The Dig (17 page)

Sure, he can accept me with powers, but that‘s because he has powers too.

But a girl from the future?

―You coming?‖ he calls out.

Sometimes, there‘s nothing to do but keep walking.

―So,‖ I say. ―You were gonna take a break to talk about the fun stuff.

You know, who‘s with who.‖

―I was?‖

I laugh and say, ―No, but will you?‖

He scans the garden. ―I don‘t know, it‘s just not that interesting to me.

After five hundred years of breakups and make-ups, you sort of start to lose track.‖

I get it. I can‘t imagine listening to CeeCee talk about boys for five hundred years. But I have to know his history with Hera, and I can‘t bring myself to ask him outright. ―Oh, come on.

You can give me a little juice.

Can‘t you?‖

I must have batted my eyelashes just the right way, an obvious miracle, because suddenly I‘m getting the whole romantic history of the Olympic gods.

What an incestuous little group they are! They remind me of the Ones at Greeley. At some point or another, everyone has dated everyone. I lose track of the stories. Somehow, I expected it all to be more interesting because of their powers. But it‘s just like listening to girls in the bathroom gossip about the latest dramas on campus. And it‘s nice in a way, because I feel less intimidated.

Let‘s face it. For all their magical powers and their five hundred years of experience, they are, at the end of the day, no different from normal teenagers. I feel closer to Zeus than ever.

And then he starts in about Aphrodite‘s amazing power of emotions, how she sees to it that all humans learn to deal with different feelings, how she intuitively knows how to challenge people. At first, I don‘t mind that he‘s gushing over yet another goddess. After all, isn‘t it a sign that he‘s a strong man who isn‘t threatened by powerful women? He didn‘t run from me when he saw what I could do. Breathe, Zoe. Jealousy is an unattractive quality, and in some ways these girls are just like you. They have powers.

But then again, they‘re really not like me. They‘ve been practicing for five hundred years and he‘s got me here and doesn‘t even know where I‘m from, and yet all he wants to talk about is how incredible these goddesses are.

Now he‘s moved on to Artemis, the hippie chick, and her ―boundless‖ creativity with animals. He can‘t say enough about Artemis and her flair for all things wilderness; how smart she was to create this unison in color between animals and the terrain and to invent hunting. I mean, what have I done with my powers? I saved my own butt—and Creusa‘s—and made a necklace.

God, I‘m so intimidated. When he starts in on Persephone, who reminds me of the environmental fanatics on campus, with their dreadlocks and their unshaven legs, I hit my breaking point. The green-eyed monster bites. Hard.

―Zeus, I get it. Your girlfriends are all really cool. And powerful. And unique. Now maybe you could talk about the boys for once?‖ His face falls, ―Sorry. I didn‘t mean to upset you.‖

―You didn‘t, but you have to admit, you barely talk about the guys.‖

―Well, I guess I never get a chance to talk about the girls because…‖ His voice trails off.

He looks around nervously. ―Anyway, the guys.‖ As he talks, we enter an open building with sky blue walls and an indoor waterfall. I tune Zeus out for a moment and feel the cool wind blow in from the enormous windows. A tiny red bird flies in and I can‘t believe it‘s just a bird; it could be a spy conjured by Artemis. Creusa was right.

Nothing is what it seems. The way Greeley girls analyze four-word text messages as if there is deeper meaning, I now have to accept that no bird is just a bird. No cloud is just a cloud. I reach for his hand and squeeze it because his hand is all I trust.

He stops talking and squeezes back. ―Hi, Zoe.‖

―Hi, Zeus.‖

―Hi, Curly.‖

―Hi, Blondie.‖

This is it, our first kiss.

But we don‘t kiss. Instead we just hold each other with our eyes, for seconds that span hours. I can see the flecks of gold in his irises and feel his gaze memorizing me. I‘ve kissed boys before. But this is a whole new world.

And then, we‘re on our way again.

And as nice as it was, I still wish we had kissed.

Zeus is, shall we say, just a
little
more critical when it comes to his guy friends. I hear about Hades and how annoying he can be, out of control, acting as if fire is more important than anything, playfully punishing humans, wiping out their homes, asking
them
to set fires for him.

And then Poseidon, well, he‘s no better, the way he cavalierly strikes up rogue waves, claiming that humans must fear and respect the ocean, when really, what he wants is for them to fear and respect
him
.

