by Adan Ramie
"What?"
Adonia cursed herself for not having learned this girl's name, but chalked it up to nerves. "In the festival of Thesmophoria, the next step after burning offerings is purification. I'm pretty sure that Betheny has planned a twenty-four hour detox or cleanse that is a fast from solid food. We'll have a special cocktail, probably a tea, that's supposed to rid the body of impurities. And we won't be able to eat. At all."
Leah sighed. "I'm going to eat a jar of peanut butter."
"Oh, geez." The girl dropped her head onto her hand. "Why didn't I just say no? I could have picked up work on the side while Dame O'Brien was gone. Now look at me. Starved to death, not even doing a job, probably going to be fired anyway."
Adonia nodded, sipping her coffee. "The only good thing about the fast is that it's followed by a feast."
"A feast?" The girl's teary eyes stopped threatening to pour. "There's going to be a feast?"
"Sure," Adonia said. "There's always a feast at the end. It's also when we'll be released from abstinence, though there still won't be any men allowed in."
The girl's eyes furrowed. "I'm not sleeping with a woman."
Leah let out a laugh that she tried to cover with a hand. Adonia grinned.
"No one is asking you to," she said, taking another long, hot drink of coffee. "At least, I don't think Betheny is going to ask you to. But you never know with her."
The girl let her head hit the table. "Why did I sign up for this?"
"The same reason any of us did," Leah said, her voice solemn. "Blind ambition."
"And bad luck," Adonia finished for her. The three drank in silence.
Two hours later, everyone was dressed and on their feet. All in white, the women followed Betheny in a procession that to onlookers would look almost funereal. When they got to the spa, Betheny gave them all tasks - facials, mud baths, massages, wraps - and announced that none would leave until they had undergone every treatment available. The staff watched them, some wearing impressed looks, some scowling, as she barked orders at everyone she passed.
"Might as well start out naked," Adonia said, and headed toward the mud bath. Leah followed close behind. When they reached the chamber before the baths, Adonia stopped, but Leah stripped down quickly and wrapped herself in a thin robe.
"I won't watch," she said, then turned and walked toward the baths. Adonia undressed, grabbed a robe, and made her way to the baths. They lowered themselves at the same time, eyes too focused on the thick, dark sludge in the tubs to notice each other.
"Oh, wow," was all Adonia could say.
"I feel like I'm four years old again," Leah muttered. "I used to do this for free the day after a long rain."
Adonia laughed, then closed her eyes and put her head back on the towel behind her. "Feels good to me."
"Yeah, until you have to hose off like an inmate on your first day of a life sentence," Leah said, grumbling.
Adonia opened her eyes and looked over at Leah. "You really hate this, don't you?"
"I just think this is such a waste of time. I could be cooking right now. I could be doing my job. But because some asshole has taken a liking to me, I'm being forced to endure this rich white girl fantasy of what she thinks life is really like." She turned her head away. "You wouldn't understand."
"I guess I wouldn't," Adonia said, and rested her head. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering what her yaya would have thought about her sitting in a mud bath with several strange women while one of them bastardized a festival her ancestors had considered sacred.
"I'm sorry," Leah said.
"No worries."
They both relaxed, eyes closed, and waited out their turn in the mud tubs.
18
After the mud, they showered facing different directions. Leah left the large shower first and dried, then stepped out the door and into a sauna.
"What the hell?" she said aloud.
Adonia's voice behind her made her jump. "She's trying to kill us."
The spa was set up like a maze, and once inside, there was only one way out: through. The two stepped in and a timer beeped to life on the wall. They took a seat near the exit.
"If I wanted to be hot and sweaty, I would have chosen a job where I worked outside."
Leah laughed. "That's exactly what I was thinking. I feel like a sitcom character. What did I do to deserve this?" She rested her head against the wall.
Adonia adjusted, one leg stretching out to the bench in front of them, and settled her backside on the bench. "You never did tell me."
Leah looked at her through the slit of one eyelid. "What do you mean?"
