by Kate O'Hearn
“There are millions of worlds along the Solar Stream,” Jupiter began, “though we have only cataloged a small number of them. But recently, thanks to Emily sending both Pegasus and Alexis there, we have discovered a world at the very start of the Solar Stream.”
Chiron stepped forward, his horse’s hooves clicking on the marble floor. “Until now, we never knew the Solar Stream had a starting point. This is a very exciting time for us. We have much to discover.”
“Are you talking about the jungle world?” Emily asked.
“Indeed we are,” Jupiter said. “Around this room are just a few of the artifacts we have found there. But among the most interesting was a stone slate mounted on the wall of a large temple.”
Jupiter invited Emily forward to get a closer view. “We have transcribed the words from that stone slate here. I’ve had my best scholars trying to decipher it, but as yet, they have failed.”
Emily studied the chalkboard. There was something familiar about the symbols. As she stared at the strange writing, everything seemed to blur and swim before her eyes. Suddenly dizziness overwhelmed her, and she started to stagger back.
Joel was at her side in an instant. He put his arm around her and steadied her. “You okay, Em?”
Emily leaned heavily into him. “I—I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just that . . .” When she looked back at the chalkboard, she sucked in her breath. “I know this writing!”
“What?” Her father gasped.
Emily approached the board. “I can understand it. All of it.” She pointed to each symbol and started to read aloud.
GENTLE TRAVELERS—WELCOME TO XANADU.
WE ASK ONLY THAT YOU VENTURE HERE WITH PEACE IN YOUR HEARTS AND RESPECT IN YOUR MINDS. FOR OURS IS THE OLDEST WORLD AND MUCH BELOVED. YET WE OFFER IT TO YOU AS REFUGE. THAT WHICH IS OURS IS NOW YOURS. BUT BE MINDFUL OF OUR HOME AND HONOR OUR LAWS.
• XANADU MUST BE RESPECTED. IT WILL FEED YOU, IF YOU DO NOT ABUSE IT.
• OUR WAYS ARE THE WAYS OF PEACE. DO NOT BREAK THAT PEACE, OR WE WILL DEFEND OUR HOME.
• ALL LIFE IS PRECIOUS. YOU WILL NOT KILL ANYTHING HERE, OR YOU WILL BE FOREVER CAST OUT.
WE ARE THE XAN, CREATORS OF THE SOLAR STREAM.
GUARDIANS OF THE UNIVERSE.
XANADU IS SANCTUARY.
Emily turned back to Jupiter. The leader of Olympus had his hand over his mouth, and his eyes were the widest she’d ever seen them. He looked at her like he was seeing a ghost.
Vesta looked from the chalkboard back to Emily in shock.
“Xanadu.” Diana and Apollo both breathed reverently.
“Is it possible?” Chiron asked softly. His golden eyes were huge and filled with admiration. “After all this time, we have finally found it?” The centaur turned to Emily and bowed respectfully. “Thank you, child.”
Pegasus had his head bowed as he stood before her. As did Chrysaor, the giant, and even the Cyclops.
“Would someone please let us in on the secret?” Joel asked, confused by the odd behavior of the Olympians.
Their reactions troubled Emily. They were all looking at her like she was something strange, dredged up from the bottom of the sea.
“What is it?” she asked. “Pegs, stop bowing and tell me what’s going on? What’s so special about Xanadu?”
Jupiter righted himself, and a smile came to his lips. “As Earth has its ancient myths about us, we Olympians have our own ancient myths and legends.”
Vesta took over speaking. “Our oldest legend says that from the time before time, long before the Olympians and even the Titans, there was Xanadu. It was said to be a precious and sacred place protected by the Xan: a great and powerful race that benevolently ruled the universe. But something happened, and the Xan disappeared.”
Diana continued, her face radiant. “It was because of that legend that we became guardians of the Solar Stream. We have been visiting the many worlds searching for the Xan and evidence that Xanadu really existed. This, at last, is the proof we have sought. We have finally found Xanadu.”
