Firestone (40 page)

“
No, she’s right.” Perses
turned to Paddie. “That’s a very important sword.”

“
Made by Manannán,” Jill
said.

“
Oh no.” Perses looked at
Jill. He smiled. “It’s much, much older than that. More
important.”

Perses turned to Paddie.

“
Are you the man to own
this blade?” Perses asked.

“
I’m five,” Paddie said.
He stuck his chest out in a gesture of pride.

“
You’re not five!” Katy
said. “You’re only four and a half!”

“
I’m four and a half!”
Paddie said. He stuck his chest out again.

“
So you are.” Perses
grinned. He held the sword, hilt first, out to Paddie. “It’s yours
for life. No one will ever be able to take it from you.”

Paddie hopped up and down for a moment
before taking the sword back. Perses gave a slight nod and touched
Paddie’s forehead.

“
Yes, sir,” Paddie said,
and smiled.

Perses grinned at the boy.

“
Perses? If I may?” Fin
started.

Perses turned back to look at Fin.

“
You should let Eros up,”
Fin said.

Perses raised his eyebrows at Fin.

“
He’s just looking for his
wife,” Fin said.

He gestured to where Seth held on to Alma.
Perses turned to look at Seth.

“
Seth,” Perses
said.

“
Perses,” Seth said in a
low voice.

“
You know what you have
there?” Perses asked.

“
Think so,” Seth
said.

“
Good,” Perses said. “Can
you hold on to that one for a bit?”

“
I’ve got her,” Seth
said.

“
Don’t let her touch
anyone,” Perses said.

Perses set the man he’d been holding onto
his feet, and stood right in front of him. Perses patted the man’s
shoulders, which seemed to awaken him.

“
Eros,” Perses said to the
man.

“
Perses,” the man
said.

“
You know where you are?”
Perses asked.

“
No,” Eros said. “I’ve
been looking for my wife, my daughter
for . . .”

Eros gave a sad shrug.

“
A few thousand human
years,” Perses said. “Yes.”

“
My
mother . . .” Eros started.

“
I want to
know . . .” Tink said.

The girl walked up to where Perses and Eros
were standing. They were so surprised by her interjection that they
turned to look at her.

“
Why did you let your
mother do it?” Tink asked.

Eros looked at the girl and then at his
captor. Perses gave a slight nod.

“
How was I to know that my
mother would be so cruel?” Eros asked.

“
Oh, come on!” Sandy said.
“That’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard. You abandoned your
wife and child because of your ego.”

The mood in the room tightened with electric
tension. The people turned on Eros.

“
She broke a sacred
promise to me,” Eros said.

“
To not look at you?”
Jeraine asked. “You think any of these women wouldn’t want to know
who is in their bed? How stupid are you?”

“
You couldn’t imagine that
your mother would be cruel?” Tanesha asked. “What did she do the
last time you fell in love?”

“
Uh . . .”
Eros said.

“
You don’t deserve
Psyche’s love,” Heather said.

“
Hedone?” Eros was so
surprised that he gawked at Heather. “Hedone?”

“
She’s not Hedone,” Katy
said. “That’s just dumb. She’s
my
auntie. Her name is Heather.”

Paddie punctuated her words with a flick of
his sword.

“
I only came for my wife
and daughter, fairy-child,” Eros said. “You have no right
to . . .”

“
That’s my granddaughter,”
Perses said.

“
Shit!” Eros said.
“Shit!”

He slumped.

“
You really are pathetic,”
Jill said. “You failed to protect your wife and daughter from what
you
knew
your
mother would do.”

“
I . . .”
Eros started.

“
You’re saying you didn’t
know?” Perses asked.

“
Oh hell,” Eros said. “I
knew she was mean, I just thought . . . I really
thought she’d . . .”

The handsome Eros looked from face to face,
finally settling on Fin.

“
I fucked up,” Eros
said.

