Omega (14 page)

“
Instructions, sir,” one
of the guards approached the man in the center.

“
Secure the exits. I’ll
take it from here.” The commander’s gaze went towards
me.

I eased back, hoping he hadn’t realized I
was there. I was alone and no closer to finding Herakles. Slinking
back down the hallway, I was careful to tune in at every
intersection, both to my senses and to the intuition that might be
the only sign the commander had found me. I had never felt anything
but confident in myself, yet here, I was a trapped rat in a blind
maze. I felt like I did the night I spotted the grotesque; I was
waiting for something to swoop out of nowhere and grab me.

The buildings were, for the most part,
abandoned. Every once in a while, I thought I sensed something and
eased away from the direction I had been headed. I went deeper into
the compound, farther from the east wing, and into the center of a
building that seemed to consist of old barracks. I peeked into
several and identified only about four rooms among the several
dozen that appeared to be in use.

It was as I entered the
only decorated area in the center of the compound it hit me I’d
been herded in this direction discreetly by my opponent. The
apartment was the sole part of the compound that appeared to have
been used continually. It wasn’t possible for me to end up here if
I hadn’t been manipulated. The airy flat featured high ceilings,
its own bubbling fountain, and marble features everywhere. It had
to be
his
, because
it smelled like him, a faint scent I barely registered when I had
met him but which was stronger here. I wasn’t able to place it
except that it was his.

One wall was jammed with awards, citations,
degrees, certifications and other proof of recognition. The
largest: the plaque naming him the chief of SISA.

My heart took off again when I realized who
I’d been unknowingly messing with. “Only the Big Bad Wolf,” I
muttered to myself. I mentally kicked my own ass at the thought of
teasing the man charged with oppressing opposition and policing
everyday people. Adonis Wade wasn’t a cop or a security guard but
the man charged by the gods with the security of the entire human
race.

And he knew who I was because I’d been
stupid enough to challenge him. Niko had allegedly mercy-killed
four priests to keep this man from torturing them to discover me,
and I walked through the front door and challenged him to a
duel.

I had never felt real fear until I stood
before his wall of accolades and began to understand why Niko and
Dosy said rescuing Herakles was tantamount to suicide. I was dying
to ask Niko if he’d made a deal to bring me in before he met the
priests or if he was looking out for his own interests after I told
him what I was.

I’m an idiot.
Dosy was right. I never should’ve said anything
about being an Oracle, never should’ve trusted a situation that
appeared too perfect to be true. It wasn’t a coincidence Niko
helped me break into SISA. It was part of a plan by strangers who
knew what and who I was.

“
Now that you
understand.”

I whirled. Adonis Wade didn’t look old
enough to be the boogeyman his brag-wall claimed he was. He wasn’t
much older than twenty five. He was dressed in the dark uniform,
hands at his sides and mesmerizing gaze on me.

“
Understand what?” I
managed.

“
Who you’re dealing with,”
he replied.

“
As long as you know who
you’re dealing with.” I lifted my wrist to display the red cord. It
was self preservation that made me need to put something between
us. The intensity of his presence and look was too much for me to
handle without help. I slid behind a table with an expensive vase
on it.

“
Better than you do.” His
gaze went from me to his wall and back to me. “Stay here for
now.”

“
Um, no. The minute you
leave, I’m gone.”

“
The fate of Herakles is
in your hands.”

Just like that, my anger and defiance
melted.

“
I repeat. Stay here for
now.” He strode towards the door.

“
You’re not going to tie
me up or anything?” I asked. Too late I heard the words. As if he
needed me telling him to tie me up.

“
I don’t need to. If you
care about Herakles, you’ll do as I say. If you want to know who
your parents were, who
you
are, you’ll worry about not pissing me
off.”

His words slammed into me. The one man in
the world I shouldn’t want anything to do with was dangling
everything I wanted in front of me. “My parents.” I didn’t think of
them often, probably because I didn’t remember them. I wasn’t a
complete idiot. I knew they had existed at one point. “You’re
serious.”

“
What do you recall of
your life before Herakles?”

“
Nothing.”

“
At all?”

“
Sometimes I dream of
falling.” I shrugged. “That’s all.”

“
I’m about to know
everything, Alessandra. If you leave, you’ll never learn any of
it.”

He walked out.

I stared at the closed
door, not at all certain what just happened. I was trapped in the
apartment of the chief of the SISA.
I think
I’m in trouble,
I thought, gazing around
warily.

But I wasn’t about to leave. Not when the
answers I needed were right in front of me.

I was falling again. It was nighttime and
the sky above overcast. Down, down, down … and Herakles was there
to catch me, like always. My hero, my friend, my Herakles.

I missed him even in my sleep. As I awoke, I
silently swore it was my turn to rescue him.

“
Alessandra.”

My eyes snapped open. Three people hovered
too close to me. I sat up quickly from my spot sleeping on the
couch and stared first at the man with the face that made my heart
race unnaturally and then at the doctor and John. It took me a
moment to orient to this place and recall I had fallen asleep on
the couch of the man who was probably supposed to be a super
villain to my super-Oracle self.

Herakles would not approve.

“
We have your DNA
results,” the doctor said and held up a file folder. “The reports
are going to the Triumvirate. They’ll decide whether or not to
release them to you. I imagine the press will figure out your
identity before we can alert the gods.”

“
What made you voluntarily
– and quite publicly – walk into this place?” John – Spectacles –
asked. “Controlling the media’s response has become a
nightmare.”

