Goddess
Chapter 6

I walk toward the tree as if in a dream. I touchthe leaves, the branches…they are perfect. Figs are not in season, but thistree is laden with fruit. I pick one. It is the most delicious fig I’ve evertasted.

“What the eff?”I say.

“That’s not the word I would have chosen,” Martasays.

“Gods, it’s gorgeous,”Lucia gasps, running to embrace it.

“Looks like Pomona worked out, then!” saysCassius, smiling somewhat insanely. He shakes his head in wonderment, at a lossfor further words.

We spend a few minutes more just gaping. Luciahas climbed into her tree, petting it. Marta says quietly, “What do you thinkdid it?”

“I’m at a loss,” says Cassius.

“Could it have been her chastity?” I ask. “Isshe just purer than the rest of us?” We look at each other. Somehow thatdoesn’t seem right.

“Maybe it’s her looks,” says Marta sourly.

“Does she have some hidden intelligence? Sometalent?” guesses Cassius. We ponder this.

“Who’s apretty tree?” Lucia coos. “Who’s mypretty, pretty tree? You are.”

We look at her. She’s nuzzling its bark.

“Well, she does seem to love trees,” I say. “Ormaybe that’s new.”

That evening, we spend more time examining thetree, even climbing in it, but we don’t replace anything remarkable. When we’vescrutinized every part of it, Marta and I think of praying for our anemones,although they appear rather pointless next to Lucia’s effort.

When we ask Cassius to meet us during ourvacation to the seashore, he happily agrees, pleased at the opportunitycontinue our experiments. “I can meet you discreetly,” he promises. “Take somefood and water and walk about an hour north of the inn. The beach is desertedup that way. I’ll take a different route into the country and wait for youthere.”

“And it’s okay for you to miss class?” I ask.

He laughs. “On Floralia? Are you kidding? Eventhe professors won’t show up,” he says, still chuckling. Ugh. I think of Gaiusat Floralia and my stomach twists.

The next morning we’re up early and in a rentedcart on our ride to the shore. The innkeeper, Vitus, is expecting us. We cometo the same place every year, and we’ve developed a friendly relationship withhim. He always shows extra concern for three girls traveling alone, and puts usin the best room where we’ll feel safe. However, this time his watchful eye maybe a problem for us as we try to sneak around.

After we greet him and his wife and catch up onall their news, we ask them to prepare a meal that we can take with us on ourwalk on the beach. Then we retire to our room and start pulling all the pinsout of our hair. We’ve agreed that if we’re accidentally seen with Cassius, itwill look better if we don’t look like Vestals, so we’ve brought the streetclothes we’ve accumulated thanks to Lucia’s shopping addiction.

“Ah, that’s a new style for you, girls,” saysVitus as we’re about to leave the inn. “I don’t know if I like the idea of youwalking around without your bridal dress. Being Vestals protects you fromunwanted attention, you know.”

“Thank you so much for your concern, Vitus.” Ismile. “But we’re so tired of getting sand in our hair and nice clothes. Thisyear we’re trying to prevent it.”

“I know we can trust you to keep our secret ifthe Vestalis Maxima stops by,” Lucia flirts.

He smiles. “Of course. Just be careful.”

It’s a long trek, and by the end we’re allwinded and tired, but our excitement starts mounting again when we see Cassiusin the sand waiting for us. He was right, this place is totally deserted. Wemust be miles away from any other homes or businesses. Perfect conditions for law-breaking.

Cassius wants us to start by trying to growgrass on the sandy dunes. “It’s such a simple plant,” he says, “that you shouldbe able to see results after just ten minutes or so, especially now that you’veestablished a relationship with Flora. Pick a clump and focus.” He has set up asmall altar out of some driftwood and placed a tiny statue of Flora on it, andwe make sacrifices of some dried fruit from our bag. “Marta and Olivia canstart here, but Lucia, I want you to come with me. I want you to pray toNeptune and see if you can make the waves roll in,” he says, as he fashions asecond altar. He pulls out a small drawstring bag and chooses another statue,this time a tiny Neptune. This is handy. He must have all the gods in there, incase we want to try something on a whim.

Curious, Marta and I turn to watch as he leads abarefoot Lucia onto the wet beach, where small waves are lapping on thewaterline. We can’t hear them speak, but they don’t say much. I guess he’s notbothering to teach Lucia any prayer, since it wasn’t necessary with Pomona. Shecloses her eyes and holds both hands in front of her, palms in, as though she’ssignaling that the water should come toward her. After a few seconds, they bothrun for higher ground as a huge wave comes crashing onto the beach.

“Unbelievable,” says Marta. “She can doanything.” I guess we both have to accept that we’ve underestimated Lucia. Shehas more depth than we realized.

Touchingly, after her success with the wave,Lucia insists on joining us at the sea grass. “I want to be with you girls,”she says. But eventually she has to move a little farther away from us, becauseshe’s making the entire dune grow with her prayer. With her at a distance,Marta and I slowly begin to see results. After a while, I can almost see thegrass growing before my eyes. I’m the onedoing this, I think joyfully. I’m theone making this happen.

To my side I hear a shriek and then a thud.Marta and I turn to see Lucia holding Cassius down on the sand. One of herhands grips his throat, and her knee is pinning his midsection to the ground.As she has several inches on him and probably a few pounds as well, I know shehad no trouble taking him down.

“What are you thinking,” she hisses, “touchingmy hair and neck?”

Cassius gives her a bemused look. “A bit tooclose for comfort, then?” he asks.

“You selfish moron, you could get me killed andyou don’t even care. You could get us allkilled.”

