14. ZARA
ZARA
A raised eyebrow was the only response I got from Morpheus to the outfit I’d finally settled on.
I’d imagined up a dress that was very similar to the red silk one he’d magicked me into a few times, but shorter and with a bit more coverage for the girls, so he couldn’t say anything disparaging about the style of it.
Instead of being red though, it was the sickliest shade of bubble-gum pink I’d been able to muster up.
If Hubba Bubba and Candy Shrimps had a baby, this was the colour it would be.
It was hideous, and it stood out even more next to the sharp black suit he was wearing.
I managed not to giggle as he opened his mouth and then closed it again a few times, before shrugging and asking me if I was ready to commence my duties at last.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, boss. Take me to your dreamers.”
He gave me a warning look, and a few little sparks danced on his fingertips, but he didn’t shoot me with them, which I took as a good sign.
What wasn’t so good was that my dress was still the same atrocious pink as when I’d got here.
I’d only chosen the colour to wind him up, and I’d fully expected him to take one revolted look at it, snap his fingers and change it to the red he favoured.
Instead he’d totally ignored it, not even making a snarky comment about my lack of taste.
“We’re going to Italy tonight,” he announced.
“We’ve only got one message to deliver now, the other issue resolved itself without any intervention.
Hopefully the person we’re visiting will already be asleep, so if we’ve got time I’ll take you on a quick sightseeing tour when we’re done.
After all, it would be a shame to waste that delightful dress on someone who won’t even remember it in the morning. ”
His lip twitched as he said that, and I realised he had just been biding his time before he got me back for trying to annoy him.
“It’s such a perfect shade for you,” he continued. “In fact, I think your outfits should only ever be in that colour from now on Mathitevómenos. Ready?”
He held out a hand, and I took it hesitantly, gasping when he jerked me up against his chest and slipped his arms around my waist. “Don’t want to lose you halfway there.
” His power flared and the air around us rippled before I had a chance to answer.
When it cleared we were standing in a small room where a woman and two young children were squeezed into a rickety little bed that looked like it might collapse under their combined weight at any minute.
There was a definite chill in the air, and I saw one of the children shiver and clutch at the thin blanket that covered them.
“Dammit,” Morpheus muttered as he released me and turned towards the bed. “This isn’t right. Why isn’t he here?” Before I could ask him who ‘he’ was, Morpheus crossed to the door and disappeared through it without opening it.
“This is room six,” he said, coming back into the room the same way. “We wanted seven, not six. Having you with me must have thrown my aim off slightly.” He cast a pitying look at the little family occupying this room and shook his head. “I can’t leave them like this.”
He snapped his fingers and a heavy blanket appeared on the bed over the inadequate one they’d been huddling under.
The child who’d been shivering immediately snuggled into it, a contented little smile creeping onto his face.
Crossing to the bed, he laid his hand gently on the woman’s forehead and cocked his head as if he was listening to her thoughts.
“Bastard,” he muttered as he snapped his fingers again and placed a small stack of euros on the nightstand.
“That should get them some hot meals and a few more nights’ shelter until I can arrange something more permanent for them,” he said, turning back to me.
“But we’re going to have to add another visit to tonight’s list to get them sorted properly. Come on.”
He stepped through the door again and I hesitated to follow him.
“What’s the hold up?” His head appeared back in the room, while the rest of him was, disconcertingly, still on the other side of the door. “Oh. I forgot you’ve never done this before. Just take a deep breath and pretend you’re jumping in the pool.”
Reminding myself that my body wasn’t really here, I gingerly pushed against the door with the palm of my hand and shuddered when it sank into the wood and started to disappear.
I quickly pulled it back to make sure it was still there before trying again, pushing it in a little further this time, then gasped when Morpheus grabbed it from the other side and the rest of me was pulled through to join it.
“What is wrong with you?” I whisper-shrieked as I collided with his solid chest for the second time that night, but the only response I got was a smirk and “we haven’t got time for you to stand there doing the Hokey Cokey all night” before he pulled me through the other door as well, into the room we needed.