Everyone was searching for me, but no one
actually wanted to find me? I couldn’t catch a break. It was too
early for nonsense and questions. I needed coffee and a
toothbrush.

Swinging my legs over the side of the couch,
I was at a loss as to how to respond. For having found the Oracle
they sought, none of them appeared remotely pleased.

“
I have no idea what’s
going on,” I said finally and stood. “I know you’re god around
here, Adonis, but do you have a spare toothbrush?”

Silence.

“
I can use yours. People
act like I have rabies, so I figured you wouldn’t want
that.”

“
Second drawer in the
bathroom,” he replied at last.

“
Thank you.” I walked
towards the bathroom, unusually aware that he was watching me. It
was weird how my instincts picked up on him and only him like
that.

After I had freshened up, I returned to the
living area to find all of them gone. Truth be told, I was kind of
relieved. Adonis made me nervous. I wanted to think it was because
he was a badass in his own right but …

I recalled that tiny
moment of something in his arms yesterday. My fingers remembered
what it was like to touch his chest, and his scent drifted in the
air around me. It was more than a memory, though. I
felt
him. As if we were
connected somehow and I was being drawn towards him when every part
of me knew that was completely wrong. It was stronger today.
Twisting around, I sought some sign of him being present and
spotted him on a balcony overlooking a courtyard that hadn’t been
tended in years.

What made him
live
on an abandoned
compound?

I wanted to know what was
going on, if Herakles was safe, yet feared dealing I with
him,
the man four people
I knew had committed suicide to avoid.

There’s something
here.
Something unnatural I didn’t yet
understand. I wasn’t afraid. I had a list of reasons I should have
been, but I wasn’t. Neither was I comfortable around
him.

The fact he could outrun and outfox me left
me unsettled. Herakles had taught me to take care of myself but
never bothered to mention what happened when someone bested me and
I was subjected to being trapped by mind games. We never talked
much about emotion or mental strife, and he scoffed at the priests’
attempt to teach me diplomacy. I rarely found fault in my guardian,
but I was starting to suspect I’d missed a few things.

Like how to deal with a
man resembling Adonis Wade. He was too young to be in such a
powerful position and not to be a super genius, ambitious, and
strong enough for anything I could throw at him. I had to figure
this situation out –
him
out – get my answers and help Herakles
escape.

As if feeling my gaze, he spoke. “You
haven’t asked about him,” the head of SISA said without turning.
One hand rested against his temple as if he had a headache.

It bothered me that he could sense me better
than I did him. I was really hoping he wasn’t able to read minds,
too. “How is he?”

“
In one piece for
now.”

I shifted feet, not liking the response at
all. “Can I see him?”

“
No.”

“
Why should I just take
your word?”

“
What choice do you
have?”

“
Yesterday, I might have
been compelled to agree,” I replied. “Then Niko sold me out and you
decided to threaten Herakles with bodily harm if I didn’t cooperate
… you can see why I’m not really interested in trusting anyone
right now.”

“
Nonetheless you have no
choice but to behave in the hopes I don’t do to Herakles what I’m
known to do to people like him.”

It was probably the scariest thing I’d ever
heard. The priests always told us straight out what the
consequences were for acting out or disobeying, and rarely was
their discipline discouraging to me.

I knew only tiny hints about what this man
was capable of and that four priests had committed suicide via Niko
so they didn’t have to fall into his hands. Add to that a High
Priestess that feared SISA and even Niko – a mercenary who stood to
make money off me – who was at first unwilling to deal with this
man, and my imagination knew no bounds as to what someone had to
have done to scare so many people.

“
You were testing me
yesterday,” I said quietly. “Why?”

“
Curiosity.”

“
Hmmm. That’s
it?”

“
What else is there?” He
faced me, his intent gaze rattling me.

My cheeks grew warm for reasons I wasn’t
able to figure out, and I crossed my arms, feeling exposed. “I
don’t know. It seems beneath you.” At his silence, I continued.
“You have a billion awards and citations and run this mega huge
security force that terrorizes the entire world. How does one
person rate your curiosity?”

“
How does the Oracle not
know who she is?” he countered.

“
I know exactly who I am.
It’s everyone else who seems surprised I’m not someone else,” I
said, perplexed. “I can defend myself, survive under any conditions
for any length of time, and am generally what I consider to be a
good person. Who cares if my Greek is basic, I hate chic flicks and
have never kissed a guy?” Too late I heard the part about kissing
and flushed. Not that I cared what he thought, but … was this all
going in some sort of official record? Was I going to go down in
history as the Oracle who never kissed a boy? Because I couldn’t
think of anything more embarrassing.

“
You don’t know
everything, or you wouldn’t have stayed here
voluntarily.”

“
You call me being here
voluntary?”

“
You want to know what you
really are,” Adonis stated. “You want to know where you came from.
You want to know why. You may think you know what you’re capable
of, but you don’t have any idea and that’s why you
stayed.”

I drew a deep breath. He was like Leandra –
the wrong person delivering the right message. And I hated that.
“Okay, yes. I want to know those things. But I stayed for Herakles.
I will always stay for him.”

“
At the risk of everything
you are and could be?”

“
I really don’t care
what
you
think I
am or could be, and I definitely don’t have a problem with who I
think I am. I care about him.”

Adonis was hard to read. He didn’t seem to
know exactly how to take my honesty. Or perhaps he was offended by
it. I wasn’t able to tell except I had the impression he was
constantly evaluating me. I had no answers for him. He already knew
more about me than I did.