The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

“So,” said Sawyer, sitting up straight, “anything particular we’ll need to do with the kids while we’re here?”

  “Oh, the feeding schedule is posted,” said Jolie. “And the bigger ones will watch themselves, although they wouldn’t stop talking about the hide and go seek game you and Maddie played with them last time. I’m sure they’d love to do that again.”

  “Great,” said Maddie. She still looked sullen.

  “It really was amazing,” said Jolie. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Owen latched onto you, Nora, and the two of you went everywhere together. I know that some of the muses think he’s behind those holes in Helicon, but I don’t believe it. I always thought he was a sad little boy, not dangerous or anything like that. He didn’t have anyone, you know, and of course Phoebe wasn’t too keen on him from the beginning.”

  What? But Phoebe had always defended Owen. “What do you mean?” Nora asked.

  “Well,” said Jolie, “whatever happened between Phoebe and Dionysus happened a long time ago, but I don’t think she was too happy to see Dionysus having a child with someone else. Phoebe’s never had any children of her own, you know.”

  “There was something between Phoebe and Dionysus?” said Sawyer, leaning forward.

  “They were quite an item some time ago,” said Jolie. “Sent Helicon into a tizzy at the time. Muses and gods mixing. There were all these council meeting about mixed blood and the taint the gods would have on our creativity and all kinds of other worries. But then they had a falling out, and Dionysus disappeared for quite some time. I don’t think Phoebe wanted to see him anymore.”

  That was odd. So Phoebe had dated Dionysus? Nora thought back to the conversation she’d heard at May Day between the two of them. It explained a good bit about the way they interacted, didn’t it?

  Jolie was still talking. “Of course, I thought it was a bit petty of Phoebe to hold a grudge against Dionysus’ son, who was just an innocent child. And she didn’t seem very fond of you either, Nora. I was never sure if that was because Owen had taken such a shine to you or not. Well, who knows. Phoebe never seemed fond of children at all, I don’t suppose.”

  Nora tried to digest this. Phoebe had always been so kind to her. Could Phoebe dislike her for some reason? Was it possible that Phoebe didn’t like Owen either? Why had she defended Owen at all those council meetings, then?

  Her wrist beeped at her.

  Nora was confused for a second, then she leapt to her feet. “The Catling tracker! She’s on the move. A portal might have opened.”

  Sawyer and Maddie stood up too.

  “We’ve got to go,” said Nora to Jolie. “Thanks for chatting with us.”

  “Oh, come and see me anytime,” said Jolie, smiling.

  Maddie crowded close to look at the tracker. “Where’s Catling heading?”

  * * *

  “The philosophy enclave again?” said Sawyer as they approached.

  “Well,” said Nora, “we don’t know if there’s a portal. We only know that Catling’s loose. Maybe she wandered down here on her own.” She called for the cat-duck, as they made their way into the main fire pit area of the philosophy enclave.

  They were greeted by Alexander, Owen, and several other members of the security enclave. Owen was holding Catling in his arms.

  “Hi there,” said Alexander. “Looks like Catling did a good job for us. We found this portal before the influence did. We’re going to go through and seal it up before any damage gets done.”

  “So there is a portal?” asked Maddie.

  Alexander pointed.

  Sure enough, right next to the fire pit was a small rip in the ground. Through it, they could see a brilliant white light. It looked strange to Nora, because the ground looked paper thin, like a piece of fabric. It was even stranger to know that she could dig a hole right next to it and she’d see dirt, not light. It didn’t seem to make sense.

  Owen came over to Nora and handed her Catling. “Guess your pet cut off the excitement, huh? Most of Helicon won’t even know the portal was here.”

  Nora took the cat-duck back, stroking her head. She didn’t respond to Owen.

  “How are you?” asked Owen.

  She stared straight ahead.

  “Nora,” said Owen, “can’t we even have a friendly conversation anymore?”

  “Leave her alone,” Sawyer growled, wedging himself in front of Nora.

  Owen rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I guess I can’t get past your tranny bulldog, can I?”

