Page 155 of The Otherworld

I sit on the edge of the bed, gently brushing a strand of hair away from her tired, swollen eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head. “Not really. I just… I don’t want to be alone tonight. I want to be with you.”

I want to be with her just as much. But I don’t deserve to be—I don’t deserve her. I don’t deserve her love, her forgiveness, her hand in mine so warm and constant, the look in her eyes so sad and hopeful.

“I’ll be right back,” I whisper, kissing her forehead and slipping into the hallway. Mom is still sound asleep in the living room, so I take the opportunity to grab a book from my desk and sneak back into Orca’s room undetected. I leave the door open a crack so I can hear if Jack comes home.

“What’s that?” Orca asks, nodding to the book in my hands. I snap on the bedside lamp and show her the title. “Gods and Goddesses,” she reads.

“It’s a collection of Greek mythology,” I explain, stretching out on the bed with her. “Worst case, it’ll bore you. Best case, it’ll put you to sleep.”

Orca snuggles up to me, and I read Greek legends to her while rain patters gently on the roof.

“Hero was a young priestess of Aphrodite who lived on the shores of the narrow straits of the Hellespont. Hero was remarkably beautiful and served the goddess dutifully in her temple, though she herself knew nothing of love. All the men from the nearby villages dreamed of being with Hero, but there was one young man who desired her more than any other. His name was Leander, and he came from a poor family who lived just across the straits. From the moment he first laid eyes on Hero, he longed to be with her.”

Orca lays her head on my shoulder and spreads her hand over my heart. I try to concentrate on the words and not get distracted by the feeling of her body nestled against mine.

“At last, Leander found the courage to declare his love for Hero. But when she looked at him, he was struck dumb by her beauty. Hero was moved by the tender shyness of this young man and found herself enchanted by him, as she had never been before. She said to him, ‘Is there something you wish to tell me? I am merely a girl, unschooled in the ways of men. And I don’t think my father would be pleased to know that such a handsome young man is trying to seduce me.’

“Leander answered, ‘I promise you, my intentions are entirely honorable. I have admired you for so long and love you with all my heart. I would never treat you with disrespect. The goddess you serve is dear to me, and I have the highest regard for your father. But how can you serve Aphrodite when you have never known the touch of a man? It’s true, I am only a poor boy, but my love for you is pure.’

“As he spoke, Hero was overcome with love for him. But she knew that her father would never consent to her marrying this humble lad from across the straits, so they promised their love to each other and vowed in their hearts to live as husband and wife.

“Every night, Hero hung a lamp from her bedroom window in Sestus, and its light shone across the narrow straits to Abydos. When Leander saw it, he would swim across the channel to meet his true love. He would arrive soaking wet, and Hero would greet him with ardency. The two would make love all night; then as the dawn was breaking, Leander would reluctantly swim back across the channel. They told no one of their secret marriage, for they knew such love was forbidden…”

Orca tips her head back to look at me—a smile softening her lips. I think she’s beginning to see why I chose this story.

“Winter came, and tempests blew down the Hellespont. Hero pleaded with Leander to wait until spring to come to her, but he refused to let the storm separate them. One night, as Leander swam across the straits, the lamp blew out, and he was lost in the darkness. With no light to guide his way, he struggled on—but the wind was unrelenting, and the waves swallowed him up.

“When the sun rose the next morning, Hero desperately searched the tidewater, hoping to catch sight of her lover coming to her. But instead, she found the body of her beloved Leander lifeless on the rocks below. Overcome with grief, Hero threw herself out the window and to her death.”

Orca jolts back to look at me, her eyes wide with shock. “What?”

I stifle a laugh, a little amused by her reaction to the tragic ending. “She’d rather die than live without him.”

“But that’s so sad. It can’t end like that.”

“Well.” I flip to the next story. “It does.”

“Rewrite it, then.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Rewrite a Greek myth?”

“Yes,” she says, with all the sweet innocence that made me fall in love with her. “I’ll do it if you won’t.” She pauses to gather her thoughts. “Leander is a smart young man, so he does as Hero tells him. He waits for spring and finds that he loves her even more when they meet again. And she loves him so much, she can’t remember what her life was before she knew him. But they can’t keep their love a secret forever… Hero knows that. So she talks to her father about Leander. She knows that if her father could only see what a brave, kind, wonderful man he is… surely he would let them be together.”

“And what if her father says no? What if he forbade Hero from ever seeing Leander again?”

The sparkle in her eyes weakens, but she pushes a half-hearted smile onto her face. “Then I suppose they would have to carry on in secret… without his consent.”

“Wouldn’t that be wrong?”

Orca shakes her head. “How could love ever be wrong?”

It shouldn’t be. It’s not. But I can’t ignore the weight of guilt bearing down on my chest. I can’t silence the voice in the back of my mental courtroom, objecting, This is wrong, this is wrong.

“So,” Orca continues the alternate ending, “Hero and Leander run away together and live in their own cottage by the sea, far away from everyone else… And they get properly married and have babies and live happily—” she kisses me fast “—ever—” another kiss “—after.” The third kiss stays longer, and god, I didn’t realize how much I was thirsting for her lips until I taste them again. Like sweet living water I’ve traversed a desert to find.

We break apart for a second, an inch of breathless space between us, foreheads touching.

---