Chapter
Six
Orpheus
Despite the fact that time tended to move a little differently in the land of the dead, Eros managed to get us back within a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps time didn’t move any differently for gods when they were there, or maybe it was just that time move differently outside the palace. Either way, he returned me within the hour, both of us half expecting there to be an uproar over me being gone, or else a close call. Eros figured – and I hoped – that Papa would come to his senses shortly, and come up to talk to me about what had happened. I was better prepared this time, and while I didn’t have an explanation I could give him, I was now prepared to point out that I didn’t remember any of what happened. Because I really didn’t.
I wasn’t sure how he would take that, but since he wanted to truth out of me, that was all he was going to be able to get. I couldn’t tell him the whole truth, after all – I was possessed by a wayward soul who happened to want to completely take over my life – because that would probably just further prove that I was slowly going over the deep end. And I wouldn’t blame him in the least for thinking that. The whole situation was slowly getting out of hand, and half the time I didn’t believe it myself. Someone removed from the situation would have a harder time believing it.
It hurt me that I couldn’t tell Mom or Papa about this, especially Papa. I didn’t mind lying to Mom, for some reason. I didn’t like it, of course, but I felt like lying to Mom tended to be a little kinder. And besides which, I didn’t start having a good relationship with her until recently. But Papa? I knew one of these years I was going to start spilling my gut to him with the least amount of provoking, because I had never really lied to him. Even the little white lies and the half truths were slowly taking its toll on me. And it would be so nice to have at least one parent who knew what was going on. Then maybe he would have worked to keep my behavior out of the line of camera, and saved my dignity.
Although from the way Psyche was forcing me to act, I’m sure I deserved the humiliation. Regardless of whether it was actually me or not didn’t matter; the fact was that Phoebe’s wedding was ruined thanks to my body, and as far as I could tell, there was nothing I was going to be able to do to correct it. So I had decided that I was going to man up and just take the responsibility of what happened, even if it meant that Phoebe was never going to talk to me again. I was looking forward to one good relationship with my sisters, but that was absolutely ruined now. But that was okay – I survived eighteen years being on bad terms with them; I could survive plenty more.
Still, I was a little impressed. Seriously, one little act ruined my life completely, which is exactly what she said she wanted to do. There was no constant torment, no playing games. This girl meant business. I could sort of see why Eros fell for her in the first place, if he was going after a girl with brains. Not even I could have thought of a scheme this simple and yet this effective. It made me worry about what she was planning on doing for an encore, since clearly I wasn’t ready to get out of my body yet.
I’m sure she was planning on my life being so ruined that I wouldn’t want to continue on with this life, but she forgot one small little detail – I was stronger than that. Never mind that my souls had been waiting centuries for a chance to prove that she was far worthier for Eros than her other half was, I enjoyed my life, and I wasn’t about to give it up that easily, no matter how tattered it was. That was the thing about being alive – there was still always that possibility that things could turn around, and I wanted to wait and see what the outcome was. Was it optimistic? Sure, but I felt I had to take that chance.
So no, even if she came to me now, where I felt like there was no hope for fixing any of this, I would refuse to give up my life. It was my life, granted to me by the Queen of the Underworld herself, and I was going to fight to keep it, even if, in the end, it was a terrible life thanks to her. It was mine.
But since there was no one slipping in to check on me, or anyone searching the grounds looking for me, Eros and I settled in for the afternoon of doing pretty much nothing. I had some homework that I was holding off on that I knocked out pretty quickly with his help, which I something I hadn’t had in quite a while. He had started off helping me like he had my last semester, but as he grew more focused on finding Psyche, I sort of gave up on him helping. It was much more satisfying to learn with someone else’s help, and it was sort of funny how much he actually knew despite his appearance of a dumb frat boy.
But the rest of the afternoon was a complete bust. I was disappointed that Mom or Papa didn’t decide that they should come to chat with me about what happened, to see if they could calmly get the information out of me. They held true to their threat, that if I wasn’t ready to talk, that I had to stay in my room all day. I wasn’t ready to reveal the truth to them just yet, so I remained where I was, spending my time with Eros, mostly watching TV because I didn’t really feel like reading. Not with him actually paying attention to me now. Every now and then he’d zone out, but now that I knew what he was doing (or claiming to be doing), I left him be. But then I think he realized what he was going, because he’d snap out of me, and pull me a little closer for a moment.
