The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  Sawyer and Nora nodded.

  “Well, the young Phoebe was a beauty, with flawless dark skin and raven hair. She had the voice of a nightingale, and when Dionysus came to Helicon, he would lie at her feet, listening to her sing for hours on end. Of course, Dionysus is never one to be content with mere singing from a woman, and so he began to pursue her, because he wanted her as his lover.

  “Phoebe was quite a young woman, and she was not yet wise in the ways of men, or in the ways of gods, and she thought that Dionysus’ affection for her was something special. She did not realize that Dionysus was a man who’d had many lovers, and thought little of them once he tired of them. Phoebe thought that she and Dionysus shared a love that was profound and timeless, and she was devoted to him.

  “It so happened that the mundane world was seized in the throes of change at this time. The empire of Rome, upon which the gods had lavished their support and attention, was besieged by invaders and barbarians, who sought to tear down the beacon of civilization, to destroy it. The gods did their best to funnel their powers into the Roman empire, to bolster it in their time of need. But it seemed that the powers of the gods were waning, and there was much confusion and dismay amongst their number.

  “The mountain tops of Olympus and Helicon broke away from the mundane world at that time. They were no longer physical features in the world. This distanced the gods and the muses from the humans even further. It seemed that everything was crashing down.

  “The gods came to Helicon and they spoke to the council of muses, begging to be loaned the muses’ energy. For, as you know, the muses create energy as inspiration threads, which they send to the mundane world. The gods argued that the muses would do better to send this energy directly to them so that they could help the humans themselves. Zeus himself said that in a time of great war and upheaval, the humans did not need inspiration for creativity as much as they needed to save their own lives.

  “The muse council was hesitant. They deliberated for a long time, and there was an argument of great magnitude in Helicon, with some muses siding with the gods, and other muses claiming their responsibility was to the humans, not the gods. It was Phoebe, the young muse in love with Dionysus, who managed to convince them all that the gods were right. She gave a speech to the gathered muses, painting a picture of a world without gods, a war torn world of barbarians struggling over land, raping and killing one another. A dark world. She said that they would have no humans to inspire if they did not help the gods.

  “And so the council voted to do so. And for quite some time, they funneled all of their energy into the gods, trying to make them as powerful as they possibly could. The gods labored in vain to help Rome. They did all that they could. But even with the power of the muses, they were not powerful enough to help them, because the barbarians were fueled by a great power the gods had once wielded themselves: the Influence.

  “The Influence had abandoned the gods, choosing to put its resources behind things that had more power. And as the gods squandered the powers of the muses in attempts to bind Rome together, the Influence grew stronger.

  “The gods grew weaker. Dionysus appeared in Helicon to visit his lover Phoebe and told her it was more and more difficult for the gods to cross the boundaries to the world of the muses. They were fading away. Phoebe, terrified she would lose Dionysus forever, worked a strong bit of magic, binding Dionysus to Helicon through her own muse powers. In this way, he could come and go as he pleased. And through Phoebe, he had access to Helicon’s power. Phoebe hoped he could funnel this power to the other gods, and that they would win.

  “But it didn’t work. Dionysus survived, but we have not seen the other gods in Helicon in quite some time. And the mundane world was not helped by the gods’ interference. Instead, the Influence ruled the mundane world for hundreds of years. Its power created strong armies that scuffled over lands, strong institutions that ruled over the people, and strong societal rules that discouraged creativity. For hundreds of years, the world was a dark place, barely penetrated by creativity.

  “For the muses had been weakened as well. They had funneled so much power into the gods, all the energy they had. And even after the gods were no longer with them, they could only send small bits of inspiration into the mundane world. For the humans, this period was known as the Dark Ages.

  “But when the muses finally regained their power and began to send inspiration threads back into the world, the humans began to wake up. The light of inspiration filled the world, and it was reborn as a place where individuals could make their own way. There was an explosion of art, music, painting, and writing. The Renaissance.

