The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  Phoebe caressed Colin’s back, and Coeus’s attention snapped back to the two of them.

  “Okay, that’s enough.” Coeus stalked over and grabbed Phoebe by the shoulder.

  “Coeus,” she said. “Hi there. I was just having the most fascinating conversation with young Colin here.”

  Coeus yanked her away from Colin, wedging his body between Colin’s and Phoebe’s. “What are you up to, boy?”

  Colin shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Right.” Coeus narrowed his eyes.

  Phoebe pushed back around. “Gosh, Colin, I don’t see why Coeus is being so rude.”

  Coeus took her by the arm and dragged her away. “You’re coming with me.” Over his shoulder. “And you, Colic or whatever your name is, you’re not going to get away with this.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Agler, Sawyer, and Lute all sat in the engineering enclave with Coeus. It was late April. Almost two months had passed, and they were getting nowhere with the Colin problem. Though the men in Helicon could see that the boy was doing something to the women, the women were all blissfully ignorant of the situation. They didn’t want anything to happen to Colin, and they became fiercely protective of him if the men tried anything.

  All of the tween girls and some of the adult women now slept in a ring around Colin’s tent. If anyone tried to come and disturb him, they got downright violent, beating off anyone who got near with sticks and clubs.

  Any suggestion to them that their behavior wasn’t normal, and they promptly turned the tables on the men, telling them that they weren’t behaving rationally. Colin was just one man (they all called him a man, even though he was only fourteen), they said, and there was no reason to gang up on him.

  Colin himself was barely seen these days. He stayed in his tent most of the time, and his entourage of ladies brought him food and waited on him hand and foot.

  Coeus had tried everything he could think of. Now, he stood at the end of the table in the engineering enclave, palms resting on the surface. “It’s magic. Of that I’m sure of. But it’s some kind of very strong magic that can’t be undone and can’t be blocked.”

  “But how can that be?” said Lute. “You’re like one of the most powerful muses. You can make really strong magic.”

  “I can make muse magic,” said Coeus. “This is different.”

  “It’s a love spell, right?” said Sawyer.

  “I don’t know what it is,” said Coeus. “But I don’t think it originated in Helicon. This is something stronger than that. Older.”

  “Older than Helicon? Is that even possible?” said Agler.

  Coeus looked tired and haggard. “I don’t know how he got his hands on it, but I’d say it’s something ancient, something that originated with the gods. We do have gods flitting in and out of Helicon sometimes.”

  That was true. In just the past few years, both Dionysus and Loki had been there.

  “But I thought all the gods had disappeared,” said Sawyer. “Not just the Greek ones, but the Norse ones too. When we were in Valhalla last year, none of them were around anymore, and no one knew where they’d gone.”

  “Just because we don’t know where they are doesn’t mean they’re gone,” said Coeus. “And, at any rate, this could have been left behind somehow. Helicon is an ancient land itself. The gods used to come and go as they pleased here. They may have etched a set of instructions for a spell like this into a cliff in the woods somewhere. Maybe Colin stumbled on it. Or they may have cast a charm on a tree, and the first person to walk under its branches became absolutely irresistible to the opposite sex.”

  “Why would they do that?” said Agler.

  Coeus shrugged. “Same reason they did anything. Because they felt like it. Because it amused them. They weren’t especially nice, you know.”

  “But this doesn’t have anything to do with the fireworks,” said Lute. “Colin framed me. That’s connected somehow.”

  Coeus made a tent with his fingers and rested it against his chin. He didn’t respond.

  “You think I’m lying about that,” said Lute. “The only evidence you had was Colin’s testimony. Now it’s obvious that he’s less than trustworthy, and you still think he was telling the truth about me.”

  “I guess it just isn’t as important as solving this problem with Colin,” said Coeus. “We have to break this magic somehow, and I’m out of ideas.”

  There was a heavy silence, then, all of them looking around at each other.

  “So, you’re going to give up?” said Agler.

