The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  Once the tent was up, the three stood back and surveyed their handiwork.

  “Well,” said Sawyer, “it’s good to have you back, Maddie.”

  She smiled at him. Then she gave him a hug. “I missed you, Sawyer.”

  He hugged back. So, Maddie was hugging him, but his own girlfriend was barely speaking to him. What the hell had he done that was so bad? Why was she mad?

  “Well,” said Nora, “who’s up for hitting the kitchens at the food enclave and scrounging up something to eat?”

  “Um, don’t you think maybe you and Sawyer should talk?” said Maddie.

  Oh, great, so Maddie knew all about what had happened. Nora had told her why she was pissed at him, but hadn’t bothered to clue him in.

  “Why?” said Nora.

  “It’s obvious something’s wrong,” he said softly.

  She laughed a loud, artificial laugh. “Don’t be silly. Everything’s fine.” She leaned forward and brushed his lips with hers and then pulled back. “Come on. I’m starved.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sawyer spotted Nora and Maddie across the dining room. It was morning, and things were going the way they’d been going for the past two months. Nora and Maddie were inseparable, and they weren’t including him in anything. It wasn’t as if they seemed angry with him or anything like that. If he showed up and talked to them, they were friendly enough, and it felt like old times.

  But that was exactly the problem. It was as though Nora had decided to ignore the fact that they were together. He hadn’t been alone with her once since they’d had sex. She barely touched him anymore, and she didn’t seem comfortable if he touched her.

  Sawyer tried to get her to talk about it, but she stubbornly insisted that nothing was wrong.

  And he was too embarrassed to push.

  It was obvious that he was horrendously bad in bed.

  He’d told her that he had no idea what he was doing, and he’d told her that he wanted to wait. But she’d pushed and pushed, and so he’d given in. And she was disappointed. It had to be that. He wished they’d never done it. It hadn’t been worth it.

  Even though, not that anyone cared what he thought, he’d really liked it. He’d felt closer to Nora than ever before, and he’d felt like they’d been deeply connected. He’d never felt more in love with her than during those brief moments when he was inside her. And, of course, it had felt good. Really good.

  But clearly Nora had hated it, and he’d messed it all up somehow.

  He made his way over the table where Nora and Maddie were sitting, doing his best to seem cheerful. “Hey, guys,” he said as he sat down.

  “Hey,” said Maddie. “Did you hear that both Himeros and Natalia came down with the sickness last week?”

  Sawyer had practically forgotten about that stupid sickness. “Guess it’s obviously not Himeros, then. But we knew that.”

  “Right,” said Nora, “but it’s got to be someone, right?”

  Sawyer picked at his breakfast. “Well, do we still think that someone could be possessed by Owen?”

  “It’s the best theory we’ve got thus far,” said Nora. “I mean, we know he couldn’t get in last year when he tried to use the dimension device to get into Helicon.”

  “Right,” said Maddie. “I guess possessing someone would be the only way he could influence stuff here. Unless he’s got someone else like Daryl.”

  Sawyer noted that she was mentioning Daryl much more easily now. Maddie was really doing better. She didn’t seem nearly as angry or depressed as she had been. And Sawyer still didn’t know why. Neither Maddie nor Nora had offered up an explanation to him about why Maddie had ceased to be so grumpy.

  “Good point,” said Nora. “So, I guess that means we’ve got two things to investigate. We need to try to think of people who are acting strangely, and we need to think about people who Owen might have a relationship with.”

  Sawyer ate some of his breakfast.

  Maddie took a bite of an apple. She chewed slowly.

  “Well, don’t everyone talk at once,” said Nora.

  “Sorry,” said Sawyer. “It’s only that I have no idea of anyone who could fit into either of those categories.”

  Maddie swallowed. She set the apple back down on her plate. “Me either.”

  Nora sighed. “Well, someone’s got to be acting weird. Come on. Think.”

  They ate in silence.