The only times we were disturbed were for meal times, when one of our servants were sent up with a tray of food, and would knock before leaving the tray just outside my door. I was a little surprised that I was even sent up a snack midway through the afternoon, but I suspected that was more Mom’s doing than Papa’s. I did sort of feel like a prisoner, although I also felt bad that I wasn’t exactly feeling punished. I suppose is Eros wasn’t there, it would be a punishment, but getting to spend the day with him was never torture.
Still, I felt like I was deceiving them, especially since this was supposed to teach me a lesson. Not like there was a lesson that needed to be taught or anything, but I was supposed to be mad that I couldn’t spend time with my parents and my grandmother while there were no camera present, no sisters and their friends’ antics, and instead I was discussing what we thought we should do about Psyche.
I concluded that we still didn’t have enough information to really do anything at the moment. Yes, we know that she could possess me, but Hades had taken care of that problem. Other than that, we still didn’t know where she was, and until we figured that out, there really wasn’t anything we could do except for be on alert. Eros, I could tell, still felt bad for not figuring out that it wasn’t me doing all those terrible things, not after he had been such a space cadet looking for her, that he felt he had to do something. But being there with me was always going to be a great help.
I slept soundly that night with him curled up against me, and I was glad to wake with no pain the following morning. I got ready for the day, not being careful enough to remember I had to go back to my old routine because Eros was actually watching this time, and I managed to give me an eyeful. I doubt he minded, though. I was a little on edge as I came downstairs, since I’m sure everyone was disappointed that I didn’t come down yesterday and tell them the truth. Instead, they were all simply sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast, and pointedly ignoring me.
Papa peeked at me from over his paper when I sat down dejectedly but didn’t make any fuss for being ignored. I understood why I was, but I think they all expected me to act like my sisters, throwing hissy fits about still being punished. “Psyche,” he said in his stern voice.
I panicked. “I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I couldn’t come out yesterday because I honestly don’t know what happened at the wedding, and I didn’t have anything to tell you. I’m sorry for what happened! I honestly don’t know what came over me, and I really don’t remember any of it.”
Papa looked a little surprised at that, as did Mom and Nona. “Honestly, Psyche, we’re supposed to believe that? How do you end up losing a day?” Nona demanded.
“Mama, please,” Papa said, sounding a little annoyed. “That wasn’t what I was going to say, but your mother and I discussed the matter, and we determined that the way you were acting was certainly not in a manner we expect from you. So we’re looking into the matter, but for now, you’re off the hook. Your sister’s still mad at you, but that’s a matter you have to work out with Phoebe yourself.”
“So you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“Mad? Disappointed, certainly, but since we don’t know if that was actually you, I’m withholding any feeling toward the matter until we find out what happen. In the meantime, I was going to tell you that, while you’re not grounded anymore and can hang out with Maddie after classes, today would be a bad day to do so.”
“Why?” I asked curiously, since I was expecting to spend the day explaining to Maddie, and probably Zephyrus, what had happened.
“Because we’re expecting guests,” Mom said. “The sort of guests where it would be a good idea to show solidarity.”
“Ah,” I said. Mom and Papa tended to like to show their executive friends that we were a happy, normal family, and having all their children at home seemed to do the trick. “No, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure Maddie’s miffed with me as well, anyway.”
“I doubt it,” Papa said before going back to his paper. “She wouldn’t be much of a friend if she were.”
The fact that they wouldn’t reveal who the guests were made a little curious, because it could be a good number of people, most of them the sort of just randomly show up out of blue with hardly any warning. Papa was a highly influential person, after all, and befriended other influential people who felt they were above manners. Papa, at least, was taught better than that, giving at least a week warning whenever he wanted to pay a visit uninvited. Nona would be proud of him.