  “Of course not.” Coeus folded his arms over his chest. “But I did want to let you boys know what was going on. You’re the ones who brought this situation to my attention, and I thought you deserved to know where things stand. I’ll be meeting with the other male heads of enclaves over the coming days. Amongst all of us, perhaps we’ll come up with another plan.”

  “And you’ll let us know if we can help, right?” said Sawyer.

  “Yes,” said Coeus. “Now, off with you. It’s late, and I’m exhausted.”

  Sawyer, Agler, and Lute all trooped out of the engineering enclave. It was dark outside, and the stars twinkled overhead. Wordlessly, they all made their way back to the tweens and rebels enclave. There, a fire was burning in the pit, but the tweens sitting around it were all guys, and none of them were happy. There was no drinking, singing, or dancing.

  The women sat in three concentric circles around Colin’s tent. They had their hands folded in their laps and their expressions were stern.

  Agler saw them and grimaced. “All right, I’m going to my tent.”

  “Night, Agler,” said Sawyer.

  Lute gave him a half-hearted wave. None of them were in high spirits.

  Lute and Sawyer trudged back to their tents, which were set up next to each other in the woods.

  Sawyer paused outside his. “I guess we should go to sleep.”

  “Actually, I have a bottle of wine in my tent. You want a glass before bed? Maybe it’ll help us sleep.”

  “Sure,” said Sawyer. He followed Lute into his tent.

  The two sat down on the floor next to Lute’s hammock. Lute didn’t have any furniture. His tent was fairly spartan, containing only what he needed. Lute poured them each some wine into a few mugs he had. The mugs didn’t match.

  Sawyer didn’t care about the aesthetics, though. Besides, one look at Lute’s face was all he needed to feel like he was surrounded by beauty.

  Lute stretched. When he did, his shirt rode up a little, flashing his belly button at Sawyer. It was covered in downy, golden hair.

  Sawyer sucked in breath.

  Lute relaxed. He took a drink of wine. “So, it’s amazing nothing’s been done. I mean, I bet none of the guys in Helicon have gotten laid in a month.”

  Sawyer considered. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.” He sipped some of his wine. “Well, except the gay guys anyway.”

  Lute flashed him one of his perfect, white-toothed grins. “Yeah, except those guys.” He ran a finger around the edge of his mug. “So, can I ask you a question?”

  “Um, okay.”

  “When was the first time you were attracted to a guy?”

  Sawyer shifted, feeling uncomfortable. “You know, I don’t really know.”

  “Because you were always attracted to guys?”

  “No, because… there’s attraction, and then there’s attraction, you know?”

  Lute raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know if I do know.”

  Sawyer looked into his wine. “There’s only one guy I’ve ever been really attracted to.”

  “Really?” Lute grinned. “But, uh, you were with that Jack guy—Oh.” He laughed, leaning forward. “It is me, right?”

  Sawyer blushed. He was always blushing around Lute. “Yeah, it’s you.”

  “That’s kind of funny, because you’re the only guy I’ve really been attracted to.”

  He blushed harder.
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  “Still, I don’t get it. Because, you’ve been with guys before.”

  “Well, kind of,” said Sawyer. “I mean, Jack and I were together, but… I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘been with.’”

  “Ah.” Lute took a drink of wine. “I got you. So you guys weren’t, uh…” He raised his eyebrows and grinned impishly. “Intimate.”

  Gods. Would he never stop blushing? “I think I just mature really slow,” said Sawyer. “To be honest, I almost never thought of people that way. Like, I’d evaluate people, and I could recognize when a person was nice to look at, but I didn’t really feel something. I didn’t respond.”

  “Until me?”

  Sawyer nodded.

  “Whoa.” Lute scooted closer. His voice dropped several octaves. “That’s crazy.”

  Sawyer swallowed. He was always frightened of the times when they got this close. He’d often been frightened of closeness in other relationships—with both Jack and Nora—but that had been because he was actually frightened of being intimate. This fear was more that he’d be too intense for Lute. That the force of his desire would overwhelm the other guy. That Lute would run away, because it was too much.

