Chapter 3 - Love At First Sight

...

"The agate lamp within thy hand,

Ah! Psyche from the regions which

Are Holy Land!"

-To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe

...

Riding on the wind, Hercules flew Meg down from the sky to a lovely Grecian palace on the seaside. He flapped his white feathered wings on his back as he lowered her to the beach, down to the palace threshold where they landed. It was slightly before dawn, still dark.

Meg stepped inside the palace, hands on her hips. "Nice place you got here, Herc."

"I get to stay here as long as I want," he replied. "A perk that comes with the job. You can stay over at my place a while."

It was still dark outside and she could barely see him, but she smiled with her eyes straining in the darkness to see his face. He was just a lean, silhouetted winged figure standing there.

"I actually have to go do my job of shooting invisible harmless love-arrows at people," Herc explained quickly.

"Oh, that's quite a job."

"It was given to me by the gods."

"Why don't you take a day off?" Meg said, hands akimbo. "Think everyone would learn their lesson without you?"

"Nope, no day off." He couldn't tell her that he was cursed to turn invisible in the daytime hours anyways. "But I will be back at nightfall. You can make yourself at home 'til then. Oh, and one more thing." He waved a finger at her in the air as if chastising her, though it was hard to see with only the celestial lights. "Do not try to look at me in the light. Or I'll disappear. No tricks."

Meg got slightly nervous. Why couldn't she look at him? "Well, you must be quite a looker," she joked. "Though I can't really see in this pre-dawn darkness."

"And I've never met a maiden more beautiful than Aphrodite before," he cracked back - though he really shouldn't have said that, Meg thought to herself. He took her hand and bowed over it courteously. "I'll take my leave of you. Until nightfall." With that, he spread his pair of wings on his back, hoisted his bow and quiver of arrows and flew away into the sky. The sun's beams rose over the horizon and Meg had to shield her eyes. When she looked again, he was gone.

...

Meg found ways to entertain herself on her own that day. The palace was large, classical, with white Corinthian columns wrapped in vines and leaves. There were glass tiled mosaics of different colors portraying scenes of nymphs, dryads in trees, naiads and nereids with fish-tails in the rivers and in the sea, heroes with swords and bows and arrows, and mythological creatures all over the palace walls and floors. She looked at all the mosaics with interest.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner magically appeared on a table throughout the day. It was like a feast each time. There were rolled grape leaves, spinach pies, pita bread and hummus, and fruit.

There was a room full of musical instruments where Meg tried to play a lyre for a while. Another room full of art supplies where she painted scenes on a few pots. Also a museum gallery full of artifacts and artworks to browse through, or add her own art to. And then a library with shelves full of scrolls, with myths of gods and heroes to read about. She was a bit rusty at her Greek alphabet but kept trying. There were some fish swimming in bowls, birds in cages, and some sheep and goats roaming freely around the palace to keep her company. A sheep tried to bite a scroll she was busy reading but she gently nudged him away and patted his head.

When she felt herself growing bored, then Meg swam at the beach to pass the time, relaxing and enjoying herself in the salty sea.

She wondered what Herc was doing all day. Did she, Meg, have a job given to her by the gods? No, but maybe she could ask them. Then again, maybe that would be a bad idea, she thought to herself, thinking of her encounter with Hades. Maybe it was better to have a purpose. But maybe it was better to be free. She had to think about it a while. Maybe she should ask Herc when he got home.

It was almost evening and Meg felt herself growing restless with an idea in her head. She tried her hand at candle-making for a while and made a single candle with a long wick. It was part of her plan. She would get a good look at Herc if she could. She stuck the candle away under her pillow in her room. Then, strangely without any other candles or torches in the palace, she couldn't help but nod off on her bed when the sun went down.

...

It must have been close to midnight when Meg woke up again. She could feel it with a cold shiver. She reached a hand under her pillow and pulled out the hidden candle. She wandered out of her room with the unlit candle in hand, moonlight streaming in through the open windows, down the hallway, to find a single firepit lit in the palace to keep it warm. She carefully reached out her hand and lit the candle on the firepit. Then she carried the lit candle back down the hallway in a moving circle of light.

She looked into another room and saw a figure laying on the bed, silhouetted by moonlight streaming in through the window. Was it Herc? she asked. Had he come back home and not said anything to her, as she was already asleep for the night? She longed to chat with him again, about what he had done all day, and what she had been doing. It was a bit lonesome spending the day in the palace alone. She wanted to wake him up. But no, she would just approach and get a glimpse of him in the candlelight. That had been her plan.

She snuck up to the edge of the bed, holding the candle up. In the soft candle glow she saw a young, handsome face. His hair shined gold in the candlelight. His eye color, however, was still a mystery as he was fast asleep. Also, strangely he had white feathered wings like a bird on his back. Meg felt suddenly in love.

A single drop of hot candlewax fell from the candle in her hand and hit him on the shoulder. Suddenly his eyes opened, light blue. His face went from calm to surprised.

She must have startled him.

"Oh no," he breathed.

She smiled slightly at him, expecting a warm greeting. But instead he quickly covered his face with a hand, leaped out of the bed, spread his wings and in a rush of wind, flew away out the open window.

Meg's candle extinguished in the gust of wind, her long hair blowing behind her. She ran to the window. "Hey, where are you going?" she called after him.

There was no response. He had flown away.

Crestfallen, Meg sat on the edge of the bed, sad to be on her own again.

Herc had been her friend. He had said not to try and look at him, that morning. She had betrayed him. She hung her head in defeat.