  “Phoebe knew what a dangerous change she had wrought on the world, and she knew the dangers of using muse power for anything other than what it was intended. She vowed that if she became the head of the muse council, she would make it her life’s work to make sure that the muses never used their energy for anything other than inspiration. And so, until this day, the muses have created and inspired, and the mundane world has become a very bright place indeed.” Ned smiled. “The end.”

  * * *

  “It all makes sense now,” Nora said as they walked back from Ned’s tent. “That’s why Phoebe insists that we conserve muse energy, and that we don’t use the excess for anything like helping starving people. She knows that the muse energy can’t work that way, and that it would do more harm than good.”

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer, “and when we heard Phoebe and Dionysus arguing, they weren’t talking about portals after all. They must have been talking about the fact that Dionysus still has the power to draw energy from Helicon. Because Phoebe gave him that power.”

  “Why didn’t Phoebe just tell me that when I was talking to her?” Nora asked. “She could have explained all of this to me. In fact, she should tell all of Helicon. If everyone knew this, we wouldn’t have half of the conflict we have right now.”

  “That’s true,” said Sawyer.

  “So why do you think she doesn’t?”

  “She’s probably ashamed of what she did. She probably doesn’t want anyone to know how badly she screwed up before. She’s a really old muse, and most of the muses who would remember that time period aren’t around anymore. Maybe she thinks that if they knew, they’d want her off the council, and she wouldn’t be able to make sure that she kept things working smoothly.”

  “Maybe,” said Nora. “But people should still know.”

  Sawyer nodded.

  “Of course, it makes things even more confusing,” said Nora. “Because if Dionysus didn’t create the portals, and Owen didn’t create the portals, then who did?”

  “I thought we were going to focus on creating instead of detective work,” said Sawyer.

  “I can’t focus on creating,” said Nora.

  “Well, there hasn’t been a portal since summer,” said Sawyer. “Maybe whoever was doing it gave up.”

  “Maybe,” said Nora.

  * * *

  Helicon was all cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns on Halloween night. It seemed that everywhere Nora turned, she saw posed skeletons and fake blood. She knew there was a haunted house in the architecture enclave, and that the main fire pit had been decorated for a huge party. She could hear the music from here. Apparently, on Halloween night, the music enclave went in favor of electric instruments, so guitars wailed in the night air. Muses walked by in clumps in elaborate costumes and face paint. It was like a carnival fun house. The air was crisp, and the scent of caramel caught her nose.

  Nora was doing her best to avoid Sawyer. She had no desire to go to the Halloween party. She wanted to fade out, to disappear. What was the point of celebrating when she had nothing to celebrate?

  She ended up in the woods, staring through nearly-bare tree branches that crisscrossed the night sky, making the full moon resemble a skull and cross bones. She’d hide here until she was sure there was no one left in the tweens and rebels enclave. Then she’d go back and curl up on her hammock
with Catling. She’d try to go to sleep. Nora had been sleeping a lot these days. It was the one thing she still seemed to be able to do well.

  “Nora,” said a voice.

  Dammit. She wasn’t alone. She turned to face the voice, ready with the excuses she would pour onto Sawyer until he gave up, but it wasn’t Sawyer. It was Owen. He was dressed as a vampire, complete with a black cloak and a painted-on widow’s peak. His blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

  “Go away,” she said.

  Owen’s shoulders sagged. “I only wanted to see how you were doing. I heard from Maddie that you weren’t doing too well.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you,” said Nora.

  “I’m not doing well either, to be honest,” said Owen. “I miss you so much.”

  She didn’t need this right now. She especially didn’t need Owen to look so sad and pitiful. She forced herself to remember him dangling her over the edge of Helicon, asking her what would happen if he dropped her. She forced herself to remember him yanking her close to him at May Day, screaming at her not to walk away from him. She squeezed her eyes shut. The nice stuff’s all an act, she reminded herself.

