Chapter Twenty-One #2
On the other side of the doors was a large room overlooking the sea with a swimming pool outside.
There were low meandering walls built into the floor, twisting and winding in random patterns with benches and chaises at various dead ends and one larger open area in the center with a single bench.
Sitting atop the center bench was another cloaked figure, though this one a man with the hood off.
“Welcome,” he said, motioning for them to come closer.
Dani held on to Theo’s hand tight as they all made their way toward the center of the room like Dorothy and her friends in The Wizard of Oz.
“What is this place?” Andreas asked, looking around the room, running his hand along the walls.
“This is the Labyrinth. I take it, you have not heard of it, Dr. Demetrious?”
“You know who I am?” Andreas asked.
“I know who all of you are. An interesting cast of characters. Dr. Andreas Demetrious, archaeologist at the National Archaeological Museum. Christos Samara, food purveyor and cousin to Dr. Demetrious. Daniela Guiterrez, American librarian. And Dr. Theo Galanis, the dead Greek American archaeologist. Except it seems, maybe not all dead.”
“But how do you know who we are?” Andreas asked.
“I make it my business to know who might be searching for the eye of the Minotaur,” the man said.
“And who are you, exactly?” Theo interrupted. “You seem to know all about us, but you haven’t introduced yourself.”
“You can call me ιερ?α?.”
“Priest,” Theo said.
“That is correct.”
“And what are we doing here? Where are we even?”
“Like I said, I make it my business to know who might be searching for the eye. I’d heard about your incident yesterday at the National Library. We, the Minotaur’s Children, are very protective of our father. We can’t have anyone searching the grounds at Poseidon’s temple after hours.”
“So then you know where it is?” Andreas asked.
“Where what is?”
“The eye.”
The priest laughed. “Oh no. That’s a myth.”
Dani and Theo looked at each other, confused, and then looked back at the priest.
“I’m sorry, what is it exactly that the Minotaur’s Children are worshiping then?” Dani asked.
“We celebrate the strength and virility of the Minotaur,” the priest said, smiling almost with adoration.
The virility of the Minotaur? They were celebrating the lovemaking between Pasiphae and the bull? Theo scanned the room, and the benches and chaises took on a whole new light.
“The Minotaur’s Children…is a sex cult?” Theo asked.
The priest looked mortified. “Oh goodness, no,” he said, holding his hand to his chest as he started laughing. “Is that what you were thinking?”
“Um…yeah. You haven’t exactly told us who you are or what we’re doing here,” Theo said. “Virility? I mean, come on. Did the Minotaur even have any children? Not to mention this place. This is like a swingers’ paradise,” he said, motioning to the furnishings.
He’d heard some far-fetched ideas in his years, but most of those remained in the mythology books.
“We are a society who seeks to protect the truth of the Minotaur. Descendants of Theseus, who harnessed its true strength.”
Andreas laughed. “So, in other words, you can’t have Demetrios Papantonis taking the glory from Theseus, is that right?”
“Demetrios Papantonis was nothing but a storyteller,” the priest said.
“Cool,” Dani chimed in. “I’m sorry, but why did you bring us here?”
Leave it to her to cut out the bullshit.
“There’s nothing out there,” the priest said, standing from the bench.
“I’m saving you the trouble of wasting more time than you already have searching for a nonexistent relic.
Trust me, we’ve looked. The library upstairs is full of just about every writing that even mentions the Minotaur.
Over the years, the Minotaur’s Children have followed every lead.
And it seems we eventually came to the same conclusion after studying Demetrios Papantonis’s writings as you did about the Temple of Poseidon.
But after countless days and hours searching the temple over the course of years, we’ve determined that Papantonis’s words were nothing but a metaphor.
The temple is merely a place for us to worship the spirit of the Minotaur. ”
“Then why remove all evidence that he existed?” Andreas asked.
“Because we needed to protect the sanctity of Theseus. If people thought Theseus had been fooled into letting a powerful gemstone like the eye out of his grasp, he would have lost credibility,” the priest explained.
