Arik scowled at her. "I think you're beautiful as you are. Why would you want to change?"
Something warm tickled her at his words. "You're just trying to flatter me."
"No," he said seriously. "I'm only telling you the truth."
"Awww," Tory said dreamily. "He's such a sweetie. Can we keep him?"
Geary gave a nervous laugh. "He's not a puppy, Tory."
"Yeah, but we did fish him out of trouble. In some cultures that would make us responsible for him forever."
Arik gave her a hopeful grin. "And I wouldn't mind being kept for a while."
Geary shook her head at them. "You two are a terrible combination. Kind of like gasoline and fire." She looked past Arik's shoulder to see Kat entering the room finally. She had a very sour look on her face, as if something wasn't settling right with her. "Hey," Geary called out to Kat, catching her attention. "You okay?"
With an extremely fake smile, Kat walked over. "Yeah. Fine."
Tory set her shoe box to the side. "So where's the gorgeous ZT?"
Geary frowned at the name she didn't recognize. "Who?"
Tory made a clicking noise with her teeth like a woman calling a horse. "Kat was with this really cute guy on deck when you sent me up to check on her." She looked back at Kat. "Did he not stay?"
"No, he had to leave."
"ZT?" Arik asked with a speculative gleam in his eyes. "As in Zebulon?"
Kat gave a very curt nod.
Tory looked back and forth between them curiously. "You know him, too, Arik?"
"He knows him," Kat said in an odd tone. Her gaze was cutting as she met and held Arik's. "He sends you his best."
All emotion fled from Arik's features. "I'll bet he does. How is old ZT doing, anyway?"
"Charming as ever."
The sarcasm between them was so thick it could have been carved into an ice sculpture.
Arik put the unopened Reese's back inside the box as if he'd lost his appetite. "Nice to know some things never change."
Geary scowled even more. "How is it that you two have a mutual friend when you didn't know each other before today?"
"It's a small country," Kat said evasively. "The old families tend to stick together and Arik's has probably known ZT's for quite some time now."
"Yes," Arik said with a wry grin. "He's like a rash for which there's no cure. It only goes away for a bit before returning unexpectedly to ruin every pleasurable experience. He should have been named Herpes rather than ZT. Or maybe just Herpes Z, since he's a very special irritant."
Kat laughed. "Very aptly put, hell, it's even Greek and he is creepy-I'll give you that. But I wonder if he knows how you feel?"
"I'm sure he does. He's rather astute and I'm anything but subtle."
Okeydokey, this was getting a bit out of hand and she wanted to avoid a herpes discussion in front of
the walking/talking medical textbook who was only fifteen years old. So, trying to stave off the animosity and veer to safer territory, Geary stepped forward. "And on that happy note, children, I think we should all turn an eye to retiring. It's been a long day and we have a really big day tomorrow."
"Hear! Hear!" Teddy concurred from the other side of the room. "As long as we've been waiting for this excavation, I want to make sure that we all have one that's error free. We can't afford a single mistake, people."
There were a few grumbles, but overall everyone agreed. If they were to get cracking at dawn, then they needed their rest.
"So Where's Arik bunking?" Tory asked.
Geary hesitated. There really wasn't any place to put him without inconveniencing one of the guys. Their rooms were cramped at best, and she was sure none of them wanted to bunk with a stranger.
Arik gave her a hopeful look that brought an unexpected smile to her face. "I already have a roommate."
There was no missing Arik's disappointment. "Who?"
Tory rocked back and forth on her feet. "Me and Mr. Cuddles."
"Yeah," Geary said, nodding, "and Mr. Cuddles is a jealous sort. He doesn't share us well."
Arik didn't miss a beat. "Does this mean I'll have to fight him?"
"You'd never win," Tory said sweetly. "Mr. Cuddles cheats. You think he's just a pushover teddy bear, but he's vicious, I tell you. Vicious."
Kat cast a speculative look at Arik. "You could throw him on a hammock on deck."
Geary considered it. It actually wasn't a bad thought. "We will be up at dawn, so it wouldn't really wake him once we hit the deck..."
Tory leaned toward Arik. "Bet you're thinking you should have gone home, huh?"
