She smiled back. “No, you won’t. You say you will, and it’s very sweet of you, but I know that you’d be by yourself, moping around.” She linked hands with him. “Now, I’m not taking no for an answer. We’re making a snow sculpture. Come on.”
Owen let her drag him down the hill into the meadow. He guessed he was making a snow sculpture.
But really, he was going to have to figure something out. He couldn’t be around Nora all the time. She needed to give him a break now and then. He had things that he wanted to get done now that he was back in Helicon.
Getting here been his goal, ever since he could remember. This place was Nora’s home, and he’d always said that he wanted to get her here. But the truth was, this was his home as well. It was the only place he ever felt remotely comfortable. It was a good place. He wanted to protect it, in much the same way that he had always wanted to protect Nora. Helicon needed his help. It was vulnerable. He couldn’t allow anything bad to happen to it.
Owen knew that he wasn’t exactly like everyone else in the world. Partly, that was because he was half-god. But there was also something different about the way that he thought. He was… well, he wouldn’t use the word superior if he was explaining it to anyone else, because they would take it wrong.
But the truth was, he really was superior. Other people were weak. They allowed things to get in the way of seeing things rationally. They would be swayed by their fear, or their pain, or their attachment to other people. Owen didn’t have these kinds of problems. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about anyone at all. When it served his purpose, he could be quite kind to other people. It was simply that when he had a goal, he was ruthless in making sure that he got what he wanted.
It was this perspective that allowed him to see how vulnerable Helicon really was. If someone like him managed to attempt to take over the land, they would be able to do it with absolutely no effort. There was simply nothing in place to stop them. Helicon had no defenses.
That was really all he wanted to do. Strengthen the place.
He knew the muses, though. They didn’t like change. They argued a lot. It took them far too much time to get anything done. That was one of their weaknesses. So he couldn’t tell everyone his plans. He had to be a little careful about it.
That was the only reason he was keeping it secret from Nora. Because she wouldn’t understand.
She turned to him, her eyes bright. “So, I’ve been thinking that we should sculpt a snowman.”
He raised both eyebrows. “A snowman?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes. Because they never have anything like that here. Everyone makes things that are elaborate and intense. I want something simple, something charming. All those years we spent in the mundane world, watching other children make snowmen, and you would never let me, because it was creativity. I couldn’t be creative there.”
When she put it that way… “Fine. I’ll help.”
She grinned. “Great. I want it to be made completely of snow, though. No coal for eyes or carrots for a nose or anything like that. We’ll sculpt all of his features from the snow, even his top hat.”
“Okay.” Owen shrugged. Whatever she wanted.
“This is going to be great.”
* * *
“If you guys had seen them, you would be just as upset as I am,” Sawyer said. He was standing to the side as Maddie, Agler, and Lute were all working together on the sculpture they were making. It was a fir tree. None of them had been feeling particularly creative. If it were up to Sawyer, honestly, he wouldn’t have had them make a sculpture at all. But he didn’t want to disappoint Maddie. It was tradition that they all make a sculpture together. This was Maddie’s favorite time of year. Just because things were going wrong with Nora and Owen didn’t mean that everything should be ruined.
Agler was packing snow into what would become the trunk of the tree. “It’s not that we aren’t upset. Trust me, we’re upset. Every time I see that sneaky little bastard walking around in Helicon, it drives me insane. He doesn’t deserve to be here.” Agler didn’t like Owen at all. He remembered him from when they were children together. Additionally, Agler and Nora had dated several years ago. During that time, Agler’d had a bit of an altercation with Owen.
“So, we’ve got to do something,” Sawyer said. “He’s controlling her brain, and he’s making her kiss him. Gods know what else he’ll be making her do. When I think about it, I…” He clenched his fists.
Lute looked up at him, eyebrows raised. He was kneeling on the ground and filling a bucket full of snow. They needed the extra snow to get height on their sculpture. “You know, maybe if you calm down about all of this. You’re going to give yourself an ulcer.”
