AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She’s safe.” The insertion is from Circe.
“I’m just concerned, on a lot of different levels,” Maximus asserts.
“Understood,” the enchantress says. “But the hornet’s nest in your brain is only going to give you pointless stings. We’ve all been through the enlightenment and illumination coursework, and you can see that we’re all still here. Whole and healthy.”
“Even though there are actual gravesites with some of your names on them,” he counters.
“Documented death comes with many attractive advantages,” Marie adds.
“Let’s not let lunch get cold.” Hecate gestures toward the food that’s been set up on a round table near the kitchen. The grace of her movement is a fluid presence in her steps. I admire her for making it all look so easy, when I have to concentrate to look that polished any time the media jabs a camera at me.
I keep watching her innate aplomb even during lunch. I admire the way she eats her food with thought, as if she can see every stage that went into its creation. The love that went into raising the chickens. The seeds that were placed into the ground and then cultivated into fruits and vegetables. She expresses as much to everyone who had a part in those different phases—in short, every person seated at the table except Maximus and me.
But at no time do I feel left out. It’s a pleasant sensation to acknowledge. Throughout it all, I’m equally as grateful for all these amazing beings who inserted as much care into our meal as they would into a potion or spell. It’s a jarring difference from Hollywood, where just about everyone is too occupied with the jostle up the fame and fortune ladder. Or if they’ve climbed high enough, how and when they’ll fall off.
It feels really good to be off that ladder for a while. Maybe forever.
That wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Not at all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
MAXIMUS
Kiama and Liseli, though likely a pair of talented witches, would make lousy poker players. Not only do they wear their pity for me like fresh tattoos, I can practically smell the emotions as they cross the library on their way to me.
“Greetings, ladies,” I remark as they settle on the love seat that I’ve pulled closer to my easy chair. The worn velvet piece has become a leaning post for my second stack of reading material.
“And hello to you, Professor,” Kiama says. “Lovely afternoon to enjoy a book in a comfortable chair.”
I hitch up a brow. “Is there ever not a good time for it?”
“Ah. My suppositions are confirmed,” she says with her pretty inflections. “You’re an insightful man.”
“You mean demigod.” Liseli’s addition lacks the bite Aradia and Circe fling at each other. It’s incentive enough for my own gentle grin.
“I’m flesh and blood too. And more comfortable with that label, to be honest.”
“The same way you’re comfortable with these to-be-reads?” Kiama pulls a couple of tomes off my stacks. She brandishes a well-reviewed military thriller in one hand andThe Alice in Wonderland Omnibusin the other. “Am I also right in theorizing you’re a creature of broad tastes, Mr. Kane?”
Liseli’s eyes pop wide. “The Grand Canyon is broad. Those selections are…”
“Interesting,” I concede with a shrug. “I know. But I’m a fast reader, and it’s fun to sprinkle in classics from time to time.”
They both add smiles to their impressed nods, meaning I’ve woven my confession close enough to the truth to pass. I grabbed Carroll’s work off the shelf on what I thought was an impulse but now recognize it as my subliminal side having a little fun. Three days ago, I followed Gio through a looking glass disguised as a cemetery pond and ended up in an afterworld only missing a disappearing cat and a hookah-huffing caterpillar. Though my new surroundings are different, some themes remain the same.Curiouser and curiouser…
Or maybe another expression is better. Likewe’re all mad here.
Kiama smiles a little wider. “Why decide on just one?” she says amiably. “If they apply equally, I mean.”
“I didn’t mean anything by—”
“Of course you didn’t.” She sweeps up a hand, and I swear there’s an opaline aura between her fingers. “Just as I didn’t mean to intrude on your thoughts again. I apologize.”
“Why?” I frown. “If that’s your power… It’s not like you have an off switch, right?”
“Everyonehas the shutdown lever.” Liseli’s the one offering the information this time. “A major aspect of the enlightenment exercises is about exactly that. Power that cannot be controlled is tyranny.”
“Or terrorism,” Kiama murmurs.
