Chapter Five
Trial

Maddie, of course, being my best friend and all, held on to my every word as I explained to her everything since it was all out in the open now, thanks to Eros’ intervention.  It helped that she did know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t make up anything like this, especially considering how messed up it could get.  It wasn’t so much the gods and what happened between me and Eros, because unfortunately, that followed the myth fairly well, and it could seem like we were just making it up to troll her a little. Which I suppose could be possible, considering our names.  She already knew – and believed – that Eros had kidnapped me, but for all she knew, we could have spent the time we were together last coming up with crazy stories involving our names, and how we were connected in mythology.  And really, if it had been anyone else, I might have actually considered it.  But since it was Maddie, I wouldn’t dream of giving her anything beyond a half truth, and she knew that.

But the thing that made it difficult to view as fabricated was the story of the Original Psyche.  I didn’t actually want to get into it with Eros standing right there, since it seems to be a subject that, at times, he didn’t want to touch on, but it was important to what was going on, and why I was involved in this mess in the first place.  After all, if she hadn’t decided to give up her immortality and be reincarnated, Eros wouldn’t have had any need to seek me out, abduct me, and get me involved with his mother or any of the other gods.  She seemed especially shocked at this, and kept sort of glancing at Eros as though even she realized how much his wife had hurt him.  But he had kept a perfect poker face the entire conversation, making it difficult for even me to read him. 

He was trying to act like it didn’t bother him, but I could certainly tell that it did.  He didn’t seem to mind discussing her with me, mostly because I think he felt it was more explaining my past than remembering what she did to him, but when the subject was brought up with anyone else, he struggled a little with it.  Not like I blamed him or anything; I was shocked that he could talk to me so candidly about it, to be honest.  Especially considering I was the one who broke his heart in the first place.

“So…let me see if I’ve got this straight.  Psyche is the reincarnation of the goddess she’s named after, and she managed to piss off Aphrodite because of it, such that when she accidentally hurt you, she went off the handle and decided to punish Psyche in the same manner as she did the first one?  And you’re just waiting right not to see what those trials are?”

“Pretty much,” I admitted.  “I mean, I suppose it’s not all that complicated, but when you shove Greek gods into the mix, it just becomes a little harder to swallow.  At least when I wasn’t telling you everything, it still sort of made sense.”

“It never made sense, Psyche,” she accused.  Eros looked surprised at this as well.  He was sitting beside me on her bed, clearly still contemplating shoving the arrow into the Cupid statue’s head.  “I could never figure out why his mother wouldn’t like you.  Even an overprotective mother could look at you, see that you’re a stable, kind, and rather wealthy individual, and know that you’re good enough for her son.  But when that mother is Aphrodite, and Psyche happens to be the reincarnation of the mythological Psyche, well…than it actually makes sense.  I do have one small question, though?”

“What’s that?” I asked a little worried.

“Well, if you’re the reincarnation of Psyche, then am I a reincarnation as well?” she asked, her eyes wide with innocence.

I relaxed at the question, trying hard not to laugh at it.  Eros, on the other hand, shrugged.  “As far as I can tell, if you were, you’re not anyone really that important.  People get reincarnated all the time, but most of the time, their lives are insignificant.  But I can ask Persephone; for all I know, you could be the reincarnation of Psyche’s best friend.”

She brightened at that thought, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t think Psyche had a best friend until she became immortal, and chose Persephone to take on the position.  I happened to like that thought as well, that it wasn’t just Eros who sought out my soul, but also the family and friends I had in my first life.  That would certainly explain how I ended up with Penny and Phoebe as sisters.

That would also explain our connection, since it just seemed like we became best friends out of nowhere.  But I didn’t want to get my hopes up, since I think Eros just added that last little bit because Maddie was looking a little crestfallen over the idea of being a no body.

After our little discussion, Maddie and I did eventually get to working on our project, mostly because Eros insisted on it.  After all, we had planned it, and he said he didn’t really want t get in the way of our plans.  Maddie kept insisting that it wasn’t that big a deal, but he had a point; I was already there, and I couldn’t be too sure, what with Phoebe’s obsessive wedding planning, when I’d have another chance.  Plus, he sort of made his point when he suddenly vanished on us, shocking Maddie.  “They tend to like to do that, I noticed.  I wouldn’t put too much stock into it, though; knowing him, he’s probably still in the room somewhere.  It’s not like he can turn invisible or anything like that.”

