Unchained Melody (15 page)

Callie half-rolled out of the oneirec man’s lap, landing on grass, which was spongy like the grass by the riverbank, but cool from being beneath the shade of the little shack she’d awoken in. ‘If by ‘left my earthly life’, you mean; abandoned my friends in the middle of a cyclone and then woke up heavily medicated in an institution of some kind then yeah, I did that. But I don’t know how.’ Callie pushed to her hands and knees and then stood, looking around and trying to get her bearings. She was beneath a marble awning of some sort held aloft by pillars at each corner. Marble benches with carved feet flanked the edges, and the grasses grew across the floor from the surrounding garden as seamlessly as lain carpet would have. She rapped on the marble with her knuckles. It hurt. Okay, so that was real enough. ‘How long was I out of it for?’

‘The afternoon and evening- it’s morning now.’ The man paused. ‘So you really don’t know who we are to you? Or who you are to the universe?’

‘You’re all strangers,’ she said, lifting a dangling branch of cherry blossom and trying to feel if it was real, wax, or mist. But she put it down. She’d never touched a real cherry blossom tree before, so how was she supposed to know what it should feel like? ‘Or possible figments of my imagination in an asylum somewhere. And to the universe, I’m Callie Clay. Sort of. There was another parent in there, another surname…’

‘So no then?’

Callie made a frustrated noise as she turned on the guy and crossed her arms. ‘You want to know what’s really dumb? I’m the one dreaming here and even though you all claim to know who I am- you’ve spent more time asking questions rather than enlightening me! It’s infuriating!’ She made a face. ‘And who are you anyway? Why was I in your lap?’

‘I am Ardos- I was sent here to watch over you during the night.’

‘Okay Ardos. Cool name... You’re my warden then?’

He shifted, looking uncomfortable and those eyes shimmered like stalks of cane in forty degree heat. ‘More or less. I would like to be responsible for you, but…’

‘I don’t want someone to take responsibility for me Ardos, I just want to know what’s going on.’ Callie leaned against the pillar behind her, hesitantly at first, in case it was a figment of her pole imagination. When it held, she exhaled in relief and rested her weight against it. ‘Can you fill me in? Or are you going to speak in riddles like the others?’

Ardos was beginning to look irritated himself. ‘I can.’ He said shortly, wringing his hands in agitation. ‘But if you don’t accept that this isn’t a dream then I can’t help you any more than your sisters could.’

Callie tugged on her hair. ‘Okay fine! Answer my questions, and I’ll pretend this is real.’

His golden eyebrows rose as he crossed his arms across the white vest he was wearing over a white shirt. They were too white. Like kids with new shoes at school, she sort of wanted to rub her feet on them. ‘Fine.’

‘Great!’ Callie clasped her hands together, excited at the promise of progress. ‘How did I get from a cyclone drenched coastal city in Australia at eight o’clock at night and end up in a stream on a sunny day in paradise?’

‘You must have run through the eye of a storm,’ Ardos said, straight-faced as though that wasn’t the most ludicrous answer in the world. ‘Doing that anywhere on earth will bring you here. But I don’t know about the time lapse for I have never done as you have- I know it differs, depending on the power of the being making the transition.’

Callie wanted to laugh, but was afraid her dosage would be upped again if she did. ‘So I ran through the eye of the storm and ended up… Where are we anyway?’

‘Mt Helicon, of course.’

Callie rolled her eyes. ‘Of course. We’re in Rome?’ She glanced around. ‘And when a bunch of backpackers stumble along and find us wearing togas by enchanted waters, they’ll just assume that we’re tour guides or something, yeah?’

But the guy chuckled. ‘First of all, Mt Helicon is in Greece, not Italy. And secondly, we are not on the actual physical summit, but the version of it created by imaginations, both ours and the humans.’ Ardos opened his hand, and a small white daisy appeared on his palm. ‘Our existence here depends on a general consensus of thought- we are here, and not here, just like this flower. And just like this flower- ’ he wriggled his fingers just as Callie reached for it, certain that it was a trick of light- and it vanished! ‘It is dependent on belief to exist at all.’ He looked at her amazed expression and smiled. ‘When you reached for it, you were thinking that it was a trick, weren’t you?’ Callie’s mouth fell open, wondering if he’d read her mind too, but she closed it and nodded. ‘Exactly. I held loosely to my belief and yours overwhelmed it. Luckily, there are enough of us here to counteract your doubt- or your skepticism would mould our surroundings into something else.’ He gazed around them, smiling lightly. ‘As it is, there are variations- the color of my sky could be different to yours and so, we are seeing a blend of both.’

