Jade set the book down at the end of the shelf and leaned toward Lauren. “They work fast. Could you ask if they have any friends? I wouldn't say no to a go with a god between the sheets.”
Lauren huffed. “I’m serious. And they’re not gods.”
“Spartans, did you say?” Jade straightened up. “As in the Greek warriors who wore no clothes?”
“How do you know so much?”
Jade spun her hand in a circle. “I read. Seriously, why don’t you stay in Beaumont? So what if your aunt and uncle are moving? It doesn’t mean you need to go, too. You’re twenty. You can do what you want since you’re an adult and they can’t make you go.”
Lauren shook her head. “No. I don’t earn enough at the grocery store, I’m only part-time there. I wouldn’t be able to get an apartment, I can’t afford it. There’s not enough time for me to get my life together. They’re moving at the end of the month. How can I stay behind when I don’t have a place of my own or any kind of employment?”
“I guess you need to decide what’s more important to you, don’t you?” Jade asked. “Is it more important that you keep your family together, so they don’t worry about you, or is it more important that you stay with your new lovers?”
“Old lovers.”
“Same thing.” Jade waved a hand. “Whoever they are, you’ve got a decision to make. What’s your heart telling you? If they’re what you want, you’ll find a way. And they might even help you. Have you asked them?”
Before Lauren could give it too much thought, a woman approached the book cart. Both Lauren and Jade turned to look at her. Kind brown eyes studied them, almost motherly in their affection. A wool shawl was draped over her shoulders—strange since the already-warm temperature was set to rise—and her long, simple dress swept the floor. With gray hair pinned to the back of her head, she appeared understated but regal.
“Hello.” Her voice quivered as a sign of her age.
Lauren couldn’t put an exact number on her age, not even confident enough to place her within a decade. As a random guess, she decided she might be in her seventies.
“Do one of you young women work here?”
“That would be me, ma’am,” Jade said. “What can I help you with?”
But the woman’s eyes weren’t on Jade, even when she addressed her. They were on Lauren. She pushed her lips together and approached, laying a wizened hand on the book cart as she came closer.
Lauren was standing near the bookshelves, which meant she had no place to go as she closed the distance between them. Her eyes narrowed with curiosity.
“My, oh my,” she murmured. Her eyes locked on Lauren’s. “I didn’t think I’d see the day.”
“I’m sorry?” Lauren asked, trying to keep her tone of voice as divorced from fear as possible. It wasn’t that she was afraid of what the woman might do to her, but since the strange goings-on with Auto-dude the other day, Lauren remained on guard, alert for trouble.
“What a fortunate young woman you are,” she said fondly. “I hope you understand what an honor it is.”
Lauren parted her lips, but she had nothing to say. The woman shook her head slowly. She reached out and cupped the side of Lauren’s face, eyes locked on her still.
“Your mark,” she added.
“I…” Lauren mumbled. “Thanks.”
“After all this time.” She tutted, then took her hand from her face. “I never thought I’d see it. What a miracle it is, this universe we live in. Don’t you agree?”
Lauren cast a wary look to Jade, who was watching the conversation with interest. She leaned forward on both elbows, one eyebrow quirked.
“Well,” the woman said when Lauren didn’t reply, “that’s all right, I suppose. You’re young. You have the rest of time to figure out what a gift the universe is.”
“Um… thank you,” Lauren said again. The woman meant her no harm, but the confrontation left her feeling uneasy. Would every being related to the weak point between dimensions recognize her?
What if she moved away?
Lauren figured there would be fewer other-worldly entities the farther away she traveled from a weak spot, but it occurred to her that she had no idea how many other weak spots there were. If her soul originated in South America, or Europe, then surely there was more than one. How many more precisely, she didn’t know. She didn’t know a great deal about it at all.
“This is what I'm looking for.” The woman took one of the books from Jade’s cart and tucked it under her arm. “What flawless timing. Thank you for helping me find the book and thank you for renewing my faith in true love.” She winked. “Take care, girls.”
As the woman disappeared behind one of the nearby bookshelves, Jade shook her head slowly. “All right. So. What I learned from that encounter is either you’re desperate enough to prove your story that you hired an actress to drive the point home, or you’re actually telling the truth, and this isn’t some convoluted prank.”
“It isn't a prank.” Lauren sighed. “I don’t know how I’d make this up.”
Jade nodded. “I suppose so. It looks like we’ve got quite the situation on our hands.” She frowned. “I mean, not that my advice from before doesn’t still hold up. It does. All this boils down to is, you’ve got a choice to make, and you’ve got to decide what’s most important to you.”
“But how do you decide something like that?” Lauren asked. “I’m being pulled apart in six different directions, and how do I get my bearings? How do I decide what’s right and what’s wrong? The things I’m feeling don’t even register at the same level. It’s my family versus the men I think I’m destined to spend the rest of my life with.”
“And you don’t seem to have any problem with the thought of it being three. Not that I’m judging. See me, green with envy over here.”
“I’ll be honest. It’s all seemed fairly natural, like surely every woman should have three boyfriends.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. I’m green with envy. I need to meet a bunch of hot dudes who have that kind of attitude.”
