The Weight of the World Read online

  Astin entered the room. He stood at the end of the hall, his eyes darting from Diana to Ryan. “What's going on in here?” His voice sounded sharp and deafeningly loud to Diana.

  “Are you okay?” Ryan asked. He put his hand on her shoulder and Diana went down. The overload of sensation became too much for her. Diana blacked out.

  “Pure women are only those who have not been asked.”

  -Ovid

  viii.

  After her union with the god, Poseidon,

  Alope soon delivered a healthy son.

  She hid him from her father because he was

  illegitimate.

  The newborn was left to die of exposure

  but was found by shepherds who argued over

  the fine cloths that the abandoned infant wore.

  They were royal dress.

  To settle their dispute, they brought him before

  King Cercyon, who was Alope's father.

  The King recognized the child's royal garments

  as his own textiles.

  Enraged he ordered Alope put to death.

  He sent the child to be abandoned again.

  Once more, Poseidon's son was found by sheperds

  and called Hippothoon.

  “A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.”

  -Ovid

  VIII.

  Nick Morrisey let his phone ring as he drove. It played “I Hate You” by Field Mob. He had heard it playing three times already since he'd left home. Nick didn't have a particular problem with talking while driving. He had a problem talking to who that custom ringtone belonged to: Zach Jacobs.

  “What?” he snapped as he finally answered the phone.

  “Finally. Have you had your phone on?”

  “What's it to you?” Nick didn't think it was any of Zach's business. He was growing impatient with taking orders from their fearless leader. He was no better than the rest of them.

  “Never mind,” Zach said. “Diana's in the hospital.”

  “Again?”

  “Well, this time we think her powers went haywire.”

  “She accidentally tell a pack of cats to attack?”

  “Be serious. This is a new power. She blacked out. She told Astin when she came-to that her senses had gone crazy. They had to admit her to the hospital.”

  “So her senses just went nuts? Weird.”

  “Well, she was being chased by bears.”

  Nick tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it. He didn't want to be scolded by Zach again. “Bears?”

  “Bears. Bears that-- as she tells it-- were a little too intelligent to be normal bears. She swears they were trying the doorknob.”

  “Dude, there aren't bears in Olympia Heights,” Nick said.

  “Hence why I think she might be right.”

  “Well it's a good thing bears don't have thumbs, then.”

  Nick was on a mission that day. He had opened the Olympia Heights Senior High year book from the previous year and flipped to the page for Abstinence Club. He had been working on a strategy that he was ready to execute. The order he had decided on worked in two factors: stability and attractiveness. Nick was going to ease himself in with the cute girls, but start with someone who had a shaky foundation for Valerie's doctrine of chastity anyway.

  Amanda McAffrey was a child of divorce. Her father was on his second marriage and her mother, who had custody of Amanda during the school year, lived in Olympia Heights with her boyfriend and Amanda's step sister. Nick had done some investigating on the social networks to find that Amanda was spending the summer with her Dad on his ranch outside of Miami. She wasn't that far away-- 40 minutes at most-- and Nick had a plan to “bump into her.”

  Nick drove out to the ranch, letting himself get psyched up by playing Kanye West's “Power” on loop. He was dressed for the scorching summer weather in white cargo shorts and a blue, short-sleeved polo. The look was completed with a white visor with the FSU letter logo on the front of the brim. His thick, curly, black hair stuck over the top in all directions.

  Nick pulled past the wooden sign that read “McAffrey Ranch”, down the gravel driveway, and parked in the wide dirt lot in front of the cliché red barn.

  Amanda was out at the front fence, feeding an apple to a beautiful brown quarter horse. She was a sophomore this fall, with curly chestnut hair and big brown eyes. Her natural tan skin tone had erupted into a storm of freckles from the summer sun. She wore a fitted plaid shirt, not one of those frilly cuts that defied the point of plaid, but one that looked like it was tailored from her father's old shirt. She turned to see who was stepping out of the car and her eyes narrowed in confused recognition at the sight of Nick.

  Everyone from school knew who he was. He had saved Valerie's life last October. He vaguely remembered thinking she was cute at some point last year.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Hey...” Nick said, pretending to be surprised. “I know you.”

  “School,” Amanda responded. “You're Nick Morrisey.”

  “And you're...” he glanced back at the sign. “McAffrey?”

  “Amanda.”

  “I didn't expect to run into someone from school,” he lied. “Are you-- wait how do you live here and--”

  “My Dad lives here. My mom lives in Olympia Heights.”

  “Oh, well, okay then.”

  “Can I help you with something?”

  Nick let his shoulders relax and nodded slowly. “Yes, yes you can. See, I'm on an errand for my Mom. My little sister loves horses and so we're looking for a place to take a pack of giggly eight-year-olds for a birthday party so they can ride.” Nick didn't actually have any siblings, but the fictional half-sister helped convince girls that he was secretly sweet and compassionate. He had used this sister before. Claire, as he had dubbed her, had a backstory and supposedly lived with his mother in Fort Lauderdale.

  “It's been a while since we've done a birthday party, but we do trail rides and lessons. We don't cater and you bring your own cake.”

