It’s a week before I come across Dionysus again.

  He wears the same outfit as before, and on his right arm I notice a silver cat-like piece of jewelry that wraps around his bicep. He doesn’t notice me, or, if he did, he just didn’t make a note to comment. Avery had been sick today. We’ve been going out everyday after school, and it had poured all day yesterday. She ended up with a fever once she got home, texting me about it. She blamed the rain; I blamed the fact she was out in the rain and then got sneezed on by a sick kid.

  ??Dionysus is leaning against the tree, face turned up towards the sky as if he was listening to something I couldn’t quite hear. He does greet me when I’ve stepped closer, hands on the straps of my bag. I’ve adjusted it six times, and the books were still causing the straps to dig into my skin painfully. I’ve recovered enough, at least, from the first monster attack of my life, so it wasn’t terribly bad. Just the uncomfortable ache if I lift something too heavy.

  “You’ve been patrolling.” He says, letting his shoulder rest against the tree.

  “Why are you wearing that?” I ask, indicating his outfit. The toga. The sandals. He looks down at himself, turns his head as if to look behind him, then in an instant, the toga had been replaced by a sleek leopard pattern button up, jeans, and what looked like were a black pair of boots. I’ve read up that he was a God of Wine, and often was depicted as a party man, but with his dark hair gone blond and tied back, and his purple eyes a bright shade of blue—He looked like he was ready to go on a hike, not a party.

  “Is this better?”

  “I liked the darker hair.” I admit, because the shade of purple looked nice. And his eyes before were almost cat-like. Dionysus smiles, and I see a hint of sharp teeth.

  “It’s my ‘human’ form. The one before was so you would know I was a God. This is just to fit in. Let me walk you home.”

  “Isn’t that… mundane?” Beneath him? It made no sense to me. Nor did I need someone to walk me home, a good amount of the time, I took the bus anyway, or my aunt picked me up, or I was with Avery, since she lived close enough to the school. I was headed there now, since I wanted to drop off some homework for the weekend.

  ??“Could be.” He responds, with a sort of firmness that made me unsure of talking back. “But I like walking and seeing the world.” He doesn’t wait for much then, his hands slipped into his pockets, and he moves to stand beside me. For a moment I wonder if anyone watched a man just randomly appear from thin air, and I nearly laugh at the thought. I shift my bag again, to turn on my heel and walk, but Dionysus takes the bag from me in a swift movement, throws It over his shoulder and follows me.

  It’s quiet when we walk. Besides the usual sounds of traffic and the occasional conversations around us, we don’t talk. Dionysus seems to enjoy just looking around him, admiring a stand we passed by that sell frozen fruit popsicles. I don’t have much to say, but my arms keep crossing and uncrossing, unsure of where to put them since I didn’t have a bag to hold. We get half-way to my home, before I finally turned to him.

  ??“I didn’t answer you earlier.” He raises a brow, I continue speaking. “You said I was patrolling. I have been. But we haven’t found anything. The worst thing were the Snakes.”

  “Oh?” Dionysus blinks, scratching his jaw in thought. “What are you using?”

  “Apps.”

  “Apps…”

  “Yeah, like – “

  “I know what apps are, I’m old, not stupid.” Dionysus doesn’t snap, he just rolls his eyes, fond more than anything. “You’re following technology?” His tone has this pitch to it I don’t quite understand, not mocking. No, sort of like he is pressing me for answers. Something that I can’t catch, which makes my shoulders tense and lips press tight together.

  “Why don’t you ever answer me directly?”

  “It’s not my job to.” Dionysus answers swiftly, stepping closer. He smells like grapes again, but this time, with a spicy undertone that made me want to sneeze.

  “You’re a God, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?” I snap, voice wavering just a bit. It’s hard to raise my voice, but I feel comfortable around him. My head tilts, my posture stiff as I stare him down in turn. “You’re supposed to have all the answers.”

  Dionysus is quiet as he looks back at me, his jaw tenses and then relaxes.

  “What are you going to learn, if I tell you directly?” Dionysus asks then, voice leveled. “What are you going to learn, if I give you every answer? I’m helping you the way I think best. If you don’t want that, then I can just rip away everything I gave you.”