“
Now there’s a truth,” Fin
said.

“
Then you know what you
must do,” Perses said. “Tanesha?”

“
He gets one,” Tanesha
said. “I’m not going to have this fool shooting arrows around the
room willy-nilly.”

“
Fair enough,” Perses
said.

Tanesha took an arrow from Charlie and
carried it to Perses. Eros reached for the arrow.

“
You know what those are?”
Eros asked Tanesha.

“
I read about you in high
school,” Tanesha said.

“
What’s high school?” Eros
asked.

“
Why don’t you go back to
where you came from and we’ll get on with our lives?” Tanesha
asked. “We won’t miss you.”

“
I want my daughter back,”
Eros said.

“
She’s not here,” Tanesha
said.

Eros scowled at Tanesha and jerked the arrow
from her hand.

“
Seth?” Perses said. “Can
you turn Alma’s back to us?”

“
What?” Eros asked. “That
woman is not . . .”

Alma fought with Seth, but he managed to
turn her back toward Perses and Eros.

“
Your shot?” Perses
asked.

Eros looked at him for a moment before
notching his arrow into the bow.

“
Tink!” Heather waved for
Tink to come to her. Tink picked up Mack and went to
Heather.

“
Katy! Paddie!” Jill
pushed the children away from the action.

Charlie moved closer to Sandy, and the rest
of the adults moved away from Seth and Alma.

“
I’m a good shot!” Eros
said.

“
Take your shot,” Perses
said, and smirked. He winked at Katy, who giggled.

Eros shot an arrow into the back of the
woman they knew as Alma. She collapsed against Seth. The arrow
dissolved into her. Perses gave Eros a little push, and the man
fell into Alma. To catch himself, he put his arms on Alma’s. Seth
let go and stepped out of the way.

Alma and Eros fell to the ground.

“
Eros?” Alma
asked.

Alma’s voice was soft. She blinked as if
she’d been asleep.

“
Psyche?” Eros
asked.

“
You found me,” Alma
said.

Alma threw her arms around his neck. As they
watched, Alma transformed into the beautiful young Psyche. Her
tight grey haired bun unraveled and her hair fell in long, black
curls. Her body dropped forty pounds and her willowy figure
appeared. Eros kissed Psyche.

“
I’m so sorry,” Eros
said.

“
I’m sorry,” Psyche said.
“I should have trusted you but . . .”

“
Your sisters filled your
head with nonsense,” Eros said.

“
Never again,” Psyche
said.

“
I’ll never let my mother
hurt you again,” Eros said. “I swear.”

Psyche threw her arms around his neck again.
They both began to weep. Caught up in each other, they failed to
notice Heather moving behind Tanesha, Jill, and Sandy. Tink hugged
Charlie and they stood next to Sandy. Fin and Abi moved to stand
next to Tanesha and Jeraine.

After a few minutes, Eros shifted away from
Psyche.

“
Where is Hedone?” Eros
asked.

“
She was
here . . .” Psyche looked around the room. “She was
right here.”

“
Hedone is not here,” Jill
said. She looked at Sandy. “Do you know anyone named
Hedone?”

Paddie started playing with the sword
again.

“
No.” Sandy shook her
head. “I don’t know anyone named Hedone. Tanesha?”

“
You must have lost her,”
Tanesha said.

“
Lost
her . . .” Psyche said.

“
Maybe you should enjoy
your reunion and then go look for your daughter,” Perses suggested.
“There’s still a matter of your marriage.”

“
Jupiter,
he . . .” Eros started.

“
It’s all arranged,”
Perses said.

Eros and Psyche looked up at Perses.

“
Yes,” Eros said. He
turned to Psyche. “Will you?”

“
Yes!” Psyche
said.

“
May I offer my island?”
Perses said. “You can enjoy your reunion beyond the prying eyes of
the modern world. It’s a lovely place to be married.”

“
Would you like that?”
Eros asked.

