Page 81 of The Magic We Made

“Look, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. Obviously the public’s shift to monotheism and the emergence of science made it more difficult for the ancient gods to live—let alone do good works—under their original names. They had to go into hiding. But that’s a hard thing for people who are used to helping others while also being worshiped. I’m not saying everyone in my family is a narcissist, but... let’s just say there are a lot of big egos, and they all want their chance to shine.”

“Okay.” I often deal with patients in crisis. True, their crises are usually of the financial variety, but the patient care is no different. I just need to keep Ash talking long enough for help to arrive and save him from the complete psychotic break I suspect he might be having. “Go on.”

“So Gaia pivoted to this charitable trust, which not only enables her to hide her true identity, it also gives her and the rest of the family more opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the people who need help the most. And it gives all my relativeswho haven’t gone into politics or the entertainment business a way to use their gifts.”

“Like finding lost things.”

“Right. But I really do manage our family assets.”

“Which I imagine there’s a lot of. You guys have been around for a very long time.” My heart is aching, but I have to ask, since his response could determine a course of treatment, “So would you call yourself a demigod? Because—”

“No!” There it is again—the same desperation I’d seen in his hair raking, only this time, it’s in his voice. “I told you, some of us have special powers, but only Gaia and the first few generations of her descendants are truly immortal—”

“Some of us? How many of you are there?”

He looks even more uncomfortable. “Gaia is the mother of creation. So, uh, she likes giving birth. It’s embarrassing because she’s my grandmother, you know—”

I can’t say that in all my years in practice, I’ve ever heard of anyone else with this particular delusion. But that’s the thing about delusions: like an autumn leaf, no two are alike.

“So it feels like every time I turn around, she’s got some new guy, and is getting knocked up by him,” Ash goes on. “So I have a lot of half-siblings and aunts and uncles... like Derrick.”

My God. He’s even managed to rope poor Derrick into his pathology. “So does Derrick work for Olympus, too?”

“Yes, but remotely, and not in my department. He’s in human resources.”

“Okay. But notallof the ancient gods and their descendants work for Olympus?”

“No!” He’s starting to look angry. “Think about it, Francesca.Use your common sense. You pay attention. You read books and follow the news. You must have wondered before about how all these not really very intelligent-seeming, but highly attractive people got so rich without ever seeming to do any real work. I’m sure you’ve seen that one guy who’s been in all those movies—you know the ones—but never seems to age?”

Hesitantly, I nod. “Yes. Are you saying—”

“That’s my uncle Hermes! All that bullshit he says in interviews about eating right and exercising—I mean, yeah, he really does all that. But he’s also messenger of the gods!”

I nod like this makes sense. Like Mark nodded that afternoon when Mrs. Baumgarten told him about the ghosts who stole her groceries. Because that’s how you deal with people who are suffering from such false beliefs... at least until you can get them the professional help they need: you embrace their reality.

“Okay,” I say to Ash. “This is all very informative. Thank you for telling me. Why don’t we go inside so we can discuss it over a nice warm cup of—”

He stares down at me, his gaze wounded. “You don’t believe me.”

I know better than to deny it. “Like you said, it doesn’t matter what anyone else believes—”

“But I’m telling the truth.There’sthe proof!” He thrusts a finger toward the burning island in the middle of the lake. “Do you understand that people are going to die if I don’t stop this? I don’t know what Haley’s planning to do with that bone. It’s definitely not Gaia’s. Gaia doesn’t need tools or gimmicks. It’s true that Hecate has never managed to adjust to life here on earth like the rest of the family, even under a different name. She’s always preferred to live in the Underworld. But that doesn’t mean her magic is any stronger than my grandmother’s. It’s just different.And that’s why I have to stop Haley. She’s messing with forces she doesn’t understand. Someone is going to get hurt.”

Someone is going to get hurt, all right. But I have a very bad feeling that someone is Ash. And maybe me.

All I can hear is my own breathing... and his. The same breathing I’d felt against my cheek last night—and again this morning—as he’d plunged himself into me. Multiple times.

While believing what has to be one of the most elaborate delusions I’ve ever heard.

“I understand why you might feel that way,” I say to him finally, as gently as I can. “But whatever is going on over there is not your responsibility. There’s nothing you can—”

“It’smyjob, Francesca,” he says in a tone I recognize. It’s the tone of a man who is finished talking—at least to me. “This ismyresponsibility. That’s why I’m asking you—no,beggingyou—to go inside so I can do my job.”

“Okay,” I say. He’s grown so agitated, I know he’s not going to be receptive to anything I say. So instead, I let him think he’s won. “Okay. I’ll go inside now like you asked. Why don’t you come talk to me when you’re finished, okay?”

It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but I do it: I turn around and head toward my own house.

“Frankie—”