“I suppose it’s possible,” she allowed. “But even so, I doubt he’s really sincere. I trusted him once before and it did nothing but bring me pain.”
The goddess tapped her foot and nodded. “You’re talking about the first time you were together. Pan wasn’t ready for a full-time commitment, even if you were. Still, he didn’t do the right thing.”
Her head shook sadly. “How many times have I said that the worst thing anyone can do to someone they care about is betray them? It is the easiest thing to avoid, and yet it happens constantly, and the results are always catastrophic. Pan didn’t want you to leave him, but he didn’t think about that when he met someone who attracted him. It was the heat of the moment and he wasn’t man enough to avoid the temptation.”
The goddess of love’s lips settled into a tight line of fury. “You were right to leave him, Nina. In fact, I don’t think you should have ever taken him back.”
Appalled at the Aphrodite’s anger, Nina couldn’t think what to do. Was Aphrodite saying she shouldn’t even be with Pan now? “But I thought…you said…” She took a moment to gather her composure. “I’m only here because of the arrow you shot through us.” Nina couldn’t help how her voice rose under Aphrodite’s furious stare. “It isn’t my fault.”
“Isn’t it? In the past century you’ve done little but tease Pan with your availability…to everyone but him. Don’t think he hadn’t been aware of your work at the LUV channel. I bet he knew everything about you.”
“He didn’t know,” Nina responded without thinking. “He found pictures in my apartment and was appalled…” Her voice trailed off at Aphrodite’s sudden grin.
“So, the god of lust was appalled at seeing his woman in the arms of others…and yet he continues to keep her with him and even proposes marriage.” A chuckle erupted from the goddess. “Sounds like love to me.”
“Pan doesn’t love me,” Nina said but she wondered if she was right.
Aphrodite sat and recovered her cup from the small table she’d conjured to hold it. Immediately the table disappeared.
“He does love you, Nina, and you’d be a fool to believe otherwise. How else can you explain everything that’s happened? It has to be more than a simple spell.” She sipped the remains of her cup and shuddered.
“I hate cold espresso,” she said and waved her hand with a flourish. The cup disappeared from sight.
Nina ignored the loss of her cup and considered her own problems. Pan loved her? Really loved her, not just because of a spell but because he’d cared even back then?
Aphrodite tapped her shoulder and it brought Nina back to the here and now. “I have a present for you.”
“A present?” she asked.
The goddess smiled kindly. “Something I thought you should have. I meant to make it a wedding present…we can consider it an early one if you like.”
Curiosity burned through Nina. What kind of gift would the goddess think she should have? “What is it?”
Aphrodite drew a thin silver chain with a single pendant, shaped like a silver heart, from a pocket. She dropped it into Nina’s open palm.
“It’s beautiful,” Nina said, holding the gleaming object up. Simple in design, but perfectly formed, the heart seemed to call to her. With impatient fingers Nina fastened the chain around her neck, then held it up to view it more closely. “I love it, but why did you think I should have it?”
“Because the pendant is made from the arrowhead that struck you and Pan. It turned into a heart before it hit the ground.”
It was the bespelled arrowhead? Nina almost pulled the cursed necklace off before she thought of how that would likely annoy Aphrodite. Better not to upset the goddess, especially when she was trying to be nice. She’d take it off later and hide it. Or, better still, maybe she’d melt it, or pound it shapeless with a hammer. That sounded like fun.
Imagining ways of destroying her gift, Nina missed it when Aphrodite rose and began to wander the garden. When Nina noticed her guest missing, she looked for her, only to discover that the goddess had paused in front of the statues of Aster and Dawn.
She leaned in to examine the pair closely. “Very nice. These must be the pair that Pygmalion made. I’d heard that Hephaestus had found a home for them.” She stared closer at the molded pants on Aster and the simple gown Dawn wore. “Why are they wearing clothes?”
Hiding her smile Nina strolled over. “They were more comfortable with something on, as were Pan and myself. No point in them being naked all the time.”
