She shut the enclosure’s lid, carrying the mirror back to me. “And if you needed to hide from a god, a man, an angel…if you needed the peace of mind that only a stone could bring…what would you need?”
“I…um…”
“Do you take ice?” Alessia asked.
My eyelashes fluttered open and closed in confusion.
Alessia snapped her fingers, and the PA reappeared. She poured lime water from a pitcher into glasses on a silver platter. Alessia waited until the rest of us had our cups in hand, insisting on being served last.
The distrustful part of me suspected it had been poisoned, perhaps with the snake venom before me. The intelligent part of her, understanding and alleviating the rightly-earned worries of women, clearly anticipated as much, toasting me gently before taking several generous gulps. I did my best to remind myself that I was specifically in a haven for women as I brought the cold glass to my lips, soothing my tongue, filling my mouth, calming my irritated throat. It hit the nervous stones that had never left my belly, easing them until they evaporated.
Balancing the still-wet venom on one side of the mirror, Alessia poured her mysterious powder onto the opposite mirror once more. This time, she pushed the set toward me.
“You don’t need to get high, Merit. You need to hide from gods. That’s what I’m offering. Let those who hunt you perceive only stone. Buy yourself the time you need.”
The snake…the powder…the tale…
“You want to turn me to stone?” I asked.
“I want them to perceive stone when they search for you, so you have the time to do what must be done.”
Realization hit me like a thunderclap.
I took the metal straw with a shaking hand. I’d dabbled with illicit substances in my heyday. I’d rolled on Molly inthe club, gotten stoned with Kirby at their house, accepted shrooms from a stranger once at a concert, and done coke in the bathroom with fellow escorts who’d offered me a key. Some experiments had led to excellent parties, and others, the worst nights of my life.
It had been years since I’d put anything up my nose.
I cast a cry for help toward Duchess Vapula, who only inclined her head.
Now or never.
I snorted the line, shuddering as the sharp, powerful grains hit my sinuses with an electric shock.
“And now, you’re gone,” Alessia said with a smile. She passed the bag to me. “It’s a temporary solution, but it should buy you a few days to follow through with your plan.” After a beat, her smile faltered. “Whatisyour plan? Surely it’s more than recruiting deities and staying away from angels?”
I was still shivering from the poison, which was fortunate, because I knew my answer would disappoint her. Coming to herwasmy plan.
The PA handed her a fresh drink. She took my silence as an invitation to continue.
“There’s a rather charming parable that was adapted into a film,” Alessia said as she set her sweating glass upon a coaster. “Grasshoppers do very little work, as it were. They play and dance all summer. It’s the ants who toil and store the food.”
I’d heard this parable. It was an ode to labor—a condemnation of frivolity.
“I do love the films in your realm. Eternity is a long time, you see. The books, the food, the entertainment…well, they help make it bearable.”
I knew Fauna would have agreed, and my heart wilted at the thought.
Movies and drugs would have been right up her alley.
“In the movie,” Alessia said, “a particularly lovely point was made. Grasshoppers are bigger, yes. They’re quite strong. A grasshopper can kill, and threaten, and eat or end an ant.But grasshoppers are not pack animals—not like ants are. A single ant is weak, but a colony is mighty. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
I took a gasping inhale, finally leveled out from the line. I reached for my glass of water, savoring the condensation against my hands as a reminder that this was real. I was alive.
I shook my head. No. I didn’t see its relevance. Not when I was doing white drugs with a legend.
“You’ve gathered a handful of grasshoppers, Merit. And they will matter. But where do the grasshoppers get their power? Who feeds them? Why are some pantheons so strong and others so weak? Why do some gods flourish and others wither? Tell me.”
I battled with what I knew to be true.