  ??That scares me. Somehow, even when he says it all in a calm manner, the thought of having something precious given to me makes my chest tight and breathing uneven. I can feel something hot at the corner of my eyes, which makes me sick to my stomach, but I don’t respond to it. I just turn my head, swallow and nod slowly. Alright. He isn’t mean, he’s being matter of fact. There’s an answer somewhere in what he tells me, even if it wasn’t direct.

  A hand falls onto my head, and I jolt, eyes snapping back up to him. Dionysus smiles.

  “You’re a good one, you know that?” He ruffles my hair, and his hand moves to my shoulder so he can guide me back home. His steps are measured, so he matches my pace, and he doesn’t drag me in for some hug or pull me up against him. He just walks, squeezes my shoulder and lets me find my place again.

  ??Later, when I’m home, he ruffles my head again and promises to come if I ever call for him. My Aunt is with her friends in the living room, laughing around Cafecito and fresh bread from the market down the street. She greets me with kisses to my cheek, shows me off to her friends and laughs about something in Spanish I can’t quite understand. I kick off my shoes, and throw myself onto my bed the first chance I get.

  It's not until I’ve found myself drifting into sleep, exhausted from the week long afterschool ‘patrolling’, trying to keep up with homework and chores, that I realize Dionysus never gave me back my backpack.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  I push up from the bed, ready to call out for him, ready to seek the God out and demand it back, before I flop back onto my soft sheets, eyes closed. It could wait, right? I don’t need it now. Sleep sounded so much better.

  ??Avery is still sick by Saturday, but better by Sunday. She invites me to go out again—I’m curled up in my sheets, still blinking away sleep, too sluggish to reply to the text. I had woken from my nap the other day, with my bag on the vanity, a bowl of grapes and the urge to light one of the unused candles. I didn’t. Instead, I had just plugged up my phone, rolled back into bed and passed out until dinner.

  My eyes close, my back cracks, and I sink back into the sheets, ready to sleep in some more before my Aunt is opening my door.

  “Up, Noe! I made eggs and hot chocolate.”

  “…”

  ??“Up, up, up.” She’s pulling my sheets, speaking fast. Plans of being out and wanting to make sure I wasn’t sleeping the day away like I had Saturday. I groan but get up. My teeth were brushed, hair done, and dressed in my unicorn pajamas by the time my Aunt had set down a plate for me. Her eggs were horrible, but they were edible. Overly seasoned, the kind that makes you want water with every bite, but there was something comforting about them.

  She made me promise to clean the bathroom. I agree and watch her pull on her shoes for work and go.

  The house is silent, but I can hear my phone in the back, going off in rapid succession. Avery.

  ????I meet Avery by the park, near our school, where she’s hanging upside down on the jungle gym. She waves when she sees me, sniffling.

  “No-em-iiii!” She slips off the bars, wiping her hands on her jeans. There are other kids around that Avery has to dance around to catch me by the wrist. “So glad you came!”

  “You wouldn’t stop texting.” I hold up my phone, swiping my screen over so she can see all the messages she left. Emojis, mostly the pleading ones, the ‘plz respond’, and the occasional voice message that was the same thing. “I figured if I didn’t come, you would drag me here.”

  Avery laughs. “Maybe. Okay, yeah, I so would. Listen, not my fault, I saw a thing-“

  ??That was all I needed to know. I still let her talk, rambling on about something including a mutated butterfly that would try to snatch a little kid up. She talks softly so only we can hear, but my mind wonders to the thoughts that it mustn’t be nice to see horrible things that could happen. Did she see me die?

  The thought of my death strikes me fast, and my body goes ice cold, heart hammering. It’s such a frightening response; it takes me longer than I hoped to snap out of it and focus on Avery's suddenly too hot hands, and her voice. She’s still rambling, lost in her own world, and I appreciate that she didn’t see me panicking.

  ??Avery pulls out her phone, shaking it. “Can’t find it on the monster app though, which is fine. I sort of figured where it might be.” My eyes move over her phone, recalling what Dionysus said, but not being able to figure how to bring it up. She already knew where it might be anyways, so I let her guide me.

