Stefan shuffled his feet nervously as he stood in front of Heidi with an expression of anxious trepidation on his face. Cody shook his head in disgust. The foreign exchange student couldn't get over the fact that they had a goddess in their midst, and he became tongue-tied any time Heidi was around.
"Just ask her already," Cody told him in exasperation. "She's not going to turn you into a newt if she doesn't like the question."
Stefan colored as he shuffled his feet again. "So I was wondering what you thought about setting up a YouTube channel with your music?" he finally asked in a hesitant voice.
Heidi was watching Stefan with no little amusement, a small smile curving the corners of her lips. "I actually hadn't thought about it."
"Oh," Stefan said lamely. Cody raised a sardonic eyebrow at him, and he took a deep breath. "Would you mind if I started a YouTube channel with your compositions? All the credit would go to you, of course."
"Go right ahead," Heidi replied with a shrug. "Just make sure the credit goes to the whole school though, not me."
"Really?" Stefan said in surprise, his eyes brightening.
"Yeah, really," Heidi replied dryly. "Why did you think I would have a problem with that?"
"Well… you don't seem to like your picture taken," Stefan replied slowly. "And some of the uploads might have videos of us performing."
"That's fine," Heidi assured him with another shrug. "They'll only show what I want them to show."
Stefan blinked uncertainly, obviously not understanding what she meant.
"Hey, are we going to go to the dance tonight, or what?" Autumn asked as she and Aria joined them. "It certainly took Heidi long enough to pick the two of you up. We're already late."
Cody hadn't told Stefan or the others about the attack at his house earlier that evening; why ruin the festive mood for everyone?
Cody shared a look with Heidi and smiled as they began moving toward the front door. Autumn's mother was driving them to the dance. She was talking with Heidi's mother in the kitchen when Autumn interrupted her with a tap at her shoulder.
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I holding you up?" Autumn's mother asked with false concern. "I thought you might all have decided to just have a private dance here."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Autumn told her mother humorlessly
Aria sat in the front passenger seat, which left Cody sitting next to Heidi, and Autumn sitting next to Stefan. Cody felt heat warm his face when Heidi's elbow brushed against his own as Autumn's mother pulled out onto the road. He had never felt self-conscious before, and he decided that he definitely didn't like it.
A glance behind him showed Stefan experiencing the same kind of proximity anxiety.
"Just relax, I don't bite hard," Heidi whispered to him with an amused gleam in her light-brown eyes.
"Easier said than done," Cody replied dryly.
Heidi smiled slightly, though she remained silent. The remainder of the trip to the school was uneventful. Cody breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived. He was pretty sure Heidi could read his mind, and if he spent any more time with their hips touching, his thoughts were going to get him in a lot of trouble.
Principal Wiley was on the stage speaking to the crowded auditorium when they entered. Aria's date, Leslie, joined them as soon as they entered. She looked Aria up and down in obvious admiration. Aria returned the favor, her eyes alight with interest.
Cody felt like he was doing a pretty good job of not gawking at Heidi. She had most of her hair in a complex bun with the remainder cascading over one shoulder. She wore a blood red dress that ended just above the knees and accentuated her curves generously.
"You're going to piss Heidi off if you don't stop staring at her," Stefan told him with a chuckle,
"I wouldn't have spent this much time primping if I didn't want to be admired," Heidi told Stefan archly. "At least he's not drooling like you were."
Stefan's face reddened slightly, because he nearly had been drooling after laying eyes on Autumn. She was in a feminine pink dress that would have looked silly on anyone else. On Autumn, it was ridiculously hot. Her long blonde hair was similar to Heidi's, with a loose bun on top and intricate curls cascading over her shoulder.
A local band began playing a lively tune and Cody turned to find Heidi watching him expectantly. "May I have this dance?" he asked with a grin.
"If I must," Heidi replied with a slight curve to her lips.
He led her out onto the dance floor and the two of them joined the small group of other students who were willing to brave the dance floor.
