He's been pacing in his office for the past two and a half hours. He didn't know who he was mad at the most. The woman who identified herself as Kate and he could have sworn she said she was a muse and then completely disappeared from the loft, or his daughter for having to retake her algebra test over again for not taking it in the first palace. His office has now become ground zero for pacing away all of his pent up energy. He would walk in front of his desk seventeen steps and then turn to do it again in the other direction.
It was something he had never seen before in his life. He and Kate were talking and when he turned his back on her he headed to the kitchen to get her something to drink. Forgetting his manners as a host he turned back to ask her if she wanted anything particular to drink. What he found when he turned back to ask her what she wanted was the fact that she was no longer there. It was like she evaporated into thin air.
He of course searches just about every inch of the loft and can't find any trace of her anywhere. Now when his daughter gets home he's going to look like a total idiot.
Before he can do anything about it the front door swings open and his daughter is walking through it. She drops her book bag on the loveseat and walks over to where he is standing in the office.
"Dad?" Alexis asks as she stares at her father walking back and forth in front of his desk and she can't figure out what's going on. The woman who was here earlier is now gone and now her father is talking to himself as he paces in front of his desk.
"DAD!" Alexis says more firmly.
Rick stops pacing when he hears his name being called, better yet yelled out. As he turns and looks towards the entrance of his office he sees his daughter standing in the doorway simply watching him.
"Hi, sweetheart. So tell me how did your test go the second time around?"
"Dad it's me we're talking about. I did well, so well that I was able to maintain my 4.0 GPA."
"That's good. Now, do you want to tell me why you completely spaced out and had to be called into the Dean's office?"
She looks down at the floor not really wanting to make eye contact with her father. If she does, she would tell him everything that's been on her mind since he couldn't start coming up with a decent idea for any of his books. So she stays silent.
"So, I can see the cat has your tongue."
"Dad, it's not that simple. I know you think you are blocked but you aren't. I know you think you are but I have been trying to come to terms with your blockage. What I mean is that when I see you at your laptop becoming frustrated trying to write something it makes me want to reach out and fix whatever is wrong with what's in your head. And I know I can't do that because I know now that it's something I have never dealt with. I'm saying that you have help if you just simply ask me."
Rick could tell that his daughter was being serious. Serious beyond her age. She shouldn't have to be dealing with things like this and now he could see that this is going to be harder than he had originally thought.
"Alexis, you are my child. In this relationship and I am the parent. I know that you seem to be wanting to solve the problems of the world even at your age, but I'm here to tell you that that is impossible. What I have is writer's block. And it's not something that can be solved just by typing something you know and hopefully what you're able to write comes back to you. What it is is a complete lack of having any thoughts to move a story along or even come up with a decent idea. I know you mean well and your suggestion to write something that I know about helped a little bit. But it just comes down to what I can't do."
She was taking a big risk. She was hoping that her father was still on Earth. She had tuned into Apollo's mind and found out that he indeed did come and visit him asking where she and her sisters had gone to. It's not like he knew where they were so he really couldn't tell him anything. She stealthily moves around Mount Olympus, not committing to enter her parent's temple just yet. She will keep an eye on the comings and goings of everyone for about an hour. If no one arrives or departs in that time frame then she will enter the temple.
She takes a rest under a eucalyptus tree partially hidden from sight and waits. Kate decides that after two hours it's safe to enter the temple. She knows that her father is now down on the planet below. And that he has changed his appearance to look a lot younger than he is to blend in. She can only hope that she will be able to talk to the person she needs to and get out before her father returns. So she cautiously leaves the protection of the eucalyptus tree and enters her parent's temple on Mount Olympus.
She checks all the usual places where her mother would be and she finds absolutely nothing. It isn't until later that she realizes her mother has a safe place that she loves to go to think about her life and what is going on within it.
She should have known better the second she walked into the garden her mother had felt her presence there with her.
"Polymnia, what is it you seek, my child?" Mnemosyne asked her daughter without even facing her.
"Mother I know by now that you know that I had figured out the spell that father put on our suspended animation rooms. I canted it and was released from my confines. I know that my father has returned to the surface of Earth to try and locate me and my other sister's. If my luck holds out he won't be able to find any of them for quite some time. I do know that he has changed his appearance to blend in with the humans on the planet below us. My sisters are wise to his cunning appearance. But what I need now is your help more than anything else."
"Continue child." Mnemosyne encourages her daughter with a slight smile forming on her face.
"There is this writer, an author who writes books that many people have enjoyed over the last twenty years. But right now he hasn't been able to write anything other than a shopping list. And even that in my opinion is lacking in creativity. I'm just at a loss at what to provide him that will get him back on the path that he needs to follow again."
