Manitou Springs

by Claudia Hall Christian

  When Heather was just her half-breed self, she had heard rumor that some of the splits had survived Hera’s spell. She and her half-breed peers openly wondered: Were these new splits? Or remnants of splits made long ago?

  No one knew. Everyone had an opinion.

  As time went on, splitting fell out of fashion for the simple reason that each split reduced the power of the god. Human beings couldn’t be relied upon to recharge Olympians with their worship anymore. Very simply, most gods couldn’t afford to lose power, especially to some random split.

  Eros, on the other hand, was different. Once a year, every year, human beings from around the world celebrated love. Pictures of Eros’s childish form, Cupid, could be found on cards, posters, televisions shows, and all things love related. Once a year, on February 14, Eros received an enormous boost of power.

  Heather knew for a fact that her father spent the day in silent meditations to soak up as much power as possible. If he wanted a shadow, he could make it on February 14 without any loss of power. No one would be the wiser.

  Heather transformed herself out of her physical form and slid open the sliding doors to her parents’ bedroom. She moved into the room to stand at the end of her parents’ bed.

  Psyche, her mother, was wrapped around her father, Eros. He was holding her in a tight clench. She created a bubble around them and waited until they were sealed off from the world. If there was a shadow form of Eros, it should immediately feel the break from its source and return. She shifted back to her usual physical form.

  Hera appeared next to her.

  “Anything?” Heather asked.

  “Not that I’ve seen,” Hera said.

  Aphrodite appeared on the other side of Heather.

  “What are you wearing?” Aphrodite asked.

  Heather looked down at her flowered flannel top, black leggings, and slippers.

  “I was in bed when I found out about this situation,” Heather said.

  Aphrodite changed Heather’s apparel into a golden ball gown. Heather scowled at her grandmother and changed back.

  “I have no idea why you insist on wearing that body!” Heather’s gorgeous grandmother asked.

  “It’s comfortable,” Heather said.

  “Tsk — no goddess would be caught dead looking like that.” Aphrodite clucked.

  “Artemis and Athena wear whatever they want,” Heather said.

  Her grandmother clucked again and transformed Heather into a thinner, radiantly beautiful version of herself.

  “You are a goddess now. Don’t you want to look like one?” Aphrodite asked.

  “If I’m a goddess now, then this is what I look like,” Heather said, and transformed back to her usual form.

  “Shhhh,” Hera said and pointed to the couple in front of them.

  “They can’t hear us,” Aphrodite said. “You, of all people, know that my granddaughter looks like a human most of the time.”

  “And what’s wrong with that?” Heather scowled at Aphrodite. “You’re so prejudiced.”

  “What?” Aphrodite asked. “Why are you always so difficult? You’re a full goddess now. You need to look like one. How else will you garner the attention of a god?”

  Heather rolled her eyes at Aphrodite, who gave her a beautiful smile. When Heather looked away, Aphrodite changed her back to the skinny, radiant version of herself. If Heather noticed, she didn’t mention it. They watched the couple for a few minutes in silence.

  “See! What did I tell you? Nothing,” Aphrodite said. “I knew this was a fabrication. Spend your time with all of those humans, and look what you get: Flabby and fanciful.”

  Heather’s eyes flicked to her grandmother.

  “Shush,” Heather said.

  Her grandmother shook her head at Heather and disappeared. Hera turned Heather back into her usual form.

  “Thanks,” Heather said.

  “My pleasure,” Hera said. “You think . . .”

  The shadow appeared. Old and crafty, it took one look at Heather and Hera and whispered curses.

  Hera threw a destruction spell at the shadow. The shadow was unaffected. The shadow sneered at Hera. Reaching through the bubble, the shadow merged with Eros. Her father woke up.

  “Hedone?” Eros asked. “Hera?”

  Heather grabbed Hera and jumped them through space and time until they landed in the kitchen in Tanesha’s little yellow house. Tanesha was sitting at the kitchen bar waiting for them.

  “Did it work?” Tanesha asked.

  “We found the shade,” Heather said. “It seems to be old and crafty. Powerful. It merged with him while we were there.”

  Hera looked at Heather and then at Tanesha.

