by Simon Archer
“I need to go to the pottery room,” I announced suddenly.
“Cameron, explain yourself right now or--”
“Walk and talk, Aphrodite, walk and talk,” I ushered her forward and gave her a little shove off the workbench.
“How dare you!” she commented, though she landed on her feet as swiftly as a cat. “You cannot just shove me around like that. I am a goddess!”
“Sorry,” I muttered, though I wasn’t the least bit sorry. “But I’ve figured out how to make your bow and arrow.”
“I thought that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time,” Aphrodite said as she followed me out of the forge.
I hustled out of the smithy and fast-walked down the path. Aphrodite’s long legs allowed her to keep up with me without breaking a sweat, though the annoyance was still plain as day across her face.
“I can’t bend and manipulate the gold like steel or iron,” I explained as I walked. “It’s too fragile, and I can’t sense it like I do those other metals.”
“Yes, and?” Aphrodite continued, ushering me along by waving her hands in little circles.
“We have to melt the gold,” I exclaimed, riding the high of my epiphany.
Aphrodite didn’t catch on right away. “Then we will just have melted gold. What good is that?”
“We melt it into a mold,” I clarified. We zipped through the main quad, my energy increasing with each step closer to the pottery and sculpting studio. “Then it hardens in the form of the mold and voila! We have a new girdle.”
“Where are you going to make a mold of my girdle?” Aphrodite said, as though she had popped the bubble in my precious plan.
“We’re going to make it,” I announced, with perfect timing as we stepped up to the doors of the art building. I held the door open for the god and bowed low, indicating that she should go in. “After you.”
“A bit of respect from you,” Aphrodite scoffed. “How refreshing.”
I ignored that jab and walked in behind her. We ventured down the various hallways, though I had to push her again when Aphrodite ran into a painting supposedly of her and Hera that she was deeply offended by. I had to promise her that we could find it and burn it later, after the girdle business was complete.
When we approached the door to the pottery studio, I paused for the first time since my brilliant idea approached. I hadn’t been in this room since I grabbed the broken scythes, since the harpy attack on Christmas day. It was where Kari and I had worked together on those scythes, where I thought she might be a friend. A fellow warrior and artist.
I wrapped my hand around the handle and took a deep breath before walking through. The room looked the exact same as it had a year ago. The various tables had a fresh round of clay stains on them, while the counter on the far wall was damn near immaculate, save from some specks on the sink. The kiln room was empty, but the heavy door stood wide open.
Pushing my nostalgia and anger aside, I bolted for the cabinets across from the windows. High on the shelves were cubes of clay, fresh and ready to be molded to our whims. I hugged two, one with each arm, and brought them down to the nearest table. They landed with a slam and a crinkle as the plastic covered clay stood solid. I ripped off the top of the packaging when I noticed that Aphrodite hadn’t left the doorway.
“What are you doing, standing there?” I asked. “Come in.”
“I just noticed something,” Aphrodite said, not listening to me and staying right where she was standing.
“What now?” I said, exasperated.
“You used the word ‘we,’” Aphrodite pointed out, “when talking about the clay and the mold. You said, ‘We are going to make a mold.’ Did you mean--?” The god stuck out a finger and waved it between the two of us.
I nodded. “Yes.”
Aphrodite turned her nose up at the clay I continued to unravel. “I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole.”
“I need your help,” I said, my voice dropping to something just above a plea. “You’re the only one who knows what the girdle looks like, really looks like. You said it yourself. You need to help me with the design. So you and me, together, have to make the mold.”
I dug my hand into a corner of the clay. It was cold and slightly stiff. We would have to warm it up with some water but not too much to drown out the clay, so it becomes mud, just like Kari taught me. A few flecks broke off and onto the table when I hauled out the fistful.
I held the clump out to the god of lust. “I can’t make it without you, remember?”
Aphrodite opened and closed her mouth several times, caught in her own declaration from this morning. When she couldn’t work her way around an alternative, the god grumbled but closed her mouth. She stomped over to my station and scooped the clay out of my hand.
Her face contorted into one of disgust. “This is disgusting.”
“It’s not my favorite either,” I sympathize. “But I’m telling you, this is the best way to make your golden girdle.”
Then Aphrodite plastered a smile on her face, though it was pained and forced. She uttered the words from earlier in the day, though with much less enthusiasm. “Where do we start?”
30
The girdle took several days to finish, and I couldn’t have been more ready to finish a project.
After five days of hard labor and more patience than I ever thought I had, Aphrodite and I completed the brand new golden girdle.
It was thin, and fitted Aphrodite’s waist with a precision that would never be matched by anything created by a mortal. The laces were handcrafted by thread that Aphrodite gained from Olympus. Her breasts fit snugly in the support and the little dip with a heart molded on it added a touch of femininity and desire to it.
Aphrodite spent a day resting and charging the girdle so it would have the power to cure everyone on campus. The goddess of desire stationed herself in the med bay, as agreed upon with the Elemental Officials, who were the first to be tainted.
Like the inspections for the disease, the vaccine dosage was issued in waves. I returned to class after having been excused for the past week in order to finish the girdle. It was kind of nice to say I got called out of class by a god, a rare instance for any demigod.
