Chapter
Ten
Revenge
It was sort of funny how these things were working out in my favor. Sure, it was extremely disheartening to know that I missed my sister’s wedding – I had been looking forward to it, after all, and now I wasn’t going to have another opportunity. Penny had eloped, so none of us knew about it at the time, and then I had my body taken over by a vengeful spirit for my other sister’s wedding. And considering how in love with her husband she was, and how much of a great guy Nate was, I highly doubted I’d get the chance again. Phoebe might be shallow like the most of the upper class girls who think that they are just so much better than everyone else, but it was clear that she inherited our parents’ capacity for love. Maybe it was just because they were newly married, but I honestly couldn’t see them breaking up for any reason, no matter how much the press pushed them to do so. They had an excellent example of what to do it that case. I know for a fact that Papa likes to drag Mom out into public whenever he reads a tabloid or other piece of news suggesting they were having problems, just to show the world exactly how wrong they were. Mom used to hate it, but I think she’s gotten used to it at this point.
That was honestly the worst part about all of this. I could deal with my public image being utterly ruined, but the idea that I had completely lost my sister’s wedding was just cruel. I almost wished that Psyche had taken over my body with my consciousness still in it, just so I could at least have experienced the event, seen how gorgeous Phoebe looked, and how much she glowed afterwards. All I had were pictures and Papa trying to describe everything he could in detail, and that honestly wasn’t the same thing at all.
But at least Phoebe thought that I had been kidnapped and shoved into a closet somewhere, so that she sort of knew that I hadn’t actually been there. That had been a lifesaver, such that she wasn’t all that offended when she remembered that I didn’t see everything. My parents just sort of rolled with the idea – Mom didn’t quite know why Papa was encouraging this idea, but if he was okay with it, then so was she. He explained that they had in fact found me still in my room, drugged to high heavens, with no memory of what happened to me. They hadn’t found the culprit just yet, but they were keeping everything on the down low because they didn’t want to cause a media frenzy. I think he knew as well as everyone else that Phoebe was eventually going to forget the matter all together, and not ask if anyone caught the guy yet. If anything, at least he bought himself some time to come up with some cover story.
I think he was having way too much fun knowing what was really going on, as well as trying to keep the rest of our family in the dark about it.
The problem with his story, though, was that obviously, he wouldn’t be able to go to the presses and explain that the girl disrupting the wedding was in fact not his youngest daughter. So they were basically going to show the special without any filter, and the whole world was going to know what a terrible sister I was. It was already circulating around the Internet and news programs what I had done, and I had spotted more than one classmate glare at me during class, like they knew I was hiding my true nature. I didn’t care, really. Sure, I had spent pretty much my entire life building up my reputation, and it was completely ruined by someone with an over developed sense of entitlement, but at least my family knew the truth.
At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
I think the oddest thing about this whole situation was actually my grandmother’s reaction to me. It was only Papa and Penny who knew the truth, and Mom tended to take her cues from her husband. Sure, there have been times she’s been livid about something that had happened – like one time I had inadvertently broken a lamp when I was five while playing with a new puppy – while Papa had just been fairly mellow about it. But matters in which she had no clue how to react – something like Penny eloping – she looked to Papa. And since he was chill about everything now, so was she. But Nona had been harping on me for quite a while after the wedding, and the suddenly, she was back to acting like I was her favorite granddaughter again.
“I’m not sure why you’re asking, dear,” she said to me when I brought the subject up.
“I’m just confused, that’s all,” I admitted. “I mean, I’m not complaining. I didn’t like how you hated me and thought I was the same as Penny and Phoebe. But I just want to know what happened to make you change your mind about all of this.”
To be honest, I was a little worried that Papa got fed up with his mother trying to tell him how to raise his daughters, and clued her in on what was happening. She chuckled. “Observation,” she admitted. “I’ll admit that I was rather disappointed to see you act like one of those celebrity children, much the same way your sisters do. I had been expecting to see you act like that your entire life, but I had never once see it. You were the opposite, in fact, hiding in your room your entire visit. And I actually found that refreshing. I had thought that maybe you were hiding your true nature from when all these years, and this is what you’re truly like.
