Chapter Twenty: The Little Black Box of Beauty

 

Therese climbed out of bed, recalling the dream. As she turned on Jewels’s lamp and headed to her bathroom, she thought it was probably just an ordinary dream—a nice one, the best, but ordinary. It reminded her that her heart belonged to Than no matter how hard she tried to love Pete. But when she climbed beneath the warm water of the shower, the realness of the dream came back to her. Than had come to her in the dream world. They spent the night together in his room. He told her what he’d been doing to get them together again—about the maenads, Dionysus, and the Minotaur. He told her about the five challenges. The determination she felt when she had first awakened returned. It hadn’t been an ordinary dream, and she was eager to get started.

She rinsed the shampoo from her hair and prayed to Than, “I miss you already. It won’t be long. I promise. I’ll start today.”

After her shower, she dressed and went downstairs to take Clifford outside. Carol and Richard sat at the granite breakfast bar eating bowls of cereal. Therese had been avoiding them since Vicki’s death, but she knew they wanted to talk to her more about what had happened. She hoped it wouldn’t be today. She didn’t want anything to sour her mood and dampen her determination to face the five challenges. She gave them a smile and said, “Good morning,” on her way out the back door.

Once in the woods, she prayed to Aphrodite, asking her to bring her the little black box, or to tell her where she should go to find it. Following Clifford up the trail into the woods behind her house, where the birds chirped and flitted from tree to tree and an occasional chipmunk scrambled across her path, she looked for signs of the goddess.

“Come on, Clifford,” she said when he stopped to sniff the grass. “Let’s keep going.”

She heard a rustle in the brush ahead of her and froze. In her mind, she asked, “Aphrodite?” though she expected to see a deer. She heard the rustle again, and studied the brush in front of her. She could see no signs of an animal but definitely sensed a presence.

“Hello?” Therese said meekly.

A figure appeared before her, but it wasn’t Aphrodite; it was Jen. She held the invisibility crown in one hand and wiped tears from her eyes with the back of the other.

“Jen? What’s wrong?”

“Same old, same old.” Her voice quivered as she spoke.

“Your dad?”

Jen nodded.

Clifford noticed her from across the trail and ambled over to greet her.

Jen leaned down to pet him and gave him a smile. “Hi, Clifford.”

“You wanna talk?” Therese asked.

“Sure. Can we go to your room?”

“Come on.”

They took the trail down through the forest, past the elms, when Therese noticed a little black box, the size of a Rubik’s Cube, on the wooden deck. She picked it up, her heart pounding.

“What’s that?” Jen asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“Open it.”

Therese clamped the lid tight. “Not now. Come on.”

They entered the house through the back door, by the kitchen. Carol and Richard stood at the sink rinsing out their breakfast bowls.

“Can Jen come over for a while?” Therese asked.

“What about breakfast?” Carol asked. “Are you hungry, Jen?”

“No thanks.”

“I’m not either,” Therese added.

Carol glanced up at Richard, who nodded and said, “Let us know when you’re hungry, and we’ll fix you something, okay?”

“Thanks.”

The two girls skipped up the stairs followed by Clifford. Therese put the wooden box in a dresser drawer, hoping Jen would ask no more about it. “So tell me what’s going on,” she asked as she refilled Clifford’s food and water bowls and added more water to Jewels’s tank.

Jen sat on the bed, cradling the crown. “My dad won’t stop drinking again. My mom keeps threatening to throw him out, but I don’t believe her. She likes having him around to help with the ranch. It makes me feel like she loves him more than she does me.” Tears poured from Jen’s eyes.

Therese sat beside her on the bed, unable to imagine how Jen must feel. Therese’s parents would never have hurt her or put her in harm’s way. She shivered at their memory, and her longing to be with them resurfaced. Therese shoved it back down and swallowed. “She probably doesn’t know what to do. She’s human. And humans make mistakes and don’t always know the right answers. Have you thought about calling someone, like a social worker?”

“I’m afraid they’ll take me and Bobby away. I’d rather stay and use the crown.”

“Has it helped then?”

Jen nodded. “I don’t know what I’d do without it. I sleep on the floor in my closet with it on every night. I pin it to my hair so it won’t fall off. He’s only come in my room once, but still. It was terrifying. He acts like he just wants a hug, but when he’s drunk, he doesn’t know how to stop.” Jen shuddered and put on the crown. “Don’t look at me.”

Therese lowered her gaze to the floor. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say except that I’m glad the crown helps.”

Jen took it off. “How does it work? Where did you get it?”

“I told you not to ask.”

“Please? I’ve just told you the worst secret ever. Can’t you tell me yours?”

