The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  Now it was Coeus’ turn to sigh. “So maybe it’s my fault. But you have a prejudice, Phoebe.”

  “I do not.”

  “You do. And you know I never understood why you took it out on her. It wasn’t Emma’s fault. I’m the one who broke promises to you.”

  “After all this time, you’re still defending her.” Phoebe sounded disgusted.

  “She’s dead. What more do you want from her?”

  “I never wanted her dead, and you know that. Why are you tormenting me with this? I never want to talk about this ever again.”

  “Sure,” said Coeus, sounding sarcastic. “And I never wanted to see Dionysus again. But he showed up last year, and I had to deal with it.”

  “Oh, it’s always about Dionysus, isn’t it? But I didn’t choose him, I chose you. And you chose—”

  “He’s a fucking god, Phoebe. How is that supposed to make a guy feel?”

  “You’re pathetic.”

  “And you distrust redheads for no rational reason. Just because Emma had red hair.”

  “Stop saying her name.” There was a half-strangled noise, and Nora realized that Phoebe was crying.

  She looked at Sawyer, who was wide-eyed. They shouldn’t be hearing this conversation, should they? It was something private between Coeus and Phoebe. Nora felt uncomfortable and awkward.

  “You know what?” Phoebe said. “Search the security enclave tents on your own. I don’t want to be near you.” They could hear her footsteps moving away hurriedly.

  They could hear Coeus start after her. “Wait,” he called.

  Nora held her breath until Coeus’ calls faded into the distance. Then she and Sawyer peered out around the tent they’d been hiding behind. They were alone again. Sawyer whistled, the all-clear signal.

  Within a few minutes, Daryl and Maddie emerged from the security enclave tent. They scurried over to Sawyer and Nora.

  “Did you guys hear what they were saying?” Maddie said.

  Sawyer nodded. “Do you have any idea what that was about?”

  They all shook their heads. They were all quiet for a few minutes.

  Finally, Daryl pulled some pendants out of his pocket. They were silver with flame emblems on them and attached to thin leather straps. He handed one to each of them. “These are prototypes the engineering enclave was working on. As far as I know, they haven’t had the chance to test them extensively. But they seem to work okay. If you’re wearing one, it should help you see through any illusory magic that someone is trying to use on you. Hopefully, if Owen has taken over anyone else’s body, we’ll be able to know.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was a balmy evening, and Nora was sitting around the fire pit in the tweens and rebels enclave. The enclave seemed much quieter and emptier without Agler and Jack around, but there were still a few tweens playing instruments and chatting. Though everyone seemed to notice their absence, no one seemed to be talking about it. In fact, as Nora spoke to Maddie she felt as if she were talking around the issue.

  She was saved from more awkwardness by the arrival of Sawyer, who strode under the arch sopping wet. He flung himself down next to Nora and Maddie and began wringing out his skirt.

  Droplets of water splashed on to Nora. “Watch it. What happened to you, anyway?”

  “Got caught in the fields in the food enclave.” Sawyer pointed at an isolated thundercloud, which hovered just below the tweens and rebel enclave.

  The council had decided that rain made it harder to be creative. For that reason, it rarely rained in Helicon. In the morning, the ground was covered in a very heavy dew, which served to keep the grass growing. The only place they had determined that rain was actually necessary was the food enclave, for the crops. So it rained there often but only over the crops and nowhere else. Sometimes, if one were walking through the food enclave, it was possible to get stuck in the rain.

  “It was actually pretty refreshing,” said Sawyer.

  Maddie giggled. “You look like a drowned rat.”

  “Hey.” Sawyer looked offended.

  “I’ve never even seen a drowned rat,” said Nora. “I wonder where that expression came from. Was there a time when people saw a lot of drowned rats?”

  “I should have gone around,” said Sawyer. “But I cut through the fields because I was excited to come see you guys. Himeros came to see me in the clothing enclave.” He paused. “Actually, that reminds me. I was looking to see if my May Queen dress was in the clothing enclave for some reason, but it’s not there. Is it in your tent, Nora?”

