Flash and Flame: Portals of Asphodel Series: The Guardian, Book 2

by Sadie Anders

  An hour later, I heard a call from the small internal courtyard. I rushed out, looking over the balcony to the scene below. Eryx’s entire household awaited us, ready to depart for the visit to Apollo’s temple. Lyra looked refreshed and rejuvenated, as if nothing at all had happened to her. I wondered if Cleon were telling the truth, that she had wanted to be bitten, and that it wasn’t the first time.

  Uncle Julian and Kai waited next to Eryx and his family, their traveling bags on their shoulders, ready to depart. Cleon stood about ten feet behind them, skulking in the shadows. He probably realized that we were still upset with him. At least he had the good grace to stay out of the way.

  I turned back towards the bedrooms. “Raphael,” I called. “It’s time.”

  We walked together down the main city street, the Sacred Way, mostly in silence. I wasn’t sure if this were a necessary part of the ritual or if we were all merely nervous. I knew I was.

  The temple was in the city center. According to Eryx, everything in Delphi had been built around it. As the hub of the city, its heartbeat, the residents had crafted the remaining buildings to amplify the temple’s magnificence and importance to them.

  Behind the temple stood an amphitheater, with stone benches carved up the base of Parnassus’ hillside. From this vantage point, the people could view what was happening inside the open-air building. I was told that the acoustics were so precise, that you could hear the whisper of a temple attendant from the stadium.

  A large crowd had gathered in the theater, with everyone anxiously awaiting to hear the pronouncements of the month. Apollo’s Oracle was notoriously fickle and would not necessarily speak with potential supplicants. This was the part of the training that had most scared me, that I would do everything right, follow all the rules, and then she would still say no. After all this time on this strange journey, I didn’t want to come back empty handed.

  As we approached the temple in the city center, Raphael wrapped his arms around me, whispering in my ear.

  “Simply tell the truth. If we are meant to find the Phos Eos, that will be the only way to get there. The truth will guide us. There isn’t much else we can do.”

  “I agree.” There was no reason to shield our motives, to hide what we were there for. Yes, the Phos Eos was a dangerous weapon, guarded for centuries. But like Yan had said, people tended to hide their motives, even from themselves, and the deception was clear to those who were being observant.

  I didn’t want to hide anything. Not anymore.

  I followed Yan up a great marble stairway. Columns lined the platform upon which the temple was built, but instead of the stark white columns that you saw on similar temples in history books, they were painted in rich colors. Purple, red, blue. It was quite startling. Instead of holding up a heavy marble roof, the columns stretched up into the sky, eventually showing a roof made entirely of glass. Its transparent quality allowed for the people in the amphitheater to peer down onto the proceedings below.

  At the top of the stairs, Yan leaned down to remove my shoes. He placed them near the doorway and proceeded to take a sponge out of a bucket nearby. Splashing water on my feet with his fingertips, he then ran the sponge along the tops of my toes. The cleansing appeared to be procedural more than anything, part of the ritual, as he wasn’t actually trying to scrub any dirt away.

  He held out his hand, ready to escort me inside.

  The entrance to the temple was intimidating. An archway, much like the one at the entrance to the city, served as the entryway, both imposing and welcoming at once. Words were carved into the rocky arch above, but again, I didn’t understand them. I focused on the curling symbols, wishing to know their meaning, and they shifted into my familiar letters.

  Know thyself.

  It was the same message that had been on the phantom archway in the Mad Forest near the portal to Asphodel. In that forest, I had suffered delusions, nightmarish dreams. Most people succumbed to the woodland nymphs, the Oneroi, who poisoned their minds there, but I was able to awaken by sheer force of will, to save both Raphael and myself. I thought it strange that I had seen this same phrase in my nightmare. Perhaps that vision had been a glimpse of the future.

  Perhaps I was always meant to be here at this moment.