“Guests?” Eros asked when we were in the car. “Well, I suppose as long as your parents are no longer mad at you, it’s okay. Maddie’s going to be annoyed, I’m sure.”
“Maddie typically is the understanding sort. She would have understood when I was being punished as well.”
“Are you sure you’re still not being punished?”
“Ha ha, shut up,” I muttered.
Maddie was, of course, looking sour when I approached the classroom, glaring at me before I remembered that she didn’t know what happened. I slumped down next to her. “I suppose I said some things that pissed you off as well.”
“Well, no,” she admitted. “But for you to act like that at the wedding…I’m shocked, Psyche, I really am.”
“It wasn’t me; it was the other Psyche.”
“Ha!” she said loud enough for everyone to turn to us for a second. She had gotten up on her knees for a moment, and she sank down in embarrassment. “I knew it! I knew it wasn’t really you! But both Eros and Zephyr insisted that there was no way it wasn’t you, and they talked me out of thinking like that. But all those things you did? So not you! Ha ha, they were wrong, and I was right.”
I smirked slightly. “Congratulations; you’re the only one who was.”
“Hey, I’m not your best friend for nothing, Psyche. I know you better than you know yourself. But when Eros was claiming it had to be you, well…I wasn’t sure. I mean, he’s supposed to know you better than I know you, since he’s been watching you your whole life, but…” She shook her head.
“He was under false assumptions. He was thinking the same thing, but he didn’t know that Psyche could take over my body. It’s…complicated, and I’ll explain it later, okay?”
She was still grinning at me. “Certainly. You staying after classes today?”
I winced. “I honestly can’t,” I told her. “Papa’s expecting guests, and asked me to come home ASAP after class.”
She waved me off. “I understand,” she told me. “Family life comes first. I’ll get an explanation sooner or later, but I’m so glad to find out I was right! Zephyr’s going to be so annoyed, I’m sure.”
“I’m still sorry for what happened.”
“Nah, like I said, you didn’t do anything to me, other than ignore me the whole time. I felt terrible for Eros, because he kept trying to snap you out of it, and you were, well, rather mean to him. That’s sort of when I figured it out. I mean, I could understand ruining Phoebe’s wedding as revenge, but then not allowing Eros to talk you out of it? That really isn’t like you, Psyche.”
“Well,” I said slowly. “Psyche does rather hate Eros, as far as I can gather, even if she claimed she was doing this to get back with him. I’m not surprised, even if I hate myself for it.”
It felt sort of nice to have Eros back to watching me the entire time I was in class, since I missed that reassuring feeling that someone who loved me was watching over me. I pictured when I could Eros and Zephyrus having a quiet, invisible conversation about what had gone down, and I knew Maddie was going to be annoyed that she wasn’t the one who revealed to him that he was completely off his mark about me. But at least maybe now she wouldn’t have to wait forever to get an explanation about what happened.
I made her a promise to tell her everything tomorrow after class, pending Papa not asking me to come home early again, before leaving. I managed to keep a steady stream of babbled up in the car, although Eros was silent again, mostly about who our guests were going to be. The difference this time was that Eros was silent because he was listening to me talk.
Our guests were already at the house when we came home, which didn’t surprise me. A sleek black limo was parked in front of the house when we arrived, probably rented from the airport. That ruled out only a handful of people that happened to live close enough to drive themselves, but there were still many possibilities.
It was sort of funny how the doorbell rang again as soon as I stepped into the house, such that I merely turned without thinking to open the door myself. I didn’t see anyone else out there when I came in, but it was out of instinct. On the other side, I found I had guests of my own.
“Um,” I said as I found Persephone in her Stephanie Hayden disguise grinning at me. Hades was obviously with her, since I doubted she’d be with any other insanely tall and lanky guy with pale skin, brown eyes, and long black hair that spilled over his shoulders. He had a good disillusioned look going for him. He looked like he could pass for punk or goth, but strangely, he was wearing dark, preppy clothes. “This isn’t exactly a good time for this.”
“Well tough,” Persephone said as she shoved her way in. “We came all the way out here, so the least you can do is invite us in.”
