Cupid's Treasure - Mystery of the Golden Arrow

by Ivie Green, Barbara

  “Small world,” Jonathan said.

  “Are you just getting up?” she asked, noting Jonathan’s uncombed hair. “Good night?” She winked. “I’ve been up since four this morning. I’m on call.” She looked down at her beeper distastefully.

  “Did you hear about the body they found?” Jonathan asked.

  “Hear about?” Charlene said. “Sugar, I bagged him.”

  Mavis swallowed distastefully.

  “This world has some odd ducks in it,” Charlene said. “You know that his body had been drained of blood before it was tossed out in the swamps.” She shivered for effect. “My guess is vampires,” she joked.

  “Were there any puncture wounds?” Katie asked seriously.

  “All over it.” Charlene nodded. “Gators had used him as a chew toy,” she said as her beeper went off. “I was afraid of that,” she said. “I’ve got to run.” She sighed.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee to go?” Gloria asked.

  “You read my mind.” She grinned.

  “Good morning, everyone,” René said as he passed Gloria and Charlene in the hall and entered the living room.

  Everyone watched speculatively with the exception of Mavis and the new boy. “Hello,” he said in greeting to the new face.

  “I’m Ross, and I’m from Kansas,” Eros said.

  “I’m René, and I am from Transylvania.”

  Mavis swallowed again.

  “Let’s go and get some breakfast,” Jonathan said to Eros.

  “I’ve had breakfast,” Eros said.

  “You’re a growing boy,” Jonathan said, unwilling to leave him with his mother alone. “You can eat again.”

  Mavis stood up to follow and happened to glance out the front door. She did a double take walking out on the porch. “Jonathan?” Mavis called. She found him at the table in the kitchen. “Do you know what happened to my car?”

  “Um—” Jonathan said.

  “Do you remember the time that you lobbed a baseball through the front window of the bakery and said it was from a meteor shower?” Charlene asked with a chuckle.

  “That wasn’t from a meteor shower?” Mavis asked.

  “Thanks, Chucky,” Jonathan said.

  “Any time doll,” she said. “I’ll catch you all later.”

  “Well?” Mavis asked after Charlene left. “Are you going to tell me there was another meteor shower last night?”

  “That was my fault,” Eros said. “We decided to play catch, and I overthrew the ball.”

  “At midnight?”

  “It’s a male bonding thing,” Jonathan said. “I’ll get it fixed this morning.”

  “Well,” Mavis said, “considering my little oopsie yesterday, I’ll let it go.”

  “You call that wreckage an oopsie?” Jonathan asked. At her look he said, “Yeah, we can let it go.”

  “Mavis,” Jessie said. “Are there any records of people who worked and lived here?”

  “I should say so,” Mavis said. “I’ve helped record most of it.”

  “What about in the year 1863?”

  “Oh, no,” Mavis said. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but most of the records around this area from before, during, and a little after the Civil War are pretty sketchy.”

  “Why?” Mavis asked. “Who are you interested in?”

  “Well that’s just it.” Jessie shrugged. “I don’t know. I was trying to find out who may have lived in the Carriage House out back.”

  “I would imagine mostly horses along with the grooms and the gardener,” Katie said.

  “Speaking of people living places,” Mavis said, looking at her new grandson. “If not Kansas, where do you come from?”

  “Ah—” Jonathan started to answer, but he had to swallow his coffee first.

  “I live in a small mountain community,” Eros answered her.

  “Could I have ever been there?” she asked.

  “Probably not,” Eros said. “No one really mingles with outsiders anymore.”

  “Oh, so it’s that kind of community.” Mavis nodded knowingly. “I was wondering why you sound so much different from the other kids your age.”

  “You think I sound different? Eros asked. “I did come down once in the sixties.”

  Jonathan choked.

  “The sixties?” Mavis questioned.

  “He means for a concert for the group Sixty Seconds,” Jonathan said.

  “Oh,” Mavis said.

