Psyche

I didn’t ask again about anything I found lying around the palace, though some things I didn’t need to ask about. Patricia was very settled in Epiteleo, loving every minute of it. Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring! Sorry, had a moment of Panic! At the Disco happiness. Like I said, Patricia was getting settled very well, she had made friends with all the other servants. I don’t know how she could tell them apart, but she managed to have fun. I did not worry about her, we were on Perfection somewhere off the map. Nothing could happen to her. I spent most of my time talking with Zephyr, and flying sometimes too. She helped to catch me up on what the gods were wearing on Mount Olympus, so I was ahead of the rest of the mortals by a few millennia. I got used to wearing jeans easily, they were more comfortable than skirts. Zephyr was right too, it was never too cold or too hot, just a perfect balance in between. Perfection.

“Psyche, some of the girls and I are going for a picnic by the river in the forest, would you like to come along?” Patricia poked her head into my room where I was laying on my bed, reading.

“No, I’m fine. You have fun. I cannot tell you how weird it is that you became such quick friends with invisible people.” She laughed.

“It was easy, really. They are ever so nice, with lovely voices. They can sing like the muses, and I imagine their faces are beyond compare. I have a male friend too, Euxulos,” she sighed. “He is so nice to me! All the other girls are jealous, they say he is the kindest, gentlest man who has ever lived.” I smiled.

“I am happy for you, Patricia. Now go, do not keep your friends waiting. Enjoy your picnic!”

“I will! Thank you, Psyche!” She bounded off down the hall, laughing at something one of the servants had said. Just then Zephyr poked her head in the door.

“What was that?” she asked, smirking.

“Patricia invited me on a picnic she’s having with some of the servant girls,” I told her, carefully marking my place and setting my book down.

“Oh. Why didn’t you go?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and entering the room to sit on the end of my bed.

“I felt like reading some more, but then you came, and as soon as you leave Hermes or Eros will probably come along and invite themselves into my room, so I won’t get any more reading done tonight.”

“Well, I’m going to go fly somewhere, do you want to come?”

“Depends. Where are you planning on gracing with your presence?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I was thinking I would go see the dolphins again. I bet Krizo really wants to see you!” she laughed, poking me. I laughed too, Krizo was the dolphin who really likes me, and I named him Krizo because he is always laughing.

“Yeah, sure. I will come!” I dragged myself out of bed, following Zephyr out of the palace and through the courtyard, until we were standing at the edge of Epiteleo. Let me explain about the island. We had to cross a sea to get here Eimi, the sea of the World. It was named that because the end of Eimi is the end of the known mortal world. Epiteleo is not a normal island, it is not floating in the sea, but floating in the air, suspended there by who knows what. The only way to get off was with an immortal who could move themselves and others, like Hermes the God of Travelers; or with someone like Zephyr who controlled a method of transportation. Or someone with wings, like Icarus.

Zephyr grabbed me around the waist and flung both of us off the edge of the island, the water quickly approaching. I did not mind this, the first time I had screamed my head off, but I was used to it by now. She pulled out of the nose dive right at the last second, laughing as the dolphins squeaked profanities at her. She threw me up in the air and it caught me, pulling me along behind her. She danced over the waves, the water calming for five feet all around her. The dolphins had realized a few trips ago that it was fun to swim along the bubble of wind, and it was funny when Zephyr splashed them. Suddenly she stopped and looked up at me.

“Do you want to learn?” she asked, grinning, her long black hair windblown and her cheeks pink from exertion.

“Learn what?” I asked, grinning back.

“How to dance on the waves!” she cried, spinning around. “Come on, it’s fun!”

“Sure. Will I fall into the water?”

“Am I falling into the water?” she countered, raising her eyebrow in a now familiar way.

“I suppose it’s safe then.”

“Of course it’s safe! Would I do anything to put you in danger?” I rolled my eyes and she floated me gently down until my toes were brushing the water. “Now, just start running!” she exclaimed happily, throwing her arms out. I took a deep breath.

