Unfinished Muse by R.L. Naquin

his
taxes.” She patted the top of his desk. “See you next week,
Roy.”
    She strode out without looking back, and I
trotted behind her. The woman could really work those damn
shoes.
    On the way back to the office, I stared out
the window, lost in thought. A sense of unease worried at my gut
the more I went over everything I’d seen that day.
    I’d never finished anything in my life. I
was a joke. How was I supposed to be responsible for helping other
people finish what they needed to do? There was no way I could do
this.
    I was doomed to fail before I’d even
begun.
    ~*~
    It took most of the weekend for Phyllis to talk me
down from my doom cloud.
    “You’ll do fine,” she said for the fifth
time. “But you’ll have to buy a whole new wardrobe if you don’t put
down the ice cream.”
    I sat curled on the sofa eating mint
chocolate chip straight from the carton. With a really big
spoon.
    “So what? The dress code didn’t say anything
about the size of my ass.” I waved my spoon in her general
direction. “Besides, I might as well eat all the ice cream I can
before I get sent to the Underworld. I bet it’s super hot down
there.”
    Phyllis let out an exasperated sigh. “That’s
Hell, darling, not the Underworld. And I can’t believe you’re
throwing in the towel before you’ve even started. You don’t even
have your first client, and you’re already resigned to failure.”
She clucked a non-existent tongue. “I thought with everything
that’s happened in the last week, you’d have given up on giving up
by now.”
    I grumbled vague noises into the carton
cradled in the crook of my arm. “Oh, sure. I should embrace my
deity heritage. Throw off my pathetic past as a loser and become a
demigod, capable of changing the lives of the regular mortals
around me.” I swirled the melting ice cream so it resembled a thick
milk shake. “Maybe if I knew who my father was, I might be able to
do that. But I don’t even know who I am, Phyllis. And until I do, I
can’t even eat in the big kids’ cafeteria. How sad is that?”
    Usually, smooshing the softened ice cream
made it more appealing. This time it looked like unappetizing goop.
I dropped the spoon into the carton and contemplated how much
effort it would take to go into the kitchen and put it away.
    “Wynter.” Phyllis’ voice was gentle.
    “What?” Mine was more on the petulant
side.
    “I know this whole thing is frightening. And
I know how hard it’s been for you, always moving around, never
fully committing to anything or anyone. But I need you to trust me
on this. You’re going to be fine. This is your fate. Fate will
never steer you wrong.”
    I sighed and pulled myself from the couch to
head into the kitchen. “I know you believe I can do this.” The
spoon made a jarring clang when I dropped it into the sink. “I just
wish I could.”
    “It’s okay, sweetheart. I believe in you
enough for both of us.”

Chapter 9
    To my utter dismay, one day of training was all they
gave me.
    I came in Monday morning, fully expecting to
go on another ride-along with Audrey, only to find an assignment in
my inbox and Audrey nowhere to be found. I grabbed the paperwork
out of the tray and took it to Polly’s office.
    Her door was open, and she looked up when I
knocked. “Did you get your assignment?”
    For a moment, I stood there like an idiot,
unable to speak. I’d forgotten until that moment what Audrey had
told me. Polly was a real Greek Muse. Daughter of the gods.
Possibly responsible for the words of Homer and Shakespeare. I
swallowed hard and held up the papers I’d brought with me. “Now
what do I do?”
    She drew her thick eyebrows together in a
quizzical look. “You go to the address and create an inspiration.
There isn’t much to it. Audrey showed you how and when to use your
tools on Friday, right?”
    I was too flustered to form a sentence to
object at first. One day of training seemed ridiculous. I had zero
confidence in my own