*
Melaina's head had barely touched the pillow when her mother woke her. She felt lightheaded and giddy. "If they don't feed me soon, I'll be hallucinating," she said.
Late that afternoon, following baths in the hot springs and olive-oil massages, Theognotus visited the trio again. "Today completes your fast," he told Melaina and her mother with his hands clasped before him as was his custom when addressing them. "We must prepare the two of you for tonight's incubation. The Hierophant," he looked at him out the corner of his eye, "will undergo his ordeal later."
The Hierophant's face turned sour at the prospect of another uneventful day. "My suffering means nothing to you," he said.
Theognotus, unperturbed, turned his attention to the women.
"Is dreaming necessary for a cure?" asked Melaina.
"But of course."
"I have troubled sleep of late, if I do at all," she said. "My dreams are frightening, horrid. Perhaps the cure will not work for me."
"A skeptic!" His impish face beamed approval. "Asklepios enjoys a challenge. Many with epilepsy, and the melancholy temperament accompanying it, have come to us. We've been quite successful, perhaps because sleep is a little like epilepsy. For many, the malady begins during sleep. Have you had seizures while slumbering?"
"I've wondered but never been sure."
"Yes, many," Myrrhine blurted out.
"Mother! Why didn't you tell me?"
"A good sign, for that will put the problem directly up against Asklepios. Provided, of course, we can get you to sleep at all," said Theognotus. He was silent for a moment, appearing more concerned than Melaina would have thought.
"Is my situation impossible?" she asked.
"Of course not," he said, "I've been talking to Udaeüs about his teachings to you last night. He's never taken such an interest in a patient. Claims you have an extraordinary gift."
"What's this you've done?" asked her mother. "Escaped while I was asleep?"
"Please, mother! You know of my insomnia. I need to fill the hours."
Theognotus continued, "Udaeüs is a great seer. He chooses not to practice his craft and instead only teach. Yet, rarely will he accept a student. I won't be able to help with your insomnia and troubled dreams, but he might. The nature of dreams is such that they're sometimes no more than memories of the day's activities, but these remnants can be directed to become the seed wherefrom Asklepios' presence blossoms. Dreaming is a descent into the dark world of Hermes, and we can give you an experience to sow dreams."
"How?" asked Melaina.
"The Tholos. We have secret rites there that I can't reveal," he looked up at her grandfather, "even to a Hierophant. You'll not participate in those rites, but Udaeüs will take you with him when he performs his weekly ritual inside the Tholos. He'll tell you about it."
The Hierophant said, "I've wondered its purpose. It wasn't here a few years ago."
Theognotus looked up at him. "The Tholos is Asklepios' tomb and represents his dual nature: the aboveground portion, his life here on earth; that below, his life as a god."
"Which aspect will concern Melaina, just the above or also the below?"
"Enough!" said Theognotus. "I can reveal no more. Your preliminary days here are over. Prepare for treatment."
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 48