The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  “Well,” said Phoebe, “you all did so want to be included. When I asked if the council wanted to interrogate him, you passed the motion unanimously. So interrogate away.” She waved her hand carelessly at Owen.

  Conversation erupted amongst the council again. Nora tried to sink into her seat. This was a disaster. Why was the council so completely inept? Someone had mentioned hiding a girl the minute Owen had arrived in the room. But if Phoebe had intended to keep Owen ignorant about why he’d been brought here, then she should have made that clearer to the council members. If they were in the mundane world, things would be different. In the mundane world, the police knew how to interrogate people. In the mundane world, there were lie detector tests. Owen was going to get away with it. And she might never see Maddie again.

  Owen seemed to be enjoying the chaos. His eyes swept the room, a smile playing on his lips, and then he noticed her. “What’s Nora doing here?”

  Everyone got quiet. They all turned and looked at Nora, as if they hadn’t seen her before either. She wished again that she could sink into her chair.

  “You’re not the one asking the questions here,” said Phoebe.

  Owen chuckled. “You guys don’t seem to be doing a very good job at asking questions either.” He turned to Nora. “Did you fuck Agler Thorn? It’s been keeping me awake at night, thinking about it. Did you?”

  Nora stared at the floor, her face blood red. Did he really care? Last year when they’d been together, Owen had pressured her to have sex with him. But apparently, that had only been because he was trying to find ways to control her. Once he graduated to threatening violence, he didn’t seem particularly interested in sex. Of course, that didn’t mean that Owen would want anyone else to touch her. But Nora had been so sure that Owen was inside Agler at May Day. Was Owen denying that he’d taken over Agler’s body? Or was he bringing this up to rub it in? She lifted her gaze to his. “You know what happened. You were there. I saw your eyes on his face.”

  Owen looked genuinely puzzled. But then, Owen was very good at faking being genuine.

  Phoebe was next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to talk to him.”

  Why was Phoebe being comforting all of the sudden? Didn’t she suspect the Nora was behind all of this?

  Techne’s voice rang out. “I move we adjourn. We aren’t accomplishing anything here. Maybe if we hold him prisoner for a few days, he’ll tell us where he stashed the girl. But there isn’t any reason to talk to him.”

  “I second that,” yelled someone else.

  And without waiting for someone to call a vote, the remaining members of the council all left the room, still muttering to each other. Nora would have stood up and left too, but Phoebe’s hand was still on her shoulder.

  Phoebe watched them go, looking relieved. “Well, that circus is over, so we can get down to actual business.” She lifted her hand from Nora’s shoulder. “Nora, move your chair and sit next to Owen.”

  Nora gave Phoebe a disbelieving look. She didn’t want to be near Owen. Even being in the same room with him made her feel nervous.

  “You’ll be fine,” said Phoebe. “Please do what I ask.”

  Nora considered resisting. But if she did, wouldn’t it just make Phoebe more suspicious of her? Swallowing hard, she dragged her chair over next to Owen’s and sat down in it. This close to him, she could smell him. It reminded her of being wrapped in his arms, of kissing him. She was revolted.

  Phoebe pulled a candle stub out of her pocket. The candle was yellow-gold. There was so little of it left that Nora didn’t think it would burn for five minutes if lit.

  Phoebe held it in front of their faces. “This candle was given to me long ago by Apollo, the god of truth. When it is lit, those close to it cannot lie. As you can see, there is very little left of the candle. I’ve been saving it for something important. I think this qualifies.”

  Owen looked uncomfortable for the first time. “You’re trying to scare me into giving something away. It won’t work. I don’t think that candle is really even real.”

  Phoebe smiled. She set the candle on the floor in front of Nora and Owen, several feet away so that neither of them could kick it over. Then she took a wooden match from her pocket. She struck it against the floor and lit the candle. Straightening, she folded her arms over her chest. “Did Nimue send you to Helicon?”

  This was what she was asking? What about Maddie? “No,” said Nora.

  “Which time that I came here?” said Owen.

  Phoebe looked interested. “Any time.”