Persephone was grinning at me happily, while Hades just stood there awkwardly, as Mom came in to see who was at the door. “Um, apparently I have a group project that I forgot about,” I suggested. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Stephanie,” Mom said, grinning at her. “What a surprise. No, that’s okay, Psyche. You didn’t know about them coming, so you couldn’t plan. Come in, come in.” She paused. “But who is this?”
Persephone glanced at Hades and gave him a sly look. He rolled his eyes at her. “I’m terribly sorry about him. He’s my boyfriend, and he was complaining about not spending enough time with me, so I told him that he could either come with me, or just suck it up. Guess he chose the former. He won’t be any trouble, I promise.”
I tried not to laugh at Hades’ sheepish look. “Oh, it’s no trouble at all!” Mom insisted. “We’re currently entertaining guests in the family room, but your more than welcome to have the living room, dear. I’ll try to keep them out of your hair.” She winked at me as she wandered off, probably to get us some snacks.
I shrugged before leading them into the living room so I could find out what they were up here for. “I told you before that I was up here to take stock of things,” Hades pointed out. “It was mostly Persephone’s idea to come and surprise you. She’s just being annoying, and I apologize for her.”
She giggled, leaning into him. “But it’s so fun to play mortal, dear. You don’t do it nearly as much as you ought to.”
“There’s a reason for that,” he sighed. “We haven’t really been up here long enough to get any information, unfortunately. Really, we’ve just arrived.”
“I’m sure, and I’m willing to bet the first thing you did was ring my bell,” I said dryly.
“I let him do it because he never has the chance,” Persephone said, delighted.
Hades sighed at his wife, probably not used to her acting as she does on the surface, when Papa decided to pop his head in, I guess after Mom informed him that I had guests as well. “Sorry, Papa,” I said sheepishly, immediately jumping at my bag to grab some book to pretend to work with. “Between Phoebe’s wedding and you having guests, I guess I forgot I invited Stephanie over to work on a project.”
Papa just shook his head. “No, I just wanted to check to see if you guys were really in here. Your mother was swooning over some ‘tall, dark stranger’, and I had to admit, I was curious.”
“I apologize,” Hades said, standing. Papa balked a little at his height. “I didn’t mean to interrupt anything,”
“Not at all, young man,” Papa said, recovering. Persephone snickered a little. “I’m Nik Karalis, Psyche’s father.”
Hades took his hand. “Orpheus,” he said smoothly before pausing and staring for a long moment. “Kalonimos.”
It was a little strange that he’d pick that name for his surname, but it wasn’t any stranger than Papa’s reaction. “Oh really?” he said, looking surprised. “Any relation to Diomedes, by any chance?”
Hades seethed slightly. “Yes,” he said. “I’m his…younger brother.”
Papa laughed. “Oh, well…then I suppose you’ll be interested to know that he happens to be the guest I’m entertaining.”
Persephone’s hands flew to her mouth to contain her laughter while Hades’ expression sank to one of pure annoyance. “Really,” he sighed, almost as though he knew what was going to happen next.
Diomedes Kalonimos came strolling into the living room almost as though he heard the whole conversation. I wasn’t sure how the hell Hades was going to get out of this one, lying as he had. But Diomedes gave him a bright smile, his perfectly white teeth looking more so against his dark skin. He had always looked so strange to me, I had to admit, with his dark olive skin and platinum blonde hair and his grey eyes. I knew he was full-blooded Greek, despite being born in the US, but his coloration never really sat right with me. And there was always something off about the guy.
“Little brother,” he said delighted, causing Hades to outright seethe. “What a surprise! I didn’t realize you were in Winchester!”
“I…just arrived,” he said through gritted teeth, almost like he didn’t even want to talk to him. I glanced between the two, wondering that the hell was going on. Papa looked surprised as well.
Diomedes waved Papa off. “It’s okay, Nik, I need to check out with my darling baby brother. We’ll discuss business later. Family comes first, right?” He winked at Papa, who just looked a little unnerved.
He glanced between the ‘brothers’ as well before shrugging. “Um, it was a pleasure meeting you, I suppose, Orpheus,” he said before he slipped out of the room, looking a little unnerved.
