Muse Unexpected

by V. C. Birlidis

  Sophie tried to capture the flying thing with her camera, but it was too fast. So she pointed it at Gavin, clicked the onscreen button.

  Angela leaned towards Sophie and whispered, “In our society, it is considered impolite to inquire about a person’s supernatural status without asking permission or being offered the information.”

  “Sorry, Gavin,” Sophie offered. Gavin shrugged and went back to his work.

  The cherub giggled and zoomed past Sophie, taking her by surprise. She lost her grip on the eTablet. As she tried to save it from crashing onto the stone floor, Sophie’s foot became tangled in the cherub’s wrapping-cloth and both fell crashing to the ground. The cherub’s laugh turned into a high-pitched squeak as Sophie fell face forward on top of the creature with a disgusting splat. The tablet safely caught in her hands, Sophie lay there for a moment, not sure what to do.

  “Oh, God.” Sophie lowered the eTablet onto the floor. “Is it dead? Oh, God.” She squealed. “Someone please look, because I think I’m going to throw-up.”

  A booming laugh from the mouth of the fireplace roared through the room, as Bennett finished positioning the logs. Within a few seconds, he stood above Sophie and offered his hand.

  Sophie didn’t need to look up to realize who’s hand she was about to take and the agony over yet another embarrassing situation was enough to make her wish she were underneath the cherub and not the other way around.

  I could just die. Please let me die.

  “Please,” Sophie said. “I’m afraid I’ve killed the little thing.”

  Bennett responded by crouching down to meet Sophie’s eyes. His voice came in calm, rich tones.

  “Well, I supposed you could just lie there for the rest of your life, with the remains of a dead fairy stuck to your chest, or you might want to let me help you up and see if the little guy is tougher then he looks.”

  Sophie raised her eyebrows and turned her head so one of her eyes could look up at Bennett. His large brown eyes were kind, reminding Sophie of a cow.

  She smiled nervously and reached over to give Bennett her hand, but the squishing sound coming from underneath made her breakfast want to evacuate her stomach.

  “Oh, God. I can’t do it. I can’t. Isn’t there some sort of special Muse magic remover for gross gunk?” I may be covered in cherub guts, but the last thing I’m going to do is vomit in front of a hot guy. All that’s left for me to embarrass myself more would be to fart.

  Without warning, Bennett grabbed Sophie’s hand and yanked her up into his arms before she could protest.

  Sophie took a quick breath in surprise as she realized his strength. She felt as if she weighed next to nothing in his arms. Her head fell against his neck and she noticed he smelled of earth, grass and sport body wash. She knew she didn’t know him, didn’t even know if he liked her, but there was something about him making her feel safe and incredibly special.

  The sound of Georgia’s heels on the stone floor broke Sophie away from her long-awaited ‘Bennett’ moment and Bennett put Sophie down.

  “Well, I will give you credit. That was one way to catch the little rat,” Georgia said, as she nudged the flattened cherub with her shoe.

  It was sprawled out on the floor, its buttocks exposed and raised. Had the poor, squashed thing not looked so pathetic, its expression would have been funny, as its tongue lay limply on the floor and one eye on the verge of popping out. A few seconds later, the eye did pop out, and Sophie gasped. The envelope was still clutched in its hand.

  “Oh my God. Eww, eww, eww. That is so gross. I wish we could film this. Imagine the hits we’d get if we posted it online.” Sophie commented.

  Georgia reached for the letter and much to everyone’s surprise the thing extended a flattened hand to smacked Georgia’s hand away. By this time, Aletheria and Callie had gathered near the group and even Gavin had stopped his work on the fireplace to see what would happen next.

  Everyone stood watching as the cherub’s mouth twisted and it let out a screech, which turned into a giggle, and it used its remaining functional limb to slap the floor as it tried to peel itself off.

  Everyone grimaced but couldn’t help staring until Winnie’s voice entered the dining hall, long before the elder Hob did herself.

