The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  “Who are we going to see next?” asked Agler.

  “Mack,” said Maddie.

  Agler nodded. They continued on their way without saying anything. Agler looked up at the blue sky overhead, thinking about how strange it was that the weather was as perfect as ever, even though the muses were getting ill in droves. “Maddie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why did you suggest that the two of us work together on this?” he said.

  She raised her eyebrows. “What’s the matter? You don’t want to work with me?”

  “Of course I want to work with you,” he said. “It’s only that I didn’t think you were comfortable being around me considering what happened.”

  Maddie heaved a huge sigh. “I don’t want to do this right now, Agler.”

  Do what? He was simply asking her a question. He wasn’t trying to hurt her or press for information or anything. But he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so he just said, “Okay.”

  He didn’t say anything else as they crossed the bridge and went to Mack’s tent.

  It was squat, brown, and huge—with numerous poles holding it up. It sat in a wooded area, so it was tucked between the trees, snug in the shade. There were some chimeras wandering around the front of the tent. Two of the winged horses and one ostrich-llama.

  “Mack?” called Maddie. “You in there?”

  The front of the tent flap came open, and Roth’s head poked out. “My dad’s sick.”

  “We know,” said Maddie. “We’re trying to talk to all of the people who are sick. We want to see if we can figure out if they have anything in common—if they all did something similar. Maybe we can get a clue about why the sickness is happening.”

  “Oh,” said Roth. “Well, he’s asleep. Maybe you can come back later.”

  “Sure,” said Agler.

  “You don’t want to talk to him, anyway,” said Roth. “He’s been in a bad mood ever since this sickness started. All he does is yell at me. Sometimes, I think I’m going to strangle him. Seriously.” Roth let the flap drop, disappearing out of sight. “Bye, now.”

  “Wait,” said Maddie. “When do you think he’ll wake up?”

  “Later,” came Roth’s voice from within. “Have a good day. You should probably leave now.”

  “He’s polite,” muttered Agler.

  “I heard that,” said Roth. “You’re a sloppy drunk, so shut the hell up, okay?”

  Agler took a step toward the tent. Roth didn’t have the right to say stuff like that.

  Maddie put up a hand to stop him. “Don’t bother. He’s not worth it.”

  Agler was sure Maddie was right. He could give Roth a piece of his mind, but he doubted that would change anything about Roth.

  “Let’s go,” said Maddie.

  As they walked away, Agler looked over his shoulder at the tent. “You know him very well?”

  “No,” said Maddie. “He used to be friends with Sawyer. That’s all I know.”

  “He’s kind of a loner, huh?” said Agler. “Exactly the kind of person that Nora and Sawyer would want to interview?”

  Maddie considered. “Could be. He doesn’t seem happy here. Maybe he’s the one causing the sickness.”

  “We should talk to them about it,” said Agler.

  “Okay,” said Maddie. “Tonight.”

  “You want to get something to eat before we go to interview anyone else?” Agler asked.

  Maddie shrugged. “I’m fine. But if you’re hungry, then why don’t you go ahead and grab something? We can meet in the visual arts enclave. There are a bunch of people over there that are sick, and I can start interviewing them.”

  “That’s right,” said Agler. “I forgot. You never eat anything.”

  Maddie stiffened.“What? That’s silly. I eat all the time.”

  Agler shrugged. “Well, you don’t eat at meals. I watch you. You stir things around, you cut stuff up, you break things into pieces, but you don’t eat anything. I guess that’s why you’re so thin.”

  “I’m not thin,” said Maddie. “I’m kind of chubby.”

  Was she crazy? “Get out of here. You’re a bean pole. There’s no fat on you anywhere.”

  “Trust me,” she said. “There’s fat. You just don’t know because you haven’t seen—”

  “You without your clothes? Because, um, actually—”

  “Damn you, Agler. I said I didn’t want to talk about that.” Her nostrils flared.

  He felt confused. “Are you angry with me because I’m not telling you that you’re fat? Is that what you want me to say?”

  She sucked in breath and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Go get food if you want. I’ll see you later, all right?”

  Agler cocked his head. She was confusing, Maddie Salt. But he didn’t mind so much. He was enjoying trying to figure her out. “Do you really not realize how skinny you are?”

  “Can we drop this?”

  “Is that why you don’t eat? Because you think you’re fat?”

  “I eat,” she said.

  “I don’t think you eat very much.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I used to eat a lot, and I was huge and ugly, and you wouldn’t have noticed me. Now I eat a little less that’s all.”

  He nodded slowly. “Okay. So, why are you getting so defensive about it?”

  “I’m not,” she snapped.

  “Right,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll come with you to get lunch. I can eat. You’ll see.”

  But she barely touched the sandwich that they picked up. She took a few bites at the beginning, but then she began to dismantle it, taking out the meat and vegetables and cheese. She cut them up with a knife and a fork. She broke off little bits of the bread.

  The whole time she was doing it, she kept up a breezy string of words, telling him all about a dance that she was learning.

  When she realized that he was watching the way she was demolishing the sandwich, her voice trailed off.