“But, agapi̱ménos, while I might not be a huge part of your life, I do know you well enough to realize that there was something wrong. If that really was your true nature, than you would have continued on once that was out in the open. I should have figured something was wrong the day after, and I apologize. You looked so baffled about everything. It’s just that, well, given your sisters’ reputation, I guess I just wasn’t that surprised to think that you’d turn out similar. I’m sorry, dear.”
I didn’t say anything immediately; I just embraced her happily, which was a surprising move even for myself. “I’m glad,” I said. “I didn’t like how you didn’t like me anymore, Nona, and how you didn’t seem to trust your son to raise at least one of his children right.”
She snorted. “Right?” she asked. “A child who’d rather read than spend time with her dear beloved grandmother? That is not right in my book, child.” She grinned at me. “But with you, he’s certainly on the right track. Even Phoebe’s coming around now, isn’t she? The only issue seems to be with Penelope, and well…that girl has never been right.”
“You’re telling me,” I muttered under my breath.
“I don’t like it,” Eros said to me later that day, sort of pacing around my room. It was weird to see him agitated when I was just entirely too delighted at everything.
“You don’t like the fact that Nona and I sort of made up?” I asked innocently.
He glanced at me, his eyes strangely intense. “No, I’m glad for that, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you to be miserable, Psyche, don’t get me wrong. But everything seems to be working out in your favor, and that’s what I don’t like.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “That sounds contradictory, Eros. Either you want me to be miserable, or you don’t. You can’t have me not miserable but not like it at the same time.”
He sort of waved me off, and I realized he was probably trying to get into one of those abstract ideas again. “It’s not that I don’t like it, Psyche. It’s more that I don’t like the consequences of what’ll happen because of the fact. Having you remain exactly as you were wasn’t exactly what Psyche and Penny were planning, was it?”
I pulled my knees closer and rested my chin on them. “I’m worried about that as well,” I told him. “I mean, I love that Phoebe’s not mad about what happened, because I hated the idea of ruining her wedding like that. And I’m glad Nona doesn’t think poor of me anymore. I didn’t want any of that. But you’re right; I can’t imagine how Psyche and Penny are taking all this.”
He seemed to realize I was more upset about this situation then I was letting on. I was just enjoying my happiness for a while before being forced to accept reality again. I thought I had the right of it. He was instantly by my side, crawling onto my bed so he could pull me into a comforting embrace. “I’m sorry,” he said to me. “I didn’t realize you were already thinking about this.”
“How could I not, Eros? I might not know Psyche well enough, although I know she’s clever enough to actually do some real damage.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about her doing anything immediately,” he admitted. “I mean, I’m more worried about the long term effects of their scheme not really working out for them. Psyche’s clever, but clever things generally take time to plan out.”
I glanced at him. “See, that’s the thing; I may not know Psyche, but I do know Penny, and I do know that she’s highly impatient. I’m surprised that she managed to last nearly three months just to wait for the wedding, but that was probably because she was so absolutely sure that this little scheme was going to work perfectly. And since it didn’t, she’s going to get desperate. I was trying to enjoy the happy feeling while it lasted because I know Penny’s going to force Psyche to get creative again. Clever things may take time to figure out, but even Psyche should be able to think of something clever on the fly.”
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to ruin your good mood. I didn’t realize…”
I sighed. “No, it’s okay,” I reassured him. “You’re as worried as I am about all this. You have every right to be worried about this as well.”
“I don’t have a right to kill your happiness, Psyche,” he told me.
“Well,” I said a little shyly. “I am pretty happy right now, here with you.” I leaned against him, putting my head against my shoulder, since having him around generally made me at least a little bit happier.
He seemed surprised at this, though, before smirking slightly and leaning down to kiss me. I wasn’t sure why, although than the possibility of me wanting to prove to myself that I was happiest when I was with him, but the next thing I knew, I had pressed myself into his light kiss, and I felt my hands tugging at the bottom of his shirt. This seemed to take him off guard, although he didn’t really hesitate to do the same to me once he picked up my intentions.
