Brandywine Investigations Page 6

  Flowers grew here—strange and delicate, in fantastic shapes and with subtle, calming scents. This had been one of Dio's favorite places when he lived in the Underworld. Now he had a terrible feeling he would come to hate it.

  She stood on a rise not far from the entrance to the Elysian Fields, waving to him, her dark hair all one color here and blowing in the gentle, constant breeze. His feet broke into a run before he could tell them to move.

  "Meggie!" He flung himself into her outstretched arms, nearly toppling them both, since here, in this part of the Underworld, she was as solid as he was.

  "Hey, there! I was wondering if you would visit."

  He plopped down in the grass and tugged her down to sit with him, keeping hold of both her hands. "I'm so sorry. I didn't—" His voice trembled and broke, teeth gnawing at his lower lip to keep the tears back.

  "Don't you tell me you didn't keep me safe. And don't say it was your fault." She retrieved one of her hands to tuck his wild hair behind his ear. "We went to a freaking library. No one expects a murderer in the library."

  "But if you hadn't been with me… Meggie, I wanted you to leave me. I kept putting it off and putting it off. Just another couple months, I'd tell me."

  "I liked working for you. You do know that, right?"

  Dio flopped back into the grass, staring up at the false sky. "You needed your own life. Independent of me. I was selfish to hold you back."

  "Hey." She flopped down on her side, head supported on her hand while she poked his chest with the other. "You listen here, you little egomaniac. I had a life. I loved my life. You were my god, and I followed you because I wanted to. Because you were kind to me and took me off the street without expecting anything. Because you do that every year, one kid after another. I loved helping with the kids. I loved looking after you."

  "But… your own life. Your own place. Kids?"

  "I could've left you anytime. It's not like I felt trapped or like you were holding me there. I knew I'd have to go out in the world eventually." She shrugged, an oddly graceful movement for someone lying down. "Just didn't feel like the right time yet."

  "I'm still sorry. I didn't have to take you that day."

  "Please. If you'd gone to the Eternal Library and left me behind, I'd never have forgiven you. Just got in the way of someone at the wrong time."

  He turned on his side to face her. "So what happened?"

  "I'm not sure." Her button nose crinkled as she hesitated. "I mean, I know what happened to me. But I'm not sure what was happening. I was up in the part of the library where there were lots of darker hallways. Scrolls and artifacts in separate cases. I'm guessing it was pretty special stuff. I hadn't seen or heard anyone besides this really cute red panda who trotted by—"

  "One of the library assistants."

  "Really? Oh, that's too cool. Anyway, I was looking at a miniature mosaic frieze in one of the cases and I heard glass shatter. Never a good sound. I was just trying to figure out where the sound came from. Sound bounces kinda funny in those twisty hallways."

  "It does. But you still didn't see anyone?"

  She shook her head. "No one. I heard a shuffle behind me and I was turning to see, and then this… sharp thing was sticking out of my chest."

  "Like a knife?"

  "No… not a knife. More like an arrowhead. I only had a second to look at it. Didn't even have time for pain to register. Then I was gone."

  "Oh, Meggie, that's awful!" He took her hand again, linking their fingers, determined not to let go again.

  "As deaths go, it really wasn't that bad. Quick. Next thing I know, I'm wandering along this dark river. The Styx as it turned out. And your uncle is coming toward me, all purposeful and thundercloud frowny. I thought he was mad at me at first. He was mad, but at whoever killed me. He asked me things. Made me remember. But I couldn't tell him much."

  "He told me. I mean, he told Hermes and Herm told me. The murderer didn't even say anything?"

  She tapped the end of his nose. "You've been watching too much bad TV. You think a killer's going to spout off? Tell me their plans for world domination? I think I just surprised someone doing something they shouldn't have been. The surprised person panicked and killed me."

  He nodded, staring at their joined hands. The black polish was gone from her nails. His dark purple was chipped in several places. "I… I came to rescue you. This terrible thing happened, but it doesn't have to be permanent. I can take you with me, you know."

  "Like you did for your mom?" Her voice was softly hesitant, almost wary.

