Designed by Death

by Melody Rose

  I heard Esme follow behind me, but I couldn’t concern myself with her at that moment. As long as she wasn’t planning to kill me, then she was no longer going to be my focus. I scoured the grounds for Arges and Ansel until I spotted a circle of clay piles out near the training grounds. The massive form of the cyclops spread out on the ground, unmoving.

  “Arges!” I shouted, breaking into a run. My feet slapped against the charred grass as I dashed across the grounds.

  Suddenly Ansel appeared from the other side of Arges, as though he had been using the cyclops’s body as a shield. He stood there for a moment, and then his body broke down into a crouch, intent on attack. At first, I didn’t understand why he had adopted that stance until I remembered who was behind me.

  “Cheyenne!” Ansel shouted. “Duck!”

  “No!” I called back, holding out my hand in warning, knowing what he was going to do before he did it. I sense the knife slide out of his boot and into his hand. The metal blazed with a familiar blue flame before Ansel released the weapon. It whizzed through the air with the briefest of warnings. My spine tingled as the blade tumbled over with practiced precision, aimed directly at Esme behind me.

  I snapped my hand into a fist and watched as the blade stopped in midair, mere inches from Esme’s chest. I felt the handle of the blade as though it were in my own hand, and I motioned pulling it back. The knife responded by moving away from Esme, who had frozen in place, stunned by the weapon floating in front of her.

  My fist shook as I fought to maintain control over the steel. I felt Erich pulling against me, as his flame surrounded the blade, making it deadlier than before. It was the most intense game of tug of war that I had ever played. But my possession of the steel won out, and Erich eventually jumped ship, returning to his floating flame form.

  Once I got the knife a safe distance from Esme, I opened my fist, and the weapon fell to the ground. When the blade clattered against the dirt, both Esme and I released a collective sigh of relief. We glanced at each other, and she offered me a nod of thanks. I still wasn’t convinced of this new Esme, nor could I figure out what was going on, but I knew that we needed to keep her alive.

  Erich’s flame expanded until it formed his human shape. “What the hell, Cheyenne?” he shouted as his limbs exploded with fire.

  Esme stepped away from the exploding ghost, and I jumped in, placing my body between her and my half-brother. “I know this looks weird,” I tried to placate him, but Erich wouldn’t let me get any more words in.

  “She tried to kill Arges!” Erich shouted, her words slamming into my chest like bullets. “She tortured him for answers and kept us from getting to him with monster after monster. And you’re protecting her!”

  “Arges isn’t dead?” I said hopefully.

  “Nearly dead,” Erich answered, his voice never lowering. “He’s unconscious right now, and his back is ripped to shreds. Because of her!” Erich threw an accusing finger at Esme, who flinched at his words.

  I shot the female soldier a glance, and there was a pained expression across her face. For some reason, she seemed to have a visceral reaction to Erich's claims, as though she remembered those moments. But this was different because unlike the gloating tone she had when Phae and I faced her, this Esme was wracked with guilt.

  Ansel approached us, coming out from behind Arges’s body. He held a flame of sun fire in his hand, and it illuminated the anger in his eyes as he glared at Esme.

  “Cheyenne,” he said with gritted teeth. “You need to explain. Right now.”

  “Something happened,” I said as I held out my hands towards both Ansel and Erich, warding them away from Esme and myself. “I’m not sure what, but Phae exploded with her radiant form and started fighting someone who I thought was Esme, but then Phae and that person disappeared, and Esme was on the ground, supposedly not remembering everything.”

  Ansel looked over my shoulder at his former friend and classmate. His jaw was full of tension as he examined her. In an act of bravery, Esme stepped out from behind my protection and addressed Ansel directly.

  “It’s coming back to me,” she said, her voice cracking from the weight of her honesty. “But it’s just in waves and flashes. I swear to you, Ansel, I have no idea what’s going on here. I just woke up with Cheyenne holding a sickle to my throat. When you mentioned the cyclops, I remembered the whip and the sound.” Esme’s eyelids closed for a moment, and she flinched as though she could hear it all over again. “And I felt the monsters like they were my own creations.”

