The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  He clutched her. “No, stay with me.”

  “I’ve got to go see Phoebe,” said Maddie. “Maybe if you’re still awake when I get back. But we both know you’re going to pass out.” She wasn’t accusing him, just gently teasing.

  “Phoebe?” Agler drew his eyebrows together. “Why do you have to see Phoebe?”

  “It’s bad,” said Nora. “But everything’s okay for now. And you’re too drunk to do anything, so just head back to your hammock. Maddie wanted to see you first, though.”

  “I’m not that drunk.” Agler tried to gesture emphatically, but it just caused him to lose his balance and end up clinging to Maddie to stay upright.

  Maddie and Nora both laughed.

  “Okay, maybe I’m drunk.” Agler sighed. “But if it’s bad, I want to help.”

  Maddie kissed his forehead again. “Just go back to sleep, okay?”

  He sighed. “Um, yeah. Maybe that’s a good idea.” He stumbled back in the direction of his tent.

  “Maddie?” said a voice.

  Agler stiffened and straightened up without any help. He recognized that voice. It was Daryl. Damn it, he’d almost forgotten about that guy.

  But Maddie hadn’t. “Daryl?”

  Daryl hurried over and embraced her. “So glad you’re back.”

  Maddie was hugging that guy back.

  Agler cleared his throat.

  Maddie pulled away, looking back at him guiltily.

  “On second thought, I’m feeling very sober,” said Agler.

  Maddie came back over to him. “Come on, don’t be like that.”

  Agler folded his arms over his chest.

  “How long have you been back?” said Daryl.

  “We’re going to see Phoebe,” said Agler.

  “What?” said Daryl. “Well, I’ll come too.”

  Maddie looked back and forth between the two of them. “Um, you know what? I think Nora and I have got this. So, maybe it would be better if it was just her and me.”

  “But it’s no problem,” said Daryl.

  “Thanks, Daryl, but we’re fine,” said Nora, linking arms with Maddie, and drawing her away from the two guys protectively.

  Agler didn’t like that. “Hey, I want to come.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” said Maddie. She and Nora hurried off.

  Agler looked Daryl up and down.

  Daryl raised his eyebrows. “So, you’ve had a lot to drink.”

  “Don’t.” Agler put his finger in the other guy’s face. “She’s mine.”

  Daryl held both of his hands. “You know what? You’re trashed, so let’s just let it go.”

  “I know you went through hell stranded in some weird underworld or whatever, but Maddie and I have been through a lot together. Whatever you had with her? It’s not what she and I have. So, you should really just back off.”

  Daryl nodded slowly. “Like I said, I’m going to let this go. But, listen.” He leaned forward. “You have no idea what Maddie and I had together, so don’t act like you do.” He pulled back, turned around, and started to walk away.

  Agler balled his hands into fists. He had a strong urge to run after the guy, grab him by the shoulder and just start wailing on him. But fighting—physical fighting—was really frowned on in Helicon, and he knew he shouldn’t do it. He’d get in deep shit over it. So, he just watched Daryl walk away darkly.

  When he got back into his tent, he was seized with panic. What if Maddie picked that guy over him?

  He couldn’t lose Maddie. He just couldn’t.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sawyer looked down at his hands, which were enlaced with Lute’s. The two of them were walking back to their tents late that night. Most of the celebration had wound down, although there were still pockets of muses awake and laughing together. The main stage and the electric music was done for the night, but there were still some people playing acoustically, still some singing. Sawyer knew that some of the muses would be up until the dawn. Parties were taken pretty seriously here in Helicon.

  But he was yawning and ready to go to sleep, hopefully with his body wrapped around Lute’s, the two of them snug in one hammock, limbs intertwined.

  When they reached the tent, Lute raised an eyebrow. “My tent or yours?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” said Sawyer, tugging him into his own tent.

  Inside, they kissed.

  “I don’t know if I should even bring up earlier,” whispered Lute. “I don’t want us to argue again.”

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer. “We should have a talk at some point. Not an argument. A real talk.”

