It was not that Aoibheal had never left Éire; like any Fay Goddess, she had been 'round the world and deep in the heavens and through the back beyond far more times than she could count. But that said, she had little reason to leave the southwest corner of the Emerald Isle these days. But the God who had asked her was persuasive, and she owed his family much.

As she traversed the turbulent jet stream, she mused on the conversation they had enjoyed, not long after dawn.

“Well, by Auberon's crown, 'tis Eros!” she'd exclaimed, flying up to meet the eye of the beautiful giant. Well, to be fair, he was sized as a mortal human, and he offered quickly to drop to her scale; she demurred. She enjoyed the pretty god's visage quite enough to entreat him to remain at his height. (Indeed, it would have been easier for her to join him at his height – she was Goddess of Love and Size, after all.)

“Your majesty, I have come to ask a favor,” he had said, and he had explained the convoluted dealings his mother, Aoibheal's rival and friend Aphrodite, had been involved with – and that The Corrupt One had inserted Himself into.

“I cannot ask you to go,” he had said. “I cannot ask you to follow Adam White, to work to safeguard him. My mother would be furious if she knew I had asked you. And yet – I believe that the interests of love are best served by you doing exactly that. He is a good man, from what I can find. He honors his wife well.”

“Aye, 'tis a rare enough man who does that,” Aoibheal had responded. “You remember the case I heard not two centuries ago? 'Tis only in the last twoscore years that men have finally begun to live up to my orders. Ah, but that's part your doing; you turn women's heads to the men...and men's heads, too.”

Eros blushed. “My daughter is hard at work at the complementary tasks, Highness. And besides, I know Freyja and Freyr spend quite a bit of time in Ireland – more than they do in Iceland. And certainly more than I.”

“That they do, that they do,” Aoibheal said, with a smile. “A right pair, those two. So you would feign ask me to go to vouchsafe this Adam; and what, praytell, is to be my recompense?”

“Highness, is not the knowledge that you have worked to thwart The Adversary and worked to bring two lovers back together enough?”

“Nay,” said Aoibheal, fluttering demurely in front of the face of the Greek God. “Though I believe you will meet my price, Eros.”

“Oh?”

“Aye. 'Tis only an action you must take – 'twill cost you nothing but time.”

“Hopefully not much?”

“Less than a day.”

“Well, then. I'm happy to oblige, though I would like to know what I'm promising.”

Aoibheal smiled coquettishly. “Your ma is one of my favorites, and I am glad to help her. Aye, even were you to back out of this, I would. But 'tis been a long time since you and Psyche paid me a visit. And I insist that you do so when all is well.”

“Is that all? We'd love to.”

“'Tis not quite all. You see, you pair make quite a lovely landscape. And during your visit, you will take me to your bed as well, the better for me to explore it.”

Eros looked momentarily stunned, then burst out laughing. “That's the 'price,' huh? Highness, if not for the urgency of our tasks, I'd invite Psyche this instant. I rather imagine the three of us can have quite a good time, exploring various landscapes presented by the three of us – indeed, I insist on it. But duty first.”

Aoibheal smiled back, running a hand flirtatiously through her long red hair. “Aye, should have known you'd add that you'd like to explore landscapes as well. 'Twill be a pleasure. But indeed, duty first. We shall have time enough for love. Now, where can this Adam be found then?”

She shivered happily as she began her descent from ten thousand feet, straight down toward the Texas coast. She reached out with her inner self, searching for the one she had agreed to guard. It was not difficult; to a Goddess of her nature, a shrunken man stood out against the background noise of the world like a beacon. She altered her vector and began to aim for him, hoping against hope that she would find him before any of The Corrupt One's lot. She knew Eros would hold to his end of the bargain no matter how this all worked out. But she imagined he'd be happier if all had worked out for the best. And men – be they human or God – were always better lovers when happy.

* * *

The doorbell rang, and Stephanie cursed, rolling off the couch and onto the floor. She had barely been able to sleep – and not at all in their bed – but she had finally gotten into a fitful slumber made barely tolerable by a dream that Adam had come back to her, full-sized, and they had hugged. That was all they had done – just held on to each other. But it had warmed her soul, albeit briefly.

But now she was awake, and there was no Adam, only the insistent ringing of the doorbell.

She got up and trudged to the door, moving quietly toward the peephole; it seemed five out of every six visitors were people hell-bent on excoriating her for murdering her husband, which had eventually led her to hang heavy curtains on all the windows and add another lock to the door. Her mother had suggested she check into a hotel, or come stay with them, but she refused; if Adam got free, he'd come to her, here. She had to be here.

