Some Other World

Wow, Who Would Have Known He Had It in Him?

After my long and admittedly interesting retelling of my life (during which Maggie downed two cups of coffee), I sat back and looked at her. "So how did you get here?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I will admit, my story is fairly... cushioned compared to yours. I'm mortal, so though I am clear-sighted and could see a lot of the mythological warfare that would often go on around me, I was rarely ever involved. I just tried to keep to myself, far away from anything that might hurt me.

"I didn't get directly involved with the Greek Pantheon until I was... oh goodness, probably twenty. I was at a party, and I was mostly keeping to myself. I was a very shy girl when I was young."

Maggie smiled, looking off into nowhere. I could imagine she was reliving the party and what happened there.

"The boy who walked up to me was tall and blond, and he had these gorgeous blue eyes. When he talked, his voice was so beautiful, and I could hear him easily over the music even though he wasn't shouting or anything. I waved it off that night as being so enraptured by him that I was hyper-focused, I found the truth out later."

I raised my eyebrows. "Can I guess who it was?"

Maggie giggled. "Oh, I'm sure you know, but go ahead."

"Was it Apollo?"

She nodded. "You should have heard the name he went by. The first time he introduced himself to me, he must have looked for what names were popular around the time I was born... he went with Derrick Casey."

I snorted. "Well, no one ever said he had a ton of brain cells."

Maggie waved me off, laughing. "Let me continue."

I nodded and she shifted, continuing her story.

"So at the party, we talked for maybe an hour. When I finally decided to go, he insisted on having a way to contact me later on. I agreed and went home, expecting to never hear from him again.

"I got letter after letter, poems, dried flowers, and just about every other kind of love note imaginable. It was actually very cute, I kept them in a box in my room. It was a while before we had a chance to meet up again, but he asked me on a date to the roller rink in town and I said yes."

"He seems like he was a lot more invested than he is now." I commented.

Maggie shrugged, sighing. "There's a reason for that. But I'll explain later.

"We dated for about two months. He was sweet, caring, and completely willing to respect all of my boundaries."

She shook her head. "I was the one to ask for it to go farther. I knew it could become a problem later, but I loved him and I wanted to keep going. He was hesitant, but agreed when I assured him that it was what I wanted."

"This isn't going to end well...." I commented slowly.

Maggie laughed. "Oh, that's an understatement. Something went wrong, and I ended up pregnant."

"Did he run?"

She shook her head. "I expected him to, but no. And he knew I was pregnant before I did. The day I told him, he told me who he was, how he knew, and that he had a plan. He wouldn't tell me any more.

"Two days later he asked my father for my hand in marriage."

I nearly dropped the coffee cup I'd been looking at.

"He did what?"

Maggie laughed, nodding. "He proposed, and we made wedding plans. It wasn't a big ordeal, he'd told my parents that most of his family had passed away, and once we were married he moved me to a nice house and began to take care of me.

"When Zeus found out... he was furious. He made a deal with Hecate, and they twisted Apollo's mind until he couldn't remember who I was, then sent me through a portal and I ended up here."

I frowned, realizing she was crying. "Maggie, I'm so sorry...."

She shook her head. "I'm used to most of it, but... the portal... the baby didn't survive."

"Oh Hades."

Maggie took a deep breath and lifted her head. "I landed near the Varden. They nursed me back to health, and I've been here ever since, trying to find a way back to our world. It's been five years, and I have nothing, but you've got magic that I don't. Maybe we'll be able to get back."

"I'm looking for a way, and I promise I'll help you get back as well." I took her hands and squeezed them.

She smiled weakly. "Thank you."