by Lizzy Ford
I was about to ask how in Hades it was possible to shift outside of reality when the door opened. Leandra carried a tray loaded with food, and I glanced at Mrs. Nettles then back. The stuffed animal was shuffling towards one of the pillows on the chaise. She was obsessed with bright and soft things, and I sensed the goddess who spoke through her was gone.
“Most of your faves are here,” Leandra said and set the food on the table.
I ignored her, distracted by the idea of how I was supposed to see the whole when I was in the middle of it. I closed my eyes and formed a picture of the room in my head, to include seeing Leandra and me. The scent of mac-n-cheese distracted me temporarily, and I breathed it in deeply, imagining a tub of it appearing in the middle of my room.
“I could eat a vat of that right about now,” I murmured. Torn between my empty stomach and understanding the lesson Artemis was trying to teach me, I chose food.
“Really?” Leandra asked, hands on her hips. “You have the powers of a goddess, and you use it for that?”
Opening my eyes, I spotted the meter-tall tub of steaming mac-n-cheese in the middle of my room, where I’d seen it in my mind.
I started to laugh then stopped, uncertain what this meant. It was another unintentional creation. I had to get better about purposely using my abilities.
“You don’t need that much pasta,” Leandra lectured me. “You won’t fit into your clothes if you eat it. Can you send it away?”
I’m not sure where it came from, I admitted silently. I tried to form the picture of my room in my head without closing my eyes and found it impossible while Leandra was moving around. So I closed my eyes again and imagined the room without the tub of pasta.
“Much better,” Leandra said. “Now, come eat.”
I had sent it away without knowing how. As with my first vision, I was too immersed to notice the details. But I swore I’d try it again later and pay attention to how exactly I could manifest anything seemingly out of thin air then send it back to wherever it came from.
“Does my power bother you?” I asked her and sat at the table.
“No.”
“It bothers me. How can you be so calm?”
Leandra met my gaze briefly and then shrugged. I sensed she had a response but feared giving it when my mind was violated by Cleon. If I couldn’t talk to my only confidante, life was going to become more difficult, very fast.
I ate in silence.
She left me alone, and I sat down on the chaise and closed my eyes.
This time, when I tried to zoom out on my room, I noticed how grainy everything appeared. It wasn’t the crystal clear, high-density screen of a television but more like I was viewing the world through a thin veil or watching shows on a super old television in black and white. I was present yet apart. Uncertain how this would work, I pulled back into the corner farthest from my bed, until I could see my seated form and the names on the wall. The ribbons floating around everything were still visible despite the sense of being separated from the physical world.
Instead of mac-n-cheese, I decided I needed a chocolate fountain in the middle of my room. I caught the movements – subtle yet speedy. Ribbons from around the room sent fibers to the center of the room, where they coalesced and twisted into new ribbons to form a new object.
My power was to rearrange matter, not necessarily create it. On instinct, I stretched out with a ghostly, translucent hand and gathered up the ribbons over the fountain. Crushing them, the fountain disappeared, but the ribbons remained. Usually, I absorbed them, and this circumstance was no different.
Glancing down, I almost screamed when I saw myself. Translucent, my body was made of millions – billions? – of fibers in every shade of gray, white and black in existence. When I patted my thigh, the ribbons I had crushed disappeared into the myriad of fibers inside of me.
The reason I sensed and felt the rhythm of the world became clear. I was part of it, and it was part of me – literally. Creating and destroying were simple rearrangements of matter and energy. Which meant, in theory, if I could perform those tasks, I could also alter my world in any way I could dream of.
Scared by the thought of losing control, I reminded myself that Artemis had encouraged me. It was going to take me a while to trust myself, after the fear Cecelia had drilled into me about what went wrong, if I unleashed my magic.
“Artemis said it’s okay,” I said aloud.
I was about to think of what I wanted to try, when I became aware of the strange sense of not being alone. My instincts had been right about the stranger at the soiree the other night. I wasn’t about to ignore my gut now, even when my rational side said it wasn’t possible for someone to be here with me now.
I turned away from the room. The wall was behind me … and not. The harder I stared at it, the more transparent it became, until I was able to see through it into the neighboring room. The guest bedroom was empty, but the presence remained.
I strode through the wall with fascination, walked through the neighboring bedroom, then through a small study in this wing before I passed through its walls, too, and paused in the grand foyer of the villa.
Cleon was present – twice. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. His solid form in black-and-white sat on a chair in the formal waiting area, while his in-color spirit stood nearby, gazing around in consternation. We were both the only things in color here. Unlike me, he was not made up of the fibers. He appeared more like a rock in the middle of a stream – solid whereas the magic of the world moved through and around me.
“What have you done?” he asked when he spotted me.
“I don’t really know,” I replied, frustrated he found me here, too.
“But you are doing this?”
“I believe so.”
“We are both spirits,” he observed. “How is it possible for you to displace us? Can we return to ourselves?”
“I imagine so,” I replied. “I’ve never done this before.”
Not again. Come. Back. Lyssa.