Psyche leaned forward and they kissed. The
room took on a pink glow. Slowly, Eros and his bride disappeared
from the room. The room was silent for a moment before Tanesha
began to clap. The adults cheered.

“
Paddie?” Perses
said.

Paddie put the sword away. Perses nodded to
the boy. He leaned down to kiss Jill’s cheek and walked toward the
door. As he passed Heather, he held up one finger. She nodded, and
he left the house.

“
Well, that was weird,”
Charlie said. “What do we do now?”

“
Can you help me clean
up?” Heather asked as she stepped out from behind them. “I don’t
think my mom’s going to be back for a while. And it’s too much for
me.”

“
I can do it,” Abi
said.

She shrunk down to fairy corps size. Around
them, furniture flew and dust rose. Sandy pointed out the dirty
dishes to Charlie, and they picked up a few dishes and walked to
the kitchen. They were halfway there when the dishes disappeared
from their hands. In a few moments, Abi returned to normal human
size and smiled.

They applauded.

“
Thanks everyone!” Heather
said. “I hate to push you out, but it’s almost my time with Blane.
I don’t get a lot and . . .”

She gave a soft smile.

“
Ready, Katy?” Jill
asked.

Katy raised her arms, and Jill picked her
up. Paddie raised his arms, and she lifted him too. Sandy set
Jill’s purse around Jill’s neck. Jill smiled at Heather and they
left.

Fin gave Heather a hug and kissed her cheek.
He held out his hand to Abi, and they left. Tanesha hugged Heather
and followed Fin and Abi.

“
I’ll see you tonight,”
Heather said to Tink.

“
I’ll wait up,” Tink said.
She picked up Mack and rested him on her hip.

“
You don’t have to,”
Heather said.

“
I want to hear about
Blane,” Tink said.

“
I’ll come straight from
the hospital to the Castle,” Heather said. “I love you,
Tink.”

Tink gave Heather a quick hug. Charlie held
out his hand, and Tink took it. They followed Sandy and Seth out of
the house.

And Heather was alone.

Heather went back into the
house. She’d spent a lot of time in this house. She looked into her
room and her mother’s. She went into the kitchen. Standing in the
kitchen, Heather closed her eyes and
felt
the house.

She opened her eyes. She checked the back
door to make sure it was locked. She checked that Abi had taken all
the trash out and cleaned out the refrigerator, which she had.
Heather smiled and walked out the door.

She went out the front door and locked it.
She went to her Subaru and drove off.

“
Are you going to tell me
what happened?” Jeraine asked as Heather drove past his
car.

Tanesha worried that Heather might need her,
so she’d asked him to wait until Heather was on her way. He started
the car.

“
I don’t know what to tell
you,” Tanesha said.

“
Psyche is a human woman
with whom Eros, or Cupid, fell in love,” Jeraine said. “He lay with
her night after night, which signified their marriage.”

“
In the myth, they don’t
have a child until after he wakes her,” Tanesha said. “After the
gods approve their marriage.”

“
But clearly that’s not
true,” Jeraine said. He put the car into gear and started to drive.
“He told Psyche that she must not look at his face, know who he
was. But Psyche’s jealous sisters got her all insecure, so after he
fell asleep, she looked at his face.”

“
A drop of oil woke him,”
Tanesha said.

“
Right,” Jeraine said. “He
left, and Psyche wandered the world looking for him. She found his
mother instead. His mother gave her four trials.”

“
The myth says that, after
completing the fourth task, she fell into a death sleep,” Tanesha
said. “But Alma . . . She seemed almost asleep to
herself. Terrified of her husband’s mother, she ran from him and
the world.”

“
And wound up here in
Denver?” Jeraine asked.

“
This time,” Tanesha
said.

“
How . . .?” Jeraine asked.

“
I’m going to tell you
this because I promised never to lie to you,” Tanesha said. “But
this is the only time I’ll talk about it.”