Callie thought of the way the sky had darkened the day before when she’d been imagining the gorge. Had that been her influence? Hadn’t someone actually said: She’s darkening the sky? She hugged herself. ‘This is one complex dream. Why aren’t I this creative in English class?’

Ardos shook his head. ‘Writing isn’t your thing, and you can’t dream Calliope because it is your job to make others dream.’

‘Because…’ Callie thought of what Imogen had snapped at her earlier. ‘Because I’m a Muse, right?’

His lips twitched. ‘If I say yes, are you going to yell at me?’

‘Why would I yell at you?’

‘Because that’s all you’ve ever done.’ Ardos stuffed his hands into his pockets. ‘That is why I was so shocked that you awoke with appreciation in your eyes, instead of scorn.’

His answers were as confusing as if he’d said nothing at all but Callie sighed in defeat and sat on the seat beside him, aware that she was the cause of confusion, not him. He spoke as though they had a history, as though he knew her- all of her dreamscape people had. She was the one who wasn’t fitting into the puzzle right, not the other pieces. ‘How long have we known each other for?’ She asked.

‘Millennia.’

‘And who are you to me?’

He winced slightly before raking his hand through his short, golden and wavy hair then responding: ‘Your soul mate.’

Callie blinked. ‘Oh.’ Just play along with the sock puppet and maybe the doctors will lower your dosage and give you your mind back! Callie commanded herself. She forced a tentative smile. ‘If you’re my soul mate then why am I mean to you?’

He looked down at his hands. ‘You don’t want a soul mate- you love your freedom, and believe that music completes you.’

Callie grudgingly admitted to herself that it sounded like her- as much as she’d felt for Ryan and Hunter, the idea of not hearing them again hurt her as the idea of not seeing them. She swept her hair over her shoulders, feeling naked without Hunter’s hat, then grimacing to recall that she was not wearing Hunter’s hat, because she had kicked it into his face- while naked. ‘Freedom... to see other men?’ She asked wryly.

‘That’s part of it,’ he said gruffly and Callie felt guilty for the way the angelic guy was drooping with every revelation about her character. But he looked up, his eyes clearing. ‘Music is the main obstacle though; your memory has been taken from you- your true memory, and until it is returned to you, you are going to doubt every word I say,’ he paused, stroking the callouses on her fingers from playing guitar. ‘But your soul has not been altered- even as a human, you must have lived for the music as you always did as its Muse, yes?’

Callie felt a flicker of recognition. ‘Calliope…’ some part of Mrs Scawfell’s ramblings coming back to her. ‘… She was the Muse of music?’

‘Yes.’ The guy smiled and nodded. ‘You are.’ He pressed her hand to his lips and smiled over her knuckles, with an adoring look that floored her. ‘You have been known by other names of course; Therpsichore, Eurato, Euterpe…’ His tongue flicked the names prettily enough but Callie made a face. ‘They were your first aliases, and you touched so many mortal hearts and glamoured so many versions of your beauty upon them that the humans believe that you represent four different Muses, instead of one. Your sisters are slightly… snarky… around you because from the very beginning, you’ve taken more than your share of glory.’

‘I don’t know why they’d be jealous.’ Callie was still reeling, feeling light blossom within her chest. She was the Muse of Music? So much for her mother’s fears that she’d wash up at thirty! ‘Those names sound awful.’

Ardos smiled indulgently. ‘Which is why you’ve tried countless others; Harmony. Sadie. Aria and Honey and once or twice you even dallied with plain human names like Jan or Alice- a different name for each persona you took on. But you are always Calliope here.’ He smiled. ‘Callie is new spin on the traditional one though. I like it.’

‘Cheers.’ Callie removed her hand from his and cracked her knuckles. ‘So how have I heard of a Calliope, but not an Ardos? I didn’t exactly get into the whole mythology syllabus at school but…’

‘Because you were…?’ Ardos’s eyes danced.

She flushed. ‘Yeah okay so I was dancing or playing guitar or whatever.’ She got to her feet. ‘But that doesn’t mean I believe you. My two best friends were exactly the same and I don’t see them frolicking around the meadow in togas.’

A flash of anger darkened Ardos’s eyes. ‘Yes well, that’s because they were not Muses like you, Callie, but your wards.’

