The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer, “I’m pretty sure both of them know that.”

  “Well, Agler sure isn’t acting like he knows that,” said Maddie. “I want to punch him in the nose, honestly.”

  Both Nora and Sawyer laughed. The three friends all grinned at each other. Maddie felt a surge of emotion. She threw her arms around Nora, hugging her tightly. Then she went to Sawyer and hugged him too. “You guys. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “We don’t know what we do without you either,” said Nora. “We missed you while you were gone.”

  “Yeah it’s not the same without you here,” said Sawyer.

  “I’m sorry I was such a witch before. I know you guys were only sending me to the nymphs for my own good.”

  Nora cocked her head. “I know all that crazy stuff happened with Nimue, but do you really feel like you got any help?”

  “I can eat again,” said Maddie. “I’m not afraid of it. I had to get over that. It was the only way to get the nymphs enough power to stop.”

  “We just want you to be healthy,” said Sawyer.

  “Me too,” said Maddie. “And I think I’m going to be. But I think we have to focus on Nimue right now. She’s still a danger to Helicon. It’s not going to matter what I’m eating or not if I don’t have a place to live. Nimue wants to drain all of the power from the muses, all of the power from Helicon, and use it all for her own purposes.”

  “You’re right,” said Sawyer. “Something’s got to be done about it. But you went to see Phoebe, right? How did she react?”

  “You know how Phoebe is,” said Nora. “She’s not one to take initiative. None of the muses are. We’ve been at this for four years now. I think we all know that if we want to get something done, we have to do it ourselves.”

  “Well now that we’re away from Agler and Daryl,” said Maddie, “maybe we can actually get something done.”

  Nora looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. She took a deep breath.

  “Oh no,” said Sawyer, “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want you to say it.”

  “I’ve got to see Owen,” said Nora.

  “Bad idea,” said Sawyer. “Very bad idea.”

  “I’m not saying that it’s the safest idea ever,” said Nora. “But like I said, we know that Owen hates Nimue. I’m willing to wager that he hates her more than he wants me.”

  “I don’t think Owen wants anything more than he wants you,” said Sawyer. His tone was rueful. “Two years back, he went through all of that trouble, getting that message written in the snow, sending you dead flowers, stealing our dresses. It was all about you.”

  Maddie leaned forward. “But Nimue took away his obsession, right? So it’s possible he doesn’t want Nora at all, anymore. He didn’t try anything last year.”

  “But he sent Daryl back to give Nora a message this year,” said Sawyer. “I just think it’s a very bad risk.”

  “I know that,” said Nora. “But I have to see him. I have to know what he knows. I’m going to find a way back to the mundane world, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

  Sawyer groaned. “I knew you were going to say that.”

  “I know you don’t like it, Sawyer,” said Nora. “Of all of us, you have more reason than anyone to stay away from him. He took over your brain and forced you to cut off a piece of your body.”

  “Hey,” said Maddie. “He tried to make me kill myself once.” She didn’t quite remember it, because she’d been under Owen’s thrall at the time. When it was happening, it had seemed like the most normal thing on earth. It was only in retrospect that she could look at it with the horror that the situation deserved.

  “Oh, I forgot about that,” said Nora. She made a face. “I guess you have a good reason to stay away from him too. Hell, we all have good reasons to stay away from him. But I’m still going to do it. So don’t try to stop me.”

  Sawyer sighed. “As if we could ever stop you from doing anything you put your mind to.”

  “Yeah, we aren’t that stupid,” said Maddie.

  “If you’re going to see him, I’m going with you,” said Sawyer.

  “Me too,” said Maddie. “The three of us together, just like old times.”

  Nora looked back and forth between the two of them. “Are you sure?”

  “You can count on us,” said Sawyer.

  “Well, you can’t tell anyone about this,” said Nora. “Not Agler. Not Lute. I know that will be tough—”

  “No,” said Sawyer. “You’re right. I don’t want to put him in danger.”

