by Lizzy Ford
“A modern day Trojan Horse, using the subway system,” Herakles said.
“Yes,” I said.
“How do you know we can take the metro cars? The military has the stop they use heavily guarded. Even if we took it by force, they’d alert the others,” Herakles stated.
“And the other stops are sealed,” one of the commanders added.
“We unseal one stop per line in advance and overtake the extra cars not in use. Theodocia’s forces in the city can access the control points for each line. Her people will divert the cars coming in. After the cars leave the loading points, we divert them to maintenance tracks and replace them with cars filled with our forces,” I explained.
Silence fell. Herakles was studying the layout of the metro system with interest.
The others in the room glanced at me frequently and then at the Queen. No one trusted me, and I didn’t expect anyone to. With full numbers on the SISA and military personal located within the walls, in addition to detailed information on their standard protocol, strongholds and likely reactions, I was too useful for them to write off completely.
These numbers are much higher than we thought, she said. We’ll be facing the Supreme Magistrate at half-strength even with these distractions.
“Half strength compared to a tenth is evening the odds,” I pointed out. “And we won’t be looking solely at using manpower to fight this battle. There are some with otherworldly abilities who are willing to help us.”
She lifted her eyes and pinned me with a look. I hope you mean Alessandra, because I will not partner with the gods to fight Cleon.
“If you want to win this war, you’ll partner with whomever you must,” I replied.
Not like that.
The others were silent. I sensed they didn’t need to hear our full discussion to understand what it was about. The Silent Queen’s war on gods was a solid principle in recruiting those who fought for her. I had never met a body of people more similar in opinion than she and her commanders were when it came to the gods.
We cannot rely on the Oracle, either, she added. This will be a battle among humans.
And beasts? I countered telepathically. You and I are not humans.
She didn’t respond, though I sensed her entrenchment. My thoughts went to the figure seated along the wall, among the lower level leaders of her organization. The god-possessed Kyros was listening to our words, frowning. I hadn’t been able to assess what he had said or did to be counted among her allies, rather than her enemies, but it had to have been great, for the army as a whole loved him.
You are confident once we take the compound, we won’t have to worry about the military attacking? She asked.
“I am. This is the best way to achieve your goal of amassing the largest military possible for the purpose of facing the gods.”
Phoibe tapped the paper in front of her. I like this.
Good. Maybe now you’ll tell me what is it you’re hiding about Alessandra? I asked.
Phoibe looked away. She said nothing of the Oracle unless I asked and even then, her responses were monosyllabic. Something was wrong. I’d spent five days here, helping her learn to hunt, fly and fight in her grotesque form. It was five days more than I planned on spending, but I was also having a difficult time justifying my departure, when I saw how far she had to go in order to prepare her army for a war in four months. The better prepared she was, the higher the chances of success.
And … she was family. The only real family I had, aside from Menelaus. Both of them were descendants. I didn’t exactly know how to balance loyalty to blood and the burning desire I had to find Alessandra and ensure she was safe. Herakles seemed convinced she was, and Lantos possessed abilities no other god or man did. In theory, Alessandra was safer on the DC compound than anyone else in the world.
Yet this knowledge didn’t help the restlessness at my core, and Phoibe’s intense focus on suppressing her thoughts and reactions whenever I brought the Oracle up was an indication something was wrong.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty,” a soldier opened the door and bowed clumsily. “We have a situation at the front gate.”
Herakles started to stand, but I beat him to it. “With your permission, I’ll go,” I said to her. Your people aren’t comfortable expressing their opinions while I’m here. I added telepathically.
She nodded.
The tense silence of the boardroom was soon behind me. The soldier at the door scrambled out of my path and then darted ahead of me, as nervous as everyone was when they caught sight of me. I was allegedly under a sort of house arrest, but Herakles was the only person in camp who would dare step in my path. Accustomed to the general aversion others had of me after my time at SISA, I welcomed the solitude resulting from my reputation. It allowed me space to evaluate and think without distraction.
I strode through the former department store acting as their headquarters and out into the afternoon heat. It was balmy and bright, and her camp was a beehive of activity. The soldier led me to the motor pool, and we climbed into an armored vehicle to drive the two kilometers separating the front gate from the center of the sprawling encampment.
As we approached, the front gate positioned behind a trench and razor wire opened to reveal a single figure standing outside the fence line. I recognized the man before we were close enough for me to see his features. When he spotted me, he smiled. My instincts went on high alert, and I skimmed the surrounding forest for signs he had brought his army with him.
I couldn’t begin to fathom what Niko was doing here. The breeze brought no one else’s scents to me, and no dangerous shadows lurked in the forest. Niko was alone and armed, though he was no match for the multiple weapons currently trained on him. The vehicle stopped at the gate, and I got out.
“Close the gate behind me,” I instructed the soldier I passed as I crossed through the protective barrier.
He obeyed. I waited until I heard the sounds of the locks sliding into place before I approached Niko. The brash head of the military was my polar opposite, and just as dangerous. I had a great deal of respect for him and understood never to trust him with anything of value.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.
“Likewise,” I replied.
“Guess who has your old job?” His gaze glinted. “What was it you told me once? Someone like me would never be the head of SISA?”
“Gaining a position by default and winning it by merit are two separate situations,” I said coolly. “I’m well aware SISA is under the control of the military.”
Normally, he was the first to anger when we traded barbs, but this time, he continued to smile.
“I made a deal to bring you all this.” He held out a piece of paper. “A certain Oracle paid me in gold to ensure it made it. It took me some time to slip away.”
I despised a man who could be bought. No one was lower in my mind. I accepted the paper and opened it.
The apocalypse is coming. It occurs the day the Silent Queen gives birth to twins. Adonis is dead.
The hastily scribbled words relayed the panic of the person who wrote it. My beast senses picked up on the faint scent of Alessandra, and I ran my thumb across the sentence about me.
“I’ll admit, I’m a little disappointed to see you alive. I assume she means you will be dead soon,” Niko said in satisfaction.
“Her visions have started.”
“Yeah. The episodes are sporadic and take them both out. Makes my job interesting.”
“Both?” I repeated. I re-folded the letter and placed it in my pocket.
“She and Cleon.”
I tilted my head, not understanding what Alessandra’s visions had to do with the Supreme Magistrate.
Niko studied me. His smile became broader. “You don’t know,” he said softly.
“Assume I don’t. I’ve been away for a few weeks.”
“Thank the gods for today.” Niko glanced at the sky. “Destroying your world might be the best d
ay of my life.”
I waited for his explanation.
Eager to twist a knife in my gullet, Niko spared no details. By the time he finished the tale of what had happened to Alessandra in my absence, and dwelt on the many ways Lantos had turned on everyone, I was tense. Niko was too thrilled by the brutal truth – none of my instincts flagged his words as lies.
He finished, grinning. I remained silent, unable to recall a time when I had experienced anger this deep.
Niko sensed it. His eyes sparkled as he studied me. “Best day of my life,” he repeated.
“The Silent Queen knows,” I guessed.
“I assume. Theodocia did, and they communicated on occasion.”
Phoibe’s secret was worse than I thought. Herakles didn’t know, or he wouldn’t be here. I didn’t care for him, but he would never let anyone harm Alessandra. Every instinct in my body wanted me to leave now, to go to Alessandra and … I didn’t know. I wasn’t able to think clearly after all I’d heard.
“Where is she?” I asked after a long silence, in which I grappled for control of myself.
“The House. She and Lantos are confined to quarters,” Niko said. “That means nothing to Lantos. He leaves as he chooses.”
“You’re being helpful. Why?”
“Maybe I want to make it easier for you to get yourself killed.”
“Or you figured out who might be left standing.”
“What can I say?” He shrugged. “I have a price. Alessandra can make gold out of thin air, enough for a hundred lifetimes. And I wouldn’t mind seeing you dead, if you charge into the House and try to free her.”
“Have you destroyed the insurgency’s abilities?”
“Why not come inside the walls and see for yourself?” Niko asked.
“I intend to. Soon.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“No, you won’t,” I countered. “If you have any desire to stick around once Cleon is gone, you’ll step aside when you see me coming.”
Niko and I sized each other up. He was an incredible warrior. We had fought enough for me to know this. But the weakness of his I’d choose to exploit would never be inside the ring, and he knew this as well.
“There’s another way,” he said.
For the second time today, he surprised me. “Meaning …” I prodded.
“Cleon wants you for some reason. He won’t tell me why, but I’m sure it has something to do with Alessandra,” Niko said. “I’ll sneak you in.”
“What’s the catch?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I like the idea of an asshole winding up in the dungeon under the House. With their minds connected, Cleon will know you’re there when she does.”
“That’s not material enough to motivate you.”
Niko chuckled. He shifted, and I sensed he was uneasy. I understood him well enough to know he didn’t care about the half dozen weapons trained on him. He was here because Alessandra paid him, but I suspected even that wasn’t enough for him to risk his life for anyone. I mentally reviewed the details from the portfolio I’d created on him during my time at SISA. I had assessed long ago, when I first profiled him, that there were two real weaknesses with Niko, and they had nothing to do with his physical prowess and bank account.
“Tommy or Theodocia?” I ventured.
He shifted, and some of the amusement left his features. “I heard something about you. Something really interesting about how you’re a monster or a god.”
“Monster is most accurate,” I replied.
“Who can fly.”
“Yes.”
“I might need a favor down the road,” Niko said.
“In exchange for taking me to Alessandra.”
“In exchange for taking you inside the walls. If you want access to the House, there’s a second price. When you do see her, tell her to un-do whatever she did to Theodocia.”
I didn’t possess the details about what had happened, and Niko was being unusually cagey. “You want two favors in exchange for helping me see Alessandra and turning me over to Cleon after,” I repeated in a hard voice. Did he know I’d do anything to see her again, even if he asked me for a dozen undesirable favors?
His smile and answered my question before his words did. “She destroyed four thousand lives for you. I’m pretty sure you’ll do whatever I want for her.”
At that moment, I wanted to murder Niko. It wasn’t entirely because of him. He was basically the messenger in this scenario, one with the ability to help me reach the House without being arrested first. My anger was close to the boiling point, and I loathed Niko’s smug smile and confidence.
It would be much easier to reach her, and Lantos, if I could do it in broad daylight. At night, I could fly into the compound, but I’d draw attention the moment I tried to creep into the House, the most fortified, safeguarded, and closely monitored building in the world. It wouldn’t stop me from smashing in a window to reach her. But I’d rather assess if what Niko said was true about her mind and Cleon’s colliding before I busted her out and risked hurting her.
I also needed to talk to Lantos face to face. I had trusted him. I wasn’t completely willing to believe he’d betrayed me, not when his motives were often times beyond the scope of a human like Niko to understand. It was possible there was a solid explanation for what Lantos had done. I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and if I found him unworthy, I’d kill him where he stood. That he and Alessandra were imprisoned in the same building would make it easier for me to maximize the one shot I had at entering the House.
“All right,” I said.
“I’m headed straight back.”
I dwelt briefly on Phoibe’s situation before my thoughts settled on Alessandra. Phoibe was surrounded by good people and capable of taking care of herself. I wasn’t able to say the same about Alessandra. “I need to go somewhere first. I’ll be thirty minutes.”
“You’ll understand if I don’t stand here in the crossfire of my enemies,” Niko replied wryly. “I’ll be at the main road.” Turning, he walked away, unconcerned with the weapons trained on his back or the anger radiating off me.
I released the breath I was holding and strode into the forest.
I was infuriated enough that I didn’t feel capable of facing Phoibe before I left, not when she had kept something this important from me. I stalked off into the woods towards the cabin Menelaus and I had discovered our first night here. He and Apollo were my secret. After seeing Phoibe’s hostile reaction to any suggestion of the gods helping her take the city, I had initially decided to keep Menelaus hidden.
Several minutes later, I reached the cabin. The previous occupant of the isolated home had lived completely off grid. Solar and wind power provided electricity, and a well ten meters from the wood cabin provided water. A small paddock had housed some sort of animals at one point before rotting.
I leaned against the fence. It was a very rare day in my life when I felt as if I was going to lose control. In fact, I couldn’t recall a time ever when rage bubbled within me as it did after hearing Niko’s tale. I was torn between anger with Lantos for turning on me and with myself for leaving Alessandra alone, despite knowing how the twisted politics of DC worked.
Niko was as likely to turn me in the moment I set foot in the walls as he was to take me to the House. But my own safety was the smallest of my concerns. I was capable of anticipating danger and acting in my self-interest with skill no man could match. And if he was telling the truth, and I would be permitted to see Alessandra, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
A sliver of self-doubt returned, and I wrestled with my two sides. Right now, they were both urging me to go to her and to destroy anyone who had tried to hurt her. The unity left me struggling even harder to control the fury inside me. I squeezed the wood in my hands hard enough for it to snap. Dropping my arms, I rolled my shoulders back, seeking to calm myself.
“What is it?” Menelaus was standing in the doorway of the cabin.
“It is fortunate I am not one.”
I glanced at him. Apollo didn’t yet feel safe revealing himself to me, and I wasn’t going to risk alienating him when I would need his help later.
“If you do not return, should I tell her to find you?” Menelaus asked.
“No. Stay with her and keep her safe. She needs the type of guidance only an ancient king who brought down the walls of Troy can provide.”
Menelaus nodded. His warm gaze was concerned.
“Take care,” I said quietly.
“And you.”
I left him, troubled about the future, yet convinced I was leaving Phoibe with the only person who could help her more than I was able to. Jogging through the forest, I returned to the dirt road leading to the encampment and strode down the opposite direction, towards the main road.
Niko was waiting. He had brought no soldiers with him and stood leaning against a black van, arms crossed. He pushed himself away when he spotted me and climbed into the driver’s seat. I opened the passenger seat to find a black SISA uniform, complete with hood, waiting for me.
“Figured it’d make you less conspicuous,” Niko said.
Already, I’d accepted I was going to my doom. I got in and maneuvered into the back of the van. He began driving while I changed. I returned to the passenger seat when I was finished.
“What happened to Theodocia?” I asked as we headed towards the walls of DC.
“Cleon ambushed her.” The response was clipped enough to reveal his unhappiness about the circumstance.
“I meant, what did Alessandra do?” I clarified with a half-smile.