The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  At which point Phoebe was interrupted by a blast of green light from the fire pit. Everyone gathered around stood up, startled.

  The fire pit no longer contained a fire. Instead, it was full of winding green vines and branches, each of which seemed to be undulating of its own volition. The green was bright, so bright it shed light on the faces surrounding the fire, turning them all a shade of green.

  Then, abruptly, the vines all disappeared, and in their place, floating over the fire pit, was a man. He was slender, with curly dark hair and swarthy skin. He had a beautiful face, like a cherub or a small child. When Nora gazed into it, she felt a kind of rapturous joy. His head was wreathed in a twisted crown of green vines. He leapt forward, landing in front of the fire laughing, and his laughter seemed to reach inside her, making her own happiness bubble up.

  The fire blazed again.

  The man turned his grinning face on the muses, searching each of them until he settled on Phoebe. Then he ran to her and embraced her. “Phoebe, it’s been too long.”

  Phoebe was stiff in the man’s arms. She extricated herself, stepping back. “Dionysus. I guess you’ve come for May Day.”

  Nora’s breath caught in her throat. This was Dionysus? Owen’s father? She’d known that Owen claimed to be the son of a god, but somewhere in her brain that hadn’t quite computed. Now, here the man was, standing in front of her. He wasn’t like an ordinary man at all. He was somehow radiant, even though he wasn’t glowing. Being this close to him, Nora could feel his power, sort of oozing out from his body, wrapping her in tendrils of excitement.

  No wonder Owen had such magnetism. His father’s presence was enough to change her mood.

  Phoebe seemed to be thinking of Owen as well. “You’ll be happy to know that your son’s returned to us, I suppose.”

  “Which one?” said Dionysus, grinning. His grin was infectious. Nora found herself smiling too, and she could see that many of the other muses were also grinning.

  Phoebe didn’t seem affected in the least. “Owen Asher, of course. You might remember leaving him here over ten years ago.”

  Dionysus scratched his curly head. “Owen...”

  Owen pushed his way through the crowd of muses to stand in front of his father, his face expressionless. Nora felt a pang. She suddenly realized that as happy and jolly as Dionysus might seem, he didn’t know who his own son was.

  Dionysus noticed Owen, gave him a head-to-toe sweep with his gaze. He held up a finger. “Nimue.”

  “Hello, Father,” said Owen.

  “You’ve gotten enormous,” said Dionysus. He embraced Owen with the same gusto he’d embraced Phoebe. Owen was hesitant, but he hugged his father back. Dionysus turned to Phoebe. “What do you mean returned? Hasn’t he been here all along? I thought the muses would look after him for me.”

  “Nimue came and took me away,” said Owen. “Only a year or so after you left.”

  “That raging bitch,” said Dionysus. He considered for a moment. “She could do amazing things with her tongue, though, let me tell you.”

  Owen cringed.

  Dionysus looked out at the muses again. “Everyone’s so solemn.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out a corked bottle. “I brought wine! Who wants a drink?”

  The muses began to crowd forward.

  Phoebe raised her voice over the conversation that was beginning to break out. “Remember, tomorrow at noon, there’s a special council meeting to discuss the portals!”

  * * *

  Dionysus had taken up court in the wine and spirits enclave. He lounged on the grass outside of the tents there, a glass of wine in his hand. He was very drunk. Nora and Owen were sitting close to him, both also drinking wine. Nora’s head was spinning a little, but she couldn’t seem to stop drinking. Unlike the nasty wine they’d drunk to get to Helicon in the first place, this wine was a perfect balance between dry and sweet. It tingled like nectar in her mouth.

  Around the wine and spirits enclave, muses were dancing in the grass barefoot. Some had brought drums and instruments they were playing, although not in any formation around the fire. Others were lying or sitting on the grass, in pairs or groups. Everyone seemed euphoric. Nora could feel it too, an effervescent sort of joy that threatened to burst from her at any second.