“You were worried about his credibility? The man lied and deserted the woman who saved him on a beach!” Dani said. “Unbelievable. You could have told us all this back at the temple. You didn’t need to scare the shit out of us by tossing us in a shady-ass van and driving us to this house.”
“Well, if I’m being honest—” the priest started.
“Please,” Dani interrupted. “Honesty would be lovely.”
Theo snickered. He hoped she never got rid of that sass.
The priest paused, twisting his mouth. He clearly didn’t like it as much.
“As I was saying, the way the Minotaur’s Children have thrived all these years is by recruiting members.
And who better to join our ranks than other Minotaur hunters, men who’ve found their way to the Temple of Poseidon, searching the grounds for the Minotaur’s remains? ”
“So, let me get this straight,” Andreas said, bringing his hands into a steeple in front of his face and placing his index fingers on the bridge of his nose. “You brought us here to…become members?”
“Well, not all of you,” the priest said, looking at Dani.
“Why? Because I’m not Greek?”
“No, not that,” the priest said.
Dani rolled her eyes. “I bet they don’t even acknowledge that Theseus only succeeded because of Ariadne,” she said under her breath. Theo couldn’t help but chuckle.
“What if we don’t want to join your…” Cult, Theo thought to himself. “Society?”
“The choice is yours. No harm will come to you if you decline.”
“What will happen to us if we decline?” Theo asked. “Aren’t you afraid that we’ll tell others what we saw here?”
“Who would believe you? There are few mentions of Demetrios Papantonis in history. Aside from his journal, which has questionable origins, there are no mentions of the eye of the Minotaur in any historical writings. And no member of the Minotaur’s Children will reveal their association, if you’re able to discover their identity in the first place.
But as a show of good faith, my name is Lysander Stavrou, and I am a member of the Hellenic Parliament.
“To be clear, we gain nothing by letting you go. But you, on the other hand, have much to lose if you reveal what you’ve learned here today. The Minotaur’s Children is full of many powerful people who don’t take threats lightly.
“Either way, you are welcome to stay here tonight. I promise, you will be safe. And if you choose to leave, tomorrow, Dr. Galanis, we will arrange for you and Ms. Guiterrez to go back to the United States. I know there are many people who would be delighted to see that you are alive and well,” Lysander said.
“I have a connection at the embassy,” Andreas said, proudly.
“I know,” Lysander said, causing all of them to glance at one another, “but your friend can only speed up the process. Dr. Galanis, Ms. Guiterrez, you’ll be on the plane tomorrow if you so decide.”
A rush of emotions swelled in Theo’s chest, and he needed to sit down. Dani helped him to a bench and sat next to him.
“Are you okay?” she asked, putting one hand on his back, the other on his forearm.
Theo let out a breath. “Yeah. It…it doesn’t feel real.”
“Well, we’re not home yet, but soon,” she said, taking his hand and kissing the back of it.
Thirteen months. It had been thirteen months since he’d left Michigan. And now? Now he’d finally be going home.
“So, have you made a decision?” Lysander asked.
Theo looked at Dani and put his hand on her cheek. “I made a promise,” he said to her, and then he turned to Lysander. “We’d like to go home.”
Dani squeezed his hand, sending another surge of emotions through him.
Lysander nodded. “And you two?” he asked Andreas and Christos.
Andreas crossed his arms, and Christos confusingly looked him up and down then quickly did the same.
“You’ve spent a lifetime discrediting my family,” Andreas said.
“Perhaps Demetrios was merely a storyteller, but he was real. You have my word that I won’t reveal anything we’ve heard here, but I also won’t pretend he didn’t exist. I will keep searching for proof of his life until the day I die.
So, no, I will not become a member of the Minotaur’s Children. ”
“What he said,” Christos followed up.
“Fair enough. We will show you to your rooms. Please, you are welcome to explore. Do whatever you’d like while you are our guests,” Lysander said.
“Do you have a phone we could use?” Theo asked.
