Chapter Ten
Visitor

I wasn’t all that surprised that going back to the real world, as it were, was more difficult than I had realized.  After all, I had only spent a week with Eros – my routine wasn’t shattered, and I knew I was coming back.  It wasn’t like I had spent months with him or anything of that nature that would have changed my view on the world.  But something had happened while I was there, and I wasn’t entirely sure what it was.  I was still very much myself, so it wasn’t really a change in me.  But I guess it was a change in my world view.  Everything just felt so different now.

And I suppose that’s just something that anyone who had been kidnapped would say.  That they were terrified that it would happen again, so they’d be very cautious and scared of even their shadow.  And that was a reasonable fear for them to have.  But my experience was a little different, since my kidnapper meant no harm to me.  Hell, he didn’t even mean to kidnap me.  But I wasn’t any more or less paranoid than I was before I left.  Well, maybe a little more, since that feeling of being watched seemed to intensify now, but I didn’t really think that had anything to do with what happened.  I always had that feeling, and it was something that I learned to basically ignore.  Otherwise, I would be one of those people who refused to leave my house because I thought someone was watching me.

Then again, someone was always watching me, whether I liked it or not.  The paparazzi seemed to have people everywhere, and even though none of it could be published thanks to Papa, that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to give up trying, or that they were even waiting for me.  I didn’t mind any of it now, because it felt like an out of sight, out of mind sort of thing for me.   The feeling I generally felt was different from what I felt coming from our bushes though, like whoever was watching me had good reason to do it.  So let them watch, I figured.

I tried not to let it affect me, but I couldn’t really help it.  Something was different now, and I couldn’t figure out what it was, although it annoyed the crap out of me.  I felt if I could concentrate enough, I could put my finger on it, but it seemed to escape me every time I felt I almost had it figured out.  So, like most things in my life, I attempted to ignore it for the most part, and continue on with my mundane life, although it felt extremely difficult to really get excited about anything anymore.

I knew Maddie was right, although I didn’t want to outright admit it just yet.  Although I didn’t really want to, Eros had captured my interest enough in that week I was with him that I suspected that I had somehow managed to fall in love with him.  It was probably just a small crush – a boy paying attention to me because I was Psyche and not because I was a Karalis – and I would get over it in due course.  It just was annoying now because it was fresh in my mind, and my mind still wanted to relive the experience.  Soon, I’d start thinking about it less and less as my real life started to take hold once more, and see, it’d just be a pleasant passing memory, and I’d wander why I was so utterly obsessed about it.  I’d find some other nice guy – or girl – and be happy with them rather than some eccentric heir of a billionaire who thought it was perfectly acceptable to abduct young girls just because he wanted to get to know them better.

I wondered for a while if that was just something he did, seeing celebrity girls and deciding he wanted to spend some time with them.  That would explain his reluctance to allow me to leave after only a week, because he was used to spending more time with them.  But the thought always seemed so wrong to me the moment it popped in my head.  I didn’t know why, other than my strange ability to just be able to read people, but somehow I knew that Eros wasn’t that sort of guy.  I was a special case, and that certainly didn’t help my denial of the fact that I had fallen for him more than just a crush.

What really didn’t help were the dreams, though.

They started out innocently enough  - I’d find Zephyr somehow, and he’d offer me a chance to meet a friend of his.  And then I’d be taken to the mansion, where I’d be greeted by Eros, and then I’d immediately wake up, just as it seemed the dream was getting good.

Bu then the dreams started to get longer, and I was starting to notice things.  The way I seemed to be in a small, medieval looking cottage, sewing by the fireplace when a polite stranger came to the door looking for me.  The way my parents seemed eager to send me away to this strange benefactor, although they knew nothing about them.  The fear a felt as Zephyr took me away from home without warning, although he reassured me that everything was going to be fine.  The same odd mix of confusion and familiarity of seeing Eros’ mansion for the first time, and the uncertainly of seeing him.