Adonia's face never changed; it was smooth, eyes closed, and only her mouth moved to betray her speech. "What did you do to make Betheny go nuts?"
"I just slept with her," Leah groaned.
"And it drove her insane?" Adonia asked, her mouth slipping into a smirk.
Leah picked up her head and glared at Adonia, who didn't get the effect through her eyelids. Leah nudged Adonia's leg off the bench, and Adonia sat up with a grunt.
"What?"
"I didn't drive her crazy sleeping with her."
"It must have been when you refused to do it again." Adonia propped her leg back up and squirmed in what looked like an ill-fated attempt to find a comfortable position. "Remind me not to sleep with you unless you agree to do it again."
"You think I would sleep with you?"
Adonia opened her eyes and frowned. "I wasn't trying to imply anything." She looked guilty, and it gave Leah a little jolt of pleasure at knowing she cared.
Leah smiled, and in the same moment, the buzzer sounded for them to move on. "I know." She opened her eyes and stood as if the heat and steam hadn't affected her at all, then held a hand out to Adonia. "I'm just teasing." Adonia took her hand and stood, wobbling on unsteady legs. Leah grinned and smacked her on the backside. "Come on, let's go. I'm sure it's time to get naked again. Getting me out of my clothes over and over seems to be Betheny's game plan."
In the next room, another shower waited, and Leah wondered if she should be looking for hidden cameras. She caught Adonia giving her a sad once-over, but Adonia quickly looked away as they started to change again. Then, after their second shower was over, and they were headed for a seaweed wrap. In the next room with them were three other women, and one of them Betheny. She was wearing a thick mask and having seaweed applied to her shaven pubic area.
Leah looked away and at Adonia's face, whose eyes had swept over to Betheny then looked away just as quickly as if she found the view distasteful. It gave Leah hope as she stepped up onto platform. The tiny woman standing beside her took her towel, handed her a mask, pushed her back, and started brushing her body in deft strokes.
"I feel like a pony," Leah whispered at her. Their tables were separated by barely two feet. Adonia didn't talk much through the treatment, and soon Leah found herself painted and wrapped in what she could only describe as a wool heating blanket meant for the Arctic.
"Leah, how are you enjoying the spa?" Betheny asked.
Leah groaned low in her throat, then tried to sound cheerful. "It's very different." To Adonia, she whispered, "I hate it."
"It's a once in a lifetime experience," Betheny said, her voice coming closer.
She opened her eyes as she heard footsteps coming up beside them. Betheny sipped from a bottle of what looked like dehydrated urine.
Adonia squirmed and turned her head to the side. Leah watched as her eyes met the eyes of the smirking pop-rock star. "How are you enjoying our little Greek ritual, Adonia?"
Adonia shifted in the tarp. "It's not what I expected it to be."
Betheny wrapped her lips around her bottle, but her eyebrows were contracted in a frown. "What did you expect?"
"Something different. Not so much culture shock therapy."
Betheny nodded. "I guess you're right. We're probably near through here." She took a few steps aw
ay, then turned back to look at them. "Don't forget to drink your detox tea. It'll keep you going."
"Where's the fertility bread?"
"We'll have it later," Betheny said as she walked out of the room.
Adonia turned her head to Leah. "How much longer do you think we'll be wrapped up?"
"It should be any time now," Leah answered. She watched Adonia's eyes flutter closed then let her own settle under the weight of her discomfort and boredom.
When they were finally ushered back into the penthouse, none among them looked as refreshed as Betheny. It was as if she had aged backwards five years. Her posture was better, her skin had cleared, and the thick worry lines across her forehead and around her mouth were diminished. She almost looked like the young woman she was, and Adonia idly wondered if she hadn't sapped the life force from the rest of them like some kind of vampire.
"Blood sucker," she murmured to herself, aware that she was starting to get delirious from lack of food.
Leah peered over at her, then frowned and moved closer. "Are you all right?" She held one cool hand up to Adonia's warm forehead. "You don't look so good, and I think you might have fever."
Adonia brushed her hand away with a silly grin. "I'm fine. Never felt better." She took a long gulp from the acidic detox drink. "It's just the toxins leaving my body, right?"
