by Enid Titan
Her chest tightened and Poppy yanked her arm away.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come with a warning, child of Fengar.”
“I don’t want you in my dream. I’m going to wake up.”
“You can’t wake yourself, child. I am Sssssibyl. I talk to my ssssubjectssss when I wish.”
Their accent was more pronounced again. Poppy had grown used to their extended ’s’ while she was on their homeworld to the point where she hardly heard it anymore. That had all changed with a few weeks of Devor.
“What do you want, then?”
Sibyl never seemed bothered by Poppy’s lack of reverence. She had power and she required no prostrate subjects to wield it.
“The cold will come for you. There is a boy, Poseidon of Devor, and he will lead you into danger.”
“Thanks for the warning. I’ve already met him and I think I can handle it.”
Sibyl’s expression softened, her excessive eyes blinking with a gentle lull.
“What has yet to come has yet to come. Poseidon threatens one future, but he holds what mussssst come to passsss in his power. The child of Devor will fight the child of Fengar on an iccccy plain many worlds away from my own. Keep your dagger closssse.”
“Thanks for the warning, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to stay away from him. I won’t go around stabbing him either.”
“You musssssn’t avoid the future, Penelope. Nor musssst you kill Poseidon. All you mussst know is that the danger will come to passsss when he is present. That is all I can ssssay to you child.”
“Thanks for that. All these riddles are so helpful.”
Sibyl smiled.
“These will be your lasssst weeksss of peaceful sleep. Enjoy them.”
“Not ominous at all,” Penelope grumbled.
“Dream of yours lovers while you can, Penelope. One of them will die on the iccccy plain.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
“His death mussst come to passss. Thisss time, you cannot sssssave him.”
Poppy jolted out of bed, dripping in sweat. Her sudden movement woke Ajax up.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured.
Jason and Castor stirred.
“I had a nightmare.”
“Hm, come little pet. Put your head on my chest. I’ll make it go away.”
“It wasn’t just a dream. Like a vision.”
Ajax grunted and pulled Poppy back down onto his chest.
“I can help. Just come. I’ll take care of you.”
Poppy pressed her head back down on his chest, curled up on Ajax’s warmth. She ran her hands over the raised flesh of his scars.
“I missed you so much this summer,” he whispered, “I wanted you every minute of every day. I can’t be apart from you like that again.”
“I can’t either.”
“Good.”
Poppy’s stomach tugged at her from within. If Sibyl was right, one of them would die. She couldn’t imagine living without any of them. She couldn’t imagine carrying this knowledge without telling them either. She’d save it for the morning. No need to worry Ajax now.
As he promised, he stroked her head and made her fears melt away. Poppy gripped his chest until morning. She woke up to find Ajax away, peering over the ridges on his nose to watch her sleep. His ears stuck out from the triangular shock of curly hair that wasn’t heavy enough yet to hang down far past his shoulders.
“Finally awake?”
“Yeah. Where are Cas and Jason?”
“Making breakfast.”
Poppy groaned.
“They’re horrible cooks.”
“They got better over the summer.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Ajax’s usually cheerful face sobered.
“Are you alright?”
“Much better.”
“I’m worried about you, Poppy. What happened on Fengar changed you lots. I don’t know how we can protect you.”
“I don’t know if you can.”
She rolled off of Ajax and nuzzled next to him.
“I’ve got something important to tell all of you this morning.”
“Right then. Let’s get you in the kitchen.”
Ajax kept her huddled close to him as they walked into the kitchen together.
“Heard you two whispering,” Jason greeted them.
“G’morning,” Cas yawned.
“Poppy’s got something more to tell us,” Ajax blurted out.
Devorans could be frustratingly direct sometimes. Poppy sighed and pulled away from him.
“The Queen of Fengar came to me in a dream last night. She had this prophecy I guess. I’m not sure if I should tell you.”
“Come. Let’s eat. It’s better if you tell us over food.”
14
Another Bully?
The boys listened intently to Penelope’s nightmare and while they comforted her, they didn’t appear to take the prophecies of the Fengar seriously.
“Devorans simply don’t die young,” they insisted.
Poppy didn’t think it right to mention that only the last semester nearly all of them had died.
“Murder is different,” Cas muttered, bringing up the incident that Poppy neglected to mention.
“How are we going to get into trouble here when we’ll be spending three weeks at a debate contest,” Ajax pointed out.
That assuaged Poppy’s worries for a time. A few more weeks passed without incident. Oz hadn’t eased up on her during debate meetings and as Poppy caught up with Devoran history and recent politics, he hounded her constantly. When the boys noticed, they’d step in and defend her, but Oz was getting sneakier and Poppy’s threat had little effect on his behavior.
On the weekends, they met at their new place and spent every moment they could in bed. When they weren’t intertwined, Poppy helped Jason with math. She didn’t need his help with telepathy anymore, but she needed all the boys to help her catch up on politics and recent events for their pending debate contest.