After all, I was pretty sure he was just waiting for a sign that I was ready to go a little further in our relationship, but I had really been too caught up in the drama in my life to really give it any thought. I hadn’t even realized I was ready to take it to that level until he kissed me just then. But I don’t think either of us were really complaining.
“I do have to wonder what they’d do to top their last scheme,” I mentioned sometime later. I was sort of laying on top of him, one of his arms still around me protectively while he absentmindedly played with my hands in a sort of marveling state. The question, sadly, seemed to have brought him back to reality, since he quickly looked down at me again.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”
“Well, that first scheme really would have been perfect if it had worked. Everyone would have hated me – you, Madde, Papa, the world. I mean, sure, it might not have made me wish for death such that Psyche would then swoop in and offer me the chance to switch or anything, but it would have ruined my life significantly. And I know that’s all Penny wanted. And considering how elaborate that plan had to be…what is the world are they going to do to top it.”
I could sort of tell that this wasn’t really something Eros wanted to discuss at the moment, but obviously it was on my mind enough that I said something about it, so it had to be addressed. He let out a careful sigh, and then I felt bad for ruining his happiness as well. “I’m not sure. I mean, the idea of her using the wedding threw me off completely, so I can’t really say that I can think like her. She probably too mad to think straight now, but given any amount of time after she cools down a bit, and she’ll be highly dangerous, even with your sister pressing her to think of something immediately.”
I frowned slightly. “Is she in the house right now? I know you can sense her.”
“Thankfully, no, or else we’d probably have a screaming banshee on us right now,” he said with an odd smirk on his face. I realized that I was probably the only other girl he had even gone that far with, and Psyche would be beyond pissed at losing that distinction. “I’ve noticed she’s been avoiding me, though. She has been in the house several times since we first discovered she was working with Penny, but every time I try to find her so I can talk to her at least, she’s…vanished on me. It’s sort of weird.”
“How so? Is she not supposed to be able to do that?”
“She is; as a soul, she’s not quite held to the same conventions as you are. It’s just weird that she’s claiming some sort of ownership over me, but doesn’t want to come into contact with me. I can’t imagine you doing something like that. If you had to fight some other girl to have at me, wouldn’t you take every opportunity to talk to me to prove that you’re more worthy?”
“Perhaps,” I said. “I mean, I honestly don’t know. When I thought you were pining after your wife, I was jealous, but I did give you your space, if you recall.”
He pulled himself up on his elbow to raise an eyebrow at me. “Ah, this is true. So you would give up on me?”
“If I knew that’s what you really wanted. If you really did chose Psyche over me, I guess…I guess I’d be okay with that.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
I thought for a moment. “Because I’d rather you be happy than force you to do something you really didn’t want to.”
“So you basically beg for your chance to come up here and love me properly, and you’d just give it all up?”
“Actually,” I said slowly, lost in thought again. Ever since I found out Psyche’s soul had been split, and that my soul spent most of its existence in that Reincarnation Chamber, memories of that life have been slipping through from time to time, even though I’m pretty sure they shouldn’t. “I don’t think I wanted to love you specifically. I just wanted a chance to love you. To prove that I was the right one for you. And if it didn’t work, then I’d go back satisfied that I at least tried.”
He seemed surprised at this. “You remember that? I didn’t think souls would remember their time in the Underworld.”
I shrugged. “I’m a special case, if you recall. But knowing that you do choose me over her…well, I’m glad.”
He sank down and wrapped both arms around me this time. “Of course. It’s not rocket science, Psyche. Why would I chose to be with someone who wouldn’t love me back? Besides, I know what I feel for you, and the feelings I thought I had for Psyche pale in comparison to it.”
“But…I am technically Psyche. How could you actually love me more?”
“You might be technically a piece of Psyche’s soul, but in actuality, you’re Psyche Karalis. You’ll always be different for that mere fact alone, and I’ll always love you for that.”
“But what if I really am mortal, and I die?”
