The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

“No, it’ll be fine,” said Nora. She shrugged. “Maybe making the Valentines will make me feel lovey-dovey.”

  Theia laughed. “Thanks so much. I haven’t been feeling too well lately. I’ve been having trouble making supplies. It’s like my energy absorption’s off.”

  The muses physically grew their own food and made whatever they could. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the ability to make paper, canvas, cardboard, and paints, so that meant that most of the supplies for the visual art enclave had to be created through muse magic. Muses got the ability to do so by absorbing the energy sent back to them from the mundane world. Nora couldn’t do it yet because she was a tween. She’d have to wait until she came of age at twenty-five. Then she’d be able to create her own inspiration threads and absorb energy.

  “I didn’t know that was possible,” said Nora. “That anything could interfere with the energy absorption.”

  Theia shrugged. “I don’t know either. I went to the healers, but they couldn’t do anything for me. They said I was probably over tired, and that I should rest. Anyway, I’m grateful that you’re here. I can use all the help I can get.”

  “Of course,” said Nora. “Please, I’ll do whatever I can. Just say the word.”

  Theia patted her arm. “You’re always a great help, Nora. I’ll let you know what we need. For now, though, just helping with the Valentines would be fantastic.”

  “Sure.” Nora gave her a concerned look. “You’re going to be okay, aren’t you, Theia?”

  Theia laughed. “I’ll be fine. I only need rest.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Agler spent his evenings sitting around the fire pit in the tweens and rebels enclave, making sure that the tweens were following the rules. Jack had told him it was going to be next to impossible to enforce his rule, and Jack didn’t want anything to do with it. He said he wasn’t going to help.

  Agler was fine with that. He didn’t need Jack’s help.

  Besides, if Jack didn’t see why this was important, then he didn’t think he could make it any plainer to him.

  He and Jack had been put in charge of all of the younger tweens. The whole enclave was their responsibility. That was a pretty big deal. Jack could blow it off if he wanted, but Agler was going to take it seriously.

  So, Agler sat at the fire pit, watching the tweens wander in and out of the enclave. Most of them gave Agler dirty looks. Agler didn’t care. It was the price he had to pay for being a leader. It meant he was on the outside. It meant that his ideas weren’t exactly popular. But he was strong enough to handle it.

  No one sat at the fire pit with him anymore, of course. A few of the older tweens—the ones in their twenties—gave him sympathetic looks when they went by, but the younger tweens outright ignored him. The fire pit used to be a spot for socialization and boisterous fun. The tweens would hang out around it, sometimes drinking, sometimes playing music, sometimes dancing, sometimes simply talking. Of course, Agler had made it so half of them couldn’t drink anymore. At any rate, he figured that they would take a little bit of time to get used to the new rules, but then everything would get back to normal.

  Evening after evening, he sat alone.

  Until the evening that Nora sat down with him.

  He hadn’t expected to see her. She was casual enough about it, marching over, swinging her fiery hair, and settling down on the bench he was sitting on.

  He couldn’t think of what to say to her. “Nora.”

  “Hi,” she said.

  He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was. She looked so self-possessed and sure of herself too. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her quite like this. “Um, how’s it going?”

  “Seriously, Agler?”

  He wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, I’m not joking, so I guess so.”

  “Why’d you do this?”

  “Do what?”

  “The new rules. Keeping the tweens out of each other’s tents? I didn’t think there was anything between you and me anymore.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “There’s not.”

  “Bullshit.”

  She was really making a big leap here, claiming that what he was doing had anything to do with her. Or his feelings for her. Which… he completely didn’t have.

  “At Halloween last year, you told me that you thought I had a thing for Sawyer. You brought it up. If you hadn’t said something, I might never have noticed.”

  “Really?” He’d put the idea in her head? He’d started this?

  “Really.” She spread her hands. “You did me a favor, Agler. And I thought we were friends.”

  “We are.”

  “Then why’d you make this stupid rule. Anyone can see you only did it because you’re jealous.”