  “I should come back to Helicon more often,” Dionysus was saying, gesturing with his wine glass. Liquid sloshed over the rim, getting on his fingers. Dionysus licked them. “Reminds me of the old days. No maenads, though. I do miss the maenads.” He punched Owen on the arm. “Let me tell you, boy, there’s nothing like being in the middle of a maenad sandwich, all that creamy flesh wriggling against you. You should try it sometime. Well, of course, you can’t.” Dionysus looked wistful. “There aren’t any maenads anymore. It’s too bad, really. Maenads were wonderful things. I drove them crazy.” He grinned again. “Literally crazy. They’d rip animals to shreds with their bare hands, run around naked in big groups. It was inspired.”

  Nora kind of thought it sounded gross. She wrinkled up her nose and drank more wine.

  Dionysus was still talking. “These days, there’s not much for someone like me to get into. Oh, people still get drunk, and they go crazy. But it’s not the same, you know. The sacred part of it’s gone. Everyone thinks it’s sort of pedestrian and distasteful. They don’t worship anymore. They don’t approach drinking with reverence. Here in Helicon, though, it’s almost as if the old times never went away.”

  “So where have you been?” said Owen. “I spent eleven years looking for you. Were you in the mundane world?”

  “Mundane... oh, that’s what you call the real world here in Helicon, isn’t it?” said Dionysus. “Zeus’ thunder, boy, I couldn’t tell you where I’ve been for the last eleven years. What’s eleven years, anyway? I could have been any number of places. Probably was. I can’t handle staying in one place for too long, you know.” He nudged Owen, winking. “Papa was a rolling stone.” And then he burst into peals of laughter, clutching his stomach.

  “We used a prayer to you,” said Owen, “to get from the mundane world to Helicon. I thought maybe... you helped us.”

  “Prayer?” said Dionysus. “Someone prayed to me? My heart might explode.” He kissed Owen on the forehead. “Bless you, dear boy, bless you.”

  “So you didn’t help,” said Owen. “It didn’t have anything to do with you at all.”

  Dionysus shrugged. “I guess not.” He took a deep breath. “Ah, Owen, do you remember the times we had when you were small? You were such a chick magnet. There might not be maenads anymore, but there will always be young, hot, drunk women. And you, my boy, were so good at pulling them in. I almost wish you were still that small. You were adorable. Of course, you’ve grown up to be quite handsome. You take after me. Got her eyes, though, more’s the pity.”

  Owen stood up, yanking Nora to her feet. She was surprised. She’d registered the fact that Dionysus was really kind of self-centered, but she was enjoying herself. Was Owen mad again?

  “I remember the times we had,” said Owen. “I remember spending a lot of time by myself, playing little games while you were busy being drunk. It was a great time let me tell you.” Sarcasm dripped from his tone.

  “Oh,” said Dionysus, “you’re angry.” He sighed. “Look, it’s been eons since I spawned any sort of children. Gods don’t seem to impregnate mortals these days. I don’t seem to have the juice. When I found out about you, I thought maybe I’d give it a go. Fatherhood and all that. But, really, it was mostly boring. I can’t be bored, you must understand. I’m not built that way.”

  Owen glared down at his father. “You know, when I was a kid, you were so much better than she was, I got some silly idea in my head that you actually cared about me. Thanks for showing up. I might have kept on believing that.” Pulling Nora along with him, Owen stalked away.

  Dionysus called after them. “It’s not that I don’t care, Owen. Why do you think I brought you here? I knew they’d take better c
are of you than I could.”

  By the time they got back to the tweens and rebels enclave, Owen was shaking. He stopped at her tent and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Nora pulled Owen into her tent with her. “Don’t be silly. You shouldn’t be alone.”

  He didn’t resist. Instead, he plopped down on the floor of her tent. Catling came out, squawking and rubbing her face against Owen’s knees. He pet her absently. “He’s really horrible. He doesn’t care about anybody except himself.”