Leah looked around at the women in the room. None looked particularly healthy. But she still turned back to Adonia with her bottom lip between her teeth and her brow furrowed. "I really think you should eat something."
"I can't do that," Adonia said, her voice lilting into a singsong. "It's against the rules."
"Rules? Who cares about rules?" Leah snapped.
"The rules were clear."
Leah turned to look over her shoulder at Betheny, who stood behind her with a scowl on her face. She wrapped her arms across her chest and turned around to face her. "But you do realize that some people aren't meant to fast."
"Are you saying your girl doesn't have the constitution for it?" She took a step closer. "She's too weak?"
Adonia stepped up behind Leah. Her voice was low, almost a growl, and she could tell her silly smile had dropped off. "I'm not weak."
Betheny gestured at Leah with her bottle. "Leah thinks so."
Leah turned her head to look at Adonia. "I never said that. I just think you're anemic or something. You need to eat."
"I don't need anything special," Adonia said, and a little of her smile came back to her face. "It won't be too much longer, and we'll be eating. Patience."
Betheny smiled, but Leah didn't match her expression.
"That's right. When we wake in the morning, we'll start with a light, refreshing breakfast of fresh fruit. Then, we'll start cooking the pig and everything else." She drew closer to Leah by a step, and Leah didn't jerk away from her in time to prevent the breach of personal space. "By nightfall, we'll all get our fill."
Leah turned her head away from Betheny, and her eyes fell on Adonia, who was leaning against the wall with one shoulder, sucking down detox tea. The other women in the room were dozing, fighting sleep, or passed out where they had dropped. Leah frowned, but Adonia put on her best smile. She wouldn't let Betheny win.
In the morning, Adonia awoke to a sharp pain in her stomach. Her head ached, and with every beat of her heart, the red throbbing in her brain grew. She sat up, then slammed her eyes shut against the light that brought bile to her throat. She gulped down sticky saliva and the warm, still air of the shared room, pushing the urge to vomit down into her center of gravity. A moment passed and so did the sweep of sickness.
An hour later, all of the women were on the upper terrace, bowls of fruit spread around them, noshing happily on the sticky treats and chugging coffee. Leah, a faraway look on her face, was set up on the railing, eating slices of mango without much fanfare.
"I hope everyone is excited for this last day of Bethesmophoria." Betheny didn't stand for her announcement, and only a few heads turned her way. "Today, we're going to prepare and devour a feast unmatched to any you've probably ever seen." She smiled as a few more heads popped up to listen. "And I'll also lift the ban on sex tonight after the feast."
"Oh, thank god," said one woman near the door. "Finally, we can see men again."
Betheny grinned, but shook her head. "I'm afraid not. There won't be any men allowed in the penthouse."
The woman's face fell. "Then who are we supposed to have sex with?"
More faces looked at Betheny, some horrified, some trying to hide their excitement.
"You don't have to have sex today," Betheny said. "But if you want to, there are plenty of other women around who are also craving a little satisfaction." Betheny's eyes met Adonia's, and Adonia stared back at her, trying not to let the blush creep to her forehead.
"What if we're not gay?" the woman asked.
Betheny shrugged. "Then pity for you."
19
Suited up again for the first time in days in their uniforms, several of the women went about the slow, tedious work of preparing and roasting the pig. Adonia was on appetizers, and Leah was on desserts. Others around them made salads, side dishes, breads, and drinks.
"Do you think she's going to let us go home after this?" Leah mumbled to Adonia, wiping a drip of sweat off her forehead with the back of one sticky hand. She turned and looked at Adonia, who was putting the finishing touches on stuffed mushrooms that would be popped onto a grill just before their feast.
Adonia looked around, nodded for Leah as spotted Betheny all the way across the penthouse from them, then looked back at Leah. "I don't think she's going to let you go willingly."
Leah's lips squeezed together in something between a pout and a scowl. "Why is she so obsessed with me?"
"Because you're beautiful," Adonia replied. She grinned as Leah gawked. "What, don't you think you're attractive?"
