Born in Beauty

by Melody Rose

  If this was the Necklace of Harmonia, truly dipped in crime as the myths claimed, then maybe this was the reason Violet had been jealous at the dance. Maybe it was the reason for her planting the seeds. If we could prove that she was cursed by the Necklace of Harmonia, then maybe the Olympic Officials could see that none of this was her fault. Maybe they wouldn’t expel her.

  Spurred on by this new belief, I knew I had to get out of here. But as I noted before, there was no way out. Plus, even if I did manage to pull a miracle out of my ass, I didn’t want to leave Harmonia here alone with whatever beasts lurked under the water. She was a goddess that deserved to be out in the world, bringing peace and harmony like she was supposed to.

  “Harmonia,” I began, a question forming in my mind, “you said you didn’t know how long you've been in here?”

  “I haven’t any idea,” Harmonia confirmed.

  “So, it could be a long time, right?” I checked. “Like decades and decades?”

  “Centuries even,” Harmonia added unhelpfully.

  I thought about the war with the mythic beasts that the demigod continued to fight. I thought about the overall discord in the world, not just the gods and demigod’s word but also the mortal one. Maybe Harmonia had been gone long enough to fester all of these wars.

  Now it was imperative that I got her out of here.

  I sped through as much as I knew about my surroundings and the facts of Harmonia. She lost her memories and didn’t know who she was or why she was trapped here. She was bound to the island by monsters that she called serpents. My eyes moved out to the lake and noticed something I hadn’t before.

  It had a circular shape, and the whole thing was bathed in a gold light. It was bound by serpents like her cursed necklace. At first, I pushed away the thought because it was too far fetched, but then I realized that the whole situation was far fetched. But it was true.

  “Harmonia,” I repeated her name with more urgency this time. “Is it possible that you’re trapped inside the necklace?”

  The goddess blinked at me, as though she didn’t understand me, as though I weren’t speaking English. Then she examines her own surroundings, her eyes roaming around the whole island, peering into the water, and up to the tinted sun.

  “This is a different kind of curse,” she said, though she projected her voice as though she were on a stage speaking to an audience, rather than just me. “But it is similar. Unease, and a false sense of beauty and peace. Trapped in the grip of the lying serpents.”

  Suddenly, Harmonia’s eyes grew serious, the darkest I’d seen since I’d arrived in this strange prison. A clarity appeared in her pupils, an awareness that hadn’t been there before. “I’m not supposed to be here.”

  “No, Harmonia, you’re not,” I confirmed, meeting her eye. “I’m going to get you out of here, I promise.”

  “But you have to get yourself out of here first,” Harmonia said. For the first time, I felt as though I was getting a sense of the true goddess, not the fearful child-like woman I encountered. This goddess was confident and wore her wounds openly, not with pride but without shame. “You cannot be trapped by the necklace either. Take it off and free yourself. Then get me out of here.”

  I nodded, unable to find the right words. I pulled out the necklace from its place underneath my shirt. On cue, the ground shook again. The water rumbled and shook like a soda can ready to explode. I reached around to the back of my neck and felt for the two snake-shaped clasps. In one fluid motion, I clicked back the trigger with my thumb, and the links fell apart.

  Once again, I tumbled to the side, and the world fell dark. But this time, my mind’s eye flooded with images of the beautiful, strong goddess who was depending on me.

  A familiar tune surrounded my mind with words that zipped in and out of my ears. I couldn’t understand the lyrics, but I lulled myself into unconsciousness with the scent of apples wafting up my nose.

  35

  The first thing I noticed was a cold slickness on my face when I woke up from my time with Harmonia.

  “She’s waking up!” a voice said from far away.

  “Oh, thank the gods!” another voice exclaimed, exasperated.

  “I told you she wasn’t dead.”

  “I believed you,” the second voice said defensively. “She just looked rather dead.”

  “Well, she’s clearly not dead.”

  “Not dead,” I croaked, my voice sounding like a creaking door.