‘Wards?’

‘Yes.’ He stared up at the ceiling and shook his head. ‘Your entire reason for living on earth as Callie Clay was to inspire one of those… guys- ’ his teeth seemed to scrape resentfully on those words, ‘-to create something that would benefit the world, and your artistry.’

Self-awareness was dripping into Callie’s very being. ‘Did I do it?’

Ardos shook his head. ‘No. You failed. And you may not get your memories back until you correct that.’

Callie had not connected with much of anything that Ardos had said, but for some reason, the word ‘failed’ burned through her like a sudden and violent wildfire. Failure hurt. Failure stung. Failure made her weaker, made her inconsequential. She had brought pain and drama down on her dear friends by abandoning them as she had, but the idea that they would never meet their potential because of her pained Callie in a way she couldn’t even articulate.

And so she turned on her heel, and began to march across the meadow to the stream where she had awoken the day before. Maybe she wasn’t really a Muse- maybe she wasn’t even alive anymore- and yet maybe, willingly leaving this world would rouse her from her coma and get her where she needed to be, and she had to try- Goddess or not, Hunter and Ryan needed her! Ignoring Ardos’s cry to stop, Callie lifted her skirts and dove into the crystalline water.

And promptly, her face slammed into the silty bed, almost knocking herself out again.

14.

Callie sat up in the stream, soaking wet and certain that she’d broken her nose. She coughed out the water she’d swallowed in shock and took mental stock of the bruises and grazes she’d just given herself; Aside from her stinging nose, her neck felt stiff and store, and she could taste blood from where she had cut her lip open.

And then she heard the laughter. Callie swiped a lily pad out of her face and turned to glare at Ardos, who was literally doubled over in hysterics, clutching at his waist as though he was potentially going to split his sides. ‘Oh… my… Callie!’ Ardos flopped onto his back and kicked his bare feet against the ground.

Humiliation burned Callie like she was a bug under a magnifying glass. She stood brushed the dirt from the river bed off her grazed arms and legs. ‘It’s not funny!’ She seethed, wiping at her lips and feeling annoyed that she’d actually look as stupid as she felt. ‘I’m actually hurt here!’

Ardos huffed out another laugh, then rolled up into a sitting position, his mantis eyes sparkling with tears, his golden face a sunset shade of red. ‘What did you expect? Haven’t you ever heard of a safety dive before?’

Callie felt foolish and knew she deserved to. ‘I thought I’d get out the way I came in...’ But Ardos was still snickering and Callie was finding it hard not to let out a self-conscious giggle. He pointed up the edge of the stream, to where she now saw that a waterfall was gently flowing over mossy rocks. ‘You would have come in up there and been swept downstream,’ he pointed out. ‘However, a Muse with self awareness shows up wherever she likes.’

‘Then how do I get out?’

Ardos smiled. ‘I don’t want to tell you. I’d like to see you test a few more theories first! Honestly Calliope, why didn’t you just ask me? Why take off like that?’

Callie stepped out of the water, wincing as she felt her left knee burn. ‘I thought I was supposed to go back to earth and complete my mission.’ She said. ‘Get my memories back and all- of failing that, bite the doctor.’

‘Well you probably needed to ask a few more questions first like: ‘Hey Ardos? How do I get back to earth without tearing off my face?’ Ardos extended his hand to her and Callie took it, allowing herself to be pulled down on the grass beside him.

‘I see your point.’ Callie caught her breath as Ardos began to inch her dress up her legs. She instantly understood that he was trying to examine her injuries, not cop a feel but she tensed regardless.

‘You poor thing…’ Ardos bent and pressed the gentlest kiss Callie had ever felt just on the edge of her graze. His eyes lifted to hers and he smiled forlornly. ‘I’m sorry I laughed.’

‘Don’t be.’ Callie felt breathless from his proximity. Those eyes, gosh they were the color of dew on rainforest leaves. It was unsettlingly beautiful. Not even Ryan’s were that nice and Ryan’s were nice. ‘I would have pissed myself laughing if you’d done the same.’

‘That I don’t doubt.’ Ardos tugged her dress up over the other knee but finding it fine, he gently twisted her elbow to his view. Callie wondered if his hair was as thick and downy as it looked, almost the shade of rose gold shot with silver, and noted the gentle rosacea to his cheeks, which made his face look like it was almost stained with happiness even though he’d inferred that it was anything but. ‘Ouch. That one will take hours to heal.’