  Nora’s jaw dropped. “Don’t you ever say something like that about Sawyer again.”

  Alexander took Owen by the arm. “Come on, Owen. Let’s fix this portal.”

  Owen glowered at Nora, but let Alexander lead him away. The muse police leapt into the portal and disappeared.

  “I can’t believe he said that,” said Nora, fuming.

  “I’ve heard way worse,” said Sawyer. “He’s mad at you, not me.”

  “He’s a jerk,” said Maddie.

  “Did you hear what he said earlier?” said Sawyer. “About how the excitement got cut off?”

  Nora shook her head. “I don’t even want to think about him anymore. Let’s get Catling back to the tent.” She started to walk.

  Sawyer came after her. “Why would he call it excitement, huh? That’s a weird word to use, don’t you think?”

  Maddie brought up the rear. “You think Owen’s opening the portals now?”

  “Well, he’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he?” said Sawyer.

  “You thought it was Dionysus before,” said Maddie. “And what about what Jolie just told us, about Phoebe and Dionysus dating. Doesn’t what they were saying to each other at May Day make much more sense?”

  “Dionysus isn’t here anymore,” said Sawyer.

  “Dionysus wasn’t here when any of the portals were opened,” said Maddie, “but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. From what we heard Phoebe tell Dionysus, it sounded obvious it was him. And if they actually did date each other, then it explains why she protected him.”

  “I don’t know,” said Sawyer. “She’s with Coeus now. Why would she still want to protect Dionysus? When we heard them talking, they sounded really pissed at each other. Maybe it is Owen. Maybe it’s been him the whole time.”

  “Nora, you always said it couldn’t be Owen,” said Maddie. “Have you changed your mind about him now?”

  Nora shrugged. “I don’t see why it matters so much one way or another. No one got hurt. The portal is being closed right now. The Influence didn’t get through. I mean, honestly, if the people in charge of Helicon can’t figure out who’s creating these portals, then I don’t see why we think we’ll be able to.” She walked faster. She only wanted back in her tent, away from everything.

  * * *

  It was after midnight on the night of the Summer Solstice celebration, and Nora was sitting in a rocking chair in the babies and toddlers enclave. A tiny muse baby was asleep on her lap, his small mouth open and his little eyes squeezed shut. Over an hour ago, she’d shooed Sawyer and Maddie off, sending them to the revels, claiming she had everything under control. All of the children were asleep by then, exhausted by Sawyer’s rousing game of hide and seek. It was quiet, and Nora didn’t need their help anymore. They’d protested but not very much and had eventually agreed. When they were gone, Nora had drunk in the silence, feeling peaceful, until this little guy had started crying, and she’d gone to get him and rock him back to sleep.

  Now she felt relaxed and calm, the warmth and weight of the child in her lap grounding her and connecting her to the world. She hadn’t felt this serene in quite a long time, certainly not since sometime before breaking up with Owen.

  She softly caressed the baby’s forehead. His skin was so soft under her fingertips. She smiled, feeling at peace.

  “Nora?” It was a male voice, and she couldn’t quite place it until Agler walked into view.

  “Hi,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

&
nbsp; “I asked Maddie where you were, and she said you were here,” said Agler. “I wondered if you wanted any company.”

  Nora really didn’t. She was enjoying the tranquility of being alone with sleeping children, but she didn’t see how she could tell Agler to go away without sounding rude, so she shrugged. “Sure.”

  Agler pulled over another rocking chair and sat down. “You haven’t been back to the music enclave.”

  “I haven’t been much of anywhere.”

  Agler nodded, rocking on his chair. It was quiet for a few minutes. “Yeah, I’ve been hanging out in the philosophy enclave more and more these days. You should come by some time. Themis thought you asked some really good questions when we had the conversation about gods last month.”

  Nora touched the baby’s forehead again. “I just, um, I haven’t much felt like doing anything lately.” She sounded pathetic, she supposed. She was engulfed in a little bubble of her pain, and she didn’t seem to feel like leaving. At least not yet.

  “Yeah,” said Agler again. “I heard about you and Owen.”

