The Immortals

by Jordanna Max Brodsky

The world spins. Cold dread captures my breath. A true memory. Not the outline of the story as told by the ancients. The memory as I lived it. The memory I can never forget.

  Apollo’s voice, usually as warm as the sun itself, is cold and hard as he comes to stand beside me. “You are the Virgin Goddess. I had to save you from throwing away your chastity, and your godhood along with it. I must be the only man you will ever love.” He grabs my hand and presses it against his heart.

  I rip from his grasp. “I will never forgive your lies.” I strike him once. Red blooms upon his cheek. His eyes turn hard.

  I race back to the shore, for just as a goddess takes life, so she may give it back again. But I’m too late. My Hunter’s body is gone, claimed once more by his father the Sea.

  In my grief, I pull forth eight arrows. One by one, I shoot them into the sky, placing my lover in the firmament to be worshiped for eternity. Hoping that somehow, someday, the Fates will bring us together again—even if it means I, too, must die to take my place beside him in the stars.

  Chapter 44

  THE CORN KING

  Theo awoke trussed like a pig on the floor of the cave. A headache hammered against his skull with a fury he hadn’t experienced since the worst of his grad school hangovers. Stabbing pain radiated along the bridge of his nose where his glasses had gouged a deep trench while he slept. He worked his bruised jaw from side to side for a moment, struggling to remember why he wasn’t dead.

  A single beam of red sunlight inched across the ground. As he watched, it narrowed to a fiery sliver then vanished, thrusting the cave further into twilight. Sunset? he marveled. Again? Have I slept away an entire day? Or is everything I remember from yesterday a dream? The latter seemed more likely. Charming Everett Halloran an invincible psychopath who styled himself the Greek hero Orion and believed Selene was the goddess Artemis? He ran his tongue along his cracked lips, grateful they’d left the duct tape off. Kykeon-induced hallucinations, he decided. That’s the only explanation. Trying to ease his aching ribs, he rolled over.

  Right into Selene.

  He realized he’d never seen her sleeping before. She looked younger and more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her. Long, dark lashes brushed her high cheekbones. Her full lips were parted, just a little. She came back for me, Theo thought. Just as I would have for her.

  “Well, you’re not a hallucination,” he murmured.

  Selene’s eyes snapped open.

  Theo had a million questions for her, but one came first. “Did I dream the part where they left Gabriela at the theater? Please tell me she’s okay.”

  “She’s fine. I left her telling off the police and infuriating the paramedics.”

  “Thank God.”

  “Your detective friend wasn’t so lucky.”

  “Shit.” Theo’s heart sank. “It’s my fault. He wanted to wait for backup.”

  “From what I’ve heard, if you’d waited another minute, Gabriela would’ve been the sacrifice. With Brandman, the cult had the killing it needed to complete the Pannychis. He died to save her. There are worse ways for a cop to go.”

  Theo nodded, but he couldn’t escape the heavy mantle of guilt. He’d gotten Brandman killed, put Gabi in danger, and now Selene’s life, too, was in peril.

  “Stop feeling guilty and let’s get the hell out of here.” Selene moved to stand, but the fetters on her ankles and wrists kept her teetering on her knees. “By the Styx…” she muttered, pulling fruitlessly at the ropes.

  “That reminds me… You’re not a goddess, are you?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she shot back.

  “Oh, good. Just checking. And Everett—I know Helen thought he was God’s gift and all, but he’s not actually immortal, right? I have a vague recollection of your throwing a spear through his chest and him just plucking it out again.”

  “It was a javelin. What kind of classicist are you?”

  “One currently more concerned with surviving the night than with identifying ancient weaponry. Sue me.” He forced a short laugh, but fear slid down his spine and wriggled into his stomach.

  “You know Everett’s name means ‘strong as a wild boar’ in German, right?” she said with a hint of pique. “We should’ve known this was all about Orion.”

  Theo levered himself to an awkward sitting position. “I only speak Greek, Latin, and a smattering of Acadian. German just makes me think of Nazi movies.” He looked at her more closely. “I don’t remember much about last night, but I could swear you and Everett knew each other.”

  Selene grimaced. “We did, once. A long time ago.”

  Something in her expression made him ask, “Did you date him?”

  She snorted. “In a manner of speaking. It didn’t end well.”

  “And now he wants you back?”

  “I guess.”

  “But you’re not…”

  “He tied me up and left me in a cave. He’s killed three innocent women. He would’ve killed Gabriela if you and Detective Brandman hadn’t shown up. So no, I may have a terrible track record with men, but even I’m not that damaged.”

  “Ah. Good.” Theo’s mind whirled. Why did Selene sound like she was trying to convince herself? How had she met Everett in the first place? And why would he start a cult to win her back? But one image stuck in his mind. “And the javelin thing? Am I crazy? Is he really invincible?”

  “He’s very strong. But no, he’s not invincible. No one is invincible anymore. He’s a performer—you saw the masks. That stunt with the javelin was just a cheap theater trick. It only seemed real to you because of the kykeon—it plays havoc with your brain.”

  “He called me a Makarites. A ‘Blessed One.’ And Helen, too. Any idea why?”

  “No,” she said shortly. But he had the distinct impression she was lying. “I told you, don’t trust anything you remember from last night.”

  “But you’re here. That’s real.” He recalled something else: Selene, standing above him with an arrow and refusing to strike. Even drugged with kykeon, she’d protected him. The knot of terror loosened a little as he watched her now. “You came to rescue me, huh?”

  “I came to catch the hierophant.” She looked away swiftly, staring out through the cave opening. Theo forced himself not to say anything. He watched the flaring of her nostrils and waited. She looked down at her bound wrists. “And also to rescue you.” She blushed. “I’m sorry, Theo.” She spoke so softly he could barely hear her, and with a stiffness that hinted she wasn’t used to apologizing. “I thought if I left you, you’d give up on me—go escape somewhere safe. I should’ve known you’d run right into danger instead.”

  Theo allowed himself a moment to enjoy her sudden bashfulness. Then another to imagine what he might do if they’d left him unbound. Don’t say it, Theo, he admonished himself.

  “If I could reach you, I’d kiss you,” he said anyway.

  Selene shifted a little and wove her white-knuckled fingers together. “Why? I didn’t rescue you very well.”

  “It wouldn’t be a gratitude kind of kiss.”

  Selene’s gaze snapped to his.

  She’s afraid of me, he realized with a start. At least that’s one advantage to being tied up: She can’t run away this time. “But only if you wanted me to.”

  Her gaze softened. In the darkening cave, her eyes seemed to glow. “Let’s just concentrate on getting out of here, shall we?”

  Theo looked through the cave opening. Twilight painted the leaves and shrubbery in shades of gray. At any moment, Everett and the others might appear, and any chance he had of ever kissing Selene DiSilva—or any other woman, for that matter—would be over. “Shouldn’t the cops be here by now?”

  “The cops?”

  “You did tell Captain Hansen where you were going, didn’t you?” His stomach tightened once more. “Please tell me you didn’t think you could take down an entire cult all by yourself.”

  Selene shrugged, averting her eyes once more.

  “You�
��re not really a goddess, remember!” Theo groaned.

  “I brought Hippolyta.”

  “Oh. Good. I’m sure one woman and a dog are more than a match for four drugged madmen. And where is this canine crime fighter? Is she calling the police?”

  “I didn’t want her to get hurt so I let her off leash and told her to run home.”

  “Ah. Well at least one of us is safe.” He ignored her unamused frown. “I don’t suppose you have a phone you can reach?”

  “He must have taken it out of my pocket last night.”

  “So there’s no plan.”

  “I’m supposed to be Artemis, remember? Not Athena,” she snapped. “I’m not great at planning ahead.”

  Theo stopped himself from a snarky retort. The last thing he wanted was to fight with her. “Well, it’s sunset again. That means the Unspeakables will keep going. Can you remember how much they got through last night? It’s all so fuzzy.”

  “Legomena and Dromena.”

  “So tonight is Deiknumena, ‘Things Shown.’ To be honest, I’d rather not see them, whatever they are.”

  “At least we know what to expect,” she said. “When they captured you, I went to Helen’s apartment. I read her manuscript.”

  “Everett told me it was on her missing laptop.”

  “Everett lied. Big surprise. My canine crime fighter sniffed it out.”

  “And what did it say?”

  “That all this was Helen’s idea in the first place.”

  He shook his head. “She may have been a little eccentric, but there’s no way she condoned human sacrifice. Torturing virgin girls. That’s not the woman I knew.”

  “Everett added the virgin killing because he’s trying to transform Persephone and Demeter’s cult into one worshipping Orion and Artemis instead, and virginity is Artemis’s attribute. But Helen’s not blameless. Far from it. She wanted to re-create the original Mystery—the one Dennis told me about, complete with the sacrifice of the Corn King.”

  “That would be me.”

  She could only nod.

  “But why?”

  “You yourself said the Mystery provided the answers to life’s greatest questions. Helen thought the only way to uncover that lost wisdom was to perform the ritual as it was meant to be.”

  “So if I remember correctly what Everett said last night, the long-forgotten answer to ‘how to live a better life’ is… become immortal?” He shook his head. “Helen used to talk about the myth of Tithonus and the Dawn. Said she wanted me to live forever by her side. But I never dreamed she was serious about it. I guess she decided Everett would make a better grasshopper.”

  “Immortality…” Selene snorted disdainfully. “Immortality doesn’t teach you anything about how to live, because you never learn how to die.”

  “Well, no worries on that front. I have a feeling my colleagues are going to teach me that lesson pretty soon.” It was getting harder and harder to maintain his sense of humor.

  “Yeah, I recognized Bill Webb. And the skinny old guy—he was the one Hippo barked at that day at your office. I thought she just wanted his sandwich, but looks like she recognized his smell, after all.”

  “That’s Martin Andersen. And the other’s Nate Balinski. Seems they couldn’t resist Everett’s promises any more than Helen, or Bill, or anyone else. Except you, that is. I seem to recall that he tried to get you to kill me last night during the Dromena. Thanks, by the way, for refusing.”

  “Anytime,” she said with the ghost of a smile.

  “But tonight’s his last chance to consummate the ritual. Nothing’s going to stop him from sacrificing me.” The roiling fear in his gut had settled into a clenched numbness. “And you’re telling me I have Helen to thank for this.”

  “I think, maybe, she did it for love. I bet after Everett drugged her with kykeon, she believed anything he told her—even that he was the mythological Hunter reborn.”

  Theo shook his head. “Pure lunacy. She must’ve known she could never publish her work—the university would’ve had her committed—but she kept going anyway.”

  “Because Everett persuaded her it was the only way to make the mythical Orion fully immortal.”

  “And she was willing to sacrifice me for that? For nonsense?”

  “There’s nothing in her paper that implies you had to be the king. Choosing you as the sacrifice is just payback for your little fling with Helen.”

  “But someone was going to die.”

  “Love makes people do crazy things.”

  Theo didn’t know how to respond to that. I guess that explains how I wound up handcuffed in a cave in the middle of Manhattan, about to be killed. Love for one woman inspired me to start this chase. Love for another led me to its end.

  Selene tugged uselessly at her ropes. Even with her renewed powers, she couldn’t break the thick hemp. Finally, she succumbed to frustration and stooped to asking for help.

  “Apollo, Phoebus, Alexikakos, Boedromios. Bright One, Protector from Harm, Rescuer,” she whispered, so low Theo wouldn’t hear. “You denied me once, but come to me now. I’m in danger, Sunbeam. I need you.”

  Even with their bond as twins, she doubted Paul would hear her invocation, not from so far away. And even if he did, even though she used his real name, he would likely still refuse her request. He’d made it perfectly clear in the hospital that she was on her own.

  Water dripped in the back of the cave. Father lives in a place like this, she realized. Huddled among the stalagmites. Alone and afraid.

  The cave grew dark, but she could still see Theo. A dim profile. Sharp nose, pointed chin. The faint glint of his glasses as he turned to speak.

  “I hate to bring this up.” His forced lightness couldn’t hide his terror. “But I’d rather not die tonight.”

  “Me neither.” I will not give up as my father has. I will not abandon my duty to Theo, to the women of this city—nor to my fellow Athanatoi either. If what the Wine Giver told me is true, I cannot let this cult succeed. She pulled at her hempen fetters one more time, calling upon the cave, the rock, the trees, for strength. I am the Goddess of the Wild, she thought angrily. This is my space. But she only succeeded in chaffing her wrists further.

  Disgusted, she let loose a long, angry scream. The roar of a bear. The howl of a wolf.

  Theo whistled in appreciation. “Someone might hear that.” But no intrepid passerby shouted back. No police siren signaled a rescue. The only sound was the rustling of some creature in the leaves outside the cave. “Looks like only the squirrels know we’re here,” he said after a while.

  “Theo. That’s a brilliant idea.”

  “What?”

  “Shhh.” Selene closed her eyes, reaching for an ancient, primal knowledge she’d possessed long ago. She squeaked. Once. Twice. The rustling noise came closer. She chittered softly. The almost imperceptible click of claws on stone. Close enough now to make out overlarge black eyes, big ears, furry tail. A field mouse. She’d been hoping for a rat. In the old days, she would’ve summoned a bear. Still, it was better than nothing. Slowly, she moved her hands toward the mouse, squeaking soothingly. She tried to communicate the most basic of ideas—Come, there’s food. She couldn’t remember anything more complicated. The mouse’s whiskers twitched rapidly as it approached, sniffing. It crawled hesitantly onto her hand, then up her wrist to the hemp rope, where it sat down and began to gnaw. Theo gave a small gasp of astonishment but, for once, remained silent. Praying for enough time, Selene held her hands still while the mouse worked. His teeth were awfully small.

  Approaching footsteps sent the mouse scurrying with only half the rope chewed through. It might be enough, she hoped, working the bonds, feeling the new give in the rope.

  “I may say things to Everett that sound crazy,” she whispered hurriedly to Theo. “But just go with it, okay?” If the Fates are kind, maybe I’ll get out of this without having to explain that everything Orion said is true.

  Chapter 45

&nbs
p; UNDYING

  The Hunter entered the cave, a flaming brand in one hand and his bronze sword in the other, moving with his usual supple grace.

  “Came alone this time?” Theo challenged. “Left your friends getting drunk at the Faculty Club?”

  Orion ignored him. He knelt and placed the torch into the charred remains of the fire pit. With two rushing breaths, he blew life into the flames. In the sudden blaze, Selene looked at Theo. His glasses were askew, his hair a tangled nest, one eye nearly swollen shut. But he caught her gaze and held it.

  “Don’t do that.” Orion sheathed his sword, took Selene by the shoulders, and turned her to face him. He sat so their eyes were level. “Look at me now. Look at me and see me.”

  She forced herself to resist the pleading in his gaze. “I see a monster.”

  A flash of hurt narrowed his eyes. “I see a goddess.”

  “Everett, you idiot—” Theo began.

  “My name is Orion,” the Hunter shot over his shoulder. “As it has been since my father Poseidon named me. As it was for millennia, while I hung between life and death, waiting for my father’s promise to come true. And it will be for eternity once I take my place among the Athanatoi. Helen did the research. Nate knew the recipe. Martin found the Caledonian Boar. From there, it was like tracking a deer through muddy ground.” He turned back to Selene. “I just had to make sure that Artemis could follow my trail as easily.”

  “You left Helen there in the river, because you knew I would come by.”

  Orion smiled and stroked her hair. “I know your habits, my love. I left just enough clues so that, at the end, you’d come to me.”

  “Is that why you used the tusk and the vase with my picture on it as your hiera? To keep me interested?”

  He laughed shortly. “No, I knew once you had the scent, you’d never give up the hunt until you caught your prey. I used the tusk and the vase because your story is my story. And because, by including them in the ritual, I could bring you power. Then, when you finally found me, you’d understand that I’d do anything, anything at all, to save you, to love you, to spend eternity at your side. Last time, your twin tore us apart. This time, nothing will stop us. Can you imagine how much more glorious you’ll be when you’ve stood above the flames and inhaled the burnt offerings as I have? When you’ve witnessed the revelation of the hiera? Then, when the final sacrifice is complete, we will both be fully immortal. Your limbs, your beautiful, strong limbs, will never wither and weaken. You will never die, Artemis. I will save you, make you into the goddess you once were. We can leave this filthy city—go anywhere in the world. The boreal forests of Canada, where bear and moose and elk still roam. Africa, to run side by side hunting antelope across the savannah. We could even go back to the sacred grove at Ephesus, my Far Shooter. Things will be as they always were.”