Eros (21 page)

Coop took a deep breath.
‘I fell in love.
I am in love.
She’s the most perfect person in the world.’

‘Except she can’t be trusted for even three days not to spy on you,’ interjected Apollo sneeringly.

Coop rounded on the Sun God.
‘You made that happen!
And she wasn’t spying.
She thought she was doing the right thing.’

‘Oh yeah?
How do you know?
She only thinks she loves you.
Anyway, she’s human; she’ll have changed her mind by next week and moved on to someone else.’

Zeus reached out to Coop and placed a restraining hand on his arm to prevent him from going after Apollo yet again. ‘I know a little something about human women,’ he said gruffly.
‘Who is this one?’

Coop had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from retorting that the only reason Zeus knew a little about human women was because he’d spent half his life shagging as many as he could lay his hands on.

‘Her name is Skye,’ he said quietly.

‘And you should know, Father, that she colluded with Cupid to bloody shoot me so I’d fall in love with her.’

‘That’s not true!’

The tiniest frown marred Zeus’s forehead.
‘Let me get this straight.
You,’ he pointed at Coop, ‘shot my son so he would fall in love with a human girl.
Then you fell in love with her yourself.’

Coop nodded.

Zeus continued. ‘Then you,’ he pointed at Apollo, ‘did something to prevent this Skye from being with him.’

‘I didn’t…’

‘Be quiet, Apollo.
I know what you’re like and I know what you’re capable of doing.
Sooner or later you are going to need to learn some respect for others.’

‘None of this is her fault,’ Coop said desperately.
‘I’ve behaved like a world-class fool.
I know that.
I deserve to be punished.
Just … just don’t punish her as well.’

‘You made the deal, Cupid.
Three days.
If she could have managed to avoid sneaking in to see you for three short days, then you’d have won.
But she couldn’t.
If she really loved you, she wouldn’t have done that, no matter how much I meddled.’

Coop ran his hands through his hair.
‘It’s not about winning any more, Apollo.
Don’t you see that?
This isn’t a competition.
It’s my life.
My happiness.
Her happiness.
We’re meant to be together.
Just because she made one mistake doesn’t mean she should be punished for the rest of her life too.
She had nothing to do with me shooting you.
She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Zeus pursed his lips thoughtfully.
‘Does she love you?’

The door to Aphrodite’s quarters slammed open and she appeared in the doorframe looking somewhat tired. ‘She failed the test, Coop.
She’s only human.
You’ll end up getting hurt, sooner or later.’

Coop faced her.
‘I’m not a little boy any more, Mother.
You have to let me make my own mistakes and stop interfering.
Besides, this isn’t a mistake and she does love me.’

‘How do you know?
You weren’t so sure before.’

‘Because if she doesn’t then I’ve got no reason to live,’ he said simply.

Zeus met Aphrodite’s eyes and a look passed between them.
Apollo was staring at Coop, his mouth half open.

‘It does sound as if there’s an easy way out of this,’ Zeus began.

‘No.’
Apollo shook his head fervently.
‘He gave his word.
Either she passed the test and they could be together, or she failed and he never saw her again.
And she failed.
End of story.’

A growl rumbled in Coop’s chest and he pulled his shoulders back.
A flicker of agreement crossed Aphrodite’s face. ‘It’s true,’ she admitted.
‘That was the deal.’

‘But…’ Coop began to protest.

Zeus held up a heavy finger in warning.
‘Then my hands are tied.
The deal is done.’

‘You’ll get over her,’ Aphrodite said.
‘There are lots of human girls around.
And lots of minor goddesses who would be far more suitable for you.
Any of them would be thrilled to have you as their consort. Not to mention that you’ll know they have no ulterior motives in wanting to be with you.’

‘I will not get over her,’ Coop forced out.
‘Don’t you get it?’

Apollo’s eyes were lit from within with a malicious gleam.
‘It’s merely an immature infatuation, Cupid.
You’ll feel better in a hundred years or so.’

Coop snarled.
His mother shook her head. ‘You still have a lot of growing up to do, darling.’

Coop tightened his hands into two hard fists and tried to force down the painful knot that was gathering in his chest.

‘Don’t let me see you two fighting again,’ Zeus ordered.
‘Or the consequences will be dire.’

