Eros (25 page)

He put a hand on her shoulder.
‘It’s okay.
I understand.’

‘Do you think Zeus will let me see Coop?’

Pandora shook her head.

‘No,’ agreed Hermes.
‘He can’t.
The deal was done and Zeus cannot change it.’
He squeezed her shoulder.
‘There’s still hope though.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He may just manage to get you a little wiggle room.
He is the King of the Heavens, after all.’

***

‘Nothing’s changed,’ said Aphrodite.
‘Even if the girl didn’t promise, she still revealed her weak human nature when she sneaked in to see him.’

‘One might argue she was provoked into that action,’ said Zeus mildly.

‘He’s my son.
Nothing would make me happier than to see him in love.
But I want to see him with someone worthy of his attention.’

‘By trying to scale the walls of Olympus, she has perhaps proved her worth.
It was a bold move.’

‘It was a foolish and impetuous move.
I need Coop to be with someone who will encourage him to mature.
Not someone who will
allow his adolescent behaviour to continue.’

‘He loves her.’

‘He
says
he loves her.
He’ll change his mind next week.’

‘I don’t think he will.
Aphrodite…’

‘Fine,’ she snapped.
‘I will give her a second chance to prove herself.
But there will be no coming back this time if she fails.’

‘You’re not going to make it easy on her, are you?’

‘He’s my son.
He may be annoying and arrogant and immature, but he’s still my son.
He deserves the best.
If she can’t prove herself good enough for him, then it ends here.’

Zeus nodded.
‘So be it.’

Part Three

‘But Psyche, in a perfect consternation at the enormous work, sat stupid and silent, without moving a finger to the inextricable heap.’

Source: Thomas Bulfinch,
The Age of Fable; or, Stories of Gods and Heroes
(1855).

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cupid.html

‘Four tasks?’
Skye stared disbelievingly at Hermes.

He scratched his neck awkwardly.
‘Yes.
But once you complete them, you and Coop will be free to be together.’

‘I’ve heard that before.’

‘You failed before,’ Hermes pointed out gently.

‘I didn’t know it was a sodding test, did I?’
Skye balled her fists in frustration.
‘And now I’m to be tested again?
What is it with you bloody gods?’

‘Skye…’

‘And why four?
I thought it was usually three tasks.
You know, in all the old stories the hero is given three feats to perform.’

Hermes coughed.
‘Er, yes.’

Skye put her hands on her hips.
‘Well?’

‘Well, men get three.’

Skye stared at him.
‘You’re kidding me?
I get four because of my gender?
It’s harder because I happen to not have a penis?’

‘I know it’s not ideal.’

‘Ideal?’ she shrieked.
‘It’s completely unfair!’

‘You’re…’ Hermes began, before faltering.

‘What?’ Skye snapped.

He swallowed.
‘You’re going to do them, right?
Coop really is in love with you, Skye.
He’s never been like this.
Not with anyone.
He’d do anything for you.’

‘Except I’m the one who has to perform like a bloody circus seal to prove my worth while he gets to kick back and watch daytime television.’

Hermes looked pained.

Skye sighed.
‘Of course I’m going to do the stupid tasks.
I promise I’ll complete all four or die trying.
What else would I do?
I’d do anything to be with him.’
She closed her eyes briefly and pinched her nose as a fleeting image of Coop flashed into her mind.
‘How hard are they likely to be?’

‘Well, Aphrodite is setting them…’

‘Aphrodite?
Coop’s mother?
The woman who wouldn’t even bother talking to me?’

‘That’s the one,’ Hermes answered miserably.

‘Great,’ she said sarcastically.
‘They’ll be a piece of cake then.’

Skye kicked irritably at a clod of earth.
There was no alternative.
The thought of never being allowed to see Coop ever again sent a bolt of pain through her heart.
It didn’t change the fact, however, that the foibles of these stupid gods were patently ridiculous.
She wasn’t a hero.
She wasn’t brave.
She was just a typical, average, run-of-the-mill woman.
How on earth was she going to complete four godly feats?