If you ask Zeus, Hermes acts like one of the bad boys. She‘s just a thief at heart. She‘s that girl who, if you left her in your dorm room for ten minutes, you‘d come back and your iPod would be gone. And at the same time, you
have
to deal with her because she‘ll get anywhere faster than you. As the messenger of the gods, she keeps the humans informed of what‘s happening on Olympus—the demands of the gods, their pleasure or displeasure. Zeus doesn‘t have to tell me that there is plenty of power in being a messenger. Hermes is like a super powered gossip girl.

Especially since Zeus says she‘s prone to exaggeration.

For example, he tells me that all Dio said was for his followers to
capture
a nymph. But Hermes went and changed the message and the next thing you know, Creusa is under attack in the village center. Zeus waits for me to say something forgiving about his friend Dio, but I‘m not ready to let him off the hook for what he did to Creusa. To be honest, I‘m not really convinced that capturing a nymph is all that much nicer. He still wanted her attacked in public, in front of all these people. It sounds to me like Dio is just as bad as Hermes.

When I tell Zeus this, he looks at me and says, ―I wouldn‘t be so quick to judge the gods, Zoe. Power‘s not an easy thing to carry. You‘ll see.‖ I let it go. This is exactly what I don‘t understand about cliques. It always seems to turn out that nobody actually really likes each other.

But the moment you say anything critical about someone in the clique, the same person who‘s been trashing them jumps to their defense.

―Zoe, it‘s not going to be easy for you here. If I sound harsh, it‘s only because I worry for you. And at the same time, I‘m frustrated because I worry for my friends.‖

―Oh right, like they would ever need protection from
me
.‖

―You know…you can be scary, Zoe.‖

―What?!‖

I go into defensive mode. I huff and pull back and tear at my cowlick even though it‘s not being unruly. ―That‘s the stupidest thing I ever heard.

There is absolutely nothing scary about me. I‘m not the one with a gang to back me up!‖

―We‘re not a gang,‖ he snaps, getting exasperated. ―We‘re friends. We‘ve been together for
five hundred years
, Zoe.‖

―Yeah, you mentioned that. You guys are tight. I get it.‖

―So of course it‘s hard for us to let you in,‖ he says, ignoring my sarcasm.

―And on top of that, you won‘t even tell us where you come from. You just show up one day, a total mystery.‖

Something in his words stings and I run my hand over my scar. He said

―us.‖ He aligned with them over me. I whimper and he comes to me and he hugs me and I stifle my tears. I can smell him and feel his arms and his warmth but it‘s no matter because even in his arms I‘m alone.

He pulls away suddenly. I watch as he walks off toward the bushes.

―Hera! Over here!‖ he calls out.

And now Hera and Persephone and a few of the others approach. The guys have that stupid ball again and they‘ve already got Zeus in a game.

This isn‘t how I wanted the date to end and I don‘t like the way he changes as soon as his friends appear. He‘s not telling them what a great time we just had strolling about Olympus. It‘s like I don‘t exist. Hera links arms with me and whispers, ―Zeus can be a bit much, right?‖ The truth is that I‘m not sure what to make of anything right now.

Maybe he wasn‘t gazing into my eyes; maybe I‘m a fool and he‘s playing me. It‘s so hard to know what‘s real around these people because, as I‘m learning, the only thing scarier and more capricious than teenagers are teenagers who‘ve been teenagers for five hundred years. Hera pats my arm as if as she‘s the senior varsity captain to my JV with a sprained ankle and a bad attitude.

―Z,‖ she says. ―If you‘re all done with your hosting duties, we‘re ready to have the meeting now.‖

He doesn‘t look at me, which implies that he really does view our date as some sort of a charity event, a hosting commitment. I don‘t think things can get any worse, but then Hermes steps in front of me.

―It‘s time for you to go,‖ she says.

―I thought maybe I could go to the meeting…‖ She sneers, ―Well, Zoe, if you went to the meeting, we wouldn‘t be able to talk about you.‖

A shiver runs down my spine and she laughs at me, hard. A few of the other gods giggle too. I realize that Zeus is already gone. Hera too.

―Relax,‖ Hermes says, and presses her hand against my upper back as she leads me to my quarters. It‘s all happening too fast. I was wrong to squirrel away with Zeus like that. Now they‘re all going to meet and decide to burn me on the top of the mountain or just hurl me off the edge into outer space. Will I ever learn to accept the fact that life is all about groups?