  “I agree,” said Lute. “You know that I love you, don’t you?”

  Sawyer’s chest felt tight. They hadn’t said that yet. “I love you too.”

  They kissed again.

  “I shouldn’t have said what I said,” said Lute. “I know you’re not a girl. I know you’re so much more than a gender. I never think of you as that.”

  “Lute, I just want to make you happy. But I don’t know if I—”

  “No, it’s my fault,” said Lute. “I wanted you to prove how much you loved me. That’s why I was pushing for us to go further. But I realized I don’t need that. When I’m with you, I feel how special this is, what we have. That’s enough for me.”

  “I’m just not… I’m not saying I never want to do that with you, but I am saying that I don’t think it will be any time soon. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Lute stroked his face. “Look, I was being insecure. I talked to Nora. She made me see it differently.”

  Sawyer’s eyes widened. “You told Nora about this?”

  Lute laughed. “Well, I maybe glossed over the details. The point is, I realize that we have something special together. Which is all I wanted in the first place.”

  Sawyer smiled. “This is special.”

  They kissed again.

  Sawyer felt his happiness return, a balloon soaring back towards the heavens. Everything was going to be okay.

  * * *

  Nora sawed at her omelet. She had already cut off a piece, but now she was cutting it into smaller pieces. “Look, Owen said that Helicon was in danger, that he wanted to warn us. Maybe he meant Nimue was the danger.” She kept cutting at the omelet until she realized that the behavior was a little extreme. Then she set down her fork.

  Maddie sat opposite her, carefully cutting pieces off of her omelet and methodically putting them into her mouth. She seemed very focused on her food.

  They were all at breakfast, and Nora had gathered everyone together. Sawyer and Lute, Agler and Maddie, even Daryl. She needed the whole team to talk about this.

  “Well, what did Phoebe say?” said Sawyer.

  “We didn’t really talk about Owen,” said Nora. But she hadn’t been able to think of anything else. She’d almost gone to see him on Halloween night, but she’d been interrupted. Now she couldn’t get back into the mundane world on her own.

  “Well, of course not,” said Agler. “The focus had to be on Maddie. She faced down with Nimue herself.”

  “But this does have to do with Owen,” said Daryl. “I can see why Nora’s concerned.”

  “Thanks, Daryl,” said Nora.

  Agler cast a withering glance at Daryl. “Sure, you’re focused on Owen, but Maddie’s the most important thing to me.”

  Daryl glared at him. “I’m not saying that Maddie isn’t important to me. I’m just talking about Owen, not Maddie.”

  “The fact that Owen even occurs to you proves that she’s not that important,” said Agler. “You’re hearing this, right, Maddie? You’re hearing what he’s saying?”

  Maddie was chewing her omelet. She seemed to chew for a very long time since she got back from the nymphs. But she glared at Agler.

  “Maddie’s fine,” said Nora. “We’re all glad of that. But she doesn’t know Nimue’s exact plans.”

  Maddie swallowed her food. “Well, I do know that she was able to get into He
licon in the winter. She said that her energy signature was so low that no one could track her. I guess it stopped the exile from working or something.”

  “Yeah, that’s crazy,” spoke up Lute. “After all this time, the person who started that insanity with Colin was Nimue.”

  “Right?” said Maddie. “None of us even suspected her.”

  “That’s why I want to talk,” said Nora. “We’re becoming complacent. Most other years, we’ve known something was wrong, but everyone else has denied this. This year, we were in denial too. Nimue’s been attacking us, and we haven’t even noticed.”

  Agler threw his arm around Maddie. “Don’t worry, babe. If she tries to hurt you again, I’ll totally protect you.”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Agler.”

  He kissed her on the temple. “Just because I care about you, Maddie.” But he was staring at Daryl while he was kissing her.

  Daryl pressed his lips together.

  “The thing is,” said Nora, “I really think we have to consider what Owen was saying.”

  “There’s no one else who would be better for you than me,” said Agler. “No one in all of Helicon.”