  Lute peered into Sawyer’s eyes and then looked away.

  Sawyer’s heart picked up speed.

  Lute’s voice was quiet. He didn’t look at Sawyer while he spoke. “You know, there’s no one like you in Helicon. Maybe no one in the whole universe.”

  Sawyer didn’t know what to say.

  “The first time I saw you—like really saw you—was at May Day two years ago, when you were the May Queen. The way you moved when you danced. It was so sensual and alive and rich… I guess that sounds weird to say, but…” He glanced up. “You were like nature, you know. So beautiful that it makes it hurt inside somewhere. Like when you see a deer or a bird or a sunset, and you just want to touch it, but don’t know if you can…”

  Now Sawyer was even more speechless. No one had ever said anything like that to him. He shook his head.

  “Don’t.” Lute put his finger on Sawyer’s lips. “I don’t want you to deny it.”

  Sawyer closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of Lute’s finger against his bottom lip. They got close sometimes, but they never really did anything. He told himself it was because of Nora, but the truth was that he was shy. And Lute, even for all his bluster and confidence, seemed lost as to how to proceed either. When they were close, it was like being at the edge of a cresting wave, feeling all that potential energy surging through their every movement. But they never seemed to push through. The wave never crashed.

  “Lute,” he said, and his voice was hoarse, “you don’t know what it’s like to look at you.” He opened his eyes. “You’re perfect, you know that? If I was going to build a perfect man, I would make him look exactly like you.”

  “I’m boring,” said Lute. “You’re exotic.”

  “You’re gorgeous.” Sawyer turned his face, tilting it ever so slightly, trying out the angle, making sure his nose wouldn’t collide with Lute’s if they happened to get closer. His heart was banging against his rib cage now. He wanted to try this, to move forward, but he wasn’t sure if he could.

  Lute leaned closer, his gaze flicking from Sawyer’s lips, and then up to his eyes, a questioning look in them.

  Sawyer leaned in too. Now they were inches from each other, growing closer with each moment. He could feel the light caress of Lute’s breath. It smelled like the wine they were drinking, and it went through his body like a fuse, lighting him up. He felt tight and tense.

  Lute licked his lips.

  Both of them were still moving slowly together.

  Sawyer slammed his eyes shut. It was going to happen. At any second—

  A rustling outside the tent. It sounded like someone was moving past them. Sawyer opened his eyes, just to make sure the tent flap was closed. He didn’t want someone outside witnessing his and Lute’s first kiss.

  When he opened his eyes, Lute’s face loomed huge, obscuring his vision. Lute’s eyes were wide open.

  “Did you hear that?” Lute breathed.

  “Yeah,” Sawyer whispered.

  They both looked at the tent flap. It was open. Not completely open, but open just a little bit.

  And there was someone outside walking past.

  “Is that Colin?” said Lute, scrambling forward.

  Sawyer felt disappointed at the interruption but also relieved. He wanted Lute, but he was afraid too. Terrified. He followed the other guy. “Yeah, I think it is.”

  “Where do you think he’s going without his ladies?”

  It was the middle of the night. Clearly, Colin had waited until all the women were asleep before sneaking off on his own.

  “You think he just wants some privacy?” said Sawyer.

  “Yeah, when does the guy take a leak?” Lute laughed. He pushed aside the tent flap and crawled out.

  Sawyer went after him. “Should we see where he’s going?”

  Lute grinned, standing up. “Definitely.”

  Keeping their distance, the two began to creep after Colin, who was ahead of them in the dark. They were careful not to make noise, since they didn’t want to alert the other boy of their presence.

  Colin went through the woods, all the way through to the other side, and then he kept going on, over the grassy field. Sawyer had only been out this far a handful of times. If Colin kept going, he was going to run into the edge of Helicon.

  Sure enough, Colin didn’t stop.

  The land started to get rocky, boulders sticking up through the ground. If anything, Colin went faster now, hurrying around the rocks until he screeched to a stop right at the edge.

