More Things In Heaven And Earth

Chapter Twenty Two

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." - Edgar Allen Poe

"Hermes?"

"Uh huh. You know... the guy with wings on his sandals?"

"Right." This brave new world never failed to grow stranger every day. I said to Atsheena., "Please don't go. I need you. I will be with you, no matter what."

She returned to her task at the stove, hiding her tear-filled eyes. "I'll stay as long as I feel I can," she said, and I knew it was the best promise she could make just then.

"Atsheena?" I began, trying hard to shift gears and adjust to this new bit of information presented to me.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Are all of the so-called gods real?"

"I've only met a few. I suspect, like with all of the creatures of legend, they're all based in some bit of truth," she said.

"Have you met this one?"

She carried on with her work as she spoke. This was obviously not as impressive of a moment for her as it was for me. "Not Hermes, no. But I've heard of him. He's like a popular kid at school. I'm just the girl

"Can I trust him?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't go so far as to say you can trust him. He's a thief. He's sneaky and known to serve his own ends. He has, from time to time, caused some extraordinary bits of trouble among humans but, for all that, he's not a bad guy. His heart is good. He will consistently choose the Light over the Darkness. Ages ago... I mean a long time ago... so long that it's a time of faint and distant memory, even for those such as Raziel, Hermes helped to defeat some of immense strength who moved against The Light. He was brave in battle and great Good resulted from his intervention."

OK, so that wasn't all bad but it wasn't exactly a glowing endorsement, either. I braced myself to meet the unexpected visitor.

The Greek god, Hermes, looked exactly like I'd expected: as thin and muscled, lithe and graceful as a cat, with curly dark hair and warm brown eyes.

He gave a polite little half bow. "Prophet."

I was as bemused as Susan had appeared to be. Hermes was in my dining room. He was a celebrity, even among the creatures of legend, and I was a tiny bit star-struck. "Welcome to our little community. What brings you among us today?"

"Thank you," he said, with a charming smile. "If you'll forgive me, the matter I am here about is fairly urgent. I'd like to get right to the point."

"By all means."

"I'd like to get in touch with my son."

"I'm afraid I don't understand how I can help you with that," I said.

He spread his hands wide, "Well, he lives here with you, does he not?"

"Here?" I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm afraid not."

"No?" He rubbed at the five o'clock shadow on his chin. "I was quite certain that he was here. Alexandros? Cute kid." He smiled. "Looks like his dad."

I gasped in understanding. Alex. The kid who could build anything, who just knew stuff, and who had, more than once, been caught helping himself to the belongings of others. "Alex is your son? I had no idea! I thought..." I trailed off, not wanting to be rude.

"You thought he was human?" he asked.

"Well, yes," I admitted.

Hermes shrugged. "His mother was human. She was a lovely woman, pretty in form and bright in wit and as brave as anyone I've ever known in this life that has gone on for far too long. She lived with him on a little farm. When the supposed king demanded that she use her land to produce food and crops as he deemed fit, she refused and told him to go back the Hell from which he came. He had her executed and took her land and everything on it." He said all of this in the disturbingly matter-of-fact way of one who has seen far too much death during millennia of life. "The boy escaped. I didn't know, at first, what had happened. When I found out, I assumed that the child had died with his mother but then, when I looked into the matter further, it became clear that he was still alive. I followed his trail here."