“Nope,” she said.
And they didn’t speak after that. They hadn’t been talking a lot lately, on account of the fact that they still weren’t having sex. Agler was pretty pissed at her, but he wasn’t saying anything about it.
For her part, she now felt so annoyed with him for being pissed that she couldn’t even muster attraction to him. She was never in the mood. But she was less worried about getting pregnant now.
Sawyer had been right, all those months ago, when he said it wasn’t really about that. It was about the fact that she’d been scared and Agler hadn’t been there for her. She felt like her trust had been broken. She thought that she could rely on Agler, but it seemed that she couldn’t. He had only been worried about himself. He hadn’t even spared a thought for her. She could have forgiven him that, she thought, if he’d only apologize.
But she was pretty sure that he thought she should apologize, and there was no chance of that happening.
Still, she felt kind of wistful for the way things used to be between them, especially now that Sawyer and Lute were together again, and they were all over each other.
Despite their discord, however, Maddie carried on as if everything was normal. In fact, she had even made sure that she and Agler had matching outfits for Halloween. There were going as Mark Anthony and Cleopatra.
After dinner, they put their costumes on. Agler seemed pleased enough with his, and Maddie wished that he would say something about how she looked. She missed his comments about her sexiness. But all of that had gone out of their relationship, and she supposed she didn’t have anyone to blame but herself.
As she was putting the finishing touches on her wig, Sawyer arrived at their tent.
“You decent?” Sawyer called.
“Never,” Agler replied, laughing. “Come in.”
Sawyer danced into the tent. Lute was trailing after him. Sawyer and Lute were dressed as skeletons. They were wearing skintight black jumpsuits with bones embroidered over them. The bones weren’t white, but rather iridescent, changing color under the light.
“Wow, your costumes look great,” Maddie said.
“Thanks,” Sawyer said. “Not that it’s going to matter now.” He held up a jar full of a shimmery purple liquid.
“What’s that?” Agler said.
“It’s so cool,” Lute said.
“I saw Weaver Moss using it,” Sawyer said. “He was painting it on his arm. And everywhere he painted it… well, let me just show you.”
Sawyer held out his arm, dipped a finger into the container, and spread it on his arm.
Immediately the place where he had spread that liquid disappeared. It was completely invisible. They could all see right through Sawyer’s arm.
“Isn’t it cool?” Lute said. “He said they whipped it up in the science enclave or something.”
“Invisibility liquid,” Agler said. “Awesome.”
“I figure this is how we’re going to find out what’s going on with Nora and Owen,” Sawyer said. “We haven’t been able to get her alone, right? So this way, we can sneak up on her without her even knowing that we’re there.”
Maddie drew her eyebrows together. “There’s not very much in that container. I don’t think we can all paint ourselves with it and make ourselves invisible. Besides, what will it do to our costumes?”
Sawyer shook his head. “No, we don’t paint ourselves. We paint the blanket, and then we’ll hide underneath it.”
“Will that work?” Agler said.
Lute nodded. “We tested it already. We have a big blanket, but we’re not sure if we’ll fit underneath it. We were coming to you guys to see if you had a blanket even bigger.”
Maddie nodded. “We do. We have that huge blanket that we traded for at the Summer Solstice. Remember, Agler?”
Agler nodded. “Yeah, Maddie hogs the covers all the time and so I said we should get a bigger blanket she came back with this monstrous thing. Where is it?”
Maddie went over to their hammock and sorted through the covers until she found it. She spread it out on the floor of the tent. “What do you think? Will this work?”
Sawyer grinned. “This is going to be awesome.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sawyer set out with the newly painted invisibility blanket in a bag slung over his shoulder, and the others trailed after him. The four were all sticking together, because, as soon as they spotted Nora, they wanted to be able to get under the blanket and get close to her.
It had just grown dark, and the air was rent with the sounds of electric guitars coming from the main fire pit, where the stage was. At Halloween, the music enclave went full-on concert mode. Each group that would play plugged into massive amps and blasted their music into the night.
Everywhere they looked they saw the signs of Halloween, from stalks of corn husks gathered around archways to glowing jack-o-lanterns.
Sawyer caught sight of some of the muse children wandering around with big bags full of sweets. They had been trick-or-treating at the enclaves.
Sawyer thought it might be too early to catch Nora and Owen. After all, the kids were usually all packed away safe and sound before things really got going.
But the wine and spirits enclave had already set out drinks, so the four of them got some blood orange screwdrivers. Then they wandered around sipping the sweet liquid, their eyes peeled.
An hour passed. They didn’t see Nora or Owen anywhere.
“I knew we should have just waited outside her tent,” Agler said.
“No, we decided that was way too obvious,” Sawyer said.
“Besides, I went by their tents earlier and they weren’t there,” Lute said.
Maddie looked wistfully at the muses by the stage, all dancing to the music. “Since we don’t see them anywhere, can I dance for one song?”
“Focus,” Sawyer said to her.
She sighed, but didn’t say anything else about it.
Eventually, about two hours and several drinks after they had come out, they spotted Nora and Owen.