  It was quiet again. Nora didn’t feel the need to acknowledge what he’d said. Knowing what she did about Helicon, she was sure the news was far and wide at this point.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Agler asked.

  Nora shook her head. “Not really.”

  More awkward silence. Nora began to wonder if Agler might just leave if she didn’t say anything. But that was rude too, wasn’t it? She chewed on her lip, wondering what she could talk about. She remembered that she’d found Agler attractive once and felt guilty about it. He hadn’t changed. He was still tanned and strong and freckled. But Nora didn’t feel anything from looking at him anymore. She didn’t feel like she had the energy.

  “It’s your first breakup, huh?” said Agler.

  Nora narrowed her eyes. “Like you’re a breakup expert or something? How many could you have possibly gone through?”

  Agler looked embarrassed. “One,” he said.

  “I guess we’re kind of even, then, aren’t we?” said Nora, smiling. She felt good again for a second, as if teasing him lifted some of the sadness in her.

  “I guess so,” said Agler. He smiled back. “But I do know that it’s no fun.”

  “It doesn’t feel like a breakup,” Nora said. “It feels worse than that. I feel like I lost my family and my support system. I feel like everything I ever loved was a lie. I feel broken.”

  Agler nodded. He took a deep breath and looked at his shoes. “You and Owen were close. You grew up together.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Nora said. “Why do everything he did? Why take care of me and make sure I got back to Helicon if he only ever wanted to use me?”

  “Maybe I need you to fill me in a little bit,” said Agler. “What do you mean, ‘use you?’”

  Nora explained about Owen’s eye trick. She explained about the way he’d been manipulating her when he got back to Helicon. She didn’t say anything about Owen’s pressuring her to have sex with him though. She didn’t feel like she could say that out loud to Agler. “Now, whenever I look back on anything we did together, all I see is the way he was coercing me to act the way he wanted me to act. It makes me sick.”

  Agler studied his hands. “Owen’s been like that ever since I’ve known him.”

  “So everyone keeps telling me,” said Nora. “I guess I should have listened. You know, he told me that you were a bully. That you made his and my life miserable when we were kids. But he said whatever he could say to keep me under his thumb.”

  “He said that about me?” Agler looked annoyed.

  Nora nodded. “I don’t believe it, of course.”

  Agler got out of his rocking chair. “That was how he spun it back then. I guess there wouldn’t be any reason for him to tell the truth now.”

  “Back then?”

  “When I was a kid, sometimes my mom would leave me in the kiddie playground while she went to play music or something,” said Agler. “And before you and Owen got taken away, you guys would be there too. You were always with Owen. He’d lead you around everywhere, holding onto your hand really tight. And if anyone tried to talk to you, he’d answer for you. It was like you were Owen’s shadow. But one day, you were by yourself. You were all alone, sitting on the swings. And you were crying. So I went over to ask you what was wrong, but when I tried to talk to you, you started crying harder.”

  “Why was I crying?” Nora said. She had no memory of this whatsoever.

  “I don’t know,” said Agler. “You wouldn’t tell me. You would only say Owen’s name. So I went looking for him. I asked some of the other kids if they knew where he was, and they said he’d gone off in the woods. I went into the woods after him. I found him. He was doing something really...”

  “What?” said Nora.

  “He had this squirrel,” said Agler, making a face. “I don’t know if it was dead when he found it or if he killed it, or what, but he was like...dissecting it or something. He’d pulled its guts out, and he was squatted over it, really looking intently at it.”

  “Oh,” said Nora, feeling a fresh wave of horror crash over her. “How old was he then?”

  “Maybe five?” said Agler. “Anyway, he saw me. And we kind of got into a fight. I said I was going to tell everyone what he was doing, and that he’d get in big trouble. I was a kid, and the dead thing freaked me out, so I was kind of posturing or something. Trying to save face since I was so disgusted by what he was doing. He just grinned at me. He picked up the squirrel and ran straight back to the playground. Once he got there, he showed it to one of the muses watching us, and he said that I’d found it in the woods, and that I’d been scaring you with it. Since you were over there crying still, they believed him, and I got in all kinds of trouble. The next time I saw him he said I needed to stay away from him and stay away from you, or he’d make me sorry.”