  “Your eyes,” Ansel said suddenly, his voice falling softer. “They’re different.”

  Esme’s hand flew up to her face, right on her cheekbones. “They’re different?”

  “Yeah, no, I mean,” Ansel said, tumbling over his words. “They’re back to normal.”

  “I noticed that too,” I jumped in quickly, as I was unnerved by Ansel’s sudden inability to form coherent sentences.

  “Do you think…” Erich said as he looked Prometheus’s daughter up and down. “Does that mean you think she was possessed?”

  Before I could properly answer him, a groan rattled the earth beneath us. All four of us looked up in the direction of the cyclops’s body.

  “Arges!” Erich and I said at the same time. We were the first to dash over to the cyclops who remained on the ground, but his eye was now open. He squinted up at the darkened sky as Erich and I surrounded him.

  “Arges!” I said as I pushed myself into his line of sight. “You’re alive.”

  “I cannot die, child, you know this,” Arges chided.

  I coughed out a laugh, so relieved to hear his voice. I quickly swiped at my eyes so as not to let any tears fall.

  “It’s okay, Arges,” I assured my friend. “Everything is alright now.”

  “No,” Arges coughed out his response, though even through his haziness, I could hear the urgency in his voice. “No, it is not alright.”

  Erich and I exchanged confused glances. “What do you mean, Arges?” Erich asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

  “The land,” Arges wheezed. “Something is wrong with the land.”

  “The land?” I mouthed to Erich, completely baffled by this proclamation. I was going to ask Arges for more information, but the cyclops slipped back into unconsciousness, his eyelid fluttering closed.

  “Oh gods,” Esme gasped as she put a hand over her mouth.

  “What? What is it?” I pressed her.

  We watched as her eyes blinked rapidly again, as though she were watching an old film flicker in her vision. It had to be another memory blossoming in her mind.

  “I think… no, I know he’s right,” Esme said, her hand quivering against her mouth. “I wanted this place to burn. I don’t know why, but I did, so I planted explosives.” Her eyes went wide. “But I can’t remember where.”

  25

  “Are you serious?” I barked as I put my hands up to my forehead, completely exasperated. “You just happen to remember that quintessential and potentially dangerous fact right now?”

  “I told you,” Esme said, growing defensive. “It comes back in bits and pieces. At least I remembered it before we were all turned to barbecue.”

  I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts and stop my shouting at Esme. Regardless of what was happening with her and her memory, I needed to be grateful that she was apparently on our side now and not using this information against us.

  “Okay, so we need to get out of here before this place explodes,” Erich answered, calmly and rationally as though that were the simplest answer in the world. “So, let’s get on Ansel’s chariot and go.”

  “I’m not leaving without Arges and Phae,” I said, standing my ground.

  “Phae is a goddess, she can take care of herself, and no offense, but I don’t think Arges is going to fit on the chariot,” Erich said with a glance to the massive cyclops.

  “The chariot doesn’t have a weight limit,” Ansel informed us. “A
s long as we can fit him on there, it can lift him.”

  “Well, will it fit all of us?” I asked, gesturing around to the surrounding group. “Erich can ride in my locket, but we will still need to fit three of us with a cyclops.”

  “Erich can ride where?” Ansel asked curiously.

  “It’s a thing I can do, don’t worry about it,” Erich brushed off Ansel’s concern with a nonchalant wave of his hand. Then he turned to me, and his expression grew instantly serious. “Do you have a better plan for getting us out of here?”

  “I...” I started, but the words wouldn’t come. In all honesty, I didn’t have a better idea. I just didn’t like the idea of abandoning the villa, so I countered with another problem. “Well, even if we can all get out of here safely, where are we going to go?”

