The Dig (16 page)

―That‘s a good metaphor.‖

―Well, you don‘t have to worry. I‘m not going to get all sad because the queen bee thinks I‘m lame.‖

―She doesn‘t think you‘re lame.‖

―Oh, Zeus, they all think I‘m lame.‖

―That‘s not true.‖

―It‘s nothing new. Really.‖

―They‘ll come around.‖

―I don‘t see it happening.‖

He grabs my hand and says, ―I do.‖

We‘ve held hands before, but it‘s different in a bedroom, a locked bedroom. I wish I had put those sandals on. His words ring in my ears,
I
do
. ―You don‘t have to say that.‖

―But I mean it,‖ he says. ―They don‘t know you like I know you.‖ Kiss me. Kiss me. KISS.

ME.

―Um, do you want me to show you around?‖ he asks.

―Sure.‖

As we make our way through Olympus, with its sweeping grounds and million-dollar views, I find myself wishing we were just sitting somewhere, because really, I‘d rather just be looking at him. And his wings, the way they flutter and shimmer—how do I ignore them? Am I just supposed to act like some guys have wings?

We walk for a while, through the gardens, around the temple. My favorite moments are when he thinks we‘ve been caught and we crouch and hide together. He‘s not like any boy I‘ve ever met. He‘s a kid at heart and he‘s not afraid to show it. And it‘s not like he‘s immature or something.

It‘s like his boyish fun grew up with him.

―Okay,‖ I say, as we pass a field full of purple wildflowers, ―this is going to sound weird but…‖

―What?‖

―Can I touch them?‖

He stares at me.

―Your wings. Can I touch them?‖

A fog falls over his face. I‘ve hurt his feelings.

―Are you mad?‖

―No. I just…being with you, one of the reasons it‘s been so nice is I forget I have them.‖

―I‘m sorry.‖

―It‘s not your fault.‖

―It is. I never should have brought it up. I‘ve just, I‘ve never seen anything like it.‖

―Well, Zoe,‖ he says. ―I‘ve never seen anyone like you. None of us have.‖

―What do mean?‖

He‘s walking again and I follow. We‘re quiet for a few minutes. I‘m acutely aware that he sidestepped my whole request to touch his wings.

Maybe he really doesn‘t like me.

―No one has appeared with powers in a long time,‖ he says quietly.

―Um, except for the twelve of you,‖ I reply.

He shakes his head. ―We got our powers five hundred years ago, Zoe.‖

―Five hundred years ago! That‘s crazy. You can‘t be more than seventeen.‖

―With power comes immortality.‖

―Like a vampire...‖

―A what?‖

―Never mind. Um, so, you‘re like…five hundred and seventeen.‖ He smiles. ―I never thought of it that way.‖

―I hope this doesn‘t mean you‘re too old for me,‖ I say, and laugh nervously.

Oh my god,
why
did I just say that? I am ready to run off in horror and embarrassment when he pulls two enormous pink leaves off a tree I‘ve never seen in botany books and lays them down.

―Have a seat,‖ he says.

―Don‘t you need to get back?‖ I ask, certain that I have scared him away for good.

He shakes his head. ―The only place I need to be is here with you.‖ So here we are, sitting Indian-style on our leaves, facing each other.

I was right.

It is a date.

God, he is a fun person to be around, probably because he‘s so intuitive about what I want.

For instance, he takes me to this tiny pond, where perfectly round red fish hop up at random intervals. We play a game of trying to catch the fish. We sit on opposite sides of the little blue pool, clapping our hands together, trying to grasp those fish as they fly, lightning fast, back into the water. The water splashes and we‘re giggling and I catch a fish and squeal and drop it before I even have a chance to admire its slick, candy-colored surface. I‘ve never needed to do something silly and fun like this so badly in my entire life.

―That‘s some great timing you have there, Zeus,‖ I say with a grin, as he captures one of the little red fish between his hands.

―Well, you‘re not so bad yourself, Zoe.‖

―Well, I‘m touched, Zeus.‖

Yes, we‘re that couple, the nauseating duo with the perma-grins. And now we‘re drying off in the sun, lying atop an isolated bank in the grass.

The sun is that perfect kind of sun, where you‘re warm but your eyes don‘t sting and you don‘t wish you had sunglasses. It‘s heaven.