Stefan had been right about Heidi's skill at dancing—she was amazing. He was good enough to know an exceptional dancer when he danced with one. Heidi was like a feather in his arms, twirling about and smiling as they worked their way across the dance floor.
"Show offs," Aria said as she and Leslie danced near them.
"My old pappy always said, if you're going to do something, best you do it right," Cody replied in a southern drawl.
"Whatever you say, Maverick," Aria said dryly as the two of them danced out of range.
"So I have a question for you," Cody said lightly as she gracefully slipped under his arm and came up behind him.
"Is that so?" Heidi asked conversationally
"That is so," Cody nodded. "Why did you send those soldiers to protect me? You could have killed them without ever leaving your house, couldn't you?"
"Very astute," Heidi murmured with a twirl. "Why do you think I sent the soldiers instead?"
Cody thought hard, frowning in concentration. "You could have done it remotely," Cody began, trying to talk his way through his train of thought. "You must have known the soldiers would kill them, or most of them. You brought them back from the dead in front of quite a few people. The only thing that makes sense to me is that you wanted to put on a show, so to speak. I'm just not sure why you would need the theatrics. All of the people present already knew you could do unusual stuff."
"Very good," Heidi complimented him with an approving smile. "As to the reason for the theatrics…I needed the people around me to understand that death is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome. Some of the soldiers close to me will die in the future, and that will become more obvious as events unfold. I want them to understand that while death may be an end for some people, it will not be the end for them. I will bring them back every time, until they ask me to stop."
"Why would they ask you to stop?" Cody asked curiously.
"Sometimes life gets too heavy to bear," Heidi replied slowly. "That weight grows significantly every time a person dies. After a dozen resurrections, it becomes similar to what Bilbo described in The Lord of the Rings: 'butter scraped over too much toast'. They just want an end to everything, the bad and the good."
They danced in silence for a while, until Stefan butted in and asked Heidi to dance. Cody rolled his eyes and traded Heidi for Autumn.
"So how do you like dancing with a Goddess?" Autumn asked with an impish grin.
"You're pretty good, but I wouldn't call you a goddess," Cody replied critically.
"Not me, you jackass," Autumn retorted exasperatedly. "Heidi."
"Oh, I beg your pardon," Cody said with a complete lack of remorse. "She's pretty good, but I could definitely still teach her quite a bit."
"Yeah, right," Autumn replied dryly as he ducked under her arm.
"Are you having fun with Stefan?" Cody asked, more seriously.
"Yeah, he's a pretty good dancer," Autumn replied with a dimpled smile. "Not as good as you, but pretty good. He's also quite the charmer."
"And with that foreign accent, he's just irresistible, isn't he?" Cody asked with a sly grin.
"Pretty much, yeah," Autumn agreed her green eyes twinkling.
"How's Aria doing?" Cody asked, looking around the room for the redhead.
"She can't take her eyes off of Leslie," Autumn snickered. "They're adorable together. I'm glad someone came out of the closet and asked her out."
"Yeah, that was a surprise," Cody agreed.
"So why did Heidi go over to your house with her dad?" Autumn asked, her eyes suddenly serious.
"She had to bring some mercenaries back from the dead after the body guards she assigned to watch me killed them," Cody replied nonchalantly.
"Wait, what?" Autumn stopped dancing and stared at him in surprise. "What happened?"
"Heidi was worried one of those generals didn't want us knowing about the Titans," Cody answered with a shrug, tugging her back into the dance. "She sent a couple of soldiers to keep an eye on me. When I got home there were two men with assault rifles waiting for me. I ducked the first few shots, then one of Heidi's soldiers kicked the door in and killed them, plus a few more in the back of the house. Heidi showed up a little while later and brought them back to life. She told them that they had to serve her from now on."
"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" Autumn asked in exasperation.
"The timing didn't seem quite right," Cody replied dryly. "We were just getting ready to come to the Valentine dance. Not exactly the kind of atmosphere to spoil with talk of death and resurrection."