  “What?” He stood up, folding his arms over his chest. “I think maybe you should go. I don’t have to listen to you making wild accusations like that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You know, if you did want me, the time to have told me that was last year at Halloween. Because I was still into you back then. But you broke my heart. And Sawyer and I got taken off to the mundane world by Owen, and then I realized that you and I weren’t meant to be, because what I feel for Sawyer is so much more real. I had, like, a crush on you, but Sawyer and I connect so much more deeply. We’re not just in a relationship, we’re best friends. And since you pointed him out to me, the least you could do is be happy for me.”

  Agler was too busy reeling from all the bombshells she’d dropped in that little speech to say anything. She’d been into him at Halloween? Her feelings for Agler were nothing compared to her feelings for Sawyer? It was as if she’d come over, stuck a knife in his gut, and now she was twisting it. “You’re wrong,” he managed.

  “Wrong?”

  “Yeah, you’re wrong. I didn’t make this rule because of you and Sawyer. It has nothing to do with you.”

  “You weren’t trying to keep us from sleeping together?”

  “I don’t care whether you’re sleeping with him.” He swallowed. “You’re sleeping with him?”

  “Thanks to you, no, I’m not.” She glared at him.

  “Well, that’s… I don’t care.”

  “If you don’t care, change the rule. It’s a stupid rule.”

  “It’s not a stupid rule, and I’m not changing it. The council put me in control of the younger tweens, and I’m only doing what I think is best.”

  “Don’t be an ass, Agler. Change the rule.”

  “You know, not everything is about you, Nora. I made this rule for reasons you don’t even understand.”

  “Oh, really?” She stood up, hands on hips. “What reasons?”

  He shifted on his feet. “Well… you know…”

  She shot him a withering look.

  “I don’t have to tell you what they are. I don’t have to tell you anything,” he said. “I’m in charge. Not you. So, you don’t tell me what to do. It’s the other way around.”

  She shook her head in disgust. “You’re really being immature about this. You should grow up.” She tossed her hair and started away from the fire pit.

  Agler watched her go, feeling angry and wounded. “You’re the immature one,” he called after her. “You aren’t ready for that kind of responsibility. That’s why I made the rule. Because you’re really just a little kid.”

  But she didn’t turn around or even acknowledge him.

  * * *

  Sawyer was bent over his sewing machine, working at putting some darts into a dress he was making for Nora. It wasn’t for any special occasion or anything. He’d found the fabric, and he’d thought that it would look nice on her. He hummed to himself, something that he’d heard at the main fire pit at dinner a few nights ago.

  A hand came down on the top of his machine.

  Sawyer looked up.

  Duncan Storm had his hand on the machine. He was flanked by his boyfriend Rufus Twigg and their fag hag, Twyla Grass.

  Okay, so fag hag maybe wasn’t a particularly
nice name to call someone, but Sawyer thought it fit. She’d made sure to mock him loudly and publicly over his and Nora’s relationship. Some people were not very supportive of him. These three hung out in the clothing and fabric enclave sometimes, and whenever they did, they were always looking at Sawyer and whispering and snickering.

  Sawyer sighed. “Hey, guys.”

  “Hey,” said Duncan.

  “Something I can help you with?”

  Twyla pulled up a chair next to Sawyer. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you could, you know, get over trying to be straight and accept the fact that you’re gay?”

  Sawyer clenched his teeth. “Look, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person who knows what gender I’m attracted to. So, if that’s all, maybe you guys could—”

  “See, the thing is,” said Duncan, “you’re dating Agler’s ex-girlfriend.”

  “Yeah,” said Rufus, “and he’s obviously upset about it.”

  “And now,” said Duncan, “we can’t even go in each other’s tents.”

  “I didn’t make that rule,” said Sawyer.

  “No,” said Twyla, “but you’re the reason that rule got made.”

  “What do you care, Twyla?” said Sawyer. “You don’t have a significant other besides these guys, right?”