I thought I heard him chuckle, but that could have been my imagination.  “He could have stayed.  Seriously, I didn’t mind.  It was great actually meeting the guy I heard so much about.  I can definitely see why you’d fall for him, Psyche.  He is hot.”

I blushed, since I still thought he was in the room.  “I already told you, that doesn’t matter to me.”  I picked up the Cupid statue to have something in my hands, and sighed.  “Well, it’s a good thing you like him so much, since he decided to redecorate your Cupid here.”

She looked surprised at this, taking the statue.  He had, in fact, managed to jab it with the arrow, as well as shrink it to fit the size.  “That’s…different.  Does he not like Cupid or something?  I thought he was Cupid.”

“He is, but you also have to figure how humiliating it is to be depicted as a baby all the time.  I don’t think he can help himself, though; his property on Mount Olympus is filled with Cupid statues that he’s defaced.”

“Wow, you’re so lucky to have seen Mount Olympus.”  She studied the statue further.  “I think I like it better this way, actually.”

“Just be careful with that.  That is one of Eros’ arrows.  You prick yourself, and you’ll be falling in love with the first person you see, don’t forget.”

She placed the statue back where Eros had got it from, and pushed it against the wall.  “Might be a good idea,” she agreed.

To be honest, we didn’t work as much as we should have on the project, mostly because she kept popping out questions I didn’t really have an answer to.  I mean, I was pretty new to the whole ‘Greek gods are real and still exist’ thing, so I wasn’t quite as in the loop as she seemed to think I was.  And she seemed to understand that after about my fifth ‘I don’t know’, but it seemed she couldn’t help herself.  I couldn’t blame her; I had a lot of questions when I first found out, but I had been given time and distance enough that I was sort of able to figure them out myself.  Plus, I had a more pressing issue on hand at the moment, and I figure I could find out more as time went on, anyway.

Maddie decided it was a good thing that we didn’t get too far with the project.  “It just gives you an excuse to hang out with me rather than do some stupid wedding planning with Phoebe.  I mean, school’s more important, right?”

“Well, not according to her, but it’s nice to have a reason to avoid that mess,” I agreed.

I left only because it seemed like no progress was being made, and there didn’t seem to be a point to me staying if we weren’t working.  It was getting late, and I know Mom didn’t like it when I was out past dinner time.  Add to the fact that it was darker earlier now, and it just seemed like a good idea to drive home while there was still some sun out to light the way.  Eros, however, scared the living crap out of me when I crawled into my car, and found him in the passenger seat again.

“Were you waiting here for me, or were you watching me?” I demanded of him.  The only thing I hated about dating a god, I realized, was how they could pop in and out like that on a whim.

He shrugged.  “A little of both, really,” he admitted.  “But I wasn’t spying on you, if that’s what you’re wondering.  I try to avoid private conversations.”

“Even ones that involve you?” I teased.

He looked innocent.  “Especially those,” he grinned.  “I experimented once, back in the middle of the eighteenth century, with trying to be her friend first before I attempted to move it onto something more.  She, of course, wanted nothing to do with me, but all her friends kept talking about me, which…well, annoyed her to no end.  But I did find it entertaining for a while, actually.”  He continued to grin at the memory before sobering.  I sort of remember dreaming of that lifetime.  “But I really wouldn’t do that to you and Maddie.”

“I believe you.  I just didn’t think you’d be in my car, that’s all.”

He shrugged nonchalantly.  “I knew you’d come back here eventually, Psyche.”

“You’re not going to feed me to the wolves again, are you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

He chuckled.  “Maybe just a little, but really, no more than usual.  Nothing I didn’t think you could handle.  I mean, unless you  want to introduce me to your family or something.”

“Do you want to be introduced?  Because you know I have no problem with that.”