  “She brought me here once,” said Owen. “I guess that counts as sending.”

  Phoebe nodded. “When you came here last year, did either of you have the intention of harming Helicon?”

  “No,” said Owen. “Why are you saying either of us? Do you suspect Nora?”

  “Yes, I do.” Phoebe made a face.

  “It works both ways, doesn’t it?” said Owen, looking delighted. “You have to tell the truth if I ask a question too, don’t you?”

  Phoebe looked livid. “Yes.”

  Owen laughed.

  But before he could start asking another question, Phoebe launched in with something else. “Do either of you now intend harm to Helicon?”

  “No,” said Nora.

  “I want to save Helicon.” Owen leaned forward as best he could through his bonds. “Is there a way to break my exile?”

  “Yes,” said Phoebe.

  “Tell me what it is.”

  Phoebe laughed. “I don’t have to respond to orders. Does Nimue have plans to use Nora and her powers?”

  Owen looked confused. “I don’t... I’m not sure.”

  “Have you been in communication with Nimue in the past twelve years?”

  Nora shot a glance at the candle. It was burning quite low. The flame was tiny. When would Phoebe be satisfied? When would she ask about Maddie?

  “No.” Owen grinned. “How can I get back into Helicon?”

  “One way,” said Phoebe, “is for the muse police to go and fetch you and bring you back.”

  Owen gritted his teeth. “That isn’t what I meant and you know it.”

  “I didn’t lie,” said Phoebe. “Are you responsible for the message that was written in the snow this January?”

  Oh, thank the gods. She wasn’t harping on the Nimue stuff anymore. Nora looked at the candle. The flame sputtered a little bit, then recovered.

  “I am,” said Owen.

  “And the flowers and the letter with the pieces of fabric?”

  “Yes.”

  Nora turned to him. “Did you take over Agler’s body at May Day?” she blurted out.

  “No,” said Owen. “Have you slept with him?”

  “No,” she said. He really didn’t know? Why else would he have asked her? And he’d said he hadn’t taken over his body. So, then how...?

  “Do you still care about me?” Owen asked. There was something desperate in his eyes.

  Nora wanted to say no. Certainly saying no was the truth. But, against her will, she felt her answer bubble up from within her. “Yes.”

  “Have you been back into Helicon since I exiled you?” said Phoebe.

  “No,” said Owen.

  “But then how did you leave the messages? And the flowers?” Nora said.

  But the candle sputtered again, and this time it went out. Phoebe struck another match and tried to light the candle. But the wick was burned away. It wouldn’t light anymore.

  Nora got out of her chair. “You wasted all those questions on Nimue. We didn’t even get to ask him about Maddie.”

  “Maddie?” Owen looked surprised. “That’s who’s been kidnapped? Well, if I wanted to freak you out, I guess I’d take her. She’s the weakest link. You’re all very protective of her. But if I could kidnap someone, Nora, don’t you think I would kidnap you?”

  Nora moved away from him as quick as she could. “Why are you obsessed with me? Why can’t you leave me a
lone?”

  Owen smiled. “You’re my soul mate.”

  “I am nothing to you,” said Nora. “Nothing.”

  “I didn’t kidnap Maddie,” Owen said to Phoebe. “It wasn’t me. You heard me say that I hadn’t been back. I couldn’t lie. So it can’t have been me.”

  Phoebe took a deep breath. “It doesn’t appear likely. But you have surprised me before.”

  “I didn’t take her.”

  “Perhaps not.” She shook her head. “Considering how keen you are on getting back to Helicon, I don’t think it would be wise for us to keep you here any longer.” She strode to the door of the room and leaned outside. She stepped back, and Coeus entered. “Take him back to the mundane world. We’ve learned everything that we can from him.”

  Coeus untied Owen’s feet. He yanked into a standing position and led him out of the room.

  “You’re letting him go?” said Nora.

  “The council is right that it’s dangerous to have him here. He wants back to Helicon badly. The longer we keep him here, the more likely it is he’ll find a way to stay.”

