The Weight of the World (22 page)

“I
guess I don't know their parents very well,” Celene said. “Aside
from meeting at parent-teacher conferences.”

“None
of them have ever asked if they could tell their parents.”

“And
none of them have ever wanted to tell non-Pantheon friends,” Celene
pointed out.

“Then
we cross that bridge if we come to it.” Jason shook his head, “Not
sure what good it would do to tell their parents anyway. It's not
like anybody has experience with this issue. It just feels
irresponsible, as a fellow parent.” Jason swirled his wine around
in its glass before taking a long sip.

Celene
rested her head back against the couch. She let herself relax so
rarely that any break she took had to be a conscious effort. She
breathed out and let the tension fall from her shoulders. “I'm
worried about the kids,” she said after a while.

“About
a new Titan?”

“No,
about how equipped they are for this kind of power. Look at the
trouble they've gotten in to. Teddy and Peter were arrested and
Devon's gotten herself pregnant.”

“Sounds
to me like they did that without the help of their powers.”

“Maybe,”
Celene sighed. “Would it make me the bad-guy if I forbid Penny from
dating anyone who has been arrested?”

Jason
smiled. His eyes crinkled with that smile, lighting up his whole
face. “Probably. But give it time. I think they're a horrible fit.
Once she gets over how cute he is and how purple his car is, she'll
figure it out, too.”

Celene
turned her head to look back at Jason. “You think so?”

“I
guarantee it. Penny's a smart girl. She's also a good girl. Teddy's a
good kid when he tries, but he functions at a higher pace. More
action, less thought. Penny will find someone she can talk to.
Besides, how many people ever meet their soulmate when they're
fifteen?”

“Do
you believe in that, soulmates?”

“Well,
I guess if I believed there was only one, that would be pretty
depressing.” Jason sipped his wine and thought about it for a
minute.

He
continued, “I think that we all have someone who is a perfect fit
for us, if we can let ourselves fall and learn to love their flaws.
And if we lose that someone, there is someone else out there. Call it
God's plan, fate, destiny, a horse...”

Celene
didn't laugh. Jason decided that he needed to stop quoting his
daughter's movies.

“Right,
so I think that we can find a perfect fit again, but it works out
that nobody can ever find two soul-mates against their will. We have
to choose to fall.”

“I
like that. You put it much more eloquently than I ever could,”
Celene nodded. “It's nice to hope that we could find that feeling
again.”

Jason
looked back at Celene, his thoughts wandering. It was pretty surreal
that this woman sitting with him, talking about fate, was actually an
ancient goddess. Jason had managed to reconcile his faith with The
Pantheon's existence. Maybe she wasn't the creator of his universe.
Maybe she wasn't a deity to be worshipped. That aside, she was still
a powerful immortal being, someone far beyond him. He was in awe that
she could sit here, beautiful and graceful, and still seem so
accessible.

“We're
lucky Astin turned to you at the beginning of all this. A lesser man
might have taken advantage of us.”

Jason
never knew how to respond to compliments of character. “Thank You”
always seemed pompous, like a Han Solo “I know,” but nobody liked
that guy who talked down on himself to feign humility. Jason didn't
say anything. He just looked back at Celene, hoping that he wasn't
blushing.

Jason's
core twitched, as if he'd had the impulse to move but thought better
of it. Celene read the minute movement and responded with a curious
raise of her eyebrow. His thoughts raced between the realization of
what he had wanted to do and the fact that she had noticed it. Jason
was busted. If he didn't react in some way, it would turn in to an
awkward moment. Jason made the snap decision to go with his gut.

He
leaned forward, holding his breath as he moved, and kissed her.
Celene closed her eyes and sighed. Relieved, Jason relaxed. He
brought his hand up to cradle her jaw. Her lips slowly parted,
inviting him to deepen the kiss.

They
spent a long time sitting on the couch, lazily kissing and getting
used to the idea of romance again. Eventually Celene broke the kiss
and rested her forehead against his.

“I
just crossed a line...” he said, worry present in his voice.

“It's
a good line,” she replied.

Jason
sat up. Her tone was encouraging. It was tough, getting back in the
game after losing the mother of his children, but he was ready and he
was determined not to let a chance at happiness pass him by. He could
never know how much time they had. “What are you doing Friday
night?”