I was yanked from the foyer, through the study and guest bedroom, and back into my room fast enough to knock the air out of my lungs. Shaking off the sense of being pulled away, I focused on my surroundings until the veil was thin enough for me to see through.
Leandra was crouched beside me. Her fingertips were on my cheeks, and her hands glowed with magic of her own, a collection of blue fibers that swirled around her as she called me back again.
“Lyssa,” she said.
My eyes snapped open, and I once again joined my reality. “I just had the weirdest experience,” I breathed.
Relief that was not mine trickled through me, a sign Cleon had returned to his body as well. For a moment, I was seated in the foyer, gazing at the pillars flanking the grand space. Blinking, the image was replaced by Leandra’s concerned face.
Was it just me, or did my connection to Cleon become stronger, the more I used my magic?
I opened my mouth to tell her everything, when she spoke first.
“Is it something you can discuss with your loyal, faithful servant?” Leandra asked pointedly.
“Cleon’s here at the villa,” I said.
“He is,” she replied, eyebrows lifting. “He came to drop off your schedule of events for the next week.”
“Because the most powerful man in the world just happens to drop by when he could send a servant.”
“I’m sure he came to check up on you after your three day nap.” Leandra stood. “I’ll set out your clothing for your two o’clock.”
I was curious about the abilities I was discovering yet leery as well. Cleon knew what I did, which was going to make it hard to plot how I was going to escape DC and find Herakles again. How did I defeat a man inside my head, let alone the apocalypse?
My headache remained. Leandra set out my clothing then took away the tray of leftover food. I changed, and thirty minutes later, I was in the gym with Niko. I settled into our sparring round without speaking.
It was hard for me to believe I’d been out for three days, until I realized how rested my body was. I fought better than usual, probably because no part of me was achy or bruised from a previous session with Niko.
When we’d finished, I went to my corner to down water, breathing hard and tired.
“You going to tell me what’s got you spooked?” the former mercenary with the keen eye asked.
Damn you, Niko.
“I’m not spooked,” I retorted. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Hmm.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I ducked between the ropes and started away, not about to be cornered or tranquilized again.
“Someone wants to talk to you,” he called after me.
I paused. “Who?”
“Come on.”
He leapt down from the elevated ring and strode across the room, towards the men’s locker rooms. The gym was ours this time of day, and I didn’t hesitate to follow him in. Uncertain what to expect from someone as unpredictable as Niko, I was on guard when I stepped into the wide-open space.
A boy around the age of eleven or twelve sat on one of the benches, cell phone in hand. He glanced up with a smile as he caught sight of Niko.
“Tommy, this is Alessandra,” Niko said in a clipped tone and then folded his arms across his chest. “My son has a unique ability.”
I started to smile. “Theodocia’s son,” I said, recalling how shocked I’d been to learn the two of them procreated when we all first met. The mercenary cared for nothing in this world, except for the boy sitting in front of me. Suspecting it took a great deal for him to introduce anyone to Tommy, and that today was somehow special, I didn’t say what I wanted to and sat by the boy instead.
“Hi Tommy,” I said cheerfully.
“Hi.” His eyes were identical to Niko’s – bright green – while his caramel coloring was unmistakably Theodocia’s. “I have a message for you.”
“From …”
“Thanatos.”
I blinked, not certain I heard him correctly.
“He gets his ability to talk to gods from his mother,” Niko said with a scowl, none too pleased.
“Wow. Okay.” I studied Tommy. “Can you tell me in my head what the God of Death wants me to know?” I was not yet certain if Cleon could hear when someone spoke in my head and not about to risk getting the boy in front of me in trouble, if Cleon picked up on something he said aloud.
Anger trickled through me. Cleon wasn’t happy with the request, which I was taking as a win for me.
Tommy tilted his head to the side. Thanatos says to be careful when you tread into the realm of Hades.
My mouth dropped open.
He says to stay on the other side of the curtain.
“Holy Zeus. I had no idea,” I replied. Is Hades angry? I asked him telepathically.
Tommy shook his head. He knows things aren’t right. But Thanatos says he’s moody, and if he decides he doesn’t want you there, he will take you away.
By the boy’s smile, he either didn’t understand what that meant, or he was as amused by death as his father was. I didn’t know him well enough to figure it out. I had witnessed firsthand how lethal his mother and father were. That the God of Death spoke through their child seemed very fitting, given what I knew of the former couple.
“That’s all,” Tommy said.
The short message was intense. So Thanatos and Hades had their eyes on me. I was as willing to disappoint either of them as I was Adonis, and I didn’t think the gods would take anything I did as well as the butcher who used to be in charge of SISA.
“Can I ask him one question?” I pressed.
Tommy nodded.
Why can I hear the deities in my head but not communicate with them?
Tommy tilted his head once more, as if listening, before he blinked and smiled. “He says because you aren’t listening.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sometimes they’re so stubborn.”
Tommy nodded, as if accustomed to the strangeness of gods. At his age, I was learning to track rabbits and other small prey in the forest, not talking to gods, though I wondered if I should have been doing the latter instead. Whenever I started to regret my upbringing, I thought of Herakles. My protector had done his best, and what he’d taught me had already kept me alive. I wasn’t able to resent him, of all people, for being the only one who tried to prepare me for a life none of us were able to imagine.