  Then she glared at him. “I told you I wasn’t hungry.”

  “Okay,” he said. “If you aren’t hungry, don’t eat. Why the charade? Why do stuff to your food to make it look like you’re eating it?”

  “If other people notice you’re not eating, then they sometimes say things to you.”

  “Uh huh,” he said. “So you want to hide the fact you’re not eating?”

  She looked away.

  “Why do you want to hide it? Aren’t you eating enough?”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know. Sometimes it’s hard to eat food. It makes me feel so guilty to do it, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know. I’ve never felt guilty for eating.”

  “Well, you’ve never been fat either.”

  He guessed she was right.

  “Look, I’m not sick or anything. I’m not like Mellinoe, who can barely get out of bed. I’m okay. Don’t I seem okay?”

  He surveyed her. She was thin, but she didn’t look ill. She must eat enough, he guessed.

  “Promise not to tell anyone?” she asked.

  “Why don’t you want anyone to know?”

  “I just don’t.” She laughed—a high, bright sound. “Besides, it’s not that big of a deal. There’s nothing to tell.”

  He gazed at her. She was begging him. She looked so earnest. “Okay, I’ll keep it to myself.” But he was going to keep an eye on her as well. And if she seemed like she was hurting herself, he was going to do something. He wasn’t sure what exactly, but something. He’d done enough to hurt Maddie already. He wouldn’t stand around and watch her hurt herself.

  * * *

  Sawyer rolled off of Nora’s body and snuggled close to her in his hammock.

  She rested her head on his shoulder.

  “You hated it again, didn’t you?” Sawyer’s voice was a whisper.

  “No,” said Nora. “I didn’t hate it.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry. I’m doing something wrong.”<
br />
  She chewed on her lip. “I don’t think there’s a lot to it besides, you know, getting in the right hole and going in and out.”

  Sawyer grimaced. “Wow, you make that sound so darned sexy.”

  She laughed. “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry,” he said. “I should be apologizing. I’m the one who’s messing everything up.”

  “You aren’t messing anything up.” She kissed him. “That’s all it is for me, though. Sex is just our bodies doing squishy things against each other. It’s kind of nice to be close to you, but that’s all. I thought it was going to feel good.”

  He sighed. “It seemed like you were feeling good earlier. Before.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, the before part is way more fun.” She propped herself up. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you.” He traced the outline of her jaw with one finger. His voice was hoarse. “You’re perfect.”

  She smiled. She liked it when he said things like that.

  He pulled her down and kissed her again.

  She opened her lips to his, let him tease his tongue against her own.

  When they broke apart, she kept her eyes closed. “I wish I had someone to talk to about it.”

  “What do you mean?” he murmured.

  “Like someone who knew what they were doing. An older, experienced person that I could trust. That way I’d know if there was something we were missing.”

  He was quiet.

  She lay her head back down on his shoulder.

  He stroked her back. “I wish I didn’t completely suck at this, Nora.”

  “Sawyer, I don’t mean that.”

  “Well, it seems to be working fine for me,” said Sawyer ruefully. “So, I can’t see how else something could be wrong.”

  She ran her fingers over his bare chest. “What’s it feel like to you?”

  “Good,” said Sawyer. “Really good.”

  She poked him. “You can do better than that.”

  He chuckled. “Sorry. It’s hard to explain.”

  “Try.”

  He took a deep breath. “It’s like… really wonderful. You’re warm and soft and slick and perfect, and then you’re surrounding me, and it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt, and it just keeps getting better and better until it’s just really good and then…”

  “You suck.”

  “Well, I wish I knew how to make it feel like that for you,” said Sawyer. “I don’t want us to do it if you aren’t liking it. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Actually, I’m glad we did it again,” said Nora. “It was kind getting really frustrating not doing it, you know? It felt like it was really hard to stop. I think we should keep doing it. Maybe all I need is practice.”

  “Are you sure?” said Sawyer. “Like really sure you want to?”

  “Really sure,” she said.

  * * *

  “Hey,” said Agler, standing in the doorway of his tent. “What are you doing here?”

  Sawyer shifted on his feet. “I wanted to talk to you. Actually, I wanted to ask your advice about something, considering you’re an older, experienced person.”

  “I’m not that old,” said Agler.

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” said Sawyer. God, he was already screwing this up. He screwed everything up. Nora was so sweet to pretend like the disaster of their love life wasn’t his fault, but he knew better. He was the guy. It was his job to fix this kind of stuff. And he didn’t know who else to turn to.

  “Well, come in,” said Agler, holding his tent flap out of the way.

  Sawyer ducked inside.

  Agler flopped down into one of his easy chairs.

  Sawyer stood up. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

  “You wanna sit down?” said Agler.

  Sawyer swallowed. “I don’t know.”

  “Sawyer, what’s wrong?”

  Sawyer dragged his toe against the floor. “You know how when we talked that one time, you said something about how girls’ first times are rough, and that it’s a conspiracy to make men feel guilty?”

  “Yeah,” said Agler. “So?”

  “So, is it supposed to just get better after the first time or…?”

