The ride to Olympia Lane was oddly quiet.
“Hey, Harry?” I asked suddenly.
“Yeah?” He didn’t bother taking his eyes away from the changing road.
I moved to the middle of the backseat and leaned up on the passenger seat. I wasn’t concerned about seatbelts. “Do you ever visit with your grandfather?”
“Yeah,” he answered glancing at me. “He’s always busy though with being the messenger of the gods and all.”
I didn’t really know his pain. My grandfather didn’t seem to ever leave me alone. “When are you going to see him next?”
“Probably at the Thanksgiving party,” Harry replied and my eyes went wide.
“I forgot all about that!”
Harry looked over at me. “Come on, the gods use any holiday to throw a party. How could you possibly forget?”
I shrugged. “I guess I had other things to worry about.”
I felt the car come to a halt. “Well will you be there?”
“Is it November already?” I questioned still unable to believe it.
Harry nodded and I thanked him as I exited the car. No one had to pay to use Harry’s services.
I walked into my house not caring who was home. I immediately hung up my jacket in the closet which caught the attention of Psyche.
“Peyton!” She grabbed me into a bear hug.
“Grandma,” I greeted trying to breathe. She let me go and studied me as if she hadn’t seen me in years. She had a wide grin on her beautiful face.
“Your grandfather and I were just speaking about you,” Psyche gushed.
“Really?” I asked uncaringly.
Psyche nodded. “Yes, come and eat something!”
Psyche really embraced motherhood then grandmother-hood when the time came. She was always one to stuff food into her guest’s face even if they had just eaten. She had perfected her cooking skill a long time ago. After all, she has had many years of practice.
Psyche set me down at the dining room table then brought in a plate of cookies along with a glass of milk in a true grandmotherly way. I took one, broke it in half, and dipped it into the milk before taking a bite. It was a peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips in it.
“You looked stressed dear,” Psyche commented sitting down across from me.
I sighed. “I’m not, I just have to go to the library and look up some files.”
“The library is huge,” Psyche pointed out.
“I know,” I mumbled finishing my cookie. “Where’s Eros?”
“Finishing a job I’m sure,” Psyche replied with a wave of her hand.
I nodded and took another cookie before I stood. “I’m going to head over to the library now, just to get started. I’ll be back tonight to pass out.”
Psyche nodded. “I will save some dinner for you!”
“Okay.” I grabbed my jacket from the hall closet and walked back into the kitchen to another cookie for the road before I said goodbye to Psyche.
I hailed the cab from outside and while I waited, I finished off the wonderful dessert in my hands. When the cab pulled up, I opened the door but instead of Harry it was his brother Henry.
“Hello Henry,” I greeted.
“Peyton,” he replied coolly. Harry was the driver who transported us to Earth and back and Henry was the local driver.
“The library please,” I requested and Henry drove without question.
The library was in Olympus where all the gods lived but it wasn’t far from Olympia Lane. It only took about five minutes before Henry pulled up in front of the huge stairway to the library. I thanked Henry then stepped out of the cab.
There weren’t many people around and everything seemed pretty dead. I walked up the long staircase and entered the huge double doors of the library. I was immediately hit with the strong scent of old paper and dust. I scrunched my nose and walked over to the librarian.
“Hello Porus,” I greeted. A man with thick glasses looked up at me and smiled.
“Dear Peyton,” he responded in a fatherly tone.
There were some rumors going around that he was the one who conceived Eros with Penia on Aphrodite’s birthday. I knew that the truth was that Aphrodite and Ares where the real parents of Eros but Porus neither confirmed nor denied this fact. Personally, I think he just enjoyed the attention he got from it besides the fact that he was drunk when he was seduced my Penia.
“How’s your sister?” I asked leaning on his desk.
Porus sighed. “Everyone loves Athena, don’t they? You know one day things won’t be so wonderful for her.”
“Right,” I muttered ignoring his nonsense. It only made sense that the Goddess of Wisdom’s brother was a librarian. “I need some files.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Porus asked. I instantly became annoyed.
I sighed running my hand through my hair. “I need a file of every female single fallen angel on Earth by the name of Ariel.”
Porus looked down at his computer and began typing away. I leaned against the desk and instantly felt tired but maybe it was the library atmosphere.
“Sorry,” Porus apologized after a minute. “There aren’t any female single fallen angels by that name.”
“Seriously?” I was beyond surprised. “Then check the ones in relationships as well.”
Porus returned to typing then after a minute his magnified eyes met mine. “There isn’t a single fallen angel by that name.”
“Impossible!” I claimed. “You have every immortal registered on that thing, correct?”
Porus nodded and I sighed in defeat. So much for this plan…
“Well some angels choose to change their name when the go down to Earth since some angel names aren’t common Earth names,” Porus explained.
“Yeah but Ariel is a mortal name.”
Porus shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t like her name. Why don’t you tell me what you know about her and I will see if I can narrow it down.”
“Uh…” I began trying to think about what Nate had told me. “She’s an Angel of Nature.”
Porus nodded typing things away on his computer. Then suddenly a large stack of files appeared on his desk. It was at least twice my height and I couldn’t even see the top of it.
“Sorry,” Porus mumbled looking up at the stack. “But that is every Angel of Nature.”
“Great,” I muttered trying to think. “She needs to be single and a fallen angel.”
Porus began typing away again and before I knew it, the pile of files dropped down to about only four feet. Porus looked at me expectantly again and I continued to think.
