Destined (32 page)

Watching her, I was suddenly overcome with gratitude for the beautiful mare. Olympus was so far away; I would never make it without her. Not in this lifetime anyway. And she was oblivious to the danger I was dragging her into with me. If I failed in this journey, she would likely die with me.
 

Slowly I padded to the horse and wrapped my arms around her neck. “We should ride a little more. I think we can reach Corinth before sun down.” I patted her mane and she nodded her head in what seemed like approval. I led her over the rock I’d been sitting on so I’d have an easier time mounting, but I was still glad no one was watching me as I fumbled onto her back.
 

Once there, my legs immediately protested. They already ached from our earlier ride and I realized I’d been foolish to try to cover so much ground in one day. Thanks to the crowds, it’d been forever since I’d ridden. My muscles were painfully sore and the insides of my legs were chaffed from rubbing against Xanthy’s coarse hair.
 

“On second thought,” I said, “maybe we better call it quits for today.”

Looking around the deserted stretch of road, I wasn’t sure the best place for us to camp. Would it be better to leave ourselves exposed to the animals of the woods or to human strangers who might come across us by the road? In the end, I figured Xanthy would be more likely to sense danger and wake us from an animal, so I led her from the road into the cover of dense pines.

After brushing Xanthy down and making sure she had plenty to drink, I ate some of the food my parents packed and then gathered pine needles to make a bed, rough and pointy as it was. Although the sun was only beginning to set, I was ready to sleep. The ride had taken its toll and I easily drifted off, knowing Xanthippe would stand guard.

Some time later, and I had no way to gauge how much later since the sky was midnight black, I woke to the sound of Xanthy huffing and pacing uneasily near the tree where I had tied her.

My fog of sleep immediately parted as fear took over.

I lay quietly for a moment, holding my breath, listening for sounds of an intruder. And then I heard what Xanthy’s sensitive ears had picked up long before mine: footsteps shuffling through pine needles. The steps were coming closer.

I clambered to my feet and pulled out my knife as I protectively rushed to Xanthy’s side. Whatever was coming, I wouldn’t let it hurt my horse.
 

Perhaps because we were in the woods, it never occurred to me that the footfalls might belong to something other than an animal. Until I heard the voice call to me.

“There you are. I was starting to think I’d never find you.”

Chapter 41 - Psyche

“Alexa!” I called, and ran headlong through the woods until I crashed into my invisible friend.
 

“I thought we were past this whole running into me thing,” she teased as she hugged me.

“You came back.” I was giddy as I held her in the darkness, unable to let go for fear she’d evaporate.

“I can’t stay long,” she cautioned. “I’m not even supposed to be here, but I snuck away.”

My arms dropped away from her. “So he hasn’t forgiven me yet?”

Alexa didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. I already knew the answer.

“Did you tell him that I saw you? That’s why I believed my sister over him?”

“Not yet, but I will,” she said. “He refuses to see anyone right now. Heck, I’m under lock and key living with my parents again,” she explained, as we walked through the woods toward my makeshift camp.

“Why’d you have to sneak away from your parents’ house? Eros isn’t there too is he?”

Alexa snorted. “No, he’s back on Mount Olympus. But seeing as how this is partially my fault for letting you hear your sister in the first place, I’m sort of grounded.”

“What?” I asked. “What do you mean you’re grounded?”

I heard Alexa kick at some leaves. “Eros could’ve gotten me in real trouble with the Olympian counsel for disobeying his order not to ever let you hear you sister’s cries. He said he’d keep quiet about the whole thing if my parents promised not to let me come help you. So, like I said, I can’t stay long.”

As we reached my little camp, Alexa said, “I’m glad to see you have a horse. It’ll throw Aphrodite off for a while. She won’t expect you to be riding, and she’s not a very good tracker.”

My eyes grew wide and darted around the woods in panicked bursts. “She’s coming for me?” I stammered. “She knows? But how?”

“She made him tell.” Alexa paused before adding softly, “he didn’t want to.”

“But if she — I’ll never make it.”

“Shhh…” Alexa hushed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t give up. You
can
make it. I know you can.”

“How?” I sniffed.

“You’ll reach Corinth tomorrow morning. Just before you reach the gates, there’s a shrine to Vesta. She won’t want to pick sides in a fight, especially against Aphrodite, but if you can convince her that she’s just keeping the peace until you find Eros, she might protect you as you travel.”

“I don’t really have anything to offer her.”
  

“You can promise to give her something if you make it. It’ll give her some added incentive to protect you.” Alexa said.

“Alexa, what am I going to do without you? You
can’t
leave me again. Please.”

“Psyche, I told you. I can’t stay. But you’ll do fine. I’m sure of it.” She was already pulling her warm hand away from mine.

