Haley paused, then shook his head, looking at me sorrowfully.
"Their justice has been delivered already," he said. "They will do no more, but it cannot be undone."
"No!" I yelled. "No! They can't just kill Morris and drive my mom insane and hurt those women back there without fixing anything! They have to fix this! This isn't justice!"
Haley started, then drew in a quick breath and looked around us.
"They're gone," he announced grimly.
And with them went my last hope.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I LOOKED DOWN at my mom, who was now nothing more than an exhausted, shaking shell of a mortal body.
She was whispering rapidly to herself, tears streaming from her reddened eyes. I let go of her arm and nodded at Haley to do the same. She wrapped them around her knees and rocked herself.
My heart was sore, as if someone had beaten it with ten thousand baseball bats and a grudge. Choking on my own tears, I looked over to where Morris still lay. Cerberus sat erect and fierce at Morris' head, as if guarding him.
"Will you stay with her for a minute?" I asked hoarsely.
Haley nodded and simply touched my cheek, catching one of my tears on his fingertips, then running his thumb under my eye to catch more of them. I stood up shakily and went over to Morris.
He now lay straightened out on the ground, his hands limp at his sides, and his eyes closed.
"Oh, God," I whispered, falling to my knees next to Helen. "I'm so sorry, Morris! I'm so, so sorry!"
Helen wrapped her arms around me, and we shivered together with our tears. Rob put his good arm around both of us, and I was glad it was Rob. He may not have been part of our Snub Club, but he had grown up with us. He was just an ordinary human like Helen, like Morris, like I had been. It just seemed right that humans should grieve together for one another.
Katie Jones and Zack had been staring intensely at each other, as if having a silent but complicated conversation. Finally, Zack shook his head but shrugged. She turned to us.
"There's a chance," she said breathlessly.
Helen looked up. "A-a chance? What do you mean?"
"I might be able to save him."
"What?!" Helen and I cried at the same time.
"It might not work, but it's better than trying nothing and letting him die like this."
"Is that really a good idea?" I gulped, remembering my almost-zombie incident in the graveyard. "I mean, I want Morris back, but not if he's going to be mangled and miserable, or worse, like dead but not dead."
Helen and Rob looked at me oddly. I gave them an apologetic look, but no way was I telling them about the zombie thing.
"If it doesn't work, Haley will give him the mercy of release," she said. "But, I think we should try."
"Does this involve me?" I asked warily.
"Yes," she replied. "But, Zack and I will help you. You won't lose control between the two of us."
"I knew it," I groaned, terrified at the thought of trying to bring Morris back to life and making just one more fantastically huge, awful mistake in what felt like a long line of fantastically huge, awful mistakes.
"Come over here, kneel by his heart," she ordered me, and reluctantly, I obeyed. "Place your hands over his heart and imagine new cells bursting into existence, their proper function set and working as everything begins to start his heart pumping blood again. Zack?"
"You can do this, Steph," he murmured in my ear as he knelt behind me and leaned in, moving his arms so they were touching mine and his hands covered mine over Morris' chest.
I felt the flow and ebb of his power as it rushed into me then pulled back, taking some of mine with it. For a moment, I grew weak and a little dizzy, but then I was able to focus once more. It was amazing the amount of my power Zack had been able to absorb into himself. He really was one almighty god if he was able to take what I could dish out and suppress it, leaving me just enough to sustain myself and channel a laser-like beam of life straight into Morris' heart.
Morris' body jolted under me, as if I had put cardiac defibrillator paddles on his chest. The small still-mortal part of Stephanie Starr had a wildly inappropriate urge to shout, "Clear!" She thought that Morris would have appreciated it.
"That's enough," Katie Jones said calmly.
Zack carefully pulled me back from Morris, taking a breath and slowly releasing my power back into me. I'd never been drunk before, but the rush of power, even controlled as it was, seemed pretty close to what being drunk must feel like.
