by Linsey Hall
As we walked through the trees, noise floated through the leaves. Something like whispers.
I blinked, looking around. "Do you hear that?"
"The whispers?" Maximus nodded. "But what are they saying?"
I tilted my head, listening harder. At first, the noise was indistinguishable from wind. In fact, the whispers sounded so much like wind that I wouldn't have thought them out of place in a forest.
But there was something almost human about them. Like there was life to them.
And then the words became clear.
Help me.
Help me.
Help me.
I shivered, fear icing my skin. I reached for Maximus's hand.
I'd faced down demons, giants, witches, monsters. Even Titans.
But this? The sound of somebody so miserable, so in distress. This frightened me.
I stopped abruptly, dragging Maximus to a halt. I turned around, twisting myself to see the entire forest. I didn't let go of Maximus's hand, and he had to follow me around in a circle. He didn’t let go, though, as if he knew how freaked out I was. Spiders crawled up my back, fear given form.
"Do you hear that?" I looked at Maximus.
His skin whitened. "I do now."
"Where are they?"
"I can't see them."
The only thing in the forest I could see were the trees. There weren’t even bushes or scrub brush or ferns or flowers. Just trees. Ancient and dead-looking.
It sounded like the whispers were coming from the trees.
"The goat man said to ignore the trees." I shook my head, not liking the sound of that.
We couldn’t ignore them.
Not when they were so miserable.
I let go of Maximus's hand, approaching one of the trees on shaky legs. There was something terrible here, something I didn't want to face.
Help me.
Something I had to face.
I raised a trembling hand and pressed it to the rough bark of the tree. It poked the tender skin of my palm. Two life forces pounded in the tree, and I gasped, jerking my hand away.
I turned back to Maximus to find that he was right behind me.
Concern shadowed his eyes. “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
"Not a ghost. A possession." I turned back, studying the bark as my heart thundered in my ears. I pressed my palm to the bark again. I shuddered as two life forces bombarded me. "Someone is trapped in the tree."
"How is that possible?”
"The Greek gods did this all the time." I shook my head, disgust shooting through me. "They often turned women into trees. Usually when she incited the lust of a god and ran from him. They considered it protection for her. Better to turn her into a damned tree than tell the jerk to stop being creepy.”
“What bastards.” Maximus frowned. “Can we get her out?”
“We have to.”
"How, though? It's not like a regular prison."
"No, it's some horrible magic that binds her to the tree." I pressed my other hand to the bark, closing my eyes. If I focused very hard, I could feel the difference between the two lifeforms. One was clearly arboreal—that was the tree. But the other—that was human.
I was going to have to use my power to suck the life out of the tree without hurting the human life. It would be like performing surgery, the hardest thing I'd ever done with my power.
Why was it that the power I hated the most was the one that could do the most good? It should be an evil gift, but somehow, when I forced myself to use it, it could do great things.
As carefully as I could, I began to draw the tree’s life force out of the bark. It flowed up my arms and into my chest, seeming to suffuse my soul with its strength. But there was something almost dirty about it. Not nearly as bad as the life that I had sucked out of the Stryx, but this was a life-form that had been used to trap another. One of the gods, maybe Zeus since he was a real bastard, had given this tree a bit of his magic in order to trap whatever nymph or beautiful woman was locked in there.
Slowly the magic traveled from the tree into my body. Strength flowed through me, followed by nausea that roiled in my stomach.
As I continued to work, my knees buckled, and I nearly went to the ground.
3
Maximus gripped my waist, holding me upright. I leaned into his strength, grateful to have him here.
As my magic flowed into the tree, I began to feel the life force of the woman even stronger. It took intense concentration not to steal her energy, and I used everything I'd learned while practicing this power to keep her safe.
By the time I'd taken most of the tree’s life force, the bark began to fall away. It turned to dust before it hit the ground, and I breathed shallowly to avoid drawing it into my lungs.
"I think you’re almost there." Maximus kept his hands gripped around my waist as I worked, supporting me. The strength of the tree was flowing through me, but taking such icky magic made me ill.
The last of the bark fell away, revealing the shape of a woman. She was made of wood, but as I sucked the last of the power out of the tree, magic began to swirl around her form. Swoops of gold floated around her, sparkling and bright.
The magic flared, and the woman gasped. When the light faded, I blinked.
The tree was gone, and in its place stood a beautiful woman. She was so gorgeous it almost hurt to look at her.
"Thank you." She gripped my arm, her emerald eyes gleaming. Her flame-red hair was bright despite the darkness, and if she needed a job in modern day, I was 1000 percent certain that she could be a swimsuit model.
"Who are you? How did you become trapped in the tree?" I ran my gaze up and down her body, making sure there were no wounds or any part of her that was still made of wood.
Thank fates, but she looked whole and healthy.
“Apollo was chasing me, and he would not cease. Nothing could make him stop. To save me, my father, Peneus, the river god, trapped me within that tree."
"Are you Daphne?”
She nodded. "How did you know?"
"You're pretty famous."
