Chapter Nine
Exam

The girls’ day probably wasn’t something I needed to have.  I mean, I had learned to be fairly independent from an early age, since Papa was usually busy when I wanted to play, or when I needed help, and Mom was either tending to my sisters or at some charity event.  Sure, I could go to Papa whenever I wanted – provided he was home and not at his other office – but as I got older, I began to realize that he did very important work, and that disturbing him wasn’t always the best idea.  So I learned to take care of myself, for the most part.  I mean, I was still a rich little socialite princess.  It wasn’t like I knew how to take care of myself domestically, at least when I was younger.  But I knew as long as I had Maddie around, I’d be fine, and we never really did anything when one of us was feeling down.  I mean, yes, we’d sit around and talk about it, but it was just business as usual for us.

But just because I didn’t need it didn’t mean that it wasn’t nice.  Now that I seemed to be gathering female friends, it was something that I decided I wanted to do on a regular basis, provided I could.  Yes, we didn’t so any of the normal things that girls like Penny and Phoebe would do on a girls’ day – I knew what those entailed because I remember them talking about it constantly when they were in high school.  Most of the time, it involved going to the mall and buying clothes and accessories that they didn’t really need, and sometimes they’d go out and see the latest talked about movie, just to keep in the loop.  Other times, they’d go to the spa to wind down, or something, like being a socialite and spending all day partying was the toughest thing in the world.

We did none of that.  Oh, sure, we gave each other makeovers as threatened, but since some of us had parents who took them to professional make-up artists to learn how to apply it correctly and the others of us were goddesses, we had no real need to do anything serious.  Persephone, unfortunately, didn’t get the concept at first, and merely gave me an overly complicated ancient Greek hairstyle (which both she and Hedone ohhed and ahhed at, claiming it made me look just like the first Psyche), but then Hedone got to her, and she came out looking like a harlot.  I had to do Maddie, unfortunately, and while there wasn’t much I could do about her hair – it was perfection as it was, since it was such a perfect shade of orange – I decided instead to copy the make-up style that Penny usually used.  It wasn’t nearly as made as what Hedone did to Persephone – but she did look about a million times trashier, especially since I used tones that I knew were popular, but didn’t exactly go with her porcelain skin.

So then, since we all looked fairly trashy – Maddie had done Hedone up like a clown – we sat around and role played my sister’s reality show for a while.  It was actually hard to come up with arguments after a while, since we were rolling around laughing so much.  Persephone could do a perfect imitation of Penny, somehow, and in a completely deadpan voice.  We came up with the most ridiculous reasons to fight, although the fight I got into with Hedone about her scamming on my man because she was related to him was actually something I heard Penny yell at one of her friends about.  They didn’t believe me when I told them that, although Maddie had been around for that one to confirm it.

After that, due to the fact that we were apparently being too loud for Mrs. Douglas – she didn’t mind that we weren’t studying, but she wasn’t used to her daughter having loud friends – we sat in their living room with their oversized wide-screen TV (Karalis Brand, of course.  When Papa learned that Mr. Douglas was looking to replace his old TV in time for the Super Bowl, he ‘donated’ this one because it just ‘happened’ to be sitting in storage somewhere.  The Douglas’ quickly learned that there was some great benefits to their daughter being best friends with Nik Karalis’ favorite daughter, although luckily, they didn’t take advantage of the fact.) watching a few of our favorite movies.  Normally, we’d have watched some awful movies and made fun of them, but I got to pick the first one, and I pulled out Beauty and the Beast without thinking of it.

Hedone and Persephone were all gung-ho about making fun of a movie, but as soon as they saw the title on screen, they clammed up.  I always used to think it was my favorite story because it was based on the Cupid and Psyche story, and that was my father – and my association my – favorite myth.  But now I realized it was most likely because I happened to have lived it in one lifetime.  It made complete sense why I was so obsessed with it now.

And why I was so obsessed with Cupid while at the same time hating the form.  Hedone claimed she was the same way –she knew how much her father hated the image, but while she never had a need to buy any of it, she still found herself drawn to them.  But that was because they were her father, and she thought it was adorable that mortals started associated him with a baby.  Obviously, he was far from looking anything like a baby.

