Below
us, the dark and sleeping earth. Above us, the wide and starry sky.
And
still no moon.
“I
wonder,” said Ruth, “if Crow has figured out how widespread the
moon anomaly is.”
“Hello,”
said a head of glossy black feathers that appeared in the ruff of
Rook’s neck.
“Talk
of the devil and she shall appear,” said
Ruth.
“Never
met that fellow myself,”
said
Crow. “Anyway,
this moon thing seems to end about a hundred miles from your
location. I’ve been getting reports from birds farther afield,
saying it’s not happening where they are.”
“Great,”
said
Ruth. “So
to anyone watching from above, there’s a big shadow moving slowly
towards Lake Superior. He knows where we’re going, he knows we’re
in the shadow, he knows we don’t want to be seen. It’s like
trying to hide by sitting behind the single bush in a field.”
“Or
trying to hide in a moving cloud,”
I
said. “Maybe
we ought to be turning north after all. That might throw him off a
bit. Well, Crow, do you think you can help us out here? Maybe try one
of your famous tricks?”
“Better
to try a new one,” said the voice of an unfamiliar woman.
I
whipped my head around. There was an owl sitting on Rook’s back,
behind Ruth. “I’m
going to take a wild guess and say you’re –”
“Athena,”
said Crow. “You finally showed up.”
“I
arrive precisely when I mean to, my frisky feathered friend.”
“Hang
on a second,” said Ruth, “I thought you didn’t like having the
Olympians in your territory?”
“It’s
a temporary alliance!” said Crow. “I needed to consult with
someone who understood these people better than I did.”
“And
you,”
I
said to Athena. “You
would conspire against your own father?”
“Yes?”
said Athena. “This is not the first time I have done so. Surely you
have read stories about my family? We are not
one
big happy. And here you are, two heroes on an odyssey –”
“Three,”
said
Ruth, switching back to Crow Speak. “Rook
is the one doing all the work right now anyway.”
“And
we’re not going on an odyssey,”
I
said. “We’re
going away from home, not towards it.”
The
owl winked.
“What
the hell is that supposed to mean?” said Ruth.
“And
how the hell did you do that?”
I
said.
“You
think you’re going to get an easy answer out of Athena,” said
Crow, in the human tongue. “Look, you wanted a trick, I’ve got a trick. Fly up to the
moon and tell her that our three heroes here are going to be making a
dash straight across the plains towards Lake Superior.”
“You
want me to fly up to a moon that isn’t there,” said Athena.
“No,
silly, I want you to fly to the moon that is
there.
Get a few hundred miles from us and then make for the moon.”
“Ah
ha,” said Athena. “And then these three will wait a bit before
heading north along the mountains, while the artificial moon shadow
makes it look like they’re over the plains.”
“You’re
almost as clever as me, madam.”
The
owl glared at Crow. “More importantly, I should hope I am far more
wise.”
“You’re
sure this will work?” said Ruth. “I get the feeling that our
little Denali ploy didn’t fool Zeus for long. We spotted a storm on
the horizon a day ago –”
“Then
he’s caught on to your general location,” said Athena. “Your
foolish behavior with those hikers has reached my ears, which means
it has reached his. You two definitely need to go to ground for a few
days, and not make the slightest mistake. Crow, if your plan is going
to work I need you to do something special.”
“Like
what?” said Crow.
“Get
too big for your britches,” said Athena. Her owl eyes shone bright,
and then Crow was rising into the air, cawing madly. Suddenly, where
a little crow had been was a huge black bird, nearly as big as Rook.
The bird veered away from us northward, and was soon gone.
“Please
tell me you’re going to turn them back,” said Ruth.
“They
shouldn’t be too hard to find,” said Athena. “All I have to do
is follow the news. Alright, young ones, good luck. You’ll need
it.” She spread her owl wings and lifted off and away.
“Glad
to have her on our side,”
said
Ruth.
“No,”
said
Rook. “She
is a suspicious lady. She is sneaky. Be careful.”
“We
don’t have a good track record with that,” I
said.
“Please?”
“As
you wish, my formidable feathered friend.”