  "Just like that! You'll live on Olympus. It's beautiful there. You'll like my mom. She's really sweet. And the fauns. And we're all there sometimes." He sat up, preparing to take her with him, but something in her expression stopped him. "Meggie?"

  "I love you. And I hate that I'm going to hurt you right now. But no."

  "No, you don't want to meet my mom?"

  She cupped his face with both hands. "I'm not going with you. Human, remember? I'm not supposed to be immortal."

  "But you weren't supposed to die so soon! It's just wrong!"

  "It's not what I want. An eternity on Olympus. Not where I belong. Humans have other journeys they're supposed to take. There's… something pulling me away from here already. I was sticking around, hoping I could say good-bye to you."

  "Where would you go?" He hated the anxious crack in his voice but couldn't do a damn thing about it.

  "Don't know yet. The next thing. Next stage." She turned to peer out toward the artificial horizon. "I just know I have to go. You remember when I was reading to you from the Bardo Thodol?"

  "The bard… no."

  "The Tibetan Book of the Dead?"

  "Oh. Yeah, I remember that. Rainy afternoon. Snuggly and warm inside. That was nice."

  "I think this is like the first bardo for me. The first stage in between. And I have to go to the next one."

  "But you weren't ever a Buddhist."

  She got to her feet, a soft glow emanating from her skin. "It's just the easiest way I can think to explain it. I have to go on."

  "Meggie, no. No, please." Dio got up on his knees, fingers twisted in her sleeve. "Don't leave me. Please."

  "Dionysus." It was the first time she had called him by his full name. She turned to smile down at him, gentle and sad. "You know normally I wouldn't say no to you. But unless you force me to stay, I just can't."

  Tears stung the corners of his eyes again as he whispered, "I'd never force you. Never that. I just thought… you'd want to stay."

  "You were coming to rescue me. You wanted to be my hero. I understand that, and I'm so sorry." She leaned down to kiss his forehead and gently disentangled his fingers with a pat to his hand. "Go help find my killer. You can do that for me. But I have to go."

  "Meggie…"

  "Take care of George and the other fauns and the kids. Be nice to your family."

  "Wait, what about your family? Isn't there anyone I should tell?"

  "You were my family." Somehow, she had walked away from him. She waved from the top of the next hillock. "Good-bye, Dio. Be kind to yourself too."

  "No, wait! Not yet!" His anguished cry was too loud in the quiet of the fields, but she was already fading from sight, leaving the Underworld, leaving him. He pulled in a gasping breath, the weight on his chest a sharp ache as the tears escaped and he bellowed, "Charon! Char! Damn it, you said you'd stay close! Char!"

  The hand on his shoulder wasn't Meghan's, but it was just as familiar, the long white fingers and black claws. "Shh. You'll disturb the shades. I'm here."

  Dio struggled to his feet, wiping at his eyes. "She left me, Char. How could she do that? I offer eternity and she left me. Just like Ariadne did. Turned her back on eternity."

  "Is your mother happy?"

  "What?"

  "Your mother. I know you came to fetch her because you were worried about her, but you never gave her a choice, just dragged her off to Olympus. I'm going to ask again. I
s she happy?"

  "I… I guess so?"

  Charon took him by the shoulders. "Never even asked, have you? It's a good thing you're usually a good-hearted party god. With the power you have and the way you think consequences are for other people, you could've been a horrifically destructive god. Worse than Set."

  "I don't hurt people on purpose."

  "No, you don't." Charon pulled him into a hard embrace. "I loved her too. It hurts. So much. But I'm proud of you for giving her a choice. Don't ruin that by being angry that she didn't choose you."

  "I'm not. Not really. I just don't know—" He shook his head against Charon's chest, out of energy and out of words.

  "Let's get you back. You need rest and some good food. If Nike hasn't eaten everything in my absence. Then you can decide what to do next."

  What in the world was there to do? She was gone, and no one needed his help finding her killer. In a pantheon of gods who shaped destinies, he would always be the one superfluous anomaly, the one everyone could do just as well without.

  Not Quite a Relative

  Chapter Five

  Didn't go well, from what I hear." Hermes pulled a beer from the fridge for himself. Charon had told them to make themselves at home while he fetched Ti from the train station.

