Euryale had spent thousands of years wandering, both on her island and in the wilds across the globe, but the trek up the cobble path that led from sidewalk to office door was the longest yet. As she made the journey, she could feel panic rising within her chest. She had tried on several occasions to warn Alex that his idea would end horribly, that she would inadvertently kill anyone who saw her, but he would hear none of it. Or rather, he heard none of it. Perhaps it was his unbridled optimism that this Dr. Martin could help, or the fact that for the first time in eons someone other than her father was genuinely enjoying her company, but whatever it was, she couldn’t bring herself to enlighten him about the curse she bore. Nor could she enlighten him on her growing fondness of him. Not yet at least. Not while the risk of rejection still loomed.
Patience, she reminded herself, was a virtue. She would play his game, and hopefully Alex would come around. If not, then perhaps Alex wasn’t the one and someone who’d decide to love her would cross her path.
Euryale turned one last time as she reached the doorstep, hoping that Alex would understand, or see her angst and call her over so they could leave and stop this nonsense. Instead, he offered her an encouraging wave to go inside, which she begrudgingly did.
The front office was not what she had been expecting. While the building’s exterior was dull, flat, and unassuming, the interior’s design held to an organic style of architecture that she enjoyed. It was a mixture of stone and wood, with colorful lights shining down on countless pictures of happy couples that lined the curved walls. Soft music played from mounted speakers, making her feel warm and fuzzy. The air even had a peculiar scent to it, as if romance waited in the next room.
Front and center was a lavish, semi-circular desk, currently occupied by a tanned, rosy-cheeked secretary. “Miss Euryale, I presume,” she said, putting down her celery stick.
“I am,” Euryale replied while trying her best not to make eye contact.
“Dr. Martin is eager to see you. I just need you to fill out some paper work, first.” The girl handed her a clipboard with several forms attached. “And how will you be paying?”
“Coinage.” Euryale raised her leather pouch. “Cash, I mean.”
Euryale took the forms and filled them out as best she could. She hadn’t a clue as to why this businessman wanted to see her name written on so many sheets of paper, nor what the difference was between a printed name and a signature, since they both referred to the same person. As she read through the paperwork, most of her questions revolved around a section entitled Limitations of Liability. Ultimately, she decided it must be the standard way of doing business now and said nothing. The less attention she could attract at this point, the better.
Once the completed paperwork was back in the hands of the secretary, Euryale followed her down a short hall and into a room filled with metal contraptions the likes of which she had never seen. Lining the walls on all sides were things that blinked, beeped, flashed, wobbled, and chirped. At the far end of the room was a small, round desk. Behind the desk was a man who stood barely four feet tall and wore grey pants with a bright blue blazer.
“Miss Euryale!” the man said with enthusiasm. He ran over to her and warmly extended his hand. “How lovely to finally meet you. I’m Dr. Martin.”
“Finally? I first called you this morning,” she said, perplexed.
Dr. Martin kept his cheerful disposition and ushered her further into the room. “True enough, but it isn’t every day a client is willing to pay extra to see me before regular business hours. Nor have I ever talked to anyone else in such a hurry to find love.”
“Money is of no object to me or my family,” Euryale said. “As for my hurry…let’s say my situation is unique and the details aren’t important.”
“Well I’m certain this will be a wonderful relationship for the two of us,” he answered. He motioned toward one of the couches that occupied the room. “Please, have a seat.”
Euryale sat down. She tried to relax as she ran her fingers over the satin cushions. So far, she felt things had gone well, but she wondered if she was being too formal, too strong. Probably. Most definitely. Men didn’t want to be intimidated by a female, maybe even more than they didn’t want to be turned into stone. They were stupid like that.
“If I remember our conversation correctly, you said your father will be pleased when things go well?” Dr. Martin asked. He took a spot across from her, clipboard in hand. “Tell me more.”
Euryale tossed him her leather pouch. “There’s plenty more if you get me who I want.”
Dr. Martin peered inside and pulled out a gold coin. It was no bigger than the tip of his finger. It had the head of a female on one side and a winged person on the other. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” he said, putting the coin away and handing her the bag. “By cash, I mean U.S. currency. I’m not even sure where this is from.”
“Greece,” she answered. “The one you had is a gold stater.”
“Ah, yes,” he said. He ran his hand over his balding head. “Well this isn’t an exchange house, and I fear that you’ll need more than a purse full of change to pay for this appointment. Perhaps we should use plastic?”
“I’m not familiar with plastic.” Euryale tossed the sack back to him. She tried to keep herself calm, but she could feel the impatience rising in her voice. Her nails sharpened, ever so slightly, as did the tips of her canines. “I assure you that those coins are more than enough compensation.”
Dr. Martin reached into the bag and pulled out a coin similar to the first. “Let me be frank with you, Miss Euryale,” he said. “I don’t know what Greek coins look like, but these look like crude forgeries. They aren’t even round.”
“That’s because the one you are holding is about two and a half thousand years old. I’ve been told that it will easily fetch several thousand of your U.S. dollars.”
Dr. Martin’s eyes widened. “This is ancient?”
“According to your people, yes.”
“This is gold?”
“Yes.” Her body relaxed as they were finally getting somewhere.
“A moment,” he said. He scuttled over to his desk and pushed a button. “Ms. Carrington? I need a curator or a coin expert of antiquity to come over right away, one who would recognize something from Ancient Greece. Thanks, you’re a doll.”
“I assume you’ll help me now?” Euryale asked. “Because I have a man in mind, but I’m not sure he knows it.”
“I’ll gladly help, provided these are authentic,” he replied. “Why don’t you take off your hat and sunglasses so we can get started?”
