by Paul Ruditis
“That’s when you wrote in to Phoebe?” Coop asked.
Bri’s wistful smile turned into a resigned laugh. “That wasn’t like me either. It was my sister’s doing. She knew I read your column and convinced me to write in.”
If Phoebe had a dollar for every time one of her readers said something like that, she could have retired early. Everyone freely admitted to enjoying her column, but they were always surprised that they’d ever need her advice personally.
“I figured, why not?” Bri continued. “It was just a quick little email. I never imagined I’d see my problem in the newspaper. But there it was, like a week after I sent it. Your wife actually used you as an example of why I shouldn’t second guess myself.”
Phoebe squeezed Coop’s hand again. This time the message she was hoping to pass along was one that didn’t require any action on his part. She remembered Bri’s letter now. It was one of the first ones Phoebe had answered after her own wedding. “I told her there was such a thing as love at first sight. That I experienced it with you. I just didn’t realize it at the time.”
“She wrote about protecting myself by being cautious and not rushing into things,” Bri added. “But she also said that when you know, you know. And we knew it was right back then. Just like we know it’s over now.”
“If I remember correctly,” Phoebe said, “I also suggested you should have a long engagement to make sure that it was a genuine connection. So why not a trial separation? Take the time to be certain that this is what you both want?”
“Phoebe, I appreciate your advice.” Bri got up from her folding chair. “And I’m thrilled that you came in person to talk to me. I really love that you respect your readers like that. But it’s over. There’s nothing more to say.”
Phoebe rose as well and Coop followed suit. “Are you sure I can’t—”
“I’m certain,” Bri said as the movers came back into the house. “We’ve really got a lot to do here before lunch. I’m afraid Keon might swing by to keep an eye on things. Maybe have some second thoughts about letting me take what I want. If you’ll excuse me?”
“Certainly,” Coop said, shaking her hand. “Do you mind if we speak with Keon too?”
Bri shrugged. “You’d be wasting your time, but do what you want. He can talk to whoever he wants. That’s not my problem anymore.”
“Thank you anyway,” Phoebe said, slipping a business card into Bri’s hand. “If you change your mind and want to talk some more, call me. My personal cell phone number is there. I’ll be happy to lend whatever support I can.”
“Sure,” Bri said in a way that implied Phoebe should not expect that call to come anytime soon.
“Just one more thing,” Coop said. “Have you met anyone in the past week that stood out for any particular reason? Had anything unusual happen? I mean, before the toothpaste incident.”
“This isn’t about another person,” Bri said. “No one cheated on anyone.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Coop said. “I just… sometimes changes in life bring about other changes. Seemingly unrelated events can affect you in completely unexpected ways.”
“Yeah, well, nothing new going on here,” Bri said as she walked them to the front door. “Thanks for stopping by.” Phoebe and Coop took their cue and slipped out before the movers blocked their path with the couch.
“That went well,” Phoebe said as she and Coop descended the tall staircase. “Sometimes changes in life bring other changes?”
“Better than asking if she ran into any broken-hearted demons in the past week,” Coop replied. “At least it wasn’t a total waste. I’m leaning toward some kind of supernatural involvement here. They had a romantic weekend a month ago and she never gave us a real reason for them to be breaking up now.”
“Not unless you consider improper toothpaste maintenance a crime,” Phoebe said. “It’s not the first time something like this happened. I get loads of letters from readers who just woke up one day and decided it was over.”
“And were loading a moving van before the week was out?”
Phoebe shrugged. “It’s fast, but it seems like more of a move out of convenience than seething hatred. I’m not entirely convinced yet. Although…” She trailed off.
“Although what?”
Phoebe glanced back to the house. “When we got here, I felt nothing but rage while Bri was screaming at her husband. But the moment she hung up the phone… nothing. No rage. No nothing at all.”
“I didn’t get anything either,” Coop said. “But that’s not unusual. Sometimes people shut down. Do you think the husband will be able to tell us more?”
“Maybe,” Phoebe said. “But I’d rather talk to some other people instead.”
“Next couple on the list?” Coop asked.
“Different list,” Phoebe replied. “Mika spoke with a couple I married that was still blissfully in love. They were thrilled to be a part of the follow up article she was planning. After that disappointment it will be nice to meet with one of my success stories. Can you beam us over to the East Bay?”
Coop held out a hand. “Your wish is my command.”
Phoebe took her husband’s hand as they both checked around to make sure they were alone. The street wasn’t crowded, but it was busy enough that two people suddenly disappearing in a pink glow would not go unnoticed.
Phoebe looked back at the house to see that the movers were struggling with getting the couch through the front door. Their attention was completely taken by their efforts. “Moving van?” she suggested.
“Moving van,” Coop agreed as he led her up the ramp and into the back of the truck. Once they were blocked from view, Phoebe provided the address of their destination and they zipped across the bay, materializing on a tree-lined street in Berkeley that was far less hilly than the place they had just left.