"Not for the right reasons.” She scowled. “Famous for becoming a tree. The gods are bastards. Even my father.”
“Bastards is right.” I squeezed her arm, hoping the gesture was comforting. She seemed to appreciate it.
"Why did the goat man tell us to ignore the trees?" Maximus asked.
Her scowl deepened. “Those bastards? They’re called the Panes. You can't trust a single word from their lips. They liked having us trapped in this forest."
"They were jerks." I looked around the forest. “Are there more of you in here?"
Daphne pointed to a twisted tree about twenty yards away. "Lotus is in there."
"Can you speak to her? Tell her what I'm going to do?"
"I don't need to. She knows what you're going to do. We could communicate while we were trees. Once I figured out that you were saving me, she became very excited as well."
"I don't blame her." Anger at Peneus seeped through me. "Being trapped in there for two thousand years sounds awful."
"Longer than that." Worry creased her brow. "I don't know what I will do now, though. My whole life is gone. Everyone I knew is dead."
"I'm so sorry."
She shrugged, though her face still looked sad. “I didn't have any close family. And a few thousand years is long enough to ease the sting of losing your friends. But what will I do now?”
"We can help you," Maximus said. "I came from the past as well. Transitioning isn’t easy, but this is a better world than the one you left behind.”
“As long as no one thinks it’s acceptable to turn me into a tree to save me from rape, I’ll consider it an improvement.” Daphne's eyes drifted down my form, taking in my pants. “And I can see that fashion has changed." She grinned. “I think I like it."
"I work for a place called the Protectorate. They’ll help you. But first, let's get Lotus out of that tree."
I was now nearly bursting with the dark energy from the trees, but damned if this wasn’t working.
When the last of the bark crumbled away, turning to dust, the figure of Lotus was revealed. The golden magic swirled around her, just like it had with Daphne, and within moments, another beautiful woman stood before me. She, too, was so gorgeous it was almost hard to look at her.
"Daphne!” Lotus threw her arms around Daphne, and the two hugged tightly. When they finally stepped apart, Lotus turned to me and threw her arms around me as well. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
"Yeah, any time." I might have conflicting feelings about my power, and about the gods who'd given them to me, but there was no denying that they were handy. And I enjoyed using them to help people. The warm glow that filled me was just icing on the cake.
Daphne turned her bright green eyes toward me. "Why are you in this miserable forest?"
"We’re looking for Tiresias. We have a serious problem, and we hope he can help us."
"He can," Daphne said. “He's the best seer in all of Greek history. And I believe he has returned to this forest."
"He passed by here only a few days ago." Lotus turned to look toward the sound of crashing waves. We had to be close now. "There's a small island right off the shore, and he likes to go there. About once every one hundred years, he passes right by our trees, headed that way.”
"Do you have any advice for how to reach him?" Maximus asked.
I already knew that we could trust them more than the Panes.
"The water is full of ghosts.” Lotus’s blue eyes glinted with fear. "Do not dwell on the past as you cross. It can devour you."
I shared a glance with Maximus. If the water was enchanted to show us our pasts—the pasts that we should not dwell upon—then we were both in trouble. Between the two of us, we had plenty of ghosts and terrible memories.
"Thank you.” I smiled at them. “I’m going to call the Protectorate, the place where I live and work. They will send someone here to help you." I knew that I could speak for them without asking. This was literally in the definition of their mission statement. To help those who needed help, and two women who had been trapped in trees for thousands of years definitely qualified.
Relief relaxed the features of the two women, and they reached out to clasp hands.
I pressed my fingertips to the comms charm at my throat, and the magic flared to life. "Ana? Bree? Can you talk?"
"Yeah, I just finished my shift at the portal to Tartarus." Ana’s voice drifted out of the comms charm.
Daphne and Lotus gasped, their eyes going wide. "Tartarus?" they whispered in unison.
I nodded. "I'll explain later."
"What do you need?" Ana asked.
"I'm in the forest near the Black Sea, and I have two women here who need help from the Protectorate. Can you come pick them up? Or send someone?”
“Yes, right away. I’ll follow the tracking charm that you have. I just have to get the transportation charms, and I’ll be there soon.”
"Thanks, Ana." The connection cut, and I turned to Daphne and Lotus.
Daphne leaned toward me, her face pale. “Tell us more about the Titans. They’re evil.”
“We need Tiresias's help because two witches, the Stryx, have released three of the Titans from Tartarus. We need to find them and put them back before the world falls into chaos.”
Lotus nodded, expression grave. “Their dark magic is polluting the world, isn’t it?”
“Exactly,” Maximus said. “And it’s working quickly.”
“It would.” Lotus shook her head, her face now as pale as Daphne’s. “The gods imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus for several reasons, but that was the biggest one. Their magic was just too dark for the earth. It caused death and misery and chaos.”
“That’s what we’re trying to stop,” Maximus said.
“And the gates to Tartarus?” Daphne asked. “Are they closed?"
"They’re closed. Don’t worry."