Therese considered Jen’s question. Could she trust Jen not to tell a soul if she told her everything about Than and the other gods? It would be nice to have someone, someone human, to talk to. “Well,” her stomach lurched. She couldn’t risk it. She couldn’t risk spoiling her chances to be with Than. “There’s no real secret, Jen. Someone gave it to me. I think she was my guardian angel. I’m not sure. Maybe my mom.”

“You could have kept it for yourself.”

“You need it more right now. But I might need to take it back, for a short while.”

“Why?”

“Not today. But maybe soon. I’ll give it right back.”

“You’re not going to tell me why?”

“Do I have to?”

Jen shook her head. “You aren’t going to take any more drugs, are you?”

“No.” Therese’s stomach felt sick as she thought of Vicki.

“Why’d you do it?”

“She wanted to see her mom. I wanted to see my parents.” Therese bit the inside of her lip.

“That’s crazy.”

“I know.”

Jen looked up at Therese and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for loaning me the crown. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”

Therese hugged her friend. “You’re welcome.”

“Now let’s open that box,” Jen stood up and went to the dresser drawer, opening it.

Therese leapt across the room, her chest tight, her heart pounding. “No!” She reached for the box. For one horrible split second, the box slipped from the hands of both girls and dangerously dropped through the air. Therese gasped and caught it just before it hit the floor.

“You don’t know what you almost did.” Therese looked at Jen with wide eyes. Her future life with Than would have vanished from the realm of possibility.

“What? What’s in there?”

Therese thought quickly. “My parents’ ashes.”

“I didn’t know they were cremated. They fit in that?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why were they out on the deck?”

“The box got wet, and I wanted to put it in the sun to dry.”

“Then why did you act like you didn’t know what it was?”

“I didn’t want you to know I like to carry the box around. It makes me feel closer to my parents.”

“Oh.” Jen sat on the bed. “Don’t be embarrassed about that. Okay?”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Are you coming to groom Stormy today?”

“After lunch.”

 

Relief swept over Therese once Jen left. The thought of what had almost happened made her tremble. She set the box on her dresser, afraid to hold it in her quaking hands, moving it to the center, away from the edges, staring at it. Now what was she supposed to do? She silently prayed to Persephone and Aphrodite for further instructions.

Two figures appeared on either side of her. Boys. Twins. They had deep red hair, long and thick like the mane of a lion, and fierce black eyes. They were beautiful, but they frightened her.

She took a step back, sucking in her lips, her heart speeding beneath her ribs. Clifford cowered beside her with his paws over his eyes.

“I’m Phobos,” one of them said. “And this is my brother, Deimos.”

“We’re sons of Aphrodite,” Deimos explained.

Clifford started whining.

“Aphrodite?” Therese wanted to be grateful, wanted to believe they were there to help her, but fear choked her and panic gave her the shakes. “I-I-I’m Therese. It’s…” She fought the irrational terror taking hold of her. She wanted to attack the boys with her bedside lamp. How crazy was that? “A pleasure to meet you.” The air rushed from her body. She clinched her hands together to keep them from trembling and to keep them from flailing out.

The two brothers exchanged looks of surprise and laughed.

“A pleasure to meet us?”

“Us?”

“Y-y-es. I adore your mother.” She wanted to flee from the room. She couldn’t breathe. In her mind, she screamed, “Help!” to Than, to Hermes, to anyone who’d listen. “Help me, please!”

The boys frowned.

“It’s never a pleasure to meet us.”

“You’re lying.”

“Try-trying t-to be p-p-polite!”

“Have you ever taken a good look at yourself in the mirror?” Phobos asked. “You could use a pick-me-up.”

“The beauty charm in our mother’s box could serve you well, ugly. Think Than wants a plain girl like you at his side?”

Therese backed into the corner of her room. “Go away!” The panic and fear claimed her heart, erratic and mad, adrenaline pumping through every vein in her trembling body. She screamed. The twins laughed. She screamed again.

The door to her room swung open, the twins vanished, and Carol and Richard rushed in.

“Therese!” Carol cried. “What’s happening?”

Therese gaped at them.

“Therese?” Richard asked. “You okay?”

“I’m not sure.”

“What made you scream?” Carol asked.

“I don’t know. I think maybe I was having a nightmare. Maybe I was sleepwalking just now. I don’t know.”

Carol and Richard exchanged worried glances.

“Why don’t you come downstairs and watch a little TV with us, sweetheart?” Carol suggested. “I’ll make you some hot tea.”

Therese glanced at the black box on her dresser. Carol followed her gaze.

“Oh, what’s that?” Carol asked, crossing the room and taking the box in her hands.

“Don’t open it!” Therese shouted. “Put it down!”