  “But he did take Maddie. You think he did, don’t you?” Nora couldn’t believe this. After everything, they were still no closer to finding her.

  Phoebe shook her head. “Actually, I don’t think he did.”

  “But it had to be him. Who else could have done it?”

  “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it is him. I intend to have several of the muse police follow him in the mundane world. If he has her there somewhere, eventually he will lead them to her.”

  Well, Nora supposed that was better than nothing.

  “But I don’t think they’ll find anything, because I think he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t take her. For one thing, we know now that he has not been back in Helicon. That would make it extremely difficult for him to have taken her. For another thing, I don’t think he has the motivation to kidnap Maddie.”

  Nora couldn’t believe that. “You heard what he said. He said that he would take her if he wanted to freak me out. And last year, he used Maddie to make me do whatever he wanted. He threatened to make her kill herself if I didn’t go back to him. He’s not above using Maddie. And he has no qualms about hurting her.”

  Phoebe nodded. “I know, Nora.” Her voice was soft, comforting. She gestured to a chair. “Sit down.”

  “No. If you know that, then why did you let him go?”

  Phoebe sighed. “First of all, I should apologize for suspecting you. And for being so caught up in worrying about Nimue that I neglected to get certain answers about your friend.”

  Nora wasn’t sure how to respond. She had never been apologized to by an authority figure before. “I guess you had reasons for suspecting me.”

  “Perhaps not good ones. It isn’t something that I can explain, not exactly. Perhaps I should just say that I know a bit about jealousy, and about jealous men in particular. And whatever Owen is, at his core, he’s a jealous man.”

  Nora remembered the overheard argument between Phoebe and Coeus that she and Sawyer had witnessed. Coeus had said something about comparing himself to Dionysius, who was a god. That conversation had been about Nora. But she couldn’t very well bring it up. She couldn’t ask how it was all connected. And besides, it didn’t really matter, because Phoebe was underestimating Owen again. “He’s different. He’s not just a jealous guy. There’s something wrong with him. He threatened to make Maddie kill herself. He had her get a knife and hold it to her throat and everything. And I watched it.”

  “Nora, please sit down.” As if to show solidarity, Phoebe sat down.

  Nora sighed. Then she sat down next to Phoebe.

  “He threatened violence, even death, but he didn’t go through with it. Did he?”

  “With Dirk.”

  “But that wasn’t the same thing, was it? He didn’t kill Dirk in order to achieve an objective, did he?”

  Why was this important? “No. He got angry. I don’t know if he knew exactly what he was doing while he did it.”

  “So he has yet to use actual violence to coerce you,” said Phoebe.

  Nora wasn’t sure. She seemed to remember him making people double up in pain last winter. “Maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t. I don’t see why it’s important.”

  “Watching him tonight. Seeing the way he asked you those questions about Agler. The way he asked if you still cared about him. He’s harassing you to get your attention. He hasn’t yet crossed over to trying to hurt you.”

  Nora shot out of her chair. “No, he’s fooling you. He’s trying to make you think that there’s something inside him that is human. But he’s a monster, Phoebe. Anything he does that makes him look like he has actual emotions, it’s an act. It’s only there for manipulation.”

  “If you’re so sure of that, why did you say you still cared about him?”

  Nora didn’t answer.

  Phoebe stood up and grabbed Nora’s hands. “There is definitely something wrong with him. Anyone can see that. But I’m not sure if he’s as invulnerable as you think he is. He wasn’t able to lie tonight, you know.”

  Nora felt like she might cry. She snatched her hands away from Phoebe. “What about Maddie?”

  “If Owen doesn’t have her, then something else has happened. I’ll form a committee—”

  “A committee? You have got to be kidding me. She’s gone. No one knows where she is. And you want to form one of your worthless committees?”

  “You must understand that the most important thing that Helicon does is create inspiration threads. I’m worried about Maddie too, but if we do not inspire the world, disastrous consequences can befall everyone. We will find her. But people must still continue to create.”

  Nora shook her head. “You’re cold, Phoebe.”

