Uninspired Muse (Mt. Olympus Employment Agency: Muse Book 3) Read online

  “Most of them didn’t take it quite so hard as Scott. But, yes. You sort of left a trail of broken hearts behind you and never seemed to realize it. I worried about it, but then you stopped doing it .”

  “Well, at least there’s that. I’d hate to think I was still doing it .”

  She squeezed my knee again and drew closer, her look of sympathy almost comical, if it hadn’t been so gut-wrenching. “Except that I was wrong. I didn’t recognize it at first, but then I realized, you started doing the adult version of the same thing .”

  I thought about my last boyfriend, Freddy. I’d broken up with him, mostly because I couldn’t imagine being with him forever. He wasn’t The One . He’d been so upset, he’d used Mt. Olympus magic to start a brand new relationship with me in a different body with a different name. It hadn’t gone well, and when I broke up with his new persona, he’d gone off the deep end .

  “Mom, what do I do about this? I’m a complete screw up when it comes to relationships. I knew I wasn’t good at it. I didn’t realize how bad .”

  She wrapped both arms around me and held me tightly against her. “How could you possibly know how to have a solid romantic relationship when your mother was on the run from her husband the whole time you were growing up ?”

  I rested my head on her shoulder and inhaled the smell of lilacs in her hair. “I didn’t know that, though. I just thought you were weird .”

  “Every girl thinks that of her mother. You just happened to be right .”

  We sat like that for a few minutes. She rubbed her palm over my back while I ran through my past boyfriends and all the breakups that ended the relationships. When I reached Freddy in the timeline, I realized she was right—I’d always thought I had a good reason for breaking up with each guy, then ignored his phone calls and heartbreak afterward .

  I had no idea how to fix the problem, but one thing was for sure: now that I was aware of it, I had to change, or I would end up alone forever .

  Chapter 2

  I ’d had the day off from my regular job at Mt. Olympus for jury duty in the Underworld, but it was a one-day ticket. I was back in the office first thing the next morning .

  The Muse department had been my work home for over six months, except for the month or so I spent working as Hades’s junior personal assistant. By now, I was settled in, had friends in the department, and even had actual personal stuff on my desk .

  For the first time in my life, I kind of loved my job .

  I dropped my purse in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet tucked under the desk, then booted up my computer. When I’d first arrived, I’d been assigned to an ancient PC running outdated software. Since then, I’d made a fuss, and everyone’s computers had been replaced with brand new models, a better Internet connection, and software that belonged to the current century .

  When I’d left to fill in at Underworld headquarters, my desk had been woefully bare of anything identifying it as mine. I’d tucked a plastic barrette and a gum wrapper on the edge of the keyboard in an effort to appear relevant. The attempt had been pathetic .

  Now, my desk had a photomontage of friends I’d made, a bowl of candy left over from Halloween, sticky notes stuck to every surface, and a small potted geranium .

  The plant always made me smile when I came in, because I expected it to talk, and it never did. My philodendron at home, Phyllis, wouldn’t shut up. Either the geranium had nothing to say, or it was just a regular plant .

  I’d never stop expecting it to speak up, though .

  Once I’d gone through my emails and checked my inbox for new assignments—there weren’t any—I scooted out of my chair and went to the supply room to prepare for a day of inspiring folks who were in a rut .

  “Hey, Wynter. How was jury duty?” Audrey hooked her golden belt around her waist. “See anything juicy ?”

  I grimaced and grabbed an empty bottle from a shelf in the supply closet. “I saw them send a man with mismatched socks to the Elysian Fields because he’d invented a portable tent that folded down to pocket-sized so homeless people always had protection from the elements. And I saw a pastor sent to Asphodel because, while she hadn’t done anything really bad in her life, she hadn’t done much good, either. She looked pretty surprised .”

  Audrey hooked her bubble wand to her belt. “Anybody get sent to Tartarus for eternal punishment ?”

  “I don’t think they do that anymore—the eternal part. But yeah. We voted a few over there.” I shivered, thinking about the woman selling cats to scientists. “I’m glad it’s over with .”