  Nora turned to Maddie. “And Agler? I know he came with us when we went to Valhalla, but you have to see that it would be no good to have him there and Owen there at the same time.”

  Maddie considered. Then she nodded. “I see what you’re saying. Besides, I don’t plan on speaking to him for a while, so it probably won’t be a problem.”

  They all cracked wan smiles. Maddie reached out and grabbed one of Nora’s hands and one of Sawyer’s hands. They sat there, holding onto each other, looking into each other’s eyes.

  “Well,” said Sawyer, “what are we waiting for? If we’re going to figure out how to get into the mundane world, then we’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”

  “Actually,” said Nora, “I had an idea about that.”

  * * *

  “Well, well,” said Coeus, “I haven’t seen you guys in a while.”

  “We know,” said Nora, smiling. “And we feel just awful about it. After all, we used to help you out here in the engineering enclave all the time. But we’ve been preoccupied this year.”

  “Everyone’s preoccupied,” said Coeus. “Besides, you guys aren’t inspired to be engineers, are you? There’s no reason you should be here.”

  “Well,” said Sawyer, “maybe not, but I remember what you told us once, about how it’s good to use your creativity to help other people, even if it’s not exactly what you want to do.”

  “Yeah,” said Maddie, “and the engineering enclave does so much for Helicon, and they hardly ever get thanked for it.”

  “This sounds like the last speech I made to the council,” said Coeus, eyeing them. “You know, I have to say that I’m glad that at least someone hears what I’ve been saying all this time.”

  “Oh, we hear you,” said Sawyer.

  “Yeah,” said Maddie. “We do. That’s why we’re here to help.”

  “Right,” said Nora, “especially with any projects that you’ve been trying to get finished for a long time, but just don’t have the manpower for.”

  “Uh huh,” said Sawyer. “Like… you know, the dimension device?”

  Coeus narrowed his eyes. “I see what you three are up to now.”

  Nora blanched. He did? She knew they weren’t being overly sneaky here, but she didn’t think he’d guess so quickly.

  “You do?” Maddie made a face.

  “Sure,” said Coeus. “You guys are freaked out about Nimue, and you know that the dimension device is one solid weapon we could use against her. Imagine trapping Nimue in that Mayan underworld where Daryl was kept captive. I think that would be a perfect place for her.”

  “Well, that’s true,” said Nora. So, he hadn’t exactly figured out what they were up to. It was kind of close, though. But he didn’t sound upset by it, so that was a plus.

  “And—considering you three are always up for trying to get your hands dirty and to make things happen—you came here to help out,” said Coeus.

  “Well… um… we really do want to help the engineering enclave and help Helicon,” said Maddie.

  “It’s okay,” said Coeus. “You don’t have to try to hide it. The truth is, I think it’s a fabulous idea, and I could definitely use your help. In fact, if the three of you work hard on this thing, and I can help out from time to time if I’m not busy, I bet we could have it fully functional by the Harvest Ball.”

  “The Harvest Ball?” said Nora. “So long f
rom now.” She’d really wanted to get to Owen sooner, darn it.

  “I think that’s actually pretty quick,” said Coeus. “It’s less than a month.”

  “Of course it’s quick,” said Sawyer. “And we’ll be happy to get started right away. Just show us what needs to be done.”

  “Sure thing,” said Coeus. “Follow me.”

  He led them back into a big tent in the engineering enclave. They’d been back here before, when they were helping to work on the last dimension device—the one that had been stolen by Owen. The back room was full of large work tables, and the walls were lined with tools and nails and bolts and things.

  Coeus took a big box off of one of the shelves and dumped the contents on the table. What tumbled out were a lot of tiny pieces and screws.

  “Okay,” he said. “Well, the first thing we’ve got to do is assemble it.”