  The next room was adorned by a similar archway. I decided to test my powers, to see if this ability to decipher the meaning was a skill that I possessed, or if it was a function of the city or temple itself. I held my hand up and wiped the air across the letters in my line of sight while concentrating, much as Uncle Julian had done in the marshes. As I did, the letters shifted immediately.

  Nothing in excess.

  I was led forward once more. As we entered the room, a giant statue stood before us. A man, young and beautiful, with full lips and large eyes. The indigo light from outside was filtered through the glass ceiling in interesting ways in this room, the beams of light spreading out into prisms of different colors. I wasn’t sure how the glass was different in here, but it made everything radiant. I could understand why vampires would not be safe in such a setting.

  Like the columns comprising the outside of the temple, the statue was painted in bright colors and adorned with gold throughout. Instead of dead marble eyes and lifeless hands, the colors brought the statue to life. At base of the pedestal, a name was carved.

  Apollo.

  His face was unbearably familiar, like I had known him, had spoken to him before. His short robe grazed the tops of his muscular thighs, his long fingers resting gently against the side of one leg while his other hand held a lyre. I remembered what Kai had said, that Apollo was the god of music, of healing, of light, and so much more.

  How could one entity be in charge of so many things?

  In my mind, I didn’t believe that it was true. He, like any mythical god of old, was merely something we had invented to help us understand the world, to explain its fickle and indiscriminate nature.

  Still, this god, this being who supposedly existed, who apparently had raised my centaur friend, was who I was really here to consult. The oracle was merely his mouthpiece, as she delivered his advice, pronouncements, prophecies.

  Often, these dictates were muddied and difficult to translate, and understandably so. By the time the message came through the oracle and then through several priests and officiants, the prophecy read more like overwrought poetry than advice. It was like a complicated game of holy telephone.

  Regardless, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that this lifeless statue could deliver messages or interact with humans, but I had to move forward, having faith that we would find our way to the Empyrean and that this was the path to doing so.

  Yan held out his hand towards the statue. I could see at the base that there were offerings. Flowers, gifts, golden jewelry, and, most notably, piles of money. Coins and bills flooded the area around the god’s feet. I took it from Yan’s expectant face that I was supposed to place my own contribution here. They had told me that a price would need to be paid to consult the oracle, so I had expected it. Surely a statue didn’t need a pile of luxurious goods and money, but I understood that they needed to keep the temple doors open, not to mention that it was the main source of income for the city. I couldn’t blame them for making a business out of it.

  Plunging my hand into my bag, I fished out a wad of cash and laid it at the statue’s feet. Glancing up at him, I smiled.

  “Here you go, big guy.”

  Yan gave me an appreciative nod, then led me into yet another room. In here, a priest stood waiting alone. Rich purple robes billowed down his body, pooling in a large amount of fabric around his feet. I wondered how he was able to walk in such a get-up.

  He eyed me skeptically.

  “You are not the first to visit today, to petition for an audience.”

  Crap.

  Heliodor.

  I looked around, trying to find her, but we were completely alone.

  “Why do you seek this audience with the orac
le?”

  Tell the truth. “I wish to find the Phos Eos. I want to take it from the Empyrean, to protect people from its wrath. And only Apollo can help me.”

  The priest narrowed his eyes at me. “That is not entirely true,” he said.

  14

  Damn it. The priest thought that I was lying to him, but I hadn’t been. I’d really tried to be honest in what I had told him.

  I wanted the Phos Eos.

  I wanted to protect people from it being used against them.

  The priest waited silently, saying nothing more.

  I thought long and hard about where I might have been deceiving him, but I came up with nothing. My motives were not bad. I didn’t want to hurt people with it, like Heliodor and her crew did. If I obtained the Phos Eos first, then I could return it to the Furies, where they would protect the vampires from the device ever being used. Then, I could return to my life. With Raphael.

  Oh, shit.

  Those were my true motives. I didn’t want to save part of the world, and I didn’t even know if I trusted the Furies with the device. In fact, I probably didn’t. I wanted to save my own skin and get back to normal, or really, make a new life with Raphael.

  Yan had been right. Motives were tricky bastards.

  “Let me correct myself,” I said to the priest. “I wish to find the Phos Eos so that I can give it to those in power, those who say they want it to ensure that it won’t be used against vampires. Most importantly, I don’t want it to be used against the man that I love. I want to return to my life with him. To put this behind me.”

  The priest nodded, apparently satisfied by this. “Then, you shall be the first to see the oracle today.”

  “First?”

  “Yes. Let us prepare.”

  The priest led me back outside the temple, down the steps where I had come in. The crowd milled around the amphitheater, eating snacks, casually talking to themselves. They seemed to know that there wouldn’t be any action yet, not until someone had consulted the oracle at least. This must have been an all-day event for them, their once monthly social gathering in the city center. I kind of liked the idea of that.

  Yan gathered the rest of my crew as we left the building, as they were only restricted from the temple itself. The priest led me around the edge of the amphitheater, up the hillside a bit. Trees lined the area, creating a wall of foliage, obscuring what was behind it from view. I wondered if this was where the oracle awaited.

  The priest turned to me. “Your friends should wait here. They can join us again quite soon.”

  I looked at them, nodding to them that it was okay. We crossed through an opening in the tree line.

  An idyllic natural spring pooled against the hillside. The residents of Delphi had built beautiful marble steps leading down into it.

  “Since you are the petitioner, you must bathe in the spring. It is symbolic of the purity of your request, your sincere desire to know the truth. You will wash away all pretense, all falsehood, and go to the Pythia with an open heart and mind.”

  Three women surrounded me. Two of them held up a large piece of fabric of a deep purple color like the priest’s robes. It provided a shield for me as the other woman began undressing me. I grabbed her hand as she lifted my dress over my torso.

  “Wait. What are you doing?”

  “You must be pure. No clothing allowed in the spring,” she said. I raised my eyebrow but allowed her to continue undressing me. I was definitely glad that this part of the ritual wasn’t on display to the entire amphitheater. I was not an exhibitionist, however much I was okay with making out with Raphael in a grove of fruit trees. Being naked in front of a crowd was a different thing entirely.

  When I was adequately naked, I ventured onto the first step leading down into the water. Goosebumps raced up my calves and onto my thighs. The spring water was much colder than the pool where I had met Eryx, which was heated to a perfect temperature. Comfort was clearly less of a priority here.

  The woman who had undressed me urged me onward, waving her hand forward. “Go on. It’s only cold for a moment. You don’t have to linger.”

  She was right. It was best to jump in all at once. I quickly descended the rest of the steps, held my breath, and sank my body beneath the water. Once underwater, I opened my eyes, taking it all in like I did when I was a kid at the city pool. This time, I noticed that there were beams of light racing all around me in the crystal clear liquid, illuminating the water from within. Bubbles formed throughout the spring, and I felt an effervescence against my skin. It was energizing.

  My head broke through the surface of the water, and I breathed in deeply, the fresh mountain air filling my lungs. Breaking through felt like a rebirth. I had gone in as Alexis, but had come out as someone different altogether. No, not someone different. Someone true.

  Alya.

  The girl that I had been before my life had changed, before Uncle Julian had taken me to Portland, to save me from whatever evils he saw surrounding us. I felt her now. She didn’t seem distant and foreign, like some made up fairy tale about my life. She felt real.

  I was real.

  Ascending the steps once again, I felt a new determination to move forward with this journey, not for the Furies or what they demanded of me, but for myself. This quest for the Phos Eos was a part of me, and I hadn’t realized it until now. There was a connection there. I was meant to find the Phos Eos, and somehow, I knew that Raphael was meant to find it with me. Certainty of this filled me, and I couldn’t explain it, but I knew it to be true.

  I walked out of the spring with full confidence, not ashamed of my nakedness, not even remembering that I was naked at all until the attendants surrounded me. They ran thick towels over my skin, drying me completely, and placed my dress over my head once more. Once I had my shoes back on, two of the women placed a robe on me. I ran the material through my fingers. It was as light as air, golden and luminous, as if sunbeams had been sewn into the fabric.

  The priest led me back out of the tree line, and as I emerged, the crowd roared upon seeing me. I turned to the priest, questioning.

  “If you had not been granted an audience, they would know. Your robes would have been black.”

  I hadn’t been aware that I had been approved by anyone. All I did was take a quick dip in the spring, cleansing my body. There had been no trial, no discussion with the oracle.

  For that matter, I wasn’t even sure where the oracle would be.

  “Where do I go next?” I asked. “Where do I meet the oracle?”

  The priest gave me a solemn smile. “There is only so much I may tell you now. At this point, you and your party will go up the mountain. If you are able to find the Corycian Cave, then an audience with the oracle may lie ahead. If you receive a prophecy, remember that we may help you decipher it upon your return to the city.”

  If we were able to find the cave? That sounded treacherous.

  He waved my traveling companions over to us, then pointed up the mountain. “Your prophecy awaits.”

  We walked up the hillside for nearly hour, not seeing anything of note, no paths off of the main one, no caves, nothing. My feet were becoming muddy, as all I had on were sandals. So much for the purification ritual. I’d be straggling in like I just walked out of a pig’s sty. Probably not what the oracle preferred.

  “Are we supposed to walk to the other side of this damned mountain?” Cleon said, swatting branches out of his way. He clearly was not used to trudging up hillsides.

  “Those who seek Apollo and his servant must prove their tenacity,” Kai said. “If it were easy, everybody in Asphodel would be here today begging the man for favor and riches and insight into the future.”

  Cleon shrugged. I got the feeling that he wasn’t won over by this whole oracle business. It was merely a means to an end, finding the Phos Eos. I couldn’t blame him. I had felt the same way when we had set out. Now, though, things were different. Something had changed since we had come to Delphi. I felt
like I was a part of this world now.

  My eyes were attracted by movement to our left. Within the brush, I saw a group of insects, their bodies illuminated like fireflies. They were swarming around a bush, their activity agitated.

  “Hold on,” I told the group. They paused as I made my way off the path into the brush. Brambles and branches slashed at my legs, catching on the fabric of the robe, and I was glad that I was wearing the robe and not only the short dress that I had started the day in.

  “Alexis, where are you going?” Uncle Julian asked.

  “I’m not sure, but these little guys are demanding my attention.” I pointed towards the fireflies.

  When I got closer, I could see that the bush that they were flying around was not a bush at all. It was a pile of branches built into a gate, their leaves obscuring a path behind. I pulled back the branches, showing the others. Raphael and Kai ran over, pulling back the rest of the branches, allowing us to pass through. As I emerged on the other side, I saw fireflies, tons of them, lining the pathway ahead.

  I couldn’t help it. A huge smile became plastered on my face, and I laughed out loud.

  “What is it?” Raphael asked.

  “The Apollonian,” I said. “He told me to seek out the hidden path.”

  “You will know it by its shining aspect,” he added at the same time. I didn’t know the Apollonian would be quite so literal. He never had been before. As it turned out, he had given us some good advice, after all.

  The fireflies illuminated a short path to the side of the mountain, where a dark cave stood before us. We paused outside, not sure if this were the Corycian Cave or not. A strong wind blew inside, a hollow sound resonating within.

  From the outside, the cave seemed dark, a black archway leading into the unknown. For a moment, I hesitated, not wanting to walk into an inky cavern where my death awaited me at the hands and jaws of a bear, but I didn’t let it deter me for long. I wrapped my hands around the moonbeam stone hanging from my neck, whispering to it, willing it to light my way. A pale blue light began glowing from it, creating a beam ahead of us. There was no going back, so I took a step into the entrance of the cave, leading the others into our uncertain future.