I was expecting Diomedes to lay into him for claiming to be his brother, but he continued to stand there, grinning like a hyena, allowing the tension to build. Finally, Hades snapped. “God damn it, why the hell are you here?”
Diomedes related slightly, flopping himself into one of our armchairs. “Relax, Hades,” he said. “I’m literally here on business. Unlike some people, I happen to actually have a life up here. The question happens to be why you’ve decided to actually come up here without me summoning you.”
“Wait, wait, I’m confused. What’s going on here?” I demanded.
Persephone lowered her hand. “Oh, but didn’t you know?” she said, smirking slightly. “Diomedes Kalonmios is Zeus.”
I glanced at him. “Like…Zeus Zeus?”
He shrugged. “King of the gods, yes,” he stated.
I felt my jaw drop on its own accord. I’ve known Diomedes for years now, ever since he started his rise to the top. He and Papa had taken an interest in each other because of it, and they were actually pretty good friends, despite the fact that Diomedes was about eighteen years younger than Papa. But they both had similar starts, creating their companies at a young age, and slowly becoming more and more successful. For a while there, Papa was acting like Diomedes was his protégé.
I had been to his house for lavish parties, and I’ve hung out with him and his wife whenever they came for a visit. And this guy was Zeus? “Oh my God, I think I’m going to be sick,” I muttered.
They all ignored me. “So why exactly am I revealing to this mortal who I am?” Diomedes…Zeus asked his brother.
“You’re daft. She’s Psyche.”
“I know who she is, moron,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Pysche Karalis, daughter of Nikodemus Karalis. Why does that make her special?”
“No, she’s the reincarnation of Psyche. It’s just coincidence that she happens to share the same name,” Persephone pointed out.
He glanced at me, although I was still feeling like I was about to pass out. “Oh, I get it! Like Callisto and Calista are similar.”
“Oh, good Lord. Please don’t tell me you’re going after her. She’s freaking fifteen, Zeus!”
Zeus glanced at his brother. “What’s your point?”
“You’re up here, chasing some jail bait tail, and you’re wondering what my point is?”
Zeus waved him off. “You’re just sore that I’m not allowing you to claim her soul.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m sore about,” Hades sighed, looking a little defeated. “Meanwhile, we have more important problems to deal with.”
“Like what exactly?” he demanded. “It’s not like you to come to the surface on your own, Hades. What’s going on?”
“It’s really nothing of you concern, baby brother,” Hades shot at him. “I just happened to have a rouge soul on the loose, one that wants to take over someone else’s life, and I’m up here trying to figure out what needs to be done.”
“A rogue soul? That’s unlike you, Hades. You’re getting lax.”
“Look, this is all my fault, Father Zeus,” Persephone said. “Psyche’s immortal soul developed a consciousness of her own, and she was getting depressed, so I decided to reincarnate her rather than the mortal soul.”
“So…wait, are you saying this girl here, the one who you’re saying in the reincarnation of Psyche, is the goddess half?” he demanded in a commanding voice.
Persephone shrank back a little. “Unfortunately. I wasn’t expecting her to find out, Father Zeus. The soul just wanted to experience life, and I expected her body to continue to think it was mortal, grow up, and eventually die, and I could switch them back again. I wasn’t expecting them to actually meet.”
“Immortal souls aren’t supposed to be reincarnated for a reason, Persephone. That was the agreement we made. I only allowed this crazy scheme before you reassured me that it was just going to be the mortal souls that were going to be reincarnated.”
“Wait, why can’t immortal souls be incarnated?”
Hades glared at him. “He has this fear that a new generation of younger gods would try to overthrow him. A generation of mortal born gods. I’ve told him time and time again he was being stupid, but all the kings are paranoid like that. Hell, our own father freaking ate us to prevent us from doing that. And yet we still managed. If its going to happen, there’s nothing you can do to stop it, Zeus.”
“Besides, Psyche has no need for your throne, Father Zeus,” Persephone pointed out. “Her life goal involves love, not power. I figured it would be harmless to try.”
“Apparently not, if she’s managed to unleash a soul.”