She relaxed after looking through the peephole, and undid each lock, opening the door just enough to let the visitor slide inside, before closing and locking the door again.

“You don't have to keep doing this,” she said, taking the coffee from Michael. “I mean, really. I can take care of myself.”

“No, you can't, and you don't have Adam to help you, either, so go sit down at the table, and we'll have a bagel and talk. I got you an everything bagel – last one they had.”

“Hmpf. Well, for an everything bagel – I guess.”

She ate in silence for a good while, as Michael explained how he, Adam's family, and her parents were talking with the Federales about possible ways Adam could have been abducted, and that there was one woman at the Houston airport who swore she saw a tiny man dodging through legs at a security checkpoint – though she was kind of blind, and wasn't totally sure it wasn't a squirrel. And then, Michael added something he'd been pushing for days.

“And I have a lawyer ready, willing, and able to represent you, pro bono, assuming you've changed your mind.”

“No lawyer,” Stephanie muttered. “I didn't kill him.”

“Nobody's saying you did. But some people think you did, and if the police start investigating you seriously, you're going to want legal representation. I mean, having a lawyer doesn't mean you're guilty. It just means you're taking care of your legal rights.”

“I don't want to close off any leads,” said Stephanie. “If the police want to search me, search my house – whatever they find, they can maybe use to find him.”

“Or convict you,” said Michael, quietly.

Stephanie looked up, furious. “I didn't kill him, Michael! For God's sake, don't you believe that?”

“First, even if you did, I'd stand by you, Steph. You're my best friend. Second, of course I believe you. But innocent people get convicted. And I don't want to see you convicted of murder when we know Adam was going to die in two months anyhow. I mean....”

“I know what you mean,” said Stephanie. “I've heard the 'soft' version of my killing him. 'Maybe they agreed to put him out of his misery, maybe they agreed to let him be killed.' I promised to take care of Adam until he was too small for me to see, and then – well, to take care of him as long as I could. And I would have. And I will. When we find him.

“If we find him.”

With that, she broke down, and found herself hugging Michael, which was not nearly so good as hugging Adam, but which helped. “Shh...Steph, it's okay. I do believe you. You could never hurt Adam. I know that. You loved him.”

“I j-j-just wish I knew what happened to him. I w-w-wish I knew he was safe. Who would take him?”

“I don't know. Maybe,” said Michael, “he wanted to save you the anguish of the next two months.”

“What?”

Michael stepped back, and looked deep into Stephanie's eyes. “Maybe...you told me once, he was despondent. But he came out of it, right? Maybe he came out of it because he'd decided to end it on his terms. Maybe he encouraged you to go snorkeling so he could leave, disappear for good, and give you your life back immediately.”

“That – that's impossible. Adam asked –”

“I'm sure he asked a lot of things. But maybe he had a plan all along. His dad thought it was something he could have done. And – don't worry, Steph, I want you to know that his parents are convinced that you had nothing to do with this. 'She coulda killed him any time over the last few months, nobody would've questioned it,' that's what his mom said. She thinks he just shrunk down to nothing, like he suddenly became to small to exist.”

Stephanie stared at the floor.

“Steph, we're going to do everything we can to resolve this, but...I mean, most missing person cases end up the same way. And this one, with Adam's problem....”

“He's alive, Michael,” said Stephanie, softly and defiantly. “I won't hear anyone say anything else. Not now. Not ever. Until I see his body, until I have it proven to me that my husband is dead, he is alive.”

Her voice gained steel as she talked. “He would not walk away from me, not without saying goodbye. He did not shrink down to nothing, not when he was shrinking ten-point-oh-three percent per day, plus or minus one-half percent. I did not kill him. And if someone else killed him, they'd best hope I never find them, because I will gladly escort them to the gates of Hell. We will not stop looking for him until we find him. Do you understand me?”

Michael looked at her with shock and awe. “Of course, Stephanie. I'm not suggesting....”

“Yes, you were. But I forgive you. You're my friend. You're not Adam's wife. You are allowed your lack of faith. But I am not.”

Michael stood up. “Well, I know one thing – wherever Adam is, I hope he knows what a good wife he found.”

“Wherever he is,” said Stephanie, her steel fading to tin, “I just hope he can forgive me.”

* * *

Aoibheal felt her way to the park, floating downward silently and invisibly. Most humans could only see Gods when Gods wanted them to; perhaps someone with the Sight might see her, but then, someone with the Sight saw things odder than an Irish faerie queen most every day. She would not draw attention.

