Chapter 9 - Fools Rush in
2100 Words
He looked at me. Damn his beautiful eyes.
“I can’t get in touch with him.” He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the window. I figured he wanted to be left alone. I pulled onto the road and continued driving.
We went about fifteen minutes in silence. With the snowfall picking up. I shifted to low beams for better visibility. My mind kept going over what Jason told me. Hecate had some sort of alert for accidents attached to me. Why? How could I be beneficial to her? I am a klutz, so accidents happen all the time, even if they are in a small degree. Could she be making them worse? But I just don’t see a benefit for her.
“I will call my mom.” Jason’s sudden voice startled me.
“Oh. Uh … Why?”
“To get in touch with Fes. We need to know why Hecate is interfering, and he would know. I am worried that she is targeting you.You are innocent in this. If the gods are manipulators, then they are WAY out of line. Swe need to stop this. If it is going to be war, we need allies. I can’t count on Frank since he gave Hecate access to you.”
“He gave her access? How?”
“I don’t know. You were the one who told me about it. She used Frank to make the connection. She must have used the connection to put a trace on you.”
“Okay. I can follow all that.”
“She isn’t going to stop persecuting you.”
“Until you marry Skylla.” I finished the thought for him. “But you aren’t going to marry a demon. That can’t happen, you deserve better than that. You walked away and that should be allowed. We need to fight this, and we can. But not if both Hecate and Hephaestus are against us.”
“No. It doesn’t matter who is with us or against us. Right now you aren’t safe, and it is because of me. I will keep you safe and I will not marry a demon. I have lived my whole life without my father. He isn’t allowed to interfere now. Not with me and certainly not with you. He can go ‘F’ himself.”
“Don’t say that!” I yelled. The car swerved. I focused back on the road. It was getting slicker as the snow was starting to stick. The trees, grass and shoulders were pretty white now, and the black tracks of tires were clear in the lanes. “The gods reserve their severest punishments for hubris.”
“Hubris? Is that the Jewish word for circumcision?”
NO.” I smiled. “You are thinking of Bris and that is the name of the circumcision ceremony. Hubris is the sin of excessive pride. It is the most common form of hamartia, or fatal flaw, in the heroes s***h demigods.”
“Fatal flaw. They actually die from it?”
In the epics, yes. But not until they suffer for years. OEdipus was the worst case, his family was cursed for generations before the bloodline died out. Oddysus was a close second, but the curse ended when he got home and got to die of old age.”
“You talk like I should know who these people are.”
“They are ancient Greek tragic heroes. Haven’t you taken literature classes?”
“No. I’m in engineering. I took technical writing to satisfy the stupid English requirement. So don’t dis me. Okay? So these are dead people. From over two thousand years ago. Right?”
“Don’t take that tone with me! YOU came to ME for help, remember?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I just don’t get why these stories or people have anything to do with us.”
I sighed and tried not to roll my eyes. “These stories are all about your situation. Jeeze,” I burst out in frustration, “I didn’t think being good with numbers removed the ability to problem-solve or use reason. Sheesh!”
He started to say something but I stopped him with a “Shhhhhht.” and pinched my first two fingers and thumb together at him in a universal “shut up” gesture.
“If you want my help, you have to accept it. I am your resident expert on the gods. You are to listen and learn. From this point forward, only questions directly related to improving understanding will be tolerated. Any stubbornness, and you will have to read the classics on your own and figure out the situation, I will go back to my happy life in Boulder and never see you again. You may now nod for yes, or shake your head for no. Do you accept these terms?”
He nodded.
“Good. You may now ask questions about your situation as it relates to the gods’ known behavior.”
He swallowed hard. “Damn, you are amazing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Questions only.”
“Why would Hecate arrange a marriage for a demon?”
I sighed a little. “I have the same question. She has been instrumental in other love stories.”
“Love stories?” He looked at me with his brow furrowed, “The queen of magic? How?”
“She isn’t just the queen of magic. She is the paragon of prosperity. She is also the guard of life’s crossroads.”
“Why life’s crossroads?”
“She was the only god that held sway over heaven, earth and the underworld. Her parentage was different than the incestuous gods descended from Kronos. Perses fell in love with Astrea and Hecate was their progeny.”
“Okay. What does that have to do with us?”
“I’m not sure of the direct link. Since the bellows were taken hostage, I think you were offered as a ransom. Hephaestus needs to run the forge or lose his job with the gods. He can keep it lit without them, but it is WAY more labor and harder to keep the heat at the right temperature. He is in a precarious status since his parent rejected him at birth and he learned his skills from mortals.”
“Parent? Not parents?”
“Hera imagined him into existence. Zeus was busy being a whoredog and wouldn’t touch her. She thought a child would occupy her affections.”
“The gods are seriously disturbing.”
“True dat.”
“So, I need to get in touch with Fes to find out if I was a ransom?”
“Yes also to find out if he got his bellows back. What exactly did Hecate tell you about me?”