“Statues bothered by nudity?” Aphrodite laughed merrily. “Now I’ve heard everything.” She darted a mischievous look at Nina. “I’ve heard you had them acting out scenes in your screenplay. That must have been amusing, like having your own living puppet show.”
For some reason Nina felt compelled to defend her actors. “They are very good actors, Aphrodite. Some of the best I’ve worked with.”
“Really? I’d love to see them in action.” She waved her hand. “Could you make them perform for me?”
At least this was one way she could thwart the goddess. “No,” Nina said slowly. “I can’t. I need Pan to make them come to life.”
The goddess’ smile was a little too sympathetic. “Oh, you poor dear. I’m sorry, I forgot you can’t do transformations.” Aphrodite pulled up her sleeves. “Don’t think a thing of it, I’ll do it for you.”
Before Nina could object, the goddess took a stance right in front of the statues. “Figure of marble, figure of stone, come to life, be blood and bone.”
Nina watched the statues came to life, the pale marble darkening to each figure’s skin and hair color, his brown and black, hers tan and fiery red. Their eyes blinked and torsos stretched as first one then the other turned to gaze impassively at Nina and Aphrodite.
To Nina’s surprise Aphrodite blanched, her composure seriously shaken as Aster turned his glare on her.
“You!” she said. “What are you doing here?”
Nina blinked in surprise. “You know them?”
Aphrodite turned her astonishment on her. “Don’t you? This is Astraios, the Titan ruler of the stars.”
Aster grinned at her surprise but it wasn’t a comforting expression. “Why, I live here, goddess. I’m a guest of Pan and Nemesis.”
“You shouldn’t be in Olympus. It’s forbidden!”
“Forbidden?” Dawn stepped into the conversation. “Why should Olympus be off-limits to us?”
Aphrodite’s jaw dropped. “Eos, Lady of the Dawn and daughter of the Titan Hyperion? You’re here as well?” She shook her head at the woman’s sneering nod.
The goddess collected her scattered composure. “Olympus is forbidden to you because you are Titans. Your people sought to overthrow us and failed. That’s why you’re banned from here and from Earth.”
“It is true we sought the overthrow of Olympus and its gods,” Eos, as Nina now knew her to be, acknowledged. “But that was thousands of years ago. We grow tired of being imprisoned for ancient violations.”
“Your realm isn’t a prison. We gave you a world.”
“Any world as small as ours and from which we can’t escape is a prison, goddess,” Astraios shouted. He strode forward, all male muscular power. Nina and Aphrodite fell back before his mighty rage, but he quickly took hold of them by the arms, dragging them across the grass to where Eos waited.
“What should we do with them?” he asked with a growl.
Eos folded her arms. “We should take them with us back to Titanous, I think. I know how to do a transport now, thanks to watching the Olympians, but don’t have the power to get there by myself. Now, however, I can tap into Aphrodite’s power…”
She stepped forward and placed her hand on Aphrodite’s perfectly coiffed hair. A smile crossed her lips as a golden shimmer of power engulfed the Titan’s hand. Aphrodite seemed to lose strength in her limbs. Shuddering, she leaned against Nina.
Eos raised her gleaming hands over her head. “So much
power,” she gloated. “Enough to do what’s needed and then some. Now I can take us back to Titanous.”
She touched Nina and Aphrodite and they froze into place, their bodies as still as if they were made of stone. It happened so fast that Nina’s cry as she stiffened died without being heard.
Once the Olympians were secured, Astraios released them and stepped away. He turned to Eos, who seemed almost sad. She touched his shoulder. “Time to go,” she told him. He nodded then grimaced as his body melted away, disappearing completely.
When he was gone, Eos turned to Nina and Aphrodite. “I’m sorry I can’t take your physical frames with us, but as you will see, we have little room in Titanous. They will have to remain here, but I doubt they will come to any harm.”
