How long had he watched me sleep?
BY THE TIME everybody left, we were both worn down. We crawled into bed and held on to each other. I thought I would fall asleep quickly, but I didn’t. I could tell that Frank was still awake as well.
“You’re worrying,” I said at last.
“And I’m pissed.”
“At me?”
“No, no — why would I be angry with you?”
“Because I missed a chance to see who he is. You could have had a description of him if I had just opened my eyes. And your home has been broken into because of me.”
He pulled away to look down at me.
“Stop it, Frank. You know how I hate it when you try to take over for God.”
He had nothing to say to that.
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Hmmph.”
I decided it was time for a change in tactics. I moved up against him in a positively nasty way, running my fingernails over his chest. He groaned and gave me a kiss. One thing led to several others, and eventually we worked off all possible tension. Just before we fell asleep, I scraped his earlobe lightly with my teeth and whispered, “Merry Christmas, Adam.”
“Merry Christmas, Eve,” he whispered back. I could hear the smile in it.
MORNING CAME WAY too early for anyone’s liking, but we managed to crawl out of bed. We made arrangements to meet at home before the Christmas party, and trundled off to work.
I was talking to Lydia about my visit from Thanatos when the phone rang.
“Good morning, Cassandra. Did you sleep well?”
“No thanks to you,” I said, trying to hide my nervousness. This time I was able to get Lydia’s attention, and she picked up the extension. We both took notes.
“Did you enjoy my Christmas gift?”
“I’ve already put the little devils to work sorting seeds.”
He laughed. Synthesized and changed into an electronic replica of laughter, it was a chilling sound. I fought an urge to hang up on him. I wanted to know where Rosie Thayer was, so I waited. As it turned out, he wasn’t going to disappoint me.
“Since I so enjoyed watching you sleep, I’ve decided to give you another present. If you want to find the other Myrmidons, think of the story of Aeacus, and where he saw his future army.”
The line went dead.
“The other what?” I asked Lydia, reaching for a mythology book.
“Mur-mi-dons?”
I thumbed back to the index. “Here it is, Myrmidons — men created from ants by Zeus. Oh, now I remember — they became part of Achilles’ army in the Trojan War.”
“So we’re back to ants.”
I nodded as I skimmed through the section on the Myrmidons.
“He said something about the story of a cuss?” Lydia asked.
“Aeacus,” I said absently, still reading. “He was a mortal, a son of Zeus. He ruled the island of Aegina. Hera caused the island’s streams and rivers to be poisoned. Almost all of the island’s inhabitants died. Aeacus prayed near an oak, which was sacred to Zeus. He saw a long line of ants carrying grain up the tree, and begged Zeus to give him as many subjects as there were ants. That night, he dreamed of ants becoming men, and when he awoke, his son Telamon was calling him outside, to see the throng of men approaching their home. Aeacus recognized their faces from his dream.”
“So does Thanatos think you’re going to dream the answer?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s talking about the oak tree. I can’t decipher it yet, but we’ve got to let John know about the call.”
We hurried into his office. After hearing our story, John put in a call to Frank, who wasn’t at his desk. “What’s the name of that city department that maintains the trees?” he asked me, while waiting for Frank to answer a page.
“The Tree Department,” I answered.
“Wise ass,” he grumbled.
I shrugged. Would he have felt better if I made up a more obscure name?
“Do you think they know where all the oaks in town are?” he asked impatiently.
“Probably know where to find the ones the city has planted. Private property would be another story.”
“At least it’s an oak we’re looking for, not something scrawny.”
Frank came on the line and John put him on the speakerphone. We filled him in; there was a brief pause, then he said, “I know what we’ll want to do, John. But if you’re asking to involve the paper, I’m going to have to bring my
