Painted Blind Part 29

"I could have done without spilling the dust and having him throw me off a balcony, but other than that..." I shrugged.

Shaking out my socks and slipping them back over my feet, t.i.tus finally looked up. "I think I'm going to lie down like you suggested. You should do the same." He didn't move until I got up and went through the part.i.tion to my sleeping area. Then he went into his side and zipped it closed.

The zipper on my sleeping bag was down, and it lay open, which was not how I left it. I pulled off my sweats.h.i.+rt and dropped it at the head of the sleeping bag to use as a pillow. The sweats.h.i.+rt didn't fall to the ground. It stopped, draped over an unseen object. How long had Eros been here listening? t.i.tus had seen him, that much I knew.

I stretched out on the sleeping bag as Eros's arm drew me into the hollow of his shoulder. "I'm glad you didn't let him keep you away," I murmured.

He kissed my temple. For awhile, we just lay there in the silent tent. Eventually Eros stirred. When he returned he had my sketchbook and a pencil. I could see them, so he must have had them unveiled inside a veiled bag. The pencil seemed to stand up on its own as he wrote on the blank page.

In case you have time for therapy.

"Unfortunately, I can't see my favorite subject." I thumbed through the pages, and stopped on a clean white page. "Come with me." At the tent door I pulled on my boots and went outside. I turned a circle before I found the landscape I wanted to draw. The afternoon sun began to fall, beautifully illuminating the peaks to the east. I sat in the dirt and felt Eros settle next to me. While I sketched, he toyed with my hair, then made a pile of stones and scattered them. When the sketch was finished, I turned the page toward him. "What do you think?"

He took the pencil and sketchbook from my hands. I thought he was writing a note, but when he turned the page around, it was a sketch of me-a very good one.

"That's amazing. You did that in less than a minute."

The book still facing me, the pages fanned to the back. Eros started about ten pages from the end and showed me the sketches there. In the first sketch I lay asleep in my own bed. In the second I was sitting on the bed with books spread around me. They looked like black and white snapshots, detailed down to the pattern on the comforter. He continued through them showing me each one, then stopped a page before the end and closed the book.

"You missed one," I said.

Eros set the book in my lap and laid his head on it.

"I want to see the last drawing."

He put my hand on his forehead and shook his head.

With a gulp, I asked, "Have you been watching me shower?"

He chuckled and didn't try to stifle it. The sound sent my spirit soaring. To my relief, he shook his head again.

"Okay," I relented. "Don't show me the last drawing. I'll look at it when you're not around. Instead, show me what happened to Theron after he beat me."

Eros laughed again and got up. He moved so that he was behind me with his legs on either side of mine. Resting his chin on my shoulder, he opened the book as it lay in my lap and started to draw with his left hand. These were different from his previous drawings. They were caricatures with the people represented in scarce detail, but recognizable from their features. On the first clean page he drew a bed and a body lying in it.

"That's me."

He drew a second person nearby, and I recognized him by the way he drew his hair. With a sigh, he drew teardrops on the face.

"That's you crying over me."

He kissed my cheek and turned the page. The next scene took me a while to recognize. It was a square room full of boxes and tools. In the corner he drew a bow hanging on the wall.

"It's a garage. My dad's hunting bow?"

Eros nodded. At the bottom of the page, he drew a close-up of an arrow. It wasn't the kind of arrow he had in his quill at the palace. It was the kind my dad used to hunt elk-aluminum shafted and razor tipped. He turned the page and quickly sketched an island with steep cliffs above the water-the Fortress.

The next scene was of a man and a woman together on a balcony. The curvy caricature Eros drew of his mother was hilarious. He over emphasized her mouth, so that she was pouting.

The next scene was of Theron on the beach with four arrows in his body. There was one in each shoulder and one in each leg.

"Ouch!" I slit my finger on an arrow once. It took five st.i.tches to close the cut.

On the final drawing, Eros took his time. It unfolded like a Sunday morning comic. He drew a bathtub and Theron wailing, his arms and legs hanging over the sides, while a servant dumped a barrel marked "Ambrosia" into the tub. Aphrodite stood nearby pulling her hair and stomping her feet. In a text balloon over her head she screamed, "EROOOOOS!!!"

I fell back against him laughing.

He closed the sketchbook and wrapped his arms around me.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Are you two going to sit out there all night?" t.i.tus stood just outside the tent door, his coat unzipped and no boots on. He opened his arms to the west. The sun was down and the light waned.

I stood, clutching the sketchbook to my chest and took Eros by the hand. "Are you going to stay with me tonight?"

He squeezed my hand.

"We'll behave," I said to t.i.tus.

"Not my business," t.i.tus replied.

"Correct." I tugged on Eros's hand. "I might end up liking t.i.tus after all."

I woke to a rock falling on my chest. At least I thought it was a rock until my hand found it and realized it had square edges and was wrapped in paper. The body that kept me warm all night was no longer beside me.

Without opening my eyes, I muttered, "You're up already, and you didn't make me breakfast?" I loved teasing him when he couldn't say a word. "You probably can't even fry eggs. Spoiled little prince." I sat up just as a granola bar whizzed across the tent and smacked me in the forehead. It landed in my lap with the box.

