Three Girls and a God (9 page)

A
pollo, as Dylan, arrived at Thalia’s door nervous and excited. His time spent on earth with Thalia had possibly been even better than his time spent in Olympus with her, as himself. Even the Furies hadn’t been as much trouble as he’d expected here on earth. Although now that he’d thought about it, he realized they probably had had something to do with that disheartening camera incident.

But their tricks hadn’t worked. That was the thing. He and Thalia were too good together, too strong together, to let even the Furies get in their way. Apollo grinned, shaking off the image of the evil ones. He was eager to see Thalia again, even under this ruse. And it only flattered him that she seemed so torn over liking him because he knew deep down, it was because of him. Because she felt like she was cheating on Apollo.

He stood outside Thalia’s front door for a few moments, soaking in his life. He was three thousand years away from home, who knew how many miles, yet here he was, on the other side of a single door from his soul mate.

He took a deep breath and rang the bell.

Thalia came rushing to the door and dramatically threw open the screen.

Apollo noticed her left eye was twitching rather fast. Otherwise she looked perfect.

“Hi, you look really beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, grabbing him by the arm and ushering him inside. “Let me have your coat and sit down, please.”

He was nervous, but in a good way. He sat down on the cushy floral couch in the living room. She came back into the living room and sat down close to him. Real close.

She smacked her gum, loud. And then said, “So, you wanna make out?”

“What? Thalia, you’re acting weird—what’s going on?”

“I mean, that’s what you came over for, right? That’s why I invited you. So how ’bout it?”

“Wait, not that I’m not flattered or intrigued, but you invited me here for dinner, right? And what about that boyfriend you have, the one back home?”

“I dumped him. I’m all yours.”

“What? Why are you acting like this—what’s going on?” Dylan stood up, a little dazed and a little confused.

“Oh, calm down. Jeez, I know it’s you, Apollo, you can cut the Denver act.”

“What? What do you mean?” he questioned. Dylan looked scared, nervous. He began to pace (a nervous habit).

“I’m messing with you. I’ve known all along that it was you or you were he or that, well, you know what I mean.”

“You have?” he said as he threw his hands up in the air in shock.

“Yep, and I thought it was cute. And very sexy. Meow.”

“You did?”

“Yep, and I’m ready to be Mrs. Apollo, forever and eternity. I mean, you stuck it out, even when I was a mean and nasty little Muse. I am seriously impressed with your dedication.”

“You are?”

“Yes, now will you stop asking me all these silly doubting questions and kiss me?”

But he was still standing there in disbelief. Apollo had been sure Thalia didn’t know who he really was.

Thalia ran over and jumped into his arms and laid a big wet one right on his lips. It was sloppier than he remembered, her lips weren’t quite as soft, but was he really going to argue? This was the love of his life, right?

After she finished slobbering all over him, she said, “This is how I see it. You should go back home and tell Daddy I’m ready and willing. For real this time. No tricks. I’m sure Daddy will let me come home if I marry you.”

“Well, actually, no, he said if I let on to my real identity, Hera would never let either of us back in Olympus again. Thalia, I can’t go back.”

“Nonsense! Father was just trying to scare ya. I’m sure he’ll let me come home. Now just go on back home ASAP and tell him. I need to tidy up all my earth business down here, and then I will be up in a flash.”

“I think he was very serious about Hera, Thalia. I don’t know.”

“That was just an act, to keep you in place. Hera’s strong willed, but she’s not evil. Now go home and tell Father!”

“Thalia, wait, it’s just, I realize now I rushed you before. I was thinking we should date first. It would be a great honor. I don’t want to force you into anything you’re not ready for.”

“Ready, schmeddy. Let’s get married!”

“Are you sure about this?”

“As sure as my name is Thalia, silly. Now tell Father that the girls and I will be outside under the wild cherry blossom tree at one
A
.
M
. tomorrow night. We will be ready, our bags packed. He can beam us up then. Do you got that?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“No buts! Hurry along, I’ve got lots of packing to do.”

“But what about dinner? What about my casserole surprise?” he asked.

“Trust me when I say this, you do
not
want to eat Thalia’s cooking!”

He sort of half laughed. He had never heard Thalia talk about herself in the third person. He didn’t really like it.

“Now kiss me, you fool!” she said, and she grabbed Apollo’s neck, pulling him close to her, and kissed him hard on the lips. Then she blew a huge bubble gum bubble. Pop!

I
woke up on our couch, in our living room, shivering. But all the windows were closed. I couldn’t stop shaking. I was in a daze. And I could have sworn I’d heard a noise.

Oh goddess! How on earth had I fallen asleep right before my big dinner with Dylan? Could I have missed him? No, I couldn’t have. It wasn’t possible.

I jumped up and ran for the clock.

Whew. I was only asleep for a few minutes. It felt like eternity. I was supergroggy, like when you lick an ancient toad’s left front foot.
*
I just couldn’t warm up.

But Dylan was due anytime. I pulled myself together and threw the bean burgers in the toaster.