  "Why not? Basket of fruit; cute fauns. Is he some kind of snob or something? How could a minotaur be a snob?"

  Hermes cleared his throat as he popped the top. "Well, hmm. He refused the basket, but that was probably more a result of you terrifying him than him being a snob. Then Theo and Mak offered themselves as a substitute. Leander became very upset at that point and accused you of, ah, pimping them."

  "What?" Dio surged off the sofa. "If those two were offering, it's because they were offering. Probably wanted to know if he was really hung like a bull, the little twerps."

  "Oh, I figured that." Hermes took a few long swallows before he set his beer on the counter, as if he needed to give Dio all his attention. "About Leander. He's… shy."

  "Seemed pretty okay bossing gods around," Dio shot back as he started to pace.

  "That's different. He's the librarian. The guardian, curator, and caretaker of that whole place, and he takes his job very seriously. But he's never had non-panda friends that I could see. Doesn't talk to anyone when it's not about the books. I don't know the whole story, but he didn't have the easiest start in life. Athena probably knows more. She's the one who rescued him and taught him how to read."

  "Rescued him? From what?"

  Hermes gave him an odd look. "The Labyrinth, of course."

  "So he is Ari's little brother!" Dio stabbed a finger in the air. "I knew it. That lying sack of shit. Damn it. I should've gone back to check instead of taking Theseus's word for it that he killed the minotaur."

  "Not your fault. Theseus hurt him bad enough that he would've died all alone in that maze. But Athena got him out and hid him. For decades, she hid him. Then when we built the library, she offered him the job and a place to live there."

  "Huh. So why's he immortal and his sister wasn't?"

  "Half sister, bro. He's half divine, like you. Athena cocooned him in a magic weaving on Olympus, fed him on ambrosia when he was well enough. Not quite like your second birth, but not too different."

  Dio stopped pacing and stared out the window, watching the water of the Brandywine dance and race over rocks and sandbars. "Always wondered how much of all that Labyrinth story was true, since I'd never seen him myself. Ari wouldn't talk much about him. Just that he was different and that her parents had gotten scared of him as he got bigger. He did get hella big."

  "He did. So, trust issues, PTSD, not much positive contact with the outside world. It's made Leander a little eccentric."

  "Oh. Well. Damn it." Dio drummed his fingers on the glass. "He's Ari's little brother. I don't want him to hate me."

  "Maybe you should do the apology thing in person."

  "Yeah. Maybe." Leander, Leander… Had Ari mentioned his name? Probably. Just like my sieve brain to forget. How do you live in a library? Do you sleep on one of the shelves? Does he have a bathroom somewhere? Does he ever go to concerts and stuff? "How does he eat?"

  Hermes chuckled. "I always wonder what's going to come out next when you look like your brain's about to explode. He has a garden for some things. For the stuff he can't grow, Athena's folks make a delivery run on Saturdays."

  "Do they? Every Saturday?" Dio turned to see his older brother nod. "Good. I think I need to be the delivery boy this week."

  "Talk to Thena. Not sure she'll go for it."

  Dio already had his phone out. She'd agree to it. He intended to plead and pester until she said yes.

  The knock on Saturday morning was the expected one, so this time Leander was already dressed and able to answer the door without anxiety. His relative calm turned to outright panic when he spotted the smile behind the pile of boxes and bags.

  "Hi! Delivery for Mr. Asterion?"

  Leander slammed the door shut. His hope that the god of violence would go away died when another knock sounded.

  "Leander? C'mon. I'm not going to hurt you. Um, again. I won't hurt you again. I'm all sane and stuff now."

  "Please go away."

  "I just wanna talk to you. Please open the door?"

  "You are talking to me, and no."

  "Is this how you talk to all the other gods? Probably not, right?"

  Leander squeezed his eyes shut. If he wanted to, Lord Dionysus could most likely force the door or perhaps break it. Yes, he was being cowardly, but this was his home. If he didn't want to invite someone in, he wouldn't be bullied into it. "I… I'm not feeling well. Please go away."

  "You know I'm kinda your brother-in-law, right?"

  He yanked the door open again. "You… what?"