“Well, honestly, I don’t think there’ll be a problem in that regard, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that. After all, I do know where to find you know,” he pointed out, winking at me and tapping me on the nose. I suppose he had a point there – if I did end up dying, then I’d imagine that the other Psyche would take her place back into the Reincarnation Cycle, and Eros would know to find me in the Reincarnation Chamber now. So that no matter what happened now, we’d still be together.
It was a comforting though, for sure, although I still wasn’t ready to give up on this life just yet. And I think that is where the problem lie.
“So wait, she forgave you?” Maddie demanded of me that Monday, since I hadn’t had time to contact her about what had happened over the weekend. I actually didn’t have much time to myself the entire time, since Phoebe insisted on doing so much as a family now, mostly to help Nate get used to the idea. Which was really stupid, considering the fact that he was pretty much integrated when he proposed to her, but that didn’t matter to her. Besides, she wanted him to get used to Nona, I think, and Nona wanted to spend more time with her newest grandson-in-law.
“I know, right? Bizarre. I’m not complaining, though. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’m glad that she was never mad at me for it. I just think it’s funny that she was able to figure it out easier than Papa and Eros did.”
“I’m not included in the group of idiots who didn’t see what was happening for what it was?”
“Hell no. You were talked out of that idea, but you knew what was going on first. I forgive you for getting a little mixed up there, don’t worry.”
“Ah, okay. But still, that’s great! I knew you were worried about it.”
“Yeah, but there’s one little problem with that,” I told her, wincing a little.
“What’s that? I can’t imagine anything being bad about Phoebe forgiving you for trying to ruin her wedding.”
I chuckled darkly. “It just means that their plan didn’t go at all the way they wanted. Sure, everyone else thinks I’m a huge phoney, but having the people most affected by this forgive me is sort of the opposite of what they wanted. My life isn’t ruined, just messed up a little.”
“Oh shit, that’s right,” Maddie said with wide eyes. “I doubt Penny’s too happy about that development.”
“She sort of disappeared after Phoebe got back, and since Phoebe’s sort of pissed off at her for whatever reason, she never insisted that she be a part of anything all weekend. I’d imagine she was off plotting with Psyche about their next move.”
“Do you think they’ll do something soon?”
“Eros thinks that Psyche’ll want to take her time, to figure out something that would be even worse, but I happen to know Penny wouldn’t want to sit around and watch me enjoy life for any amount of time. I have no clue what I did to her, but she apparently hates me with a passion, and just lives to ruin my life now.” I shrugged. “I suppose Psyche talked her out of doing something immediately, but I have a feeling something’s going to happen soon now.”
“Gah, that sucks. And just as everything was falling back into place. You can’t really enjoy life, can you?”
“I don’t think I was made to enjoy life. I’m a Greek heroine, Maddie. They’re lives are wrought with suffering of some sort so that they can redeem themselves in the end. Some get the chance at happiness, some are made to continue to suffer. I’m hoping that I’ll get my chance at true happiness, but I can’t be too sure at the moment.”
“Psyche, you’re just in the middle of your story; you know that, right? Aphrodite was just the beginning, but no one else will stand in your way once you deal with Psyche and Penny. And I have little doubt that you will. You’ll be fine; you beat them once, and I have every faith that you’ll beat them again.”
“Well, I’m glad you have confidence in me,” I teased slightly.
“What, you don’t have confidence in your own abilities?”
“Why does that matter when you have confidence in me?” I chuckled, grinning at her.
Except I think she took that the wrong way. It’s not that I didn’t have confidence in myself to beat them – I was more worried about how they were going to try to ruin my life rather than how I was going to recover from it – but knowing that my best friend had confidence in me was enough to make me happy. But she seemed to think I was still putting myself down. That gave her reason enough to somehow contact everyone, and why they were all sort of hanging around the dorm building when we headed over there after class.
“What the hell, Maddie?” I demanded, just knowing that she had something to do with this.
“You seemed depressed. I thought maybe hanging out with everyone would help you out a little.”
“I’m not depressed, Maddie. Worried, sure, but not depressed. I don’t need help. Do you know about this?”