  “You know, Son, I have some things I wanted to show you in the attic,” Jonathan said. “Do you mind, Mom?”

  “Oh, no, dear,” Mavis said. “You go right ahead and bond, but I want him later.”

  ~*~

  Patricia looked at the gold coin, glad that she had taken the time to write the clues in her iPad before Jonathan had stolen it. She was just angry enough to tell all his little secrets.

  “Hey, doll.” Patricia looked up and saw Joseph standing in her office door.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Is that any way to greet your lover?” he asked, loudly enough that she came forward to close the door.

  There was something different about him. He looked more robust than she remembered him being. His complexion was flushed, and his eyes were clearer. Maybe she just admired the strength he’d shown standing up to Jonathan last night. If there was one thing she did like, it was power. Powerful men were like and aphrodisiac to her.

  “I suppose it’s not.” She placed her hand on his chest and kissed his cheek.

  “After last night,” he said, “I know you can do a whole lot more than that.”

  . . . And crude, she sighed. Smiling tightly, she wondered how she could get rid of him.

  “Why do you bother with this place?” He picked up a photo of her standing with a news crew and set it back down. “I told you I could get you on at CNN if fame is all you want.” He looked at her. “But I can offer you a lot more.”

  “What do you mean?” Patricia asked.

  “Fame is fleeting.” Joe picked up a lock of her hair as he stepped closer still and eyed her bosom appreciatively. “I can offer a goddess like you immortality.”

  She laughed and stepped away.

  “You doubt me?” he asked. “Look at me, how old do you think I am? Forty? Forty-five?”

  She scoffed and stepped away from him, wondering if she’d need to call security. She went to her desk where a call button was located on the phone’s intercom.

  “I was over sixty when I first met that little librarian of his.” He smiled as her head snapped back to look at him. Her eyes filled with anger. “That’s good. I like to see a little fire in my women,” Joe said.

  “Look here,” he said as he pulled an old newspaper clipping from his pocket and held it out.

  “What do you know about her?” Patricia asked, moving her finger away from the phone. She took the paper and looked it over, reading the date.

  “I first met her in 1920. That’s over ninety years ago.” He smiled.

  “And you say you met her when you were sixty? That would make you a hundred fifty years old,” Patricia said.

  “I know their little secret,” he said. “You mean Jonathan never offered you everlasting beauty?” He tsked. “What a shame to not share it with one so lovely.” She remained silent, but her eyes revealed how hurt she was. “I know Jonathan’s secret,” Joseph said. “I can bring him to his knees.”

  His words frightened and excited her all at once.

  He knew he had her. “I can put him exactly where you want him, kitten.”

  She looked at him a little more closely. There was definitely something about him that was different.

  “Tell me, what do you want more than anything?” he asked.

  “Redemption for starters,” Patricia said, looking back at the golden coin.

  “Tell me,” Joseph insisted.

  “I did a report on the ghost that lived in Jonathan’s ancestral home and the treasure associated with i
t,” Patricia said as she looked out the window. “The town scoffed.” She looked back at him. “Then, I reported on our trip to the Peruvian jungle, but he lied about it and undermined me. He made me look like a fool, and, then, when I did what I had to do to keep my job, he was . . . bitter towards me.”

  “A man like that will never understand you,” Joe said. “I will give you this and more, my princess.”

  ~*~

  “So Athena is the queen,” Jacques said. He sat looking at the ruins of a temple that had been dedicated to her on the computer screen up in the attic.

  “No.” Eros shook his head. “She’s a princess. Hera’s the queen, but at times they share the same honors as she is Zeus’s daughter, she will sometimes act as hostess.”

  “You have parties?” Jacques asked.

  “Elaborate banquets,” Eros said.

  “Can we stay on topic?” Jonathan inserted.

  “Alright,” Jacques said. “If we take this golden apple, provided that we can find my treasure, to the temple, and bestow it on Athena, then both this Hera and the princess will forgive Amber and let her live happily ever after.”

