The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  “Yeah, it’s the same stuff she tried to feed me in Nysa,” said Maddie. “I can smell it.”

  “See, Sawyer?” said Nora. “I’ll be fine.” She pinched her nose and gulped down the liquid. She set down the mug, making a face. “That was the nastiest—”

  Oh, what was happening now? She felt lightheaded and weak, as if her limbs were made of wet noodles.

  Panic seized her.

  Owen darted over and grabbed her. “It’s okay. That just means it’s working.”

  And that was the last thing she knew.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Sawyer rushed forward and snatched Nora’s lifeless form out of Owen’s arms. He shook her, feeling frantic. “What did you do to her? What did you do to her?”

  Maddie was on her feet too.

  Sawyer tried to pick Nora up, but he wasn’t strong enough. Damn it, if he weren’t such a weakling not-man maybe he’d actually be able to… He laid her back on the floor gently, and took off her sunglasses. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were colorless. But she was still breathing.

  Maddie knelt down over her. “Oh gods, oh gods,” she muttered.

  “Relax,” said Owen, leaning against the counter. “She’s connected to Nimue, like I said. Nimue is draining her power.”

  Sawyer shot to his feet. “You said that you’d drain Nimue’s power.”

  “And I will,” said Owen. “But we have to wait until Nimue gets here.”

  “Oh, you’re sure she’s coming?” Sawyer squared his shoulders. He would like nothing more than to punch Owen in the nose.

  “Positive,” said Owen. “Now get out of my face. Unless you’d like to lose another finger.”

  Sawyer’s hands twitched. He wasn’t a violent person, but if there was anyone who deserved a punch, it was Owen fucking Asher.

  Owen pushed past Sawyer.

  Sawyer grabbed Owen’s shoulder. “Don’t walk away from me.”

  Owen turned and flicked his glance up and down over Sawyer. “Well, look at you. You’re not as much a pussy as I’d thought.”

  That was it. Sawyer really was going to punch him. He clenched his hand into a fist and then—

  Nimue popped into existence right in front of them. “What’s going on? Why am I being summoned? Why am I connected to that muse?” She eyed Owen. “Owen?”

  “Hi, Mom,” said Owen, folding his arms over his chest.

  “You haven’t decided to help me suddenly, have you?” said Nimue.

  Owen yanked a gun out of the waist of his pants. “Not a chance, bitch.”

  “Gods!” said Sawyer. “What’s with the guns? You know they don’t kill her.”

  Nimue held up a hand. “Oh, Owen, wait a second. Please, let’s talk.”

  “They hurt her a hell of a lot though,” said Owen, sneering. He cocked the gun.

  “You don’t want to shoot me,” said Nimue. “It would be a waste of all this lovely power that’s rushing into my body.”

  On the floor, Nora convulsed. Her eyes rolled back in her head.

  “What’s happening to her?” Sawyer yelled.

  “She doesn’t look good,” said Maddie.

  “You’re my little boy,” said Nimue, reaching for Owen. “My only little boy. Just put the gun down, okay? We’ll work something out.”

  The gun went off.

  It was loud. Sawyer’s ears rang. He put his hands over his ears, and cringed.

  And everyone got quiet.

  “Shut up, all of you,” whispered Owen into the dead silence.

  Nimue moaned, clutching her stomach. She was bleeding.

  “You can’t run off on me this time, Mother,” said Owen. “You’re stuck here.”

  Nimue lifted her head, grinning and looking quite mad. “All this power, Owen. I’ll heal myself before you can even—”

  Another gun shot.

  Nimue staggered backwards, crying out. He’d shot her in the chest this time.

  “Owen,” she gasped. “Don’t. Please.”

  A succession of shots. Bang! Bang! Bang! One right after the other.

  Nimue’s body jerked and danced. And when Owen stopped, she fell to the floor, where she lay there, whimpering.

  Owen stood over her, pointing the gun at her, smiling.

  “What are you doing?” Sawyer whispered.

  “Nora doesn’t look good,” repeated Maddie.

