Outside, the sun was just past its zenith, proclaiming early afternoon. A cool breeze pulled the leaves from the trees and sent them swirling around in the crisp air. A large oak shaded the porch from the harshest glare. The porch overlooked our backyard. Below, a patio where my bookstore patrons could sit outside to read or sip the gourmet coffee we provided as an added service. Even now, four women sat at a table chatting and drinking their coffee. The yard itself, while modestly sized, was perfectly landscaped and manicured. A petite waterfall and a small stream that had koi swimming in it wound its way across the yard and the rest was a botanical garden in miniature. Small trees and plants artfully filled the spaces beside the stepping stones. I took a moment to admire the serenity below me. My husband drew my attention back to him.

Eli retained his hold on my hand and said, “Athena, this is serious business we are contemplating.” He dropped his voice so the ladies below would only hear murmuring voices.

“I know,” I replied.

“Do you?” he asked. There was a note in his voice. A quality that made me stare into his face. I felt the frown that pulled my brows together.

He took my other hand in his. “You are also a fringe-dweller, you know. You stand on the edges of life and have for many, many years, like there is nothing that really interests you any longer. I mean, deeply interests you.”

I nodded, agreeing with him. I knew that I had drifted away from living. What used to thrill me was now a distant memory. Weaving, pottery, gardening, embroidery, teaching others, learning a new weaving technique and then passing the information along, learning how to extract olive oil from olives and then showing the skill to others, inventing a new embroidery stitch. All those crafts now seemed boring and unimportant, but I hadn’t found anything to replace them. No one remained that I could teach all the uses of olives and olive oils to as I did so long ago when the world needed me and my skills. I felt like I wasn’t needed for anything. This feeling ran deep and I don’t think even Eli knew what was troubling me on a basic level. “Eli, listen. This is the first thing, the first project in a long time that has sparked my interest. I know I have been a disinterested observer, but Bill’s problem is important. Finding out who is behind the murders is important.”

“I know it is, but Athena, if you get deeply involved in this, you may find yourself embroiled in emotions that you have long forgotten about.”

“And is that a bad thing?”

“Also, you must consider my feelings. Among Titans and Olympians, there has never been a restriction against siblings marrying or having sexual relations...” His voice trailed off and I watched his face wrestle with the torment he felt. I watched the resolve on his face. He decided to just blurt it all out. “I don’t want you having sex with Aaron. There it is. I am much older than you, but I still feel jealousy and possessiveness. I guess we never really get over those feelings.”

“Who is talking about having sex? Eli, we are talking about finding a murderer.”

“Athena, don’t act naive. If we are joined, then Aaron will be in your head and in your heart. That is a powerful motivator for sex.” Eli took a deep breath and looked down at his shoes. He still wore the leather pants he had put on in Alberta that very morning, and the brown comfortable boots. Once back in Norfolk, he had removed his sweater, but that was all. He still wore the much washed brown plaid flannel shirt. It was a comfy shirt that made him think of home and warmth and me. It was a small instant, but it pulled my heart closer to his.

I sighed. I knew Eli was right. Instead, I said, “Can we do this without him?”

A great sadness crossed his face and then he said, “I don’t think so.”

I nodded and said, “All right, then you and Aaron try and I will only jump in if I am needed to complete the task.” Yes, the murders were important, but it was more important to me to protect Eli’s heart. Isn’t that what love is about? And I did love Eli so very much. That was the one emotion I still allowed myself to feel and to savor.

Eli pulled me into a hug. “Fair enough.” We held each other for a long sweet moment and I felt him touch his lips to the top of my head. He smelled of wood smoke and manliness and his own particular scent that reminded me of vanilla and cinnamon.

“Before we go back in, Eli, let me tell you something. You are right when you say I have been an observer. Maybe that is why I talked to Bill in the first place. I am not trying to manipulate a way to have sex with Aaron. I have never been capricious about my body. Remember, they used to call me the Virgin Goddess. You and I have been together for over six hundred years and I am not going to do anything to compromise that. On the other hand, I have to really feel something. I have to be reminded of what that is like. I have to know that I am still alive and not just taking up space on this planet. I have to know if I am significant. This experiment will help me find a lot of those answers. I am lost, Eli, and I need to find my own path, again.”

