The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  Nora went over and peered down at Catling. “I don’t want to disturb her,” she murmured.

  “How are you holding up?” said Roth. “Halloween plans coming okay?”

  Nora straightened. “We’re managing.”

  “I, uh, had some time to work on some decorative gag stuff,” said Roth. “It’s in the other room if you want to look at it.”

  “You did?” said Nora. “You know, I told you that it’s best if you focus on the chimeras. None of us want to lose them.”

  “I had a little extra time.” Roth stood up. “And when I asked you what you were short on, you said decorations. So…” He started for the other room in the tent.

  Nora followed him.

  There were several fake severed arms littering the tops of tables, all of them smeared with fake blood.

  “Roth, these are really good,” said Nora, examining one. “You should hang out at the visual arts enclave sometime. Have you ever done sculpture like this before?”

  Roth shrugged self-consciously. “I do all kinds of stuff when I’m at home. The other fairies roll their eyes and say that it’s my muse half making me creative.”

  “Roll their eyes?” said Nora.

  “There’s not a lot of creating amongst the fairies,” said Roth. “They have things exactly the way they like them. Why would they make more stuff?”

  Nora considered. “I guess that makes sense.” And then, she couldn’t help it. She stifled a yawn.

  “Sorry,” said Roth. “I bet you’re tired. Why don’t you get out of here? Get some rest?”

  “I am tired,” she admitted. She started out of the room. “I’ll have someone come by and get these.”

  “Cool,” said Roth. “You thought about your costume yet?”

  She chewed on her lip. “Thought about it, sure. Got it together? Not even close.”

  “Well, you will,” said Roth. “This is going to work.”

  She sighed. “I really hope so.”

  * * *

  Nora’s eyes were closed, and Sawyer was on top of her. He was breathing heavily, and he was working in and out of her. Like usual. And like usual, she was just waiting for it to be over.

  She didn’t tell him that, though.

  Everything was better than it had been, considering that Sawyer was able to get her off. She experienced lots of pleasure from that, and she liked it a lot.

  So, she didn’t think she should complain. Maybe this was as good as it got.

  But sex with Sawyer was the part she didn’t look forward to. They’d have this amazing foreplay, which she loved, and he’d touch her until she came—explosive, wonderful, achingly perfect orgasms.

  But after that was over, while the pleasure was fading, he’d climb onto her and do what he did, and she’d lie under him, and he’d enjoy it, and she wouldn’t. It was boring. It felt like nothing. She found herself staring up at the top of the tent, looking to see if there were any rips or tears, looking for irregularities in the fabric.

  While Sawyer heaved over her, slamming himself back and forth in her body, she thought about all the things she needed to get done the next day. What people she needed to talk to about Halloween plans, what activities she needed to accomplish on her own, and what things she needed to ask Sawyer to take care of. She thought about Catling, and how sick she was. She thought about the fact that Helicon was under extreme strain. The fact that they had no idea how to fix it.

  Eventually, he was done.

  He’d kiss her. She liked his kisses, and she liked being close to him. She liked cuddling close to him in the hammock afterward, naked skin on naked skin, both slipping to sleep together.

  But she couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t missing something.

  Wasn’t it supposed to be better than this?

  * * *

  Nora shivered. The night breeze was chilly, and it smelled like dry leaves and fire smoke. Like fall. She loved that the muses could change the seasons when it suited them. Two days ago, the leaves had started to change color and the air had gone crisp and autumnal. Tonight was Halloween, and she huddled close to a fire basket in the tweens and rebels enclave, waiting for Maddie to come out of her tent.

  “Hurry up, Maddie,” said Nora.

  “You cold?” Sawyer asked. He draped an arm over her shoulders. He was dressed as a gypsy. He had a bandana tied around his head, a long dark wig, and gold hoops in his ears. His shirt had flowing sleeves, but it bared his midriff and stomach.

  She eyed his bare skin. “Aren’t you?”

  “I’m wearing more clothes,” said Sawyer.