But that was another thing – I wasn’t too sure what hanging out with Hedone was going to be like.  Yes, I agreed to be her friend, but that didn’t mean much, other than I was going to try.  I certainly didn’t hate her.  But the fact remained that, even as a goddess, she was Eros’ flesh and blood daughter, and I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the concept.  It was sort of weird how I couldn’t, how I managed to forget he had a daughter at all.  Was it because my mind didn’t want to deal with the idea, such that it slipped my mind as soon as I learned what he was?  Or was there a deeper meaning to it. 

But that didn’t really matter.  Yes, it was a little weird that she was his daughter and that she still wanted to be friends with me.  But what wasn’t weird was the way that we did get along.  I had to remind myself several times that she was his daughter, because we were getting along so well.  It made me happy that we could get along – if I wanted to continue my relationship with Eros, I had to accept her into my life as well, I could tell.  Add in the fact that I had a feeling my restriction upon losing the trials wouldn’t stem to her, and I had a feeling she’d be helping me continue to see Eros if the worst thing happened.  Hedone didn’t make it a secret that she was annoyed at her grandmother for doing this to me.

“I mean, I obviously heard the story too many times to count,” she said at one point when we were back in Maddie’s room and just gossiping like old hens.  “Papa loved telling me as a bedtime story.  He might have hated how Mama betrayed his trust, but he was so proud of the fact that she would go through all that nonsense just for him.  So I know Nona didn’t care for Mama at first.  But I always thought their relationship had improved greatly after Great-Grandpa Zeus forced her hand.”

“From what I understand,” Persephone said calmly, “it isn’t so much that your mother and grandmother didn’t get along after she was made a goddess, but rather that she was pissed off at the whole breaking his heart because she died without telling him thing.  We were all disappointed in your mother about that, but Aphrodite took it a little too personally.  Hence why she’s taking it out on Psyche here, although she had nothing to do with it.”

“My soul did.”

“We don’t choose our souls, dear,” Persephone said, shaking her head.  “I can’t even chose the vessel into which the soul’s reincarnated.  We were lucky you managed to fall into a daughter of our favorite son Nikodemus, but I had nothing to do with it.”

“Why are you gods so interested in my father?” I demanded.  “Is he a reincarnation as well?”

She laughed lightly.  “Good Heavens, no,” she grinned.  “But it was prophesized when he was born that he’d go on and do great things for the gods, so we’ve been keeping an eye on him.  He’s one of the few who still believe in the old ways, actually, and prefers the worship of our kind to newer gods.”

“He always told me he wasn’t into religion, and that he didn’t worship anything.  He’s only interested in the myths because they’re a part of his heritage.”

“It’s complicated,” Hedone said.  “I don’t understand it too well myself, since he doesn’t care too much about me.  But since he’s such an influential man, and he focuses his attention on the myths, it’s like he’s worshipping them or something.”

“Of course, now I’m wondering if his prophesy will come about because of you, Psyche,” Persephone speculated.  “I can’t think of any other way for it to come true other than through you and your association with the gods.”

“So that’s why it seems all the gods know who Papa is?  Because of some stupid prophesy that doesn’t really make any sense?  It’s not because he’s Greece’s favorite son, or because you know he’ll go on and do great things?  Its because he’ll bring back the reign of the gods?”

“Well, actually, the reason I know him is because he’s you father.  I didn’t take all that much interest in him until I found out.  We’ve had plenty of people who fit the prophesy, and it hasn’t come true.  We’re just keeping an eye on him, but since he does have such an interest in the gods…well, it’s rare nowadays, so the others are more interested than they normally would be.”

“More are interested in your mom,” Hedone pointed out, “but for a completely stupid reason.”

“Why would they be interested in Mrs. Karalis?” Maddie asked carefully.  “I mean, she’s not even from Greece, and as far as I can tell, there’s nothing remarkable about her.”

I glared at her for a second.  Hedone continued to grin.  “Like I said, it has to do with a stupid reason.  What’s her father’s name?”

“Troy,” I said slowly.  “It’s kind of an odd name, but rich people generally give their children odd names anyway.”

“And her name is Helen, thus technically making her Helen of Troy.  She’s not, of course, but they still speculate if she will somehow make history repeat itself.  But in this day and age, it’s laughable,” Hedone said with a wave of her hand.

Maddie let out a giggle.  “I never thought about it that way, but they’re totally right, Psyche!  Your mother is Helen of Troy!  She certainly looks the part.”

