Amazon Queen (34 page)

I shook off the
questions my conversation with Mel had uncovered. I didn’t need more questions. I knew what needed to be done; the details of Thea’s madness could be sorted out later.

Hoping some caffeine would stop the headache that was ticking to life inside my skull, I’d followed Mel’s lead and gotten a cup of coffee from the machine in the kitchen and carried it to the back deck.

Bern and Cleo were asleep. I’d ordered them to bed as soon as we’d gotten Areto squared away in a windowless room in the basement. Kale was watching her, or at least I assumed she was; I hadn’t actually checked in on them for hours.

Bubbe was off doing whatever Bubbe did in the early bits of day, and Lao was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Actually, she was fussing over a mess Kale had made while helping her. I was impressed a warrior would even try to help in the kitchen, but apparently Lao had thrown out more than one of Kale’s efforts since the warrior’s arrival and was nothing but annoyed to have to do it again.

Sipping my coffee, I wandered toward the woods. The mother dog followed me. Somewhere not far away an owl hooted. I tensed and considered searching for the creature, but the thought was fleeting. I couldn’t fly. I could maybe find the animal and shoot it down, but it would be no use to us dead.

I had to trust in Mateo, trust he had heard the owl too, and would do what I couldn’t.

I turned back toward the house.

Something rustled in the trees behind me. The mother dog stiffened. She positioned herself in front of me and raised her lip in warning.

Taking a cue from her actions, I reached for the nunchakus I’d tucked into the top of my pants.

Tess burst out of the woods.

Dressed in the same clothes she had worn when she had left Mel’s with Dana and Andres, she glanced around the clearing. Leaves and twigs were caught in her long hair. Her eyes were wide and wild, and her breasts moved up and down as she fought for breaths.

“They have Andres. They’re going to kill him. You have to come with me.” She grabbed me by the hand and tugged me toward the woods.

Remembering the questions I’d had about her, I held firm. “Calm down. Tell me where he is, who has him.”

“Thea. She’s going to kill him. You have to come with me now.”

Behind her the owl called again.

She jumped. “Now! You have to come now.” Then she turned and raced into the forest.

I hesitated, but only for a second. Tess was already out of sight, the sounds of her frantic running already growing distant.

With a curse, I jogged after her, sure I could catch her and hopefully calm her before she alerted Thea that she had escaped. Or, if she was responsible for any of this herself, just catch her.

The girl was faster than I had imagined. Trusting my instincts, I jogged the direction I sensed she had gone. I was at least one hundred yards away from the house when I caught sight of her again.

She was standing by a tree; she seemed to have come to her senses and was waiting for me.

I held up one hand. “Don’t run. We need to talk. We need to plan—racing in will just get Andres killed.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t waste energy worrying about Andres right now.” Thea stepped out from behind the tree. She held a box, similar to what the birder had used to ignite the explosion at Mel’s.

I lunged forward, but the action was futile. She pressed the button.

As my foot hit the ground, it shifted beneath me. Machinery ground above my head. I fell backward, realized I’d been caught in some kind of a net. It closed around me; I grabbed the rope it was made of and tried to tear my way out.

Thea laughed. “I’m sure that with the use of the blade you disguise as a belt buckle you could free yourself, but not in the time I’ll give you.” She raised her hand.

Tess stepped forward and pressed a tube to her lips. I stared at the hearth-keeper, my brain not cooperating, not comprehending what was happening.

She blew through the tube.

Something small flew out of its tip and zipped toward me. I hurtled my body to the side in an attempt to dodge the tiny missile.

Metal bit into my side. I pinched the dart between finger and thumb and jerked it from my flesh. My mind flashed back to the darts Thea had used on Mateo when I’d thought we were on the same side. Darts I’d never questioned her about.

Another projectile hit, then another. There was no stopping them, no avoiding them and, as each dart hit, I moved slower, until I wasn’t moving at all.

Thea, her face pressed close, laced her fingers through the net’s weave and pulled me toward her. She whispered, “Sleep well, queen. You have a big day ahead of you.”

I clenched my fingers, trying to form a fist, and then nothing . . .