Grecian Art was uneventful, especially since Bethany wasn’t there to amuse me. She was scheduled for her dose that morning, so I opted to sit next to Karen.
“Have you been to the med bay yet?” my roommate asked, leaning over while we tried to sketch out a cornucopia.
“I don’t need to go, remember?” I reminded Karen out of the corner of my mouth, trying to be discrete.
“Oh,” Karen said, and she settled back onto her stool. There was the briefest of pauses before she started talking again. “Because I just thought, you know, if you had been, you could tell me what it’s like. I’m just really nervous.”
I reached out and patted her knee. “You’ll be fine. Aphrodite is making it short and sweet for everyone.”
“Ugh, Cameron,” Karen suddenly groaned. “You got charcoal on my pants.” She quickly brushed me away, as though my hand was a spider. Then she scowled at me and worked furiously at trying to scrub away the mark.
I rolled my eyes and returned to my work. So much for trying to help.
I bolted out of class when lunch rolled around, eager to eat with my friends for the first time in days. Aphrodite had us quarantined in the studio or the forge while we were working together. I missed my friends desperately and secretly hoped that Beth would join us, now that she was cured and would no longer be compelled to sit with Bella.
The cafeteria was a mix of emotions, thick and heavy the minute I stepped in. There was also a clear divide between those who had been dosed and those who hadn’t. Smartly, the Elemental Officials decided to dose known couples together so as to avoid any fights or disruptions. It would be way worse if one of the pair was still madly in love while the other one had been cured.
Still, the students infected with Tainted Love sa
t on the far side, while other students broke out into their usual groups of first years, second years, and the four branches. I smiled at the sight, knowing that things would soon be as they once were. People would have freedom and control over their emotions again.
I wasn’t taking away anyone’s happiness. I repeated that to myself like a mantra as I tried to fall asleep the night before. While they all thought they were happy, it wasn’t true happiness because they had been forced into it. I had to believe that if any of my fellow soldiers were in my position, they would have done the same thing.
As I stood gazing about at the other students, one site caught my eye that made everything worth it. I saw Irema sitting with a group of friends. I must have been staring too long because when she looked up, the Enka soldier caught my eye, and a huge smile broke out on her face. She moved her way over to me, and I couldn’t help but mirror her bright smile.
“So, rumor has it I have you to thank for getting me reenlisted,” Irema said, her voice tight with emotion.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I said sheepishly. “There were a lot of us--”
“There’s no need to be modest, Cameron,” Irema said with a firm tone. “You should take the credit, especially when it’s due. No one else made the girdle that helped all of us. That was all you.”
“Well,” I said with an audible swallow, “thanks. I’m glad to see you’re back.”
“I’m glad to be back,” Irema agreed.
“And Sherry?” I asked cautiously. “Is she--?”
“Yeah, she’s back too,” Irema informed me, with a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “But they stationed her off-campus as an extra precaution.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, my heart hurting for her at the loss of her.
“It’s okay,” Irema said with a shrug, but her soft eyes let me know that it wasn’t really okay.
“Anyway,” Irema said with a sharp inhale, “I just wanted to say thank you. I don’t know what I would be doing without your help.”
I tried to relish in the fact that I had basically saved two soldiers’ lives and their careers with the Military. But there was still some lingering guilt that I wished would go away. My eyes scoured the cafeteria for one of my friends, hoping for an immediate distraction.
I spotted Daniella at the end of one of the long tables and immediately went to her without even grabbing a tray first. I was excited to see her, but I paused cautiously when I approached my friend. The last time we had seen one another had been at the dance when she tried to force a kiss on me. I didn’t know what she remembered of that night, so I inhaled some courage and slid into the seat across from her.
“Hey you,” I said brightly.
Daniella looked up from her meal of baked mac and cheese. The spoon paused on the way up to her mouth as she caught sight of me. The noodles slowly dropped off the silverware and collapsed back into the bowl with a sploosh.
“Cameron, I…” Daniella started, but I held up a hand.
“Apology accepted,” I said right away, not missing a beat.
The spoon clattered back into the bowl as Daniella dropped her head in her hands. “I can’t believe how foolish I acted. I don’t even know what came over me. I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore. Or if Jade and Hailey don’t want to either.”
“It’s okay, the girls don’t blame you and I don’t want to break up,” I reassured her. “You weren’t yourself.”
“But that’s the thing,” Daniella said, suddenly looked up, her face grave. “I was. I was aware of what I was doing the whole time I was doing it. It was like I had no filter, no sense of right or wrong. It was unnerving.”
I grimaced at her description. “That sounds like hell.”
“This whole semester has been hell,” Daniella complained. “Do you know how many sex-related injuries I have had to deal with in the med bay? Lost dildos, genitals with things stuck in them or other people. And demigods may have thick skin and fast healing, but we still can get STDs, okay! And they are not pretty.”
Daniella collapsed again and stared into her mac and cheese with a somber expression, as if someone had just spit in it. I waited a moment to see if she would continue, but it seemed as though she had run out of steam.
