Theta (25 page)

“
Sorry.”

I moved over to give him more room. The
difference in our sizes was more pronounced in the tree house. His
feet were going to stick out the door when he lay down, while I was
perfectly comfortable with extra space for my limbs.

“
I couldn’t find any
blankets, but these towels were sitting on the dryer. It was the
only thing in the house not completely destroyed.” He handed me a
thick, plush towel. “These are nicer than blankets anyway. Nothing
like what I had growing up.”

I was accustomed to the best of everything.
I had never had a reason to believe towels came in different
qualities from which I was used to. I rolled the towel up and
placed it on the floor of the tree house then stretched out onto my
back.

Never did I imagine sleeping on the floor
would feel this good. I released a deep sigh. My bruised body
relaxed of its own accord, as if it, too, needed a break after the
stressful night.

“
Thank you for stopping,”
Kyros said and stretched out beside me. “We were starting to feel
sick.”

What were you doing with
your life when Paeon possessed you?
I
asked.

“
Working in a town where
everyone was trying to cooperate to survive. I was on the hunting
and chopping wood teams and basically any task needing brute
strength. I was a terrible hunter, though. Killing animals isn’t
really my thing, which is probably one of the reasons Paeon and I
get along so well,” he replied.

Every time he said Paeon’s name, I wanted to
snap at him. But I didn’t, and I managed to listen without
criticizing their relationship. It was a first for me, and it was
difficult.

“
Why do you hate him so
much?” There was a smile in Kyros’ voice.

Because his kind are selfish.

“
You said you were cursed.
It seems more personal.”

I rolled onto my side, placing my back to
him and effectively ending the conversation.

“
Okay then. Sleep
well.”

I stared into the darkness. Of all the
thoughts running through my mind, the one concerning me most had
nothing to do with making it back to camp and everything to do with
the idea I almost hoped Paeon wasn’t like the rest of the gods.
That maybe, being a healer rendered him more compassionate, less
likely to play games or possibly, gave him the ability to
sympathize with others instead of using them and cursing them as
the rest of the gods did.

Was it Paeon I wanted to be
different, or Kyros? Or … the combination? Dealing with Kyros was
sometimes maddening, until I recalled he was the kind of person I
was supposed to be protecting with a war I couldn’t get off the
ground. It didn’t seem right to despise humanity and protect its
members at the same time. This was a very
gods
-like attitude to have. My problem
wasn’t Kyros as much as his nonchalant attitude towards being
possessed and allowing a god to do as he pleased with a human
host.

This was a personal war, one I was waging
for the hundreds of members of the Bloodline preceding me as well
as for the humans who didn’t understand how dangerous the gods
were.

Kyros … well, he complicated the black and
white view I had developed towards what I was doing and why, and I
didn’t like the challenge to my principals he represented.

Closing my eyes, I started to drift to
sleep. I was jarred out of my doze by the sudden sense of being
back in the truck, and rolling over and over and over and over
…

I snapped awake and recalled where I was.
Relaxing, I tried again to fall asleep.

Fiery adrenaline raced through me, as if my
system were reliving the explosion. I became fevered and agitated,
caught in the state between sleep and consciousness. The sound of
something ripping nudged me farther away from slumber. It was
followed by a strange physical sensation in my shoulders. They were
… pulling out of my body. The explosion was tearing me apart …

“
Um, Phoibe?” Kyros’ voice
reached me across the darkness of my mind. “I mean, Your
Majesty?”

His scent was strong in my nostrils: sweat,
human and rain. My skin became sensitive and the brush of the towel
against my cheek felt like fire and sandpaper. I wrestled with
myself, unable to awaken fully and reassure my flighty mind that I
wasn’t burning in the explosion.

“
I think you need to wake
up,” Kyros said.

He burst into full color and clarity in my
mind, which would not have been surprising, if my eyes hadn’t been
closed. I could see everything painted on the back of my eyelids,
clear as midday. The edge of fatigue in his voice was joined by
alarm. I heard and saw him shift closer, reaching out to shake me
awake with an expression bordering on baffled.

My eyes snapped open, and I stared up at the
ceiling of the tree house. I saw every splinter, every piece of
dust, and every minute detail of the wood two meters above me. The
summer breeze against my skin made me jerk in unexpected awareness.
My body contorted in an uncontrollable spasm. I was being torn
apart from the inside and healed so quickly, I had no idea which
sensation I felt: fire or coldness.

At last, the episode passed, and my body
ceased bucking – but I didn’t feel remotely normal. The sound of
leaves brushing against one another outside the tree house was
nearly a shout in my ears, and my sense of smell was so intense, I
wriggled my nose to prevent a sneeze that was forming.

What’s happening to
me?
I asked Kyros, twisting to see his
face.

He had moved across the tree house from me.
“Um. It’s kind of hard to explain,” he said after a pause.

I struggled to sit up, weighed down by what
felt like a heavy blanket around my shoulders. Something whacked
Kyros in the leg as I moved, and I froze.

My skin was gray. My nails had turned into
claws. I touched my face and uttered a broken sound. My features
were lopsided, and my hair was gone. Shifting forward, I started to
fall backward before the long, thick cord of my tail balanced me.
Wings flared out on either side of my body, smacking Kyros again.
My shredded clothing was at my feet.

What did you do to
me?
I demanded, rounding on him.

“
This isn’t us,” he said
quickly.

No one else has been near me! What did you
do?

“
We
can’t
turn you into anything else, and
if we could, it wouldn’t be a gargoyle.”

Gargoyle. A vision of the creature that
visited me when I was six flashed into my mind. He, too, had
possessed wings, gray skin, a tail … and resembled one of the
grotesques perched on the corners of temples in New York.

He had warned me of the Bloodline’s
curse.

Had he been talking
about
this
? Would I
turn to stone this night? What would happen to my
daughters?

I’m a monster!
I shrieked in silence.

“
It’s not that
bad.”

How can you say that?

Kyros cleared his throat. “Paeon needs to
talk to you.”

I didn’t answer and stared
at my talons, struggling not to panic. If I were a monster, were
the twins in my stomach also monsters? What had happened? More
importantly,
why
?

“
Hear me out.” Paeon’s
voice was lighter, less emotional than Kyros.

Too shocked to know what else to do, I
waited and grappled with my self-control before I completely lost
it.

“
Nothing is wrong with
you,” the god claimed.

My jaw dropped, and another strange, beastly
sound came out.

“
The Bloodline members are
all like you.”

Cursed by the gods!
Tears filled my eyes. I managed to stand despite
the awkward weight of wings. My tail acted to balance me out of
instinct when I felt like I was about to fall.

“
It’s not what you
think.”

I felt suddenly claustrophobic in the tiny
tree house, overpowered by the details and scents and trapped with
one of the gods I hated with all my soul. Staggering to the door, I
grabbed the doorframe and tried to turn. One wing made it out while
the other flared behind me, knocking me off balance. I tumbled out
of the tree house.

My wings stopped my fall in mid air. They
stretched out on either side of me, flapping to keep me aloft with
no conscious thought from me. I hovered in the air outside the tree
house, not liking the sense of having nothing solid to stand
on.

I wanted to cry, to scream, to tear Paeon
apart with my claws and the fangs resting on my lips. If the tree
house overwhelmed me, the night was much more unnerving. My senses
were a hundred times more active and sensitive, registering the
smallest movement and sound for hundreds of yards in each
direction.

I tossed my head back to stare at the sky.
If ever I needed my patron goddess, Artemis, it was now.

What’s happening to
me?
I screamed telepathically into the
night.

“
You’re slow today. You
don’t look sick.”