  “Did you guys see that they announced the play for the Solstice?” said Sawyer.

  “No, I wasn’t paying attention,” said Nora. “Do we want to be in it this year again?”

  “No tweens this year,” said Sawyer. “It’s a small cast or something.”

  “It’s Norse, right?” said Maddie.

  “Yeah, they must have been inspired because of Loki showing up,” said Sawyer.

  “Well, that’s at least interesting,” said Nora. “We might find out more stuff about the Norse gods. Remember when we went to see Ned Willow? He didn’t know why they’d all disappeared.”

  “No one knows where the Greek gods went either,” said Maddie.

  “It’s because no one believes in them anymore,” said Sawyer.

  “Maybe,” said Nora. “Wasn’t that just a big theory from the philosophy enclave?”

  Sawyer ate some more food. “Maybe it’s Agler.”

  Nora made a face. “Agler got rid of the gods?”

  Maddie started to cut up her sausage patties into tiny little pieces.

  “No,” said Sawyer. “Maybe Agler’s possessed by Owen. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want us to…” He felt his cheeks get warm. “You know.”

  “Well, but he just took that rule away.” Nora wouldn’t look at him. “He doesn’t seem to care anymore.”

  It was quiet again, but this time the silence was uncomfortable. Sawyer shoved food into his mouth and chewed.

  Nora folded her napkin carefully, making a sharp crease.

  “I don’t think it’s Agler,” said Maddie, sawing her sausage into even tinier pieces.

  “Yeah, it was a dumb idea,” said Sawyer around his mouthful of food.

  “Maybe it’s Techne,” said Maddie. “Wasn’t it her idea for the tweens to be controlled? Isn’t that something Owen would want to do?”

  Techne… Sawyer thought about it.

  “But she’s always been like that,” said Nora. “She’s always been a real bitch. I mean, hasn’t she?”

  “You know,” said Sawyer, “she did seem a little off at that last meeting, don’t you remember?”

  “No,” said Nora.

  “Everyone was in the middle of discussing the dimension device and how the engineering enclave needed to fix it, and she wasn’t even interested. Remember?” said Sawyer. “She interrupted Phoebe and asked if they could get on with voting on the motion.”

  “I do remember,” said Nora.

  “Owen would want to try to keep the engineering enclave from making a device to find him,” said Sawyer. “Maybe he was possessing Techne in order to try to steer the meeting off course.”

  “It does seem like something she’d want to pay attention to,” said Nora. “She’s always got to have her nose in everything.”

  “Well, we can use that cordial, right?” said Maddie. “We just spike her drink and ask her. Sawyer, you’ve got it, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer. He had to admit it made him feel good to be important for once.

  * * *

  “You’re doing it again,” said Jack, setting down his fork.

  Agler swung his head to face his friend. “Doing what?”

  “Looking at Nora,” said Jack.

  Agler cut off a bite of his pancake, which he’d smothered in sausage gravy. He really loved sausage gravy. “I’m not looking at Nora.”

  “Dude, I can tell that you are. You don’t have to deny it. When you backed off on that stupid rule about tents, I thought you were actually getting over her or something. But every morning, I catch you s
taring at her.”

  “She’s not the one I’m staring at,” said Agler.

  “What?” Jack turned around to look at Nora. She, Sawyer, and Maddie were seated behind him, several tables over. “Who are you looking at then?”

  “Maddie,” said Agler. “She seem okay to you?”

  Jack looked back, shrugging. “I don’t know. I guess so. I’ve never paid any attention to her one way or the other.”

  “You know what I notice about her?” said Agler. “She never eats. I mean, she eats, but not very much. She’ll like cut up all the stuff on her plate to make it look like she’s doing something, but she doesn’t actually put the food in her mouth. And she’s really skinny, don’t you think?”

  Jack turned around.

  “Stop doing that,” said Agler. “They’re going to know we’re talking about them.”

  Jack went back to his food. “Who cares? Really, does it matter?”