  “Back to the Academy, of course,” Ansel said as if that were the most obvious answer.

  “I don’t think so,” I said as I gestured to Esme. “You think the Academy’s just going to let us stroll onto campus with their most wanted criminal in tow?”

  “If we take her as a prisoner, they might,” Erich considered as he cocked his head at Esme as though she were a puzzle he couldn’t solve.

  “Hang on,” Esme said, stopping us all with a sweeping gesture. “Most wanted? Criminal? Prisoner? What are you talking about?”

  “We don’t really have time to explain all of the shit you’ve pulled over the past two years, whether you remember it or not,” I said, slipping into the snark easily like a familiar pair of jeans.

  “Two years?” Esme balked. She took a step back as though a fierce wind blew against her. “I… It’s been two years?”

  “What is the last thing you remember, Esme?” Ansel said gently.

  I shot my boyfriend a glance that he didn’t catch. A flare of jealousy snaked its way up into my stomach and sat there uncomfortably. I didn’t like the way he was talking to her, so sweetly and kindly as though she hadn’t just whipped the cyclops into unconsciousness or burned down the villa or sent a bunch of clay monsters on us. Sure, she wasn’t doing that now, and I had convinced them she wasn’t dangerous, but his tone was unnecessarily kind. Wasn’t it?

  “That’s the thing. I don’t really know,” she said with a worried shrug and pinched eyebrows. “It’s all scattered and jumbled. But I… the last solid thing I remember was picking you up and bringing you to the Academy.” Esme pointed at me so that we all knew who she was talking about.

  I blinked incredulously at her. “That was two years ago. I’m a third-year now.”

  Esme’s breath quickened as the reality of this realization hit her. Her face paled, and her legs shook, struggling to hold her up like a newborn giraffe. Ansel quickly rushed to her side and took Esme’s shoulders in his hands. He spoke to her, too soft for me to hear. But it was low enough and close enough for that ugly jealousy monster to rear its head again.

  A frustrated groan escaped from my mouth, and Erich heard it while the other two seemed to be in their own little world.

  “You okay?” he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

  “I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Really?” Erich replied skeptically. “Because the tense muscles in your shoulders and clenched fists say otherwise.”

  I did my best to ease the tension in the spots that Erich pointed out, but it was no use. I was just going to be a walking ball of irritation until we got out of here. Ansel seemed to get Esme’s breathing back to normal and her heart rate down because the two of them detached from one another and stood up straight.

  “Is there anywhere else we might be able to go, other than the Academy?” Esme asked with a gulp. “Just so that I might hideout for a while. Until I figure things out.”

  I didn’t know if it was my jealousy at their apparent closeness or my frustration with the situation as a whole, I didn’t want to leave right away. I needed answers from Esme. A determination welled up inside me, and I let it drive my actions.

  “Before we go anywhere, I want some answers,” I demanded as I stomped up to Esme.

  “But I--” Esme protested, but I cut her off.

  “I know you say you don’t remember, but I need you to try,” I pressed. “I need you to tell me why you came here and why you wanted to destroy this place. Literally burn it to the ground.” I said as I acknowledged the remains of the villa which stood like a charred Stonehenge, the broken black walls standing where the proud house once stood. “Why did you feel the need to do this? And I swear to the gods, if you say I don’t remember, I will torture you until you do.”

  “Cheyenne!” Ansel said in protest, appalled at my threat.

  I didn’t really mean it. I didn’t want to hurt Esme, especially now that she was in this vulnerable state. But I kept my face hard and stern, as though I intended to follow through with every word.

  Esme’s breathing hitched, but she complied by closing her eyes and searching through her memories. She spoke with her eyes still closed and her head tilted towards the ground as if in mourning.

  “There was something I wanted,” she said, her words coming out in bursts and sounding as though she were lost in her own thoughts. “It was somewhere on this land, and I needed to destroy it. I wanted the cyclops to tell me, but I planted the explosives just in case to cover all my bases.” Esme’s eyes snapped open. “I’m sorry, that’s all I know.”

