The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  “I don’t think the dimension device was ever completed,” said Nora. “Besides, we were a little bit busy last year. You remember. Everyone was sick?”

  “It just seems to me,” said Maddie, “that no one cares about Daryl at all.”

  “No one except you, you mean,” said Nora. She scrutinized her friend. She supposed it was probably difficult for Maddie, now that she thought about it. After losing Daryl the way that she did, having him return like this must be bewildering. But that didn’t give Maddie an excuse to ignore the larger problem at hand, which was the fact that Owen had made contact. Something bad was happening, or it was about to happen, and Nora needed to know what to do. She needed her friends to help her out. That was what Maddie and Sawyer always did for her.

  “We care about Daryl,” said Sawyer. “We’re happy he’s back.”

  “Can we focus on Owen first, please?” said Nora. “I need to know whether it’s a good idea or not to ignore him.”

  “Of course it’s a good idea to ignore him,” said Sawyer. “Everything out of that boy’s mouth is a lie. He’s done nothing but hurt you. Forget about him.”

  “God, Nora. Way to be self-centered.” Maddie rolled her eyes.

  Nora pressed her lips together into a firm line. “That’s not fair.”

  Maddie didn’t say anything. She just stared back out to the distance.

  “Look, forget about Owen,” said Sawyer. “Trust me.”

  “Yeah, forget about Owen. He’s not here. Daryl is.” Maddie folded her arms over her chest.

  Nora sighed. “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling, Maddie, but this stuff with Owen is important.”

  “You mean this stuff with you is important.” Maddie got up she pushed past the other two and headed for the spiral staircase that wound around the tree to the ground.

  Nora rested her head against the trunk of the tree. So much for Maddie’s help.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Hey, Nora, are you in there?” came a voice from outside of her tent.

  Nora had been lying on her hammock holding Catling. She spilled the cat-duck off her lap and headed for the door to the tent. She pulled the flap aside. Agler was out there. He rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish.

  “What’s up?” she said.

  He hesitated. Then he took a breath, as if he were about to say something, but nothing came out.

  “It’s about Maddie, isn’t it?”

  His shoulders slumped. He nodded.

  “Come in.” She held open the tent flap for him to enter.

  He pushed his way inside. She gestured for him to sit down on her couch, and he did. She joined him.

  “I want to be understanding,” Agler said. “I know she’s going through a lot. But ever since Daryl told her that she looked great, she’s been starving herself even worse. You and I both know that she never really recovered, even though she claimed that she did. I can deal with her being confused about our relationship. I can even deal with that guy complimenting her. It makes me jealous, but that’s normal. What I can’t deal with, is my girlfriend refusing to eat food. I feel like I’m the only thing that standing between her and starvation. It’s too much pressure.”

  “Daryl said what?”

  “He told her she looked great now that she lost weight.”

  “That jerk.” Nora seethed. That was pretty much the worst thing that Daryl could have said. No wonder Maddie was so fixated on him now. She didn’t need any kind of encouragement. “I can’t believe he said that.”

  Agler buried his head in his hands. “I’m sorry I came to you about it. It’s just that I’m worried about her, and when she doesn’t speak to me I know she speaks to you.”

  Nora stood up from the couch. “Let’s go talk to Daryl. I don’t think he understands the situation, and I want him to know exactly what it is that he’s done.”

  * * *

  “Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Daryl was saying.

  Nora glared at him. “I don’t know. Maybe if you looked at her, because she doesn’t look ‘great.’ She’s way too thin, and you’re making it worse.”

  They were standing outside Daryl’s tent. Nora had thought telling him off was going to be much more satisfying, but Daryl just looked sort of tired and a little bit haggard.

  Daryl peered around Nora at Agler. “So, you’re with Maddie now? Didn’t you have a thing with Nora before?”

  “That is not the point,” said Nora. “Not the point at all.”