…
Above
us, the densely-woven boughs of fir. Around us, the deep shadows of
the forest floor. Beside us, the still water of a beaver pond. Around
me, Ruth’s wings, as she and I rested beneath Rook’s wing.
We
had taken no time to enjoy ourselves, when we touched down before
dawn, not like normal. We had gone straight to sleep. No sense
risking being seen by the sun. But that meant I had woken up well
before noon, this time. Had I not been in Ruth’s arms I would have
worried about becoming bored and stifled.
Then
again, even with her embrace it would happen eventually. Eventually I
would find it impossible to rest anymore. Perhaps I could do the noon
prayer before noon – except that, if I did so, if I made a proper
prayer with the rug and everything, Zeus might pick up on our
location. Damn that – that Olympian,
keeping
me from my duties! I ought to just march right out and –
–
and
consider that Ruth was correct, and my religion certainly did not
demand any expressions of faith that would put me and my companions
in peril.
Hmph.
So I couldn’t even spice things up with a little martyrdom.
I
gently brushed the feathers of Ruth’s cheek.
She
stirred. “Hm?
Oh, Rani. Good morning.”
She
yawned. “Do
I look any different today?”
“Um
–”
“What
am I saying, it’s too dark to know. Wait a second. I sound
different. Why am I talking in Crow first thing in the morning? Oh,
no.”
Rook
stirred a bit, and said, “You
chose to talk to me. You chose to speak in Crow so that I could be a
part of the conversation. You sacrificed your human form for me.
Seems like Rani isn’t the only one you sacrifice for.”
“Oh
dear,” said
Ruth. “Rani,
it seems we have both adopted this bird.”
“If
I can still hold a pen I’ll sign the papers. Ah, but that reminds
me, I should be taking scientific notes now that we have the
opportunity. Ah, but I will have to step out from under Rook’s
wing, and leave you, my dear.”
“And
get spotted by an Olympian? No way.”
“We
did pick the deep shadows for a reason.” I
lifted Rook’s wing a little and peeked out. Right in front of me
was a patch of sunlight. Dammit. I peeked out the other side. Another
patch of sunlight. Nuts. Alright. I crawled under the long part of
Rook’s wing and peeked out. Ah, there was shadow. I scurried
forward.
Ruth
was close behind. “Rani,
this is –” she
gasped. “Oh,
goodness. Fresh air. It tastes so sweet.”
“Only
the best for you, my dear.”
“Oh!”
said
Ruth. “You
are so romantic! I wish I could kiss you right now. Stupid beak.”
“Perhaps
this is the purpose of our journey,” I
said. “For
the sake of a kiss.”
“How
much we spend for its sake! Yet I would say a kiss is worth it all.”
“About
that,”
I
said, stepping into the darkness beneath a spruce tree. “We
may jest, but I would like to discuss the matter more seriously.”
I
sat against the trunk. “Sit
by me.”
Ruth
sat in front of me and fixed me with her gaze.
“I
said sit BY me. I want to put my arm around you.”
Ruth
sat next to me. I draped an arm over her shoulder, my long flight
feathers covering half of her body. Ruth glanced at me, and said,
“What’s
got you in a serious mood?”
“Athena,”
I
said. “And
Apollo. If Athena hadn’t repeated Apollo’s remark about an
odyssey, I would have thought the word was inconsequential. But
Athena thinks it’s important enough to repeat. An Apollo does
prophecies, so – ”
“So
we’re going on a grand and noble quest,”
chirped
Ruth. “That
sounds like fun.”
“A
grand and noble quest would be Arthurian, and we’re nowhere near
Wales.”
Ruth
scoffed. “The
Argonauts had a grand and noble quest!”
“Grand
yes, noble I don’t know. It’s not like they were trying to save
anyone’s life, they were just trying to grab something that would
let Jason claim to be the head honcho. And that whole thing ended
with Medea chopping up her brother to distract her dad’s pursuit,
and then Jason cheated on Medea and lost her and then he got hit by a
falling timber from his decaying ship. Nah. I don’t call Jason a
role model. I don’t call any Greek hero a role model. Their stories
almost never end happy.”
