by Jasmine Walt
“No it's not, Tyrese,” I said. “Happy ending. I wanted a happy ending.”
“Dis is your happy ending,” Tyrese said, sounding confused.
“No,” I demanded. “Plutus remaining human isn't a happy ending.” He was supposed to be a god. I was supposed to...I don't know. There couldn't be an us if he was a god. Maybe this was what I wanted.
I realized that this wasn't the best thing for Plutus. No matter what Tyrese said about wanting it deep down, this wasn't what was best for him.
“What do we do?” I asked softly.
“Live,” Tyrese answered simply. “It's not de happiest ending, but it's better than wudda lot of people get.” I knew that. It still didn't make it palatable.
“It's better than what I get,” he added.
At first I didn't understand what he meant. I looked at him, waiting for an elaboration. He closed his eyes, looking like he was at peace.
Then I saw the red dot. It took me a second to realize what it was. It made its way across Tyrese's chest, up his face, and onto his forehead. Another moment for it to register, and I started screaming.
“Move!” I yelled, moving to shove the blind prophet out of the way. I heard a slight impact with his head, the explosion as it exited his skull with a hole the size of a tangerine, and the spray of blood flew across both Plutus and me.
Tyrese dropped like a brick, dead. He didn't even have time to know that he had been hit by a sniper. I fell on top of him, completely off balance since he fell before I could save him. His blood splattered across my face.
“What’s happening?” Plutus yelled, jumping at the sound of the blast. The homeless people around us screamed and scattered, not wanting to be the next victim.
The danger wasn't over yet. I saw the red dot move over to Plutus, across his chest, right to his heart. And even though I had been angry moments before, it dissolved away when I was faced with losing him forever.
“No!” I screamed.
I willed my body to move faster than I ever thought possible. I scrambled, closing the space between us. I wasn't going to make it. I wasn't going to make it.
My left arm made it to him first and I used that and my momentum to push him out of harm's way. I heard that short, clipped sound as the bullet hit flesh and exited. Was I too late? Was Plutus dying or dead like Tyrese?
Pain exploded through me. No, it wasn't Plutus who was hit, it was me. The bullet hadn't hit me in the head. Somewhere on my torso, I thought. At least I was still in control of all my mental faculties. A strange sense of relief spread throughout me. Plutus was alive. And I was alive for the moment.
“Callista!” Plutus' agonized voice filled my world.
With my right hand, I reached into the waistband of my jeans and pulled out the God Gun. I really need a damn holster.
The shot came somewhere around 10 o'clock from where we were standing, which was across the road, so I searched the building facade for a sign of our sniper. On the fourth floor of what looked to be an abandoned factory, I saw an open window with curtains billowing in the breeze. And, granted my eyes were fuzzy with tears, but I saw the definite silhouette of a rifle against the curtain, its owner, a shadow against the wall.
Lamia. I knew it, even though I had no idea what she would have looked like
I wasn't a fan of firing at someone, especially in a crowded place like New York City, but I didn't know what else to do. I held my breath, waiting for my hand to steady.
Please, I pleaded. Please let me hit her.
I fired, the blast way too loud for my liking.
I didn't even wait to see if I had gotten our assailant. I hauled Plutus to his feet and half stumbled, half ran to the corner.
Someone was yelling my name and it took me a moment to realize that it was Plutus.
“Callista! Callista, you're hit!”
I felt it too. My left shoulder throbbed. Hopefully the bullet missed any vital organs. Hopefully. My mind reeled through possibilities. None of them were pleasant. I couldn't go to the hospital to get it looked at. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that my entire left arm wasn't working at the moment.
“Fuck! I'm so fucking worthless!” he was saying. He followed with a stream of curses and a punch to the wall. If it hurt him, he didn't show it.
“I'm all right,” I said, although the pain was intense. “You're not hit are you?”
“No,” he said, “but you...you're...” Rather than finish that sentence, he pulled me into a tight embrace. My shoulder screamed in protest, but I was so shocked by the move, that I didn't even wince. “You're hurt.”