Eros looked just as baffled as I did, though. “No, actually. I was just coming here because I know you haven’t spent too much time here lately, and you’d want to. And then I found them all here. I think this is Zephyr’s fault.”
“Hey, what the hell did you expect me to do? She told me to gather everyone, and I don’t ask questions, okay?” Zephyrus muttered. “I don’t understand girl logic.”
Eros just shook his head at his friend while Persephone sort of pounced on me. “Poor dear, in denial. It’s okay, Psyche; we know you’ve had it rough. I mean, your sister did come back over the weekend. That had to be horrible.”
“Actually, it wasn’t so bad. She forgave me.”
“She…forgave…Maddie, honestly,” Persephone said, putting her hands on her hips while glaring at my friend. “Her sister forgave her and you think she’s depressed? What is wrong with you?”
“Phoebe might have forgiven her, but that just give Psyche and Penny more reason to try something,” Maddie shot back. “I’d be depressed, too, knowing that someone really wanted to ruin my life!”
“I wouldn’t be depressed,” Hedone said in a small voice. “I’d be terrified. Most people don’t realize this, but Mama can be very scary when she puts her mind to it.” She shuttered. “She scared me straight several times when I was growing up.”
Eros chuckled. “Oh, I remember that. She thought, since you were born a goddess, that conventional punishments wouldn’t work on you. I tried to tell her otherwise, but she wouldn’t listen. So she thought she had to get creative.”
“You’re a terrible father, Papa,” Hedone told him dryly, glaring at him slightly.
Maddie crossed her arms against her chest. “Depressed, terrified, whatever. The point is, I think she needs some time to just hang out with people who like her, to get her mind off the problem for a little while.”
“Ah,” I said as I realized what was going on. “You wanted to see what it was like to hang out with a group of friends rather than just with me, and you were just looking for wand excuse. You could have just said so, Maddie. I’m fine with that.”
“I thought it might make me sound shallow and that I might not appreciate you.”
“Maddie, seriously; you’re my best friend. I could never think that. So what did you have in mind for today?” It was, luckily, one of our early days, so we pretty much had all afternoon to kill.
“I have a question before we decide anything,” Hades said. “What the hell am I here? I have important work to be attending to. I’m still tracking Psyche.”
“You’re here because I want you to be here,” Persephone said. “We know where she is now, dumbass, and there’s not much we can do about her now. You might as well come with us and enjoy yourself.”
“But…”
“You’re coming, and that’s final. I’ve been wanting to come up here and show you off as my boyfriend forever now. I’m taking the opportunity since you’re not here on ‘official’ business.”
I wanted to tell her that having Hades there wasn’t really necessary, but the look on her face prevented anyone else from arguing with her. I felt a little bad for Hades, since I had a feeling that Zeus never had to put up with anything like this.
Maddie and I weren’t really the ‘hanging out’ sort, so we ended up doing pretty much the only thing we could think to do, and that was go to the local mall. This seemed to piss off Hades more than he wanted to admit, but he brushed up my apology to him like he didn’t really care. Getting to hold Persephone’s hand while everyone was staring at him (but only because he was so tall) seemed to satisfy him enough.
But still, it was fun. I needed to get used to having a large group of friends to hang out with rather than just one, but it was certainly interesting. Maddie and I used to make fun of groups like this back in high school, although the groups that we generally saw tended to be the swallow popular girls from our own school trawling the mall, looking for the latest trends to blow their father’s cash on. Our group, however, seemed to be the standard teens hanging out, not really looking for anything in particular, but just wanting to spend time together.
Sure, most of the group were gods who looked like teens, but no one else knew that.
One advantage of the trip was that we managed to get Hedone out of her funk, since she did have the mind of a preteen girl. Once we realized that she lived to shop, we just followed her from store to store, regardless of what it was (or how uncomfortable it made us in the case of Hades), watching her slowly get excited. Eros seemed especially delighted about this, and I noticed that he didn’t hesitate to shell out the money when she actually decided to buy something.