“But she’d never given any man other than Papa reason to believe she’s in love with then, so the point’s moot,” I said forcefully.  This is just…insane.  I can’t even begin to imagine the interest in my family.  We’re just mortals, you know.”

“Mortals who have a reincarnation in their family,” Persephone pointed out, poking at the snacks that Mrs. Douglas had handed us.  Apparently, they weren’t up to her Underworld queen tastes.  “We do, in fact, leave most mortal families along, even if they fit prophesies or anything like that.  Prophesies nowadays don’t hold much salt.  I mean, hell, if your father’s came true, it might even just be because he brought a bidding interest of Greek mythology back to the masses because of his fame.  We don’t need to be worshiped to stay in power, but rather remembered.”

“And that’s why you’re still around, right?  Because, even though it’s not a religion anymore, your mythology is still prevalent in the modern world.”

“Exactly,” Persephone said, grinning at Maddie.  Her jealously towards her had dwindled during the course of the day, mostly because Persephone was making it a point to befriend her as well.  She might not like the idea of ‘competition’ – not like there was any where she was concerned – but she appreciated a good friend as much as anyone else.  Yes, Persephone was trying to be friends with me because she happened to have best friends with my soul, but that didn’t matter much to her in the long run.

Still, I felt rather guilty about not studying at all that day when I had exams starting in two days, and I knew it was expected of me to make good grades.  Mom and Papa might say that they don’t care if my grades dip just slightly, so long as I was trying, but I knew what they expected of me.  To completely bomb a test would disappoint them greatly.

Not to mention it would draw attention to the fact that I hadn’t been myself lately.  I was able to hid it fairly well, all things considered, mostly because my day to day life hadn’t changed that much since coming back from Mount Olympus.  Sure, I had a guy following me everywhere like a little lost puppy, and I had his mother threatening me, but considering Aphrodite had only sent one trial at me since then, and that lost puppy was remaining unseen for the most part, for all intents and purposes, my life was exactly the same as it’s always been.

I mean, with a few twists and turns that no one could really blame me for.  I wasn’t home as much as I used to be thanks to the reality show, but I would have done that even if I didn’t have gods hovering around constantly.  That they wouldn’t have noticed at all.  But I was pretty sure, if they looked close enough, they’d be able to tell something was off, and completely bombing my exams would certainly hint at that.

Maddie and I made up for it the following day, having all the gods we knew promise that they weren’t going to bug as at all that day.  It was still hard to concentrate with everything going on in our lives, distracting ourselves in the middle of questioning each other on a topic to ask random questions.  Well, okay, Maddie was distracted; I was focused on the task at hand because I was the one flipping out over our lost time.  But then again, Maddie had a study ethic similar to what Papa subscribed for me – relaxing and not stressing over it.

I’d love to take that ethic, but it just wasn’t something I could do.  So I fretted and worried, and was always was so positive I studied the wrong thing.  Sure, I had better grades that she did, possibly because of it, but it still meant that she wasn’t as stressed out about schoolwork as I was.  At least in regards to tests.

I tried not to be too annoyed with her – after all, we did spend the day before with two goddess, so naturally she’d still have questions.  But it seemed odd to be talking about Hedone’s relationship with her mother while we were going over some equations for Trig. 

Still, once I headed back to the house, I felt a little more confident about my exams, because I had taken the time to study.  I was still positive I was going to bomb then, but that was part of my strategy.

Penny slandered up to me, already half drunk and it wasn’t even dinner time, when I attempted to sneak by when I came home.  “Look at you,” she slurred slightly.  One thing I was surprised about was the fact that Penny couldn’t really hold her liquor.  Well, she could down glasses of champagne and be perfectly fine, but once she got into the harder stuff, she could be off her rocker within two drinks.  It smelled sort of like she got into the peppermint schnapps again.  “You, girl, don’t know how to party properly.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, not sure where the hell she was coming from.  Or why she was even here to begin with.  Surely she was getting bored of never getting anything from me.  Or that she needed to create more drama for her show. 

“You heard me.  You were out two days, and what were you doing?  Nothing a normal person would do, but studying.  Gawd, you’re such a loser, Psy.  I’m glad you’re not doing the show.  You’re an embarrassment to the Karalis name.  I don’t want people to remember we’re sisters!”