“Watching
something off my DVR. Why?” She asked, a smirk playing on the
corners of her lips, “What should I be doing Friday night?”

“
Acknowledge
sacred things
.
”

-Greek
Proverb

xvi.

When
the people began their worship of him,

Dionysus,
bringer of wine and drama,

Pentheus,
King of Thebes, rejected this rite

and
even banned it.

Hearing
this, Dionysus was furious.

He
drove the women of Thebes into frenzy

and
unleashed them all on their blasphemous King.

Pentheus
took off.

He
ran until he came to a wide fig tree

and
sought to escape by climbing its branches.

But
the women, like ravenous dogs, chased and

pulled
him from the tree.

In
their grasp, King Pentheus was torn to scraps

and
left in pieces outside the walls of Thebes.

Dionysus
was content with his revenge,

and
worship commenced.

“
You
don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday.
You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging
adversity
.”

-Epicurus

XVI.

Penny
didn't hear from Teddy for two days. On the third day she was
surprised to see a video chat request while she was browsing the
internet. She knew he was grounded, but she guessed that the
self-defense plea got him a lesser punishment.

“Are
you free already?”

“Naw,
my parents went out for dinner.” Teddy was sitting in a room Penny
didn't recognize. She guessed it was his Dad's office. “They locked
up my computer for the week.”

“Oh.”

“How
are you doing, gorgeous. Miss me?”

Penny
picked up a pen on her desk and started doodling purple swirls on
some scrap paper. She shrugged.

“What,
you don't miss me?”

“I've
just had a lot of time to think,” she said.

“About
what?”

“About
you, me, my fight with Peter.”

Teddy
was silent.

“Peter
said he hit you because you weren't being very... polite when talking
about me.”

“Peter
said that, did he?”

“Are
you telling me he's lying?”

“I'm
telling you he's overreacting.”

“Maybe
he's not,” Penny said, looking back up at the camera. “Teddy, I
feel like every time I see you, since our first date, you're trying
to put your hands where they don't need to be and getting upset when
I stop you.”

“You're
mad at me for being attracted to you?” Teddy cocked an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”

“I'm
not mad.”

“You
sound mad.”

Penny
didn't say anything. She put the pen down and sighed. It was a
pressing, awkward pause that made Teddy wish he had never sneaked on
his father's computer. Maybe if he had given her a week she would
have calmed down.

“Are
you breaking up with me because of Peter?”

“This
has nothing to do with Peter. He's my friend. Well, he was. I don't
even think he's that anymore.”

“But
you are breaking up with me,” Teddy said.

“We
don't want the same thing out of this relationship, Teddy.”

“Right
then. Well, thanks for being clear.” Teddy's shoulders shifted on
screen as he moved his mouse. He disconnected the call. Penny turned
off her computer. With her bed right next to her computer desk, she
was able to shift in her chair and flop down across her comforter.
After a minute Penny crawled completely onto her bed, pulled her pink
throw blanket up over her head, and began to cry.

“
He
lives not long who battles with the immortals.”

-Homer

xvii.

To
share her with the crippled smith, Hephaestus,

was
a mere inconvenience of Zeus’ law.

Ares
knew that she did not love her husband.

She
was his in heart.

When
he heard that his lover had born a child

to
another rival, youthful Adonis,

his
whole body was flushed with crimson anger,

and
he was transformed.

From
hands came hooves and from flesh erupted fur,

until
he was bent on all fours, tusks roaring

and
charging towards his unwitting contender,

intending
to kill.

A
tusk pierced the skin beneath his floating ribs

and
hooked up into the rival’s intestines.

Adonis
lay, gored, in a pile of his own

hot
blood and entrails.

“
Love
is simply the name for the desire and the pursuit of the whole.
”

-Aristophanes

XVII.

Devon
Valentine knocked on the front door of Frank's house. The door was
painted a kiwi green that matched the rest of the neighborhood's
tropical scheme, but the paint was peeling to show that, sometime
before, the door had once been red.

When
the door opened, a small woman with dark hair and large brown eyes
stood in front of Devon. She was dressed in scrubs and holding a
cloth purse. Devon had met Frank's mother before, in passing. This
woman looked just like her, minus a few scars and a few years on her
face. She must have been his aunt, the owner of the house.