‘Of course, Father,’ stated Apollo, shooting a nasty sideways look at Coop.

Aphrodite turned and walked back into her rooms, closing the door softly behind her.
Zeus raised his eyebrows meaningfully at Coop and strode off, Apollo trotting dutifully at his heels.
Coop scowled after the pair of them, doing everything he could to quell the rage and hurt inside him, and forced himself not to run after them and throw himself at them in a suicidal attack.
Instead he remained where he was, frozen, barely registering Hermes pad up to stand next to him.

‘So,’ his friend said, ‘neither Zeus nor your mother will listen?’

Coop grunted in response.
Hermes looked at him worriedly. ‘You’re not planning on doing anything stupid, are you, Coop?’

A tiny muscle throbbed in Coop’s cheek.
‘No.
That’s what they’re expecting.
At least that’s what Apollo’s expecting.
I could run out of here and find Skye and we could elope together.
We could find somewhere to live out the rest of our days.
Except I’m immortal and she’s not.
And she deserves a better existence than one that means cowering against the retribution of Olympus for the rest of her life.
No,’
he repeated, shaking his head.
‘There’s a way out of this where I can get both Zeus and my mother to see past what I was like before and recognise that what Skye and I have is real.
A way where they’ll let her in, let us be and see that I’ve changed – as incredible as that may seem.’

Hermes clapped his hands together.
‘Great!
What’s the way?’

‘I don’t know,’ Coop responded glumly. ‘I haven’t worked that out yet.’

Skye couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt this cold before.
It was as if the wind was piercing through her very skin and attacking her bones.
She had a fleeting vision of her bone marrow gradually turning into ice and frozen stalactites hanging off her heart.
She wasn’t going to give up though.
Not without seeing Coop and trying to explain what she’d done.
If she could just talk to him and beg his forgiveness, maybe everything would be alright.

She pushed away the terrifying thoughts of hypothermia and focused instead on imagining Coop’s arms around her, hugging her to his warm body and keeping her safe.
Outside the wind continued to howl but the rain that had been hammering down upon her meagre shelter was starting to dissipate.
Skye bit her lip.
She could stay where she was, and hope the rickety roof and crumbling walls would shelter her until morning, or she could make a break for it.
Falling asleep where she was could end up being a bad thing.

She remembered a story she’d heard once about a young woman making her way home from a New Year’s Eve party, who curled up to sleep in a field when she lost her way and never woke up again.
Skye was determined that wasn’t going to happen to her.
At least if the rain had lessened its onslaught, it would be easier to continue her hike towards Litochoro.
Perhaps there she’d be able to find a cheap hostel where she could get a hot shower.

Making a decision, she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed her small bag.
She was shivering uncontrollably.
She
gritted her teeth and forced her stiff and protesting muscles to move out back to the road.
She could do this.
She had to do this.
It couldn’t be much further.

The wind whipped her hair about her face, and her eyes stung.
Glancing down the road and seeing nothing ahead other than darkness, she took a deep breath and shouldered her bag.
If nothing else, jogging in what she hoped was the right direction would help to keep her warm.
With one last quick glance at the shambling ruins of the house, she turned left and made a move.

The truth was that Skye wasn’t as far away from Litochoro as she imagined.
Neither was she as alone as she had assumed.
Overhead, Zephyr, the God of Wind, was making his way back to Olympus.
He’d been amusing himself out on the Pacific Ocean, tweaking the trade winds here and there to cause havoc to the human sailors participating in the Transpacific Yacht Race.
He was a bit of a gambler and, with a considerable amount of cash on an Australian team to win, he had decided to help his cause along.
It wasn’t that he needed the money or that he really cared who won.
He simply enjoyed reminding the humans who was really in charge.
He’d have stayed for longer, ensuring his gamble paid off, but the breaking waves on the horizon suggested that Poseidon had caught wind, so to speak, of his antics and was on his way to interfere.

As much as he hated to admit it, Zephyr was fully aware Poseidon’s power was far greater than his own. Poseidon disliked any of the gods interfering with the humans.
The pair of them had almost come to blows several years back when Zephyr had attempted to help out a small fishing boat which was in trouble off the coast of Indonesia.
The results hadn’t been pretty.
Zephyr still had nightmares about that day and Zeus himself had been so livid that he almost stripped both of them of their remaining powers.
It was only the fact that no-one else could take on the enormity of working with Mother Nature that had saved them both.