“What’s the message about?” I whispered, my curiosity making me forget I was cross with him.
“You don’t need to whisper. He won’t hear us.
This chap’s been running with the wrong crowd for a while now.
A small-time gang with big ambitions. He’s about to make a very bad choice and get involved with something that there won’t be any coming back from.
He’s not a bad person, just gullible and easily manipulated, and although he wants out, he thinks he’s already in too deep for them to let him leave.
So I’m going to suggest a way out. Something he should have thought of for himself, but it’s not easy to see clearly when you’re living in fear.
Of course, whether or not he follows my suggestion is down to him. ”
“And this matters to Zeus because?” I couldn’t see any reason why Zeus would be involving himself so closely in the affairs of mortals.
He sighed. “I keep forgetting how new to all this you are. I promise to explain it properly when we’ve finished for the night, but for now, can you hold off on the questions so I can get on with it?”
I nodded and he placed his hand on the man’s forehead, the same way he’d done with the woman in the other room.
This time he wasn’t listening though, his lips were moving as he whispered words I couldn’t hear.
The man’s expression scrunched up into a frown and then cleared, as if a weight had suddenly been lifted from him.
“I think that should do it. Hopefully when he wakes up in the morning, he’ll be filled with inspiration and ready to go in a totally different direction to the one he went to sleep worrying about. Let’s get out of here.”
This time I was more prepared when he grabbed me, and I was surprised at how comfortable it was starting to feel to be so close to him.
When the ripples cleared, we were standing in the shadows at the back of a church, a Catholic one if the statue of the Virgin Mary was anything to go by.
That impression was reinforced when a black robed priest carrying a prayer book and rosary approached us, doing a double take when he took in my dress.
“Nero, it’s good to see you again, my friend. Do you have another lost lamb for me to rescue? Is this…?” He looked at me in confusion, as if to say “she doesn’t look like she needs rescuing, unless it’s from her fashion choices”.
“Greetings, Father Nico. It’s good to see you too. This is my new assistant, Zara. She’s shadowing me at the moment while she learns the ropes.”
“Then welcome to my church, Zara. My door is always open to angels who are doing God’s work.” I stifled a snort as I wondered what he’d think if he knew which god’s work I was doing. “Why don’t you both come and join me in my study where we can talk in comfort.”
“How come he can see us when he’s awake?” I whispered as we followed the priest to his private space at the back of the church. “Shouldn’t we be invisible?”
“He sees us because I choose to let him see us,” he murmured back quietly.
“I’ve known Father Nico for a long time and…
no, there isn’t enough time to explain it now.
All you need to know is that he thinks I’m a wealthy philanthropist and that I occasionally call upon him to help out with deserving cases my charity organisation has been made aware of.
It’s far easier to let him think that than it is to explain the truth, so try not to put your foot in your mouth while we’re here.
Oh, and he knows me as Nero, so don’t go calling me Morpheus in front of him, okay? ”
“Got it,” I agreed, trying not to be annoyed at the implication I couldn’t keep a secret.
“What can I do for you this time, Nero?” Father Nico asked as he ushered us into his slightly shabby, but cosy, study and invited us to take a seat on the worn but surprisingly comfy sofa.
“There’s a hotel, well more of a hostel really, on the other side of the city.” He rattled off the name and location, and Father Nico frowned.
“I know of the place. Many lost souls find their way to it, but from what I hear, there is little comfort to be found there.”
Morpheus nodded. “There is a woman staying there with her two young children. Her husband abused her for years, physically, emotionally, and… in other ways too, but a few days ago, he raised his hand to the eldest child for the first time. It was the push she needed to leave him. She took what little money there was in the house, gathered what she could carry, and fled, but if she doesn’t get help soon she’ll have no alternative but to go back.
” I looked at him in awe. How had he managed to learn all that just by touching her forehead?
“Her name is Marietta Rossi,” he continued as he passed another stack of euros, this one considerably larger than the one he’d left for the woman, to Father Nico, “and she’ll need a safe place to stay until she can get back on her feet.”