Chapter 21

Eurydice came back to consciousness screaming. A million memories flooded her mind. Everything she left behind in the river of Lethe smacking her upside the head.

”Eurydice? Eurydice!” Hermes”s voice broke through the chaos that occupied her mind. Eurydice turned around and saw Hermes sitting next to her on the chaise in Orpheus”s main hall.

Orpheus was standing behind Hermes, a concerned look on his face. He was pale. Everything about him looked muted. Eurydice”s memories settled into her body like it was a physical muscle memory. There was a roaring in Eurydice”s ears; she could see Hermes”s mouth moving, but she couldn”t hear a thing he was saying. She couldn”t stop staring at Orpheus. The only thing left in Eurydice”s body was rage.

Unadulterated, uninhabited rage.

All the love she had once felt for Orpheus was still there in the remnants of her mind, but it had no power over it, no potency. The only thing she could see in her mind”s eye over and over again was Orpheus”s face as he turned away from her and left her to die again in that cave.

”You,” Eurydice growled. Rose thorns started wrapping themselves around her arms and legs; vines began creeping in from the garden outside. She stood up slowly, raising her hand and pointing a single finger at Orpheus. Hermes”s eyes widened, and he held his hands up in mock surrender, jumping over the back of the chaise and taking several steps back.

”Hermes!” Orpheus hissed, staring at the god. ”What the hell have you done?”

”He did exactly what he needed to,” Eurydice growled, her voice dropping into a lower register. Her body was practically vibrating in holy anger. All the deceit and hurt from her relationship with Orpheus was itching under her skin like insects. Orpheus looked around the room anxiously, making a panicked, squeaking sound when he realized the room was already half overgrown with plants and vines in the matter of a few short seconds.

”Eurydice, my love,” Orpheus held up his hands, ”I didn”t want you to know! I wanted us to have a fresh start. I thought...”

”I don”t give a damn what you thought!” Eurydice snapped. Her heart was pounding, but her voice was as cold as stone. ”You are a cheat and a liar, Orpheus. You thought you would just arrive in the Underworld and pick up our relationship like your betrayal never happened? Like you never left me here to die?”

”Technically, you were already dead...”

”You made me crawl up from hell to be with you again! For what?”

”She has a point.” Hermes shrugged nonchalantly, suddenly very preoccupied with examining his nails. Orpheus scowled and briefly turned his attention to Eurydice.

”You fucking look at me,” Eurydice snapped. Orpheus”s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and he almost broke his neck turning his attention back towards her.

”I don”t even know what to do with you right now,” Eurydice hissed, stepping closer to him. She was practically vibrating with her fury, but her voice remained steady. The vines creeping in from the garden were practically at the ceiling of the massive room, giving the entire house the appearance of a home that had suddenly been abandoned fifty years ago. It had an eerie effect. Orpheus swallowed thickly, and sweat broke out on his brow as he watched Eurydice step closer to him.

”Let”s forget the past,” Orpheus tried lamely. ”I-I know I fucked up, but we were young!”

”You were a grown man,” Eurydice countered, ”and I was on this earth for a hundred years before you were even born.”

”Good point.” Orpheus looked around nervously. ”Can we even try? I mean, I have been putting up with your moods ever since... Oh god.” Orpheus stopped himself short, pinching the bridge of his nose as he realized his slip up.

Eurydice was silent for a perilous, disturbingly long minute. Even Hermes, who was standing in the corner with a delighted look on his face, didn”t say anything.

”You have been ”putting up with me”?” Eurydice fumed. Thorny stems had started growing out of her hair, tangling with her braid.

”That”s not what I meant...”

”You callous fool!” Eurydice spat. ”Orpheus, you are everything that could be wrong with a man. I cannot, c-cannot...” Eurydice cursed herself as her voice broke. She didn”t want to show a single stitch of vulnerability in front of Orpheus; but curse her naive heart, which had simultaneously been reminded not only of Orpheus”s betrayal, but also of how much she really had loved him.

”I cannot stand to look at you,” Eurydice continued. ”I refuse to be in your presence, and I forbid you to ever be in mine again.” Orpheus started to interrupt, but Eurydice stopped him with a glare. ”If I had my way, every flower would die when you laid eyes upon it. The trees would keep the air from you; the stones would throw themselves at your body in my vengeance,” Eurydice started to shout. Twisted, angry thorns started creeping in from the outside and covered the floor, effectively pinning Orpheus in a corner of the room.