  “We’ll find her,” Phoebe insisted. “I promise you.”

  Nora ran out of the room. This time she wasn’t able to stop her tears. She got out of the main tent just in time to see a group of muses pulling Daryl off of Owen.

  Owen was still tied up. He was lying on the ground, staring at Daryl with his mouth half-open.

  Daryl was struggling against the people who held him. “Where is she?” he was screaming. “Where is she?”

  Owen was shaking his head. “I don’t know. I swear I don’t know. I didn’t do it.”

  The muse police pulled Daryl away. Alexander yelled for order, and got another group of muses to get Owen off the ground. “Phase!” he called out, and they all disappeared.

  Daryl shook off the guys who were holding him. He cursed at them.

  Nora went to him. Sawyer joined her almost immediately. She put her hand on Daryl’s arm. “You okay?”

  Daryl didn’t say anything for a minute. His nostrils flared. “It’s not him.” Then he turned and walked off.

  Nora looked at Sawyer. “What did I miss?”

  “After they brought Owen out, Coeus made it pretty clear that they still didn’t know where Maddie was, but that Owen was being taken back to the mundane world anyway. Daryl got pissed,” said Sawyer. “He went after him. I thought he was going to rip Owen apart. The muse police weren’t in any real rush to stop him, either. Then Coeus and Alexander made them grab Daryl.”

  Nora chewed on her lip. “Should we go after him? Daryl, I mean?”

  Sawyer nodded.

  They found him by his tent. He was sitting on the ground.

  “Hey,” said Nora. “You want to talk about it?”

  Daryl laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter. It wasn’t him. Phoebe doesn’t think so either, does she?”

  “No,” said Nora. She explained to them everything that had happened in the interrogation, right down to Phoebe’s offer of a committee.

  Sawyer snorted. “Fat lot of good that’s going to do. Wasn’t there a committee to figure out who was ripping open the portals in Helicon?”

  Daryl nodded. “Maybe if they’d actually figured it out, Dirk would still be alive. He probably w
ould have been exiled, but he wouldn’t be dead, you know?”

  “The committee won’t do anything.” Nora felt like she was going to start crying again. She’d been interrupted on her way out of the interrogation, or she might have already had a really good cry.

  “We’ll have to find her ourselves,” said Daryl.

  “How?” said Nora. “We can’t get to the mundane world. Well, I guess you can, Daryl, but Sawyer and I can’t.”

  “She’s not in the mundane world,” said Daryl. “I don’t think so anyway. I’m sure that Owen didn’t take her.”

  “How can you be sure of that?” Nora wanted to know.

  Daryl smiled again, and it was still bitter. “I just am.”

  “But he threatened to take her—” said Sawyer.

  “He said he didn’t,” said Daryl. “I could tell by the look on his face. He and I were friends last year, remember. I can tell when he’s lying.”

  “No way,” said Nora. “I knew him my whole life, and I can’t tell when he’s lying.”

  Daryl looked up at her. “That’s because he spent his whole life figuring out how to lie to you. Tricking you was the most important thing to him.”

  Nora felt cold all over.

  “No,” said Daryl, “he doesn’t want Maddie for any reason. Something else happened to Maddie. And we have to figure out what it was. Because the council isn’t going to be any help whatsoever.”

  Nora considered. Maybe it was true. Maybe Maddie’s disappearance had nothing to do with Owen. She didn’t really think so, but what if Daryl was right? Besides, the muse police were going to be tailing Owen, like Phoebe had said. If he had her, they would find him. If he didn’t have her, then she had to be someplace else, and Phoebe wasn’t doing anything to account for that possibility. At the very least, they needed to cover all the bases. So, she nodded. “Okay, maybe we should look for her.”

  “Not look for her,” said Sawyer. “We’ve already looked for her. No one’s found her. We’ve got to do more than look. Nora, you remember last year when we launched our investigation into finding out who was opening the portals?”

  “Yeah. But we didn’t do any better than the committee did. We never figured it out.”

  “We got distracted,” said Sawyer. “We won’t get distracted from Maddie, will we?”