He faltered.  I don’t think he actually had a problem with it, but he was still a little worried what Papa would do to him if he should ever find out exactly how we met in the first place.  I doubt even learning that Eros was a god – and that I was in reincarnation of his wife – would alleviate the anger Papa would feel at knowing I was abducted.

We continued to chat as we generally did as I drove home, although I wasn’t really paying attention to what we were talking about.  It just flowed, so it was easy to lose track of what was being said.  I think Eros was mostly talking about his previous experience with his mother’s wrath over Psyche, and how he’d been annoyed that he couldn’t help.  Of course, at the time, he hadn’t wanted to, because he had felt betrayed, but he loved her enough that he found himself worried about her nonetheless, and managed to help her.  This time, he wasn’t even made at me – I hadn’t done anything wrong – and he was determined to make it up to me.

I suppose if I had been a little more forward with Aphrodite – demanding to talk to Eros myself to see if what she was saying were true – all of this could have been avoided, but I had been so disgusted with myself and terrified of what had happened to make any rational thoughts.  It was my own fault I had gotten into this mess, despite what Eros insisted, and I was determined to get myself out of it, one way or another.

But I certainly wasn’t above getting help from anyone else because of my mistake, either.  If he was willing to help, then I was willing to let him.  The only person I wouldn’t accept help from, not directly, was Maddie, but only because she wasn’t divine in any way.  I at least had the soul of a former goddess in my body.  That had to count for something.

I was annoyed that he disappeared again when I pulled into my spot, but I did find that he wasn’t lying.  They were still filming, of course, despite the late hour, since they were all preparing to go out for the night and hadn’t left yet.  But it wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to dealing with, of course.  The most I got was a comment thrown at me by Penny about the fact that I was getting home late, because it meant that I wasn’t around all afternoon for her to torment.  That’s how I preferred it, but naturally, Penny liked having her punching bag around, even if none of it made it on air like she wanted.

But I had come home late enough that dinner was just being set on the table.  “Oh, what a shame,” I said sarcastically to Penny.  “And you’re just leaving, too.  You sure you don’t want to stay and have a nice family dinner?”

Mom shot me a pleading look like she was wondering exactly what I was doing, but I knew my sister.  She might like to torment me, but once she was in her clubbing outfit, she wasn’t going to stop for anything.  Because she might ruin the look somehow.  And she knew that I knew this, so she gave me a nasty gesture before heading back to see if they were all ready to go.  I wanted to wish her luck with that – gathering up her friends was always like herding cats, especially when hair and make-up was involved.

So I had a nice family meal with my parents for once where I described how my life’s been for the past few weeks, and Papa danced around the subject of Felipe as to not give Mom any ideas.  I appreciated it, since I didn’t really want to talk about Felipe while Eros was back in my life.  He really didn’t compare.

Eros really managed to scare me when I found him in my room when I came up for bed after spending some quality alone time with my parents.  Luckily, I managed to stifle my yell before I could alert them.  “What the hell?” I hissed at him.  “What are you doing here?”

He looked surprised, since he was studying my décor.  “Well, I was under the impression that you didn’t like me wondering off, so I thought I’d continue to hang out with you.  I just can’t, you know, while your parents are around.”

“My room, Eros?”

“What?  You’ve been in my room before.”

I felt my cheeks heat up at the mention and the memory, and I sort of collapsed onto my bed.  Not like I didn’t want to spend time with him…just not in my room and not unexpectedly like this.

“Interesting collection you have here,” he stated, and I felt like I was going to die when I realized he was looking at my Cupid collection.  I was mortified. 

I dropped my head into my hands.  “Look, I know, okay?  I hate them as well, but I can’t seem to stop collecting them!  I want to get rid of them, but I’m loath to.  Every time one goes into the trash, I find myself rescuing it.  I’m sorry, okay?  I know you hate the idea, but I honestly can’t help it, and I’ve given up trying to stop.”

He looked surprised at that.  He chuckled before sitting beside me.  “I’m not mad.  I’m flattered in a way.  You were still drawn to me, even if you didn’t know why.”  He frowned, picking up the one off my bed, and raising an eyebrow at it.