*   *   *

When I awoke, I was no longer in the net. I was lying on my back on a bed. My feet were bare and tied. My hands were bound too, palm to palm. My belt with its hidden blade was gone, and I could tell by the lack of pressure to the small of my back that the nunchakus had been taken from me as well.

The room had a cheap disposable look, and it was small, barely larger than the queen-size bed. I could tell I was in an RV and that it was daylight outside, but I had no idea how much time had passed. It could have been minutes, hours, or days. Days was doubtful, though. That would have taken us past Panathenaea, and I suspected my capture had something to do with Athena’s birthday.

There was a door straight ahead and two windows, one on each side of the bed and both out of reach in my current situation, but if I could stand, that would change. I wiggled my way to a sit, until I was propped against a wall.

I glanced around again, looking for something to smash through the glass.

That’s when I saw the owl perched on the top of the closet door. Its eyes were round and expressionless; its gaze locked on me like I was a fat mouse it planned to have for dinner. I twisted my body, intending to place my feet on the floor.

The owl fluttered his wings and shrieked. The sound was otherworldly. Despite knowing it came from the animal, a shiver shot up my spine.

The bird settled back down, tucking his wings back against his body, and resumed his disturbing observation. I shook off the moment of unrest and lifted my feet again.

The door I’d noticed earlier opened and Thea walked in.

The bone spear-shaped knife she’d given me the night of our first meeting was in her hand.

She motioned for me to put my feet back on the bed.

I stayed where I was.

“Tess, bring the darts,” she called.

The hearth-keeper appeared behind her.

I jumped to my feet and lunged forward, intent on head-butting the pair out of my way. The owl shrieked again . . . right before a dart hit me in the shoulder.

Then the net was back, dropped from the ceiling. I stumbled and fell and was hit with three more darts. My head began to swim.

“Enough. I need her awake this time.”

There was silence, then the sound of footsteps and the door closing behind someone.

When I opened my eyes, Thea was staring into them. Her eyes were gray; I’d noticed that before, but now I could see the color was deceptive. They weren’t a solid gray, a shade somewhere between black and white. Instead they were like prisms, many colors, all the colors I had ever seen before broken into such tiny bits that from a distance they appeared gray.

They were mesmerizing . . . my head began to sway, my body too.

“There you go. You see it, don’t you? Now you need to listen, listen carefully. I’m going to tell you secrets, secrets you need to know, secrets that will make everything all right.”

I felt my head nod. Secrets. I wanted to hear Thea’s secrets.

I held very still and let her whisper in my ear.

Her words flowed over me like water, warm and reassuring. She knew what I wanted, what I needed . . . I just needed to listen.

“Are you with me, Zery? Do you hear me? Raise your hands and let me know that you do.”

I raised my hands, or tried to; something was holding them down, keeping me from complying. I jerked with all my strength and they flew up.

Thea laughed. “Good, good. I think we can get rid of this now.”

A weight lifted off my body, the net pulling free.

I was sitting on my butt, my legs bent at the knees in front of me. She knelt beside me. The knife was in her hands, but it didn’t bother me. I trusted her, wanted to hear her secrets.

“You know Padia’s plan, don’t you?” she asked.

I nodded. I did.

“And you don’t want her to succeed, do you? Would you do anything? Sacrifice anything to stop her?”

I nodded again. She smiled and patted my hand, like a toddler who’d drunk all of her milk. She leaned close and whispered, “That’s my secret. I want to stop her too.”

Some part of my brain scoffed. I didn’t believe her; I knew who she was.

Thea . . . Padia . . . brushed her thumb over my arm. “What’s this?” Her thumb stood out against my skin and the black ink underneath.

“Your artisan friend playing? Thinking she can outdo me with markers?” There was disbelief and disgust in her voice, but my attention was mainly focused on the art she had ridiculed—the praying mantis . . . the leopard . . . the meerkat. What had Mel said when she’d drawn the meerkat? What was his gift?

The tiny animal’s eyes glistened; it swayed, like I had swayed. It barked, yelled at me, in Mel’s voice. “Think, Zery. Remember. Be strong.”

I blinked and looked at Thea. She wasn’t watching me. She was still staring at the art my friend, my best friend, the one person I had always been able to trust, had drawn on me . . . to save me.