  “Hedone, I don’t think . . .” Hera started.

  “Tanesha, this is Hera,” Heather said. “Hera, this is Tanesha.”

  Tanesha held her hand out for Hera to shake. The goddess gave Tanesha’s hand a suspicious look but then did shake it. Without missing a beat, Tanesha asked the questions she’d had when she was ten years old.

  “Are you a full-blooded goddess?” Tanesha asked. “With all kinds of power and shit?”

  “I am Hera, child,” Hera blushed.

  “What the hell are you doing with that creep Zeus?” Tanesha asked. “You’re a goddess! Have some self-respect!”

  Hera looked at Heather and then back at Tanesha. Before Heather could respond, Hera started to laugh. Tanesha shook her head ruefully.

  “I was serious,” Tanesha said. “You’ve set a really bad example for a lot of women over the years.”

  “You’re exactly right,” Hera said.

  “She was shot with a special kind of arrow,” Heather said. “Zeus, too. Nothing she can do.”

  “Oh,” Tanesha said. “Sorry. Those arrows suck.”

  “You have no need to be sorry, child,” Hera said. “You didn’t know.”

  “She did put Zeus in the Sea of Amber,” Heather said. “Ruled Olympia for thousands of years without him.”

  Hera nodded.

  “Good for you,” Tanesha said. “Now, what happened to the shade?”

  “Merged with Eros,” Heather said.

  “‘Merged with Eros’?” Tanesha asked with a shake of her head. “What does that mean?”

  “It’s a splinter of the man himself,” Hera said with a shrug.

  She looked at Heather, and Heather nodded.

  “Unconscious splintering — or something he did consciously?” Tanesha asked.

  “I’d guess unconscious,” Hera said.

  “Could be either,” Heather said.

  “What are we going to do?” Tanesha asked.

  “We need to check this Castle of yours, first,” Hera said. “If it has left spells of unlove, we need to remove them sooner rather than later.”

  “The oldest woman is there right now,” Heather said.

  “She is?” Hera asked.

  Heather and Tanesha nodded.

  “This will be interesting,” Hera said. “Shall we?”

  “It’s the middle of the night,” Tanesha said. “Everyone is sleeping.”

  “Good time to battle a shade,” Heather said.

  “Lead on,” Tanesha said.

  In a blink of her eye, they were standing in the basement of the Castle. Tanesha weaved.

  “I never get used to that,” Tanesha said.

  Hera gave her an assessing look. Hera glanced at Heather.

  “Fand,” Heather said.

  Hera nodded.

  “What was that?” Tanesha asked.

  “Just telling her why you feel dizzy,” Heather said. “We need it for . . .”

  “Do you see this?” Tanesha pointed.

  Tiny tendrils of what looked like white string were floating in the air like a trail. In some places, it was bunched up like a messy knot. In other places, it was straight and clear.

  “What do you see?” Heather asked.

  “String.” Tanesha held her hand out to touch the fiber. The whi
te filament disintegrated. “Or something.”

  “You’re seeing the thread of spells made by the shade,” Heather said. “We can’t see it.”

  “Why can I?” Tanesha asked.

  “You’re Fin’s great-granddaughter,” Heather said.

  “Can he see it, too?” Tanesha asked.

  “It’s a gift of fairies to see the magic set by others,” Hera said.

  “Oh,” Tanesha said. “Can I get rid of it?”

  “I don’t know,” Heather said.

  “He will,” Tanesha said. “If Fin can, then Edie should be able to as well.”

  “Edith is here?” Hera asked with a smile.

  Tanesha turned to look at Hera.

  “What?” Hera asked. “She’s a friend of mine.”

  “She’s upstairs,” Heather said. “She works as a nanny for our friends’ twin boys.”

  “I heard she was doing something like that,” Hera said. “Hard to imagine. I also heard there was a man. Human?”

  Heather nodded, and Hera smiled.

  “Are we sure we want to get the fairies involved?” Tanesha asked.

  “Why not?” Hera asked.

  “They are kind of a pain in the ass,” Tanesha said.

  “Very self-focused,” Heather said.

  “Aren’t they impacted by these spells?” Hera asked.