  Nora wrinkled up her nose. “Wait a second. Himeros came to see you, and something about that made you excited?”

  “You gotta admit that doesn’t sound like you,” said Maddie.

  Sawyer shrugged. “Yeah, okay, I know it sounds weird. But about the dress, Nora?”

  “I’ll look,” said Nora.

  “Thanks,” said Sawyer. “Himeros is doing choreography for the Summer Solstice play. And he wants us to be in it.”

  Maddie raised her eyebrows. “Us? You mean he wants you.”

  “No,” said Sawyer. “He needs a lot of dancers. All of us. Plus more people.”

  “Play?” Nora said. “You mean like theater? Since when do they do stuff like that in Helicon?”

  Maddie turned to Nora. “Since always. They do plays at both of the Solstices—winter and summer.”

  “There wasn’t a play last year,” said Nora.

  “Of course there was,” said Sawyer. “You were just too upset about Owen to notice.”

  Nora considered. She had been pretty sad last year around this time. Also Owen had been sucking her creativity away, but she hadn’t known what was going on yet. “I always wanted to be in a play. Are there going to be auditions or something? Do we have to be dancers?”

  “There are auditions,” said Maddy. “But they never give parts to tweens or kids. I don’t even know if we’re allowed to try out.”

  “But what if one of the parts is for a kid?” said Nora.

  “They never are,” said Sawyer. “But they do let tweens be in the chorus or be dancers. So this is our chance. You guys are gonna do it, right?”

  “Sure, I guess so,” said Nora. “What’s the play about, anyway?”

  “Merlin,” said Sawyer.

  * * *

  Nora, Maddie, and Sawyer were sitting on a row of benches in an amphitheater located in the story enclave. The theater was tucked down in a valley. The seating rose up sloping hills around it, so the natural geography formed the bowl of the theater. The stage was a wooden platform on the ground. Behind it, a cluster of large shady trees formed a canopy over top. The theater was simple and rustic. Nora guessed the design of the theater was based on something from ancient Greece, since the Muses owed much to that tradition.

  The three sat with thirty or forty other muses, all of whom were going to be part of the play. The various directors and the playwright were sitting on stage. Currently, they were talking over each other. Nora had noted that it seemed to be a constant problem amongst muses to think that each was the most important. Consequently, she didn’t have a real idea what the play was going to be about or like, because no one seemed to be able to finish a complete thought.

  “As I was saying,” said Damien Stick, director of the play, “this is a serious character study of the tragic figure of Merlin.”

  “But musically,” said Genevieve Elderberry, the musical director, “it sort of pokes fun at itself.”

  “And the dancing echoes the epic tradition of Camelot,” said Himeros Star.

  “But overall,” said Damien. “It’s meant to be tragic and moving.”

  “And funny,” said Genevieve.

  Nora nudged Maddie who was sitting next to her. “Do you think they notice that they’re contradicting each other?” she whispered.

  Maddie giggled.

  “And epic,” said Himeros from the stage.

  Julian Brook, the writer of the play, spoke up. “W
hat I was trying to convey when I was writing it was something that seemed realistic, but was also faithful to mythological tradition.” He turned to Damien. “All of the actors have the script, don’t they?”

  Damien nodded.

  “The actors may have it, but the chorus and the musicians do not,” said Genevieve.

  “Neither do the dancers,” said Himeros.

  “Well, they don’t have lines,” said Julian. “Do they really need—?”

  “We’ll get someone to make copies,” said Damien.

  Julian took a deep breath. Apparently, he hadn’t enjoyed being interrupted. “Well, perhaps we could just take questions from the actors.” He looked out at the gathered muses seated in front of the stage. “Does anyone have any questions about the script?”

  A faint rumble of conversation broke out in the theater. Then one of the actors stood up. “Yeah. I’m playing King Arthur, and I’m kind of wondering why my role isn’t... bigger? I mean, King Arthur is a big deal, isn’t he?”

