Eros

Chapter 3: Any Ship

". . . sleeping god."

Eros awoke to a sharp sting in his arm.

"Sorry, Eros, but we are here."

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. A cacophony of giggles pulled him further awake.

"Where are you from?"

"Can I have your digits?"

"What did she say your name is again?"

Eros gazed at several girls flanked him, a smile on his face. What a pleasant way to arise. "Hello. I am Eros."

"Oh, yes you are!" another girl said as she lowered herself beside him. She glided her fingertips along his knee that peaked beneath the stolen coat.

"Excuse me, but Eros and I—," his traveling companion pulled him to his feet with a grunt, "are on our way. Say good-bye!"

"No, don't go!"

"Eros!"

When they stepped out into the cool of night, the round girl said, "Can you believe all those girls?"' Her voice dripped with disgust.

"Yes." It would be most entertaining to see his power at work with modern mortals. It seemed impossible to find one who could spite him. Would he fail?

She paused and gave him a face.

"What?" His thoughts flew at once at her peculiar expression.

"Nothing. I think—oh never mind."

"What is it you think?" Eros followed the girl through a crush of people.

She stopped and handed paperwork to a man who sat behind a desk. Eros realized he needed the same items—as the man at the train station was particular as well—and knowing he had no paperwork, reached into his pocket and produced exactly what was needed.

The man gave him a suspicious glance, but Eros brushed his hand. The man's demeanor changed to an open expression and he smiled. "Very good. Thank you."

Eros hated this world. He longed to go back where life was simple and one did not need miniatures of themselves called passports or legal documents in order to travel by ship. This mortal life was an imprisonment and he had a sinking feeling he would not survive.

They soon boarded a tiny vessel. Anger, hot and blinding, consumed him. "We are boarding a ship fit for slaves!" His mother had seen to his misery even here. Was there no place where he could find sanctity from her cruelty?

"What?" Angie turned to him. "What's fit for slaves?"

Eros clamped his lips tight and refused to move. "I will not climb that leaf and travel hence. It is not fit for distances. Do you expect me to follow you to no end?"

"You've never seen a shuttle before?" The sound of her voice had him reconsider her. "Wait, do you think we're actually going to cross the Atlantic in that?"

Still, he did not meet her gaze. Fire seethed in his head. How he yearned to see his wretched mother suffer for this. Suddenly, clear laughter filled his ears. It was the girl Angie.

After she gathered her breath, she shook her head, wiping tears that streaked down her face. "Oh, I am so terribly sorry. Eros, this will take us to that."

At first, he refused to indulge her whim. How dare she laugh at him. When she made no move to lower her arm, he followed where she pointed. It was nothing he had expected. A ship larger than Zeus' temple sat in majestic regality upon the blue waters.