"She really brought them back from the dead?" Autumn asked in quiet astonishment. "I mean, I knew she could do some amazing stuff, but bringing people back from the dead?"
"Hades, remember?" Cody reminded her with a raised eyebrow. "Lord of the underworld."
"Oh yeah," Autumn muttered thoughtfully. "I'd forgotten about that."
"Looks like Aria's switching partners," Cody noted with a grin as he watched Heidi trade Stefan to Leslie in exchange for Aria.
Autumn's eyes were full of suppressed emotion as she watched Heidi and Aria dance past them. Heidi was smiling as she spoke quietly to Aria, and Aria was grinning in obvious delight.
"What's on your mind?" Cody asked her shrewdly. "You've got a funny look in your eyes."
"Oh nothing," Autumn shrugged his question off airily. "I was just wondering which of them did the leading."
"My guess is Heidi," Cody said as he watched the two women dance. "But I don't think that's what you were wondering about."
"Oh, is that so?" Autumn asked with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't realize we had two psychics in our midst."
"I was trying to keep it a secret," Cody sighed regretfully.
"I'll bet you were, hero," Autumn declared with a chuckle.
"So are you going to tell me what the look was for?" Cody asked persistently.
"Fine, Mr. Nosy," Autumn sighed in exasperation. "I was wondering if people were bigots in the ancient civilizations that Heidi lived through, or if being gay was accepted as normal."
"You should ask her," Cody suggested, unconsciously watching Heidi as she danced with Aria.
"Wow, you're really taken with her, aren't you?" Autumn noted with an appraising look.
"Could be," Cody admitted unabashedly. "What's not to like? She's hot, talented, mysterious, and a freaking genius. It would be hard not to be attracted to a person with those qualifications."
"Switcheroo, you two," Stefan told them as he handed Leslie off to Autumn.
"Seriously?" Cody asked as Stefan started dancing with him.
"I'm not sweet on you," Stefan assured him with a wink. "But I thought it would be a good example for some of the other closet dwellers to see that two guys could dance together as well as two girls."
"Well played, sir," Cody congratulated him. "So how was Leslie doing?"
"Not bad," Stefan shrugged. "With a little more practice she might be good."
"I wasn't asking how her dance moves were," Cody rolled his eyes.
"I know," Stefan replied with a smirk. "She's totally infatuated with Aria. I'm curious to see how that relationship plays out."
"Me too," Cody agreed with a smile.
It wasn't long before Heidi relinquished Aria and reclaimed Cody. Her eyes were sparkling when she pulled him away from Stefan.
"That was rather brave of you," Heidi told him, her eyes filled with warmth.
"It was actually Stefan's idea," Cody admitted.
A slow song started playing and Heidi closed the distance between them. Cody had to swallow hard as her body pressed against his as they began a slow dance.
"Did anyone from one of the past civilizations ever go to the moon?" Cody asked, trying to calm his proximity anxiety.
Heidi stopped dancing for a moment before continuing again. "Yes. We built it."
This time it was Cody who stopped dancing. "You built the moon?"
"More like 'modified' it," Heidi replied, pursing her lips as she started him dancing again. "It was one of Jupiter's moons. We hollowed it out and brought it to earth's orbit."
"Why in the world would you do that," Cody asked in bewilderment. "Pun unintended."
"We needed a large data warehouse close to Earth, while remaining separate," Heidi answered. "Using a moon was the easiest solution."
"So it's just a giant server farm?" Cody asked in amazement.
"You could say that," Heidi nodded. "It's the reason I was able to come back. It's not a computer like what you have today. It's far more complex, and ties fifth dimensional space to this realm. This civilization is still hundreds of years away from that kind of technology."
"So Neil Armstrong wasn't the first person to the moon after all?" Cody asked, shaking his head in wonder.
"Not by a long shot," Heidi replied with a smile.