  “Until they call you again.” She patted my shoulder and walked toward the door. “Perks of being related to royalty, I guess. Everybody wants you around , now .”

  I groaned as she left the room. “Awesome .”

  I refilled my bottle of bubbles, chose a golden wand, and hooked them both to my belt. I ignored the shakers of Beastie Discombobulator Dust. None of my current clients had animals I needed to subdue, and I wasn’t very good with the dust anyway. I kind of overdid it once on a client’s dachshund and never touched the stuff afterward .

  My boss, Polly—the actual Greek Muse Polyhymnia—poked her head through the doorway. “Wynter, can I see you in my office?” She didn’t wait for an answer. I assumed she went to her office to wait for me .

  I adjusted my belt, making sure the links weren’t twisted and all lay flat against my hips. The bubbles didn’t hang right, so I unhooked them and moved them to another spot. The wand I’d chosen had a smudge on it, so I pulled it off the belt and spent a few moments fogging it with my breath and shining it with my sleeve .

  The longer I put off following Polly, the more I worked myself into a knot. Was I in trouble? Did I do something wrong? Had I been seen by a client or reported by a fellow employee for breaking a rule ?

  I’d screwed up badly six months before. For the most part, I’d gotten away with it and only had to work in the Underworld for a little over a month as a result. If I screwed up again, I didn’t think I’d be so lucky. Yes, I’d found out since then I was a Legacy, since my mother was the goddess Persephone, so they couldn’t do too much to me. Still, I viewed time in Polly’s office with more than a little trepidation. For the first time in my life, I was working at a job I loved. I didn’t want to be sent packing .

  After adjusting everything there was to adjust multiple times, I couldn’t put it off any longer. Bracing myself, I left the supply room and went to Polly’s office down the hall .

  The door was open, and she was expecting me. I knocked anyway .

  Polly looked up from her desk and smiled. She was a plain, almost squat woman, with a ridiculously melodious voice that didn’t match her looks in the least. “Come in.” She nodded toward the chair across from her desk. “Have a seat .”

  The chair had an odd shape and nearly swallowed me when I sat in it. I clutched my attached bubbles in one hand almost as security. “Is everything okay ?”

  “What?” She watched me struggle to sit upright in the chair, only to be sucked back into it. Her gaze flicked to my hand, white-knuckling my bottle of bubbles, even when I needed two hands to shift in the seat. “Of course everything’s okay. Relax .”

  I stopped struggling with the chair long enough to catch my breath, and it rearranged itself to conform to my body, raising me to a comfortable sitting position that didn’t splay my legs in the air .

  Of course. A magic chair in a Muse’s office shouldn’t have surprised me .

  Once I was situated, Polly nodded in satisfaction. “I’m still beta-testing the chair. Comfy ?”

  “Sure.” I adjusted my skirt. “Yeah. It’s nice .”

  “Excellent.” She folded her hands together on her desktop. “Let’s start with an update. Tell me about your current clients. You have, what, four right now ?”

  “Five, but the fifth one went on vacation, so I don’t have anything to do for her until she gets back in two weeks .”

  “Tell me abo
ut her.” Polly picked up a pen and dragged a memo pad closer to her. “What’s her project and how far along are you ?”

  My stomach did a nervous lurch. She didn’t appear to be upset with me, but thanks to my Underworld side job, I wasn’t due for a six-month evaluation for another few weeks. I couldn’t think of a way to ask her what was going on without sounding defensive, though .

  I squeezed my bubble bottle for luck. “Well, Susan’s pregnant with her first child, and she’s working on the baby’s nursery. She was a little tough to get through to at first, because she was only a few months along and kept having to take breaks to throw up. She’s toward the end of her second trimester now, and she’s been painting a mural of dinosaurs on one wall. It’s nearly done. She’s doing great .”

  I mentally crossed my fingers that this was what Polly wanted to hear .

  She nodded and jotted a few notes. “And you said she’ll be back from her vacation in two weeks ?”