Inside the small, heavy package was an iPod loaded with music. After I'd opened it, Eros tossed a second package into my lap. It was identical, but had a small card on top. Written in Eros's script were the words: for t.i.tus.

The little curtain to my sleeping area parted.

"Hey, wait! Are you leaving?" I jumped to my feet and followed him. I realized it was fully light, and yes, it was time for t.i.tus and me to start climbing, but I didn't want Eros to go.

I stood there trying to find the right words to say to him. He had shown me the kind of pure adoration I never expected to feel, and there weren't words to express my grat.i.tude. If I failed to get up the mountain on time, or if I didn't make it down alive, I wanted him to know it was worth it. I stumbled over my thoughts, and all that I managed to express was my doubt. "What if I can't make it?" I whispered.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. He ran his fingers through my hair, kissed my forehead, then held me close. I rested my nose on his warm neck, inhaled his skin and let the memories of our stolen time together swim into my mind. I wished I could stay in his arms and forget about Aphrodite's contract. Sensing my weakness, Eros stepped back from me, lightly kissed my lips and unzipped the tent door.

"I'll meet you here in a few days with Aphrodite's reward." I forced determination into my voice.

He opened my hand and placed an invisible object into it. Its shape was familiar. Even without seeing it I knew it was the ring from his first finger. I tried it on my thumb and my first finger, but each of my fingers was too narrow. It slipped right off. I needed a chain. t.i.tus wore a chain around his neck.

Unzipping his side of the tent, I found that his sleeping bag had disappeared with him. "Hey, t.i.tus. Wake up, so I can see you."

"Huh?" He still didn't appear.

"You veil when you sleep. Did you know that?"

Now he appeared, s.h.i.+rtless with the sleeping bag knotted around him. "No, I didn't know that."

I lifted the chain that lay against his neck. "Does this necklace have deep personal meaning?"

"It's just a chain."

"Can I borrow it?"

"Sure, why?" He rolled his shoulders grumbling, "I hate sleeping on the ground."

I opened my hand and showed him the ring. "I can't see it now, but when he gets far enough away, and unveils himself, it should appear, right?"

t.i.tus nodded and took the ring from my palm. "It's inscribed."

"Some sort of hieroglyphics. I don't know what it says."

As t.i.tus slipped the ring onto his chain and began to fasten it around my neck, it became visible to my sight. A moment later my satellite phone beeped the reception of a text message.

The ring was given to me by a man the Mayans esteemed as a prophet. The inscription says, "May wisdom and safety be your companions."

I sent a thank you reply, then clapped t.i.tus on the back. "Pack up. We've got climbing to do."

Before leaving camp, I showed t.i.tus how to use his iPod. I strapped it around his bicep and threaded the earphone cord through his s.h.i.+rt so it wouldn't interfere with his movement. He nearly shouted for joy when the music began to play.

"What's on there?" I stole one of his earphones to listen. It was an opera in Italian.

"What's on yours?" He tugged on my earphone and brought it to his ear, only to wince when I turned on the sound. The first song that played was the one I had been caught dancing to at the palace-Eros's own little joke.

After checking one last time to make sure I had the wooden box, we hefted our packs and bid good-bye to base camp.

Chapter 24.

Mountain climbing was a test of will more than anything else. As the air grew thinner and glaciers rose unending before us, the most difficult obstacle was simply putting one foot in front of the other on the faith that eventually we would reach a destination. We believed we could see the meeting point above us where two cliffs rose together creating a triangular cave opening. However, we could not take a direct path to it. Between us and the cliffs was a wide creva.s.se in the glacier hundreds of feet deep. We were forced to go far beyond the location to the end of the glacier, cross over, and back track on the other side. Getting to the other side of the glacier was the first day's journey. Once there, we would leave the protective s.h.i.+eld of the cliffs and climb the spine of the mountain to the meeting point. When we pa.s.sed out of the cliffs' protection, there was only one area where we could camp, and it was just below the meeting point. We had to time our climb carefully so that we could reach it in daylight and with good weather. If we couldn't, we would have to climb back down to the shelter of the cliffs and start again the next day.

t.i.tus and I were tied together for safety, but I had to wonder about it. If I fell, I would probably take him down with me; and if he fell, I didn't have a chance of staying on my feet. He outweighed me by about sixty pounds. Still, he insisted. Both of us wore ropes tied around our waists, and they were clipped to another, longer one, which tethered us together. About an hour into our climb, I realized this tether served a second purpose. When I got sluggish, t.i.tus pulled me. He struggled with the alt.i.tude, but he was strong. If he just kept walking, I had no choice but to follow.

Monotony arrived as enemy number one. Exhaustion pulled in second. And third. Running a tight race for fourth were cold and numb.

We climbed for two hours on a relatively easy grade before the terrain s.h.i.+fted and we faced steep hills. At the base of the first really challenging climb, t.i.tus stopped. "Sit," he said. "It's icy, and we need the spikes." He meant the crampons we had dangling from our packs.