He was absolutely delighted to see me, and he said something to me, but I couldn’t understand a word of it.  I hated it here, I knew, and I wanted nothing to do with this man before me.  But my parents made me come, and they’d be disappointed if I didn’t return a married woman.  I was very pretty, they said, but very unusual, and that’s what made all the men in town fear me.  To have someone interested in marrying me seemed like a blessing in disguise, but I didn’t like it.  And he seemed to sense that, since he gave me the choice of staying with him, or leaving forever.

I didn’t hesitate to choose to leave.  It wasn’t until I woke that I felt any sort of remorse for the look he gave me as he insisted that no one would remember this, and that I’d go on to lead a normal life.  I didn’t believe him, but I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

I woke up from that dream feeling extremely confused, because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t refuse to stay with him again.  And I wouldn’t feel repulsed at the sight of him.  But what got me was the look on his face, since I wasn’t something I was sure I could walk away from.  And considering I did without hesitation in that dream, if baffled me.

More dreams seemed to follow, different in details, but with the same outcome.  I briefly wondered if perhaps I was watching too many history romances, and if my mind was telling me to stay away from Eros.  Something was off about this whole mess, and I wasn’t likely to find out what it was any time soon.

But it was slowly getting increasingly hard to keep this a secret from my family.  They were still trying to pry what happened to the week I was gone, but I didn’t really have any answers for them.  I couldn’t outright ask them who I had stayed with, because that would, well, be suspicious, and I couldn’t seem to access the email I had apparently sent Papa.  Eros was being clever, I think, and I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to get caught in the lie or not.  Soon, they were going to realize that I was completely dodging their questions, and start asking ones that I wasn’t sure if I could lie out of. 

Mom was easy, of course – I could change the topic on her indefinitely, and she’d never suspect anything.  Papa, on the other hand, would catch on soon enough when I continue to not give him a straight answer.  I was surprised he wasn’t suspicious now, since I wasn’t really the sort to not answer her questions.  I suppose he figured it was something private, and that when I was ready to tell him, I would.

The problem what I wasn’t sure when I would be willing to tell him, because the moment I did, he’s have an arrest warrant out for Eros, regardless of the fact that I agreed to stay, that I was returned when he said I would be, and that I was fine.  He took his daughter, and that’s all that was going to matter to him.

Add in the fact that the cameras were still constantly at our house, and it felt like my life was slowly becoming a nightmare.

“Seriously, they can’t film one freaking episode at their own house or something,” I muttered to my mother over an afternoon snack one day after school.  “I think they’re doing it to drive me insane, I really do.”

“They have common ground here,” Mom reasoned.  “They both grew up here, and they’re used to it.  It would feel a little one sided, I think, if they filmed solely at one of their own houses.  At least that’s my theory.  Your theory holds some ground as well.”

I rolled my eyes at her.  “You know Penny and Phebes as well as I do, Mom.  If this were truly about them, then they’d be out at the clubs at all hours of the night, and generally doing things celebrities get in trouble for.  They wouldn’t be at our house if they didn’t have something plotted.”

She chuckled.  “I did wonder about it.  It seemed a little unusual that they were over here that much, since they were both so eager to get out from under your father’s control.”  She shrugged.  “I suppose there’s not much we can do about it, though.  Your father’s right; they have as much right to be here if they really want to.”

“How?  Neither of them live here anymore.  If you want to kick them out, you have every right to, Mom.”

“Technically, I don’t, since it’s your father’s house and all, and we decided that all our decisions on you children will be jointly made,” she commented.  “So long as your father still has his ‘I don’t care’ attitude about this, there’s not much I can do about it.”

“You and your progressive childrearing,” I muttered.

Still, I suppose, given the fact that they weren’t allowed to film me, it wasn’t all bad.  Penny and Pheobe didn’t seem to want to be where the cameras weren’t, so they were limited to only certain places in the house.  All I had to do was avoid those places.

Then, of course, they liked to mix things up, just to throw me off guard.  Like one day when I came home from school, feeling depressed because I spent the entire day thinking about Eros again, and I was once again not there.  I felt a little bit of hope when I got home and the camera van wasn’t there, and I was hoping they found something different for the day.