  “Right,” said Daryl. “What is the point, then? You want me to go find her and tell her that I don’t think she looks good? Take back my compliment?”

  “Maybe,” said Agler, sounding sullen.

  “Of course not,” said Nora. “Look, all we’re saying is that you should know that Maddie’s not, well, healthy these days.”

  “Don’t encourage her,” said Agler. “She eats very little as it is, and if she eats even less, she could do real damage to herself.”

  Daryl dragged a hand over his face. “Well, if it’s really that serious, why aren’t you doing anything about it?”

  “Like doing what?” said Nora. “It’s not like they have mental health doctors here. We’re trying to be there for her the best we can—”

  “That’s just like Helicon.” Daryl rolled his eyes. “Bad things happen, and you muses just pretend like they aren’t happening and throw a party.”

  “That’s not what we do,” said Nora. But actually, he was kind of right. She’d thought this before.

  “Maddie needs help. You better get it for her.”

  “How?” said Agler.

  “Well, have you even asked?” Daryl folded his arms over his chest. “Have you gone to anyone about this?”

  Nora looked back at Agler, feeling a little ashamed of herself. She was remembering what Maddie had said earlier in the tree house, about how no one had even tried to look for Daryl. Maybe they were all too caught up in their merriment to deal with real problems.

  “I think we should go to Phoebe,” said Daryl.

  “What can Phoebe do?” said Nora.

  “Well, she’s old and wise, and she’s the head of the council, and if anyone knows what can help Maddie, it’s probably her, don’t you think?” said Daryl.

  Maybe he had a point. Nora nodded. “Okay. Well, then, maybe tomorrow afternoon, we can—”

  “Are you listening to yourself?” said Daryl. “She’s starving herself to death, and you want to wait until tomorrow afternoon? Let’s go now.”

  “Now?” said Nora.

  “Now?” said Agler.

  Daryl glared at them.

  * * *

  Phoebe was sipping on a tall glass of something fruity. It had chunks of pineapples and oranges floating in it. She was reclining on the couch in her tent, listening as they explained the situation, pausing every now and then to nod sagely.

  Finally, they stopped.

  “So,” said Nora, “Daryl thought we should come to you. But if you don’t have any idea what to do about it, then we wouldn’t be surprised. We don’t know what we’re doing either.”

  “Actually,” said Phoebe, “there’s a bit of a precedent for this kind of behavior here in Helicon.”

  “There is?” Nora was shocked. She didn’t think most muses had problems like this.

  “Oh certainly,” said Phoebe. “Most muses can get very obsessive about their creations, and that’s good. We muses are made to create, and that’s the most important thing in the universe for us. It’s our reason for existing. So, cultivating a one-track mind toward creation is absolutely important and encouraged around here. The problem is that sometimes muses take that obsessive focus and turn it on something other than creating. And then things can become messy. We creative types can easily get… fixated on things.”

  Nora supposed all of that made sense, but she was still quite surprised. “Well, then I guess I wish we’d come to you sooner.”

  Phoebe shrugged. “You
probably didn’t think there was anything you could do, did you?”

  They shook their heads.

  “But there is something that can be done, isn’t there?” said Daryl.

  “Well…” Phoebe took a sip of her drink, thinking. “Maybe we could try sending her to Nysa.”

  “You’re going to send her away?” said Nora.

  “Where’s Nysa?” said Daryl.

  “How long would she have to be gone?” said Agler.

  Phoebe made a face at them over the top of her drink. “One at a time, please.”

  “Sorry,” they all said.

  “Nysa is the land of the nymphs,” said Phoebe. “The nymphs are the ones who raised Dionysus. He—and they—are icons of hedonism. Since Maddie needs to learn to give in and embrace the pleasure of eating again, perhaps a little sojourn with them would help. I know they’ve helped with somewhat similar situations.”

  “Wait,” said Agler. “Hedonism? What other stuff is she going to have to give in to besides food?”