“The problem is how do I keep them and my family?”
“The easy path is what people expect of you, and the difficult path is the one they don’t,” Jade said. “The things that are easy right out the gate probably aren’t worth doing. Whereas the difficult thing, you’ve got to figure out how to make it happen.”
Lauren sighed in exasperation, and Jade lifted a finger to silence her. “But, and this is a pretty big but—I think there’s one thing on our side that few other people in your situation have.”
“What is it?” Lauren asked. She looked at Jade, half expecting a poorly timed joke.
“Age.”
“Age?” Lauren frowned. “That’s… that’s kind of the issue here, actually. If I were older and on my own, I wouldn’t need to worry so much about upsetting Aunt Lori and Uncle Joe. Right now, I’m still too dependent on them to think they won’t worry about me if I tell them I’m going to live as a hermit in the woods.”
“Nope.” Jade shook her head. “Not the angle I’m going for, sorry. What I mean is, who cares what choice you make, really? Think about it. You’re twenty. Your soul might be eternal, but it doesn’t mean your current body is, right?”
“Um. Right?” Lauren still wasn’t sure what Jade was getting at.
“So, make the choice you’re going to make. Whatever it is, do it with confidence. You’re young. We’re new to this whole adulting thing. The good thing about being new?” Jade winked. “You’re bound to make mistakes. It’s expected. So go out there and make your mistakes, Lauren. Fuck it up. We’re young—if we mess up, we can just start over.”
All the pieces clicked. Lauren grinned. “You’re a little bit the best; you know that?”
“Eh.” Jade slotted another book back onto the shelf, a mischievous smirk curling the corners of her lips. “If you want to go ahead and tell that to all the hot guys, sure, go ahead. Otherwise, nah. I’m just a nor
mal girl who happens to have some good advice to dispense from time to time.” Her grin grew. “The rest of the time, I’m just as busy making mistakes as you are.”
Lauren moved as if to leave and let Jade get on with her work.
“Hold on. Tell me more about this old love of your life. Surely I should get a few details. Like do they do magic in bed? And how do you accommodate three?”
Lauren's mouth fell open, and she quickly snapped it shut. She knew Jade well enough to expect at least one question like that. “They are magic in bed. That's all I'm giving you right now.”
“We'll talk more when I'm not at work. Right?” Jade looked at the shelves and sighed. “I need to work. But if they’re this important to you, I want to meet them.”
“Sure thing. And shall I call you mom?” Lauren took a step away from Jade.
“Hardly, babe. I want to find out if they’ve got hot, like-minded friends, obviously.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The steady thunk of a mallet directed Lauren’s attention toward her bedroom window. She crossed the room and looked out, down at the front yard. Uncle Joe was hammering at a fence post between their house and the neighbor’s. That bit of fence had rotted and warped a long time ago, but now her aunt and uncle were working on drive-by curb appeal.
The house was up for sale, and there was no going back.
For a while, Lauren watched. Uncle Joe worked with fluid precision, bringing the mallet down again and again as he wedged the new post into place. Over dinner, Lauren had heard that Aunt Lori had already networked with a few potential buyers. The house was in a prime location and in excellent condition, thanks to Aunt Lori’s attention to detail and Uncle Joe’s handiness. They all expected the property to sell fairly quickly.
The house she’d called home for the last few years of her life would pass hands, and Lauren would never see it again.
She chewed on her bottom lip and pulled away from the window to return to the bed. Her suitcase lay open upon, already partially filled with clothes. Lauren glanced at her dresser, then back to the case.
It was a little early to pack, but it helped her come to terms with the imminent changes in her life and the decision she faced.
One way or another, her life inevitably had to change—from here, it was merely a matter of deciding what direction life would take her.
Lauren pushed a folded stack of clean underwear against the side of her suitcase, then fitted in a few pairs of jeans in the space left behind. Never materialistic, she didn’t have much to take with her. Most of her possessions had been liquidated during her transition from her parents’ home to Beaumont, mostly childish things. Lauren had never craved stuff to own and fill her room, perhaps due to the influence of her forgotten past life.
Lauren packed clothes, a few personal grooming products, and not much else. All the furniture in her room belonged to Aunt Lori and Uncle Joe, and they could do with it as they wished.
Lauren wondered if her room at the new house would look the same as it did now.
What would college be like?
Lauren had enough trouble fitting in at high school. College was an unknown. She crossed the room and pulled another stack of jeans and pants from her closet, then laid them into her suitcase.
“Lauren?” Aunt Lori called from downstairs. She’d taken some well-deserved vacation time in preparation for the move. “Can you come downstairs, please?”
“Sure thing,” Lauren called back. She left her packing momentarily, taking the stairs two at a time until she’d arrived on the ground floor.
Aunt Lori stood in the kitchen, the pup on the kitchen floor. She lay on her back, clutching a bone as long as herself between all four paws. She gnawed at the top, gnashing her teeth.
“Do you want me to take the puppy away?” Lauren asked. She figured Aunt Lori was upset the pup had made it downstairs. She may have relaxed her stance on keeping a dog after a few conversations with Uncle Joe, but she still wasn’t the pup’s biggest fan.
