Finding Her A-Muse-Ment (3 page)

“Wow.” Sweat dripped on her body. He’d made her so hot she hadn’t even realized that she glistened so badly. “This is the like the hottest fantasy I’ve ever had—”

Banging on her door jolted her awake. Susan sat up, her heart pounding. She looked left and right. What was going on?

“Ms. Charlie?” A male voice called to her from the hall. “Time for dinner. You need to be downstairs.”

“That’s right.” She called back. “I’m sorry. I must have overslept.”

She rubbed at her eyes. Never in her life had she encountered such a vivid dream.

The voice of the person banging on her door yelled down the hall. “Damn those herbs.” Whoever it was walked away. She stood up and crossed to her closet.

Still feeling like she couldn’t get out of her haze, she dressed casually. Black pants with a white fitted t-shirt would have to be enough. If they wanted her fancier than that at meals she’d be in trouble. Her year spent in the house hadn’t required a lot of dressy clothes.

She looked in the mirror. Her unexpected nap, coupled with the amazing dream she’d just experienced, had done a lot to put color back in her cheeks. Her eyes were less dull and her skin glowed. Well, she might not have had a real orgasm, but it had done the trick.

“All right, George.” She swallowed. “I think I’m ready to face a room full of strangers.” Her stomach twisted. “Maybe.”

Isyllus sat up in his bed. His penis stood erect through his pants. He stared at it for an awed second before letting out a laugh. That had been a dream. A phenomenal experience. Did humans always experience things like that in their sleep? No wonder they wanted to spend so much time slumbering.

And the way the inside of Susie had felt. Warm, inviting. He jumped out of bed. There wouldn’t be very much time until dinner. If he didn’t show up shortly, they’d come looking for him to make sure he hadn’t become a snack for the vampires.

He got into the shower. It took him a little while to figure out the mechanics of the whole thing but soon managed to lather himself up with the pleasant-smelling soap. Isyllus lifted it to his nose. What was that? Something infused with jasmine. Susie had called it her favorite smell when he’d dreamed of her.

Feeling a compulsion like no other, he took himself in his hand. In his imagination, he made it Susan’s fingers touching him. She would know the right kind of pressure to use. Up and down, she stroked him, until he finally came in his hand. He leaned backward, almost slipping in the shower.

Was this what being a human was like? A constant ache, a need for another person that couldn’t be relieved if he was not with you? Was this what troubled Susie?

He pondered these questions as he got dressed. Who did she long for? Had he missed it when someone broke her heart? He wanted to throw something.

Instead, he put on his shoes. How had whichever-Rowan-sibling who’d gotten him clothes known his specific size?

I think I have to stop trying to make sense out of any of this. They know what size shoe I wear. That’s great. Say thank you. Move on. You’re a Muse, and yet people can speak to you and see you. The shoe situation is not the strangest thing going on here.

After he’d dressed, he made his way downstairs to the dining room. He looked and instantly knew who in the room was paranormal and who wasn’t. The paranormals resonated with a different color of energy than the regular humans. He counted heads. Half the room was filled with paranormal creatures and the other half with humans.

Susie sat with a group of people. An elderly couple and another woman who looked to be around fifty talked around her. Apparently, Susie hadn’t said one word. She was looking down at her tea.

He had no idea if he was expected to sit with the other paranormals, but he was going to sit with her whether they wanted him to or not. In two strides, he’d reached her.

“Okay if I sit with you?” He didn’t wait for permission and sat right down.

The elderly couple introduced themselves. They had come to the Wiccan Haus because they had just retired. A little therapy for their souls before the next venture in their life. The woman, Katy, informed him that she was there because she’d just recently divorced. She had to find herself again.

Susie said little, but her eyes did meet his. She pinkened and looked back down at her plate.

Adorable. But why is she blushing
?

Chapter Three

D
inner had gone okay. The soup tasted delicious, but Susan didn’t have much of an appetite. Not with the subject of the most erotic dream she’d ever experienced sitting across from her. He made her laugh, and before she’d known what hit her, she began talking with the other guests.

Before the meal ended, the others at the table departed to go do interesting things. The old couple decided they felt like making pottery, and the divorcee wanted to go to a dance class. She shook her head. Her own creativity stayed firmly put away. Maybe she hadn’t drunk enough of the tea they’d served her.

Or maybe her gift was just gone. Forever.

A pale man and woman with huge eyes passed her. They were so white…did they ever go out into the sun at all? Transfixed, she watched them without moving. The woman smiled at her before licking her lips suggestively.

A woman with dark black hair walked over to her and handed her a card. “We’ve designed this for you. It has activities we believe will benefit you in healing while you are here.”

“Um.” Susie took the card from her hand. “Thanks.”

The woman nodded, a small smile on her lips. “You’re welcome.”

Susan stared down at the card. Her prescribed activity after dinner was to go somewhere called the Fun Shack.

Hopefully the Fun Shack wouldn’t turnout to be some kind weird hamburger place or a mixer like the ones endured at Girl Scout camp. Isyllus came up beside her.

“Where are you being sent?”