“She said … your value was high … “
“No. Try to get the image in your head and allow your mind to drift back to the frozen puddle. Say out loud what she said to you.”
He looked at me funny. “Okay.” He took a deep breath, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. After about three minutes of silence he said:
“O She of mystical beauty untold
Holds the heart of one very devoted.
With others blind, yet not unkind, he holds
Her dear to his heart: free, unbolted.
Affection binding to reveal her soul.
Promise reneg’d the freedom to restore.
Condemn’d to keep his word, confin’d a bowl
That spills his soul and love forevermore.
His promise broke, dishonor reigns. Ransom
Prematurely released to begetter.
Demonic needs forestall my offspring outcome.
A p*****t overdue, leaves him debtor.
Fear not her danger in my hands
Mistake will kill before this ends.”
“So she spoke in an Elizabethan Sonnet?” I asked.
“I have no idea what that means.”
“The poem. It is a sonnet from the time of Shakespeare. She seriously spoke in a sonnet?”
“If that is what I told you, yes. Those were her exact words.”
“I have to pull off the road and write that down.”
“Right now? In the dark?”
“Yes right now. Before you forget it.” I pulled off and found a napkin in the glove compartment and a pen in the console.
Jason was a good sport, and went through the process until I had the poem down perfect. I would analyze and compare with the information in the Codicil. Any clue or hint about what would happen was helpful and worthy of note.
“What are you thinking?” Jason asked.
“Just that we still don’t know anything. I need clues. The main communications are a poem and the codicil. I need to analyze them and compare them in depth. I really don’t know what else to do.”
“Charity.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t freak out, okay? I will be here with you. Okay?”
I turned to look at him. My face must have been weird, because he grabbed my hand.
“I dragged you into this. I will get you out safely.” He paused, and his lips twitched. He swallowed, “I know I am too intense, and I came on too strong. But you agreed to help me anyway, and now you are in danger because of it. Because of me.
“I will be with you whenever possible and I will come if you call me. Anytime. Within hours. As soon as I get a new phone. Tomorrow. Just, please, give me the chance to protect you. Please.”
I had no idea what to say. His beautiful eyes and full lips had an effect on me: they made my mind blank! I blinked at him and my mouth opened slightly.
He lifted his hand to my cheek and said, “You are just too beautiful.” He leaned forward and slipped his hand under my hair at the nape of my neck and kissed me, warm, firm, and probing. He pressed in a little more and I suddenly felt a powerful need. My free hand went to the back of his neck and pulled closer. His lips opened slightly and the tip of his tongue caressed my lower lip. Then it happened. My nose tickled and started to burn. I barely got my head turned when I sneezed. Not a cute sneeze. A deep resonating sneeze, the kind of sneeze that clears the lungs, throat and sinuses.
“Sorry,” I managed. “Can you hand me some napkins from the glove compartment?”
He smiled and reached in for the napkins. “I was worried for a second that I overstepped. Here you go.” He put the napkins in my hand.
I promptly blew my nose in one and wiped up the steering wheel and window with the other. “Oh, no. We can try again later, but for now, let’s get you home.”
“Okay.”
I pulled back on the road again, heading for his dorm. He kept his left hand near the gearshift, and gently took my right hand when we got to cruising speed.
“Please don’t doubt me,” Jason said. “I really mean that I am here for you.”
“Okay,” I hesitated. Not sure about where he was leading.
“I have a list of things to do in the morning: Get a phone, Go to class, Call mom to get in touch with Fes, Go to my next two classes, Find Frank and get info about his mom, Create my explosion blue lines for my drafting class, Finalize my projections of … Do you want details of my homework?” He wound up asking, looking very confused.
“I don’t understand it, but if you need to say it out loud, go right ahead.” I smiled at him.
He tilted his head and blinked once, “I do, actually. I need to finish my projections of the thermodynamic impacts of cylindrical friction on varied grades of steel.”
“Really? That might have an effect on what is going on.”
“How?” He looked stunned by my answer.
“The effect of temperature on steel? Your dad runs the forge of the gods. It seems like an obvious connection to me.”
“Oh. I guess it is.” He smiled sheepishly. “Huh. I also need to gas up my bike. I want it ready to go at any time.”
“A bike?” I asked - thinking a scooter or mo-ped, “What kind?”
“A Harley Road Glide. I got it used two years ago, but it is the best for long rides in all weather.”
“Good to know.”
“It has a b***h seat, too.”
“Not good to know.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think I am a b***h, so someone else will be riding on that.”
“Oh. You aren’t. I mean I hope you will ride with me, you aren’t a b***h. It's just the only thing I ever heard it called.”
“We fell into silence for a while. I saw an exit coming up for CSU, So I asked for directions.
“Hmm.” He looked out the windshield. “Oh. Take the second exit and turn right. Go five blocks and I am in the building on the left.”
When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Frank pacing on the sidewalk.
- Writer