For a minute, I worry that I‘m mistaking the dazzle of Olympus for actual chemistry. This place is jaw-dropping. Maybe I would be happy here with
any
guy leading me around. I mean, look at this patio on the cliff. It‘s a view of the world. Who wouldn‘t be giddy here? As a test, I picture Zeus and me sitting in a dull food court at the mall near school. We‘d be fine.

We‘d have just as much stuff to talk about.

―Zeus, can I ask you something?‖

―Sure.‖

―How did you get your powers?‖

―It was a long time ago,‖ he says.

―Yeah, I know that. But
how
?‖

He shakes off the question. ―It‘s complicated. I‘ll tell you about it another time.‖ He turns to face me. ―What about you?‖

―Well, I just got them, I guess. Has it been a week yet? Let‘s see…

day one, nymph defense. Day two, chased by wild two-headed dogs. Day three…honestly, it‘s hard to keep track,‖ I say, and smile.

But Zeus doesn‘t smile back. He seems serious, more serious than I‘ve seen him yet.

―And…how did you get them?‖

I shrug. ―They just…showed up,‖ I say, squinting at him. ―Why?‖ But he doesn‘t answer me. He just does that guy-not-listening thing and climbs up off the ground.

―Are you okay?‖

―You really don‘t know how you got your powers? Or you won‘t tell me?‖ he says.

―What are you talking about?‖ I say.

―Nothing. It‘s just…forget it.‖ He sighs.

He‘s bored of me. He‘s annoyed. I never should have started asking questions about his powers.

―You just don‘t know what it‘s like, Zoe. For five hundred years we can do anything we want. No one can stop us. And then one day, without warning, you show up. And suddenly you can do anything too.‖

―But I
don’t
do anything I want,‖ I say. ―I‘m not Dio.‖

―Look, my friends aren‘t jerks. I know you don‘t like Dio but you can‘t judge him until you‘ve been up here for five hundred years. And on some level, we must have done something right, because the humans down there, they‘re all still trying to please us.‖

―Zeus, no offense, but you sound kind of smug.‖

―I‘m just defending my friends.‖

―Well, can‘t you admit that maybe Dio‘s gotten a
little
out of control if he‘s ordering little nymphs killed for no reason?‖

―He didn‘t order her to be
killed
. He ordered her to be captured. And why do you think I was off wandering the forest in disguise in the first place? I was trying to stop it. We‘re not monsters, Zoe.‖ He walks away and it would be so easy to run down the mountain, away from him, just let the earth carry me down. But I owe myself more.

I owe
us
more.

―I‘m sorry,‖ I say. ―I didn‘t mean to criticize you and your friends. It‘s just, every time you talk about how close you all are, I feel a little more alone. I mean, when we met, you were talking about how you were bored of them. But up here, it‘s like you‘re totally…‖

―Different. I know.‖

―You do?‖

―That‘s what‘s so hard about it, Zoe. All these frustrations I‘ve kept inside because I have no one up here to talk about it with. And then I opened up to you and I brought you up here, and of course part of me feels very guilty about that.‖

―Maybe I really
should
go,‖ I say.

There‘s silence in the tall grass and it‘s all my fault. I bit his head off.

I‘m impatient and jealous and I should have read all CeeCee‘s magazines and learned about how to talk to boys because obviously I don‘t know how.

Zeus is going to walk away from me just like I walked away from Columbia Darren, because that‘s karma for you. I don‘t belong anywhere, especially here, in this place that looks like the romance novels in the way back of the school library. Greeley. Aunt Sophia. Uncle Alex.

Home. I feel so alone.

―You can‘t go,‖ Zeus says.

―Why not?‖

―Because.‖

―Because why?‖

―Because they won‘t let you, Zoe. And together, with all their powers, they can do anything.‖

They won‘t
let
me?

My lips start quivering. This is easily the worst, multi-tiered letdown I‘ve ever experienced. Zeus isn‘t telling me to stay because of him, because he‘ll miss me and wants me close to him. He‘s telling me to stay because his friends are dangerous. They can do anything they want.

They can even kill me.

Zeus reaches forward and grazes my necklace.

―Don‘t worry. It‘s not as bad as it sounds,‖ he says. ―If worst comes to worst, you could always bribe the goddesses with jewelry, you know.‖ I smack him on the arm, grateful that he knew I needed to laugh. He flexes his shoulders and his golden wings unfurl and then he‘s airborne, zooming up and into a large window. When he comes back, he‘s carrying a board of some kind and chalk.