  “I’m worried about her.”

  “You’re worried about Maddie Salt? Since when?”

  Agler shrugged. “Just am, that’s all.” He wasn’t about to broadcast what had happened at May Day. He wasn’t telling anyone about it. It was not his finest moment. In fact, he was pretty ashamed of it.

  But he found himself thinking about it a lot. He lay awake at night, going over and over the whole experience in his head, wishing he could have done it all differently. He felt wretched about it.

  Jack speared some potatoes. “Whatever.”

  “I wish I could do something nice for her,” said Agler.

  “What? What’s up with you? You’ve never given a crap about this girl before.”

  Agler sighed. Maybe he should tell Jack what happened. Maybe it would feel better to get it off his chest. “I kind of owe her, I guess.”

  “Owe her for what?”

  “I messed up pretty bad, and she got the worst of it.” Agler set down his fork. The sausage gravy didn’t seem quite as appealing anymore.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The night of May Day? When I was really drunk?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We kind of hooked up.”

  “You and Maddie Salt?”

  “Yeah,” said Agler. “And she was a virgin, and it was bad, man. She started crying and—”

  “You dick,” said Jack.

  Agler hung his head. “Yes, I’m aware of that. Thank you.”

  “Sorry,” said Jack. “Seriously, though, what were you thinking?”

  “She looked really hot,” said Agler. “She was in that Maypole dancer dress, and I was wasted drunk, and it just happened.”

  “Beer goggles,” muttered Jack.

  “Hey,” said Agler. “She’s actually really pretty.”

  “She’s like that chubby brunette, right?”

  “No, she doesn’t look like that anymore. She’s really freaking thin.”

  Jack turned around again.

  “Would you stop looking at her?” Agler caught his friend’s sleeve and tugged.

  Jack looked back. “So, you really think you could do something nice that would make up for that?”

  “I don’t know.” Agler rubbed his forehead. “You have no idea how bad it was. I was completely oblivious, and she was all freaking out, and… I hurt her, you know. I don’t like feeling like that.”

  “Dude, there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do. I mean, you should apologize, but—”

  “I already did.”

  “And?”

  “And she said that she forgave me, and it wasn’t my fault, but she didn’t want to have to be around me.”

  Jack patted him on the shoulder. “Well, there you go. That’s about as good as you’re going to get.”

  Agler picked up his fork and nudged his congealing gravy. “I don’t like being that guy.” He sighed. “You remember Terrence Sage?”

  “Sure, I do.”

  “You remember how much I hated that guy?” Agler asked. Terrence had been an older tween when he and Jack had been sixteen or seventeen. Terrence had spent all his time sleeping with younger tween girls, all Jack’s and Agler’s age. “Like, when I was making headway with Evie, he totally stole her out from underneath me. And then she was all weird and hurt afterward, and I couldn’t even hang out with her or anything. I hated that guy for doing that to her. And now I’m that guy.”

  “You’re not Terrence Sage,” said Jack.

  “I am. I’m that guy. I’m that guy who acts like a total jerk and treats girls like crap and messes them up.”

  “Come on,” said Jack. “Terrence did that over and over again. We’re talking about one night here. That’s all. One girl.”

  “Well, I wish I could make it better. Because whenever I think about it, I feel…” He wasn’t sure how to explain it. “Bad. Really bad.”

  Jack raised his eyebrows.

  “It’s like the guilt is gnawing at me. And if I don’t do something to make up for it, if I don’t fix it in someway, I think I’m going to go crazy.”

  Jack put some potatoes in his mouth and chewed. When he had swallowed, he said, “She said she doesn’t want to be around you, right? If you try to bother her, you’re only going to make it worse. There’s nothing else you can do. You need to stop thinking about it.”

  * * *

  Techne wasn’t easy to get to, Nora discovered. After she and the others had decided to investigate her, they’d gone to the science enclave, hoping to catch up with her and get some of the truth cordial into her drink.