A tear trickled down his cheek and I touched it with a finger. The droplet sparkled in the midday sun and I touched my tongue to the salty dampness.

“Why do you cry, my love?” I asked him, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Because I am afraid that in finding your path you may find it leads away from me.”

I had nothing to say to that, so I pulled him into a tighter embrace. After several long, sweet moments, he broke away, drew in a deep shuddering breath, and then said, “Let’s get this done.” He quickly wiped the tears from his cheek with an impatient gesture. His eyes still glistened more than normal, but I am probably the only one who would recognize it.

He held the door for me and I stepped into the kitchen. Aaron and Bill weren’t talking. They seemed to have reached some kind of impasse. Maybe both were simply waiting for Eli and me.

Eli broke the tense silence. “Aaron, you and I will try this first and Athena will join us if we need her help.”

Aaron nodded and then said, “There is something you need to know. Phobos’s energy is dark energy. Also, he surrounds himself with others who possess dark energy. It will be difficult to penetrate. I am not certain the three of us combined can do it.”

“We won’t know until we try,” Eli said.

Aaron rose to his feet and stood directly in front of Eli. Both men were six inches over six feet, but there the resemblance ended. I watched the two. Eli, Helios, the god of the sun, with his bright red hair and his sparkling yellow eyes that brought to mind morning and sunshine and spring time. His skin was perfect, pink and creamy and that particular tone that set many female model’s hearts thumping with envy. He was not just put together well, he was exquisitely pretty. He was beautiful in a way that most men are not and never have been.

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Aaron, the former god of war Ares, was a contrast to Eli. The thick, blue-black hair hung in waves down his back and framed his face with black curls that softened the angular features. His eyes were as dark as his hair. Black eyes that missed little. The leathery skin held a permanent tan from long hours, days, and months on the field of battle. One look brought to mind the words cowboy or professional fisherman. He was handsome in his own way, too, but a different handsome from Eli. He was rugged and wild and untamed. The kind of man a woman instinctively wanted to domesticate.

Eli started the show. “You will have to help me find the darkness,” he said to Aaron. Aaron nodded and took a deep breath.

Outwardly, nothing indicated they worked furiously to accomplish the task. Anyone watching would simply see two men who faced each other and stared into each other’s eyes. But, I felt the energy beginning to build. It pulled the hair on my arms erect and tugged at the edges of my vision. Things fluttered just out of sight and I felt if I turned my head quickly enough, I could see creatures all over the room. I knew this was an effect of the brain interpreting what it couldn’t understand. No butterflies or fairies or frogs on the floors suddenly appeared.

The energy gathered into a single place, pulled in by the psychic abilities of the two men. They used everything around them—electricity, life energy created by every living creature, the energy that holds molecules together, gravity, light, and anything else available in those moments.

I glanced at Bill and he stared at the two men with great interest. Again his mouth hung open as if he couldn’t believe what he saw and felt. He turned toward me to say something and I waved him quiet. I concentrated on Eli and Aaron too deeply to be distracted by questions.

The unseen shadows in the room moved with greater vigor and my skin felt as if it was covered in spiderwebs. I knew that rubbing these particular webs to make them go away was an empty gesture, but I did it anyway.

The two men strove as they had never strived for anything before. Eli, totally determined to accomplish this without my help and Aaron, a man who had to prove himself as a viable being.

The tension grew larger and larger. My own vision clouded from the metaphysical forces at work. The previously unseen shadows were actually visible now and they swirled in a vortex that originated between Eli and Aaron. Faster and faster the shadows whirled in an imitation of a small tornado that rose up into the attic and out into the midday sky. The vortex was seeking darkness. Seeking evil. Seeking Phobos.

I couldn’t draw in breath quickly enough. My chest felt compressed by a giant hand. I weighed a thousand pounds. Simply lifting a hand was an impossible task. And I was on the fringes of the energy. What was it like for the two men involved? I couldn’t imagine.

