Alice wasn’t sure if this was a promise or a threat, but she interpreted it as the latter. She took a careful step back, thinking she could run for the door if she had to.

                “What makes you think I have any intention of staying here?”

                Bacchus smiled, stepping closer. “Alice, don’t you see? Together we can have everything. Use one of your wishes to free your friends and bring them back. With the other, you can do what you like! Wish for unimaginable power and wealth! And when you’re with me, none of the gods will touch you. Now that I am favoured of Gaia, they would never risk it.”

                When she looked closely at his expression it was clear that Bacchus thought he was offering her something truly tempting. He really did expect her to drop everything, her entire life, to partner up with him. Alice started to shake her head, then froze when the god of wine moved closer, placing one hand on her shoulder. When he ran his fingers down her bare arm a trail of tingles followed it. His fingers felt unnaturally warm. When he spoke again his voice was like silk.

                “We’ll give a whole new meaning to the term ‘power couple’, you and I. Years ago, I thought I could never love another mortal woman, but Alice, I’m beginning to think I was wrong.”

                Though there were shivers running down her back, Alice kept her face perfectly blank. This trick of his would have probably worked on her a year or so ago, but she was too familiar with the gods now. Bacchus was laying it on thick.

                Reaching up, she brushed his hand off. “I’m taken.”

                The god tipped his head back, his laughter echoing off the vaulted ceilings overhead. “That mortal with no magic? You can’t be serious.”

                At the thought of Altair, a physical ache began in her chest, mixed with anger. Bacchus was wasting her time, she should be thinking about her wishes. She was about to make the most important decision of her life, and this stupid man was distracting her.

                “That’s quite enough,” she said sharply, and was rewarded by Bacchus’ surprised expression. These gods acted like children, so she would talk to them like they were children. “I grow tired of your foolish tricks. You think I haven’t seen this before? You’re wasting your time, and more importantly, you’re wasting mine.”

                His shocked expression slowly turned to amusement. “I’m afraid you’ve only succeeded in making me like you more. I get the feeling there’d never be a dull moment with you, and I’m always so bored lately.”

                “That’s the problem with you gods.” Alice glowered at him. “Idle hands become wicked. I swear you’re all like children. You need to be taught some manners.”

                Bacchus’ eyes sparkled. “And will you teach me?”

                Alice pressed her lips together, thoroughly irritated that he didn’t seem at all effected by her temper. In fact, the angrier she got, the more he appeared to be enjoying himself. “There is nothing you can say to convince me to stay here. I have to get my friends to safety and then I’m leaving this place.”

                Instead of answering, Bacchus turned to one of the tall, Grecian urns on the pedestal beside him. He tipped the lid up and reached one hand in. Alice tensed, sure he was about to show her something terrible, or bring out some sort of weapon to use against her. Not that the gods needed weapons, but she didn’t trust him not to try something.

                When Bacchus turned back to her, she was surprised to see he held a handful of thick, multicolored threads. They were every color, and glowing so brightly that Alice could practically feel the magic permeate the air all around them.  If there were more powerful threads out there, Alice had never seen them before. These were something special.

                Bacchus held the threads out to her. “Go on, just touch one. I guarantee you’ve never felt anything like it. And I can get an unlimited supply of this. This is pure magic, the most powerful kind that can be found. You don’t even want to know where my harvesters had to go to get these babies.”

                Something inside her surged to life, a powerful want. An ache in her chest that was so fierce she felt sick with the need to reach out and touch those threads. To pull them beneath the surface of her skin and feel the power ripple through her. Just one thread maybe, just one…

                She blinked, torn out of her own thoughts by a stab of alarm. Her arm seemed to have drifted up of its own accord, her fingers stretching out towards the magic. Alice snapped her hand back, holding her hand to her chest as if she’d injured it.  Anger and dismay made her stumble backwards, glaring at the god. “What did you do to me? What are you doing? Get away—”

                “I’m not doing anything,” Bacchus said. He looked disappointed for a moment, his arm dropping back down to his side. But his smile was back almost immediately, sly and cruel. “I just offered you a little magic, you did all the rest by yourself.”

                “What are you talking about?”

                “Oh come now, Alice. Surely you must know.” He stepped closer, holding the threads up again, letting their tendrils drift in the air around her. She could feel the electric buzz light up the air around her, could feel the pull of the magic luring her. It would be so easy to just reach up and take one. They were so bright, so beautiful. Full of power and promise.

                All she could think of was the roar of the magic as it flowed through her body. She needed that. When was the last time she’d used magic anyways?

                “I’m the god of wine and parties, basically.” Bacchus winked. “I know more than anyone else does about addiction. What it can do to a person. What it can make people do.”

                It was hard to breathe. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not…you can’t be…”

                “Can’t be addicted to magic?” He laughed softly. “Most people can’t, you’re right. But most people don’t take it into them like you do, Alice.”

                One of the threads drifted closer, brushing along her arm just for a second, sending a jolt of warmth through her body. Alice clenched her teeth and backed away, resisting the urge to reach out and snatch at the thread.