I suppose this made sense, though – she looked like she at that age where she didn’t have any money of her own, and had to rely on her parents’ money. And considering Eros was her father, he would naturally be the one she’d turn to.
The rest of us didn’t do much shopping. Apparently, Hedone got pleasure out of the act, which is why she generally got way too into it. But I had no real need for any more stuff, although Eros did keep trying to talk me into it. He might have been trying to get into a boyfriend mode, trying to buy stuff for his girlfriend, or else he thought I might get jealous of the fact that he was buying things for his daughter and not me. Luckily, he did know me well enough not to press the issue when I politely refused his offer every time he made it.
The funny thing was that, while we were hanging out in order to sort of escape the whole situation for a while, we still ended up bringing it up, which I think made Hades a little happier. At least the trip here wasn’t a total wash for him. But we didn’t know what to do about her, sadly, because we didn’t know how she managed to get out in the first place, or what she was really capable of.
“Not much, I’d imagine,” Hades commented. “I mean, most of her powers are in this Psyche. All she really has Is her mind.”
“Which can be pretty dangerous,” Persephone told him. “Just because someone doesn’t have physical powers doesn’t mean they’re powerless. All those souls we have locked in Tartarus were all mortal, but they were all still capable of doing terrible, terrible things.”
Hades considered this. “I suppose this is true. But considering she seems to be a rather unique case, I’m not sure if my usual methods are going to work on her. She might have safeguarded herself from them already anyway. That’s probably why I can’t track her.”
“I think the only thing we really can do is wait and pray that they’re too hasty to do anything properly rotten,” Maddie said. “I can imagine Penny is desperate, and all too willing to push Psyche before she has a proper plan. And then maybe we can get to them.”
“This could work, so long as Psyche’s willing to play bait and take the consequences of that.”
I glanced at Eros. “I suppose I could,” I said. “So long as everyone realizes she’s doing something and can help me.”
“Trust me, we’ll know,” Eros told me. “I’ve figured out how to tell her frequency from yours, and we know that anything out of the ordinary has to be caused by her. I’d say for now, that works, and we’ll probably have time to think of something better later. Because if she does something before then, it’ll be a desperate move anyway.”
I sighed. “Okay. I just hate not knowing what the hell she’s planning.”
“We all do, dear, we all do,” Persephone insisted.
We ended up staying out a little later than I normally would, but I had already contacted my parents through text that I might be a little late that night. I sort of figured they’d understand, especially now that I actually had friends to hang out with. We didn’t really suspect anything as we walked up to the house, sort of laughing at the number of girls who had given me a death glare in the mall because Eros was holding my hand the entire time. I was starting to enjoy those looks, because it meant he was desirable, and yet he chose me.
However, when we actually managed to get into the house, it was very clear that something was very wrong. The house was actually dark, which never actually happened unless we were out of town for several days. After all, the help still needed to work even if we weren’t there. Even if they weren’t actually working – and they rarely we when we weren’t there – they were at least in the house, entertaining themselves somehow. To have an actual empty house was…weird.
Eros seemed to pick up on how odd this was as well, since he suddenly tensed. “Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone home?”
“Maybe they went out to eat and gave everyone the night off?” Eros suggested.
“They wouldn’t do that,” I said. “Not with me gone. They like at least someone to be around when I come home. This is just…strange.”
“Maybe they left a note or something,” he said as he lead me into the kitchen, knowing that’s where Mom typically left notes.
Sure enough, there was one sitting on the kitchen table, but it wasn’t from Mom, Papa, or Nona.
Psyche,
I’m getting real sick and tired of you ruining all my brilliant plans. So I decided to take matters into my own hand. We’ve taken Mom, Daddy, and Nona, since it seems the best way to destroy your life is to take those closest from you out of it. I hope you said your good-byes, because you won’t be seeing them again. At least in this life.
No love,
Penelope
I dropped the note like it burned, causing Eros to snatch it out of the air. “What?” he asked, not bothering to read it based on my reaction.
“They took them. They took my parents and Nona, and they’re planning on killing them.”
Cupid and Psyche Chapter Ten |