Izzy and Jacob sit at the bar in the ranch motel. The crowd has thinned out; Jacob is looking at their bag of pennies. He turns and looks to Izzy, and a woman with golden hair with many colors of ribbons tied into it sits down next to him. She pokes him between the shoulder blades.
“Rumor is you’re the expert on doors,” Eucleia asks as she examines Jacob, looking him over.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jacob says over his shoulder, his hands reaching out to find Izzy. ‘Izzy, there might be a problem,’ he thinks. But he is alarmed when his hands can’t seem to find her; he runs them across the bar and finds her drink but no Izzy.
“The flamingo said you know all about it. and that you have seen it,” Eucleia says, her hair blowing in a nonexistent wind.
“The flamingo talks?” Jacob says his searching hands are still searching and still finding nothing. He finally dares to look away from Eucleia, and Izzy is gone, her stool empty.
“That’s not important, but what is important is that I find the door; the sooner the better.” Eucleia insists. She taps the countertop to punctuate the sentence.
“Why do you want it?” Jacob asks, now looking for the cat. Not his first choice for backup, but with Izzy gone. ‘Where did you go, Izzy?’ he thinks, his body insisting that he should be wary of Eucleia, but he can’t figure out why. ‘Damnit, I bet Izzy ran off with that Eros guy.’ His shoulders slump.
“Because it contains something that should never be found,” she says, looking around conspiratorially, trying to see whatever it is Jacob keeps craning his neck around to see.
“I am sorry; I won’t help you,” Jacob says, trying to get off the stool. ‘I swear we just went through a phase of crazies wanting to get at the door,’ he thinks, but she puts a strong hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.
“You better, or the human race will suffer,” she says, a deep sadness showing in her eyes. Jacob feels an urge to buy this woman a drink. It’s the polite thing to do when you’re talking to a woman at a bar. His urge to leave was melting away. He gestures for the Cat, but the Cat is busy down at the end of the bar.
Her words were processed in Jacob’s brain. “I won’t tell you, mostly because I don’t know anything; I have been away,” Jacob says. “I have been away,” he whispers again.
“Where did you see it last?” She asks.
Jacob starts putting his words in order to tell her everything, but as he gets ready to open his mouth, Grup walks by and lifts him by his shorts and puts him on his shoulder. “Come with me, human,” he grunts, walking away.
Eucleia silently glowers. “How am I to find the door if no one will talk to me?”
gas station
The doorkeeper is sitting in Josh’s bedroom. As relaxed as a doorkeeper can be, there is a small table in front of him with a mini hotdog cooker; to his left is a small refrigerator with several packs of hotdogs, and sitting on top are bags of hotdog buns. The doorkeeper sighs in contentment and looks up at the magical TV screen and flips through the channels.
Izzy Cam
Izzy is following Eros as he crosses the room. She can’t explain why, but she feels it’s important.
‘Who is Psyche?’ Izzy wonders. She follows him through the crowd into reception. Izzy gets a glance of the woman Eros is following. She is tall or wearing heels; she can’t tell in the crowd. From behind she can see she has very wavy golden hair long enough she can’t tell where it ends. Her skin is light, and she is blemish-free. It’s impossible to tell how old she is from this angle, but she can easily see the butterfly wings on her back. Izzy, not knowing much about butterflies, thinks they are stunning blue with a black silver edge.
Psyche looks over her shoulder, moving her wing out of the way, and spots Eros. She stiffens and quickly moves to the eastern hallway on the first floor. Eros follows, and Izzy follows Eros. When she makes her way around the reception desk, she loses sight of them both.
Izzy stands alone in the eastern hallway. The same hallway that the back door to her motel room is in. She looks around the hallway and hears nothing. Her ears tingle with the lack of sound. There is a liminal feeling as she turns back toward reception, but she sees no one. She turns back forward and takes several steps forward.
Eros Cam
Eros steps into the hallway and catches Psyche slipping into the first door in the hallway. He slides into it with her, the door closing with a soft click.
Psyche moves quickly towards the front of the building, and Eros holds up his hands. “Psyche, wait,” he says, tucking his wings tight to his body.
She stops at the front door, hand on the knob. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me again?”
“No, no, I am here for Venus; she needs something,” he says, his hands still held up.
“Get it and go. I don’t want to see you ever.” Psyche says coldly.
“It was a long time ago; I have missed you,” Eros says softly.
“You had a family with another woman,” Psyche says icily.
“It was a long time ago, you know. I am sorry. Can’t we have our happily ever after?” Eros gets on his knees and begs.
“Not until I forgive you, and I don’t forgive you,” she says, opening the motel door. “I want you to leave now.”
“The room? Yeah, sure, I can do that. Just know I am sorry, Psyche,” he says, moving back toward the hallway.
“No, the North American continent—go back to the Mediterranean; stay away from here,” she says, her voice like a blizzard.
“I can’t do that; I have to find a magical door, and then I will go,” he says, turning the inner hallway doorknob.
“I want you gone. now. I don’t want to see you,” she says, stepping outside.
“I will always love you, Psyche,” Eros says to the empty eastern hallway.
Izzy cam
A wide-green-eyed woman Taps Izzy on her shoulder; she screams and turns around. The woman has a look in her eyes of being old and jaded by life. Her clothes are well-made but hand-sewn and wildly outdated—maybe the 30s, Izzy guesses. Her time at the ranch with the theme parties in the bar helped her pinpoint the era.
Looking past the clothes, the woman is physically fit and at least 8 months pregnant. Izzy guessed she should still be in college by her age.
“My name is Clotho. We saw you on the dunes. We have seen you in our dreams,” the woman says, smiling at Izzy.
“Who is ‘we?” Izzy asks, her heart slowing down. She feels something behind her and turns around. Izzy leans back as her vision fills with a pair of breasts. She steps back; a middle-aged woman pulls Izzy tight to her chest, her head nestling comfortably between them. Izzy puts her hands on the woman’s belly and pushes, freeing herself.
“You are the one in our dreams, yes?” the middle-aged woman asks. She looks down at Izzy with a warm, knowing smile.
Izzy pulls back, almost stepping on the Clotho. “I don’t know; they are your dreams,” Izzy says politely.
An older woman with shock-white hair with faint creases in her face looks Izzy over; she is beautiful, refined by age. She has a knowing look in her eyes. She also has two hands playing with Izzy’s breasts. “Nice and firm, oh yes,” she says.
The woman with the large breasts slaps at the woman groping Izzy’s breasts. “We talked about this, Atropos.”
Izzy pulls away feeling overwhelmed and frightened. “Good news, the girls are healthy,” Atropos says, letting go. “Yes, we have dreamed of you,” Atropos adds.
The woman with giant breasts presses against her back, putting Izzy’s head between her breasts again. “I think we should go somewhere private,” she smiles, looking down at Izzy.
Clotho grabs Izzy’s hand and opens the door behind herself, and together the four of them walk into Izzy’s motel room. Clotho sits on Izzy’s bed. “Lachesis, close the door behind you,” she says.
The Lachesis does, leaving the four of them in the room alone.
