by Jeny Heckman
“Thanks. She, ah, she was clubbed to death by someone. They have leads, but they haven’t found the guy yet. Kaimi’s great. We released him a couple of weeks ago.” She beamed at his words, and he stopped. “Nothing happened with Holly, Raven. I swear I didn’t even know she was still there.”
“I know.”
Relief washed over his face, then he gazed out toward the water before looking back at her.
“I’m a sonofabitch. I always thought being in control of your life meant that somehow, you could control what comes in and out of it. When you’re like that, you don’t always appreciate other people’s right to free will. In the span of three months, I lost control of literally every aspect of my life.”
“So you freaked out?”
“So I freaked out, yeah, big time.” he agreed, with a laugh. “I pushed you out and pretended it was because of your issues, people pushing at me, and Dee thinking we’re part of some weird Greek curse thing.”
“I think we are.” He flicked his gaze to hers and held it.
“So do I.”
“You do?” she asked incredulously. “You do not?”
“Yes, damn it.”
She started to laugh and couldn’t stop. Soon he was laughing too. As she wiped a tear from her eye and held her side, he stopped and just watched her.
“God, you are so damn beautiful. You overwhelm me. You scare the absolute shit outta me.”
“You don’t scare me, not anymore.” She quirked a smile and stepped toward him.
“Your show was pretty special.” He took a step toward her.
“Were you there for the whole thing?” She moved again, standing inches away.
“Did you mean what you said in that song?” he asked, withdrawing a hand from his pocket, and reaching out to brush the hair back from her face.
“Yes… I love you, Finn.”
“I love you too, Raven.”
Closing his eyes, he placed his forehead on hers. After a moment, she lifted her lips to his and kissed him softly. He leaned into it and increased pressure, letting his hands move up and down her back. They pulled apart a little breathless, and he whispered against her mouth.
“Are you gonna marry me?”
“Yes,” she answered, smiling.
“Yes?”
When she only nodded, he lifted her under her arms and held her suspended in the air for several seconds, before setting her back on earth and into his arms.
****
The sun rose, shooting streams of sunlight through the open patio door. They spent the night talking and making love. Raven told him about some of the things she’d transformed in her life and how she’d done it. Finn told her about the Rehabilitation Center donation and what they were going to be able to do with it. Somewhere around four in the morning, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, only to wake to a pounding at their door.
Finn stood up, pulling on his jeans, zipping but not bothering to button them. He padded to the door to find Abby on the threshold when he opened it. The sight of the muscular, bare-chested man took her by surprise enough to look at the door again and make sure she had the right room.
“You lookin’ for Raven, kid?” When she only nodded, he gestured toward the bed, just as Raven called out to her, hastily throwing on Finn’s tee shirt. Abby moved past the man warily, then hopped on the bed and began jumping on it.
“Guess what?”
“Be careful now. What?” Raven jostled from side to side with each hop.
“Mama said we’re going to go see the seals you helped save.”
“Abby.” Raven jerked her down, and Finn tilted his head in confusion. Abby had the good sense to look abashed.
“You guys helped some seals here, where at?” He looked quizzically at Raven.
“Yeah, there was a baby who lost his mama and Raven wanted to help. So, she just gave away a lot of money and Mama was like, ‘What, are you crazy girl,’ and Raven was like, ‘You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,’ and Mama was like…”
“Abigail…” Que appeared at the open door Finn still held, listening to most of the conversation but letting her daughter speak so Finn could know the truth. Knowledge bloomed across his face.
“How much did you get for your condo, Raven?”
“Finn…”
“Raven…”
“Wait… Finn, it’s just that I didn’t want any of that money. I wanted my own money. I was going to give it to a charity, and then I thought, hey, there are some researchers I know that could possibly benefit.”
“Get lost, kid,” Finn said, keeping his eyes on Raven.
“Come on Ab,” Que called on a laugh to her daughter, who instantly began whining about just coming into the room.