  Nora’s outfit was a little bit on the skimpy side, but it was positively modest when compared to Maddie’s fairy costume last year, which had covered only the most important bits. Nora was dressed as a bumble bee. She had a little yellow and black striped dress that hugged her body and came to mid thigh. She wore wings on her back and little antennae on her head.

  It wasn’t her best costume ever, but she’d been too crazy to have any time to put together something better. Still, Halloween was actually happening, and she was grateful.

  “Coming,” called Maddie. She swept open the flap of her tent and presented herself. “Ta-da! What do you think?”

  Maddie was wearing a long black dress. It laced up the front, like a corset, and she had a white blouse underneath.

  “Awesome,” said Nora.

  “What are you dressed as?” said Sawyer.

  “Oh,” said Maddie. “I forgot my hat.” She ducked back into the tent and came out with a tall black conical hat. “I’m a witch. Duh.”

  “You’re a wonderful witch,” said Nora, grinning. She reached out her arm for Maddie.

  The three friends linked arms and started out of the tweens and rebels enclave. In the distance, they heard the sounds of a wailing guitar.

  “Music’s starting,” said Sawyer.

  They passed by a tableau of a man brandishing a bloody knife. There were human fingers dangling out of his mouth.

  It was fake, of course. One of the decorations that Evie and the others had made.

  They were scattered all about Helicon, and Nora thought they looked just as good as any other year.

  However, that didn’t mean that this year, Halloween hadn’t been downsized. For one thing, trick-or-treating had been limited to only a few enclaves, where there were still muses that could give out candy. In nearly half, all of the muses were sick, and there was no one to help. Like the tweens, none of the children were sick. The sickness seemed to only affect older muses.

  For another, the offerings of food and drink were much less varied than in most years. They’d managed to brew the traditional seasonal alcoholic cider and someone had concocted the green smoking drink that was a hit every year. They also had some snacks and a lot of pizzas. But there wasn’t the wide array of food that was usually laid out, or the massive supply of drinks.

  Nora didn’t care. “You guys want to get a drink? I could sure as heck use one.”

  “Heck yes,” said Maddie.

  Nora giggled. “Remember how you didn’t used to drink, Maddie?”

  “I do,” said Maddie. “I also remember how I was fat and boring back then.”

  “No, you weren’t,” said Sawyer.

  “You’re not allowed to say nasty things about yourself,” said Nora. “It’s a rule. Got it?”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s get plastered.

  * * *

  Later, Maddie collapsed onto the cool, green grass. She’d lost her witch hat some time ago because she’d been dancing too hard. The music came urgent and pounding, amplified and underscored with electric instruments.

  Nora yanked on her. “Get up. Come on.”

  Maddie shook her head. “No. No way, I’m done. No more dancing.”

  Nora laughed and flung herself down next to Maddie. “All right, fine. No more dancing.”

  “More cider drinking though?” said Maddie, sitting up.

&nb
sp; “Sawyer!” yelled Nora.

  He looked down at the two of them.

  Nora gave him a big smile. “Would you be the best boyfriend in the history of Helicon and go get Maddie and me more cider?”

  He folded his arms over his chest. “Why can’t you get it yourself?”

  Nora lay down flat on the ground. “We danced too much.”

  Sawyer chuckled. “I don’t know. I think you’re just being lazy.”

  “Please,” said Nora. Her voice dropped to a breathy tone. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

  Sawyer blushed. “Stop it, I’ll get your freaking cider.” He walked off.

  Maddie laughed. “You have him completely under your control.”

  “Of course I do,” said Nora.

  “So…” Maddie studied her fingernails. “Did it get better?”

  “Did what get better?”

  Maddie hesitated. “You know… it.”

  “Oh,” said Nora in a different voice. She sat back up. “Kind of.”

  Maddie wasn’t sure what that meant.

  “I mean, yes,” said Nora. “It’s definitely better. It’s not perfect, but it’s better. Sawyer’s happy, anyway.”