She hadn’t noticed that his voice had a slight accent earlier. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he spoke such perfect English. But now she heard the accent even though she couldn’t place where it was from.
Greece?

“The Fun Shack. How about you?”

He held up his card. “The same. Shall we walk together?”

She nodded. Isyllus’s body brushed against hers as they moved. Finally, she spoke. “So you never said why you came. To here, I mean.”

God, why can’t I form a coherent thought that doesn’t end up laden with sexual innuendo?

He didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he possessed the good taste not to mention it. “I came for many reasons, and I suppose the most important so far is to discover what I want—to see if for one week I could have it.”

The way he looked at her, she could almost believe he referred to her. But how was that possible? They’d just met.

“Tell me about your writing,” he said.

They rounded the corner, and in front of them stood an actual shack. Susan didn’t know that she’d ever seen one before. New York City didn’t offer a lot of them for viewing. She’d always pictured shacks as being kind of old, decrepit, maybe with a tin roof. This building did not live up to the title of shack. Instead, she saw a well-maintained building that resembled more of a cottage, painted white. Maybe Fun Shack just sounded better than Fun Cottage? It had clearly been misnamed. Trees surrounded
the shack,
making her feel like she stepped out into the middle of nowhere.

“Where are we on the island?” Being with Isyllus had distracted her. She’d not watched where she walked.

“South.” He pointed to the sky. “See the stars? I can always tell where I am in the world by looking at them.”

“How many places have you been in the world?”

“More than I care to remember.” He looked down at her. “You didn’t answer my question from earlier. Tell me about your writing.”

He must have heard Myron ask her about it earlier. She sighed. “I write under the name Charlie Preston.” She waited a beat. If he’d heard of her, he’d say so. When he didn’t comment, she knew he had either never read her books, which wouldn’t be the strangest thing in the world since he didn’t happen to be her target audience, or he hadn’t liked what he’d read and didn’t want to say so. Either way, she continued on. “Last year, I ended my bestselling series.”

“A major step.” He nodded. “But I’m sure the right one. If you felt creatively that the series needed to end, then it did.”

“Well, I don’t think I’m capable of writing anything else. I think when it comes down to it, I’m done.” She spit the words out fast. “I haven’t been able to write one single word since then.”

Her hands shook and she sucked in her breath. Why had she said those words aloud? She never should have spoken them. How could she ignore the truth if she actually vocalized what she felt inside? Keeping the utter terror that she’d never write again to herself had been her full time job lately. She clutched at her stomach. No, now that she’d said it she had to own it, even in her own head. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe. Her eyes burned.

“Susie. That is so far from the truth—”

They were interrupted as a dark-haired pregnant woman stepped out of the shack. “Come on, you two, everyone is waiting.”

Susie darted to her feet. The timing was perfect. Maybe she could ignore what she said by pretending she hadn’t said it. “Ready to go play some games?”

Telling Isyllus her fears about her writing constituted a huge step for her. But she didn’t want to continue. Letting him know how the fear had started to transport itself beyond her writing until it had taken over every aspect of her life—that would be too much to talk about.

She just…couldn’t.

Four other people were in the shack, not including the pregnant woman. Rekkus stood over her, giving dirty looks to everyone and particularly the two pale people who she had seen earlier.

Other than those two, there was an elderly gentleman who’d sat by himself at dinner and a blond-haired ethereal-looking woman who kept humming. Susan took a seat next to Isyllus across from the pale couple. The woman smiled and waved, licking her lips again in the strange manner she had earlier.

Rekkus growled, and Susan gasped as she looked at him. Had he actually made that noise? She shifted in her seat.

“Hello everyone, I’m Dana.” Dana waved to the group. “Tonight I was selected to run the fun shack. Take a look around you. We’ve picked out a series of activities designed to distract you and to give you a great evening.”

Susan glanced around the room, trying not to giggle. Various tables were placed in the center of the room with decks of cards and board games on top of them. A pool table sat in the corner. She grinned. It actually did look like camp.

“So feel free to engage in whatever one of these things is interesting to you. It’ll be a fun night.” Dana smiled at Rekkus. “Personally, we are playing Monopoly.”

“No. We are not. I don’t play Monopoly.”

“Yes, we do.” She smiled, sitting down. “Come on, dear.”

Susan smiled while she looked at the pool table. She couldn’t play alone but she hoped one of the others in the room would like a game. Her father had played when she was growing up, and although she’d never been the pool shark he had been, she could hold her own.

She stood up and walked to the side of the pool table. Stroking the fabric made her sigh. Before she had been tall enough to reach over the table in her garage, she had rubbed her cheeks against the slate and felt her father’s table.

Could she even still hold the cue? She looked around the room and took a deep breath. “Anyone want to play?”

Isyllus watched from across the room as Susie played pool with the vampires and Rekkus. The woman, who had to be a fairy of some kind, colored in some of the coloring books that were strewn around the table. She hummed to herself, which might have been annoying if she hadn’t seemed so happy doing it.

Dana moved her piece, the small car, onto something called Park Place.

“You aren’t paying attention. What is it with men? Rekkus doesn’t focus on this either.”

“Maybe Monopoly just isn’t our—how do you say it?—thing.”