When the energy broke, I heard a snap like a giant rubber band breaking. Aaron and Eli both staggered and they clung to each other so they wouldn’t fall. Silence when the roaring in my ears vanished. A deep silence prevailed and I attempted to hear anything, thinking for a moment I was deaf. Distantly, I heard cars. Then, the four women on the patio outside laughed as if they had just heard a funny, naughty joke. Not deaf after all.

Bill summed it up beautifully. “Holy Hannah!” He took a deep breath and wiped his brow. “Tell me you found what you were looking for.”

Eli shook his head. “Almost. Almost. Phobos is shielding. He knows we’re looking for him. I just couldn’t quite touch him, though. All I know is that he is to the northwest and not very far.” He moved his gaze to Aaron and glared at him.

“Well, that’s something,” Bill said.

Eli held Aaron’s eyes. “Why did you pull away?” Eli demanded.

“You and I aren’t strong enough to do this,” Aaron replied. “We need her.”

I saw the doubt cross Eli’s face. “We almost touched him, War Lord. We were close. You didn’t want to. Why not?”

“What do you mean, I didn’t want to?”

“I was in your head. I saw it. You are only doing this to prove you are a man. And the only way you can feel that way again is if you have a woman with you. Aphrodite doesn’t want you any longer and neither do all your other former lovers. You fell in love with a mortal and the Olympians are prejudiced enough to look on that act with great disdain.”

“Don’t forget, I was in your head, too and you tremble with the fear of losing Athena. I am not the only emotionally flawed person in this room.”

Anger rose as quickly as the seeking energy did. I stood from my place at the table and stepped between the two men. This I could do. I was once a great and wise negotiator. “Stop. This. Right. Now,” I said, hard eyes moving from one to the other. “This isn’t going to accomplish anything. Aaron, I am sorry about Rada, but she is gone. We don’t have time for you to lick your wounds right now. Eli, I have no intention of leaving you for Aaron or for anyone else. I am not the true reason for the anger in either one of you. You are more like two bullies on the playground, trying to see which one is stronger. What you are attempting is bringing a lot of emotions to the surface, but deal with all of that later. We have a job to do, now.” I turned to Eli and said, “Aaron thrives on anger. He has been angry since the day he was born.” I turned to Aaron, “Eli thrives on self-righteousness as if being the sun god made him somehow better than the rest of us.” Then, to both, “So, deal with it. Both of you. Now, try this again, without all the emotional stuff getting in your way.”

Eli grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him. “By Zeus, we do need you in this. Together, Aaron and I are able to find Phobos and his band of followers, but we need you to stabilize the emotions inside of us. We need you to keep us focused on the task and not on each other. I am sorry, Athena. We need you. Phobos is close and he is pissed because we are trying to find him. I suspect he knows we want to stop him, once we find him. I suspect he knows a great deal.”

I held Eli’s eyes with mine, letting him see all the love I possessed for him. Then, I nodded.

“I need some water before we begin, again,” Aaron said, walking toward the kitchen sink.

Bill cleared his throat and then asked, “What in the hell just happened? I mean, did I actually see that?”

“See what?” I asked.

“It was like ghosts or something, swirling all over the room.”

“You saw it,” I told him. “As I suspected, you are far more psychically adept than you want others to believe. You actually have a pretty strong psychic ability. My guess is that you always know when others lie to you, you get hunches or feelings about people and events, you wake up without the alarm clock every day, you can sense when others are angry with each other, and you know who is on the phone before you answer it... things like that.”

“Well, yeah. Can’t everyone?”

“No, Bill. Most people can’t. That ability is why you seek others with advanced psychic talents. A kindred spirit, maybe. Birds of a feather.”

“And, brother, did I find a nest, or what?” He said with feeling.

“Your psychic talent is why you are sitting here, now. It is why you believed us when we told you who we are,” Eli said.

“Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t believe any of this crap. Most cops wouldn’t give you the time of day. Any of you.”

We all nodded. Aaron splashed water on his face and grabbed a paper towel to dry it. Eli pulled the milk carton from the refrigerator to drink several swallows directly from the jug. What they tried was very hard work and we were all going to try it again.