Except I found them both sitting in the kitchen, antagonizing our poor cook into making them extravagant desserts.  “Good Lord, can’t you give it a break?” I demanded of them.

Penny slipped a cherry off the sundae in front of her, nibbling on it seductively.  “We are,” she told me, eyeing me like I was a mouse.  “Simon said that they needed a day off, and we gave it to them.  So we’re camera free today.”

“That’s not at all what I meant, and you know it,” I snapped.

“Aw, poor Psyche,” she purred.  “Under so much stress lately.  Like anything in you dull, stupid life is worth getting worked up over.”

“You don’t know me at all, Penny, so how would you even know?”

She took Phoebe’s cherry, much to Phoebe’s protest.  “Please, Psy, seriously.  You don’t do anything.  You just sit there and read and study, and hang out with that equally boring friend of yours.  If you want problems, then you should see what we have to face on a daily basis.”

“I do, and that’s the damn problem, Penny!  And your problems are so petty and ridiculous that it’s an insult to the very name.”

Phoebe giggled.  “Ah, come on, Psy, you knew very well that it’s a huge problem when, like, the totally don’t have your size in the cutest shirt you’ve ever seen.  Or, like, when Shelly Johanson arrives in the exact same Channel dress that Penny has.  Or, like, when your man is totally scamming you for some skank.”

I glanced at her.  “I hope for your sake, you never have to worry about that,” I said dryly.

She giggled again.  “Thank you,” she said genuinely before glancing at Penny, who was glaring at her.  “You know what, we should totally give her pointers on how to make her life less dull, Penny!”

“What?” Penny asked, startled.

“Like, seriously!  She’s our sister, after all.  You know how humiliating it is to admit that fact.  You’ve said so yourself.  Like, we could totally hook her up with a major hottie and everything.”

“Good Lord, I don’t need to be hooked up,” I growled.  “Especially not with any hottie that you would find.” 

Phoebe, naturally, waved me off, and I could tell she was already going through the names of all her male friends that she could set me up with, like I’d be interested in any guy who was friends with her.  She managed to keep the only descent one for herself.  But Penny was always more perceptive of the two.  Her glare narrowed on me before I knew what was happening.

She let out a snort that startled the both of us.  “Oh.  My. Gawd,” she said in a voice that suggested she might have something on me.  “That’s it!  That’s why you’re acting dumber than usual.  You’re in love!”

I glanced at Phoebe, who was looking delighted, and wondered if my oldest sister was dropping on her head as a baby or something.  “Excuse me?”

She grinned slyly at Phoebe.  “It all makes sense, doesn’t it?  Her disappearing for a week like that, the way she’s been a basketcase.  Mom’s mentioned it several times.  You’re not yourself, Psyche, and it’s because you’re in love!”

“That’s so exciting, Psy!” Phoebe said excitedly.  “So tell us all about him!”

Penny let out another burst of laughter.  “Oh my God, you know she can’t, Phebes!  Not without embarrassing herself.  Because not hottie would go after our darling sister, you know.  He’s probably some hideous freak that she took pity on.  Because only freaks would fall for Psyche!”

I wasn’t entirely too sure why I felt insulted at that comment, since normally insults like that didn’t bother me at all.  But somehow, her calling Eros a freak struck a nerve with me.  I had a number of insults to shot back instantly on my lips, but none of them seemed appropriate for the situation.  So I did the only thing I could do, although I knew I was making it worse.

I stood without another word, and marched to my room while they remained laughing like hyenas in the kitchen, allowing them their minor victory.

I was just glad I told Maddie everything, because I could go to her and vent about who screwed up my life was becoming now, and that helped.  “Oh, I want to be there when Penny eats those words the first time she sees Eros!” she said excitedly.  I was just glad she hadn’t deemed the fact that this was affecting my life as ‘dangerous’ yet, because I wasn’t so sure right now.  “It’ll be epic.”

“Well, I think I need to see him again before that could happen,” I sighed.  “I just want to know why I can’t seem to keep him off my mind.  It was just a week.”