“Seriously? You’re going to blame the little mortal girl?” Hades snapped. “I thought you were kind to mortals.”
“You just said she was born a goddess,” Zeus said, looking confused.
“Look, it’s complicated. She’s not a goddess yet because her powers haven’t surfaced. The most she’s capable of right now is being able to live forever. The powers that she has she’s had since birth. This has never happened before, so we have nothing to judge it off of. Relax; Psyche being immortal is the least of our problems.”
“The rogue soul is your problem.”
“It’s a complicated situation, Father Zeus,” Persephone informed him. “I know you’ve stopped paying attention to Eros and his wife after you threw them that wedding celebration. But basically, Psyche grew suspicious of her love for Eros, thinking it fabricated thanks to his power, and ended up splitting that from herself, and placing it in the half that was to remain in the Underworld. She’s been rejecting him with every reincarnation, but somehow, she still thinks that he’s hers. So the fact that she can’t have him, despite the fact that that’s what she wanted in the first place, was slowly driving her soul insane.”
“I never understood that,” I admitted, glancing at Zeus to make sure it was okay to toss my two cents in. “I mean, shouldn’t my soul have gone insane being separated from Eros all those centuries? Why did hers go insane instead?”
Persephone shrugged. “I don’t understand it, either. It might have to do with the fact that you are a goddess, at least your soul is, and gods tends to be more patient than mortals. You know how to bid your time, plus your realm of influence makes it hard for you to lose your mind. Psyche, as far as I can tell, was never really stable to begin with.”
“Such a nice girl,” Zeus said. “Such a shame. What are you planning on doing about it, Hades? We can’t have an insane soul loose on the mortal plane.”
“We’re doing what we can at the moment, brother,” Hades sighed, clearly trying to keep his brother’s attention off him. “There’s not much that can be done, unfortunately, except wait at the moment. Because I freaking just got here, and I have no idea where the hell she is.”
“Don’t you think you should get on that?”
Hades literally face palmed. “What part of just got here escapes you? I’m still getting my bearings up here. It might take me a while to locate her, okay? Some of us aren’t as ‘all powerful’ as others, although why they made you king is still beyond me.”
Zeus preened a little. “Because they all know I’m awesome,” he informed his brother. Hades just sighed again.
“Look, this is my problem, and it’s probably best that you stay away, Zeus,” Hades snapped at him. “I can handle it.”
“Can you, brother? Can you?”
“Father Zeus, you should know better than to hang around just so you can try to steal Psyche from Eros. I thought there was some sort of rule that you’re not to go after the reincarnated loves of other gods. You tend to have an unfair advantage.”
Hades snorted. “Not in this case he does,” he said, smiling. “Why the hell would she go after a sex-driven moron like you when she has someone like Eros waiting for her?”
Zeus straightened, and I was afraid he was going to try to smite his brother. “You honestly think she would chose that minor god over the king of the pantheon?”
I realized he was speaking to me indirectly. I winced. “Um, yes?” I suggested.
He relaxed, laughing heartily. “Good answer, child,” he said, grinning at me. Hades just shook his head at his brother…again. “But your positive there’s nothing I can do?”
“We know her target, and we know her plot, and none of it is anything you can help with. You’re aware of the problem, and I’ll send Persephone to you if I need help, but at the moment…yeah, I’m sure I can handle it.”
Zeus shrugged. “I’ll hold you to that. Now if you excuse me, I have to reassure that my lovely wife isn’t attempting to get revenge on me,” he said before bowing out of the room graciously, leaving me still feeling on edge. It was one thing to be close with Hades, but the idea that I had known Zeus for years without realizing it was just…startling.
The worst of it was I was wondering where the hell Eros was, and why the hell he hadn’t popped in to defend me, but I suppose he was just elsewhere, figuring I needed some time to spend with my family and their guests. It was really just too bad he didn’t know who exactly those guests were, since I was positive he would have been right there next to me to protect me from his king.
Hades looked unnerved about the whole thing, while Persephone looked amused. She still reached over and patted his hands comfortingly, and I just had to sit there and wonder how the hell did my life get to complicated?
Cupid and Psyche Chapter Six |