The Pantheon (23 page)

“
Okay.”

There was silence once more. They had run a long way from her street. Penny turned and looked at Peter. “But just for the record, if you ever touch me like that again, I’ll shove an apple seed down your throat and sprout a tree.”

Peter dropped her hand, shoving his fingers deep into his pockets. His body shook with nervous laughter. There was that dark side. Only he could bring it out in her.

“
Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod.”

-Aristophanes

xviii.

The deceased was a warrior, tall and tan.

He was a Spartan who had died with honor,

standing in battle to defend his freedom.

A slave took his life.

Hermes arrived at his side, floating over

the corpse-littered site of the Persian assault.

“
They’ve burned you,” he explained, offering his hand,

“
You can go home now.”

The Warrior took his hand and together

they walked for miles in absolute silence.

There as no conversation, just peaceful quiet.

Not one man saw them.

They arrived at the mouth of the hidden cave.

Winding stairs spiraled into oblivion.

“
Down the steps you’ll enter the realm of Hades,”

Hermes instructed.

“
You will first be punished for your mortal crimes,

then leave Tartarus and drink from the Lethe

to forget this life and prepare for the next.

But first cross the Styx.

“
Do you have your fair to pay the ferryman?”

The silent soldier opened his mouth to show

a single gold coin that rested on his tongue:

the toll for Charon.

“
Then may it be a safe and speedy journey.”

He watched the warrior descend the staircase.

The unending darkness devoured the man whole.

He went to meet death.

“
Death is not the worst that can happen to men.”

-Plato

XVIII.

Lewis’ eyes burned as he strained to see in the dark. It was so early that his body telling him to go back to sleep. It was so early that the automatic footlights on the path to the Wexler’s front door were still on. It was so early that the sun was not up at the moment. Lewis hated Zach.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, a short, squat woman held up a tray of toast and juice. The Wexler’s hadn’t hired an attractive housekeeper since Teddy was born. “Oran’ juice?”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Oran’ juice?” Her accent was quite thick. Lewis stood there for a minute, blinking at her.

“
Oh. Yeah. Orange juice. No, no thanks.”

Teddy Wexler was leaning against the kitchen counter. Lewis’ eyes fell on him as he came down the hall. Teddy was nursing a large mug of coffee which, Lewis was certain, was spiked.

“
Your parents around?” Lewis kept his voice low.

“
Nah. They’re in Hawaii. On Business.”

“
Lucky bastards.”

“
Zach tell you what was going on?” Teddy put his mug down. “He just told me to be ready for guests and hung up. Like, why the hell aren’t we at Dr. Davis’ house?”

“
Too many cops.”

“
Excuse me?”

Lewis didn’t have to explain. Zach came down the hall with a slice of toast and a glass of orange juice in hand. “Penny is missing. Dr. Davis called the police but she wants us to check it out. She’s worried Epimetheus is involved.”

June followed, complaining about how fast Zach had driven. “We could have hit a tree and died, Zach.”

“
There’s nobody on the road this early,” he started to tune her out. There was a pause before Zach spoke again. “She called me at an ungodly hour. She’s hysterical.”

“
It’s still an ungodly hour, Lightning.”

Zach ignored Lewis. “Dr. Davis woke up, thought she’d heard something, Penny wasn’t in bed. Nobody knows any more than that.”

“
Oh, and Peter won’t answer his cell,” June told Lewis. “We called his house, his dad was really upset that I woke him up, but Peter was gone too.”

“
Oh,” Teddy rolled his eyes, “they’re probably off somewhere locking lips.”

June made a face. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“
No, if they were off making out I think she’d come home when her mom started calling,” Lewis said. As funny as the idea of awkward Peter having any kind of romantic life was, someone had to use their logic right now. “Besides I don’t think Penny’s into him that way.”

“
Oh?” Teddy raised an eyebrow.

They heard Evan’s motorized bike stop outside. June let him in. He had a clunky radio in his hands. “What’s that?” June asked. It looked like it came from the eighties. It was, at the very least, pre-digital transition.

“
Radio scanner. I’ve been listening since Zach called. It picked up the police. Someone just talked to a bus driver who saw two teenagers crossing at the bike trail a couple of hours ago.”

“
Couple?” Zach asked. He came down the hall to meet Evan. “Just the two of them?”

Evan nodded. “Girl: blonde, height around five feet. Boy: black hair, five ten to six feet, pale and skinny. Dressed in black. That’s them.”

“
Bike trail...” Zach repeated. “Why would they be so stupid to be out after dark? I told everyone to be careful.”

“
They used the buddy system?” Teddy offered with a shrug.

“
I can find out,” Lewis offered. “I wouldn’t mind missing morning classes. I’ll go check it out.” He zipped up his hooded sweatshirt, ready to go when given the order.

Zach mulled it over for a minute, scratching the start of a beard. He hadn’t shaven yet. He nodded. “Yeah, go find them. Run the whole trail even if you have to follow it to the Miami end. Tell them to come home.”

The rest of The Pantheon, Dr. Davis excluded, were just arriving. Lewis waved as he left the house and then bolted. With a whoosh of wind and a blur of green high tops, Lewis disappeared into the horizon.

“
Where’s he going?” Minnie asked. She was clutching a thermos of coffee with both hands.

