Once Upon A Midnight

by Stephanie Rowe

“Don’t do what? Kiss you?” His gaze dropped to my lips.

  “Yes.” My voice sounded funny. I swallowed and forced unfelt resolve into my words. “Don’t kiss me again.”

  His head lowered until it hovered just above mine. “Or what?”

  Well, I hadn’t been expecting that I’d need to come up with an ultimatum. Still, I wasn’t about to back down. Looking him straight in his gorgeous eyes, I challenged, “Try it and find out.”

  I didn’t expect him to actually do it, but suddenly his lips pressed against mine. Jolts of pleasure shocked me as I tried to figure out what to do. The nerve of this man! I wanted to punch him, but I also didn’t want him to stop. Before I could make him pay for his insubordination, my body rebelled against common sense. I dropped my backpack and my arms encircled his neck, pulling him closer. His hands slipped to the small of my back, pressing me against him. But he still wasn’t close enough. His hands drifted down to my rear and suddenly I was in the air.

  My brain kept trying to send warnings to my body about all the reasons we shouldn’t do this, but the heat and scent of Demarco short-circuited all objections. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he started walking us back to the bed.

  He broke off the kiss long enough to nip at my neck. “You want to know why I kissed you?” he breathed against my skin.

  I nodded, grinding against him and plotting the removal of his jeans.

  His hands shot up and landed on either side of my face, holding me there and forcing me to look into his eyes. “Because I’ve spent the past four years hoping you’d return to me. And unlike the bird, I’m not afraid of you.”

  So naturally, the bird chose that very moment to burst through the door.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  WELL, THIS IS awkward.

  It’s one thing to make an irrational, heat-of-the-moment decision to score, but it takes it to a whole new level when your teenage griffin sidekick comes bursting through the door and catches you in the pre-game festivities.

  “I figured out where…” Tweety stopped.

  I leaped out of Demarco’s arms, doing an impressive end-over-end tumble off the bed, then jerking the comforter free to wrap around my half-naked self.

  “Hey, Tweety.” Comforter securely wrapped around me, I sat on the bed and smiled up at him, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart, the heat between my legs, my just-ran-a-marathon breathing, and the raised-eyebrow look Tweety was giving me.

  Nothing to see here. Move along.

  Demarco’s arms were still straight out, now holding thin air. He dropped them gracelessly to his sides and straightened.

  Tweety smirked as his gaze went from Demarco to me. He gestured back out the way he’d come in. “Do you guys need me to give you a minute to…uh…finish?”

  “Yes,” Demarco replied as I said, “No.”

  Glaring daggers at both of them, I plowed through the awkwardness and forced a subject change. “You found Demeter?”

  “I think so.”

  I wanted to smack that smirk right off the griffin’s face. “Good. I’ll shower, and then we can head out.” Comforter still wrapped around me, I kept my back straight and sent cool thoughts to my heating cheeks as I headed for the bathroom, picking up my backpack along the way.

  Dropping the blanket on the floor, I turned on the shower and gave myself a quick pep talk while the water heated up.

  He’s a good lookin’ guy. I have needs. This is natural. Normal people have sex all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but way more than me.

  But normal people weren’t trying to track down the parts of a temporarily dead god to get their son back.

  Focus, Romi. Hands off the sexy blacksmith, mind on the prize.

  A shower and some deep zen breathing later, my hormones were under control, I was dressed and starving again, and we were on our way back to the ruins of Eleusis.

  “Break it down for me,” I said, elbowing Tweety as we walked.

  He buzzed with excitement. “When Demeter first went into mourning, she sat on a rock later named Agelasttos, beside the well called Kallikhoron, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, Kallikhoron is still here, and some of the locals say it’s haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Demarco asked. “You think the goddess is haunting a well?”

  Tweety’s head bobbed up and down. “I believe so, yes, because they say the ghost is a woman crying for her daughter. Oh, and I almost forgot.” He tugged his pack from his shoulders and pulled out a rolled-up newspaper, handing it to me. “This.”

