Accidents Happen

Chapter 8 - Comes Tumbling Down

Chapter 8 -  Comes Tumbling Down

    When the car came to rest, I opened my eyes and looked around. Jason was sitting back in his seat, head tilted back, eyes closed and his hads white-knuckled on the edge of his seat. Out this window was dark. We hadn’t been on 287 that long, but i couldn’t see any lights, so I guessed we were about a mile from help. The snow was steady, but not much accumulation so far. I was so disoriented that I couldn’t see the road. 

    I took a deep, calming breath and blew out long and slow. No better. I breathed in on a four count, held for two, blew out for eight. Then I repeated it five more times. I grabbed my purse and started looking for my phone.

    “Are we alive?” Jason asked.

    I laughed. “Yes. The engine is still running, too. No danger of freezing. I want to get the flashlight on my phone to check the car for any obvious or undercarriage damage.”

    “Okay.” Jason grabbed the cord, and retrieved my phone from the floor of the car and handed it to me. “Need help?”

    “Stay in and restart the car if it stalls.”

    “Aye-aye, captain.”

    “Smart ass.”

    I got out of the car, turned on my phone flashlight. It occurred to me that we should have more dayight. I knocked on Jason’s window. He rolled it down. “Do you feel anything in the air? It shouldn’t be this dark.”

    Jason shook his head and looked a little guilty. “I don’t feel anything now.”

    “Did you feel something earlier?”

    “Yeah.”

    I rolled my eyes. This was like pulling teeth with a toothpick. “What? What did you feel?”

    “The same thing I felt at the pub. Why are you surprised that it is dark?”

    I pressed my lips together, and tried to not be irritated. “Well, we left at 3:30, we drove for about forty-five to fifty minutes before I hit the black ice. That means we have about twenty minutes before sunset.”

    He sighed. “Check the time on your phone.”

    I looked. Five thirty-three was blinking on my lock screen. Blinking. My time doesn’t blink. “What is going on? Why is there a fifty … no hour difference in the time?”

    Jason looked at his toes. “I have another ability.”

    “Okay …”

    “I seem to be able to slow objects and people in time.” 

    “WHAT?”

    “I seem to be able to freeze time for things and people in my surroundings.”

    “How?”

    “I’m not sure.”

    “I’m checking the car now. We will talk more later.” I stepped away from him and heard his window close.

    We had spun more than 180 degrees, hit nothing and rested as if the car had been parked. The tires were all fine. The breaks looked okay, and the axles looked straight. There was no snow accumulated in the grille and the engine was idling normally. No body damage. I got back in the car.

    I took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tightly. I was determined not to yell. “The car is fine, I am fine, you are fine. Now tell me about freezing time.”

    “Well,” he shifted uncomfortably, “It’s not freezing time as much as freezing people and things.”

    I said nothing, just looked at him. My brain hurt trying to get my brain around this.

    He cleared his throat. “I panicked when the car skidded on the ice. You were in control until the car caught the gravel. I saw you head snap sideways, and I thought ‘STOP!” And suddenly you slowed way down. Your head was barely moving to the side. I grabbed my coat and put it between your head and your window. Your head hit my nice soft coat. And the car very, very slowly came to rest.”

    “Is that when I looked at you?”

    “No. That’s when I felt the magic.” 

    “After the car stopped, not when we hit the ice?”

    “After the car stopped,” he agreed. “I met Hecate in a frozen puddle.”

    “What?” I couldn’t quite get anything. How was Hecate in a frozen puddle?

    “I got out of the car and focused hard on ‘STOP!’ since you were safe. I was feeling pretty sick after the spinning and excitement of the skid. I was heading toward the ditch over there.” He gestured into the darkness out his window. “Right before I got to the ditch, I heard my full name, and I looked down where I heard it come from. There she was, looking at me with a mean fake-smile.”

    “What did she say?” I couldn’t help it.  I was wrapped up in the story.

