Catching Stardust Read online

“No shit. That was a bad joke even for you.”

  “Zander would have laughed.” Maia looked down and realized for the first time that she’d grabbed the knit blanket and was now twisting the little stitches in her fingers. Somehow it felt good to hold the blanket she’d been naked with Zander in. It made her feel like she had a little piece of him here with her. “He made me feel something I haven’t felt before in all my eternity and I’m not sure I’ll ever feel it again with someone else. But now I’ll never know because he’s stuck there and I’m stuck here.”

  “The way I see it,” Electra started, “there’s only one thing you can do. You need to find a way back to Earth and find Zander. Then you need to figure out a way where the two of you can stay together.”

  “But how am I going to get back?”

  “Simple. I’ll distract dad and you go hunt down Zeus. He’s the one who sent us all way to begin with and if he can do it once, he can do it again.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I have a few things to discuss with Zeus.” Maia held up the pink, zebra-striped bag and dropped it back onto the bed again where it could wait until she had time to empty it.

  “He did that to you?” Electra asked, barely containing a laugh.

  “Yep.”

  “Oh thank, Gaia. I saw it and thought maybe all that pollution in the city had poisoned your fashion sense.”

  “Nope. Just Zeus’s idea of a funny joke. And now I’m going to make him pay for making me carry that thing around.” The thought of finally getting her hands on Zeus was enough to bring a smile to her lips for the first time since getting home.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Zander made his way down the crowded sidewalks of lower Manhattan, not noticing if he bumped into people along the way or not. His mind wasn’t on walking or getting home, or even that his clothes were horribly uncomfortable after having been in the river then dried on the stone hearth in the house on Governor’s Island.

  His thoughts were on Maia and how she’d disappeared right before his eyes.

  He still couldn’t believe he’d actually seen it happen. Stuff like that—people vaporizing into thin air—didn’t happen in real life. That was the stuff of sci-fi movies. But it did happen and she was gone.

  And he had no idea how to get her back.

  The moment he’d been left in that little bedroom alone was the moment the ache in his chest started and it had been growing exponentially worse with every second. He had to figure out a way to get her back here so he could have another chance to be with her.

  He also remembered her saying they couldn’t be together.

  Why didn’t she feel the same thing he did? How would he ever get over her?

  The possibility of living the rest of his life and never seeing her again made his chest constrict even tighter. It felt like it was caught in a vise grip and nothing would make it release.

  A neon sign blinking in a shop window caught his attention: Café Cosmos. Inside looked dimly lit, just what he needed for his dark mood.

  Pushing open the door, the scent of fresh baked bread and full-bodied coffee greeted him. His stomach growled as if it only now realized he hadn’t eaten in hours. Make that the better part of a day. Maybe if he had something to eat, he’d feel better about losing Maia.

  Or he’d have a full belly and an empty heart.

  “What can I get you?” a lady asked as he took a seat at the counter.

  He skimmed the menu quickly. “Coffee and pastrami on rye.”

  “You got it.” She wandered toward the back of the room and through the swinging door that must lead to the kitchen.

  As was usual in New York, the café was small and crowded. But this one wasn’t loud. Seemed it was mostly people sitting alone. Few conversations filled the air. He could actually still hear the music playing over the café’s sound system—something that definitely didn’t happen too often in New York.

  The ceiling caught his attention next—black as night and full of pinpricks of twinkling light. He felt as if he actually were gazing on the stars through his powerful telescope. Another pain stabbed his chest. Looking at that ceiling certainly wasn’t helping him forget about Maia. Would anything help?

  He couldn’t foresee any feasible way for him to get over her any time soon. So what were his choices? Sit and wallow in self-pity. Or do something about getting her back.

  He chose the latter.

  The woman set a steaming cup of coffee in front of him then slid a tiny pitcher of cream and some sugar packets at him. “What’s got you all in a state like you’re in?” she asked, resting her hip against the bar as she leaned toward him. “Woman troubles?”

  “You could say that.”

  “I did say that.”

  “You’re a wise woman.” He couldn’t hide the undertone of sarcasm in his voice. Normally he’d never dream of being rude to someone when it was completely uncalled for, but today wasn’t a normal kind of day.

  “You bet your cute ass I am.” She clicked her tongue at him. She may as well have reached over and grabbed his ass with that comment. And if her expression said anything to him, it was that she was contemplating doing just that. “The wisest in the known universe some say.”

  That’s when he saw it.

  She was probably telling the truth.

  Her eyes twinkled like the lights in the ceiling above. Hell, that was probably the reason why those lights were on the ceiling to begin with—so if anyone noticed the star map in her irises, she could claim it was a reflection. But he knew better than that.

  Squinting, he leaned forward trying to get a better look at her star map. He knew without question it was a piece of the universe, but he couldn’t make out which one.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s a reflection from the ceiling lights, sugar. Happens all the time. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

  “No it isn’t. It’s a star map. But I’m having the toughest time figuring out exactly what part of the universe you’re from. That’s really saying something coming from a guy who knows a thing or two about the stars.”

