The ginger chick caught up with Megara while she waited at the rendezvous spot she'd set up with Dimi and Irini. She was still cooling off her hazelnut latte when Ginger vaulted over a partition to the minor annoyance of everyone around. Impressive form. That gigantic smile probably helped her get out of this sort of thing all the time.
"So you're not going home to receive private tutoring and become a personal chef in a hyper-secure bunker?" Megara asked when the girl raced up to her.
"What?" That question brought her up short, her eyes wide with violet confusion. She took a moment to decode it, then shrugged. "My dad's a bit of a sad sack, and he thought I forgot to say goodbye."
"Did you?" Megara raised a brow. "I would've thought someone as extraverted as you would've said five goodbyes before breakfast."
"Heh!" The girl waved a hand, showing off a glittery blue manicure. "Don't worry about him; it's just that he's so needy. He's gonna have to live with me going off to school, but I'll call him every night."
"So you won't be taking on the clubs at the Plaka?" Honestly, Megara doubted this girl had anything to wear at a club. Not that she wanted to go herself, but there were few places a singer could make a name for herself amid all the noise.
"I'll go!" She hopped in place.
Oh no. No coffee for her.
Megara started to inch toward the exit, still blowing on her latte. "My friends will be here soon."
"And then I'll impress them."
Megara sidescrolled her eyes to regard this girl's giddy expression. It was unnerving how her eyes could contain both joy and challenge. Underestimating her would soon prove foolish.
Now, if only she hadn't forgotten her name.
Maintaining her nonchalant facade, Megara checked her phone. "They're at the next station over."
"Great!" She threw her arms in the air and hopped around.
"Are you five?" Megara asked. "Calm down, save it for the club."
"Oh, I've got boundless reserves!" the girl declared. "I haven't made new friends in so long!"
When exactly had Megara insinuated she was definitely letting Ginger into her group? The exuberant barnacle may not survive the Dimi trials.
"Tell me. Where are your old friends?" Megara asked. How would she ask for a reminder of this girl's name before the others arrived? She was tough but not unfeeling. Someone as innocent as this girl didn't need public humiliation.
"Oh, they're around." Ginger waved a hand in a circle. "Most of them are relatives, but they're for real."
"Good for you." Megara checked her phone one more time.
Irini had sent a notification of "here" right before Megara checked.
Seconds later, she and Dimi charged up to Megara's position. "Hurry up, bitch!" Dimi called mid-stride, "We've gotta see the kardiapoli one more time before our train leaves!"
"I'm coming, too!"
Megara had almost forgotten the interloper.
The entire party pulled to a halt to examine Ginger, who seemed unphased by the attention.
"I'm Harmonia, and I'm your new friend," she declared without an ounce of trepidation.
What was wrong with this chick?
"Did I get a vote on that?" Irini asked.
"Forget you, what about me?" Dimi folded her arms at Megara. "We're gonna have a whole college renaissance, and you're letting tagalong kids join up?"
"She's highly persistent," Megara shrugged. "I told her she'd have to get past the two of you if she wants into the group."
Dimi folded her arms at Harmonia. "Prometheus bound?" she asked.
"Actually, Prometheus was freed about three thousand years ago by my f-favorite hero!" Harmonia giggled as if at a private joke.
Megara's brow rose.
Maybe this girl had some kind of merit.
"Which one is that?" Irini asked, looking directly at Megara rather than Harmonia.
"Only the best one," Harmonia said. "There's a statue of him right up this way, by the way."
Megara's ears burned, and she fussed with her hair to hide her response to the suggestion of her… what…? Childhood crush on a god who had no time for her in real life? Delusions?
"C'mon, Meg, your boyfriend's statue is along the way." Before Megara could complain, Dimi had an arm hooked through hers and dragged her further down the station toward the other terminal of the station.
"Your boyfriend?" Harmonia questioned, keeping step with them as if she had graciously slowed for their pace.
"It's just a dumb joke they have." Megara had worked so hard to cultivate a cool demeanor; she didn't need the new girl thinking she was some ridiculous fangirl!
"Dumb joke?" Irini repeated. "Give us some credit, Meg; we don't tell dumb jokes."
"Only the finest!" Dimi declared in agreement while dragging Megara up a grand staircase that led outside so they could look up into the ancient heart of the city. The Kardiapoli.
Unavoidable, stalwart, and ancient, a gold-plated statue of Hercules stood flexing and grinning at the sun.