  “Yes,” Eros said.

  “What is this little bird on her shoulder?” Jacques asked, looking back at a statue of her.

  “An owl,” Eros said. She and my father share that in common. They both have owls.”

  Jacques looked at Jonathan who shook his head.

  “You see any owls?” Jonathan asked. “No,” he answered is own question. “I think we should take this information with a grain of salt.”

  “And this bow,” Jacques said, looking back to the photo.

  “She’s a master with the bow,” Eros said proudly. “She taught me how to shoot.”

  “And miss, apparently,” Jonathan added.

  “I never miss,” Eros boasted.

  “You do,” Jonathan reminded him.

  “No, I didn’t. I was only trying to get my mother to run toward you,” Eros said. “The arrows were not for her anyway, at least not in that sense.”

  “So the arrows were for me,” Jonathan said. “Why?”

  “I needed to ensure that you would meet, or I would cease to exist. I already explained this to you,” Eros said.

  “And?”

  “And I thought it would help ensure she would like you,” Eros explained.

  “What is the substance on them?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yours was special,” Eros said.

  “How special?” Jonathan asked.

  “Not all of my arrows are the same,” Eros said. “Some are for mortals.”

  “How was his different?” Harold asked as he sat nearby scribbling into his pad.

  “The one I used had to be able to penetrate his skin, and it had to be extremely potent,” Eros said.

  “How long will the effects last?” Jonathan asked curiously.

  “Your body has probably already processed it,” Eros said.

  “So any feeling I have will be real now?” Jonathan clarified.

  Eros grinned.

  “What?” Jonathan narrowed his eyes on the juvenile delinquent.

  “The effect was only for her,” Eros said. “Your feelings or attraction were always real.”

  “When will her feelings be real then?” Jonathan asked, feeling like he had just exposed his underbelly.

  “What is the arrow made of?” Harold asked. “There are two dissimilar metals, and each has properties that are unlike the known elements.”

  “I knew you had my arrow!” Eros said, looking at his father.

  “I’m sorry did he not know that?” Harold asked.

  “It’s okay,” Jonathan said. “I was going to let him have them back.

  “Them?” Harold asked.

  “There are seven,” Jonathan said. “I was only interested in the one that hit me.”

  “May I see the rest of them before you give them back?” Harold asked.

  “Knock yourself out,” Jonathan said as he removed the arrows he had collected that night from the pocket on his thigh.

  “There is only one that will knock you out,” Eros said, pointing to one with a red feather. “But I’m missing one.”

  “I have it,” Harold said.

  “And I’m keeping it,” Jonathan said.

  “But it’s mine,” Eros said.

  “It’s detrimental to my health,” Jonathan said, “so I’ll be keeping it right here.” Jonathan went over to the table and removed the arrow under the cover Harold had placed over it. He put it in his pocket where the others had been kept, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You never change.” Eros sighed. “Even reborn, you are still stubborn as a mule.”

  “I’m sure that is no way to talk to your father,” Jonathan said. “If I am him.” He looked at his watch. “I put my truck and my mother’s car in the shop earlier. They should both be ready to pick up soon, and then I need to chase some sparks in the library attic. Are you game?”

  “You want me to come to work with you?” Eros asked.

  “What I need is to keep an eye on you,” Jonathan said, “and your mother-uh- Amber wants to finish putting the library back together.

  “What happened to the library?” Eros asked as he innocently held his hands up. “And just so you know, I didn’t do anything to it. That cranky ghost had a mind of her own.”

  Jonathan lifted a brow.

  “I need to return this book,” Jacques said as he put the diary on the table next to the arrows.

  “Looks a little overdue,” Harold said as he considered its state.

  “A trifle, oui?” Jacques grinned. “There are a few pages I was hoping to scan here in the back,” he said as he opened it up. Several pages fell out. He stuffed them back inside.

