The nasty lady said she was Owen’s mommy. But every time she said that, Owen got mad. Nora didn’t like it when Owen got mad. It made him mean.
Owen was being mean then. She tried to get him to play with her, but he told her to shut up and leave him alone. He said he was trying to figure out how to get them back home, and that unless she wanted to stay there, she would be quiet.
She had tried to play with the old man who was stuck in the big rock. But he didn’t pay any attention to her at all.
So Nora was sitting in the middle of the room, doing her best to be quiet. She was playing a little game in her head. She could do that. She had figured it out. Other kids had to get up and run around to play, but if she had to, she could play without moving at all. She made everything happen in her head. Instead of actually moving, she only pretended to move. So she was pretending that she was a princess, and that Owen was a prince. She was locked in the tower. The prince had come in through the window on his flying machine to rescue her. But they couldn’t fly out on the flying machine, because it had broken. The prince was sad, so in her game, the princess was doing a series of dances to cheer him up. She’d been playing this game inside her head for a very long time. She wasn’t sure exactly how long. It seemed like forever. But she was good at being patient. If she had to wait for Owen to figure out how to save them, she would.
She was feeling hungry, though. The nasty lady had given them something that morning for breakfast. It hadn’t tasted very good, and she hadn’t eaten much of it. Now she wished she would have. She thought about asking Owen if he thought they would get food soon, but he might yell at her. He’d told her to leave him alone. She should stay quiet and concentrate on pretending to be a princess.
There was a noise. Footsteps on the stairs. The nasty lady was coming back.
Even though she was hopeful that they would get some food, Nora didn’t want to see the woman.
Owen wanted to see her even less. When he heard the footsteps, he got up and ran to the edge of the stairs. “Don’t come up here. We don’t want to see you.”
The nasty lady only laughed. She came up anyway. She slapped Owen’s face. “Watch your mouth. Show some respect.”
Nora backed herself up against a wall. She wished there were corners. That would make it a little bit easier to hide.
Owen put a hand on his cheek. He glared at the nasty lady. “I hate you.”
The nasty lady laughed again.
It was only then that Nora realized that the nasty lady hadn’t brought any food. She was only carrying a mug. Whatever was inside it was hot, because the liquid was steaming. But the lady probably wasn’t going to even let them have some of the nice, hot drink. Because she only brought one mug. That wasn’t enough for everyone. The lady was probably going to drink in front of them and tell them how warm it made her feel and laugh at them because they were cold. That was the kind of thing that the lady did. It was what made her so nasty.
But Nora was surprised, because the nasty lady pushed past Owen and handed the mug to Nora. “Drink this,” said the nasty lady.
The drink was already making her hands warm. Maybe the nasty lady wasn’t always so bad. Maybe she hadn’t gotten Owen anything because Owen was always so mean to her. Nora took a grateful drink. It was both bitter and cloyingly sweet. Nora wrinkled up her nose.
“I put sugar in it to mask the taste,” said the lady. “So don’t tell me it tastes bad. Drink it up.”
Nora took another drink. At least it was making her warm.
Owen snatched the mug away from Nora. He sniffed it. “What is this?”
The lady snatched the mug away from Owen and gave it back to Nora. She slapped him again. “Don’t take things that aren’t yours.”
“What are you giving to her?” Owen asked. “I won’t let you hurt her.”
The lady smiled. She knelt down so that she was eye level with Owen. Her voice was kind. “You don’t have to protect her anymore. You were protecting her for me. I have her now.”
“You didn’t want her,” said Owen. “You only took her because I made you take her. Because I wouldn’t let go of her. You’re not allowed to hurt her.”
The lady sighed. “You are nothing if not persistent, Owen.”
Nora felt bad, because Owen wasn’t getting anything to drink. He must be cold. “Owen can have some if he wants. I don’t mind sharing.” She took another drink, doing her best not to grimace at the taste, and started to hand it to him.
“No!” The lady stopped her. “It’s not for him.”
“That drink is going to kill her, isn’t it?” said Owen. “You never wanted to bring her, and now you’re trying to get her out of the way.” He lunged for the mug.
The lady pushed him. “It won’t hurt her. It will only make her special. Leave it alone.”
He stumbled but got back to his feet right away. There was an expression of determination on his face. Gritting his teeth, he drove his body face first into the lady’s midsection.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she was propelled backwards to the other side of the room. “Stop it!”
Owen pushed her to the window. Her upper body went through to the outside.
“Owen, let me go.” There was fear in her voice.
Owen kept pushing.
She scrabbled at the edges of the window, trying to pull herself back in. “Stop it this instant. I forbid you to do this.”
“You aren’t allowed to hurt her.” Owen gave a mighty push, and the lady lost her grip.
She went tumbling out of the window. They could hear her scream growing more and more distant until it cut off.
Owen rushed back to Nora, dashing the mug from her hands. “Don’t drink that.”
Nora started crying. “What did you do to the lady?”
“She was bad,” said Owen. “She wanted to hurt you. I saved you.”