"And your sister is one of those guards." Lotus nodded. "I hope she's strong."
"Amazingly strong."
While we waited for Ana to show up, I answered some of their questions about the modern world. When Ana finally arrived, Daphne’s and Lotus’s eyes were as wide as the full moon.
Ana stepped forward, holding out her hand. “Hey, I'm Ana. I hear you need some help."
"Just a bit," Lotus said.
Daphne stepped toward Ana. "Let's leave quickly. I never want to see this forest again."
Ana saluted, then turned to me. "Do you need anything?"
"No, we've got it." I hugged her tightly, then stepped back. “Any developments back at the Protectorate?"
"No, we're still hunting for them, but none of our leads panned out."
"Be careful."
We said goodbye, and Ana took the nymphs back to the Protectorate.
I turned to Maximus. "Ready to do this thing?"
“Let's face the past." Maximus reached for my hand and squeezed.
Suddenly, the idea of facing my demons didn't sound so bad.
We made our way through the forest on silent feet, and I kept my hearing alert for any more whispering from the trees. Fortunately, we heard nothing. When we arrived at the shore of the lake, the waves were crashing gently. Moonlight glittered on the water, and it looked so peaceful. So beautiful. Could this water really be full of the ghosts of my past?
It had to be an exaggeration, right?
I pointed toward an island about half a mile from the shore. Small trees covered it, and a wisp of smoke seemed to float up from them. "That's got to be it."
I dug into my pocket and withdrew the tiny dragon scale that Ladon had given me. I laid it on the ground and stepped back, watching as the magic swirled around the little scale, and it replicated itself until it formed a beautiful boat.
I grinned and looked at Maximus. "It never gets old."
He nodded and raised his hand, his magic swelling on the air. The scent of cedar and the sound of a crashing waterfall swept over me. A moment later, two oars appeared next to the boat.
I grinned at him. “Perfect. I really need to see about stashing two oars in the ether."
I’d meant to do it, but hadn't had a chance. It was expensive to buy the spell that stored something in the ether, and Bree had to ask her contact to do the work. We’d both been so busy with the Protectorate that it just hadn't happened.
The boat floated right at the edge of the beach, the waves rocking it back and forth. I used my power over the water to calm the waves, and we both climbed in. I grabbed an oar, and Maximus did the same. We used them to push the boat off the shore. The water welcomed us, rocking our little boat gently.
Maximus held out his hand for my oar, and I handed it over. Though the boat did not come with the oars, it had two handy little indents where you could prop them. Maximus began to row, his strength pulling the boat along quickly. The air was chilly here, the breeze stronger. I avoided looking down into the water, but it called to me.
I resisted, using every ounce of strength I had to look away. Instead, I looked toward Maximus.
He kept his gaze high on the horizon, his jaw tight.
Neither of us wanted to look into our pasts.
We were halfway to the island when I heard it. The sound started as whispers, sending shivers over my skin that felt like spiders crawling.
Maximus’s brow tightened. He heard it, too.
What were the whispers saying?
I couldn’t tell. I strained my ears, using the animal senses that Artemis had given me. Soon, it became obvious that they were calling to me. Commanding that I look at the water.
I resisted at first, my will strong. But it was almost as if the whispers were imbued with magic. The pull was magnetic. Impossible to resist. Though I
fought it with every ounce of strength, my muscles burning, I couldn’t avoid it forever. My gaze was forced downward, like I'd lost all control of my neck.
In the depths of the water, an image shimmered. The Rebel Gods. There was the ancient horned one, the woman covered in blood, and the one made of gold. I had been in such a magically induced stupor during my captivity with them that I’d hardly known them. They’d tried damned hard to ruin my life, though, using me for their evil plots.
Fear surged through me, along with the memory of helplessness. Anger followed quick on their heels, surging through me like molten lava.
Though my memories of that time were hazy, the feelings were not.
It was the helplessness that was the worst. It made me feel like I was drowning. Like the Black Sea was reaching up to capture me.
I gasped for breath, trying to get control of myself.
You are strong. You're not alone.
The voice whispered through me, and I swore it was my magic, speaking to me.
You are strong. You're not alone.
There it was again.
And it was right, gods damn it. I was strong. I had the magic of the gods now, and I would never be a victim again. Not only that, but even without the magic of the gods, I had been successful. I’d become a potions expert, harnessing what little magic I had to make it possible. And I’d dealt with my demons.
I was no longer that scared, trapped girl. I never would be again.
I dragged my gaze away and looked at Maximus. He stared down into the water as he rowed, his face pale, his jaw tight. The tendons stood out at his neck. Whatever he saw in the water, it was bad. Given the years that he'd spent in the Colosseum, forced to kill, his memories were probably worse than mine.
He could remember them, after all.
I had my fuzzy memories of fear and helplessness. But graphic memories would be far worse.
I reached out, and gripped his knee. My touch seemed to anchor him. He shook his head and turned his blue gaze to me. Our eyes locked. His jaw relaxed, and so did his neck. The haunted expression in his eyes faded.