As it always did, Megara's stomach fluttered and her toes curled soon after. He was everywhere. But she didn't have to be obsessed with him anymore. She was a big, tough girl now. He wasn't some end-all-be-all. He wasn't even one of the main twelve Olympians.
"So, how did this incredibly sophisticated joke start?" Harmonia asked, casually leaning against the railing that separated their bridge from the open shopping area below.
"Meg always used to point out his statues and stuff non-stop," Dimi said before Megara could soften the blow of that statement. "I remember it was really bad after the big breakup to end all breakups; he was like her coping mechanism. It's kinda funny for being so delusional!"
With a shaking hand, Megara took a deep sip of her latte. She glared at the statue with its incessant grin, one that seemed mirrored in flesh at her side now that Harmonia had joined the squad. What was it with the big golden himbo anyway?
"I don't really feel the same about him," she said in her most self-contained, measured voice. He'd left her behind so long ago. Why should she maintain her erstwhile devotion to him? "I used to think he was there for me like he cared somehow, but y'know, I guess I picked books over sports, and now I'm not important. Guess that's my bad for not being one of his typical devotees." She pivoted on her heel to look away and drank the rest of her latte rather than let anyone see hurt contort her face.
"I'm sure it's not like that," Harmonia said. "Maybe he just doesn't know how to be there for you when you're not doing the stuff he's used to helping with."
Megara glanced at Harmonia over her shoulder, taken aback by this defense of the god. Why did she seem so invested?
She didn't have much time to speculate.
Before she could voice a question, a golden light shone from the statue of Hercules. All around the square, people stopped what they were doing and stared up at the god's shining likeness.
Megara dropped her empty coffee cup and stared in dismay.
Was he listening?
If he was listening, how much did he know? Had he heard her girlish admissions that he was the most handsome man ever alive? Had he noticed her giggling to herself or her secret smiles when she saw him somewhere unexpected?
Just how much had she ever been abandoned?
Harmonia stared up at the statue as well, muttering something to herself that Megara didn't bother to interrogate.
Once the light faded, Megara found herself rooted to the spot. This was where she'd seen that light in her waking life, and not a dream. It was for her, not some athletic victor.
What did he want her to know?
"Um…" Dimi was the first to search for words. "What?"
Megara knelt and retrieved her fallen coffee cup. "Obviously, the cosmos's greatest hero never gets tired of having fans."
Harmonia snickered in an impressively Theban way, but Megara was too distracted to focus on that.
She'd received a direct revelation from a god, and one she had a significant amount of baggage with. What did that mean? What was she supposed to do with this personalized favor?
"Here we go again," Dimi sighed dramatically. "She's gonna get obsessed with her boyfriend."
"Am not," Megara bit back with warning venom. "I'm only aware that I ought to be more careful with what I say in front of huge statues of beings who can listen in."
"I think it's fine," Harmonia said. "He's a really lonely god; he needs friends." She added with a hint of irony, "And he needs to get out more."
"You're so weird," Dimi announced for the whole bridge to hear as they walked back into the shadows of the station.
"And proud!" Harmonia laughed the comment away.
"We gotta get rid of her," Dimi muttered to Megara as they approached the turnstile to get back to the trains.
"Are you worried she'll steal some of your limelight?" Megara asked, checking her way through the barrier.
"No!" Dimi huffed.
Megara put some distance between them to organize her thoughts, but Irini caught up.
"We keeping the lost puppy?"
"For now. She'll probably join some sports team once we're in Athens, and we won't see her anymore."
"I'm not so sure. Dimi might claw her to shreds before then."
"Dimi knows how to behave. Or at least I know how to make her behave. We'll take her to a party with lots of cute boys, and none of us will matter anymore."
Irini snorted at how correct that observation was. "Not all of us can be so selective; we scorn all men for a god."
"I haven't scorned anyone! I'm the one getting scorned around here. This whole Athens thing will give us a chance to date non-Theban guys. They'll probably be so different we'll be relieved."
"Speak for yourself; I enjoy those moody poet boys. They love listening to me play."
Harmonia charged up to join them. "What's the first thing we'll do when we get to the university?"
Megara surveyed Irini and Dimi's faces. "We're all in a suite together, so we'll be checking in. And then we'll unpack, meet our fourth suitemate, and get dressed for our first night at the club."
A twinkle of violet mischief appeared in Harmonia's eyes. "Yeah. Sure, it'll be really fun getting to know new people."