  “It’s the forges,” Erich said suddenly.

  My eyes snapped to him, and I waved my hands, prompting him to continue. “What do you mean by that?”

  “These mountains in Sicily are where the original forges are,” Erich added, his voice rising in excitement. “You and Arges worked in one. If our theories about what Esme was doing are correct, then it would make sense that she would want to destroy them, right?”

  “That does make sense,” I agreed.

  “So she wanted to destroy the forges,” Ansel said with a shrug. “That doesn’t mean we know where the explosives are. We should still load up the chariot and find a safe refuge until we figure out what to do.”

  “I can’t let her destroy these forges,” I said, sentiment making my voice hitch in my throat.

  “You have a better forge at the Academy,” Ansel said, not understanding.

  “No,” I said, feeling tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “These are my father’s forges. He worked in them, and I can’t just… I can’t just let them be destroyed. Not without at least trying to save them.”

  Ansel looked at me, and for the first time since I brought Esme over to this side of the property, I recognized the man I loved. He saw me and my concerns. I saw the care and sympathy as he deciphered the meaning of my words. Ansel released a sigh and picked up his knife from where I had stopped it in the grass.

  “Esme,” Ansel asked, his voice returning to that gentle tone that annoyed me. “Do you have any idea when these explosives are supposed to go off?”

  Like a robot, Esme made her eyes do that flicker thing again. She stood stiff and still, unmoving as the pieces clicked together in her mind’s eye. Her eyes snapped open, the widest I’d seen them since she’s jumped ship over to our side.

  “When the moon sees its full reflection,” she said determinedly.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Erich asked, voicing the question running through all of our heads.

  Impulsively, I looked up at the night sky and searched for the moon. But it wasn’t there. There was a wide expanse of stars, glittering down at us as though they were laughing at our foolishness. But no moon.

  “Hang on,” I said as a thought occurred to me. I raced over to the edge of the property, where the trees thinned out, and the cliffs began. I heard the others follow behind me, and the four of us stood out over the ocean.

  The wind picked up, blowing back our clothes as we stood in an arrow formation with me at the top. There, across the way from us, the full moon rose over the ocean. It was about two-thirds of the way up, and very soon, it would
hover over the crystal clear water.

  “When the moon sees its full reflection,” I repeated, though the wind swallowed my words. I turned back to my companions. “How long do you think we have?”

  “Twenty minutes max,” Ansel answered affirmatively.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” I said, speaking as the plan formed in my mind. “Erich and Ansel are going to bring the chariot to Arges and get him loaded up while Esme and I spend the next fifteen minutes searching for the explosives and seeing if we can disarm them.”

  “Uh, I can’t touch him,” Erich said as he held out his hands. “How exactly am I supposed to help?”

  I rolled my eyes at his practicality. “Okay fine, then you can come with Esme and me. Will you be okay with Arges?” I address Ansel with this question, searching for honesty with my eyes.

  “If I bring the chariot to him, I can figure it out,” Ansel nodded with confidence.

  He left us on the cliff and headed back in the direction of the cyclops. I turned to my two companions and clapped my hands.

  “Alright, Esme,” I said, “we’re going to walk this entire property until you remember something.”

  “The whole property?” Erich said skeptically. “In fifteen minutes?”

  “Do you have a better idea?” I growled back at him.

  “Nope,” he admitted, with a cheeky smile as he picked up on my desperation and frustration. “Let’s get going.”

  We walked around to major parts of the property from the cliffs to the gates. I refused to take her down to the forges just in case she still did want to know where they were. As Esme walked around, she became more and more defeated as she couldn’t remember anything. All the while, the moon continued to rise, counting down our remaining seconds. My questions became more and more clipped, as did her responses. It was clear that the two of us were immensely unhappy with one another, and poor Erich just had to suffer through it all, right in the middle.