“The
Odyssey did, right?”
“Sure,
after Odysseus slaughtered a bunch of guests and caused a civil war
on Ithaca. Athena had to step into that one.”
“Alright,”
said
Ruth, “What
about –”
“Herakles
died when he got poisoned by the hydra venom he’d collected long
ago.”
“How
ironic!” said
Ruth. “How
tragic! Brought low by his own greatest triumph! A true Greek
tragedy!”
“Yeah,”
I
said, “they’re
all tragedies besides Perseus. Maybe the writers of all those stories
only how to write tragedies.”
“Or
maybe they weren’t allowed to write happy endings,”
said
Ruth. “Tragedy
was the name of the game for Greek theater, right?”
“It’s
the name of the game for most of the stories that have survived. But
what if that’s not the issue? What if having an Olympian in your
life means you’re bound to be a tragic hero? What if we’re set on
a course for tragedy?”
“It’s
possible,”
said
Ruth. “But
bear in mind, neither of us have yet done any heroic deeds that could
plausibly bite us in the tail. Except your commitment to absolute
monotheism, right in the face of the Olympians. And my commitment to
you, which led to me getting myself and two other people stuck with
your condition. Okay, so maybe we’re sunk.”
Rook
lifted their head from under their wing. “You
talk loud. I can’t sleep. You know there are other Great Spirits,
right? Other stories that live. Crow lives.”
“So
what,”
said
Ruth, “we
change the narrative?”
“I
certainly hope we can,” I
said. “Because
here’s the thing, Ruth – An odyssey isn’t about going off to
fetch something. It’s about the struggle to get back home. And you
– you are my home.”
“Rani
–”
“You
will never meet my parents. God willing, I will never meet them again
either. That is why I stick to the Morrow Lab. The lab lets me live.
Therein lies my tragedy – I am in this situation because I was
headstrong and my parents could not bend me, and then as soon as
Professor Windsor and the university were halfway nice to me I was
putty in their hands. I will not say I wish to be putty in your hands
– I care about you too much to lead you into that manner of
emotional and moral risk. But I will say that home is wherever you
are.”
“Goodness,
my dear! We have only known each other for a few years!”
“And
yet roommates all that time,” I
said. “By
our choice. And you have demonstrated your infatuation with me,
rather thoroughly.”
“So
glad you noticed,”
said
Ruth. “It’s
not like I did anything drastic and incredibly consequential to prove
it after being quite reasonably denied by you for years. No, I was
too subtle. I should have been even more obvious.”
“That
would probably have involved explosions,”
I
said.
“Hey,
I almost ordered a big fireworks display for your gender-reveal party
before I realized the campus is in the middle of a habitually-dry
mountain forest ecosystem.”
“So
that’s why you went with the party where you invited everyone in
the dorm? You needed the equivalent of fireworks? And that was…in
freshman year. Dammit. How long have you been crushing on me?”
“Since
October of that year? You got really passionate about democracy in
Professor Solinskyy’s class and I thought, damn, this is the one
for me.”
“Well
then,”
I
said, “were
we not under the doom of Apollo’s prophecy, I would be very happy
to make a nest with you.”
“Wait,”
said
Rook. “Doom?”
“Think
about it,”
I
said. “If
Ruth is my home and I’m hers, and you’re our adopted child, and
odysseys are about reaching home…”
“Uh
oh,”
said
Rook.
“We’re
going to get separated,”
said
Ruth.
“Highly
probable,”
I
said. “And
even if we glue each other together, well, right now we’re in a
Greek story. In those ones, your fate will happen to you, no matter
how you try to avoid it.”
“So
let’s not be in a Greek story,”
said
Rook.
“I’d
rather be in an American story,”
said
Ruth. “I
want to be a tall-tale hero. Riding the whirlwind and lassoing the
sun and all.”
“Well
if we want to do that,”
I
said, “We
have to start bragging to someone. Can’t be a tall tale if you
don’t tell the tale, right? And right now we’re trying to avoid
running into anyone, so we can only tell tales to each other –”
“What
about to the birds?” said
Rook.
