Page 58 of The Tenth Muse

“Oh no.” Donelle’s quiet words bring cold fear into my chest and I huddle closer to them without thinking.

“What is it?” I ask.

“The very reason why I’ve never cared to travel between realms, the awful timing.” Donella finally tears her eyes away from the skyline to face me again. “When I left here and came to Earth, it was two weeks before the games. But now, in less than an hour in Earth time, the opening ceremony has already begun.”

Oh. I was thinking some sort of aliens were about to attack us with fighter jets or something. “Why is that bad?”

Donella hits a few buttons on the board in front of us before answering me, slowing the board down as we near other traffic.

“I’m sorry Lellies, it’s not terrible, it just slows us down. Let me get us home safely and I’ll explain everything.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize—I hope it’s not too much trouble, I don’t mind staying in a hotel if you don’t want company.”

With one hand holding a joystick now and the other hovering over a group of buttons, her fingers stretched to hit one at a moment's notice, she chides me softly.

“Nonsense Lellies, you’ll stay with me.” The small smile she flashes me as she navigates through tall structures and narrow alleyways puts me back at ease.

I watch the lights and other boards whiz by us. I’ve been invited into a demon’s home, in the demon realm no less. I wonder what it’ll look like? How long will I need to stay here? Are there certain manners I should attend to?

The questions are quickly forgotten as we slow down in a neighborhood of dome-shaped structures. Lights flicker from some of the windows and I can see smoke coming from the top of others. Sweet, I’ll just imagine that I’m living in a renaissance movie, I can work with this.

Our board stops in front of one of the domes on the edge of the cluster. “This one’s mine,” Donella says, hopping down and holding her hand out for me to follow.

“There are homes like this back on Earth, made to combat high temperatures. Do these homes serve the same purpose?”

Donella puts her right hand on the front door. “No, they’re just—can you give me your hand please? They’re just the style the builder liked at the time.” A light flashes beneath my hand that Donella holds against the door. “You can come and go as you please now.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Please. Come inside and excuse the mess, I wasn’t expecting guests. Let me find something more comfortable for you to wear and then I’ll explain the games.”

Their home resembles a studio apartment in that everything except for the bathroom is within view. Donella flits around haphazardly in the open space around us, stacking books left open and dog-eared on the table, picking up half-full cups gathered together on the nightstand, and shoving clothes in their closet. Before shutting the closet door, they pull a blue pajama set off a hanger and hand it to me.

“You can get freshened up in there, feel free to use any of the products you see and take your time.” I give her a nod and a smile and close the bathroom door behind me. I undo the zipper on the sequin side of my dress and watch the yellow fabric slip over my brown, freckled skin. It feels gross to me. This is the dress I was kidnapped in, the dress I almost died in.

But it’s also the dress I got saved in, I fought back in this yellow fabric, and traveled to a realm I didn’t even know existed. I kind of want to throw it away and never look at it again, but I also feel a pull to keep it. Bending down to pick it up, I fold it and put it on the counter; I’ll decide after my shower.

There are four knobs in the shower so I pull each one until I find the right temperature and pressure I like, then set to identifying the products that fill the counter space. After lots of sniffing, and pouring a few things in my hand to check theconsistency, I decide to use the contents of a green jar for soap and a purple one for lotion. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to put any of these things in my hair and risk damaging the curls so I plan to put it in two braids when I get out.

I’m about to step into the shower when the fear creeps in on me again. Am I truly safe here with an absolute stranger who also happens to be a demon? Don’t most 90s horror movies start with a shower?

I move back to the bathroom door and put my ear against the wood. I can hear clinks and cabinets opening and closing, Donella must be cooking. And she basically gave me the keys to her house with that scanning thing.Andshe saved me from those witches. I’ll be alright.

And if not, I’ll throw this heavy green jar at her and run like hell.

But honestly, while I review the cons of trusting someone this quickly, my heart is already at peace. It might not seem like the most responsible decision, but I want to trust Donella; so I will.

Once my skin is clean and my hair is braided, a pungent peppery aroma pulls me from the restroom. I find that Donella has made us something sort of like a chicken pot pie and is cleaning up the last of her dirty dishes as I near the table in the center of the room.

“You’re just in time! This istekemu, it’s a little spicy but I have a cheese sauce on the side if you need to cool it down.” Donella sets a cup in front of each of our bowls before sitting across from me. “And this wine is made from a fruit similar to cherries on Earth.”

“This is so cool, everything looks and smells amazing. Thank you so much.”

“It’s my pleasure Lellies, please, eat.”

The first bite oftekemuis like a raw radish, spicy and bright. But once I’ve drizzled the cheese sauce on, I find a good balanceof heat and start to taste the other flavors in the dish. I only have a few moments to savor them before my focus is on Donella again.

“So, the games. They’re called The Parvian Games and they’re played between the gods of different realms, some on teams and some as solo players. The only requirement is that they must have living believers. I believe you might recognize Hades, Rhea, Jehovah, or Vishnu of Earth?”

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