The houses in this neighborhood had fenced-in green yards and every other one had some kind of play set in it. This was the type of neighborhood Phoebe could imagine raising the girls in one day. Their current place was fine, but she could see them growing out of it as P.J. and Parker got older and any other little ones came along. She’d have to check into the school district in the area first, though. It wasn’t a given that she was going to send the kids to Magic School.
Educational opportunities aside, Phoebe could see herself in a quiet neighborhood like this. She breathed in the fresh air as a loud crash broke through the stillness. Phoebe looked at Coop. “That’s not good.”
The pair walked across the yard and up onto the small porch. The front window was open, allowing them unobstructed access to the argument going on inside. Like last time, Phoebe felt overwhelming rage the closer they got to the house. But this was so much more than she’d felt with Bri.
“I can’t believe I married you! I can’t believe I wasted all this time with you! I can’t believe—”
“That you never shut up?!”
“Blissfully in love?” Coop asked as the yells got louder.
Phoebe couldn’t manage a response. She was concentrating too much on trying to keep out the hate. It was overwhelming her.
“I want a divorce!”
Bright lights flashed in Phoebe’s eyes as she reached for the door. The wave of unrepressed emotions hit her hard, and she lost her balance and crumpled to the ground as everything went black.
Chapter 6
Medusa stretched her arms above her head, working out the kinks in her newly reconstituted joints. It felt good to be on her feet again, breathing the musty air of the strange cave she was in. There was a little crick in her neck, but otherwise she felt fine. She was whole again. Alive!
She never imagined it would be possible. Hades was too powerful for her magic to fight against. Her sisters were even weaker. How they managed to bring her back, just the two of them on their own, was a mystery they would need to ex
plain. But that would come later. For now, there were more pressing questions to answer.
Medusa ran a hand through her hair. Damn that Athena. The snakes were still there. It wasn’t a surprise considering that her sisters were still in their monstrous forms—staring at her, waiting for her to speak—but she had hoped after all this time…
But how much time? How long had she been gone?
Death had been a nothingness she’d never imagined. She’d expected a journey to Hades, to be ferried along the River Styx and tortured along with the other pitiful souls that had reached the end of their lives. But there was none of that when Perseus killed her. She simply ceased to exist. Lost in a void with darkness all around until she woke to the dim light of lanterns in some unfamiliar cave.
Had she been gone for weeks? Years?
Is Perseus still playing the hero, killing innocents like herself?
Her sisters were watching: Euryale with her usual concern, like Medusa was a tiny bird with a broken wing; Stheno still barely containing her anger, ready to lash out at the world. Even though it felt like she had only seen them minutes ago, Medusa knew that a great deal of time had passed. She felt her sisters’ aching for her in their souls. Their pain had built into a power of its own, one that had grown and changed with time. It emanated from them in waves. Just how long had she been gone?
“When?” she managed to eek out. It was difficult to form the word on her tongue. Her body was adjusting to her return, rebuilding from whatever decay she had become. Had there still been flesh to repair? Bone? Had she completely faded to dust?
Euryale replied in a language Medusa did not recognize with words she could not understand. She must have looked perplexed, because her sister stopped mid-sentence. “It’s… been a while,” Euryale said in their native tongue.
“Can you shift?” Stheno asked. “Reclaim your glamour?”
Medusa smiled. This was Stheno. No time for reunions. Get right to the point. “I’ll… try.”
Medusa closed her eyes and concentrated. She remembered her body from the time before Athena had cursed her; the face that Poseidon had once claimed that he loved. The declaration might have been a lie, but the face had been true. It had been her.
She could feel the shift occur. The snakes on her head went silent as they transformed into coiling black locks, the horror of her scaly skin turned to flesh, and the fangs drew back into more manageable teeth. She ran her human tongue over them inside her mouth and smiled. This body was far more pleasant. It was her true self.
“Better?” she asked, her voice growing stronger.
“Much,” Euryale said jumping toward her and pulling her sister into a hug. The snakes in Euryale’s own hair hissed in their ears. Even in her monstrous form, it was nice to be in the loving arms of her sister once again. Medusa enjoyed the embrace, even though it came from Euryale’s scaly skin.
“But not entirely,” Stheno added, leaning closer to Medusa once Euryale let her go. At first, Medusa thought she was coming in for a hug as well, but Stheno’s arms remained at her side. Her gaze was focused on Medusa’s face.
“Your eyes,” Stheno said. “They haven’t changed. They are inhuman.”
Medusa didn’t need a reflection to show her how they looked. She was all too familiar with the serpents’ eyes that she’d been cursed to carry.
“Let me try again.” Medusa closed her eyes and concentrated harder. She remembered the blue of the eyes that Poseidon once compared to the seas that he ruled. The memory brought her pain, but it also helped focus her concentration. Emotion fueled her powers and she could use that energy to create the change. She opened her eyes again to see Stheno was still inches from her. “Better?”
Stheno’s face showed her disappointment.
“No matter,” Euryale said. “We can work with that.”
Medusa tilted her head, enjoying the feel of her hair against her shoulder. “How?”
