Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 5

"Hide, Calliope! The visitor has arrived." Polihymnias' pervading voice whispered in all of their heads. "Thalia, Melepomene, be so kind as to greet the arrived Endless, so he doesn't disturb Terpsichore's practice."
As always, Poli hadn't moved an inch from her position on her three-legged stool, looking like a statue veiled and cloaked in white, still staring at the flowing Hippocrene.
Calliope jumped behind the biggest boulder in the stream's cool water, to hide her nudity but be near enough to be able to listen to the conversation. It wasn't every day an Endless came to visit them at their most private and sacred place, instead of joining the waiting queue of supplicants at the temple. She wanted to know why Poli had warned her about the likes of him.
Terpsichore continued to strum on her lyre, while the twins struck a dramatic pose in the sand to greet the new arrival.
"Greetings, Muses. Forgive my intrusion. I search for the knowledgeable services of Erato." A gravelly voice came from the darkness of the surrounding sacred grove. Or was it really the grove's darkness? It was rather coming from the black cowl of a tall dark hooded figure, emerging form the trees pine trees.
"Greetings, Stranger!" Thalia chirped, hastily rearranging her lopsided wreath of ivy, that seemed to have slipped with the last proclamation she had practiced.
"Erato? Thank Zeus, that bitch isn't here." Terpsichore hissed over the rim of her lyre, losing her rhythm and stopping to strum altogether.
"Terpsichore." Poli chided in our heads.
"What she means, is-" Thalia happily chirped again.
"- sadly she is absent because of her temple-duties." Melepomene said, sighing dramatically, and pushed her teary eyed mask on top of her hair.
Why did her tragic sister always have to finish the sentences of her comedic twin?
The stranger took a step forward out of the trees' shadows and onto the sand, his black himation billowing in the wind, reaching up, to push his cowl away. Calliope swallowed, as he revealed the most handsome white face: high cheekbones, full lips under a wild black shock of hair. Her mouth went dry, when he lifted his gaze. He revealed dark eyes, as deep as the cosmos, her sister Urania had once shown her.
"Who are you, and what do you want from Erato?" Terpsichore asked, clearly annoyed that someone disturbed her cherished practice with the lyre.
"I need to build a new dream."
This voice, so dark but yet so sure. As if it had existed from the beginning of the world. A shiver ran across Calliope's skin.
"So you're seeking inspiration?" Thalia thrilled.
"Or will it be a nightmare?" Melepomene inquired.
"Anyway," Terpsichore sounded irritated, "Erato isn't here. You have the choice of wooing either my sister Thalia," she indicated their bubbly sister, who was secretly practicing again her grand gestures, "for the fun part of your dream, or Melepomene, if you are rather interested in a dramatic turn."
Melepomene pushed her mask back down and did a full dramatic turn, her cothurns clacking on the flat stone she was currently using as a stage.
"Woe?" The Endless furrowed his brow.
"You don't know?" Terpsichore raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you don't know the basics, you're not worth my time." She jumped up, grabbed her stool and lyre and hasted away, along the shoreline of the Hippocrene.
"Terpsichore." Poli sounded disappointed in her behavior, but wouldn't move nor say a word to stop her from leaving so rudely.
Terpsichore stopped, as she reached the next cove, rammed her stool into the sand, sat and then ripped rhythmically at the strings of her lyre as if she was punishing it for having been disturbed.
"I am sorry, if I offended you." The Endless lowered his chin a fraction.
"Don't be, she is stressed out and wants to win the lyre contest against Erato." Thalia babbled, jumping towards the Endless, reaching out to grab his hand to pull him into the sunlight, but stopping the last second.
"Or be." Melepomene also took a step towards him. "Nobody should be allowed to visit the muses unless equipped with proper gifts!" she declaimed, flailing her arms, as if she was in a play.
"Oh yes, gifts!" Thalia clapped her hands. "I want something shiny and multicolored!"
The dark stranger cocked his head.
"Then what should I bring to woe Erato?"
Nothing. He could just woe her, instead. He only had to say more with that beautiful voice of his, and Calliope would be happy. She needed her clothes, badly! But she had promised Poli to keep away from the Endless. Actually, he did not look that dangerous at all.
"The kind of gift is yours to figure out." Melepomene curtsied and bowed, probably just to practice. "Now leave us to our devices, it's only a few days until the contest of the fine arts in the temple."
Don't go! I want to speak to you!
"Then forgive me for intruding. I'll go and find the right gift to woe your Sister." The stranger lowered his chin in the faintest suggestion of a curtsy.
As much as she wanted to, there was no way to stop him from leaving without her clothes and Poli watching. Calliope sighed. He would come back, if he wanted to woe her sister. Her sister, Erato, the muse of love.
Calliope's heart sank.

(Are you ready to meet my own personal "Oh-Shiny!" in the next chaper? Then vote for this one, and read on to finally watch as Calliope dares to make Morpheus an irresisitble offer.)