  The color drained from her face. Her jaw set. Her lips fused together in a stiff line. “Would you keep your voice down? There are tourists in the room tonight.” She nodded in the direction of the few tables with more than a single person at them—the only people in the whole place who were holding conversations beside him and the woman. “What do you know about star maps?”

  “I’ve seen a couple before. There’s one I’m looking to find again. Maybe you can tell me how to find her.”

  She eyed him. “Oh. And who might that be?”

  “Maia. Her star map is Pleiades.”

  The woman gasped. “What are you doing looking for Atlas’s girl? Did Orion put you up to coming in here? I don’t think he much liked it when I kicked his sorry hunter ass out of here a couple of days ago when he came sniffing around. But I’m not about to tell his little messenger boy anything either. So why don’t you get the hell out of here.”

  She dismissed him and stalked off toward the kitchen.

  He wasn’t leaving and he wasn’t going to call after her and draw attention to their conversation either. Nope. He would sit here and wait for his sandwich and when she brought it they’d have another little chat. She couldn’t get rid of him that easily.

  After a solid fifteen minutes, she finally reappeared from the kitchen with a pastrami sandwich. He assumed she hoped he’d leave if the wait was too long. She was wrong. Where Maia was concerned, he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to ask a few questions and hopefully find out something helpful.

  “Eat and leave,” she said, putting his food down.

  “I’m not here on Orion’s behalf. Quite the opposite, actually. I helped Maia escape him. But now she’s gone and I need to know how to get to her.”

  “Why do you want her? You gonna turn her in?”

  “No. I want her because she took my heart with her when she left.” Didn’t get much simpler than th
at, did it? Hurt more than he expected to say the words. He took a bite of his sandwich while he waited for her response, hoping that eating would somehow dull the ache inside him.

  It didn’t.

  This wasn’t an ache that could be cured with food.

  She bit her lip and watched him eat for a few minutes, not saying anything, just watching. Finally she sighed and grabbed the coffee pot from behind her and filled his long-empty cup. “What do you want to know?”

  “Is there a way I can get her back here?”

  “Nope. All travel has to be done through Zeus and I’m pretty sure he won’t be taking travel requests from mortals any time soon.”

  “Any way I can go to her?”

  “Same rules apply.”

  “Why can’t you take me?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve been here so long, my wings are clipped. Not really of course. We don’t actually have wings.” She smiled like it was a joke.

  He didn’t find it funny. Not at all.

  He slammed his fist down onto the counter harder than he meant to. Coffee spilled over the edge of his cup, pooling around the base of the mug and spreading across the countertop. “There has to be a way. Think.” His voice was low, intense.

  She said nothing as she wiped up his spill with a rag. “Maybe,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “Maybe what?” he asked around a mouthful of pastrami.

  Darting a few glances around the small room, she leaned across the counter. He met her halfway. “Some say your kind used to be able to hitchhike. I’m not sure all it entails, but I know there has to be some kind of physical connection for it to work. But even still, Zeus is the only one that can initiate the ride. Being in the right place at the right time with the right person would be damn near impossible.”

  Orion.

  Now that Maia was safe, would they come looking to haul him home to answer for the mess he’d made? It was a long shot, but it was the only shot he had.

  “Thank you. I think you might have bought me a one way ticket to a place I’d never dreamed I’d go.”

  He threw a few bills on the counter and shot the woman a smile before leaving.

  Looks like the hunter was now the prey.

  ***

  Maia and Electra made their way along the pebbled path that led from Maia’s house out by the springs into the small village. Her knee-high boots crunched as they walked. They were not the most comfortable boots she owned, but they were the pointiest—perfect for her upcoming discussion with Zeus.

  Zeus was most often found in town, chatting it up with whatever ladies were stupid enough to chat back to him. And since they needed to find him, going to town seemed like the most logical place to start.

  As they walked, Maia took in the sights she’d missed so much while she was on Earth. She glanced up to the sky, the universe twinkled back at her—a perpetually starry night sky, free of clouds and yet somehow Pleiades always had light to see. It wasn’t dark like nights on Earth and yet they didn’t have sunlight filled days like on Earth either. Maia didn’t understand the science behind how it worked and she really didn’t care to. Perhaps there was no science behind it. Maybe it just was, like so many other things in the universe.

  I wonder what Zander would think about this. It would probably be the first of many things to blow his mind. Just another reason it’s good he was left behind.

  As the path curved to the left around a large tree that wept with vines of lush purple flowers, they stopped in their tracks. Up ahead, off to the side of the path stood Atlas and Zeus. Their conversation was hushed and no amount of straining would make Maia suddenly have super-hearing abilities. Besides, she wasn’t here to spy on them.

  She was here to force Zeus to send her back to Earth.

  “You sneak over there on the right, behind the dewberry bushes and wait for me to pull dad away,” Electra said in a low voice as she pulled Maia behind the weeping tree.

  “And how are you going to get dad away. It looks like their having a pretty intense conversation.”

  “True, but I can be pretty intense too. Watch and learn, big sis.” Electra strode down the path with sudden purpose in her steps—no longer trying to hide.