“I can not believe I’m going to be running on an ocean in the middle of no where, where we technically do not exist,” I muttered as I started running. It was the strangest thing! The West Wind moved around me, like a globe of air. It was like a giant hamster wheel, when I walked forwards, it rolled to keep me in the middle. The ocean smoothed around me as I danced gaily over the waves. Zephyr joined me, breaching my bubble, grabbing my hands and spinning us around. We laughed until our sides hurt, falling to the ocean while the dolphins tried to get inside and push us off their sea. We eventually recovered from our laugh attack and Zephyr blew us both back up to Epiteleo.

“Where have you lovely ladies been for the past,” Hermes consulted his wrist. “Two hours?”

“We have been having mad hot sex on the futon in your room,” Zephyr responded, sarcasm dripping from her voice as we walked into the kitchen.

“WHAT?” Hermes exploded, running after us. “If you hurt Frankie I will teach you the meaning of pain!” he screamed like a lunatic, cursing his skinny jeans and their movement prohibiting hotness. When he finally arrived in the kitchen, he was out of breath and for some reason, topless.

“Um, Hermes? Why the hell are you topless?” Zephyr asked, putting her soda down and her now empty hands on her hips.

“Oh, you know those gods of Love. So… loving.” I dropped my head to my palm, shaking it slowly. Zephyr smiled.

“Oh yeah, I totally get that. When I was seeing Loki he was so… annoying. I think he was just insecure.”

“Loki? Are you serious? How could you… I can not believe you. Besides, he is not even a god of Love!” Hermes protested, crossing his arms and leaning on the counter.

“Who is Loki?” I asked, curiosity overcoming the side of me that knew it was a bad idea to ask any of them about their pasts.

“He is my Norse equivalent,” Hermes explained.

“What is Norse?” I asked, my curiosity still not satisfied.

“Well, I know you might think that the Greeks rule the world, but they really do not. There are a group of people far to the North, more Boris’ territory than mine, that are called the Norse. I can take you there sometime if you want,” Zephyr offered.

“Maybe, it would be fun to see a culture different than the Greeks,” I smiled at her.

“Yeah, they are very different from us,” Zephyr muttered. “Especially Loki.”

“Is he bad?”

“You don’t even know the full extent of Hermes’ mischievousness, and Loki is about a hundred times worse,” Zephyr assured me. “Trust me, do not, under any circumstances, cross Loki. He will make your life a living hell!”

“I assume you have lived through this hell yourself?” I smirked, raising my eyebrow condescendingly.

“Do not ever sleep with him either. He is a clingy little whiny bitch,” Hermes added, shoving half a loaf of soft white bread in his mouth. I gaped at him, and for once, Zephyr was shocked at something he had done.

“You slept with him? When?” she demanded, making him cower against the counter.

“Uh, I don’t really know. Uh, about five or six centuries ago I guess?”

“You ass! You insensitive prick! That’s when I was with him! Urgh! Stupid cousins!” I grabbed her by the shoulders before she could savagely attack and maim Hermes.

“Zephyr, calm down. All the gods are related, and the immortals seem to be too, so technically you are all going to end up sleeping together,” I tried to calm her. Apparently I was going about it the wrong way.

“I am not mad that he slept with Loki, I am just mad that it was during the same time I was sleeping with Loki,” she pouted, crossing her arms.

“Oh, Zephy! Calm down. I didn’t even really mean to. Dionysus threw a party, and well, we both got pretty hammered. I am sorry, I regretted it the next morning,” Hermes apologized. “He isn’t very good. What did you see in him in the first place?”

“I don’t actually know. He just had this bad boy appeal that was cool at the time. I never regretted sleeping with him.”

“Can we please head towards another topic, please? This is really kind of disturbing.” They laughed. “Oh, and Hermes?”

“Yeah?”

“Was it your idea or Eros’ to bring me here?” I asked, leaning back against the counter as Hermes stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth.

“Why?” he asked in a very muffled tone.

“I wanted to know who would be in charge,” I said. “And chew your food before you answer,” I scolded. He rolled his eyes and chewed and swallowed his food before answering.

“Eros, I suppose. Why?” he repeated.

“I never though I would say this, but, I kind of miss my sisters. I hated them with my entire being, but they were so much fun to yell at,” I sighed. Hermes sighed too, but different than mine. My sigh was longing, his was worried.

“I really do not think that this is a good idea,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead.