Omega (33 page)

“
Do it.”

“
I’m not sure
how.”

“
You made a Typhon
disappear. Maybe you’re overthinking it. Maybe that’s why Herakles
taught you to fight rather than think.” She winked.

I flushed. Not everything had changed. Too
irked to respond, I looked around and focused on the ribbons. She
had a point. I hadn’t thought twice about how to tackle the Typhon
once I realized Adonis was in danger, and I’d brought the cup and
cot in our cell to life without thinking either.

“
Here. Drink some alcohol.
It might help.” She handed me two glasses of champagne.
“Quickly!”

I chugged one and ended up coughing at the
burn. Leandra took the empty flute glass and handed me another. She
handed me three more, and I chugged all five before I started to
feel untethered from the world.

“
Ugh. No more.” I pushed
the sixth away.

“
How do you
feel?”

“
A little
fuzzy.”

“
Good. Go sit in the shade
and use your magic.”

“
It’s not that easy.” The
alcohol was working quickly, and my first step wasn’t as certain as
the second. “It doesn’t just come to me.”

“
Yes, it will. Shut up and
sit down.” She nudged me towards the empty bench under an orange
tree that smelled of sweet citrus flowers.

I sat. She took up a position behind me
while I observed the ribbons. They were brighter with the alcohol,
or perhaps, I was just blocking out the rest of the stimuli. When
I’d awoken the stuff in our cell, I’d been startled. When I
defeated the Typhon, I’d been scared. The barrier between my world
and my emotions was lowering with the alcohol. I had a sense of
euphoria once more like I experienced in the Oracle’s horrible
building.

I plucked two ribbons from
the many and focused on them.
Wake
up,
I said without knowing what exactly
they were connected to. Doubting it’d work, I shifted to another
set of ribbons and ordered them awake.

Something tickled the back of my calf, and I
stretched down, digging through the layers of silk to reach a
grasshopper clinging to me. I flicked it away.

“
It’s not working,” I
said, disappointed.

“
Um, depends on what you
did exactly.” At Leandra’s note of uncertainty, I
straightened.

One of the topiary creatures had begun to
stir. It lifted one leg then the other and stepped from the dirt
onto the path. Murmurs of alarm went up. The twelve foot tall
Pegasus swished a tail made of roses and shook out a mane of
tulips.

I watched it. It had three ribbons, one of
which was green. I stood, thrilled, and wobbled.

“
It’s beautiful,” Leandra
breathed. “You did that?”

“
Yeah.”

People began glancing my way, at first in
worry. Then a round of applause went up, and they crowded around to
watch the bush creature walking slowly through the gardens. The
second creature I’d awakened soon began to move as well. It was a
griffin, and it roared a handful of leaves when it dropped its jaw
to speak.

The attendees were snapping pictures and
marveling over the mobile topiary. 

“
The Oracle entertains
us!” someone said with a laugh. “Magnificent!”

The Pegasus began grazing on a plain hedge,
much to the delight of those watching.

“
Her Majesty may not
approve of you moving her bushes.” Lantos’ upbeat words were quiet.
“Awaken more and give her a scare!”

He, trailed by Adonis, was one of the only
people not mesmerized by the sight and lingering back with me. I
glanced from him to Adonis then away quickly, not confident about
dealing with Adonis during daylight.

“
Do it,” Leandra whispered
her support.

I was buzzing, but I
focused on a small topiary of a winged sheep near us.
Wake up!
Without knowing
what exactly I did to cause it to stir, I saw the green ribbon that
floated through the space between us. It settled onto the ribbons
already hanging over the creature, and it began to stir. I woke up
two more and watched with a grin as they joined the others roaming
through the gardens.

“
Fantastic,” Lantos said
from beneath his mask. “Here I thought you could only use your
magic when someone you cared about was in trouble.”

My jaw went slack at the words. Adonis was
close enough to hear them. Before I could muster a retort from
among my cheerfully buzzing thoughts, he moved away to join the
others.

Adonis remained beside me. I risked another
look at him. Meaning to glance quickly, I found myself stuck
staring at his perfect features.

“
You will need more than
an army of bushes,” he said.

“
For …”

“
Whatever the Silent Queen
said to you that made you so tense.”

He felt it.
Like he always knew where I was. I dropped my
gaze and waved Leandra back. “I want to hate you, Adonis,” I said,
frustrated. “Everyone I’ve ever met considers you a
butcher.”

“
Most people fear the
beast more than the man. But you are different. As
usual.”

“
I love the beast,” I said
before I could stop myself. Cleaning my throat, I rushed on. “Do
you recall everything you say and do as a beast when you’re
transformed in the morning?” I asked, somewhat hopeful he didn’t
remember holding me last night. My insides ignited and soared at
the memory.

“
I recall more, because my
senses are heightened at night.”

“
Are you really as bad as
they say?” I faced him.

He turned to look down at me. “Do you need
me to say it again?”

“
Yes.” It was getting
harder for me to recall what he was when we were together, and I
needed the reinforcement.

“
Then I am twice what
people have told you.” His gaze didn’t waver and I felt no tingle
to indicate he was lying.

My heart fell and with it my mood. I didn’t
know how to respond. I had held out hope that there was some
goodness in him, that the rumors were false and the fear of the
masses misplaced.

But he was every bit the monster people
believed him to be.

We gazed at one another in silence, and a
familiar pain stung me. I didn’t want to lose Mismatch, but I
couldn’t associate with a man like this. One who tortured,
slaughtered and mowed down whole forests with no concern for who
might be hurt in the process. One whose sizzling look managed to
drive every sensible thought out of my head and make me too aware
of the hardness of his body, the incredible reflexes.