  I unrolled the paper and studied the pictures on the front page, trying to decipher the Greek. “Something about crops dying and food production numbers dropping.”

  “Across the world,” Tweety said. “One of the locals said it was like winter everywhere, but without the weather.”

  If Demeter was in mourning and the crops were dying… “Hades must have taken Persephone for good this time.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Demarco asked.

  Oh, yeah. I’d promised to give him a crash course on Demeter before we’d engaged in our brief game of tonsil hockey. We were nearing the ruins, so I settled for the abridged version of her story. “The god of the underworld kidnapped Demeter’s daughter, Persephone. Since Demeter is the goddess of harvest and agriculture, when she went into mourning over the loss of her daughter, all the crops and plants died. This caused Zeus to step in and demand that Hades return Persephone to her mom, but there was one problem. Hades had tricked Persephone into eating some pomegranate seeds while she was there.”

  “And that’s bad?” Demarco asked.

  Tweety snickered, no doubt enjoying the fact he was no longer the newbie student. “Very bad.”

  “Mythology 101, never eat or drink anything a god gives you, but especially not anything from the underworld. Don’t eat anything from the fae, either. In fact, you should probably stick to human food. But back to our story. Since Persephone ate six seeds, she has to return to the underworld for six months every year. During this time, which is winter, by the way, Demeter mourns and lets the plants wither and die.”

  “Oh.” Demarco’s brow furrowed.

  “Yeah. It’s a lot to take in, and it doesn’t make an ounce of sense, because the earth is round and parts of the planet experience different seasons at the same time. When it’s summer in the USA, it’s winter in Australia.”

  “So which winter does Persephone’s disappearance cause?” Demarco asked.

  “And that’s the million-dollar question. But all we have to go by is the human interpretations the gods decide to bless us with. There’s always some truth in the lore, and the secret is figuring out what that is. We know that Demeter is the goddess who controls the growth of plants and crops, and something has her in a worldwide snit. If we don’t figure it out soon, the entire world will run out of food.”

  “So in addition to the life of our son, we have the survival of all of humanity resting on our shoulders?” Demarco asked.

  “Humans aren’t the only ones who rely on food,” I reminded him.

  “Great. No pressure, right?”

  I cracked a smile. Making light of serious situations was my superpower. “Not even a little bit.”

  Tweety looked at us both like we were crazy.

  * * *

  What I’d been referring to as the ruins was actually the fenced Archaeological Site of Eleusis. It was open Tuesday to Sunday from eight thirty a.m. to three o’clock p.m., and there was an entrance fee. I looked from the fence to my companions and asked, “How did we get out last night?” I was certain it’d been after three p.m. when we stumbled out of the darkness.

  “We can occasionally handle stuff, Romi,” Tweety replied. The look he shared with Demarco made me feel ganged up on.

  “I never said you couldn’t. I’m just curious.”

  “Oh. Well, I scaled the fence and Demarco tossed you over it to me.”

  My jaw dropped. Addres
sing Demarco, I said, “You tossed me over the fence?” I wasn’t so sure how I felt about that.

  “Relax, Romi. I totally caught you,” Tweety said, massaging my shoulder. “You’re right, D, big trust issues.”

  My head might have exploded. I’m not sure, but for a few minutes all I saw was red. As I plotted out their murders in my mind, the guys led me to pay the entrance fee. We didn’t have much time before the archaeological site closed, so we stopped an employee and asked to be directed to the well of Kallikhoron.

  “You ghost hunters?” he asked.

  I glanced down at his name tag. “What makes you ask that, Christopher?”

  “Every time the lady of the well starts crying, the ghost hunters show up.”

  “Do these ghost hunters ever find anything?” I asked.

  “No. We don’t let them bring their equipment in here, and nobody’s allowed down in the well.”

  I nodded. “We’re not ghost hunters, just curious. Do you think it’s a ghost?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, but she doesn’t bother anyone. She’s just…sad.” He pointed us toward a roped-off brick wall. “But you better get going if you want to see the well before we close.”