“But what does that have to do with Emily?” her father asked.
Diana put her arm around Emily’s shoulder and started to walk her around the room. “Take a look at these artifacts we have brought back. Do you recognize anything here?”
As they moved from table to table, Emily stared at the items. They all looked so familiar to her, as though she knew what they were but had somehow forgotten. She reached for what looked like a dull piece of flat, round metal and recognized its weight and shape. She touched the bottom of the piece, and it burst into brilliant light.
“I know this,” she whispered. “It’s used like a flashlight.”
As the light blazed through the room, Jupiter ordered that the doors to the chamber be closed and the windows sealed. He called everyone forward. “Listen to me. This does not go any further. It would shake the very core of our foundation if Olympians were to learn that the one we have called Flame of Olympus is not Olympian at all.”
Jupiter knelt down before Emily and dropped his head. When he lifted it again, he reached for her hands. “Child, I do not understand how it is possible. But it is my strongest belief that you are neither human nor Olympian, but are in fact Xan.”
2
EMILY’S MIND WAS SPINNING AS she and Pegasus flew hard and high above Olympus. After Jupiter’s announcement, the room had burst into excited discussion. Plans were being made to create a permanent access link between Olympus and Xanadu. But the more they’d talked about the origins of the Flame, the worse Emily had felt.
Unable to take any more, she’d asked to be excused. Once outside, she’d begged Pegasus to take her away from the palace. It didn’t matter where, just away from the proof that she didn’t belong anywhere.
Emily always felt better when it was just her and Pegasus. But this time, soaring high with the magnificent stallion wasn’t helping. She felt so lost, like no one in Olympus would understand how she felt—and then she remembered.
She leaned forward on the soaring stallion. “Pegs, can we please go see Alexis and Agent T?”
Pegasus whinnied once and changed direction. Before long they were passing over a different kind of landscape. It was not as green and blooming as the surroundings of Jupiter’s palace. Instead there were fewer trees in an area of smooth golden earth. The terrain turned rocky with high, sharp mountain ranges. A few buildings dotted the area, but it was basically isolated. Up ahead Emily saw a tall, lush, willow tree standing alone and looking strangely out of place in the desertlike area.
It had been a long time since Emily had visited the ex–CRU agent. After Jupiter had saved his life and turned him into a beautiful willow tree, he’d been planted on Olympus and lived with Alexis, the Sphinx.
They had built a large platform in the branches of the tree for Alexis to live on. Now Alexis rarely left it and hadn’t been seen in Jupiter’s palace in ages.
The moment they touched down and approached the willow, the slender branches started to quiver and wave.
“Emily, Pegasus, hello! What a lovely surprise.” Agent T’s voice was light and leafy, but it was there. In the beginning it had disturbed Emily that he had been turned into a talking tree, when he didn’t even have a mouth. But somehow, in Olympus, everything was possible.
Emily slid off the stallion’s back and approached the tree trunk. She gave it a greeting pat. “Hi, Agent T.”
The leaves seemed to laugh. “Emily, I am not Agent T anymore, as I am no longer a CRU agent. I’m not even human. Surely by now you can call me Tom.”
“She will never learn,” called Alexis from her platform high up in the thicker branches. “But as you are here, you might just as well come up.”
Emily stroked Pegasus’s neck. “I’ll be back in a bit, Pegs.”
She climbed up the rope ladder and cra
wled onto the sturdy platform. The Sphinx’s lion legs were curled underneath her human upper body as she lounged on a soft silken pillow pressed up against the tree’s side. Her eagle wings were folded neatly across her back.
“What brings the Flame of Olympus to our home?” Alexis asked. “You are not planning another adventure to Earth, are you? Because if you are, I will not be joining you.”
“Alexis, please,” Tom said. “Let her speak.”
Emily was stunned at the change in the ex–CRU agent. Since arriving on Olympus, his cold exterior had melted. Now he was warm and friendly—even if he was a tree. Emily could see what had attracted Alexis to him. The Sphinx was completely devoted. Nothing could draw her down from his strong branches save an order from Jupiter or Juno.