Dazed, I watched as Katie Jones' hands began to glow with rainbows of color and light fizzing and swirling around them in a translucent cloud. She placed her hands on Morris' chest, and I saw her push the rainbow light into him. The colors seemed to separate, each gravitating to a specific area of the body. It reminded me of a greeting card about chakras I had seen once in the store.
But then, the colors stretched into glowing strings under his skin, pulsing as they slinked through his veins. I heard an awful crack come from Morris' back, followed by a blinding light that was too bright even for my freakovision. When it cleared, I could see battered Katie Jones still concentrating and pushing more of her magic into him.
Suddenly, the brightness of the colors faded, and the light around her hands grew dim. The pulsing of color and light in his veins stuttered and went dark.
"No," she whispered. "No! This is supposed to work!"
Without thinking, I slammed my hands down on Morris' chest and shot a full dose of life into him.
This time, his body briefly left the ground because of all the energy I had shoved into him, throwing me, Zack, and Katie Jones off of him and onto the ground. Bursts of light began to go under his skin like fireworks in a jar, and I could sense the rampant flush of new life zipping and zinging through his body.
He hit the ground again, but this time, there was a distinct, "Oomph," that came from his lips, right before his eyes fluttered open.
"Wha—" Morris murmured groggily, tentatively sitting up with a wince. "Wha' habben'?"
"You're alive!" Helen squealed and launched herself at him, pulling him into a fierce hug. Cerberus frisked around Helen and Morris, wagging his tails and play bowing.
I was so relieved and wanted to hug Morris, too, but Zack held me back. I realized I probably wasn't fully in control of myself just yet, and I didn't want to risk Helen or Morris by touching them.
"Wha'd'ya mea' alive?" Morris asked, clutching at his head.
"Well, let's just say you were down for the count," Helen replied. "For the really, really long, permanent count. But, Stephanie and Katie Jones brought you back!"
Morris gazed in bewilderment at Katie Jones and at me.
I stared back at him, half in wonder, half in horror.
What had I done?
I was definitely not looking at the Morris I knew.
"I think you might have overdone it with the life thing," Katie Jones said with a grin.
"Yeah, maybe," I agreed, still in shock.
Helen noticed us and pulled back to look at Morris, then gasped.
"What?" Morris asked.
"Uh, you're alive!" Helen answered with fake cheerfulness.
"Oh God, I'm a zombie, right? I'm already decomposing and horrible!"
"No, actually, you're kind of the opposite."
"Wait what?"
Helen and Morris looked at me, and I held up my guilty hands defensively.
"Don't look at me," I said. "I have no clue how this happened."
Zack laughed and clapped me on the back hard enough to make me cough.
"I think the ol' Stephinator here gave you a bit more life than you bargained for," he said. "She may have accelerated your body by about two years in the space of two minutes."
"You look good," I offered apologetically.
“Yeah," Helen added. "Really good."
And, he did. His braces had fallen off his now-perfect teeth. His face had lost its baby fat and now showed
lean, clean lines and sharp cheekbones. Gone were the pimples of high school and here to stay was a man's skin with a faint hint of stubble. His body actually looked longer to me, and his muscles had filled out. He was no quarterback, but he had a tall, broad-shouldered, athletic look to him, which, of course, made his now-ragged clothes seem way too small and tight on his new frame.
"How about we get him to a hospital before we get him to a mirror?" Katie Jones suggested. "We should probably get his back x-rayed to figure out what we actually did to it."
"My back?" Morris spluttered.
"Yeah," I said sheepishly. "It was kinda broken, and we fixed it."
"Do I want to know?" he groaned.
"No, not really," Helen told him.
"Fine by me. I'm done with magic and gods. I'll be sticking with the weather from now on."
"Good idea," she agreed, motioning for Zack to help him to his feet.
He winced as he tried to straighten up.