  Agler started to laugh. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Kidding you?”

  Agler got up out of his chair. He disappeared into the depths of his tent. “You’re here to ask me advice about having sex with Nora?”

  “No,” said Sawyer.

  Agler reappeared with a bottle of wine.

  “Sort of,” said Sawyer.

  “You know, she was my girlfriend first,” said Agler. “In a way, you sort of stole her from me. Why should I help you?”

  Sawyer turned away. “Never mind.”

  Agler threw himself down in the chair. “You know what? It’s cool.” He nudged Sawyer with the bottle of wine. “Sit down, all right?”

  Sawyer hesitated, but then he settled down in the other chair.

  Agler yanked the cork out of the bottle and took a long drink. “We’re probably going to need a little buzz first, though.” He offered Sawyer the bottle.

  Sawyer took it and slugged some of the wine.

  “You sure you want advice from me?” said Agler. “I’m sure Maddie didn’t make me sound like a stud.”

  “She didn’t give me details,” said Sawyer, handing the bottle back.

  “Oh,” said Agler. “Good.” He drank more wine. “So, what seems to be the problem?”

  Sawyer swallowed. “Um…” He reached out his hand for the wine bottle.

  Agler laughed and handed it over.

  Sawyer took another long drink. “She says it’s boring, and it doesn’t feel like anything.”

  Agler reached for the wine. “Ouch.”

  Sawyer nodded. “Yeah. Not exactly my proudest moment. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not… like masculine enough to make this work.”

  “Nah,” said Agler. “Well, I don’t know. Maybe you aren’t. But women are complicated. They need other things besides just sex to get off.”

  “They do?”

  “Well, not always,” said Agler. He drank some more wine. “So I hear, anyway. I don’t have that much experience. But I hear it’s possible for a girl to, you know, just come from penetration alone.” He stared off into the distance, sighing.

  “But not usually?” said Sawyer.

  “Do you know what a clitoris is?”

  Sawyer reached for the bottle. “A what?”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Sawyer kissed Nora’s temple, listening to the sounds of her labored breath as his fingers moved between her legs. She moaned, and he loved it. He loved making her feel that good. He loved making her make those kinds of noises.

  She grasped his wrist. “Mmm… you can stop,” she mumbled.

  “You sure?”

  “Uh huh. It’s… too much,” she gasped.

  He panicked. “Is it bad?”

  “No. Good. Very good.” She sighed, her eyes opening in little slits. “Very, very amazingly good.”

  He grinned.

  “It’s just that it’s sensitive now, and if you touch it, it’s too good. Hard to explain.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  She smiled at him.

  “So, you liked that?”

  “Mmm hmm.” Her voice was languid and satisfied.

  “Good.” He took a deep breath. Finally, he’d done something halfway decent in lovemaking department.

  “It’s weird, though, don’t you think?” she said, snuggling close to him.

  “What’s weird?”

  “Why would my body work like that?”

  Sawyer really didn’t know either. Finding the place to touch in the first place had been next to impossible, even after Agler’s explanations. Guys were way more straightforward than girls. The part that wanted touching actually stood up and got big and hard. It was tough to miss.<
br />
  There were cool things about girls, of course. He liked how tiny and supple Nora’s body was. He liked how nicely his body fit into hers. He liked that she was curvy and soft and springy and delightful.

  Still. Confusing.

  “What do you mean?” said Sawyer.

  “Well, let’s think about it,” said Nora. “The reason that we have sex is reproduction, right? And so, nature makes it feel good so that you’ll make babies.”

  “I guess so,” said Sawyer. “Honestly, I don’t really like thinking about it like that.”

  “Well, we don’t want to have babies, but that’s what our bodies are designed to do. That’s what sex is for, you know?”

  “I don’t know if I agree with that,” said Sawyer. “I mean, gay sex isn’t for reproduction.”

  “No, I know that there are other reasons people have sex,” said Nora. “I’m talking strictly biologically, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “So, if you were nature, and you wanted to convince women to have sex and get pregnant and have lots of babies, would you put the part that makes everything feel really good in the wrong place?”

  “The wrong place?”

  “Think about it,” said Nora. “If my clit was readjusted a little bit, then when we had sex, it would get stimulated. But it doesn’t. So, instead, you have to get me off first and then have sex with me afterward. It makes positively no sense.”

  Sawyer furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what she’d said. “You want to move it? From where it is?”

  “Or maybe, it’s in the wrong place as a deterrent,” said Nora. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea for human women to have too many children considering we have such helpless young. Maybe nature made it tough for us to have pleasure on purpose to keep us from having too much sex.”

  “Wait,” said Sawyer. “Did you say that I had to get you off and then have sex with you? Do you want to have sex?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You have a one-track mind these days.”

  He slid his hand back in between her legs. “Well, it’s only that you seem really ready for it, you know. I mean, you’re really, really…”

  Her breath caught in her throat as he touched her.

  His lips brushed her ear. “Wet.”

  * * *

  “So, they’ve got nothing in common,” said Maddie, dangling her legs over the edge of the tree house. “Nothing at all.”