  Nora sighed.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Nora couldn’t believe it. She’d thought that the engineering enclave had been hard at work on the dimension device all of last year. She’d been sure they would have made more progress than this. But the fact of the matter was that they’d accomplished next to nothing. Coeus said that there hadn’t been much time for anything last year, especially once people started to get sick. And by the time everyone was well again, no one had given the dimension device much thought.

  So, they had a lot of work to do. Every day, Coeus would leave them detailed instructions written out by hand. They’d come straight after breakfast and stay all day in the engineering enclave, only breaking for a quick lunch, which they brought along with them. The work was complicated, and—more than once—they realized they’d made a mess of things and had to start over again.

  One day, as they were eating sandwiches and staring at the pieces of the dimension device—which didn’t look like anything other than a jumble at the moment—Nora felt nothing but despair. They’d had a rough time of it that day. Coeus’s instructions had seemed incredibly obtuse, almost ridiculous. Eventually, right before lunch, they’d figured out that they’d been using the wrong screwdriver, which made things a good bit easier, but they’d already stripped three screws in the process, and they had to go and get more.

  The part of it that was so hard, Nora supposed, was that it wasn’t creative in the slightest. Following directions was drudgery. And following difficult directions that she barely understood—well, that was just frustrating.

  “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all,” she said into her sandwich.

  “Are you kidding?” said Sawyer. “I still stand by my statement that it’s brilliant. It gets us the dimension device, so that we can get to Owen, and it gets us access to the engineering enclave. We’re in here so much now that we can come and go as we please and no one will bat an eyelash. We won’t even have to sneak in to steal it.”

  “We won’t be stealing it, anyway,” said Maddie. “After all the work we’ll have put into it, the thing will rightfully belong to us.”

  Sawyer snickered. “You’re right about that.”

  Nora sighed. “But what if we never get it working at all? We’re not engineers. I can hardly understand Coeus’s instructions. Maybe it would be better if we did let Lute and Agler in on it. Maybe they could help.”

  “No,” said Sawyer. “Lute stays clear. I don’t want him anywhere near Owen.”

  “I’m still not really talking to Agler,” said Maddie.

  “Still?” said Nora. “What are you waiting for? The next ice age?”

  “What’s an ice age?” said Sawyer.

  “It’s when the earth gets covered in ice and everything dies,” said Nora. “And there are woolly mammoths and stuff.”

  “Woolly what?” said Sawyer.

  “I’m going to talk to him,” said Maddie. “It’s just easier to avoid both him and Daryl right now. And we’re so busy anyway—”

  “You’re going to give the boy a complex,” said Nora. “You should have seen the way he moped around while you were in Nysa. He missed you so much.”

  “He moped around?” Maddie sighed. “Oh, that’s sweet.”

  “So, you’ll talk to him?” said Nora. “You’ll get him to come decipher these instructions?”

  “I don’t know,” said Sawyer.

  “What?” said Nora.

  “Oh, sure, she and Agler need to bury the hatchet and make up,” he said. “But I’m not sure we should let him in on this. You’re right that he antagonizes Owen. In a really bad way. He could make the situation worse. And we all know that Agler won’t stand idly by while Maddie goes off to the mundane world without him. He’d insist on coming along.”

  Nora’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right.”

  Sawyer rubbed her back. “It’ll be okay. We just got to keep on plugging away. We’ll get this thing finished eventually.”

  Nora went and reread the instructions for the eighteenth time that day. They still didn’t make any sense to her.

  “Um,” said Maddie. “I don’t want to make things seem even more dire, but I’ve been thinking about something.”

  Both Nora and Sawyer looked up at her, bracing for bad news. “What?”

  “Well, we’re going to see Owen in the mundane world, right? And the last time you saw him in the mundane world, he could… do stuff to your brain.”