“No, she can stay as long as she doesn’t get underfoot. Uncle Joe found something on the porch. Does it belong to you?”
Aunt Lori pointed to a large piece of folded fabric on the kitchen table, it looked like a folded blanket.
At once, Lauren knew it was another gift. She lifted it up and recognized it as a cloak of the type she’d seen in Sparta, complete with the three decorative metal brooches pinned to it.
She sucked in a breath and tried to still her racing pulse. Another gift. One last plea, or maybe, a goodbye present—something to keep Lauren warm and secure even when they were far apart.
They had spent much of their time together, getting to know each other, and Lauren had learned about the many other magical dimensions.
The power of the Olympian gods was in decline as people had long forgotten them. This weakened the interface between the dimensions enabling monsters, giants and all to pass through more easily.
The Spartans lived to protect Olympus, and the portals between the dimensions. They told her things had gotten so bad in recent decades that demigods and minor gods had been dispatched on quests to find lost heroes and bring them to Gods. Her three men didn’t know all the details, but they spoke in earnest about the severity of the problem as if the end of the world was nigh.
Amid their many conversations they hadn't talked again about Lauren leaving or staying. She was eager to learn more about their lives, and their world, and them, rather than talk about stuff familiar to her. Her time with them was hours escapism, detached from her everyday life.
Greg had said it was Lauren's decision.
The other guys said the same. But the pain on their faces was plain. They weren’t going to be much good as poker players. As much as Lauren would've like help in making a choice, she didn't want to dwell on the topic of the sad choice between her family and life she knew, or her three true loves. She saw it as an either-or—she couldn't have both.
A lump formed in her throat and she longed to get away so her aunt didn’t see her cry.
“It looks like a costume prop,” Aunt Lori said. “I didn’t think you were involved with theater, so I didn’t think it belonged to you.”
She took a deep breath. “It belongs to me.” In a daze, she hugged the cloak to her. Made of soft wool and with the faint aroma she’d come to associate with the Spartan homes, crisp leaves, fresh air and wood smoke. Three metal brooches attached reminded Lauren of the ones she’d seen herself wear in another life. “I’m sorry it got misplaced.”
“I don’t remember you having anything like it before,” Aunt Lori remarked. She waved the spatula in her hand in the direction of the cloak. “Did you get it from school this year?”
“It’s a gift,” Lauren whispered. She held the cloak close to her chest. “I must’ve set it down outside by accident when I started going through my things.”
“How bizarre it ended up on the porch.” Aunt Lori turned back to her cooking. “Dinner’s going to be in about fifteen minutes, Lauren. Make sure you wash up before then.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lauren said. She bowed her head respectfully and left the kitchen. As she did, the pup scrambled to her feet and followed. She dragged the bone across the kitchen tile and onto the hardwood in the hall.
“Lauren!” Aunt Lori shouted after her. “Don’t let your dog scratch the wood!”
Lauren stopped, took the bone from the pup’s mouth, and continued upstairs. The pup hurried after her, taking the stairs at an awkward gait that would've been funny had Lauren been in the mood to laugh.
When Lauren made it back to her room, she set the bone on the floor, pushed her suitcase aside, then climbed onto her bed and wrapped herself up in the cloak. The Spartans thought she was leaving, and Lauren wasn’t sure if that was true or not. She would be leaving this house that was certain. The destination, though, was undecided.
No matter what move she made, someone would get hurt.
Lauren stroked the fur and mulled it ov
er. Could she bring herself to go to school for four years, wasting Aunt Lori and Uncle Joe’s money, when she intended to do nothing with her education? Lauren thought as soon as she was done with college, she’d go back to the woods where the Spartans would take care of her.
All her life she’d been warned about limiting herself due to love, but Lauren didn’t think any other person in the world understood the dilemma she faced right then.
A goddess had marked her for three immortal men, and she’d finally found where her soul belonged.
The pup climbed onto the bed next to her and nosed her way beneath the cloak to settle on Lauren’s lap. Lauren petted her, mildly comforted by her presence.
She hadn’t asked for her life to change so quickly, but fate had no brakes. Lauren scratched the pup behind the ear and kept her gaze unfocused. Silently she prayed for an answer, the best solution to please everyone. Could she leave the life she’d always known—the safe and easy path—for a life she wasn’t sure her mortal mind would ever understand? Or could she deny the yearning in her soul and the very root of her existence for mortal comfort?
Lauren bowed her head. She'd confided in her friend for a good reason, and Jade was right—Lauren had to be bold.
If she made mistakes, she could still fix them. Her life wouldn’t end.
And even if it did, one day she’d be back in the position she was now in, just in a different body and with a different set of memories.
Why put herself and her lovers through that when more than anything they wanted to be together?
The Lauren alive now had one shot at happiness, and one chance to lead the life she wanted to lead. Settling out of fear would only steal away time and enjoyment from her life.
It didn’t matter what anyone else thought. It was her life—her happiness.
Lauren tugged the cloak tighter, re-secured the brooches to pin the garment in place, and let the smell of the forest flood her lungs.
She’d made her choice.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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