As if reading her mind, Hermes gave her a sympathetic look.
‘They won’t be impossible,’ he said softly.
‘That would defeat the purpose.’

‘Oh yeah?
And what exactly
is
the purpose, other than making me look like a total idiot and a weak pathetic human?’

‘Proving your worth.’
At her look of derision, Hermes continued hastily,
‘Coop knows your worth.
In fact he believes he’s the one not worthy of you.
But you have to understand how his mother feels.
There are girls all over the place who’d give their eye teeth to be with him.
She wants to make sure her son ends up with the right person.’

‘He’s a god.
He’s got to be hundreds of years old.
Why can’t he be allowed to make up his own mind?’

Hermes just watched her.

Skye sighed again.
‘“Action is eloquence.’’’

‘Huh?’

‘Shakespeare.’
She straightened her shoulders.
‘Very well.
If this is what I have to do, then so be it.
What’s first?’

‘I’m to transport you to the first place.’

‘And where is that?’

Hermes looked uncomfortable.

‘Oh, I get it,’ said Skye, ‘you can’t tell me.’

Hermes shook his head.

‘Can you give me any hints at all?’

‘I don’t know what you’ll be asked to do.
It will be possible though, Skye, even if it doesn’t appear to be to begin with.’

She looked him in the eye.
Hermes was facing her with a look of absolute sincerity.

‘Then let’s do it,’ she said decisively.
‘Take me to it.’

‘Are you sure?
You can have a rest first and start tomorrow if you wish.
It doesn’t have to be now.’

‘The faster I complete these stupid tasks,’ Skye grumbled, ‘the faster I can see Coop again.’

Hermes bowed his head.
‘So be it.’

He grasped her arm, instructing her to hold on tight.
Skye shut her eyes, feeling a lurch of nausea.
Moments later, her nostrils were assailed by the reek of manure.

‘Shit,’ she said softly, feeling Hermes’ hand leave her.
Then she opened her eyes.

A huge barn stood in front of her.
A long, deep sound made her jump.
Terrified, she whipped around, her eyes searching through the dusky twilight to find just what monster it was that made that noise.
When she realised it was nothing more than a cow, and that she was standing in the middle of a field, she relaxed slightly. There was no sign of Hermes.

‘Brilliant,’ she muttered to herself.
‘Now what?’

With no indication of what she was supposed to do, Skye eyed the vast structure in front of her.
No doubt that was where she had to be.
Wind whipped round her as she mused about what might be inside the rickety edifice.
She tried desperately to recall what she knew of previous tasks from the old Greek stories her parents had read to her at bedtime.
Everything she could remember involved slaying terrifying creatures.
Skye glanced doubtfully down at herself.
Perhaps she should have spent more time in the gym and less time reading.
Then she might have had some muscles to help her in a fight.
Wasn’t there something about eyes, throat, groin, that women were taught in self-defence classes?
She shook her head, realising she was shaking.
If this really was a monster she had to defeat, then she had no hope.
But there was simply no alternative.

Taking a deep breath, Skye walked forward, willing her legs to feel more like steel and less like jelly.
There was a small door in the front of the barn which she tentatively pushed open.
She peered inside, unable to make out anything in the dark, gloomy interior.
A cow outside mooed again, making her jump.

‘Don’t be a wimp, Skye,’ she told herself firmly.
Then she stepped inside.

A rich earthy smell assailed her.
The barn’s interior was still too dark for much to be visible but fortunately there appeared to be no sign of any kind of monster.

Reaching behind her, Skye’s fingers felt along the wooden wall next to the door.
She breathed a silent sigh of relief when she found a light switch and flicked it on.
For half a second nothing happened then, abruptly, there was a loud hum of electricity and the barn was bathed in a flood of light.

Blinking rapidly, Skye tensed.
Her eyes darted around while she carefully took a step backwards in case a fire-breathing, three-headed, five-tongued monstrosity decided to appear.
There was nothing, however.
The barn was empty apart from a mountain of grain reaching up towards the roof.
She chewed her lip.
Okay, now what?