  But Techne didn’t come out of her tent all day. They hung out watching and waiting for her. She never showed.

  They talked to some of the other muses in the science enclave, who told them that Techne’s absence was pretty normal. She kept to herself most of the time. She had her own lab set up inside her tent, and she didn’t see much of a reason to leave, except for council meetings, which were important to her.

  So, they figured they would simply wait until the council meeting that night.

  But Techne didn’t show up.

  They went to the science enclave and went to Techne’s tent. They tried to get her to come outside.

  “Sorry, can’t be helped,” Techne called from within her tent. “I’m in the middle of an important experiment, and I can’t leave it. It’s got to be watched constantly.”

  “Would you like to take a break and have a drink?” asked Sawyer.

  “No time,” said Techne.

  “Just for a few minutes?” asked Maddie.

  “I really can’t,” said Techne. “Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but go away.”

  Unfortunately, it seemed to be the same story the next day. Techne was still shut up inside her tent, and she wasn’t about to leave for any reason whatsoever.

  They tried to entice her out later again, but she wasn’t having any of it. She wasn’t nearly as polite the next time either.

  They regrouped in the tree house, feeling discouraged.

  “She’s got to be done with the experiment at some point,” said Maddie, dangling her legs over the platform.

  Nora was sprawled out in a big chair, and Sawyer sat opposite her. She remembered when the two of them had both been on this chair together, their bodies close. She hadn’t been that close to Sawyer in nearly two months. She could tell he was hurt, but she kept avoiding him and avoiding his pain. She didn’t want to deal with it.

  “Yeah, but who knows how long that’s going to take,” said Sawyer. “I guess we’ll have to keep checking back every single day.”

  “She is acting weird, though,” said Nora. “I mean, to do a big experiment like that and shut herself up? Not even coming to council meetings? She’s always at council meetings.”

  “She’s the head of the science enclave,” said Maddie. “Doesn’t she have to show up to the council meetings? Isn’t it like a requirement?”

  “You guys would know better than me,” said Nora. They’d grown up in Helicon. She’d only been there fo
r two and a half years.

  “It’s a requirement,” said Sawyer, “but she’d have to stop coming to council meetings for like a month straight before anyone said something to her about it. I mean, Mellinoe only goes to council meetings twice a week or so, and she’s the head of the clothing enclave.”

  “Really?” said Maddie. “I guess I never noticed.”

  Nora looked at Sawyer. He wasn’t looking at her. At first, steering clear of Sawyer had seemed like a good idea because it was a show of solidarity with Maddie. They’d both had bad sex, and if they were together, they didn’t need boys at all.

  But lately, she’d been missing Sawyer more and more. Having sex had been a bust, but she’d really liked everything else about their relationship. She missed kissing him and being close to him. And maybe the sex thing took practice or something.

  Maddie craned her neck forward, peering down at the tweens and rebels enclave. “If we’re not questioning Techne, would you guys mind if I took off?”

  “Took off?” said Nora.

  “Yeah, I was thinking I’d head to the dance enclave for a little while. I haven’t been by in a few days, and my feet are getting antsy.” She grinned.

  “Oh,” said Nora, “well, okay.” The only thing was that if Maddie left, then she’d be alone with Sawyer.

  “Cool,” said Maddie, getting up.

  “I could, um, come with you,” said Nora.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Maddie. “I know dancing’s not your thing.” She scampered off the platform and onto the steps. “See you guys at dinner, okay?”

  Nora watched her go. She stood up too. “Um, I guess maybe I should go too.”

  Sawyer studied his fingernails. “Sure, I guess it would be horrible to be alone with me.”

  She swallowed. “Well, no. It’s not horrible.”

  He shrugged. “What are you waiting for? Better get away from me. It’s not like you’re my girlfriend or anything.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say.

  “You know if you wanted to break up with me, you could have just talked to me,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been fun, but it would have been easier than watching you ignore me for weeks on end.”