Unfinished Muse (30 page)

“So,” she said, tipping her head toward Mark
on the other side of the yard. “He’s cute as hell.”

I chewed slowly. “Yes. Yes, he is.”

“What’s the story there?” Her eyes were lit
with amusement.

“No story. Just a friend.” I braced myself.
I knew it was coming.

“Why not? He obviously likes you.” She
jabbed me with her elbow.

“He does not!” I startled myself with how
loud I’d spoken, and lowered my voice. “He does not. Besides—I’m
currently off the market for awhile for maintenance.”

“Ah. I see. Bad breakup.” She took another
bite.

I nodded. “You have no idea.” And I’d had to
do it multiple times for it to stick.

She swallowed and grinned. “Well, when
you’re done with maintenance, you might want to come back to this
conversation.”

I watched Mark stretch and bend over to pick
up a screwdriver from the grass. “Maybe. I’ve got a whole lot of
maintenance to do first, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Cassie fell asleep in the stroller, so there
were five of us to work on the remaining project—laying the
squishy, interlocking playground tiles on the ground. A path of
brightly colored tiles led from the marshmallow play castle,
beneath each licorice swing, around the gumdrop teeter-totter, over
the rock candy mountain slide, and through the lollipop forest of
wobbly climbing springs. The rest of the yard was laid with
regular, light-gray tiles to protect from falls and to make the
game-board tiles stand out. The last touch was to paint the words
start
on one end of the colored tiles and
finish
at
the other.

It was magnificent.

I had less than two minutes to admire it
before my phone rang.

“Wynter, it’s Polly. I need you to come in
and see me. The Muse Board has a decision.”

~*~

I sat in the same chair in Polly’s office I’d sat in
before, hands folded in my lap to keep them from shaking, ankles
crossed to keep my feet from tapping. I remained still while Polly
handed down a decision about my future.

It occurred to me that no matter what the
verdict, I was already in hell.

“All nine Muses met to discuss your
situation,” Polly said. Her gaze scanned my face. “The charges are
pretty severe. Rules get broken sometimes, but no one’s ever broken
so many of them—especially in such a short time.”

I was almost proud of that. If I was going
to screw up, at least I did it better than anybody else. Finally, I
was good at something.

Polly tapped a stack of papers against her
desk and glanced at the top sheet. “There were, however,
extenuating circumstances, and that was taken into account.”

I relaxed a little. Maybe they’d let me off
with time served.

“Audrey has been reprimanded, and a mark has
gone into her record for the part she played in all this.”

I nodded. “Don’t be too mad at her. She
didn’t know all the other stuff that was going on. She
apologized.”

“I am aware of that. She’ll be fine.” She
consulted her paperwork again. “Jeremy, on the other hand, has been
transferred to janitorial. For the remainder of his contract, he’ll
be cleaning toilets. We went over the security vids, and the
changes to your paperwork and the erasure of you handbook were his
doing.”

My eyes widened. “It was Jeremy?” I frowned.
“It’s because of Phoebe, right? Because I was her client, and I
failed.” I still felt guilty for that. Because I was such a screw
up, some other Muse lost her job.

Polly leaned forward, her expression
intense. “Wynter, Fate doesn’t send my Muses to the same client
more than once unless it’s an ongoing project. I’ve never seen
someone get a Muse for three different projects—especially not the
same Muse. Be careful. The Fates have been watching you closely
since long before you came here, and they seem to have made you
their special project.”

A shiver ran up my back. “I’m nobody. Why
would they mess with me like that?”

She shook her head. “I have no idea.” She
cleared her throat. “In addition, you’ll be happy to know that,
while we were viewing the security vids to catch Jeremy, we
observed Dave’s behavior. Because he’s a descendent of Aphrodite,
he’s been given several chances. He’s been…removed.”

I didn’t say anything. Nothing I could say
would be appropriate—certainly not punching the air and yelling
“Woohoo!”

“Your boyfriend has been dealt with by his
own department. I’ve been assured that he will be quite
uncomfortable in his new environment, though they wouldn’t tell me
where he’s been transferred.”

I felt a twinge of guilt for getting him
into trouble after breaking his heart. I didn’t owe him any guilt
but still felt bad. But maybe only a little bad.

