Illusions: A Grace Murphy Novel

by Nicole Hamlett

  "Tell her to hurry," I said too loudly. I really was a horrible actress. Drew looked back at me with exasperation, and I shrugged in apology. "Sorry," I mouthed.

  He strode across the room and yanked open the door. As he'd suspected, two of Dmitri's men were still standing at the door. "Oh, hello," Drew said easily. "We were looking for the wench who brought our food. Can you ask her to come to remove it?"

  The first guard nodded gruffly and snapped his fingers. A small, grubby child darted from an alcove and dashed down the hall. I nodded at the one who'd summoned the urchin.

  Well, that was that. We were stuck here until Apollo decided to let us go, Nemah showed us an escape plan, or until my mother opened a Rift on our location. I was suddenly grateful she'd had me tagged with a tracker, "just in case."

  I closed the door, turned to Drew and whispered, "Have you thought of talking to Dmitri?"

  Drew paused and thought about the question. "I'm worried about him. The attack on me earlier wasn't entirely out of character because Dmitri revels in beating me bloody, but he's never done so without letting me know he's going to do it first. I wonder if it was a warning to us. Did he say anything to you when I was out?"

  "Not a damn thing. Granted, I'd shot one of his men, and I was bellowing at them, then there was the sandworm monster."

  He nodded. "Yeah, it's hard to reason with you when you're bellowing."

  "That’s what you’re going to focus on? The bellowing instead of the sandworm?” I shook my head and pressed my lips together in irritation. I wouldn’t say what I was thinking. I was mature now. Mature Grace was… well, mature. “Okay, so Dmitri could be out or not. We won't know until we talk to him and I'm leaning towards suspicious."

  "We could just take a mini-vacation for the next — how long till we were supposed to check in?"

  I looked down at the watch still set to Olympus time and did the mental math. "Honestly I have no idea. My watch looks screwy and you know I can’t do math. However, the good news is, if Georgie doesn't hear a peep from us after fifteen hours, Diana will open a portal and send a communication drone in."

  "So, we have no idea how long before the cavalry comes running. It looks like we've got two options. We can find a way to get out of here and see if we can pick up Aliana's trail, or we can have a nap and take a mini-vacation."

  "Well, that doesn't sound like a terribad idea. I could use a mani-pedi. I'm starting to get a little scaly around the edges."

  "For a writer, you have the worst grammar. So, you're opting for mini-vacation?"

  "No, idiot. I was being sarcastic. Of course, we need to get the hell out of here. This place makes my skin crawl."

  "I can never tell with you," he grumbled. “I think we should at least stay for dinner. It’s possible we’ll find out some vital information that will help us find Aliana.”

  With a sigh, I nodded. “I am definitely going to need a nap then because acting like a dumb bimbo is taxing.”

  Drew bit his lip and looked away quickly. As if I didn’t know he was smirking at me. “Go ahead,” I waved a hand at him. “Laugh. Get it out now, while I’m feeling magnanimous toward you.”

  His shoulders began to shake with the suppressed mirth. “I’m serious Drew. There’s nothing funny about me acting like a bimbo.”

  “No,” He wheezed. “I’m just remembering you batting your eyelashes at me. You looked like a bug had flown into your face, and you were trying to shoo it off with your blinky eyes. I nearly died laughing right there.”

  I wanted to grumble at him that it was my proven sexy look, but let’s be frank here. I didn’t have a proven sexy look. I was about as seductive as a manatee. “I’m going to bed. Wake me up before I have to get ready for dinner. Do you think we need to dress up?”

  I cringed at the thought. I hadn’t packed anything beyond an extra pair of linen pants and a loose top.

  “I’m sure our host will take care of that for you.”

  “Yuck. I can only imagine what Apollo will dress me in.” I shuddered all over and then jumped onto the bed. “I’m calling the left side.”

  “Your left or my left?”

  “What?” There wasn’t a difference. Left was left.

  “Left from inside or outside?”