  “Gavin, you had better be done with that fireplace.” She walked into the room and took in the situation. “For the love of Mary and woodland goddess Ardwinna. You would think no one has ever dealt with a sprite page before.” She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the state of the creature. “Tsk…tsk…tsk…” She clucked, pushing the eyeball back into the flattened creature’s socket with a squish. “Who smashed the wee little thing? Look at it. Such a pathetic little tyke.”

  Everyone gestured towards Sophie and she couldn’t stop her tears from welling up in her eyes.

  “Oh, now Sophie, don’t be working yourself up into a fit over this little tot.” Without any consideration of the pain she might be causing it, Winnie reached down and yanked the flattened sprite up. She shook it roughly and everyone gasped as the sickening sound of tearing flesh and bone filled the room.

  “What is everyone goin’ on about? ‘Tis the way me mum taught me how to handle a situation like this and her mum told her and so on,” Winnie said, the flattened cherub filling out with each breath of air it took in. Winnie snapped the little cherub’s body around as if she was shaking out a kitchen rug and Sophie winced with each yank.

  The color had come back into the creature’s face and Winnie gave it a quick rub with her dust rag.

  “Sophie, remember for goodness sake, it’s not a baby. It’s a sprite. It takes a lot to kill one of these blasted things. The rest of you should know better. There,” Winnie said, seeing the cherub smiling and giggling. “Good as new and probably even better than new. Oh, look, it’s got a letter. I wonder who it’s for.”

  Still in a bit of shock and not wanting to risk flying, the cherub reached out to Sophie and she took the sprite’s lead and approached it. With as much flourish as it could manage, it handed the envelope to her.

  “Well,” Winnie said. “With that done, if nobody minds, I’ll take the poor thing in the kitchen for a cup of butter cream. Would you like that, little one?” Winnie asked the cherub, tickling one of the rolls in its neck. It responded by clapping its hands and giggling. “Bennett, if you’re done in here, come along to the kitchen and I’ll fix you a plate of cold, roasted chicken and some bread and cheese. Can’t have you wasting away to nothing. I swear the boy eats like a horse.”

  Bennett nodded but hesitated a moment. Sophie enjoyed having him so close and in her heart she hoped his hesitation was because he felt the same. Callie caught Sophie’s eyes and smiled, nodding in approval, and Sophie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at how embarrassing her mother was being. Sophie caught Georgia’s eye and her grandmother’s glare made her quickly take a few steps away as Bennett excused himself. He walked past Sophie, followed by Gavin, and her skin tingled and broke out in goose pimples as his arm brushed against hers. She could feel her skin flush and she glanced after him, as he tried to hide the blush spreading across the back of his neck. She would have high-fived herself had Georgia not been staring at her with daggers in her eyes.

  “Well, I guess I should open it,” Sophie said. Everyone held their breath as Sophie broke the wax seal and slipped the heavy calling card out of the envelope. “Who are Cleo, Agatha and Rose?” Sophie asked.

  “No,” Callie said to Georgia. “I won’t permit it.”

  Georgia chuckled. “You say that, my dear, as if you know who had a choice in you know what.”

  “Okay. I’m done,” Sophie said, getting up from the table. “I am sick and tired of being kept in the dark, while each of you discusses my future behind my back. Aren’t any of you the least bit concerned I may have an opinion on the subject?”

  “Opinion?” Georgia laughed. “I am amazed by the ridiculous things falling out of her head and onto her tongue.”

 
Sophie stood there—face burning with rage. Then, she turned and walked towards the door, unconcerned about what Georgia or her mother wanted.

  A spark and a crack exploded in front of her and the massive wooden doors slammed shut.

  Sophie remained standing, even though she knew the doors were locked and she was stuck there.

  “Come back to the table and we’ll tell you everything,” Callie said to her. “No lies, no half-truths. Anything you want to know.” The touch of her mother’s hand on her back made her cringed. She didn’t turn around.

  “What does Nothos mean?” Sophie asked.

  The room fell quiet.

  “It means,” Callie began, “it means mongrel. It’s what the gods called us Demigods. They would refer to us as Nothos as they hunted us down and rounded us up. After torturing a Demigod, they would brand it on their body, so they would be damned for an eternity in the Underworld. No matter what they do in their life, anyone branded with Nothos will suffer in the afterlife.”