  Twyla rolled her eyes. “Rufus and Duncan are my friends. They don’t like girls.”

  “Yeah, and we’re not going to change our minds, like you did,” said Rufus.

  “That’s not what I did,” said Sawyer. “I always thought Nora was—”

  “If you liked girls before, why did you date Jack?” asked Duncan. “Were you just trying out being gay, like it was a phase?”

  “No,” said Sawyer, feeling like punching them. “I liked Jack. I liked him a lot.”

  “You can’t like girls and guys at the same time,” said Twyla.

  Sawyer turned on her. “Why not?”

  “Because.” She looked up at Duncan and Rufus for support. “Because you just can’t.”

  “Look, everyone thinks about it,” said Duncan. “No matter what people say here in Helicon, there’s pressure. All gays have a moment in which they wonder what it would be like to be ‘normal,’ to be like everyone else. But you can’t give into it, Sawyer.”

  “Yeah, we’re trying to help you out, man,” said Rufus. “Admit that you like dicks. Dump Nora.”

  “And maybe once you have,” said Twyla, “Agler will realize what an ass he was being, and he’ll drop the stupid rule.”

  So that was what all this was about, was it? “I can’t control what Agler does.”

  “It can’t be nice to Nora anyway,” said Twyla. “I mean, think how hurt she’s going to be when she figures out that you’re only faking what you feel for her.”

  Sawyer’s hands clenched in fists. “I’m not faking anything.”

  “Whatever,” said Duncan.

  “He’s in denial,” said Twyla.

  Rufus patted him on the back. “There’s no shame in it, man. Tell her the truth. She’ll be hurt, but it’ll be better off in the long run.”

  The three walked away.

  Sawyer shook. He grabbed handfuls of the dress he was making and yanked.

  The fabric ripped apart.

  So much for that dress.

  * * *

  Nora prodded her omelet with her fork. “He’s stupid. That’s what he is.”

  They were at breakfast. She was so annoyed with the situation that it was hard to eat.

  “Everyone’s stupid,” Sawyer muttered.

  “I told him that he needed to take back the rule, but he wouldn’t listen,” said Nora. “He just kept lording it over me that he was in charge, and that I was too young to know what I was doing, and how it was for my own good. I hate him. I hate him so much.”

  “Yeah, Agler’s a big freaking idiot, all right,” said Sawyer. “I’m not very fond of him myself right now.”

  “He doesn’t have the right to do this,” said Nora.

  “It would be one thing if it was just him. But everyone else is blaming us, like we control him or something. You know, even if I did break up with you, that doesn’t mean he’d change the rule.”

  “What?” Nora put her fork down. “You’re not seriously thinking about breaking up with me.”

  “Of course not.” Sawyer took a bite of toast and chewed.

  “Good,” she said. “Because that would break my heart. And it’s almost Valentine’s Day.”

  “Yeah, Agler’s got some kind of timing doesn’t he?” said Sawyer.

  “I think he did it on purpose,” said Nora. “He’s a giant cock block. That’s what he is.”

  Sawyer looked a little embarrassed at her term. “Look, Nora, it’s not like the only thing I wanted to do with you on Valentine’s Day was, you know, um, that.”

  “I know. But we were going to do that. For the first time. And it was going to be romantic and special and amazing. And he ruined everything.” She sawed a piece of her omelet off and put it in her mouth.

  “Well, maybe it’s a good thing,” said Sawyer. “I mean, maybe we weren’t ready.”

  “We’re ready.” Nora sighed. “It seems like everything’s going wrong. Theia’s not feeling well. Yesterday, she collapsed in the visual arts enclave right in the middle of everything. She couldn’t even stand up. Her face was all white.”

  “Hey, she’s not the only one,” said Sawyer. “Melinoe wasn’t feeling well yesterday either.” Melinoe Spring was the head of the clothing and fabric enclave.

  “Really?” said Nora. “Is it a bug going around or something?”

  Sawyer looked confused. “A bug?”