And suddenly the fog thinned. Thinned but still there, like looking at the world through sheer fabric. The floor was hard beneath my buttocks. The air in the place was stale and smelled of old food, sweat, and septic, but all of it was dulled somehow, ever so slightly surreal.

But Thea, my enemy, I knew was within my reach. That I knew with a certainty. The thought swirled through my mind. She was close. I could loop my arms around her neck and snap it through. Or I could have, should have been able to, but my arms and legs were leaden. Without the priestess’s instructions, I seemed unable to do more than breathe and swallow. And even if I could have moved, even if I could have killed her as I so longed to do, I wouldn’t have Andres, didn’t know who the birders were, where they were. Didn’t know anything.

Mel and Jack had told me to think, to plan, to quit just reacting. This was my chance.

“I’ll tell you another secret,” she murmured. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from replying.

She ran the edge of the stone knife down my throat. “Padia isn’t as strong as she thinks she is. Isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. I know how she got on the council; it wasn’t because she was the best. Not by a long shot.” The blade paused, poised over my artery. “She’s bossy too. I hate bossy. Do you hate bossy? Wait, you are bossy, aren’t you?”

I didn’t reply. None seemed required.

“But bossy won’t work for her this time. Do you want to know why?”

I did.

“Because I have the knife.” She held it up; twisted it so light seemed to pulse off of it. “She may have the child.” Thea’s hand stilled. “But I have the knife she wants and needs for the ceremony and now I have you . . . a queen! That’s as good as a baby, don’t you think? If you were a goddess, which would you rather have? A baby who has barely lived a life, or a queen with almost one hundred years behind her?”

Her brow furrowed. She pressed the knife against my arm. “Answer me, which?”

“A queen,” I croaked.

She smiled and leaned in again. “You want to hear another secret?”

This time I didn’t think I did, but I nodded anyway.

“Tess suggested you. It was sweet of her, wasn’t it? Thinking of you. You should thank her, you really should.”

I intended to, I really did.

“It’s perfect, actually. You are the person who stopped me from ending this a week ago. Because of you, I lost the child. It’s only fair you take his place . . . for now.”

I realized then what she meant to do . . . to sacrifice me and then, later, Andres.

I curled my fingers into my palms, fought to keep from reacting.

She brushed her spider ring against my arm. I could feel the tiny hairs on the spider’s legs as if he were real, could feel him crawling off of her ring and onto my arm.

I shivered.

She smiled and lowered her blade.

The spider climbed higher, until he was covering my heart.

“He’s poisonous. One bite and you won’t be able to move, you’ll fall paralyzed to the ground. Your breathing will stop too, but that will take a while . . . ” Her voice changed to a hiss. “That would ruin my plan a second time.”

“What plan?” I asked, hoping my words wouldn’t make her question if I was under her spell.

“My plans to be queen, of course. Not”—she stroked my arm—“a small-time queen like you . . . Padia thought she could buy me off with that.” She blew air out her nose in disgust. “I want what Padia wants, to rule a tribe, my tribe, a tribe I created, who follows me and only me. A tribe of logical females, who appreciate the value of keeping up, not hiding their heads in the millennia-old sand.”

Padia
. She kept saying the name as if she and Thea weren’t one and the same.

The spider shuffled to the left; I could feel its eyes on me. I lowered my gaze, stared down at the monster. It was bigger now, huge. It covered my entire chest. Its fangs hung down, brushed my shirt. I couldn’t take my focus off of it, was afraid if I did, the fangs would puncture not only my skin but my chest, sink into the cavity and pierce my heart and lungs.

“You see him, don’t you? He’s beautiful, isn’t he? I could have called something else, but for you . . . this seemed perfect.” She leaned close and whispered, “One of my secrets. Padia can’t do this, not like I can. The goddess hasn’t blessed her like she has me. I am stronger. I deserve to rule.”

She sighed and patted my arm. “Enough talking. I can see you’re ready now. You weren’t before.” The spider’s eyes, eight of them . . . I counted . . . winked at me, or seemed to. It had no eyelids . . . my mind grappled with that, blinking with no eyelids. It was impossible, as was the gigantic arachnid on my chest. But the creature was there; I could see him and feel him.