As their departure from campus neared, Oz called Poppy to his study room in the library reserved for prefects. Oz couldn’t have anything good to say to her. The base of Poppy’s stomach twisted in knots in anticipation of their meeting.
“We’ll be close,” Jason reassured her, “It’s probably only team logistics.”
“I’m starting to wish I’d waited to join the hockey team next year instead,” Poppy grumbled.
“We wouldn’t get to be close to you then,” Cas said.
He always had to be so reasonable. Poppy submitted herself to her fate and entered Oz’s study room. His long hair swept over the yellowed pages his face fixated on.
“Hello,” he said, without looking up.
“I’m here for our meeting.”
“Sit.”
“Um. There isn’t anywhere to sit.”
“Then stand.”
He still hadn’t looked up. Poppy sighed and leaned against the wall.
“You could keep your frustration to yourself,” Oz said, closing the ancient tome he’d been focused on.
“What were you reading?”
Poppy didn’t think being friendly would work with him, but it was worth a try.
“It’s above your paygrade, foreigner.”
“Try me.”
Oz wrinkled his nose.
“I didn’t come here to discuss my reading. You’re unprepared for the debate and I want to cut you from the team.”
“What?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that. Our artificial intelligence system deemed you competent despite all evidence to the contrary.”
“I guess you’re stuck with me then.”
“Not if you quit.”
“I’m not quitting.”
“You will quit, Penelope.”
“So you do know my name.”
“I am not interested in catering to outsiders with a half-baked notion of our culture. Having a sexual fetish
for my people isn’t the same as caring about us. I know what you are, Penelope.”
“Since you know so much about me, you’ll know that I don’t respond well to threats or limits.”
Oz raised an eyebrow.
“I can see why they are attracted to you at least. You’re stubborn like most Devoran females. Unlike our females, you are not capable of standing up for yourself for long.”
“I can handle myself just fine.”
“Why do you have your three pups waiting for you outside this room?”
“If you think I’m ill-equipped for the debate, prepare me. Tell me what I need to learn.”
“I don’t think you’re up for the task. Your people are not capable of distant space travel. They would be nothing without alien influence. What makes you think you’re capable of absorbing our long, proud, history.”
«I’m not only a human.»
Oz rolled his eyes.
“Telepathic communication won’t help your case. You quit the team or I’ll make your life hell.”
“I don’t think threatening first-years was part of your code of conduct.”
“You won’t tell.”
Poppy’s irritation bristled on the back of her neck. Poseidon had easily wriggled his way under her skin and every word he said pissed her off. If acting out wouldn’t just prove his point, she would have leaned over his study table and smacked him in the face, or at least swiped his stupid old books off the table.
“Tell me what I need to know. I won’t quit. I don’t care what you say.”
“Very well, Penelope. You’ve sealed your fate.”
“I wouldn’t threaten me if I were you,” Poppy responded calmly, following after Cas’s example for once.
“Yes, you’ve made it clear that you know my past. I’m not ashamed of it. Tell whoever you like.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Poppy felt her power crackling on the tips of her fingers. She could hurt him if she wanted to, the way Daphne had hurt her. After months on Fengar, causing pain was easy. She was so close to the edge of using it, of awakening the power she’d been hiding from. Oz smirked, and Poppy’s heart skipped a beat even if there was no way that he sensed what she thought.
“You’re spirited. I’ll give you that, foreigner. Here. Take this.”
He pushed the large book he’d been reading across the table.
“Why?”
“It’s a history of Vorthan political philosophy. Read this before the debate contest and I’ll give you a pass.”
“It’s three thousand pages long,” Poppy protested, “I have actual classes to prepare for.”
“Penelope Darden, you two-named oddity, you do what I ask, or I’ll find a way to kick you off the team.”
“Has anyone told you that you’re a douche bag?”
“Douche bag? What is that?”
“Never mind.”
“Your strange insults don’t affect me, foreigner. Finish that book. Or else.”
Poppy snatched the book off the desk and stormed off. Jason, Cas, and Ajax peered up from their study table. They hadn’t been studying. Instead, Cas had taken Ajax’s short curls and braided them flat against his head. Jason spiked his own hair up into a mohawk and their homework lay spread out unfinished on the table.
“What happened in there?” Cas asked.
Poppy slammed the book on the table.
“I’m supposed to read this before our contest, or I’m off the team. How am I supposed to absorb all of this knowledge in a month?!”
Jason grinned.
“Four heads are better than one, jazad. Come on, we’ll help.”
“I hate him,” Poppy grumbled, “I really do hate him.”
“Come, little pet,” Ajax pulled her down into a seat next to him, “Don’t let him get to you.”
“What about your homework?”
“We’ll get it done,” Cas said, “Don’t you worry about us.”
But she did worry about them and leaving them alone. Sibyl told her that Oz would lead her to danger, and one of the men she loved would die. How could she do anything but worry about them?