Callie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Hours?’

‘Well if you were at your normal strength, it wouldn’t have even hurt you. But as a human here on Helicon… hours.’

Callie drew in a deep breath and then let it out, astonished that she was beginning to accept the fantastical story about herself. The logical side of her brain was still trying to slam the door shut on the whole ‘Muse’ thing but for some reason, the explanations Ardos was offering up made sense. It was as though Ardos had forced open a secret door inside her and now, Callie just had to convince herself to cross the threshold.

‘So why am I human?’ She asked. ‘Imogen mentioned a banishment?’

‘That’s right.’ Ardos pursed his lips and gently blew on Callie’s stinging elbow. ‘You’re being punished for something awful you did.’

Callie decided to put a voice to her instinct. ‘When I met her in Horizon, she attacked me-she was mad to see me, said she wanted me dead. I don’t know why, but I felt bad.’ She closed her eyes as Ardos blew on her arm a second time. ‘The thing I’m being punished for- it’s something I did to her, isn’t it?’

‘Are you sure you haven’t got your memories back?’

‘No. So... my guess is right?’

‘You must have a very strong sub-conscious, to be aware of so much. I guess you were always that way- very, uh, spirited...’ He smirked and Callie blinked in return- no one had ever referred to her as spirited before. She was always the quiet one, the low-key one. Only recently had her emotions begun warring with her logic, and she’d chalked it up to hormones. But was the girl who had allowed Hunter to strip her in front of Ryan who she truly was? She hugged herself, drawing her limbs away from his. ‘Imogen’s a Muse too?’

‘Yes.’

‘Not my boss or anything?’

He smirked. ‘In her dreams…’

‘So why does she get to determine my fate?’

‘She doesn’t, not really. It’s all about The Harmony- which we all serve.’ He rested his chin on his thumbs and regarded her pensively. ‘As a Muse, all you really have to do to serve The Harmony is be around humans with creative potential, infecting them with your energy- inspiring them with a smile or song and doing so fairly, and wisely. Your existence is enough to manage that; humans feel your energy even from here, even though you are mortal and displaced and powerless.’ He glanced towards the cherry blossoms. ‘But it’s become a different world down there from when you were all created; a few of you Muses became goddesses in your own right for the shift in consciousness, but some of you have become almost completely irrelevant for the same reason. And even with that balance, The Harmony was beginning to falter.’ He twisted his mouth to the side. ‘One of your sisters would have been sent to Oblivion four years ago if she hadn’t embraced her soul mate. Now she can pass between the human world and ours, but she no longer inspires because she is no longer needed.’

Callie was making mental notes of the ten million questions his monologue had just aroused and focused on the one that didn’t involve her. ‘What was her cause?’

Ardos glanced over at the river. ‘Hymns.’

Callie frowned. ‘People still sing hymns.’

‘Yes but they rarely write new ones. Only the old are sacred. When people started humming along to actual musicians more than church choirs, Polyhymnia began to lose her influence, and a Muse without influence weakens rapidly. She started to vanish in the eighteenth century, and was invisible by the nineteen seventies.’

Callie could not even begin to fathom of how she should begin to mourn for an invisible sister she did not remember. ‘So will she stay useless forever?’

‘Yes.’ Ardos smiled at her. ‘But she has found happiness in love instead. Until her daughter comes of age, she and her little family are living a human life cycle together.’

‘How Stepford of her…’ Callie muttered.

‘Yes well your ambition left her little choice.’

‘Come again?’

‘You kind of sent her into Oblivion, Calliope.’ Ardos wrinkled his nose. ‘You were all but dormant yourself for thousands of years, until these last few hundred, when music became something to rejoice in, not to rejoice with. Polyhymnia was the most vibrant of all of you for the longest time. But when she faded, you became the Muse your sisters longed to be.’

‘Longed?’ Callie echoed. ‘But not anymore?’

He grimaced. ‘You have some stiff competition now, Callie...’

‘Imogen, right?’

Ardos nodded. ‘She’s one-’

‘So what does she represent?’

‘Imogen is the Muse of the written word.’ Ardos said. ‘And Urania-’

‘The written word?!’ Callie squeaked, getting to her knees. ‘That horrible blonde mutt is responsible for my favorite books?’

Ardos nodded, not looking surprised by her surprise. ‘More or less.’

Callie felt cheated. ‘I think I just gave up reading…’ she muttered.