  “Well,” said Julian, “the play is about Merlin.”

  Damien held up a hand. “Let me handle this, Julian.” He turned to the actor. “Why don’t you and I get together after, and we’ll talk about your role one on one, okay?”

  “Okay,” the actor said. He sat down.

  “Any other questions?” Julian was beginning to look like he wished that he hadn’t asked for questions in the first place.

  Another actor stood up. “I’ve got a question.”

  “All right,” said Julian.

  “There are seven mentions of Nimue in the script,” said the actor. “Why would you do something like that?”

  “Nimue?” Another actor stood up as well. “That’s completely out of line. The Summer Solstice Festival is a time of celebration. We don’t need painful memories dragged back to the surface.”

  “The play isn’t about what Nimue did in Helicon,” said Julian. “However, Nimue is part of the Merlin myth. I can’t write a play about Merlin and leave Nimue out entirely. I know the name brings up painful memories, but this isn’t meant to be about the massacre.”

  The gathered muses began to buzz with angry conversation. Another stood up. “You need to take the mentions of Nimue out of the script.”

  Julian was on his feet now. “You can’t tell me what to do with my own script.”

  Damien stood up as well. “I’ve reviewed the script, and I don’t think it’s offensive. But if other people disagree with me, then perhaps Julian and I can look at a rewrite.”

  Julian shook his head. “No way. I’m not going to be bullied into censoring my play.”

  “If you don’t promise to change it,” said one of the actors, “I’m going to the council.”

  By this time, chaos had descended on the gathering. Muses were on their feet, talking with each other. A few were striding toward the stage, angry looks on their faces. Julian was still talking, but no one could hear him over the din of other voices.

  Eyes wide, Damien waved his hands at the crowd. “That will be all for today,” he bellowed. “Familiarize yourself with your lines.” Then he darted off stage and was quickly followed by the rest of the directors.

  Nora, Maddie, and Sawyer all got out of their seats as well.

  “We have to get our hands on that script,” said Sawyer.

  * * *

  In the following days, it seemed everyone in Helicon was reading the script. Anyone who’d originally had a copy seem to be making copies in triplicate and handing them out to anyone who wanted one.

  Muses made copies through magic, since no one was inspired by the dull task of physically copying. Nora tried to explain to Maddie about photocopying machines in the mundane world. She thought that maybe engineering could make something like that. It would be useful. But Maddie couldn’t wrap her head around the concept and didn’t see what the big deal was about using magic.

  The big deal was that using magic depleted the amount of inspiration threads the muses could send to the mundane world. A fact that wasn’t lost on Phoebe, who took to mentioning it at council meetings every evening.

  Nora read the script and found it utterly confusing. The script painted Merlin as a misunderstood genius. In every scene, Merlin would present some fabulous idea that he had, and someone else—King Arthur, Guinevere, or the Lady of the Lake—would shoot it down. Then Merlin would sulk and usually sing a song. There were also a great many songs by other members of the cast making fun of Merlin. The mentions of Nimue only came at the end. Everyone in the play was trying to set Merlin up with her on a date, but Merlin thought it was a bad idea. Eventually in the last scene, Merlin was tricked into seeing her. He delivered one last song, in which he lamented the future he saw for himself, trapped and alone. That was it.

  Personally, Nora found the play a little silly. She thought it was pretty obvious that Julian was writing a thinly veiled description of the way he saw his own life. He clearly thought he was a misunderstood genius. The way he’d responded to the criticism of his play was eerily similar to the way the character of Merlin responded to criticism.

  But the play had caused quite a stir in Helicon. Everyone was reading the script, and everyone had an opinion on it, one way or the other.

  Sawyer found the script disappointing as well. He’d hoped it would tell more about the story of Nimue, but it didn’t really.

  Maddie thought that the glibness of the way the subject matter was treated was insensitive. She didn’t think it was appropriate for Summer Solstice.

  Many of the muses agreed with Maddie. So much so that actors were dropping out of the play left and right. When the three arrived at the theater for their first practice, there weren’t enough people there to actually accomplish anything.