  Maia crept behind the bush as Electra had instructed her to do and made her way as close as she could to Zeus. If she reached out her hand, she could grab his butt. Not that she wanted to. He was about a million years older than she was and way too much of a player for her tastes.

  “Dad, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I really need to talk to you. Right now.”

  Atlas turned with an angry expression on his face as if annoyed Electra would interrupt whatever it was he and Zeus were talking about. Then his expression changed as Electra started crying and threw herself into her father’s arms.

  “Electra, honey, what’s got you so worked up? Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. I’ve never seen you this distraught before.” Atlas folded her into an embrace and rubbed his hand up and down her back.

  Zeus huffed. “Really, sir, we’ve got other things to discuss.”

  This time it was Zeus who was the recipient of Atlas’s anger. “It can wait a moment. Now tell me what’s wrong, Electra.”

  “It’s private,” she said shooting a glare at Zeus as if he were purposely trying to eavesdrop. Maia held back a laugh. Electra had obviously missed her calling as an actress. She could slather on the drama thicker than cream cheese on a New York bagel.

  “Absolutely, let’s talk over there. Zeus, you’ll wait here for me and we’ll finish our discussion in a moment.”

  Zeus muttered his reply, clearly unhappy about being put on the back burner by Electra.

  Maia jumped up from behind the bush, grabbed Zeus by the arm and tugged him into the woods a few feet. Using as much strength as she could muster, she pushed him back against a tree and held him there. Whether it was physical strength that kept him rooted to his spot or the sheer look of determination and all around pissed-off-Goddess, Maia didn’t care. She was just happy he wasn’t fighting her.

  “Maia, so good to see you’re back safe and sound. How was your vacation to Earth?”

  She fumed. “A vacation? Is that what you think I was on? A vacation?”

  He smiled and tilted his head, a move she’d seen him perfect on many women in the universe. Too bad for him, she wasn’t going to fall for his charm. “I don’t know, dear. From up here it certainly looked like you had a good time. You shopped, lazed around in the lake, got snuggly with a mortal. Sounds like a good trip to me.”

  The urge to ram her knee into his groin was almost too overwhelming to resist. The only thing stopping her was the little problem of needing Zeus to be able to speak and concentrate on what she was telling him. He probably wouldn’t be able to if he was doubled over in pain.

  The image did bring a smile to her lips though.

  “I don’t care what you think it was. You sent me to Earth and I didn’t even get to voice an opinion. You took away my choice.” Fury over the whole situation built. She’d been stewing in this anger for a couple of weeks and now she was finally getting a chance to let it all out. It felt great to get it off her chest.

  “I only did as your father requested. What would you have me do? Say no to Atlas?”

  He had a point. No one said no to Atlas. Well, no one who worked for him did. Maia and her sisters could do as they pleased—most of the time.

  “Listen. I don’t care what you did or why. I only care that you’re the only one who can do it again. So guess what? You’re sending me back. Today.”

  “Now why on Earth—no pun intended—would you want me to do that? You really want to go back to that smelly, crowded place when you worked so hard to get back home? Why? Need to see your boyfriend again?”

  “What I do there is my business, not yours.”

  He smirked. “It is for the boy. Your father told me you came back to him wrapped in only a blanket. I guess we know why you’d lost your clothes now,
don’t we?”

  “Don’t even get me started on that bag. What were you thinking when you picked that out for me? Have I ever seemed like a pink, zebra-stripe kind of girl to you?”

  He laughed. “I needed something to put some clothes in. That’s all. I had no idea you’d be so against the thing. It was fun watching you complain about it and yet still have no choice but to use it. The Goddess princess had to tough it out a bit.”

  Maia nudged his foot with the toe of her boot. “See these very pointy boots? I put them on for you. And I’m not afraid to use them to get what I want.”

  “You’ve gotten bitchier in your old age, you know that?” he said snidely.

  “I prefer the term feisty,” she shot back. “Now, back to you sending me to Earth. I want to go there today. Right now.”

  “I can’t make that happen. You’re father will have my head if I do.”

  “You better make it happen or else your most precious lightning bolt is going to run a serious chance of getting struck by my very pointy boot. Understood?”

  He nodded his response, glancing down at her boots then took a slight step to the side, out of her immediate pointy-toed proximity. “Fine. But I can’t do it here. You’ll have to meet me somewhere else where your father won’t see.”

  “Where?”

  “Probably down by the springs is best.”

  “When?” Maia demanded.

  “I don’t know. I’m not trying to get out of doing this—you’ve made it perfectly clear I’m sending you one way or the other—but why don’t you come back to your father’s with us and then we’ll go send you back after that?”

  “Why would I want to tag along on your business meeting with my father? It looked like whatever you guys were talking about earlier was pretty hush-hush.”

  “It is,” Zeus darted a glance back toward to the path before continuing. “He wants me to attempt to bring Orion back now. So you know, maybe you want to be here for that before you go back.”

  “You’re right, I do.” She moved toward the path, but stopped, turned to glare at Zeus one last time before they were out in the open again. “But don’t think that just because Orion comes here means I’m going to let you off the hook for sending me back. I’m not going to forget. You will send me back there today.”