  Now that she wasn’t in Dionysus’ presence, the crazy euphoric feeling seemed to have worn off. Nora mostly felt drunk. She swayed on her feet as she tumbled down next to Owen. “He’s a god. I guess they do tend to be self-centered. I’ve never actually met one before.”

  Owen rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m just like him.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I am,” said Owen. “I’m worse. I don’t think about you. I don’t think about what you want. It’s like...it’s like I can’t. Like I don’t know how. All I think about is what I want.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true.” Nora took Owen’s hand.

  “No, that’s the thing,” said Owen. “I tricked you. I made you believe that I actually cared about you, but I don’t. Not the way you care about me, anyway. Not... It’s like that part of me isn’t there. Everything’s just pain. All the time. I thought if I could get us back here, it would be better.” He shook his head. “But it’s worse. I don’t belong here. But you do. And you don’t need me anymore. And I feel like the only thing I ever lived for was to get us back to Helicon. Now that I have, I don’t need to exist anymore.”

  “Owen, you’re just depressed,” Nora said. She put her arms around him. “You’re good. You care about me. You always take care of me.”

  “Because I need someone to be nice to me. That’s the only reason.”

  Nora held him close. “Maybe that’s the only reason anyone takes care of anyone else. Maybe we’re all selfish.”

  Owen turned his hauntingly blue eyes on her. “No, I’m different. I’ve known for a long time.”

  “You’re different, but we’re all different,” said Nora.

  “Different in a bad way.” He kissed her. “I used to think you could save me. But now I know nothing can.”

  “Shh. Stop saying things like that.”

  “I’m being honest, Nora. This is the only time I’ve ever been honest with you.”

  “You’re in a bad mood,” she said. “And you need to rest. Stay here, sleep in my tent. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

  He did stay, but he refused to sleep in her hammock with her, because he claimed he’d only try to get her to have sex with him. Once he was huddled in blankets on the floor, it was quiet. Nora tried to sleep, tried to think, but because she was drunk, she began to have the sensation that the tent began turning over and over, flipping her stomach inside out, until she ran from the tent and vomited up all the wine she’d drank. When she did finally get to sleep, it was dreamless.

  * * *

  Nora awoke the next morning with a headache that caused something inside her temple to pulse pain and agony throughout her entire body. She wanted to pull her pillows over her head and go back to sleep, but it hurt too bad. Also, she was really thirsty. She staggered out of her tent and made it to the bathhouse in the tweens and rebels enclave, where there was—by some miracle created by the engineering enclave—running water. She gulped it. It made her feel better at first, but she began to feel sick. She ended up throwing up again.

  Still dying of thirst afterwards, she forced herself to sip water slowly.

  As she was coming out of the bathhouse, she ran into Sawyer, whose hair was sticking up on one side of his head. He glared at her with haggard eyes. “Dionysus is the devil,” he proclaimed.

  Nora agreed. Or maybe wine was the devil. She wasn’t sure. But Dionysus and wine seemed interconnected, so she didn’t suppose it matter whether she blamed one or the other. She went back into her tent and burrowed under the blankets on her hammock. Her head was still pounding, but she felt like she might drift back to sleep.

  Then Owen woke up. He didn’t seem hung over in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to think her hangover was funny, especially when she told him she’d thrown up before going to sleep and in the morning as well. But he kissed her on the forehead, and said, “I’ll see you at the special council meeting, right?”

  Ugh. Nora had forgotten all about it. She threw her covers aside and got out of the hammock. “What time is it?”

  Owen stuck his head out of the tent. “It’s got to be within an hour or so. We slept late.” He gave her a hug, and then he ambled off.

  Nora wrapped herself in a blanket, went out to the benches outside the fire pit, and nursed a glass of water. She was not in a particularly good mood.

  Maddie bounced in under the arch. “Hey, you’re up,” she said. “I thought you were going to sleep all day.”

  “My head hurts,” Nora responded. She’d never really been hung over before. Actually, she’d never been quite as drunk as she had the night before.