  “Like the flu or something.”

  “The flu?”

  “Don’t you guys have the flu here?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Sawyer. “What is it?”

  “It’s like a sickness,” said Nora. “Do the muses ever get sick?”

  “Not really,” said Sawyer. “And I don’t know if that’s what’s happening. It sounds like Theia’s tired, and that’s not exactly the same thing.”

  Nora cut off another piece of her omelet. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of muses getting tired before.”

  Sawyer raised his eyebrows.

  “You know what I mean, not that tired, anyway. Not collapsing tired.”

  “Well, it is Valentine’s Day,” said Sawyer. “The visual art enclave is slammed right now. You guys are busy.”

  Nora nodded. “That reminds me. I’m not going to make it to dinner tonight. I’m going to stay and work straight through on making Valentines.”

  “Okay,” said Sawyer.

  “You look disappointed.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not.”

  Nora held up a finger. “Because don’t even think you can tell me what to do Sawyer Snow. We might be dating, but that does not mean that you are the boss of me. You are most definitely not.”

  “Whoa,” said Sawyer. “I’m not Owen, okay? I’m not trying to manipulate you into doing what I want you to do. At all.”

  She looked down at her omelet, feeling ashamed. “Sorry.” It was only that Owen had gotten upset because she’d spent so much time at the visual arts enclave. It brought back bad memories.

  “It’s only that with Maddie out of the picture, and you busy, I’m sort of… alone.” He held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I’m a big boy. I can handle it. But I’m not exactly looking forward to it.”

  “Well, you could come hang out and make Valentines if you want,” said Nora. “You’d be good at it.”

  “Yeah? You don’t think anyone would mind?”

  “Are you kidding? With Theia out of commission, we could use all the help we can get.”

  “Cool.” Sawyer took a swig of orange juice.

  “Hey, isn’t Mellinoe Theia’s daughter?” said Nora.

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer. “So?”

  “Maybe they’re both feeling bad because they’re related. It could be a genet
ic illness.”

  “I don’t think they’re ill, Nora,” said Sawyer. “Besides, the healers here are good at what they do. If there was something wrong, they’d have fixed it.”

  “So, why haven’t they fixed Theia?”

  “She’ll probably be fine after Valentine’s Day,” said Sawyer.

  “I hope so.” Nora ate some more. She chewed and looked around at the dining room. She saw that Jolie from the babies and toddlers enclave was making her way through the tables, a basket on her hip filled with apples and bananas. She was probably bringing food to the kids.

  Jolie caught her eye and shifted the basket to wave.

  Nora waved back.

  Sawyer turned around. “Who are you waving at?” Then he saw Jolie. He waved too.

  Jolie kept weaving through the crowd, coming toward them.

  “I think she’s coming over here,” said Nora.

  Sure enough, within a few seconds, Jolie was standing at the edge of their table. “Oh, I’m so glad I ran into you two.”

  “It’s always nice to see you too,” said Nora.

  “You don’t get out of the enclave much, do you?” said Sawyer.

  Jolie laughed. “Oh, I like being with the little ones. A few breaks every now and then are nice, but overall, I’m happy to be there.”

  Nora smiled. One of her favorite things about Helicon was that people all did things that they really seemed to like to do. There wasn’t anyone being forced to do things they hated.

  “Speaking of breaks, though,” said Jolie, “the kids have been asking about you, Sawyer.”

  “Me?” said Sawyer.

  “They say you organize the best hide and seek games,” said Jolie.

  “There’s not much to hide and seek,” said Sawyer.

  “Well, you’ve been there for the past two years watching them at Valentine’s Day,” said Jolie, “and to some of those kids, that’s half their lives. They don’t remember a Valentine’s Day without you. So, you are going to come back this year, aren’t you?”

  Sawyer looked at Nora and then back at Jolie. “You know actually, I kind of was planning on—”

  “We’d love to do it,” said Nora.

  “You would?” said Jolie. “Both of you?”

  “Absolutely,” said Nora.