Keeping her back pressed firmly against the rough wall of the barn, Skye sidled along to her left, attempting to peer round the huge mound,
her eyes constantly flicking around for any sign of movement.
There was nothing.
A large wooden ladder stood against one wall, the door was at another and there was the grain in the middle.
No monsters, no gods, no anything.

Now that Skye was certain she was alone she felt bolder and left the safety of the wall to take a few tentative steps forward.
When there was no sudden roar or rush of an attack to fend off, she continued until she had covered a circuit of the whole space.
Her fear was dissipating and being replaced by annoyance.
What kind of task was it if she couldn’t even work out what it was she was supposed to do?

Just then, her eyes caught something sticking out at the top of the grain mountain.
It looked like a piece of paper.
Glancing around quickly again to make sure she was completely alone, she walked forward.
There was nothing to do except climb up and retrieve whatever it was.

Skye lifted one leg.
As soon as her foot landed on the grain, it sank in.
She cursed and pulled up the rest of her body, leaning into the mound and using her hands to yank herself upwards.
Mini-avalanches began to tumble down the slope, impeding her progress.
It was like trying to climb up a pile of sludge.
Every time she seemed to get somewhere, her body weight shifted ever so slightly and she slid back down.
When she opened her mouth to gasp for air, she ended up with mouthfuls of grain and she could feel the tiny husks getting trapped between her body and her clothes, scratching her skin.

Taking a deep breath, Skye decided she would have to make a rush for the top.
She tightened her muscles and fixed her eyes on the summit, then sprang upwards, her hands and feet scrabbling at the surface of the sliding mountain.
Her fingers just managed to snatch the edge of the paper before she began falling back down again so, holding it tightly, she turned and jogged back down, leaving sunken footprints in the grain.
The last thing she wanted was to be smothered by it collapsing on top of her.

Back on the safety of the floor, and spitting out grain from her mouth, Skye smoothed out the paper.
There was a message on it, written in an elegant looping script.

Contained here are two different types of grain, wheat and oats.
You have until dawn to separate each out into two piles.

Skye turned the paper over.
There was nothing else, not even a signature.
She stared disbelievingly up at the huge grain mountain.
Dawn could be no more than ten hours away.

She reached in and scooped up a handful, tracing through it with her fingers.
The difference between the oats and the wheat was clear but there was so much. This appeared to be an impossible task.

‘Well, you’re not going to get anywhere by looking at it, Skye,’ she scolded herself.
And at least there wasn’t a monster to defeat.

Realising there was little time to spare, and with the wind outside causing a few grains to fly upwards, Skye went back to the barn door, turned the latch and returned to the mountain. She squatted down and got to work, taking up handfuls and spreading them out on the floor, then picking out all the flakes of oat and setting them to one side.
She worked quickly, her fingers moving through the grain and deftly separating out the different types.
Her eyes stung from the dust and her neck ached but she continued, getting faster and faster as time passed.

After what seemed to be a couple of hours, Skye looked up to take stock.
Her heart sank.
She had barely made a dent in the heap.
The two piles were tiny compared to the mountain in front of her.
She rocked back on her heels and massaged her neck.
Outside, the wind continued to howl around the barn.
The wooden walls creaked and groaned but at least inside was warm.
It was certainly more sheltered than the ruins she’d been forced to hide in during the storm she’d been caught in on the way to Litochoro.
That was scant comfort, though.
Dawn was only a few hours away, and she would need a month to separate the grain.
She’d never get it done in just one night by using her hands.

Trying not to panic, Skye picked up a single wheat grain and examined it carefully.
Then she did the same with an oat.
They were clearly different sizes.
Perhaps all she needed was a sieve.
A very, very large sieve.
She put her hands to either side of her head and thumped her temples.
There had to be a way to fashion one.

Skye stilled.
Fashion.

She was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and her coat.
None of those would work
but
her underwear might because her bra was made of intricate lace.
She blushed as she remembered that the last time she’d worn it was when she was with Coop.
It was a kind of poetic justice if the scrap of material would also help her return to him.