Leah shrugged and turned back to her baklava. She didn't notice Adonia had abandoned her station until she felt her walk up behind her. The heat of her body so close was intoxicating, and Leah had to struggle not to lean into her.
"You should trim the phyllo with scissors," Adonia said, and handed Leah the pair from her apron over Leah's shoulder. "Knives just rip it to shreds. Or you could fold it, even, if that's easier."
Leah took the scissors from Adonia then turned to face her. "Why aren't you making the baklava? I think you'd probably be better at it."
"Because Betheny hates me, but she loves everything you do. Besides, you're doing fine. It's not difficult to make. It just takes a light touch and a little patience." She walked across the kitchen to the cupboard and searched out an ingredient she had specifically asked for, mixed it with water in a spray bottle, and brought the bottle back over to Leah. "Rose water. Just a mist over the nut layers will give it a really gorgeous, aromatic touch."
"Thanks." Leah watched Adonia go back to her mushrooms. She slipped them onto a baking sheet and slid that into the giant refrigerator. When she came back, she caught Leah watching her.
"What?"
Leah smiled. "You're the best friend I've had in a long time."
Adonia stopped her work, hands hovering over a big bowl of dill pickles, and met Leah's eyes. "I know what it's like to feel like you're under a microscope."
Leah nodded, wringing her hands in her apron. "You really don't think she'll let me go without a fight?"
Adonia's hands started working without engaging her eyes or brain. She sliced the pickles thin and dropped them onto a cheese cloth in an even layer, her eyes on Leah but her mind elsewhere. "Whatever you did that night, it had a lasting effect on her." She dropped her eyes and moved her finger just in time to avoid slicing off the tip. She finished slicing, put down her knife, and started dabbing at the pickle chips with a clean cheese cloth.
Leah raised a hand to touch Adonia's shoulder, then dropped it and turned back around to her station. As she cut the phyllo dough dow
n to size, Betheny walked up behind them.
"What are you making?" she asked from Adonia's left side.
"Fried pickles," Adonia said, not looking up from her work. "How's the pig?"
"It'll be finished in two hours."
Adonia nodded, and Betheny walked around the back of her. She came up behind Leah, so close that even Adonia could smell the pungent mix of perfume and smoke coming off her glowing skin. "And how is dessert coming?"
Leah gave her a tight-lipped smile. "I'll have the baklava in the oven soon, then I'll start on the ambrosia. The cookies and tarts are cooling now."
Betheny rubbed a hand along Leah's shoulder, and the caterer shivered. Adonia fought the urge to slip between them. Then Betheny stepped back and away from them. Before she left, she called over her shoulder, "I can't wait for a taste."
Adonia waited until Betheny was out of earshot before she leaned toward Leah. "You must be amazing in bed, because she's so hung up on it, she can't think of anything else."
Leah blushed and turned to Adonia with her jaw clenched in something between anger and shock. Adonia's impish smirk disarmed her, and she deflated, her gaze slipping down to her feet. "I guess I got carried away. I was trying to help the troop, keep the stupid tour going, and keep us all in a job."
Adonia patted her arm. "I know. But, hey, look on the bright side." Leah's eyes came up to meet hers, and Adonia's smile had grown into an all-out grin. "At least you know you're a spectacular lay."
Leah punched her in the shoulder, and Adonia yelped in mock pain. "You're such an asshole."
Adonia went back to her pickles, dredging them in breading before tossing them unceremoniously into a vat of hot oil. "I'm an asshole, true, but you love me anyway."
Adonia felt her face burn pink, but Leah didn't respond, so she went back to her work. It wasn't long before the first batches of fried pickles were coming out, and she plated them in generous portions, then handed them off to a girl named Daiyu to carry to the table for her. Once she was finished, she turned and grabbed the baklava from Leah with a little smile, put it into the oven, then brought the fried pickles, with the help of Daiyu and Leah, to the table. Others were putting salads and bread baskets at each station. When Adonia stopped to wipe her hands on her apron, she closed her eyes and let her nose tell her a story.