  Sawyer and Lute kept coming closer. Colin was ahead of them, a dark figure against the starry sky. Thinking about the fact that, over that edge, the sky went on forever and ever made Sawyer’s stomach feel queasy.

  Colin pulled something out of his shirt and then over his head. It was a necklace. A pendant of some kind, dangling from a chain. Colin held the pendant above his head, and then he hurled it down over the edge.

  Sawyer and Lute exchanged a glance. What was that? What had he just tossed away?

  Colin turned around.

  They dove behind one of the boulders, but it was too late.

  “Who’s there?” said Colin, his voice tremulous. “You can’t still want me, not anymore. I got rid of it.”

  Sawyer decided it was silly hiding, so he stood up.

  Colin was already a few steps away from the boulder anyway. He folded his arms over his chest. Now that he was closer, Sawyer thought that the boy might have been crying.

  “Um,” said Sawyer. “It’s me, Sawyer Snow.”

  Lute stood up too. “And Lute.” He glared at Colin.

  Colin cringed. “Oh, hi, Lute.”

  Lute advanced on the smaller guy. He grasped him by the collar. “You’re going to admit it, now. You’re going to tell the truth. You planted those fireworks in my tent. You know you did.”

  Colin braced himself, as if for a blow.

  “Let go of him,” said Sawyer.

  Lute narrowed his eyes. He didn’t let go.

  “Come on, Lute. You know that the council will flip their lids if you actually hurt him.”

  “Who said I was going to hurt him?” said Lute.

  “You-you’re not?” Colin opened one of his eyes.

  Lute let go of him, pushing him away in disgust.

  Colin stumbled, but managed to regain his balance.

  “What did you throw over the side?” said Sawyer.

  Colin looked back and forth between the two of them. “I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

  “What was that pendant?”

  “You have no idea what it’s like. When she told me about it, I thought it would be great. Who doesn’t want to be irresistible to the opposite sex?” He looked at the two of them again. “Well, maybe not you guys. I don’t know. Are you two like a couple these days o
r are you just friends, because no one can tell.”

  Lute took a step forward. “You set me up. Don’t deny it.”

  “She said it would be a minimal punishment,” said Colin. “And she was right. They only made you wash dishes.”

  “Who’s ‘she’?” said Sawyer.

  Colin rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know who she was. She was pretty, and I met her out in the woods one day. And she just wanted me to set off the fireworks at the Winter Ball.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.” Colin shrugged. “I didn’t ask. She said she’d give me a pendant that would make every woman who saw me want me. I thought it sounded like a great idea. I mean, most people would. And it was only fireworks. She said they were harmless.”

  “But who was she?” said Sawyer. Coeus had said something about a god or goddess.

  “She didn’t tell me her name,” said Colin. “She was really pretty, and she was kind of… I don’t know, almost sparkly.”

  “Probably a goddess, like Coeus said,” said Lute. “Making mischief for her own pleasure.”

  Sawyer sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You don’t know who she was at all?”

  Colin shook his head. “No. I did what she wanted, but then I didn’t want to get caught for setting off the fireworks. So, I put them in your tent.”

  “And why did you have that alibi?” said Sawyer. “Why did everyone see you?”

  “All I had to do was light the fuse,” said Colin. “After that, I pretended to be afraid, like everyone else was.”

  “I knew you set me up.” Lute put his finger in Colin’s face. “I knew it.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Colin. “It wasn’t worth it, anyway. At first, it seemed really neat having all those girls fawning over me. But then it just started to feel like a trap. They were everywhere. I couldn’t get away from them. And they never had anything interesting to say. All they would do is agree with everything I said. It was horrible. I started to feel like a prisoner. I hate to get rid of that pendant. I did.”

  “Well, it’s almost too bad you did,” said Sawyer.

  “Trust me, you don’t want it,” said Colin.

  “Of course not. But it would have been nice if Coeus could have had a chance to look at it,” said Sawyer. “Then we might have known which goddess it was. After all, they’ve all disappeared. It would be nice to know which of them was still alive and kicking.”