“Oh joy. Rain, a cat’s favorite thing. And hey, why can’t I have some of the special water?”
She almost said “Because you don’t have someone waiting for you at home,” but that felt far too cruel. Onyx seemed to figure it out on his own, though. He sighed and told the woman, “Give me your tastiest plain, non-magical water. Apparently I don’t have the necessary qualities to handle the hard stuff.”
The woman poured some water into a small stone bowl, and Onyx lapped it all up as quickly as his little tongue could move. He sighed again once the bowl was empty, but this sigh was a happy one. “That water…oh my God…best ever. I’d give you five stars if I could, but I’m guessing you don’t want to show up in our local newspaper back home.”
She chuckled softly at that. “No, I don’t. Besides, my stand doesn’t have a name, nor does it have a regular location. It only appears with the rest of the stands whenever a traveler needs water of the magical variety. Like you, miss. Now, I believe my business is done for the day.” The woman turned away from them and walked to the back of the stall, her lavender-and-green sari flowing back and forth in a slight wind that had just started. “Good luck, miss,” she said over her shoulder. The wind picked up, getting stronger and stronger, and then the woman’s stand lifted off the ground and began to fly off, rising higher with each passing second, becoming smaller, too, until it was merely a spot in the far distance. Terra blinked at it once, and when her eyes reopened, it was gone.
“Wasn’t that interesting?” She scratched Onyx’s head, and he nuzzled her palm.
“And wasn’t that water just wonderful? Mine may not have been magic, but its deliciousness almost seemed magical. I wish the water at home was that tasty.”
“Onyx, you get fresh-from-the-bottle Italian spring water! You have it good, dude. I wouldn’t complain if I were you. Some cats have to drink out of rain puddles, you know.”
“G-ross! Ick! Fine, I feel beyond blessed in that case. Now, isn’t it time for me to get soaked to the bone? Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
Terra scanned the remaining stalls, and then she realized only one was left. When had the rest disappeared? Had they blown away with the woman, when she blinked, perhaps? How the hell had she missed the mass exodus? “Wow, they’re all just…gone, Onyx. Where do you think they went?”
“On to the next person who deserved to find them, I suppose. Looks like you only have one left to choose from. You better pray it’s the right one.”
She felt a strong pull then, and visions of rain clouds began to show up in her head—rain clouds gathering and then pelting down rain. “No, I think this is the right stand. I can feel it, kitty-cat. I just…somehow, I just know.”
“Onward, then, toward the horrors of rain and, even worse, soaked fur. Will you please put me down now? I’m going to hide in the stall once it starts raining, and hope it doesn’t fly off into the sky and join the others.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” She furrowed her brow, then glanced to the left and held her hand out, pointing to a flat plot of sand about twenty feet to their left. The air began to shimmer there, visible ripples appearing in the air, and then they were followed by a quiet popping noise, and a large, scarlet tent appeared. On its front was a surprisingly solid-looking cloth door that had a little square flap at the bottom of it—a kitty-door, perhaps?
“That should keep you dry, I imagine.” Terra felt a little touch of pride bloom within her chest. Pulling that tent out of thin air had been pretty damn awesome, if she did say so herself.
Onyx climbed out of her arms and landed on the ground with a small thump. He took off running, practically bounding in the direction of the tent. “Catch you later, Terra! Thanks bundles, you lovely, lovely lady!” In what seemed like seconds, he had dashed through the door and into the tent. She hoped the inside of it had turned out okay. She’d meant for there to be a bed of some sort, and a small pillow for Onyx. Then, with one final push of power, she tried her best to give him a bowl of chicken and a bowl of water. She heard what sounded like, “Yum, food!” from inside of the tent. Apparently it had worked!
Now, Terra thought, it was time to get very, very wet. And not in the good way. If only she’d thought to bring an umbrella.
Chapter Nineteen
Terra began to walk toward the stand, each step carrying a surprising amount of confidence and calm. She was far past merely guessing that this was the right stand, but she couldn’t help but wonder what the price would be for this water? Would it be impossible to afford? What might it wind up costing her?