  “You’re making this harder than it needs to be. You take the side I’m not on, Drew.”

  “But I can only sleep on one side.”

  “Well, then you’re out of luck. First in gets to pick.”

  “You’re being childish,” he argued.

  “You’re being childish,” I parroted in an annoying voice. “I’m going to close my eyes. Don’t make me kill you before I get some sleep.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Grace. Wake up.” The jostling finally pulled me from a deep slumber. I must have been more tired than I realized.

  “Wha? Go way. Sleeping.” I batted at the hand that kept shaking me.

  “You have to get up and get dressed. It’s time for dinner.”

  Food is an integral part of my day. That I had no interest in eating, spoke volumes about my condition. I groaned, rolled over and pulled a pillow over my head.

  Just when I thought he’d let me be, I felt myself being jerked out from under the pillow by my feet. He pulled me down over the covers and off the bed, where I landed in a heap. “What the-!”

  “You have to get up and get ready. Here, this dress is for you.”

  A wisp of material was shoved into my face, and I blinked not only at the musky smell, but also the transparency of the cloth. “I am not wearing this.”

  “Apollo sent it up for you.”

  “I don’t care if it came from Santa Claus. I am not wearing this – this thing. Was there anything else?”

  “No,” Drew’s lips were flattened into a grim line. “This was it.”

  The coverlet that Drew had pulled off the bed with me, twined around my calves as I struggled to get up off the floor. “Help me up, damn it.”

  He offered a hand and gave me a solid boost once I’d gripped it. “Thank you,” I muttered, before storming to the door.

  “No problem.” He sounded wary, which was good.

  Every single Y chromosome in this place should have been leery. Simply waking up from a deep sleep was enough to piss me off. Diana said that it was something to do with my metabolism. Even before she’d switched me back to Atlancean, I’d wake up hungry and angry. My body burned any reserves while I slept, leaving me feeling hungover every time I woke up. Add insulting misogyny on top of that, and you got a Grace that would detonate.

  I stormed over to the door, flung it open and roared, “Who the fuck sent me this inappropriate costume? I’m not some fantasy to be paraded about. Someone get me real clothes or heads are going to roll!”

  With that, I flung the scrap of material into the face of the nearest guard and slammed the door.

  Drew was staring at me like I’d grown a second head. “You can’t just refuse, Grace.”

  “I just did,” I replied matter of fact. “I’m not wearing that. I don’t care if Apollo is the Creator of the Universe. I’m not wearing it, and it was an insult to send to me. Drew, I could see through what little material was there. And did you smell that thing? It reeked like someone had rubbed their -”

  He clamped his hand over my mouth and leaned in to whisper. “Ok, I get it. I know you’re a monster when you wake up, but not everyone else does. Let’s try to get out of this place alive so your mother can rescue us.”

  “I’m still not wearing it,” I muttered.

  “Okay. You don’t have to,” Drew soothed. “There are some rolls and some tea on the table if you want a snack before replacement clothing arrives.”

  “I’m wearing what I brought with me,” I replied stubbornly.

  “If you want to go down to the dining room naked, I am totally fine with that. I just need you to calm down and stop yelling.”

  “Fine.” I stomped over to the table and shoved a roll in my mo
uth. If I was eating, I wasn’t yelling.

  I’d just crammed in a second roll when there was a knock at the door. Drew quietly opened it and moved to let a new servant woman enter. With her eyes glued to the floor, she curtseyed low and then set a bundle of cloth on the chair next to me.

  “My Goddess wishes for you to have something comfortable to wear for this evening. She looks forward to meeting you and apologizes for the earlier insult to your character.”

  I gave the servant a curt nod and Drew thanked her before showing her back out of the room. Once the door clicked shut, I asked, “Her Goddess?”

  Drew shrugged. “I have no idea. Last time I was here, it was just Apollo.”

  “This mission is going to make me crazy,” I said around a mouthful of bread.

  “Going to?” Drew chided.