“Penny, I’m not the one getting drunk at four in the afternoon on a Sunday,” I said.  “In fact, as far as I can tell, you’re an embarrassment to the  Karalis name.  We’re a family of proud Greeks – and the only part of that heritage you care about are the Greek hunks you find on the beach when we visit.”

“Shoulda married one of them; they’re much more fun,” she hiccupped. 

“Seriously, Penny, you’re just now saying that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.  “Maybe you should have thought of that when you, I don’t know, agreed to marry a pedophile?”

“Hey, Don is not a pedophile!  I was twenty three when I married him.  I don’t know why everyone says that’s creepy.  I was a legal adult.”

“It’s creepy because Donald’s older than Papa is!” I pointed out.  “Even you say that he’s disgusting and old, and that you would never allow him to touch you.  Why would you defend him?  We all know you’re just in it for the money, even though you don’t need to be.”

She looked offended.  “I’m not in it for the money, Psy.  Why would I be?  I agreed to marry him because I knew people would talk about it for years to come.  I mean think about it, Penelope Karalis, daughter of the founder and CEO of Karalis Electronics, marrying Donald Rogers, co-founder of one of the largest social networks in existence.  We’re, like, royalty of the social world!”

“You already were a princess; that’s why no one seems to understand why you did it in the first place, especially since we all know you hate the guy.  You’re ruining the institution of marriage.”

“Hey,” she said, poking me on the shoulder.  “I’m still married to the guy, aren’t I?  That’s more than some can say.”

“Oh yes, I’m totally shocked you didn’t have a seventy-two hour marriage.  That’d be more your style, wouldn’t it?”

She twisted her face into a rather nasty glare.  “That’s so unoriginal, Psyche!  People expect that.  But hey, what can I say?  At least I had a guy interested in marrying me.  You’ve haven’t had so much as a guy look at you your entire life!”

I let out a sigh.  I could tell she was drunk from her weak insult.  “Yes, yes, I’m going to die an old maid cat woman.  I’ve come to terms with that, and totally intend to live vicariously through you many, many illegitimate children.  Maybe you’ll even develop a heart and let me keep one.”

“What in the fuck are you muttering about?  I’m not going to have any kids.  Disgusting vermin.”

“Oh, pity.  And here I thought that was just what happened when you had as many affairs as you’ve had.  Well, I guess so long as you’re being safe, you’ll be fine.  You’d make a terrible mother, anyway.  Aren’t you normally the sort of creature that eats her own young?  I hope so, because then that’d be kinder to the children.”

She growled at me.  She usually took my insults the same way I did hers, and could usually dish them out fairly well.  Another indication that she’s hit the sauce too hard and too soon.  She flipped her hair over her shoulder, making sure to show off her ultra long nails as she did so.  “Are least I’m getting some, Psy.  Can’t say the same for you, can I?”

“Yes, because a person’s worth is determined by how much sex they have,” I shot back as she grew tired of the conversation, and moved onto her next target.  I let out a sigh.  I think she was getting drunk because her show was slowly tanking.  Either way, I didn’t care, especially since I had larger things to worry about at the moment.  The only downside with the reality show being canceled was that’d still be here, relieving her disappointment by tormenting me.  I’d rather her have her show, since, for the most part, she left me alone since it wouldn’t be filmed.

I found Eros where I expected him, lounging on my bed, waiting for my return.  “I’m pretty sure I know someone you’d be willing to turn her into a minnow.  Or some sort of tree.”

“I thought the idea was throwing them off a cliff,” I remarked as I placed my bag by the door.  “Have you been here all day?  I’m not sure how I feel about you hanging out in here when I’m not home.”

He shrugged.  “Not all day.  I was hovering around Maddie’s house periodically to see if you were done, and once you were, I came here.  I wasn’t spying; I was just making sure you were still there, I promise.”

“Right,” I said sarcastically.   “So what is it exactly that you do when you’re off doing other things, anyway?  I mean, if I’m keeping you from doing anything important, let me know.”

He waved me off.  “Mostly I just go around doing my god of love duties.  It’s not something I absolutely have to do nowadays, what with people not believing in us anymore, but it helps me blow off steam, I guess.  Gives me something to do.  What’d you think I was doing?”

“Preferably?  I was thinking you were spending time with dear Zephyr since he’s probably so lonely now that you’re obsessing over me.”