“That sounds shitty,” I said sympathetically.
“You’re telling me,” Daniella grumbled. “Not only that, but the stupid Elemental Officials have also gone back to ignoring everything I say.”
“What now?” I prompted.
Daniella leaned in and beckoned me forward with a finger. I obliged her request and listened.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she began, her voice low and conspiratorial. “I’m super grateful you made the girdle with Aphrodite, and the whole Tainted Love thing is going to be over, but something’s still bothering me.”
“What?” I asked, a mix of intrigue and worry coming over me.
“We still don’t know where it came from,” Daniella whispered. “We have no idea what the source was of the initial strain.”
“Kari stole Aphrodites’ girdle,” I explained, not understanding the problem. “I thought Genesis and Makayla explained that to you.”
“You’re telling me that Kari was jumping around campus hitting people with the magic in the girdle without anyone seeing her?” Daniella said skeptically. “You and I both know that they beefed up security after the harpy attack and her escape. There’s no way this was her.”
I rubbed my cheek with one hand, not liking what my friend was implying. “Then what was it, Daniella?”
“That’s the thing,” Daniella said as she threw up her hands and raised her voice. Catching herself, she lowered her arms and her voice once again. “I have no idea, and they won’t let me try to figure it out. They’re just satisfied with Aphrodite’s cure and her explanation that the other girdle will die out. Well, that’s nice and all, but what happens if there’s another outbreak? Are we just going to throw a dance every time and hope Aphrodite shows up?”
“Gods, I hope not,” I moaned. “That dance was a lot of work.” Then a thought occurred to me, I might take a chance to make my distressed friend laugh. “But hey, Aphrodite and I are best buds now. Maybe I can drop her a line or something, huh?”
Daniella was not amused. She stared at me blankly and blinked once. “I’m serious, Cameron.”
“I know you are,” I adjusted back to my regular tone, no longer joking. “And I think you’ve got a very valid point. I wish we knew where it started too, but right now, we have to focus on getting everyone cured.”
“But then I won’t be able to study them anymore if everyone’s back to normal,” Daniella complained.
I wanted to say something more substantial, something that would make her feel better, but I got the impression that anything I said right then that wasn’t explaining the origin of the Tainted Love disease wasn’t going to do anything to change Daniella's mood. Luckily, Jade swooped in with the next best thing.
“Hiya, friends!” she said cheerily. In each hand, she carried tarts the size of her palm. She set them down in front of each of us, accompanied with a spoon. “You looked gloomy, Daniella, so I thought I’d bring you an apple tart and a pear one for you, Cameron.”
“Ooh, thanks, Jade,” I said as I scooped up one of the spoons and dug in. The tart was like a mini pie, still warm in the middle as I dipped in. The crust broke with a satisfying crunch, and I hadn’t even taken a bite yet.
“I’m too worked up to eat,” Daniella said, bouncing in her seat a little.
“Oh, come on!” Jade pushed. “I used the apples from my orchard. They’re some of the only ones left in the season before winter takes everything over.”
“If she’s not going to eat it, then I will,” came another voice from behind me.
I whirled around, looking over my shoulder as I recognized the voice instantly. Bethany stood with her hands in her pockets, and a genuine smile I felt like I hadn’t seen in ages.
>
“Beth!” I cried out. I jumped to my feet and wrapped my friend into a big hug. She met me with equal enthusiasm, squeezing me so tight I thought my lungs might explode.
The daughter of Demeter released me and offered Daniella a fist bump across the table, reading her friend well enough to know that she wasn’t in any mood to hug. Jade held out the apple tart like an offering, and she lifted it from her hands regally.
“For me? Oh, you shouldn’t have,” Beth said as she sat down next to me, swinging one leg over the bench.
It was great to see my friend again. She walked right over to us and sat down like she did for every meal last year. There was something clean and clear about her expression, like a fog had been lifted from around her eyes.
I thought back to the last five days with Aphrodite, making the girdle, and then even to the difficult moments before that, like planning the dance and dealing with Sasha’s stupid performance. All of it had been for Beth. I had done it for the campus too, but throughout the whole process, my friend had always been at the forefront of my mind. It was amazing to know that it had paid off.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, putting a hand on Beth’s shoulder, just as she was about to dig into the tart.
She put her spoon down to answer me. “I’m feeling good. Kind of stupid about the whole thing, but what’s nice is that I don’t regret anything like some students do. Except for one thing,” She paused and hesitated before meeting each of our eyes, “I’m sorry for completely ignoring you all after what we shared. I want...I would like to explore what we had further, but I also know that what Bella and I have is special, and if I have to, I would like to remain your friends while being with Bella.”
Jade, Daniella and I all shared a look and I smiled at Beth, “I think we can figure something out.” I leaned on my elbows, “Now about that regret stuff,”
Beth groaned, “Don’t remind anyone, they all are beating themselves up enough as it is. I had to hear about a ton of stuff when I went to get vaccinated.”
“You’d think Aphrodite would be able to clear that up too,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “I should talk to her about adding some sort of mental forgiveness or wipe or something like that.”