  “Seriously, Nora,” said Owen. He studied his hands. “I’ve been doing things. Things I’m not proud of. It’s so much easier to do them when you’re not around. Sometimes I wonder if you kept me sane or if you kept me tethered somehow.” He turned away. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

  She didn’t care. She really didn’t. “Poor Owen,” she said, keeping her voice sarcastic. “He’s bad, and he doesn’t know what to do. Here’s a hint. Why don’t you stop doing bad things?”

  He turned to her sharply. “Not that easy. What if I told you to just start creating? Push through it? You think that would work?”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “What do you know?”

  “Only what Maddie tells me. That you feel like you’ve lost all your creativity. That you’re sad and depressed. That you spend all your time hiding from everyone, alone.”

  “What are you doing to Maddie, anyway?”

  Owen heaved a huge sigh. “Why are you suspicious of me? You never used to be suspicious of me.”

  Nora shook her head. She’d walk away from him. She’d go back to the tweens and rebels enclave. Maybe if she was around other people, he’d leave her alone. Of course, that might mean she’d have to put on a costume and fake happiness for a few hours, but if she could get away from him, it would be worth it.

  He followed her. “I shouldn’t have done what I did with that fairy. I know that. It was wrong. I got...confused. I let myself get angry with you. With you. I never used to feel that way about you. Nora, it was all my fault.”

  Well, that was a strange expression to come out of Owen’s mouth. But she kept walking. It was a trick. She couldn’t let him get to her.

  “But maybe the fact that we’re both worse off without each other is a sign. Maybe we belong together. Are you happy without me?”

  Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to make sense? How was it that he was always able to get inside her head and know just what to say? She faced him. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

  “Are you sure? Because I feel empty ever since you left. I’m not saying I’m perfect. I know you deserve better than me. But maybe we could try it again. You could move into the muse police enclave if you don’t have any muse powers. Maybe if we’re together, they’ll come back. But even if they don’t, you’d have a place to belong, and... please give me another chance.”

  Nora squeezed her eyes shut.

  Owen grabbed her hand. “Do you remember when we were kids and we were lost in the woods in the winter? You were cold, and I wanted to make you warm. I couldn’t handle the fact you were suffering. And I found that abandoned house. We made a fire. We huddled up in blankets, and I told you—”

  “You’d never let anything hurt me,” said Nora, hating him for bringing up their childhood, hating him for making her remember what he’d been to her.

  “I made that promise,” he said, “and then I broke it. Because I hurt you. Me. You mean everything to me, Nora. When I think about what I did, what I’ve done...” He clenched his hands in fists. “Sometimes I get so scared. I don’t know who I’m becoming. I remember when I used to get scared like that before, you’d tell me it wasn’t true. You’d remind me that I was good. But you don’t think that anymore, do you?”

  Was he really hurt? Was he really upset? Or was this all posturing to try to get her to do what he wanted? She didn’t know. She couldn’t trust him anymore. “No,” she said. “I don’t.”

  Owen took a step backwards. He looked so hurt, as if her words had punched him in the gut. He gazed at the ground. “Yeah, I’m not sure if I think it anymore either.” He scuffed his toe against the ground. “Have a happy Halloween, Nora. I do still love you.” He turned and walked away.

  She watched him fade into the darkness, wondering if she’d done the right thing. Had he ever walked away from her before without getting what he wanted?

  * * *

  Owen walked, waiting for Nora to come after him. When she didn’t, he swore under his breath. He never knew what to say to her anymore. He used to feel like he knew her so well. She’d changed since they got to Helicon. At first it had seemed good, but then he’d felt her pulling away from him. It terrified him, the thought of being without her. It scared him so much that he’d clung as tightly as he could to her. And somehow, he’d driven her away because of that.