―What is that for?‖

―Gods and goddesses school is now in session,‖ he says with a grin. ―Are you ready for your first lesson?‖

He‘s the most adorable boy ever.

―Let‘s start with Zeus,‖ I say.

―Zeus, god of the sky,‖ he says, as seriously and teacherly as he can. ―As you might have noticed, Zeus can fly.‖

―Should I be writing this down?‖

He grins. ―Zeus also makes very impressive lightning bolts, if I do say so myself.‖

―What a modest god is Zeus.‖

He laughs. ―Okay, moving on, we have Hera.‖

―The nicest girl ever, so sweet, really.‖ He points at me and I zip my lip shut. I‘m so grateful that sarcasm was invented long before modern times.

―Hera‘s power is over darkness, over nightfall. She can shape and manipulate it.‖

―Darkness?‖ I had always read that Hera was the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Then again, from what I‘ve seen so far, darkness is a better fit. ―Okay,‖ I nod. ―Who else?‖

―Well, Persephone has the best powers, if you ask me. She controls the seasons. The seasons are the backbone of everything.‖

―I never thought of it that way. But it‘s true,‖ I say, realizing that if summer never came, I would never go on digs, would never have come to Greece, would never have met him.

―She works really hard. Anyway—‖

―Wait. Works hard? There are four seasons. How hard can that be?‖

―Look up.‖

All I see is what I‘ve already seen, the same placid blue ceiling of sky, the same fluffy harmless clouds. I don‘t know what I‘m supposed to be seeing.

―Seasons are always changing,‖ Zeus says. ―The first day of summer is the beginning of the end of summer.‖

―That‘s deep.‖

―Well, you know, five hundred years.‖

Something shifts in me. I worry that I‘m too young for him even though we‘re the same age. He‘s looking around again and I‘m afraid to ask what he‘s looking for. This boy isn‘t a boy.

He‘s a man with five hundred more years of experience than me. That‘s a long time, and I suddenly feel young and foolish.

―Hey, Zoe.‖

―Yes.‖

―Um,‖ he blushes. ―I can‘t remember what I was going to say.‖

―Happens to me all the time.‖

―Really? Because it doesn‘t happen to me that much.‖ I know enough to not say anything in return. He was definitely flirting and it‘s definitely my moment to savor it and smile, unsure of where to go from here and excited about being so unsure, about caring so much.

Maybe being a teenager is like running in place. You could do it for four years, you could do it for five hundred years, but you‘d never really get anywhere new, you would just stay there forever.

We‘ve moved on to the gardens and we‘re standing under the cover of a plum tree. Zeus is right. Though I don‘t want to overdo it, I could go on about these plums for centuries. I didn‘t know plums could be this perfect, firm to the touch but exploding with juice and flavor. They are the definition of ―ripeness.‖ At Greeley, all the fruit is either a day old or a day short of being ripe.

I almost wish Zeus would walk away for just one minute, because if I put my mind to it and didn‘t care, I could probably eat ten plums in a row.

―Persephone, she is really amazing with the gardens, right?‖

―This isn‘t even like a plum. Well, it‘s like a plum, only better.‖

―She‘s spent five hundred years learning exactly how long each season should last in order to maximize the flavor and taste and nutrients of the fruit.‖

Grrr. It seems like it‘s always coming back to the goddesses. If I compliment the fruit, he starts talking about Persephone. I make an observation about the light shifting; he starts droning on about the beautiful layers and complications of Hera‘s dark side. I marvel at the statue of a man; he tells me that Dio is a genius artist. I mean, can‘t a girl just eat a plum without hearing about the goddess who made it?

―Does she do that for the humans?‖

―What do you think?‖

I toss my pit into the bushes. ―I‘m gonna guess no, because I‘ve never had a plum this good.‖

―She would never do that for the humans. She views them as weak and dull. And everyone, everyone‘s so convinced that if they give anything to humans without asking for a sacrifice, that the humans will become spoiled and destructive.‖

―That‘s kind of snobby.‖

―Well, it‘s not entirely untrue.‖

Here we go. I cross my arms. ―Zeus, you know that
I’m
human.‖ He flashes that mischievous smile again, and oh sometimes I wish he wasn‘t so cute. ―Whatever you say, Zoe.‖ He starts walking again. I‘m torn. I want to tell him about where I come from. I want to show him my iPhone and tell him about the dig and my aunt and uncle as I watch him stretch and spread his wings. If I don‘t open up to him, we will never really, truly know each other. But how can I?