Ardos laughed. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time. Imogen hasn’t sung a note in decades out of envy.’ He smiled fondly at her. ‘She’ll dance again, and you’ll read- for a Muse cannot ignore the creative energy for long, any kind. Still all of you are fiercely protective of your arts. Often, you can work together in harmony for The Harmony- but your fear of becoming irrelevant plagues you all since Polyhymnia’s fall, so you all strive to out-do the other now.’ He blew out a breath as though the entire situation exhausted him. ‘You were terrified of Oblivion, so instead of flitting between here and there as you always had, you started spending all of your time amongst the humans, touching as many lives as you could. Not just inspiring the craft but singling out artists with the potential to shine almost as gloriously as you do.’

‘So how did I go from that to-’ Callie indicated to her still-bleeding knee. ‘Roadkill on the Highway To Heaven?’

Ardos’s eyes filled with contrition, as though he felt bad for having began to tell a fairy tale with a bad ending. ‘You went too far.’ He said softly. ‘You broke a rule, Imogen suffered for it and you did not care. In fact, you already had your next conquest in mind. You would have been punished for it regardless, for The Harmony is very strict about keeping our lives balanced with the mortals but-’

‘Are you talking about Karma?’

‘More or less. But The Harmony is the source of faith. Of God. Of creation. Known as Gaia, Ala, The Lord- it is not one being but the very energy created by existence and interpreted differently by every culture to suit their own variations of faith and religion. As immortals, we have been blessed by The Harmony more than any other entity, and we must serve it first and foremost. There’s not much I can do, considering that I’m locked here in Helicon until you invite me along with you, but you and your sisters must help keep the balance by remaining balanced yourselves.’

‘In a Ten Commandments way?’ Callie asked.

‘It’s more instinctual than that. The Harmony is not something you can taste or touch or even talk to but it is omnipresent, omnipotent and everywhere. It is served by the justice systems the humans have in place and their religions and what they call morals and ethics and yes, Karma, but we immortals instinctively know what to do to contribute, and in your last few years on earth as Calliope you started, well, not walking a fine line between right and wrong but racing along it. If Imogen hadn’t demanded your punishment and your mother not consented, The Harmony would have taken matters into its own hands and probably have cast you into Oblivion anyway.’ He paused to say: ‘Not too long though. Just enough to punish you and vindicate Imogen.’

Callie was struggling to separate fact from fiction, feelings from foreboding. ‘So I sensed someone powerful and Imogen wanted me to flop for vengeance’s sake?’

Ardos made a face. ‘Imogen knew that you had sensed the birth of a very creative spirit- not an old soul like most musicians and artists are but a brand new soul; one who would never come to realize their potential without a lot of help from you, but would be able to change the world with your direct influence.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘Clio brought it to Imogen’s attention.’

‘Are all of my sisters so vindictive?’

Ardos chuckled. ‘Imogen and Clio have always been the worst troublemakers- after you-’ he tickled beneath her chin. ‘But your other sisters weren’t ganging up on you for fun, but to save you from yourself- which is why they charged your poor mother with the heinous task of evicting you from your true form.’

Callie absorbed that, wincing on the mother part. ‘So what were the terms of my sentence?’

‘You were sent to the earth as an infant, to grow and form bonds as a human would without your powers- but still with a Muse’s mission to complete. You had to find your protégé and make him fall in love with you- opening his heart and then breaking it.’ Callie’s mouth fell open and Ryan reached over to squeeze her hand. ‘Only when you had done so would you be restored to your true being. If you failed, you would live out your life as a human, die, and be made to repeat the same experience- until you succeeded.’

Callie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I get why I need to be punished, but why my protégé too?’

‘It’s not punishment for him really, not if you succeed.’ Ardos smiled tightly. ‘The boy was destined to live a very privileged existence; one in which he would never have known hunger or fear. Born to loving parents who’d make sure that he’d never want for anything- sort of like you. Flippant, and over-zealous in his ambition.’ Ardos’s eyes met hers. ‘In short; the exact kind of upbringing which culls creative flow- discourages it. He would have loved music regardless of your presence, but he probably would never have never tapped into his true gifts; ending up as an entertainment lawyer or producer instead; contributing, but not in a meaningful way.’

‘But if I broke his heart…?’

‘He would have known pain. Loss. Fear. Sorrow. And he would have blossomed from it- while you would have returned to us as your true self after having been forced to feel something again, proving that music still has the ability to inspire something aside from the quest for Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N Roll.’