  “You know,” said Daryl, “instead of stifling the poor girl, maybe you could give her a chance to try to figure out what it is she wants.”

  Agler looked around, feigning confusion. “Are you talking to me?”

  “You know I am,” said Daryl. “You’re acting like a possessive asshole. Frankly, I don’t see why Maddie’s putting up with it.”

  “Stop it,” said Maddie. “Both of you just stop it.”

  “About Owen,” said Nora. “I know he’s not on our side. He’s probably against us. But I also know that he hates Nimue. Hates her with a fiery passion. And he would do anything to stop her. He wants her dead. I’m not proposing that it’s a good idea to kill people or anything. I know you don’t do that in Helicon. But, I mean, it wouldn’t be so terrible if Nimue died. She’s outlived her normal life span, after all, and she’s really not a very nice person.”

  “Wait a second,” said Sawyer. “You brought us here so we could talk about killing Nimue?”

  “No,” said Nora. “I want to talk about Owen. I was supposed to go see him on Halloween, but I missed my chance.”

  “Nora,” said Sawyer, “you weren’t planning on going to the mundane world on Halloween, were you?”

  “Maybe,” she said. “You know, I just figured that if Owen knew something, then I wanted to know what it was.”

  “By yourself?” said Sawyer.

  “I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. You’ve already only got nine fingers.”

  Sawyer clenched his hands together, hiding his missing finger.

  “I’m glad you didn’t go,” said Daryl. “Owen’s dangerous.”

  “I know that,” said Nora, “but—”

  “I’m not afraid of Owen,” said Agler. “Out of all you here, I’m the only one who ever got in a fistfight with him. And I won, mind you.” He turned to Maddie. “You think Daryl’s ever done anything like that?”

  “He wanted you to win,” said Daryl. “He manipulated you and got you in trouble with Phoebe. Surely you remember that. It was all an act.”

  “You saying I couldn’t beat him?”

  “Well, he is half-god,” said Daryl. “And he’s, you know, evil.”

  “All I’m saying is that I’m not afraid to try,” said Agler. “You, on the other hand, are just sounding like a weakling. Like a coward.”

  Daryl’s jaw twitched. “You know, you’re very immature, Agler Thorn. Maybe it’s because I spent decades locked in an empty dimension that I’ve outgrown your stupid insults, but whatever the case, if you think that these sorts of taunts are going to get under my skin, you’re sorely mistaken.”

  Agler laughed. “Oh, I’ve already gotten under your skin, Daryl. What I want to know is what it’s going to take to get you to leave my girlfriend alone?”

  Maddie stood up from the table, banging both her hands down. The plates all rattled.

  Agler and Daryl got quiet, looking up at her.

  “Both of you, shut up,” she said. “I don’t want to see either of you, you got that?” She stormed off.

  Nora rubbed her temples. “About Owen?” she said.

  But she’d clearly lost both Agler and Daryl, who were wearing stunned expressions on their faces as they stared after Maddie.

  “Owen’s bad news,” said Sawyer.

  Nora sighed. Forget it. She shoved bites of omelet into her mouth. Forget all of it.

  * * *

  Maddie was up in the tree house, on one of the levels with a big, sagging patched couch. It had obviously been in someone’s tent for a while until they decided to discard it. She curled up on it. It wasn’t very comfortable, but she liked being up here, away from everything in Helicon. She could look down on her home, and everything seemed small and beautiful. There was no conflict at all.

  She’d been through so much in the past few months, and she’d thought that when she got back to Helicon, everything would be okay again. Without the threat of Nimue, she could relax again. But Nimue was still out there, so she couldn’t really relax. And this stuff with Agler and Daryl was really stressful. She’d hardly given Daryl much thought when she’d been away. She’d missed Agler tons. Missed falling asleep with him, missed his arms around her, his lips on hers. But she was so used to Daryl being gone that she’d practically forgotten all about him and the crazy wrinkle he’d caused in her life.

  Now Agler was being an ass, and she found that half the time, she was wondering why she had even missed him. If he was going to be like this, she didn’t know if she wanted to be around him or not.