Laying her hands on the tops of their heads, she closed her eyes. When she opened them, figures of white marble stood before her with faces stark with fear. Eos shook her head sadly. She hadn’t meant this to be quite so traumatic for them. Still, once their men arrived and saw what had happened to Aphrodite and Nemesis they would be all the more inspired to rescue them. That could prove best for her people.
Eos took a moment for a last look around the garden, breathing deeply of its perfumed air. She’d miss this place, with its living things, its tastes, smells, and other delights. She looked about for Astraios, only to remember that his statue was now gone, just as hers would be as soon as she left this plane.
She’d miss him as much as she did this world. Actually, probably more. For the first time in her life she’d been free of what she was, Eos of the dawn and daughter of Hyperion, lord of the Titans. Astraios of the stars had courted her for a long time, but she’d never been able to accept his suit. He was the Titan’s captain of the guard and her father had not approved of someone so far below her in rank.
But then Astraios had volunteered for this assignment to do undercover work against the Olympians, working with her. The first time they’d made love… Eos closed her eyes remembering the feel of his hard cock shoving its way inside her, taking her maidenhood with it. He’d taken more than that as well.
Astraios held her heart as hostage as she and her father now held the Olympian women.
Shaking her head Eos moved back to where the statues were. The glow from her hands was fading and she hoped there was enough to see her back to Titanous. Placing her hands on her shoulders, she bowed her head and spoke quietly.
“Goodbye, Olympus.”
Moments later there was nothing left in the garden but two marble statues of women with their eyes wide open.
Chapter Eleven
With a barely audible pop Pan materialized and stared enthusiastically around the garden. Eagerness and hope faded as he failed to find what he was looking for. “So where are they?” he demanded. “I don’t see Nina or Aphrodite anywhere.”
Just having finished materializing himself, Hep turned in a slow circle. He eyed the new sitting area with an approving grin. “I like what Nina’s done with the place. It looks good.”
“Yes, it’s great,” Pan said impatiently. “But what has she done with herself?” he searched the open areas of his home while Hep wandered around nodding and smiling. Other than a single empty cup in the sitting area, he saw no sign that the women had been there. He strode rapidly to the bower and threw open the door. Nope, no one here either, although he saw that the bed hadn’t been made.
Grumbling, he returned to where Hep stood in the bathing area and nearly groaned aloud. The big god’s gaze was fixed on several objects lying on the cushions near the pool, his eyes wide with astonishment.
Hep picked one of them up, Nina’s dildo, holding it carefully by the flared end. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Never mind that now,” Pan said quickly, taking it from him. He waved his hand and the dildo and other leftovers from last night’s sex game disappeared, hopefully moving to their storage place in Nina’s closet. Hopefully, because Pan realized he was a little distracted and just wanted them out of sight. He hoped he didn’t find the objects later in someplace even less appropriate, such as the freezer of Nina’s new refrigerator. He doubted she’d be amused by his mistake and might get angry with him. Of course, before he could temper her wrath, he had to find her.
Pulling Hep away from the bath area, Pan continued to search the area for clues to his lady’s whereabouts. Obviously she hadn’t cleaned up since getting out of bed. Was it possible that she had been so upset that she went back to her old apartment right away?
But then there was the half-empty cup in the sitting area. Pan checked the coffeemaker in the kitchen and found the dregs of the pot still warm. Obviously Nina had been there not much more than an hour ago. That would have been about the time Aphrodite would have arrived. Pan smiled a little to himself. Having the goddess here could easily cause Nina to seek the fortification of caffeine…or even something stronger.
So it would appear that Nina had been here up to just a while ago. So, if she hadn’t taken off first thing this morning and had been here when Aphrodite arrived, then where was she now? For that matter, where was the goddess who’d told them to come here? Wouldn’t she have contacted them if they’d decided to go elsewhere?
“Do you think Aphrodite took her someplace?” he asked Hep, who’d now crossed the lawn to where the statues stood. The big man didn’t answer, but stood staring closely at the figures with a profound frown on his face.