Why are they even in my head? I asked.
“He says because they want to help you.”
My eyebrows went up. The voices had claimed similar on the night I destroyed part of DC, as well as asserting that I had been deceived about who my real enemies were.
Why were they lying to me, when the evidence of what they had done to humanity was so visible outside of the protected zone? Troubled, and feeling as if I were once again caught in a blind maze, I fell quiet.
At times, I sensed something else was going on without being able to identify what. How did I decipher what my instincts couldn’t make out, either?
“Time’s up,” Niko said, clearly uncomfortable with me talking to his son. Was it me or his son’s unusual knack for communicating with a god? The head of Cleon’s armies, and my security detail, was not the spiritual type.
“Thank you, Tommy,” I said and stood.
Niko led me out of the locker room and back into the gym. He gripped my arm as I passed him and turned me to face him. With the tension in his frame, and the tightness of his hand around my upper arm, I didn’t need to hear his words to understand he wasn’t pleased.
“Leave my son out of this,” he told me. The protective edge in his voice was new, and I sensed it was present only where his son was concerned.
“I’m not placing him in any sort of danger,” I replied. “But you have to know by now my life and my power are both out of my control. I can’t cause him any harm, but I can’t keep him safe either.”
“Keeping him safe is my job.”
“Niko, you can’t fight what’s coming. Only I can, and only if I have my mind as my own. Tommy’s dead otherwise.” The brazen, but true, statement was spoken out of frustration and out before I could censor myself. Then again, I was never really good at censoring myself in the first place. I didn’t want Niko angry with me, but he also needed to know the truth.
Niko’s jaw clenched, and fire flashed in his gaze.
Cleon was displeased to the point of angry again, and I had the brief satisfaction of knowing how angry he would be from here on out when he heard and saw everything I was doing.
I started to pull away, but Niko yanked me closer.
“If you threaten my son again, I don’t care who you are or what magic powers you possess. I will strip your skin from your body and melt your organs while you’re still alive. Do you understand?”
Herakles would tell me never to provoke someone whom I had no chance of winning against. Niko was one of those men. At least, when we were on his territory, he was.
I nodded without speaking. It didn’t matter that he misunderstood me. When he was calmer, he might view our conversation differently. Convincing him the world was going to end if I didn’t get Cleon out of my head wasn’t my most immediate concern. Niko wasn’t ready to make a move against his boss, because I had nothing better to offer him. I hadn’t proven myself the most powerful Oracle in existence yet.
He released me, pushed me away then whirled and strode back to the locker room.
My arm was bruising already. I was accustomed to rough treatment from him, but his intensity still scared me. Even when he was beating my ass in the ring, or tranquilizing me, he was in command of himself. What that man would do, if someone tried to hurt his son …
I had no intention of ever finding out. I would have to remember to phrase my warning better next time.
Cleon was openly amused.
“Get out,” I said through clenched teeth and squeezed my temples.
There had to be a way. Mayb
e, I could lose him on the wrong side of the curtain, and Hades would snatch up Cleon and carry him away.
Cecelia’s warning returned to my thoughts. Cleon couldn’t die before we were disconnected, or I risked losing part of my power and mind. Or both. Or neither. The most frustrating part: no one knew with any certainty what would happen, least of all me, the greatest and mightiest Oracle in ten thousand years.
Filled with self-loathing, I left the gym. Trailed by my security detail, I returned to my villa and went to my room. No events were scheduled for tonight, and I had a date with my mind, hopefully on the right side of the curtain this time.
“Sorry about that,” I said, uncertain if the two gods were watching me or not. “But I don’t really know what I’m doing, so if I end up on the wrong side, please be patient while I learn.”
Mrs. Nettles was napping on my bed, purring in her sleep. I stood over her, tempted to wake her and hope Artemis was paying attention.
When she didn’t stir, I stretched out beside her and closed my eyes. With a great deal of excitement, and just a little anxiety, I entered the meditative state that allowed me to step outside myself.
My body relaxed, and the picture of my room formed in my mind’s eye. It was gray and hazy again. Puzzled as to how I was supposed to know how to do this without guidance, and without stepping on the toes of any deities who didn’t want their realms disturbed, I lingered in my room for a moment.
If there were a door, I didn’t see it. I pushed my hands forward to see if this curtain of which Thanatos spoke were something I could pierce. I couldn’t see it, and my hands didn’t slide through a veil into the real world.
“I’m not trying to trespass,” I whispered. “But I don’t know how to leave your side of the curtain, Hades.”
No sooner had the words left my mouth, when I felt the hot breath of someone breathing down the back of my neck.
I tensed and whirled, expecting to see the wall behind my bed.
Someone – rather, something – else was there instead.
Chapter Six
“Holy Zeus,” I said and stumbled away. I craned my neck back until I could see the top of the creature before me. The three-headed guardian of the underworld was growling from all its muzzles, its teeth exposed and red eyes glowing. The monster stood twenty feet tall at least, with legs that were thicker than my torso.