Gods, Niko was driving me crazy. He was as
unrelenting as usual. After two nights with less than three hours
of sleep each night, I was in no shape to handle him in the ring or
out. Light headed, and panting after ten minutes of sparring, I
leaned against the ropes of the boxing ring.

I didn’t answer him. My mood was fickle, and
I didn’t want to tell him to join Cerberus in Hades and earn myself
a punch or two. The ever-present, three headed dog monster had
become my only companion. He didn’t need sleep either, and he sat
or paced or stood behind the curtain separating my world from that
of Hades. All. Day. Long. I had never had a pet in the forest, but
I did now. I didn’t have to worry about feeding or walking him,
which was nice.

“
What’s wrong with you?”
Niko yanked my chin up while dragging me from my thoughts again. He
studied my face.

“
Nothing!” I tried to pull
away.

He ignored me. “You’re weak, too. Are you
sleeping?”

I sighed.

“
So you’re not.” he
grumbled and released me, stepping away.

“
I’m having issues,” I
replied and straightened.

“
What
issues?” he retorted. “Villa doesn’t have enough servants or
shoes for you?”

“
You have no idea what I’m
going through!” Anger flared within me, warming my blood and
clearing my mind temporarily.

“
C’mon.” He motioned me
forward. “Hit me if you can. It’ll help.”

“
You’re my therapist
now?”

“
I don’t give a shit how
you feel, kid, but you gotta be physically ready to deal with the
world, and you aren’t.”

I was agitated enough at him to give him a
good thirty minutes of sparring before I ran out of energy again.
Taking a break in my corner, I sipped water and studied him. He was
… Niko. Regular, irritable, quick-to-snap Niko.

We hadn’t sparred yesterday, because he was
hunting insurgents. I had dreaded our session today, certain he
would beat me to a pulp for my involuntary involvement in helping
Cleon disable Theodocia. Forty minutes into our hour session, he
hadn’t dropped the hammer, and I was getting edgy.

“
You’re not mad at me?” I
asked him at last.

“
You’d know if I
were.”

“
Do you even know what I’m
talking about?”

“
It’s likely I won’t
care.”

“
Theodocia.”

He glanced up. “What about her?” His tone
remained the same, but I sensed it took effort.

“
I put her into this
frozen-rubbery state of immobility,” I said. “She’s a gummy
statue.”

One eyebrow lifted.

He doesn’t know.
Whether this was Cleon’s assertion or my
realization, I couldn’t tell.

I had Niko’s attention, which was not always
a good thing. He lowered his water bottle and approached, a
predatory gleam in his eyes.

I knew he loved her
still.
Another thought that was both
Cleon’s and mine.
If he hits you, he hits
me. Do not let that happen.
This was
distinctly Cleon’s order. I shared his concern. I didn’t really
have the intention of getting my ass beat by a pissed Niko, who was
just as likely to cause permanent damage as not, if he were pushed
to the point where he stopped checking his blows.

“
This is your fault!” I
snapped at the unwelcome voice in my head.

“
What’s my fault?” Niko
asked.

“
Not you,” I replied.
“Maybe you should talk to Cleon about this.”

“
You can tell me. Or I can
make you tell me.”

Before Niko, I never would’ve folded to such
a threat. Herakles had instructed me how to fight. The one lesson
he neglected: how to deal with someone who was so much stronger
than me, I didn’t stand a chance. Herakles was cut from the same
mold as Niko, but he was gentle and patient, whereas Niko didn’t
care at all for my mental or physical welfare, beyond what he was
paid to care about. Even the butcher Adonis had acted with
restraint when it came to me.

“
Cleon sent you out to
catch the Silent Queen. While you were outside the wall, he
ambushed Theodocia,” I replied. The images in my mind were Cleon’s,
and I began to think there was a small benefit to being connected
with him. If he knew what I did, then wouldn’t I understand when he
was lying from here on out? “He was going to kill her, but I turned
her into a gummy statue instead.”