  A sign in front of the bricks showed a picture of Demeter and gave a brief history of the well. We peered over the bricks to get a good look at the circular well head.

  “Can you guys hear anything?” I asked, straining my ears. I heard something that could be a woman crying, but was most likely the wind whistling through the well.

  “It’s faint, but I hear it.” Tweety circled around the wall, stopping to listen in various locations. “Sounds like it’s coming from inside the well.”

  “You’re sure it’s not just the wind?” I asked.

  Tweety shrugged. “Anything’s possible. But it does sound like a woman crying. It keeps moving, like she’s walking around down there.”

  I glanced around the area. There were a few tourists milling about, but nobody was within earshot. “All right. We need to go down there and check it out then.” Eyeing Demarco’s broad shoulders, I added, “It’ll be a tight squeeze for you. You might have to stay behind.”

  He studied the well head. “I’ll fit.”

  “Wait, you wanna go down there?” Tweety asked, sounding appalled. “But it’s roped off and the guy said nobody’s allowed.”

  “We’re not gonna ask for permission,” I replied. “We’ll go tonight. After it’s dark.”

  Tweety paled. “But what if it’s some sort of trap? Who knows what could be down there waiting for us? This is a horrible idea.”

  “It’s the only idea we’ve got. What is wrong with you, Tweety? You were dive-bombing Artemis. Why are you afraid of a hole in the ground?”

  “I’m not afraid,” he said, sounding sullen. “I’m just not a fan of dark, underground places.”

  “You can see in the dark,” I reminded him. “And you’ve lived underground with me for almost four years.”

  “I know! And now that we’re free, I don’t want to go back.”

  “All right.” To be honest, I was a little disgusted with the griffin. I understood his aversion to being underground, and I appreciated that he’d sacrificed being above ground to stick it out with me and Doreán. But what I was asking him to do now was temporary. It wasn’t like we were gonna stay down there or anything. Still, if Tweety didn’t want to go, I wasn’t going to make him. “You wanna stay here while we’re down there and make sure nothing sneaks up on us?”

  Tweety nodded. “I can do that.”

  “What supplies are we gonna need?” Demarco asked, still staring at the well.

  I pushed off from the ancient brick wall. “This place is about to close and I’m starving again. Let’s go get something to eat and come up with a plan.”

 
  MY APPETITE WAS out of control. Even though I’d eaten a huge brunch and pilfered through Tweety’s pack for snacks all day, hunger pangs had me feeling like I hadn’t eaten in days by four thirty when we finally made it to a kosher restaurant not far from the ruins. The waiter put a breadbasket on our table, and I attacked it with vigor while Demarco and Tweety sat back and watched.

  “That bread sure looks good,” Tweety said.

  I was huddled over the basket protectively and on the fourth and final roll by the time he’d even realized it was there, so he couldn’t have been too desperate for nourishment. Rather than share, I replied, “I’m sure they’ll bring more.”

  “I thought you fed her, D.”

  D. He’d given Demarco a nickname. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but Demarco didn’t seem to mind. He chuckled. “I did, but that was hours ago.” His gaze roamed over my body. “I just wonder where she’s putting it all. Is she always like this?”

  Again with the talking about me like I wasn’t there. “No, this is not my norm,” I snapped, butting in to their conversation about me. “You do a full body healing and tell me how it affects you.”

  The quiet, sweet couple at the next table looked at me like I was nuts, so I lowered my voice.

  “Why don’t you guys talk about something important, like a plan? Or change your gear over to the new packs.”

  Since we didn’t know how high the water was at the bottom of the well, we’d stopped by a store to buy waterproof backpacks, flashlights, and a few other supplies. Once I killed the last of the bread, I pushed away the empty basket and took my own advice, opening my pack.

  “What’s that book?” Demarco said, pointing at the thick, ancient tome I tugged from my pack. “Looks like it weighs a ton.”