Zephyr snorted to himself.
He didn’t understand what Poseidon’s problem was.
Just because he’d had that problem back in the nineteenth century, when he tried to help the
Mary Celeste
and it had all gone pear-shaped, didn’t mean that he should object to ever coming to the aid of humans again.
The Sea God had suggested that with the advent of lighthouses, and then satellite navigational equipment, the humans no longer required his services.
When Zephyr had brought up the tragedy of the
Titanic
as a counter-argument, Poseidon had remained markedly unamused.
It was probably just as well he omitted any mention of the Bermuda Triangle, he thought ruefully.
Poseidon did not enjoy being reminded of his mistakes.

Zephyr was so deep in his ruminations that he almost missed her.
In fact he would have, were it not for a sudden flash of lightning which lit up the area and highlighted her figure as she jogged slowly along the road.
Wheeling round, he went back for a closer look, blinking in surprise when his second glance confirmed what he thought he’d seen.

It was rare to catch a human out in this weather in this day and age.
Mechanised transport meant they were normally safely wrapped inside metal shells.
Zephyr occasionally wondered whether they had forgotten there was joy to be had in being outside and enjoying the power of the elements screaming around them.
But to see a human woman out on her own and braving this weather reminded him that some humans were more brave – or more foolhardy – than others.

He swooped down.
She was a pathetic, bedraggled figure.
It seemed curious that she was so close to Olympus and unlikely that it was a coincidence that she was out here.
The inhabitants of Litochoro enjoyed their creature comforts and would do what they could to avoid being outside during such a storm.
And it was hardly tourist season.

Zephyr watched her for a moment or two.
If he were Poseidon, he’d just sweep past her and leave her to her fate, whatever that may be.
But
she looked so small and forlorn.
Zephyr grinned.
This woman, whoever she was, was fortunate indeed that he had come past at this exact moment.
Closing his eyes for a heartbeat, he made a few small changes to the howling atmosphere before continuing on his way.

Below him, Skye was almost at the point of collapsing when the wind suddenly did something different.
It shrieked around her, practically lifting her off her feet, and then abruptly changed.
Where she had been battling against it, feeling as if she were pushing through it, now it was at her back and gusting in the direction she wanted to go.
Its force was so strong and so powerful, it felt as if she were flying down the small road.
She was moving at twice the speed.
Skye had the oddest feeling that if she stopped her legs from moving, the wind would continue to push her forwards and lift her up towards her destination.
She found herself sprinting easily along the curving road until, all of a sudden, a cluster of twinkling lights finally signalled that Litochoro was just ahead.

Gasping with relief and praising her good fortune, Skye allowed the wind to carry her forward and down.
The town was larger than she’d imagined but, even in the darkness of the evening, the terracotta roofs and whitewashed walls were welcoming. She could just make out the glimmer of the nearby ocean.

As soon as she passed the first buildings on the outskirts of the town, the wind faltered and began to die down.
It was still bitterly cold, to the point where she wouldn’t have been surprised if it began to snow, but she had made it.
Now all she had to do was find some real shelter for the night before beginning her search for Olympus the following morning.

For the first time in what felt like days, Skye smiled.

***

Back within the walls of Olympus, Zephyr headed through the marbled hallways.
He paused when he caught sight of Coop and Hermes up ahead, debating whether to join the pair of them for a moment.
The three gods often swapped stories about the humans they came across, and Zephyr was sure Coop would be interested in hearing about what he’d done that day to piss off Poseidon.

Snippets of their conversation floated over to him about the whereabouts of some girl who was no longer in Coop’s house, nor with her friends or her family.
With an irascible edge to his voice, Coop was demanding Hermes work harder to find her.
Hermes, in return, was saying it didn’t matter where she was, Coop wasn’t allowed to see her or talk to her.
Deciding to leave them to it, a faint grin crossed Zephyr’s face.
Coop was ever the ladies’ man; his latest conquest had no doubt realised this and was refusing to see him.
Zephyr had heard enough of Coop’s moans on the subject of love not to want to listen to any more right now.
He strolled off to seek out more good-humoured entertainment.