Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Sylvia and I sit at the table in Doug’s room, eating the stew he purchased for us in the tavern below. It’s hot but not scalding, and everything about it is excellently prepared, making it the perfect comfort food.
Yet, I find no solace sitting exactly where I was when I found out Mom died. The awkward stares from all my friends don’t help either. It’s so strange that I can share so many happy memories with them all and yet they have no clue who I am.
Cait and Guy squint at me like I’m the weirdest creature they’ve encountered.
I haven’t told anyone yet that I’m in a relationship with the two of them.
Or I was, at least. I suppose them not remembering me means that we’re over.
In which case, I’m sitting in a room with three friends and three exes.
Because I’m not a horse anymore, my ability to cry is back.
I couldn’t hold back these tears with a dam.
“This all must be so traumatizing for you,” Guy says.
“Honestly, turning into a horse isn’t close to the worst thing that’s happened to me since I got here,” I say and squeeze Sylvia’s hand.
“I can’t believe you all forgot us,” Sylvia whispers. She looks at Guy. “I met you the second week we were here. I was with Tara. Do you remember Tara?”
“Of course I remember her! She—” Guy winces and presses his fingers against his temple, scowling in agony. “God, why can’t I remember where she is?”
“Because of why she isn’t here,” I say. “We were all attacked by some Zeus worshippers so they could kill me. She got possessed by an eidola during the battle and didn’t trust herself to remain safe around us after that.”
Guy rubs his back right where her dagger hit him. “Something sounds familiar about a battle with players but nothing else.”
“I guess that’s something,” I say with a sigh.
Cait remains squinting at me but with distrust this time. “Why would Zeus want you dead? Did you do something horrible?”
Sylvia pipes in for me. “She treated the NPCs with compassion, and they came to life. Zeus wants them to remain NPCs.”
Cait arches an eyebrow. “The NPCs came to life? That’s more unbelievable than her being the Cleric of Aphrodite.”
I drop my spoon into my now-empty bowl. “Fine. You want proof that we know each other? I’ll give it to you. Cait, you like video games and sports, but your parents don’t think it’s ladylike, so you’ve been doing it in secret all this time.”
Cait’s jaw drops, but I don’t wait for her to respond to me with words. I look at Guy.
“I don’t want to say this out loud, because you told me in confidence,” I say. “But I’ll say that you have always been beautiful, even before I met you, even if you hated your own face. I’m glad you made it here, and so are you.”
Then I turn to Joshua. “I’ll admit that I don’t know that much about you,” I say.
“I didn’t attempt to because when we met, you made some lewd suggestions about me, thinking that I might be a romanceable NPC.
What I know is that you and Miko have something going on, and I hope you feel extremely lucky that a woman this hot is even tolerating you. ”
If they were all gawking at me before, it’s even more apparent now.
“How do we not know you?” Cait asks, looking mystified.
Miko answers, “Because a god turned her into a monster. It’s like when Hekate turned me into an empusa, and my entire party forgot I existed.”
Cait winces just as Guy did a moment ago. Then she shakes herself out of the moment. “It’s almost like I can remember her talking to you about that.”
I wonder if I can break through this spell by pushing their memories to that brink. It might give them all migraines, but it’s worth it to me.
“Sylvia used to cook all our meals,” I say. “Her boiled grains with honey were the bomb!”
They all moan in pain at that. I guess good food leaves a long impression. I think about reminding them an eidola possessed her. That’s a big memory, but that would mean potentially causing them to distrust her.
“She has a wolf companion, but we haven’t seen him since we boarded the boat for Thrace,” I say.
Sylvia droops her head. “I really miss Marshmallow.”
As my friends cry out in pain, I continue. I talk about herding the cercopes and the girls’ day out. I remind them of Dolius and Cyrus. I tell Guy that he saved the day for me when he silenced everyone outside of our party so my social anxiety wouldn’t get the better of me.
I save the most impressive memories for last, at least the ones that involved most of my party.
“We battled a dracaenae on the road from Thebe to Dardanus,” I say.
“She was way OP’d. Then there was the fight with the Zeus worshippers.
Cait, you didn’t want to hurt a player and wouldn’t fight them.
That got you killed, but fortunately their cleric brought you back to life.
Cetus attacked us on the ship to Thrace.
If not for Alexander shooting him in the head, none of us would be alive.
Alexander also helped us take down the chaos dragon.
And Guy…” I look at him, my heart hurting all over again.
