Eros (24 page)

Her voice was soft but the guard still turned his head and stared at her.
Skye dropped a melodramatic curtsey, then spun on her heel and left.

***

Less than five minutes later, Coop came flying out of the gates, his heart hammering with excitement.

‘She came here!’ he shouted to Hermes, who was falling behind.
‘My mother and Zeus can hardly stop me from seeing her now.
It would be bad manners to ignore her and, Olympus knows, my bloody mother is all about manners.’

He came to a skidding halt when he realised the area in front of the palace was empty. ‘Where has she gone?’

Hermes, panting, came up beside him.
‘Er … she was right here.’

Coop slowly turned around and walked up to the guard. ‘Where did she go?’
The emotion in his voice was barely under control.

The guard didn’t answer.

‘Where did she fucking go?’ he yelled, pulling back a fist and slamming it into the shiny helmet.
‘Did someone take her?
Was she attacked?’

The guard didn’t so much as flinch.

‘Where is she?’

‘Coop,’ Hermes began.

Sick with worry, Coop looked at his friend in utter anguish.
‘Find her, Herm.’

Hermes nodded and sprang up into the air.
Skye couldn’t have gone far.

It was true that Skye hadn’t gone far – but she hadn’t gone in the direction that anyone would have expected.
Rather than sticking to the trail, she had skirted the trees which lined the steep hills around Olympus and the ruins of Dion and begun doubling back.
There was more than one way to skin a cat, she thought grimly, keeping a close eye on the palace walls for any weaknesses or gaps.
The marble grandeur stretched back for what seemed like miles.
It didn’t matter, she wasn’t in a rush.
Not now.

As she made her way carefully along the tree-lined path, she replayed all the things Coop had said to her.

‘I’ve finally discovered the meaning of true love,’ she mimicked.
‘You deserve the best, Skye.’
What.
A.
Prick.

She was so caught up in her revenge fantasies that she almost missed the flicker of white by the towering palace wall.

‘Pssst!’

Alarmed, she peered through the leaves to get a better look.
Her brow furrowed when she saw who was trying to get her attention:
it was the old woman from Litochoro whose shopping she’d helped carry.

Skye warily stepped out from the trees and walked towards her.
The woman grinned manically, immediately bursting into a long babble of Greek.
Bemused, Skye shook her head to indicate that her inability to speak or understand Greek hadn’t miraculously changed since that morning.
The elderly woman ignored her and continued to chatter while tugging on Skye’s sleeve.
Still baffled by her sudden appearance, Skye let herself be led.
The woman took her right up to the very edge of the palace walls and pointed at them.

Skye shrugged helplessly.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said.

Without pausing for breath, the woman continued to speak, pointing first at the wall and then at Skye.

‘I’m sorry,’ Skye began.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the woman took hold of Skye’s hand and pushed it onto the surface of the wall.
It was cool and very, very smooth.
The elderly woman mimed climbing up it.

Skye shook her head.
‘It’s too tall and too perfect.
There’s nothing I can grip on to.’

The woman nodded vigorously and began speaking more quickly.
She gesticulated fiercely, her hands waving down the length of the wall and then moving round in a circle.
Comprehension dawned.

‘You’re saying it’s like this all the way round, aren’t you?
That the only way is past the guard.’
Skye’s posture deflated.
‘You’re saying I won’t find a way in.’

The woman beamed at her.
Skye realised that, despite her age, she was still a strikingly attractive woman.
She had no idea why the woman had come here; it appeared she was trying to help her out.
At least there were still some nice people left in the world, Skye thought sadly.

She pursed her lips.
There were other ways to get revenge than confronting Coop in person.
She could cut up all his clothes back at the mansion, or throw paint over his car.
But that would only hurt him materially and Skye doubted it would make much difference to him, considering how wealthy he was.
No.
She needed to see him really hurting, the way that she was right now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another stream of Greek from the woman.
Skye waited till she finished talking and then took her hand. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘I don’t know why you’ve helped me, but I appreciate it.
I just need to find another way to confront him.’

The woman cocked her head and fixed Skye with a steely gaze.
‘Eros,’ she said simply.

Skye stared at her.
That meant love, didn’t it?
She snorted.
‘Not any more.’
Her heart wrenched in pain.

The woman tsked and pulled out something from the bag at her feet.
Skye stared at it then looked at the woman’s face.

‘A grappling hook?’ she said disbelievingly.

She received a wide grin in return.
The woman mimed throwing it up the wall and using the rope to clamber up.
Skye’s eyes drifted to the wall, to the hook then back up to the wall again.

‘Why do you have a grappling hook with you?’
She glanced at the old woman.
‘Never mind.
Let’s give it a shot.
How hard can it be to use this?
I’ve seen a few ninja movies in my time.’

The woman’s eyes widened for a moment then she handed over the implement and took a step backwards.
Skye’s eyes travelled up the expanse of the wall.
It really was very high, at least thirty feet tall.
She glanced doubtfully at the hook in her hands.
It was a lot heavier than she’d expected.
The last time she’d tried to throw anything like this had probably been the javelin during her high school days.
After she’d sent it flying off course and almost impaled her PE teacher in the process, she’d avoided anything similar.

Taking a deep breath, Skye tried to focus and aim.
She was attempting to breach the walls of Olympus, where the Greek gods lived, with the help of a crazy pensioner who was apparently a cat burglar in her spare time.
Good grief.
Then Coop’s face flashed into her mind and her resolve hardened.
She adjusted her arm slightly and threw the hook up with every ounce of energy she could muster.

