Pandora's Box (19 page)

“I’m not going to remember all this. Let’s just gather what we need and proceed to the bath.” Riordan sounded downright cheerful.

“I could just give you the stuff and let you do it alone.”

Riordan was already shaking his head. “I really believe that you should at least be present for all this. Seriously. Yeah,
yeah, I’m a letch and probably enjoying all this way too much, but honestly, it was foreseen that you would be key to my freedom.
If you’re not there, I don’t see anything working.”

“You really believe in this prophecy stuff?”

“As much as I believe in all the other stuff. And I’m here to tell you that all the other stuff exists. Including the curse.
And, this brand of prophecy can be cryptic and occasionally misleading, but usually proves to be correct.”

Reluctantly, Mina nodded. “Then let’s get what we need.” She pulled spices and tea bags from the cabinets, pointed him toward
a box of candles and her lighter, then headed toward the bathroom.

Riordan entered and glanced around curiously. “I’ve always wondered about these.”

“You’ve never seen a bathroom before?”

He shrugged. “No body, no need for one.”

“I see.” Frowning at the idea of how different they really were, she set the ingredients next to the basin. Then she arranged
the thirteen candles around the room and lit them. Satisfied by the glow they cast, she flipped off the overhead light and
bent over the tub to turn the hot water on full blast. Referring again to the instructions, she measured out sea salt and
sage, then carefully broke open the tea bags to measure their contents. She dumped them into the tub. She hoped all the leaves
and twiggy stuff wouldn’t wreck her plumbing. Maybe she’d sift it all out later.

Still pondering, she turned around and saw Riordan.

Naked.

And jumped back, nearly toppling into the tub herself.

Riordan caught her hand and steadied her. “Hey, I’m just following the instructions. It said nude, so I’m nude.”

“Yeah, but . . . I mean, you could have waited until the tub was full.”

“How full does it have to be?”

“Full enough to camouflage some of you would be good.”

He chuckled low. “Are you feeling shy, Mina?”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in modern times, people don’t waltz all over creation in the nude.”

“So you’re not used to it.”

“No, I’m not used to it.”

“Jackson didn’t walk around the house naked?”

Mina pressed her lips together, but the thought escaped before she could check it or hide it.

Riordan snorted. “Seriously? He wouldn’t undress with the lights on? What was he hiding?”

“Stop that.”

“Then work a little harder on those cubicles.”

Still grumbling, she glanced at the water. “There are a few inches in there now.”

Riordan followed her gaze. “Turn it off, then.”

“But—”

“Hey, we’re going for potency, right? Why water down the ingredients?”

He had a point, as uncomfortable as it might make her.

“You think
you’re
uncomfortable? I’m the one playing voodoo queen and chanting in front of an audience.”

Another good point.

“Thank you.”

She considered asking him to stay out of her head, but gave up the effort. He had, after all, given her the means to hide
her thoughts. If she chose not to employ it and he merely saw what she didn’t bother to hide, it wasn’t his fault.

“That was downright sporting of you, Mina.”

She gave him a wry grin. “Gee, thanks. So let’s get on with this. Your water’s going to get cold.”

He lifted a leg to step in, and she grabbed his thigh before she realized what she’d done. “You can’t just—”

“Mina.
Darling
.” He leaned close, his voice shaking with amusement. “I feel it, too. Just surrender to the lust.”

Pulling back, she growled at his teasing. “Shut up. Look, you can’t just climb in. You’re supposed to sit or kneel in front
of the tub and do the chant thing first.”

“I am?”

“Weren’t you listening earlier?”

“I kind of got hung up on the nudity part. Like you did.”

“Not like I did. Never mind. So kneel already.”

With a shrug, Riordan sank to one knee, then the other, bracing himself on the edge of the tub. “So, what’s the chant?”

“It’s several lines long.”

“Okay, you say it and I’ll repeat it. That way you’re participating. Remember the prophecy?”

“That’s reasonable. Okay.” She found her place on the page and began: “ ‘What was done was done, Be it now undone . . .’ ”

He repeated it.

