Page 22 of Bows & Eros
"No, no, it's like ..." Aaron thought about it for a moment, twisting his lips into a pucker. "Like when you know it's gonna rain. It's like ... like afeeling."
I pressed my lips together to prevent my amusement from showing. I could not think of a more confusing answer if I tried. "So someone's true love was a house?" I prompted.
"I guess it wastoday," Aaron replied, sounding just as baffled as his father looked. "She seemed really happy about it. Lots of people went to get pets instead of boyfriends and girlfriends. One guy just went home and took a nap."
I stared at him. As much as I knew we were here to tell Aaron not to use his supernatural talents all willy-nilly ever again, I desperately wanted to experiment and find out what else he was capable of. There were, after all, many kinds of love.
"Aaron, I think you know what we're going to say," I told him, doing my best to remember that I was a responsible adult. "Don't you?"
He knocked back the rest of his chocolate, gave another messy wipe of his arm over his mouth, and pulled a face. "That I can never do it again?"
There was a pause, and I lifted my eyes to Ethan, wishing we had talked more about this before sitting down with Aaron. “Never” was a very harsh sentence, and really, was it even possible for someone like Aaron to keep all of that magic inside of him forever?
"I'm not going to say you can't use your powers anymore," Ethan decided, setting down his mug and leaning forward, knees on his elbows. "But you are still just a kid, and I don't think you realize howbigthe consequences of some of the things people did today are going to be. Buying a house? Getting married? Those things are a really big deal, and you made them happen."
"Is that really bad?" Aaron asked, already wincing as though he knew the answer would beyes.
"It isn't bad, no," Ethan answered. "But it isn't necessarily good either. We don't rush into things because it takes time to be ready for a big decision, but maybe some of the people you influenced today took a leap of faith they never would have had the courage to otherwise, and that could turn out to be really good for them or really bad. For example, what if the lady who bought the house realizes she didn't have enough savings to manage it after all? What if one of the pet owners realizes they don't know how to care for their animal?"
"That won't happen," Aaron said, so firmly it startled both of us. "That's not how it works."
"Okay," Ethan managed, as smoothly as one could recover from such a statement. "That's good. Still, you are interfering in their lives, and doing it to so many people all at once made things a little bit crazy today, didn't it?"
Aaron sighed, shifting his eyes to the side. "Yeah, I guess."
"We need to teach you how to really think it through,ifyou get the urge to do this again," Ethan said, his gaze flicking up to mine in an unspoken question of approval.
I gave him a nod. It was just as good as anything I might have come up with.
"I heard what you said to Hermes before you threw that airplane at Miss Mayflower," I said to Aaron, my voice soft but certain. "You wanted to make her look silly. It worked out happily in the end, but that should never be your reason for using magic on someone. It isn't nice or fair. It's a little bit like bullying, isn't it?"
Aaron looked truly startled by what I said, and I thought for a moment that he might cry. His eyes got watery and he bit down on his lip, unwilling to embarrass himself further, and just nodded at me and said miserably, "Yeah, I guess it is."
"You're not in trouble with me," I assured him, ducking my head so that he would look me in the eye. "I'm not mad at you, Aaron. I'm proud of you. You realized that things got out of control and you asked to go home. That was very brave and grown up. I think you will be responsible with your gifts from now on."
"I will be," he assured me, his voice a little thin from the repressed tears. "I promise."
I gave him a smile and squeezed his shoulder, feeling again that urge to just gather him up in my arms and make it all better.
He turned to his father and said again, after a little gulp, "I really do promise."
"Good," Ethan said gently. "I'm proud of you too. Are you ready for bed?"
Aaron nodded, somehow in that moment seeming even younger, even smaller and more vulnerable than he already was.
"Will you both tuck me in?" he asked, looking from one of us to the other with those wide blue eyes. "Please?"
I nodded, standing with Ethan. Each of us took one of his hands.
And so we tucked a little demigod into his sheets and wished him sweet dreams.
CHAPTER11
Closing the door to Aaron Weaver's bedroom, knowing he was snug in his bed and ready to drift safely off to sleep, gave me the feeling that I could truly breathe for the first time all day. I closed my eyes, putting a hand to the wall next to me and just took a moment to appreciate where we were and what had passed.
The danger had passed. The spell was fading. The boy was safe.
It was crazy, without question. It had all been utterly insane.