”You decided that you wanted to rebuild a relationship based on lies, you used me! You wanted me to forget all about the fact that you left me to die in between worlds while you ran towards the sun. Never again, Orpheus, never again.”

”If you would just listen to me!” Orpheus pleaded, dropping to his knees. Eurydice took notice of the pained look on his face when he landed in thorns.

Eurydice took one step closer, spinning her pointer finger in a small circle. The thorns responded, twisting themselves around Orpheus”s wrist. Eurydice snapped her fingers, and the thorns pulled free, drawing blood from Orpheus. He howled in response, grabbing at his wounds. The foliage cleared a path for Eurydice as she stepped towards him, bending down and grabbing his chin. She forced him to look up at her, her eyes ablaze with fury.

”Orpheus, with your blood to mark this deal, I abandon you. Your god abandoned you, and now your muse leaves you bleeding in a bed of thorns. May you never sing my name again.”

Eurydice turned on her heel and walked out, refusing to listen to Orpheus”s cries of protest as they echoed out behind her. She waved her hand in the air, and the vines and thorns shot forward. Eurydice was content to let them overtake the entire house.

Let Orpheus pluck and prune them out of his precious estate, thorn by thorn. Eurydice”s thoughts were wicked and full of vengeance while her heart was bleeding, matching each drop of Orpheus”s red blood on the white marble floor, drop for drop.

Eurydice walked right out of the house and towards the garden, collapsing only when she retreated to the shade of her grove. As she wept and struggled to contain her composure, the meticulously cared-for garden started dying.

Every petal fell to the ground and browned. The green grass withered underneath Eurydice”s feet. Everything keeled over and dried out, a physical manifestation of the life that Eurydice had once thought she would have—now dead and dying all around her. She didn”t know who she was anymore; if only she”d never met Orpheus.

”Musicians, eh?” Hermes”s soft voice appeared in the fruit grove. ”It seems like a rite of passage that every woman has her heart broken by a musician at least once. I know I have.” Hermes shrugged.

Eurydice was silent for a moment, looking up at Hermes in a mild state of shock. Hermes waggled his eyebrows dramatically, and Eurydice couldn”t help it; she started laughing. She nearly rolled over onto her side, hugging her ribs until they hurt from laughing too hard. Hermes plopped himself down in the dirt next to Eurydice rather unceremoniously, watching with a sad smile as her laughter turned into tears.

”Oh, sweet muse,” Hermes sighed. He opened his arms up and pulled Eurydice into his chest. She started crying harder, every last tear wrung out of her. Hermes said nothing; he simply held her and waited for her soft cries to end. He busied himself by plucking some of the errant thorns out of her hair. Eurydice finally sat up slowly and pulled away from Hermes”s grasp, wiping at her eyes.

”I”m terribly sorry. I don”t want to cry any more over him, but...”

”Eurydice?” Pan”s voice suddenly rang out through the courtyard. ”Are you here?” Eurydice and Hermes turned around, just in time to see Pan running down the central aisle of the garden.

”What happened?” Pan took in the sight of Eurydice, red-eyed and sniffling, next to Hermes underneath the dying tree. ”If Orpheus did something, I”ll kill him!” Pan roared, his worry turning to rage in a matter of seconds as he comprehended the look on Eurydice”s face.

”No need,” Eurydice shook her head and stood up slowly. ”I ended things with Orpheus.”

”You... You ended things with Orpheus?” Pan repeated, his voice suddenly turning as quiet as a whisper. There was a stunned look on his face that Eurydice didn”t know how to comprehend.

Did Pan never suspect I”d actually leave Orpheus?

”Pan,” Hermes interjected. He stood up to his full height, looking every part the stern father. ”Maybe this isn”t the best time for this conversation. I was going to walk Eurydice back to her home.”

”Like hell you are,” Pan growled. ”What are you even doing here?”

Eurydice held up her hand and silenced the two gods. ”No, Hermes.” She turned to Pan. ”Pan and I need to have a conversation.”

Pan”s face morphed once more, suddenly looking concerned. He walked closer to her until he was standing in the grove between Hermes and Eurydice.