“She has red hair and brown eyes,” I recalled. Porus typed away again and the pile shrunk down considerably.
“There are about 20 files here,” Porus explained patting the top of the pile. I sighed and grabbed the whole pile in my arms.
“Thanks,” I mumbled and walked off to one of the many tables set up in the library. I took off my jacket and set it around one of the chairs then I set down to work. I easily eliminated a few of the files right off the bat. Nate had mentioned that the girl resembled me in a way he couldn’t explain. I could just barely narrow it down to about ten files.
None of them looked exactly liked me but all of them kind of reminded me of myself. I sighed knowing there was no way I could find this girl that is even if she was still single. I took the picture out of each file and set each one in front of me as if the photo would stand up and claim to be the correct one.
I realized I was getting nowhere with this.
I let out a breath and muttered, “Oh God.”
“I’m right here,” a voice said pretty loudly for the library.
I glanced over unsurprised to find Eurus staring back at me. He was the Greek God of the East wind. He and his three brothers made up the Anemoi or the winds. He was also a self-absorbed arrogant prick. Rightly so, he was gorgeous as any other Greek god was. He was tan and muscular with long brown hair strikingly bright green eyes.
“Hello,” I greeted returning my attention back to my work.
“Oh lovely Peyton,” Eurus whispered seductively. He grabbed my chin in attempt to gain my attention again.
“Yes?” I wondered batting my eyelashes. I gave him a sarcastically pleased look before deciding to research some things about angels in general. I left all my work on the table and pulled myself out of Eurus’s hold. I walked over to one of the many walls covered in books. Eurus followed me as expected.
“You know,” he began casually as he leaned against a bookshelf. “You are the last single Cupid.”
I rolled my eyes but kept scanning the millions of novels. I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right section. Eros direct family line was known as ‘The Cupids’ as if that was our last name.
“My mother is single,” I pointed out moving around Eurus admittedly sculpted body to continue looking through the books.
“Yes well your mother is…” He drifted off and I gave him a look. “A different matter.”
I nodded brushing by him again to look through a different section hoping that he would get the message I was sending him and go away.
“I was wondering, my dear Peyton, if you would go on a date with me?” His voice was filled with confidence.
“No,” I answered easily crossing the entire room to check the books on the opposite wall. Eurus stuck beside me not giving me the chance to get away.
“Why not?”
“Isn’t Anemoi missing the East wind?” I asked changing the subject.
“My brothers can handle a few moments without me,” he gritted out through his teeth clearly irritated. “Look, I will even take you down to Earth for a date. I know how much you love that place.”
He was trying to show some compassion but I didn’t by it. “I said no.”
I thought I heard his teeth grit together. I gave him a warm smile. “You’re a nice guy underneath your personality I’m sure, but Eurus you’re not my type.”
“Type?” Eurus asked as if he had never heard the word. “Peyton, you are never going to get another offer from a son of a-”
“Titan?” I finished for him. I had heard this conversation a few times. “Apparently I will because no matter how many times I turn you down, you always come back.”
“It’s because you are so beautiful,” he retorted quickly while grabbing my wrist. I gave him a disbelieving look and he dropped my hand.
“Plus, many of us males are engaged in a competition to see who can get with you underneath bed sheets first,” he admitted bluntly. I gave him a disapproving expression unsurprised by this news. I would have slapped Eurus if I knew it would hurt him. It wasn’t that my slap was weak it was the fact that he was the son of Titan.
“Bit of advice,” I said finding my voice. “Don’t tell a girl you’re trying to seduce that you want to just get her into bed before anyone else. It kind of ruins the mood.”
“The mood?” Eurus repeated. “You’re saying there was a mood to ruin?”
“If you call boring library/arrogant jerk a mood,” I replied sarcastically. My humor was lost on him.
“It’s a start lovely Peyton,” Eurus proclaimed as if I hadn’t spoken. I wondered if he had a brain in that handsome head of his sometimes. I rolled my eyes at him and walked over to the librarian desk.
“Porus, where are the books on angels?”
Porus gazed up through his big thick glasses and pointed a long finger to a seemingly random spot in the library. I thanked him and made my way over to it. Eurus followed still and I tried to keep my cool.
“Please let me take you out for one drink?”
“No,” I replied mechanically as I scanned the shelf.
“You are so stubborn,” Eurus whined. I rolled my eyes again and faced him.
“I’m sorry your father, Astraeus, decided to spoil you and your brothers out of the gazillion children he had. You can’t always get what you want just because you want it.” I returned my attention to the shelf and found the two books I was looking for. I pulled them out of the shelf and opened them to a random page to scan the contents. Once I was satisfied, I took them and walked back to my table. Eurus was silent but still followed me like a lost puppy.
“I need to get back to work,” I told him clearly annoyed.
“Fine,” Eurus mumbled suddenly appearing in front of me. I was always amazed that people could move so fast when I wasn’t paying attention to them. “I’m not giving up on you. You are too beautiful to waste! We will be together my fair Peyton.”
My eyebrows knitted together. Why are people telling me about my beauty lately? I’m immortal; people can look at my beauty for all of eternity! I shook him out of my mind as he sauntered away. I studied the books sitting in front of me: The Angels of Fire and The Angels of Nature.
I sat down in a chair and cracked one of the books open. I sighed and began reading. This was going to be a long night…
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Author's Note: I hope anyone reading is enjoying!