Nora went to the window and peered down. She could see the lady at the bottom. She was messed up. Her legs were on top of her head. Blood was pouring out underneath her, staining the snow around the tower. “She has a really bad boo-boo.”
Owen looked over her shoulder. “No. I think she’s dead.”
But when they got to the bottom of the tower, the lady was twitching. Owen said it didn’t mean anything. He said she was doing that, but it didn’t mean she was alive. Nora couldn’t stop crying. Owen made her help him anyway. They wrapped her up in a sheet and dragged her away from the tower.
Nora had to stay next to it while Owen found a shovel. She heard noises from inside the sheet. Whispers. When she told Owen about it, he said she imagined it.
Owen dug a big hole. He tried to get Nora to help, but the shovel was too big for her, and she was still crying on and off. He had to do it himself.
They put her in the hole and covered it with dirt. Then Owen made her help him find rocks to put all over the top of it.
After that, they went out into the snow.
* * *
Nora pulled back from the window. “You killed her.”
Owen’s mouth curved into a smile. “You do remember.”
“You could have told Phoebe that she was dead. If they knew that in Helicon, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry—”
“And be labeled a murderer from the beginning? I don’t think so. Besides, she’s not dead.”
Nora furrowed her brow. “No one could have survived that fall.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Owen. “But come with me.” He started down the steps.
Nora went after him. “Owen, do I have to keep following you everywhere? Can’t you just tell me?”
“It’s quicker down than up,” he threw over his shoulder. “Come on.”
It was quicker to go down the steps, even though they were a little steep and frightening at points. Once on the ground floor, Owen led her out of the tower, to the spot where they had buried Nimue.
It was an empty hole, but it had obviously been there for a long time. Leaves collected
in its depths. The stones they had placed on top were scattered everywhere. They too had been resting in those places for a while. They were half-sunk into the ground, covered in moss.
“Maybe somebody dug her up,” said Nora.
“No one knew she was here but us.”
“Maybe you dug her up.”
Owen raised an eyebrow. “Why would I want to do that?”
“To trick me into thinking there was some kind of danger. To make me trust you and go on some stupid mission to stop Nimue. Well, it isn’t going to work, Owen. I’m not going to fall for you just because we’re on the hunt for her.”
Owen sighed. “Forget about the you and me stuff for a little bit.”
“How am I supposed to do that? You kidnapped me.”
“Call it what you like. It has nothing to do with Nimue. I planned to snatch you at some point anyway. We are going to be together no matter what. But if she’s after us, we do have to stop her.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Let me explain things a little bit. Will you let me do that?”
Nora folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t see why I should let you do anything.”
Owen smiled tightly. “Listen, this can be very easy, or it can be very messy and unpleasant. It’s really up to you.”
“Up to me?”
“Your friend Sawyer has ten fingers and ten toes. I’m willing to cut every single one of them off until you do what I ask.”
Rage and fear warred inside Nora. She set her jaw. “Fine. What makes you think that Nimue is after us?”
“Maybe it would be better if I started at the beginning.” Owen nudged a rock with his toe. “I didn’t come here right away. You’re not the only one whose memories of this place are fuzzy. After I was exiled, I didn’t think about it for months. After I did, I couldn’t remember where it was.”
Nora realized something strange. “We’re in England, aren’t we? But that doesn’t make any sense. If they found us in England, how did we ever end up in the American foster system?”
“I wanted us far away from this place,” said Owen. “I convinced people to send us to America. I thought putting an ocean between us and her body would make us safe.”
Now that she thought about it, Nora did remember a plane. And Owen was always good at convincing people of things.
“I knew it was far away,” Owen continued. “But I was young back then too. It took me a while to remember what European country we’d been in. Once I did, I knew I had to get back here. I began to remember more things about it. Nimue had hidden it in the mists. The muses couldn’t find it. The Influence couldn’t find it. It would be a perfect place to keep you. By then I had already decided that I would get you back. Eventually, we’ll both go back to Helicon, just as we always planned. But since I seem to have run into some snags, it will be some time before I am welcome back there. I can handle the wait as long as I have you with me.”
“You won’t ever be welcomed back there. And I don’t want to be with you.”
“You will. I want you to be with me. That’s enough for now.” He didn’t seem the slightest bit ruffled by her interruption. “I found it around May Day. My mother had left all kinds of nifty concoctions lying about.” He grinned at her. “Did you enjoy what I had Daryl put into the food? I meant for all three of you to partake of it, but I was pleased that at least you got the effect.”
Nora’s jaw dropped. “You? You drugged me? That was why I felt so afraid all day?”
“I didn’t want you to forget me. I kept leaving you little reminders.” He walked over to the edge of the empty grave. “I didn’t find this hole in the ground until later. Daryl sent me a message that the muse police were looking for me, so I had to travel. And you remember my interrogation. That was fun. It was only after all of that that I found out she wasn’t buried here anymore. Then it took all of my powers of persuasion to convince Daryl to bring you to me anyway. Because at that point he’d started to become very difficult to work with.”
Nora was still angry. “None of this is explaining to me why you think she would be after us. We have no way of knowing when or how she got out of this grave. If she is alive, for all we know, she’s been roaming around for ten years or something. She hasn’t bothered us so far.”