Carol did not put down the box, but instead looked Therese hard in the eye and asked, “Then tell me what’s in it.”

“A gift.”

“For whom?”

“Uh, I, um, Jen.”

“Then why didn’t you give it to her earlier?”

Richard took the box from Carol. “This better not be drugs. Are there drugs in here? Were you hallucinating just now?”

“No! No! I promise! I’m not taking drugs.”

Richard cupped the bottom of the box in one hand and the lid in the other.

“Don’t!”

He pulled the lid from the box.

Therese dropped to her knees. It was over, her life with Than forever out of reach.

Richard and Carol looked inside.

“Oh,” Carol said. “A ring. It’s lovely. For Jen?”

Therese lifted her eyes and examined her aunt and uncle. They looked unchanged. Why hadn’t the beauty charm escaped and transformed them? Not that they weren’t already attractive people. “Um…”

Carol plucked the ring from the box and held it up in the light. “Is it silver? Or white gold?”

Therese stared at the thin metal band, wondering if the charm only worked when the ring was placed on a person’s finger. “Silver.” Please don’t put it on, she thought. Please.

Carol closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. When she opened them again, she asked, “Did this belong to your mom?”

Not knowing what else to do, Therese nodded.

“There’s nothing wrong with giving it to Jen. Did you think I’d be upset?”

Therese nodded again.

Carol tucked it back inside the box. “I’m sorry we didn’t trust you. It’s just that, well, after what happened…”

“I know.” Therese climbed to her feet.

Richard returned the lid to the box and handed it over. The two of them hugged her, asked again if she was okay, and, after she told them she was, left her alone with her pets and the box.

She returned the box to her dresser, wondering now if it was all over. She had failed to deliver it to Persephone without opening it. Technically, she hadn’t opened it. Her uncle had. Did that count?

She asked Than to send her a message. What was she supposed to do?

She looked up from the box to her reflection in the mirror over her dresser. The red-haired twins had called her ugly and plain. She knew she wasn’t beautiful, but was she ugly? She studied her features and thought they’d been right. Why had Than chosen her, of all the girls in the world? She was the first to ever kiss him. Was he sure he loved her? Would he always love her? For all eternity? Or would he grow tired of her plain looks?

Maybe she should take a bit of the beauty from the ring. Just a little, so Than wouldn’t spend eternity regretting his decision. She could still return the ring to the box. It had already been opened. It had already been touched by her aunt. Who would know if Therese slipped it on her finger?

She put her hand on the lid, her fingers tingling. No. There was still a chance she hadn’t failed. She pulled her hand away and flung herself on her bed.

 

Throughout the day, Therese searched for signs of what she should do with the box, continually praying to Persephone, Aphrodite, and Than, to the point she worried she was either annoying them or had already failed and no god wanted to speak to her again. She sat on her bed with her laptop and researched the five challenges. She read the story about Cupid and Psyche. Aphrodite tested Psyche with the black box of beauty, and Psyche failed.

She researched the golden apples of the Hesperides. Hera was given the orchard as a wedding gift. They were her apples. Maybe Therese could find a way to get a golden apple without having to fight the dragon. Hmm.

It was a relief to leave after lunch, after hiding the box in the bottom drawer of her dresser beneath several pairs of sweats, to groom Stormy at the Holts.

That is, until Pete came into the barn.

He sauntered up to her with a confident smile and took her in his arms. “Afternoon, good-lookin’,” he said with his chin on the top of her head. He released her and pecked her nose. “I sure enjoyed last night.”

“Me, too.” She plucked Stormy’s brush from a shelf, trying to keep her hands from shaking. “Isn’t Jen coming?”

“I told her I’d groom Sassy today. Hope that’s okay.” It was Sunday, which meant no trail rides. He stepped to the back of the stall to avoid getting between Stormy and Sassy.

“Sure. I just thought she might want to talk, that’s all.” Therese sat on a stool at the front of the stall and held the brush out for Stormy to inspect. Then she gently rubbed Stormy’s withers. Stormy didn’t need to be groomed at such a young age, but the Holts wanted him trained and used to people before he was weaned. “She told me how hard it’s been on her with your dad...”

Pete’s voice was low and strained when he said, “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

They brushed in the silence for a while, and then Pete asked, “So how about a movie sometime this week? We could go to dinner, too, if you want.”

Therese closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You don’t seem enthusiastic,” Pete said, standing over her.

She looked up at him from her stool, unaware till that moment he could see her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“A change of heart already?” he asked softly. He took her hand and lifted her to him, searching her eyes.