"No," he said, his tone sincere. "I had a great time tonight." He looked at Tory and smiled. "And you're right. The mighty Moon Pie is the best. Thank you for sharing your treasure with me."
"Anytime." She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Good night, Arik. I'll see you in the morning.
Sweet dreams."
"You, too, Tory."
Kat gave him an odd look before she bid them good night and followed Tory to the hallway.
Thia came forward with a calculating gleam in her eyes. "Well, if no one else wants him... I could share my bunk with him."
"Go to bed, Cynthia," Geary said sharply, "before Justina kills you for pimping out your shared cabin."
Thia gave a weary sigh. "I was just trying to be friendly. They always say you shouldn't sleep alone in a strange bed."
"Yes, and they didn't have their cousin on board to watch over them, either. One who would report any sleazy behavior to their mother. Good night, Thia."
Tossing her hair over her shoulder in a huff, she left them alone.
Geary gave Arik a once-over as she realized he'd have to sleep in his borrowed jeans and shirt. "What are you going to do for clothes?"
"Solin said he'd return with something for me to wear in the morning."
"Ahh, okay. Well, I guess I'll grab a hammock and meet you topside."
Arik started to offer to go with her, but she was already feeling smothered by his presence. He would back off for a bit even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. "All right. I'll see you on deck."
He headed for the stairs to the upper deck while she went the other way, deeper into the boat. He paused at the handrail, amazed by the slick feel of it. Nothing here was what he'd expected. Especially not the food. He didn't know why the gods made such a fuss over ambrosia and nectar given how wonderful human food tasted.
Perhaps the gods were in denial because they were only supposed to have the best and it bothered them to think that mankind had perfected some of their world even while they battled one another.
Or maybe the gods honestly didn't know better.
Dismissing the thought, he climbed up to stand on deck as a light breeze whispered against his skin. The sensation was exquisite, but it was nothing compared to the sight of the city that sparkled over a velvet black landscape. The water lapped quietly against the boat as a faint jingle of music and laughter reached him. No wonder humans didn't want to die. Their world was remarkable, and their lives were made even more precious by the fact that they had so little time to spend here.
How did they do it? How did they exist knowing that the specter of death constantly haunted them? It was enough to depress anyone, and yet for the most part they were happy with their lot. They ignored their impending doom and inarched on toward their death with dignity and grace while finding shards of happiness to content them.
It was truly amazing.
But then they didn't know how long their lives would be. Decades or weeks. So they prepared for the worst and expected the best. It was actually rather noble.
And how strange it must be for Solin and ZT and the others to live this close to walking corpses. No wonder they were closed off from everyone. Who would want to reach out and befriend someone when he or she could be torn away from you at any moment? When there was no chance of a lasting relationship. Everything here was doomed to finality.
It must be horrifying for them all.
Arik looked back the way he'd come and wondered what Megeara would think if she knew her life was about to end.
Because of him.
He went cold with the thought. Now there was something he couldn't dwell on. He'd been naive when he'd made his bargain with Hades. Now there was no way back from it. As M'Ordant and Wink had pointed out, there would be others to beckon Arik back to this realm once Megeara was gone.
And yet he knew better. She was unique in this place of overwhelming emotions. In all the centuries, he'd never met anyone like her.
Where he lived, the human world seemed vague and unreal. But here it was vivid and extreme. Too extreme perhaps...
"Here you go."
He turned to find Megeara heading toward the prow. Her face was silhouetted by the moonlight.
"You're lucky we have these. Otherwise it'd be a pallet on the deck for you."
Arik watched as she set about stringing the hammock out. "You like to sleep in the hammock on cool nights, don't you?"
She looked up with a panicked expression. "How do you know that?"
He knew it from her dreams, but he didn't tell her that, since his goal was to soothe and seduce her, not scare her more. "From the look on your face and the skill you're showing as you lay it out."
She blushed before she returned to her task. "Yeah, I like to look up at the stars at night."
He knelt down to help her as she untangled some of the lines. "And what do you find when you look up there?"
Her hands worked deftly to straighten out the canvas and lace the cord through the grommets. "When I was a little girl, my father used to lay on deck with me and my brother and point out the constellations.
Then he'd tell us stories about how the Greek gods supposedly formed them."