  Julian was in a foul mood. He paced back and forth on the platform stage, the leafy foliage framing his anger.

  Damien tried to calm him down. He stood on the ground in front of the stage. “It’s not a big deal. Why don’t you just write Nimue out of the script?”

  Julian stopped pacing and glared at Damien. “I refuse to be censored!” He resumed pacing.

  Maddie was lying with her back down on one of the audience benches. “What does that even mean?”

  Sawyer sat next to her. He looked down at her. “What does what mean?”

  Nora, who was sitting on the ground next to them, twisted to face them. “Yeah, what are you talking about?”

  “He keeps using that word,” said Maddie. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”

  “That censored word?” Sawyer said. “I think it means to force someone to change what they’re doing.”

  Nora stood up. “Wait a second. You guys don’t know what censorship is?” She chewed on her lip. “Actually, I guess there’s not a lot of that in Helicon.”

  Maddie propped herself up on her elbows. “You know what it means?”

  “Yeah,” said Nora. “It happens in the mundane world all the time.”

  “So am I wrong?” Sawyer asked.

  Nora opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted when one of the actresses from the play sauntered over to them. They all turned to look up at her.

  The actress was tall, with broad shoulders and short-cropped hair. She pointed at Sawyer. “You. You were the May Queen, right?”

  Sawyer nodded. Then he turned to Nora. “Hey, that reminds me. Did you find my dress?”

  Nora shook her head. “Actually, no. And the weird thing is that I can’t find my Maypole dancer dress either.”

  “I think I lost mine too,” said Maddie. She gestured to the actress. “But we’re being rude.” She offered the actress her hand. “I’m Maddie.” She pointed. “This is Nora and Sawyer.”

  She shook hands with all of them, ending with Sawyer. “My name is Sue. I think you’re brave.”

  “Uh, thanks,” said Sawyer. He was taken aback.

  Sue gestured to the space on the bench next to him. “Can I sit down?”

  Sawyer shr
ugged. “Sure, I guess.”

  Sue straddled the bench, so that she was facing Sawyer. “Did anyone give you hell about it? Being the May Queen?”

  “Not really,” said Sawyer.

  Nora settled back down on the bench in front of the other three, so that she was a level down looking up at them. “That’s not true. Those guys from the security enclave were real jerks.”

  Sue rolled her eyes. “I figured. For the most part, the muses are pretty open-minded. But occasionally, they aren’t so much.” She gestured at Julian. “Witness this debacle, for instance.”

  Maddie pushed herself into a sitting position. “Well, that’s not exactly the same thing. People don’t want to be reminded of the massacre. That’s why they want Julian to change his play. When those guys said what they said to Sawyer, they were doing it to be mean. No one is trying to be mean to Julian.”

  Sue shook her head. “No, it’s the same thing. It’s all about fear and groupthink. We’re a small community, and we don’t like anything too different. If we had any sense, we’d see that Julian’s play could help us move forward, to deal with our pain. But instead, everyone’s running scared.” She touched Sawyer’s knee. “You scare people too.”

  Sawyer raised his eyebrows. “Me? I’m the least threatening thing I can think of.”

  Sue laughed. “They aren’t afraid of what you’ll do. They’re afraid of what you are, and they’re afraid of what that means.”

  Sawyer snorted. “I don’t even know what I am.” He looked down at his skirt ruefully. “I mean, I guess it’s sort of obvious that I take gender as a suggestion rather than a rule.”

  Sue grinned, running her fingers through her short hair. “People used to be scared of me too. I think gender-bending girls are less scary than gender-bending boys, just in general. I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because women are generally less scary than men. So, I’m not sure if I’ve had it as bad as you have, but I can sympathize.”

  All three of them looked at Sue more closely. Nora hadn’t really noticed before, but there was something a little bit masculine about Sue.

  “And here I’ve been thinking that there was no one else in Helicon remotely like me,” said Sawyer.