Elysium's Love Triangle

by Aoife Metcalfe

  A few of the people in the audience are shedding tears of happiness at this stage.

  The priest announces that he wants to sacrifice a few people. This would surely bestow further blessings upon the marriage, he thinks. I manage to stop this by making an excuse. I don’t like the idea of getting blood on my dress, I say.

  To add to the strangeness, the whole kiss the bride thing never happens. I learn later that it is very distasteful, around here, to kiss publicly. It is an insult to the watcher in that it is not a show. Public displays of affection are to be in the form of serious love making or nothing at all. The breaking of this rule will result in you being sent to the chamber where the torture-men will work on you.

  I really need to read about their laws. I make a note, coming from the chapel, to do this first thing tomorrow.

  It is traditional for us to say goodbye to our families now. Once you get married here you are encouraged to have very little contact with your old family, Greg tells me. This is so that you can concentrate on your new one. Tradition dictates that we have our families out for dinner tomorrow and then cut contact with them completely.

  He has been staying with Cairo’s family since he arrived here. He goes over and begins saying a tearful goodbye to them.

  Riley joins me. He says that it’s a shame my Dad isn’t here.

  This remark cuts me like a knife. I try not to show it.

  “I think he would try to shut this place down if he was,” I answer.

  I don’t think he would’ve approved of all this cannibalism and sacrificing.

  I don’t much approve of it myself.

  These people need a good leader. They need a leader who will change things around here for the better. This place could be brilliant if it wasn’t led by such an evil man.

  Riley looks quite cheery, “Yeah, Jamie probably would’ve tried to stop me. . . I don’t know why you give me such attitude, Katy. I set this whole place up for the benefit of the Arachne species. It’s a place where we can live in peace, as ourselves. It’s a legacy, one for our family. I don’t see why you aren’t thankful.”

  “You hurt people Riley. You’ve killed them,” I say.

  He looks astonished.

  He doesn’t get my point at all, “Geez, it’s like talking to my brother again. . . Why can’t you just see the way I see?”

  I don’t really have an answer for this.

  Cairo’s ten sisters are singing a song for Greg. It is a sorrowful one about how much they’ll miss him. It is quite entertaining.

  It goes on for a long time.

  I give Riley a ‘farewell’ hug. I tell him that I know there is goodness within him somewhere. I am hoping we will see it soon.

  He looks amused. My Dad said that exact thing to him once, he tells me.

  Greg takes my hand and we walk off together.

  It is the first time that the two of us have been left to our own devices. I finally feel like I am out of danger. The eyes of everyone in the village are not on me, for now anyway.

  The house we are given is at the side of the village. It is made of brick, rather than wood, and I can tell that we’re being given special treatment. Greg walks in and can’t believe how clean it is. He expresses delight at no longer having to share his house with cows and horses. At first I think that this is a rather derogatory remark about Cairo’s sisters. No, he explains, most houses here are literally shared with animals. He seems to be having a hard time convincing himself that he actually owns this nice house. I begin to realise that he was brought a long way up this village’s social ladder when I chose him. He isn’t the only one moving up. I’ve gone from being an unremarkable teenage girl to a queen in one day.

  Greg suddenly announces that he has to leave.

  “Why?” I ask.

  It is our fake wedding-night after all. I would’ve thought that he’d at least stay here with me.

  He seems amused at my indignation, “I have to go and wash my face in the River of Impurity. It’s tradition for the husband to do this after carrying his wife over the threshold.”

  I am amazed, “Are there any other wedding day traditions that I should know about? I’ve had enough surprises for one day.”

  He laughs, “No. For the male it’s pretty much go to the wedding, wash in the lake and . . .”

  I wonder why he has stopped, “And what?”

  He gives me a pretty heart-stopping look at this moment, “Then you come home and ravish your wife.”

  This leaves me rather lost for words. I really like the way he said it.

  I find myself looking into his eyes.

  He is just too good at drawing me in.

  “Fake marriages don’t get consummated, Greg,” I inform him, using all of my will power.

  He smiles knowingly and walks closer to me.

  He runs his hand through my hair, “That’s an awful shame. Are you sure?”

  My resistance almost crumbles.

  Everything about him seems alluring now, even his voice.

  I have to get him out of here quickly, “Greg, go wash in the Lake of Impurity this instant.”

  He seems confident as he steps away, “Impurity . . .”

  “Go, Greg, now,” I say.

  He gives me one last glance as he leaves. I am sure he knows the power he has over me.

  There is part of me that quite likes it.

  Tonight is going to be a long night, that’s for sure.

  I catch sight of our ‘wedding presents’ on the kitchen table. They’ve all been neatly wrapped in the nicest of wrapping paper. Most of them are in the shape of bottles. I have no doubt that they contain ‘well-brewed’ fear.

  One particular present catches my eye. It is octagon shaped and looks much smaller than the others. This is not a fear-drink, like the others. It is something else.

  My curiosity gets the better of me. I pull off the yellow wrapping paper.

  The octagon is, in fact, a small bottle. At first I think that it might contain perfume.

  Then I read the note.