  “There’s no reason to keep shooting Nimue,” Sawyer said, his voice growing stronger.

  Owen whipped around to face Sawyer, bringing the gun with him.

  Sawyer blinked at the barrel, his heart pounding in his chest. “Please, you said you’d reverse—”

  “I know what I said,” Owen snarled. “Just shut up.”

  Sawyer swallowed.

  Owen stalked over to the stove and picked up the pot of tea. He poured more of it into another mug. And then he went back to Nimue’s supine form. He nudged her body with his foot. “I knew you wouldn’t drink it unless I forced you.”

  Nimue’s eyes widened. “Drink… drink what?”

  Owen yanked Nimue up into a semi-recumbent position. He propped her up against the wall and crouched down next to her. His voice was soft. “Now, Mother, you have a choice. You can either drink this, or I can keep shooting you.” He thrust the mug at her.

  She shook her head.

  “Drink,” he said.

  “Owen,” whispered Nimue.

  Owen put the gun against her temple. “I could blow a hole in your skull, and your lips would still work. You could still drink this. Is that what it’s going to take? Because you know I’ll do it.”

  Nimue lifted a hand. Her fingers fluttered over Owen’s face. “My little boy.”

  “Stop that.” Owen’s voice cracked. “You never loved me. Don’t pretend to now.” He forced her to tip her head back, holding open her lips.

  And he poured the tea down her throat.

  Nimue sputtered, trying to spit the liquid out.

  But Owen forced her mouth shut and stroked her neck until she swallowed. “That’s it, Mother. Take your medicine.”

  Sawyer looked at Nora.

  Maddie was hovered over their friend’s lifeless body. Maddie raised her eyes to look at Sawyer, terrified.

  Nimue started to scream.

  Sawyer looked back at her. He couldn’t believe what was happening right before his eyes.

  Nimue was shriveling up. It had started in her extremities—her fingers and toes. They were collapsing on themselves, as if the liquid inside was being sucked out. She was turning into a raisin, a mummy.

  Owen laughed.

  And Nora twitched.

  “Her eyes are opening,” said Maddie.

  * * *

  Nora sat up straight. She felt like her body had suddenly been pumped full of electricity. She was surging with power. “What happened? What’s going on?”

  Maddie took one of her hands. “Nora, you’re okay. You just passed out for a minute.”

  Nora’s heart was beating fast—too fast. It scared her. “What’s happening to me?”

  “Oh, gods, you’re burning up,” said Maddie, putting her hand on Nora’s forehead.

  Nora pushed her off. She didn’t want to be touched. She felt like she was going to explode, like she was being ripped apart from the inside.

  Sawyer was rushing over to her, but she warded him off. “Stay back.” She looked wildly around the room.

  Owen was staring intently at Nimue, who looked like a deflated blow-up doll. She was nothing but skin and bone on her arms and legs. Only her head and torso were still normal sized.

  Nora took a staggering step towards Nimue. She held out her hands, and sparks leapt off her fingers. Her skin was stretching. It hurt.

  She made a little noise of pain.

  Nimue groaned as well.

  Nora looked down at her palm. Light was coming through the lines there, as if her skin was separating, as if the light was bursting through cracks. It shone out, and pain seared
through Nora’s body.

  Nora threw her head back and screamed.

  Nimue screamed too.

  Vaguely, Nora could hear Sawyer’s voice. He was yelling at Owen, demanding to know what was wrong with Nora. But she couldn’t focus on that right now, because her body was splitting apart. She felt like she was full of all this power, and it was leaking out. It was going to tear her open to get out.

  She shrieked, falling to her knees.

  Nimue’s voice was full of pain. “You’ll have to stop it, Owen, because she can’t take it. Her body can’t contain all my magic. Not with her muse magic as well. You’re killing her.”

  Only then did Owen look up, fix his gaze on Nora.

  His blue eyes lit up with alarm. “Nora?”

  Nora choked.

  “Nora,” said Owen, his voice deadly serious. “Are you okay?”