  “It does, but I’d never leave it behind.” I plopped the book on the table and swiped at its cover for effect. Since it was a resource I used constantly, there was no dust on it.

  “The Lowly Pawn’s Comprehensive Guide for Surviving Amongst Gods,” Tweety said a little too dramatically. No doubt he was making fun of the reverent tone I always used when I read the title.

  “Hey, respect the book,” I said.

  He grinned in response and plucked the first roll out of our fresh basket before the server even set it on the table.

  I stroked the cover reverently, feeling the grooves of the title and cover designs beneath my fingertips. “It contains a list of every known god, goddess, minion, monster, and creature known to demigods, complete with details about their history, often creative and humorous pictures or depictions, and any known information about how the deity or beast dispenses of their enemies.” I opened the book to the sections on gods and goddesses, scanning the pages until I found Demeter. Then I passed it to Demarco to study while I finished transferring my gear.

  “You said Poseidon was one of the gods you made the deal with, right?” Demarco asked, tapping a section of text with a finger.

  “Yep. He and Hades.”

  “Well it says here that Poseidon and Demeter have two kids together. Are they…married or dating or something?”

  “Not quite,” Tweety said, chiming in. “Poseidon had a thing for Demeter, but she turned herself into a horse to hide from him.”

  “That’s a bit extreme,” Demarco replied.

  I nodded. “Unfortunately, there are no restraining orders powerful enough to keep the gods away. Transformation didn’t work either. Poseidon turned himself into a stallion and attacked her anyway. One of their kids is even a horse.”

  Demarco blinked. “He raped her in horse form?” At my nod, he added, “Disturbing.”

  “Yeah, the gods are even assholes to one another.” The lesson was over, so I closed up the book and packed it away.

  The waiter reappeared and took our order. Since neither Demarco nor Tweety had ever eaten Israeli food before, and my own experience with it was somewhat limited, we ordered several dishes to share family style.

  “So what’s the plan?” Demarco asked once our server was out of earshot.

  While we waited for our food, I brought out my climbing gear and showed them both how to use it. Eve
n though Tweety claimed that he wouldn’t be accompanying us, it was a good thing for the griffin to know, just in case. The harness was extremely snug on Demarco—even adjusted to the largest possible size—but he insisted it’d be fine.

  The food came, and the three of us fell into easy conversation as we experimented with the new tastes and unfamiliar combinations, often joking and laughing about each other’s reactions. It felt surreal to be having such a great time while the onerous task of heading into the unexplored well loomed in our near future. But I enjoyed every minute of that dinner, and judging by the belly laughs of my companions, they did too.

  “You feelin’ better?” Demarco asked when I finally tossed my napkin onto my plate.

  “Yeah, that was intense.” I remembered being hungry as child, before I’d mastered stealing for my dinner, but I’d never been starving before.

  “You sure you’re up for this tonight?” he asked.

  “Of course I am.” I bristled a little. “Why would you even ask that?”

  “Because less than twenty-four hours ago, you could barely move.”

  I pushed back from the table and crossed my arms, glaring at him. “Is there a reason you’re always pointing out my weaknesses?”

  Tweety wisely chose that moment to hit the restroom. The moment he was gone, Demarco leaned closer to me and replied, “I’m not. It’s normal to show concern for people you care about, you know?”

  “Is that what this is? Concern because you care?” Why did my traitorous stomach do a little flip at that idea? Desperate to get my feelings under control, I spouted off more Shade wisdom. “The world’s a rough place, and if I’m not tough enough to survive, death will be a kindness.”

  “Is that what he taught you?” Demarco asked, shaking his head. “Can’t you hear how messed up that sounds?”

  Tweety returned, and Demarco solicited him for help. “What about you? Do you buy into this ‘only the strongest should survive’ bullshit too?”

  Tweety blinked, his gaze drifting from Demarco to me like he was afraid to answer as he retook his seat. “Uh…I’m a griffin.”

  “And…?” Demarco gestured for him to continue.