“That’s when you died, and I used up one of my three Kisses of Life to bring you back. ”
Guy touches his lips, and I think I see some flicker of familiarity there, but it’s gone in an instant when Sylvia says, “Where is Alexander, anyway?”
Miko rolls her eyes. “I told him to hit the road. He kept going on and on about how we needed to find—” She grabs her head and screams. “Ow!”
I bolt up from my chair and look around at my friends. “Do you know where he went? How long ago was that?”
Everyone but Joshua shakes their heads, who nods and says, “Alexander went to the temple. I saw him there earlier today just standing around Aphrodite’s statue. That NPC is super broken. Someone needs to take him out of the game.”
“Absolutely not!” I cry out. “He’s supposed to help me with the Khione quest.”
“What is this quest you keep talking about?” Doug asks.
“Aphrodite has a message for her,” I answer. “A secret one. She doesn’t want Zeus figuring it out.”
“Zeus again?” Cait asks. “What a dick.” She slaps a hand over her mouth, and her eyes widen in embarrassment.
I giggle. “You swore.”
“I-I didn’t mean to,” she says.
“That’s the second time I’ve heard you do it,” I say. “Believe it or not, you’ve changed a lot since I met you. Only in the best possible ways. Everything that I lo—liked about you stayed the same.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“We need to get to Alexander,” Sylvia chimes in, giving me a knowing look. She knows I’m not ready for that conversation with Cait yet.
“First, you need to check your stats and inventory,” Miko says. “When you shifted, you didn’t even have clothes on. Remember?”
Thank fuck for game logic. Our clothes, our gear, everything was in that mysterious space that all player inventory goes to. I guess it was too much trouble to clear it out when Zeus could just turn us into monsters instead. Our stats, spells, skills, and favors are all the same as well.
After confirming that we had all of that back, I was eager to get to the temple immediately, but then I remembered that’s the worst place for me to go. Zeus is there. The moment I step inside, hood up or not, he’ll know I escaped his monster curse. Sylvia couldn’t go in for the same reason.
So we have to leave this up to the people who don’t even remember us. Sylvia and I have been waiting in Doug’s room for what seems like forever. I’m pretty sure my tapping toes have made a groove in the wooden floor. Sylvia’s nails may never grow back with how much she’s been biting them.
I just hope that Alexander understands Guy when he sees my cloak. They can’t exactly tell the NPC that I’m in the inn waiting to talk to him. Not with Zeus right there.
The door clicks, and I jump from my seat at Doug’s table. It creaks open so slowly that I wonder if the inn is haunted. I’d rather deal with a ghost than one of Zeus’s worshippers. Neither of those options walks through the door, however.
Doug and Cait drag a wounded Alexander through the door while Guy, Joshua, and Miko walk behind them. They keep looking over their shoulders like someone might be following them. God, I hope they’re just being paranoid. I don’t want to be any more fucked than I already am.
As they enter the room, I see Alexander isn’t conscious. His head lolls on his right shoulder. A dark bruise is just visible on his hairline. Someone must have knocked him out. But why? He’s just a stray NPC.
“What happened?” I ask Guy as Cait and Doug stretch Alexander over the bed.
“There was a really long line to see Ares when we were talking to Alexander,” he explains. “And the worshippers there wanted to stretch into Aphrodite’s area since no one needed to talk to her, but Alexander wouldn’t let them. So one of them hit him on the head with the hilt of his sword.”
“Jesus Christ…” I whisper.
Miko’s already-black eyes seem to darken as the rest of her features flatten into grim lines. “When all the NPCs wake up, I hope they take care of players like that.” Her tone doesn’t leave any doubt in my mind that she’s serious.
“So you believe me about breaking the NPC coding?” I ask her.
“That dude was so insistent that he wait for Lauren to show up,” she says.
“Kept saying that you were meant to free people. He also put up a fight. The game’s story has always been that Alexander is cursed to never lift a blade, but he said that Aphrodite granted him permission to defend you in other ways. ”
“Whoa…” Doug says as he pulls a shotgun out of Alexander’s pocket. “Where did he get this?”
Cait blinks in surprise. “That’s a Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun!”
“Benelli what?” Miko asks.
“It’s a shotgun, and Cait’s cop dad used to have one,” I answer. “As for where Alexander got it, Aphrodite gave it to him because Zeus kept sending OP’d monsters after us. Now, step aside. I need to heal him.”