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My thoughts exactly. I just wanted to be a little less blunt about it.
“Good thinking!” Corny agreed. “Do you have any boxers I can borrow?”
“For real?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Jesus Humperdick Christ,” Cher grumbled as she dug though her purse and produced a pair of men’s boxer-briefs. “I don’t want them back.”
“Thank you, Cher,” Corny said, stepping into the undies before getting comfortable on the couch.
His bare butt had touched it, so I was still going to have it steam cleaned. Hell, now that he was my neighbor I would have to invest in plastic slipcovers.
“Shall we get started?” Dagon inquired.
“We shall,” Lilith said.
“Bitch Goddess Cecily and Lilith, how may I be of service?” Corny asked.
While my house wasn’t tiny, it wasn’t what I would call large. With all of us piled into the living room, it was a bit tight. Didn’t matter. Lilith had requested that everyone join in. As far as I was concerned, her word was the law. I might be the Goddess, but she was my mom.
“I’ll let you know shortly, Corny. First, it’s story time,” Lilith said as she stood up and addressed the Immortals in my den. “But a question before we begin. Who can tell me what they know about Pandora’s box?”
“Her vagina?” Fifi asked.
“Okay, nope,” I cut in quickly. “Not a vagina, a literal box.”
“But is it?” Stella asked. “Is it truly a box? I’ve always heard it was more of a vessel.”
“Pottery?” I questioned. Stella, Jonny, Irma, Moon and Corny had at one time been loyal to Pandora. They’d broken away from her evil clutches and had been surviving in the Demon world on their own for centuries. One of the conditions that Pandora had made to let them leave was that they could not show loyalty to Lilith. Her demand had left them alone and unprotected in a violent world. It wasn’t until I reluctantly agreed to be their Goddess that they were part of a family again, so to speak. They were now mine whether I wanted them or not. The truth was I did want them. They were a handful, but they were good deep down.
“Not sure about the pottery thing,” Stella admitted. “I think it’s more abstract than something tangible.”
“I’ve heard a rumor it’s not a box or a vessel,” Irma chimed in.
“Did the rumor include what it actually is?” I pressed.
“No.”
We were getting nowhere fast. Hopefully, Lilith would have more constructive information.
“There are many interpretations of Pandora’s box,” Sean commented. My brother wasn’t a Demon, but he was badass smart. “The human understanding from Greek mythology is that it’s an artifact. It’s referred to in Hesiod’s 700 BC poem,Works and Days.”
Lilith’s eyes sparkled with genuine warmth at my brother’s response. She was enchanted by Sean. Duh. Everyone was. He was a special kind of awesome. “Go on, Sean,” she insisted.
Sean gave her a thumbs up. “As the poem goes, Pandora’s curiosity led her to open the box or vessel that was in her husband’s care—given to him by the Gods. In doing so, she released curses on mankind—sickness, death, and other undefined evils. When she tried to close the box, there was one single thing left behind that didn’t escape. Hope. Extremely ironic and tragic. Of course, in modern times, opening Pandora’s box means creating a shitshow. Or more specifically, playing with the unknown can lead to a catastrophic chain of events that will spin our world into chaos.”
“Excellent,” Lilith said, patting my brother on the head. “Aptly put. So smart. Just like your father.”
Sean grinned and offered her a gummy.
She declined. “Storytime,” my mom said. “What the humans know about Pandora’s Box has some veracity to it, but the truth is far darker.”
“Catastrophic chain of events that will spin the world into chaos is pretty freaking dark.” I shivered involuntarily.
Abaddon put his arm around me and pulled me close.
I leaned into him, enjoying the comforting warmth of his body against mine, then nodded to my mom. “Can you be specific?”