  It’s still by the park, in the end. Further from the street, hidden by trees that were kept around making the area look less industrial than from across the street. I sit on the ground, picking at a weed, as Avery sniffles a few times and talks to me about her Saturday—Then we hear it.

  ??A flap of wings, something crunching. It’s a horrific sound. Avery turns her head and makes a noise in the back of her throat that sounds like a mix of a hiccup and a shriek. I stand quickly, following her gaze and watching with wide eyes as a creature just… morphs out of nothing. It’s uneven, one wing large and curled, and then another spreading. The butterfly grows sharp teeth, its legs warped and twisted with thorns. It hits the ground and everything shakes, and for a moment, it just lays there.

  Avery has a hand to her collar, another curled at her side.

  “Okay.” She breathes out. “This should be easy, right?”

  ????“Yeah.” I’m not shaking, but she is. I hadn’t noticed she feared monsters before, since they’re so common nowadays. I have never seen one form either, but the feelings I had didn’t make much sense to me. Avery breathes out again, a slower sound, before she squeezes the hand around her collar, and she’s engulfed in bright light. It’s quick, one second, she is dressed in a pink top and jeans, the next, she’s in all white, her hair spilling down her back in thick silver-blonde waves. I notice a green laurel pin, holding some of her bangs back, which is out of place for all the white and gold she was in. I open my mouth, near hissing:

  “Are you not afraid of anyone noticing?!”

  “No one will remember.” She hisses back, pushing my arm. “Change!”

  ??Change. I haven’t done that before. I don’t know how. Every time we patrolled, it was usually nothing worth changing for. The butterfly creature was squirming on the ground, trying to find its purchase and lift, as people around as scattered.

  Change.

  My heart is hammering.

  CHANGE.

  I can’t. I don’t know how.

  I don’t understand what to do.

  ??Avery makes a noise in the back of her throat, turning away from me to throw herself at the butterfly, her weapon forming out of light. She aims and hits it with an arrow. Nothing happens for a moment.

  I think, maybe finally, she managed to land a hit that hits.

  But then the butterfly opens its mouth and lets out a loud, ear-piercing shriek that makes me crouch, hands slapped over my ears.

  I had to change. How do I change? Why can’t I think? Why am I afraid? Why am I weak? Why do I want to cry?

  ??Avery is ignoring me, straight into battle as people around us keep running off. The butterfly has gotten up, wobbling on uneven feet, shrieking again as its wings fluttered. The wind was strong enough to make Avery stumble back, and me hit the ground. Avery steadies herself quickly, huffing as she aims at another arrow, for the wings. It bounces right off, and she swears, shaking the bow.

  “Come on! Noe? Some help?!”

  ??Help? I don’t know how. I stand, shaking. I feel panicky, like the first time I witnessed a Monster. Staring face to face with that three headed snake creature. Back then, I hadn’t exactly made it out as anything but the rise of nausea, like now, the way my stomach sinks, and my chest kept tightening. I stare at the butterfly, as it shrieks and moves forward, as if to lunge for Avery.

  The wind picks up when it bats at her, and Avery squeaks as she is knocked down again.

  CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CH-

  ????“Hey.” Another voice.

  I jolt, shaking, turning my head to stare at a boy roughly my age. He’s looking at me with eyes of a pinkie hue. At first glance, I know what he is, someone like Avery. Someone like me. But there’s so much confidence in how he holds himself, I’m able to pick up envy. I want to laugh. “You’re okay. They’re scary.” He smiles and turns to the butterfly. “I was scared my first time too. Just breathe, it gets easier.”

  He steps forward and holds out a hand. A weapon appears, but it’s not a small thing. It’s large, bigger than him, and shadows dance around his feet as he moves. He spins on his feet, his smile as bright as Avery’s. Something in me just snaps into place.

  ??“Nice’ta meet ya, heard Ave’s calls herself a magical girl… so, think of me as a magical boy.” He tips back, and shadows burst from the ground, wrapping around him. One minute he is there, the next, he is by the butterfly, jumping from the ground and swinging the claymore.

  I can’t stop watching, because my heart won’t let me look away.