“Finn, it’s my money, I can spend it any way I want to.” Slowly, he crawled over the bed and pulled down the blankets. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m about to make love to my fiancée, and then I’m going to take you home.”
Epilogue
They flew back to Kaua’i, and from the moment they landed, the island snapped with electricity. Finn had a constant buzzing in his head as if swarms of bees engulfed him and hot current coursed through his blood. As he drove home, he held Raven’s hand and could tell she felt it too.
Upon arrival, Dee quickly moved to retrieve the box, seemingly confident in the knowledge that soon they’d have answers. When she returned, she set it on the table, then ran off once more for pen and paper.
The couple, suddenly tentative and nervous, looked at the object with wary new eyes. It was an ordinary box, except for a top, ornately carved with an agglomeration of symbols, some discernible, others not. Fire chased a dove, an owl seemingly perched on a shield, a full cornucopia, thunderbolt, lyre, and symbols for man and woman.
“Why are there two tridents?” Raven asked, indicating the two objects coming out of either side of the shield. Finn, at a loss, just shrugged.
Dee set her papers down, went over to the box and laid her hand on it. Looking up as if to say something, her body seemed to go rigid. Once again, the lines on her face filled and age spots on her hands and arms began to soften and fade. Her loose and sagging skin tightened, as spider veins scurried away one by one. Her beautiful silver hair turned to golden wheat, thickened and became luminescent. Her eyes became clear and the blue iris’s saturated deeper. Brightness illuminated her skin and her lips colored and plumped. When Dee turned to look at them, she appeared twenty-years-old. Awed and slightly terrified the couple could only stare at her.
Finn’s mouth dropped open; whatever he’d been thinking, it wasn’t this. And if what he witnessed was real, it meant that everything else she said was true. He couldn’t take his eyes off his grandmother, finally accepting she’d been right.
“Dee?” Raven’s hand drew to her mouth, and she looked over at Finn, who was now white as a sheet.
The woman tried to lift the chest, but it had become too heavy. She turned to her grandson, almost phosphorescent.
“I can’t move the damn thing. Finn, help me.” Apprehensively, he walked over, followed by Raven. When he tried to pick it up, it still wouldn’t budge. Dee tried to push alongside him but to no avail.
“Maybe if all three of us…” Raven said, and touched one handle, while Finn still held the other. The moment both hands fell upon the box, the medallion around Raven’s neck began to heat.
“Ow.” Raven leaned forward to release the disc from her skin and rubbed underneath it. She looked down, trying to ascertain what happened. “It’s hot. I think it burned me.” Wincing, she drew in a sharp breath, so Dee unfastened it for her. The medallion fell onto the chest and instantly turned into liquid gold.
“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Finn exclaimed, jumping back and automatically throwing both arms out to shield the women. They watched in disbelief as the metal formed and reformed, moving along the surface of the box.
A groove began to etch itself into the chest, made by unseen hands.
The gold settled into the groove on top of the chest and took shape of an odd-looking arrowhead. It hardened then cooled. Raven vee’d her thumb and forefinger across her chest where the necklace had been, leaving the faintest hint of a small lyre burned into her flesh. Her mouth was open, and she was breathless.
The box seemed to tremor and the lid burst opened; each person jumped and leaned away from it. Inside a sphere glowed in diffused light. A mist started to rise and eventually formed into a woman. Themis stood erect with the blindfold of impartiality firmly affixed to her eyes. She turned her head in the direction of the trio and spoke in a distinct yet monotone voice.
“Daughter of Demeter, you have created sanctuary for your mother and begun the process we’ve long sought.”
Dee gave a weak smile but didn’t speak and looked over at Finn and Raven, who both stared wide-eyed at the vision. She understood they hadn’t honestly believed all of it until just that moment and felt some vindication. Themis turned to Raven and spoke in a liquid, melodic voice.