The metal clanged noisily against the marble barely a few feet up the wall and fell back down, narrowly missing Skye’s head.
It thudded down uselessly to the ground.

‘Shit.’
She picked it up and tried again.

This time she managed to get it higher but it was still nowhere near the top.
This was never going to work.
She was no ninja after all.
Skye looked back at the old woman and gave her a look of resignation.
The woman grinned in return and held up a single finger.
Puzzled, Skye was about to ask in English what she meant when a sudden crack rent the air around her.
As if from nowhere, the large figure of a man appeared, replete with flowing white locks.
Skye gaped.

The man’s startlingly blue eyes slid in her direction then snapped to the woman, who was still there, grinning.

‘Pandora!’ he roared.

The old woman dipped slightly, before straightening up and blinking innocently.

The man let forth a torrent of angry Greek.
Pandora merely smiled back before calmly answering while pointing occasionally to Skye.
When she finished speaking, the man bent down and scooped up the grappling hook.
He turned to Skye and thrust it in her direction.

‘She met you this morning,’ he said.

It wasn’t a question but Skye nodded quickly anyway.
She was absolutely terrified.
As the man spoke, he seemed to grow in stature.
His white hair suggested old age but there was nothing elderly about him.
Skye had the horrible feeling she knew exactly who he was.

‘She was rather impressed at your determination,’ the man continued.
He waved the hook close to her face.
‘You were never going to get into Olympus with this toy, however.
It seems to be my lot to be plagued by foolish humans today.’
He appeared more exasperated than angry.
‘So you’re the girl who’s finally caught Cupid’s heart?’

Colour lit Skye’s cheeks.
‘Actually, no,’ she said.
‘I’m the girl who he treated like an idiot.
He thought he could play me for a fool!
He thought he could pretend to be in love with me just for kicks!
Well,’ she blustered, ‘he can’t!’

The man pulled the hook back and absent-mindedly scratched his chin with it.
‘Interesting,’ he murmured.

‘Interesting?’ shrieked Skye.
‘Interesting?
This is my life he’s been playing with!
You lot might be gods but you’ve got no right to treat us as if we’re you’re playthings!’

The man raised his eyebrows.
‘I’d been led to believe you were quiet and shy.’

Skye blinked.
‘Coop’s been talking about me?
To you?
But aren’t you…?’

He nodded.
‘Zeus.
King of the Heavens to you.’

‘Oh.’
Skye’s voice returned to a squeak.

‘I can see why he likes you,’ Zeus mused.
‘It’s almost a shame he’s forbidden from ever seeing you again.’

‘Forbidden?
But…’

‘You broke your promise,’ Zeus said gently.
‘You were not to attempt to see him in his corporeal form.
By doing so, you revealed your human fallibility.’
He shrugged.
‘
Que sera sera.
’

‘What?’ There was a high note to Skye’s voice.
‘Was this your idea?
Or his?’

‘I think it was my son’s.’

‘Apollo,’ Skye breathed.

‘Just so.
Now tell me, why do you not believe Cupid loves you?’

‘He doesn’t like being called that,’ she snapped.
‘His name is Coop.’

Zeus smiled faintly.
Skye realised she’d just scolded the most powerful god on Earth and swallowed, focusing on answering his question instead.

‘I thought he’d contrived everything,’ she explained.
‘To get me out of his life.
That’s why Hermes went to my friend and told her about Coop.
So I’d want to prove her wrong and would return to Greece to see him before I was supposed to.’

‘Hermes did that?’
Zeus snapped his fingers together and, almost immediately, the messenger’s figure appeared.

‘Your Majesty,’ he bowed, ‘I am yours to command.
I just wonder if perhaps you could give me a bit of time first.
You see, there’s a girl…’ Hermes’ voice trailed off when he saw Skye and his mouth dropped open.
‘You’re here?’

She scowled at him.
‘As you see.’

Zeus ignored her.
‘Hermes, did you speak to this girl’s friend last week?’

‘What?’ He looked surprised.
‘No.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘But Emma said…’
Skye began, before faltering.
Then her eyes narrowed.
‘Emma said it was Hermes.
It could actually have easily been someone
pretending
to be Hermes.
Someone like your son.’

‘You mean Apollo.’

Skye nodded miserably.
At every opportunity she’d had to trust Coop, she’d failed.
He’d not been trying to get rid of her after all.

Zeus seemed to read her thoughts.
‘You doubt him a lot.’

‘I…’ she hung her head.
‘Yes, I do.’

Zeus made to turn away.
‘And that was your downfall.’

‘Wait!’ Skye cried.
‘If your son hadn’t got involved, then I wouldn’t have gone to see Coop.’

‘You have no proof Apollo did this.’
Zeus frowned.
‘Although I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.’

‘So?
You’re the King!
Give us another chance!’

He shook his head.
‘I can’t.’

Pandora said something.
Hermes leaned in to Skye. ‘She’s saying that Zeus forgave her once for being too curious.
Therefore he should forgive you too.’

Skye shot the old woman a grateful look.
So she really was
that
Pandora then.

‘That was a long time ago,’ answered Zeus in English.

Making one last-ditch attempt, Skye wrung her hands.
‘I didn’t promise!’

‘Hmmm?’

‘I didn’t promise I wouldn’t see Coop.
I never said the words.’

‘But it was implied.’

‘I didn’t promise,’ she repeated stubbornly.

Zeus’s eyes bored into her, as if searing her soul.
Skye held her breath.
Please, she prayed inwardly.
Oh, please.

‘Wait here,’ he said gruffly.
Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished.

Skye turned to Hermes.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said guiltily.
‘I thought…’