Theta (26 page)

Emotion disappeared from Niko’s features. He
stood absolutely still for a moment. I shifted my weight, uncertain
if he were going to walk away or attack.

“
She’s the leader of the
insurgency. He was doing what he had to,” he said after a tense
pause.

“
Is that what you’ll tell
Tommy, when Cleon kills his mother?” I said.

The words were out of my mouth before I
realized how stupid they were.

I said NOT to get
punched,
Cleon snapped.

I was halfway out of the ring, unwilling to
face Niko after his initial threat about his son.

Not only did the former mercenary not
attack, but he didn’t emote, either. He was watching me, as if
trying to decide whether or not I was telling the truth or maybe,
what to do with me.

“
Two o’clock tomorrow. If
you aren’t up to your usual activity level, it will not go well for
you,” he said. Spinning, he snatched his towel and left the
ring.

I released the breath I was holding.

That went well,
Cleon said.

“
No, it didn’t,” I replied.
“If he’s too angry to blow up, someone is in trouble.”

You doubt his loyalty.

“
Never,” I said, thoughts
on Niko’s son. I had nothing to offer him in exchange for his
loyalty whereas Cleon held the upper hand. The compound was the
safest place on Earth, and Tommy was in the middle of
it.

What that meant for Theodocia, I was afraid
to imagine. I could see Niko leaving her where she was for the time
being – or maybe forever. Cleon didn’t want her dead, so she was,
in a twisted way, safe. Maybe having her close was doing Niko an
indirect favor, since she wouldn’t be in harm’s way on the streets
while Cleon quelled the rebellion.

Was this my reasoning or
Cleon’s? The Supreme Magistrate did nothing out of good faith or
benevolence, and I doubted Theodocia was
safe
when she was anywhere near
him.

Fear caused my heartbeat to accelerate.

For the first time, I couldn’t identify
whose rationale it was. I was no closer to dislodging Cleon from my
mind. If anything, he was becoming more entrenched. My thoughts
were an open book to him, and his were becoming indistinguishable
from mine.

“
Cleon wants to see you.
Now.” Niko poked his head in from the locker room, cell phone in
hand.

On cue, my escort filed in from outside the
gym. I slung my towel around my neck and grabbed my water bottle
before reluctantly trailing the armed guards out of the gym and to
the House.

We met in Cleon’s office again, on the
second floor. Instead of sitting behind his desk, he was seated
with a tumbler of cognac at the sitting area of his office, beneath
a portrait that made me roll my eyes.

“
I take it that’s new,” I
said and shook my head. In the fashion of royal portraiture, Cleon
had been painted solo, standing, and wearing a military uniform
filled with medals. “Were you even in the army?”

“
I’m the Commander-in-Chief
of the military and SISA,” he replied. His words ricocheted in my
head, and I dropped my gaze to him. “Sit.”

I did so and watched him pour more amber
liquid into his glass tumbler. Tilting my head to the side, I
shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

“
You have a headache,” I
said, able to feel what he did, now that we were a meter apart.
“You’re weak. Dizzy, and the back of –”

“
Enough.”

“
Side effects of this
joining?” I asked allowed, echoing his thoughts.

“
Dr. Khan assures me I’m
well,” he replied.

“
But you don’t believe
her.”

“
I wanted to discuss
something important,” he said, ignoring me.

“
I can’t imagine
what.”

He gave me one of his looks that said he was
trying to be patient, while he ordered me silent with his thoughts.
“I wanted you to know why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“
I do know,” I replied.
“You want to take over the world.”

“
That’s sort of a side
benefit,” he said with a smile. “There’s much more to it. I’m
saving those who deserve it from a larger threat.”

What in Hades was he talking about? I knew
him to be a little crazy but this assertion sounded outlandish,
even for him. His mind was silent on what he meant, giving me hope
we weren’t fully integrated into each other’s consciousness
yet.

“
Many years ago, I was
granted an audience with the Oracle, as many wealthy and
influential people are,” he began. “I don’t know what most people
ask her. Maybe about their fates or fortunes, but I asked her
something different. I’ve always wanted more. More power, more
money, and specifically, more knowledge I could use in my pursuit
of power.”

Cleon’s soft, low voice and deceptively
non-threatening manner had always deflated my anger and irritation,
whether or not I wanted it to. I relaxed back into the plush,
leather chair. I had no intention of believing a word he said, but
I studied him, seeking some sort of weakness or tell or other red
flag I could use to dismantle what he had done to me and what he
was planning to do.

“
Among the questions I
posed, I asked her how to become the most powerful person ever to
exist,” he continued. “She led me to Niko, who is the sole reason I
survived the gods’ wrath and elevated myself to this position. And
then she told me something I didn’t understand at the time, or for
several years afterward. She said I was asking the wrong question,
that it wasn’t about becoming the most powerful person to exist.
She said only one person could ever wield such power – the Oracle –
and one day, I would understand what that meant. The question I
should have been asking was how to control the most powerful person
on the Earth. Then she gave me a number. Four
twenty-five.”

I was waiting for him to say something
horrible – that he had done something to cause the Oracle to sink
into her coma. When his story stopped, I leaned forward, able to
experience the racing of his blood as anticipation set in.

“
Okay. What does it mean?”
I asked.

“
Five years ago, everyone
of significance in the world was gathered in one place, for a
ceremony that occurs only once a generation, during the coronation
of the ruler of Greece. It was the Silent Queen’s fourteenth
birthday, the day she claimed her rightful title, the day everyone
of importance in the world was gathered in one place, to include
Zeus and almost all – if not all – of the gods and goddesses, who
were certain to be in our world for the event.”

I listened, unable to help my fascination.
His emotion was high as well, and I shifted in my seat, hating the
sensation of two people in my mind.

“
Four twenty five. Fourth
month, twenty fifth day,” Cleon explained. “The day of the
coronation. The day the gods purportedly attacked the earth. Over
the course of twenty four hours, eighty percent of the human
population was destroyed, and the gateway to the gods’ world was
closed.”

“
Cecelia foresaw it,” I
guessed. “She warned you, but you didn’t know that’s what it
was.”

“
I thought the same. I
wasn’t present in New York, because the former Supreme Magistrate
and I didn’t see eye to eye. He considered me to be competition,
and he banished me to an unimportant political position in northern
Maryland. I was within reach, but far enough not to challenge him.
In any case, I wasn’t in New York when the political elite and the
wealthiest people in the world were murdered,” Cleon said. “I came
here, to this compound, with the help of Niko, a semi-loyal
mercenary on my payroll. I did what anyone would do when faced with
what we thought was the end of the world. I went to the Oracle, and
I asked her what was happening. Her response:
four twenty five. Now you know what power
is
.”

I frowned. Was he saying what I thought he
was? That the gods weren’t behind the Holy Wars? “I don’t
understand,” I said.

“
I think you
do.”

“
Um, Cecelia warned you
what the gods would do. She wouldn’t do this.”

“
How certain are
you?”

I laughed. “I would trust her over you any
day!” I exclaimed. Yet the image in my head was of Lantos when he,
too, warned me I didn’t know Cecelia as well as I thought I did.
Why would I ever entertain anything spoken by either of the lying
politicians?

“
If the gods were cut off
from their power source, how could they have done this?” Cleon
asked.

“
They were cut off
after
she closed the gate!
She closed the gate to protect us from them.”

“
Think about this,
Alessandra,” he said with tried patience. “Who had the better
reason to attack humanity? The gods, who were venerated and
worshipped, and who have suffered alongside humans since that day?
Or the Oracle who was a slave to man and god?”

“
Whatever lie you’ve
created … I can’t even … no!” I managed. “Humans have been
preparing to rebel against the gods and return us to the Old Ways
for years! They found out, retaliated and before they could cross
back to their world, the Oracle trapped them here.”

“
But why trap them here?
Why not let them return and close the gate then?”

“
Maybe because she was
pissed about what they did? She’s still human.”

He sat forward, irritated.
“Are you capable of seeing this perspective at all? On four twenty
five, I realized there was one person who could have launched such
an attack, and it wasn’t the gods. On four twenty five, I also came
to understand that if I wanted her power, I had to control her.
From the day I reached this compound five years ago, I began
researching how it was possible to control someone with absolute
power, and I came to the conclusion that I had to be able to
control that person
before
she reached the height of her power.” He studied
me. “Did you believe the chip in your head was developed on a whim
overnight? That level of technology took years to create and close
to a billion drachma in research, custom technology and favors to
gods.”

“
You could’ve been
developing it to put in her head,” I reasoned staunchly. “It’s not
like she’s able to defend herself where she is now!”

“
You really believe she’s
defenseless? Helpless? You and I both know where your power comes
from, and how you can slide into the other dimensions or planes or
worlds or whatever these alternate realities, without your
body.”

I wanted to think it was his thoughts
polluting my mind, but some part of his wild claims – however tiny
– struck a chord within me. He really was making sense. Cecelia
didn’t need her body in alternate planes, and she could still
affect our world from those places. But everything else he said was
ridiculous! “I’m not about to buy into your insanity, Cleon!” I
said.

He winced and touched his head. His dull
headache was at the back of my mind, but whatever other pain he
felt, it wasn’t conveyed to me.

“
It would not have had any
use to me in her head,” he said with a controlled sigh. “My goal in
binding your mind with mine has not been solely about power. It’s
been about preserving the desirable elements of our society from
what she started. Zeus stepped in before she could finish. He’s
siphoning the power from every other god trapped here to
give
you
the chance
to stop the Oracle from destroying everything that remains. But
we’re running out of time, and he’s running out of
power.”

It was the most ridiculous
story … no! It was a
delusion
so intricately crafted, it could only come from
someone who had fallen into the void of insanity long ago. He hid
the signs well; I never suspected this level of madness dwelt
beneath the smooth-talking, brilliant politician’s
façade!

I stood up, disgusted with his claim about
Cecelia, a woman dismembered and enslaved in agony by people like
the one sitting in front of me. “Enough,” I said.

“
If you’d listen to the
voices, you would hear him tell you the same,” Cleon
insisted.

I froze.

“
Yes,” he said. “I can hear
them, too. The whispers Lantos allowed into your mind the day our
minds were linked. You’ve actively blocked them, but I’ve spent
quite some time listening to what they’re trying to tell
you.”

“
Do you think the gods
would
admit
to
trying to destroy the world, when they need your help to return to
theirs?” I challenged. “Of course they’re going to lie about their
intentions. Of the two of us, you should know a liar when you hear
one.”

“
Clearly you aren’t ready
for this conversation.” Cleon stood. “I am trying to save what I
can of those deserving humans, through your power.”

“
Deserving? You mean those
rich enough to afford whatever price you dictate! You want to rule
over a handful of rich people.”

“
I want to create a colony,
a utopia, to start humanity anew, with principals and wealth,” he
said. “You can’t disagree that eliminating poverty would only
benefit the world.”

Was I really having a
discussion about utopia with this madman? “You want to eliminate
the
poor.
Not
poverty,” I corrected him.