Uninspired Muse (Mt. Olympus Employment Agency: Muse Book 3)

by R. L. Naquin

  I chuckled. “Yeah. Thanks, Mom. No, I can make change just fine. You’re just not going anywhere .”

  Her head shook in a series of tiny tremors like it was a bowl of Jell-O. “Oh, no. I’m not going back in there .”

  “Yes, you are.” I smiled and took her hand. “The stone was just a stone .”

  Her eyes flashed. “You lied? Wynter, how could you ?”

  “Oh, please. Didn’t you ever see Dumbo? You never needed the magic feather—uh—enchanted stone. You said Greg helped you load the car this morning .”

  “Yes, he did .”

  “I have a hard time believing you didn’t brush your teeth before you saw him.” I waited for her to put together what I was saying .

  Her face lit up. “I left it on the sink. I didn’t have it this morning .”

  I gave her my fiercest expression. “Grandmama, you are the goddess Demeter—one of the twelve major gods of the Greek pantheon. All of nature is under your influence. You don’t need a piece of rock to control your powers. Romance is wonderful, but it’s not enough to take down someone of your stature. Besides being a powerful goddess, you are a powerful woman who sacrificed decades—even centuries—to the wellbeing of your daughter. What man, mortal or otherwise, can take you down ?”

  Her chin came up, and her shoulders pushed back as she listened to me. “What in Hades is wrong with me ?”

  “Puppy love.” I smiled. “Now who’s in control ?”

  “I am.” She smiled back .

  “You ready to go back in ?”

  She nodded. “I’m ready.” She stood, then gave me a stern look. “But don’t lie to me like that again. I could turn you into a tree, you know .”

  I shoved myself to my feet and brushed off the dirt from my butt. “ I know .”

  We turned to head back into the building when a fire truck pulled up next to us and all the vendors poured out of the building around us .

  Greg came out last, grinning at my grandmother. “Looks like you had the right idea .”

  Her cheeks turned pink, and a previously barren bush next to us popped out a yellow rose bud. She closed her eyes and breathed in, then let it out. “What’s happening ?”

  “Weird stuff going on in there. They evacuated us to check for a gas leak. Guess we’re cooling our heels out here for a bit until they let us back in.” He fixed his attention on me with his smiling eyes. “This your granddaughter, Terry ?”

  My grandmother, Demeter, goddess of the harvest, straightened to her full height and looped her arm through his. “This is my beautiful granddaughter Wynter. Wynter, this is my friend Greg .”

  The smile in her eyes matched his perfectly .

  Chapter 17

  G randmama dropped me off at Mom’s before dinner. We’d sold everything she’d brought to the market, and she wanted to get home to change. She had a date with Greg .

  At least one problem in my life was solved. She was going to be fine .

  According to the marks on the wall, Phyllis hadn’t grown much, if any, since that morning. She woke up long enough to check on my day, then fell asleep again before I could finish telling her my story of popping Brussels sprouts and puppy love .

  “We’ll talk tomorrow, Phyllis.” I flipped off the light so she’d be more comfortable. Worry gnawed at my heart, and I had to force myself to leave the room. Plant or not, it would be creepy of me to sit in the dark and listen to her snores .

  I resolved to call Parker again on Monday as soon as he opened the Underworld office. Surely Hades had called to check on things by now. I needed my mom to come fix this. I had no idea what I was doing .

  In the morning, Phyllis was wide awake and acting as if there wasn’t a thing wrong with her .

  “I feel great!” She shifted the leaves at the end of one of her branches. “All I needed was a little rest. Quit fussing over me .”

  I sipped my coffee and took a bite of yogurt. “If you’re sure you’re okay, I need to run to my client’s today to make sure he’s still moving forward .”

  “Honey, I’m alone every other day. Just because it’s Sunday doesn’t mean I need a babysitter .”

  “I feel like I’m neglecting you.” I drained my cup, rinsed it, and stuck it in the sink .

  “You’re neglecting you . Have you talked to Mark ?”

  “Nice deflection.” I finished my yogurt and rinsed the spoon. “Between you, Gordon, and Grandmama, I don’t have time to straighten out my non-existent love life .”

  “Well, Demeter’s fine. I’m fine. Go check on your client, then talk to Mark .”

  “You’re very bossy today. You must be feeling better.” I shrugged into my coat, grabbed my purse, then turned around in a circle looking for my keys .

  “They’re on the table.” Phyllis pointed .

  “Thanks.” I plucked them off the dinette and dropped them in my coat pocket. “I’ll probably only be gone a few hours .”

  “I’ll be here .”

  I took one last look at her before I walked out the door. Her snores already echoed through the kitchen. I frowned, seeing what I’d missed earlier. A pile of dried leaves lay in the bottom of the pot she was in. As I watched, two more drifted down to join them .

  Phyllis was not okay .

  U nlike Phyllis, who was a big fat liar, Gordon really was fine. I found him in his studio painting with an intense, focused look on his face. To my surprise, he even had a shirt on. And it was buttoned. All the way up .

  The painting was mostly Charlotte in the center, parts of her roughed in and other parts in varying states of detail. Around her, other shapes had taken form. I couldn’t quite tell what Charlotte was doing in the painting—her arms only reached to the elbows at the moment, and she had nothing but white space below the rib cage .

  But a shadowy sketch behind her looked like it might be a dragon. Or maybe a T-Rex. Probably a dragon. Gordon Gordon was not exactly known for his dino art .

  Would a dragon be enough to make Elizabeth get off his back and let him work? Or would her jealousy of Charlotte anger her enough to keep taking away his canvases ?

  I wanted to believe the best of her, but she hadn’t given me much cause to trust her. The safest course of action was to keep hiding the painting from her. That’s all there was to it. I’d have to come every day and protect it until he was done .

  This was not a typical Muse technique. In fact, I’d never heard of anyone having to do anything like it. That was me. Always breaking new ground .

  I was breaking something, anyway .

  Elizabeth had said on Friday that she’d be back Monday, and Gordon didn’t appear to need any Muse encouragement to do his thing. So, once I’d verified that he was still chugging along on his own steam, there wasn’t anything for me to do. I didn’t need to be there .

  But his process fascinated me. Part of the joy of being a Muse was watching my clients work once they were in the zone. I’d started my career inspiring a woman creating her first scrapbook and a man building a miniature house out of toothpicks. While there had been a steep learning curve to both those things, I learned what I could in order to help them .

  This was beyond anything I could learn. This was a famous artist. A professional. And there weren’t enough YouTube videos on the Internet for me to learn everything he knew, or even how to guide him to his best work .

  But he never needed me for that. Hell, he didn’t even need me to get started. He did that on his own, eventually. This was a different sort of job. I was there as a guardian. And maybe a little as a companion to a lonely man who—for whatever reason—could sense that I was there and almost hear me when I spoke to him .

  The Fates department was playing a peculiar game with me. But I was oddly content to accept the role they’d put me in .

  I settled on the floor beside Gordon. I would stay and watch for a bit, and maybe my presence would give Gordon comfort while he worked .

  “It’s coming along nicely.” I wrapped my arms aro
und my knees. “I’m sure Elizabeth will be ecstatic once it’s finished. We just need to keep it out of her way until then .”

  Gordon grunted and wheeled his stool to the table to add a squeeze of turquoise to his palette .

  “I know you weren’t worried about it, but I don’t think you’re going to die now. I think we sorted that out .”

  Gordon hummed to himself while he dabbed white and sky blue into a bit of the turquoise, then stroked the tiniest bit into the iris of Charlotte’s left eye. He mixed again, bringing out color variations and tiny lines. The longer he worked, the more real that one eye became .

  “I know a girl at work who’s a big fan of yours. I live under a rock, so I had no idea who you were, but she was over the moon. I don’t know what else you’re planning to show with this piece, but I know the Internet is going to blow up when you come out of retirement with a whole new line .”