  “Two weeks from Monday.” Was she going to give me another client to fill the hole? Most people didn’t have five clients in the first place. I wasn’t sure I could juggle six .

  “Alright. What else is on your plate?” She looked up from her pad of paper with an expectant look. “Anything not going as planned ?”

  I smirked. “Nothing ever goes as planned. But it’s all going pretty smoothly. Armando is my chef. He’s been fussing over the Velvet Talon’s Christmas menu for the last few weeks, but he’s nailed dessert and the appetizers, so he’s coming along. Tracy’s nearly finished with her stained glass for the charity auction and won’t need me anymore once she hands it over next Wednesday .”

  “Uh huh. Uh huh.” Polly continued to scribble notes, a deep line of concentration forming between her brows. “Two more, right ?”

  “Yes. Alan has several more little guys left to paint in his pewter fantasy army thing, but I think we’re ahead of schedule. He’s still waffling about whether to take them to a tournament or sell them on eBay, but my assignment was only about getting them painted, so I’ve stayed out of his decision about what to do with them .”

  She stopped writing and gave me a long, scrutinizing look, then nodded in what I thought was approval. “Good. And the last ?”

  “Rhonda. She’s writing a book. It’s…slow going. But we’ve got a year on my paperwork, so I’m pressing her for slow and steady rather than jumping on her whenever she’s not working. As long as she works a little every day, I leave her be .”

  I waited while Polly finished writing down whatever it was she needed. The only sound in the room was the scratching of her pen as her hand flew across the page .

  After a moment, I sat up straighter, despite the chair’s reluctance to let me move on my own. I was proud of the work I’d been doing. If Polly wanted to find flaws in my method, fine. But I was making solid progress with every one of my clients, and I was following protocol to do it. No one could take that away from me .

  I was wrong about that last bit .

  Polly put her pen down and sighed. “Well done. And thank you for the updates. It’ll make a much easier transition when I reassign them .”

  I opened my mouth to object, but at first, all that I could do was make odd squeaky noises. I took a breath and tried again. “What are you talking about? Why are you taking away my clients? You’re not taking all of them, are you?” That was all I could think—that she’d decided five was too many and I needed a lighter load. After all, when I’d gotten into trouble the last time, I’d had three, which wasn’t at all normal for a brand new Muse. But I’d proven myself. I was good at this .

  “Calm yourself, Wynter.” She held up her hand, palm toward me. “You’re getting a new assignment .”

  “Fine. I can handle one more. You don’t have to reassign anybody .”

  She shook her head and slid a sheet of paper across her desk. “I’m afraid I have no say in this. Not my call .”

  I glared at the paper without touching it. “You’re the head of the department. You can tell whoever it is no .” Normally I wouldn’t have argued, but I’d put a lot of time and effort into my current clients. I liked them. Making me give them up wasn’t fair .

  “Wynter, I’m sorry. Every last one of us has to take a back seat when Fate intervenes .”

  “The Fates department. Great.” I scowled at the paperwork. I should have figured as much. It turned out that they were the reason I’d been given three assignments my first week there. Somebody upstairs was yanking my chain. Again .

  I took the assignment off her desk and held it between two fingers, as if it were a rat I had by the tail. My chair rearranged itself to accommodate my new position .

  The form was standard. All my assignments came through these forms. Gordon Gordon was a painter, according to the sheet. House? Miniatures? Portrait? Ceramics? I was betting his painting was of the art variety, rather than home improvement, based on his bizarre name. The ridiculously limited forms rarely gave much information. If I wanted to know more about Gordon Gordon, I’d have to go to the address listed and find out for myself .

  I folded the paper in half and dropped my hands in my lap. “Any idea at all why they’re doing this to me ?”

  Polly gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, no. The Fates department rarely sends an explanation with their demands. You’ll just have to play along until you find your own answers .”

  I wasn’t surprised by her cryptic reply, but I was frustrated. “Who gets my old clients ?”

  “I’ll distribute them evenly. Don’t worry. The clients will be well taken care of .”