“
Stay away from me,
Adonis,” I whispered at last. “Night and day.” Turning away, I
retreated to the bench in the shade where Leandra sat. I felt his
gaze on me and sat with my back to the crowd.

“
You have a lover’s
quarrel with the SISA chief?” Leandra said with a small
laugh.

“
We don’t get
along.”

She rolled her eyes. “When a man looks at
you like that, you’re beyond the getting along stage.”

“
Whatever.” A warm flutter
ran through me. I suppressed it quickly, determined not to be
associated with him. “He’s a murderer, Leandra. Even if you were
remotely right, I couldn’t be associated with him.”

“
He saved your life in the
arena.”

“
He’s a bad
person.”

“
Maybe he had a
reason.”

I glanced at her. “What reason is there to
slaughter hundreds or thousands of people?”

“
I don’t know,” she
admitted. “He’s bad news. I get it. But he looks at you like
there’s more to his story.”

Sometimes I hated how smart Leandra was.

“
You guys have a thing?”
she pressed.

“
No of course not! I’m
doomed to be alone. You all used to steal boys from me but I’m
starting to think it was a good thing. If I’ve learned anything
since leaving the forest, it’s that I can’t trust anyone.
Ever.”

“
You have us.”

“
You’re a spy!” I
exclaimed softly.

“
For you!” she retorted.
“Herakles. You are his world.”

I clamped my mouth shut. Leandra’s attention
was on the guests.

“
The Supreme Priest is
kinda creepy with that mask.”

“
Yeah.” I twisted to
follow her gaze.

Lantos and the SISA chief were talking
privately apart from the crowd. Whenever I thought of Lantos, I
recalled the Oracle. Studying him, a new idea formed, and I
rose.

Leandra scrambled after me as I approached
the two. Their talking ceased, and they looked at me as I
neared.

“
May I have a word?” I
asked Lantos.

“
Of course.” He stepped
away from Adonis to join me. Leandra lingered behind.

We walked for a short distance into the
gardens, away from anyone else, before I was comfortable enough to
speak. “Will you take me to see the Oracle again?”

Lantos was quiet, his eyes the only part of
him visible from beneath the mask.

“
Please,” I added. “I
don’t know how else to go see her if you don’t help with the
shadows thing.”

“
My instincts tell me I’m
not going to like this answer, but for what purpose?” he asked. His
cheerful voice and sparkling eyes made him so much easier to talk
to than Adonis.

“
Not your
concern.”

“
You learned those words
from my chief.” He chuckled. “I have the choice to take you or not,
based on your response. Perhaps you should try again.”

“
Fine. I want her to tell
me how to use my magic.”

“
And that’s a
lie.”

I growled in frustration. “It’s partially
true. I want to kill her.”

His eyes widened.

“
To put her at peace,” I
continued.

“
You speak to the Silent
Queen and come away wanting to murder the Oracle. Can I assume the
two are linked?”

“
I saw her, Lantos!” I
exclaimed. “I saw what they did to her. What they’ll do to me. How
can I leave her that way? If I were her, I’d beg for someone to
kill me.”

He began walking again. I went with him,
agitated. “There is a flaw with this plan,” he started. “Aside from
accelerating your fate at the hands of the Magistrate, you’d also
risk exposing me while simultaneously chopping off my ability to
draw off my power. I’m connected to the same place the gods
are.”

“
You said you want them to
suffer. You had to know that would mean losing your power,
too.”

“
At the right time,
Alessandra. At a time of my choosing.”

A chill went through me. “What if that time
is after the Oracle dies of natural causes? Are you willing to let
me meet that fate?”

“
It would be temporary and
of short endurance if so. Only until I can ensure the passage of …
we’ll just say something important from the other side of the
portal.”

I stopped walking.

“
It’s not what I want.
Adonis has taken to you, and I want to respect my friend enough to
spare you,” he admitted.

“
If you throw your friends
into the arena, they’re probably better off without you,” I said, a
surge of protectiveness flying through me.

“
You’re not helping your
case,” he chided. “My hope is to be in position well before her
natural death. But I’m not willing to expedite it.”

“
You won’t help
me.”

“
Not unless the timing is
right.” The skin around his eyes crinkled in a sign he was smiling
beneath the mask. “Trust me, Alessandra. I showed you your fate
when no one else would. I’ve protected you since you were a child,
and you know my motivation to seeing the gods cared for properly. I
ask only that you give things time to fall into place. It’ll work
out. I promise.”

If I do this … if the
Oracle dies soon … he’ll see me crucified.
I said nothing, understanding too well what he
meant.

“
Don’t look so dour!
There’s plenty of champagne and beautiful bush creatures to amuse
us,” he said and slid his arm through mine and walked me back
towards the party.

The more I thought about it, the better idea
it was to help the existing Oracle find peace. Even so, he had
presented a problem I didn’t think through: I didn’t have anywhere
to go if she died and I was next in line. Except maybe …

My eyes went towards the villa in whose
gardens we were. The Silent Queen had a network of some kind, a
plan for rebellion. I wanted to think she’d be willing to protect
me if the Oracle died.

But I was learning more and more that I
couldn’t trust anyone. Even those who seemed to be willing to help.
In the end, they were out for their own purposes, and I was a means
to an end. I wanted to believe the Silent Queen, but I was afraid
to.

I had to break away from these people. I had
the magic needed to fend off entire armies, the survival skills to
live anywhere, and the ragged red cord needed to hide from even
Mismatch.

A different kind of plan began to form, one
that fit my own purposes rather than those of everyone around
me.

Escape. After giving the existing Oracle
peace.