She floated through a picnic lunch being shared by two pretty mothers and their infant charges, following the trail Adam's aura had left. It was not insignificant; she was impressed. His inner light shone brightly, for a human. She looked out over the field, and saw him, by a large shelter.

And then, she put her hand to her mouth to stifle the scream.

The two children had him surrounded; Adam had tried to reason with them, but they seemed much more excited about finding him than anything else.

“So do you think she meant what she said?” the younger, tow-headed nine-year-old asked.

“I sure hope so,” his big sister, all of eleven or twelve, said. “Now, we just need to bring him to her.”

“Who? Who are you talking about? Listen, I was kidnapped, I need to go home to my wife,” Adam repeated.

“You're silly. We've been promised fifty bucks each to give you to Andrea. She showed it to us and everything.”

“Listen, miss,” said Adam, staring at the girl as he winced from the grip of her brother, “if you get me in touch with my wife, I can promise to double that. Triple it, even!”

“Nuh-uh,” the boy said. “Andrea said you'd say that, but not to trust you.”

“Who is this 'Andrea?' Listen, I'm a human being, you have to help me.”

“No, they don't.”

Adam looked up, and was astounded to see a ludicrously gorgeous woman, easily the most beautiful he'd ever seen, even more so than Stephanie. Her long, black hair spiraled into curls that framed her face, which was a vision of loveliness – except for the expression it wore, one that was crossed between a sneer and a snarl. The expression destroyed any momentary feeling of lust Adam may have felt, and replaced it with terror.

“You children did well. I told you that there would be a brownie here. Fifty dollars each, that is your prize,” the woman said, handing the cash over as the boy quickly, fumblingly foisted Adam into the palm of this woman's hand. As the boy and girl excitedly wandered off, gabbing about how they'd spend their fortune, the beautiful woman looked down at him, like a predator looks at her prey. She opened her lovely palm, and forced Adam flat, one finger on his hands above him, one on his feet below. And then she did something he was not expecting.

She licked him.

Licked him from head to toe, and back again, and then back, to his midsection, to his manhood, which was involuntarily springing to life, even as he tried to mentally fight it down. “Please,” he said, “please, I'm married. Please, don't do this. Stop. No!”

But his voice softened with each caress of her tongue, not because he was losing his will to fight – he had no desire to cheat on Stephanie, and though one could only call what was being done to him rape, he still felt ashamed for not being able to stop it. But with each stroke of her tongue, he felt his strength ebbing, as she sucked and licked his tiny cock, he felt his limbs weakening, until he mercifully spasmed, and lay in the icy cold of the woman's palm, barely able to squirm.

“There,” she said. “That will make you much easier to transport.” And with that, she stuffed Adam into a pouch on her belt.

Aoibheal had watched in horror as the great horned demon had attacked her prey; she knew Adam did not see it the same way, but was strengthened in her resolve to help him by the fight he gave. Were he a less honorable man, he may have found joy in the ministrations of what would appear to him as a beauty of the highest order. That he tried to fight it instead, even against the greatest of odds – Eros was right, this was a man who deserved her help.

And so, as the great demon spread her leathery wings and took to the sky, Aoibheal waited a ten count, and did the same, staying a respectable distance behind. It would not do to be found out, not before she learned where Adam was being taken.

* * *

Eros alighted on the sandy beach, and did a double-take; the beach appeared for all the world to be his mother's homeland of Cyprus, only Cyprus as it had been in the distant past, before the land had been scarred by war. It was one of the most beautiful places in the ancient world, and Eros wondered, briefly, if he'd somehow chosen the wrong incantation, and sent himself through time, instead of into the Back Beyond.

“Always gets visitors the first time,” said a voice from behind him. Eros wheeled, and saw a bald, goateed man, dressed in a manner that would be utterly normal in the twenty-first century A.D. – which ruled out the ancient world.

“Eye of the Beholder,” the man said, as he approached. “Land's a metaphor, sea's like a simile. But you should know the drill. You are a God, if I'm not mistaken. Let's see...Eros, Greek God of Lust...from the looks of it, an incarnation that's made it into at least the late twentieth century. Am I right?”

“Yes. And you are?”

“Overly proud that my studies are paying off. Jake Thiessen,” the man said, holding out a hand to shake. “Welcome to the God-Teacher's Guild.”

“Thank you, Teacher Thissen,” said Eros, reaching his hand out in kind.