“Daughter of Apollo. Your own power from within, you have tirelessly sought. The selfless love of another, each has now been caught. The medallion you possessed has been the sacred key. The master musician left it for you to see. Its ore once lay in his golden lyre, and now its safe return after generations of tears. The sun god acquiesces his endowment comes from music and lyric, rather than his gift deriving power from his own hand and lip. Your father may now lay on the heavenly mound, in the Elysium and heart of the underground.”
Trembling, Raven was terrified and squeezed Finn’s arm, rigid with suppressed adrenaline. The mist of the sphere blossomed into the room. Raven gasped as the young man of her dream appeared.
Atop his head of long, soft, white curls sat a crown of laurel. Apollo’s intense blue eyes connected with Raven’s and he smiled serenely, trying to take in all of her at once. Then beaming with pride, he touched his head and heart, rose fingers to his ruby lips and extended them out toward her and smiled again, brilliantly. He lifted his lyre made of gold, reclined his head back, and closed his eyes. He appeared to stroke the cords once and his entire body exploded into glorious beads of light. They floated in frozen suspension for a moment, then sucked into a vortex and disappeared. The sphere went hazy, and Themis addressed Finn.
“Son of Poseidon. Control and pride are the most difficult to tame. Relinquishment of each, mastery sustained. Devotion at another’s behest has locked your key into this great chest. Your skill with the sea’s beasts is set free, together with your lover’s song, so may it ever be. Poseidon’s overbearance vanquished and for always it will remain. The first of three unyielding brothers whose character has now changed. Your father may lay on the heavenly mound, in the Elysium and heart of the underground.”
The orb pulsed and a massive wave curled. Prongs of the great trident appeared, causing Finn’s back to fire and throb. He flinched, and Raven squeezed his hand. A massive being, half man, half sea creature, rose, enveloping the entire room. His voice resonated power as he formed into the man of Finn’s dreams. He turned slowly to first look at Raven and bowed deeply, then to Finn and addressed him.
“My son, I am one of three brothers that rule our kingdom, our universe. We may join our power for a brief moment in time to offer you guidance, so you must ask the questions you seek swiftly, then you must listen.”
Finn stared wildly at the man, an older version of himself, and looked at Raven for help.
“Who?” She prompted.
“Ah, o-okay, um, so how do we find these other people?”
“Your woman has recently met the next to follow.”
Poseidon gestured to Raven and Finn looked at her accusatorially. She just shook her head and blinked, so Finn turned back.
“Um, h-how long do we have?”
“Before the Immaculate Conjunction, the quest must reach its end.”
“Conjunction?” He looked at Raven again and then Dee, who was scribbling frantically on a piece of paper.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said quickly.
“Can we get help from you somehow?” Finn said.
“I will now reside in the Elysium, until the last day.”
“So what happens if we don’t figure it all out by then?”
“Myself, my brothers and my sisters will dwell in damnation of the Tartarus. Cronus has power to unleash evil upon mankind. The last plagues upon the earth and heavens. Affecting my time and yours, the likes of which our worlds have never known.”
“What kind of evil? P-plagues? Can anyone else help us?” Finn asked in rapid fire succession. Poseidon began to fade. “Wait, why’s all this happening? How did it happen?”
“We were betrayed by one of our own, who, in turn, was tricked into this fate by father.” Poseidon grew breathless, eager to reveal as much as he could. “You will need their gift for the final test, my son. Beware of Lyssa and Phthous—Cronus controls them. Success lies in the keys and the Oneiroi.”
The last three words were a whisper. Poseidon’s colors deepened and intensified. Finn considered the face of the great man, whose eyes matched his own. Then, like in his dream, an enormous tsunami ran through him, blending to his shape, becoming the wave, and his outline turned to the ocean’s spray and was gone. Themis appeared a final time.
“Now to the future outside of one another. Ares, the warrior, and Hera, the mother. For it is they that must complete their turn in this quest. All gods’ sanctuary to the Isle of Blest.”