The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. Her stomach clenched into a tight knot and the rest of her body went numb. His eyes were full of hurt. “Pete, I…”

He kissed her, and though she accepted the first gentle kiss, she pulled her lips away. “I’m sorry. I’m confused, Pete. I still have feelings for Than.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. Then he squeezed her hand and said, “Let me know when you’re over him.”

She stood there as he put away Sassy’s brush and left the barn with his head down.

 

After dinner, Therese sat on her bed with Clifford and stared at the little black box on her dresser. Could her chances with Than really be over so soon, on the very first challenge? If Hades cared at all about justice, then no. For the first time since her failure last summer on Mount Olympus, she directed a prayer to Hades. She stood up, stared fiercely at her reflection over the dresser, and said in a low, angry voice, “I have not failed. I have not failed. Send me to Persephone, so I can deliver the box.”

She waited. Nothing happened.

She put her hands to her head and pulled her hair. “Then I’m going to Mount Olympus to look for her myself!” It was summer. Persephone should be with her mother, Demeter. Than told her that in fall and winter, when Persephone returned to the Underworld, Demeter left Mount Olympus and shut herself up in a winter cottage on Mount Parnassus. But in spring and summer, both goddesses lived on Mount Olympus.

Therese took the traveling robe from her closet and slipped her arms through each sleeve. Picking up the box, she imagined herself in the middle of the court, and before she could think twice about what she was doing, the invisible plastic wrapped around her, and she was god traveling.

She closed her eyes, afraid to discover where she had landed, when her feet hit solid ground, and afraid to look upon the gods without warning. Last summer, they had protected her from their brightness, but would they today, after she barged into the palace uninvited?

In her mind, she prayed, “Please accept me, please accept me, please accept me.”

“Open your eyes, Therese,” came a woman’s soft voice.

Therese peeked through one half-closed lid to find Persephone before her, her hands on the box.

“Thank you for delivering the box to me. You have completed your first challenge.”

Therese opened her other eye and looked around the court. Not all the gods were present today. The virgin goddesses—Athena, Artemis, and Hestia—were absent, as were all the gods save Zeus and Hephaestus. The latter now approached her carrying a sword and shield. Her sword and shield.

“Much luck to you,” Hephaestus said, handing them to her. “And congratulations for getting this far.”

Therese accepted the weapon and shield from Hephaestus and thanked him with a bow.

His misshapen face crinkled into a grin full of deep lines and hanging flesh, reminding Therese of a French bulldog. Now that she had a good look at him, he didn’t seem ugly. He wasn’t beautiful, but he wasn’t ugly either. He had character. “If there’s anything more I can do to help, please let me know,” he said.

“Thank you, sir. But I’m not allowed to accept help with the five challenges.”

“But you can accept advice.”

Therese glanced around the palace courtroom where only a few goddesses remained talking among themselves. No one paid attention to her and Hephaestus. “Yes. Yes, I can.”

“So how can I help?”

“Can you tell me how I might get Hera to like me?”

“I’m afraid not. She’s my mother, but she has no love for me because I’m ugly.”

Therese frowned. “Sir, you’re not ugly to me.”

He gave her another crinkly smile.

She bowed to him once again and turned toward Hera, her heart picking up speed and pulsing in her throat. She wasn’t sure yet what she was going to say, but she had to try something. A hundred heads were too many for anyone, except maybe Hercules, even with the crown of invisibility.

In her mind, she prayed to Hera, “May I approach you?”

Hera turned to her and bid her forward to her throne, Zeus’s side still unoccupied. A lucky break, Therese thought.

“What do you ask of me?” Hera said.

Therese had trouble forming a thought much less a string of words. She bowed her head and said, “Hades has given me a set of challenges.”

“I’m aware of what goes on in this court.”

Okay, not a good start. “I don’t want to offend you by taking a golden apple from your orchard without your permission.”

“Permission granted, so long as you don’t eat the apple. Return it to Mount Olympus intact.”

“Could you give it to me, madam? I would be happy to serve you.”

“You would serve me even without the favor.”

Oh, no. Therese just did what she’d hoped to avoid. She had offended Hera. “Yes, madam.”

“Then bring me a fan made of peacock feathers when you deliver the golden apple.”

Therese nodded and bowed. “How will I get past the one-hundred-headed dragon?”

“A bit of cake laced with sleeping pills will put Ladon to sleep, but he’s not your problem. The Hesperides won’t fall for that trick.”

She’d read online the Hesperides were three nymphs, daughters of Atlas, but she found nothing more about them. “How can I convince them to let me take an apple?”

“Distract them with your flute. Now leave me. I’ve other matters to attend to.”

Therese meant to ask where Hera’s garden was located, but she didn’t dare delay the goddess.