He laughed.  “He’ll join me, certainly.  He liked it at first – he had my mansion all to himself – but he got bored too quickly.  I’m not sure what the hell he’s doing currently, but I think it involves bothering Apollo.  It usually does.”

“He really dislikes Apollo, doesn’t he?”

“I can’t blame him, to be honest.  Apollo is a prick.  I mean, everyone in the ancient world loved Apollo, and it went to his head.  Hell, he even condemned a guy to death merely because he was trying his sister’s chastity vow.  His sister.  Even we were like why should that matter to you?  If she decided to go through with it, then it would have been her choice, and he shouldn’t have had anything to do with it.  I hate the guy myself, but at least I was able to get him back.”

“Um…Daphne, right?  You made him love her, and her hate him, and she turned herself into a tree.”

He looked a little embarrassed.  “At the time, I thought I was being brilliant, but then you mortals took it to mean I was in love with her as well.  I actually did it because I was pissed at what he did to Zephyrus, and I wanted him to see what it felt like to be rejected.  I mean, no one rejects the mighty Apollo!  And, well, because he was boosting to me that he should be the god of love because he’s had many more lovers than I did.”

“So that was after he cursed Zephyr?”

“Actually, I didn’t realize it at the time.  I just knew that Apollo was blaming Zephyrus for the accident, and wouldn’t shut up about it.  We all knew it was an accident, but that didn’t matter to Apollo.  And, like I said, he was bragging to me about how he was better at love than I was.  He seriously needs to get a life, I swear.”

“Isn’t it better to have one great true love than it is to have many infatuations?  That’s the impression I get about love.”

“Yes, that’s what I say, but he’s one of those guys who likes to make a lot of ‘scores’.  He also has a lot of reincarnated lovers, except when they reject him, he losses interest, and he moves on.  He’s sort of boosting to me about it, because he doesn’t have to wait.  I’ve been tempted, so many times, to get him again, but I always figure it wasn’t worth the effort.  And besides which, the joke is on him; I did have one not reject me, and she’s turning out to be far more interesting than any of his past loves combined.  Save for Hyacinth, because I’m required to say that.”

I laughed.  “I understand,” I reassured him.

“So, you get all your studying in, or do you need a little extra help?  I think I might be able to be of some help in that department.”

“No, please; I’m done with studying now.  Maybe in the car tomorrow, but no more for tonight.”

He grinned at me, that disastrous sort of grin that sort of got me in trouble in the first place.  I knew that tonight, after dinner, was going to be very interesting, even if all we ended up doing was laying in each other’s arms and watching TV together.  Either way, I looked forward to it.

“So I forgot to ask the other day – is Hedone behaving herself?” he asked me as I was preparing for bed.  I was a little surprised at eh question, since it didn’t seem like a topic that’d be discussed while I was changing n my bathroom (to prevent him from peeking). 

“Well, yeah…for the most part.  It’s still sort of weird for me, though.”

“That’s why I told her to keep away.  I sort of figured the idea of me having a daughter would be strange for someone whose only eighteen.  Especially one that looks as old as she does.  But what do you mean, for the most part?  What did she do?”

“Nothing,” I insisted.  “I mean, nothing terrible.  She called Stephanie, and the two of them talked Maddie into giving up our Saturday study session for a girls’ day.  Neither of us minded, don’t worry,” I added when he looked like he was going to protest.  “It was nice, actually.  But that’s why we had to do something today.”

“Ah, I wondered.  I’ll still have a talk with her.  She’s not supposed to be overstepping her boundaries.”

I rolled my eyes as I crawled into bed next to him.  “She wasn’t overstepping anything.  That’s just something that friends do when they know it’s needed.  Maddie’s done something similar to me before, and I’ve for her.  I personally think it’s great that she does want to be friends rather than viewing me as an enemy.  She’s a great girl, Eros; don’t worry so much.”

He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer.  “I hate to say it, but I’m her father; it’s my job to worry about her.  And to worry about you.  I can’t help it when the two clash.”

“It’ll be fine.  I think we have more things to worry about then how your daughter’s treating me.”

“Like how I’m going to get revenge on your sister for trying to be mean to you?”

“No, absolutely not.  Penny’s going to be Penny regardless, and it’s something I’ll deal with.  I’ll let you know when she does something deserving of your wrath.”

“Fair enough.”