  “Hey,” said a voice.

  Maddie raised her head and saw that Nora was making her way over. “Hey,” she said. She sat up, making room for her friend on the couch.

  Nora sat down. “How are you?”

  Maddie heaved a huge sigh.

  Nora laughed. “That good, huh?”

  “Boys are stupid,” said Maddie.

  “Sometimes,” said Nora. “Sometimes, they really are.”

  The two sat in silence for several minutes, staring out at the scenery of Helicon together.

  Finally, Maddie spoke up. “You remember how last year I was angry with you because I said that all the guys were into you?”

  “I might have a vague memory of that.”

  “Well, I’m sorry about that. If I’d had any idea what it was like back then, I would have just pitied you.”

  Nora laughed. “Oh, I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. Not really.”

  Maddie groaned. “I could just strangle Agler, I swear. I don’t see why he has to be such a giant dick.”

  “So, you still have feelings for Daryl, then?”

  “No.” She considered. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  Nora laughed again. “Good that it’s all so clear for you.”

  “Oh, as crystal.” Maddie sat forward and rested her head in her hands. “See, the thing is, I don’t know how I should feel. Because if Daryl had come back in March of last year, I would have been overjoyed, you know? I missed him so much. He was so important to me.”

  “Of course he was.”

  “But…”

  “But it’s past tense, right? He was important to you.”

  “Yeah.” Maddie nodded. “I guess I just feel guilty about that. Like I owe Daryl for all that time he was suffering. He was separated from me for all that time, and he was thinking of me, wishing to get back to me. And I was banging Agler, you know?” She made a face.

  “Oh, Maddie, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Nora took her friend’s hands. “You grieved for Daryl for a long time. But a person can’t grieve forever.”

  “Shouldn’t they?”

  “No.” Nora shook her head. “That’s not how it works. You lost Daryl, and you were sad, but you moved on.”

  “I just feel like I shouldn�
��t have.”

  “But you did,” said Nora. “Trust me, Daryl wouldn’t want you to pretend. If you really care about Agler, you need to be with Agler, not Daryl. And Daryl would want that too.”

  “No, he wouldn’t.”

  “He would,” said Nora. “Maybe he wouldn’t realize it exactly, but it’s true. This Halloween, I was talking to Lute, and I found out just how much he cares about Sawyer. He worships him. He has this intense adoration that isn’t like the way I loved Sawyer. And I realized that I’d rather Sawyer have that. Because I still love him, and I want him to be happy. Lute can make him happier than I ever could. If Daryl really cares about you, he’ll feel the same way.”

  Maddie considered. She was pretty sure that what her friend was saying was true. “I need to talk to both of them, don’t I?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Except for the fact that they’re both being total idiots right now, and I don’t particularly want to be around either one of them.”

  Nora giggled. “Well, there is that.”

  “Anyway, I don’t think I’m gonna talk to either of them for a while,” said Maddie.

  “I don’t blame you,” said Nora.

  “Why don’t you blame her?” said another voice.

  Both girls turned to see who was speaking. It was Sawyer. He traipsed over to them. “Scoot over.”

  Maddie did so, and Nora followed suit. Sawyer sat down.

  “You’re all by yourself? No Lute?”

  “I convinced Lute that we needed girl time,” said Sawyer. “So seriously, why don’t you blame her?”

  “Oh,” said Nora, “Maddie was just saying that she was really annoyed with both Agler and Daryl. And that she wasn’t going to talk to either of them for a while. I told her I didn’t blame her.”

  Sawyer laughed. “Yeah that’s a mess, all right. I was coming up here to comfort you, Maddie. But it sounds like you’ve already come up with a plan of action.”

  Maddie grinned at him. “I can use all the comfort I can get. Talking to Nora helped me understand what I want to do, though. I want to be with Agler. I still care about Daryl, but it’s not the same. Agler and I have been through so much. He’s the one I missed when I was away with the nymphs, and he’s the one I want to be with.”