Here I‘ve been wandering around with a guy who might not even like me, and in doing so, I‘ve alienated the people who control my fate.

―Hermes, if there‘s any way that I could just go to the meeting for a little while,‖ I plead.

―Just to sit in. Just a few minutes even.‖

―Why do you want to go so badly?‖

―Because I want to talk with all of you. I want to learn about you guys.

Get to know you.‖

―Seems to us like you wanted to run off with Z.‖ We‘ve reached the door and she yanks it open and I step inside, my head hanging like a prisoner‘s.

The door slams shut.

At Greeley, I hate it when the legacies and the seniors act like they‘re superior just because they‘ve been there longer. I don‘t buy into that in my real life and I certainly won‘t do it here. If the gods want to have a meeting and talk about me, then they can have their little meeting.

But it doesn‘t mean that I can‘t join them.

I‘m powerful, right? I can do whatever I want too.

Okay, marble wall, give me a tunnel.
The wall gives way slowly, the marble crumbling and turning into itself as it splits apart. I enter the tunnel and I‘m much less scared this time around—it‘s not so frightening when you‘ve built the tunnel yourself. Or maybe I‘m just becoming a braver person.

Suddenly, I hear Zeus through the wall. I stop short. He‘s not happy.

―Hera, you had no right to use the power of darkness against her.‖

―That‘s not for you to say.‖

―It‘s not part of the trials to send her into a black hole.‖

―I did it for the safety of us all. You should be the one to apologize. For using your powers to save a dangerous imposter.‖ The peanut gallery explodes in objections, grunts. Or is that just the sound of my heart skipping?

―Silence!‖ Zeus shouts, and the room goes quiet. ―She is a god. She is no different from us.

We must bring her into our ranks where she rightfully belongs.‖

Hera huffs, ―She will never be one of us.‖

―You‘re wrong.‖

―Oh really, Z? Then explain something to me. Where do her powers come from?‖

―I…don‘t know,‖ Zeus says quietly.

―Exactly. If her powers came from the Petros, as ours do, we would know how to deal with her. How to…control her.‖

The Petros
? Wait, their powers come from that bluish rock? Why didn‘t Zeus just tell me that?

―But as this girl‘s powers do not come from the Petros,‖ Hera says, getting louder, like a trial lawyer delivering her final remarks, ―then we must treat those powers as a threat. You cannot trust a power if you don‘t know where it comes from!‖

They clap and hoot in agreement, raging and booing me. Zeus is trying to speak but they‘re shouting over him:

―She could be evil!‖

―She could destroy us all!‖

―If not from the Petros, then from what?‖ Hera must have moved from where she was originally standing, because she sounds closer now, as if she‘s right on the other side of the wall.

―You see, Zeus. She is too dangerous. Too unpredictable.‖ Dangerous? Unpredictable? These words have never been used to describe me. They sound like the names of celebrity perfumes.

Hades, whose voice I would recognize anywhere, says, ―Friends, I have no bloodlust in my heart. But if this girl learned how to use Lioste, we would be unable to stop her.‖

One of the goddesses cries out: ―She could enslave us!‖ Another goddess: ―She could kill us!‖

It‘s an outright town meeting upheaval now, with gasps and shrieks.

And there is nothing I can do except say it aloud, ―Lioste,‖ wondering what it could mean and how it could terrify a horde of gods.

―Enough!‖ shouts Zeus, and the group quiets down again. ―You‘re all forgetting one thing.

She is nothing like us.‖

―Well that‘s what I‘ve been trying to say,‖ Hera purrs.

I mutter, ―Oh shut it, Hera.‖

―She is nothing like us because she comes to us
alone
,‖ he says. ―She has not spent centuries with us, learning together, hiding together, working together. You act as if she is an enemy, but she did not come to Olympus for power. Or revenge. She came here looking for a home.‖ Oh, Zeus. You‘re right and you‘re wrong and you‘re choosing me over them and this is not my home…

But could it be?

He goes on. ―You all look down on the humans when they behave this way, when they gang up on one another. What are we if we do this to one of our own? We would be no better than humans. It is our obligation to set an example. If we cast Zoe aside simply because we don‘t
know
her yet, then we cast humanity aside. And for what? Because we were afraid of someone like us?