  Another cold slurp coated along my cheek, accompanied by a squelching noise. Sandpaper scraped my skin, which caused me to groan from the uncomfortable sensation.

  “Khryseos and Argyreos, stand down boys,” a third voice called out. “She’s already awake. You don’t need to keep licking her.”

  I recognized this voice more immediately than I did the others. Maybe it was because I was coming out of my fog.

  “Ansel?” I opened my eyes, hoping to see his golden hair and strong jaw, but instead, my vision was filled with the fuzzy faces of my other two best friends, Darren and Benji.

  “Oh sure,” Benji said as he threw up his hands and ventured out of my view. “We’ve been taking care of you for the last hour, but Ansel shows up just now, and you wake up for him.”

  “Lay off, Benj,” Darren scolded. He shot me a soft smile. “Good to have you back.”

  “Good to be back,” I agreed, sitting up. I realized that I was on the concrete floor of the smithy, in the exact same place that I had been when I put on the necklace.

  The necklace! I jolted and put a hand to my neck. When the necklace wasn’t there, I searched around for it when I discovered that it was settled in my left hand, the apple pendant swinging innocently.

  “You worried us there for a moment,” Darren said as he got to his feet. “You were completely unresponsive for a while there. I almost took you to the med bay, but Benji wouldn’t let me.”

  “The Olympic Officials are looking everywhere for her, I didn’t think we should be dragging her across campus out in the open,” Benji snapped, clearly tapping back into an old argument.

  “The Officials are looking for me?” I said confused, as I tucked my legs into a crisscrossed position.

  “You defied their orders, remember?” Ansel said from the doorway. He leaned against it casually, with Khryseos and Argyreos on either side of him. “They have a warrant out for your arrest.”

  “And they haven’t checked the forge?” I asked in complete disbelief. “I’d think that’s the first place they’d look.”

  “It was,” Benji confirmed. He made his way over to the workbench and took a seat on one of the stools. “We hid your body.”

  “Again, Benji’s idea,” Darren said as he rolled his eyes.

  “And it was a damn good one,” Benji said defensively. “They would have yanked her right from us, unconscious or not.”

  “Thanks for covering for me,” I told the three of them.

  “Thank the dogs,” Darren said as he gestured to Khryseos and Argyreos. “They were the ones who came and got us when you went down. Then Ansel alerted us that they were looking for you, he was trying to get to you before they did.”

  I was amazed at their loyalty. “You all know you can get in trouble for helping me, right?”

  Ansel shrugged his shoulders. “Worth it.”

  A smile automatically came to my lips, and I blushed at his comment.

  “Well, we’re already going to get in trouble for helping Violet,” Benji reasoned. “We don’t need to lose any more members of the gang.”

  “Speaking of Violet, what are we going to do now that she’s been convicted?” Darren asked the room.

  “Wait, what?” I bolted up to my feet, shocked by Darren’s announcement. “She’s been convicted? The trial’s already over? What the hell?”

  “It didn’t last longer than thirty minutes,” Darren said. “They made the announcement soon after they started.”

  “This is ridiculous!” I shouted. All three
men stepped forward and hushed me.

  “We’re trying to keep you hidden as long as possible, okay?” Benji said, lowering his own voice. “We need as much time as we can get.”

  “I don’t know what you all expect to do,” Ansel said, taking on the role of the pessimist. “They’ve made up their mind. Even if we could get her out of jail, where is she supposed to go? What is she supposed to do?”

  “She didn’t do this, Ansel,” I said, whirling on him. “You know that, right?”

  “I don’t believe that she did it on purpose, but I don’t know how you’re going to convince the Olympic Officials of that,” Ansel said plainly.

  I looked down at the necklace still wrapped up in my hand. Determinedly, I held it up to him, my arm level with his face. “With this,” I announced proudly.

  Ansel’s green eyes shifted back and forth as the apple pendant steadily, like a hypnotist’s pendulum. He reached out his hand and flattened the pendent against his palm, leaning in to give it a good look.