  Phoebe chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry, Agler, I’m sure that whatever happens to her there, she’ll be happy to see you when she gets home.”

  Agler made a face.

  Nora wondered if being in a land of hedonism meant you had to participate in orgies and stuff. That was what Agler was worried about, she supposed.

  “Well,” said Phoebe. “Should I contact them and ask if they can take her for a bit?”

  “For how long?” said Daryl.

  “Oh, until she’s cured, I suppose. Maybe a few months.”

  Nora and the others all exchanged glances.

  “I don’t know,” said Agler. “But if it’ll really help her… well, I’d do anything not to have to worry about her all the time.”

  “Yeah,” said Nora. “We want to do what we can.”

  “All right, then,” said Phoebe. “I’ll let you know when I have something more concrete.”

  They all turned to leave her tent.

  “Nora,” said Phoebe. “Do you think you could stay for a minute?”

  Nora turned back. “Sure.”

  Phoebe waited until they were alone. “I suppose you agree that it would be folly to go and see Owen Asher?”

  Nora nodded.

  “However, I don’t think it would be wise to underestimate him,” said Phoebe. “We’ve done that before, and it’s had bad consequences. I think we need to have our eyes and our ears open.”

  “Yeah,” said Nora. “He could be planning something, trying to hurt Helicon.”

  “Exactly.” Phoebe got up off the couch and laid a hand on Nora’s shoulder. “You are so young, and it isn’t fair or right that such a heavy burden has been placed on you. But for whatever reason, he will always target you. And because of that, you’ve got to be prepared for what he might do. I just want you to know that you and your friends are quite impressive for young people your age. You’ve accomplished the extraordinary these last few years. I appreciate it, and Helicon does as well. I wish I could tell you that you’d be safe from now on, and that you’d never have to face danger again.”

  “But that’s not the truth,” said Nora.

  “No, probably not.”

  “Listen,” said Nora, “if Owen is trying to hurt Helicon, I want to help stop him. This place is my home, and I never want anything bad to happen here. So, if you ever need my help to protect this place, you just tell me what to do.”

  Phoebe gave her a shrewd look. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Maddie stared at the three of them with her mouth wide open. Nora, Agler, and Daryl had all just trooped into her tent and dropped this bomb on her, and she wasn’t even sure how to respond.

  “It’s for your own good,” said Nora.

  “It won’t be forever,” said Agler.

  “Phoebe says you’ll leave in two days,” said Daryl.

  Maddie was shaking. She could not believe this. These were supposed to be her friends, and they had betrayed her. “I won’t,” she said. “I won’t go.”

  “Maddie, you know you’re not having any luck fighting this on your own,” said Nora.

  “You can’t just ship me off someplace without even asking my permission,” said Maddie. “Who do you guys think you are, anyway?”

  “We’re the people who care about you,” said Agler. “The people who love you.”

  Oh, no, he hadn’t just said that. He hadn’t said “love,” when the two of them weren’t even quite to the place where they were saying that to each other. He didn’t get to pull that word out now, in the middle of this horrible thing. This wasn’t how she wanted him to say that he loved her.

  “Fuck you, Agler Thorn,” she said. “You and I are breaking up.”

  Agler grimaced. He looked as if he’d been punched in the stomach.

  She didn’t care. “I want you all out of my tent.”

  Nora stepped forward. “Maddie, I know this is hard—”

  “Out!” Maddie pointed at the tent flap. When none of them even made a move, she took Nora by the shoulders and forcibly began pushing her friend out of the tent.

  Nora shoved her away. “Hey. That’s not cool.”

  Maddie felt a little winded. She’d been noticing that she got more tired more easily when she was dancing too, but this wasn’t the time to think about that. “Get out,” she growled.

  “Please, just—”

  “No,” she said.

  Nora and Agler moved out of the tent.

  Daryl didn’t move.