Funny thing was, I wasn’t even hungry. I had had this dream about eating ice cream with Era and Polly, only they were being bratty—not like themselves, but
a little mean. I even felt like I had an ice cream tummy ache now. And the shivering wouldn’t stop. Dreams are funny like that.

Maybe I’ll toast the buns
, I thought. I got them out of their bag and threw them in the toaster, too. I placed a hand on each side of the hot metal box. It wasn’t warming me up, either.

Huh, he was now eleven minutes late. That was odd, wasn’t it? Hmmm. No, I told myself not to be silly. I decided to get a sweater.

When the burgers were done and the buns were toasted, I put them on the plates. Surely he’d be here shortly. I’d already concocted a story about why my host parents were nowhere to be seen. I was going to tell him that they were on holiday in Uruguay. I saw Uruguay on the globe and thought it sounded like a great place to go. They were collecting seashells in Uruguay, yeah.

I went to the cold box and got out the ketchup, mustard, relish, and chocolate sauce for the burgers.

Hmmm, now he was twenty minutes late. The bean burgers were getting a little cold. I decided to just sit down and relax. I was a little nervous.

My tummy wasn’t just full now, it was also a little sick. I had melancholy belly.

Fifteen minutes later and nothing. Okay, now I was really nervous. No word from him at all. Maybe he hurt himself. Tripped and fell over a sprinkler. Or
walked into a tree. It could happen. Course he probably had that helmet on. He should be fine.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

Oh, oh, oh, I heard something. I ran to the door quicker than a dwarf being chased by a giant. But nothing. I looked outside. Nothing. I walked all the way around the house. Nothing. I ran up the street, to the corner. Nothing.

Over half an hour late now.
This is what Pocky calls being “stood up,”
I thought miserably.
He said it happens to him all the time.
But why would Dylan stand me up?

This didn’t make any sense.

I really thought he liked me.

I really liked him.

I really needed to puke.

T
hree days later and a million miles away…

Apollo sat in Zeus’s chamber, his head in his hands. He felt weak and tired. The journey back to Olympus had taken a toll on his body and his mind. Once home, it was the wait that just about killed him.

“She wasn’t there, Apollo, the girls weren’t under the tree at one, not today, not yesterday, not the day before that. My daughter has once again played you and me for fools!”

“This can’t be—I don’t believe it. Perhaps this is just another one of your glitches,” Apollo boldly suggested.

“How dare you! I don’t make glitches. Just slight and slim slips. This is most certainly not my doing. Even the Furies themselves report no sign of them stirring.”

“And you believe those little witches?”

“It is not for me to question—”

“Yes! Yes, it is for you to question. They’re untrustworthy freakish finks! They are exceptionally evil and most monstrously mad. You can’t possibly believe them?”

“I have nothing that proves them to be saying anything fake, faux, or fictitious.”

“They could’ve used their own magic to keep the girls from the wild cherry blossom tree. Maybe they physically stopped the girls! Blocked their way! Put a spell on them!”

“Nonsense. That is just wishful thinking on your part, Apollo. The evidence speaks alone here, young man. If you have anything, any shred of evidence that can provide any sort of explanation, please, bring it forth now. Otherwise just go.”

“But sir,” begged Apollo.

“Nothing, then? You have nothing? I can’t look at you any longer. Do you know I have the hall reserved for your wedding already? I had to bump Pygmalion and Galatea a week from Thursday to open it up for you and my deceitful daughter. This is all most upsetting.”

“Well, I have to say, Thalia was acting strange, very oddly, on that final day,” recalled Apollo. He was shaking his head hard, trying to remember all the details.

“Oddly how?” asked Zeus, who was truly interested in getting to the bottom of this mess.

“Well, she was rather pushy.”

“Oh, please, Thalia is always pushy,” Zeus said, and threw his hands in the air.

“No, not pushy, exactly. She was very, um, how do I say this delicately?”

“Delicate, schmelicate, say it, boy,” bellowed Zeus.

“She was very impudent. She was, um, rather affectionate. She was kissy, sir.”

“That’s what you’ve got? Pshaw! If she was trying to convince you she was in love with you, wouldn’t she act that way? This is nothing, you have nothing. Go!”

“No, you don’t understand. Thalia may be bold in her manner, but not when it comes to these matters. I know her. Something wasn’t right.”

“Yes, and I daresay that something was you. She obviously is having the time of her life down there and wants nothing to do with home. She will get her wish. You are forbidden to return to earth, and she is forbidden to come back to Olympus until her attitude changes drastically. This is my final word on this matter. Now, leave.”

“But I know it, I know something was not right. Her lips, they weren’t nearly as soft, her breath wasn’t nearly so sweet…in fact, it was rather stinky.”

“Leave! At once!”

“But…”

“Now!”

“Yes, O noble and honorable and handsome sir,” said Apollo.

“Flattery will not work this time…. Apollo, don’t let the chamber door hit you in the behind.”

But it did. And it hurt.

“D
o you want half of my banana-and-peanut-butter-sandwich?” It was Polly, trying to feed me.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry.”

“But you haven’t been hungry since that boy left town. We’re going on four days now—you’ve got to eat more than the occasional grape.”

“I know, I’m just really not hungry.”

Claire was having lunch with us, too, in the quad. “Well, you can’t possibly say no to a vegan torta with avocado, soy mayo, soy cheese, salsa, tomatoes, and sprouts, can you?” Claire had gone vegetarian when I wasn’t looking. She and Polly had bonded over it. “Eat it now!” Claire demanded.

It was really good. But I still felt crummy.

In fact, I felt worse than crummy. The Fates were messing with me. They had played some cruel, sick
joke on me. I had real feelings for some weird mortal named Dylan from Denver, but I was getting karmic payback for the lousy way I’d treated Apollo. And Apollo, I felt crazy sick over him, too. The guilt had caught up with me, and now I couldn’t move much. How could I have done this? I had two wonderful guys in my life, and I pushed one away while the other ran, and fast. I was selfish. Selfish and horrible and I deserved everything I had coming to me and more.

I would’ve, should’ve spent the last three days since Dylan stood me up sleeping, but I was too scared of what my dreams might hold. What evil punishments and weird ice cream trips they would bring. So I’d been awake, thinking, pondering what went wrong, for hours upon hours upon hours (three whole days’ worth). I hadn’t come up with much. Other than that selfish thing.

“What are you thinking about, Thal?” asked Era. I guess I had gone off into a daze.

“That dream. That weird dream.”

“Not the dream again. You’re going to make yourself crazy,” Polly said softly.

“It was just so real. I mean, you two, you said the obstacle course test was canceled. And then we went out for ice cream. What if the dream was related to his disappearance?”

“It was a dream, sweetie. You’ve got to let it go,” said Era.

“They’re right,” added Claire. “I have realistic dreams all the time. Like in last night’s dream, I kissed weird little Marc Banks and then I got on a bus with a llama.”

We all sort of smiled. Even me.

“You know,” she said, “that Marc guy can really kiss. What flavor ice cream did you have?”

“Mint chip.”

“Well, you see, we can analyze this,” claimed Claire. “Now, had you said ‘vanilla,’ I would say your subconscious was trying to tell you that you didn’t like Dylan at all. Had you answered ‘strawberry,’ I could say that you felt he was the sweetest guy that ever lived and you were head over heels. But since you said ‘mint chip,’ I’m gonna translate that dream to mean that you were mixed up about him. See, the chips represent little obstacles, aka little droplets of doubt, in a big mound of tingling, aka love, the mint.”

“Oh, please,” I said, wondering if that was true.

Even so, I couldn’t help but wonder if the dream was the key to understanding what went wrong. It was just so real.

“Okay, lunch over,” declared Claire. “That bell’s gonna ring in five, four, three, two, one…”

Dong. Dong.

“C’mon, Thalia, let’s get to Media,” beckoned Claire.

I solemnly bid my sisters adieu and we headed for class.

“I just don’t understand, Claire. How did a football player disappear into thin air?”

“I told you already, Thal, he didn’t disappear. His folks picked up and moved again. Back home to Denver, according to the school office.”

“Yeah, but it’s just so odd.”

“I know. But there will be other guys…maybe not as klutzy as Dylan, but there will be more.”

“Yeah.” But I didn’t want other guys. I wanted Dylan.

We walked into class.

“Class, sit down, please. I have an announcement.” It was Mrs. Tracy.

“I am very pleased to say, most of your films were exceptional. Most.”

Oh, great, it looked like she was staring directly at me when she said that. This would be the topper to my unsuccessful first and only attempt at romance on earth. I was also going to get an F. Hades, here I come!

“Yes, they were mostly good. But the film that stands out in my mind the most is one that really bucked the system. These two students turned lemons into lemonade when they broke their camera, and we’ll be discussing that part more later, but they came through and turned in a fantastic commentary on teenage life today with their own video camera.

“Thalia, your project with Dylan brought tears to my eyes. I thought it was very advanced for such young souls, and I’m honored to be your teacher. I only wish Dylan were here to share in this joy and this A-plus.”

“Me too,” I mumbled. Still, I had to be happy about the grade. I was saved, for now.

“I’ve decided to send your film off to the Georgia Film Festival. I will keep the whole class informed on your progress. Thank you for such a fine piece of work.”

“Um, you’re welcome.”

All this talk of Dylan and the movie just made me more upset. I couldn’t concentrate. I started shaking again, shivering. The dream. It had to be the dream. Mrs. Tracy dimmed the lights to begin showing the class movies so we could talk about them out loud.

I sank deep in my chair and pulled out the note.

It was a piece of paper that I found in my locker the day after I was “stood up.”

It was the only thing I had of his.

I unfolded the paper for the twenty-third time and read it again.

It took twenty-three readings, but I finally understood. I knew there was something in this note. Some sort of hidden message.

Dylan wants me to come to Denver!