  Gordon held still, holding a brush that looked no thicker than a few hairs. He frowned. “It’ll all go together once they’re done.” He scooted his stool back and placed his brush and palette on the table. Along one wall, a pile of boxes teetered in front of a bunch of drop cloths. I hadn’t noticed them before. Gordon shoved the boxes aside and removed the cloths to reveal a dozen or so canvases all painted in rich colors .

  He pulled a few out and took them to the window to hold next to the much bigger painting he was working on. “Same theme. Same color scheme. These will be perfect .”

  They were gorgeous—and exactly what Elizabeth had been waiting for. Fantastical creatures in an enchanted world. Beautiful women dancing around purple trees and winged bears. Mermaids swimming with a white bull with a fish tail. A teddy bear picnic hosted by tiny pixies riding pink cats with green polka dots .

  Honestly, I couldn’t imagine having something so whimsical and fluffy in my house, but he had a huge fanbase. And the pictures were spectacular, even if they weren’t to my taste .

  There was only one problem. None of them were finished. I glanced back at the ones against the wall and saw the same thing. I shuddered .

  “Gordon, what are you doing? That’s really creepy. You have to fix them .”

  He sighed, set the smaller paintings aside, and returned to his work on Charlotte’s eyes .

  Thank goodness the painting of Charlotte had them. Because every single one of his other characters had nothing but empty space where there should have been a face .

  E ventually, Gordon took a break for lunch, so I left him to it and went back to Mom’s. His progress thrilled me, but it was difficult to get too excited when half my brain was off worrying about Phyllis and wondering what I could do to help her .

  If only Mom would come back, I knew she could sort this out and get Phyllis back to normal. I was sure of it .

  My grandmother had been no help whatsoever. She had power over nature and growing things. She ruled over the lifecycle of plants. But when I’d asked her to do something, she’d shrugged .

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. My powers only move in one direction. I can’t ungrow her .”

  So, there was no help to be had from that quarter .

  But Mom was specifically the goddess of spring. And she could save any plant in front of her. I’d seen her do it all my life, long before I knew who she really was .

  Mom could save her .

  I’d been gone for about five hours. In that time, Phyllis had dried out again, and the pile of leaves beneath her had doubled in size .

  I pulled a chair up next to her and touched her leaves with gentle fingers. “How are you feeling ?”

  Her branches shifted. “Oh, I’m alright. No need to worry about me .”

  “You’re thirsty. Your leaves are shedding like crazy .”

  “I suppose I could use a drink.” She patted the back of my hand. “Don’t look so worried. I had too many leaves. That’s all. I’m fine .”

  She wasn’t fine. She sounded drowsy, as if she needed another nap .

  I filled the mister and the watering can I’d brought in from the greenhouse and gave her a long drink before misting her leaves. “Better ?”

  “Wonderful, yes. Thank you, Wynter.” She sighed. “Whatever happens, you must know how much I appreciate how well you’ve taken care of me .”

  I frowned. “What do you mean ‘whatever happens ’?”

  Her branches lifted in a shrug. “Oh, you know. If anything changes .”

  “What would change ?”

  She was silent for a long moment. I worried that she’d fallen asleep, except she wasn’t snoring .

  When she finally spoke, she almost sounded like her old self. “If I tell you something, I need you not to get too upset , okay ?”

  I nodded—though I knew it was a lie. Already I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. “Go ahead .”

  She took a deep breath, held it, then let it out. “You know why I came to you, right ?”

  “To watch over me, since I was such a loser .”

  She’d been a tiny plant when I’d picked her up at a flea market one day. I’d had her for years before I’d hit rock bottom and her ability to speak emerged. Then she wouldn’t shut up .

  “That’s right. To watch over you—I wouldn’t call you a loser, exactly, but you certainly didn’t have your life together .”

  “I’m doing a lot better , now .”

  “Quite a bit better.” She paused and patted my hand again. “You have a career now. You help people who aren’t even your clients. Why, look what you’ve done for you grandmother and your mother .”