  He got a scowl for his efforts, and I made sure to slam the door to the bedroom extra hard when I went in to change.

  As it turns out, the new clothing was not only clean, but it was comfortable and modest enough that I didn’t feel like the evening’s entertainment at a Stag party. Drew pulled out a chair for me and waited to scoot me in. Under any other circumstance, I would have been annoyed with this. I can scoot in my own damn chair. However, these chairs were uncommonly cumbersome, and people were watching us with unmasked curiosity.

  “Thank you,” I murmured.

  Drew leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Please behave. If all goes well, we can leave here in the morning after a good night’s rest.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes and state that I always behaved. But you and I both know better. I rarely did.

  Never had I seen so many sycophants packed into one place before. The room was packed with people who spent their time either fawning over Apollo or each other. I’d promised to be good, though, so I smiled politely when addressed and kept my hands in my lap instead of punching the people who kept touching me.

  My patience had run out when a pudgy man with no less than four chins and a patchy neckbeard, twined a length of my hair around his fist and whispered in my ear the things he wanted to do with it. Drew captured my fist with one hand before I could flatten the man’s nose and brought it up to his lips for a kiss. He disentangled my hair from the wretched toad in the process. “Hortense, I would hate to think that you just propositioned the mother of my son in such a vulgar and insulting manner. Why had you done so, I’d be forced to take measures to restore her honor.”

  Hortense immediately disengaged. “I-Why-I,” he stuttered.

  I gave him a grim smile. “It’s probably best if you leave before you dig your hole deeper, Hortense.” His name fell from my lips like a curse. His mother must have hated him to give him such a horrible name. Little wonder that he was a toad now.

  He bobbed and turned, running into a servant bearing an overloaded tray of food. Several dishes slipped from it and crashed to the ground. Hortense puffed himself up and berated the poor boy before stalking off.

  “You’ve brought me to a hellhole,” I gritted out while giving him a toothy smile.

  “What? No thank you for saving your honor?”

  I scoffed and waved my hand at him. “Please, you and I both know that Hortense was about to walk out of this room with a broken nose and a patchier neckbeard.”

  “Yes, but I accomplished it without causing a scene.”

  I gave him a side-long glance. “Adonis,” he stiffened at my use of his real name. “I appreciate that you wanted to save us both the humiliation of a scene, but just because we’re on another planet doesn’t mean that I am no less capable of protecting my own honor.” I was a twenty-first-century woman. Sadly, I was more than adept and experienced at getting myself out of situations involving unwanted male attention.

  After a few moments of quiet seething, I realized that it was a good thing that Drew had stepped in, because my way would have either ended in violence or... well, violence. I finally gave him a pat and a small apologetic smile. We were on edge. I wouldn’t apologize for wanting to stand up for myself, but he should know that I appreciated his show of chivalry.

  The room around us became unnaturally still. While we’d been having our conversation, I hadn’t noticed how quiet it had become. I looked up and around, expecting to see everyone staring, but instead, the people in the room were all bowed low. Some had their foreheads pressed to the floor.

  A lone figure, wearing clothing like mine, stood by the thronelike chair at the head of the table, piercing me with her stare. Not knowing the proper protocol, I gave her a gracious nod and smiled. “Thank you for the clothing.”

  There was a gasp nearby, but I didn’t bother looking. If the newcomer wanted to smite me for thanking her, I’d deal with it later.

  A small smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “You are most welcome. I was displeased to find that you hadn’t been given the proper respect and care, considering who your mother is. Please forgive my husband’s discourtesy. He will be dealt with appropriately.”

  What did I say to that? I couldn’t think of a reasonable response, so I just nodded and smiled before blurting out, “You have a lovely home.”

  Her eyes roamed around the gaudy room with the gold inlays and gilt-encrusted – well everything. “Do you think so?” her voice was bland and if I were a smarter woman, I would have just shut up then and there. I am not a smarter woman.

  “No, not really.” I gave her a small shrug, a smile never leaving my face. “It looks like someone was overcompensating.”

  This made her laugh. It was a surprised sound, almost like she hadn’t made it in a long time. That made me a little sad for her. What kind of life was she living that she didn’t have cause to laugh?

  “You’re certainly not shy about stating your opinions.”

  Drew was trembling beside me. What was he afraid of? Drew didn’t tremble. Drew took charge. I gripped his hand tightly, smiled and said, “I’m not known for my prudence, ma’am.”

  “Regardless, I apologize again. As a newcomer to my world, an Ambassador even, it is imperative that you be treated with all due respect. You are Diana’s only living child, correct?”

  That wasn’t technically correct. Hope was still alive, albeit trapped in a prison with no escape. I didn’t think that was an appropriate conversation to have with this stranger, though, so I nodded.

  She paused a moment, almost pensive, and then sat down in the throne I’d thought was reserved for Apollo. “Please, everyone eat. After the meal, we’ll gather and get to know one another better.”

  Unlike the “goddesses” on our world (and I use that term loosely since they weren’t actually gods), she didn’t exude an otherworldliness. I could have seen her on any street back home and assumed that she was an ordinary human woman. Had the entire room not been genuflecting their asses off, I wouldn’t have given her a second thought.

  The feeling that something was very wrong increased as everyone sat mechanically at her command. Who was this woman? How had we gotten that intelligence wrong? From the conversation with Dimitri, we’d been given the impression that Apollo was the controlling force on this world. Was this a recent change?

  Apollo sat to her right and stared off into space. His previous animation was entirely gone now. He neither looked at anyone nor spoke. That was… odd.

  “Are you all right?” I squeezed Drew’s hand again under the table. The trembling had gotten worse.

  “We need to leave. Tonight. Spill something, cause a scene. Do whatever you have to do to get us out of here.”

  “What? I haven’t even eaten yet.” I hissed. “What is going on?”

  “Not here. Do it now, please.”

  I could only stare at him, stymied. “Really?”

  “I’m barely holding on, Grace. Please.”

  It was the note of desperation in his voice that spurred me. Drew didn’t sound desperate. I was starting to notice a lot of things that Drew didn’t normally do. All of the gods help me, I was starting to believe that I wa
s going to have to get us out of here on my own. I quietly nodded, sat down, took a bite off the plate in front of me, and started choking.

  My arms and legs flailed as I tried to ‘dislodge’ the food caught in my throat. It didn’t matter that I’d lodged it there on purpose to make a scene. For a moment, I was genuinely afraid that I’d gone too far and I’d choke to death. Drew gaped at me as I crashed out of my chair and onto the floor.

  People gasped into their hands and looked away as I flopped on the ground. My fists were pounding at my solar plexus in an attempt to Heimlich myself. It wasn’t working, and I was starting to panic. Drew, finally shaking himself out of his shock, flipped me over onto my stomach and pounded on my back. A bite-sized lump of seafood flew from my mouth and splattered against a woman’s dress. She shrieked, and I coughed, heaving in great gasping breaths of air.

  “You really should chew your food, Grace.” The Goddess said with wry humor.

  My fingers clutched at my throat, trembling and I attempted a nod of agreement. Drew rubbed my back and brought my chin up. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head no and promptly burst into tears.

  If anyone had caught that on film, I’d be nominated for an Academy Award.

  Drew bundled me into his arms and carried me from the room a la An Officer and a Gentleman and I buried my face into his shoulder, suppressing the sudden urge to giggle.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Once we were back in the room, Drew was like a dervish, throwing things at random into our packs.

  I grabbed him mid-stride and swung him around. “You need to talk to me. What in the hell is going on? What happened back there?”

  He started patting his pockets, looking for something. I reached into his bag and pulled out the device that would let us talk freely and twisted the cap. Once the low-pitched whine started, he visibly relaxed.

  “We don’t have much time. I need you to put on clothes that you can run in. Pack everything you can fit in your bag. Make sure to put some food and water in there. Then we’re going to brave the waters.”