* * *
Alex meandered about the front of the building as he waited for Euryale. His mind drifted back to the short time they had spent together, back to her sweet demeanor and melodic laugh. He replayed kissing her on the cheek a thousand times over, remembering every detail about it, from the sensation of her skin against his lips to the brief glint in her eye as he pulled away.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he longed for more such moments. And for the first time since Jessica had stolen his heart in middle school, he felt a warmth in his soul grow—a warmth he thought he’d never find again.
Alex blew out a long puff of air and caught himself longing for a gorgon-filled future, one where this warmth would grow, consume him, let him swim in a sea of bliss till the stars faded and time grew weary of existing.
This wishful high was short lived. Reality smashed his dreams and his heart sank. The daughter of a god would never settle for him. Even if she did, Alex knew she wanted more than a date. She wanted marriage, and even with the ethical questions of dating a client or using her to escape a lonely, shadowy fate aside, could he envision himself with a demigod for a wife? Surely that would be a lot more complicated than any human relationship he’d had, and save for the one with Jessica, none of those had turned out too well.
Alex huffed with frustration and distracted himself with the people that came and went. Some passed by in fancy cars, others in designer shoes. None paid him any heed, and he felt that being stared through, or in some cases being passed through, was an experience in and of itself. Only once did he feel that a living creature might have noticed him, and that was when a German shepherd was taking his master out for a walk. He moved about in circles, taking several sniffs in Alex’s direction. In the end, it turned out the dog had been looking for a place to pee.
An hour passed, and then two. Cars filled the small parking lot and their drivers went inside. No one came out. When the noonday sun broke free of the clouds, Alex was staring at the building, hoping, praying that she didn’t come out happy.
Alex took a deep breath and steadied himself. “This is stupid,” he said to himself. “You like her. Go get her already. It’s not like she’s going to make you get married in Vegas tomorrow.”
His words became action. Alex zipped through the front door of the office, intent on dragging Euryale out one way or another. Even if he folded at the moment of truth and failed to tell her how he felt, at the very least they could spend one more afternoon together. Tomorrow he could find her someone. He worked better under pressure anyway.
The office was quiet inside, and not a soul could be seen. Alex paused near the secretary’s desk and admired a pair of life-like statues that hadn’t been shown on Dr. Martin’s webpage.
“Hello?” Alex called out, wandering through the office. “Anybody home?”
From down the hall, he heard the muffled sounds of someone crying.
Alex came to a stop at Dr. Martin’s door. “Hello? Can I come in?”
The crying turned into sniffing, and then stopped altogether.
Alex sucked in a breath and stepped through the door. Inside the office were more statues, most having similar looks of shock upon their faces, and one looked like a garden gnome in a business suit. On the couch to his left sat Euryale, her head buried in her hands, hat and sunglasses lying at her feet.
“I told you this would happen,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I told you, and you didn’t listen.”
“You told me what would happen?” he replied, confused. Alex replayed every conversation he could remember that they had had and came up empty.
“This!” She made a sweeping gesture at the room. “I did this to them, and they were only trying to help.”
“You brought them statues?”
“I turned them into statues, you dolt!” she cried. “Haven’t you heard of Medusa?”
Alex took a seat next to her, and his mind wondered about the absurdity of the question. “Of course I have. Who hasn’t? Mean girl. Snakes for hair. Turns people to stone when looked at, and—” He stopped mid-sentence. The confusion on his face was replaced by dread. “Oh. Oh, God. It all makes sense now.”
Euryale laughed and wiped away a tear. “It’s about damn time, Alex.”
But the moment was fleeting, and she soon buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. Alex sat silent and uncomfortable as her tears ran down her face.
An urge came along and grabbed him. Before he could think, Alex lifted her chin and planted a kiss square on her lips. He brushed her cheek, while a delicate hand, hers, pressed into his chest with a slight tremble. No doubt she too could feel his heart pounding away.
As quickly as it had happened, Alex pulled back and felt his face flush. He was being too forceful, too overbearing, and completely taking advantage of the situation. Not to mention he’d already shown himself to be a failure. A failure who didn’t listen, at that. “Sorry,” he said. “Really, sorry.”
Euryale’s mouth hung slightly open. Her tears had stopped, much to his relief. But her eyes glazed over and her fingers gently traced her lower lip. “No…no…it’s fine. Unexpected, but fine.”
“It was uncalled for,” Alex said, trying to recompose himself and put a rational explanation to it all. “For a second there I was twelve again, and it sort of hit me.”
Euryale didn’t say anything, and Alex desperately sought to fill the awkward void. “And I was getting flustered, and I wanted you to feel better, and it seemed like a good idea.”
“Oh, I see,” she replied, though Alex was certain she didn’t.
His mind looked for an easy out and momentarily turned from the situation at hand and thought about the particulars of what she could do. “Why can’t you hurt me? Or Athena?”
“She’s a goddess, and you’ve already been killed, stupid.” Euryale snapped out of her shock, laughed, and blew her nose into a pillow. “My curse won’t affect either of you in the least.”
“Ah, yes. Hadn’t really thought of that.”
“You want to quit and run away.”
“No, quite the opposite,” he said. His eyes met with hers and held their gaze. They were beautiful, sparkling, hopeful, and scared, all at the same time. Most of all, Alex found himself unable to turn away.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Alex took her hands in his and decided to go for broke. Words bubbled out, but they were nowhere near as smooth as he’d envisioned. “You know, when I was outside, I got to thinking that maybe you’d like to spend some time with me instead of trying your luck with some random guy. I mean, I know that part was my idea, but it was a stupid idea, I think.”
Euryale giggled before having to blow her nose into another pillow. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
“I hope so,” Alex said, trying to contain the nervous energy brewing inside. “But it’s not like I’m proposing or anything.”
“No, you’re not. I’ll let you save that for tomorrow.”