(Submitted by Catherine)


Trevor pushed the door of the esoteric shop. He looked
around a bit desoriented. The atmosphere was gloomy.
Dead people's heads were throning on bookshelves, a
hyena fur draped around a purple mannequin, the eyes
of the mannequin beeing replaced by dying cactus
falling from their orbit. Trevor shivered and made a
move to get out of there.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

The voice was soft and voluptuous. Trevor looked up to
see the owner of the store. A middle-aged lady wearing
a red tank top with little pink flamingos. She smiled
to him and suddenly said:

"Love potion, maybe? It's Valentine's Day... I bet you
want to impress your lady?"

"Looks like you forgot to take off the Halloween
decorations!" Trevor said looking around.

The lady's smile widdened. 

"I know what you need!" she said.

As the words were uttered, she disappeared in the back
of the store leaving Trevor alone.

What was he doing there anyway? Love potions? He
didn't need that. He came because he thought that
maybe he could find something about Olympus in there.
A spell, anything that would enable him to go back as
fast as possible. But that wasn't the only reason.
Curiosity was one of the reason as well. Could
esoterism give him his power back?

The lady came back with a little box in her hand.

"Those are what we call 'Venus Candies'", the lady
said while opening the lid of the box.

"Jellybeans?" Trevor said looking at the reddish
appearence of the candies.

"No" the woman smiled again. "Those are love dumpling.
You munch on them and you eat love. Let's say it's a
concentrate love candy. I don't show those to normal
customers, but with you it's different. You know that
language."

Trevor goggled at her.

"Who are you?

"I'm Zetha."

She motionned him to sit down next to her on a coffin.

"That lady you love, why don't you just tell her how
you feel? You don't need anything in here. You know
that as much as I do."

"There are no ladies." Trevor protested lightly.
Something about that woman was appeasing and somehow
he couldn't fight around her. He couldn't even banter
anymore.

"Is that so?" The lady said taking a large dictionary
beside her. "It says in here that Cupid falls for
Psyche. Don't tell me you haven't found her yet?"

Trevor looked at the picture in the dictionary. Cupid
and Psyche. The same picture Claire had showed him in
their first encounters. He had denied it at the time.
He couldn't have been sent to Earth for her. THEY
couldn't have set him up making him believe that he
was punished when all he had to do was to find her!

Trevor closed his eyes. He thought about Chicago. How
all seemed to have been organised for him to meet
Claire. His arrest, his thearapy sessions with her.
"There's a plan so far so good"... so had said Zeus.
Was *that* the plan? To meet Claire and to realize
that he loved her?

"So?" Zetha said slowly.

Trevor opened his eyes to face a voodoo doll that was
looking at him with wide black eyes on the shelf in
front of him. 

"Am I here for her?" Trevor said looking at Zetha.

The owner of the shop showed him the candy box.

"Those are for you. They were here all along. I just
didn't know it would take you so much time to figure
it out."

"What should I do with them?" Trevor asked.

"Kamikaze used to kill themselves for the good of
their nation. What are you ready to give up for love?"
she answered enigmatically.

She stood up and took a Buddah statue in her hand. "In
Buddism, it is said that in order to achieve peace you
have to let go."

She put the Buddah statue in Trevor's hand.

"How much are you ready to let go for her?"

Saying so she disappeared in the back of the store for
good, leaving Trevor holding the Buddah statue and the
candie box. Near him, on the coffin, the dictionary
was still opened and Trevor remained there,
transfixed, looking at the picture for hours.