“
One man search party,” Zach counted their heads. “Everyone else is okay, right?”

“
Yeah,” Nick said as he pushed past Zach to get inside where it was warm. “Wanna fill us in, boss man?”

The bike trail went by the old Olympia Heights cemetery. Lewis, who was running at half speed to spare his favorite shoes, thought that this was a good place to look for Peter, so he skidded to a halt in front of the gates. The cemetery was closed but the large gate wasn’t locked. Lewis slipped in past the wrought iron bars, looking along the rows of old grave stones. Nobody had been buried here since the second World War. The grass was green and well taken care of, though spots of white Florida sand emerged around the edges of the headstones and filled in the letters on the foot stones.

He spotted two figures sitting on the steps of a mausoleum. Lewis punched it full speed and was there to cut them off if they ran. They didn’t run, though. He found Peter and Penny, asleep and huddled together.

“
Wake up!” he shouted. Penny’s eyes opened slowly. Peter didn’t move. Lewis reached forward to shake him and saw that their hands were bound together. “Crap,” he said. They hadn’t been sleeping. They were unconscious. Lewis fell to his knees and started scrambling to untie them.

“
Where are we?” Penny asked. “Lewis?”

“
What happened to you guys?” he fought with a tight fraying knot. The fibers of the rope were sharp and gave Lewis splinters. One stabbed under his fingernail, causing him to curse loudly.

“
We were walking and then-- Lewis!” Penny suddenly shrieked. A human figured had just stepped out from behind the mausoleum. Penny’s warning came just as Lewis was clubbed on the back of the head with the handle of a black umbrella.

Peter had stirred at the sound of her shriek. Their attacker was standing in a shadow, looking down into a large bag hanging at his side. He opened the bag. Peter grabbed Penny’s wrist and sprung to his feet, running down the stone steps. A second, taller man stepped out, his hands holding a ball of blazing fire. The flames obscured his face from view. He was laughing. His laughter was deep and dark, like a bonfire.

“
What do you want from us?” Penny asked.

“
Justice,” the man with the umbrella said. His voice sounded familiar.

Peter suddenly felt like he was being crushed. Everything went black.

Lewis’ mouth was dry. He sat up and waited for his eyes to focus. He guessed that the vision problems were related to the pounding in the back of his head.

He could hear running water and the grass beneath him felt coarse and dry. His eyes finally adjusted. He was sitting in a field and he was dressed in a toga! Lewis looked down at his toes. His feet were strapped into leather sandals. His favorite sneakers were gone. Lewis could see the horizon on all sides and a stone temple straight ahead. Was this a dream?

Penny and Peter, similarly dressed, were already up and wandering around the field. “Where are we?” Lewis asked them.

“
I don’t know.” Peter walked toward the sound of water. Lewis got up and followed, still feeling dizzy. It was cold.

Peter stopped at the shallow stream. He bent down and picked up a rock. “This rock is fake.”

“
It looks like stone to me,” Penny said.

“
It is, it’s marble. Look at these marks. Like a chisel. It was hand carved, it wasn’t worn naturally by the water.” Peter put the rock down and touched the grass. “This grass is fake, too.”

“
Like mini-golf grass?” Lewis asked.

“
Like... dried paint.” Peter stood and kept walking through the water. Lewis’ eyes started to focus on the horizon. It wasn’t what he had thought it was. It was a painted wall.

Lewis tried to run right up to it, but the fastest he could manage was a very human speed. He finally put his hands on the cold barrier. “It’s terracotta,” he announced.

The three all turned and stared at each other. They couldn’t begin to imagine why anyone would lock them in a replica meadow, dressed in togas. “Let’s go check out the temple,” Penny suggested.

They walked back through the stream and across the counterfeit field. The marble architecture of the temple was beautiful. There were monumental Doric columns framing the entrance. Inside, torches were mounted in brackets along the walls.

The single hall was lined with grotesque statues. The one to their immediate left depicted a woman, nearly skin and bones, clawing at the earth and eating dirt. One their right was a man, his face rotting, his skin falling off. Each statue depicted a different horror in great, realistic detail. It was as if they were scenes captured in the peak of their misery. Still, they were cold. Penny couldn’t look at them. They made her feel sick.

She crossed the hall to the single statue at the end. It stood centered, opposite the doors to the fake meadow. This work of white marble was much different. It didn’t even seem like stone. A beautiful woman held the hand of a child. Both stood among rubble, but they looked to the sky. Penny reached out and touched it. Warmth spread through her.

Peter and Lewis came to stand on either side of her. “What is it?” Peter asked.

Penny stared at the statue. It wouldn’t have meant anything to her had she not just viewed the hall of horrors around them. It would have meant nothing without the fear that pressed on their hearts and minds. With all of that darkness and anxiety, however, it meant the world to her. It kept her standing.

“
It’s hope.”

“
Shun unjust acts.”

-Delphic Maxim

xix.

Aphrodite laughed and crawled away from him.

Her naked form was enticing, but so was

the little game they played every time they met

in her husband’s bed.

“
You’re going to play hard to get?” he asked her.

She found his constant brooding to be sexy.

She had been drawn to his rippling muscles and

warrior spirit.

She found it was his smile she fell in love with.