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I laughed. Literally, out loud, so loud in fact that it shocked Selene, and she leaned away from me. I tugged on her hand, though, not willing to let her go. I never wanted to, not now that she had come so close to me, not now that I'd smelled Berry Ripple on her breath and knew that I would die if I failed her.
No pressure or anything…
This one, though, I knew I could solve. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. Selene's eyes narrowed as she looked at the cell.
"What is that?" she asked.
"This is a cell phone. It's like a tiny computer that can do a million wonderful things."
Her brow furrowed deeper. "Com-pu-ter." She sounded the word out slowly, and in that instant, it reminded me that our worlds were vastly different.
"Yes. A computer." I said, trying to explain it in the simplest terms possible. "This small device can do many things like send messages and make phone calls, access the internet, play games and much more."
I paused for a moment, my brain searching for the right words to use.
"Essentially," I said slowly, "A computer is a machine that can perform calculations and solve problems much faster than a human ever could. It's like having an extra brain to help you get things done."
Selene's eyes lit up with understanding and she nodded her head. I smiled, relieved that she had grasped the concept. She still held my hand in hers and I squeezed it lightly.
"I'm pretty sure I can blow your mind with this." I slid my finger across the screen to unlock it, then made my way to my saved videos, looking for the funniest cat video in there. Once I'd located it, I moved so that I was sitting beside Selene. I rested one hand on the ground, my arm behind her, the feathers of her wings tickling my skin. It was so strange; she was strange, more than my brain could really take in. Yet she was right here, close enough to touch.
"Okay, watch this," I said, hitting play.
We watched the video, and I couldn't help but chuckle as the cat made silly noises and did its best to keep up with a toy mouse. Selene, though, she just stared at it, her lips parted in surprise.
But not delight. I knew it without her needing to say a word. No glowing orb, no intense swell of feeling in my chest. Just the pang of pain, almost enough to make me double over. I gritted my teeth as she turned to me.
"I'm sorry," she said, her face stricken. "This device is astounding, but I don't understand why that small panther is chasing something that is clearly not edible."
I laughed then. Shallow, but true. Of course, it made no sense to her. What had I been thinking? "You don't need to apologise, Selene." I smiled at her. "Do you like music?" I asked, my brain already skipping over the options. There were a thousand sub-genres of music, though. How would I find something that was just right?
But it didn't need to be just right, it just needed to delight.
"I do," she said. "We have many songs, our own, and the birds in the forest. The song of the world runs through everything."
The song of the world. It was such a beautiful way to look at things, but it didn't help me narrow it down. That she liked music was good, though. I searched my mind for something that might delight her, my thoughts turning to the natural world and something that might mimic some of the sounds found there.
"Okay. One more attempt tonight, and if this doesn't work, I'll sleep on it and come back tomorrow."
Selene shook her head so hard that her feathers stirred a wind around me. "Brody. We must be patient. We must get this right." Her eyes were so full of sorrow, the expression I had seen there since her mother laid the geas on me; I just hadn't understood why. I would give anything to wipe that look from her face, anything but wait.
"I think I know," I said, flicking through the apps on my phone until I found Spotify, and then bringing up Fur Elise. My finger hovered for a few seconds before I hit play, and then I forced my gaze to Selene's face as she listened.
The first few notes of Fur Elise filled the air, and a small smile crossed Selene's face. She closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her as she swayed in time with the melody. I watched her closely; the sadness that had been there moments before was now replaced with sheer joy at the beauty of this music. A tear escaped from one eye and ran down her cheek, but she didn't bother to wipe it away—she just kept swaying and smiling. With every passing second, my heart swelled until it felt like it might burst from my chest. The magical light of a completed task was already filling the space between us, blue and purple, shimmering like it was full of distant stars, a rush of pleasure and connection flooded through me and I squeezed my arm around her, pressing us closer together.
At last, when Beethoven's masterpiece ended, Selene opened her eyes and looked up at me with a mix of awe and admiration. "That was incredible," she breathed. Her eyes seemed to dance with the colors of the magic and before I knew it, she had turned and was on her knees, her lips pressed to mine in a kiss that I could drown in.
I dropped my phone, not caring where it fell.
My hands went to her waist, pulling her closer still as I returned the kiss. Every inch of my body was alive with a feeling that I could not describe, but had been there since the day we met.
The moment seemed to last forever and yet it ended too soon. Selene pulled away after what felt like both no time at all and an eternity. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed, a contrast to the pale blue of the fading magical light around us.
"That was perfect," she said, before pressing one last kiss to my lips and shuffling away, putting a little space between us.
I smiled in response, not trusting myself to say anything. It felt like magic, like we would find a way to fulfil the geas. And then? Anything was possible.
I couldn't let the fear of potential death slow me down.