I
opened my beak to object, but then I paused. Rook was right. The
birds could listen. The birds could tell our stories to other people.
The birds could believe our stories because they were bird-brains. I
got up and went over to Rook and patted them on the beak. “Rook,
you’re a genius. I’m so glad we adopted you.”
“Shucks,”
said
Rook. They put their head under their wing and pretended to sleep.
I
went back to Ruth and sat beside her, trying to think of what sort of
wild nonsense I could come up with. Nothing came to mind quickly.
We
leant against each other, and dozed a good long while.
…
That
nightfall, Ruth and I were hunting for beetles when I heard a curious
twittering from the birds. “Here
comes the traveler! How swiftly he walks! Always in a hurry!”
I
raised my head from digging through leaf litter when I saw a fellow
in the distance, strolling along merrily through the mess of fallen
branches and piles of stones like he was moseying down a country
lane. And then, faster than I had expected, he was only in the middle
distance. And then he was moseying right up to us.
He
had on hiking gear, complete with a hiking stick, wide-brim hat and
one of those backpack water bottles with the sipping tube that goes
over the shoulder. But the wings on his hat and on his boots would
have given him away even if I hadn’t been involved with the
Olympians. I crossed my arms and waited for him to speak.
“Rani,”
said Ruth, “you are being rude to our guest.”
The
fellow laughed. “Understandable, my family doesn’t exactly have a
good reputation even among the polytheists. And I hear my half-sister
hasn’t exactly been nice to you. Nor you to her, it seems! Ah, but
sometimes she deserves it.”
“What
exactly do you want, Hermes.”
“I
just want to keep an eye on you!” said Hermes. “Keep you safe, I
mean. If you’ll accept my guidance. Maybe I could help you get
messages back to your fellows –”
“I
will not accept the guidance of one who calls themself a god. If I
were to do so, I would be allowing you greater scrutiny over our
journey, and possibly even breaking faith with Heaven. No thank you.”
Hermes
looked annoyed. “I’m just trying to help. Roads are dangerous
these days, you know? If you wanted, I could give you all disguises,
let you get across the plains faster. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.”
I
turned to Ruth. “Love,
what is your opinion?”
Ruth
shook her head. “We can’t guarantee who you’re working for,
trickster. Could be you’re not working for us. Could be you’re
working for Zeus. Or yourself. Rook, what about you?”
Rook
looked up from their meal of mule deer. “The
birds seem to like him. I’m in favor.”
“Two
of them do not,”
I
said. “So
the nays have it. We do not need your guidance, Olympian.”
Hermes
looked disappointed. “Can’t I even deliver your messages?”
“You
would be no more swift, and much less secure, than the Postal
Service.”
Hermes
crossed his arms. “Those guys! I’m always competing with them.
And their Postal Inspectors don’t miss a trick, either. I can’t
count the number of times I’ve tried and failed to get one by them
– Ah. Perhaps I have made it sound as though I have given the game
away.”
“You’re
Hermes. You always have a game.”
“Not
always!” said Hermes. “Like right now.” He brought a palm-sized
drawstring bag out of his pocket and tossed it at me. I did not even
flinch, but continued to keep my arms crossed as it landed atop my
beak and sat there.
“What
was that for?” said Ruth, as she lifted the bag off my face. “Wait,
coins? What for?”
“Paying
for an envelope and stamps,” said Hermes. “Don’t open that
until you get to the post office. I really want to help you guys.
I…don’t like what Doctor Morrow is doing either. Can’t I just
–”
Rook
was standing over Hermes in a second, with their face right close.
“Mamas
decided. They need no help from you. Go.”
Hermes
was out of our sight faster than he had come in.
“Rook,”
I
said, “That
was really rude. Don’t escalate a situation that quickly, alright?
Not unless someone is making threats.”
“You
seemed scared of him, mama.”
“And
another thing, I’m not your mother. I mean – we adopted you and
stuff but I’m not a mother. Or father. Um. Not sure what the right
word is for me. Just call me Rani.”
“Yes,
elder.”
I
sighed. Well, that would have to do.