  It tells me that this particular present is from Tanya. It is a substance known as ‘Black Widow Mist’.

  It can reverse the black widow curse, when sprayed upon the girl. The boy will be safe and the Black Widow herself will be the one risking her life.

  I laugh and shake my head. Tanya really wants me dead. She’s probably hoping that I’ll use this Mist tonight, and be gone by tomorrow evening.

  She will be sorely disappointed.

  It is a thoughtful present in a way. I would very much make use of this Mist, if I was back with Daniel.

  I decide to save it. It could be handy if I ever manage to escape.

  I wonder what Daniel is doing now. Before long I am tracing the shape of a heart, with my finger, on the table.

  I snap out of it.

  I decide to hide the Black Widow Mist before Greg gets back. I’d rather avoid having to explain its particular powers to him.

  I run up the stairs. Quickly I find our room. I groan when I see the double bed.

  There is also a walk-in wardrobe. It is huge. What’s more surprising is that it is already filled with my old clothes. The Cezers obviously managed to move everything for me. Rejon’s power over things is quite baffling.

  I find my diary in a cabinet by the bed. I hope that whoever moved it didn’t read it.

  I open it and a photograph drops out. It’s the one Daniel took of us today. I don’t know why but I suddenly feel like crying. I promise myself that I will find him again.

  “Hi,” A male voice says suddenly.

  I get a fright at the sudden sound.

  I look towards it, “What are you doing here?”

  It’s Cairo Vale.

  He quickly locks the door after him and throws the key out the window.

  That isn’t a nice normal thing to do.

  This is not good.

  “What are you doing?” I shriek.

  He gives me a look of distain.
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  I am a lot more frightened now.

  His words don’t give me much hope, “I am going to kill you, you evil beast.”

  He produces a knife from his left pocket. His instructions are that I stand up, it doesn’t exactly sound like a request either.

  I can’t help shaking now. He is probably feeding on my fear.

  I find, however, that I am not the only one who is scared. I can see, in his head, that he is very afraid of me. He thinks of me as a creature from the depths.

  He is examining me, almost as if I’m the one who going to attack him at any minute.

  He fully believes that I am Ethereal. The problem is that his loyalty may not lie with me, as he professed.

  He is holding the knife straight out in front of him, in case I lunge at him suddenly. He is extremely afraid. If I am to survive I should probably play on this.

  He tells me about his family, while never taking his eyes off of me. They are, in fact, good people. They came here masquerading as ‘dirty worshippers-of-evil.’ They had a plan to convert the Cezers, once they had gained their trust. It didn’t take his family too long to figure out that this wasn’t going to work. Evil is far too strong around here.

  Then they heard that I was coming to make a personal visit. They knew, from their own prophecies, that I’d be a teenage girl. He hadn’t lied about that. He’d been planning this day for months.

  I am about to die in a fashion fit for the beastly creature I am. The knife he holds is one of the few that has the power to kill me. I’ll be screaming and on my way back to the depths in a minute. That’s where I belong after all.

  I listen and take it all in. His words about me belonging in the depths upset me deeply in a way I can’t even explain.

  Still, there’s something stopping him from hurting me. There has to be some reason why he hasn’t got that knife to my throat yet. It’s important that I figure it out.

  Doubt. I see it in his eyes; it’s there with the fear. I must play on this.

  I cry.

  My fake whining would’ve amused me in a nicer situation, “Please stop, you’re scaring me.”

  I sound so like a little girl. It would convince anyone of my innocence.

  He swallows and looks to the left. He can’t look at me, he feels guilty.

  The boy has not killed before. He has mentioned his family a few times this evening. His loyalty is to them. They are the people spurring him on here.

  I can use this.

  “I have a family,” I sound absolutely heartbroken. “I’m not evil.”

  Wow. I am quite good at acting, when threatened. There are more tears coming from my eyes now, I’m not sure if they’re fake or real. I just want to get out of here alive.

  Still, there is a strange confidence within me. It tells me that I can handle this situation. I have no idea where this confidence is coming from.

  Cairo comes closer now. He could be about to grab me.

  I have a feeling that he won’t. His eyes are looking sad now, not angry, that’s good.

  I take a deep breath, “I’m only sixteen. Are you going to tell my Mom that you killed me? I’m not even Ethereal! You’re making a mistake.”

  His response is soft, “You can pretend to be innocent all you want, Ethereal. I know what you’re really like, your real self. You don’t reveal it to anyone, often, but you see little glimpses of it when you look closely.”

  He still hasn’t grabbed me. The knife is near enough now to be extremely distracting.

  The family thing isn’t working anymore.

  Let’s keep on going with the innocence.

  I have no idea how I feel so calm.

  I sound convincingly hysterical, “Okay then, what’s my real self, huh? When did I show my so called ‘evil’ at all, ever? When did I show my ‘real’ self?”

  He stuns me by answering straight away. Today I showed it. Only for a few seconds, but it was there. It was back when I promised a man that his mother would burn for years, before calling him a ‘sorry mortal’.

