Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound)

by Thomas, T. D.

  “It is done!” the Oracle cried. She began to fade.

  “No, wait!” I shouted. “We never got to ask our question.”

  “It has already been answered,” the Oracle whispered.

  And then she was gone.

  Before I could protest, the world around us began to spin, its features and colours running like a painting splashed with water. I felt myself overcome by an overwhelming nausea.

  Then I blacked out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I awoke next to the fountain in the garden.

  As my eyes slowly focused, I saw that everyone else was there, too. Everyone but Zeus. Somehow, his body had vanished when we returned him to the Heavens. That, or the mortal whose body he’d borrowed had simply woken up and left.

  I got to my feet.

  There was no sign of the fountain nymphs or the Oracle. Their business with us was done. More troubling, there was no sign of the twins.

  “Why can’t I shake the feeling that we just got screwed?” Hermes wondered as he got up.

  “She didn’t even let us ask a question,” Demeter agreed. “She didn’t tell us who our enemy is, where they are, how we can defeat them, how we can find the Fates, where we can find the Fates, how we can free the Fates . . . the Oracle didn’t tell us anything!”

  “But she did give us something,” Hermes said, looking meaningfully at the torque around Justin’s neck.

  I couldn’t look at Justin. Not yet. Not after what the Oracle had said. He didn’t seem like he wanted to look at me either. Thankfully. With any luck, we could just put it behind us.

  “I just wish we knew where to go from here,” I said.

  “Hey, where are the twins?” Hermes asked, looking around.

  “Good question,” I said. “They wouldn’t have left us if it weren’t important.”

  “What’s more important than us?” Hermes asked wryly. “I guess that's just one more unsolved mystery to add to the growing tower of things we don’t know.”

  “I’m sure the twins will be right back,” I said. “So let’s try to focus on what we do know, instead of what we don’t.”

  “All right,” Demeter said. “So, what do we know about where the Fates might be?”

  “With the enemy.” Justin spoke softly. He’d been conspicuously quiet until now. I kinda wished he still was. Stupid Oracle and her big mouth.

  “How can you be sure?” Hermes argued.

  “If this enemy’s harnessing the power of the Fates, they must be keeping them close,” Justin reasoned. “They’re probably using them to fuel their magick. The way you guys helped Stella.”

  “Okay, so then where’s the enemy?” I asked.

  “We know the enemy’s somewhere in town,” Demeter answered. “Why else would there be a cloud blocking the Heavens here? I mean, the other gods would’ve spotted them by now if they were anywhere else.”

  “Great, but we still need to narrow it down. It’s not like we can just go door-to-door,” I protested.

  “Not to mention they could be moving around,” Justin added.

  “So we’re right back where we started,” I grumbled. “Again.”

  “Things can’t be that bad,” Demeter insisted. “The Oracle said we have everything we need.”

  “I think she might’ve overestimated us,” Hermes said.

  “Wait. The Oracle actually said something else,” Justin said.

  “No, she didn’t,” Hermes disagreed. “I was paying pretty close attention.”

  “Not to her thoughts,” Justin replied.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Explain.”

  “I heard her thoughts somehow,” Justin admitted, doing his best to avoid looking at me as he answered. “As soon as I put on the necklace, I felt connected to everything in the Dreamlands. I heard everything. Felt everything.”

  “And?” I pressed.

  “There were so many voices in her mind, all saying different things,” Justin warned. “And this doesn’t make any sense, but I feel like she wanted me to hear her thoughts. I think she knew I could.”

  And then it hit me. “The Oracle didn’t give us the information we wanted because she couldn’t.”

  “Of course!” Hermes said. “Our enemy must’ve figured out how to use the power of the Fates to bind the Oracle. They knew we needed answers and that we’d go to the Oracle to get them.”

  Justin nodded. “That makes sense, actually. It felt like the Oracle was struggling against something.”

  “What did you hear?” I asked.