I was grateful for the chance to rest, unload the pack from my aching shoulders and down as much food as possible. We had gained distance, but not much alt.i.tude. This afternoon we would travel about a mile, but we would gain over three thousand feet in alt.i.tude. I was admittedly nervous about this. I could handle the long climbs, the boredom and the cold. A face of sheer ice was a different story. Now there would be cliffs and the possibility of falling.

On the other hand, t.i.tus was thrilled. "Now, we can have some real fun," he said as he eyed the way before us.

With the crampons securely on our boots and ice axes in each of our gloved hands, we started again. I watched t.i.tus and tried to mimic his skill. He had not done a lot of high climbing, but he was naturally athletic, and he enjoyed climbing the cliffs around the Fortress. "Of course," he added, "when you fall there, you just make a big splash." We didn't have that luxury here.

By kicking hard and digging in the toes of my boots, I could make footholds in the ice. The axes I used for balance on the milder grades and for hand hold as it got steeper. We were moving slower now, and the rhythm of the music in my ears began to irritate me. I switched it off and pulled the ear buds out so they dangled from the collar of my coat.

Ahead of me, t.i.tus was slas.h.i.+ng through the snow and humming a melody. I moved faster so I could hear him. At the song change, he began to sing quietly. His voice was a smooth tenor that moved through the notes with ease. I had to wonder if he didn't sound better than the voice in his ears. That was the thing about these immortals. They were all so multifaceted. Though they varied from one another greatly, each seemed to have extraordinary talents. Aeas could do almost any mathematical calculation in his head. After attending my school for a single day, he could name every student who spoke up during cla.s.s. Not all immortals received the same education. Their knowledge varied by cla.s.s and necessity, but they all seemed to know more than me. A girl had to wonder why one of them would want to be with the likes of her.

We crested a steep climb and met some flat ground. Ahead of me, t.i.tus seemed to be pulling harder. I looked up and saw an ice face directly ahead. As we drew near, it seemed to grow before my eyes. It was double my height-at least twelve feet-all compacted snow and ice with nothing to offer handholds.

"How are we going to climb that?"

t.i.tus pulled more rope from his belt and lengthened the tether between us. "I'm going to climb it, and then you will. Watch carefully."

He reached high overhead and dug an ax in hard. Then he stepped up with the toe of his boot, digging in with the spike and pulling himself up. With the other hand he made a second, higher stab with the ax. "Hand, foot, hand, foot," he said. "Just like crawling."

"Crawling," I muttered. "Straight up."

It took him all of a minute to reach the top and pull himself over the ledge. Then he stood, adjusting the ropes. "Come on, Bellezza. Up."

While I climbed, he sang, and when I slipped, he pulled hard on the rope, so I didn't lose any ground. I couldn't get my toes to dig in far enough to offer a strong foothold, so I ended up doing most of the work with my arms. I pulled myself up by the axes and used my toes to keep me from sliding. Once I got my arms over the top of the face, t.i.tus grabbed the back of my coat and pulled me the rest of the way up. I collapsed in the snow panting, while his song reached the crescendo. He stood, his arms out to the side, holding the last note. Then he pulled the earphones from his ears with a playful grin. "That's good stuff."

"You're going to cause an avalanche," I replied. "But, yes, you sing very well."

He offered me his hand. "A compliment. I'm touched." He pulled me to my feet. "Enjoy the view for a moment."

I turned and looked. Below us were the face we had just climbed and our footprints in the snow. Beyond that everything fell away. Far below were the village where we spent the night and the peaks that sheltered it. Farther out I could see a fine line that was the paved highway running east to west. My stomach did a somersault, and I used t.i.tus's shoulder to steady me. "It's beautiful." I turned away. "But it makes me sick."

We were less than halfway to our designated camp for the night, so I started walking.

"Sometimes I don't understand you," t.i.tus said catching up with me.

"I talk like a hick?"

He hung his axes on his arm and pulled off one glove. With the bare hand, he unzipped an exterior pocket on my pack and found a package of dried fruit and nuts. In the short distance before the next big climb, we shared the snack. "I understand your words perfectly. I don't always understand what's behind them."

"I'm fairly honest," I countered.

"Yes, that much I know. Why aren't you mad at him?"

"Eros? Why would I be? It's my fault we're in this mess. I betrayed him."

t.i.tus shook his head. "He hid from you, and he threw you off a balcony. You're afraid of heights."

Admittedly, it was a terrible moment-that fall-but I had never been mad because I was too devastated that he threw me out. "Pixis caught me. And it was dark, so I couldn't see anything below."

"That makes it all right?"

"Neither of us was right that night, t.i.tus. It doesn't matter anymore."

He stepped in front of me and stopped. "It does matter."

I didn't have to explain myself to t.i.tus, but a confession had been a long time in coming, so it was a relief to get it off my chest. "I was the coward that night, t.i.tus. I could have demanded to see him. I could have told him I would leave and never come back if he didn't show me his face, but I didn't. I betrayed him because I was afraid-afraid that he was a monster, but more afraid that if he showed himself to me and he was hideous, that I wouldn't love him anymore." I pushed past him again and climbed harder than before.