                “Don’t…” she breathed, and Bacchus' laughter echoed around the room, making her want to throw herself at him, to get her hands around his throat. To make him stop tormenting her.

                “Just one little thread,” he whispered, closer to her ear than she would have liked. “It can’t hurt.”

                Alice continued to back up, until her shoulders hit the wall and she couldn’t move any further. “Get away from me.”

                “I know you think it’s good to resist temptation, but you should really use what I’m offering. You’re going to need it very soon.”

                “And why do you say that?” She glared at him, sure he was just trying to mess with her head.

                “Dione is coming,” he said simply.

                Alice recoiled, her back pressing into the wall. After a minute, in which she tried to breathe evenly and quell the panic that was rising in her throat and threatening to choke her, she reached out and slapped his hand away. “Get those away from me.”

                He shrugged and pocketed the threads. “As you wish. You may change your mind later, my love.”

                Alice grimaced with distaste, but she was too distracted by this new information to correct him. “What do you mean, she’s coming? How is that possible?”

                “Why wouldn’t it be possible? This is the afterlife. Everyone knows it exists.”

                “How could Gaia let this happen?” Alice’s voice climbed in pitch, cracking a little as she neared panic. “She knows Dione will kill me, or drag me out of here. She can’t possibly—”

                “There’s no magic allowed here,” Bacchus interrupted smoothly. “No need to worry, darling. I’m the only one who’s manage to smuggle magic in past Gaia’s all seeing eye, and it’s not like I’ll be giving all this fine magic over to Dione.” He rubbed his chin, pretending to look thoughtful. “As long as you agree to my terms, of course.”

                Alice sagged against the wall, groaning. “So, what you’re saying is that Dione is coming here to kill me, and you’re going to supply her with the means to do so, unless I agree to your ridiculous proposal?”

                Bacchus tipped his head to one side, considering. “Uh, yes. That about sums it up.”

                Alice kept her face blank. “When is she coming?”

                “Tonight, I believe. Should be just on time for dinner.” He grinned, reaching into his pocket to take out the magic again. “So, what will it be? Are you going to be smart about this and agree to be with me forever? Say yes, and I might even take you somewhere nice. We could go on vacation, you know, get out of here for a little while.”

                Alice turned away, making straight for the door before he could try to stop her. “Actually, I’m getting out of here. You...you can get bent.”

                Over the noise of the door slamming she could have sworn she heard him laughing. Angry, she hurried down the hallway. She wasn’t just running away, she was going to Gaia to make her wishes now. Her first one would be to free her friends, her second…her second would just have to be making her invisible to the gods somehow. Maybe take her power away. Or….could Gaia really make her invisible?

                That was an interesting thought….

                It only took a few turns for Alice to figure out she was lost in the never ending corridors of this place, and she stumbled to a halt, cursing a blue streak. First she found out that Gaia was allowing Dione to come in here, and now she was completely turned around. She might end up wandering these stupid hallways for eternity, and since this was supposed to be paradise, maybe she really did have eternity to be lost. Maybe she would just wander and wander and never die.

That didn’t sound like heaven at all, actually.

As she walked, she swore under her breath, cursing all the gods she could think of. Even Gaia, though it seemed risky, like she might get an anvil dropped on her head at any minute. Still, she decided she didn’t like Gaia any more than the rest of them. She was just as bad. The only reason she’d let Dione show up like this, was because she enjoyed playing games.

Sure, she had promised Aunt Ruby that Alice would get her wishes, and she was going to stick to that promise, but she hadn’t promised not to let a demented goddess with a grudge into her paradise. If Dione showed up soon, Alice might never even get a chance to make her wishes at all.

Unless she could make them now…

Did Gaia have to be in the room for her to make them? Wasn’t she a goddess?  Bacchus had said she was all-seeing. It stood to reason that she was all-hearing too.

Alice stopped, going over words in her head, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted. There could be no room for loopholes. If there was a way for the gods to screw her and her friends over, the gods would find it and use it. Even Gaia, she had no doubt.

It seemed to be an endless source of amusement for them.

Alice turned down another corridor, mind still working furiously, to find herself in a big open room. It looked like some kind of a foyer, but the most ridiculously lavish one she’d ever seen. There were twin fountains in the center of the room, and the sound of splashing water echoed around her as she walked in. Enormous vines trailed down from silver and gold vases mounted on the walls, and candles burned on windows sills high above.

At the entrance, standing in front of a pair of wide-arched double doors, stood a woman. She was dressed in a sweeping silver gown, her golden hair caught up in braids on either side of her head, pieces of it had escaped, curling artfully around her face. At first she looked surprised, studying Alice with wide grey eyes, and then, slowly, a smile spread across her perfectly formed lips.

Alice felt dread crawling up and down her spine. Bacchus had told her that Dione wasn’t coming until tonight, but somehow, she had a feeling the goddess had arrived early.

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