  “See?” said Maddie. “This is why I don’t drink.”

  “You’re very wise,” said Nora, hugging herself.

  Sawyer came out of his tent at that point. His hair still looked funny. “I just remembered there’s a luncheon at the main fire pit at noon for the special council meeting. Is it noon yet?”

  “Food is gross,” said Nora.

  “No,” said Sawyer, “food is exactly what we need. Salty food.”

  “Do we have to get dressed?” asked Nora.

  “You should probably do something about your hair,” Maddie said to Sawyer.

  Sawyer put his hands on his head, feeling around. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

  Nora couldn’t help it. In spite of how miserable she was feeling, she had to giggle.

  “I know what we should do,” said Sawyer. “We need to go to the big bathhouse. Do we have time?”

  Nora remembered being there her first night in Helicon, but she had a very vague idea of where it was. “Do we have to walk there?”

  Sawyer hauled her to her feet. “Bath. Now. Come on.”

  It was a long walk, but Nora found that moving her body actually made her feel better, like getting herself going was putting her back in order. And when they finally got to the baths, and she and Sawyer were immersed in the warm water, swimming around and letting jets from the fountain wash over their heads, she had to admit his idea had been a good one. “Hot water is the most amazing invention ever,” she decided.

  Sawyer splashed her. “It’s not an invention. It’s a discovery. Hot water existed before anyone invented it.”

  “Whatever,” said Nora. She held her breath and went under water for a few seconds, savoring the fact that her entire body was caressed by wonderful, warm liquid. When she resurfaced, she said, “I’m never drinking alcohol again.”

  “Sure you aren’t,” said Sawyer.

  “Well, Maddie doesn’t drink,” said Nora. “I don’t have to either.”

  “I’m drinking again,” said Sawyer. “But next time, I’m drinking less. And I don’t want it to be wine. Maybe ever again.”

  * * *

  They were a little late getting to the council meeting, but Nora felt refreshed and clean and positively ravenous. She loaded up a plate. Apparently, the food enclave must have realized that half of Helicon would be sleeping late after the festivities with Dionysus, and they’d opted for brunch instead of regular lunch food. Nora dug into fried potatoes, bacon, and pancakes smothered in a rich, creamy gravy. She was so immersed in eating that she missed the beginning of the council meeting, and it was only as she finished that she began to tune in.

  “I can’t help but think that it’s suspicious that Dionysus showed up right after the portal was created,” one of the muses was saying. There was a murmur of agreement from the gathered muses. “He’s
not one of us. He can’t be trusted.”

  Phoebe looked annoyed, as always. Being head of the council must be a particularly crappy job. “Last night, I was very plain when I said we were holding this meeting to look for solutions, not point fingers.”

  “A solution would be to force Dionysus to stop ripping holes in Helicon,” said the muse, who seemed equally annoyed.

  Owen spoke up. “It can’t have been Dionysus. These portals were created by someone inside Helicon, and Dionysus didn’t show up until afterward.”

  “Of course you’d defend him,” said another muse. “You’re his son.”

  “I’m not defending him,” said Owen. “I just know that the rips are coming from inside, that’s all. And that means it’s not him.”

  Techne spoke up. “Alexander, last time Owen said this, you said it was impossible to know whether the perpetrator was inside or outside. Is that still your opinion?”

  Alexander spread his hands. “Look, as Owen’s pointed out to me, we muse police are essentially the equivalent of regular humans. We can’t see the same kinds of things people with more power can. So, if Owen says they were made from the inside, I think we have to take his word for it.”

  “Well, that’s convenient,” said Techne. “Owen’s the only person who can see how they were made in the muse police. And, of course, the rips are repaired now, so it’s not as if any of the rest of us could actually examine one.”

  “Of course the rips are repaired,” said Alexander. “They’re dangerous. It’s the mission of the security enclave to keep this place safe. But the next time one opens up, feel free to wander up and examine it. But if the Influence zaps you, then don’t blame me.”