“Well, that one’s not as bad,” I insisted.  “For whatever reason, I can’t seem to sleep unless one of them’s in the bed with me, and I figured why not the least offensive?”

He continued to frown at it for a good long moment before he just shrugged it and chucked it over his shoulder into a corner.  “Hey!” I protested, since I had a feeling it was going to take me a while to find it again, and I really liked that one.  It almost looked like him!

“Why would you need a replacement when you have the real one right here to help you fall asleep?” he asked me, giving me one of his confident crooked smiles.

“What?” I asked incredibly, shocked he’d even suggest such a thing.

He responded by grabbing at me and pulling me against him, gently placing his own lips against mine.  I leaned into the kiss without thinking, like this was the most natural thing for him to be doing, kissing me in my room like this.  In the fog of ecstasy he had created, I hadn’t noticed him pulling me down against the bed, at least not until he let me up for air and I found myself lying beside him.  “See, isn’t that much better?” he said, looking entirely too happy.

I rolled my eyes at him.  “No,” I insisted as I grabbed at his shirt and dragged him back to kiss me again.

It was sort of strange how I was about to fall asleep as quickly as I normally did with him there beside me.  I knew that Cupid plush was laying lost somewhere in my room, but that didn’t seem to matter.  Maybe he was right – maybe it helped that I had the real thing in bed with me.  Either way, I wasn’t complaining.  It was certainly a nice cure to my little problem.

It was also sort of funny how I feel asleep wondering if Aphrodite was sort of watching us, if she’d realize that her son disapproved of her acting like this, and would decide to call the whole thing off.  Eros pointed out that it wasn’t a good idea to underestimate his mother – I had begged for punishment, and she wasn’t going to give up her easy out all that easily.  But I still wondered, since I’d have assume she’d have been so eager to punish me that she’s start right away, and it had already been over a week, and I’ve heard nothing.  So maybe…

But when I woke again, since I typically didn’t sleep the entire night through, I found myself not in my bed, not in my room, and actually not really asleep.  I blinked for a moment, trying to figure out my surroundings, but it was hard to figure out when I was surrounded by piles and piles of what looked like grain of all things. 

It didn’t help that I sort of thought I was dreaming, and typically my dream self was a little slow on the uptake.  Was this another memory?  Was I finally dreaming about the original Psyche’s life?  This seemed sort of familiar.

“You’re not asleep,” a familiar voice said, and I turned to find Aphrodite glaring at me.  “I called you here.”

“Oh,” I said, my mind still a little sleep addled.  She looked annoyed at this.

“You’re right, though; I have been taking too long to start you on this.  But I thought catching toy off guard would be a nice touch.  Besides, I’ve been told that wisking you away immediately would alert your little family, and we don’t live in ancient times anymore when that would be okay.”  She waved the idea off.  “But you were too prepared when I sent you away.  There’s no fun in that.”

“Makes sense.”

She shot me another look.  “You’re not asleep, child, so stop acting like you are.  You have a task to do.”

“What do I have to do, exactly?”

This time she looked triumphant.  “You have to sort all these grains by morning.  I’ll come then and check your progress.  If you fail, then you won’t be able to see my son ever again, you understand.”

I wanted to say I didn’t, because as far as I could tell, Eros would be able to see me whenever the hell he wanted.  But I figured it was a good idea not to piss her off, now that I was slowly becoming more awake.  I glanced around me again at the piles, realizing this was going to be one of those impossible tasks, and just shrugged.  I’d freak out later.  “Okay,” I said, mostly just to annoy her.

It worked, since she gave me another look, but at least this time, since her job was done, she disappeared and left me to my own devices.  I just sort of stood there, a little dumbfounded, trying to figure out if this was actually a dream, or if I was in fact awake.  It felt like a dream – this was eerily familiar to me – but I don’t remember dreaming about the original Psyche before, any of my memory-dreams being this vivid.  But this was just so sudden and unexpected that I wasn’t entirely too sure what the hell was going on.