“No phones. What happens at the Labyrinth stays at the Labyrinth. But I assure you, in the morning we will plan your reappearance into society. We can go to the press first. Or the embassy. Or take you straight to a telephone. Whatever you prefer.”
A man showed up in the doorway to take them to their rooms. They walked down the hall silently, Dani holding on to Theo’s arm with her head on his shoulder. One by one, the man dropped them off at their rooms—Andreas, then Christos, and finally Dani and Theo.
“Think we’ve downgraded to a cot?” Dani asked outside the door.
Theo smiled and thought, I hope so. Because he wanted to be as close to Dani as possible.
The door opened, and inside was a sleek, modern bedroom with a low king-size bed, acacia nightstands and dresser, sitting area with a fireplace and mahogany-colored leather chairs, and floor-to-ceiling windows.
Sure beat his living arrangements at the farm with Maurice and Louis.
“If you push this button, the windows will tint, and no one will be able to see in,” the man explained, standing at a switch panel on the wall. “And this button lowers the shades. There’s a similar panel in the bathroom.”
Dani walked around the room, running her hands along the furnishings.
“Are there any clothes we could borrow to sleep in?” she asked. “All we have are these.” She held up a bag with her stuff from the beach and pointed at Theo’s satchel.
“Of course. You’ll find sets of sleeping attire in the bathroom. They might be a little large for you. We don’t often have visitors of your…size,” the man said.
Read: women.
“If there is anything else you need, please do not hesitate to ask. I’ll leave you for now,” the man said, giving them a little bow and exiting the room.
Theo blew out a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair.
“How are you feeling?” Dani asked, coming up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Honestly, I’m still in shock. This is happening, right? I’m not imagining this?”
“No, you’re not imagining it,” she said, smiling.
“I guess I’m wondering, what if this is all a ruse, too?”
“I suppose we won’t really know until the morning. But this feels different than before, no?”
“It feels different,” he said. He then smiled and leaned down to kiss her, pulling her up into his arms as she wrapped hers around his neck.
Finally, things felt…good.
“Mmm…” she murmured once her lips parted from his, “I never get tired of kissing you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She planted another quick kiss on his lips. “I’ve still got beach on me. Shall we go get clean so that we can get dirty again? That bed is definitely a mattress tostada, not a taco.”
“Sure,” he said, smiling. “You know what’s funny?”
“What’s that?” she asked, linking her fingers with his and guiding him to the bathroom.
“I’ve been in Greece for over a year, sleeping on a mattress on the floor in a one-room cottage with Maurice and Louis, yet in the last week since you got here, I’ve stayed the night in the two nicest houses I’ve ever set foot in.
Of course, I was being held hostage both times, but still.
I mean, have you ever seen a place like this before? ”
They entered the bathroom with a wall of windows on two sides and a large bathtub big enough for two in the corner facing out.
“Theo, you seem to forget I haven’t seen anything before this excursion,” she said with a bit of a chuckle. “Um, do you really think no one can see in?” she then asked, motioning toward the windows.
“Here, let’s try the switch.” He flipped the switch, and the tint of the windows changed slightly, but they could still see out perfectly well.
“I’m not sure I believe people can’t see in. What if they’re only saying that so they can spy on us when we’re naked?”
“Why don’t I go down there and see?” he said, wrapping his arms around her from behind and nodding toward the outside area below their room. “I’ll give you a thumbs-up if it’s opaque and come back.”
“Okay. I’ll start the water.”
He gave her another quick kiss, then left her alone in the bathroom and closed the door.
As he was about to exit the bedroom, however, he stopped by her beach bag and dug around for the condoms. There they were.
He loved that she was thinking about that when they were in the store.
He grabbed a few, putting two in his pocket just in case and another couple in the nightstand so they’d be prepared for later.
Once that was all settled, he made his way outside to the gardens.
He looked up at their room. If Dani was standing there, he couldn’t see her.
So he gave a thumbs-up and waved, hoping that she saw him.
He then turned around, staring out at the sea, feeling a sense of relief for the first time in months.
No, it wasn’t that. It was something else.
Happiness.