  I squatted on the floor and gathered the dead leaves to throw away. “I didn’t do much for them. I just set them on the right path. Like you did for me .”

  “Exactly.” Her tone was leading, as if trying to get me figure something out for myself with the clues she’d provided .

  “Well, I’m grateful that you did it. Mt. Olympus changed me.” I put the leaves in the trash and brushed my hands on my jeans .

  “You have friends now, too. And you belong to a book club.” She snickered .

  “Hey, you know the Hags of the Underworld Book Club wasn’t a choice .”

  She ignored my protests. “There’s only one area of your life you haven’t sorted out yet. But I think you just need a little time to figure it out .”

  I opened my mouth to make a snarky comment, then closed it without a word. She was right. I’d made a mess with Mark. But maybe it wasn’t permanent. “I’m working on it .”

  “I know you are, sweetheart.” She shivered and a few leaves crackled and fell to the clean floor. “Though it wouldn’t hurt to have coffee with that Scott boy you told me about. It might give you a little perspective. But I don’t think you need any more advice about it. I think you’ll do fine on your own .”

  My arms broke out in goose bumps and my stomach felt like I’d swallowed a rock. “Phyllis? Where are you going ?”

  She sighed and slipped a leaf into the palm of my hand. “With each of your successes, I’ve had more difficulty holding off my aging process. I wanted to stay with you as long as possible. But now…” She spread her branches. “Well, Demeter’s power overruled my efforts, forcing the change, and here I am. My lifecycle as your guardian is almost over .”

  Tears filled my eyes. “No, Phyllis. I still need you .”

  Her leaf stroked my open palm. “Oh, honey. You really don’t. You have become a wonderful person whom I am proud to call my friend. I still have a little while, but I’ll have to leave soon .”

  I shook my head in protest, and tears fell to my lap. “Mom will be home soon. She can fix this. It’ll be okay. I just need you to hold on until she gets back .”

  “I think your mother would agree.” Her voice grew quieter. “You don’t need a guardian anymore. We’re both so proud…” She trailed off, and a few second later, all that came out of her was snoring .

  I ran my fingers over the leaf I held in my hand, then slipped my hand out from under it so I wouldn’t
disturb her .

  I sat with her, listening to her snore while I cried in silence. Sadness tugged at my heart, while bitterness filled my head .

  So much for self-improvement. Now that I wasn’t a complete disappointment to the universe, my friend was going to die .

  Somehow, that didn’t seem fair at all .

  Chapter 18

  M onday morning I checked on Phyllis—more dead leaves on the floor—gave her some water, then flew out the door by six-thirty. Early by any standard, but for me, it might as well have been the middle of the night .

  The early hour and the lack of sleep didn’t matter. Elizabeth hadn’t said when she’d be showing up to check on Gordon. I had to get there before she did, whether that meant first thing in the morning or last thing at night .

  When I arrived, he was already hard at work. Judging by the massive dragon curled around a mostly filled-in Charlotte, he hadn’t slept much since I was there the day before .

  “Wow.” I stood behind him with my invisible hands on my invisible hips. “Once you get rolling, you’re a force of nature .”

  He grunted, as if in answer, and added a tuft of grass between the dragon’s forelegs .

  Other than Charlotte and the dragon, the rest of the figures he’d added were vague smudges. What I guessed might be a circle of nymphs danced in the background on the shore of what looked to be the beginnings of a lake or sea. Blobby forms flew through the air, and the outline of a tree in the foreground on the left held a dark shape in its branches .

  There was still so much to do, but it was clear he was well on his way. I turned to find a comfortable spot on the floor to settle in for the morning. I stopped, surprised .

  For some reason, Gordon had dragged in an overstuffed leather chair from another room and set it a few yards across the studio, tilted toward the easel .

  Was it meant for me? I hugged my arms around myself, trying not to be too alarmed. He’d seen me—and appeared to forget me—twice. Add to this all the times he’d answered me when he couldn’t possibly hear my voice, and it did seem as though that chair was for me .