“Actually, I came to speak with Agent—I mean, Tom,” Emily said awkwardly.
“If you must.” Alexis sighed. “Take a seat.”
Emily had wanted to speak with Tom alone, but Alexis wouldn’t budge. The Sphinx was as stubborn and single-minded as she always had been. Emily sat on the platform. She crossed her legs and stared down at her laced fingers.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked. “I don’t need human eyes to see that something is bothering you.”
Emily inhaled deeply. She looked at the smooth bark of the strange willow tree. “Tom, are you happy?”
“Me?” He laughed. “You came all this way to ask if I am happy?”
“Are you?”
His voice turned serious. “Yes, I am. I can honestly say I am the happiest I’ve ever been.” Tom paused. “Back when you first entered my life, I cursed you, Pegasus, and all the Olympians. I hadn’t been content with anything around me, but at least I thought I had a place where I belonged. But after everything we went through together, you showed me how much I was missing. Now, even though I may not be the man I once was, I couldn’t be more content.”
“Even though you aren’t human anymore?”
“Yes, even though I’m not human. Although . . .” He paused.
“What?” Emily asked.
“Well, if I could ask for just one thing, it would be to have real arms so that I could hold Alexis.”
“Oh, Tom,” Alexis mewed softly. She rose from her cushion and brushed up against the bark of the tree like a cat does its owner’s legs.
Emily was stunned by the soft, loving expression on Alexis’s face. The deadly Sphinx had totally lost her heart to the ex–CRU agent.
“But apart from that,” he continued, “I am very happy. Why do you ask?”
Emily looked down at her hands. They were starting to tremble. Unable to lift her head, she whispered, “I don’t know who or what I am anymore.”
Alexis tilted her head to the side. Her piercing green eyes bore into Emily. She sat down beside her and put a large paw over Emily’s hands. “What is wrong? What troubles you so?”
Emily fought back her emotions. “Back in the beginning, when I first entered the Temple of the Flame and changed . . .”
“You sacrificed yourself for us. Because of that, you saved Olympus, and we will always be grateful to you.”
Emily nodded but wouldn’t look up. “It was hard to get used to the changes in me, but everyone here was so kind and made me feel like I was one of you.”
“You are one of us,” Alexis said.
Emily looked into the Sphinx’s beautiful face. “No, I’m not.”
“What do you mean?” Tom asked.
“Jupiter said not to tell anyone yet. At least not until we are certain. But if I don’t talk to someone soon, I’m going to go crazy.”
“You can trust us,” Alexis said. “Tell us what is wrong.”
Emily looked from Alexis to the trunk of the tree and started to speak. She told them of the recurring dream and ended with the revelations of the morning where she could read the language of the ancients.
“That was actually Xanadu you sent me to!” Alexis said breathlessly. “And you are Xan?”
Emily sniffed and nodded. “That’s what Jupiter says.”
“I don’t understand,” Tom said. “What’s so special about Xanadu? We had that name on Earth, too. It was an ancient city in China, and I think it was even a 1980s roller-skating movie.”
“You knew of it because of us,” Alexis explained. “We often spoke of Xanadu when we visited your world. But it is so much more than an ancient Earth city.” Alexis explained to Tom what she knew of the Xan and then looked at Emily in complete awe.
“See!” Emily said. “That’s what’s driving me crazy.”
“What is?” Tom asked, shaking his leaves. “I couldn’t see what happened.”
“Suddenly everything’s changed.” Emily stood up and walked over to the trunk of the tree and leaned her forehead against it. “Jupiter bowed before me this morning. So did his brothers and even Pegs.” Emily looked back at the Sphinx. “And now even you are looking at me differently. I don’t want that. I want to be one of you. Not treated like I’m some kind of ancient queen. I’m the same person I was yesterday. But now everyone who knows is treating me differently. It was hard enough when everyone called me the Flame of Olympus. But at least then I was part of you. If I’m really Xan, what am I part of? Who am I?”