  Tanesha and Heather nodded.

  “Then it’s in their best interest to help us,” Hera said.

  “That’s good thinking,” Tanesha said.

  “I’ve been at this a long time, child,” Hera said.

  “Tanesha.”

  “Yes, you’re right. I’m unused to using human names,” Hera said.

  “Why?” Tanesha asked.

  “Good question,” Hera said with a grin. “Now Hedone and I can fend off the shade while you and your family destroy the magic. Does that sound like a plan?”

  Tanesha nodded. She looked down the hallway and noticed for the first time that it was clogged with this white string. She sighed and looked worried.

  “What is it?” Heather asked.

  “There’s just a lot of it,” Tanesha said.

  “You know what works wonders on shade spells?” Hera asked. Heather and Tanesha shook their heads. “The Sword of Truth. Have you heard of it?”

  Hera shrugged. Tanesha shook her head.

  “No one knows what happened to the sword,” Hera said with a shake of her head.

  “Thanks for telling us about a sword that has disappeared,” Tanesha said with a roll of her eyes.

  “We should get started,” Heather said.

  “We should wake Fin and Edie,” Tanesha said.

  “I’ll do that,” Heather said. “You get started. Hera, would you like to come with me?”

  “I’ll wake Edie,” Hera said and then disappeared.

  “Do you think . . .?” Tanesha asked in a soft voice.

  “Not one word.” Heather shook her head. “We can do this.”

  Tanesha nodded. Heather disappeared. Tanesha continued touching the white string and making it disappear. After a few minutes, Fin and Heather appeared. Fin started helping. Edie and Hera appeared. Edie got to work.

  Three hours later, they had cleared out only the basement. Exhausted, they headed upstairs just as the sun peeked over the horizon. Tanesha and Heather lagged behind.

  “We need Paddie’s help,” Tanesha said.

  “What if it’s a trap?” Heather asked.