  “It means this,” Georgia said, walking over to Sophie and removing her bracelet to show the brand.

  “Mama.” Callie wailed, rushing towards her. “But you… never told me you bore the mark. Oh God, Mama.”

  “It also means this,” Georgia said, unbuttoning her blouse to show several brands across her torso and back. “Each one of these brands represents a battle against an escaped Olympian.”

  Georgia pointed to the brand on her wrist. “This one was my first, given to me by Zeus’ wife, Hera. She was a jealous goddess and didn’t care for the idea of remaining in her prison, especially in the hands of a lowly Nothos like myself. When I gave birth to Callie, Hera came out of hiding and plotted to kill my infant daughter for revenge. I defeated her, but not until after she gave me this little parting gift. Aphrodite gave me three, including one you can’t see. She plunged her hand into my back and burned Nothos onto one of my vertebra, just in case we had figured out a way to remove the brands from our skin. They damned me to a future of misery in the Underworld and with my last breath, I will make sure they are damned to an equally miserable existence.” Georgia put her shirt back on and sat back down. “It’s the very least I could do.”

  “Mama. Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Callie demanded.

  “How does a mother tell her daughter about something like this? It isn’t something you bring up at the dinner table. And when your daughter decides to elope, you certainly can’t bring it up then. When should I have told you? When you were a baby, in your crib, singing a lullaby to you? Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s damned to hell seven times over, now go to sleep?”

  “Had you told me…had you trusted me…,” Callie said.

  “Things would have been different? My dearest, dearest girl, things were the way they needed to be. You found your happiness in the arms of Angelo. I found it here. I’ve had this wondrous journey full of excitement, sadness, regret and incredible moments of happiness and glory and there isn’t a single thing that would make me want to have it any other way. How could I, when you have given me this incredible granddaughter?”

  Callie wiped her tears away.

  “But enough of this,” Georgia said. “Aletheria, why don’t you explain the need for us, since you were there when all of this came to be.”

  “You see, Sophia, you can’t rip away a faith system like one would rip off a bandage,” Aletheria began. “Free will must be given a chance to thrive. Without free will, there can be no system of faith. A choice must be given to believe or not, otherwise faith wouldn’t truly exist. So, certain gods had to remain, but they do so with restrictions to their powers, and most importantly, restrictions on their interactions with mortals. So God let Olympians, like Hades, The Fates and others remain because they maintained a balance necessary to keep things moving in the right direction. The Muses were the exception. They were tasked with creating an extended family of Demigods to continue their work. You’ve heard the saying “kissed by a Muse”? Well, they did more than kiss. Eventually, after this family was created and thrived in its own right, the original Nine Sisters were called back. Now, this extended group of Muses serves many purposes.”

  Callie jumped in. “Muses are more than Xanadu or the Grecian ideal of womanhood and femininity. We float in and out of the lives of mortals, ensuring they continue down the path they were meant to go down. We’re the reset button to make sure those destined for greatness have another chance to reach their potential, whether it is to become the President of the United States or to give birth to a scientist destined to find the cure for cancer. Unfortunately, this is where it gets tricky. We can suggest, inspire, lead the horse to water, but we cannot make it drink. This ties back to free will because mortals must make the choice to get back on their destined path or to continue down the road they selected for themselves. This doesn’t always mean that if they choose a different path they are destined for doom. But they won’t be living to the plan.”

  “It’s like dominos. Remember how you used to arrange them into all different designs on the kitchen floor and then knock them over? This is the same thing. Take one domino off the pattern and it impacts the dominos after it. So we spend a lot of time making sure the dominos continue to fall the way they should, and if one is taken out by free will we do everything possible to make sure the next domino falls as scheduled to maintain and continue the path.”

  “But…,” Sophie interrupted, “wouldn’t it take a lot of Muses to maintain the balance?”

  “Thousands,” Georgia said. “It’s a very large extended family comprising the Nine Vasilikós. There’s a reason why this Vasilikós is so big.”