  Nora wasn’t, but she couldn’t speak to tell him so. She could hardly do anything other that moan against the pain. Her skin was opening up and letting out light and sparks everywhere.

  She was beginning to worry that she’d burst open. That there would be nothing left of her.

  Owen scrambled to his feet and dashed to the stove. He picked up the pot of tea and brought it to his mouth, sucking down what remained of the concoction.

  Immediately, Nora felt the pressure lessen. The power wasn’t flowing into her anymore. She was still leaking it, but she didn’t feel as if she was going to break apart.

  Owen pulled her to her feet, and shook her. “Nora?”

  “Yeah?” she managed.

  “Oh,” said Owen, breathing out a relieved sigh. “Okay. Okay.” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.

  The light squeezed out of her, and it hurt. She yelled.

  But then…

  Then there wasn’t enough left to leak. Her skin wasn’t stretching anymore.

  Owen pulled back. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

  She tried to breathe, but her breath was shaky and afraid. “I’m okay.”

  He peered into her eyes. “You promise?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered.

  He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry. If I’d known…”

  Behind her, Nimue let out a loud, horrid sound.

  Nora turned to see the woman’s midsection wither completely up. Nimue screamed and screamed. And then she was quiet. A dessicated corpse, nothing but a bag of bones against the wall. She looked like a monster—her wizened lips pulled away from her teeth, and the skin around her eyes exposed shriveled eyeballs.

  Nora put her fingers to her lips. “Oh gods.”

  “The magic was the only thing keeping her alive,” said Owen. He went over to nudge the corpse.

  Nimue’s head fell forward at an unnatural angle.

  “Don’t,” said Nora.

  Owen grinned. “She’s dead.”

  Nora shuddered.

  * * *

  Maddie watched as the flames of Nimue’s funeral pyre danced in front of them. Owen had insisted that the only way they’d know that Nimue was really dead was to burn her. They’d all agreed to try to give the woman some respect. After all, they’d taken her life. They had wanted to give her a proper send-off, sort of a funeral service. But no one knew what to say over her body other than they were sorry that she’d become the thing she’d become. So, they just burned her. And now they were watching.

  Nimue’s dried remains burned quickly.

  It didn’t take long until she was nothing more than a pile of ash.

  Maddie looked up to see that Nora was staring at Owen. She wasn’t wearing her sunglasses anymore. Maddie touched her friend’s arm. “You should put the glasses back on, don’t you think?”

  Nora turned back to Maddie. “Huh?”

  “The sunglasses?”

  “Oh,” said Nora. “No, I don’t need to. And you guys can take yours off as well. Owen can’t do that to me anymore, and if he did it to you, I could undo it.”

  “What?” said Sawyer.

  Owen rolled his eyes. “That’s kid stuff, anyway. It makes everything too easy.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Maddie.

  “I have a lot of Nimue’s power,” said Nora. “I can feel it inside me. And… I can’t really explain, but I just know. I know how Owen’s doing it, and trust me, if he tried, I could reverse it.”

  “How can you know that?” said Sawyer.

  Nora chewed on her lip. “I can’t be sure. It’s a part of me now. It used to be a part of Nimue, but I’ve taken her power, and now that part of her is part of me instead. I can’t figure out any other way to explain it but that.”

  Sawyer turned slowly to Owen, making a face. “I guess that means that you have some of Nimue’s power too. You drank that potion and absorbed it.”

  “Hey,” said Owen, “if I hadn’t done that, Nora would have died.”

  “Yes, it was awfully convenient for you to save her life and make yourself more powerful in the process,” said Sawyer, rolling his eyes.

  Owen pursed his lips. “No one’s going to thank me, I suppose?”

  “Let’s get back to Helicon,” said Nora, pulling the dimension device out of her bag.

  “Wait,” said Owen. “You’re leaving? Just like that?”

  “You got what you wanted from me,” said Nora. “I helped you. So, yeah, I think we’ll be on our way now.”

  “What about the other dimension device?” said Sawyer. “Shouldn’t we get that? “

  Owen chuckled. He held it up. “Too late. That was one of the first things I made sure I got away from my mother.”