“ ‘By the light of the full moon’s wane, Cleanse my soul of taint and stain . . .’ ”

She continued to read, phrase by phrase, each of which Riordan carefully, surprisingly reverently, repeated. Until the last:
“ ‘Return my spirit to its grace.’ ”

After dutifully repeating it, he looked up. “I’m not sure there ever was much grace to my spirit, even in the beginning.”

“Given your orgy of a coming-of-age ceremony, I have my doubts, too, but let’s give this a shot anyway.”

“So what do I do next?”

“Get in.”

He stood and climbed into the tub. “Do I sit?” When she nodded, he sank into the water.

Awed by the display of sinew and skin cast in flickering candlelight, Mina determinedly averted her gaze from his lap. It
was not easy. It was becoming less easy. And he was—“Hey, you’re reading my mind.”

“How do you know?”

“Puca junior’s growing. Tell him to quit that.”

“So stop looking. And thinking.” Amusement threaded his voice.

“Can we just get on with this?”

“Hey, I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. You’re the one with the dirty mind.”

She closed her eyes, hoping for patience. Self-control. A leash for her wayward, undoubtedly perverted thoughts.

“Oh, they’re not
too
perverted.”

“Riordan!”

“Okay, okay. So do I just sit here now or what?”

She turned her attention back to the instructions, locating her place. “It says you’re supposed to cup water in your hands
and pour it over your head three times. Wait! Not yet!” She watched him lower his hands. “Each time you do it, you say these
words: ‘Accept my apologies for what was done. Disperse my spell with the morning’s sun.’ ”

Thoughtful now, Riordan cupped his hands in the water, ducked his head and poured a double handful over his scalp. He said
the words. Then he did it again. And then once more. Whipping his hair back finally, sending sprays of droplets around him,
Riordan turned his attention to Mina. “What next?”

She shrugged. “You stay in the tub until the water cools. Then you get out and go to bed. The curse should lift at dawn.”

“And that’s all there is to it? I sit here until my nuts freeze off, then go to bed. And poof. All better. I’m me again.”

“Yes. If this works.”

He nodded. “I have a good feeling about this.”

She smiled. “So do I.”

“And it’s not just the herbs collecting in interesting places, either. Remind me to try some water fun with you when I’m all
better, by the way.”

“You’re impossible.”

“But seriously. This spell could possibly work. Right?”

“Right. So, um. How’s the water?”

“Scalding my ass.”

So they’d sit there like that for a while still. Him naked, her shamelessly spectating. Maybe she didn’t need to be here.

“Please stay.” And he was completely sincere. “I want you here. I won’t try anything. I just . . . I’d like you to stay.”

“The prophecy thing.”

“Not just the prophecy thing.” He paused. “Did you know, in all these centuries, you’re the first guardian who’s tried to
free me? All the others believed me guilty and deserving of punishment. Even Gladys, although she seemed to pity me at least.
But none of them tried to break the curse.”

“Maybe you didn’t try hard enough to convince them to help you. You worked your tail off—so to speak—trying to convince me.”

By thwarting the wants of her libido, naturally. And it worked, too. Very smart puca.

He laughed.

“I really need to work on that cubicle, don’t I?”

“Oh, don’t do it on my account. Your thoughts generally prove entertaining and even enlightening on occasion. I had no idea
I was physical perfection in the eyes of all womankind.”

“Don’t look now, but your ego’s outgrowing the bathroom.”

“Your fault, not mine.”

She grumbled. He certainly had her there.

“So. Mina.” He seemed to be trying for the same playful tone, but there was an uncertain edge to his voice now.

“Yes?” What could make a puca uncertain?

“If this works—if we break the curse—what are the chances of you and me . . . you know.”

“You know . . . ?” She frowned, mildly confused.

“Getting together.”

“Sex? You’re worried about having sex with me? Now? My interest in Teague aside . . . Buddy, you’re soaking in chamomile tea
and waiting for the inevitable shrinkage as the water cools—that does happen to pucas, too, I assume?—and you’re still capable
of suggesting we have sex?”