  “That's fine. Could I get a look at the place?”

  Amanda turned back to the horse she was feeding. He had just snatched the apple core from her hand and finished disposing of it. She nodded. “Sure. I have to put Midas back in his stall. You can come with me and see the stables, and then I'll show you out back where we let people set up lunches.”

  She lifted the latch on the fence and stepped slowly towards Midas. She picked up a bridle that had been hanging on the fence post and looped it around his muzzle. “This is Midas,” she said, introducing Nick. “Dad rides him when he goes to cow cutting competitions. He placed a few years in a row for a while but now we're looking to breed him.”

  “He's beautiful,” Nick said, reaching out to stroke his nose. Nick had always thought horses looked pretty cool, but he had never been one of those kids with an equine obsession. That was usually a girl thing.

  Now that Nick was touching the horse, the animal didn't seem like a secondary factor in this equation. The horse looked straight at Nick and Nick looked back into those doleful brown eyes and then he heard a low voice in his head. 'Hi.'

  Nick blinked.

  'Got any food?'

  Nick's façade of composure melted away with confusion. The horse was in his head. He might have doubted his ears, hearing the horse speak in the way Diana heard animals talk, but the horse was in his head. It was hard to deny.

  He focused his thoughts back at the horse. 'No. Sorry.'

  'Too bad.'

  Nick looked back at Amanda. Amanda stared back at Nick. She examined him with curiosity. Clearly something was wrong with him. “Are you okay?”

  “Do you have a treat I could give Midas?” Nick asked.

  She dug into her pocket and pulled out some sugar cubes. She handed them to Nick. Midas looked alert.

  'Here you go, buddy,' he thought. He remembered from a farm field trip in kinder
garten that you could lose fingers if you weren't careful feeding animals. Nick fed Midas with an open palm and then wiped the horse saliva from his hand on to his cargo shorts.

  “I'd suggest you don't wear Crocs when you come for the party,” she said, guiding Midas through the gate. Midas nodded what Nick was sure meant 'Thank you' as he passed.

  “So tennis shoes?”

  “Or boots. Tell the kids closed-toed shoes.”

  Nick followed Amanda in to the barn. It was hard to see at first, coming in to dim lighting from the bright summer sunlight. Dark spots danced in front of his eyes as they struggled to adjust. He closed his eyes, giving them time to focus, and felt the presence of other minds brushing up against his thoughts. He could feel the other horses in his mind. Nick had a goal being here, but the horse telepathy was starting to freak him out.

  “I'll need to get an estimate,” he said, opening his eyes and steeling his nerves so he could ignore his new equine affinity. “My mom isn't sure how much she can spend on this party.”

  “I don't do the money side of things. But I can get your number and Dad can call with that.”

  “Email?” Nick didn't want to be caught off guard with a call from her family. He might forget to keep his facts straight.

  “Email will work.” She closed the stall behind Midas and went to the shelf by the door to get a notebook down. “Just leave your name and your email and he can do details with you. Or your mom's email, I guess.”

  Nick took the book from her. He feigned looking around for a pen. Amanda pulled one out of a cup on the shelf. When Nick took it, he took extra care to brush his hand against hers. Nick scribbled down one of the email addresses he used for dishonest dealings and registrations to embarrassing websites. Amanda set to hanging up tack that had been left out, and Nick was sure to let her catch him staring.

  “Are you sure you're alright?”

  Nick looked down at the dirt floor, pretending to be shy. “Yeah.” He said, smirking. He looked up, keeping his chin tilted down so he might look extra adorable. “I'm just a little... distracted today.”

  “Oh,” she said. Amanda knew he was flirting and she blushed. Sure, Nick had a reputation around the school, but it didn't make his attention any less of an ego boost.

  “So how about that tour?”

  Nick had gone home and regrouped since the discovery of his horse telepathy. He had shot off an email to The Pantheon about his ability and then changed his plan for Amanda McAffrey to work with his new talent.

  He ran through his hygiene routine-- shower, brushing teeth, and body spray-- and dressed himself in blue jeans, a red polo, and the only pair of closed-toed shoes he owned. He headed out to the McAffrey Ranch just before eleven in the morning with a soft-sided cooler in his passenger seat.

  When he hopped out of his car, Amanda was in the doorway of the barn, petting a tabby cat. She stood up and put her hand across her brow to shield her eyes from the sun. “Forget something?” she asked. She didn't think her Dad had time to email Nick yet.

  Nick didn't answer until he had crossed the dirt lot to meet her. He knew that he lost power when he had to shout to be heard. When Nick finally spoke, his voice was soft and intimate.

  “Sorry if I'm interrupting something,” he said. “I just... well I kept thinking last night after I left that I really should have gotten your number.”

  “I thought I gave you all of the contact info...” she trailed off.

  “Not your Dad's number,” Nick said, “your number.”

  “Are you--”

  “I'm asking you out.”

  “Listen, Nick... I don't really have a lot of t--”

  “Do you have a lunch break?”

  She nodded silently.

  “Then I brought lunch. I just want to talk to you. You seem interesting. Just have lunch with me and then you can reject me, okay?”