  Tanesha nodded. They followed Hera and the fairies upstairs and started clearing spells.

  ~~~~~~~~~

  Saturday morning — 8:35 a.m.

  “Perses!” Hera said. She flushed. “What are you doing here?”

  Perses and Anjelika were walking through the main Castle living room. Anjelika gave Hera a sideways look and walked toward the kitchen.

  “My daughter is getting married in the church tomorrow,” Perses said. “I think the bigger question is: What are you doing here, Hera?”

  “Hera?” Anjelika asked. She spun around before she got to the kitchen. With her index finger raised, Anjelika attacked. “If you think you’re going to disrupt my daughter’s . . .”

  “That’s just a story.” Hera said. She raised her hands and moved backwards. “I’ve never ruined anyone’s wedding. Ever. I’m the goddess of women, fertility, childbirth, and marriage. For a millennium, people said a prayer to me to consecrate a wedding.”

  Heather appeared next to Hera.

  “Did you know that Hera would be here?” Anjelika asked.

  “She’s a friend of mine,” Heather said.

  “She’s known for destroying weddings,” Anjelika said.

  “Those are stories to cover her putting Zeus in the Sea of Amber,” Heather said with a shrug.

  “Stories?” Anjelika asked.

  “Lies,” Heather said.

  “I rule Olympia,” Hera said. “My husband is an imbecile. I’ve ruled Olympia since the fall of Rome.”

  Anjelika glanced at Perses, who nodded.

  “What happened?” Heather asked Hera.

  “Perses is here,” Hera said. She looked at Heather and shook her head. “Perses?”

  “My friend Jill is his youngest daughter,” Heather said with a shrug.

  Hera gave a quick shake of her head.

  “But . . .” Hera said in a low tone, “Perses?”

  “You know, I can hear you,” Perses said.

  Aphrodite appeared. She took one look at Heather and changed her into the svelte body in the gold dress.

  “Heather?” Anjelika asked. She gestured to the dress and new body. “Wha . . .?”

  “Anjelika, have you met my grandmother?” Heather asked with a shake of her head. “Now that everyone has been introduced, can we get back to what we were doing?”

  “What are you doing?” Perses asked.

  “Uh,” Heather said. Her eyes flicked to Anjelika.

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” Anjelika said.

  She kissed Perses’ cheek. With another hard look at Hera, she went up to Jill’s loft. They waited until Anjelika was gone before anyone spoke.

  “Eros has a shade,” Heather said. “Charlie and Abi found him wandering the Castle casting dark spells.”

  Perses sniffed and then sniffed again.

  “Does smell like dark spells,” Perses said. “You’re sure it’s Eros?”

  “We tracked the shade back to Eros,” Heather nodded. “It broke the bubble and merged with Eros.”

  “Powerful shade,” Perses said with a scowl.

  “Old and crafty,” Hera said.

  “Tanesha, Fin, and Edie can see the spells,” Heather said. “We’ve been working to get rid of them.”

  “Why aren’t you using the Sword of Truth?” Perses asked. “It was originally created to help with this kind of thing.”

  “Do you know where it is?” Hera asked.

  Perses gave Heather a long look. He looked at Hera.

  “Do you have designs on the sword?” Perses asked.

  “No,” Hera said. “I can’t wield it. No one from Olympia can. Can Titans?”

  Perses shook his head.

  “I’m afraid Hedone was protecting the child,” Perses said.

  “What child?” Hera asked. She turned to look at Heather. “What?”

  “Come on,” Heather said. “I’ll show you.”

  Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-five

  Chasing shade

  Heather took a step and then looked down at her malformed body.

  “Stop that,” Heather said to Aphrodite and turned back into her usual human body.

  She pointed to where Anjelika had gone. They followed her to the top. Heather tapped on the door and then opened it. She ushered the Olympians into the loft. Anjelika was in the kitchen area making coffee.

  “Jill?” Heather asked.

  Jill stuck her head out of the nursery.

  “I’m in here,” Jill said. “Edie was called
away last night. I’m getting the boys up. Jacob should be back in a minute. He went to check on Edie.”

  “Is Paddie still here?” Heather asked.

  “They’re playing in Katy’s bedroom,” Jill said. “What’s going on?”

  “We need his help,” Perses said.

  “As long as he’s back for breakfast,” Jill said with a shrug.

  “She doesn’t know?” Hera asked in a low tone.

  “We didn’t tell her,” Heather said.

  Hera nodded. Heather went to Katy’s room and knocked on the door. Paddie Hargreaves opened the door. Katy was standing just behind him.

  “I’m ready,” Paddie said to Heather. “What do I need to do?”

  Hera looked at the tow-head boy with big blue eyes and a wooden sword on his hip. She squinted at Perses.

  “Perses, I . . .” Hera started.

  Perses winked at her. Jacob came into the loft.

  “We need to find the center of the house,” Perses said. Seeing Jacob, he added, “Any ideas?”

  “The center of the house is over there,” Jacob said, with a gesture toward the open area. “What are you doing?”

  “We need Paddie’s help with something,” Heather said.

  “What?” Jacob asked.

  “It’s okay, Mr. Jacob,” Paddie said. “Katy and me already said we would help. We were just getting ready.”

  Jacob looked at Heather, Hera, and Aphrodite. He gave Perses a skeptical look.

  “What does Olympia want with the child?” Jacob asked.

  “My father has, either by choice or unconscious design, created a shade splinter,” Heather said. “It’s cast dark spells all over the house. We’ve been up all night trying to get rid of them. Paddie can clear the house in one fell swoop.”

  “You mean, you’re helping Tanesha, Fin, and Edie?” Jacob asked.

  “Sure,” Heather said.

  Jacob grinned at Heather. He took Paddie by the shoulder and walked him to the center of the Castle. Paddie nodded to Jacob and the Olympians. Katy stood right behind him. Paddie pulled his sword from the scabbard, and it transformed into the Sword of Truth.

  “Oooh,” Hera gasped. She nodded, “That’s well done.”

  Perses nodded. Paddie put the tip of the sword on the floor.

  “Ready?” Katy asked.

  Paddie ran his hand on the sword. Vibrations from the sword began to grow. They felt the vibrations run through them. The Castle began to shake. The walls and floors shimmied back and forth. If Perses hadn’t grabbed her, Aphrodite would have fallen over. Katy wrapped her arms around Paddie’s middle to help him keep standing.