"Your spine is probably still a little sore," Katie Jones said kindly. "Fusing breaks like that leaves the tissue and nerves a little tender."
He looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, then shook his head. He turned with Helen and Zack to head back toward the gym. He stopped and turned to look back at me over his shoulder.
"Thanks, Steph," he said awkwardly.
"Anytime," I replied, equally awkwardly.
"I hope not."
"Me, too."
I watched them walk off and then approached Katie Jones.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.
"Me? Oh, I'll be fine," she replied, smiling wryly. "After I sleep for about a month."
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure you're exhausted."
"That doesn't even begin to cover it. However, we need to talk about your mother."
"Right." It was the last thing I wanted to discuss. I needed five minutes by myself, pretending none of this had actually happened, before I was ready to deal with more grim reality. But goddess is as goddess does, and this goddess had a mother problem to handle.
"I think there's a way we can help her," Katie Jones said, beginning to limp over to where Haley sat on the ground, gently cradling Mom in his arms as she cried and whimpered.
"How?" I was all ears.
"She is still in her mortal body, and in that mortal body is a human brain. That brain is fully human, and it might respond to treatment."
"Treatment?" I queried. "What kind of treatment?"
"Good psychiatric care," she replied. "Inpatient care with careful monitoring and the right anti-psychotic medications, she might have a chance of recovering some balance, at least enough for you to talk to her."
"But, doesn't that also run the risk of returning her power to her, if she remembers who she is?" Haley asked cautiously.
"I'm pretty sure they would have her on some form of mild tranquilizer or mood stabilizer or other drugs as well, to help with her mood swings," she replied. "I think that even if she were to remember everything, she would be in a gentler, less volatile, more rational state."
"But, isn't it hard to commit someone to a psych hospital?" I objected. "I thought you had to go to court and all that stuff."
"I used to hang with Jung and Freud back in the day," she answered with a cheeky grin. "I know a case of paranoia and delusions of grandeur when I see one."
"What?" I said, confused.
"In my professional opinion as Dr. Kate Jones of the Springfield Psychiatric Center, this woman fully and totally believes she is the Greek goddess, Demeter. She has no other recollection of any identity other than that and the 'secret' mortal name of Deborah Starr she uses to hide herself and her daughter, Persephone, from Hades. She has demonstrated violent tendencies and may be considered a danger to herself and others."
I stared at the woman, flabbergasted, relieved, and scared shitless by her bottomless bag of tricks.
"Will I be able to visit her?" I asked finally.
Katie Jones looked at me thoughtfully and hesitated before saying, "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you'll be...staying...here or not."
"Oh."
Just like that, the vague sense of everything being okay was swept out from under me. Again.
In two days, Haley would lose his mortal body, and unless I went with him, I would be separated from him again, at least until my body died or I chose to join him. Being without him or leaving this life as I knew it—neither option was viable in my heart.
Katie Jones helped Mom stand up and led her away.
Before I could say a single word, Haley pulled me into his embrace and kissed me. Fiercely. Passionately. Almost painfully. And, I kissed him back with just as much desire.
My human lungs needed air, and gasping, I broke the kiss. I burned blissfully in his smoldering hot black gaze, no longer afraid of the depth of his need and his feelings for me. I knew my own eyes held the same longing and the same love.
"I can't let you go," I whispered the instant before my vision of him blurred with tears. Part of me was surprised that I had any tears left after everything that had happened.
"I don't want to go," he sighed, leaning his forehead against mine. "But, I don't have a choice. I can already feel the edges of this body wearing out from hosting me."
I could see what he said was true. There were tinges of blue around his lips, and his pale complexion looked more grey than white.
"And it's really Saturday at midnight? There's no more time?"
"No, the spell will break then."
"Too bad I'm only good at breaking spells and not—whoa. Wait. I'm dumb. I'm so stupid. How did I not see this before?" I exclaimed, pulling out of his arms and studying him. "This could work. I know it could. I won't run out of it. It'll be fine. We'll just take it day by day."