An intense buzzing and tension of foreboding filled the room, as the fog settled and the chest slammed shut, sealing with finality. A spark of light sped across the lines of the lyre, trident, and cornucopia. Each symbol glowed, before the light disappeared into the thunderbolt, leaving the trio in stunned silence.
Dee felt her age return and with it, the discomforts of time. She massaged her hands, looking dazed. After several minutes, Finn spoke.
“O-okay.” Trying to break the silence, he said very slowly, “So, how do we go about finding ten perfect strangers, and tell them they’re the descendants of the mythical Greek gods? And oh, by the way, you need to fall in love with a certain specific person. But we don’t know who, how or where. Just that you have to so you can save said gods from the pits of a fiery hell and some pretty horrible, evil things that some asshole’s gonna let loose on the world?” He looked at them. “I mean, where do we even start?”
“Um.” Raven thought, looking at her medallion, now melted into the chest and didn’t even think, just said, “SOL.”
Dee laughed and hugged her tightly.
“Is this seriously our life now?” He looked incredulously at the two women. “This shit doesn’t happen.” He looked at Dee. “Grandma, I’m so sorry.”
“Well,” Dee said in a shaky voice, then looked at her piece of paper, “now there’s three of us, and they already gave us a clue.”
“What clue?”
“He said you’d already met the next one.” Dee looked hopefully at Raven.
“Ah, okay, well if I’m supposedly of Apollo…”
“Supposedly?” Finn laughed.
“Okay, if I’m a descendant of Apollo and he’s a twin, wouldn’t it go without saying Wyatt would be the other?” She thought for a moment, then laughed. “Only God knows how I’ll explain this to him though.”
“She said Ares and Hera,” Dee remarked.
“And it would seem each could be either a man or a woman,” Raven acknowledged.
“Apollo and Raven, music, Poseidon and Finn, the sea. It would go on then that an Ares and Hera descendant would maybe have their traits as well, somehow.” Dee looked between the two as if looking for confirmation. “Or maybe in the same field or something. So, we’ll have to look those two up and see?”
“Well, I can’t remember too much about Hera and what she’s the goddess of, except that she was Zeus’ wife. But Ares was like anger or something, right?” Finn looked at Raven.
“No, it’s not an emo
tion, it was like a battle or fighting.” She pressed a hand to her temple, adrenaline pumping like a steam engine through her blood as she tried to calm down enough to think. “War.” She smiled, relieved. “He was the god of war.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like a good thing at all, now does it?” Dee bit her bottom lip, “And it sure doesn’t sound like that sweet brother of yours neither.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Raven confirmed. “And Hera was the goddess of marriage, but that sure doesn’t sound like him either.”
“Plus, the vapor chick said you’ve just met the next one.”
He looked at her perplexed when Raven laughed at his description of Themis. She decided not to correct him that it was actually Poseidon that made the statement.
“That, to me,” he continued, “means someone you’ve known, less than thirty-four years, that’s not Wyatt. Maybe someone more apparent,” Finn suggested, then added, “although, I guess Wyatt could be the Hera lady since you’re from the Apollo dude. Maybe we’re missing something, and it has to do with your parents. Dee’s right—we’ll have to look them up, along with those other names he said.”
“Well, I guess it just depends on how long…Oh God…wait, of course,” Raven’s head snapped up, looking from Dee to Finn. “Oh my God, I think I know who it is.”
A word about the author…
Jeny Heckman loves romance. She especially loves romance with a paranormal and historical twist. Educated as an artist, sales clerk, model, TV extra, draftsman, jewelry maker, nursing student, charity fundraiser, hospice volunteer, photographer, mother, and wife, she felt her calling lay elsewhere. While taking care of an ailing loved one, she was inspired to write her first novel entitled, The Catch, about a female Alaskan crab fisherman, and self-publish it.
Deciding she loved writing but wanting to try something different, she pitched an idea to a New York Publishing house, who told her to run with it. The Sea Archer is the first book of that seven-part endeavor.