Maddie shook her head at Lute. “You don’t understand. If you’d had to deal with him like we had…”
“Well, I haven’t,” Lute said. “You two ran off without us at the Harvest Ball. Maybe if Agler and I had been there, we could have done something.”
“He’s got a point,” said Agler.
Sawyer exchanged a glance with Maddie. They both sighed.
“We’re very sorry that we left you guys behind,” said Sawyer. “We’ll never do it again.”
“No, never,” said Maddie. Their voices had the ring of something that had been said over and over again. Because it had been.
Sawyer and Maddie had been scraping and apologizing ever since they got back. Sawyer could try to explain that it was “sisters before misters” as many times as he wanted, it didn’t really go over very well with Lute. Lute didn’t have friends like Sawyer did. The people that he had been close to before dating Sawyer were mostly confused by his new behavior. After all, Lute hadn’t dated men before he dated Sawyer.
Some people weren’t very kind about it. Sawyer himself had been the object of quite a bit of ridicule. He was a boy, but he liked to dress in skirts. Everyone thought this was a little strange. Sawyer did it, not because he wanted to be a girl, but because he didn’t really identify with either gender, and so he appropriated bits of each that appealed to his sensibilities. He was an individual. Part of his individuality included a somewhat fluid sexuality.
At least he had thought it was fluid. It had turned out that the only girl that he’d ever been really attracted to was Nora. And that his physical attraction for Nora had been much less than his emotional attraction.
Still to the surrounding muses, it appeared that Sawyer had been gay, then straight, then gay. And now it seemed that he was passing on his confusion to Lute, because Lute was now switching teams. It made everybody nervous.
“What I’m saying is that we have to make a plan,” Sawyer said.
“Well, right now, we’re making a snow sculpture,” said Maddie. “I agree that it’s important to make a plan. But I think that we need to concentrate on one thing at a time.”
“So when are we going to concentrate on this?” Sawyer said.
Lute handed over a bucket of snow. “Maybe we could call meetings.”
“Meetings? Like council meetings?” Agler said.
Lute nodded slowly. “Yeah. I mean, this business with Owen is serious stuff. Maybe we need something serious, like a council meeting.”
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because so much gets accomplished at council meetings.”
“Well, that’s because everyone on the council is a moron,” Maddie said. “Meetings aren’t a bad idea.”
Sawyer sighed again.
“Why aren’t we taking this to the council, anyway?” Lute said.
“Don’t you remember?” Agler said. “Phoebe made a moratorium on anyone bringing up anything about Owen at the council meeting. It was like a month ago.”
Lute shrugged. “I must’ve missed that one. Sometimes I skip council meetings and play music instead.”
“Anyway,” said Maddie, “we don’t go to the council because all they ever do is create a committee. And then the committee sits and talks about it for months and months on end,
and nothing ever gets fixed.”
“What we need to do is appoint ourselves the committee,” Agler said. “We’ll be the people who are working to stop Owen from whatever it is he’s doing.”
“Well that’s all well and good,” said Sawyer. “But when are we going to have this committee meeting?”
Maddie considered. “What about—?”
She was interrupted by the sound of voices, which were escalating in pitch.
“What’s that?” Agler stood up, peering over the beginnings of their fir tree sculpture.
Sawyer looked in the direction of the noise. Across the way, he could see that Owen and Daryl, Maddie’s ex-boyfriend, were facing each other off. Neither of them looked particularly happy. The muscles in both of their necks were tense. Daryl had his hands clenched into fists.
“I don’t know what your problem is,” Owen was saying, his voice a sneer.
Daryl laughed harshly. “Don’t you? You know what you did to me. The only thing that you should be wondering about is why it’s taken me so long to speak up.”
“Seriously, what?” Owen folded his arms over his chest. “Are you angry because I cut the line at breakfast yesterday or something?”