“Sometimes a week is all it takes.  You did have him exclusively to yourself the entire time.”  She sighed as I fingered the necklace, which was quickly becoming a nervous habit.  “I hope you do see him.  Then you can really confirm it all or not.”

“What, that I’m in love with him?”

She sighed again.  “Yes.”  I just rolled my eyes at her, since while I knew she knew I knew that I was in love him, she also knew I wasn’t ready to outright say it just yet.  But she had a point; seeing him again would confirm the theory.

But while my life had taken a weird turn since that fateful week, it wasn’t really too out of the ordinary, I thought.  I was pining for a guy I had no hope of ever seeing again, but my life went on as it normally did, and I knew, in time, pining after Eros would just be as routine as everything else.  But it certainly didn’t prepare me for what happened when I returned from school about two weeks after my return.

I had pretty much just gotten used to being back in my old routine, and I was starting to think of Eros and the dream of spending forever of him less and less, and I thought I was on the course for finally returning to the real world.  I knew it was going to be a lengthy process, but ever journey had to start off with small steps.  I had spent the afternoon, as I normally did, with Maddie, both of us trying to do me a favor for once and not talking about my crush on Eros.  It had seemed like such a nice day, and I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, my luck would hold and I’d come home to find Penny and Phoebe bored with the house for the day.

Instead, I pulled into our driveway to find a sleek white car that I had never seen before in my life parked beside the space I usually occupied.  I eyed the strange car as I exited my own, wondering who it could possibly be.  After all, all Papa’s business associates tended to travel around in the standard sleek black car, and would never drive around in anything that was white.  And Penny and Phoebe’s friends gravitated towards the cherry red convertibles.  This was entirely too cute to be sexy enough for any one of them to be caught dead in.

But of course, I didn’t think the visitor would be for me, since I didn’t know anyone who would be bothered to come and see me.  So I bounded into the house, prepared to ask my mother who was visiting, and managed to find both in the kitchen, conversing pleasantly over a nice cup of tea.

“Ah, there she is,” Mom said happily.  “I can never be too sure when she’ll be coming home nowadays, what with her sisters filming their reality show here.”

“Perfectly understandable,” the woman said formally.  “I, for one, find the practice barbaric.  I do not understand why the public finds it entertaining to have such an intimate view of socialites’ private lives.  Especially when they have not done anything worthwhile to grab anyone’s attention.”

I blinked at her, since I didn’t meet too many people with that view.  She was young, perhaps in her mid-twenties, and she was beyond beautiful.  I considered my mother, who was a very classic beauty, to be the most beautiful person in my life, and this woman put her to shame.  Her skin was perfectly tanned like it was natural, and her hair, pulled back into an elegant French twist, was a gorgeous honey blond color.  Her hourglass figure – only slightly smaller than what my sisters achieved artificially – was clearly natural, and she didn’t flaunt it like it was the only feature anyone would care about.  She dressed in a business suit suited for someone her age, and she seemed to know she was beautiful without actually showing it.

But the thing that caught my attention about her, as she gazed at me, was her eyes, which were the exact same shade of light crystal blue that Zephyr and Eros had.  It was a little creepy, actually, since I had never seen eyes like that before I had met Zephyr.  And it had made sense that Eros had them as well, since I was still pretty sure that he and Zephyr were cousins somehow.  But to see someone completely out of context with the two of them have them…well, I wasn’t sure what to think of that.

Add in the fact that I was pretty sure that she somehow looked like Eros, and I really wasn’t sure what to think.

But it was clear that this woman was here to see Mom, which made sense.  Mom wasn’t really the entertaining sort, but she still liked to have guests over.  Maybe this woman was new in the area, and Mom was just being hospitable and making her feel welcome.  I just sort of grinned and nodded at her, wondering what sort of jokes they were making about me being so late.  I moved to grab a snack, although I knew it was probably too close to dinner time, when Mom stopped me.

“Psyche, Miss Cyprus is here to see you.”

I nearly dropped the apple I had picked up.  “Excuse me?” I asked mostly out of surprise.  Mom gave me a disapproving look.  “Oh, um, I mean, I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize.  Maybe I ask the nature of this visit?”