“Please, call me Jake. We don't stand much on ceremony here. We all spend most of our corporeal lives teaching – it's nice not to have people people addressing you formally. So, what brings you here, God of Lust? I'm not saying that you can't spice things up, but really, we've got the usual afterlife views on sensuality around here, so I'm not sure you're going to be able to drum up much business.”

“I'm not here for that,” said Eros. “I'm looking for help in finding out what The Adversary would want with a man my mother has shrunk.”

Thissen did a double-take, and looked at the God sideways. “No....you're not from my homeworld. For a second there...huh. Funny you'd run into me, though She does have a sense of humor. Anyhow, you want to figure out what The Adversary is up to? Why don't you just ask?”

“Because I don't want to have to deal with the lies I'll get.”

“That's too bad. Every incarnation of Shaitan Lucifer Iblis is a liar, and if I'm right about your branch of the multiverse, yours is worse than most. But you're not going to get the answer by sneaking around. Hell is full of spooks and agents; nobody keeps a secret better than them.”

“I imagine She could.”

“She doesn't keep secrets. She lays all the cards out on the table. That's the problem – she lays 'em all out. Brilliant – it's so much information that not even the Gods Themselves can reason it out. But listen, I sense the urgency from you; you have come here for instruction, and that's what we aim to do. But I'm not the one you want. I'm not sure, actually, who is.”

“My mother recommended Merlin,” Eros said, helpfully.

“Your mother might well be right, but we shall see.” The God-Teacher stroked his beard for a second, before snapping his fingers. “That's it! We'll go see Yoda. He'll know.”

“Yoda?”

“Great guy. Probably the smartest of all of us – with the possible exception of Albus Dumbledore. But – between you and me – don't let Gandalf hear you say that. He was the Wise Old Man around here when most of us were not even a sparkle in our great-great-great-great-grandmothers' ovaries, and he rarely lets us forget it.”

“I see. Is every wise teacher in every story ever told here?”

“Not every one. Pai Mei is still hung up in debate – more than a few of us, including myself, think his methods were a bit...well, over-the-top. But he'll probably make it in the end. Heck, Bak Mei is here, after all. But we're making him wait a few years before we give him the stamp of approval. Not that he minds. Odin asked if he could bring him to Valhalla, teach some of his fighters a few new tricks. And, let's see...oh yeah, Kahless the Unforgettable – he'll be in at some point soon, but more than a few of us are worried about allowing in Star Trek-related characters. I mean, once you do that, then you're sorting through Mary Sues everyday and it's work, work, work, especially for those of us who were accused of being Mary Sues when we were up for debate.”

“You have completely lost me,” Eros admitted. “Perhaps we'd better go find this Yoda.”

“Indeed,” said Jake. “I do have a tendency to monologue. Comes from having been an Author Avatar in my waking life. Yoda's up the hill, at the guild hall. Follow me.”

* * *

Adam never lost consciousness, not through the entire journey, but he lost focus. It seemed as if he and the woman were flying at some point, but that seemed impossible. And yet, no more impossible than anything else that had happened to him. He tried to pay attention, listen for clues, but as much as he willed his mind and body to work, his mind and body shot back that all their energy had left, and to come back tomorrow around noon-time.

Thus, the trip was a kaleidoscope of images and sounds that he could not quite put into order. He was only aware, as his mind finally started to obey itself, that he knew at some point he had been put into this cage, and that he was unsurprised to find himself in what appeared to be a spartan laboratory, with signs on the walls declaring he was located at Marbas Biotechnology.

Nobody was there at the moment, and so he forced himself to inspect the cage for weakness; he had only the strength to move around for a few minutes, but it was enough to convince him that he was securely locked in. Who had him, or why, he did not know. All he knew was that he would have to wait for answers. And so he lay down in his cage, and he prayed to whatever force animated the universe that he would see Stephanie again, or that at least these people would lie to her, tell her he was dead. He wanted her spared the grief and pain he'd heard from her, wanted her to live a good life. That was all he wanted. If he could see her again, that was a bonus. But if not – if not, he wanted her to be happy.

Outside a nondescript office building in a nondescript suburb of a nondescript American city, an Irish Goddess fluttered in the air, kept out by the powerful ring of evil that suffused the atmosphere. She could go in, she knew, but her power would weaken with each step, and she was not prepared to fight for the soul of Adam White. But she could still hear his prayer. And she could whisper, softly, that she would do all she could to grant it. And with that, she lit off for her homeland. She would go tto see The Morrígan. If She couldn't help, nobody could.

And in a cage in a spartan laboratory, Adam White relaxed. He did not know how he knew, but he knew he was not alone. He would have to be patient. He would have to have faith.