Owen threw his hands up, an I-surrender gesture. “You got me. I only said that stuff about her being after us to make it sound more dramatic. The thing is, I think I know where she is. She kept me in a place called Avalon when I was small. And now that I have the dimension device, we can go there. And we can kill her for real.”
“Newsflash, Owen. We were in Avalon this summer. We didn’t see her, and it’s not a very big place. We met some people who live there. They remembered her. But they hadn’t seen her in a really long time either. She’s not there.”
“There are many things in Avalon,” said Owen with a small smile. “But not all of them are easy to see.”
Nora shivered. That was what the sisters had said. She squared her shoulders. “Say she is there. Great. Why go to the trouble of making me remember that she’s dead? Why show me her grave? Why do I even have to go with you? You’ve got the device. Go to Avalon on your own.”
“Oh, come on. What fun would this be on my own? I want you to come along. You and Sawyer both.”
“So you can cut off his fingers when I don’t do what you want?” Nora sneered.
“You know me so well.” Owen gazed down into the empty hole. “As for having you remember, that was an experiment. I wanted to see if I could do it. Make you remember.” He glanced at her, and his face was lit up with excitement. “Even if I’m not looking into your eyes, I still have power over you.”
She wanted to strangle him. She wanted to run. He wasn’t looking at her. Maybe if she just made a dash for it... but Sawyer was inside. She couldn’t leave without Sawyer. “Fine then. But even if we do find her, what makes you think we can kill her? If she survived a fall off of this tower, maybe she can survive anything.”
Owen turned back around. “You might be right about that. I have some things I’d like to try. But if none of them work, my mother was very good about leaving behind instructions. She has all the information about how she imprisoned Merlin in a solid block of crystal. I figure I can do the same thing to her. She might not be dead, but she’ll be close enough.” He crossed the distance to her, cupped her face in his hands, and pressed his lips against hers.
Nora was revolted. Before she could stop herself, she slapped Owen across the face.
Owen let out a howl of rage. He caught her hand and put his face close to hers.
She closed her eyes to avoid looking into his.
“Sawyer is going to pay for that.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Owen wrenched the hand that he was still holding behind Nora’s back. She cried out in pain. He grabbed her other hand and pulled it behind her back as well. Holding her wrists together, he whispered in her ear, “Walk.”
She didn’t. If she didn’t walk, they didn’t get any closer to Sawyer. And then Owen couldn’t do whatever he was planning.
“Move, or he pays double.”
Nora chewed on her lip. Then she started walking.
Owen stopped them in the kitchen to get a rope to tie her hands together. He also picked up a knife.
Nora looked at the sharp, silver blade. What was he going to do with that? “Don’t.” Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry. It was my fault. You don’t have to do anything to him.” Listen to her, apologizing to Owen. She hadn’t even been with him for a full day, and he had her right back where he wanted her. Feeling guilty. Controlled.
Owen pushed her forward in the direction of the room were Sawyer was locked up. “It was your fault. And if you’re going to learn not to do things like that, there have to be consequences.”
Nora was feeling close to tears. “What are you going to do to him?”
Owen didn’t answer. He put the knife between his teeth, held Nora with one hand, and opened the
door with the other. Inside, Sawyer was still asleep. He’d been awake longer than she had the previous night. He was probably exhausted.
“Please, don’t.”
Owen pushed her.
She lost her balance and sat down hard on the floor. Owen knelt down next to her and quickly tied her feet together.
He took the knife out of his teeth. He gave her a sympathetic look. “I know this is hard for you. It will all be over soon.”
Nora really did start crying then.
It didn’t seem to bother Owen. He set the knife down on the coffee table. Then he leapt on Sawyer.
Startled awake, Sawyer’s eyes snapped open.
Owen was right there, boring into Sawyer’s eyes with his own. “Good morning, Sawyer. You slept well. Didn’t you?”
Sawyer nodded. “Yes. Very well.”
What was Owen doing? Why had he made Sawyer looked into his eyes? Nora spied the knife sitting unattended. If she could get to it, she could cut the rope. And then... Well, she didn’t know what would happen then. But it would be a start. She scooted forward.
Owen stood up and turned to her. “Trying to get a better view?” He picked up the knife and turned back to Sawyer. “Go ahead and sit up, Sawyer.”
Sawyer did. His hair had come out of his ponytail while he was sleeping. Sawyer always had the worst bed head. It made her want to cry harder. The blond stubble on his cheeks was longer. In a few more days, it could rightly be considered a beard.
“Don’t listen to him,” said Nora. “You have to fight him.” But she remembered Sawyer saying that to her yesterday. It hadn’t made any difference.
Owen smiled reassuringly at Sawyer. “You right-handed or left-handed?”
“Left-handed,” said Sawyer.
Owen considered. “Since this is a first offense, go ahead and put your right hand on the coffee table.”
Sawyer did.
Nora tried to stand up, but only succeeded in pulling a muscle somewhere in her back. “Stop it, Owen. Stop it.”
Owen and Sawyer were both staring at his hand.
The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4 Page 57