  Justin hesitated. “The Oracle was thinking the same thing over and over again: Mortal to mortal, god to god, mortal eyes may see what gods cannot.”

  “Cryptic,” Hermes said.

  “What does it mean?” Demeter asked.

  Silence.

  “Justin was able to see the Oracle when I couldn’t,” I thought out loud. “I’d assumed she was hiding from me, but what if she wasn’t? What if she was being hidden from me? And when Justin saw her, he helped me see through the spell.”

  “But why hide the Oracle from you and not from Justin?” Hermes countered. “Our enemy’s been too smart to make a mistake.”

  “What if it wasn’t a mistake?” I countered. “What if it was an accident?”

  “An accident?” Demeter echoed.

  ”What if we caught our enemy off-guard somehow?” I suggested. “Did something they didn’t expect. Something they weren’t ready for.”

  “The magick they’ve been using is very powerful, but it takes time to cast spells,” Hermes agreed. “A lot of time. Even more time if they have to steal power from the Fates first to fuel their magick.”

  “Think about it. Whoever this is, they must’ve been planning this for a while,” I realized.

  “A long while,” Hermes said. “Getting the Fates must’ve been the last step in their plan.”

  “It’s Justin,” Demeter said suddenly.

  “What?” I said.

  “It’s Justin,” Demeter repeated. “That’s what we did that our enemy didn’t expect. They didn’t think we’d have a mortal with us, so they only worried about blocking things from gods.”

  Demeter was right. But it was worse than she realized. Whoever this enemy was, they knew us well. Very well.

  “So, thanks to Justin, our enemy has to play a little catch up.” Hermes nodded. “Bad for them, good for us.”

  “Mortal eyes may see what gods cannot,” Demeter said. “Justin’s the key. He has to be. We can use him to see through whatever magick the enemy is using to hide.”

  “I still don’t get why they’d take the risk? Why not just hide everything from mortals and from gods?” Justin asked.

  “The amount of power it’d take to block out every single being from two entirely different worlds is astronomical. It's insane,” I explained. “Even with the Fates, I can’t imagine how long magick like that would take and how complex it’d be.”

  “Or maybe they’re saving up the power of the Fates for something even bigger,” Hermes suggested.

  “What’s bigger than blocking out two entire worlds?” I demanded.

  Hermes shrugged. “What matters is that our enemy can’t adapt to Justin. They don’t have the time or power, at least not yet.”

  The future of the Heavens, of all the worlds, rested in the hands of a mortal. At least that mortal was Justin. I found myself studying him without even realizing it. Our eyes met for a second, and we both quickly looked away.

  “You don’t think . . .” Demeter began. She stopped herself.

  “What?” I pressed.

  “Could our enemy be . . . a mortal?” Demeter asked hesitantly.

  “Mortal to mortal,” Hermes wondered aloud.

  “That’s impossible,” I said.

  “Is it?” Hermes replied.

  “Mortals don’t have the power it takes to capture the Fates,” I said. “They wouldn’t even know where to start!”

  “What about Sarah and Stella?�
�� Justin pointed out. For a second, he was too caught up in the debate to be awkward around me. It was nice. It was like things had gone back to normal. I hoped they’d stay that way.

  “Mortals. Always blaming witches,” I replied.

  “Not witches,” Justin said. “Just a mortal with magick.”

  “Magick can give mortals incredible power, compared to ordinary mortals,” I replied. “But we’re talking about challenging gods. Gods. The only things capable of taking us on are monsters. Just like they’ve been doing since time began.”

  “Monsters can use magick?” Justin asked.

  “A quirk of serving Chaos, instead of Order,” I replied.

  “But if our enemy is a mortal, it’d explain why they didn’t use magick to hide the Oracle or the Fates from mortals,” Demeter insisted. “It’s not just the time or the power. They’d be blinding themselves, too.”

  “But why now?” I countered. “If mortals can just use magick to capture the Fates and take on the Heavens, why hasn’t it happened before? It’s not like mortals just woke up and decided to have themselves a little revolution after thousands of years.”