“Well, that’s original,” Agler said. “Isn’t that the same costume he wore the first year?”
Owen was dressed as a vampire. Nora was next to him, her arms wound around his waist. She seemed to be dressed as a helpless victim, in a dress with a low plunging neckline and painted-on drops of blood on her neck.
“It’s a sign,” Maddie said. “She’s wearing that outfit so that she lets us know that she understands that Owen is really bad news.”
“You think?” Lute said.
“I think Owen just isn’t very creative,” Agler said. “He can’t come up with any other ideas for a costume.”
“Well, he isn’t a muse, after all,” Sawyer said.
“Well, get out the blanket,” Maddie said. “You don’t think they’ve seen us, do you?”
Sawyer pointed. “Over there. Behind the tableau.”
The four hurried over and ducked behind the tableau—a fairly tame one that depicted a mottled hand thrusting up in front of a gravestone. Once there, Sawyer pulled the blanket out of his bag. It was a funny thing to see, because when he opened the bag up, he couldn’t see the blanket. Rather it looked like a just blank space in the bag. He pulled the blanket out, shook it open, and they all climbed underneath it.
Underneath the blanket, the underside was not invisible. Instead, they had to squint through the weaving of the fabric to see their surroundings.
“This might be a bit of a hole in the plan,” Sawyer said. “I didn’t think about how we were going to see.”
“We can see well enough,” Lute said. “I mean, it’s not great.”
“Someone should take the lead,” Agler said. “I’ll go first, and everybody just follow me.”
“Why are you taking the lead?” Sawyer said.
“Because I’m the oldest,” Agler said.
Sawyer decided there wasn’t much point in arguing. Agler wanted to go first, Agler could go first.
Awkwardly, they came o
ut from behind the tableau. There were several things to worry about. One was trying to follow Agler. However, Sawyer had to admit that Agler was right. It was much easier just trying to follow him than trying to figure out what direction to walk. They also had to worry about whether or not they were trodding on the blanket. It needed to drag enough on the ground to conceal their feet, but they didn’t want to trip over it either.
“Do you see him?” Maddie said.
“Shh.” Sawyer elbowed her. “Not so loud. People will hear a bodiless voice. It’ll freak them out.”
“Sorry,” Maddie said. “Jesus.”
“You’re both still speaking really loud,” Lute said.
“There they are,” Agler said. “Follow me.”
They all shuffled off in whatever direction Agler was taking them.
As they got closer, they could hear Nora’s and Owen’s voices.
Abruptly, Agler came to a halt.
Sawyer would’ve asked what was going on, but they were too close to Nora and Owen. He didn’t want to give them away. He couldn’t really see through the blanket, however. He tried to rearrange himself, so that he could peer through the weaving…
“No, I was thinking we should split up,” Nora’s voice was saying.
“Split up?” Owen’s voice or sarcastic. “But you never want to be away from me.”
“Just for a little bit,” Nora said.
“What are you going to do?”
Nora shrugged. “I just feel like wandering around on my own for a bit, that’s all.”
“Ooh, so secretive,” Owen said.
“Not secretive,” Nora said.
Owen was quiet for several seconds, but then he said, “Well, all right. So we’ll meet back here, when?”
“I don’t know, an hour,” Nora said.
Through the blanket, Sawyer was barely able to make out the images of Nora and Owen parting. They did so with a kiss, which made Sawyer want to throw up in his mouth. But he did his best to squelch his reaction.
This was a strange turn of events. They had gotten the invisibility blanket precisely because they couldn’t separate Nora and Owen. The two of them were separating. What should they do?
Problem was, they couldn’t really converse about it. They were too close to Nora.
Agler seemed to make the decision for them. He suddenly started moving. All of them started moving behind him.
He was walking pretty quickly, and they all had to keep up the pace with him. It took all their concentration to walk together, stay off the blanket, and not trip over it.
Agler was walking right behind Nora, just a few inches back. Sawyer could see her red hair through the blanket.
Suddenly, Nora stopped. She took a deep breath, looking around and sighing.
And then Sawyer felt the otherworldly breeze that let him know they were jumping dimensions.
It was a cross-quarter day. That meant that the veil between the realms was thin. It was easy enough for muses to go back and forth.
Agler reached out and grabbed on to Nora. Just as it had been earlier in the year when Daryl had moved them through to another dimension, all those that were touching went through at the same time.
The scene around them of Helicon blew away and was replaced with an empty hilltop and the night sky.
Nora brushed at her arm, where Agler was touching her, as if she was brushing away an insect or something. She shivered.
Then she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and started down over the hill.
Wait a second. Sawyer recognized this place. He’d been here before, and on Halloween for that matter. This was the place that Daryl had taken them. This was the place where Owen had made him cut off his finger.
Agler was heading after Nora. They all followed, still underneath the blanket.
Sure enough, as they headed down over the hill, a huge stone tower came into view. This was the place, all right. Why was Nora here? And why had she wanted to do this without Owen?
It was all very strange. Sawyer had to admit that this blanket was coming in pretty handy. They went after her, careful to walk as silently as they possibly could.
Once, Lute sneezed, and Nora heard. She looked around, a confused expression on her face. But when she didn’t see anything, she shrugged it off.
Within several minutes, they reached the tower. Nora tried the door. It was locked. That didn’t seem to faze her. She put her palm against the door knob and there was a flash of red light. The door swung open of its own accord.
How strange was that? Was this a manifestation of the powers that she had gotten from Nimue?
They stepped inside the tower after Nora. It was exactly as Sawyer had remembered. There was the modern looking kitchen off to one side, and through there…
Through there was the room that Owen had locked Sawyer and Nora up in. If they went in there, they would see the couch where he and Nora had both tried to sleep. There was a coffee table in front of the couch. Sitting on the couch, resting his hand on the coffee table, looking deep into Owen’s eyes… that was where Owen had somehow talked him into cutting off his own finger.
Sawyer still remembered how it felt, the bewildering numbness that had come over him. There’d been no pain, no blood. Owen had made him feel as if cutting off a body part was not a big deal. As if it was just a normal order of business, like eating breakfast.
Sawyer felt bile rise up in the back of his throat. He didn’t like this place.
Nora didn’t go to the room. Instead she opened another door, and the door opened onto a steep staircase. She began to climb.
Agler, still in the lead, went after her. Now they were all heading up the steps.
The climb seemed interminable. The higher they got in the tower, the colder the air seemed to get. At some point, the walls around them changed from painted paneling to bare stone. There were a few cobwebs clinging to the sides.
And still they climbed. Higher and higher.
Sawyer was getting a out of breath. He was somewhat out of shape, he realized. How much longer was this going to go on? Would Nora hear the fact that he was almost panting behind her?
It didn’t seem so. Nora seemed oblivious to anything beyond getting up top of the staircase.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, they reached the top. They emerged into a circular room. The floor here was wood. There was nothing adorning the place.
There was one very strange thing. Against the wall, there was a man encased in a big block of crystal.
Most of his body was impossible to see, but his hands and his face stuck out.
The man moaned.
He was alive? Sawyer couldn’t believe it. Who was this man? Why had Nora never mentioned that there was a man at the top of the tower in a big crystal?
Nora marched right over to the man and she put her hand on his forehead. “Merlin,” she murmured. “Merlin, hear me.”
Merlin?
Wait. Sawyer knew this. He remembered a story that Ned Willow had told them years ago. Nimue had captured Merlin and taken his power and locked him up in a cave… a crystal cave. Well, he guessed a big crystal block was close enough.
More red light flashed from Nora’s hand, and suddenly Merlin’s eyes snapped open.
“Nimue,” he said.
Nora stepped back. “No, Nimue is gone. I come to you with her power, however. With your power.”
Merlin gasped. “Ah, you are the muse child. Nimue thought to take your power. But she failed.”
“That’s right,” Nora said. “She failed. I took her power instead.”
“But not all the power,” Merlin said. “All of the power within Nimue would’ve been too much for your being.”
“That’s true,” Nora said.
Merlin narrowed his eyes. “The boy took the rest of it,” he said.
Nora nodded. “Yes.”
“And that’s why you’ve come,” Merlin said. “You want to know just how powerful he is?”
“Yes,” Nora said. “I need to know, if I stood against him, would I stand a chance?”
Merlin seem to be considering. “You are quite powerful now, child. It’s likely that you don’t even understand how much power you truly have.”
“I know that I don’t,” Nora said. “But is it enough? Is it enough to stop Owen if I needed to?”
Merlin hesitated for a moment. And then he shook his head.
“No?” Nora said. “Are you serious? I wouldn’t be able to fight him?”
“I can’t say for sure whether or not you could fight him,” Merlin said. “What I do know is that he is more powerful than you are.”
Nora shook her head. “But I know that I have more of Nimue’s power than he does. I’m sure of it. I took the bulk of it. He only got what was left over. That’s the reason I knew I could come to you to talk about this. Because I have enough of Nimue’s power—your power—to know that you would have the answers.”
“Yes. You do have more of Nimue’s power and more of my power than Owen does. But Owen has power that you do not know of.”
“Because he’s a half-god?”
“Because he’s getting power from somewhere,” Merlin said. “I can sense it. It’s a disturbance in the way that things work, something that just isn’t right with the entire universe. Anyone who knows magics has noticed.”
Nora shut her eyes. “So Phoebe was right? I can’t get him to admit it. No matter how I question him, he won’t tell me where he got it or how.”
“The fact remains, child, he is a force to be reckoned with.” Merlin sighed. “But I cannot be sure, of course. The future is uncertain. It is possible that if you took him on, you would best him. But I would not counsel you to cross him. I do not think you would be successful.”
Nora nodded slowly. “Well, thank you.”
“I know it is not the answer you hoped I would give.”
She swallowed. “It is the truth, and that, above all, is what I wanted.” She frowned. “I’m going to leave now. Would you like me to leave you this way, with some of your power intact, so that you will not be raving?”
“No, my child,” he said. “I do not wish to be aware of this. Doubtless, even if you left me sharp, I would go slowly mad from being trapped in this place for so long.”
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