"Care to enlighten me, Miss Starr?" Haley asked, sounding confused but amused.
"Life!" I proclaimed. "I'll give you life!"
"But, I am alive, I don't need life."
"Not now, but you will on Saturday night. Think about it, if I can bring Morris back from the dead, why can't I be proactive and keep you from dying by infusing my power of new life into you? It'd be like filling up the gas tank of a car on a regular basis!"
"Thank you for that comparison," Haley chuckled, then frowned in thought. "But, this is different. I'm not a simple being to contain in a human body. It would take a lot more power than what you gave Morris to keep me alive, even for a small amount of time."
"Haley, I'm the goddess of life. I got this shit. I'm not going to run out of life to give you. So, why not? Why can't we spend one mortal life together here? I can't just abandon my mother and my friends, and...I want to live a full, long life so I can know what it's all about. I'll experience death at the end of my human life, so I'll understand what you're about, too. Then, we can be immortal together, chillin' in the afterlife and ruling the Underworld."
Haley grinned and took me back in his arms. "If you're willing to try and accept the consequences if it doesn't work, I will do anything for you.”
"It will work," I assured him. "If anything, it'll work too well, and I'll turn you into Superman by accident. Having enough power doesn't seem to be a problem of mine."
"If we’re going to do this mortal life thing, we'll have to work hard to train you into controlling your powers. You're still too dangerous to be around others."
His lips were now a breath away from mine. I inched mine closer so they brushed against his as I spoke.
"I'll be a very good student," I promised. "I'm all about perfection."
"So am I."
A few minutes later, we surfaced for air. Haley brushed my hair out of my eyes, and looked at me thoughtfully.
"What do you think about Greece?" he asked.
"I don't know. What about Greece?" I replied, bewildered.
"Would you like to go there?"
"Yeah, someday, I guess. Why? Do you want to go there?"
"Call it sentimen
tal, but I have a special place in my stone-cold eternal heart for Greece."
"Oh, so did you have anything to do with the Hades and Persephone myth?" I asked archly.
"Katie Jones isn’t the only one who can plant clues in classic literature. Dead Greek poets were always asking for favors.”
I stared at him. He grinned at me.
“So, what do you say, my love?"
"Okay. Yes, I'd love to go to Greece."
"Good. Are you ready?"
"Wait, what? You mean now?"
Haley smiled secretively at me, and I almost melted. Almost. I was getting better at the not-melting-right-away thing. It now took at least two seconds for him to persuade me.
"We can't go right now," I stated.
"Are you always this difficult?" Haley asked.
"No," I replied stubbornly. "I've just started being difficult recently, but I'm getting better at it all the time."
"Good."
"Seriously, we can’t just go. If we're going to stay and do the mortal life thing, there's stuff we have to do!"
"Like what?"
"Apply to college, graduate high school, figure out how not to go to jail for stealing those cars."
"Take your GED when we get to Greece. We can apply to college from there if you want to, as well. Or, we could go to college in Greece or anywhere in the world that we wanted. But in Greece, I'll find us a place where we're far enough away from people that you won't be a danger to anyone but we’ll still have Wi-Fi. Don't worry about the cars. I wouldn't be much of a god if I couldn't erase some grand theft auto charges, now would I?"
"What about Cerberus?"
"Apparently, he has decided he likes this form for now. I believe he also likes Helen, and she could use a faithful guardian in her life."
"Besides Zack?"
"I was thinking that Cerberus would actually guard her from Zack, but that's another conversation for another time, over breakfast in a lovely, lonely mountaintop villa."
"That sounds lovely," I said dreamily.
"It will be. Now, kiss me, my queen."
"What happened to princess?"
"She became a queen who has an adoring king," Haley whispered, kissing me between words. "Take my hand and trust me."
"Deep down, I think I always have."
Downcast (Olympus Falling Book 1) Page 27