“We-ell . . .” And now he sounded even more hesitant. “Even if there’s no sex, I would like to see you again. If you don’t
mind. Just check in once in a while to see if you’re okay. I mean, I did promise not to abandon you. You know, to always show
up if you called. But I think I’d really like it if we . . . Well, I mean, I like hanging out with you sometimes, and I’m
getting used to those entertaining thoughts of yours and—”

She eyed him wonderingly. “Riordan, are you asking me if I’d like to be friends with you?”

He paused. “Yes. That’s what I’m asking. I don’t have any friends like that. I’ve witnessed the feelings of my human guardians
when they were with their friends. Equal footing. Laughing, teasing, even arguing and making up. I don’t have that. I have
people who fear me, people who hate me and people who are stuck with me. If you were given the option to freely hang out with
me . . . Sometimes. Like when you’re not on a date or busy or naked or sleeping . . . would you want to?”

She was touched. Trying to gather her words together, Mina glanced around a little awkwardly before seating herself on the
bath rug where Riordan had knelt just a few minutes ago. From this angle, his distracting naked parts weren’t so readily available
to her view and imagination. She held out her hand to him and smiled when he took it. “Yes. Surprisingly, probably to both
of us, I might like that. I’d like to see you happy one day, Riordan. Happy and enjoying your freedom and maybe sharing more
stories of the impossible with me.”

He squeezed her hand, not saying anything, but the silence said more than words could. A man without friends had made a tentative
gesture toward friendship. And found it accepted freely. He’d been so profoundly isolated. The reality of his existence had
to be so much worse than she could possibly fathom. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept of one millennium, much
less two of them—and then filling those millennia with isolation, disorienting disembodiment and sheer loneliness and desperation.
“I’m surprised you didn’t resort to threats to get me or someone else to help you before this.”

He shrugged without answering.

“You know what? I think a lot of people have underestimated you. Akker and his daughter most of all. Their loss. We’ll figure
this out, Riordan. One way or the other.”

Half an hour later, the water had cooled and Riordan climbed out, drying off and draping the towel around his waist. When
Mina moved to scoop out as much of the herbs as she could gather, Riordan brushed her aside and took care of the chore himself.
They drained the tub, snuffed out the candles, then turned to face each other. Mina was at a loss for words and even shameless
Riordan didn’t seem quite sure how to act.

“So I just sleep now?” Riordan mused quietly. Then he continued in a tone, half-mocking and half-not, obviously intended to
put them both at ease. “But gee, Mom, what if I have blasphemous dreams? What if I wake up before dawn or just can’t sleep?
Imagine insomnia spoiling my one shot at freedom.”

Responding to the undercurrent of concern in his voice, Mina frowned. “Well, it didn’t say, but I can’t think that it would
matter much how you slept. The idea is that the curse would break at dawn. Don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

“So. Sleep.” She glanced around at her bedroom with its bed inside, and then around her home. No other beds. She frowned.
“It never occurred to me to wonder—”

“Where I sleep?” He sounded amused. “I know. You assumed I poof myself somewhere. I’ve been using your couch or, occasionally,
the corner rug. Depending on the form I take.”

“You can sleep as a dog?”

“Not my preference, but sure.”

She nodded. “Well, I can get you some blankets and a pillow for the couch.”

“Thanks.” He followed her to the hall closet, where she got down the bedding and handed them over. Then she wrapped her arms
around her middle and regarded him with some uncertainty. “If this spell works and I’m still asleep when you find out . .
. I know you’ll have a ton of things you’ll want to do, but you won’t leave without saying good-bye, will you?”

“Never. I promised, remember? You can count on me.”

She smiled for real now. “I guess we really are friends.”

“Guess so.”

“Good night, Riordan.”

“ ’Night, Mina.”

Mina hesitated, then impulsively grabbed the cornerstone from the table. At his wondering gaze, she shrugged awkwardly. “Thought
I’d take it with me. For safekeeping. And luck.” Something to stare at when she couldn’t sleep either. When he nodded wordlessly,
she turned and padded off to her bedroom. She lay awake for long hours, hoping. She considered going out to the couch and
just watching to see if his face would appear.

Go to sleep, Mina.

You’re awake, too.

Well, it is sort of my face on the line here. Not to mention the
rest of my existence, eternity, freedom, all those large concepts.