  "Oh, thank the holy rivers." Before Leander could react, Dionysus had shoved past him into his quarters. "I know I'm a god and stuff, but damn, there's enough here to load down a caravan. I'll just put this all in your kitchen. Where is your kitchen? Oh, never mind. I see. Only one way to go, really. Labyrinth inside a maze. I like it."

  Stunned, Leander trailed after him until Dionysus set the boxes and bags on the kitchen counter with a grunt. "You can't be in here!"

  "Sure I can. Here I am." Dionysus shot him a gleaming smile and twirled in an impossible swirl of black velvet and satin.

  Was he wearing an Edwardian topcoat? "Physically, yes. I meant you mustn't. No one comes into my rooms but me."

  "Oh." The smile deflated as Dionysus fiddled with his coat buttons. "I screwed that up, huh? They probably leave the groceries at your door, don't they? Damn. I was trying to be helpful. I'm… Damn it."

  He looked so absurdly young and vulnerable for a god as he stared at the floor and fidgeted awkwardly that an unreasonable urge to comfort him nearly overcame Leander. "Thank you for carrying them. Please, Lord Dionysus, please go now."

  "I really am sorry." Dionysus's head came up, his dark eyes huge and full of… what? Regret? Pain? "About going after you. Did I hurt you?"

  "It's been explained to me, my lord." Leander worked his way around so he was between the god and the door to the next room. With little shooing motions, he tried to herd his unwanted guest back toward the outer door. "You had no control over what happened. Understandable that you were overcome." I was.

  "Um, okay. That didn't really answer the question, but good. Maybe?" Dionysus skipped, actually skipped backward as Leander herded him. "I'm really not that bad. Some of my brothers think I'm annoying, but scary? No one thinks I'm scary. And the thing with Theo and Mak? I mean, really? Those two little horndogs wanted to get in your pants, er, kilt, on their own. I sure as dog crap in the park didn't put them up to it. Why do you wear a kilt? It's the tail, isn't it? Though kilts are cool. I like them myself. Very freeing, all commando under there and junk."

  Leander's face heated, and he was glad his unruly hair hid most of the flush. The embarrassment at the uncouth commentary was
trumped by the bizarre situation though, as he kept advancing and shooing, and Dionysus kept backing up, chatting away without a breath. They were at his door, with the little god leaning on the threshold, when Leander's brain finally latched back onto what had caused him to open the door. "Why did you bring that up? That you're my brother-in-law?"

  "Your Ari's brother, right? Ariadne of Crete?" Dionysus was suddenly still, all his attention apparently focused on that question.

  "Her half brother. Yes. You rescued her from Naxos when that… person abandoned her there. I… should at least thank you for that. Some accounts say she married you?"

  Dionysus shook his head as he stared at the floor again. "No. I mean, yeah, I found her on Naxos when that creep Theseus cut and run. I mean, what a bastard. She was pregnant and everything. We had a lot of… We were happy. For a lot of years. We had kids. A bunch. I probably wasn't the best father. Not always there. She loved me. I'm pretty sure. But she never wanted to marry me."

  "I see." Though he wasn't certain that he did. "So you invoked a not-quite-marriage with my half sister to gain entrance to my quarters?"

  "Thought maybe you'd talk to me, then? Poor Ari always thought you'd died."

  Leander pressed forward again, and again Dionysus gave ground, stepping back across the doorsill into the corridor, all of his spring-loaded energy suddenly gone. "I didn't know. I wasn't… wasn't well for many years. Now, my lord, you must excuse me." He shut the door behind him, putting them both out in the hall. "I have work to do putting the Alexandrian Collection back to rights."

  "Oh!" Dionysus's head jerked back up, and he bounced along beside Leander as he tried to stride off. "You haven't cleaned up yet? Can I help? I can help. Maybe find a clue. That happens around crime scenes. You move something or go to put something back, and there's an important thing they missed before."

  "Thank you, but I don't need assistance, my lord. Please—"

  "Oh, everyone can use a hand. I have a lot of experience cleaning up messes. And if there's broken glass and stuff and you cut yourself, you shouldn't be by yourself. Immortal or not, blood loss is NFAA."