“Pan, get over here.”
The note of urgency in the god’s voice drove Pan to his side. He spared a single glance at the gleaming white figures. “What is it?”
“You notice anything strange about these statues?”
Pan gave them another look. Then another, much longer one. Instead of statues of a man and a woman, the stone figures of two women now stood on the lawn. One was dressed in a fairly typical Olympian gown, while the other wore human-styled jeans and what seemed to be a T-shirt.
Pan took a closer look at the shirt, which seemed have something written across the front in the human language, English. “‘The LUV channel—as good as its name’,” he read. “Hey, that’s one of Nina’s shirts. What’s it doing on this statue?”
“That’s not the interesting question, Pan,” Hep said, his attention riveted to the other figure. Pan was struck by the intensity of the man’s expression.
“What I want to know,” Hep said, “is what my wife’s face is doing on this statue!”
Shocked, Pan looked at the figure wearing Nina’s shirt, only to discover that in addition to the shirt, it also wore Nina’s face. He’d thought he’d been worried before but now pure terror sped through him. This was more than his lady leaving.
“Pan, can you turn them alive again?” Hep asked, a note of panic in his voice.
With a tentative hand Pan stroked the hard marble of each statue, seeking some sign of the woman’s spirit. His hand lingered over Nina’s perfectly shaped breast.
“I can’t feel anything inside. If I made them flesh they’d be nothing more than empty shells. Whatever happened to them, their spirits are gone.” Defeated, Pan’s hand fell away. Their women had been turned to stone and that wasn’t something they could have done on their own. Evil was at work here, and it had taken his Nina from him. It was all he could do to not to throw his arms around what was left her.
“Hep, what do you think happened?”
The god of forges continued to frown, rubbing his chin with one massive hand. “The statues you had are gone and these are left in their place. Somehow I have to say they’re connected.”
“You think that Dawn and Aster had something to do with this?”
“Dawn? Aster? Is that what they were called?” Pan watched fury rise in the big man as he apparently recognized the names.
Hep nodded grimly. “Now that I’m thinking about it, there was something familiar about those two.” He glared at the remains of his wife. “Pan, we’re going to need some supplies. We have some Titans to visit.”
&n
bsp; * * * * *
Nina tried to hug herself and failed. She simply didn’t have any substance. If she looked at her arm, it appeared to be there, but she could pass it through the adjacent column without any trouble. The sensation would have made her quake with fear…if there had been anything to her to quake. As it was, she was just afraid.
Something like this had nearly happened to her sister Echo, when the spell Aphrodite had cast to make her human had failed and she’d begun to return to the spirit world. It was little comfort that Echo had won back her solid form once the man she loved, Alex, had declared his love for her. That was so unlikely to happen for her.
Thank goodness her clothes had been turned to mist as well, otherwise she might have been naked in the palace home of the Titans and that would have been embarrassing, particularly with the lascivious looks some of the Titan guards were giving her. At least she didn’t have to worry about them molesting her…not much chance of that with her being unsubstantial.
As it was being little more than a free-floating spirit wasn’t a lot of fun. It was hard to feel anything when you didn’t have a physical skin. Besides, she wasn’t sure how long she could remain as she was before dissipating.
She was glad their situation wasn’t bringing her companion down. In spite of everything Aphrodite raised her golden head and glared imperiously at Hyperion, who sat on a golden throne at the end of the hallway. An old man with a long white beard, Nina could see he had strength and a strong sense of purpose. She might have held respect him but for the fact that he’d used his own daughter as bait and kidnapped them to get what he wanted.
Nina watched her companion and thought she’d never seen the goddess look—well—more like a goddess. Pride filled her at her companion’s overwhelming sense of dignity.
“So you plan to keep us here? What will that buy you, Titan? What will you accomplish by holding us?”
Divine Interventions: Nemesis of the Garden Page 14