poor specimen of humanity? If I were Hades, this would be one deal I’d walk away from; keep at least one world between him and Arkady.
When Arkady was finally settled in the chair and wrapped in his lap robe, Meg lightly touched Jeremy’s arm.
“Remember, go to Chinatown. You dropped Mr. Romanov at the clinic. You went to get his medicines and then you came back here to pick him up after his appointment. Okay?”
“Whatever you wish,” Jeremy droned, enraptured. Meg tried to look away from him, but couldn’t. The besotted look on his face was clearly painful for her to see.
“Let him go, Meg. The sooner he leaves, the sooner we get this over with.”
Meg withdrew her hand from his arm. “Go,” she said, her voice cracking.
Jeremy got back in the car and drove away.
“Let’s do this,” I said, as soon as he was out of sight. Meg choked and wiped her eyes, then paused to scratch and tuck in a wad of feathers.
“What’s taking so damn long!” Arkady began pounding on the arms of the chair. “Are you all incompetent? You’re all fired! Where’s Jeremy?”
“Filling out paperwork, sir,” Meg shouted, running to an area next to the clinic door. “It’s here, come on!” She touched the grimy wall and it darkened, like black watercolor spreading over a damp piece of paper.
“Jeremy!” thundered Arkady. “Take me to Jeremy!”
“Shut up!” I hissed, even knowing he couldn’t hear me very well. “You’re a vile, cheap, pickled”—I searched for the right word—“tapeworm!”
Meg, with her hands above her head leaning against the wall, snickered, then craned her head to gape at me.
“Tapeworm?”
“It’s all I could think of. Give me some time, I’ll come up with a hundred better ones.”
I pushed the dinosaur toward the opening.
“You’re out of time,” said a cheerful voice.
Demeter.
Dressed in pastel scrubs identical to ours, she stood in the clinic door, holding it wide. I really wanted to hurt her. Ditto for her daughter.
“It’s time for his herbal enema and face graft. I’ll take him.”
“I don’t think so,” said Meg, blocking her from Arkady and me. “We’re pushing him through. This is the end.” She crossed her arms, challenging the goddess to get physical.
Brave girl, Meg. Stupid, but brave …
Demeter’s laughter was musical, like raindrops on silver bells. A tall Hispanic orderly came out of the clinic doors. He rushed over to us.
“Señorita, por favor, I help you.” He reached for the wheelchair with his gigantic paws and tried to grab the handles.
I whipped off my glasses, smiled, and said, “No thank you, we can handle it. Why don’t you see if you can help someone inside?”
He sighed dreamily. “Sí, señorita bonita.”
“And forget about us.”
“Sí.” He turned and hurried inside the clinic.
“How amusing.” Demeter snapped her fingers and two burly security guards appeared. “Ahmed, TaKwan, take Mr. Romanov inside.” They flexed their muscles à la WWF wrestling. Meg and I took one look at them, then at each other, and laughed together. I stared at the one on the right while Meg spoke to the one on the left.
“Don’t listen to her, and go away!”
The men dropped their arms, spun on their heels, and left.
I permitted myself a smug look and smoothed my hair. But the laughter died on my lips when I saw Demeter smirk.
“You two really are stupid.”
She snapped her fingers again, and two even more burly female nurses stomped up.
It was Demeter’s turn to enjoy the moment.
“We’re finished,” said Meg, a feather sprouting from her head.
“Big time!” I sighed. “Caw!”
“Bertha, Inga, please bring Mr. Romanov into the clinic. I’ll deal with these two. It won’t take long.” The nurses clomped forward. Meg and I tried desperately to hold on to the chair’s handle grips, but Bertha and Inga sneered and tossed us aside. We landed in a heap, and watched helplessly as Arkady, screaming and cursing, was pushed into the clinic.
With a snide glance over her shoulder, Demeter quipped, “You lose.” She slammed the door in our faces.
Goddess trumps Siren.
So close!
Be the Bird
Without speaking a word, Shar and I stumbled out of the alley and waved down a cab. I was too tired to try to be environmentally friendly, and I wasn’t feeling too compassionate toward Mother Nature—otherwise known as Demeter. In fact, I think I hated her.
Shar huddled into the back seat and swathed her scarf around her mouth and nose. She kept lifting her sunglasses to wipe her eyes, but then the twitching made it hard for her to get them back on. She poked herself