“Wait!” I called. “Before you go … does he … I mean … do you think that he…misses me?”

“He must,” she answered. I could hear her footsteps moving away in the darkness.

“Will it be enough? To forgive me, I mean?” I tried to keep the panic from registering in my voice.

“Get some rest, Psyche. You have a long journey ahead of you still.”

And just like that, the sound of Alexa’s retreating footsteps was gone. The forest was so silent, I wondered whether Alexa had really come at all or if it’d been another dream.

Settling back down into my pine straw bed, I strained to pick up any noise that might hint Alexa was coming back. Or that Aphrodite was bearing down on me. But the only sounds filtering through the night air were the chirping of crickets and Xanthy’s rhythmic breathing as she dozed.
 

When I awoke in the morning, the sun was only just beginning to rise. I quickly ate some crackers before leading Xanthippe back out to the rock and mounting. We hadn’t ridden for more than an hour when I realized we were approaching Corinth. Little farm houses and grazing cattle showed we were nearing civilization.

Deciding to make sure I passed the town unrecognized, I pulled a shroud out from one of my bags and wrapped it around my head. I carefully tucked my curls into the folds of the fabric and pulled the sides out as far as possible to shield my face.

I was almost to the city gates when, just as Alexa had promised, I spotted a small shrine. Around the marble inscription to Vesta lay clay pots, lamps, tiny sculpted animals and busts in the goddess’s likeness. Tokens laid out by the farmers and pious visitors who came seeking favors. They reminded me again that I had so little to offer.

Just as I was about to dismount from Xanthy to make my prayer, I realized there was nothing, aside from the shrine itself, to use to get back up on my horse. I couldn’t see praying to a goddess only to defile her shrine, so I decided to stay on horseback and hope Vesta wasn’t offended.

Xanthy brought me right up to it and I stared at the relief image of the goddess. She looked so motherly. It was hard to imagine she was one of the virgin goddesses rather than a matron. Her shoulder-length, curly hair framed the broad face that sat atop her full shoulders and thick torso. Her head was draped in a cloak much like the one I was wearing to conceal myself, only the effect on her was to make her face more severe.
 

I’d never had much of a connection to Vesta in the past. Her domain was the home and hearth, things I hadn’t had much concern for. Others had always cared for my palaces and kept the hearths going for me. I wondered whether I deserved her help now, before realizing that whether I deserved it or not, I had no choice but to ask for it.

“Vesta, eldest sister of Zeus, great mistress of the home and protector of the sacred hearth fire that keeps us warm, hear my prayer. I’m searching for Eros because I made a huge mistake. And I love him,” I mumbled, swallowing back the guilt. “I regret that I have nothing to offer you in exchange for hearing this prayer, but am a lowly traveler in desperate need of your help. Your fellow goddess, Aphrodite, doesn’t want me to find her son. I pray that you watch over me as I travel so that I have a chance to beg Eros’s forgiveness. If you will help me, I promise to dedicate a shrine within my home to you and give thanks at it daily.”

And there it was.
 

No flash of lightning or puff of smoke followed. Just the silence that hung in the air after I finished making the longest prayer of my life. Would Vesta give me a sign that she’d heard me or would help me? I waited a few minutes by the shrine for some indication the goddess was listening, but nothing happened. No birds flew overhead. None of the offerings on the shrine suddenly fell over. Even the wind was stagnant and unmoving.

There was nothing else to do except keep moving. I nudged Xanthy to move faster as we neared the gates of Corinth. I was still worried someone would recognize me, but the only person we passed was a shepherd moving his small flock of sheep to another pasture.
 

As we crossed the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that separates the Peloponnese from the mainland of Greece, I exhaled a relieved sigh. We were still so far away, but being on the mainland made me feel closer to Eros.

From high atop the jagged, craggy cliffs, I looked down at the azure waters of the Aegean Sea. The waves pounded mercilessly at the base of the rocks, shooting crashing white waves up the stones like fingers grasping for something just beyond their reach.
 

I recoiled as I watched, moving Xanthy further away from the edge of the cliff. The sea was Aphrodite’s domain; where she was born, where she played. I had the paranoid fear that the waves might actually try to reach up and tear me from my horse. Without spending time to rationalize away my fears, I urged Xanthy into a gallop so that we could quickly pass the ocean’s edge.

We traveled on at trot for the rest of the day and as we neared the city of Megara, a cloud of dust rose up from the road in front of us. The shapes of four riders emerged from the haze, galloping wildly and barreling down on us.
 

Something about this band of riders made me uneasy. Maybe because they were moving so fast, maybe because there were four of them and only one me, maybe because these were the first people I’d encountered on the barren roads other than the shepherd, but something made my heart race as the riders approached.