  “Thousands?” Sophie furrowed her forehead. “But if there are thousands, why haven’t I seen any of them? The only people I’ve seen are you guys, a few Hobs and Tammy, the librarian.”

  “I run a very tight ship,” Georgia offered. “They are all incredibly busy, and because you were so new to being a Muse I thought it best they avoid the main areas of the Vasilikós until further notice. Also, most tend to live outside of the Vasilikós, either in the cottages located on the slope of the mountain or in certain cases in their own homes out in the real world. Sometimes it is better to have some stationed in the field, as part of our grassroots efforts.”

  “So, we try and keep people on the path,” Sophie said.

  “But,” Aletheria offered. “That’s not all Muses do. You see, there was the issue of the gods who did not wish to leave. These vile Olympians enjoyed inflicting agony on mortals and wanted to continue laying waste to the Earth. So they resisted the call to leave Earth and ran to Olympus with a plan to start a war against God.”

  She waved her hand in the air, as she continued, “In reaction to this, several Olympians, with God’s help, created a way to tear Olympus away from this world and create a prison existing in its own dimension. Unfortunately, the Olympians have not only found ways to have sight into our world, but they also have begun to find ways of escaping their prisons, which is why the Nine Vasilikós are so important.”

  “The Nine Vasilikós form the barrier keeping Olympus at bay,” Georgia said proudly. “All of the Vasilikós would have to fall in order for Olympus to resurrect itself. It is our job to make sure the resurrection doesn’t happen and to return any Olympians who find a way out of their prison.”

  “What has all of this got to do with me?” Sophie asked.

  “My dearest granddaughter, you are our last hope. The Vasilikós is a dysfunctional mess. The Olympians are plotting to return to power and enslave this world. You are the one who will unite the Vasilikós. You will be the beacon calling all Demigods to join forces and fight. You are our savior.”

  The color drained from Sophie’s face as she sat back in her chair, trying to take it all in. She glanced at Angela, who offered a sympathetic look. Even though the girl’s hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with its ends tucked under, several loose strands fell against her long neck and those strands, wi
thout a doubt, were moving.

  Sophie asked Angela the question burning in her mind. “What are you?”

  “I’m a bit of a mutt,” Angela said, tapping her fingers on the table. “One part witch, one part Gorgonian.”

  “Oh,” Sophie said and understood why some say ignorance is bliss. Not wanting to let any of her questions go unanswered, Sophie peppered those at the table with question after question after question. Once she started, she knew she couldn’t stop.

  Chapter 21

  They reached the smooth, black sand covered shores of Hades sooner than Penny expected. Once she exited, the ship disappeared into the fog that heralded its approach. Before it vanished, she saw Charon on the ship’s deck staring back at her, clutching the coin purse in his hand. She couldn’t wait to see what chaos would take place because of those gold coins.

  “So incredibly delicious,” she said under her breath and made her way off the beach.

  She stopped as a flicker of light caught her attention and was surprised to see in the distance a small fire near a quaint beach house with a wrap-around porch and large shutters propped open by a secured piece of wood.

  This is new. Where is the foreboding castle? Have I landed on the wrong side of the island?

  Near the fire sat a man who wore jeans and a fitted, Harvard sweatshirt. He wiggled his bare toes in the sand. She straightened her blouse, brushed some sand off her skirt and approached the fire.

  The man looked up. “You shouldn’t have come, Penny. After centuries of hostility, Saphie and I have reached a decent level of civility,” Hades said.

  “Saphie?” she said, sitting down on the log nearest to her. She was close enough to talk with Hades, yet far enough away to demonstrate respect for his status.

  “Persephone became too tiresome to say,” he said, with unhidden sadness, then smirked. “Besides, thanks to the others who created the “Haddie” nickname for me, she decided she wanted me to come up with a ‘pet’ name for her. So, I call her Saphie. She started getting a subscription to Coastal Living and now we live in a beach house. At first, I thought it was ridiculous, but I have to say it has grown on me.”