She smiled. “Maybe it’s that.”

He stared back at Susan. She landed a shot, but it must not have been exactly what she intended because she bit down on her lower lip the way she did when a scene didn’t go the way she thought it should.

“How long are you going to lie to her?” Dana stared at him with eyes that clearly saw far too much.

He didn’t pretend that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “I don’t know if I should tell her.”

“Honesty is usually the best policy in all things. At the very least, it keeps things simple.” She smiled just as the door opened and Cemil entered the room. He grinned and came to sit down between Dana and Isyllus.

“How is Monopoly going? Personally, I voted for a different selection of games. I’m more a fan of the game of Life, but Dana got to pick this round since she hosted tonight.”

“I’ve never played any of these games before. They’re all fine for me.” Isyllus shrugged. He wished he could have played pool with Susan. He had wanted to, in fact. But he’d never held a pool stick and didn’t have the slightest idea how to go about even attempting to pick up the game.

“I was just advising Isyllus here that honesty is the best policy.”

Cemil nodded. “Things have a way of coming to light whether we want them to or not.” He drummed his hands on the table. “But it’s only important if having her
know
you is what you want.”

“I don’t know why it matters what I want. As soon as we leave here, in t-minus six days, she’ll never be able to see me again. I will cease to be in any plane of existence where she can be aware of my presence as anything other than a slight tingling in her brain, encouraging her creativity, helping her to see the path to the light through all the self doubt.”

Cemil leaned forward. “She can see you
now.
”

Isyllus stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”

He had to get his head clear. In all of his existence, he’d never been so muddled before. Muses didn’t get to think about themselves. He thought of Myron and smiled. Personal choices weren’t exactly in his cards, and hadn’t been since his mother had taken a lover and birthed him. The sons of the Muses, destined to follow their mothers’ journeys.

It would be the stuff of fiction if only it weren’t absolutely true.

He passed by Susie, not wanting to disturb her game. She looked up as he did. “Are you leaving?”

“I need some air.”

“Well, here. Let me come with you.” She took his hand. “Unless you’d rather be alone?”

“You’re enjoying yourself. You shouldn’t stop.”

“Don’t be silly. Rekkus is beating us all.” One of the vampires hissed as he made another shot. “And I’ve got some thoughts brewing in my mind. Air sounds nice. That is if we can go. Dana, are we done?”

She looked up from where she now played Monopoly with Cemil. “If you want to be. Have a good night.”

They stepped out into the night air, which was cool but not frigid, kind of nice since summer could be so dense and humid. He took her hand. Cemil had been right. She had the ability to see him at that moment. Why did he have to obsess over the future? Why couldn’t he exist in the now?

“How did you like your fellow players?”

If Rekkus hadn’t been standing between her and the vampires, Isyllus would not have been able to remain calm.

“They were fine. Rekkus seems nice. He’s very preoccupied with his wife, which I suppose is good because she’s pregnant. Did you hear how they call each other mate? It’s kind of cute. The other two didn’t say much. I keep wondering if they have something wrong with them. They’re so pale, and that woman keeps licking her lips.”

“I think it might be best to stay away from them.”

Permanently.

By the heavens, how could he explain to her why she couldn’t go near the pale people in the shack? How did you tell a perfectly normal human that those two wanted to eat her for dinner?

“I’m sure they’re harmless. The Rowans wouldn’t let them on the island if they were dangerous.” She looked up at the sky. “There are a million stars up there tonight.”

“You’re a writer, Susie. More specifically, you write romance. Sometimes your stories had paranormal elements in them.”

“How did you know that? You acted like you hadn’t read my books earlier.”

“Please let me finish and then I’ll answer your questions. I promise. Have you ever given thought to the idea that the fantasy might all be real?” He stared in her eyes, wishing he could read her mind.

“Are you asking me if I could explore the idea that there are vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other creepy crawly things running around out there in the universe?”

He nodded. At some point, he’d clenched his fists. Never in his life could he remember being so tense. “Yes. If that’s how you want to describe it. Creepy and crawly. Some might argue that it’s just a question of a different species altogether. People, if you will, who have been around since before you were.”

She squeezed his hand. “You’re serious about this and you want a serious answer?”

“Yes, very.”

Dana and Cemil thought he should tell her the truth. But what if he did and she didn’t believe him? Or worse—thought him something dangerous? It would ruin the rest of the little time they did have together. He would not—
could not
—allow that.

“I suppose that if someone could prove it to me I’d accept it. I mean, who am I to say what is or is not out there in the world? But I’d need to see it. I don’t think someone coming up to me and saying ‘Hey, you know what? I’m a mermaid.’ is going to convince me. I’ll need to see the fins, so to speak.”

“Right.” He nodded. That was going to be a very big problem. He couldn’t exactly prove to her that he was her Muse, short of someone suddenly coming up with a cure for cancer just by standing in his presence.

“Look.” She brushed her head against his side. “I feel connected to you. I mean, this is insane. I don’t know anything about you. I can’t stop thinking of you and I’m wondering if you’re exactly what I need to get over what has been wrong with me lately. Do you think I could be what you’ve been searching for?”