It was nice having him there, since I generally fretted about my exams, especially considering this was going to be my first as a college student.  I really didn’t know what to expect.  I suppose I had a general idea from the other exams I had taken, but those were given in the time class was allotted, and these were all three hours long.  So obviously, they’d be three times as hard.  Normally, I dreamt about being late to an exam, or forgetting something important, like a calculator, and having to go home to get it in the middle of the exam. 

But that night, with the real Eros and not some cheap copy, I was more relaxed, and I woke up surprised I slept the entire night through.  He was still asleep beside me, and I decided to let him sleep as I prepared for the day.  He looked so cute in his sleep, after all, like a literal angel (especially since he wasn’t able to hide his wings in his sleep, so they were completely solid).

“Today’s the big day, huh?” Papa teased as our cook placed entirely too many pancakes in front of me.  She always did this, although I rarely ate anything on exam days, being too anxious about arriving on time.  “How many do you have today?”

“Luckily, only one.  Maddie has two today, so I’ll be sitting around waiting for her after I’m done with mine.”  We worked it out, since she doesn’t have permission to park on campus, that I’d be driving her back and forth, since we had a similar schedule anyway.  I would just hang out, maybe study some more, as I waited.

“You’ll do fine, Psyche,” Mom said to me.  “You always do.  I never understand why you worry so much!”

“Because it’s her nature to worry, Helen.  Leave her be.  We all have our odd quirks.”

Mom looked a little chastised by this, but she did leave me along for the rest of breakfast,

Eros did manage to get himself up before I left, startling Maddie when I stopped to pick her up.  “Aw, that’s so sweet!” she proclaimed as she climbed in where he had been sitting not seconds ago.  “You drive with her to school?”

“I can’t get him to stop, to be honest,” I teased.

“I could stop if you really wanted me to…but I wasn’t under the impression that you didn’t,” he teased back.  I rolled my eyes at him in the rearview mirror, grateful that he was concentrating harder than usual in order to keep his wings invisible so that didn’t block my sight.

We did arrive perhaps a little too early, but we both wanted to make sure we got there, and weren’t late.  Eros claimed that he wasn’t going to be around, but I knew that he was going to be hanging out in the classroom to help ease my tensions.  I honestly didn’t care.  I just wanted to get this over with.

The exam itself turned out not to be too terrible.  The professor covered everything we had gone over in the semester, but there was only so much that he could cover in that short period of time.  And since everyone worked at their own pace – some slower than others –  I managed to get out after about an hour and fifty-five minutes.  “See, that wasn’t too bad,” Eros commented when he met me outside.  It was sort of strange seeing him bundled up and playing the part, but even then, girls couldn’t keep their eyes off him.  He sort of had a cold skater boy look.

“Yeah, well…my quirk is that I get nervous over things that I don’t need to,” I laughed slightly.  “Were you looking over my shoulder the entire time?”

“Psyche, honestly, I would never.  I just…stand in the back of the room and watch.  It’s a little more interesting that way, because I can people watch as well.  The two guys sitting behind you were totally cheating off each other.  It was sort of hilarious, actually.”

“I bet,” I said, shaking my head.  “Thanks for that.  Having you there always helps.”

He shrugged.  “I know, that’s why I did it.  You told me to stay away, but I knew you wanted me there otherwise.  You wouldn’t have been so candid about it otherwise.  So what do you want to do whilst we’re waiting for Maddie?  Walk around campus?  Chill in the library?  Order one milkshake and share it with two straws?”

“And stare lovingly into each other’s eyes?” I teased.  “Nah, let’s just get some hot chocolate and sit in the café area.  Its much too cold for milkshakes out here.”

He shrugged again, grinning as he took my hand, to the envy of the girls around us, and allowed me to lead the way to our café.  With one exam taken care of, and me having an idea what to expect, I knew I could take care of all of them just as easily, and then have time to focus on more important problems.  Problems that were just waiting for me to finish up my semester.  I couldn’t even begin to imagine the destruction she was to wreck with this much time on her hands, especially with Eros asking her to desist for my sake.

But I could handle it, I knew.  I could handle college exams, I could handle my sisters, and I could certainly handle a pissed off goddess who just wanted to protect her son.

It was a dangerous thought, sure, but at that moment, I felt on top of the world.  And I could only go down from there.

Chapter Eight

The Trials of Psyche Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten