by Rae Else
The siren pointed back. ‘Janos is on the yacht. He’s directed me to bring El, Luke and Alex aboard first. If you would pass me your bags and step into the boat, please.’
El looked out to where he’d pointed. A yacht, around seventy-foot long, sat outside the harbour wall: its hulking sails just visible in the glow of the marina lights.
They had accumulated more possessions than they’d had in Spain, but their luggage was still light, containing only a few days’ worth of clothes. The bags were piled up in the middle of the boat, and they sat on the sides of the craft holding the ropes. The ripple of the siren’s melody empowered the waves and pushed them onwards. Luke failed to keep a straight face as El wobbled and ended up hanging onto him. She narrowed her eyes. Not everyone could be blessed with arachnid reflexes.
At the yacht, they were helped aboard by another arete. Janos sat languidly on a leather sofa that lined the edge of the boat. He wore a pale, cable-knit sweater and white trousers. His feet were bare. It was strange to see him in such light clothes: El had only ever seen him in dark colours. He looked younger … unassuming. Maybe it was the bare feet. She supposed that during the heat of the day, the paler clothes made sense. Her eyes strayed to his slightly translucent hands.
‘Are you ready for departure, Giuseppe?’ Janos asked the siren, who was still in the small boat.
‘Yes.’
‘Safe journey then. Give Dan my regards.’
The siren song started and the seas churned, transporting the boat over the water again.
‘Please, take a seat—’ Janos began.
‘Where’s he going?’ El demanded, ignoring Janos’ civilities and pointing to the small boat zooming away. ‘Where are you sending Dan?’
‘To a villa near Kea.’
El stared at him. ‘Why? Why isn’t he coming with us?’
‘Might I be so bold as to defer answering your questions until our journey is underway? A storm is brewing and a delay would be unwise. It will take us four hours to get to Carras Island. I promise to answer everything you wish along the way. After all, it would be most unfortunate if Dan managed to fulfil his task, only for him to reach Carras Island and find that we were not yet there.’
His smile infuriated El. She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t be talked round when she next saw him, that the time to uncover his true motives was before setting out on the final leg of their journey. Cold apprehension washed over her. Had he foreseen that she would interrogate him? Is that why he’d sent Dan off?
He didn’t seem to be lying about the storm. Even here at the back of the boat, which was relatively sheltered, the increase in the wind was noticeable. What if he was right? What if a storm blew in and they were delayed from reaching their destination for another few weeks? They’d already been delayed by the graeae trials. The Council of Arete was due to meet in a week and a half. Now Dan was going to meet back up with them at Carras Island. They had to go.
For a brief moment she thought about getting Luke and Alex to hijack the boat and sail into the harbour to get Dan. But Dan would follow Janos’ instructions. He’d only be annoyed by any deviance on El’s part.
‘Fine,’ El agreed, fighting the urge to slap the smile off Janos’ face.
‘Excellent.’ Janos got up and called to the arete who had helped them on board. ‘Zoe, fire her up!’
The engine started, and the yacht moved off, increasing its speed as the harpy swelled the open sails with more of the sea breeze.
El, Luke and Alex settled themselves on the sofa.
‘I didn’t think she’d be using her power,’ El said as she watched Zoe further up the boat blowing into the sails, her breath manipulating the air currents.
‘A flare of power from a harpy or siren is very common,’ said Luke, ‘especially by the sea.’
Alex added, ‘And when a siren or harpy manipulate their element through voice and breath, it doesn’t give off the same amount of force as visual manipulation.’
El remembered how Adam had spoken about the commonality of nymphs and their powers: the effect they produced was minimal and fleeting. Sirens and harpies, with their voice and breath, were the same. No wonder the sirens working for Janos had been so useful in arranging their flight paths and hotels.
‘I’ll get some refreshments,’ Janos said, ‘and then we can talk. Unless any of you would like to freshen up first? There are four cabins below with en-suites.’
El and Luke declined. Alex said, ‘Just an ashtray, please.’
Janos opened a bottle of chilled wine and poured them all glasses. He brought a bread basket, a dish of olives and an ashtray to the table. He then seated himself opposite El, and looked at her piercingly, impaling an olive with a cocktail stick.
She was transfixed by him eating. Most of the time she’d spent around him he’d been an insubstantial entity. It seemed odd to see him doing something as normal as eating. Just like the bare feet and pale clothes: practical considerations that made him seem more natural, more human. She wondered if it was essential for him to come back to the present every so often to eat or go to the bathroom, or whether he could abstain from such worldly considerations indefinitely. She shook her speculations away, remembering that she had far more pressing matters to discuss.
Luke helped himself to a plateful of bread and olives. Alex joined them at the table, helping himself to food too.
‘I want to know why you allied with the Opposition, Janos. As far as I can see, as one of the Triad, you had no reason to want to remove the Order,’ El said, taking a sip of wine.
‘I have been a member of the Triad for three hundred years,’ he said. ‘In that time, I have seen each one of the heads of line pass over their duty to a successor. But over the last century, I came to suspect that one of the heads of line had broken their sacred duty. In the last decade, I became certain of it, and set upon weeding out the traitors.’
‘What traitors?’ El said.
‘The Waseem,’ Janos said, tasting his wine. ‘I became suspicious of a number of arete in the air line who didn’t seem to be aging so I checked their future. When I saw them unchanged, I shared my visions with my fellow Triad members, Katia and Julia. They both denied seeing the vision.’ He looked darkly at them. ‘You see, it is forbidden for anyone other than the heads of line to prolong their lives with empousa blood. Katia was of the Waseem line. It became evident that she was colluding with them. Julia too was clearly aware of the Waseem’s treachery but was siding with Katia. Now that I’d unearthed their secret, I knew it was only a matter of time before they turned on me.’
‘Why didn’t you expose them?’ Luke asked.
‘When I looked into the future, intending to bring word of the corruption to the Arete Council, I saw that I’d be foiled. I realised that I couldn’t use arete from within the Order to get the evidence I needed. That’s when I turned to Anna and the Opposition. I started to conceal Opposition members with my blood to keep tabs on the Waseem without Julia and Katia’s knowledge. But they were getting close to finding out my tie with the Opposition, that’s why I ordered the hit on them at the Olympia.’
‘But you preside over the future, right?’ El said. ‘Couldn’t you have easily seen what Katia and Julia were doing?’
‘A graeae is part of time. Thus we cannot be seen.’ Janos’ eyes fixed on El. ‘Time is forever changing, and we graeae, as part of its current, are unfixed.’
‘So graeae aren’t detectable to other graeae?’
‘Correct.’ He gestured with his slightly translucent hands. ‘Think of time like a slate. Arete and men are its chalk. Their plans and actions are the marks that are drawn upon its surface. Graeae are like a smudge of chalk upon that board.’
El nodded. Bloody graeae. They were ambiguous sods.
Luke chipped in, ‘So what’s at the villa Dan’s going to?’
‘There, the Waseem are storing large amounts of empousa blood. Dan is to take photos, as well as bring back samples of it to be
analysed.’
Alex asked, ‘And you expect Helena Carras to support us in this matter because of her family tie with El?’
‘Helena Carras is a complicated woman,’ Janos said. ‘Deep down, I believe, she does value her family. But her greatest love is the power she can wield through it. Her protection is therefore far more likely to be given to us if she believes that you, El, are a worthy addition to her line.’
El felt a chill sweep through her as she imagined the woman they were fast approaching. Her great-great-grandmother, who had witnessed her granddaughter, El’s grandma, come into the full power. Helena Carras must have been largely responsible, along with the Triad, for locking El’s grandma up when she refused to use it anymore. She felt sickened, picturing a woman like Louisa who raved about power, imagining her similar in looks: raven hair, olive skin, eyes filled with a covetous light.
‘She’s curious to meet you,’ Janos continued, ‘the rumours about the full power and the fact that you’re the granddaughter of the last serpent to have possessed it, have reached her. She’ll grant you an audience, and … if that goes well … she’ll hear my testimony.’
El’s heart quickened. It rested on her to get Helena’s support. She steeled herself to ask about the other matter that had been troubling her the last few weeks.
‘You can see into my future, Janos. I want you to tell me. I’d rather know – will I inherit the full power?’
‘At the moment, I cannot see past the summit. We are at a crossroads in arete history: there are so many agendas coming together, and the emergence of the new All-Seeing Eye at the summit is obscuring the future. Time beyond that event will not be visible until the Triad’s union is complete. But whatever happens, one thing is certain: this summit will be a momentous occasion.’
El stared at him. ‘That’s not an answer.’
‘I do not see you coming into the full power before the summit.’
‘But after?’ El pressed with bated breath.
‘Presently, it cannot be known.’
El frowned at his vagueness. He was as useful as a magic eight ball. ‘But you still expect me to tell Helena that I have it?’ She snapped.
Janos skewered another olive. ‘She will question you about your powers but if you follow your instinct, all will be well.’
El scoffed. More ambiguity. Was this meant to reassure her? ‘Can’t you give me some guidance?’
‘It’s better that you go into the meeting with your instincts unclouded. Be assured, I’ve seen your interactions with her: you’ll be fine.’
‘But how can I lie?’ El asked, panic beginning to set in.
‘Do not overthink such things,’ Janos said. ‘Suffice to say, I have seen what will happen: you will speak of your pain in losing your grandmother and mother. You will tell her of Louisa’s involvement in their deaths. Your grief and regrets will dominate the conversation. All I shall say is – let your emotions lead you.’
Janos had already seen her lying to Helena. Rather than giving El confidence, it creeped her out. She’d wanted him to look ahead and tell her once and for all whether the full power rested in her future, instead he’d been cryptic. He’d clearly examined her near future minutely, talking of the conversation she would have with Helena Carras as if it were a done deal. She felt her temper rising as she mulled over his words.
Janos on the other hand, continued to sit nonchalantly, snacking. El wondered if he was making up for the food he’d lacked over the last few weeks, while he’d been phasing out of this time. Talk about a crash diet.
The wind was picking up and the sails, which the harpy had been filling every so often, billowed out more, increasing their speed. The waves grew choppier, the wind whipping them up further. The boat tilted causing the bowl of olives to almost fall onto the deck, but Luke managed to catch it in mid-air.
El began to feel queasy. Never having been on a boat before, she was unused to the undulating motion. The effect of the wine wasn’t helping either. She hadn’t managed to eat anything.
Seeing her pallid expression, Alex said, ‘I think you should go and lie down, El, at least until we’re through this storm.’
El’s stomach roiled and, taking his advice, she stumbled inside to lie down in one of the cabins. She only meant to rest until the queasiness had passed, but she must have dozed off as the next thing she knew, Luke was shaking her awake.
‘El, El,’ Luke said. ‘We’ll be there soon. You need to come up and take some empousa blood so that you’re ready to be incorporated into the veiling of the island.’
Upstairs, Janos handed her a glass of water laced with a few drops of empousa blood, which she sipped gingerly. El noticed that Alex was stood at the back of the boat, enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Each time she looked at him, the haze reminded her of Janos’ dispersing form. She wondered how many cigarettes he’d had. The sea looked a little calmer than earlier and thankfully the boat was lurching less.
‘Another boat!’ Zoe’s shout pierced the night, startling El.
Janos ran up to the front. His voice was flat. ‘I don’t see any power. It could be humans.’
A chill swept through El; it could also be Order members, who were concealing their power with graeae blood, just as they were.
As the harpy puffed out the sails more, Luke ran up to the front too. El followed a little more slowly, unsteady with the motion. The cold wind and sea spray lashed at her.
Ahead, the shadowy water was bathed in the light of the full moon. A boat was clearly definable on the horizon. A storm loomed ahead, one which they were fast moving into; the seas grew rougher and the gale stronger with each passing second. Their pursuers were gaining on them. An eerie chorus made of multiple voices was carried by the wind behind them, banishing any doubt that it was the Order. The boat careened towards them.
Luke, holding onto the rails, manipulated the water to push them forwards. But the waves ahead of them were greater. The storm now raged around them, both the heavens and the depths trying to snatch them. El fought her way to the front where Janos stood, clasping the rails.
‘What do we do?’ she cried.
Their pursuers drew closer. To El’s horror, she saw the water between them begin to churn, forming a vortex: a hole in the surface of the ocean. As it grew, it started to spiral and churn voraciously, threatening to engulf them, pulling them towards its gaping mouth.
‘More power!’ Janos roared, glancing back at Zoe and Luke.
At the same moment, he wrenched El’s hand from the railing, drawing a Swiss army knife from his pocket. His grip was firm. She gasped as he slit her palm open.
‘Zoe!’ he cried.
The harpy was beside them, her eyes on El’s cut. Droplets of blood flew ahead of them, along with more from a vial that Janos unscrewed, joining the spray of the waves. A colossal cliff face reared up, a kerykeion, emblazoned with a double-headed snake, cut into the stone. Zoe’s headlamp illuminated the rock and symbol in an ominous red glow. The whole island was materialising around them, growing from out of the darkness. Proceeding towards the rocks at great speed, they were sure to be wrecked on the cliffs.
Luke decreased the surge ahead. As it waned, an archway became visible in the rock face and they coasted towards it. El looked around to see where the other boat was. A tumult of horror crashed through her as she realised it was directly behind them, only a few metres away. They were so close that she could make out the silhouettes of the arete on deck crouching and aggravating the waves, while air manipulators brought stormy gusts that blasted them and tore at their sails.
A tremendous crack sounded above them. The mast splintered, sending rigging raining down onto the deck. El screamed, covering her head, still clinging to the rail. The thought of the waters below scared her most. The reverberation of the whirling vortex roared in her ears.
They were at the mouth of the archway. As they drew into it, the waters around them awoke. Massive shimmering coils rose up around their boat and then tr
ansformed: wolf heads morphed at the end of long, spindly necks. The churning water dripped down from the wolves’ snapping snouts like saliva. El huddled down behind the railing in fright as they neared. Suddenly, the watery wolf-headed snakes parted. Their boat sailed through, sweeping into a tunnel. El turned just in time to watch the necks and frothing mouths descend upon the other boat, smashing and ripping it apart.
- Chapter Nine -
Truth Will Out
The boat rode the swell of water caused by the whirlpool and the wolf-headed snakes all the way through the tunnel. When the vessel cruised out of the entryway, the cliff face closed up behind them. A bay opened up, sheltered by colossal limestone cliffs. After the frightful scene they’d escaped, the quiet cove seemed like a dream. El peered into the dark waters, half expecting another monster to rise from the deep.
Luke and Zoe directed the boat around the bay. As they wound past a rocky pinnacle, the cold moon and red lamp light were rivalled by another glow: a camp fire. The briny air was laced with smoke. Luke brought the yacht to a stop. Any closer and the shore would graze its belly.
They all stood around, dazed, now that the boat had stopped. They’d barely caught their breath when Janos announced, ‘Helena is coming – we best not keep her waiting. Zoe, get the boat ready to go ashore.’
The cut on El’s hand stung and, noticing her discomfort, Alex rummaged in his rucksack and bandaged it.
El and Alex were the last to clamber into the craft that Zoe lowered. Once they were all in, Luke steered it noiselessly towards the shore.
As they disembarked, a rustling sounded from somewhere in the dark as a handful of arete hurried down onto the beach. The strangers cast glances their way, but most moved towards the fire.
A lone woman approached them, her sandaled feet touching the surf as she pulled her gown up from the shoreline. She had a wide face, full lips and almond eyes. Her dark hair was knotted into a bun behind her head. In the dim light of the bonfire, it was difficult to place her age.