Daryl shook his head at him in disgust. “You really don’t know, do you? You left me in a dead world. You left me trapped.”
That was right. Sawyer remembered that. Daryl had made his way back to Helicon, but he had been trapped in Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. Time moved differently there, so Daryl was locked up for decades, even though only a year had passed for everyone else.
Owen squinted, as if he was having trouble remembering. Then he nodded. “Oh, yeah. That. Look, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t sound very sorry.
Daryl hauled off and drove his fist into Owen’s jaw.
Owen stumbled backward, clutching his jaw. He righted himself, nostrils flaring. Then he lifted his palm. A bright flash of purple light started to emit from it.
But before the light could connect with Daryl, Nora had tackled Owen, knocking him to the ground.
Sawyer could hear her voice across the snow-covered meadow.
“What are you thinking? If you hurt someone here, it’ll be exile again.”
Owen got to his feet, sputtering. He glared at Daryl.
Before he could do or say anything, Phoebe Rain herself was running through the snow.
Daryl was going to be in trouble. Possibly Owen too. Violence wasn’t acceptable in Helicon. Sawyer remembered that Agler had gotten deeply in trouble for punching Owen years ago. It simply didn’t happen. The muses worked out their aggression in other ways.
“What do you think he was going to do to him?” Lute said. “What was coming out of his palm?”
Maddie shook her head. “I don’t know. But you can bet it wasn’t anything good.”
CHAPTER TWO
But the odd thing was, neither Owen nor Daryl seemed to get into any trouble for the incident. Sawyer didn’t know why that was, but no one had said anything about it. It had been yesterday, and if there were a big punishment, news would have spread by now.
Nothing.
Sawyer glared at his sewing machine. He was sitting in the clothing and fabric enclave, which was his home away from home, but he didn’t feel very at home right now. Usually, he spent most of his time sewing things. He liked to make clothes for himself and for his friends. He liked to experiment with color and texture. Generally, it was an activity that he enjoyed. Generally, when he was sewing, he was blissful.
But not right now. Right now, he was about ready to destroy the machine. He was usually quite efficient at putting a garment together, but he wasn’t paying attention, and he had sewed the seam inside out twice. Ripping it out was wreaking havoc on the delicate fabric that he was using to make the dress.
So, when Lute tapped him on the shoulder, he was glad of the distraction.
“Hi,” he said, grinning up at Lute. “I was just thinking about taking a break.”
Lute pulled up a chair and sat down next to the sewing machine. “Oh, good. I didn’t want to disturb you. I know how you get when you’re working.”
“Nothing is working right now,” Sawyer said. “I don’t know what it is. I’m distracted.”
Lute shrugged. “You’re always distracted these days.”
“Not always,” Sawyer said. Even though he knew his boyfriend was right. He reached over to touch Lute’s cheek. He made his fingers feather soft against the other’s skin. “You, for instance, I want to give my undivided attention.”
Lute put his hand over Sawyer’s. He smiled at him. And then he dropped his gaze. “It’s Nora.”
“What happened with Nora?” Sawyer pulled his hand back, feeling tension erupt over his entire body.
Lute shook his head. “No, nothing happened with Nora. What I mean is, you’re distracted because of Nora. That’s why you’re always distracted.”
“Oh.” Sawyer’s shoulders slumped. “You’re annoyed.”
Lute shook his head. “No, no. I can’t be. I know it’s not about Nora, per se. It’s about all of Helicon.”
“That’s the thing. It is about Nora.”
“No, I know. But it’s not about you still having feelings for her.”
“Of course not. Of course not. You know that my feelings toward Nora are not remotely romantic.”
“I do.”
Sawyer sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I’m trying to work on dresses for the Winter Ball. I can’t help thinking about how I always make a dress for Nora. This year, I talked to her about it, and she made it clear that she wouldn’t take anything from me if I wasn’t going to include Owen. I don’t know what she’s thinking. I can’t include him.”
“I’m sorry,” Lute said.
It didn’t help matters that that meeting that they were supposed to have to discuss some way to make things better hadn’t happened. There was no meeting planned. There was no action in the works to take Owen down. Everything was going on the way it always had. It was maddening. Sawyer got out of his chair. “If only there was some way to reach her. Real her, not the her that’s been messed with.”
“You really think Owen’s doing some sort of mind control thing on her?” Lute said.
“That’s what Owen does.”
“I’m not arguing with you.” Lute held up both of his hands in surrender. “But if that’s true, I did have a thought. Actually, I came in here to share it with you.”
Sawyer sat back down. “You did?”
Lute smiled. “I care about you, Sawyer. You’re distracted. It’s because of Nora. I want to help.”
Sawyer smiled back. He really did have the most wonderful boyfriend in the history of the universe, didn’t he? “Okay, then. What was your thought?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever gone to the mundane world on one of the cross-quarter days?”
“Of course I have,” Sawyer said. “Everyone does that.”
“Right. Well, once or twice, I might have gone somewhere, to see someone… There’s a way that you can meet someone who can help with things.”
“Things?”
“Like spells and stuff,” Lute said. “We always went to her for a laugh. Never anything all that important. We would get spells but would allow us to play for ten hours straight without getting tired or to heal our fingers if they were getting cut up from guitar strings or something like that. She’s really powerful. And I think if you wanted to reverse that mind control spell on Nora, she might be able to help.”
“You really think so?”
Lute nodded. “Yeah, we got a spell from her once that completely peeled away all the muse magic. We were curious, and we wanted to see how much of our abilities were tied up in our museness. So, we got her to make this potion, and we all drank it, and then we tried to play music.” Lute made a face. “Turns out? Without the muse magic, we all sucked. But anyway, I think we could get her to make us a potion that would do the same thing. It would bloc
k whatever magic Owen could be using on Nora.”
Sawyer nodded slowly. “Well, I guess it’s worth a shot.”
“Her name’s Hecate,” said Lute.
Sawyer repeated the name. “It sounds familiar. Maybe from a story that I heard from old Ned Willow or something.”
“She is ancient,” Lute said.
“Well, let’s tell the others.”
* * *
Agler waited until Lute and Sawyer were finished explaining. He and Maddie were sitting at the fire pit in the tweens and rebels enclave, where they all lived, listening.
“So, the only problem,” Lute finished up, “would be getting to the mundane world. The next cross-quarter day isn’t until May Day.”
Agler got up. “We don’t have to wait until May Day,” he said. “You guys come with me.”
He started walking, not waiting to see if they were going to keep up.
“Come with you?” Maddie’s voice came from behind him. “Why?”
He looked over his shoulder. “You’ll see.”
They were all following him, which was a good thing.
They went out of the arch, leaving the tweens and rebels enclave and heading down over the bridge. They crossed the stream and passed the main fire pit. They passed the architecture enclave and the philosophy enclave.
From behind him, Sawyer said, “Where are you taking us?”
“You’ll see,” Agler repeated.
When they reached the security enclave, everyone seemed even more confused.
“Why are we here?” Maddie said. “I mean, we can’t get anyone else involved—”
She broke off when she saw Daryl.
Agler strode over to him. He smiled. “Hi there, Daryl. You got a minute?”
Daryl looked wary.
“Hey, it’s got nothing to do with…” Agler gestured at Maddie and then at himself and then at Daryl and then back at Maddie. “Nothing to do with that.”
That was a big mess. Daryl and Maddie used to date. But they had gotten sort of broken up owing to the fact that Daryl had disappeared into another dimension. Maddie had mourned him, but thought he was lost forever. While he was gone, she and Agler had started dating. But then Daryl had shown back up, and he’d still been into Maddie. But Maddie was with Agler. Things were maybe a little awkward between all of them.
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