But when she reached the stand, she saw Zeus standing inside. He was dressed in a long white toga, with a braided gold rope wrapped around his waist and crisscrossing his chest.
“Zeus? What are you doing here?”
“I just had some free time on my hands, thought I’d stop by and see how the quest was progressing.” Zeus crossed his arms. “The real question, Terra, is what are you doing here? What is a woman doing on this most important of quests?”
Shit, Terra thought. If only she’d changed herself back after she’d left on the quest! But how could she have known that she’d still need to be in disguise? And how on earth could she have stood having a hairy chest and man hands throughout the last few days, anyway?
“Especially a woman of low birth, one of our…cleaning ladies?” Zeus scowled as he continued, and those last words seemed to be dripping with distaste, maybe even disgust.
“Hey, man, I made it this far. Now let me have my water. I need to make it rain, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to pull it off. I may be a woman, and I may even be a cleaning lady, but I also love your daughter with all my heart. So, if you don’t mind…” She had reached the stand by then and noticed that only one bottle sat on its surface. It was burnished gold, with small, unfaceted rubies imbedded in the metal, and it appeared to have no stopper.
“We’ll see about your ability to pull it off, young woman. And we’ll see if you’ll be able to finish the quest, too. I seriously doubt it, because the last part, the last task, is definitely, by far, the hardest. I don’t even know how you’ve made it this far, a woman with such weak powers! You could barely make your mouth wet with your magic!” He laughed hard and long at what Terra thought was a rather unfunny joke.
“We’ll see about it, indeed,” she growled, and she lifted the bottle off the table and took a long pull of water from its opening. But she didn’t swallow it. Instead, she spit it out into the growing wind, the mouthful of water spraying from her lips. Some of it, to her great delight, hit Zeus, and she smirked at him as a grimace spread across his face. She also might have watched with a fair bit of joy as he tried to flick the droplets of water off his clothes.
“Look!” she cried out, because it had worked! The sky was growing thick with dark, rather ominous-looking clouds, and soon, not a single speck of blue sky or sun could be seen. The air became cold quite suddenly, and the wind was now at least twice as strong as it had been a few seconds ago.
“Good,” Terra said, her voice a low rumble, a low rumble echoed by the booms of thunder from less than a mile away. She looked down, just for a moment, and saw that her body was glowing, a glow echoed by flashes of golden lightning in the surrounding desert.
A small drop of water hit her arm from above. Then another. Then another, another…another!
“It’s raining, old man, it’s raining!” But Zeus and his stand were gone, and Terra couldn’t help feeling a little glad that he was no longer there. She felt even gladder that it was raining—rain she had made fall there, where she stood. So this was what the other Magic Ones felt when they used their strongest powers. It felt amazing, to be this powerful. No ordinary person could make it rain, after all; she was ordinary no longer. Now she was one of them.
The rain kept coming down, harder and harder, and she spun under the pelting water, round and round, drinking it all in, figuratively and literally, the water slightly warm and
full of life as it touched her tongue. After a few more minutes, she’d had her fill, and besides, she was starting to get a little too cold, a little too wet. So she fought her way back to the tent through the downpour, opened its thick cloth door, and then fought like mad against the wind until she finally managed to shut it behind her.
“Hot damn, that was amazing!” She grinned at Onyx, who looked wide-eyed and shocked.
A wave of immense tiredness overcame her then, and so she stumbled over to the bed, barely taking in the beautiful, multicolored silk fabric draped all around the tent’s interior and also canopying the bed. No, she was too tired to think much other than “Pretty, pretty silk,” which she mumbled as she collapsed onto the mattress. It was the last thing she thought as she fell into a deep and heartily deserved sleep.
In her dreams, Athene came to her and told Terra her magic jacket was not from the forest folk, but instead from the man who had been chasing her. She should take it off and burn it, cleanse it with fire.