"Polymnia,..."
Before her mother can say another word Kate is cutting her off.
"Mother, earthbound name please."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"It's Kate. I love that name so much that I took it as my Earth name."
"Earth name? Alright, Kate. As I was saying what could I possibly do to help you?"
"Mother, we both know that you've been solving issues that have been plaguing Earth for quite some time. I need to know your thoughts on how to bring this writer back to writing again." Kate asks.
"The solution is not a simple one. You must look from within yourself to solve the problem that you are facing. You are a muse and my daughter, this is you're calling. I'm pretty sure if you put your mind to it you can figure out how to get him to write again. But it will give you a small hint, his daughter is the key to his happiness. She might not necessarily be the cause of his blockage but she could be what releases him from his present condition."
Kate simply sits there pondering what could be done to free Rick from his current affliction. She thinks that quite possibly he could be faking it but then decides against it because she has seen what he has attempted to write and even she wouldn't believe he was faking it once she read what he tried to write.
"Which direction do I go in mother? The man is beside himself. He has tried everything to get out from under the blockage he currently has. So far nothing has worked."
"Polymnia… I'm sorry, Kate there are many times in someone's life that they feel like they have reached their end creatively. Now in the writer's case, this very well could be something he has given up on. What I mean to say is that he is his own worst enemy."
"Mother, I understand that this might be part of his issue. But he is a very talented writer and he can't get past the simple task of making a shopping list. It's like he is overthinking every little thing that he thinks is good."
"Tell me, Kate, does he have any idea what he wants to write about? I know that you are an influence in his life but does he know this? Have you made it clear that you are his inspiration? Because if he doesn't know this he won't catch what you're trying to throw at him."
"I'm a muse mom. It's not like I have an earthbound job like a nurse or a doctor, or even a police detective. What could I offer him?"
"You can tap into a vast amount of experience. I'm surprised that this escapes you." Her mother said knowingly.
Kate sat there looking at her mother for any kind of hint that would guide her in the right direction. She could only see the ends of her lips raise ever so slightly.
"What?" Kate asks her mother.
"Don't you think I know you by now child?"
Now it's Kate's turn to look confused.
"Kate, you could intercept people's thoughts and desires by simply making the slightest contact with them. A touch to someone as a comforting gesture or the motion of a simple handshake can grant you everything about those people you interact with."
"Wait, I can put myself in people's lives?"
"Yes and no. You can gain everything you need to know about that person and what they do as well as any position that they hold. However, you can not make them feel like they need to follow your suggestions. You can't mess with their free will to carry out your requests should have any. If you do, there will be a punishment so severe I'm not sure that even your father would administer it."
"So I can look into people's minds and find out what they do? Along with a day-to-day routine of their job?"
"You can. Now I hate to cut our reunion short but you need to leave. Your father will be back soon and if he catches you here you will lose the opportunity to help the writer. He will banish you to purgatory if he finds you here… forever!"
Kate just looked at her mother with sadness knowing that she would not be able to see her mother again until she had set the writer on the right path. It had only been three months since she had escaped, but she missed their time together something fierce.
"Okay, mom. I won't put you in a position to help dad find me. I was never here."
Mnemosyne laughs quietly to herself as her daughter gets up off the bench that faces her rose garden. She knows that her daughter was here but it will be their little secret.
"Go in peace little one. Be safe."
Kate gives her mother a short hug and then turns to leave. As she walks away she turns back one more time to see a tear streak down her mother's cheek.
Rick had tried to explain to Alexis what happened after she left for school. He was convinced that the woman who visited him earlier was something of a ghost or a spirit.
"So she just disappeared without a trace?" His daughter asked.
"Alexis it was weird, one second she was there, and then when I turned around to ask her what she wanted to drink, she was nowhere in sight. I searched every inch of the loft and she was gone."
Alexis listened as her father told her about his experience with the woman that they both witnessed in the loft. She is facing him in the living room when she sees something of a haze forming behind her father. It's then that she sees the figure of the woman they both saw this morning materialize from thin air.
"Ah, dad…"
He finished explaining his experience with the woman this morning and he looks to his daughter. He watches as she is going through the facts he just told her trying to make sense of what he said. Just as he thinks she has an explanation of the facts, her face loses all color and her arm raises pointing behind him.
"Ah, dad…"
TBC
A/N: Greetings from Orlando Florida. Sorry for the delay in posting this sooner but work and real life have been a priority. This week I am with all of my grandchildren to celebrate two birthdays. My oldest granddaughter Gabby is now 14, and my second oldest granddaughter Kayla is now 13. I am still trying to find out where all this time went. I remember them as babies not that long ago!