15
Tundra Creatures
Poppy heard the large transport pod arrive on campus. The giant vehicle was as big as any spaceship and would hover over the snow holding all the debate students, plus rooms for them to sleep in, a dining space and a common area where they could study and prepare for the debates in the South. After crossing the sea, they’d make it to the Southern College for the debates. Every Academy on Devor would take their students in large pods like this one to the planet-wide second-semester event.
They’d spend five days traveling by transport with Poseidon and Lyric supervising the voyage. Seniors were old enough to play the role of professors for the length of the voyage. The transport flew itself and required no driver or controller. In case of emergencies, there was a distress panel towards the front of the vehicle. Poppy didn’t know what to make of the large craft. Hecate helped her load her suitcase into her room and hugged her goodbye.
“Be careful out there.”
“Worried about tundra creatures?” Poppy asked, bemused.
It took a lot to worry Hecate. She didn’t seem comforted by the fact that the transport was armored. Hecate, like most Devorans, rarely left her home city and when she did, she used to teleport, not “old-fashioned” vehicles like transport pods.
“They’re safe,” Poppy reassured her.
“Who told you that?”
“The boys. Our professors. They wouldn’t let us dive headfirst into danger.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Hecate didn’t seem convinced. The boys already boarded. Poseidon stopped Poppy from entering with his foot.
“Did you read the book?”
“Yes.”
Not exactly a lie. Poppy had help, but she could recite Devoran history now as well as any native.
“Hm. I’ll quiz you later.”
“Fine by me.”
“Head to your room. And… no canoodling with your mates on this trip. We’re traveling for academic purposes.”
If it had been anyone else but Oz, Poppy could have blushed. She refused to give him the satisfaction of thinking he’d gotten to her.
Poppy found her room and sat back on the bed. Their tiny transport pod bedrooms would have been claustrophobic if she’d been a Devoran. She couldn’t imagine how Ajax, Cas or Jason felt in theirs. Poppy peered out the window towards campus, a deep unease settling within her. It wasn’t like Hecate to be worried, and Devoran emotions were already infectious.
Jason pushed her door open without knocking.
“You could knock.”
“Didn’t see the point. The others are in the common area. We’re about to leave campus. Thought you might want to see it.”
“Vortha from above,” Poppy mused.
“Yes. Now come on. You’ve never seen the tundra and it is near sundown.”
“If it’s sundown, how will we be able to see anything.”
“You’ll see. Now come on.”
Poppy followed Jason to the common room and sat sandwiched between him and Castor. Ajax engaged in heated debate at another table, sipping Devoran seaweed tea.
“Why’s he talking to Eros?”
“They’re sort of cousins.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s got a lot of cousins,” Poppy noted.
“So do I,” Castor shrugged, “We aren’t close.”
“You never talk about your family,” Poppy agreed.
“Don’t see the point in it. We never talk about yours either.”
He had a point there. Poppy had hardly seen Uncle Monty since the start of her second semester. He’d been away with Pallas for a while, then he’d been busy writing a paper on Devoran Urban Culture for the university back on Earth, and since then, Poppy had been busy too. She hadn’t given a second thought to her mother in the pas
t week or so, nor to Fengar. Sibyl’s prophecy followed her like a shadow. She could go ignoring it for a while, but the darkness was still there.
The transport rumbled as they lifted off into the air. Poppy and Jason switched seats so she could look out the window. The boys were big enough that they could easily see past the tiny girl.
“The city’s beautiful,” Poppy gasped.
Crystal domes, large spiring towers and neat rows of shimmering houses on snowy streets below grew smaller as their transport lifted one story off the ground.
“Wait ’til we get to the wall.”
Cas was right. The wall was magnificent. The transport tilted and ascended over the giant, three-story wall of solid ice which shimmered like a moonstone. Poppy’s stomach lurched as they lifted over it, the sudden movement nearly catapulting her forward over the table. Jason snaked his fingers through hers.
«Don’t be scared, jazad.»
«Don’t you fly on Earth?» Cas wondered.
Poppy shook her head.
«Not often.»
She’d forgotten how much she hated flying. It wasn’t fear so much as the motion. Once they flew over the wall, the pod resumed its previous altitude and speed, rumbling along more like an air-train than a plane. Poppy pressed her nose to the frigid window the take in the tundra below. The sun was about to set, but she could make out the giant blue trees below, waving in the strong Devoran winds as if they were blades of grass instead of evergreens.
After a few minutes, when the suns drifted beyond the horizon, the sky came alight. Twinkling, sparkling waves of light shimmered over the vast tundra.
“What are those?”
“The lights.”
Poppy rolled her eyes, “I know they’re lights. Why haven’t I seen them in Vortha?”
“Too much light pollution. But over the tundra, where there’s nothing, they dance in the sky.”
“They’re so beautiful.”
“They light up everything below,” Jason explained, “Look… see that creature?”
“What is that?” Poppy’s pupils expanded as she stared into the vast dark plain.