”All right,” Pan nodded slowly, ”I suppose we are due for a conversation. I sensed your magic and all the plants in the garden dying...and last night...”

”No,” Eurydice cut Pan off with a snap, ”that”s not what I want to talk to you about.”

Pan blanched and looked over at his father. ”Can we have this conversation in private?”

”At the moment, I”m inclined to do whatever the pissed off immortal nymph wants me to do.” Hermes shrugged. ”I don”t feel like having thorns wrapped around me between my legs.”

”He stays,” Eurydice ordered. She crossed her arms in a defensive manner, hating that it most likely looked as though she was trying to hug herself to feel some modicum of comfort amongst the chaos she had been dropped into that morning. The past twenty-four hours were enough to send anyone into a downward spiral.

Fuck your best friend, drink a truth serum, discover your husband and best friend have been lying to you, ask for help from your friend’s dad, Eurydice”s mind ran through everything that had happened in the past day, and it exhausted her.

”I know, Pan.”

Eurydice was quiet as she said the words. She looked away, unable to make eye contact as she shuffled her feet. Not a single sound was made in the garden; only the wind moving through the dried grass made any semblance of noise. After a few moments, Eurydice picked her head up and looked at Pan. He wasn”t saying anything, just staring, his mouth falling open.

”Say something!” Eurydice begged, tears welling up fresh in her eyes again. She couldn”t handle the thought of losing Pan in any way, but she was furious. He had kept secrets from her too.

”You... You know…” Pan repeated, sounding like his mouth was full of wool and it was awkward to speak. ”You know, and you left Orpheus.”

”Of course I fucking left him!” Eurydice screamed. The last of her composure snapped, and she threw herself at Pan. He caught her before she hit the ground, and Eurydice responded by pounding on his chest. Tears were openly streaming down both of their faces now as Pan did nothing to stop Eurydice. He held her while she started to sob again, railing against his chest with tiny, balled up fists.

”You knew! You knew! You knew, and you didn”t tell me, Pan! I thought we were friends.”

”Gods below,” Pan moaned, sounding as though his heart was equally breaking in half, ”It was killing me. You have to know that, Eurydice. It was killing me inside. I couldn”t sleep. I couldn”t breathe knowing that you were with him, and you didn”t know the truth...”

”You should”ve told me!” Eurydice shrieked, finally putting some weight on her legs and standing up. She pushed against Pan”s chest again and nearly sent him sprawling backward. ”I can”t understand why you wouldn”t tell me. Make me understand!”

”It was Hades!” Pan cried, holding out his arms towards her. ”It”s a law—no, it’s practically a covenant. We can”t tell people the truth if they choose to drink from Lethe. You were in so much pain before...”

”Do you think I”m not in pain now?” Eurydice snapped back, and Pan shook his head.

”You were in pain, and you wanted to drink from the river. I tried to stop you, but it was your choice, and I wasn”t going to take your choice away. But when Orpheus died, and he came back here, Hades made it very clear that there would be lives on the line if someone told you.”

Eurydice started shaking. Her vision was going blurry, and she barely had the strength to stand anymore. Pan was her best friend. After last night, she realized that she also loved him more than anyone she”d ever known. Now, with the full extent of her memories back, she knew it was true.

”I”ve never loved Orpheus like I love you,” Eurydice said the words out loud.

Pan sucked in a shuddering gasp, tears falling fresh down his face. He reached for Eurydice once more.

”Please, believe me. Everything I”ve done was to make sure you were happy, that you had choices. If Orpheus was going to make you happy, then I would”ve stepped aside...”

”It”s too late,” Eurydice started sobbing, sucking in air as if she couldn”t get enough oxygen. Her heart was racing so quickly, she thought she might pass out. ”I can”t... I can”t think right now. It”s too much.”

”We”re done here.” Hermes stepped in between Pan and Eurydice. He held his hand out to stop Pan from advancing any further.

”Father—”

”No.” Hermes”s voice was firm. He wrapped an arm around Eurydice. ”I”m taking her out of here.”

Eurydice hardly comprehended anything else; the last thing she remembered was floating away on a golden, glimmering cloud of power while Orpheus”s dead garden got smaller and smaller beneath her.

The look on Pan”s face as she floated away with Hermes was the most destroyed, despondent expression she”d ever seen on his face. Somehow, that hurt more than anything.