  Maddie wasn’t sure if that sounded promising exactly. “You’re not happy?”

  “No, I am,” said Nora. “Mostly, anyway.”

  “You think it’s worth doing, though? If I got the chance to do it again, do you think I should?”

  Nora considered. “I think you should wait until you’re in a relationship. I don’t think it would be as good if Sawyer wasn’t in love with me, you know? Because he’s really patient, and he’s willing to do stuff to make sure I’m feeling good and things. And if you’re just randomly hooking up with people—”

  “I didn’t say I wanted to randomly hook up with someone,” said Maddie. “Well… I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know about what?”

  “Agler kissed me.”

  “What? When?”

  “Last week.” Maddie fiddled with her skirt. “He was drunk, and I was getting the schedule for the music. And he kissed me, and then he said he was taking advantage of me when he was drunk again, and that he was sorry. And he ran off. And I haven’t really seen him since.”

  “Well, he’s going to play music,” said Nora. “Isn’t he in one of the bands?”

  “He’s playing right now,” said Maddie, gesturing to the stage. “Why do you think I brought this up?”

  Nora squinted. “Oh. He is up there.”

  The band that was playing right now was doing a lot of funk grooves. It was the kind of stuff that you could bop your head to, swing your hips, and bounce to. All of the songs were ten or fifteen minutes long—endless and absorbing. The guys on stage all had their eyes closed. They looked like the music that they were creating had swallowed them.

  Maddie cast a glance up at Agler, then looked back at Nora. “Do you think I should try to talk to him?”

  “Well, was he taking advantage of you?”

  “No,” said Maddie. “I don’t know. It was a nice kiss.”

  “He was a jackass to you.” Nora shrugged.

  “Maybe,” said Maddie. “But I wouldn’t have hooked up with him in the first place if I wasn’t attracted to him.”

  “How could you not be attracted to him?” said Nora. “He’s a really nice-looking guy.”

  Maddie raised her eyebrows. “Nora? Are you—”

  “I’m only saying he’s attractive,” said Nora. “I can think other guys are attractive. It doesn’t mean anything. I’m in love with Sawyer. Besides, he thinks other guys are attractive all the time.”

  “I heard my name,” said Sawyer, sitting down with them. He handed them each a mug of cider.

  Maddie took a drink. “Thanks, Sawyer.”

  “What were you saying about me?” said Sawyer.

  “I, um, was saying that you check out guys,” said Nora, chewing on her lip.

  He kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, I thought we established I was Team You.”

  She smiled. “And I’m Team You. But we can both still agree with Maddie when she says that Agler is attractive.”

  Sawyer wrinkled up his nose. “Really? I don’t know. I have a hard time thinking about him like that.” He turned to Nora. “You think he’s attractive?”

  “Well, I dated him, didn’t I?” Nora took a drink of her cider.

  “Yeah, but you’re not dating him anymore,” said Sawyer.

  “You still think Jack is attractive, right?” said Nora.

  “I guess. Kind of. Let’s move on from this conversation.” He took a drink of cider. “Maddie, I thought you hated Agler’s guts because of the way he had sex with you at May Day.”

  “Well, I don’t,” said Maddie. “And when he stops playing, I might go talk to him.”

  “Your call.” Sawyer shrugged.

  Suddenly, the music stopped.

  All three of them stood up, looking around.

  The musicians on stage looked just as shocked.

  They felt for the cables that had plugged their instruments into the amplifiers.

  But the cables were gone. And the amplifiers too.

  “Did the amps just disappear?” said Nora.

  Sawyer pointed. “Those green drinks aren’t smoking anymore.”

  All around, things were winking out and disappearing. The electric lights that illuminated the stage were gone. Some pieces of the muses’ costumes were also gone.

  There were gasps and screams.

  People turned worried faces at each other. The air hummed with panicked conversation.

  Maddie gulped. “It’s the muse magic. It’s not working anymore.”

  A particularly frigid wind blew over the field. The fire in the main fire pit flickered and then whooshed brighter.