  “Oh, that,” said Nora. “Yeah, I’ve thought about that.” Owen, being a half-god, had the ability to control people’s actions just by looking in their eyes. When he and Nora had been growing up together, he’d done it to her all the time to make her more agreeable. And he’d done it to her again when they saw him two years ago. It was also how Owen had convinced Sawyer to cut off his own finger. “He can’t do it unless we look into his eyes. So, we’ll just all have to keep from looking at him.”

  Maddie chewed on her lip. “You really think we’ll be able to do that? I mean, you both knew that about him last year, and yet he got into your heads anyway.”

  Sawyer and Nora exchanged a glance. They both heaved huge sighs.

  “Sorry,” said Maddie. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  It was quiet. Nora reread the instructions again. This time, she made no sense of them at all. They were just meaningless syllables she was pronouncing in her brain.

  “Anyway, I don’t even understand it,” said Maddie, “because when he was doing it in Helicon, he wasn’t able to control your minds. But then in the mundane world, he could.”

  “It wasn’t the same thing,” said Nora. “He was using the power of Dionysus—who draws energy from Helicon—when he was here. But in the mundane world, he just has that power in and of himself. It’s because there’s less magic there. It makes him more powerful.”

  “Oh, well that clears it all up, then.” Maddie nodded slowly, but she still looked a bit confused.

  “Maybe we should give up on the whole thing,” said Nora.

  “You want to?” said Sawyer. “Because, you know, going to see Owen is probably really stupid, and who knows if he was even talking about Nimue when he said we were in danger.”

  “No, it has to be,” asid Maddie, “because it all fits. Nimue stole the dimension device from him. That’s how she got into Nysa in the first place.”

  “Right,” said Nora. She took a deep breath. “We have to do this. I don’t know how it’s going to work out yet, but we have to keep trying.”

  Sawyer grimaced. “Had a feeling you are going to say that.”

  * * *

  The days went by slowly. Nora, Sawyer, and Maddie continued to work hard in the engineering enclave day after day. Sometimes Nora didn’t feel as if they were making fast enough progress, but she couldn’t deny that the dimension device was coming together.

  About a week before the Harvest Ball, Sawyer said that he needed to go and work on making dresses. He was also making a suit for Lute. He said that he would’ve blown it off, but that he wanted it to be a special night for him and Lute. Additionally, th
ere was no real way of knowing whether or not they’d come back once they went to see Owen. The Harvest Ball needed to be memorable. It might be their last night ever. So Sawyer needed to make dresses.

  That left Nora and Maddie alone in the engineering enclave to continue the work. Nora wasn’t sure that they were going to make it in time. The dimension device was now completely assembled, and it no longer resembled just a pile of spare parts. However, it was not yet functional. Right now, it was about as useful as a paperweight.

  Nora needed to get this finished, however, because she was growing more and more convinced that Owen had summoned her not because he wanted to warn her of anything, but because he had a plan to stop Nimue once and for all. Nora was pretty sure she was integral to the plan. And she wanted—more than anything—to be rid of Nimue forever.

  Because she wanted to finish the device so badly, Nora sometimes went back to engineering after dinner. She didn’t ask Maddie to come with her. She went alone. She would stay and work into the night.

  One of those nights, Nora found herself nodding off over her work. She was working with stones, which powered the dimension device. They were different than the stones they had used several years ago, when they had assisted Coeus in the construction of the original dimension device. Coeus had improved the design and now had found better stones with which to power it.

  It was a tiring, monotonous task, and Nora found herself nodding off. She would be in the middle of cleaning one of the stones with the special liquid that she had prepared and find herself resting her head on the edge of the bucket. This happened more than once.

  But the final time, she fell asleep long enough that she had a dream. It was one of those dreams in which things from long ago are entwined with things that are happening now. In this dream, she was trying desperately to make the dimension device, but Maddie and Sawyer didn’t have any interest in helping. They were both too busy making out with their boyfriends. Nora would yell at them and ask them to come help, and they would just laugh at her. Finally, she got so mad, she got up and went out of the engineering enclave.