Terra awoke a while later and felt slightly overheated, almost like the fire Athene had been talking about in the dream had actually licked across her skin as she slept. But should she take off the jacket? She looked down at it, at its lovely forest pattern, and she brushed her fingers across its soft, supple cloth. It didn’t feel bad—like it was evil—but who was she to say? So she took it off and placed it in the corner of the tent. Maybe the real Athene could tell her what to do about it when they next met up.
But when would they next meet up? What was Athene doing right then? Athene’s last visit had been hours ago. And a peek outside told her it was dark now: night had fallen in the desert. It was colder, too, especially with her jacket off, now with only a loose, silk tank top to keep her upper body warm. She shivered and then realized she didn’t have to be cold. A wave of her hand created a thermostat on the wall near the bed, and she turned it up to sixty-five—a thermostat seemed safer than a fire. Despite what the Dream Athene had told her to do with the jacket, she couldn’t help feeling a little fear at the thought of fire, fear probably brought on by the creature with the flaming horns who had melted her tires and tried to kill her when she was in the forest. No, if she had to destroy the jacket, she wouldn’t use fire, no matter what Dream Athene seemed to think.
Terra wanted to see Real Athene now, but she didn’t know what she would come across were she to enter her bedroom at this moment. Who knew what time it was back at the mansion, and who knew whether it would be Athene in her bedroom or someone else…perhaps a guard, or even one of Athene’s parents. The last thing Terra needed was a meeting with Cer in Athene’s quarters, something that had almost happened one night in the not-so-distant past.
She had been sneaking down the hallway toward Athene’s room when Cer had started coming down that hallway from the opposite direction. She’d gotten a sudden glare on her face, almost like she’d seen Terra, and she’d glanced from left to right while Terra hid behind the wall where a door led to the outside. The door had been propped open slightly, the cool night breeze making her aware of the sweat that had begun to form on her skin—sweat that came from the terrible thought that Cer would catch her, catch her and then send her from the mansion, and Athene’s life, for good. Athene had told her that Cer wanted only the best for her only daughter, but it was clearly she who decided what—and whom—that “best” consisted of. So there would be no trip to Athene’s room, not right now, not out of the blue like this.
Terra realized then that she had placed the doorway stone by the door to the tent while she’d been thinking all of this. “What the hell?”
Then the door began to open, and she glanced around, looking for some kind of weapon. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders as her head was turned, but they were gentle, familiar hands—the hands of a beautiful woman whom she happened to love. “Athene! Don’t scare me like that! I almost clobbered you with…with a pillow!”
“I don’t think that would have done much damage to a would-be attacker, sweetie. But if you want to have a pillow fight, I suppose I’m game.”
Terra pulled Athene into her arms and squeezed her tight against her. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said, her lips against Athene’s ear. “I didn’t know when I’d see you next, after that last meeting in the vision, the last visit we had.”
“Did you enjoy yourself? I just had to see you, and I wanted to try out some new magic. I hope you weren’t driving when we met up. I didn’t know a way to figure out what you were doing when I pulled you into the vision.”
“I kinda was,” Terra said, pulling back slightly so she could look into Athene’s eyes, “but then, after the vision, I was here, in the desert, on a camel! And then it seemed like it was time for the next part of the quest, I guess. You didn’t have anything to do with the camel I was riding on, did you?” She scowled slightly, looking down at Athene with fake distrust.
“You almost sound suspicious, sweetie.” Athene’s brow furrowed slightly, but she smiled when Terra laughed.
“No, no, not suspicious, just confused. All of this has worked out surprisingly well. I don’t know how the rest of my competition is doing on this quest, but I hope I’m at least slightly close to the lead.”
“My father has a map where he follows the progress all of you are making, and it seems that you, Zou Jin, and Eros are in the lead. Each of you has completed the water quest, although it seems that Eros…well, something looks a little off about how he’s completed each part. To me, not to my father or mother. They’re both rooting for Eros, it seems. His family is very powerful, with strong magic and loads of wealth, to boot. And I think my parents believe we’d make a good match. Which would be fine, if I were straight and attracted to assholes.”