“Which brings us to you, my rule
breaker.”

My stomach clenched.

Polly stared at me across the desk. “Is it
true that, even during suspension, you continued to break the rules
and assist your clients in person, even going so far as to convince
them to help
each other
?”

I lifted my chin.
That
was something
I would
not
feel guilty about. “Yes. And all three of them
finished their projects.
Before
the deadlines.” Admittedly,
Mark had cut it close, but the deadline was tomorrow morning, so he
was early, too. I met her gaze with a steady stare.

Polly sighed. “I told you they weren’t your
concern. Why would you risk what little chance you had left for
your future by breaking more rules?”

I chose my words carefully. “Polly, those
people had dreams. And their dreams affected other people’s dreams,
too. Alex, with his toothpick sculpture, made his mother happy by
building the house she loves. Even if he doesn’t win the
competition, it’s brought him closer to his mother. Missy’s parents
will be so happy with her scrapbook. Missy knows she made something
wonderful with her own hands for people she loves, and Gabe is
proud of his wife.”

I paused, gathering my thoughts. “Mark built
something so breathtaking, it will change his life by boosting his
self-confidence and bringing in better projects in the future. And
that little girl will have the joy of seeing her new backyard and
then playing there with her friends. And if she doesn’t survive her
illness, her parents will have the comfort of knowing they gave her
those wonderful memories. That’s why I couldn’t just walk away.
These projects were too important to let them go. If that meant
breaking rules to get it done, then I don’t care. I was the best
damn Muse I could be.”

Polly was so silent, I almost expected her
to start a slow clap.

Finally, she sighed and nodded her head.
“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. I made the right choice,
then.” She shuffled the papers on her desk, then handed me a page.
“You’ll be reporting to the Underworld by 8:00 PM tonight.”

“What?” I was stunned. “I thought…” I stared
at the paper in my hand, tears making it difficult to read. All I
could make out was the same flaming gate icon I’d seen on Hal’s
paperwork.

Polly held up her hand to stop me. “Despite
your extenuating circumstances, rules are rules. You’re still being
sent to the Underworld to work off your sentence.” Her expression
softened. “But you won’t be going through the staffing office. This
is a special assignment. It’s a six-week residency assignment, and
you’ll be filling in for someone on maternity leave. Then you’ll
return here with a clean slate.”

“Oh.” I smoothed my fingers over the
paperwork. “Personal assistant to the CEO of Underworld LLC. Okay.
What’s that mean exactly? Wait. Residency assignment?”

“It’s exactly what it looks like. You’ll be
assisting Hades.”

“Hades the guy?”

“God. He’s a god, Wynter. So, remember to be
respectful.” She rose from her desk. “Go home. Say your goodbyes.
Pack a suitcase.” She handed me another sheet. “Here’s a packing
list. They’ll provide you with a uniform, but you’ll want something
for your days off. Be back in the lobby before eight, and someone
will be there to escort you.”

I sat there staring blindly at the
instructions, not processing what was going on. Polly took my elbow
to get me to stand and walk out the door.

“Don’t worry about packing up your desk.
You’ll be back soon enough. Safe journey.” She closed the door
behind me and left me standing in the hall confused, relieved, and
terrified all at once.

~*~

I stood in the lobby, shaking like a leaf, one hand
clutching the handle of my suitcase, and the other wrapped tightly
around a potted philodendron. A duffel bag containing my pillow and
my newly finished quilt was slung over my shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright, Wynter.”

“But my car—”

“Syd is going to watch it for you.”

“Mom. What if Mom gets into trouble?”

“Shhh.” Phyllis stroked my hand with a
low-hanging branch. “Your Mom’s going to be fine. And Mark’s going
to take care of your apartment. Don’t fret so much. This is a grand
adventure!”

My knees were shaking so much I was getting
nauseated. I dropped into a chair in the waiting area. Few people
walked by at that hour. “We’re going to the Underworld to work for
the boss. That’s not an adventure. That’s hell.”

“Don’t say that word. They hate when you
call it hell.”

I wondered how far I’d have to run before
they couldn’t find me. I wondered if everything smelled like sulfur
down there. I wondered if the boss dude would have a maniacal laugh
and make me torture people.