  Sawyer’s face got red, but Nora shook her head.

  Maddie went to Sawyer. “Let’s just go.” She didn’t like it here. She didn’t like being around Owen. She didn’t like the fact that Nimue’s body was lying next to them, burned to ashes. She missed Agler. She missed her home. She’d been keen to come and help Nora with this problem, but the whole experience had shaken her more deeply than she imagined it would. She would be happy enough if she never had to do anything like this ever again.

  “He shouldn’t have the dimension device,” said Sawyer. “His punishment was to be exiled to the mundane world. With the dimension device, he’s free to go wherever he wants. He doesn’t deserve that.”

  Nora looked Owen over. “A lot of what he did he did because of his obsession with me. Since Nimue put a spell on him, it wasn’t technically his fault. Maybe he deserves another chance.”

  Maddie turned to her friend in horror. How could Nora be saying this?

  Owen raised his eyebrows. “Do you really mean that, Nora?”

  “I do,” said Nora. She considered. “You know, from what I understand, exile works by honing in on a person’s specific power signature. That’s how Nimue was able to get into Helicon earlier this year. She was so drained from healing herself from the gunshot wounds when she entered the dimension that she wasn’t recognizable. Now that your power signature has changed too, since you absorbed Nimue’s power, it’s possible that the exile wouldn’t stop you from entering. Do you want to come back to Helicon?”

  Maddie’s jaw dropped.

  Sawyer grabbed Nora by the shoulders. “Are you listening to yourself?” Then he turned to Owen. “I know what this is. You’re controlling her. You looked into her eyes and forced her to say these things.”

  But Owen honestly looked just as astonished as Sawyer and Maddie were. “I’m not controlling her. I promise. I’m not.” He rubbed his forehead and looked at Nora. “Are you serious?”

  “I am,” said Nora.

  “Nora,” said Maddie. “That’s crazy.”

  “He can’t come back,” said Sawyer. “I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing.”

  But Owen was already twisting things on his dimension device. “Let’s see if this works.” And with that, Owen was whisked out of sight.

  Maddie gasped. “What are we going to do?”

  Sawyer snatched the other dime
nsion device from Nora. “We have to go after him, that’s what.” He seized Maddie’s hand. “Grab Nora.”

  Maddie reached over and took hold of Nora’s hand.

  Sawyer twisted dials on the dimension device, then there was a horrible yanking sensation, and Maddie felt as if she was being ripped upside down, inside out, and backwards. The mundane world faded away, and they were headed back home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Owen was suspicious. He stood in the middle of Phoebe’s tent, having somehow made it easily into Helicon, even though last time, his exile had kept him from entering.

  Phoebe was sitting on a couch in front of him, looking up with a pleasant expression on her face. The last time that Owen had seen her, she’d been cold and calm. He remembered the way she’d interrogated him, sure that he was out to hurt her muses and her home. She didn’t understand that Owen had no desire to hurt Helicon. This was also his home—the only home he’d ever really known. He just wanted to make Helicon better. That was all.

  And Nora… Nora wasn’t acting like herself either. He knew that Nora used to care about him, but that was before he’d done so many awful things to her. There was no reason that Nora would suggest that he come back to Helicon.

  Something was going on here. It had to be. They were going to trap him and kill him.

  But no… No, the muses didn’t hold with killing.

  “So, anyway,” Nora was saying, “since he was doing all of that under the influence of Nimue’s spell, and since that spell has been broken, I thought maybe Owen could be allowed to have a second chance.”

  “You mean revoke his exile?” said Phoebe.

  “Yes,” said Nora. She was staring straight into the older muse’s eyes, determined and focused.

  Owen surveyed her. He wanted to take all of this at face value. He wanted to believe that Nora was fighting for him. Maybe he wasn’t obsessed with her anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still think about her. He remembered what life had been like when the two of them had been together in the mundane world. He missed having someone to talk to, someone who cared about what happened to him. Nora used to love him, and she was the only one who ever had. He missed that. It had been quite a long time since anyone had cared about him.