But I think that’s what she was going for, to throw me off guard.  Although Psyche was just sort of going through the motions at that point, I guess Aphrodite felt she was too prepared, which is why she was able to complete each task.  This was it’d be different, and I’d be too dumbfounded to react properly in the given time frame.  I glanced at the piles of grains once again, and sort of shrugged, lowing myself to the ground and carefully starting my own piles.  This grain over here, this one over there, and this one looks like the first one.  It was going to take three years to sort through all these grains in this manner, but at least it was something.

I knew the original Psyche managed to get out of this one through some divine means, but for some reason, despite having the myth memorized, I couldn’t quite remember how it was done.  I wasn’t expecting miracles or anything for me, of course, because I wasn’t anything special like Psyche apparently was.  I was just her reincarnation, that’s all.

After about an hour of the repetitive motion, I did have several sizable – albeit too small – piles, but I was also having a hard time keeping my eyes open.  Maybe if I did spend all night on these piles without falling asleep, Aphrodite will consider it a victory in my favor, since I would be putting myself through trouble to prove myself.  I sincerely doubted it, but it was still a hope.

That was also about the time I noticed the sting of ants marching past my piles.  At first, I thought it was a trick of Aphrodite’s, trying to demoralize me by destroying my meager piles.  But they marched past my piles, and into the unsorted piles.  I watched in amazement as they came back out with grains on the backs, starting their own little piles. 

They were helping me?

I smacked my palm against my forehead.  “Right, ants helped her,” I said stupidly.  I remember how happy I had upon hearing that the first time Papa read the story to me, because it meant that someone wanted her to succeed.

“Mama’s such a bitch,” Eros remarked, causing me to jerk away from him when I realized he was sitting beside me, just appearing out of nowhere.  “At least she’s uncreative, too.  I don’t think she remembers that I helped the first Psyche out in this manner as well.  And considering I’m not at all mad at you, I’m more than willing to do it again.”

“You can command ants?” I asked incredibly.

He shrugged, gesturing at them.  “Apparently,” he smirked.  “Technically, I think it’s we can control all animals, it’s just that some of us are able to control the larger ones a little better.  Artemis can get a whole fleet of woodland animals to do her bidding.  It’s actually rather amusing when someone really ticks her off.  But things like ants are certainly fair game for all of us.  Plus, they’re easy to control.”

“I’ll bet.  They don’t really have individual minds.  They just do whatever their queen tells them to, and apparently your acting as queen right now.  How did you know I was here, wherever here is?”

“Because apparently Mama doesn’t like the idea of us sleeping together, or something,” he shrugged again.  “Woke up to find you literally gone, and I had a minor panic attack before remembering where you went the last time you disappeared on me.  It was easy enough to figure it out from there.  Like I said, Mama’s uncreative, which works in our favor.”

I glanced at the ants, which seemed to have multiplied to the point where the floor was just a massive streaming black mass.  It honestly looked like the floor was moving – all except where Eros and I were sitting.  They were making a careful circle around us, which I was grateful for.  I was glad for the ants’ help, but I didn’t want them crawling on me or anything.  “So…we’re in the same place as the first time this happened?”

He glanced around.  “Unfortunately,” he allowed, scowling a bit.

“So…we’re in Greece?”

This time he chuckled.  “Not exactly,” he admitted.  “Psyche was tricked as well.  It’s one of those places like Mount Olympus, as in it doesn’t quite exist in the same plane of existence as Earth.  So you’re not suddenly thousands of miles away from home right now.”

“No, I’m not even on Earth,” I shot back sarcastically.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when you were visiting me in my mansion,” he shrugged.

He had a point.  “So why exactly do the gods have a need for a grain silo?”

“We don’t, not really.  Well, Dionysus does, but he has his own.  I think Mama just wills this place into existence whenever she has need for it.  I mean, she did get the idea for this trial the first time from watching Psyche sort grains out of boredom.  And since she’s uncreative, she thought she’d just will this silo into existence again.”

“Ugh,” I said, burying my head into my hands, alarming him slightly.  “Willing things into existence?  Popping in and out at will?  Being invisible?  Not to mention the while immortal thing.  It’s really no wonder why mortals envy the gods.  You’ve got it made.”