“I wanted to ask you about something, actually, before we…”
Athene grinned. “Sure, as long as it doesn’t take more than a few minutes. I just can’t wait for us to…” She nudged Terra suggestively as she spoke, and Terra laughed a little.
“Did you…did you bring me a dream just now? About my jacket from the forest folk?”
“I don’t even know about a jacket from the forest folk, sweetie, or about forest folk, and I didn’t bring you a dream about either of those things, whatever they are. If I were to bring you a dream, it would be a dirrrty one.” She wiggled her eyebrows and looked ready to pounce on her.
“Good. I think it’s good, at least. I guess I won’t burn the jacket after all. But there just so happens to be a fire somewhere else right now, one you’re helping to kindle, if you know what I mean. So, maybe we could…” Terra’s voice took on a more sultry tone, and she gestured toward the bed.
“What about Onyx? Isn’t he in here?” Athene glanced around until her eyes found the cat.
“Oh, I’ll take care of that, just a second.” Terra walked over to where he lay asleep on his pillow, and she brushed her fingers lightly across his fur, sending some energy into him. She looked up and smiled at Athene. “Now he’ll sleep through a hurricane, at least for the next four hours or so.”
“Four hours? You seem to have some mighty big ideas in that pretty little head of yours, my dear.”
“It’s just in case. You know, if you want to go again…and again…and again.” She grinned down at her girlfriend, her face clearly showing what she wanted to do in terms of going. “Hey, do you have any good ideas for our time together?” Terra asked her.
“Maybe. Terra, look at all those long ribbons of silk draped around the bed. With a little magic, I think we could do some very special things with them and your body.”
“Or yours,” Terra said, and then she pressed herself up against Athene, and pressed her lips to hers, and pulled both of them down onto the soft, silk-covered bed. Once they were nude, their clothes tossed carelessly to either side of the floor surrounding the bed, Athene sat upright. “You ready to try something new?” she asked Terra, and Terra nodded. The truth was, she could hardly wait.
Athene got onto her knees and
reached to the right and left of the bed. She brushed her fingers across two strips of silk, each multicolored and reminiscent of the tropics. Each one began to dance, almost as though a slight breeze was just entering the room. But there was no breeze, and a breeze wouldn’t have made them do what they did next—each strip wrapped around one of Terra’s wrists, pulling her arms up a few inches off the bed. Then Athene reached back and touched two more, and they wrapped around Terra’s torso, right beneath her breasts, and the ribbons pulled her into an upright position. Athene touched a few more, and they wrapped around Terra’s thighs, and legs, slowly twisting in the air as they slipped their way across her bare skin.
Now Terra was floating, almost flying, her whole body lifted a few feet above the bed. It all felt wonderful—the feel of the silk, the suspension in mid-air, and especially the occasional brush of Athene’s fingers against her skin, Then, next, another piece of silk floated up, but this one drifted away from Terra. Instead, it moved beyond her and went in the direction of Athene’s body. Then this piece fastened itself into a dildo-like shape, and shortly after it did, two final strips of silk wound around Athene’s thighs and attached the silk dildo to her crotch. She walked across the bed to Terra, and a small thought crossed Terra’s mind as she approached her—a thought that it felt lovely to be floating in the air like this, and that she very much wished Athene could experience the same joy she was feeling right then.
Athene had just reached her as she began to think this thought, and the second she brought her hands to Terra’s skin, she, too, began to rise into the air, just like Terra had pictured—only she was moving into the air without the help of the silk tethers!
“You’re…flying!” Terra grinned, but the look of shock on Athene’s face quickly moved her grin down a few notches. “You’re…am I doing that?”
“You? Yes, I…think you are.” The look of shock was beginning to fade, and her features softened into a much more relaxed expression. “Wow, so this is what the birds feel like…completely weightless…completely free.” Athene looked fully calmed down as she said this, a serene expression with lowered eyelids and a soft, subtle smile now replacing the look of slight fear that had been there moments ago. “I like this.” She sighed. “I really, really do.”
Under Her Spell Page 15