Mom looked delighted, like she wanted to know as well, but Miss Cyprus merely gestured at the door.  “Perhaps there is somewhere private we can talk?” she asked.  Mom’s face fell.

What sort of name was Cyprus, anyway?  Wasn’t that a tree?

“Oh, certainly,” Mom said, quickly recovering from her disappointment.  She was going to grill me later, I knew.  “Psyche, dear, why don’t you take Miss Cyprus to the upstairs living room?”

“Um, okay,” I said, still feeling very confused.  Why was she here to see me?  “Um, if you’ll follow me, please, Miss Cyprus.”

Miss Cyprus nodded pleasantly at Mom as she followed me through the house to the stairs, giving everything an once over as she did.  I couldn’t tell what she thought of the place, since she kept a neutral expression, although she sort of sneered at the few randomly placed depictions of Greek gods Papa had placed around the house for whatever reason.  I suppose she was Christian, and just viewed them as pagan, and thus, evil.

We managed to run into Penny before we could get safely into the informal living room.  “What’s this, Psy?” she asked, crossing her arms.  Her ugly ducklings twittered behind her like this was witty.  “Mom finally bring someone in to give you style tips?”

I glared at her, but it was Miss Cyprus who moved.  “I’m merely here to have a private chat with the youngest Miss Karalis.  We are not to be disturbed, do you understand?”

Penny looked about ready to make a retort, but the look Miss Cyprus shot her have the insult dying on her lips.  To say I was impressed was an understatement.  “Yes,” she said with a bit of hollowness.  “I understand.  Come on; I suppose we have to find something entertaining elsewhere.”

Miss Cyprus had a look of self-satisfaction as she lead the way into the living room, taking a seat without invitation, and managing to sit elegantly despite the length of her skirt.  I was merely wearing jeans and a cute shirt, but I tried to emulate her posture, but I knew I didn’t do it justice.  “I must say, watching Penny turn tail like that was certainly a sight to see.”

Miss Cyprus scoffed.  “Women like her give the term ‘lady’ a bad reputation,” she pointed out.

“Still thank you,” I insisted.  “But may I inquire about the nature of this, er, chat.”

She waved me off.  “No need to be formal, Miss Karalis,” she told me, grinning at me.  I felt my heart do a weird flip in my chest as she did so, since, somehow, she came off as even more beautiful when she smiled.  “But I believe we both know what this is about.”

I wondered momentarily if this was something I should know.  “Um, no, sorry.  If you sent my parents a note about this, then they didn’t tell me about it.  I have no clue.”

“Oh, that’s quite all right,” she said pleasantly.  “I must have mistaken you for a girl with slightly more brains.  I’m here, Miss Karalis, to inform you that you are to stay away from my son.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.  If she did have children, then her son had to be five, at most, and I doubted I’d have any interaction with someone that young.  “Er, okay,” I said, completely confused now.  “I suppose I could make the effort.  Who, exactly, is your son again?”

“You stupid girl, isn’t it obvious? Eros, Eros is my son.”

“Eros?” I asked, taken back, since I wasn’t expecting that answer.  “He’s your son?  I must say, Miss Cyprus, you’ve aged really well if that’s the case.  You hardly look a day over twenty-five.”

She narrowed her eyes at me.  “I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but it’s not very funny, Miss Karalis.”

“Please, call me Psyche,” I insisted.

She stood.  “I will not sully my lips with that filthy name, Miss Karalis,” she sort of boomed at me.    

I squinted at her.  “Who exactly are you?” I asked, since I wasn’t sure if that over sense of self importance was necessary or not.

“I am Aphrodite,” she informed me in the same booming voice.

I blinked this time.  “You’re…Aphrodite.  And you named your son Eros?  Wow, and I thought Papa was insane foe naming me Psyche.  You certainly take the cake, Miss Cyprus.”

“That is not my name.  My name is Aphrodite.”

“Yes, I got that much,” I muttered.  “What of it?”

“You dare speak to me in such a manner, you foolish mortal?” she demanded of me.