“Sunglasses, of course.” She nodded to the tunic Medusa wore. It was a recreation of the outfit she’d worn on the day Perseus had taken her life. “Fashions have changed over time.”
Stheno and Euryale exchanged a look before they brought up their familiar glamours as well, returning to the bodies that Medusa had known them in from the time of her birth. These were the sisters Medusa remembered. Euryale with long, straight hair that she was forever fussing with along with a casual, relaxed pose so different from Stheno with her nearly Amazonian stature and perfect poise.
The clothes they wore were different to say the least. Stheno looked conservative in a jacket that seemed to be made from the skin of some animal and that covered her arms entirely. Euryale wore sandals that resembled more of a torture device, elevating her heel at an unnatural angle.
“How long have I been gone?” Medusa asked again, regarding the odd vestments her sisters wore.
Stheno reached out and took Euryale’s hand and they both reached out to Medusa. “Let us show you.”
Medusa took their hands, forming a circle. Once complete, Medusa’s mind was flooded with images of the life she had missed. The lives she had missed. She had been dead far longer than days or weeks. She had been gone for more than years or decades or even centuries.
Millennia had passed since Perseus took her life. Since Athena had cursed her. Since Poseidon had…
The world was a different place, a horrible place. It was full of anger and hatred. Great wars raged on filled with death. Powerful men controlled everything, through every century that she saw. Medusa understood that the images she witnessed were being filtered through her sisters’ eyes. That Stheno and Euryale were feeding her what they wanted her to see. But all of it was real. Everything they showed her had happened while she had slept. By the end, she began to wonder why they would ever wake her to live again in this world that was as monstrous as their cursed forms.
Medusa released her sister’s hands. It was far too much to comprehend at once. She’d been shown so many images without any real context. No explanation. It would take time to understand it all, to bring order to the chaos and fully comprehend the thousands of years of history that she had missed.
Until then, she focused on what she could manage. She closed her eyes again and picked out an image that had come from Euryale’s mind. It was a more modern fashion choice that would allow her to blend in with the current populace.
When she opened her eyes again she saw that her tunic had morphed into something she never could have imagined wearing in the time before her death. Cloth wrapped around both her legs. It was tight and constricting. Her top was much the same. Her feet were in an unnatural position, like Euryale’s, putting almost all her weight on her toes while she struggled to maintain her balance. This would not do.
She closed her eyes again and pulled another image from the memories her sisters had implanted: sandals like the ones she wore on her trips to the market; the cloth still wrapping both her legs, but now a lighter material with more room to breathe. She kept the shirt that was tight and clingy. It felt nice against her skin. It looked good on her once she opened her eyes again. She would need a mirror to get the full effect, but for the moment it worked.
“Is this better?” she asked in the language her sister spoke earlier. She knew it to be English now, words from a new world for a new millennium.
“Perfect,” Stheno said. “Come. We have much to do.”
Chapter 7
Piper watched in satisfaction as the congressman broke into tiny orbs and disappeared. It wasn’t so much that she was pleased at another job well done by the Charmed Ones as she was glad to be rid of the annoying politician. She’d have to remember to make a note at the restaurant that if anyone ever took a call from Congressman Ward’s office about a reservation that Halliwell’s would be full up that night. She didn’t want to see any pictures on social media of that jackass in her dining room.
&nbs
p; “Let’s hope that amnesia spell holds,” Prue said as the last of the orbs disappeared, leaving the three of them alone now that Leo and Cole were off on their next magical errand. “The last thing we need is a congressman finding out that witches are real.”
“It’s not like the government doesn’t already know about us,” Piper said.
Prue shot her a questioning look.
“Long story,” Piper replied with a terse smile. Their brief flirtation with working for Homeland Security wasn’t exactly the highlight of their careers as the Charmed Ones. She really didn’t feel like getting into it now.
“Part of me is going to miss him,” Prue said. “It was nice having a small-minded idiot to argue with for a while. Really got the blood pumping.”
“You must be incredibly bored,” Paige replied.
“I’m kidding. Sort of. But since Dad went back home things have been kind of quiet around here. Still, quiet is better than the idiotic ramblings of a politician.” Prue waved a hand over the table, making the pizza box and the dirty dishes disappear. Not for the first time, Piper was envious of one of her sisters’ powers. That ability would come in handy with three kids in the house. She wasn’t willing to put up with the trade-off of being trapped on the Nexus though.
“We’ll find a way to get you out of here,” Piper said.
“Maybe Grams knows something,” Paige suggested. “Or Mom.”
“They’ve been very quiet lately,” Prue said. “I’m not sure if that’s by choice or the Elders are keeping them on lockdown.”
Piper knew their Grams could be challenging at times. She was pretty steadfast in her beliefs. But she’d never ignore one of her girls when she was in need of some of Grams’s particular brand of blunt comfort. “Why would they—”
“Because I broke the rules,” Prue said with a resigned shrug. “I tried to force myself back to life. I took off with a body that wasn’t mine. How long does the list go on?”