  Harold carefully slid it closer to him and methodically turned a few pages. “I hope there wasn’t anything of importance here.” It had taken three bullets. One was still embedded, another had gone straight through the center, and the other had taken the corner off.

  Jacques pointed out the poem pieces. “This is the part I need copied.”

  “All right,” Harold said. “I’ll see what I can do. René is the one with the talent for this.”

  “Did he Photoshop that old photo in the newspaper of Amber?” Jacques asked.

  “Indeed,” Rene said as he came up the ladder. “And it is pixel perfect if I do say so myself.”

  “You don’t print money off that thing do you?” Jonathan asked.

  “Of course not,” Rene said. “Only stocks and bonds.” At their shocked looks, he said, “I am kidding.” He laughed. “At my age, I have learned the art of Swiss banking.”

  ~*~

  “There we are now,” Jacques said as he placed Agnes’s diary on the library counter and patted the sides together. “Good as new.”

  A bookend fell off a shelf and hit him on the foot.

  “Ouch!” Jacques danced around. “Is this what I get for risking life and limb in order to return your diary to you?”

  “Like your treasure, I’m sure it was nothing,” Agnes replied.

  “Augh!” Jacques said, insulted to his core. “I’ll have you know that I was shot at!” He limped further away to a safer distance. “Which is a little more dangerous for me now,” he said.

  “He really was,” Eros said to the air. “You should have seen him running back and forth across that lawn, with an old man wearing a butt flap shooting at him.”

  “I wish that I had seen that,” Agnes said, surprising Amber and Eros both.

  “You ungrateful woman!” Jacques shook his fist at her and then pointed at Eros. “And you’re a fine one to talk about old men and butt flaps.”

  Jonathan stood back and watched. “What did she say?”

  “You didn’t hear her?” Eros asked.

  “Would I ask if I had?” Jonathan replied sarcastically, receiving a look from Amber. He turned away to climb the ladder, grumbling about momma bears and their cubs
.

  Amber looked at Eros and said, “I wish you two would try to get along.”

  Eros smiled broadly. “You don’t know how many times you’ve asked that do you?”

  “I’m beginning to think it was a few,” Amber said, handing him some books. “Help me with these.”

  “You really know how to torture someone.” Eros groaned.

  “Would you rather assist your father with the wiring and crawl around the attic?” By his expression she could tell he would. “Fine then.”

  Jacques watched him go. “It is nice to have a family again, oui?”

  Amber nodded. “I’m just now beginning to feel as though I am living life again.” She smiled at him. “I wish I could remember though.”

  Jacques nodded in understanding. “You must have loved him deeply to want to escape your anguish.” Jacques looked around the library and then said, “I am afraid that if we don’t return the golden apple, this Hera will always seek to pull you apart.”

  Amber nodded. “I worry more about people who want the secret to immortality tearing us apart.”

  “Eros thinks that Hera is somehow involved in that too. And that she will continue to bring strife wherever you go.” He sighed. “If only we had the poem, we might be able to find my treasure or a clue as to where that young man may have taken it.”

  “I cannot believe that I ever let my vanity lead to a war in which so many were lost,” Amber said sadly.

  Jacques had been trying to get to Agnes not Amber. “Oh my, you must not be sad,” Jacques said as a tear slipped down her cheek. “We can all grow and become better people. I know that it wasn’t until Jessie came into my life that love showed me the way. Now I have Jonathan and Eros, sons that I love with all my heart.” Jacques looked at her. “I am a changed man.”

  He handed her a tissue and patted her back. “You found out the hard way what losing love can be like. We all understand this, oui?” Jacques sighed. “You cannot keep punishing yourself for mistakes you made in the past. What is important is what you do with your life now.” He patted her some more. “We can make this right.”

  Agnes blew her nose nearby, startling him.

  Jonathan came back down the ladder with Eros right behind him and saw Amber in tears. “What happened?” he asked as he came forward in concern. “I’m sorry,” he said, enfolding her in his arms. “I promise to go easier on the kid.”