“I'm all right,” I repeated. Other than a bullet in my shoulder and being unable to go to the hospital. And if I hadn't hit Lamia, she'd still be after us. We weren't safe.
As if on cue, I heard the wail of a police siren. We couldn't be around here when they showed up.
I grabbed his hand and started leading him away, desperate to keep us safe. “We have to get out of here.”
In answer, he shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders, covering up the wound. Hopefully no one else would see the blood. “Lead the way.”
I had no idea where we were going. I had only the dull pain in my shoulder that was slowly starting to spread to the rest of my torso. I was going into shock, and I wasn't sure what would happen if I passed out.
Plutus took the role of the protector. He wrangled a taxi and get me into it. I don't remember getting out of it or where we went, but sometime later, we got out and he led me to another seedy hotel.
I leaned against the outside wall of the office, breathing heavily. It scared me. I wondered if a shard of the bullet had hit my lungs or something. I hadn't fully died when Charon speared me, so I was sure that my lungs on my physical body were fine. If one had gotten in there...I'd be dying right now. Not ideal.
It didn't help that blackness kept creeping into my vision. I didn't remember what dying was like the first time. Maybe this was what dying felt like when it was permanent.
Plutus checked us in to the place. It was dangerous, leaving him by himself. I couldn't muster up the strength to challenge it.
Next thing I knew, we were inside a hotel room and he was helping me out of my hoodie. I had tears streaming down my face from the pain, and I was fighting him and cursing at him because it hurt too much.
“Callista,” he said, steadying me. “Let me help you.”
I could barely see him through my film of tears. It really hurt. All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep. I was dimly aware of his fingers exploring around the wound in my back. It didn't even bother me that I was topless in front of him. “I don't know how much I can fix it. I can't see to fix it...” His voice trailed off.
“I'm fine,” I mumbled to him. I didn't want him to feel bad. He was doing everything he could to help, and it honestly felt like nothing could be done.
I didn't even notice my head hit the pillow. I collapsed onto the bed and passed into oblivion.
23
I must have been hovering between sleep and the Underworld, because Tisiphone's voice was yelling at me, trying to will me awake.
“Callie!” she was crying. “Callie!”
I retreated even further into my sleep. If I was even beyond the Underworld's reach, then who the hell knew where I was? I just wanted to sleep. If that meant ignoring Tisiphone, then that's what I'd do. The last thing I heard was her screaming for help.
I pushed that world away and slipped deeper. It seemed that all my problems would go away if I faded into nothingness. I welcomed it.
I woke up.
My eyes slitted open, and as I took a breath, it felt like there were shards of glass in my lungs. It was well into nighttime now, and we were in the middle of a thunderstorm, based upon how hard the rain was beating against the window. A clap of thunder confirmed it, and I jumped involuntarily. I immediately regretted that, and hissed with the pain.
“Told you she'd be in pai
n when she woke up,” an unfamiliar voice said.
I lifted my head up off the pillow, enough to see Plutus sitting with someone across the room. There was only one lamp on in the hotel room, so it cast them in a lot of shadows, but it looked like his companion was a very short man wearing a hoodie.
In fact, I'd say he looked like a gnome.
“What the…?” I asked. “Who the hell are you?”
The little man hopped off his seat, putting him below my range of vision. He reappeared at the side of my bed, and a little hand reached up and felt my forehead. The entire time, I was watching him, bewildered.
He was a dwarf. His big blue eyes were closed as his fingertips touched my hot skin. He had a goatee, which suited his heart-shaped face. He looked friendly enough, though that didn't explain what he was doing here.
“Slight fever, but she should be all right,” the man said to Plutus, completely ignoring me.
“You didn't answer me.”
He blinked up at me and a slow smile spread across his features. “I'm Telesphorus,” he said flamboyantly, as if that explained everything. At my blank expression, his face fell and he looked absolutely disappointed. “They always remember the big twelve,” he called back to Plutus, throwing his hands up. “Zeus, Hades, Aphrodite, Ares...” He glanced back at me. “Do they ever remember the rest of us?”