“Excuse me?” I asked her.  “You can’t tell me that just because you’re named Aphrodite that you actually believe that you’re the reincarnation of her, do you?  Is that why you named your son Eros?  Because you thought since you’re Aphrodite, your son should be Eros?”

“I have many sons,” she told me, settling down again.  “Eros, perhaps, is merely my most well known.  But I do not believe I am Aphrodite reincarnated.  I have been Aphrodite since the dawn of time.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you’re the goddess of ancient myth?”

She gave me a slightly slow clap.  “And here I thought you were a rather dimwitted child.  Apparently, you can be taught.”

“Bullshit,” I spat at her.  “The myths aren’t real.  They were made up to explain the unknown!”

She gave me a dangerous look, and I felt I might have gone too far.  Clearly, this lady needed to be in a mental institution, where she could be kept away from polite society, and possibly not hurt anyone. 

She twisted her fingers in front of her before suddenly seeming to pull a brilliantly red rose out of thin air.  I watched in surprise, wondering how she was doing this, before the rose burst into a hundred butterflies.  The fluttered around the room, settling on anything that wasn’t moving itself, before they, too, burst into flower petals.

“Woah,” I found myself saying.

“Quite,” she said, flicking a piece of invisible lint from her skirt.  “So, perhaps, you’ll be wise and actually heed my warning?”

I was staring at the slowly dissolving petals in my palm.  “Wait a second, you think because I happened to be named Psyche that I happen to be the same one that your son married in the myth?” I demanded.  “I was named after the myth.  I’m not the real Psyche!”

“Do not say that name in my presence!”

“It’s my name; I can’t help it!”

She looked about to retort, but stopped herself.  “Fair enough.  You cannot help who your father foolishly named you after.  You may use the name to refer to yourself, but not that foul mortal girl.”

“Gee, thanks.  But I don’t understand; what makes you think I can see your son again?  I am, as you say, a mere mortal girl.  I can’t, like, wave my hands around and just summon him.”

She stood quickly again, looming over me.  “You will stay away from my son,” she growled at me.

I stood as well, my blood boiling.  I might be technically an adult now, but I was still a teenager, and I didn’t appreciate random strangers commanding me to do things like she was doing.  “I will not,” I seethed.  “If Eros requests that I see him again, or if he comes to see me personally, I will not refuse.  You may be who you claim to be, but you have no power here.  You lost that power centuries ago with the fall of Rome.  I know how this works; you have no power until people believe in you.”

“You know nothing,” she seethed.  “Least of all my power.  If I had control of your heart, I’d have you falling for a stump for that remark!”

“But you have no control over my heart, and thus, you have no power.  I do not appreciate you coming into my house and telling what I can and cannot do.  I suggest you leave before you insult me in my own home again.”

She seemed a good couple of inches taller than me normally, but with the stilettos she was wearing, she towered over me in my Converses.  We held a staring match for a good minute before she seemed to realize I wasn’t backing down.  “Fine,” she snapped.  “But don’t say I didn’t warn you, mortal,” she retorted.

And then she further proved she was exactly who she said she was by vanishing before my very eyes.  I stared at the spot she was just standing, wondering what the hell just happened.  I didn’t yell at strangers, even ones who were claiming to be the Greek goddess of love. 

And what was up with that?  Seriously, the gods were real?  I sat quickly, running my hand through my hair.  What in the world was going on?  I couldn’t seem to get my mind to comprehend what I had just seem, and yet, it seemed so obvious to me that it didn’t surprise me at all.

What did seemed to be the realization that one of them most likely had a thing for me.

But at the very moment, I was more shaken up by the warning, and the fact that she had come personally to deliver it.  I wasn’t that surprised that she’d get mixed signals from my name.  After all, not too many people were named Psyche in this world.

And it made me wonder, in between freaking out, if that was actually what caught Eros’ attention in the first place.  Was he interested in me back he thought I seemed like someone he should get to know, or because I happened to be named after his wife?

I didn’t know what was going on anymore, but I was slightly praying that everything would make sense sooner rather than later.

Chapter Nine

Modern Day Cupid Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven