by Lucy Roy
Then I was falling.
Falling, falling, deeper into the gray-black nothingness. The further I fell, the more hopeless I felt.
Alone. All alone.
Desolation and panic washed over me in waves as pain began to rip through me once again. The sensation of it all shattered my previous notion of what pain was.
The voice spoke again, smaller, quiet, but just as fearful.
“This is not the end.”
I started to fall faster. My panic finally overtook me, and just as I opened my mouth to scream, everything went black.
I was pulled from the memory gasping, terror coursing through me as I clutched at the soft material of Nathaniel’s shirt. As I crumpled to my knees, pulling him down with me, I felt his strong arms wrap around me.
“Tessa? Tessa!”
His voice forced its way into my thoughts. I pushed him away, then braced both hands on the ground as I attempted to keep my breakfast down. My nails scraped against the pavement as my fingers curled into fists. Leaning forward, I let my forehead rest on the rough cement and took several deep breaths.
I’d had intense dreams before; some more vivid than others, but this had been visceral. I felt it to my core. Those feelings, the fear and panic and desperation, were mine.
I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Tessa!”
Slowly, I pulled myself into a kneeling position, then lifted my face to meet Nathaniel’s. He was sitting on the ground in front of me, arms resting on his knees. The tears in my eyes caused his image to wobble, but I could see that his mask of professionalism had vanished, and in its place was a fear that mirrored my own.
“What was that?” He leaned forward as if to brush my hair from my eyes.
Before he could touch me, I slapped his hand away and scrambled to sit on the retaining wall, then rubbed my hands over my face. My cheeks were wet, fully coated with tears, and I saw streaks of black on the backs of my hands, telling me my mascara was running. I took a few more steadying breaths, then let my hands drop to my lap.
I glared at him, anger and fear causing my voice to tremble.
I wanted—so badly—to hit him.
“Why don’t you tell me? You’re the Coercer. Wouldn’t you know why a random vision just showed up in my brain?”
It probably wasn’t fair to put this on him, but I was a few counties beyond logical at the moment. I looked down and saw that his hands were shaking.
“I don’t know, I swear! I just saw a flash of something…” He ran a hand roughly through his brown hair, causing it to stand almost completely upright. It might’ve looked kind of hot, under ordinary circumstances.
“No clue at all? Because I only saw that when you—” I sniffed and jabbed a finger in his direction “—poked around in my head.”
He stared up at me, confused. “Tessa, I have no idea what that was, believe me. Hestia just told me she talked to you and that it was time to meet with you again.”
“Yeah. Her.” I snorted. “I thought she was supposed to be the nice one? Or are you going to try to tell me she had nothing to do with whatever the heck that was, either? It had to have been one of you.”
I’d finally stopped shaking, so I reached into my backpack and retrieved my water bottle, then chugged half of it in one gulp. A migraine was beginning to drill its way through my forehead.
When he spoke, his voice was quieter, confusion replacing the panic in his voice.
“I promise, I don’t know what that was.”
I frowned. He seemed pretty sincere. But then again, so did Hestia.
“Are you sure?”
“I truly don’t.” He frowned. “Obviously this was Hestia’s doing—”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I muttered.
“—but I just can’t fathom why.” His midnight blue eyes bore into me. “Was that your dream?”
“I don’t know. I think so.”
Half a block away, the bell rang, dragging me back to reality.
I slipped my water bottle back into the side pocket of my bag. “I’ve gotta go.” I attempted to get up, but my legs wobbled, and I stumbled back onto the wall. He jumped to help me, but I held up a hand to stop him. Gritting my teeth, I waited a few seconds, then forced my body into a standing position.
“Tessa, wait—”
“No. It’s my last day, and we have one more round of practice before graduation tonight. I’ll just talk to you later or…whatever.”
It was a horrifically lame excuse, considering the circumstances, but I needed to be done with this conversation and far, far away from him.
Nathaniel moved as if to walk me to class again, but I took a few steps away from him and shook my head.
“I’m good. Really. And there’s nothing to talk about. You don’t know anything, remember?”
Maybe being snarky wasn’t the most polite response, but the violent images replaying in my mind were making it hard to focus on etiquette.
“Right, of course,” he said quietly, hurt flashing through his eyes. His concern for me was evident, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I just needed to get into the building without falling over.
I turned back toward school and walked away as quickly as my legs would allow.
Once I was inside, I stopped and pressed my back against a row of lockers. I needed to spend more time going over this on my own before I shared it with any of my friends, and there was no way I could see Mary without her knowing at once that something was up. Thankfully it was a half-day, so I wouldn’t see her until practice that afternoon.
I was already late for homeroom, so I decided to just spend the next ten minutes in the girls’ bathroom instead of calling attention to my disheveled appearance by walking in after the bell.
I’d only taken a few steps down the hall when the image of darkened woods flashed through my mind, followed by the sound of distant screaming.
“What the—” I pressed a hand to my forehead in an attempt to soothe away the drilling pain. Squeezing my eyes shut, I braced my hand against the wall to keep from stumbling.
Calm yourself, Tessa.
The words swirled in my mind, so I took a few deep breaths, attempting to do just that. Once I felt slightly more steady, I continued making my way to the bathroom.
When I stepped into the dimly lit, pink-tiled room, I checked all the stalls before dragging the large metal trashcan over to block the door. Dropping my bag on the floor next to me, I rested my head against the cool tile. As I replayed the vision I’d just seen, I struggled to find some bit of recognition, but nothing came to me. Considering Nathaniel had seen most of it with me, I assumed it hadn’t all been some bizarre out-of-body experience.
Nathaniel.
I let anger beat back the reasonable part of my brain that knew full well Nathaniel hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d seemed so sincere in his shock. I didn’t think he’d have the ability to put those images in my head, but he was a Coercer, so what did I know?
The fear of my current predicament gave way to aggravation and anger, and I walked over to the sink and looked in the mirror. When I saw my reflection, I scowled.
I looked terrible. Tendrils of blond hair had fallen from my bun and stuck to my cheeks, the tears that had fallen acting like glue. Black streaks trailed from my lower lashes and smeared from the outer corners of my eyes where my mascara had run. The light brown freckles scattered across my nose were completely obscured by the blotchy flush brought on by my hysterics, and the whites of my eyes were so red that the green of my irises looked fluorescent.
“Why can’t you be that green on a normal day?” I muttered to my reflection, turning on the cold water.
The moment I closed my eyes to wash my face, the distant screaming I’d just heard moments before echoed through my mind once again.
Gritting my teeth, I splashed cold water on my face, neck, and arms in the hope that it would bring down the swelling and redness, rubbing a bit to get the ruined eye makeup off. When I
moved to dry my hands off on a paper towel, I realized they were shaking.
I squeezed them into tight fists, willing the trembling to stop. Once it had, I yanked my hair out of its bun, then dug through my backpack until I found a small hairbrush, spilling the contents of the bag in the process. The water had loosened up the hair that had been stuck to my face, so I brushed it all out until it was smooth, then wrapped it up in a high bun.
As I slowly began picking up the items that had scattered all over the floor, I replayed my conversations with Hestia and Nathaniel again, searching for any clues to what was going on with me.
Then a memory pricked at my mind; something Hestia said.
‘Zeus has no hidden agenda. He wouldn’t send a liaison to meet a new Ischyra for nefarious purposes, I promise.’
Zeus, from what I knew of him, was an honorable leader. His past was certainly checkered, but nothing in recent history indicated he would’ve sent Nathaniel for anything other than legitimate Ischyra purposes.
But there were twelve other Elders on the council.
What if it hadn’t been Zeus who’d sent him?
7
Nathaniel
What I’d seen in Tessa’s mind wasn’t sitting well with me. I could still feel her fear, her panic, and my own helplessness when I couldn’t remove myself from her mind to stop the onslaught of visions.
Seeing that tortured look on her face again was simply not an option for me.
It was clear that Hestia had planted that vision in Tessa’s mind, but I didn’t think she’d be too forthcoming with information if I went directly to her. She would’ve mentioned it the night before if she’d wanted me to know.
I needed time to think, so I made my way back to my home just outside Olympia, the small village on the lower portion of Mount Olympus.
On the surface, Olympia resembled Earth in many ways. A tree-lined thoroughfare housed a number of small shops and restaurants, and houses and apartments were built along the smaller side-roads for those who lived here permanently. The streets were arranged like spokes on a wheel, each leading back to the central square where the doors of Olympia’s portal field, the main point of access for all Ischyra and inter-realm travelers, were arranged around a statue of Zeus.
A large stone arena, the main training facility for the Ischyra, sat just on the outskirts of the village. In the background, soaring thousands of feet in the air, stood Mount Olympus, the top of which was almost always encased in clouds. Scattered up the mountain were the homes of demigods, lower gods, and far beyond the cloud cover, the palaces of the Elders.
My home, a sprawling cabin in the forest that separated Olympia from the uppermost parts of the mountain, was peaceful, and most importantly, private.
I climbed the short set of stairs to the front door, lost in thought. As I stepped over the threshold into the large great room, I was so focused on what had happened with Tessa that I almost didn’t notice my visitors.
My back immediately went up when I saw that Apollo and Hestia were waiting for me.
Hestia sat on the leather sectional in front of the fire place where she’d set several logs ablaze. She appeared tense, her back rigid and her mouth set in a firm line as she watched Apollo wander my living room, looking perfectly at ease. His pale, high cheek-boned face and casual expression betrayed no true emotion.
To humans, he might be considered striking or statuesque. In moments like this, when he appeared in my home unannounced, I saw him as nothing but intrusive.
I took a seat at the other end of the sofa and arched a brow expectantly.
“Nathaniel,” Apollo said with a nod, not meeting my eyes. “I’ll cut right to the chase. Hestia tells me that you met with Tessa Avery.”
Hestia’s eyes met mine and she gave me a barely discernable nod. ‘He already knows what I’ve asked of you.’
I shifted my gaze back to Apollo, who had moved to sit next to Hestia.
“Yes, I just left her a short while ago.”
Apollo pursed his lips and absentmindedly tapped his finger on the arm of the sofa for a moment before giving me an expectant look. He raised his eyebrows when I didn’t immediately respond. “And how did that go?”
“It went…as well as to be expected. When I left, she was quite upset.”
“About?”
I tapped my thumb on my knee as I considered what to tell him. “She said that Hestia visited her in a dream walk last night. As we discussed what they spoke about, I saw flashes of what looked to be latent memories. When I pushed into her mind, something—a vision, maybe—took over.” I paused, still ashamed that I’d forced my mind on hers, despite the apparent necessity of the action.
I cast a quick glance at Hestia before continuing. “I’d seen no evidence of it when I met with Tessa yesterday.”
Apollo gave Hestia a look of annoyance before continuing his questioning. “What exactly did this vision show you?”
I leaned back, propping my right foot on the opposite knee. “It’s difficult to say. There were some flashes of lightning, a lot of screaming. Someone ran toward her, then she was sucked into someplace… dark. I felt her emotional response, but by her reaction, it seemed as though it was physically painful for her as well.”
The look of agony on her face when I was finally able to release myself from her was seared into my mind.
Apollo’s composed expression faltered, and his gaze flicked to Hestia again. Something passed between them that caused Hestia’s tense expression to turn irritated.
Apollo cleared his throat and turned his attention back to me. “Nathaniel, I think you would do well to not pursue this.”
“I—what?” I frowned in confusion. “You don’t think—"
“I said—”
“He heard what you said, Apollo,” Hestia said, breaking her silence. “Now let it be.” She stood and straightened her pale blue dress. “He was only doing what I asked. You and I can discuss the memory I passed to Tessa later.”
The air in the room suddenly felt very heavy. Apollo was second in command after Zeus, and while he was quite skilled at concealing his emotions, the hard set of his jaw made it clear he didn’t take well to being chastised.
Apollo stared at me as if he wanted to push further, but Hestia placed a hand on his arm before rising to her feet. “Come,” she said sweetly. “You’ve gotten your information, now it’s time to leave.”
He stood and straightened his white suit coat. “Nathaniel, I trust we won’t be speaking of this again.” The subtle threat in his tone was impossible to miss.
“If that’s what you want,” I replied, staring into the fire and refusing to meet his gaze.
Without another glance in my direction, he teleported away.
Hestia gave me a small smile, then she, too, was gone.
I rested my head on the back of the sofa as I thought over Hestia’s words. It didn’t appear that Apollo had caught the hint she’d so carefully dropped.
She’d given Tessa a memory.
Not a vision of what’s to come, but a memory of past events.
How in all the realms could that be possible? The girl was only eighteen.
And Apollo expected me to simply leave it be?
I felt certain that was damn near impossible.
8
Tessa
A few hours later, I stood on Mary’s front stoop, biting my lip as I waited for her to answer the door.
When she opened it, she rolled her eyes, then pulled me inside.
“Ugh, there you are! Where’ve you—” When she saw the look on my face, her expression stilled.
“What happened? You skipped our last practice! You’ll be lucky if Principal Sharp lets you walk tonight!”
I craned my neck to look into the living room. “Chris and Alan aren’t home, right?” I wasn’t ready to go to my own guardians with this yet, much less Mary’s.
Her brow furrowed as she took in the look on my face. “Nope, they’re at school helping set u
p for graduation. What’s up?”
“Can we go to your room?” I dropped my bag on the bench by the door and rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “I need to…I don’t know. Talk, I guess”
“Sure, come on up.”
The second the door closed behind her, Mary marched me over to her unmade bed and sat me down with a bit more force than necessary, then took a seat next to me.
“Now, tell me what’s wrong.”
Forcing the shakiness from my voice, I detailed the disturbing vision I’d seen when Nathaniel had entered my mind.
When I was finished, she sat in stunned silence. After a few seconds, her expression turned incredulous.
“So, hold up. A Coercer pushed himself into your mind without your permission?” She shook her head. “This isn’t even remotely okay, right?”
For whatever reason, I felt as though I needed to come to Nathaniel’s defense.
“No, it wasn’t like that. Well, I guess it was, I don’t know. He said he only did that in situations where it was ‘absolutely necessary.’”
“So he says,” she scoffed. “How do you know he was telling the truth?”
I shrugged. “I don’t, I guess. But if you could’ve seen his face, Mare.”
“I’m sure,” Mary responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
I sighed in exasperation. This was the last thing I needed right now.
“So, you’re positive this was your nightmare? Or the parts of it that you haven’t been seeing?”
“Yeah, all the stuff that I’d seen already was there – the flashes of fire, the heat, the sounds, that awful falling sensation.” I shivered as I recalled how it had felt to plummet toward nothing. I began slowly tracing the pattern in Mary’s blue paisley comforter with my finger.
“The first part was pretty clear; it looked and sounded, or at least I think it sounded, like a battle or something. It could’ve easily been a normal old nightmare.”
I took a deep breath before continuing.
“The second part, though, the falling…” I raised my eyes to her. “Mare, it was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced.”