    “I don’t remember her exact words, but she was behind the attack at the brew pub, and has some kind of alert for when an accident happens to you. But she said she wouldn’t hurt you.  I asked her why and she repeated what she said. Then she got irritated, and said that my father got his bellows back on the condition of my marriage to Skylla - Not Sciala like in the paperwork -  the actual demon that lives on the promontory of the straits. I was literally betrothed to a demon.” Jason paused, looking a little sick and a lot terrified. “She said she won’t stop plaguing you with accidents until I marry. Then she vanished.”

    “Vanished?”

    “Yep. Vanished. Then I threw up in the ditch.” 

    “Yecch. I really didn’t need to know that.”

    “Sorry.”

    “What are you going to do?”

    “I can’t marry a demon. But I can’t ruin your life either. I honestly don’t know what to do.”

    “Wait. You said Hecate had your father’s bellows?”

    “I guess.”

    “Did she give it back?”

    He looked at me blankly. “Why?”

    Divine objects can be ransomed. We were pawns. We need to find your dad. If he got it back and then you backed out … Well … The gods get really weird about way less than reneging on a deal.”

    “How weird?”

    “Start a war, murder people, destroy lives weird.”

    “Shit.”

    “Yeah.”

    “I need to find and talk to my so-called father? That sucks.”

    I nodded in agreement to both points. 

    “What could happen if I tell them to shove off?” He asked, with an intensely bitter tone.

    “Terrible things.”

    “Like …?” he made a rolling gesture with his left hand.

    I sighed. “Hephaestus was born lame. Hera was horrified and literally threw him off Mt. Olympus. He was raised in secret by Thetis and Eurynome, who taught him smithing and fine metal work likje safety pins and jewelry.  But there is another story about how he was thrown from Mt. Olympus that fits better with your situation. Zeus was foolin around with yet another mortal woman and Herecles was running interference. Hera was pissed, because she found out, and she tried to get revenge on Herecles. Zeus interfered, so she drugged him and tried to kill Herecles with a storm. Zeus woke up before the storm killed Herecles, Hera was chained by her husband to stop the storm and humiliate her for interfering. Hephaestus went to release his mother and Zeus threw him off the mountain. The rest with the smithing is the same.”

    “Why is that more portan … fitting to my situation?” 

    “Father figure abandonment seems to be passed down.” I shrugged. “Zeus killed his own father.”

    “Hmmm. I guess.”

    “Anyway, Hephaestus is very good at revenge. He appeals to the vanity of his target and observes them for an extended period of time for any weakness.  He is very good with gadgets and gizmos; he built automatons to serve him. He also made very fine metal nets to trap and hold his victims. He made chains with consciousness to bind his targets. You do NOT want to get on his bad side. “

    “Okay. I might already be there. But what does this have to do with whether or not he got his thingy back?”

    “His bellows keeps the fire burning in his forge at the right temperature without much effort. Without his bellows he has to blow on the fire through other means and temperature control becomes more difficult and hit items are not as good.  If he can’t do his work well, he could get in trouble with the other gods. If Hecate was able to get his bellows, he might be in trouble just for that.”

    “Trouble? How …” Jason looked completely confused. “I mean, he’s a god. What can they actually do?”

    “Since he was cast off the mountain, he has the most tenuous position on Mt. Olympus. Banishment, revocation of god status, removing immortality, strike him from the memory of the annals of man. You know, gods’ punishments.”

    “Oh. But how would that work?”

    “The gods have elevated heroes to gods, like Dionysus and Herecles. They can drop them, too. After Hephaestus was exiled, he had to get revenge and be restored despite being 100% god genetically. Weird, right?”

    “How do you know all this?”

    “My paper on how the gods are allegories to justify the actions of humans. I looked at the stereotypes of infidelity and found that Hephaestus and Aphrodite were the opposite. Hephaestus was faithful and presented pure love, Aphrodite was unfaithful and pursued physical love. Hephaestus had other skills that allowed him revenge. Very humiliating revenge.”

“His enemies wind up bound and on public display. Humans in courtyards, gods in gardens and public forums. He is mean. At least to those who have done harm to him or those he loves. You need to talk to him. If you backing out of the arranged marriage did him harm, there will be literal hell to pay.”