  Well. There was the fairy, of course. But Nora should never have seen that. That wasn’t about her, anyway. That was about something completely different. He hadn’t felt anything for the fairy. He’d only been curious. What would it be like to touch her? To kiss her? Besides that damned fairy, he’d never kissed another woman besides Nora.

  And now she hated him. If she’d felt something for him, she’d have come after him just then, when he’d bared his soul to her, made himself vulnerable to her. She’d ignored his pain, just like everyone else did. Well... if that was the way it was going to be, then Owen could handle that. He’d get her back, of course. But no more begging. He’d humiliated himself, and it hadn’t gotten him anywhere.

  He needed to step things up. Make it impossible for Nora not to come back to him.

  He set his jaw as he emerged from the woods into the tweens and rebels enclave, his black cloak furling out behind him. Ahead, he spied Maddie. She was dressed up as a squirrel. Owen smirked. It fit her. She was like a squirrel, pudgy and jumpy and cute. And weak. He’d known right away that Maddie was the weak link. But he’d thought that getting Maddie to be on his side would convince Nora to come back to him. He’d underestimated Nora.

  Owen strode over to Maddie, smiling. “Nice costume.”

  Maddie grinned nervously. “Oh, you like it? I can’t pull off those sexy costumes. I’m too fat.”

  Well, at least she knew her limits. “You’re adorable,” said Owen. He lifted her chin with one hand, so that she stared into his eyes. Softly, he whispered an incantation under his breath, letting the words wash over Maddie.

  Maddie’s eyes went glassy. She stared at him blankly.

  Owen’s smile faded. “You said she’d listen to me if I admitted I was wrong. You said if I didn’t make it her fault, she’d change her mind.”

  Maddie didn’t answer. In this state, she wasn’t about to defend herself. Ah, well. There was no reason to take his anger out on her. It wasn’t her fault, anyway. It was Nora’s fault. Really, everything was Nora’s fault. If she’d only cooperate, Owen wouldn't have to do these things.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “You didn’t dress up, I see,” said Dirk, who was standing at the edge of the woods on the other side of the tweens and rebels enclave.

  Nora looked down at her clothes. She’d walked aimlessly after Owen left, ending up here, the place where they’d found the portal in the winter. She hadn’t meant to end up here, and she’d
completely forgotten about Dirk’s wanting to “do something” together on Halloween. But she didn’t have any other plans, so why not?

  “I’ve been thinking about your problem,” said Dirk. “How you can’t create and all. I have a theory.”

  “A theory?”

  “Well, the portals drain energy from Helicon, right?” said Dirk. “And you and Owen came through a portal to get here.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “Well, it didn’t affect Owen, because he’s not a muse,” said Dirk. “But maybe it affected you. Maybe coming through the portal started a chain effect that started draining away your muse energy. Maybe if we cross into the mundane world and come back, when you return to Helicon the right way, you’ll be full of muse energy again.”

  “Why would leaving and coming back do that?”

  Dirk shrugged. “It’s just a theory I have. Whenever I leave Helicon, every time I come back, I feel sort of energized. Like I’ve come home or something. It’s actually pretty annoying.”

  Nora chewed on her lip. She liked the idea that this was happening because of something out of her control, not because of her breakup with Owen. “The veil between the worlds is thin on Halloween, right? So it’s easy for us to get to the mundane world?”

  “Yeah,” said Dirk. “I was going to go through anyway. Maybe knock over some mail boxes and smash some pumpkins. You wanna come?”

  Why not? she thought.

  Dirk held out his hand. Nora took it.

  “How do we do this?” she asked.

  “You need a focal point in Helicon to come back to,” said Dirk. “We’ll use the outside of the woods here.” He gestured. “You sort of meditate to a state of nothingness, attempt to become pure energy, and you flit through the cracks and reassemble in the mundane world.”

  Nora took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s try this.”

  * * *

  Dirk kicked a jack-o-lantern over on its side and stomped on it. Fragments of pumpkin went everywhere.