I wondered if I had time to run to the
bathroom to be sick.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I
jumped.

“Wynter?”

I turned and found Hal standing behind me,
his familiar face split in a grin.

“Oh. Hi, Hal.” I patted the seat next me for
him to sit. “You won’t believe what happened to me.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.
“I know exactly what happened to you, and I’m really excited.” He
took my suitcase and duffel bag, then led me to the elevators.
“We’ll get to hang out more, now.”

“Wait, they sent you?”

Phyllis chuckled. “Of course they did. He’s
a ferryman, isn’t he? That makes him part of the Travel and Welcome
crew.”

I looked at Hal for confirmation. He nodded
and inserted a keycard into a slot on a panel inside the elevator.
The doors closed and we went down.

Hal put his arm around me and gave me a hug.
“Don’t look so worried. It’s not so bad down there. Especially when
you’ve got a friend to show you around.”

I held my breath as the doors opened for my
first look at the Underworld.

I could stay out of trouble for six weeks,
right?

Sure I could.

###

“
Undercover Gorgon”
A Mount Olympus Employment Agency Short Story

At 12:01 AM on my twentieth birthday, I lost my
humanity.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic,
especially since I was never human to begin with. I’d thought I was
human. Clearly, I was not.

I didn’t notice at first. I sat on the foot
of my bed, drying my hair with a towel and watching Kathryn Hepburn
toss a withering look at Humphrey Bogart as they drifted down the
Amazon. I glanced at the clock. One more minute of being a
teenager. I tried to think of something immature to do in my final
seconds of pre-adulthood.

I couldn’t think of a damn thing.

I’d never been a very good teenager anyway.
I didn’t drink or smoke, slam doors, sneak out at night, or moon
over boys. Twenty wasn’t likely to be much different from any other
age. I’d still go to class on Monday, I’d still be working a shitty
job at a drug store, and I’d still be living in my old bedroom in
my parents’ house.

At least, that was my thought at midnight.
At 12:01, everything changed.

I gave my hair a last rub, then dropped the
towel on the foot of the bed. My wet hair hung to my shoulders in
heavy strands. Once it dried, it would lighten to a dishwater,
nothing color, which went well with my eye-colored eyes and my
pallid skin. Not a looker, as Bogie might have said. I wasn’t ugly,
exactly, but I wasn’t noticeable—which was fine with me. I didn’t
care if anybody noticed me. Most people pretty much irritated me
anyway.

Shadows moved on the wall in the flickering
light of the television. My hair brushed my bare shoulder, and I
scratched where it tickled.

My hair licked my finger.

I froze and peered at my hand where it
hovered over my skin. A thin, emerald snake slid over my knuckles
and flicked its tongue. I frowned and glanced at the terrarium
across the room.

“Daphne, how did you get out?” I let the
little grass snake weave between my fingers and headed toward the
habitat I kept for her. “The lid is still closed. Did you slip out
when I fed you?” I lifted the hinged door and tried to place her
inside.

Several things occurred at once. First, I
spotted Daphne already tucked in a corner behind an artificial
rock. Second, the snake in my hand wouldn’t come loose from my
head. And third, several more snakes slithered across my hand.

Had I been a typical human, I might have
lost my shit. But I’d loved snakes since I was a little girl, and I
was studying to get a degree in herpetology. I was all about the
snakes, reptiles, and amphibians. So, yes, I had a buttload of
snakes crawling on me, but my initial reaction was that Daphne had
somehow managed to lay a clutch of eggs when I wasn’t looking.

“Okay, kiddies. You’ve had your fun. Time to
get in bed with Mom. My parents will freak if you’re running around
the house.” I took careful hold of several at once and gave a
gentle tug to disengage them from my person.

They wouldn’t come lose. In fact, I felt the
tug all the way to my scalp.

With my left hand, I held out a snake, and
followed it with my right hand to its origin. My fingers prodded
the base. It appeared to be attached to my head. This was, of
course, stupid. Snakes couldn’t grow out of my head, even in the
weirdest of Internet urban legends. Still, my entire head squirmed
with them and, as many heads as I found, I could find no tails.