“She didn't even know who I was,” Plutus grunted.
“Sorry, I didn't—”
“I'm the God of Convalescence,” the dwarf said, cutting me off.
“Convalescence?”
“Recovery,” he explained, not unkindly. My ears burned. While I knew what the word meant, it wasn’t one I used every day. “And you need a lot of time to recover. You've already pushed your body to its limit. After getting shot in your shoulder... well, you could do with a vacation, darling.”
“Can't.” I grimaced and sat up in bed, only then realizing that my shoulder was bandaged, my left arm in a sling. “Did you do this? Did you bandage me up?”
Plutus allowed a sheepish smile. “I told you I couldn't see to fix it.”
Telesphorus watched me sympathetically. “Plutus called me when you passed out, and your friend Tisiphone also sent out a distress call.” So she was really calling for help. “I came here with my sister and we helped put you back together.”
“Sister?” I asked. “Distress call?”
“You call 911—what else, darling?” Telesphorus picked up the phone to make his point. “Distress call. And my sister, she's just getting some food for you.”
“I hope it's not pizza,” I muttered, trying to make a joke.
“Chinese,” Plutus said. “Figured you wanted something different.”
“I'm surprised Hygieia allowed it,” Telesphorus added amusedly. “Usually she doesn't like grease and mess.”
“Hygieia?”
Telesphorus threw his hands up again with a laugh. “Everyone knows her.”
“You confuse people knowing who she is for people recognizing her name,” Plutus said dryly. “Hygieia is remarkably close to hygiene.”
“I guess so,” Telesphorus conceded. He crossed his tiny arms across his chest. “Goddess of Cleanliness and Sanitation. It'd be so much easier if my name was close to what I did.”
There was a knock at the door, and Plutus got up and limped over to it. He was limping pretty badly. He must have strained his leg trying to help me. He opened the door and let in a blond woman about my age and height who was literally wearing a sexy nurse's outfit, like what you'd find in a porno movie. She held a brown paper bag, which had the Chinese food in it.
“Sorry it took me so long,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I couldn't find anywhere that had a high enough standard of cleanliness for a while. Oh, hi,” she added, noticing me for the first time. “I'm Hygieia.” She smiled widely. She was pretty in a girl next door sort of way. Other than her scanty dress, the thought that came to mind when looking at her was pure. And perhaps the dress was meant to combat that thought.
Telesphorus rolled his eyes. He hurried over to her and took the paper bag from Hygieia. “Lo-mein for Plutus, sweet and sour chicken for Callie. I trust that's all right?” he asked looking back at us.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, trying out how steady I felt on my feet. I should at least be able to make it to the table and eat. Once I had some food in me, I would feel a bit better. I had to.
“Wash your hands first,” Hygieia called out.
Telesphorus rolled his eyes and took a few packages of moist towelettes from the paper bag. “These should do,” he said.
“But...” Hygieia protested.
“Callie can barely hold herself up, Sis,” Telesphorus told her. “Do you really think she cares about going to the bathroom and washing? She's going to use chopsticks anyway.” He winked at me.
Hygieia pressed her lips into a thin line. “Germs...” she muttered under her breath, but she didn't push the issue.
I complied with her request and allowed Telesphorus to wipe my hands with the towelettes. I tucked into my food. Plutus joined me and ate as ravenously as I did. I must've been hungry—it tasted really good. “Aren't you two going to eat?” I asked. It felt awkward eating in front of them like a pack of starving wolves.
“We're not hungry,” Hygieia said quickly with a glance around. “Plus this motel isn't doing too much to whet my appetite.”
“Ambrosia's the only thing clean enough for cousin Hygieia,” Plutus said lightly. I kept forgetting that all of these gods are related to one another. So incestuous.
“Thanks for helping us,” I said awkwardly, trying to change the subject. “But I thought that Zeus said gods couldn't help us?”