  Nora shivered and her teeth chattered. “No, it can’t be.”

  “I think she’s right,” said Sawyer. “The electricity was always powered by muse magic, and muse magic made the drinks smoke. Look around. Do you see anything that wasn’t made strictly of real stuff?”

  They surveyed the rest of Helicon. Halloween had just gone from a celebration to a situation of fear and confusion. The atmosphere was one of terror.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Maddie tucked her hair behind her ear. “Kind of a let-down, huh?”

  Agler was drinking liquor out of the bottle. “We’re completely fucked.” He was sitting on the edge of the stage. It was dark. There were fires dotting the landscape of Helicon, and muses surrounded them, drinking and talking. But the celebratory atmosphere of earlier had gone of the air. It was cold—frosty winds whipping through the grounds, blowing dry leaves off the trees.

  She sat down next to him. “I know it seems like that.”

  “The muse magic ran out,” said Agler. “Do you have any idea what that means?”

  “Yeah, too many of the muses are sick to keep it going.”

  “You know how often we use that stuff? For how many things? It’s what makes it summer all the time, keeps the temperature regulated. That’s why it’s so cold right now. It’s what makes the fabric of our tents waterproof. Without muse magic, we’re completely fucked.”

  Maddie gulped. “Yeah. Maybe.” She reached over and took the liquor bottle from him. She upended it into her mouth, grimacing as the liquid burnt its way down her throat into her stomach.

  “Why are you here, Maddie?” Agler’s voice was hoarse.

  “I…” She didn’t know what to say. She was here because of the kiss from a few days ago. But everything seemed so much worse now. That kiss seemed to be born of a different time, a time when there was still hope and when it was possible to think of things like crushes and whether or not Agler liked her or not. Now, none of that stuff seemed important. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  “Then you should stay away from me,” said Agler. “Get too close, and I’ll hurt you again.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said. �
��I know you didn’t mean it to be like that before.”

  “How do you know what I meant?” He drank more liquor. He offered her the bottle.

  She took it and had more.

  “Maybe I did exactly what I wanted to you. Maybe all I cared about that night was myself. Maybe you were just a body, something I used to make myself feel good.” He snatched the bottle back from her and jumped down from the stage. He started to walk away from her.

  She jumped down after him. “Well, maybe that was all I wanted from you too.”

  He kept walking.

  She went after him. “Maybe I wanted to use you too. Maybe I did it because Nora gets everything. And maybe I thought that if I could have you, just for one night, I’d know what it was like to be her.”

  He stopped. “It was about Nora?”

  “Wasn’t it about Nora for you?” she demanded.

  He turned away, his jaw twitching.

  She swallowed.

  “Just get away from me, Maddie. I’m drunk, and everything’s hopeless, and I don’t know what I might do.”

  “Maybe I want to find out,” she said.

  He looked up at her, his eyes flashing. He pushed the bottle at her.

  She fumbled to hold it against her stomach.

  He thrust his hand into her hair, right behind her neck, cupping the back of her head with one hand, his fingers tangled in her hair. And then he kissed her, hard and fierce and insistent.

  The kiss seemed to burst through her, traveling from her lips, through her body, to the edges of all her limbs. Lighting her up. She wanted to cling to him, but she was holding the bottle of liquor. So she just kissed him back for all she was worth, her tongue tangling with his, frenzied and intense.

  He broke away, gasping, resting his forehead against hers. “If I asked you to come back to my tent with me, would you?”

  “Uh huh,” she barely breathed.

  “Why?”

  “I… because I…”

  “Do you want me?”

  “Yes.”

  He laughed bitterly. “No, you don’t.” He took the bottle back.

  “How do you know what I want?”

  “Trust me, Maddie, I’m not good company right now. I’m drunk again, and so are you, and I don’t think that I can…” He took another drink from the bottle. “You need someone to be gentle and sweet and good to you. And that’s not what I feel like doing right now.” He staggered away.