  I’d forgotten I’d even said any of that. The words just came tumbling out of my mouth because I was trying to save Greg’s life. I thought that the Cezers were going to kill my friend.

  I was angry. I remember that feeling now.

  I am rather speechless.

  Cairo looks satisfied.

  He is on the verge of pushing me back into that angry space. The place where I, apparently, become more like myself.

  Something inside me clicks. Perhaps that is how it works. An aggressive when threatened kind of thing.

  I wish that Cairo would stop waving that knife around.

  He should really stop waving that knife around.

  He grabs me and places the knife at my neck.

  The tears feel more real now.

  Now I am scared, angry and threatened. Well done Cairo Vale.

  He speaks, “Your fear still tastes brilliant. Any last words before I slit your neck, you beast of darkness?”

  That wasn’t very nice. Not very nice at all.

  I can feel the cool steel of the knife against my skin. It’s uncomfortable to breathe. I don’t really like this.

  Then I start laughing. It’s a deep throaty laugh. I’ve never heard myself laugh like this before. It unnerves me, to a point, and I have no doubt that it completely jilts him.

  I don’t feel scared all of a sudden, “Cairo, put down that thing before you hurt yourself. There’s really no need for all this aggression . . . I mean, can’t we all just get along?”

  He gives me a list of reasons why he, as a good person, can’t exactly get along with the likes of me.

  I answer, sounding confident, my voice has changed again. “Ah, that’s a shame, and there was me liking you so much. . . You know what else I like?”

  He sounds curious, “What?”

  My answer is ‘ice’.

  The knife turns to ice and begins to melt.

  “Just look at that, ain’t it pretty?” I say smiling, even more relaxed now.

  “Holy Shit!” Cairo lets go of me and stumbles backwards with surprise.

  I turn quickly to look at him, “Not exactly.”

  I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I see why Cairo was so surprised.

  My eyes and hair have changed colour. They are now a deep red.

  Congratulations Cairo Vale, you’ve done some really great work here today.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cairo spends ten minutes trying to calm me down. He is trying to convince me that I am not threatened in any way.

  He keeps repeating it. There is nothing dangerous here. It is a nice, calming, place we are in.

  He has realised that threatening me, and angering me, was not a good idea.

  I do not think of myself as a monster. I think of myself as Ethereal. I am the better half of Katy’s soul. She is weak. I am strong.

  Cairo just triggered my emergence.

  I don’t think he is happy that he done so. He is trying to calm me so that Katy may come back.

  I am making honey drop from the walls because it’s a nice idea I had. It’s black honey. I have no idea what it is, truly. This room needs to be decorated with snakeskin also. It will be so lovely then.

  I need a new dog. This world needs a new ruler. There is so much to be done.

  I want to hear some thunder. It sounds and I smile. It will be such a perfect world. We need a lovely orchestra of thunder and rain right now. The elements are my music. I like the elements.

  Cairo looks out the window and his eyes widen, “I promise I won’t hurt you . . . just please go back to being yourself.”

  I can’t pay much attention to him. He is too human.

  I don’t believe that with great power comes great responsibility. I believe that with great power comes the chance to get more great power. It is up to the strong to seek it so that the weak don’t win out.

  I look at the light-bulb. It glows too brightly, almost like a dancing fire.


  Fire. That’s the thing that burnt my flesh for a thousand years. A full thousand.

  The underworld is a nasty place. Zeus sent me there as a punishment for my crimes a few times.

  Hades works in the underworld. I am very afraid of Hades.

  The light-bulb bursts and we are left in darkness.

  Cairo curses, the boy is so scared. He was a good little worker for Zeus today. He should be proud.

  I begin singing lightly. It’s a song about darkness. The thunder seems to be providing the music for me.

  In the underworld no man needs his eyes. It is too dark to see anyway.

  Cairo would not deal well with the underworld. He is freaking out since it went slightly dark in here, I do not understand the boy. Perhaps he wants his knife back, I do not know.

  I make a flash of lightening happen just outside the room. Perhaps the light will cheer him up.

  It doesn’t. As I said, I do not understand this boy.

  I am too busy to figure him out. I must summon Medusa at once. Medusa is a nicely evil goddess who I’ve met a few times. She and her snakes are never too busy to help me. They always come remarkably quickly. I heard once that she comes quickly because she is afraid of me.

  I don’t understand why people are afraid of me.

  I am such a cool person when not burning in flames.

  I like the rain outside, all of the water just freely flowing.

  In the underworld they kept giving me milk to drink, instead of the water I asked for. This may not sound like much but it drove me fucking crazy.

  I ordered water you slimy little corrupted witch goddess, I almost said. Then I noticed that her skin was all burnt off and I didn’t say anything.

  I never rebuked her for the whole thousand years.

  Every day I asked for water.

  Every day I got milk.

  I look out the window and smile. So much glorious water. I could make it rain for a week, but that might wreck with this countries delicate eco-system so I don’t think I will.

  All of humanity rejoice. I will be such an awesome leader if Zeus doesn’t go wrecking my plans . . . again. Zeus doesn’t often like my plans.

  Usually he hears them and sends me to the flames.