I’ve never seen Lucia so furious. It seems thatbeneath that flighty act, she does actually acknowledge the danger that facesevery Vestal. Reassured by her cheery, even careless, demeanor, I guess Cassiuswas tempted into crossing a line he knew the rest of us would never permit.“Sorry,” he mutters, and when she doesn’t relent, he attempts to wrestle her upoff the ground.

“Stop it. Lie still. Assaulting the person of aVirgin is a crime punishable by death,” she snaps.

“Oh, now we’re concerned about the law all of asudden?” Cassius smiles. “And just what have we been doing all day, Lucia?Picnicking with your girlfriends? Taking a harmless stroll on the beach?”

“I swear to Vesta,” she says in a deadly tone,“I swear to Mars and Jupiter and the whole damn pantheon, that if you touch meagain, I will kick your ass.”

“Hit him in the nuts, Lucia!” Marta yells.

After extracting a more sincere apology, Lucialets Cassius up off the ground without further injury, but she’s still fuming.When Marta and I decide to try praying to Neptune, she stays behind on thedunes.

After an offering to the altar, we recite apaean to Neptune. “Interea magno miscerimurmure pontum, emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus…” we begin. When we’veremembered the whole thing, we step just behind the waterline and imitate Luciawith our hands held up, palms in. After a few tries, the waves begin lappingabove my feet.

Lucia’s now wading in the shallows, and tinysilver fish surround her and dance around her ankles. “At this point, I’msurprised birds and woodland animals don’t come and do her hair in themorning,” says Marta sarcastically.

When we can’t hold out against hunger anymore,we lay a blanket down and have dinner on the beach. The sound of the waves isso calming that nobody says much. We spread out and enjoy the perfect day. Ialmost nod off, warm and happy in the sun.

“What about the war?” Lucia says unexpectedly.“Do you think there’s fighting going on right now?”

“There’s fighting going on right now, that’sabsolutely certain. Fighting and dying,” says Cassius.

Suddenly I feel terribly guilty. The war hasbeen the last thing on my mind. Men are losing their lives, and I’ve beenworrying about whether I can make dune grass grow. “I feel so helpless,” I say.“All we can do is sit and wait for it all to be over.”

The girls sigh. Cassius says nothing. I suddenlywonder if he will be conscripted.

We don’t want to walk home in the dark, so it’stime to leave, but we linger after packing up the supplies. None of us wants tolet this day go. Cassius is going to walk to the road and try to flag down acart back into the city, but if he can’t manage it, he will camp in the woods.

Because of our dawdling, a heavy dusk has settledby the time we get close to the inn again. We hear male voices and raucouslaughter from the homes near the beach, mostly fishermen. There’s no reason toexpect that they would do us any harm, but I don’t want to attract theirattention.

Suddenly we cross the path of a few men walkingup from the beach to join their companions, and we draw a catcall from one ofthem, making my heart pound. Taking advantage of the darkness, we run full tiltto the inn and don’t stop till we reach the door, panting.

“Girls, what’s the matter? Did you have ascare?” asks Vitus, who is clearing a dinner he set out for the other guests.He gives us a concerned look. “I wish you hadn’t stayed out after dark withoutyour dresses. It’s just not safe.”

“Well excuse us for living our lives!” I snap athim. He gives me an astonished look, and then I don’t know what to say, so Iturn and sweep off to our room. I was terribly rude, and I already regret it. Idon’t understand where that flash of anger came from. I hear the girls apologizingfor me. When they join me, I tell them I don’t want to talk about it, mainly tohide the fact that I don’t know what to say. Then I insist we go straight tobed.

***

The following morning, after the two-hourbraid-a-thon to get ourselves put back together, I slink out of the inn withoutbreakfast and go to arrange a cart home for us. I should apologize to Vitus,but I’m so embarrassed I don’t think I can manage it. Maybe he’ll forget allabout it by next year.

“Okay, Olivia,” Marta says once we’re on ourway, “what has gotten into you? I have never heard you snap at anyone that way,other than Lucia, of course.”

“I just don’t…,” I begin, and then I stop,grasping for a way to phrase it. “I don’t like being blamed for the fact thatthe world is a scary place.”

The cart jolts to a halt, and the driver hopsdown. We’ve reached the fork in the road back to Polonia, and there’s a noticeposted where the three roads meet. Several other men have clustered around it.

“It must be news,” says Marta, hushed. “It mustbe related to the war.”

It turns out to be very bad news. On the day ofthe circus bombing, battles commenced at several points on the northern borderof Parcae, and on the coast. The casualties are devastating, far higher thananyone expected, even taking their advanced weaponry into account. We spend therest of our ride home first in shock, and then in sorrow.

When we pull up next to the House of Vestals,Cassius is waiting for us right on the house steps. This is unusual and notparticularly wise. While the girls pay the driver and give him our thanks, hepulls me aside and says in a low voice, “No need for alarm, but I have to getyou girls back into the forest. Please meet me in one hour.”

“Welcome back, ladies,” he says in a normaltone, “let me help you with those bags.” Then he makes a show of unloading themfor us.

Once he’s gone, I relay his request and wescramble to unpack our things and have a quick bite to eat. Then we head out tothe clearing, careful to melt into the forest only when no one is watching.

When we arrive, he’s waiting for us. “Girls, weare expecting a visitor today,” he says casually.

“What?”we all gasp. This is terrifying news.

“How could you do this?” Marta says in a fury.“How could you risk all of our lives? What could be that important, and whywouldn’t you at least ask us first?”

“Because I know you would have said yes,”Cassius says, unruffled.

At that moment, Gaius steps into the clearing.