“He doesn't pay attention to the little gods,” Hygieia said. She was rewarded with a punch from Telesphorus, who had taken offense to her assessment. “So we're pretty much able to do what we want.”
“You aren't worried that you'll be in trouble?”
“Nah,” Telesphorus said. “We're not afraid of Zeus.”
Based on how he said it, I got the feeling he was telling the truth. It was nice, compared to how the other gods trembled around the King of the Gods. Hygieia stood next to him. I could tell that they were comfortable with one another, although they traded insults all the time. Plutus joined in as well. I imagined them growing up together as part of the same, huge family. Collectively, they would have seen so many things—things I could only guess at, being a mere mortal.
I felt like such an outsider.
We ate dinner. The pain in my shoulder dimmed to a dull ache as we ate. I actually felt refreshed and rejuvenated. Afterward, Telesphorus checked my shoulder again, gave me some medicine and care tips for my shoulder. I doubted the medicine could do as much good as the food I had just eaten, though. I felt much better.
I even managed to walk the brother and sister to the door. In the parking lot outside was an old-style ambulance that I suspected was theirs. I guess rather than ride in a chariot or on a horse, these two drove an ambulance. Gods were so...strange.
“Thank you,” I told them. “Thank you for everything.”
Telesphorus grinned up at me. “Any time, Callista.”
“Really, thank you,” I said.
He winked. “You need to convalesce now. Rest.”
I knew it wouldn't happen, not with Stephen after us. I wasn't going to tell him that though. I was going to spend the night recuperating, but after that...I didn't know. We'd have to figure something out. I just didn't know how yet.
“Stay safe,” Hygieia said. “We're all on your side.”
“We will.” Plutus' hand appeared on my arm. I hadn’t even noticed him get up and cross the room. I watched his hand from the corner of my eye, my heart pounding too high in my chest.
Hygieia made eye contact with me, and gave me a secret smile. I didn't realize what it meant until the door closed and I was alone with Plutus for the first time since getting shot.
; At that moment, I didn’t want to be.
I was scared of what he was feeling, what he now knew about me. I was scared of what I was feeling too, because you don't jump in front of a bullet for just anyone.
You did it for someone you loved.
Behind me, he asked, quietly, “May I ask you something, Callista?”
I didn’t respond, and he continued anyway.
“Why'd you push me out of the way?”
I closed my eyes, really not wanting to have this conversation right now. Some other time, maybe, but not now. “Look, Plutus, I—”
“Why?” he interrupted. The question was barely a whisper. He was listening to me intently, poised, ready for any answer. What should I tell him? I didn’t know. “You’re alive. You’re free of your duties and yet...you took a bullet for me, Callista.”
“It’s nothing.” I sat up, not successfully hiding my grimace. Even though he was blind, I flinched so much, I was sure he heard me.
“Why?” he pressed. “Why, Callista?”
“Because…” I whispered. Tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see him anymore. I really couldn’t handle this right now. “Because I would have lost you.”
There. I said it. He knew now that it wasn’t a silly crush that I had on him. He knew that I was completely and utterly under his spell, to the point that I was putting his life before mine.
He regarded me silently for a few heartbeats that lasted eons longer than they should have. His fingers rubbed my cheeks, found their way to my lips. I held my breath, afraid to speak.
And then he kissed me.
My eyes fluttered closed and I relished the touch. His hands moved to my face and held me to him. The kiss, tentative and chaste at first, turned into something more. The heat between us increased as his tongue explored my mouth. I clung to him for dear life, trying not to hope.
He pulled back and I was able to breathe. He was breathing hard too. I searched his face. He looked determined, like a decision had been made in his mind. “Callista,” he whispered. “I...”
All resolve I had dissolved away, and I grabbed his shirt with my one good hand to bring him back to my lips. I didn’t want him to speak. I didn’t want him to say that I shouldn't put his life before mine. I didn't want to him to say anything. All I wanted was him. That was all that mattered at the moment.