  Not the clients. My clients. Part of me wanted to march upstairs and demand answers, but I didn’t think confronting Fate was such a great plan. The idea actually made me a little queasy .

  I sat there staring at my hands, wondering if there was anything I could do or say to convince Polly to let me keep my clients. At least a few of them. When I looked at her face, I realized she couldn’t help. Or wouldn’t. Either way, I was Fate’s bitch .

  I leaned forward and the chair pushed me to stand. “Could you…just tell whoever gets Susan that she works best around one in the afternoon? Don’t push her too hard in the morning, and make sure she takes a nap in the afternoon. She pushes herself too hard sometimes and forgets to take a break. You’ll get more out of her the next day if she and the baby don’t do too much .”

  “I’ll pass that on.” Polly’s smile was sympathetic .

  I turned and made it halfway to the door before I stopped and faced her again. “Tell them Armando needs to think outside the box. The reason he’s having trouble nailing down the entree is that he’s bored. He should do something more interesting than the same beef Wellington he does every year .”

  For a moment, I thought Polly was going to cry. I hoped not. I’d hate to fall apart on her, and I was only barely holding it together. If she cried, I’d lose it .

  “If you think of anything else…I know this is hard .”

  I nodded. “Yeah.” After I left, I closed her office door without asking if she wanted it left open. She usually did. Making her get up to open her door was the least petty thing I could think of to make myself feel a little better .

  It didn’t work .

  I went back to my desk and shut down my computer. No reason to stick around. I had my supplies, and now I had a new client to figure out. He would most likely be difficult to work with. Otherwise, why take away all five of my current clients so I could focus entirely on the new guy ?

  The office had been fairly busy when I’d come in, but now it was quiet. While I’d been in Polly’s office having my hard work stripped away, everyone else had gone off to their assignments. I couldn’t even bitch to someone about it .

  I grabbed my purse and stuffed my paperwork inside .

  “Well, Mr. Gordon Gordon. I hope to hell you’re worth it .”

  As I left the building, I wondered if someone high in a tower in the Fates department was watching me c
losely .

  Or, having thoroughly screwed me over, had already forgotten I existed .

  Chapter 3

  D espite having my equipment with me, I had no real intention of inspiring Gordon Gordon that day. It was Wednesday, so I figured I’d assess him, figure out what he needed to do and maybe why he needed a Muse to get it done, then spend a day or two blowing inspiration bubbles at him to test his susceptibility to my influence. On Monday, we’d start in earnest .

  I emerged from the crowded, elaborately decorated Mt. Olympus Employment Agency building to a run-down neighborhood along the Kansas River in Topeka. The elegant skyscraper I’d been in now appeared to be an abandoned, two-story building with broken windows and a homeless dude smoking a cigarette while he leaned against a wall. He was always there. The first time I’d seen him was the day I’d started orientation. He’d been peeing on that wall .

  “Hey Syd.” I waved .

  He left the cigarette dangling from one corner of his mouth and waved back. “What’s the good news, Wynter ?”

  I grimaced. “None today, I’m afraid. How about you ?”

  He shrugged. “Couple of guys were eyeing your car. Took care of it .”

  “I appreciate it.” My smile was genuine, though my mood still wasn’t any lighter .

  “Just doing my job. You try to have a better day, you hear ?”

  “Doing my best, Syd. You do the same .”

  In my car, I pulled out my assignment and punched Gordon’s address into my new GPS, then jumped on the highway. He lived clear across town, which would be annoying, except that it wasn’t too far from where I lived .

  That didn’t help my sour mood. Probably, nothing short of a litter of kittens wearing tiny party hats and chasing a laser dot would pull me out of my funk. A person would have to be a soulless ghoul not to be affected by party kittens .

  There weren’t any in my car, though, so I continued to sulk .

  Gordon’s house was in a quiet neighborhood and had a larger yard than most. Since we were into November, the grass didn’t have much green left to it, and the few small trees had hit that gorgeous bright orange stage with brown leaves dropping even as I watched .