  “What are you talking about, Cheyenne?” Ansel asked curiously.

  “This is what knocked me out,” I said, a little too enthusiastically about the thing that had taken me down and kept me that way for over an hour.

  “And you’re excited about that, why?” Benji asked from his corner.

  “Because,” I said slowly, spinning to face Benji at the workbench. “This used to be Violet’s. Before that, it was Phayllus’s mistress's, and Eriphyle’s, and Jocasta’s, and Semele’s and Harmonia’s…”

  I listed off all the unfortunate women who had come into contact with this piece of jewelry, but the three men just stared at me with blank and confused expressions. None of them pieced it together, and I was sorely disappointed.

  “Did any of you pay attention in Greek Mythology?” I snapped.

  “Obviously not, Shy, just tell us,” Benji said, clearly annoyed with my antics.

  “It’s the Necklace of Harmonia,” I declared. “The one that Hephaestus made to curse the children of Aphrodite and Ares. Of which Harmonia was one.”

  “Wait, so what are you saying?” Darren said as he took off his glasses and rubbed them on his shirt.

  “I’m saying that Violet was being manipulated and cursed by this necklace,” I explained. “Not only that, but the goddess Harmonia is locked inside of it.”

  “Whoa wait, what?” Benji hopped off the stool and approached me like I was holding a gun, rather than a piece of jewelry. “You’re holding a goddess?”

  “Yes,” I said urgently. “I think all of this is weird and a little hard to understand.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Darren grumbled with his arms crossed.

  “But all we need to do is destroy this necklace and free Harmonia,” I continued, not bothering to address all of the questions that ran across their faces. “She will prove that the Necklace is her cursed necklace and that none of this was Violet’s fault.”

  “Cheyenne,” Ansel said gently. “It sounds like you’re grasping at straws right now.”

  I closed my eyes and sucked in an impatient breath. When I opened my eyes again, I tried to level my voice and temper my frustration, but it didn’t work. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I need you to trust me. This is the way to help Violet. And it’s the only plan we got. If she’s already been convicted, then we have no time left. They could be wiping her memory any second. If Violet has any chance at all, we have to destroy this necklace and release the goddess.”

  The men stared at one another, a triangle that I stood in the center of while they assessed my plan and decided whether or not I was crazy. However, it was as though someone had lit a fire under my ass and stuck a countdown in my head. I didn’t know how much time Violet had left. I would never forgive myself if I had a way to help her, and I didn’t do it in time because I was waiting for the approval of others. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t need their help.

  I was the daughter of Hephaestus. I was the best blacksmith on campus. Not only could I create the deadliest weapons, I had just proven to myself that I was also capable of destruction: me and the Eternal Flame.

  As the boys continued to debate silently, I whirled around, looking for the little flame. However, the moment I thought about it, the piece of Eternal Flame appeared at the center of my vision.

  Ansel, Benji, and Darren jumped back when the flame appeared out of seemingly nowhere, whereas I couldn’t help but smile.

  “What the hell?” Benji exclaimed.

  “Where did you get that?” Darren wondered.

  “Since when did you have the ability to summon the Eternal Flame?” Ansel asked, caution coating his voice.

  “Hello,” I said, speaking only to the Flame. I refused to acknowledge my friends because I was sick of them defying me. They could join me in this plan if they wanted, but I wasn’t going to let their indecisiveness stop me.

  “Would you like to help me break this?” I held up the necklace, eye level with the Flame.

  The four of us watched as the Eternal Flame encircled the gold chain, once, twice. The Flame bounced around and turned this way and that, like an artist looking for the first place to start on the canvas. Then, surprising all of us, the Flame zipped for the nearest forge and expanded itself. It spread out both open ends of the cinder block forge, taking on a violent red, like the color of blood. And I knew the Flame was as ready as I was.

  “Okay, that little thing is creepy,” Benji whispered to Darren.

  I threw the necklace into the forge without a second thought and began cooking it, preparing it for its own destruction.