  She rounded on him. “You too. You had no right to intrude into this. You don’t even know what’s going on with me. You’ve been gone, and you’re freaking clueless.”

  “I’ll leave in a minute,” said Daryl. “First, I just want to say something.”

  “No. Get out. I don’t want to hear it.” She tried to shove him too, but she couldn’t make him budge.

  “I thought about you when I was stuck in the Mayan underworld,” he said. “I told you that, right? But it was more than just thinking about you. I had this whole imaginary life with you. I used to think about what it would be like when I got back to Helicon. I’d think about what you and I would do together, the time we’d spend together, how happy I’d make you.”

  “So, you decided to scheme with my friends behind my back to get rid of me the minute you got back instead? Or were you just annoyed that I had a new boyfriend and you wanted revenge?”

  “No, of course not. But when I thought about you, when I daydreamed about you, you were healthy. You weren’t dealing with some kind of obsessive demon, trying to lose weight you don’t need to lose.”

  “You don’t know anything about—”

  “Let me finish,” he said. “Now, I know you moved on, and I don’t blame you for that. But I also don’t want to let go of my dream. So, I want you to be the best you can be, Maddie. And when you return to Helicon, after all of this, I’m going to be here, and I’m going to be fighting to get you back.”

  “Don’t bother. I hate you right now.”

  “That’s all I had to say.” He left the tent.

  Maddie grabbed handfuls of her hair and yanked. This couldn’t be happening.

  * * *

  But apparently, it was happening. No matter how hard she tried to protest, no one seemed to see her side of it. And everyone she talked to, even people she hadn’t officially explained it all to before, like Sawyer and Lute, seemed to be against her.

  “You really have taken it too far,” said Sawyer.

  “Yeah, you’d look better with some meat on your bones,” said Lute.

  In desperation, she’d gone to her parents, because they still had to have some say over what happened to her, even if she avoided them as much as possible. She knew that her mother had said that she looked good in March, and she’d been proud of her, so she hoped that her parents would somehow stop this crazy idea of sending her off to Nysa.

  She approached the tent where she ha
d grown up. Like most big family tents here in the food enclave, the tent was sprawling, taking up a lot of space. It was made of patched blue and green fabric, and it had several spires. In the center, there was a round space open to the sky. That was where her father’s wood fire oven was kept. Her father loved cooking on it.

  When Maddie was a small girl, she remembered that she had loved this tent. Everything about being young in Helicon had been wonderful. Sure, her parents had made a lot of delicious food and they had encouraged her to eat as much of it as she liked. At the time, it hadn’t bothered her. It was only as she got older that she started to notice the other girls around her. She began to realize that she didn’t look like them. They were small and lithe. Back then, she was round and rotund.

  She thought that losing weight would free her from feeling inadequate. But it really hadn’t worked out that way. Even now, when she was the thinnest she’d ever been, she felt more inadequate than ever.

  She didn’t bother to announce herself. She just went right into the tent. She looked around at her living room and the orange cat on the sofa. That was the family pet. His name was Mittens, and she used to love scratching him under his chin. She stormed through the rooms until she found her parents. Surprise, surprise. They were gathered around the wood fire oven. Her father was baking bread. That was basically his favorite thing to do.

  He looked up and saw her. A huge smile broke out over his features. But there was something sad there too. Something in his eyes. He came over to her and enfolded her in a huge hug. “Hello Maddiekins,” he said into her ear.

  Suddenly, Maddie felt like crying. Something about being held this way by her father made her feel like a tiny little girl. And coupled with the fact that she was being kicked out of her own home and sent away to live with nymphs, she felt helpless and young and out of control.

  But before she could say anything, her mother was hugging her too. That was a little strange. Usually, her father was the most demonstrative of the two of them.

  “Oh, my poor sweet Maddie,” said her mother. “You just tried a little bit too hard.”

  Maddie extricated herself from her parents arms. “I came to tell you guys that Phoebe and my friends are all trying to send me away.”