  Silence.

  “If mortal to mortal means our enemy could be a mortal,” Justin began slowly. “Does god to god mean . . .”

  “Do not finish that sentence,” I warned.

  “Hera, it would make sense,” Demeter realized, eyes wide. “You said it yourself. It’s too much for mortals. It’s out of their league. But not if they have help.”

  “That’s how a mortal could have the power,” Hermes agreed. “They’re working with a god.”

  “First mortals,” I fumed. “Now gods? This is our family you’re talking about!”

  “You always hurt the one you love,” Demeter murmured.

  Justin turned red.

  “We have plenty of enemies,” I reminded them. “Giants. Titans. Demons. The list is endless. For every one of us, there are dozens of monsters whose sole purpose is to destroy us and throw existence into chaos. There’s no reason to think . . . for all we know, that’s exactly what our enemy wants. To divide us. To make us doubt each other. Our unity is our strength. All we have is each other. Especially now. Especially here. We can’t just throw that all away.”

  I couldn’t believe it was possible. I couldn’t believe that one of us was a traitor--had been responsible for the death of Athena, for almost killing Zeus. If I questioned that, I had to question everything. Even myself.

  “We don’t know anything for sure,” Demeter said, “but we should try to keep an open mind.”

  I said nothing, but I didn’t disagree. For me, that was huge. And they knew it.

  “Let’s go find the twins.” I sighed softly. “They should’ve been back by now.”

  We left the garden. Justin didn’t walk beside me like he usually did. I couldn’t bring myself to walk next to him either. I didn’t know what to say, where to begin.

  “Hera, wait,” Justin called.

  I stopped and turned. “What?”

  Justin was pale. “Hera, the enemy’s been taking out your sources of information. Blocking the Heavens, attacking Sarah, binding the Oracle . . .”

  My heart sank as realization dawned. “They’re going to go after Stella.”

  We ran to the van.

  We didn’t have much time.

  If it wasn’t already too late.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Justin fumbled in his pocket for the keys.

  “Hurry!” I yelled.

  Every wasted second could cost the witches dearly. I’d left them with Beth. Beth! Our enemy might be a psychotic mortal hopped up on powerful magic with a traitor god on their side, and I’d left the witches with Beth?

  Justin managed to pull out his keys, but when he tried to unlock the door, he dropped them. He bent down to pick them up, but they’d slid under the van. He groped blindly for them.

  “Justin!” I said. “We don’t have time for this!”

  Justin froze. He stood up slowly.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  His eyes locked with mine. I gasped. There was a ring of crimson seeping into his brown eyes, and the ruby on his torque began to glow.

  “No time,” he repeated.

  The torque flashed, blinding me for a second, and when I could finally see again, we weren’t in the parking lot anymore.

  We were in a large yard with a tall wooden fence and a big, colonial-style house.

  “Justin, what the . . .” I started.

  But Justin wasn’t even looking at me. He was staring behind me. The crimson in his eyes was fading. “Do you recognize that little girl?”

  I turned, half-expecting to see the Oracle. I was ready to shake some answers right out of her.

  But it wasn’t the Oracle. It was an ordinary mortal girl, no more than six years old. She had brown hair tied in pigtails, and she wore a pretty blue dress that brought out her eyes. There was something familiar about those eyes.

  We walked toward her. She was swinging on a tire hanging from an enormous oak tree. She watched us with interest, but she didn’t seem surprised at all that we’d materialized out of nowhere.

  “That can’t be--” I began.

  “Beth?” Justin asked.

  The girl kept swinging. “Yeah?”

  “Beth, is that you?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she repeated. “What are you doing here?”

  “Where are we?” I asked, bewildered.

  “Grandma’s,” she said. “I like it here.”

  “How did . . .” I started. Then I looked back at Justin. My eyes fixed on his necklace. “You took us to the Dreamlands!”

  I smacked his arm out of sheer frustration.

  “I didn’t mean to,” he said.