  Out of nowhere, Khryseos and Argyreos began to bark. Their tones were sharp but low, insistent. I deciphered their warning right away.

  “Someone’s coming,” I hissed.

  My companions fell into a panic.

  “What are we going to do?” Darren looked around as though he were trying to catch an annoying fly.

  “Hide,” Benji suggested. He moved to wrap his arms around me, but I stepped out of his way.

  “No,” I said as I stood my ground. “I’m not hiding anymore.”

  “Cheyenne,” Ansel said sternly. “They’re coming after you. You’re not going to be able to do anything if they lock you up.”

  “I’d like to see them try,” I threatened as I held out my hand and requested that the Eternal Flame come to me. Three pieces of it broke off from the red flame that continued to heat up the necklace. They curled into balls and proceeded to float above my hand, twirling in a threatening motion.

  Just then, the door to the forge opened. Ansel nearly fell over, losing his balance as his back was against the door. The soldier whirled around, crouching into a defensive stance, determined to block me. However, he was met with the short figure of Ruby, who looked really stern and frustrated.

  “Oh, I know you’re not blocking my way into my forge, Ansel Ballas,” Ruby snapped at him.

  Dutifully, Ansel slid out of the daughter of Poseidon’s way, shutting the door behind her. Ruby stomped into the forge, her steel-toed boots clanking against the concrete floor.

  “Do you want to tell me why there is a warrant out for your arrest?” Ruby clapped at me, her lips hardening around her consonants to make her point sharper.

  “The warrant doesn’t say?” I said, trying to keep my nerves in check. Even though I talked a good game to the boys, I couldn’t hide the pounding in my heart when I saw that door open, before I realized it was Ruby marching in. I was relieved to see my mentor, but my nerves didn’t settle at the idea that the Olympic Officials might come in at any moment and stop my efforts to save Harmonia and Violet.

  “It says something about defying orders, which I know you wouldn’t do without good reason,” Ruby continued to scold me. “What was your reason?”

  “They wanted me to testify against my friend and help charge her for something she didn’t do,” I saw as I continued to watch the necklace glow whiter in the light
of the Eternal Flame. “I wouldn’t do it.”

  “Hmph,” Ruby grunted. The older woman stuck her arms in the front of her overalls and pushed out her pelvis in a power stance. My eyes flicked towards her, a tense silence overcoming the room as she made up her mind about everything. “Sounds like a good enough reason to me. But what are we going to do about your falsely convicted friend?”

  “Apparently, she’s trying to release the goddess Harmonia from Violet’s cursed necklace,” Benji said as he leaned over to Ruby like he was telling her a secret.

  Ruby’s mouth opened, and her eyebrows raised. But a second later, she closed it again, and her face flattened out to one of agreement. “If you say that’s going to help, then tell me what I need to do to help.”

  “Actually, I think we should be able to do it right now,” I said as I eyed the necklace which now gleamed a bright white in the middle of the Eternal Flame’s bloody red.

  I yanked the necklace out of the forge, and Ruby winced at the sight of my bare hand in the middle of the flames.

  “I hate it when you don’t wear protection,” Ruby said as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

  I didn’t bother responding to her because we’d had this argument too many times already, and it would be a waste of time. I simply put the necklace, white-hot as it was, on the anvil. Then I picked up my hammer from off the side and raised it in the air.

  “Gods dammit. girl,” Ruby exclaimed, her voice jolting me to a halt. “If you plan on smashing that thing apart, at least wear eyewear.”

  “Ruby,” I groaned. “We don’t have time for that.”

  “Yeah, you tell me that when you become a Cyclops, okay?” Ruby clapped back at me as she moved to the workbench and tossed me a pair of goggles. “Why don’t all of you put some on? We don’t know how this magical jewelry is going to react.”

  I had to bend down to catch the eyewear she threw, while I left the hammer on the anvil. I snapped them over my face and held out my hands, awaiting Ruby’s approval before I continued. She nodded and waved her hand so that I could move on.