  Nick knew a lot about girls. He knew that most girls, especially girls his age, weren't used to guys who asked for what they wanted. A little assertiveness went a long way. He also knew that teenage girls tended to like guys more if they knew for sure the guy liked them. Just the validation of Nick's attention scored him points with Amanda McAffrey, so long as he was confident and charismatic. Big blue eyes and cute freckles were also a factor.

  “Alright,” she said. “I was going to fix something back at the house and take it down the trail to eat with Midas.”

  “I have a little cooler with chicken salad and grapes in my car.” He smiled. “If you still want to go on horseback, I'm up for an adventure.”

  Amanda smirked in a somewhat wicked way. She was going to test him. “If you're up for an adventure...” she turned and plucked a saddle off the wall. “Go get your cooler and meet me back here.”

  When Nick came back she had two horses ready to go. Midas stood next to another horse with a dark brown coat that blended into black along the shoulders and mane. “This is Shadow,” she said. Nick could tell from the way Shadow stomped his hoof in the dirt and the way that Midas edged away from him that Shadow was a difficult horse.

  Amanda climbed up on to Midas, leaving Nick with a challenge. He handed her the cooler to carry and then turned his attention to Shadow. Nick took a deep breath. He opened up his thoughts and felt both Midas and Shadow brushing up against his mind.

  'Easy, boy,' Nick though, reaching out to put his hand on Shadow's muzzle. 'See that cooler? See that bag she has? I've got carrots in there. If you help me get to our picnic spot, you can have a carrot.'

  Midas felt the need to interrupt. 'Any more sugar cubes?'

  Nick nodded and looked at Midas with a smile. Midas nickered and closed his eyes in a pleased way.

  Nick stroked Shadow's nose for a while before coming around to climb up into the saddle. Shadow let him, and Amanda looked surprised. “Ready?” he asked her.

  They headed up the trail to a small pond that was hardly fifty-square feet. Amanda got off and hitched Midas to a post mounted in the ground. Nick brought Shadow over by the reigns. He had a brief conversation in his mind with Midas as he approached and when he stopped in front of Amanda, the horse held up its end of the sugar-cube and carrot bargain.

  Midas put his nose against Amanda's back and pushed. The slender girl stumbled forward and Nick caught her in his arms. “Alright there?” he asked. She stopped, knees still bent trying to catch herself, and nodded. Nick pulled her to her feet but stayed close.

  “Good,” he said. He brushed a piece of hair away from her face and leaned forward like he might kiss her before pulling away. He was pleased to see disappointment on her face. She might have made a pledge to Valerie's club, but he could tell she was a romantic at heart. Nick's philosophy on girls was this: girls like to lie to themselves, so help them.

  He set up a modest picnic by the pond. Amanda sat down with him and ate. She talked about a leather-working class she was taking and he bragged about his swimming trophies.

  “You're different than I thought,” she said as they finished off the last of the grapes.

  “How's that?”

  “Well, I mean, the way people talk about you at school with girls-- you're kind of a heart breaker.”

  Nick sighed. He shook his head. “I've learned that rumor is rarely the truth,” Nick said. “I mean... do I date a lot of girls? Yes. I know what I'm looking for and I'm not the type to waste anyone's time if it's not working.” Nick knew that most of the girls he dated had enough of a self-preservation instinct not to admit to their peers that they'd slept with him. Most of the rumors only hinted at the reality of his sordid dating history. “And I'm sure I've hurt some feelings, but I think that's the nature of it, you know? We all get hurt. Do I like breaking up with girls? No. Have I been hurt? Sure.”

  He took a deep breath through his nose and let the air go behind his eardrums. He was overcome by the urge to yawn, but instead breathed steadily through this. It was his surefire trick to cry and a little glist
en came to his eyes before he coughed and looked back at the horses. What was simply a breathing trick came off to Amanda as a hint of vulnerability. Nick was pulling out all the stops on this one.

  “People like to talk,” Amanda said, giving Nick an excuse to stop talking. She might have actually pitied him. Success. “But I've learned to take everything with a grain of salt.”

  Nick nodded. “You can't believe everything, right?” He put the empty paper plates away in his cooler and zipped it up. They stood up and gathered up the blanket together. When they stepped close to fold it, Nick grabbed her hand.

  “I know what I'm looking for,” he said. “Right now that's another date with you. Will you let me take you to dinner?”

  Amanda took a deep breath and nodded. “The fact that Shadow didn't throw you off has me curious,” she said. “I'm off this weekend.”

  Nick smiled. “Good,” he said. Nick kept hold of her hand. His other hand rested on her lower back and pulled her close. The picnic blanket fell into a pile between their feet. He tipped his head down and kissed her. Nick had a few first kisses that he picked from, depending on the girl. He had to choose carefully. Even though he had already earned a great amount of Amanda's trust, he didn't want to appear too driven by passion alone. The kiss he chose was a passionate but safe one. He parted his lips only slightly, dropped her hand, and placed his palm against her jaw.

  Amanda hesitated at first, then she, too, parted her lips and darted her tongue forward, becoming the one responsible for deepening the kiss. After a minute Nick pulled back, keeping Amanda in his arms.