“Most of us do,” he agreed.  “And some of us like to flaunt it.  But then there’re those of us who were foolish enough to fall in love with a mortal, and then they freak out on us, and it just makes our lives complicated.”  I glared at him without really meaning to.  “I don’t mind, Psyche.  I never have.  I’d rather have a complicated life than an easy life.  It makes living a lot more interesting.  Besides, it’s not so bad at the moment.  It was a bit rougher when you wanted nothing to do with me.”

I let out my breath, since I hadn’t meant to get mad.  “It’s okay.  It’s just that…you’re talking about it like it’s nothing, and it’s not like it’s something I can do, and it just gets a little demoralizing after a while knowing you can do a whole host of things that I can’t.”

“You can do plenty of things that I can’t do, Psyche.  You learn and grow, and make connections to people, and you love.  It’s actually hard for a god to actually love, because typically they’re just too full of themselves to really pay attention to the other person.”

“So you don’t really love me, not in the same why I do you?”

He shook his head.  “I said it’s hard, not impossible.  There aren’t too many of us, but there’s enough.  You’re friend Persephone’s one of them, actually.  But for the most part, god typically either run around like crazy, or else remain celibate.  Neither really worked for me.”

I relaxed slightly, leaning against him.  “That’s a good thing,” I told him.  “I always thought it was ridiculous how much some of these gods got around.  It got confusing who was with who, and who had children with who, and all that sort of nonsense.  You’re the god of love, after all, and it’s best for you of all people to love and be true to your wife.”

I think he smiled at me after that, but I actually didn’t really remain conscious for very long.  I had no real need to be, especially since I had been taken in the middle of my sleep.  I suppose since I was only actually up for about an hour, I ended up sleep through my normal cycle, since I woke feeling like I normally did, if not a little stiff.  I found myself waking with my head in Eros’ lap, which I guess was a more comfortable position.  I couldn’t tell if he slept as well, or if he remained up all night, watching over me.

I was inclined to believe it was the latter, actually.

He definitely grinned when he saw I was awake.  “What time is it?” I grumbled, again not quite awake to know why that would be important, but just needing to know.

“It’s morning,” he informed me, which was a good thing, since the silo had no windows.  It just seemed to have its own natural light.  “That’s all that’s really important here.”

“Is it?  Don’t I have to go to class or something?”

“We’ll get you back in time, don’t worry,” he smirked.  I glanced around me, and realized all the ants were gone, and that they had sorted the piles of grains perfectly.  “The other important thing is that you seem to have completed your first trial.  Mama’s not going to like it, but it’s her own fault for being uncreative.  Speaking of which…”

And once again, he was gone, just like that, and I was left blinking at nothing.  But he was replaced by the figure of his mother not two seconds later, looking triumphant until she saw the sorted grain stacks, as well as my bleary eyed expression.

“Damn it, how’d you do that?” she demanded of me.

“Um,” I said, knowing Eros wouldn’t want me to give him away.  “Very carefully.”

Her lips twitched slightly.  “Up to your old tricks, I see.  I suppose my old methods aren’t going to work on someone whose experienced them once before.  Very well.  It seems I’ll be forced to get creative with you, girl.”

She snapped her fingers, disappearing right before I found myself back in my room, snug under my covers.  I glanced at my clock, which read still early enough that I could sleep another hour or so.  I pushed myself down further, willing myself to get comfortable, feeling Eros wrap a protective arm around me.

I still wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not, but I got the impression that I ticked Aphrodite off something fierce, and I knew the punishment for that was going to be severe.  But for now, I didn’t want to think about it, and instead just enjoy my bed and the company I was keeping in it, apparently.

Especially since I did know it was something to worry about.  Aphrodite might have only been the villain in Psyche’s myth, but she still wasn’t a goddess to trifle with.  None of them were, really.  Eros said it himself that most gods were full of themselves.  Some of them – most likely the minor gods like Zephyrus – weren’t as much, but given what I knew about the myths, it seemed common enough to make sense.  So I was terrified of what Aphrodite was going to do to get ‘creative’ with these trials.

I could face anything Phoebe or Penny could throw at me, and I just hoped that prepared me enough for whatever the overprotective goddess had in store for me now.

Chapter Four

The Trials of Psyche Chapter Five

Chapter Six