  “You shouldn’t hit people,” Beth warned. “It’s not nice.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” I snapped. “We need to get to Stella and Sarah. Now.”

  Beth stopped swinging. I felt the change in her instantly. She got off the swing and began to walk to the house.

  “Where are you going?” I called after her.

  “I don’t want to talk about them,” she said simply.

  “Stop!” Justin shouted. The ruby pulsed.

  Beth froze. My eyes widened. His power here was absolute. I’d forgotten that.

  “I didn’t mean to--” he began.

  I cut him off with a gesture. I walked up to Beth. She was crying, rooted in place.

  I knelt in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Please let me go,” she begged.

  “Beth, what’s wrong?” I pressed, taking her hands.

  “I don’t wanna talk about Sarah and Stella,” she repeated.

  “Why not?” I asked gently.

  “Because it’s scary,” she whispered. She started to sob.

  I hugged her. I gave Justin a meaningful look. He looked at me helplessly. I glared until he finally understood.

  “Calm down,” he commanded.

  Instantly, Beth’s tears stopped. She smiled.

  “It’s very important that you tell us what was so scary,” I told her. “Can you do that?”

  Beth looked at me, then at Justin. Then she sighed. “I don’t remember everything.”

  “Just tell us what you do remember,” I pressed. I wouldn’t let her get out of it that easily.

  “I was sitting with Stella,” Beth told us. “Then she got scared. She said there was no time, something was coming. And then something started hitting the door. I was so scared.”

  I hugged her again. “You don’t have to be scared anymore. We’re with you now.”

  Beth nodded, though her chin trembled.

  “She must be asleep,” Justin whispered to me. “That’s why she’s here in the Dreamlands.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him it could be something much worse.

  “Something’s happened to her,” I said. “We need to learn everything we can and ge
t out of here.”

  Justin nodded soberly.

  “Well?” I said.

  “‘Well’ what?” he asked.

  “You’re the Dreamer,” I replied. “Make her talk.”

  Justin looked at me uncertainly, then sighed. He closed his eyes. Like a bolt of lightning, a ruby beam shot from his torque and enveloped Beth. A small globe of amber light emerged from her forehead and hovered in front of us. Images flickered across its surface.

  “It’s her memory,” I gasped.

  The images were from inside Sarah’s apartment. Stella was sitting in a chair beside the bed where Sarah still lay, almost lifeless. Stella was talking, but there was no sound. Justin still hadn’t completely mastered his powers. Understandable, given how vast and new they were.

  All of a sudden, Stella jumped to her feet. She whirled to face the door, and our vision whirled with her. We were looking through Beth’s eyes. As we watched, the door shook. Then shook again. And again. It shook so hard, it almost flew off its hinges.

  Stella put her hand up and closed her eyes. Her lips began to move. Then her eyes flicked open and they were full of panic. She spoke quickly. Angrily. She was arguing with Beth.

  Beth looked again at the door. It was cracking. I’d never seen a door break that way before.

  Magick. It had to be. A protection spell of some kind, strengthening the door.

  But the spell was failing.

  To my amazement, Stella’s horrified face changed. The fear and confusion vanished, replaced by an eerie peace. I recognized that look. She had a plan.

  Ever so carefully, Stella went to the bed and began to lift Sarah. Beth quickly went to help her. Together, they carried Sarah to the closet.

  Stella passed Sarah to Beth and opened the door. She gestured them both inside. More arguing. The vision went blurry, then clear, then blurry again.

  Beth was crying.

  But she went into the closet with Sarah. Stella handed Beth the spellbook and a knife, and then she shut the door.

  Everything went black. Slowly, my eyes--or, rather, Beth’s--adjusted to what little light came into the closet from under the door.

  Beth laid Sarah down and then opened the book. She flipped its pages furiously, straining to see. She was counting the pages on one of her hands. Every once in a while, her head jerked up, as if she heard something, but then she went back to the book. Finally, she stopped counting and left the book open.