  Nora felt sick. “He was torturing a squirrel?”

  “And he blamed me for it,” said Agler.

  Nora’s mouth was dry. “Do you know anything about psychology, Agler?”

  He shrugged. “Um, not really. Isn’t that some kind of mundane world thing?”

  “I took a psychology class,” said Nora. “I was okay in classes where I just had to memorize things for tests. As long as I wasn’t creative, you know? So I liked that class. But I remember the lesson on sociopaths, and one of the things they do is kill animals when they’re children.”

  “What’s a sociopath?”

  Nora swallowed, trying to keep her tongue from sticking to the roof of her mouth. “They’re people who don’t have empathy. They don’t care about other people’s feelings. Sometimes they end up killing lots of people. And they usually start with animals.” She clutched the baby close. “And the way he treated me, like I was just something to use to keep him happy, it fits. He even told me once that he didn’t care about me the way I cared about him, but I didn’t listen.”

  The baby in her arms woke up and began to squall loudly. She must have squeezed him too tight. Immediately, Nora put him over her shoulder and began rocking and rubbing his back, making soothing noises.

  As the baby quieted, Agler said, “Wait a second, Nora. Are you saying you think Owen might be dangerous?”

  She turned horrified eyes on him. “I don’t know. If he really doesn’t care about anything but himself, maybe.” She chewed on her lip. “Did you know another portal opened?”

  “When?” said Agler.

  “Yesterday,” said Nora. “But they got to it and closed it before the Influence found it. Owen said that the excitement was cut off.”

  “You think Owen’s making those portals?”

  “You think it, don’t you?” Nora asked. “You’ve said it to me before. Sawyer thinks it.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I do or not,” said Agler. “I can’t prove anything.”

  “How could we prove it?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 
Maddie dangled her legs over the side of the tree house. “We haven’t seen anything, because it’s not Owen.”

  Nora leaned against the tree trunk. “Maybe it’s not.”

  Agler sighed. “We’ve only been watching him for a little over a month. The portals have been happening every month or two. So, he could be planning to make another one at any time.”

  “Maybe,” said Maddie, “but I’m exhausted. Are you guys not exhausted? Between taking shifts watching Owen, who never does anything, and trying to keep up with the stuff I’m doing in the dance enclave, and finding time to sleep, I have no time whatsoever. And I’ve been saying all along that Owen wasn’t even here when the first portals were created.”

  “Right,” said Agler, “but you still think it was Dionysus, and he wasn’t here for any of the portals.”

  “Which fits,” said Maddie. “Because it’s consistent.”

  “But,” Nora, “If Dionysus is responsible, then what Owen said about the portals being made from the inside is probably true.”

  “Yeah,” said Maddie, “he came into Helicon with his little viney fanfare or whatever, ripped a portal and left. It totally makes sense, and we’re wasting our time watching Owen.”

  Nora chewed on her lip. “I just worry. What if Owen is doing it, and we could be stopping him?”

  “We’re watching him all the time,” said Agler. “If he makes a portal, we’ll know it. If a portal opens and he had nothing to do with it, we’ll know that too. We’ve just got to stay focused.”

  “If you don’t want to do it anymore, maybe the rest of us could take over your shifts,” said Nora to Maddie.

  “I’m not going to do that to you guys,” said Maddie. “It would be much harder with only three of you, anyway.” She pushed herself to her feet. “Speaking of shifts, I think I have to go relieve Sawyer now.”

  “Okay,” said Nora, “I’ll be there to take over for you after midnight.”

  “Wait,” said Maddie, looking down into the tweens and rebels enclave. “That’s Sawyer.”

  Sure enough, Sawyer was streaking across the enclave, his skirt gathered in one hand so he could run faster. They all heard him clamber up the steps of the tree house. When he emerged onto the platform they were sitting on, he was out of breath.