“You are Emily,” Tom said.
“But I’m not even alive!” Emily cried.
“What do you mean?” Alexis said. “Of course you are alive.”
Emily shook her head. “That’s not what the CRU scientists told me.”
The tree sighed heavily, and its leaves drooped. “Ah yes, the CRU, of course. I might have known they would still be causing you grief. What lies did they tell you?”
“It’s not lies. It’s the truth. When I was at their laboratory in Area 51, they ran tests on me. They said I don’t even exist! I have no cells and no physical matter. I’m not alive; I’m not dead. I’m nothing but contained energy that imagines itself alive.”
“Ridiculous!” Alexis spat.
“I understand now why you came to me,” Tom said gently. “You asked if I’m happy. You meant, am I happy now that I am no longer human but a tree. My answer is still the same. Yes I am. I have changed in ways I could never imagine. We both have. But despite all the changes, in essence we are still who we were before. Perhaps we’re even better than before. I was never a kind man and never cared for anyone. Now I know what it is to love and to be loved. What we are physically is only one small part of who we are. And, Emily Jacobs, whether you are a human, the Flame of Olympus, or Xan, you are still you. I doubt anything could ever change that.”
“But if people find out I’m from Xanadu, they’ll treat me differently.”
“First off,” Tom said seriously, “you are not from Xanadu. Perhaps your powers are, but you’re still a girl from New York City. You were born there and went to school there. And secondly, if people discover that you’re part Xan and treat you differently, just show them that you’re still Emily. They’ll soon learn. Look how you felt when you first saw me as a tree. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you looked at me. But eventually you got over that, and now I’m just Tom. Or at least Agent T. You are what you believe you are, Emily. You have family and friends who love you. What more could you want?”
Emily threw her arms around the trunk of the tree and pressed her face to the bark. “Thank you, Tom,” she said gratefully. “I knew you’d understand.”
The leaves around her quivered. “I do, Emily. And I am always here if you need to talk.” Suddenly the tree burst out laughing. “Besides, it’s not like I’ve got anywhere to run to!”
3
STELLA GIANNAKOU PACKED HER TRAVEL bag, muttering to herself and complaining because she couldn’t stay in Athens while her parents went to the new find at Cape Sounio. She was almost sixteen and could take care of herself. She didn’t need anyone to stay with her while h
er parents were away. But they wouldn’t listen. So she was once again forced to go with them on yet another dig.
Her parents were the archaeologists, not her. So why did they insist on dragging her away with them? Stella had spent most of her life traveling all around Greece while her parents moved from one ancient site to another, trying to unravel the past.
To Stella, history was boring. The only thing that interested her about the past was the myths. But despite being Greek and living in the land of the ancient stories, her parents didn’t believe in them. All they cared about was digging in dirt and finding pieces of broken pottery.
“Stella, please hurry. We’re ready to go!” her mother called from downstairs.
“Then go,” she mumbled to herself. “Leave me here. I don’t want to see some stupid old broken pots anyway. It’s my vacation too, you know.”
“You heard your mother!” her father shouted, anger rising in his voice. “Finish packing and get down here. We leave in five minutes.”
Stella threw the last of her clothes in the bag. She looked at the stack of engineering books on her bedside table and then over to the project she was building. She was trying to design a new kind of wheelchair that would make life easier for those who needed them, like herself.
She had planned to spend her spring break working on the project. Now all she could look forward to was watching her parents dig in the dirt and pretending to be excited when they found a chip of pottery or the toe from some broken old statue.
Seated in the back of the car and surrounded by her parents’ tools and camping supplies, Stella looked out the window at the gray water of the Aegean Sea. They were leaving Athens and heading along the coast to Cape Sounio.
Since it was February, Greece was in the middle of winter. It wasn’t all that cold, but it was dull and gray. The sky was filled with scuttling clouds that promised rain.
“Why do we have to stay there?” Stella complained. “It’s not that far. We could drive home at night. It would be so much easier for me.”