I don’t want the ability to tell the future,” I said, unable to hide the whine in my voice even though I spoke softly, more to the anvil than to Aphrodite.
“I don’t think that’s the kind of Sight you inherited,” Aphrodite said with a know-it-all tone. “I think it’s the past like I told you. Which is why you were able to look into my eyes last night and know the entire story of the girdle without me having to say hardly anything.”
Aphrodite ran a finger suggestively up her thigh. “You didn’t see the future when you looked at me. You saw the past. Much easier to manage if you ask me.”
My hands immediately went back to forging the gold, though I needed to heat it up again since it had cooled. It was a natural reaction for my hands to gravitate towards blacksmithing in times of stress or turmoil. I didn’t want to have this conversation anymore.
“Now your mother, on the other hand--” Aphrodite began, but I drew the line.
“I don’t want to talk about my mom,” I snapped.
“Ooh,” Aphrodite cried, hissing like she was burned. “Is that a sensitive topic? Is she dead or something?”
“She’s fine,” I replied harshly. “It’s just… she’s not a part of this. I know she’s not.”
“I’m telling you, son of Hephaestus,” Aphrodite said, suddenly serious. “You have the Sight, and you sure as hell didn’t get it from your father. That leaves one very simple and very reasonable explanation.”
I couldn’t look at Aphrodite as she said this. Instead, my eyes drifted to the comfort of the fire. The orange flames licked up the side of the forge, the heat making the image blur and go hazy.
There was no way that my mother had the Sight. She would have told me. All of our lives, she had always been honest with me. Us against the world and the fact that she would hide something like that didn’t seem like her at all.
Then again, she didn’t tell you about your dad, now did she? a wicked voice taunted at the back of my mind.
It pulled into question my mom’s integrity, and I didn’t want to do that. I needed her to be my rock, my solid place amidst the chaos of this other side of my life. But now, she might be just as wrapped up in it as I might be.
“Does the Academy still do study abroad trips?” Aphrodite said randomly.
I yanked my gaze away from the fire and stared at Aphrodite, wondering how the hell her brain had jumped from the Sight to talking about study abroad.
“I have no idea,” I replied honestly.
“You know what would help you?” Aphrodite said, wagging a finger at me like I was a dog. “A study abroad trip.”
“To where? Greece?” I replied sarcastically. The gold had reached the perfect sheen of white to begin bending it. I pulled it out of the forge and proceeded to manipulate the hunk of metal.
“No,” Aphrodite clicked her tongue. “To work with the Cyclops.”
“The what?” I balked.
“The Cyclops,” Aphrodite repeated. “Surely, you know who they are?”
“Of course I know who and what Cyclops are,” I argued, feeling defensive all of a sudden. I slammed my hammer down on the strip of gold, putting my weight behind each swing, a grunt piercing through each sentence. “Odysseus tricked them with the whole ‘no body’ thing. Poseidon sired a couple of them, including Polyphemus. But they originated from Uranus and Gaia, and the three brothers, Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, forged the lightning bolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, and the cap of invisibility for Hades.”
Aphrodite raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Go on.”
I didn’t know what she wanted from me, but I continued, unable to stop myself once I started. “They also built the first altar where the gods swore their allegiance to stop the war on the Titans. They were also known as wall builders, and some have the ability to see…”
The epiphany hit me like on the Cyclops lightning bolts, right as I slammed one time too many and caused the gold to snap in half. A piece clattered to the ground with a ring. Immediately after, I growled out my frustration at this stupid project. Gold was so fragile, and that’s why I hated working with it. Plus
, this god hovered over me while I worked, telling me secrets about myself and my mother that I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to know. Now she was going on about Cyclops while I continued to break gold piece after gold piece.
I closed my eyes and hung my head. I heard Aphrodites chuckle echo off the walls of the forge.
“See what?” Aphrodite prompted, wanting me to say it aloud. “What are the Cyclops known to see.”
I inhaled sharply. “The future.”
“Quite an unusual pairing,” Aphrodite commented. “The Cyclops are both mythical monsters, and kind benefactors to the gods. Their powers are odd, don’t quite fit into any mold, not unlike yourself.”
I didn’t need this right now. I needed to make this stupid girdle so my friends could be themselves again. So that the Academy could go back to normal. But instead of doing anything to help me, she just rattled on about life-altering things that did nothing for me at all except distract me.
However, through my frustration, my skills latched onto something Aphrodite said. I kept my eyes closed, though I could feel my face relax as the pieces came together in my mind, as the perfect solution formed.
“That’s it,” I whispered under my breath. More pieces clicked into place, and the picture became clearer. I threw my arms straight in the air, like a referee signaling a field goal. “That’s it!”
Aphrodite leaned away from me as if frightened from my exclamation. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been doing this all wrong,” I said, my words coming out in a rush. I bounced around the smithy, my feet carrying me as though I were wearing Hermes’s winged shoes. “Gah, why didn’t I think of it before?”
“Care to tell me what is going on?” Aphrodite said. Her head followed me like a radar as I dashed about the room, collecting the necessary materials. I paused suddenly in the middle of the forge, hands outstretched.
